Stellar was sitting in the simulator for the Beta Fighter, as Scootaloo was sitting in the simulator for the Alpha fighter. Both of them were running through a simulation of flying together as one, as they learned how to fly the combined fightercraft. "This isn't at all like flying in the air normally." Scootaloo said to herself. "I have to keep in mind that I need the engines to maintain speed, which maintains lift."

"That's right, Scoots." Stellar replied. "The fighters can transform to enable them to hover, but for now, that's for later lessons."

"Yeah, Stellar." Scootaloo replied. "Right now, it's a matter of learning the basics: Flying as a fighter aircraft, not a mecha."

"Exactly." Stellar replied. "How are you doing?"

"It feels... funny, having to sit up and fly like this." Scootaloo answered honestly. "If it weren't for the seat restraints, I'd fall forward all the time." She looked at the left screen in front of her, seeing Stellar's face look back from inside her flight helmet.

Stellar chuckled. "I know what you mean, Scoots, I truly do." She replied. "If I wasn't so used to standing up for long periods, this would feel even more awkward. We'll have to redesign the cockpits for prone flying positions once we're back home again, and we have time to do so."

"Yeah, that would be really good." Scootaloo had to agree. "Still, I'm getting used to it... so far." She swept and banked the combined fightercraft around in a tight turn, heading back the way they'd come. Rolling it back to a level position, Scootaloo raised the nose, increased the thrust, and they soared higher into the sky. "Boy, this thing takes a long time to make a turn." She told Stellar.

Stellar chuckled. "It'll do that, yes. The faster you go, the wider the turns. Of course, once we master transformation, then we can use the real power of these mechs to fly in ways normal aircraft like the shuttles won't be able to do."

"So why did these fighters have to be able to transform again?" Scootaloo asked as she moved into formation with two other Alpha-Beta combinations, for a little formating practise.

"They were built to counter a race called the Invid, apparently." Stellar told Scootaloo. "They also had big machine-mecha to move around in, and were nasty fighters. You'll be learning to take them on in the simulators once we reach a certain level of combat training in the Alpha and Beta mechs.

"So I'll be learning to fly the Betas as well?" Scootaloo asked.

"Of course." Stellar answered. "No use you only learning to fly one type of fighter. That could leave you at a real disadvantage in combat. If your Alpha's damaged beyond operational capacity, you could always eject the canopy and move back into the Beta, then eject the Alpha. Also, I want you, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom to learn to pilot the shuttles and transports. That way, you have a lot of different skills to put forward as ship crew."

"Okay, I can see that." Scootaloo said back. She did a quick roll with the combined fightercraft and straightened up again. As they came back around, Scootaloo lined up with a runway near a village in Equestria's north. Reducing her speed, she lowered the landing gear, did the pre-landing final checks as the checklist scrolled down a small screen before her, and she touched down only a little faster than the ideal speed. Slowing to a trotting pace, she steered the combination off the runway to an apron and parked it. Going through the shutdown checklist, she pressed the last control, and the images around her faded, leaving her in the cockpit of the simulator, the dome of the Xerxes's flight simulator around her obvious now.

"Great landing, Scoots." Stellar's voice was in her ear as Scootaloo cracked the canopy and undid her restraints. " A touch fast, but well within tolerances."

"Thanks, Stellar." Scootaloo replied as she climbed out and retracted her flight armor back into her helmet. Stellar met up with Scootaloo in the hall outside the simulators. "Are you going to get some air-time as well, without back-seating me?" She asked.

"Who said I was back-seating you all the time, Scoots?" Stellar asked. "I was doing my flight training as well while you were flying about. It was just as if you were an observer in front of me, while you had me as an observer behind you; that way, we both got hours up and got in some valuable experience."

Scootaloo chuckled. "That almost sounds like cheating." She suggested.

"Maybe, but it's cheating in a good way. It doesn't hurt either one of us or disadvantages us, and we both got valuable air-time out of it." Stellar pointed out. "Now, let's do the post-flight reports and we can relax, now our secondary period's over."

"Yeah! Shower and shovel." Scootaloo replied with a grin, the 'shovel' referring to having a meal. Together, the pegasus and alicorn mares headed for the lifts and their quarters.

