SteedWarriors

by sykko

Rating: mature
Tags: BattleTech, Adventure, Sex, Tragedy, Profanity, Violence, Crossover, Death, Alternate Universe, Narcotics, Gore, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark
Length: 32205

Out beyond the deep periphery of known space known as the Equestria Sphere, an unknown enemy watches and waits to lay claim to lay claim to once what called the Harmony League.

Hundreds of years into the future, creaturekind spread out from Equus into the galaxy known as the Equestria Sphere. The old government, known as the Harmony League, once lead the regions on the 'Sphere and periphery in centuries of peace, fell in the fires of of war known as the Amber Glow Civil War. The ancient defenders of the Harmony League, the Harmony League Defense Force(HLDF), fought to unseat the usurper, then disappeared without out a trace. Since then the great houses and the periphery of the Friendship League have been locked in a series of brutal conflicts called the succession wars.

Centuries of near-constant warfare has brought all technical and magical progress to stagnation. Much has been lost. Rumors abound throughout the Equestria Sphere and the periphery of ancient HLDF bunkers and strongholds filled with LosTech.

The only thing keeping the Equestria Sphere from falling into wars where megaspell bombs eradicate entire population of worlds from existence is the Equus Treaty, and stories of black-painted 'Steeds and areospace fighters, seemingly to appear suddenly from nowhere, turning military bases into smoking craters and entire 'Steed lances into molten scrap, then seeming fade away back to nowhere just as quickly.

The balance of power between the great houses and the periphery is held in check by a triune of impartial agencies. The first is the enigmatic and secretive StarCom, who controls the MagePulse Generator(MPG) network, whom controls all interstellar communications and stellar cartography. The second is the JumpShip Union(JSU), a loose collection of JumpShip guilds, whom controls the majority of interstellar travel and trade. The final is the Mercenary Review and Ratings Board(MRRB), whom governs the thousands of of independent and house-aligned mercenary companies, whom not only regulates the agreed rules of conflict, but also sets bounties on those whom violate said rules of conflict. The powers of the Equestria Sphere and the periphery tolerate this trilogy of powers, for without them, all communications and trade would be limited to the few dozen house-owned JumpShips, and they'd have to expend the greater part of their militaries to fight their wars.

For hundreds of years the balance of power has been precariously maintained throughout known space. The the various proxy conflicts, known as the succession wars, have been fought between the great houses and the powers in the periphery employing mercenary companies.

Today in the modern wars, the fighting is carried out is carried out by SteedWarriors, piloting awesome and terrible machines that stride across the battlefields, raining down destruction on their enemies. To some they are white knights and champions, to others they are opportunistic jackals of war and brigands, but all respect and fear them. The BattleSteeds they pilot range from the 20-ton ultralight-class Pipsqueak to the 100-ton assault-class Tirek.

The great houses are the Equestria Sphere are: The Federated Hives lead by House Pharynx, The Draconic Combine lead by House Smolder, The Free Moons League lead by House Glimmer and The Lyra Confederation lead by House Bon.

The Periphery is a loosely defined region of space outside the Equestria Sphere, mostly home to bandit gangs, underworld criminal syndicates and pirate conclaves, that raid each other and the Sphere. There are a small collection of powers that control their constantly fluctuating borders. The Minotaurian Concordant, The Zebra Magistracy and New Yakyakistan are the notable powers strong enough to (barely) hold their own territory.

Beyond the ill-defined border of The Periphery sits an unknown enemy that has sat watching the Equestria Sphere for 400 years, waiting to for the time to reveal themselves. Few explorers whom have ventured out that far have returned. Those few whom have returned, have told wild stories of strange alien creatures possessing never-before-seen advanced tech, though few believe them.

This story is an M-rated story that will contain warfare involving ponified giant stompy death robots, some mild drug-use and consumption of alcohol, some sexual situation, just not any explicit depictions of sex, and of course gee-whiz sci-fi weapons and explosions.

Main characters: Starbright Shimmer(unicorn mare, veteran SteedWarrior and co-owner of the Star Gallopers mercenary company), Star Burst(earth pony stallion, ace DropShip pilot and co-owner of the Star Gallopers mercenary company), Firecracker(pegasus mare, ace aerospace pilot working with the Star Gallopers), Spring Ember(kirin mare, crack vehicle pilot working for the Star Gallopers), Spot Weld and Matchstick(unicorn stallion and male dragon respectively, senior mechanics employed by the Star Gallopers), Wrecks(male diamond dog medic working for the Star Gollopers), the alicorn princesses(officially retired rulers of The Equestria Sphere) and Chrysalis(chief of communications for[redacted]). Zapp Apple Jam(Newest member of the Star Gallopers mercenary company)

Minor characters: The Summer Sun Strikers(basically ponified versions of the Somerset Strikers, if you don't know who the are, watch the BattleTech cartoon, you can find it on YouTube).

The JumpShip Union and The MRRB are both part of StarCom, they just publicly divide themselves to make the creatures of the Sphere think they don't have any real military power. But you don't need to know that. Pay your space pony AT&T bill and no one needs to get hurt.

This is a My Little Pony/BattleTech crossover. For any of the old-timers and lore experts that notice any inconsistencies with the original lore, please note this is an alt universe imagined up by a filthy casual. Please be kind and don't challenge me to a Trial of Possession, I'm too lazy to be a bondsman.

I want to thank CopperTop for giving me permission to use the term BattleSteed and a few names of the 'Steeds from his story PonyTech: Ashes of Harmony. This story was inspired by his,but has nothing to do with his, you should still go and check his story out.

Published 2021-12-03 05:40:00 UTC
Last updated 2024-10-14 11:28:32 UTC

Prologue: history and state of affairs of the Equestria Sphere

3020 Celestial Calendar- New Appleoosa

In a BattleSteed hangar that has been temporarily repurposed into a classroom, three hundred young aspiring 'Steed pilots filter in and gather 'round in small knots of creatures, chattering and laughing. A side door opens and a golden-scaled dragon stolls in wearing the jumpsuit of an MRRB instructor. Walking to the front of the hangar converted into a temporary classroom, he pulls down an old projection screen, grumbling curses as it hangs up a few times, forcing him to have to retract and pull it back several times until it was fully extended.

"Alright everycreature, quiet down and find a seat."

Most creatures quieted down and found a seat, though a few continued to stand around with their small cliques,chattering in softer tones.

"I SAID SIT THE FUCK DOWN AND SHUT THE FUCK UP OR I'LL SELL ALL YOUR SORRY HIDES TO A PLEASURE MERCHANT WITH INSTRUCTIONS TO BE SOLD TO A PERIPHERY WHOREHOUSE!", the dragon bellowed. The remaining creatures immediately shut up and scrambled to the few remaining seats. "Welcome to the first of many classes of the MRRB 'Steed pilot training course. As per the mandates of the Mercenary Review and Regulatory Board, here on all of your first day, you will be shown two instructional VidReels. The first one is about the history of of the Equus Hegemony, the Harmony League,the Amber Glow Civil War and the Equestria Sphere. Keep your flanks glued to those chairs, your eyes glued to that screen and whatever listening orifices open, there will be many times knowing your histories will greatly benefit a 'Steed jock."

A couple assistants wheeled an ancient video cassette projector, that looked to be comprised of mismatched spare parts and duct tape than anything else, on a rickety stand. The gold-scaled dragon muttered curses as he picked through the video cassettes that were scattered on the stand. Finding the right cassette, he inserted it into the slot and switched the projector on. As the test pattern with the words 'adjust focus and tracking' were projected on the screen, the dragon twisted the tracking wheel with a thumb and twisted a couple of nobs by the projector's lens to bring the picture into as clear as possible for a the old projector and well-used cassette. With a quick signal of his claws to one of the ponies who brought in the projector, the dragon silently called for the lights to be cut off and then walked to the side of the class room.

The image changed to block letter that read 'History of the Equus Hegemony, Equestria Sphere and the Amber Glow civil war' as a series of trumpets played a washed-out sounding fanfare over the speakers. A voice of a pony who probably dies of old age two hundred years ago spoke in the voice over in a gravelly,whiskey-soaked tone.

"Greetings and welcome class to the Mercenary Review and Ratings Board mandatory history lecture. I know that many of you creatures out there may be asking 'Why do I need to know about history that I learned in school? I'm going to be a hot-as-shit 'Steed jock!' Well let me tell you why fucko! Not everycreature grew upon some rich, well-to-do world that had the luxury of going to a school or having to suck on mamma and daddy's taint when they wanted money for liquor or hookers or expensive blow!"

The sound crackled for a minute before the voice over started again, this time with the narrator sounding a little more reserved, or at least a little more sober.

"Many most creatures of the Equestria Sphere grew up on poor worlds, usually as dirt farmers or scrap pickers. Even fewer had the opportunity to attend one of the SteedWarrior schools offered by the great houses. 'How were they able to afford to attend a MRRB classes?' I hear some of you ask. How the fuck would I be able to here them asking any questions?! Or how would they be able to ask me any question?! By Luna's jiggly teats! This is fucking stupid. I don't care, I know I'm supposed to read off the script, but this pure condescension to these fuck sticks! I would read it as written if it wasn't fucking stupid" Through the speaker came the distorted sound of something clinking in a glass, followed by liquid pouring and then swallowing said liquid. "Ah! That's better! *hic* *burp* What I wouldn't give to have Luna, or any of the other retired alicorn princesses rub their teats in my face just once. I'd die a happy stallion. The sound of more liquid pouring followed by swallowing came through the speakers. "No, I won't slow down on my drinking. Well maybe you should have hired an actual voice actor rather than a stallion who got arrested because he got drunk, pissed off a balcony and accidentally peed on the head of the heir-apparent of house Ember. I know there's vid of me shouting at that scale-back to get his attention before unleashing my mighty stream of justice. Maybe I wouldn't have pissed on him if those fuckos of the Draconic Combine cared more about many-much armor like they were some bad actor playing a samurai from one of those ancient movies from Equus! No! I won't slow down. No! You can't have my bottle! Give it back! Because! Because, I need it to finish. I said give me back my bottle! I'll kick your plot and anally rape your mother is what I'll do!" The distorted sounds of fighting and shouting came through the speakers right before the sound cut out.

When the sound came back on, there was the soft sound of the click of a gun before the narrator started talking again, this time with a nervous tone in his voice.

"*ahem* After 'renegotiating my contract' and some 'soul searching', I have decided to continue with my court-mandated community service and not because a MRRB enforcer is holding a gun to my head.[/]" *thunk* Ow! Okay, okay! I'll read the script, just not so rough. You're not my ex-wife. *thunk* "Ow! No, no, you don't have to hit me again, I'll read it, I'll read it! Now where's the script? Thank you good sir. Yes, I noticed the rewrites. Alright, where were again? Ah, right! After the princesses unified Equus into a new era of peace, all the creatures began working together to make it a better world." The image on the screen to grainy footage of an old JumpShip spinning up its drive."As you can see on the screen now is first successful launch of a JumpShip using the Glimmer-Shimmer drive first developed by two of the brightest scientists from the Ponyville School of Technology on Equus. We apologize for quality of the footage as it was shot over one thousand years ago by the brave and courageous void sailor Zapp Apple. Ugh! Did anypony pre-read this before slapping it down before me? Brave and courageous mean the same thing. *thunk* "Ow! As you can see, this was a momentous event for all creaturekind as the...ugh!...Brave and courageous...stupid idiots, brave and courageous means the same thing. No, don't hit me again. I'll stop with the commentary. Anyways, back on topic. Though the famous scientists who first developed the formula for FTL travel, Stargleam Glimmer and Sundown Shimmer, died six months before the first launch. Many thought that no creature could survive travelling faster than the speed of light, but fortunately they were wwwwwwrrrrrrrrrooooooooo--" Static poured from the speaker as black plastic ribbon from the cassette spooled out from the projector.

"For fuck's sake!", the gold-scaled shouted as he ran to the projector, "If I've told my superiors once, I've told them a million times to spend the extra S-bits on a quality StarCom projector."

As the two ponies who brought the projector in, quickly shoved it out of the converted hangar, the dragon stood at the front of the class. "I'm sorry for that class. Anyways as we all know, if it weren't for the JumpShips, interstellar travel wouldn't be possible. Fortunately I made packets just in case somecreature had decided not to spring for the StarCom projector and instead went with a cheap periphery knock-off in the hopes of saving a few S-bits. No need whining over crushed gems, what's done is done." He pulled out a small stack of boxes containing packets. "Most of you, like me, weren't born on a well-to-do world. If you can't read, don't worry, I made sure most of the pages have properly images. What little writing there is, is required by mandate of the MRRB. If you're illiterate, just ask one of your neighbors to help you and make sure to sign up for basic adult literacy classes, as being able to read on the level of a thirteen year-old youngling is one of the requirements set in place by StarCom, the JSU and the MRRB to become a bonded merc pilot. Many of you, like myself, grew upon backwater planet and learned to pilot your great-great-great-great-granddaddy's 'Steed by your mamma or daddy and caught the attention of the MRRB when your took a potshot at some invading bandits right before a merc company showed up. The rest of you who grew upon a planet that was well-off enough to afford building schools, then help your fellow students who weren't as fortunate. I know we all came from all over the Equestria Sphere and the periphery, I know that means you're supposed to hate each other, but this is the Equus Hegemony, that means we are all equals and in my eyes you are equal, equally scum between my toes worth only to be scraped off and flung aside." He pulled stacks of laminated packets and handed them to the creatures in the first row. "Take one and pass the rest backwards."

Once every creature had a packet in hoof, paw, talon or claw, the gold-scaled dragon began the lesson. "Open to the first page. The light grey pegasus with the blonde mane is the last lord of the Harmony League, Jet Stream. The pink unicorn with the blue mane is the usurper Amber Glow." He paused to spit the foul taste out of his mouth, even though those events happened nearly five hundred years ago, they still left a bitter taste in the mouths of every creature. "The hippogriff with the blue highlighted feathers is the leader of the HLDF, the glorious general Surf Turf. If it wasn't for his struggle, Equus and the entire Hegemony would have been nothing but a bunch of dead, scorched worlds." He and every creature in the converted hangar placed a claw, talon, paw or hoof over their heart.

"Shortly after the Amber Glow civil war ended in twenty-seven-eighty, leaving the Harmony League shattered and the usurper dead, the bulk of HLDF vanished. Nocreature knows what happened to them, only a few small contingents were known to remain in an attempt to keep the peace. Turn to the second page. That is the picture of the HLDF, you'll notice that it's similar to the symbols that StarCom, the JSU and the MRRB. In twenty-seven-eighty-one the first succession war was raged, you'll notice in the pictures of the destroyed buildings and charred bodies. That's what happens when megaspell bombs are unleashed onto civilian populations. Throughout the first succession war the princesses were constantly calling for peace, or at least for everycreature to not deliberately target civilian targets. Obviously their pleas fell on deaf ears. But fortunately not everycreature ignored their pleas. Many tech specialists, aerospace pilots and BattleSteed jock of the few remaining HLDF regiments, along with nearly all of the JumpShip crews heeded their call in twenty-eight-fifteen. Within weeks they managed to take control of the MPG network, putting them into lockdown, ensuring that nocreature could send so much as a dear mom message. The aerospace pilots and 'Steed jocks of the remaining HLDF regiments managed to rally to them thousands of creatures who could fly a crop duster, pilot an IndustrialSteed or hold rifle, to help protect civilians. The JumpShip crews switched off the drives on their ships. There are a few recorded instances where great house forces, still on their DropShips, attempted to forcefully take control of the JumpShips. Those who weren't successfully stopped, found themselves intentionally jumped into the atmospheres of gas giants or the corona of stars. If you've never seen what happens when a JumpShip materializes too close to a star or planet, let's just say that it's not pretty. The ones who get turned into a free-floating gas cloud are the lucky ones, that's why JumpShips always materialize near the zenith or nadir of a solar system."

The dragon took a minute to collect himself before continuing. "Turn to the next page. That pict was taken right after the signing of the Equus treaty. You see that Princess Twilight is still wrapped in bandages from when she took command of an IndustrialSteed when marauders from the Abbysinian Collective launched an assault on New Equus in the Faust system, where she and the other princesses had been living after they retired. Though she was piloting a 'Steed meant to hoist steel girders, they mercilessly pounded her unarmed and unarmored 'Steed with fire as she charged their ranks. As we all know, IndustrialSteeds don't have ejection systems, witnesses said she climbed out of the main hatch and leapt from it just a split second before the core went critical."

The dragon took a breath. "Back on topic. The first things that the Equus treaty was set up StarCom, the JSU and the MRRB as neutral parties in all things, military and civilian. The second thing the treaty set up was a universal currency, the S-bit. The third thing the treaty set up was that the Equus Hegemony was neutral territory, and making it a war crime of the highest order to carry out any military action within its borders without the explicit permission of the Equus council, StarCom, the JSU and the MRRB. Now the part of the treaty that applies to us the most, all MRRB-bonded mercenaries, whether they are independent contractors or part of a house-aligned army, must be offered proper compensation for their work. As such, all who hire them, for shot-term or long-term contract, must offer before they make planetfall into any conflict zone, negotiation rights for S-bits, salvage shares and/or damage coverage. Other things such as aerospace or artillery fire support, emergency evacuation, or the retrieval of crippled and/or destroyed aerospace fighters, combat vehicles and BattleSteeds is purely optional."

"If you want to ensure that all agreed payments through contracts are paid in full, always ensure that you only accept MRRB-approved contracts. You'd be surprised how many water-headed mercs accept contracts not approved by us, and when their employer decides to renege on the deal, they find out really quick that there ain't diddly-dick we can do as it would violate our neutrality as that falls under the dealings with governments. Remember that it may be a ball ache to pay your three percent of all earnings for the completion of all MRRB-approved contracts,you can breathe easy knowing that if your employer decides to do stupid, you'll find that an army of lawyers to file suit and ensure you receive your fair cut. No planetary governor wants to see their planet's economy raked over the coals because they wanna do a stupid, so don't you go and do a stupid."

"Now finally before we break for the mess hall, there's a few things to remember besides the no shit Sherclop things to remember. One: Any aerospace fighters, VTOLs or rotary wing craft, combat vehicles and 'Steeds which have their weapons all their weapons crippled or destroyed are still considered to be viable military targets. So if you suddenly find your 'Steed's bang-bang knocked out, get the fuck outa there. Two: Intentionally targeting the cockpit of a 'Steed that has with purpose and intention has been powered down by their pilot will get your MRRB licence and bond revoked. If a 'Steed pilot intentionally powers down, it's generally a sign of an honorable surrender. Now if a 'Steed overheats and the safety kicks in, switching it off, that's not considered a power down and can be shot in the cockpit. Sometimes in the heat of combat, especially in a hot and heavy fire fight, you might not recognize the difference between a shutdown and an overheat, and you headshot the 'Steed, shit happens and most of the time that will be given a pass, combat is Tartarus. But don't be one of those waterheads that think you can trick the enemy into ignoring you by switching off in the middle of a battle, besides being incredibly stupid, you will still find your 'Steed legged, disarmed or cored by concentrated enemy fire, plus it can take a 'Steed thirty-to-ninety seconds to power back up, and that's time you won't have with any way to defend yourself with weapons or countermeasures. Three: Any military assets, vehicles, aerospace craft and 'Steeds, that don't have any weapons, you must transmit a command that the pilots and crews have thirty seconds to power down and disembark. Sometimes a 'Steed pilot will fire a warning shot across the front of the target as added incentive. After you give your warning and thirty seconds have passed, any who don't have the good enough sense to get out and run away as fast as their legs will carry them, their deaths are on their own heads and you're probably doing the galaxy a favor, all you can hope for is that they haven't reproduced and spread their stupid to another generation. Anything that is being run by remote control or on automation doesn't get that chance to surrender, so feel free to turn them into scrap."

3022 Celestial Calendar-Unknown Location

Chrysalis sat behind a desk on a space station that was orbiting a planet she never bothered to learn the name of. She had been appointed to the head of communications of StarCom by the princesses almost four hundred years ago. To this day she didn't understand why they did that instead of letting her burn to death inside of that crashed DropShip. She hated the alicorns, she hated Celestia for her big fat plot that made all the stallions hot under the collar, she hated Luna for have the best teats this galaxy has even known, she hated Cadance for having the full package of curves and a smoky glare that made all the stallions and many mares weak in the knees, she hated Flurry Heart for having the sharpest with, and she hated Twilight for being so quick and resourceful. Though she hated them, she respected their ability to manipulate and trick any creature into thinking it was their idea, something that came with their long lives and it was just another thing she hated them for, though not strong enough to act against them. There was creature she hated more than any currently alive, herself. If there was another creature she hated more than the alicorns and herself, it was the dead and long rotted away Amber Glow. That little bitch was something like the thirty-second granddaughter of Cozy Glow. Oh how she still to this day loathes Cozy Glow, but Amber Glow took all of Cozy's manipulation and put it into the body of a mare who wasn't a genetic freak and added political clout to make the perfect predator, though that mare made the same mistake that she had made all those centuries ago, never underestimate Twilight Sparkle.

