Inside the Hikari no fukushuu, Harmony's mobile base, ten thousand feet above Sun City...
The sound of engines reverberated throughout the entire ship. JP, Gale and Nova sat in the briefing room, waiting for Shinichi to debrief them.
Gale let out an overly loud sigh. "What's up with Shinichi-sensei?"
JP looked at his wrist, where an holographic display appeared. "He said he'd be here by five forty," he said. "He still has ten minutes to arrive."
The sliding doors to the room opened in a hiss of hydraulics. Suna walked in, the doors closing behind her. She sat down in front of Gale.
"Suna-chan, what are you doing here?" Nova asked.
"Sensei asked me to come and set things up," she answered.
JP, Gale and Nova looked at each other in confusion. Suna put her hands in front of her, causing an holographic keyboard to appear. She typed something, then an holographic projection appeared over the table.
"Thank you, Suna," the holographic face of Shinichi said. "Members of Harmony, we now face a great threat. The group 'Horizon' has made itself known by bombing a factory in the Industrial Sector of Sun City. Because of this, we had to make a move of our own to counter their bombing, and by saving the Prince, this was accomplished flawlessly."
Gale cleared her throat. "Why did we have to make ourselves known? It's not like the Solar Republic's ponies will ever meet us."
"True," Shinichi agreed. "However, because our main mission is to battle Horizon, we had to make ourselves known to counter their attempt at fear. As such, Harmony will officially become an ally of the Solar Republic, effective immediately."
JP got up and slammed his hands on the table. "Why should we ally ourselves with them?!"
Gale nodded. "Yeah. Besides, they haven't done anything for us."
"I know it's hard to let go of your grudges, but--" Shinichi said before being interrupted by JP.
"Grudge? You mean, the hatred I have towards the Solar Republic for slaughtering my family in front of my eyes when I was eight, including my little sister?!" JP yelled.
"Or the resentment I have towards my own kind for turning a blind eye on me and some other street orphans?" Gale added calmly.
"I know you all had some pretty bad childhoods, but they're not all like that," Shinichi pleaded.
Nova got up, a dark expression on her face. She walked towards the door but stopped short of it, turning to look at eveyone. "No, they're not. They're worse." Nova left the room as silence fell on the assembled beings.
. . . . .
Nova sat on her bed, hugging her legs. Tears fell from her cheeks onto the sheets as she sobbed quietly. Damn... she thought. Why did they have to bring their past up?! I didn't need to remember that!
She tightened her grip on her legs, her sobbing intensifying. That damn fire... Why didn't anypony think of coming and save my family?! And it's all his fault... More tears fell down. But, he still saved me... Mom, Dad, I miss you...
. . . . .
Sixteen years ago...
. . . . .
Nova Starlight, six years old, ran up the path on the green hill leading to her family's mansion. She had a red flower in her hands. Upon reaching the top of the hill, little Nova stopped and looked around. She spotted her mother resting under the shade of a big tree, reading.
White a huge smile on her face, the little unicorn ran towards her mother while yelling "Mama!" all the way. Her mother looked towards Nova, smiling. She closed her book and put it down as Nova approached.
"Mama! Mama!" Nova said. "Look!" Nova presented the red flower to her mother.
"It's lovely, Nova," the mother said. She took the flower from Nova's hands and took a deep breath, taking in the flower's scent. She then snapped most of the stem off and placed the flower in Nova's hair. "But it's even more lovely now."
Nova smiled at her mother, giggling a little.
The rest of the day passed by quickly for Nova. The day soon made place for evening, and dinner was upon the table all too soon for the little filly.
"As always, it's delicious," Nova's father said.
Then, gunshots sounded off in the distance. The stallion's eyes widened at what they implied.
"Raiders," he muttered. He then addressed Nova's mother. "Honey, take Nova and hide."
Nova's mother nodded then took Nova's hand. "Come with mama, sweetie."
Nova tilted her head. "Why?" she asked.
"Because--"
Nova's mother was interrupted by the sound of a broken window. A glass container with a blazing cloth landed on the table and shattered, spreading fire everywhere.