The doors to the throne room at Griffonspire Palace were flung open as a very satisfied-looking Prince Razorbeak Greatfeather strutted in, looking around at his troops as they occupied the entire castle now. Only the faint odor of blood filled the air, the floor of the throne room as clean as if it had been lick-polished by the tongues of ponies. He chuckled to himself at the image in his mind of ponies doing exactly that, Celestia amongst them. As his general and other advisors entered, he mounted the dais and circled the throne of Griffonia once, to slowly sink his tiger-striped rump down onto it. Bigger than most griffons, due to his heritage of being part-Tiger-part-Great Eagle, he had always dominated any gathering he had attended. Now, with the general of the Griffonian Armed Forces working for him, the triumph he felt at taking what he considered his 'rightful place' in Griffonia filled him with confidence and a little daring. He looked down at General Ironbeak Steelclaw, who remained upright as all others there bowed to him, but the salute the General gave him was more than enough of a sign of his respect that Razorbeak gave him a quick salute back, then told the others "You may all rise."

As they did so, two of Razorbeak's advisors waited patiently for him to acknowledge them. Once had good news; the other did not, but he was wise enough that he knew the Prince would not do anything to him for delivering it. "My Liege." He said, his wife beside him echoing the phrase of allegance.

Razorbeak smiled on them. "So, Brightwing, Jadeclaw, General... we have swept away the last vestiges of the rule of that weakling, Brownclaw." He said to them. "General, how goes the mopping-up?" Razorbeak asked.

"The House troops have taken over all senior positions within the ranks of the Guard that remain, as well as the general armed forces." Steelclaw answered. "The other major houses have passed on their House Swords to you, as their show of support." Steelclaw gestured to a number of sergeants in armor, carrying with respect twenty-nine ornate swords: the swords of the thirty Great Houses of the Empire of Griffonia, save for Greatfeather's own House-sword, which sat in its scabbard over his back. The other House swords would be returned to the House Leaders when they swore loyalty to their new king, at his coronation.

Razorbeak nodded with appreciation. "What of the rest of the Guard officers?" He asked.

"We have tracked down ten of the fifty that have fled or were not here." Steelclaw reported. "Apparently, according to them and the letters they held, they were on furlough with their families. Since they instantly swore allegiance when it was demanded of them, I felt no need to order them back immediately."

Razorbeak nodded. "Very wise, General. We will show those who question the purging of the Old Realm that nothing disastrous or disruptive will happen by myself taking back what belonged to my House originally." He said with a smile. "At least for now." He turned to look at Brightwing. "What of the Equestrian Diplomats and their staff? Have they been found and brought back here?" He asked.

"I can say with all accuracy, Your Royal Highness, that we will not find them in Griffonia." Brightwing replied, hedging his words very carefully.

Razorbeak's eyes narrowed. "You are certain of this?" He asked, his voice full of disappointment.

"Very certain, Your Royal Highness." Brightwing confirmed. "Their embassy was cleared of records and valuables possibly up to a week before the start of your campaign. The staff and the Ambassador fled on a fast Equestrian airship before your forces reached the gates of the city. It is also possible, and General Steelclaw agrees, that the missing Guards officers went with them, maybe to Equestria, but certainly as far as the border." Brightwing concluded.

Razorbeak snorted, growling softly. "Traitors." He said softly.

"Possibly, Your Royal Highness." Steelclaw admitted. "Or they could have simply been following the last orders of Brownclaw. In that case, then they will not have committed treason unless they fail to return. If they do so and swear allegiance, then they have done as Duty and Honor has dictated... as would any of the Royal Guard who were ordered to do so by their monarch."

Razorbeak's mind slowly emptied of the dark thoughts that roiled inside. He took a deep breath and calmed himself. Not was not the time to give into his desires and allow his thirst for Blood and Vengeance to be set loose. He had to remain calm and finalise his hold on the Throne and the Crown. Once that was done, and he had the full support of Griffonia behind him... then would be the time to set loose the horde of Griffonia on their prey. "Very true." Razorbeak replied. "Honor, Duty and Loyalty... these are the things that Griffons cherish most. Those who uphold them, we would welcome them back into our service if they return and swear their Honor to ours, and their Loyalty to the Crown once again."

Steelclaw bowed to Razorbeak. "Indeed, Your Royal Highness. It is the one thing we know the Equestrians share with us... at least some of them."