Chrysalis let her mind wander back all those centuries ago, back when FTL travel was brand new, when communication between the stars was relegated to the writings of science fiction. A time when she, Tirek and Cozy Glow had been released from their stone prison and into a world that was entirely alien to them. She and Tirek had been held in rooms in Canterlot Castle with automated defenses that limited their movements around the castle. It was Cozy Glow being the master manipulator, along with her odd genetic disorders, that allowed her to squirrel away on a DropShip that slated to meet a JumpShip that was destined for the edge of known space. It was there that she had disappeared. Most thought she had died out on the edge of space completely alone, until her descendant, Amber Glow, arrived on Equus.

Of course Chrysalis had opted to stay behind on Equus when Amber Glow had not only gotten into the good graced of that rat who was lord of the Harmony League and then literally blew his head off with a gem-encrusted laser pistol. The very same laser pistol that Chrysalis had used to kill Amber for her using weapons of mass destruction against unarmed and terrified civilians, the same gem-encrusted pistol that currently sat locked in the safe in her personal quarters. Sure, the former queen of the changelings wasn't above killing a few civilians here and there as a means of maintaining fear, but turning millions at a time into nothing more than piles of ash and shadows permanently burned into walls was a few billion steps too many. It was during that time when Tirek had taken a stand along with the thestrals that made up the elite Highland Guard. The only imaging from that time came from the battle where he was vaporized came from a 'Steed's imaging sensors of the battle showing the centaur fighting along side the Highland Guard and forcing back Amber Glow's forces, then a blinding white flash, then nothing.

A button blinked on the desk and Chrysalis reached out a hoof to press it. "StarCom Communications Command."

"This is Star Garnet, captain of the JumpShip Bellerophon requesting permission to depart.

Chrysalis knew of this expedition, she had helped to organize it. It was a two-part mission, travel out beyond the periphery to find out what happened to the HLDF, and to investigate the strange signals MPG arrays which were pointed towards the deep periphery had picked up, there wasn't supposed to be anything powerful enough to transmit MPG signals that far, even if they were weak. "Granted captain, and may fate guide your hooves." She switched off the communicator and walked to the window to watch. No matter how many times she had seen it, she never grew tired of a JumpShip engaging its drive. Out in the blackness of space "south" of the solar system was the distinctive blue-white flash of a JumpDrive engaging.

Author's Note

I know this prologue is a bit info dump-y, it's to set up the events of the story to come.
The first chapter will have a time jump of about 20-ish years.

Thank you all for reading and I hope you all enjoy.

If you spot any typos, have any questions or comments, wanna throw shade or pure bane, leave them down below.

Edit: Something I forgot to add. When writing the narrator on the cassette tape, I had the way Tex from Black Pant Legion playing over my headphones as inspiration.

Bandit smash

3038 Celestial Calendar-mining colony in the Free Moons League

Starbright Shimmer stood on the lift in the hangar bay of the DropShip Xerxes looking up at the Applejack that she'd been using for the past two years. She still remembered lucking out when they found this 'Steed buried in an old collapsed bunker out in the periphery while executing a pirate hunting contract. Spot Weld and Matchstick had practically creamed their jumpsuits. It had taken the company six months of taking any job, no matter how low paying and selling her old Star Spider, to get up the S-bits so they could get the replacement parts needed to get it up and running. It may not have been the most glamorous model out there, but considering that the Star Gallopers weren't a very big merc outfit, consisting of one 'Steed jock, one aerospace jock and one vehicle jock, it was more than enough. Of course their whole company was understaffed, at a dozen individuals, meaning that this flying bread box of a DropShip has barely enough to keep basic operations working, and as long as everycreature didn't slack off or get sick, they would be working at above skeleton crew status.

Across the hangar, Firecracker was climbing into her Parasprite helicopter and Spring Ember had just opened the main hatch on her MRM carrier. Starbright pushed the lever forward on the lift, causing it elevate up to the catwalk. Once reaching the catwalk, she walked onto her BattleSteed, flung open the hatch on the cockpit and climbed in. Climbing into the piloting couch, she slipped on the control helmet and began flipping switches, initiating the pre-launch sequence to check the status of individual systems. Grunting in satisfaction, she set everything into stand-by mode.

"So what'cha think about the rumors of a weird ship seen on the edge of the periphery? Think it's aliens?", Firecracker asked over the radio, "You think it could be aliens?"

"No, I don't think it's aliens. If intelligent aliens existed, we'd have seen them by now.", Starbright replied.

"Besides, if it turns out to be aliens, we can always go the whole 'Do you come in Peace?' route.", Spring Ember replied.

"I'm sure you're dying for an anal probing." Starbright couldn't help herself.

The kirin that was currently sitting in the MRM carrier stuck the upper half of her body out of the hatch, blew a raspberry and gave the "up yours" signal.

"Hey, that's supposed to be my thing. If you keep horning on my schtick, I'm going to rough you up.", Star Burst quipped.

"Plus, why is that the only ones who claims to get abducted and probed by aliens are inbred hicks who think it's okay to spend all day fucking their sisters in the mouth and smoking salts?", Firecracker asked.

"An' thar I wuz, out in th' woods with mah sister-niece an' my brother-cousin when we saw a bright light an' then the ellee-ahns took us up in their ship an' one o' 'em stuck a probe intah mah plothole.", Spring Ember said in a stereotypical backwater hick accent. "Yeah...that wasn't aliens. That was Skeeter and Bubba with a flashlight and a rake handle."

"Besides, why would aliens want to probe some inbred hick when they could have my fine plot?", Star Burst asked, "I'd even be all like 'Oh yes space daddy! Show this stallion why you're the superior race!'"

"O-kay. I think it's time we changed subjects.", Starbright said, "Let's go over the mission specs one last time before we get the green light to drop."

"Standard hoof-holding contract followed by a bandit smash. The Seven Suns mining collective has been having trouble with a new bandit gang harassing their convoys. StarCom even reported that they rolled up to an MPG and took a few potshots.", Star Burst said.

"These folks must be real water-heads to think they can shoot at StarCom property.", Spring Ember said.

"So what's the pay?", Firecracker asked.

"Two-point-five mil S-bits and enough salvage shares to repair our gear and maybe even upgrade the Applejack.", Star Burst said, " StarCom has offered an extra three percent for every bandit we take alive and turn over to them."

The kirin, the unicorn and the pegasus all three whistled into their radios.

"That's some serious milk money. StarCom must really hate those fuckos if they're willing to toss in anything extra to convince us to bring them in alive.", Spring Ember said, "Maybe we can hire a couple of janitors as I'm tired of plunging toilets."

"Maybe you wouldn't clog the toilet so much if you ate fewer tacos on taco Tuesdays.", Firecracker quipped.

"Fuck you! I'll eat all the tacos I want on Tuesday!", the kirin snapped.

"Fuck yourself, you'll get more dick that way.", the pegasus fired back.

Starbright chose to ignore the two doing their usual pre-mission bickering. "What's the reports on enemy strength?"

"According to Seven Suns scouts, they've got got mostly Bunny APCs, a hoofful of Chimera tanks, a few carriers, a Star Spider, a Pipsqueak and a DerpySteed.", Star Burst replied.

"So outside of some tanks, a few carriers, a Spoder and a Squeaker, the only real threat they have is a Derp. So what's the catch?", Firecracker asked.

"According to StarCom flyovers, the bandits' base has a series of automated turrets, two 'Steed repair bays and a 'Steed hangar. Plus there were enough spare parts lying around to indicate that there's probably an inoperable medium-class 'Steed.", Star Burst said.

"So you're saying that if we're lucky, we could probably steal ourselves a 'Steed?, the pegasus asked.

"Maybe, but I wouldn't get my hopes up. Just because they've got the parts for it doesn't mean they've got one. These bandits could just be part of some sort of smuggling op.", Star Burst replied.

"Which means if they are smugglers, we could be dealing with with periphery-based pirates or 'Sphere-based mafia.", Starbright said, "That might explain why they decided to take on StarCom. When you get a chance, shoot a message up to JSU about potential unregistered JumpShips coming in on a pirate point."

"Already ahead of you.", the earth pony co-owner of the merc company and DropShip pilot replied.

"What's the mission parameters?"

"It's a two-parter. Today we're going to escort a Seven Suns convoy to a base a hundred kliks away and in fourteen days we're to link up with another lance to hit their base.", Star Burst replied.

"Who's the lance we're linking up with?", Spring Ember asked.

"According to the contract, they're a small contingent the Bon house guard.", Star Burst answered.

"think we'll see a full Bon stealth lance?", Firecracker snarked.

"The Free Moons League must hate them if they're going to allow Lyra Commonwealth forces this deep in their borders uncontested.", Spring Ember said.

"Not really.", Starbright replied, "Think back to the Equus Treaty. If an enemy force is disregarding the rules of war, then the great houses may call on any other great house for aid and offer safe passage to any forces they send. Plus, I think we're dealing with a small part of a much larger operation, otherwise House Glimmer would have just simply swooped in with their forces and wiped them out."

"We just got the green light. We're going struts-up in thirty seconds and will be within the drop zone in the hour. Strap everything down and yourselves in.", Star Burst said.

***

The repair and rearming crew scrambled around the hangar of the DropShip, ensuring the helicopter, MRM carrier and BattleSteed were combat ready when Star Burst spoke through the radio, "We're ten minutes out. Eagle One, how copy on status?"

"Lance command, this is Eagle One. Status is all-green and ready for launch."

"Eagle One, spin up and prepare for launch."

"Roger-Roger!" The parasprite's rotors began spinning, filling the hangar with wind. The DropShip shook as it came to a hovering stop. The floor below the helicopter opened and it dropped into thin air."This is Eagle One, Lance Command. Clear and away. Commencing holding pattern Zeta."

"Confirmed Eagle One. We have you on sensors. Hothead, we're one hundred-eighty seconds from your drop, how copy on status?"

The MRM carrier's engine roared to life and its boxy turret twisted side-to-side. "Lance Command, this is Hothead. Status is all-green and ready to roll out."

"Landing in fifteen seconds."

The DropShip gave a lurch as it touched down and the ramp lowered. The MRM carrier accelerated to full speed as it rolled down the ramp. "Hothead clear and moving into position."

"Roger Hothead. We have you on sensors.

Matchstick knocked on the armored glass of the Applejack's cockpit and Starbright once more went over the pre-launch check before giving a hoof's up. "Lance Command, Runner is green to go.", the dragon said into the radio.

"Roger Wrench two, launch when ready."

Spot Weld and Matchstick shouted commands at the repair crew. The umbilical lines were unhooked and reeled in as the automated repair arms and restraining carriage were retracted. The BattleSteed gave a lurch as the floor underneath began rotating, the panels and consoles in the cockpit began lighting up while the onboard computer began the automated startup process.
Reactor: Online
Sensors: Online
Weapons: Online
All systems nominal

The weapons arms on the Applejack raised into position a moment before the ramp dropped down. Starbright pressed her hind hooves into the actuator pedals, making the forty-five ton 'Steed begin walking forward, while her forehooves manipulated the steering yoke. "Lance Command, this is Runner. I am clear and moving to NavPoint Alpha."

"Roger. We have you on sensors and are moving to high altitude over watch."

Starbright quickly set the weapons groups on the console. She set both AC-2s and all four M-lasers into the configurations she was most comfortable with. "Eagle One, Hothead, form up on me in standard patrol configuration and let's go say hi to our employers."

"Roger." "Roger."

After several minutes Starbright saw the convoy on sensors.

"Runner, Hothead, I have visual on the convoy at about one thousand meters.", Firecracker said over the radio.

"Confirmed, Eagle One. I have them on sensors, range confirmed. Begin approach in a wide-hook pattern and let them see you coming. Hothead, break formation and assume a ninja approach. I'll move forward and open comms."

Her lancemates gave their responses in affirmation. She watched as the carrier split to the left and stayed close to a series of hills and bluffs, traveling towards a forest and the helicopter gained altitude as it flew in a right-hook trajectory. The unicorn moved her 'Steed forward at fifty KPH and keyed up the radio. "Seven Suns Convoy, we are your escort from the Star Gallopers."

The response crackled over the radio."This is Seven Sons convoy command. We have you on sensors. I was hoping the company would spring for more than a whirlybird and a 'Steed as escort, but I guess short help is better than no help."

"Confirmed Convoy Command. We are moving into an escort and over watch formation." Starbright smiled slightly, if the convoy didn't detect the carrier, then there was a chance that the bandits might not detect it until too late, but she also remembered the first rule of combat, 'No plan survives first contact with the enemy'. She sent a text-only message to Spring Ember. 'Maintain radio silence until we make contact with the enemy.'

'Affirmative.'

Starbright maneuvered her Applejack parallel to the convoy, keeping them just within three hundred meters to her right. She kept an eye on her sensors, a flicker of something that read as a 'Steed for a second before it faded from the HUD. "Eagle One, I just picked up a 'Steed signal, type and size unknown, for a second on my three o'clock, distance unknown. It either just powered down, is using the land as cover or has an ECM suite. Can you confirm whether it's friendly or hostile?"

"A Jammer sounds a little advanced for some bandit scum. Will confirm."

Starbright watched as the Parasprite flew off from her three o'clock to investigate. "Hey boss, I'm getting something on sensors, but it's weak. I think you're right about a jammer. Moving closer to investigate. Standby." A moment later Firecracker spoke up again."I have visual confirmation on one SRM carrier, two AC carriers and a Squeaker, that's where your jammer is coming from. Hold on, I see something--HOLY SHIT!" Starbright watched as the helicopter veered away hard as a tracer from an auto-canon narrowly missed her. "THEY'VE GOT A CELESTIA-DAMNED ROCKHOOF!"

"Get out of there Firecracker! You're no good to anypony if they swat you down! Spring, we've made contact, prepare to break cover and engage." Starbright switched frequencies. "Convoy Command, we've just made contact with hostile forces. The have three vehicles and two 'Steeds. I suggest any non-combat vehicles put the hammer down and get out of here, I'm moving in to distract them. If any of you that have weapons and want to provide backup, it would be appreciated." She turned her 'Steed towards the direction the hostile lance was coming from, increased speed to the full sixty-five KPH and flipped the radio to the general broadcast frequency."Hostile lance, you have opened fire on those employed by the Seven Suns mining collective. Disengage and leave now, and we'll allow you to survive today."

"Big talk for somepony who only has a whirlybird and an Applejack. Counter offer, you leave and we don't shoot your dick off.", came the reply.

"Sorry, but we won't be leavin'."

"Then I guess you just chose death."

Starbright switched the frequency back to her lancemates. "Hothead, try to stay in cover while you move in. If they haven't spotted you by now, then we may have a small bit of fortune. Eagle One, strafe 'em and see if you can piss one or two of 'em off enough to break off and chase you."

"Roger.", both lancemates replied.

As Starbright moved close enough to pick out individual targets on her sensors, but not quite close enough to make visual contact, the images on the HUD wavered from interference from the Pipsqueak's ECM. The Parasprite flew over and unleashed a few staggered shots from its twin M-lasers, a second later a plume of smoke and fire blossomed upwards. "I didn't hit 'em that hard boss. Either they put cardboard armor on their SRM carrier or they set it to self-destruct." "Roger that Eagle One. Set yourself up for another pass as I move in."

Starbright moved her Applejack through the trees until she could could visual confirmation on the enemy lance. Taking careful aim as the Pipsqueak's ECM was still messing with her sensors, she lined up a shot with the lead AC carrier and fired one AC-2. The explosive shell impacted on the rear quarter of the vehicle, the engine erupted in flames, splitting the vehicle in two. Two burning form of still living creatures tumbled out and rolled on the ground in a desperate attempt to put out the flames, several seconds later they stopped moving. She kicked her 'Steed into reverse, backtracking the way she came for several meters before turning into a wide hooking path.

The Parasprite swooped down in a strafing run again. "The last carrier is down...*shkrrt*...fuck! That got toasty!" Starbright turned her attention to the helicopter and noted the smoke coming off of it. "You good Eagle One?" "I took a hit from the Squeaker and am leaking fuel. Sorry to shoot and run boss, but I gotta find somewhere to set down." "Alright. But if I find out that all they did was knock that dick pic off of your dash, I'm kicking your plot and docking you pay."Hey! That dick pic is an integral system!" Starbright chuckled as she remembered the stallion that the penis in the picture belonged to, she honestly could say that if she had the one to bed him, she would have done the same.

The unicorn mare steered the Applejack back into the fight and burst though the trees. Lining up a shot on the Pipsqueak, she unleashed both auto-canons and all four M-lasers in an alpha strike. The ultralight 'Steed shook and wavered as armor plates shattered into metal slivers or melted into slag, but it didn't shut down or fall over. Starbright found that her HUD cleared up and she was able to get a clear reading n the two 'Steeds. The Pipsqueak had both of its M-pulse lasers and both S-lasers knocked out, leaving only its flamer intact. The paper doll display of the ultralight 'Steed showed that almost all of the armor on the right side had been stripped off and even had sustained some significant internal damage. She immediately engaged the Applejack's jump jets, sending the forty-five ton 'Steed skyward just as the Rockhoof fired its auto-canon.

Starbright was thrown about the pilot couch, causing the restraining harness to dig into her as the explosive shell slammed into her 'Steed. She gave a quick check on her Steed's status, she had been fortunate, taking only a glancing his on her 'Steed's right foreleg, but it still stripped off nearly twenty percent of the leg's armor. She rotated the Applejack midair and lined up her shot on the Rockhoof's shoulder where the AC-20 was housed. Fortunately these bandits never did put much in way of armor plating and maintenance on their 'Steeds, sacrificing protection for speed and as much ammo and weapons they could mount instead, the reading showed it only had twenty percent remaining on the most vital areas. Unleashing rippling fire to keep her 'Steed from overheating and shutting down. First all four M-lasers fired one after the other, impacting on the AC-20, the first two laser blasts melted the armor away, allowing the the other laser to hit the internal structure, then the two AC-2 shells impacted. The Rockhoof shook from a series if explosions as AC-20 shells cooked off, filling the air with fire and shrapnel, shearing off the 'Steed's powerful auto-canon, effectively cutting down on its firepower. Heat warning alarms blared through the Applejack's cockpit as it touched down. She took a quick look at the Rockhoof's paper doll readings to confirm what she had damaged, it had lost its AC-20 and ammunition, three heat sinks and suffered significant internal damage, it was a minor miracle that the 'Steed jock was still conscious. She kicked her 'Steed into reverse, to make distance and allow the heat sinks to do their job. That was when the Rockhoof's jock remembered that he still had lasers. Green and red beams lanced out through the trees, setting their canopies ablaze and causing a few to explode in showers of flaming splinters, but missing their intended target. That showed either the enemy jock was panic-firing or his sensor suite had been knocked out.

Starbright steered through the forest, letting her heat sinks cool her 'Steed when she picked up the signature of a 'Steed powering up. She slammed her Applejack hard to the right when an auto-canon shell slammed into her 'Steed sending her bouncing around the pilot chair, the restraining harness crushed the breath from her lungs. Shaking off the cobwebs and forcing herself to suck air back in, she gave a quick check of her systems. One AC-2 and two M-lasers had been knocked out, as well as stripping almost all of the armor from the Applejack's right shoulder, fortunately the internal damage had been minimal. Looking around, she saw the clumsy, awkward and slow gait of a DerpySteed. Turning on the spot, she fired the remaining weapons. The Derpy shook and rocked from the impact, but didn't fall. The remaining AC-2 jammed. Using her 'Steed's greater speed, she moved away from the DerpySteed and circled around as she jockeyed for better position. She'd have to deal with having no auto-canon until the automated loader figured out how to clear the blockage.

Starbright narrowly dodged a shot from the Derpy's AC-20, but its M-laser scored a hit on her right side. As she lined up a shot on the enemy 'Steed, that's when twenty missile contrails arced through the air and the back of the DerpySteed lit up with explosions. The light 'Steed rocked and reeled before falling over.

"Sorry I'm late boss!", Spring Ember shouted over the radio, "I ran in to a couple of Chimera tanks and had to show them how to go home!"

