Crusader: Amongst the Starry Skies

I slammed my hoof onto the laminated table, calling out for the bartender. An anthropomorphic white tiger came to me, standing on two legs, wiping glasses clean with a moist towelette. He looked at me funny. Then again, why wouldn't he? After all, I am a pony with wings. Speaking of wings, these Changeling wings are so lightweight, I almost forget their existence. You see, I'm part Changeling, part pony. I dunno who the heck my father is, but he probably was one heck of an amazing colt to have been chosen by mother. Yeah, I'm that special, after all.

Some idiot next to me poured some booze onto my snow white coat, so I hoof-punched him in the face. What the heck is an Anthronome fox doing here anyways? Ugh... I guess I'll just hit the showers later...

"Bar keep! Gimme another round!" The striped Anthronome feline approached me, a bottle of booze in his... paws?

"Here ya go!" he exclaimed, pouring some good ol' alcohol into my glass.

"So?" he began asking, leaning onto the table. I admired his long, sharp claws. "What's a... Umm..."

“I’m a pony, thank you very much."

"Right... So, what's a pony doing here? How come you don't look anything like us, Anthronomes?"

I downed my serving of alcohol. After a satisfactory sigh, I continued.

"Equestria got bored, so they sent us away. You know, here, there, everywhere."

I paused to let the booze sink in.

"Are you sure you can take any more alcohol?"

I merely shrugged off his question. After that, I took just one more swig.

"I'm part Changeling. Back home, my kind sure knows how to drink!"

"Anyways," I continued, "we're just going around, wandering through the endless universe, gathering whatever data we can about extraterrestrial life."

"So," he interrupted, "if your 'pony' kind is this advanced, why you can’t walk on two legs like us?"

I loved the sound of his gruff voice. Honestly, it's just like in the movies, with the super tough bartender dude, talking in a deep, scruffy voice, questioning the wandering here. Heh... Wandering hero... That's funny. I readjusted my tricorne, and tightened this v-shaped overcoat around my neck area.

"Ya kinda look like a pirate there buddy! So, question asked, answer expected."

I chuckled, my face reddening from all that alcohol.

"Genetics and anatomy, you know, that BS."

I looked at my pocket watch.

"How do you hold stuff with hooves?"

"Beats me," I answered, sort of shrugging off his question. "Personally, I never questioned the magnetic powers of hooves. Now then, I think the Crusader is about done fueling up by now!" I threw a few bits onto the table. Immediately, the bartender slammed his paw over the rolling coins.

"Convert these bad boys. Ever since Equestria's been registered in the Inter-Planetary-Vanguard, the valor of our bits spiked upwards."

As I was about to leave, the front doors burst open. From the opening emerged a giant cloaked figure. In his hands was a gigantic machine gun.

"I want everybody down! I don't want any of you to try anything funny! You, barkeep! Throw the money on the ground, now!"

Indeed, everybody cowered. However, I just stood immobile in the middle of the room.

"You there! Yeah! The pony-thing! Are you deaf or something?! Down on the ground!"

I turned to them, my blood-red eyes glimmering in the light of the two suns.

"What's the matter?" I said as a taunt. "Can't handle having someone in your presence who's just too stubborn to be controlled? Or are you scared of stealing while people are watching."

"You know what, just because I feel so generous today, I'm going to do something far better than just boringly cower on the ground and beg; I'm going to disappear entirely!"

The royal blue claw stripes on the back of my legs emitted an eerie glow. I smiled, showing my fangs, while I angled my head so these red eyes of mine would have plenty of sunlight to reflect. One of them, I'm guessing the newbie, loaded his gun. However, he found no target to shoot at. By then, our unexpected guests scoured the room with a confused look on their face. It became too hard for me not to chuckle a little. How futile are their efforts? My camouflage was perfect; what better way to make sure the enemy doesn't find you than to disappear completely?

Because of my incomplete Changeling genetics, I did not possess the power of metamorphic transformation my peers loved to abuse. Since the cycle of change could not come back full circle, my body becomes unable to project an alternate image, and instead substitutes my own appearance with a void in space, hence the invisibility spell I possess. If you were to look real close, you could see slight distortions in the space where I stood, but nothing noticeable from reasonable distances.

I appeared behind the group, breaking the leader's face with my hind legs. Before the others even readied their weapons, I hovered above their heads, dive kicking a couple of goons. Once I landed, I snatched the nearest gun I could find, and aimed for their shoulders and legs. Thank goodness my reflexes are as fast as they are.

What could have been a long, boring hostage negotiation under normal circumstances was quickly ended in a manner of minutes. I hate it when wannabees like them try and appear stronger than they actually are.

Their masked leader, whose teeth were scattered on the floor, tried reaching for his own gun. I heard police sirens outside, and decided to crush my attacker's hand. He cried in pain, yet I did not even flinch. His tears and pleas couldn't even faze me. I pressed harder, until his bones were nothing more than powder dust.

"Who," he muttered. I loosen the pressure. The feeling of relief was short lived. Immediately after, I crushed his other hand. He let go of the knife. I'm not even sure why he still tried; he wouldn't last too long anyways.

"Who... Who are...? Who are you?" I snickered, spitting onto his face. The terror in his eyes aroused me, feeding my ever growing arrogance.

I straightened my back, adjusted my tricorne, and stood on two legs. His face now paralyzed in fear, I cleared my throat, exclaiming aloud on the top of my lungs:

"I am Morpheus Equinox: half-bred Changeling, and master fighter." I gazed out the front door, bathing in the warm, soothing light of the two suns above.

"And..." The local police came in, and stood immobilized in horror.

"I'm the Captain of the Mightiest Space Galleon of all: Equestria's very own Crusader."