Razorbeak snorted in disgust. "Prey animals, showing understanding of such principles." He said out loud, not really responding. "They have no idea of Honor, not the way WE know Honor. Their only duty is to bow to us and meet our needs as their betters." He growled. "Only when Celestia and Luna, as well as the other alicorns, are before me, on their barrels, chained and humiliated for what they did to our Empire so many centuries ago... THEN we shall teach them their true place on this world!" Razorbeak pulled his sword from its scabbard between his wings and drove it deep into the marble beside the throne. "We will erase the humiliation the Ponies forced upon us after the war with the Dragons! We will make them serve us as they should have been doing for over a thousand years! And once the House of Canopus Star has been eradicated from the face of our world... then we shall hold our duty to our House fulfilled in full." Razorbeak stated, the fury on his face holding everygriff there still with not a little fear... save for Steelclaw. Steelclaw just held his tongue still and his beak closed... for now.

Leaving the sword embedded in the floor, Razorbeak turned to face Jadeclaw. "What of the Royal Treasury?" He asked in a surprisingly-calm voice.

"Um..." A little flustered, Jadeclaw fluttered her notes. "The treasury here in the Capital contains nearly eight million crowns, Your Royal Highness. With High Reaches Treasury also holding nine-hundred-and-nine thousand, seven-hundred and fifty-two crowns; Shoalwater's Treasury containing five-hundred-and-sixty-two thousand, six hundred and eighty-four crowns; and Sun Plateau's treasury containing six-hundred thousand and sixteen crowns; it places our nation's liquid reserves at ten-million, seventy-two-thousand, three-hundred and eighty-eight crowns." Jadeclaw detailed. "With our gold reserves being at an all-time high of fifty million crowns, we would have had to lower taxes in the next quarter, or face having too much of our liquid capital being held in reserve." She told Razorbeak.

Razorbeak was surprised, to say the least. Whatever faults Brownclaw had had, fiscal mismanagement obviously hadn't been one of them. "Impressive." He commented. "I take it we can work within those numbers, without straining the finances of the kingdom, General?" He asked Steelclaw.

"Very much so, Your Royal Highness." Steelclaw answered. "With what the Empire already has at its disposal in troops and resources, we should not have to reduce that by any great amount for a while... as long as our initial invasion of Equestria goes to plan."

Razorbeak nodded. "We shall make sure it does so. I want all the reports of our spies to be tabulated and on my desk by the morning." He told Brightwing. "I want taxes kept as they are for the moment." He told Jadeclaw. "If things go to plan, we shall have Equestria to tax as we see fit, and we can drop taxes for our griffons after we capture their treasury for ourselves." He got to his feet. "For now, we will work towards the Coronation in two days' time. Once the Throne is mine, officially, then we shall begin our operations."

The trio of advisors bowed to Razorbeak with a "Your Royal Highness" and, knowing they'd been dismissed, left the throne room, as Palace staff slowly filtered back in to places they'd served at for their careers there. Razorbeak sat and ignored them for the most part. Eventually, the armor he wore started to become burdensome and he left for his new quarters, to be cleaned and groomed by several hens he'd spotted amongst the staff. While his attention was still on other things, they would be a lovely distraction to have around.

Twilight was going over reports coming in from the few contacts Equestria still had in Griffonia, as well as personality profiles of the major players. She looked out the window of the big office as a shadow fell over it, to see the shape of the Northern Wind approaching the air-docks. Getting to her hoofs, she tidied her immediate notes and headed out, feeling for where Celestia was. Once she'd located her fellow alicorn, Twilight Blinked as close to Celestia as she dared. She found herself at the dock where the Northern Wind was slowly pulling in, pegasi dropping her tether-ropes to earth ponies on the docks, who tied her close and securely. When the gangways had been locked onto the airship, Ponies emerged from her interior and moved towards Celestia and Twilight.

Celestia smiled at the ones that returned safe to her. "Decisive Words, welcome home." She greeted her ambassador as he and his immediate staff bowed to her and Twilight. "When we heard of the coup, we feared that you might have been held as hostages by the perpetrators. The news of your escape filled our hearts with joy and relief."

