“Ma’am. We’re inbound on the target now”
“Alright. Courage? Are you ready down there?”
“Yes Princess. Transports are ready to launch. Girls you okay back there?”
“Yeah, we’re ready” replied Twilight
“Hay! There are guys back here too!”
“Alright sorry. You ready Major Hockey?” I asked with a chuckle
“Yes. Yes I am”
“What about the rest of the transports?”
“Liam here. Transport ready to go”
The rest of the transports also reported in. They were all ready to go.
“Alright! Good. Wonder-bolts and other fighter squadrons, You ready to support the transports?”
“Yes Princess. All fighters are ready to go”
“Alright... drop us out of sub-space”
“Yes Ma’am”

The fleet dropped out of hyperspace and we found ourselves inside the massive gas giant.
“Alright, we’re clear to go! All transports, Launch!”
We all took off out the hangers and grouped up into formation.
“Alright. All transports accounted for. Leaving the atmosphere now. You know your targets. Don’t hang around”
As soon as we exited the atmosphere we were met with heavy laser fire from Discord’s fleet.
“Shit!!” I yelled as we took one direct hit.
“They must have detected our hyperspace window” Twilight pointed out.
“Ya think?!?” I responded snappily.
The transport was now lurching side to side. The hit we took destabilised it.
Discord’s fleet continued to fire at us but our small sizes allowed us to easily dodge the shots. We lost a few transports to the first little barrage though.
“Enemy fighters!” warned Soarin.
“Lets get on them Wonder-bolts!” ordered Spitfire.
The Wonder-bolts and some of the other Pony fighters broke away to engage the enemy fighters. Only a few fighters stayed with the Human transports.
“Alright Princess, We’re moving for Discord’s ships now”
“Good luck. All of you. We’ll move the battle-ships in once you take out the targets”
“Rodger that. Cobra out”

We passed the first few ships and some transports broke away to land in the hangers. My target was Discord’s ships.
“Fighters on our six!” Yelled one of the pony fighter pilots.
Machine gun and laser fire was coming from behind us. Discord had sent fighters to stop us reaching him. They took out some more of our transports, leaving only three of us left. Luckily eleven transports had already landed on Discord’s ships. The pony fighters pulled back to engage and we tried to get away. There was still two fighters on me. The other two transports had broken away to land on their target. Discord’s ship was dead ahead now. Getting closer and closer as I continued to dodge the laser fire from the fighters behind us.
“Almost there!”
We were hit again and the ship gave a massive jolt. It knocked my head into the dash board.
“Ah fuck! My head! I’m losing power! C’mon! So close!”
We were approaching the hanger now.
“Just a few more-”
The dashboard started to beep.
“Target engaging Hyper-drives? No no no no no no! I’m not letting him get away. No fucking way!”
We were hit again and I lost control of the ship.
“FUCK! This is Cobra! We need help or we’re gonna get screwed here!” I yelled in panic.
“Spitfire inbound. We gotcha”
The fighters were then taken down by heavy laser fire.
“What about Discord! We can’t let him get away!”
“Don’t worry. Soarin, EMP now!”
“Mmm... mmm... Yep. Just let me finish my pie”
Both their fighters flew in front of me and fired a blue rocket each at Discord’s ship. Suddenly a massive electrical surge went through Discord’s ship and all it’s engines, defences and lights went off.
Soarin was then hit by a laser and it jolted sideways violently.
“Soarin!” yelled Spitfire.
“MY PIE!!” Soarin Responded. “That’s it! I’m gonna make him pay! That pie cost me four bits!”
Both their ships broke away to engage the enemy fighters.

