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."
Crusader: Amongst the Starry Skies
"This is Megabit, technical support for the Crusader! To whom am I speaking to?"
"Hey, Megabit, it’s me. Can you establish contact with the Lunar Empire?"
"Of course I can. Do you wish to speak to Her Majesty Luna?"
"Yes please. I need to settle some things down here. Have her on hold for a little bit."
While the local police settled the situation inside, I hopped over the barriers set in place, and casually waltzed into the criminal's vehicle. Like most things these days, the van floated a foot or two above ground. This planet must have come to the same realization as we did: wheels are a frickin drag. Hmm... Let me see what's inside of here. Huh. It appears as if there might be more to all this than I initially thought. First off: they possess enough weaponry in here to arm a small village. Second anomaly: why are there blueprints regarding the construction of homemade bombs? Lastly: they have somehow tapped into the police's radio channels, which are usually encrypted and private, along with several other unidentified channels; none of which I can tap into.
Amidst the piles of firearms were bottles of liquor. Having sobered up almost entirely at this point, I adjusted my tricorne, and called for the chief officer in charge. From the crowd of creatures in blue emerged a canine Anthronome. Although his coat was a pearl white hue, there was a large, brown spot over his left eye. I saw a similar coloration over his ears.
"I'm going to need permission to investigate. This could potentially get messy real fast."
"Depends... I recognize your interstellar rights as a diplomat, as well as the self-defence claims you have submitted. However, the amount of collateral damage you caused all on your own is astounding. Even though I cannot imprison you, I could very well banish you from this city altogether."
I handed him a small cloth bag sealed shut by a string.
"I give you fifty bits, good gentlehound. I recognize the collateral damage I have done, and therefore accept to pay up. According to the IPV, the Equestrian bit is worth a lot of money. This should be more than enough."
He stood immobile for a second, the pouch in his paws. After a little while, he sighed in exasperation. I flung an extra bit at him, tightening my v-shaped outfit.
"We've heard rumors about you. It seems you've earned quite the name through the IPV. Your name is Morpheus Equinox right? Tch. At the Vanguard, you're not known for your manners, aren't you?"
I shook my head smiling. He acquiesced silently.
"Tell me what you know," he finally spoke. I hopped off the edge of the car's ramp. While he lowered his head, I went in without a worry on my four legs.
"Look at all these weapons here! These blueprints! That radio network! I can't identify to whom they are connected to, but I do know they've hijacked several security networks along with many private institutes."
"Why do you suppose they are doing that?" asked the Anthronome dog. Forgetting that not everyone is as mentally developed as I am, I subtly facehoofed. Oh wait, there's that arrogance again.
"They're choosing a target," I replied. The officer backed away a little frightened.
"They’re choosing a target? We knew the thugs you beat up were wanted criminals, but this... Are you suggesting they might be part of something bigger?"
"I'm not suggesting; I know." He looked at me, stupefied. A smug smirk appeared on my face. I made sure to show him my fangs, content by my superiority.
"Well then... Your case has a solid foundation, with sufficient evidence backing you up. I am granting you permission to investigate on my behalf. However, I do require a statement from your end of the table. In the meantime, I deploy my forces at full force to any and all areas we managed to identify."
"That's a mistake," I interrupted. "It's a very bad idea to do so."
"And why is that," he retorted. I sensed anger in his tone of voice.
"Because," I continued. I swept my surroundings with my right leg. He turned around, facing the pile of weapons behind us.
"My guess is, they were meant to be suppliers. These weapons are their cargo." I walked over to the end of the trunk, right next to the ramp leading outside. There were bottles of liquor on the ground. I picked one up.
"They ran out of booze and cash, so they went to get more. We've eliminated the cargo already. This means that they'll send another envoy to pick up a new shipment of stock."
"Plus, if we amplify police presence too heavily around targeted areas, they'll suspect we know something. Trust me, guys like this will die shooting before ever giving themselves up, and they will take as many people with them as they can."
"What should we do then?" asked the officer in command. I turned to him, hopping off the ramp.
"Find the cargo. I'll leave that up to you. I trust you're a smart enough puppy to figure that out. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to obtain permission from Luna."