"I'd suck your dick right now if I didn't have a Rockhoof on my plot!", Starbright said. A second later a green laser cut through the forest, slicing trees in half, shattering many of the into flaming splinters. She kicked her Applejack into max speed, when she caught the Pipsqueak on sensors, trying to use the trees as cover. She lined up the shot and unleashed a pair of green lasers.
Target destroyed.
She smiled at the message from the onboard computer through her headset confirming the kill.

The Rockhoof stomped forward, firing its lasers as quickly as they recharged.

Starbright kept her Applejack in motion. The enemy 'Steed jock was good, but he was firing lasers like his heat sinks were made of ice. The Rockhoof slouched as it overheated and the safeguard kicked in, shutting it down. She gave a wicked grin as the display showed her remaining auto-canon had cleared the jam. Turning the Applejack in place, she came to a complete stop, letting the heat sinks bleed off as much heat as possible, while she carefully lined up for a head shot. As the Rockhoof restarted, the Applejack stagger fired all remaining weapons. The armored glass on the enemy cockpit melted away as the green lines from the Applejack's M-lasers hit, then the AC-2 turned the enemy pilot into mush and pink mist. With smoke pouring from its now destroyed cockpit, the enemy medium 'Steed stood stock still, almost like it was surprised at the shot that happened, then tipped over, crashing to the ground.

Starbright left the 'Steed she just head shot to confirm the kill on the Pipsqueak. She found the 'Steed on its side, fire from the ruptured fuel canister for the flamer blazing inside the cockpit. She felt a moment's remorse for the pilot, nocreature deserved to die burning to death, even if they were bandit scum. "Hey Spring, what's the condition on the Derp?"

"I think I got an engine kill, it's still mostly intact. Can't tell if the pilot's alive or not. What about the Rocky and the Squeaker?"

"Head shot on the Rock and a burning cockpit on the Squeak."

The unicorn and kirin took a few moments to signal the locations of the destroyed and knocked out vehicles and 'Steeds up to the DropShop. She'd leave it to Star Burst to maneuver the DropShip in for salvage, after all their employers couldn't make a MRRB claim against them for any salvage they didn't know about. The two then moved off to catch back up with the convoy.

Starbright and Spring Ember sat in the shade between the Applejack's legs, both had partially stripped out of their barding as the last of the vehicles from the convoy pulled into the depot, it had been a successful mission, the bandits APCs hadn't shown up, probably opting to turn back after their tanks, carriers and 'Steeds had been knocked out, but still left the Star Spider unaccounted for. The Xerxes descended from above and hovered in place before landing. The unicorn climbed up the rope ladder and back into the cockpit as the kirin sauntered over to her carrier. Once the flying bread box of a DropShip's struts had settled into the ground, two of the ramps dropped down. The two piloted their vehicle and 'Steed respectively into the hangar bay.

Starbright shook her head when she saw Spot Weld and Matchstick standing on the gantry, scowling at her. Powering down the Applejack for the last time for the day, she reached out with her magic to open the hatch as the restraining cradle was moved in place and mentally prepared to be verbally accosted by the two head mechanics.

"Look what you did to my baby!", the dragon shouted over the rising din of machinery, "I just got her freshly painted and detailed! She was the belle of the ball, then you had to go and ugly her up!"

"It's not all her fault.", Spot Weld replied, "You know they don't teach jocks how to take care of their toys and leave it to grown-ups like us to clean up the mess. I mean come on, first Firecracker smashes up her Parasprite, then Spring shoots the engine out of the Derp, and Starbright practically blew the Rocky in half and plays arsonist on the Squeaker. Whoever gets a hold of that one won't be able to clean the smell outa the cockpit for a month."

"I got something you can blow.", Starbright quipped.

Star Burst walked into the hangar and shouted up to the gantry, "Back off of her for now boys. You can dress her down after you inspect everything and hoof her the damage report."

"So I take it that you weren't able to snag anything before Seven Suns salvage crews were able to show up.", Starbright says to Star Burst.

"We showed up before anypony from Seven Suns, however, StarGuard showed up right as we started inspecting the wreckage.", the earth pony replied.

"Oof! Well it sucks that you weren't able to snipe some primo loot before everypony and their brother got there."

"Actually the weirdest thing happened. They said they'd look the other way if we helped them pry the still living pilot out of the Derp and didn't take anything too big.", Star Burst replied.

"So what were you able to get?"

"We were able to haul the Derp aboard, though we did try to beg and plead to let us pull the engine out of the Squeaker, but no dice.", Star Burst replied.

"A DerpySteed with a busted engine and full weapons, not too bad. That'll score us a mil to the right buyer. Tartarus, if we really need the S-bits, we could score a few hondo-thou at a scrapyard.", Starbright said as she started to leave the hangar.

"Off to see Wrecks?"

"Yeah. I got a little banged up dealing with that Derp and Rocky. I'm a little sore, gonna make sure it ain't nothin' serious." Starbright remembered one of the most important lessons from her time at the MRRB academy, 'Always have medical check out any injuries you have, no matter how minor they seem. Sometimes the most serious injuries seem like something small.'

The unicorn mare sat on the examination table while Wrecks, their diamond dog doctor, checked her over over. "Other than some bruising to your shoulders and chest, you're okay. In about two or three days you'll be in perfect working order. Thank the princesses and the mother lode that your harness was working properly, or you might've been in pretty bad shape." He shoved a packet of two pain pills into her hoof. "If the pain is too much for you, take these with plenty of water. If you start having any other symptoms, increased pain or stiffness in you legs, chest or back, any difficultly breathing or any dizziness or nausea, come see me again. Otherwise just get some rest."

Chrysalis sat in the (officially) retired princesses conference room as they entertained a class who had stopped by their retirement palace for a field trip. Ugh! If there's anything I hate more than those alicorns, it's foals, with their perpetually sticky hooves and their snotty snouts and their poking anything and everything! She set aside her perpetual hatred of anything and everything to double check the datapad she had in her possession. It was the last transmission from the JumpShip that went out nearly twenty years ago to find out what the odd reading the MPG listening posts had picked up was.

"And remember everypony, if you do your homework, eat your veggies, pay your StarCom bills and follow your dreams, you can become anything you want to be, even an alicorn.", Twilight said outside the meeting room door, in an overly chipper tone.

"Remember, I believe in each an every one of you.", Celestia spoke up next.

"Remember to follow your dreams.", Luna said, "Oh wait, Princess Twilight Sparkle already said that. Sorry everypony, normally I'm asleep at this time.", the foals chuckled before she continued, "Never forget to reach for the moon, even if you fail, you'll still land among the stars."

"Remember that I love each and every one of you.", Cadance said.

"And remember...Friendship is Magic!", Flurry Heart said, the foals saying the last part with her.

Chrysalis rolled her eyes. You went from the most powerful ponies in the galaxy to spouting mindless taglines to insipid younglings.

The sounds of pens scribbling on paper and the clopping of many small hooves going down the hall prceeded the doors to the meeting room opened and the retired princesses trotted in. Once the doors were closed, the five alicorns dropped their smiles and took their seats at the conference table. Chrysalis shuddered in a mixture of disgust and fear as Twilight lit her horn, dissolving the illusion that concealed the mass of burn scars on the right side of her body and face, plucked off the prosthetic wing and pulled out the glass eye from her right eye socket, revealing a floating lavender point of light where the eyeball used to be. It had been said that alicorns were beings of pure magic and every time Chrysalis looked into Twilight's empty socket as the lavender pinprick stared back out at her, she believed it.

Said lavender alicorn scratched at the stump that was left of her right wing. "I'd lick all the filth off a hobo's nut sack if that meant I could get a prosthetic that didn't itch like a bitch!"

Chrysalis cleared her throat, nine eyes and one lavender pinprick locked on her.

"just a moment before we start.", Twilight said holding up a hoof. She stood up and walked over to a small refrigerator in the corner. Opening the door, she pulled out a bottle of liquor, magicked up a glass, poured herself a drink and drained the glass.

"Twilight, I thought you said you were cutting down.", Celestia said.

"Well you didn't have inferno gel pour into your 'Steed cockpit and then had your barely alive carcass chained up to an Abbysinian's 'Steed and forced to watch as they launched inferno missiles into building full of civilians!", Twilight snapped. She poured another glass and quickly drained it. "Sorry.", she said putting away the bottle, "I shouldn't snap at you. It's hard to look in the faces of foals and not see ponies throwing their foals from windows so they could save them the pain of burning to death."

Chrysalis shuddered at the mental image. While she was on Equus during the civil war, she saw Amber Glow's forces commit atrocity after atrocity. It had prompted her to pick up the pistol that had been used to kill the last lord of the Harmony League and blow the head off of Cozy Glow's last surviving descendant. It was the princesses idea for her to take on the likeness of the tyrant and order her forces to surrender, then pose for a faux execution.

After Twilight had retaken her seat, Chrysalis turned on the HoloVid in the center of the table and synched her datapad up to it. "As you know, nearly twenty years ago we sent out a JumpShip to find out the ultimate fate of the HLDF after they left the Equestria Sphere and to also investigate the strange readings the MPG network had picked up beyond the far periphery. They discovered something about one thousand light years out." She swiped a holed hoof across the screen of the datapad. The HoloVid displayed first the readings of several signals and then the short video of a planet just before a pair of WarShips materialized from a jump a couple of seconds before the feed cut out. "If you check the timestamp, these data packets were sent eight years into the Belerophon's expedition. As you can see here, the signal is almost identical to the same ones our MPGs use and they're using codes very similar to the old HLDF." She played back the video, pausing it right after two WarShips materialized. "The symbol displayed just to the fore of the wolf's head logo is almost identical to the Harmony League Defense Force's. Unfortunately the communications that were recorded by StarCom crew had degraded too much by the time we received it to make out any words."

All five princesses scowled as they stared at the holographic images. "I guess it's true what Timberwolves Dragoons sent us over encrypted MPG comms.", Twilight said leaning forward, "Now that they know that we know where they are, it will only be a matter of time before they launch their invasion."

"I think we should allow the crown prince of the Lyra Confederation, Hot Cross Bon and the crown princess of the Federated Hives, Flitter, to marry without our interference.", Cadance said, "I know they have a mutual dislike of the Free Moons League, but having at least two of the great houses allied to one another will help deal with the invasion, though it could trigger another succession war."

"The Free Moons have always been more affable to me.", Luna said, "I think I'll take up House Glimmer's offer for a visit, and I'll let them 'accidentally' see a couple of schematics for a couple of 'new' 'Steeds, if there is another succession war, it could help even the odds and give all the houses a much needed tech boost."

"I'll handle the Draconic Combine. The dragons have always been more open to me.", Twilight said, "And I'll see if Spike has woken up from his nap."

"And if he's still asleep?", Candance asked.

"I'll simply power up with his Big Mac. Dragons hate it when you mess with their hoard. Besides, it's been too long since I've seen a Macie up close and personal that wasn't in a museum."

"I'll head to the Zebra Magistracy. I might be able to convince them to loan us some of their chemical warheads.", Flurry Heart said.

"That leaves the Minotaurian Concordant and new Yakyakistan and the Yaks have made it clear that they want to be isolationists, even if they still trade with the 'Sphere.", Celestia said, "I guess I can deal with the minotaurs."

"I can authorize...with your permission of course...", Chrysalis shuddered, hating to ask the five princesses permission for anything, "...the locations of a few bunkers be found...nothing with too much advanced technology, and allow a few techs to 'discover' some 'new' engine, weapon and sensor schematics."

The five alicorns looked back and forth between each other, sharing an unspoken conversation. Though they had officially retired centuries ago after Equus had created a new unified world government and constitution, the Amber Glow civil war had proven that the creatures of the Equestria Sphere still needed guidance. Though they had maintained their official retirement to the public eye, they had maintained an active hoof in the politics of the 'Sphere and periphery, ensuring that none of the great houses ever gained too big of an advantage over the others and that any wars that were fought didn't get to be too big and out-of-control. The five gave a nod. There had always been an old mare's tale that alicorns were psychic, and it was times like this when Chrysalis wasn't too sure if it was true or if their long centuries meant that the long centuries they spent together meant they knew each other well enough that they didn't need to talk to convey to each other what they were thinking.

"Make it so.", Celestia said.

Starbright stood atop her Applejack looking down at Matchstick and Spot Weld were putting the final detailing on the 'Steed's paint job. Fortunately the AC/2 and M-lasers that had been hit weren't destroyed, just damaged and needed to be repaired, which had taken about ten days to complete. She had whined and begged to take the AC/20 off the DerpySteed and mount it on the Applejack, which the two head mechanics had said 'no'. Hocking up a loogie, she let it linger on her tongue for a moment, lining up the shot. She let it slip past her lips and watched as it fell towards its target. The loogie splatted directly between the earth pony's ears. "Hah! Pay up ya feather brai--woop!" She ducked, narrowly avoiding a dog bone wrench that Spot Weld had hurled, sending the tool sailing overhead and skittering across the back of the 'Steed.

Firecracker flew from her hiding spot in the rafters of the hangar bay of the DropShip. "No fair, ya stick head! You used magic or someth--" *splat* A paintbrush hit the pegasus mare in the face, covering the side of her face in OD-green paint.

"You're just mad that you just lost fifty S-bits. Now pay up."

The pegasus mare, wiping paint from the side of her face, flapped over the 'Steed, pulled a stack of bills and dropped them to the unicorn mare, who caught them in her magic.

"You know you're giving us both part of that.", Spot Weld called up to Starbright.

The unicorn mare made an over-dramatic pose. "Oh dear me! If I give you two anything, what will I use to buy the orphans their gruel tonight?"

Spot Weld raised a nonplussed eyebrow. "You feed orphans? Hah! More like you make orphans. Now pay up, or you'll find out just what happens we pull out just a couple of bolts."

Starbright pulled out two stacks of ten and levitated it down to the two mechanics. She knew well enough not to make wrench jockeys too mad. "There, you two take your filthy bribes."

"I prefer the term extortion.", Matchstick said, "The X makes it sound cooler."

"So how much long will you two be at it?", Starbright asked.

"just a couple of more hours, unless somepony keeps spitting on our heads, then we might just decide that the Applejack's reactor needs a full rebuild.", Spot Weld said.

"Fair enough, fair enough.", Starbright said, "Let me be the one to apologize for that. But you'd do the same if there was money on the line."

"Fair enough."

"Come on Firecracker, let's leave these two to play with their tools while we do some real work." Starbright stepped onto the lift and lowered herself to the hangar floor.

Spot Weld and Matchstick blew raspberries at the two mares as the walked off, who in turn made ugly faces back.

***

Starbright sat in the cockpit of her Applejack preparing for the drop. Spring Ember and Firecracker had already been deployed an hour earlier, as it would be safer for them to have their helicopter and MRM carrier respectively deployed so they could use the terrain as cover, seeing as they didn't have the same armor as a 'Steed.

The DropShip shuddered as explosives rang outside. "Taking AA fire.[.i]", Star Burst said through the radio, " Eagle One, Hothead, see if you can get eyes on those turrets and do something about this flak."

"Roger.", the kirin replied. "I'll try, but I'm having to juke this flak too.", the pegasus replied.

The explosions outside died down."Lance Command, I managed to get two AA turrets." "Roger, Hothead. Thanks for the aid. Continue on to NavPoint Alpha and keep an eye out for more turrets."

Starbright cracked her neck and all four legs as the Applejack powered up. The section of the floor where the 'Steed stood rotated, facing inwards as the DropShip slowed."Ten seconds to drop." "Roger." As the floor opened, she braced for the drop. The restraining carriage retracted and the forty-five ton 'Steed went into freefall. Starbright lurched as the 'Steed made touchdown. She quickly looked over her readings, making sure there had been no damage done. "Lance Command, this is Runner. All-green across the board." "Roger Runner. Happy hunting." She quickly set her weapons groups as she turned the 'Steed towards the coming attack on the bandit base and kicked it into max speed. "Hothead, you're on my eight o'clock. Eagle One, you're our eyes in the skies." Both lancemates gave their reply in the affirmative.

As the Applejack trudged along, Starbright noted the incoming vehicles. "In coming vehicles, identify yourself or be fired upon.", she challenged through the radio.

"[i[Runner, this is Dog Alpha of Timberwolves Dragoons. We are your fire support.",came the reply.

"I was under the impression that the elite guard from House Bon was supposed to be joining us", Starbright replied.

"They were delayed by some spacial anomalies and had to withdraw."

Starbright knew that sometimes weird things happened out in space that would confuse sensors on JumpShips or even make jumps impossible, she had even once personally witnessed one of those anomalies, strange pink clouds. "Affirmative. So what kind of backup have you brought us?"

"One Party Cannon, three APCs and one Manticore. We have on hot drop standby a Celestia and a Party Howitzer."

"We got a heavy tank, a heavy 'Steed and a bunch of troops as backup, along with a medium 'Steed and an assault 'Steed in reserve, not too bad.", Starbright said to herself. She keyed the radio on again. "Let's hope we've got enough firepower on hoof and we don't need to call in players from the bench."

"Affirmative."

As the enemy base came in to view, Starbright noted the skyscraper-like structures that were scattered about inside its defensive walls, it reminded her of picts of the old HLDF FOBs. Her trained eyes picked up that a few of the tall buildings were in a state of disrepair or had been partially torn down and cannibalized for their materials, one or the other.

Firecracker chimed in over the radio. "Hey boss, I've picked up that Star Spider on sensors. It's not in the base, but two kliks to the east."

"Understood Eagle One. Maintain over watch and get ready, we're about to kick the bee's nest." Starbright switched her radio frequency over to a public channel. "To those in the base, power down all vehicles and 'Steeds you have, come out, throw down your weapons, lay on your bellies, place your hooves, paws, talons and claws on your heads and surrender peacefully and we will ensure you are treated equinely as laid out in the Equus treaty."

The Party Cannon began back-pedaling as it climbed up an incline to get to high ground. The MRM carrier and Manticore tank began rolling forward into optimal range as the Parasprite gained altitude and began circling. The three APCs moved into cover behind a series of hills. Sensors lit up as automated turrets came online. Starbright switched the radio's frequency back to the one that her lance and Timberwolves's Dragoons were using. "Alright Hothead, time to ring the doorbell."

"Foal Scouts! I got a buncha cookies for ya, motherfucker!",the kirin shouted into the radio just as the air filled with contrails from the medium-range missiles. A few seconds explosions wracked a section of defensive wall, causing it to collapse.

Starbright, her Applejack already in motion, unleashed her M-lasers at the automated turrets, burning the weapons off some, frying control mechanisms on others, or detonating the power packs or ammo magazines on others, as she maneuvered her 'Steed towards the freshly made gap in the wall. "Eagle One, keep an eye out for power generators. Knock 'em out or mark 'em. If we disable those turrets, maybe they'll come out to play." The Parasprite circled the base as it fired its M-lasers, knocking out turrets.

"Boss, that Spoder is moving in.", Firecracker said over the radio.

"Gottcha. Dog Alpha, can you get a bead on that incoming 'Steed?"

"Already on it." Contrails from the two LRM/15s streaked overhead towards the Star Spider. Though the light 'Steed was too far out for accurate fire, the hope was that enough long-range missiles would hit and land around it to make the pilot scramble for cover, slowing them down long enough so the two lances could set up a firing line.

Starbright maneuvered her 'Steed through the gap in the wall. She caught sight of a generator, it was too small to power very many turrets, but knocking it out might power down some of them, plus the EMP from it exploding might scramble some of the turrets sensors. Using her 'Steed's sensor package to lock on to the generator, she zeroed-in her weapons and fired the twin AC/2s. As the explosive shells from the two auto-cannons exited their respective muzzles, an SRM contrail from a shoulder-fired launcher streaked past her cockpit, followed by red beams from laser rifles that sparked off the 'Steed's armor plates. Though the laser rifles were only a threat if the scored enough hits on the cockpit to burn though and hit the pilot or hit some important consoles, the SRM launcher was the real threat. Throwing the Applejack into reverse, she twisted the 'Steed's upper half and unleashed staggering fire from the four M-lasers into the building. Molten glass and metal flowed down the side of the building as bodies of armed bandits were incinerated in a flash. "I need somepony to knock the top of the building off I'm standing by, they've got a shoulder-fired SRM.", she said into the radio as she kicked her 'Steed into reverse.

"Roger, firing for effect.", Spring Ember said over the radio. Twenty the medium-range missiles arced through the air, slamming into the top few stories of the skyscraper, sending rubble raining down to the ground as they collapsed.