"Thank you, Your Highness." Decisive Words replied. "It was a close thing; if not for the sacrifices made by many griffons loyal to King Brownclaw, we might not have made it." He admitted, as a dozen griffon officers in Royal Griffonian Guard armor filed out of the Northern Wind, handing their weapons over to Royal Equestrian Guard officers as they passed them. They lined up and faced Celestia, then bowed to her.

"You are welcome on our realm, servants of King Brownclaw." Celestia said to them. "Your service to your late king and to our ambassador will be rewarded."

"We thank you, Your Highness." The head officer replied.

Celestia gestured to Commander Flash Sentry. "Take our griffon friends to where they can be amongst friends of their own people." She ordered Commander Sentry, who saluted Celestia and then saluted the Griffon commander, who then followed Flash and the other guards away from the docks. Then Celestia led Decisive Words and his staff back into the palace.

Once they were all inside and seated comfortably, Celestia became all-business. "Decisive, situation report." She said, her voice abrupt.

"Of course, Your Highness." Decisive Words replied. "King Brownclaw's family has been saved and are in exile. He, unfortunately, was killed by General Steelclaw in the Throne Room. Prince Razorbeak Greatfeather has taken control of the government of Griffonia completely, and from what I was told, the Thirty Great Houses have handed their swords to him..."

"...Indicating they have, at least for the moment, given their loyalty to Razorbeak." Celestia finished for Decisive. "Do you have any clue as to how soon he plans to be crowned?"

"Probably in two days, Your Highness. That is the earliest possible amount of time the Houses and other institutions can be gathered fully, and preparations made." Decisive informed Celestia.

Celestia nodded. "Two days..." She said softly. "So, we have two days before he can begin preparations for doing anything hostile..."

"If he hasn't been preparing all this time already." Twilight then pointed out.

Celestia sighed. "And... of course he has." She admitted. "But now, with the resources and griffons of Griffonia behind him, he is that much more dangerous." Celestia bowed her head. "We have two days to prepare for whatever he has planned... and maybe a few more, since integrating his plans with his new forces will take time. Therefore, we shall prepare our own forces in case our suspicions are correct, and invasion is foremost on his mind."

Decisive Words nodded. "I shall retire then, Your Highness, and let the information we brought back guide our preparations."

Celestia smiled. "Thank you, Decisive Words. You have truly earned the thanks of our grateful nation."

Decisive Words nodded, bowed, then left with his staff.

Celestia took in a deep breath, one hoof to her chest, and she let go with a gesture that had Twilight giggling. Celestia gave her former student an askance look, but the grin on Twilight's face had her smirking as well, then she poked her tongue out at Twilight, who giggled again. "That's better." Twilight told Celestia. "When things get too heavy, you worry too much to think properly... just like me." She told her mentor.

Celestia snorted defiantly. "I do nothing of the sort." She denied Twilight's far-too-accurate accusations.

"Sure you don't." Twilight replied as she grinned. "But we need to brief Luna as well. At least with both of you working on things, and me helping, we can be at this day-and-night, unlike the griffons... hopefully." She sighed. "I wish Stellar was here, right now. She'd know exactly what to do."

Celestia nodded her head. "Your sister knows much about military matters, true. Her help would be well-received. But for now, until she returns, we shall begin on our own." Celestia got to her hoofs, Twilight following. "But... it is Lunchtime. We shall discuss things further and better with full stomachs." Celestia declared as she led Twilight out of the small conference room and towards the smaller dining room. "Hopefully, by tonight we shall have things moving, and Luna can add her touches to our plans."

Twilight nodded as they walked along together. She was going through everything Stellar had taught her about preparations for large deployments, and where to look for advice. Twilight knew she'd be spending a lot of time in the Archives when Luna awoke...

Applebloom was wandering along the lower decks of the Xerxes the fifth day after they'd started for home, doing safety checks of the infrequently-travelled parts of the ship, checking on the airlock doors and making sure everything was secure. Eventually she came across an internal door that wouldn't open. Frowning, she checked the display and found the lift shaft beyond it was unpressurised. "That's weird." Applebloom said to herself. "Ah thought we closed up every part of tha ship on tha first day." After checking things over again, Applebloom came to a decision. "Stellar, can you come to where Ah am? Ah got a puzzle here."

"Sure, Applebloom." Stellar's voice came to Applebloom's small headset after a minute. "I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Thank ya kindly." Applebloom said back and waited patiently.