Behind me I saw some of Discord’s ships light up into massive explosions.
“Alight! Luna! You need to move in now! My transport has lost primary system and I can’t get to Discord’s ship. You need to take him out... Now!”
“Alright! Me and Big Mac will move in now”
I got up and moved to the back
“Move!!!” I shouted as I walked past the ponies.
“What is it Courage?” Twilight asked.
“I need to get this ship working again...” I ripped a panel out of the wall and plugged in my tablet. “I’m going to try re-route power to the engines”
“Erm.... Courage... You know that we’re still moving towards his ship right? At high speed may I add!” Rainbow stated alarmingly.
“Oh shit! Of course!” I looked up though the cockpit. “Objects in space don’t stop moving do they. No air-resistance or gravity...” I then looked back down at my tablet and began fanatically pushing buttons. “Shit. Need to get the brakes working!”
“Courage! We’re getting closer! Courage! Hurry up!!”
“Yes Rainbow!! Thanks for the extra pressure! Because it’s going to definitely help me work faster isn’t it?!?” I shouted sarcastically.
“Courage!!” panicked Twilight.
“Alright got it!” I rushed to the cockpit and fired up the engines. I smacked the flight stick forward to dive under Discord’s ship.
“Warning. Proximity alert. Six inches from object” notified a female computer voice.
“Holy fuck that was close” I said as we dove under Discords ship.

I pulled round and tried again for the hanger. Luna and Mac’s fleet were now engaging Discord’s fleet. Massive blue lasers impacted on Discord’s ships.
“Discord’s systems are back up and he’s trying to jump again!”
I put my engines to full thrust and aimed for the hanger
“He’s not getting away!!”
We were launched towards his ship. Getting close now when suddenly, Zip! His ship jumped to Hyperspace.
“LUNA FUCKING DAMN IT!! SON OF A BITCH!!” I Raged out loud.
There were a few seconds of silence as I looked violently at the dashboard. I then started to bash it in rage.
“Damn it! FUCKING DAMN IT!”
“Courage. Darling, It’s okay” Rarity said putting a hoof on my shoulder.
“NO! It’s not! That ass needs to pay!! He killed my friends and family, Violet and pretty much wiped out my planet! And now he’s on his way to Equestia! It’s not Fucking Okay!!! He isn’t aloud to keep fucking running away like that!!”
“Lets get back to Luna yeah? Plan our next move. Just calm down okay?!?” Rarity insisted kindly.
“Okay...” I sighed loudly, trying to calm myself. “We’ve weakened him. That’s... that’s good. Maybe we’ll get him next time”
“That’s better. Come on now. Lets get back okay?” she then spoke quietly into my ear. “We can have a nice little chat later yeah?”
“Yes. I’d like that. Talk about what I’m gonna do to DISCORD when I find him!”
“No. Nothing like that. That will just annoy you more. You need to relax! You push yourself too much... When we get back, we’ll go for Coffee”
“Okay ‘Mum’ ” I said in a whiny tone.
“I’m just trying to help?”
“Well I’m sorry. I’m just a little ticked off that Discord got away... AGAIN!”

Back on Luna’s ship now I was meeting with Luna and the Six ponies.
“What’s the situation Princess Luna? I want a full report”
“Of course Commander. Twelve of Discord’s ships got away. He is currently hiding his fleet behind Planet Ferlek, the second closet planet to Equestia, probably making repairs again”
“And our fleet?”
“Four. Four ships remain”
“Only four!!” I complained.
“The rest perished in the battle. They fought well to bring Discord’s numbers down”
“Four ships. We had eighty to begin with. All full of ponies who gave their lives...” I started to shake my head in despair. “Four fucking ships remain. Unbelievable”
“Hay! Courage! Those eighty ships took out over three hundred other ships. It’s not like they went down easy” said Spike upliftingly.
“Guess your right. Though you have to remember that thirty of Trixie's joined with us at the end of the first battle”
“Still. That’s only one hundred and ten”
“Spike is right. We can still do this” stated Luna in a proud tone. “He may outnumber us but our ships are much more advanced. We have more advanced shields and Hyper-drives, plus we still have left over fighters from the battles. Discord doesn’t”
“Alright. You made your point. But we still need a plan...”
“What exactly can we do? We a’ready used up all are plans” Stated Applejack.
“She’s right. What can we do exactly?” agreed Twilight.
“We’ll just have to try our luck against him” I suggested, not very sure of where this was going though.
“Then it is so. We shall try out luck and fight him directly. I’ll prep the ships and we shall leave as soon as possible”
“Alright. Well I’m going to get a Coffee in the mean time. I think we should all get some rest for now. It’ll be a few hours till we get there”