Reacting as soon as she heard the sound of breaking glass, Nova's mother brought the little filly close and protected her from the flames, them landing on her back instead. As the heat and pain became overwhelming, Nova's mother smiled at her daughter.
"Live on, my little star..."
Suddenly, several other flaming projectiles broke windows and spread their fire all over the mansion. Soon, everything but Nova was ablaze.
"Mama?" Nova called out in the inferno. "Daddy?"
Then, something shifted beyond Nova's field of vision. Nova began crying. "Daddy! Help me!"
A figure appeared beyond the wall of flames. Nova's crying intensified as the heat slowly became unbearable for the young unicorn. Then, the figure jumped through the flames and just as they landed, they grabbed Nova and ran out of the mansion as wooden beams fell from the floors above. They came out just as rubble fell in front of the door, sealing the way.
The figure, a man clad in a full body armor, gently put Nova down. He took his helmet off and looked at Nova, the orange glow from the fire making everything seem surreal.
"Are you hurt?" he asked.
Nova shook her head in the negative.
"Good." He looked at the blaze that once was Nova's home. "I screwed up big time." He looked back at Nova with a sad smile. "Name's Keith. What's yours?"
"N-No... va."
"Well Nova, I'm sorry for your parents. I didn't mean to kill them, but..." Keith punched the ground.
Nova's crying resumed in full. "Mama! Daddy!"
Keith brought Nova into a hug, allowing the young unicorn to cry and sob for a while.
. . . . .
Present day...
. . . . .
Nova looked at the only picture she had of her savior, tears still rolling down her cheeks. Why did you save me? Why didn't you let me die back then? Why were you so nice to me, even though I was a pony? Why can't I hate you for what you did? She flipped the picture down face-first on her desk. She dried her eyes and made her way to the door when someone knocked.
"Come in," she said.
The door slid open, revealing JP. "I came to see if you were okay...Um..." JP rubbed the back of his head, uneasy.
Nova smiled softly at JP. "Thanks for your concern, JP-kun."
"S-Sorry for bringing the past up... That was stupid of me," JP said.
Nova walked to JP. "Yes, it was," she said. She then hugged him, causing him to blush lightly.
"W-Why are you hugging me?"
"'Cause you helped me... I needed to come to terms with my past, so... Thanks."
JP hugged Nova back awkwardly.
. . . . .
Meanwhile...
Shinichi cut the communication with Harmony One, their flying base of operations. He turned around to face Celestia, Harvest and the Royal Guard Corps' Captain, Wind Rift.
"They'll do it," Shinichi said. "I know the kids and they'll do it."
Wind Rift huffed. "The two ponies working for you, maybe. But not the human. And even if he did it, I'll never stoop so low as to work with humans!" Wind Rift glared at Shinichi.
"Captain Wind, stand down," Celestia calmly said. "We need their help."
"They have technology we don't, Rift," Harvest added. "We may not like this, but we have no choice in the matter. Especially with Horizon's newest threat."
"About that threat..." Shinichi said. "What was it?"
Harvest added him a piece of paper. "Old fashion, I know, but it's what they sent."
Shinichi read the paper. It went:
On Sunday the twenty-first, the star of Sun City will fall.
-Horizon
"'The star of Sun City'. What does that mean?" Shinichi asked.
"We have no idea yet," Celestia said as she went over to a console. She typed something, and an holographic map of Sun City appeared.
Shinichi looked the map over. "Is there anything in the city that is a symbol of the Republic and at the same time looks like a star?"
"No." Wind Rift's voice was harsh.
"Okay, then. Military targets?"
"Unlikely. All military sites are under heavy guard at all time," Harvest said.
"And it is not governmental either," Celestia added.
Shinichi put a hand to his chin. "So, we have no idea what Horizon is targeting. I'll send a message to the kids so they'll patrol the sky."
"We have several hundred pegasi in the Royal Guard while you only have one. We are better suited for this task!" Wind Rift said.
"Not exactly. The technology Harmony has allowed them to use something similar to the Antigrav bike your forces use," Celestia said.
Shinichi went over to the console and typed something, causing the map to vanish. He then inserted a data crystal in the console's reader, and an holographic image of what could be best described as a flying bike appeared.