Starbright lined up her sights on the support columns of the skyscraper and fired and alpha strike. She quickly turned ger 'Steed around and galloped away from the building as entire section collapsed into tons of rubble. She weaved around the interior of the base, moving her 'Steed in a serpentine pattern to keep the automate turrets from getting a clear shot. She locked onto the generator again and unleashed staggered fire from the M-lasers. The external housing of the generator melted away as the green lasers cut through the structure. She then unleashed the twin AC/2s in a staggered volley, the first explosive shell ripped open the internal supports, exposing the magical fusion core and the second one plunged deep inside. The Applejack's sensors were filled with static as the generator was consumed in a light blue light of an artificial sun for a fraction of a second before a multicolored fireball lifted into the air.

"That knocked something out, just not the turrets. They must have an independent power supply.", Dog Alpha said over the radio.

"Ya think?", Firecracker quipped back.

"Easy Eagle One. Just pull back and search for another generator.", Starbright responded, "We'll track that Spoder while knocking out as many turrets as possible. Hothead, Dog Alpha, on me. We'll come back to the base after we finish hunting the Star Spider."

"What about the troops?", Dog Alpha asked, "They're under orders to secure the base while I provide covering fire."

Starbright cursed under her breath, she had forgotten about the troops. "Call down the bench players. One can help me hunt that light 'Steed while the other helps hunt that bandit 'Steed."

The Parasprite, MRM carrier, Party Cannon and Applejack circled the base, opening fire on the turrets and keeping an eye on the Star Spider that was still keeping its distance, the DropShip for the Timberwolves Dragoons swooped down from low orbit. It quickly disgorged the Celestia and the Party Howitzer, then quickly rocketed back up. The Applejack and the Celestia peeled away to hunt the Star Spider, while the Party Cannon, Party Howitzer, Parasprite and MRM carrier provided covering fire for the APCs.

Starbright moved her Applejack out ahead of the Celestia. The two 'Steeds were hunting the much lighter Star Spider. The Applejack slowed as the Celestia fired its LRM/5 after gaining a lock. The light 'Steed scrambled for cover, trying to avoid the long-range missiles. The unicorn mare kept an eye on her scanner. "I'm reading tanks, Dog Two."

"Affirmative. Moving to intercept."

The Applejack and the Celestia split directions, keeping the Star Spider and the newly detected tanks on sensors. The assault-class 'Steed launched its LRM/5 at one of the tanks. "Runner, my missiles didn't score a hit. The tanks are acting strange. They're not using evasive maneuvers."

"You think they're using a spoofer, Dog Two?"

"Only one way to find out. Dog Alpha, this is Dog Two. Requesting fire support eight hundred meters to the twelve o'clock of my position."

"Roger, Dog Two. Giving fire support at eight-zero-zero meters to your twelve o'clock.", Dog Alpha replied.

Long-range missiles from the Party Cannon and Party Howitzer arced high into the air and impacted in the area signaled. The tank signals didn't try to move to avoid the incoming missile, just continues to move in their patrol.

"That proves it. They've got a spoofer.", Dog Two said,"I'm not picking up any hits or even weapons on those tanks. Where are these bandits getting their tech?"

"I don't know,but I have an idea.", Starbright replied, "Let's pull back to the bandit's base for now." She switched her radio over to the Xerxes' frequency. "Lance command, we need a sensor sweep of the base and the surrounding area."

"Roger.", Star Burst replied. A few minutes late he radioed back, "Runner, our scans aren't complete, but we found evidence of an underground facility."

"I think they're sitting atop an old HLDF facility.", Starbright said over the radio, "We need to be careful as they might have more 'Steeds sitting powered down waiting for a signal to their jocks to activate or even 'Steeds with stealth armor."

"The only way to find out for sure is when the troops take control.", Dog Alpha replied.

Star Burst radioed, "Watch out, we had a little help from the Timberwolves Dragoons' DropShip's sensors to get a better reading on the base and the surrounding area. That generator that was knocked out wasn't powering the turrets, it was powering the 'Steed bay and the repair bays, though we haven't detected any signs of any other 'Steeds powering up. Hold on, I'm receiving a new message." The radio cut off for a few minutes. "Runner, Eagle One, Hothead, I just received a message from StarCom. They've requested that we hold our ground until StarGuard arrives. They've also offered an extra compensation of S-Bits and salvage shares."

"That's a bit unusual, Lance Command.", replied Starbright, "Dog Alpha, has your command received a similar message?"

"Affirmative, Runner. Usually if StarGuard shows up, nopony gets anything extra, they just swoop in and take control of everything and radio out to the employers that we have completed our end of the contract and then we just wait for the payday. These bandits must have really pissed off StarCom if they're gonna send in StarGuard and pay us extra."

***

The two lances waited an hour as they circled the base, taking shots to destroy any turrets that were still active or returning fire that can from bandit infantry. The whole time the Star Spider held its distance. Two DropShips appeared on sensors, one coming down near the base and the other three kilometers away.

"Boss, the Star Spider is bugging out.[/i}, Firecracker radioed, "Should we pursue?"

"Negative Eagle One. Let StarGuard handle it as this is now their mission."

A midnight blue DropShip bearing the StarCom logo, the hull looking like it was a mishmash of spare parts welded together, landed outside the walls of the bandit base. "To the lances of the Star Gallopers and Timberwolves Dragoons, this is StarGuard actual, provide fire support." The rampson the DropShip dropped, out walked two Flash Bee light 'Steeds followed by five APCs. Five kilometers away, the other DropShip touched down on top of a butte.

"It wouldn't kill them to say please.", Starbright grumbled to herself. "Affirmative StarGuard Command actual.", she replied over the radio.

***

"It was the weirdest thing.", Starbright said to Star Burst in the mess hall on the Xerxes, "StarGuard took control of the base after with minimal casualties. It was almost like the bandits' defenses either shut down or turned on them. I had heard the rumors that StarCom's preists have some sort of technomagic. I had always thought that they were just old mare's talesuntil I saw one of their freaky priests that wear those star-spangles black hooded robes chant some weird words at that 'Steed bay and the doors dropped open, revealing a nearly complete Maud."

Star Burst pushed a datapad across the table. "You should see the salvage shares they offered."

Picking up the datapad in her magic, Starbright looked it over. "Holy Tartarus! That's enough to completely build a 'Steed from the ground up! That Maud has two prismatic projector cannons! I hope we can get that 'Steed along with the ER M-lasers, those Ultra AC/5s and at least one of those XL engines, both if the princesses are willing. That'll be the upgrade we need to get better paying contracts, instead of just picking up these piss ant bandit smashes." She dropped the datapad back on the table.

Star Burst picked the datapad back up. "Unless the Dragoons also make a salvage claim on the Maud, we should scoop it up. If we only get one of the engines and a few weapons, we can sell them along with that DerpySteed to get enough to pick up a thrashed heavy--" His communicator beeped. "This is Star Burst, co-commander of the Star Gallopers."

"This is the MRRB claims approval, you claims have been approved. Please relay the coordinates to where our hauler can provide you with your goods."

Chrysais sat behind her desk looking over the MRRB approved claims. She knew that the 'Sphere stock market speculators might freak out at the 'new' 'Steeds and parts that would be entering into the market in a few weeks and might begin selling out of fear that their claims on the companies that are producing the current generations of 'Steed stock prices might be at risk. StarCom had plenty of agents in place to placate the, and in case that failed,they could simply alter or garble the communications, the Equestria Sphere didn't need creatures dumping their stock and throwing the economy in to a tailspin.

Of course with a couple of major conflicts potentially looming on the horizon, that would always make the stocks increase, it might even increase the value of the S-Bit and house bits.

Author's Note

Thank you all for reading and I hope you all enjoy.

If you spot any typos or misspellings, like the story, hate the story, have any comments or questions, wanna throw shade or pure bane, leave them down below.

I referenced sarna.net to help with the poniefied versions of the BattleMechs. It's a great site if you wanna learn more about the BattleTech universe, wanna use it for your own fic or just wanna oogle giant stompy robot porn.

Business as usual?

3039 Celestial Calendar-Planet Horn Cap, on the border between the Minotuarian Concordant and the Lyra Commonwealth

Starbright Shimmer sat in the cockpit of the powered down Maud in the DropShip's 'Steed bay in orbit. It had taken several months and a ton of S-bits to get the heavy 'Steed up and running, as well as taking a bunch of piss ant bandit smashing and pirate stomping jobs just to keep them in the black. But it was worth it. The heavy 'Steed had a pair of prismatic particle cannons, and had been upgraded with an ultra AC-5 and an XL engine. On the up side, the Maud could move like it was a medium-weight 'Steed and lay down a field of devastating fire. On the down side the wrench jockeys had to remove some heat sinks and shave down the armor on the flanks and rear to compensate for the heavier ultra auto-cannon and larger engine. No matter, Mauds weren't designed to be frontline brawlers.

Starbright went over the mission in her head. Minotaurian Concordant had ponied up good bits and salvage rights to deal with a large pirate conclave that had been, until recently, content on doing hit-and-run raids on isolated depots, industrial districts on planets along non-vital trade routes and out-of-the-way convoys. Then something had changed, somehow they had gotten their hooves on several IndustrialSteeds, weapons and armor to make them an actual threat, and two Gildas. They had switched from doing small hit-and-run raids to assaulting and looting five military bases on the boundaries between the Mintotaurian Concordant and the Lyra Commonwealth.

As Starbright mulled over the details, she also made a mental note that the weirdos of the Whinnyappolis Tribe were currently reported to have been travelling in this region of space. There had been a directive sent down from the MRRB to not engage and the board had also not issued any contracts involving them. There had also been rumors that the weirdos of the Whinnyappolis Tribe had been in some sort of negotiations with the weirdos of StarCom. She decided to leave any thoughts of weirdo groups talking to one another to the tinfoil hat brigades, after all the Equestria Sphere had no shortage of weirdos.

***

As the DropShip jostled from turbulence of atmospheric reentry, Star Burst came in over the radio. "All right everypony, clench your sphincters tight. We're coming in for a hot drop into an active battlefield. You'll be dropped a few kliks away from the worst of the fighting, but keep your hooves on the triggers. There are reports of at least two mixed pirate lances, mostly composed of up-armed IndustrialSteeds and light tanks, accompanied by one of their commanders in a Gilda. The board has put a bounty bonus of one hundred and fifty thousand S-bits on his head. Your mission is to keep those dumps out of the hooves of the pirates, failing that, you are to destroy them. Our drop zone will be about three kliks away from the dumps. If you can keep those dumps intact and bring down their commander, we'll get a nice fat bonus. If you can keep from smashing up that Gilda too badly, we can swoop in and snatch it up right under their snouts before anypony knows what happened. What the board or the Concordant doesn't know about can't hurt us."

Starbright went through her systems checks. Everything came up all-green and she gave a hoofs-up to the mechanic standing on the gantry in front of her cockpit. Looking across the bay, she saw the mechanics securing parachute packs to the MRM carrier. This was going to be a drop from altitude, not high enough to damage the 'Steed, but high enough to completely wreck the heavy missile tank and kill Spring Ember if the parachutes didn't deploy properly.

The radio crackled as Star Burst spoke. "Alright everypony, engines hot. We're dropping in one-twenty."

The Maud whirred to life as the on-board computer sounded off in its vaguely feminine monotone voice.

Reactor: Online
Sensors: Online
Weapons: Online
All systems nominal

The floor under the 'Steed opened and Starbright felt the rush of weightlessness as seventy-five tons of heavy metal plummeted towards the ground. This wasn't her first hot drop at altitude, but just like on her first one, she held her breath, counting the seconds until the 'Steed impacted the ground. With a lurch the Maud landed on the ground. Starbright quickly checked all the readouts. No armor damage, no structure damage, reactor green, sensors green, weapons functioning. She saw the MRM carrier touched down and the parachutes detach.

"Holy shit, I don't see how you feather brains like this!", Spring Ember said over the radio.

"Keep talking trash crook-horn and I'll spray you down with a fire extinguisher when we get back home.", Firecracker snapped back.

"Hothead, Eagle One, cut the chatter and give me a systems check."

"Uh, weapons...all-green, engine...normal, tracks...intact, drive train...normal, sensors...all-green.", Spring Ember replied.

"Everything's all-green here boss.", Firecracker responded.

"Alright, move into position. Those dumps won't last long if those pirate 'Steeds show up."

As the lance moved into range of the dumps, Starbright quickly glanced at her sensors. The dumps were protected by two DerpySteeds, four Scootaloos, a dozen light and medium tanks and twenty Parasprite-class helicopters. For a series of fuel and munitions dumps this close to where a battle was raging, these dumps should be guarded by no less than a full lance of BattleSteeds each, accompanied by two full lances of ground vehicles and aerospace assets each...unless this was a trap. She quickly switched over to the short range communication frequency used by the Minotaurian Concordant. "Minotautian command, this is Runner of the Star Gallopers. You critters call for a couple of guns?"

"We have your lance on sensors Runner. There's a valley between four high hills a quarter klik west of here. Go there, power down and wait for our signal. When the shooting starts, check your fire, we've hired a few planet-based freebooter mercs to harry and harass the pirates and they might show up 'round here once it all kicks to get some extra S-bits."

That proved her intuition right, this was a trap. Dangle a few juicy looking, lightly guarded dumps and see who comes a-knockin'.

The freebooter mercs might be a problem when it comes to laying claim to any legit bounties, as they have a bad habit of swooping in at just the right, or sometimes wrong, moment, score the kill shot on any high profile bounty, then use their sensor data to contest any claims when it come to the S-bits and salvage shares for it. Though not against the rules and regulations of the MRRB to hire freebooters, mercenaries who have decided to either strike out on their own without being part of a mercenary company, the hiring of them was often frowned upon and hoof-waggled, especially among the great houses, but this the periphery, the edge of "civilized" space, and the various powers here might not have the the capital to hire much in the way of board certified merc outfits, especially large ones.

"Roger, roger.", Starbright replied.

Starbright, Firecracker and Spring Ember made their way to the aforementioned valley. Powering down her 'Steed, the unicorn turned the lock on the hatch at the top of the cockpit, grabbed the rope ladder and climbed on top of the machine. Attaching the hooks of the rope ladder just inside the cockpit hatch, kicked it down so the kirin could climb up and pulled a box of cards from inside her barding.

The pegasus, the kirin and the unicorn eyed each other suspiciously as they looked at their cards. They had been sitting and waiting for hours, they had resulted to playing Library, betting a percentage their projected S-bits shares in a series of best of five rounds. Currently Starbright was up by three books, Firecracker was in position to tie this hoof or even possibly pull ahead, and Spring Ember needed a miracle to catch up.

"I bid seven books.", the pegasus said.

"I bid zero.", the kirin replied.

"Oooooh. You plannin' on making her sandbag? Or have you accepted that you're losing and owing us a plot ton of money?", the unicorn asked.

The kirin glared at the unicorn, little wisps of smoke rising from her curly mane.

"Right, right. I bit...four books.", Starbright said.

Right as Firecracker took her second book, the glimmering red glare of a flare caught their attention. The pegasus mare flew up so she could look over the peak of the hills. "Guess I'll have to take your money later, ladies. C'mon Springy, I'll get you to your tank." The pegasus scooped up the kirin and flew off to the MRM carrier.

Starbright didn't bother gathering up the cards, she could buy more later. After rolling up the rope ladder, she hopped back in the cockpit and stowed it. Once the hatch had been sealed, the unicorn mare made sure her neural helmet was secured, her barding was properly secured and her cooling under-suit was functioning. Slipping into the command chair and strapping in, she started the manual startup process.

Firecracker's Parasprite was the first of the lance to make it above the crest of the hills. She synched her sensors with the rest of the lance. "Hey boss, they're already laying down harassing fire with LRMs. Looks like five-packs based on the contrails. They're still too far out for accurate fire."

Gildas normally carried LRM/10s. "Eagle One, synch up sensors with our Minotaurian contacts. That might be missile packs from the IndustrialSteeds. Let their whirlybirds take the hits first, no need to get ourselves smashed up just yet."

"Roger, roger!"

As soon as her MRM carrier cleared the crest of the hill, she gunned it for a patch of nearby trees. Nocreature had to tell her that taking a hit from an auto-cannon or a PPC could very well mean an abrupt end to her career. The cover would also give her the added benefit of breaking up her sensor profile, making her harder to detect as she moved in to position.

Starbright, piloting the Maud, would be the main target. More so because she was piloting the largest and heaviest BattleSteed in the current engagement, and that would be quite a feather in somepony's cap. So she decided to hold back a little until the fight was properly joined.

Starbright scanned her eyes simultaneously across the sensor data in her HUD and through the armored glass of the cockpit. Though they were too far out to get a read on their loadouts, she was able to judge by the contrails that at least three of the IndustrialSteeds were packing LRM/5s. The Gilda was nowhere on the sensors. That meant that it was probably out there somewhere hiding, probably powered down until it was the proper time to pop its head up and wreak all kinds of damage.

As Starbright continued to scan the area for a sign as she trotted her 'Steed along at a leisurely sixty-four KPH, an auto-cannon round screamed past her cockpit. She quickly began to serpentine the 'Steed as she checked her readouts. The shot had missed, fortunately. "Everypony, watch yourselves. They've got AC/2s." An AC/2, though it fires a relatively small round and does less damage than larger variants of auto-cannon, is accurate at farther ranges, and that can be bad, especially if it hits the cockpit.

"Roger wilco!", Firecracker replied.

"Roger.", Spring Ember responded.

Starbright opened the frequency to her Minotaurian employers. "Does anycreature have sensor lock on those fuckos? One of them just put a shot across my muzzle."

"Aw cheese and crackers. Don't'cha pirates know that this is Whinnyapolis Tribe territory?", an annoyed voice said over the radio. "Now ya face the wrath of Big Gouda of the mighty three-one-three."

Starbright stared dumbfounded for a moment as a Riflemare signature came on the sensors. She quickly shook it off as clear sensor data came through to her HUD. She quickly cycled through the targets until she came across a tempting target of opportunity, a Loader Princess with some of the armor stripped from the torso just below where the LRM/5 had been mounted. Planting all four legs, she carefully lined up the shot and fired off one of her PPCs. Static crackled at the edges of her HUD as a triple helix of coiling rainbow-colored energy erupted from the weapon arm. Even with heavy energy weapons, at this range it would be a lucky shot if she hit the broad side of a JumpShip. That wasn't her intentions though. A shot from a PPC, even if it was a near miss, would still scramble and confuse enemy sensors, plus it would scare anyone it was fired at.

"Alright everypony, put the hammer down and close with those fuckheads. We need to under-run those missiles and thin their ranks before that Gilda shows its head.", Starbright said into the radio. She drove the Maud forward, its new XL engine letting her 'Steed move at almost eighty KPH. She serpentined her 'Steed, weaving left and right, preventing the LRMs from getting a clear lock and avoiding auto-cannon shots as she closed in to optimal range.

Firecracker swooped down with her helicopter and unleashed a staggered volley from her M-lasers. Two emerald beams of high-powered coherent light etched their way along the left torso and down the left flank of the IndustrialSteed, melting armor plates to slag. As she pulled away to prepare for another attack pass, clusters of missiles came at her from two different directions. She pulled her whirlybird into a steep climb, deploying flares and foil packs. The long-range missiles veer away, their guidance confused by the foil and flares, some exploded midair as others impacted the ground. Parasprite-class helicopters carry enough chaff to protect their hides three times. "That got a little hairy there, boss. I got one softened up for ya."

"Pull back into a holding formation and wait for an opening. No need to get unnecessarily cooked."

Firecracker waggled her helicopter side-to-side to signal in the affirmative as she disengaged from the fight.

Starbright, keeping her 'Steed moving at max speed, lined up a shot and fired the ultra AC/5. Four auto-cannon shells slammed into the Loader Princess.

The problem with strapping weapons and armor to IndustrialSteeds like the Loader Princess is that, though tough and sturdy, they weren't built with the stresses of combat in mind. So when four auto-cannon rounds slammed into the weakened armor where m-lasers from the Parasprite had already hit, the shockwave traveled into the internals and the ammo hopper that contained rounds for the AC/2 began to cook off in a devastating flashpoint cascade reaction, shearing off the left torso and the left weapon arm. Because IndustrialSteeds were built with heavy industrial labor in mind and not combat, their cockpits lack an ejection function.

Starbright could see fire and smoke fill the IndustrialSteed's cockpit as it keeled over. She wheeled her 'Steed around so that her weapons were broadside to another IndustrialSteed that was currently trading shots with one of the DerpySteeds.

Many a 'Steed jock has found themselves in an early grave because they underestimated the DerpySteed. This was a mistake this pirate had figured out too late.

Starbright wheeled her 'Steed in reverse as a shot from the Derpy's AC/20 impacted. A few seconds later the IndustrialSteed was consumed in a blinding rainbow-colored fireball as its reactor went critical. The mostly flash melted remains of the 'Steed collapsed to the ground.