I was down in the mess hall getting a coffee and a bite to eat. I was with Rarity, Blades and Soarin. Soarin was getting another pie after dropping his last one in his fighter.
“Om... nom... mmm...” Soarin was eating away at his pie. Me, Rarity and Blades just glared at him. Soarin then noticed us glaring and he stared back for a second, completely motionless. He then went back to stuffing his face with pie.
“Om... mmm.... Pie...”
Rarity put her hoof out in a ‘What the fuck?’ way.
“Soo... This is awkward. Staring at a Pony stuffing his face with a pie” I said loudly... leaning towards Soarin.
“Huh? Oh.. Hi...” Soarin replied before going back to stuffing his face.
Liam then sat down next to Soarin, looked at Soarin for a second in interest then slammed his face into his own pie also.
I just face-palmed then turned to Rarity and Blades.
“Anyway. What’s up Blades? I still don’t know much about you”
“Well. I’m a pony. I er... come from Equestria and... erm... I’m green!”
“Do you like Pie?!?” yelled Soarin, still stuffing his face in the remains of his pie.
Me, Rarity and Blades looked at each other and giggled at Soarin.
“Yes!” blades replied as he started to laugh. Me and Rarity began to giggle harder.
“Wait here guys, I’ll be back in a sec” Blades said with a chuckle.
Me and Rarity waited for Blades as we giggled at Soarin. He just finished his pie. Suddenly, Smash! Blades threw a pie at Soarin, right in the back of the head. Soarin was covered in apple filling. We all glared for a second before bursting out in laughter. Even Soarin started to laugh. We then looked to our right to see Luna staring at us with a lifted eyebrow.
“Oh erm... hay Luna...” I said, ashamed of myself.
I looked back at the others to see their expression, not expecting to get hit in the side of the face with a pie.
“Ah! What the?!?”
I looked at Luna as she grinned and giggled, holding a hoof to her mouth.
“Princess Luna?!?”
“I’m sorry” she chuckled. “I could not withhold the urge to defile thou with an apple pastry dish!” she then started to laugh and we all laughed with her.
“Huh? What did I miss?” Liam asked in confusion.
Me and the ponies looked evilly at each other as we slowly lifted up more pies and aimed for Liam.

“Well that was fun” I said, smiling as me and Rarity walked away from the mess hall.
“It certainly was. It’s nice to see you enjoying yourself”
“I hope Liam's okay” I said, laughing quietly.
“Well he’ll certainly need to have a shower later” she said, giggling back.
“I should probably do the same” I said, looking down at my shirt covered in apple pie.
“Alright. I’ll meet you later at your quarters”
“Er... Okay then. Cya later Rarity”

I was back at my quarters, provided by Princess Luna, and just had a shower. Looking out my window I could see we were in Hyper-space already. Not long now till we were at Discord’s doorstep. I was looking forward to finally kicking his ass. I then got a knock at the door.
“Who is it?” I called out.
“It’s Rarity... Just checking up on you”
“Hang on!”
I quickly got dressed and opened the door.
“Hay Rarity. What’s up?”
“I was just checking up on you” she said, walking into the room
“Okay...” I closed the door and turned to her.
“I wanted to have a chat. There is definitely something on your mind and I’m not leaving till you share it with some-pony. It doesn’t have to be me but you need to tell some-pony. What ever it is, it is clearly bothering you”
“What are you talking about?”
She then levitated a note out of her saddle bag and levitated it over to me. I took it and read it. It was the letter dad sent me when I was thirteen.
“That is what I’m talking about” she sounded relentless and heartless.
I sat down on the bed, staring blankly at the letter.
“Where did you find this?” I asked, my eyes watering again.
“Rainbow said she found it in your apartment when you took her in”
“I’ve been looking for this for years”
I began to read the letter again.
“Talk to me Courage. I’m all ears you know” she said, her voice quiet and compassionate.
“My parents were in the army. I was only a child when they died. I got this through the letter box a week before my fourteenth birthday. They were killed while out on patrol... After reading this from my dad I was never the same again. I blocked out all my school friends, avoided contact with family and some nights I would cry for my parents to come home. On those nights, my sister would hold me tight and try to make things okay. My sister was the only one I could really speak too after my parents deaths. That was...” I was now crying softly. Rarity was holding me to comfort me. “That was till this war started. Me, my sister and my grandparents were out shopping, celebrating my grandmother’s birthday; In a shopping centre near the southern shore of England. That was when the navel attacks happened. The Russians attacked the shores of England. A resulting bombardment of the shopping centre killed my sister and grandparents. They we’re crushed under a tonne of debris. I was almost crushed myself. I... I couldn’t save them. I just ran. I ran and got away from the shore. They were the only family I had left...”
“I can’t imagine how it must feel” Rarity said softly. I could tell she had no idea what to say.
“...and now thanks to Discord, I have no one”
“Oh Courage. You’ll always have me...” Rarity smiled compassionately at me. “...and Rainbow and every-pony else. We’ll always be here for you”
I smiled back at her but then we were interrupted by Luna’s voice on the ships intercom.
“We’re exiting hyperspace in fifteen minutes. Every-pony to your station”
“We should get going”
“Yeah, we probably should” replied Rarity. “We’ll finish this talk later”