I ran away from the van, dashing at blazing speeds. Eventually, when the curious crowds grew too thick, I spread my wings, and flied upwards. A blinding beam of light shot down from space, enveloping me in its warmth. Soon after, I landed aboard the Crusader's deck. A pair of glass doors slid aside, allowing me to walk out the tight tube I had found myself in. Teleportation devices aren't perfect, and they certainly aren't the most subtle thing in the world, but for all intents and purposes, they served their function rather well.
Megabit stood before me. As usual, strands of binary data emanated out his turquoise mane. The green number thingies flying around were all part of a mod he inserted onto his mane. Other than that little gadget, he was, for the most part, void of digital impurities. Like an old friend of mine, Megabit also possessed cat-eyes. I've never asked why... How weird... Even though we've traveled for more than two years together, we don't know very much about each other at all. Guess we were too busy handling things.
Seriously, what is it with these alien planets? Every time we go somewhere, there has to be some sort of conflict. Sigh... What I've seen today isn't even the worst of things to have crossed my eyesight. What did we already do? Let's see... Surprisingly enough, bombs seem to be some sort of trending evil plan around the galaxy. Maybe I'm just looking into this a little too much. Sigh...
"Morpheus, Her Majesty Luna is on the line. Please don't let her wait any longer. The last thing I want is the Lunar Empire after us..."
I went inside the ship's gigantic control room. I veered to the left, facing the enormous communications screen. Atop that huge display was a tiny camera tracing our every movement. For what it is, that little apparatus performs quite well.
"This is Morpheus Equinox on the line now. You Highness, I request permission to investigate the potential threat on this alien planet."
"Did you really have to bother me for this?" she replied on a very informal tone. "I was pwning everyone on the servers! Of course, you just had to interrupt my game!"
"I'm sure you can obliterate all living survivors in a matter of instants, Luna."
"Hey," she interjected filled with sass. "It's not THAT easy you know. You try online gaming for once! I'm tired of all these noobs crowding the servers."
"I'm assuming you are presently in your own private quarters, or else this wouldn't look good and the Inter-Planetary-Vanguard." She glared at me frustrated. I smiled back innocently.
"Alright, if it's permission you request, then it shall be granted. Also, I would like to add some additional tactical support to your team, if that's alright."
Megabit jumped in, worried over his position.
"What about me you Highness?" he exclaimed. "Aren't I good enough?"
We both chuckled.
"Of course you are, Megabit! I'm talking about additional support here, at the base. Gentlecolts, meet Code Harmo-001: Twilight Sparkle."
I looked at Luna confused. "But," I began, "that's a clone code! Harmo-001 is a clone code! She's a clone isn't she?!"
"Yes," interjected Luna, "and you are a cross-racial half-bred marvel, aren't you? Is there a problem with her being a clone?"
I blushed, my cheeks reddening more and more.
"It's not that!" I retorted in my defense. "I'm just worried about whether or not her genetic coding is stable enough. The last thing I want is for a clone to go defunct on us..."
Thankfully, Her Majesty assured me that the coding was not only stable, but amongst the greatest scientific successes ever witnessed. According to the lunar Alicorn, Harmo-001, along with Harmo-002 up to Harmo-006, were the single most perfect clones to have ever been crafted. Not only do they have the memories of the originals, but also their abilities and personalities. I guess they truly were scientific marvels...
"For this mission, I'm sending Asteria with you, just in case."
I barged in spontaneously, angered by such a suggestion.
"No offense Luna, but are you crazy?! You've got no idea what this could turn into, and I'm not about to bring Asteria into this!"
"How dare you speak to me like this Morpheus?! Don't overstep your boundaries you know!"
"Yeah, well if somepony would've made smarter decisions a long time ago, then things wouldn't have ended like that!"
"Although I agree things should have been handled better back then, the identity of this 'somepony' could certainly be debated for hours on end, without ever reaching a final conclusion."
An extremely uneasy silence fell in between us. We both played crucial roles in the tragic happening all those years ago. It's things like that I wish I could just forget. Sadly, the errors of our past always come back to haunt us, for today, and forever.
"I'm going alone, and none of you will object!" We both cut the transmission. Megabit went to his station, having just finished downloading a new mod. He tossed the translucent cube at me, but I whacked it off. He looked at me silently. I turned away, unwilling to hear the truth. He initiated the teleportation sequence. A minute later, I was back on the alien planet, ready for the fights to come.