The Scootaloos, though lightly armored, used their greater speed as they wound in and around the IndustrialSteeds. They unleashed shots from their m-lasers, s-lasers, SRM/2s, machine guns and flame throwers. Five pirate 'Steeds were felled or had their weapons shot off and forced to withdraw.

The Riflemare had taken up a firing position on a ridge, it unleashed staggered barrages from its twin AC/5s, twin AC/2BFs and twin l-lasers, felling or crippling at least four IndustrialSteeds.

Starbright lined up a shot on one of the pirate 'Steeds legs and fired a shot from one of her PPCs. The coiling rainbow-colored triple helix sheared the leg off at the knee, sending the IndustrialSteed crashing to the ground cockpit first. She was unsure if the pilot was dead or unconscious. Deciding to not take the chance, she lined up another shot and fired her other PPC. Pirates, bandits and the like weren't protected under the Equus Treaty, so opening fire on one who was unable to defend themselves wasn't a war crime.

Using the chaos of the battle a distraction, Spring Ember had maneuvered her MRM carrier into optimal range and opened fire. Dozens of unguided medium-range missiles soared through the air. Though many hit the ground, exploding harmlessly, enough hit pirate aerospace assets, vehicles and 'Steeds to give them pause.

As Starbright began lining up a shot on one of the pirate 'Steeds, Star Burst came over the radio.

"Runner, Hothead, Firecracker! We just spotted an enemy DropShip closing in on your location and burning hot! They're thirty seconds out at the most!"

"Just business as usual, eh boss?", Firecracker snarked over the radio.

"I'd shave my mane and chop my horn off if it meant we get jobs with good intel.", Spring Ember snapped.

"Minotaurian command, I hope you've got some help comin'. We've got an enemy DropShip comin' in hot!"

"Runner, can you hold? We have reinforcements coming up. They'll be there in ten minutes."

"Tell'em to get the lead out! That DropShip will be here in less than thirty seconds!" Starbright switched her frequency. "Big Gouda, please tell me you've got a lance hiding somewhere nearby."

"Sore-ee, I'm just a lance of one. I was sent out on orders to help run these pirates off. Maybe I can get some infantry here to help out."

"A couple of fresh guns are better than nothing." Starbright could see the pirate DropShip in the distance, it looked like a slowly growing dot. She began running through her head all the assets they currently had at hoof. Two DerpySteeds, eight Scootaloos, a Riflemare and her Maud when it came to BattleSteeds. There was Firecracker in her Parasprite helicopter and Spring Ember in her alicorn MRM carrier heavy tank. There was also a smattering of Minotaurian aerospace assets and ground vehicles. Fortunately pirate the 'Steeds, ground vehicles and aerspace assets that weren't destroyed had pulled back, but as soon as that DropShip arrives and drops off those fresh 'Steeds, they'll push back in to the fight. A repair bay or a field repair team that could weld on fresh armor plates, drop some more ammo into the hoppers and swap out the hot fluid in the heat sinks for cool fluid would be great, but they would have to do with what they had...and who knows, maybe they'll hold out long enough for back up, and not take too many casualties. 'And maybe monkeys will fly out my plot.'

As pirate DropShip move into position and began to lower, Starbright ordered every pony and creature to press forward and engage the new 'Steeds at point blank range as they deployed from the DropShip, that way they'd be too close for any LRMs they may have...and who knows, maybe they'll force these new pirates to disengage. 'It sure doesn't feel like any monkeys are about to fly out my plot.'

As the pirate DropShip came to a hover several meters above the ground, the 'Steeds, helicopters and ground vehicles bum rushed it. The DropShip deployed flack to misdirect missiles, and opened fire with its auto-cannon emplacements and l-lasers. Three Scootaloos and a dozen helicopters and light tanks fell to the fire. In return dozens of hits impacted the DropShip. Though they had no chance of penetrating its thick armor, that wasn't the intent as a half dozen weapon emplacements were sheared off, the unidentifiable remains of creatures fell from the smoking remains of the weapons.

Four spots on the bottom of the DropShip opened and time seemed to slow for Starbright as the Gilda dropped out, accompanied by a Sneaky'Shy, a Party Howitzer and an Applejack. Four fresh 'Steeds in total, one heavy, one assault and two mediums, with a smattering of damaged IndustrialSteeds and vehicles serving as backup, facing seven damaged 'BattleSteeds, with ammo in various stages of depletion. The air felt as thick as maple syrup as she took aim at the still dropping Sneak'Shy and fired with the ultra AC/5. Success! She scored a solid hit on the Sneaky'Shy, knocking out one of its four m-lasers and damaging another.

The Sneak'Shy, still dropping, returned fire with its remaining three m-lasers and l-laser as it ignited its jump jets. The three emerald beams and one blue beam of destructive coherent light struck the Maud's ultra AC/5.

Weapon destroyed

"Fuck! Matchstick and Spot Weld are gonna kill me!", Starbright shouted to no one in particular. Fortunately the lasers didn't penetrate into the ammo hopper, or this would have been the end of her career. She pressed her Maud forward and rushed the Sneaky'Shy as it touched down. The seventy ton 'Steed, though sporting a decent amount of energy weapons, an SRM/4 for close range defense and enough heat sinks to keep it cool, was more of a medium-to-short-range brawler, not an up-close-and-personal brawler. Of course the Maud wasn't made for up-and-close brawling either as it was a long-to-medium-range marksmare 'Steed, but needs must.

Starbright could see the surprised look on the 'Steed pilot's face as she closed in.The pirate 'Steed jock tried to backpedal. A trained 'Steed jock would have either tried to sidestep the rushing attacker, or counter charged, firing all available weapons, in the hopes of making the charging jock chicken out, barring that, do enough damage to their 'Steed so you or your allies can shear off components.

Starbright lowered her 'Steed's "shoulder" and tucked the weapon arms in to keep the expensive PPCs from getting sheared off in the impact. The air left her lungs as the harness felt like it was crushing her when the two 'Steeds impacted. She saw the enemy 'Steed jock bounce off the armored glass of the cockpit, their head twisting at an odd angle before going limp.

***

Lesson number one of piloting a BattleSteed: Always make sure your command chair harness is properly secured.

Many a 'Steed jock has found their careers tragically cut short because they thought they were "too cool" for a harness, forgot to properly attach all five points or felt it was "too uncomfortable". Are you "too cool" or "too comfortable" for broken bones and dying?

This message has been brought to you by StarCom.

StarCom MagePulse Generator Telecommunications Network. Pay your bills fucko. It's not like you have any other choice.

***

Starbright watched as the Sneaky'Shy fell to the ground, its pilot dead from a broken neck.

The Party Howitzer fired its twin SRM/6STs at a DerpySteed, blowing off the AC/10BF and the s-laser.

The pilot was forced to eject, with both weapons blown off, they were less than useless in this fight. A thin blue streak of light came from the bottom of the capsule that held the cockpit as the rockets ignited, shooting the pilot, cockpit and capsule containing the life support functions upwards at a high rate of speed.

The Party Howitzer found it surrounded by two of the remaining Scootaloos and the DerpySteed. The two Scootaloos circled the assault-tonnage 'Steed, one firing its twin flame throwers, ensuring that the enemy 'Steed remained too hot for the pilot to effectively bring its weapons to bear as the other fired its twin machine guns, the heavy thirty millimeter rounds looking for a seam in the armor to cause internal damage.

The Riflemare and the Applejack circled. The smaller and faster medium 'Steed was able to get behind the slower heavy 'Steed, scoring hits from its twin AC/5s and twin m-lasers on the rear armor of the heavy 'Steed. Big Gouda, showing he was the better trained 'Steed pilot, flipped the weapon arms around to fire backwards. The Applejack's pilot didn't even get a chance to react as rounds from the twin AC/5s and twin AC/2s ripped their 'Steed to pieces. Big Gouda galloped his 'Steed away as the freshly destroyed 'Steed's reactor went critical.

Spring Ember fired clusters of medium-range missiles at the advancing pirate IndustrialSteeds, knocking a couple out, and more importantly, keeping them from closing in on the fight. The scopes on her heavy tank filled with static when a blast from the Gilda's PPC. Smoke filled the pilot's compartment as something somewhere in the alicorn heavy tank was burning. "Boss, I gotta *cough-kaff* I gotta pull out. I took a bad hit."

"Boss, I gotta pull out too. I'm outa chaff and I won't be able to dodge missiles forever.", Firecracker said.

Starbright grumbled to herself. This was going to be a big drop in firepower, but it was cheaper in the long run when out gunned to bug out. "Alright, be safe you two. I'll try to keep'em occupied, then bug out myself." Sometimes when one finds themselves in a bad situation, sometimes it's better to run away, so one can live to fight another day.

Starbright took aim at the Gilda's LRM/10 and chain fired both m-lasers. The first was a glancing hit, melting off some of the armor, the second was a direct hit, directly damaging the launcher but not knocking it out. This had the desired effect of drawing the Gilda's attention. She lined up another shot and fired her right PPC. The spiraling triple helix of rainbow-colored energy impacted on the Gilda's missile launcher, filling the air with static electricity and a spectacular light show as it half-melted, half-shattered the LRM/10. Heat alarms blared in the cockpit, she took a glance at the meter. Ninety-six percent heat, one more shot, even with one laser and she'd trigger the emergency shutdown.

Starbright saw her HUD fill with static and her 'Steed shudderas the Gilda returned fire with its PPC. She quickly switched over to the backup sensor package, though they weren't as accurate, they had the added advantage of not being scrambled. She took a quick glance at the paper doll readout, her 'Steed had taken a direct hit, armor levels were reading at critical levels on its right torso, with minor carry-through damage to the internals there. She then took a quick glance at the heat meter, the heat sinks had bled off some of the heat, only a little bit, it still read at ninety percent. If she delayed to let the heat sinks bleed more heat away, it would give the Gilda time to recharge its PPC and fire another shot, so she decided to risk an emergency shutdown. She lined up the crosshairs on the enemy BattleSteed, they wavered and flickered, a combination of the residual effects of the Gilda's PPC and the amount of heat buildup. She flicked a switch, putting all of the Maud's weapons onto the same fire control, unleashing an alpha strike.

Starbright snarled curses as her 'Steed slouched as the emergency shutdown kicked in. Both PPCs and twin m-lasers, instead of hitting the Gilda center mass, instead struck it where the right foreleg, shearing it clean off. The fifty-five ton BattleSteed tipped over and fell to the ground.

The DerpySteed lined up a shot and fired its last round of AC/20 at the Party Howitzer, knocking out but not destroying its right LRM/15. The Party Howitzer returned fire with its twin l-lasers, hitting the Derpy in the cockpit, flash incinerating the pilot. The Riflemare opened fire from the Party Howitzer's left, alternating fire between its twin AC/5s, twin AC/2BFs and twim l-lasers, the shots stripped the armor away from the left LRM/15 and destroyed it. The assault-class 'Steed, smoke pouring from its destroyed long-range missile launcher, turned to face its attacker and unleashed a barrage from it twin SRM/6STs and twin l-lasers.

The barrages raked the Riflemare on its left and right torsos, touching off the ammo. Fortunately the 'Steed had CASE installed, so the blast of cooking off ammo went out the back rather than going internal and killing the pilot. The Riflemare was without weaponry and was forced to withdraw.

Starbright was alone on the battlefield and she knew it. Even if her 'Steed wasn't currently shut down, it would only be a matter of time before either the crippled BattleSteed managed to get up or one up the up armed and armored IndustrialSteeds closed in and cripple her Maud and kill her. Though the emergency shutdown lasted ten seconds, just long enough to vent enough heat to safely start up, ten seconds was a long time. Though the crippled Gilda might be having trouble standing up and lining up a shot, the Party Howitzer should be ripping her apart, unless...that assault 'Steed! They must have seen it too. Because she wasn't being ripped apart right now must mean it wasn't friendly to them. So the Party Howitzer must be trying to move into position. So why haven't the IndustrialSteeds also moved in too? It wasn't like pirates to play fair. So either Spring Ember's barrages smashed them up pretty bad and scared a bunch of them off, or something else must be going on.

The lights in the Maud's cockpit flickered on as the engine whirred to life. Starbright swung around to get her bearings, she saw the Party Howitzer backpedaling as its cockpit was aimed upwards. As she lined up a shot, a voice shouted over the radio.

"Dee-Eff-Ay, baby! Whoo!"

A Rainbow Dash came crashing down on the back of the Party Howitzer, practically snapping the 'Steed in two.

Starbright recognized the voice and the crazy rainbow-colored flames painted on the eighty ton 'Steed. "Zapp Apple Jam! Hot damn! I haven't seen you since that big dust-up between the Draconic Combine and the Federated Hives!"

"Only this time we ain't shootin' at each other.", Zapp replied.

Starbright scrunched up her muzzle. "About that--"

"It was business, not personal.", Zapp interrupted. "We were workin' for employers on opposite sides of a border skirmish. All water under the bridge."

The sound of crunching metal drew Starbright's attention. She turned her 'Steed's "head" to see the trying to literally crawl away. Her alpha strike must have done way more damage than she thought. "Right, got a job to finish." She casually trotted her 'Steed over, pinned the heavily damaged war machine that was trying to crawl away and aimed both PPCs at the Gilda's cockpit. "Power down and surrender, or I will kill you."

The pilot, a griffon rooster, took a moment to ponder his chances, then switched his steed off.

"Good choice." Starbright turned the cockpit face Zapp's. "So why are you out here freebooting it on the periphery, rather than running with the Dust Devils?"

"All aerospace pilots, ground vehicle operators and BattleSteed pilots operating in the vicinity of Battle Zone X-ray, this is Minotaurian Command Actual. Clear out or hunker down. High altitude fighter-bomber support is moving into your Ay-Oh."

Zapp and Starbright laid their BattleSteeds down on their bellies, using the machines' forelegs to protect their cockpits as the ground vehicles and aerospace assets that could moved away at max speed. From low orbit Minotaurian aerospace fighter-bombers zoomed towards the ground at hypersonic speeds. The first wings of the aerospace craft unleashed torrents of unguided long-range missiles to soften up the targets, then pulled up and away to make way for the following wings. The next two wings dropped hyperbaric bombs.

All Starbright could do as explosions ripped apart an area two square kilometers across, with her and Zapp right in the middle of it, was brace for the impacts and watch as the armor readouts steadily dropped, and hoped that none of the damage caused to the internals would be serious.

Within seconds the Minotaurian aerospace craft had finished their bombing run, with the final wing of aerospace fighter-bombers swooping down low over the area to pick off any pirate stragglers with their auto-cannons and m-lasers.

Starbright stood her 'Steed back upright. She looked at the paper doll readout. Most of her 'Steed's armor had been stripped off, most of the internal damage had been light-to-moderate, with the right torso flashing critical warning. Spot Weld and Matstick were going to be very upset. She looked down at the Gilda, it was clear that the bombardment had turned the pilot to jelly and wrecked up the BattleSteed badly. She turned her 'Steed to face Zapp Apple Jam's. "So, why are you out here on the periphery freebooting it, rather than still running with the Dust Devils?"

"Got hired by some little piss ant kingdom on the edge of New Yakyakistan to put down a terrorist cell. Turns out those 'terrorists' were just a bunch of starving civvies who had organized into a massive protest. It also turned out that the contract wasn't board certified and the captain had thrown in with a rogue state. You know me. I hate bullies. So when it turned out that we weren't facing down terrorist, but a bunch'a starving creatures angrily protesting that their government was literally starving them out, I put myself and Ol' Awesome here between the civvies and at the time who I thought were my friends. That's when I found out that the Dust Raiders had violated their oaths as SteedWarriors by violating the Equus Treaty. Took a few knocks, but seeing as Ol' Awesome here was the biggest and baddest, the rest of the lance was forced to pull back. After convincing the civvies to seek shelter, I made a bee line for the nearest StarCom MPG and got a message out to the MRRB on what had happened. Turned out that StarCom had some inkling on what was going down in that area of space and had already dispatched the Light Horse Brigade to investigate."

Starbright gave a long whistle. "So what did you do?"

"Duh! I dropped the tenth of an S-bit on where the Dust Devils were and what they were doing. When the Light Horses asked me to help them out, I jumped at the chance to kick the plot of some bullies. Once the shooting was all over, the MRRB held a formal trial for the Dust Devils. Because I was still technically a part of them, I found myself at that trial. Eridanni himself spoke up in my defence and the charges got dropped. He even offered me a spot with the Light Horses, saying he needed somepony like me on crew. I thanked him,then turned him down as I felt my destiny laid elsewhere in the 'Sphere. He shrugged and offered me a lift to anywhere I wanted. That was six months ago. Since then I've been taking any jobs I could to keep Ol' Awesome here in tip-top shape, with enough left over for some food and transport on a JumpShip to the next job. And that puts me here, pulling your hay bacon from the fire."

"So what happened to the Dust Devils?"

"The ones that didn't run or get shot to shit were sentenced to be spaced out an airlock."

Starbright shuddered at the thought of somepony out in the black of space simultaneously freezing and boiling as the uncaring void sucked the warmth and air from their bodies. She remembered every time had encountered the bodies of some unfortunate souls that had met with the uncaring void, their remains unidentifiable, the uncaring void having desiccating and twisting their features, and the radiation bleaching everything stark white. She had stories of other ponies and creatures finding relatively fresh bodies, their eyes literally bugging from their souls. "So what do you say, wanna join up with the Star Gallopers? You'll have to split the S-bits with the whole crew, but there's good...ish food. Cookie Dough might not be a great cook, but he makes a hooch that's good for two things: Stripping the paint off 'Steed armor and killing brain cells. You don't have to say yes right now. If you say no, then we'll give your cut of the cash and drop you off at New Las Pegasus, once the JumpShip we commissioned for this trip recharges its batteries."

"You had me at brain-totting hooch!", the tan pegasus with the rainbow mane said through the radio.

Starbright cued up Star Burst on the radio. "Star Galloper Command, this is Runner. I'm ready for pick up and I've recruited a new gun. Also I need an id on four BattleSteeds. We may have just made bank. Transmitting sensor data now." The reply came back partially garbled by static.

"*skrt*e read *skrt*ou Runner. Unable to receive sensor *skrt* due to an in-system *skrt*nic storm. Can you pull *skrt*ck to orig*skrt* drop coordinates?"

Starbright sigh. An ionic storm in-system would keep all ships from departing. "Come on Zapp, we're pulling back to our original drop zone. Just stay on my six 'till we get there."

"Can do."

Starbright switched frequencies. "Eagle One, Hothead, you two still alive?"

"Yeah, boss."

"Holy shit! I wasn't sure if anypony survived that!"

"We're pulling back to the original drop coordinates, there's an ionic storm in-system. I got the full scans for four pirate BattleSteeds, two mediums, one heavy and one assault just in case anypony tries to snipe our claims. Also, I picked up a new recruit. Just gotta get'em aboard and get'em all contracted up. Say hello to your new lancemates."

"Eagle One, Hothead, I'm your new lancemate, The Awesome One."

"You don't get to give yourself a call sign here in the Star Gallopers. Until you earn on, your sign is Noob. Got that?", Firecracker snapped.

Back aboard the DropShip, Star Burst, Starbright and Zapp Apple Jam sat in the conference room.

Star Burst slid a data pad across the table. "This is a standard board-approved five-year contract. It provides full provisions for a board approved, above-the-table mercenary company: Full medical provided by our medical staff, a paycheck every ninety days, hazard pay given at the end of each mission you are on, full repairs by our mechanics, your own living quarters, a guaranteed full retrieval of your BattleSteed if it is ever downed. Now this is the part where I'm supposed to give you the whole speech about legal immunity given only given to SteedWarriors who only take MRRB-approved contracts, so let's pretend I gave it to you as you used to be part of another merc company. There is a small provision at the bottom that absolves the Star Gallopers of any and all wrongdoing in the event you are arrested on your own time if you break the laws of any planet we are on, and that we reserve the right to sell or offer your BattleSteed as collateral in the event you wind up in jail. I only bring this up because our next stop is New Las Pegasus, so don't do something stupid like get in a bar fight, get found possessing any contraband substances or get caught with a foal that isn't your offspring in your motel or hotel room. Now what isn't on the contract, but is very strongly urged by the leadership at Star Gallopers Mercenary Company, don't bring any professional or amateur fun time creatures aboard the ship. I know you jock get your plot hairs wound up tight and need to blow off some steam, but you never know who's working for the competition as a honeypot. Any questions?" He paused for a moment, when Zapp Apple Jam said nothing, he continued."In the event you are killed, put down who is your primary beneficiary and what planet they're on. Then sign here, here, here and here. Date here and hoofprint here."