Eventually Stellar arrived down at the lower deck. "You have a problem, Applebloom?" Stellar asked.

"Yeah. There's a lift here to a lower deck, but tha lift is depressurised, an' it won't repressurise." Applebloom told Stellar, showing her the control panel.

"Huh. That is odd." Stellar agreed with Applebloom, and slid one of the ship's tablet computers from her side-bag. Bringing the ship's interlay layout up on the screen, Stellar found "Well, the computer says this is the ground landing dock below here, where they keep ground vehicles for deployment when the ship's landed. It's where they also bring all supplies into the ship when they're restocking things." She told Applebloom.

"Okay... so why is it still depressurised?" Applebloom asked.

"I don't know just yet..." Stellar answered as she checked with various systems. "Ah. The computer says the rear main hatch to the section isn't sealing properly. It stopped trying to repressurise the deck when the leak was detected." Stellar informed Applebloom. "Looks like we get to practise our suit protocols and EVA drill again, Applebloom."

"Oh, joy." Applebloom replied in a less-than-impressed voice. But then she giggled as Stellar gave her a 'not-very-impressed' look. "Actually, it'll be fun ta go outside. Ah haven't been outside tha hull since we got here."

Stellar nodded at Applebloom as she smiled a little more warmly. "Then let's get ready."

After donning their suits, the pair of mares carefully moved out of the closest airlock they could, towards the Landing Deck. The Fold-shield flowed over and around them as they walked along, protecting them from Fold Space. Like Scootaloo, Applebloom now had a new set of vacc-armor, this one especially designed for heavy tasks. A lot stronger and with enhancements for strength and protection, it was as strong as Stellar's exo-armor was and almost as robust. A full set of thrusters including the powerful main thruster units graced the suit, with two large folding arms along the sides of the back-plate. Many small sections had various different grasping and tool 'hands', ready to be deployed with but a thought from Applebloom. A pair of fold-out particle-beam cannons, REF EP-37 beam cannons normally fitted to the Cyclone Veritech Riding Armor, also sat on the back-unit of the suit, ready to deploy either side of Applebloom's shoulders if needed. Stellar had thought about whom to arm amongst the Trio first, and while Scootaloo was an excellent shot, Applebloom had proved exceptional with handling the power and recoil of the large human-designed weapons. Stellar had confidence that Applebloom would handle them with the caution and wisdom she had shown before.

They approached the rear of the landing deck, the large rear doors visible now under the shield-effect. "Can you get any readings yet on them, Applebloom?" Stellar asked.

"My sensors can see the doors, but nothing yet about what's wrong." Applebloom replied. "I think we'll have to get closer."

"Then we shall." Stellar agreed, and they continued to walk closer to the deck. As they got closer, they saw that one of the rear doors was not shut completely. "That explains that." Stellar commented.

"I wonder why we haven't seen this from the bridge?" Applebloom asked.

"Not sure. But with how long this ship's been travelling with everything open to space, I foresee a lot of systems that might have had minor malfunctions." Stellar reasoned.

"You want to open it and see what we can find?" Applebloom asked as they looked things over.

"Not while we're in Fold-space." Stellar answered. "While the flight bays can be opened safely, I don't think these huge door-ramps were meant to open whilst the ship was travelling FTL." She explained to Applebloom. "Let's just examine the seals while the door is sitting where it is. Maybe there's something lodged in the door-jamb from when they were opened while under full internal pressure."

"Rojer that." Applebloom replied, and the pair split up, walking down either side of the rear ramp-door that wasn't sealed properly. Stellar took the outside path, leaving the safer inner path to Applebloom. "I found something!" Applebloom almost yelled over the com-link when they were almost three-quarters of the way down the massive door.

"On my way." Stellar said to Applebloom, and joined her two minutes later, after traversing the door's width. "What did you find?" She asked.

"There's something stuck here. It looks like it's lodged pretty hard in there, too." Applebloom answered, one of her mechanical arms holding the seal slightly open, to reveal something large stuck in the door-seal.

"Hmm..." Stellar scanned the obstruction. "Looks like... yes, it's a tool-case. It's one of those meant for mounting on a Cyclone." She told Applebloom. "Can your sensors show if the seal is damaged?" Stellar asked.