Me and Rarity made it to the bridge as did the other ponies. Major Hockey also joined us on the bridge.
“What’s happening Princess” I asked as I walked up beside her at the front of the bridge.
“We’re about to jump out of hyperspace. We’ll be engaging Discord as soon as we do. Hopefully we’ll be able to do some damage before they even notice we’re here”
I looked out into the wavy blue wormhole that surrounded the ship. It suddenly opened up and turned bright white as we fell from sub-space.
“Prime weapons! Shields to maximum and Launch all fighters!” Luna ordered.
Luna’s four ships all began to fire blue lasers and machine guns at Discord’s ships.
Discord’s fleet returned fire. The ship jolted from the impact of weapons fire and some of the electronics began to spark.
“Shields down, eighty percent”
“Keep on them!” Ordered Luna.
One of Discord’s ships were destroyed. Luna’s ships came closer and and began to fire at the engines of Discord’s ships. Secondary explosion began to fill the enemies thrusters. They were not running this time.
After about ten minutes of battle we had taken out four of Discord’s ships.
“This is Commander Rowbuck. We are losing power to all systems. We have to abandon ship. Abandon shi- Argh!”
One of Luna’s ships was destroyed.
“This is Commander Macintosh. I’ve lost all weapons and shields. I’m abandoning ship”
“Can ya reach the transports?!?” asked Applejack in concern.
“Eeeeyup. Keep those hangers open for me”
“Got it commander. We’ll be waiting” replied Luna.
It was only Luna and one other ship in the fight now and Discord still had eight ships left. After another minute we managed to bring it down too seven.
“Luna, Ma’am! Shields are down to thirty percent! and Commander Macintosh’s ship just exploded!”
“Did Big Mac make it out okay?!?”Applejack asked loudly in concern.
“He’s fine Ma’am. He’s approaching the hanger now”
“What about the Apple Grinder?” Luna asked with similar concern.
“It’s losing power! They are not answering our hails”
We took more hits and the ship jolted around some more as more systems overloaded.
“Apple Grinder! Report! Apple Grinder?”
The last remaining ship then exploded Violently and the shock wave hit us, taking down our shields.
“Apple Grinder!” Yelled Luna in despair.
“Ma’am! Shields are down and all six remaining hostiles are moving to engage”
We took more hits and everything started exploding.
“Ma’am! Multiple hull breaches! We’re venting atmosphere on multiple decks! We can’t keep this up for much longer!”
“We still got Hyper-drives?” Luna asked quickly.
“Yes Ma’am but not for long”
“Recall all fighters! We’re getting out of here!”
“Rodger that Ma’am. Recalling fighters”
The ship took more hits and caused more explosions. Most of the crew fell off their feet, including myself.
“Ma’am!! We can’t take another hit!”
“Wait for the fighters! We are not leaving them out there! As soon as they land, jump to Equestria! And DON’T wait for my orders!”
After a few more seconds of taking hits, warning alarms and shouting voices the fighters finally returned and the crewman engaged the Hyper-drives.
“Engaging Hyper-drives!”
Just before the jump to sub-space the Bridge took a direct hit! Without shields, it was going to do some serious damage. A massive flame engulfed the bridge and the force of the explosion knock me off my feet and I hit my head hard on the floor.