"Introducing the Flyer, a flying combat vessel," Shinichi said as every pony present looked at the image. "It has four retractable wings, two on each side, and two stabilizing fins at the back. It has two engines: the first one is a standard, V8 engine used when in Ride Mode, and the second is a prototype, high-energy plasma engine used when in Flight Mode and Combat Mode. It is equipped with varying weaponry, ranging from the tried-and-true M61 Vulcan Gatling-type rotary gun to a heavy, high energy-yield cannon.
"The Flyer can carry up to sixty thousand 20mm rounds, one hundred thousand if there are no other conventional weapons, and it has five energy cells assigned to energy weapons. It can also carry up to four thousand explosive railgun rounds."
"Impressive," Wind Rift said. "But all that seems to be a little on the heavy side. I'm pretty sure it can't be that fast."
Shinichi smirked. "Actually, the Flyer is capable of speeds up to Mach 1 in Flight Mode and up to 189 meters per second in Combat Mode."
"What about that 'Combat Mode'?" Harvest asked.
"Combat Mode," Shinichi said as the image changed to that of a mecha. "The Flyer becomes an easily-piloted mecha in Combat Mode. It is also still flight capable."
The image of the Flyer's Combat Mode vanished as silence fell upon the room.
. . . . .
JP sat on his Flyer, a white-and-black machine equipped with a Vulcan rotary gun, in the hangar of the Hikari no fukushuu. Behind him on each side were Nova's and Gale's Flyers. He was wearing his armor and had his helmet on, the visor transparent.
"Armor Connect," he said.
The Flyer's display screen lit up as JP's back was covered by a portion of the Flyer's armor.
"Armure connectée. Yoroi ga setsuzoku sa reta. Armadura conectada. Armor connected," the Flyer's computer said in its synthetized female voice.
{What are you doing, JP?} Suna asked on the comm system.
"I'm going out for a flight."
The comm stayed silent for a few seconds. {Okay. You're cleared for take off,} Suna said.
The door opened, revealing the blue sky to JP.
"Roger. I'm cleared for take off."
His hands on the controllers and his feet on the pedals, JP took off. He pushed down on the pedals to increase the thrust, resulting in a sudden burst of speed. In seconds, the Hikari no fukushuu was but a speck on the horizon behind him.
Allowing himself to calm down, JP eased his feet, slowing his Flyer down. He pushed a button on the below the display screen, causing his visor to become white and opaque. He let out a sigh.
"Finally alone."
All of a sudden, an alarm sounded in JP's ears.
"Inbound objects, zero degrees from current heading," the computer droned.
"How many?"
"Three objects. Size matches that of the Flyer."
JP's eyes widened. "Open channel to Hikari no fukushuu!"
. . . . .
Suna busied herself in the control room of the hangar. Suddenly, a light began flashing on her console.
"A communication?" She opened the channel. "What's going on, JP?"
{There are three inbound signals heading my way,} JP said, slightly panicked. {They're the same size as a Flyer.}
Suna's eyes widened. "Roger that. Stay out of range of their radar."
{Ten four.} The communication ended.
Suna immediately pushed the alarm button. A second later, the alarm sounded throughout the ship.
"Nova! Gale! To your Flyers! We've got company."
{Got it, Suna,} Gale said. {I'm on my way.}
{Hai,} Nova said.
. . . . .
Ten minutes... JP thought. Ten goddamn minutes! Can't they hurry? Just then, a chime annouced an incoming transmission. "About time!" He opened the channel. "Finally!"
{Oi, JP-kun,} Nova said, {we're going as fast as we can.}
{Enough chatter guys,} Suna said. {Time to engage the objects.}
"Ten four. Nova, Gale, activate Battle System."
JP pressed a light blue switch on the console, and the display changed from non-battle to battle systems, displaying the energy level for the weapons and shield, energy output of the weapons, the remaining ammunition quantity and status of the Flyer's Battle systems. He gripped the handles harder and put a finger on the trigger of his Flyer's Vulcan.
JP looked left and saw Gale's red-and-black Flyer come up and level with him, the G-7K 'Crystal' heavy energy cannon mounted on it glowing purple with energy. He then looked right and saw Nova's pink-and-white Flyer level with him.
{Let's do this, JP-kun,} Nova said.