Once Zapp Apple Jam, had finished filling out the contract and slid it off the table, Star Burst picked it up and looked it over. "Your royal Rainbow Dash. Those are kinda rare, Spot Weld and Matchstick are creaming themselves. I have only one question to ask about it, and the only reason why I ask is because we don need reclamations agents jumping us when we translate into a system." He pointed between himself and Starburst. "You didn't steal it off of someone?"

"Nope. Found it years ago in an old crashed HLDF WarShip."

"Alright then. Welcome aboard. Stop by the canteen and get some grub. There'll be drinks at twenty-hundred-thirty hours. Our chief of security, Water Wings will give you your room assignment, just tell her if you prefer port, starboard or aft.", Star Burst said.

Starbright walked onto the observation deck of the Xerxes. Zapp Apple Jam was staring out the window. "Hey.", she said. "You didn't get anything to eat?"

Zapp shook his head. "When I saw Spring Ember scarfing down three trays worth of tacos and bursting into flames when somepony asked if they could ask a few, I figured I'd skip the canteen today and try my luck with a couple of old calorie bars."

"Yeah, don't get between that 'rin and tacos, unless you have a fire extinguisher at hoof.", Starbright chuckled. She walked up to the window and looked out at the ion storm. "Old spacers used to believe that the lights of the storms were the souls of those lost when JumpDrives failed."

Zapp shook his head and pointed out the window. "That's not what I'm looking at. Out by the seventh planet, there's a JumpShip. Also look out at the edge of the orbital plane, this isn't a normal storm."

Starbright looked out the window. In the distance she could see strangly colored clouds, they were pink, purple, yellow, blue, white and orange. In the flashes of light from the storm she could see a large ship. "That's not a JumpShip, that's a WarShip! And this is a chaos anomaly storm!" She ran to a wall panel. "Has there been any reports of the Disciples Discordant in this sector?"

"Uh...No there hasn't. Why?"

"Because there's a WarShip that matches the descriptions of the one that the Discordants use! Plus this isn't a normal storm, it's a damned chaos anomaly storm! Any time there has been a chaos anomaly storm anywhere in-system, the Disciples always show up!"

"My sendors read this as a normal, uncharted--"

"To Tartarus with your readings! When was the last time all ships were ordered to stay in orbit because of an ion storm? Asteroid swarms, meteor storm or drifting debris fields, maybe. Even the cheapest built garbage scow has enough electromagnetic shielding to protect its internal systems and only a nearby JumpDrive failure would be powerful enough to fry its systems. This is a military-grade DropShip! It would take the pulse of a supernova popping twenty light years away to fry our internals. If you don't believe me, just take a look out a window. It'll take like two seconds."

"Alright, I'll look out the window. Just to placate you. If you're wrong--

"If I'm wrong, I'll let you and every other stallion that wants to bang me in every hole, film it and sell it on the MPG net for ten S-bits a view. Now just go and look."

Starbright could practically feel Fire Storm roll his eyes. "Five...four...three...two...aaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnddddd..." She held up a hoof in the air and twitched it. Almost as if on cue strobing red lights came on and the pa system came on with a screech of feedback.

"This is not a drill! There has been a visual confirmation of a chaos anomaly storm! All hooves stay in your quarters or find your nearest damage control team! We are under Anomaly Code: Black!"

As Starbright moved for the door, she saw a bright flash of light. "Was...was that a drive failure? They were on a pirate jump point."

"Nope!", Zapp said pointing at the expanding sphere of multicolored light. He ran over to the wall panel and pressed the button for the pa. "Incoming chaos anomaly wave! All hooves brace!"

Starbright's eyes became pinpricks. She had never experienced a chaos anomaly wave. She had seen chaos anomalies in deep space before, but never been this close to one. She had no training on what to do.

The chaos wave hit the DropShip. It popped into different shapes over the course of a few seconds, a beautiful white daisy, a turquoise ceramic teapot, a gold necklace, a ball of yarn, a comfy chair, a very confused grey pegasus with blonde mane and tail and golden walleyes. As the chaos anomaly wave passed the DropShip returned to normal.

In the 'Steed bay, Matchstick and Spot Weld looked at each other...well as well as they could, considering they were both couches.

"Match? Are we sofas?"

"Yeah."

"I thought so."

"Panic?"

"Panic."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Starbright looked down at her foreleg and hoof. They were made of crocheted yarn. She quickly ran her hooves over her body. She was a pony made entirely of crocheted yarn. Her head started to spin and her stomach felt like it was doing an Appleoosan hoedown. "I don't feel *bleh!*" Vomit didn't hit the deck, but a jumble of brightly colored yarn. She was suddenly a normal unicorn again. At her hooves where she threw up was not a pool of vomit, but a pile of brightly colored yarn. She coughed and sputtered as she hacked up the last of the yard from her throat.

Wrecks looked at his forelegs, hind legs and paws. he was made entirely of sparkling diamonds, rubies, sapphires and other precious and semi-precious stones. The old diamond dog instincts came in full force and he started trying to figure out how to stuff himself into his pockets.

Star Burst experienced the full pony life cycle first-pony. First he was a gamete rushing at full speed at an egg cell, then he was a dividing clump of cells, then he was a squalling foal exiting his mother, then he was a colt chasing butterflies with his friends in a field, then he was a young stallion asking another young stallion to marry him, then he was a slightly older nervous stallion sitting in an office with his husband as the beautiful who would be their daughter, then he was a past-his-prime stallion as the filly he and his husband had adopted was now a full grown mare who was introducing a stallion who was her fiance to her two dads, then he was an old stallion laying on his deathbed, his grown filly, her husband and all his grandfoals were around him. A smile graced his lips as he closed his eyes for the last time. Then he was back onboard the Xerxes, a completely normal stallion and co-owner of a mercenary company.

Once the wave had passed and every pony and creature had went back to normal, and had resumed their normal duties, Starbright and Star Burst made their way to sickbay upon the request of Wrecks. Laying on one of the beds was Spring Ember in the fetal position, trembling like a leaf.

"The tacos! The Tacos! They were eating me! THEY WERE EATING MEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Wrecks came up with a syringe, jabbed the needle in her foreleg and pressed the plunger down. "It's something to help her to rest. She's suffering the lingering effects of chaos anomaly psychosis. She'll be okay after some sleep. Everycreature aboard suffered it, she's the only one to have lingering effects."

"How long will it last?", Star Burst asked. "The last thing this company needs is its tank driver half-catatonic."

"This a bit of uncharted territory. The only reports there are of chaos anomaly psychosis are from spacers in deep space who flew through a chaos anomaly or JumpShip crews reported materializing in a strange place of swirling colors and the laws of physics were turned on their heads. Of course there are the Disciples Discordant who appear to be under a permanent effect of a chaos psychosis. But that might be because it's rumored that they're based in the only known permanent chaos anomaly way out on the edge of the Deep Periphery.", Wrecks said.

Chrysalis stomped through the hallway of the StarCom headquarters. Held in her green aura was a report from fifteen different places across the Equestria Sphere that the Disciples Discordant, each time they arrived and departed, the created and left odd chaotic anomalies that dissipated almost as quickly. No reports of their movements in the past year of their movements outside the Deep Periphery had crossed her desk and that meant one of three things. One: They were on the recruit again, but no reports of Discordant priests had been reported in nearly five years. Two: Discord had revealed himself and was on the move again, but that old draconequus hadn't been seen since the HLDF had up and disappeared hundreds of years ago. Three: One or all of the princesses had been in contact with the Discordants for some reason. This one was the most likely.

Chrysalis stepped into her office and sat behind her desk. She was mildly surprised to see the light blinking on her holovid communications device blinking. Pressing the button by the blinking light, the holographic image of her personal secretary appeared.

'The princesses for you, Miss Chrysalis.", the mare said in a nasally tone.

Chrysalis glared at the semi-transparent image of her secretary. Of course those five nags had something to do with this! She cleared her throat and regained her composure. "Yes, patch them through."

The holographic images of the faces of the five princesses appeared.

Chrysalis could only shudder in a mixture of fear and disgust at Twilight's empty eye socket with floating purple mote of light where the pupil of an eyeball should be.

"I think you know why we called you.", Celestia said.

"The Disciples Discordant.", Chrysalis said flatly. Of course it was these nags. The only ones the childer and grandchilder of Discord would listen to outside of the draconequus would be his oldest and most respected rivals. She thought that, but didn't say it out loud.

"We are all sorry for stepping outside of proper procedure. You know as well as anypony here who I prefer to stick with proper procedure. I managed to unscramble a little bit more of the message that the StarCom operatives sent out.", Twilight said. "After my fellow princesses and I read what was sent and we felt it prudent to up the time table. I'm sending you a copy of what I could unscramble now.

Another holo display lit up on Chrysalis' desk. It was a text-only message fragment.

We followed the old degraded JumpDrive signatures through a two thousand light year-long arc through uncharted space and encountered debris fields whose fragments matched the...[this fragment of the message is too degraded]...it! We found it! The signal from deep space that the MPG network scans were picking are HLDF in...[this fragment of the message is too degraded]...By the All-Creator! We found what happened to the old Harmony League Defense Force! They've become a force unlike any the Equestria Sphere has seen!...[this message fragment is too degraded]...Eighteen clans, all led by vat-grown and cloned warriors! They've got WarShips! JumpShips! DropShips! They're amassing a force of five clans to invade the Equestria Sphere! Chrysalis! If you're reading warn the Princesses! Warn...[message ends]

Chrysalis clicked her tongue. This was most definitely disturbing news. "I'll put the StarGuard on an indefinite state of readiness. what will you five be doing?"

"I'm going to offer my blessing to the crown prince of the Lyra Commonwealth and the Federated Hives...unofficially of course.", Cadance said.

"On my next trip to the Federated Moons, I'm going to let one of their generals 'accidentally' see the blueprints for Project Annihilator.", Luna said.

"When I next visit the Draconic Combine, I'm going to 'forget' to scan my quarters for electronic observation devices and let them steal the schematics for a railgun and LBX auto-cannons. At the same time the spy networks of the Minotaurian Concordant, the Zebra Magistracy and New Yakyakistan are going to intercept an 'accidentally unsecured' MPG message from my office containing the same schematics.", Twilight said.

"There's a collection of disenfranchised nobles in the Free Moons League calling themselves the Rising Suns. When the crown prince of the Lyra Commonwealth and the Federated Hives announce their wedding, this will trigger another succession war. When the time is right, I will publicly urge my fellow princesses to recognize their legitimacy. This will trigger them to break away and form their own republic.", Celestia said.

"And what of the Lyra Commonwealth's secret factories where they're making the new models of Tirek assault-tonnage BattleSteeds?", Chrysalis asked.

"Tell them through StarCom that they have to sell at least ten percent of them on the free market. Failure to do so will see their MPG network privileges revoked.", Twilight said.

One by one the holographic images of the princesses winked out.

Chrysalis flicked off her her holovid display. She hated that the princesses were still in control all these centuries after their "retirement". She knew they didn't trust her and putting her in the head office of StarCom was a way to hold her hostage. She hated them for that. She hated herself for agreeing to it. She allowed her thoughts to drift back to the Amber Glow civil war and the feelings of despair when she drugs the remains of Thorax from the rubble after that usurping tyrant had detonated a megaspell bomb. His remains were so twisted and charred that she could barely recognize him. Publicly killing a few here and there to keep a population in line she could respect, by not mass murder on an industrial scale.

Even the mighty Tirek who hated the princess more than she was appalled by the wanton mass slaughter. That had triggered him to throw in with the thestrals of the Highland Brigade. He had been leading a successful campaign on Equus to free the very heart of the Hegemony from Amber Glow when he, along with an elite corps of the Highland Brigade's 'Steed pilots were eradicated in the twin flash of of a pair of megaspell bombs. The Celestia assault 'Steed was renamed in honor of his sacrifice.

After the Amber Glow civil war ended, Thorax wasted away over the course of a year from despair.

At the end of it all, the great houses had stripped Marensky, the great general that had freed the Equestria Sphere from Amber Glow's influence. Why? Because they rightly feared her because she couldn't be bought, or coerced, or intimidated into serving any of them. Chrysalis had tried to convince Marensky to stay and take on the great house, and force them to heel. But the old mare, as stalwart as her Stalliongrad ancestors, was simply tired of war and fighting, having served in the Harmony League Defense Force all her adult life and simply to leave the Equestria Sphere and the inevitable destructive First Succession War behind. It was Discord that had provided Marensky the cover she needed, using his chaotic influence to summon all his childer and grandchilder to him and triggering a massive chaotic party across the 'Sphere, then disappeared.

A War made in Marriage-Part 1: The Buildup.

NEO CANTERLOT-EQUUS HEGEMONY

Cinnamon Bon, crown prince and third in line for the throne of the Lyra Commonwealth, knelt down in front of Ephemera Wings, the crown princess and thirteenth in line for the throne of the Federated Hives, aboard the star yacht Illustrious Emeralds in orbit around Neo Canterlot and presented to the crown princess of the Federated Hives a velvet box containing an engagement necklace that contained as its centerpiece a large, multi-faceted diamond that sent small displays of refracted, glittering, rainbow-colored light that shone through its many facets.

Every creature of both royal families that were currently gathered held their breaths awaiting the princess' response(they already knew what the response was going to be, but they still enjoyed playing the part, after all the life of a great house noble of the Equestria Sphere was rather boring).

"Yes, Prince Cinnamon Bon, I accept your wedding proposal.", Ephemera Wings said with all of the grace and poise befitting of one who was thirteenth in line for the throne of the Federated Hives.

The changeling princess used her foreleg to push her webbed maned aside, the unicorn prince levitated the necklace to her neck and fastened it just atop her withers.

"As my wedding gift to you, my bride-to-be...", Cinnamon Bon said rising from the floor.

The two betrothed royals walked over to a holovid. A servant turned it on, displaying the Equestria Sphere.

"I shall conquer in your name these systems in the Free Moons League the worlds that keep our two nations separated.", the prince continued. "And together our two great nations will unite as one."

"Then we shall become the inheritors of the Harmony League of old.", Ephemera Wings replied. "As my wedding gift to you, my-groom-to-be, I shall give you fifteen full lances of BattleSteeds and thirty full divisions of infantry."

In (not so) secret, the two great houses had been building up their forces on the Free Moon League's borders. All across the 'Sphere every creature knew war was coming and it was going to be the largest one in over a century, possibly another succession war. If the creatures of the Equestria Sphere had known that two thousand light years "north" of them was an enemy who had been eyeing the 'Sphere with a conquerors envy, they would have been preparing themselves for an invader instead of playing the usual power politics with courtroom grandstanding, backroom deals, knives to the back and conflicts. So far only a select few within the 'Sphere knew and they were secretly sharing technology with the creatures of the Equestria Sphere.

***

Celestia, Luna, Cadance, Twilight, Flurry Heart and Chrysalis watched the events play out in real-time on their own personal holovid projectors being transmitted by secret cameras being broadcast across the MPG relay, piggybacked onto astro-cartographic signals, something nocreature would even bother to look for in extra signal bandwidth.

"Aw! So sweet to see young love!", Cadance crooned, which got her looks from the other four princesses and one former changeling queen. She gave them a look back. "What? A mare can dream, can't she?"

Twilight cleared her throat. "Anyways, is everything in motion?"

"Indubitably.", Luna replied. "Agents from the Free Moon League 'stole' the plans for 'Project Annihilator' and have been constructing the new assault tonnage BattleSteeds. They're even calling them Lunas."

"My visit to the Draconic Combine went well. Their spies 'stole' the schematics for a rail gun and LBX auto-cannon. I'm sure my 'accidentally unsecured' message containing the same schematics has been intercepted by the Minotaurian Concordant, Zebra Magistracy and New Yakyakistan", Twilight said.

"My sit down with the Rising Suns went well. I told them I understood their plight and that if it came to them forming their own breakaway state, I'd consider urging my fellow princesses to support their legitimacy.", Celestia said. "I also 'accidentally' left out a data slate that contained the schematics for a light tonnage BattleSteed. They've been assembling them in secret factories without the knowledge of the League and have called them the Philomena."

"I had a sit down with a group of separatists living along the border region between the Lyra Commonwealth and the Draconic Combine who do not want to be under the rule of either.", Flurry Heart said. "They've been building up a force of infantry, aerospace assets and BattleSteeds, mostly Iron Will medium-tonnage 'Steeds and Appleoosa heavy-tonnage 'Steeds, without either of the great houses' knowledge. They're probably going to kick off their separatist war while the rest of the Equestria Sphere is distracted with the dust-up involving the conflict involving the allied forces of the Lyra Commonwealth and the Federated Hives against the Free Moons League. I hereby put in a formal request that StarCom put their support behind this separatist movement currently headquartered in New Stalliongrad."

"Well you've seen my contribution.", Cadance said.

"Eh, I bet fifty S-bits that they divorce in five years.", Twilight replied cynically.

"You're on, sister.", Cadance retorted.

One by one the princesses disconnected, their holographic images winking out, leaving Chrysalis alone in her office with a laundry list of things to add to her already impressively long list of things to worry about. "Blech! A changeling princess shouldn't be marrying a pony prince, she should be manipulating and hypnotizing him into placing her into a position of power." Of course noling of the Federated Hives knew she was still alive, and even if they did, none would recognize her authority. Centuries ago Thorax had shattered her pheromone control over her subjects by showing them they no longer had to steal emotions.

Chrysalis stood up from behind her desk and walked over to the viewport, looking out at the ocean of stars that made up just a tiny portion of the Equestria Sphere. The memory of the heavily degraded, text-only message came to mind. If these vat-grown warriors were the successors of the HLDF, then there was going to be blood, worlds would burn and the scars of that conflict would forever change the dynamics of the 'Sphere itself. She walked back over to her desk and pressed a button on her intercom.

On the holovid came up the image of her current secretary, Paradise Springs, a kirin. Chrysalis' personal staff would change monthly, though she never actively fed on any of them, she was a changeling of the old blood and would passively feed on anycreature within two meters of her. So her personal staff needed to be changed monthly, sometimes sooner if she was feeling especially peckish.

"How can I help you, Miss Chrysalis?"

"Paradise, in a few moments I am going to be sending you orders for the StarGuard deep operatives. Send them out on the tertiary circuits and mark them urgent, eyes only."

"Yes, Miss Chrysalis. Oh! before I forget. The cafeteria is offering peanut butter and honeysuckle sandwiches, trumpet vine salads and hummingbird bush nectar smoothies. Creature Resources has also asked that you no longer actively feed on the custodial staff or prisoners in the holding cells."

"Did they say anything about the prisoners serving multi-life sentences in the cell blocs?"

"No ma'am. Nocreature cares about those war criminals, mass murders and serial rapists."

"Very well. I am feeling a bit peckish today. Alert the warden that I'm coming up. I'm in the mood for something spicy. Maybe a nice helping of sociopath with a side of foal fiddler, and a hummingbird bush smoothie for dessert."

"Yes ma'am. Very well ma'am.", Paradise said with a very visible gulp just before logging off.

Chrysalis cackled to herself as she pressed the button to alert the staff of her own personal high-speed tram.

***

Starbright Shimmer grumbled to herself as she drunkenly stumbled aboard the shuttle that would convey her back to the Xerxes. What was supposed to be a month-long furlough on New Las Pegasus had been rescinded after two weeks. She had intended on spending every available moment when not passed out by going on benders of booze, fat lines of cocaine and getting railed by every street-trotting gigolo she could afford. She was currently in the middle of receiving the services of a gigolo in an alleyway behind a skeevy dive bar, the kind of bar that had a layer of grimy sawdust spread on the floor to soak up the spilled booze, blood and other fluids that wound up spilled on the floor, when the recall notice came in. There was a big war brewing and the Star Gallopers had received a fat contract from the Lyra Commonwealth.

Fortunately(depending on who you ask), Starbright had managed to score enough bottles of booze and baggies of nose candy to kill half of her brain cells as she went to town on herself with Mister Happy, though a hunk of silicone with a vibrator built into it was never a real substitute for the real thing. The bottles and baggies were currently stuffed in her rucksack. Plus there was the inevitable three days of sitting in the quarantine booth for the inevitable pubic mites she most likely caught from one of the gigolos, or maybe from that group of JumpShip crewponies. For the next three days that she would spend in the quarantine booth, Wrecks would be scrubbing her down with anti-mite, delousing and defleaing treatments(though only diamond dogs could catch fleas, it was better to be safe than sorry). Then there was the chance that she most definitely caught the clop, but when the symptoms showed up, she would just need to go on a round of antibiotic pills or shots. And of course there would be provided to all female crewmates a pregnancy termination pill upon request, which she would most definitely request while in quarantine.