"Yes," JP agreed. "Let's!"
. . . . .
Sun City Military Command Center (SCMC)
The SCMC had become very busy in the the few minutes after they received word of the incoming objects. Ponies wearing the white-and-blue uniform of the SCMC ran back and forth between stations to set everything up before the battle began. That had been five minutes prior, and Wind Rift stood in the CO's office looking out the glass wall overlooking the Command Center.
"Impressive, Commander Sword," Wind Rift said.
Commander Silver Sword was a middle-aged stallion with tan fur, red eyes, and a greying blond mane and tail. He got up from his office chair and walked to Wind Rift. "Indeed. Those young officers keep surprising me."
"Shouldn't we be out there in the Command Center instead of in your office?" Harvest asked from where she sat on Sword's desk.
"You are right, Commander Harvest," Sword said as he turned to look at her.
Below the office, in the Command Center, the link had been made with Harmony One, and the three Flyer Pilots' conversation was broadcasted throughout the Center, along with a video feed provided by a surveillance drone in the area. The screen displayed the three Flyers of Harmony with tags giving their identification.
{Enemy objects two thousand five hundred meters from your position and approaching fast,} Suna said.
{Ten four,} JP acknowledged.
"The battle begins now," Sword said.
. . . . .
JP checked the display of his Flyer one last time. "Engaging enemy objects in twenty."
{Roger that, JP-kun,} Nova said.
{Acknowledged,} Gale said.
Ahead of the three Flyers were three vehicules similar to the Flyers, the main difference being the open cockpit. They flew in a wide V formation. The one on the right was black with neon blue markings. It had two three-barrel Vulcan guns. The one on the left was black with neon violet markings. It had two AM-3 energy guns. The leader's was black with neon red markings and was equipped with a LC-5 'Katana' energy cannon.
Gale whistled. {There not too bad-looking...}
"Gale, focus."
Gale answered with a groan. {Fine. Let's roast 'em.}
Gale's Flyer lurched forward with a burst of speed. Then, a light on JP's console began flashing, signalling an incoming outside communication.
"Open general channel," JP said then paused for a few seconds. "Yes?"
{Today is the day you lose, Harmony,} a husky male voice said.
"Who are you?!"
{My name is not important to you,} the same husky voice answered.
Nova gasped. {I-Is that you, Marcus?}
{YOU TELL ME, YOU FUCKIN' FAMILY THIEF!} the husky voice said as the neon-red Flyer broke formation and its pilot stood up, taking their helmet off.
The neon-red Flyer's pilot was a young man of about 23 years old. He had a short, black beard and messy, greasy black shoulder-length hair.
{I'LL KILL YOU, YOU BROTHER THIEVIN' BITCH!} he shouted.
The other two pilots also took off their helmets, revealing who they were.
The pilot of the neon blue Flyer was a man of about 25 years old. He was cleanly shaved and had short hair that had been dyed blue. He looked calm despite the situation. The pilot of the neon violet Flyer was a girl of about 18 years old. She had long brown hair. Her skin was deathly pale.
It was JP's turned to gasp. "Sister?"
The white-skinned girl smiled sadly at JP, tears obvious in her eyes despite the distance. JP's arms fell to his side, causing his Flyer to slowly lose altitude. He was completely lost in his thoughts.
Seeing that, Gale brought her Flyer closer to JP's.
"Snap out of it, JP!" she yelled.
She received no response from JP.
Just as she was about to yell again, bullets bounced off her Flyer. She looked up and saw the neon-blue Flyer flying towards her. She grunted and pulled up, hoping to catch the pilot's attention.
Meanwhile, Marcus had rushed Nova, who had dodged quickly. Nova aimed and fired a single burst from her Flyer's J-70 energy gun at Marcus.
"Why are you doing this, Marcus?" She asked. "We're basically family!"
"You got my brother killed!" Marcus answered.
Then, Marcus' Flyer transformed into its Mecha form. The Mecha grabbed the LC-5 in one of its hands, causing a blade to extend from the body of the weapon. The Mecha then dashed towards Nova's Flyer and tried to slash her.
Nova dodged the attack, but barely. She quickly opened a channel to Harmony One.
"Suna, I need to activate--"
{I know,} Suna interrupted Nova. {Working on it.}
A few seconds later, a light on the console, which had been red until now, turned green.
{There,} Suna said. {Good luck.}
"Thanks." Nova closed the communication and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Activate Combat Mode."
Gears began grinding against each other as the Flyer morphed into a Mecha. As the morphing happened, Nova felt herself shift into a vertical position, her hands and feet still holding the controls. She moved her left hand, testing the response time of the Mecha.
"Time to get serious," she whispered.
Nova gripped the controls thighter, then pushed them forward, causing the Mecha to lurch forward in a burst of speed. She moved her left hand as if she was drawing a sword, and the Mecha mimicked her gesture and grabbed the J-70. She aimed and shot several times at Marcus, whom dodged most and blocked the rest with his LC-5.
Nova grit her teeth. "Damn bastard..."
She shot several times again, but with the same results. When she squeezed the trigger again, however, a warning popped up on her heads-up display saying 'overheat'.
Nova swored under her breath while Marcus took the opportunity and attacked. He rushed forward, the blade of his LC-5 pointed directly at the core of Nova's Mecha, which contained the cockpit. Acting out of instinct, she grabbed the arms of Marcus' Mecha and struggled to keep the blade away. However, she was slowly losing the struggle as the blade slowly inched its way forward towards the cockpit.
As the blade came into contact with the cockpit's canopy, cracks appeared as the sound of cracking glass caused Nova's eyes to widen. Desperatly, she aimed and hoped to get lucky as she squeezed the trigger. The bolt of energy flew away from the J-70 and hit the engine of Marcus' Flyer. Black smoke rose from the impact point, the the Mecha became limp as all the power was suddenly removed. It began to plummet towards the ground.
. . . . .
Everyone in SCMC cheered as one of the enemy markers disappeared from the holographic display.
. . . . .
{You win today, Harmony,} the other man said.
The two remaining Flyers did a one-eighty turn and began to fly away. "Not so fast," Gale said as she switched the G-7K to 'EMP' mode. She aimed and fired without waiting for the system to properly lock on. The computer of Gale's Flyer shut down for a second due to the electromagnetic pulse before rebooting while the emp travelled forward, frying the black-and-neon-purple Flyer's systems before dissipating.
As the fried Flyer fell from the sky, Marcus' own flew back up in Flight mode, black smoke still oozing out of the engine. It sped after the only intact Flyer of his team.
Gale let out a sigh she didn't know she was holding. Nova pulled up beside her, her Flyer now in Flight mode.
{We did it, Gale.}
"Huh? No chan this time?"
{Too tired for that.}
Gale chuckled a little. "So am I." She then opened a channel to the Hikari no fukushuu. "Suna, send Salvagers to our location. We have some things that need to be picked up."
{Way ahead of you guys,} the voice of Suna chirped in Gale's ear. {You can come back home, now.}
"Acknowledged."
Gale's and Nova's Flyers made wide turns and headed for Harmony One to get some well-deserved rest.
. . . . .
In a dark and damp cave somewhere, a tall, shadowy figure stood still, transfixed by the setting sun. Another figure, this one shorter by merely an inch, walked up to the shadowy one.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" shorter figure said.
The tallest simply nodded, although it was nearly imperceptible. "How are your plans going?" Its voice was deep and masculine, emitting an aura of darkness.
The short figure smiled a wicked smile with teeth seemingly too sharp. "Perfectly, on schedule, and as planned."
The tall figure snorted. "Nothing ever goes according to plan, trust me."
"Only when you are not prepared for everything, my friend," the short figure replied with its youthful voice.
"You are not my friend, merely someone who happens to have the same goal as myself," the tall figure said. "Besides, today's attack was useless. We didn't even win it."
The short figure smiled its wicked smile once more. "Au contraire, it went exactly as I planned. We even got a little extra."
"At the cost of one of your pawns," the tall figure snarled back.
"Today was just a show anyway. Our next attack will be far more meaningful."
That got the anttention of the tall figure. He turned his shadowy head towards the shorter figure, not that it was easily noticeable. "How so?"
The short figure's smile grew even wider. "You'll see."