As Starbright drunkenly staggered off the shuttle and up to the Xerxes' boarding ramp, she was met with two members of security, one armed with a shotgun, the other with a sub-machine gun. She hoofed over her rucksack without a word. As the security team searched through her rucksack, she drunkenly slurred, "How-how-hhhhhhhow much S-bits would it take ya fellows ta not*urp*--oof! That was a spicy burp! Ta not-not-nnnnnnnot-uh--what was I sayin' 'gain? Oh, I 'member. Ta not confi-confi-confi--uh, take my baggies of cocaine?" It never worked, but she was too drunk to remember that it never worked, as the security crew took their jobs very seriously.

Starbright snored drunkenly as she lay half on the floor-half propped on the stainless steel toilet bowl in the quarantine booth. In the bowl a mixture of stomach bile, booze and partially digested food swirled in the blueish chemical liquid the DropShip's septic system used. Her coat, mane and tail was grayish-white from the rubbed-in powder that was designed to kill, in the words of Wrecks, 'Any buggies that might be camping out in your fur'.

The outer door to the quarantine booth opened with a *click-clack*, followed the *hiss* of the cold water vapor mixed with denominating chemicals in the short passageway between the inner and outer door, followed by the *click-clack* of the inner door. Wrecks stepped in, clothed from head to paws in a plastic suit that ensured no fleas that might have survived the powder could jump onto him and take up residence in his fur. "Come on, Star. Time to wake up."

Starbright lifted her head and blearily looked around. "Huh? What--Ooh! My head! What you need? And could somepony make those lights not buzz so loud?!"

When occupied, the lights of the quarantine booth were never switched off, that way at any time members of the medical staff could look in through any of the windows to ensure the current resident within was doing okay.

"Can't do anything about the sounds the lights make, but this might help." Wrecks extended a plastic-covered paw which held an unopened packet of painkillers.

"Wrecks, you're a*urp* Oh! Tha's not good!" Starbright leaned her face back over the toilet bowl. *blargh*

Wrecks tapped a hind paw on the floor as Starbright finished voiding her stomach. She then went over to the sink, swished some water around in her mouth and spat it into the sink.

"I swear you 'Steed jocks are in love with destruction, whether it is destroying others while piloting giant war machines or the garden variety self-destruction.", the diamond dog medic said.

"Fuck you, mutt!", Starbright snarled as she snatched the packet from Wrecks' paw with her magic, opened and shoved the two pills down her throat. "When a stray shot to your cockpit means you get hosed out and flushed down a drain, or you get fried to a crisp like cheap hay bacon because the ejectors fail when the reactor underneath your plot goes critical, then you'll spend every moment on furlough getting blitzed outta your skull and banging everything that moves."

"The gunslinger program does more than train SteedWarriors, they also offer PTSD counselling."

"Yeah well, I may take'em upon it when I retire." Starbright's demeanor changed as she looked off at nothing with a thousand yard stare. "If I get the chance to retire."

"Because 'Steed jocks are known for having high retirement rates.", Wrecks snarked. When Starbright shot him a death-filled glare, he held up his paws. "Sorry, I went too far with that remark. I know you SteedWarriors are a special breed. It takes a special kind of crazy for somecreature to want to drive a death machine powered by an artificially-created MagiTech star."

"Damn straight!", Starbright said as she stepped under the shower head and turned on the water. "Brr-rr-rr! Would it kill you to have some hot water for these showers?"

"Actually it might kill you. The chemicals in the anti-bug powder are pretty toxic and activated by body heat. The cold water helps stop the reaction. Adding more heat would increase the reactions and blister the skin and fur right off of you, and that'd put quite a bee in Star Burst's bonnet that the co-owner and best SteedWarrior in the company wound up unable to work because of serious chemical burns."

Once Starbright had finished rinsing off the powder, Wrecks said, "I'll pass you through the sterile drawer a tube of anti-mite gel shampoo. And once you finish sobering up, if you want it, I'll bring you a pregnancy terminating pill."

For three day, three long and boring days, Starbright sat in the quarantine booth. She thought about messing with Wrecks and scratch herself like she had a bad case of fleas, but the first time she had done that, Wrecks had hit her with another dose of the combination delousing-defleaing powder. She hated that powder, it itched and burned. Just thinking about it made her skin itch. What made it worse was that she had to go through this treatment after two weeks instead of a month on furlough. But being co-owner of the Star Gallopers, she knew Star Burst made the right call taking up that contract, especially when it offered that much in S-bits and salvage shares. And barring a freak supernova or a really bizarre JumpDrive failure, New Las Pegasus wasn't going anywhere.

After leaving quarantine and going through the usual,'If you experience any itching, burning or difficulty urinating, or you notice an unusual smell or any unusual discharge, come see me immediately' speech from Wrecks, Starbright left the medbay. The diamond dog medic was only doing his job as chief medical officer, but dammit if he wasn't annoying about it sometimes. She walked into the office she shared with Star Burst and began reviewing the contract. "Holy shit!", she shouted. "Three quarter of a billion S-bits and enough salvage shares enough to build our own Tirek from the ground up for a six month deployment?! Guess the rumors were true about the Commonwealth and the Feds teaming up."

Starbright left the office and walked onto the bridge. She walked onto the bridge where Star Burst was currently going over daily reports. "I knew the contract was a big one, I didn't know we'd walk away rich."

Star Burst looked over his withers. "Yeah. While you were off on furlough, Cinnamon Bon and Ephemera Wings announced their marriage. The Lyra Commonwealth and Federated Hives also declared war on the Free Moons League and publicly declared their two states joined in an alliance they're calling the Federated Commonwealth."

"Eh, not the most creative of names. If the Fed-Com, that's what I'm calling them from now on, are the ones offering the big bits, then I'll be all 'Yessir. I'll shoot that bale, I'll shoot that barge!'"

"You and me both, sister. You and me both."

"Does Cookie have anything available in the canteen? Three days in quarantine with only nasty-plot calorie bars to eat, I just wanna shove some real food down my throat before I drink myself blind and hoof-blast myself into a coma."

"Didn't need to hear that last part, but yeah, there should be some tacos. Since Spring had her encounter with that chaos wave anomaly, she won't even look at tacos without bursting into tears."

We'll return to your local MPG broadcast of [insert popular local program here] after these messages from New Las Pegasus.

New Las Pegasus! The only planet where drinking, drugs, prostitution and gambling isn't just the main attraction, it's our planetary pastime!

New Las Pegasus! Our roulette tables are guaranteed to be 30% less rigged or double your earnings lost!

New Lass Pegasus! All of our licensed prostitutes are guaranteed to have 50% less sexually-transmitted diseases or your first visit to the clinic is free!

New Las Pegasus! We now offer family friendly experiences! So feel free to drop off your kiddies at one of our [patent pending for further review] padded safety play spaces where they'll be entertained by insipid cartoons, like Bobo the Dancing Starcom Clown, My Little SteedWarrior and One Buck Pone, [Meals and bathrooms cost extra] while you get to go off and act a the good degenerate tourist, what with all of the gambling, prostitutes, alcohol and [mostly] legal drugs.

New Las Pegasus! The casino security details have been deputized and have the authority to enforce the law as they see fit. So don't try to cheat'em!

New Las Pegasus! If you get arrested while on-planet, you can purchase a framed copy of your mugshot to take home as a souvenir! Now available in portrait and wallet sizes! We definitely, probably won't sell your arrest information to the first, second, third or other interested groups with plenty of S-bits who are looking to blackmail you. So don't bother asking!

What happens on New Las Pegasus, stays on New Las Pegasus! Unless you catch the clop, PIV or develop a crippling addiction, then you're on your own.

This advertisement has been approved by the New Las Pegasus tourism board and StarCom MagePulse Network. StarCom! We know you have no choice in reliable interstellar communications and you made the right one! Thank you!

With a flash, the JumpShip Hyperion came out of FTL near the zenith of the star Hoplite and deployed its solar collecting sails so it could begin the month-long process of recharging its JumpDrive. The DropShip Xerxes detatched from the JumpShip and began its dive towards the star system. It's destination, Nuevo Pegasusopolis near the Free Moons League/Lyra Commonwealth border.

After three months of following official Lyra Commonwealth JumpShip routes, the crew of the Xerxes was ready to get in the fight. Through the black gulf of space the Xerxes towards the WarShip Lyra Bon's Prize, the trip would take a week.

Starbright and Star Burst sat at the head of the table in the DropShip's conference room.

"Alright ya mooks, pull the dick outta your ears and listen up!", Starbright barked. "When we dock with that WarShip, we're going to be jumping into an active war zone. Make sure that anything that isn't welded down to the bulkheads or the deck plates is properly stowed. In the event we take fire from a WarShip or an anti-DropShip battery the last thing we need is for an errant wrench or auto-cannon round to go bouncing around all willy-nilly. I'm not going to lie to ya, shit's gonna get hairy. Everycreature make sure your next-of-kin contact information is up-to-date. Last thing we need if one of you gets vaporized is for somecreature's spouse or grandma calling us up because we sent your paycheck and life insurance policy to somecreature else."

We're going to be running fire and decompression drills until we reach our next JumpPoint. Just be ready, they can come at any time.", Star Burst chimed in. "Wrecks, I'm going to need you to run injury drills. We're going to need everycreature to know how to treat a wound, whether it's how to properly kiss a boo-boo, or shove somepony's guts back into their bodies and stitch them up."

***

Wrecks walked into the 'Steedbay and hit a red button on the wall. Klaxons wailed, red lights strobed and pulsed. He turned off the alarms and shouted,"Alright ya mutts, stop what you're doing and lay on the deck! We just took an AC/20 round to the bay!"

After every creature had laid on the deck, the diamond dog medic walked to each of them and handed them a sealed envelope with a card inside. "In each of those envelopes is a card that contains a potential injury, ailment or even the possibility of death. I'm going to leave and in ten minutes crisis response teams will arrive. Take the next ten minutes to lie there, read what's on your card and do the best to act out it says on your card."

Starbright and Matchstick were laying next to each other on the gantry-way. They pulled the cards out of their envelopes and read them.

"I got shrapnel embedded in the lungs.", Matchstick said. "What'd you get?"

Starbright looked at her card. "Tubal pregnancy. Wanna trade?"

"Sure!"

***

The crisis response teams rushed into the 'Steedbay. Some were wearing grease-stained jumpsuits signifying they were engine room mechanics, some were wearing the stained aprons of cooks, several were wearing security barding. All were carrying first aid kits and trauma packs.

"Oh my chest!", Starbright said over-dramatically."Cough-cough! Kaff-kaff! I can't seem to stop coughing up blood!"

Cookie rushed over and looked at her card. "We got shrapnel wounds in the chest. Move! Move! Move!"

"Oh my stomach! It hurts!", Matchstick exclaimed.

Cookie looked at his card and the head cook's eyes went wide. "I...uh...it looks like this one's fucked." He showed the card to his nearby teammates and they started snickering. "But don't worry, I think you're going to be rich.", he said.

***

Star Burst skimmed over the reports from the injury drill in the 'Steedbay. "Let's see...hmm. Ten killed almost immediately. Ten more dead from blood loss. Three cases of pony pox. Two cases of feather flu. Seven cases of food poisoning. Aaaaaaand one case of... A STALLION WITH TUBAL PREGNANCY?!" He quickly scanned over the list again. There it was, a stallion with tubal pregnancy. He walked over to the intercom and punched in the code for the medbay.

"Medbay. Chief medic Wrecks speaking. Who is in need of medical aid?"

"Wrecks, is the report from the injury drill in the 'Steedbay correct?"

"As far as I can tell. Why? Is there some sort of inconsistency that I need to double check?"

"Just one. At the bottom of the list. It says there's a stallion with a tubal pregnancy."

There was the sound of shuffling that came over the intercom.

"Ah yes, here it is. One...stallion with...tubal pregnancy, named Matchstick."

"You know what that means?"

"That Matchstick is a very lucky and rich pony?"

"That and I think there's going to be a stallion at every injury drill with tubal pregnancy."

There was a sigh that came over the intercom.

"Should I pull that card just to be sure?"

"I don't think it'll do any good. Knowing this crew, there's at least one unicorn who knows a duplication spell and has been selling them for a few S-bits. I'll order security to keep an eye out for anypony buying extra stuff from the commissary, but I doubt they'll drop the point-one-zero S-bits on crewmates, especially if they get some extra marshmallow pies to shut up about it."

***

Star Burst walked up to the intercom in the office he shared with Starbright and punched in the code for a ship-wide broadcast.

"All hooves hear this. Due to the outbreak of non-females and egg-laying creatures having a tubal pregnancy card on them during injury training drills, Wrecks has removed the tubal pregnancy card from the deck until further notice. Any creature found with a tubal pregnancy card on their person during an injury drill will have the pleasure of personally depositing the card into the nearest incinerator chute and then spend the next three days in the brig. It was funny the first few times, but now it's lost its humor, especially when every griffon and stallion on C-deck wound up with tubal pregnancy. I can't make you give up your tubal pregnancy cards, but I can make you spend three days in the brig."

Star Burst closed the intercom and began walking to his desk.

Starbright started snickering.

"What is so funny?", Star Burst said.

"I*snrk* I can't tell you.*snrk* *snorpt*"

"And why not?"

Starbright held up a card that read 'priapism'. "Because I've got an erection that has lasted longer than four hours! Bah-ha-ha-ha-ha!" She rolled on the floor, holding her sides as she took desperate gasps of air between guffaws.

Star Burst snarled, snatched up the card, ripped it to pieces and stormed back over to the intercom, punching up another ship-wide broadcast. "The same goes for any non-males who have priapism cards!"

A War made in Marriage-Part 2: The Attack is Launched

The DropShip Xerxes was docked to the side of a JumpShip. Inside the DropShip, all senior members of the crew were assembled around an oval-shaped table in the conference room.

The door on the far side of the room opened, and Starbright and Star Burst walked in.

"Alright, listen up, everycreature.", Star Burst said as he flicked on the holo display in the center of the table. "As I'm sure you're all well aware, the Lyra Commonwealth and the Federated Hives have officially declared a joint union and are now calling themselves the Federated Commonwealth or Fed-Com for short. At ten-hundred and thirty hours the signal will go out to the fleet and we'll make the jump into Free Moons territory. A month after the first wave of JumpShips enters League space, the Fed-Com will officially declare war, just long enough for the first DropShips to pull into orbit above their targets." He tapped a few buttons on the holo display, changing the display to a large moon. "Our drop will be on the moon of Trotterdam IV. It holds a series of strategic listening outposts and several bases for asteroid mining."

Starbright took over. She tapped a few buttons on the holo display, zooming it in to their targets. "Our drop zone will be near the moon's equator. We'll be dropping in with five House Bon lances, plus four other mercenary lances. House Bon will also be providing orbital support with two Blueblood-class destroyers and seven full wings of aerospace fighter-bombers. Our primary targets are the listening arrays. We are to knock out the power generators, shutting them down so House Bon troops, and repair and rearming crews can make planetfall undetected. Our secondary targets will be the Free Moons fire bases a few kliks away from each listening array. If we're not too banged up, our tertiary targets will be the largest mining bases here, here and here. Since we will be dropping onto an airless moon, you will need to keep a close eye on your heat."

"From this point forward we are under full vacuum protocol.", Star Burst said. "Make sure the environmental seals on all hatches and your quarters are functioning properly. All airlocks are to be kept sealed at all times, except when use. No one is to leave their quarters unless they're wearing pressure suits. You ain't gotta wear your helmets, but they must be kept attached to your suits for rapid donning. Make sure your oh-two packs are fully charged and the filters on you suit's scrubbers are clean. Engineering chiefs, have your subordinates triple check all emergency repair stations and make sure all fusion welders are fully charged and all seal foam canisters are filled. Security chiefs, make triple sure that all emergency bulkheads are functioning properly and that all members of the crew are trained in emergency depressurization protocols. Wrecks, make triple sure that all emergency oh-two tanks are full and the filters in all emergency rebreathers are clean."

"From now until we are above our drop site, we will be running depressurization drills.", Star Burst continued. "Any questions or comments?"

Firecracker raised her hoof. "Since we're going to be fighting on an airless moon, that means my Parasprite will be as useless as teats on a boar. So what does that mean for me?"

"Talk with the team chiefs to see where you can help or stay in your quarters.", Star Burst replied. "You'll still receive your standard pay, minus the combat bonus for this mission."

"So I don't risk getting an auto-cannon shell rammed up my plot and still get paid? Sweet!"

Starbright simply shook her head and chuckled. Aerospace jocks were just like vehicle and 'Steed jocks, if they could avoid getting shot at and still pull a paycheck, they were happy. "Any more questions or comments?" She paused for a moment. "Team chiefs, I expect to see your readiness reports on my desk at the end of each day. Alright everycreature, you all know what to do. Dismissed!"

With bright flashes of light the JumpShips carrying DropShips of all sizes and the WarShips engaged their JumpDrives and seemingly flashed out of existence. A near instant later they appeared at the nadir of the star that was their destination. After confirmation that there were no JumpDrive failures and the entire fleet was present and accounted for, the WarShips began their 'climb' into the solar system, and DropShips uncoupled from the JumpShips to begin their 'ascent', the invasion was on.

***

After a month of running depressurization drills and combat drills, the crew of the Xerxes was ready and raring for a fight. As Starbright crossed the gantry-way to her Applejack, Spot Weld and Matchstick were loading the last of the solid slug rounds into the ammo hoppers for the auto-cannons. Since this fight was going to be in a vacuum, outside of fragmentation, explosive shells would be useless.

Making sure her cooling suit, barding and neuro-helmet was secured, Starbright climbed into the cockpit of her BattleSteed. Closing the hatch, she ensured the pressure seal was secure and sat in the pilot's seat. She flipped switches on the various consoles. Weapons readiness, ammo readouts, armor status, internal structure status, engine status, oxygen status and a crosshair all came up on her helmet's display. The lights on the consoles blinked green and she set everything into standby. She quickly gave the hoof's up to the 'Steed tech standing in front of her cockpit.

After a couple of hours of waiting, Star Burst spoke up over the radio. "We just received word from fleet command to begin our descent. Fed-Com has just sent the transmission, officially declaring war.

Amber lights flashed about the bay as an automated voice spoke over the loudspeakers for all non-essential personnel to evacuate.

As the DropShip began its descent down to the drop zone on Trotterdam IV, accompanied by DropShips of all sizes and aerospace fighters, the WarShips in orbit opened fire with mass drivers and heavy lasers.

As the DropShip Xerxes set down on the airless moon with a lurch, red lights strobed about the 'Steed bay. An automated voice over the loudspeakers warned of depressurization. Techs gave one last quick check of their pressure suits. Starbright Shimmer, Zapp Apple Jam and Spring Ember all gave a final check on the status of the pressure seals on their war machines. Fans kicked on sucking the air out of the bay through the air vents and techs secured safety tethers to their suits.

"This is Lance Command to Runner, Lame Duck and Hothead. Confirm ready status."

"Hothead here. I'm showing all-green across the board and ready to roll."

"Lame Duck here. I'm showing all-green and ready to launch. We'll have to talk about my call-sign when I get back."

"That's a negative on call-sign change. All call-signs are determined by a random generator."

Starbright snickered at the displeasure Zapp had with his call-sign. While it was true that everypony else in the lance had gotten their call-signs from a random generator, she and Star Burst had played a little prank on Zapp by slightly tweaking the random generator to give him a funny call-sign. "This is Runner. I'm showing green across the board and ready to rock-n-roll."

Matchstick spoke over the radio. "Atmosphere in 'Steed bay showing minimum pressure. Lowering ramps in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, fiver, four, three, two, one. Magnetic seals disengaging. Hydraulic system showing green. Ramps lowering."

As the ramps lowered, the last few wisps of atmosphere rushed out into the airless void.

"Launch now!", the dragon tech shouted over the radio.

The two BattleSteeds and one alicorn-class heavy vehicle quickly moved out onto the moon.

Once they were clear, the ramps raised back up and the engines on the DropShip roared to life, lifting it into low orbit.

Starbright quickly looked around. She noted the other DropShips were quickly disgorging their BattleSteeds and vehicles before ascending to low orbit. All around the drop zone DropShips were landing or taking off in what looked like a ballet of organized chaos.

"Runner, this is ground command, call-sign Sticky Bun. Your lance will be designated Team Blue. You will be leading Team Yellow and Team Green to target destination.", came a voice over the radio.

"Affirmative, Sticky Bun.", Starbright replied. "Team Yellow, Team Green, Team Blue, switch to frequency four." She switched over to the frequency. "This is lance leader for Team Blue, call-sign Runner, accompanied by Lame Duck on the Rainbow Dash and Hothead on the MRM carrier."

"This is Black Widow, lance leader of Team Green, piloting the Star Spider. I am accompanied by Crossbones on the other Star Spider, Aurora on the Scootaloo and Jolly Sleigh on the Luna."

"This is Little Weenie on the Tirek, lance leader of Team Blue, accompanied by Slow Poke on the Wonderbolt aerospace fighter and Lost Horizon on the Long Tom carrier."

Starbright made a quick mental note of the three lances. Two assault-class BattleSteeds, three light-class BattleSteeds, a heavy-class BattleSteed an aeropsace fighter-bomber, an MRM carrier and an artillery carrier, along with her medium-class BattleSteed. Definitely a motley crew made up of merc lances. "Synch sensors, assume a standard patrol formation and keep radio chatter to a minimum."

The three light 'Steeds and one aerospace fighter-bomber moved into scouting positions, when they inevitably made contact with the enemy, their greater speed and maneuverability would serve as an extra layer of protection, and allow them to quickly disengage from the fight and move into flanking and/or harassing positions. Starbright kept her Applejack in the middle of the pack, though the forty-five ton 'Steed could lay down withering fire, in a protracted combat, it lacked heavier armor plating seen on other medium-class BattleSteeds, so it would be relegated to fire support and sniping roles, as it would get ripped apart in an brawling scenarios. Getting into the thick of the fight would be left to the one heavy-class and the two assault-class 'Steeds.

At seventy tons, the Luna, though classified as a heavy-class BattleSteed, was surprisingly quick and nimble for a 'Steed of its size. Add in that it had jump jets meant that it could easily get in to and out of fights quickly. Being essentially a disco-'Steed, armed with one l-laser and three m-lasers meant that it could pack a punch at long, medium and close ranges at the cost of building up a lot of heat. Also being armed with a single LRM/5 meant that it could poke at pesky targets that tried to stay back and force them to close ranks.

The Tirek was a mean and ugly looking one hundred ton BattleSteed. Though it moved ponderously slow, at an almost leisurely fifty-four kph meant that it couldn't rush into a group of enemies, but more wade into them, which it more than made up with heavy armor plating that could take a beating. It also carried a devastating array of weaponry, armed with a single AC/20, a single LRM/20, a single SRM/6 and four m-lasers meant that it could take on groups of enemies head-on at any range, plus a pair of rear-mounted m-lasers to defend itself in the inevitability it got outflanked.

The Rainbow Dash was, well...awesome. Though it also moved at an almost leisurely fifty-four kph, it had heavier armor and a tighter turning radius, what with it being on the lighter end of the assault-class BattleSteeds. It packed a trio of PPCs for heavy damage at long range, though their damage was diminished at short ranges, which is where the s-laser comes in for close-in defense and anti-infantry attack. The variant that Zapp piloted was a rare royal BattleSteed, originally made for the HLDF, which sported much better heat sinks, an improved sensor package and jump jets for getting into and out of fights, as well as DFA attacks.

The two vehicles were both alicorn-class heavy tanks. Spring ember was piloting a variant loaded down with several MRM launchers, meaning that at medium and short ranges, she could rain down swarms of unguided missiles onto enemies. Lost Horizon was on the Long Tom carrier, though unusual for such a heavy vehicle to be outfitted with super-heavy artillery, it wasn't entirely unheard of. Super-heavy artillery was nicknamed by many a SteedWarrior, vehicle pilot and infantrycreature grid square deleters, as you didn't have to land your shots close to your target to kill them.

"We got vehicles incoming!, Slow Poke called out over the radio.

Starbright gave a quick glance to her sensor readout. Though there wasn't a full reading at this range, her sensors were able to mark out individual targets. Two full lances of fast movers, most likely hover vehicles with machine guns and m-lasers. The three light 'Steeds and one aerospace fighter were already splitting up, hoping to draw individuals away and pick them off. "Save your heat until you have clear shots.", she called through the radio for the slower members of the three teams.

It wasn't hard to visually pick out Slow Poke at at this range from the afterburners on their aerospace fighter-bomber. The Wonderbolt nosed down for a strafing run and opened up with its lasers.

"Cooked two and winged a third. Slow Poke called out over the radio.

"Got the one you winged and fried its buddy., Black Widow called out.

"Iced one and knocked out the weapons of another.", Crossbones called out. There was a momentary crackle of static over their radio. "--oly shit! They had a PPC carrier hiding out inside of a crater powered down! My left side armor is showing heavy damage!"

Starbright pressed her 'Steed to max speed and started cresting the lip of a ridge. "Black Widow, Crossbones, Aurora, disengaged and fall back. See if you can get that carrier to follow you. Slow Poke, strafe it and break away, maybe you'll piss it off enough to give chase. I'm moving into a sniping position, hopefully I can punch a hole in its armor and convince it to bug out."

Starbright maneuvered her 'Steed atop a ridge and brought it to a stop. She could see the sensor signatures of enemy and ally units. She caught the sensor reading of the PPC carrier for a moment before it disappeared. The PPC carrier either powered down again or it backed into the crater for cover. She watched as the Wonderbolt fighter-bomber nosed down and green lines fired from the front of it.

"I scored some hits on the carrier's right side and turret. I think I scored minimal damage. Swinging back around for another strafing run."

The Wonderbolt swung around, nosed down and opened fire with its AC/2. A burst of auto-cannon shells hit the carrier.

"Scored some hits on its right side and frontal armor."

The carrier was forced to roll out of the crater lest it be subjected to death by a thousand cuts by the fighter-bomber.

Starbright began moving her Applejack in an arc. It wouldn't do well for her to remain stationary against a PPC carrier. The Super-heavy tank was just outside optimal range for her AC/2s, but she could still poke at it and maybe get it to look at her. While keeping her BattleSteed moving at max speed, she lined up her shots as best she could and unleashed a series of staggered bursts from her auto-cannons.

A split second later the Luna and Tirek unleashed a volley from their LRM launchers. Twenty-five long-range missiles arced through the black sky of Trotterdam IV, leaving faint frozen contrails in their wakes.

Slow Poke spoke over the radio, "Somepony scored a good hit on that super-heavy. I'm reading a weapon crit on one of its PPCs."

"Moving in to flank., Black Widow called out over the radio. "Crossbones, cover me."

"Roger."

As the two light BattleSteeds moved in on the PPC carrier, the super-heavy tank, it exploded, sending a quickly extinguishing rainbow-colored fireball into the airless sky of Trotterdam IV. A split second later two more rainbow fireballs followed behind the first.

"What happened?! Did somepony hit it again?"" Crossbones' voice belied their surprise.

"I think it went to fire and its weapons exploded.", Black Widow replied. "Poor bastards."

That is no way for soldier to die. Starbright pushed the thought aside. This was war and sometimes things like this happen. She maneuvered her BattleSteed into position, lined up a shot on the nearest hover tank and waited for it to move into optimal range. "Come on! Just a little closer!" She fired another stagger volley of her auto-cannons.

"Good hit, Runner! Sent that one tumbling plot over teakettle! They'll have to get the crew out of that one with a sponge.", came Slow Poke's voice over the radio.

Over the next few minutes the three lances whittled down the Free Moons' tanks, forcing the survivors to disengage and retreat.

Starbright gave her Applejack's paper doll reading a quick glance. Its left foreleg had taken a stray shot, the 'Steed's diagnostic sensors registered only light armor damage, the plates were holding and no internal damage. She quickly cycled through her sensors, getting readouts on the conditions of the other 'Steeds and vehicles. Other than Crossbone's Star Spider showing heavy damage to their right body armor, all others show minimal damage. "Slow Poke, What's the condition of your internals?"

"Minimal damage to the Endo-Steel. No damage to the Ferro-Fibrous. Reactor green. Minor damage to my number five heat sink."

Starbright scowled slightly. Internal damage was never a good sign, especially to heat sinks. "Can you continue on or do you need to disengage and fall back to your DropShip?"

"I can continue on to the next nav point, so long as they don't have any more nasty surprises waiting. I'll lay back and poke at them when the stick out their heads. Once we secure alpha target, I'll withdraw."

Starbright knew it wasn't optimal, but she decided to trust the SteedWarrior's intuition. "Alright, just don't go getting yourself shot in the plot."

"Affirmative"

***

As Yellow, Blue and Green lances formed up on a rise just out of reach of the listening post's defensive turrets, Starbright flipped the comms frequency to the public channel. "We are in the employ of the Federated Commonwealth. As per the Equus treaty, this is a standard order for you to power you turrets, vehicles and 'Steeds and surrender. You have ten seconds to comply or we will blast you off the face of this moon."

A couple seconds later a staticky reply came. "Eat a dick, Fed Rat scum!"

Starbright switched back over to the lance channel. "They have refused an offer of surrender. All targets are considered hostile. Light'em up!"

The Wonderbolt arced down and made a strafing run. Green lines shot out from its m-lasers hitting turrets. Some shut down, their power cut...a couple melted into useless slag and a half dozen exploded, their magazines cooking off as the airless void quickly snuffed the flames. The aerospace fighter-bomber continued on its run. A small rainbow-colored lifted upwards, the flames quickly consumed by the vacuum. Several lights in the buildings flickered and a couple went black, a direct hit was scored on a generator. The Wonderbolt swung around, its auto-cannons rattling off bursts silently, the solid slugs slamming into the wall, bringing sections down to make entry for the 'Steeds and vehicles.

Lost Horizon moved the artillery carrier into position in the far back. "Stand clear, fillies and colts! Deleting grid square...now!" The Long Tom lurched backwards as a single massive shell launched through the black sky.

The 'Steed and vehicle jocks held their breath, counting the seconds.

The Long Tom shell hit with a massive impact. A massive plume of dust, debris and quickly dying flames shot towards the sky of Trotterdam IV. A visible impact wave could be seen traveling along the ground for several hundred meters. Though the explosive force of the Long Tom shell was reduced by the airless void, the impact of a shell the size of a sedan made up for the reduced force. Buildings shuddered and their lights flickered. Several blinked off for several seconds then flickered back to life.

Slow Poke flew over to confirm the hit. "Holy shit! You wiped out a vehicle bay and a maintenance bay! A nearby building is partially collapsed. I can't tell if there were any generators in the vicinity."

Lost Horizon quickly moved their Long Tom carrier into the shadow of a low ridge.

The 'Steeds and vehicles moved in to the battered listening post, weapons blazing. The battle...well...shooting gallery, raged for several minutes. The listening post quickly surrendered as the majority of building went dark. They lacked the armaments to successfully fend off three lances.

Starbright transmitted to Sticky Bun that the listening post had been captured and several minutes later Dropships laden with soldiers descended.

The Xerxes landed and dropped its ramps. Starbright, Ember and Zapp drove their war machines into the bay. Once the ramps were raised, sealed and the bay re-pressurized, tech quickly went to work, removing damaged armor plates and welding new ones on, replacing depleted ammunition cassettes with full ones, and pumping the hot fluid out of the heat sinks and replacing it with fresh, cool fluid.

***

For an hour the DropShips for Green, Yellow and Blue lances lingered in low orbit as the tech did quick repair and rearming. They descended to the next drop zone and disgorged their lances.

Starbright ran a quick check. Just as she feared, Crossbones and their Star Spider was absent...too damaged to continue the fight. She spat soft curses then quickly let it go. This wasn't the first time she'd be going into battle down a BattleSteed. "Spare the metal, kill the meat.", she said softly to herself. It was a bleak motto many a SteedWarrior often recited.

Sticky Bun came over the radio. "Blue, Yellow and Green lances, hold position. A lance of the Bon-guard has requested to take over leader ship of your assault on the next target. They will be descending momentarily."

Several members of the three lances loudly complained over the radio.

"Cut the chatter." Starbright wasn't too pleased to have some foppish officer from the great houses taking command, but this was war and sometimes that meant that foppish officers who got their position because their mother or father paid to get them into said position. Sometimes foppish commanders with questionable leadership skills taking command was a truth of war. It was also a truth of war that if said foppish officer turned out to be a bad leader, they would find the BattleSteed being crippled by "accidental" friendly fire.

Over the radio came the commander of the Bon guard. "This is Sweet Bon, scion of House Bon. I am taking command of this operation. Please transmit all pertinent information of your BattleSteeds, combat vehicles and aerospace assets."

Starbright sighed and rolled her eyes as she punched buttons to send the information of her 'Steed. She knew the rest of the warriors in the lances were doing the same.

"Very good. Lance commanders, you will each take command of you own lances as you know your warriors' capabilities best, though you will all answer to me."

Starbright goggled. This wasn't some spoiled royal brat playing at command, but an experienced officer who has seen real combat.

***2000 LIGHT YEARS AWAY FOR THE EQUESTRIA SPHERE***

DropShips loaded down with highly advanced war machines docked to JumpShips. Psychotic warriors bred in gene labs for centuries were poised to strike at the Equestria Sphere. WarShips flanked the JumpShips. The ships bore the markings of totem animals.

Seven totems coiled to strike reach out to return to their ancient home they've spent four centuries in voluntary exile from.

Starbright jinked her Applejack to the left, narrowly avoiding a shot from the AC/20 on a Rockhoof. She quickly returned fire with her AC/2s, targeting the fifty ton BattleSteed's main gun. Impacts rippled across the 'Steed, carving divots out of the armor plating. This wasn't some pirate 'Steed with slapdash, half-plotted repairs, but a BattleSteed of one of the Great Houses, which meant proper repairs. Green lines shot out from the 'Steed she was dueling and an alert in her HUD informed her to the damage done to the 'Steed's right front leg. With a snarl she returned fire with her m-lasers.

As the green lines stagger fired, tracing molten lines across the Rockhoof's armor, heat warnings blared in the Applejack's cockpit. Starbright quickly hit the override button, disabling the emergency shutdown system, she'd need every last ounce of heat.

Using her BattleSteed's superior speed, she quickly changed directions and began to serpentine. AC/2s and m-lasers fired, scoring hit on the Rockhoof's armor. Starbright shot an eye to the heat gauge. Realistically she could fire two, maybe three more alpha strikes before the reactor went critical and the Applejack exploded. But that wasn't her intention.All she needed to do was keep that heavily armored medium 'Steed distracted long enough for Ember to move her MRM carrier into position and unleash Tartartus. She unleashed another alpha strike, this time targeting the 'Steed's ammo. Solid slugs carved divots and rents in the enemy 'Steed's armor as lasers carved molten lines.

Starbright lurched in her seat. The Rockhoof had drawn a bead on her and fired. The AC/20 solid slug impacted on the Applejack's left front leg at the knee joint, causing heavy internal damage. The weight of the BattleSteed caused the leg to shear off at the damaged joint and it quickly became unbalanced. Starbright reached for the ejector switch as the regolith rushed up at the window of her cockpit. Darkness.

Celestia, Luna, Twilight, Cadance, Flurry Heart and Chrysalis all stood in a white circular room. In the center of the room was a chair, sitting in the chair was a stallion, eye patch over the left eye covered the empty socket, the eye had been lost years ago. Scars crisscrossed his face and body, making it look like scrimshaw was carved in his flesh. His mane, long gone grey, was partially draped over the left side of his face, partially covering a twisted patch of burn scars. His name is Raisin Bon, former scion of House Bon.

It was rare for the five ancient alicorns and equally ancient former changeling queen to all be gathered in one place.

Chrysalis avoided looking the glowing point of lavender light in Twilight's empty socket like one would avoid looking upon the Evil Eye.

Raisin Bon maintained a stern expression on his face. He cleared his throat and sat upright. "It is for the princesses to depart from their homes on New Equus to see a former House Bon scion, former Lyra general and a convicted war former war criminal."

Twilight ran her gaze across the stallion. "Yes you are a war criminal, Raisin Bon, but only because you were part of the failed coup to remove your cousin, the thirteenth in line for the throne of House Bon, Hot Cross Bon. However we have need of you."

This made the stallion blink.

Chrysalis spoke, "Officially your execution will be carried out at a StarCom prison and displayed all across the MPG for all to see. We can't have a war criminal wandering around unpunished." She relished in his feeling of unease for a few seconds. "For all intent and purposes, Raisin Bon will be dead...but you won't be."

The stallion stiffened as a tight grimace spread on his face. "So...I take it that I'll be renamed, yes?"

"Indeed.", Luna replied.

"So what will my new name be?"

"Focht." The other four princesses and one former changeling queen all looked at Celestia. "What? I once knew a very brilliant stallion with the same name." She blew out a long, wistful sigh. "He could ride my plot like nopony's business."

"Hey there, my ponies and not-ponies! It's me, the greatest actor in all of the Equestria Sphere! Dunked Doughnut!"

"After a lengthy legal battle in the Zebra Magistracy that may or may not have involved the discharge of a pistol that may or may not have almost mortally wounded the third in line prince."

*off-screen whispering*

"What? It's not like he was mortally wounded, just almost. He's still third in line and he has a fancy new nickname, Wheels!"

*off-screen whispering*

"I've just been informed that if I want my payment of a DropShip of liquor, a dump truck of blow and seven gaggles of prostitutes, I must inform you all of where I'll be performing and do a commercial for the planet my sponsors are on.

*test pattern*

"Come see me, classically trained actor, Dunked Doughnut!"

*off-screen whispering*

"Yes I am classically trained."

*off-screen whispering*

"No, I didn't go to some namby-pamby acting school."

*off-screen whispering*

"I am classically trained."

*off-screen whispering*

"I beat a Shakehoofian acting coach repeatedly with a lead pipe until he agreed to declare me a classically trained actor."

*off-screen whispering*

"Yes it does count."

*off-screen whispering*

"Look here, junior. Lead pipe degree is a legitimate degree. Just ask my secretary, pistol."

*gunshot*

*test pattern*

Come see me, classically trained actor, Dunked Doughnut! I will be performing on stage five nights a week on Solaris. At least until I've drank, snorted and impregnated all of my pay!"

"Solaris! Come see the great attractions. The Murderthos, where ponies and not-ponies piloting multi-ton murder machines will kill each other for your pleasure!"

"Solaris! We promise that our hookers have fifteen percent less STDs!"

"Solaris! The only place in the entire Equestria Sphere where they are willing to pay classically trained actor, me, with a DropShip of liquor, a dump truck of blow and gaggles of whores!"

"Solaris! Fun for the entire family! Now with an eight percent less chances of getting waylaid by a goon squad and waking up as an indentured servant!"

"Now where's my liquor, blow and whores?"

Starbright groaned as she woke up. Her head throbbed and spun. A light was shining in her eye and she feebly swatted at it with a hoof.

"Take it easy, Starbright."

That voice. She knew it. Who did it belong to?

"You suffered a nasty concussion, broke both of your hind legs and fractured your pelvis."

That voice belonged to Wrecks. Starlight blinked her eyes trying to clear her blurry vision. She went to sit up, but a pressure on her chest held her down.

"Easy now. Just take it slow. You've been unconscious for a day-and-a-half."

"Wha happen?"

"When your 'Steed got legged, it fell over. If you hadn't been strapped to your seat, we would've had to get you out of the cockpit with a hose."

"'Steed legged? Dun 'member?"

"Some memory loss is to be expected with how bad of a concussion you've got. Your memory will return as you heal up."

Starbright saw a blurry form in front of her face.

"Can you tell me how many digits do you see?"

Starbright squinted her eyes. "Uuuuuuuuuuh...thfreee?"

Wrecks let out a hum. "How do you feel?"

"Ev'r'th'n hurts."

"That's to be expected. I'll give you something for pain. Just try to get some rest, okay?"

"'Kay." Starbright felt a pinch in her foreleg. A few minutes later the pain she was feeling began to fade and she started to feel sleepy. "Ahhh."

***

Star Burst grimaced at the medical report that Wrecks handed him.

"She's going to be in the medical bay for eight to twelve weeks and then another two to three week building her strength back up. Honestly, it's a miracle that she survived. She's tougher than a whiny white unicorn.", Wrecks said.

"SteedWarriors are a special breed. I once saw one survive an AC/20 round that hit the cockpit. Don't get me wrong, he was seventeen kinds of messed up. Wound up losing all four legs, but with cybernetics, he was able to walk again and get right back into the cockpit."

Wrecks shrugged. "Well regardless, she's off the duty roster until she heals up and then will only be on light duty until she gets her strength back. Tough or not, she's lucky that the fall didn't breach the cockpit. Then we'd be having a different conversation."

Star Burst nodded. "Injured or not, I know how 'Steed jocks think. She's going to do everything to get back in the cockpit ASAP. They're crazy like that. Just don't do anything too extreme, like putting her in a straight jacket and lashing her to med bed."

Author's Note

Next chapter complete. Been a minute, eh?

I hope you all read and enjoy!