Applebloom extended one of the probes from her other tool-arm after it unfolded and slipped it inside the seal at that point. "I don't think so." She reported, her voice the unaccented, confident voice she slipped into whenever she was under stress or being 'professional'. "The probe seems to show the seal as holding the tool-case in place, but it's moulded itself around it. However, it can't close with the tool-case where it is."

Stellar nodded. "Well then... maybe I can teleport it out without having to open the door any further." Stellar suggested.

"That would work." Applebloom agreed. She had a small projector open from her backpack and showed Stellar where the case was sitting in a hologram laid over the site directly.

Stellar nodded. She half-closed her huge eyes and imaged where the tool-case was sitting, with the image leading her to its dimensions. Once she had a feel for the way the case was positioned, she concentrated, and Applebloom saw a flash of white light as the case was Blinked from where it was lodged, freeing the door. The door, seemingly a little unsure of its changed status, slowly moved in and out a little for a time, then closed up solidly before them. "Yeah!" Applebloom said, a huge grin on her face showing through the large face-plate on her helmet.

Stellar smiled and nodded. "All right, Lieutenant, let's go inside and see what the conditions are like in this bay."

Applebloom nodded, retracted her mechanical arms back to their resting places, and fell in-step with Stellar as they headed for a personnel airlock door. "I bet it's a real mess inside." Applebloom commented.

"Probably." Stellar agreed. "If a tool-case like that one wasn't secured, I wonder what else was left unsecured when the doors opened..."

Once inside and the airlock secured, the pair of curious Ponies waited as the lock cycled, then opened. The air in the airlock, however, rushed out into the huge bay which was just starting to fill with atmosphere again, after being empty of air for so long. Now that the bay was sealed properly, the computer began to pump air into it slowly, testing for proper atmospheric containment to avoid wasting precious air if the bay was still not properly airtight. Eventually there was enough pressure in the bay for the computer to assess the bay was airtight, and it began flooding it with air.

Applebloom looked around as the lights came back on throughout the bay. "Well, that seems ta be workin'." She said to Stellar as they walked out into the bay.

"Yes. It seems the stuck door was the only cause of the problem." Stellar replied as they looked about, stepping over a number of things strewn about the floor. "There's not a lot of debris. I bet a lot of it was ejected, or locked down before the bay doors were opened."

"Yeah, I agree." Applebloom said as she saw the tool-case, sitting in a middle of a clear spot of the floor. She walked over to it, extended her tool-arms and picked it up, opening it and checking the insides. "Everythin' in here looks like it's where it should be." She reported to Stellar.

Stellar nodded absently as she looked around the bay. There were large maintenance bays around the sides of the bay, as well as a couple of wider-but-lower sealed bays towards the middle. Huge machines seemed to fill the forty large maintenance bays, mecha that were not designed for flight, that Stellar could easily see by their shape and structure. Her mind went back to what she had learned from the Xerxes' computer... "Destroids." She said absently.

"Destroids?" Applebloom asked as she locked the tool-case onto her backpack, like a saddlebag would have been.

"Yes. These ground-attack or assault mecha are called Destroids." Stellar explained. "They might not be able to transform like the Veritechs can, but they are tougher and can deliver a nasty barrage of weapons-fire to ground targets, as well as some aerial ones."

"Cool!" Applebloom exclaimed. "Maybe there's one in here that I can pilot."

Stellar chuckled. "I don't doubt that, Applebloom." She said back. "Maybe one of those... Hello..." Stellar said as she looked back through the rows of destroids in the maintenance bays. They were stacked three-deep, and she noticed some of them were not the advanced ones she'd read about in the computer files. "These ones... they're first-generation destroids." She pointed to two bays with three mecha in each.

"These ones?" Applebloom asked, pointing to them.

"Yes. They are first-gen Excalibur and Raidar destroids, quite powerful in their day and they still are, even if the other ones are newer and more powerful again." She told Applebloom. "But these Excaliburs... They've been modified." She told Applebloom as they started to circle the lead Excalibur.

"They have?" Applebloom asked. "How?"

"Well, for starters, these two at the front have full arms and hands." Stellar explained to Applebloom. "The one at the back is apparently still in original condition, and as you can see, the 'arms' end at what would be the elbows, with the main cannons mounted to the upper arms. These two at the front have full arms and hands that appear to be modified Veritech arms, and the cannons appear to be mounted to the sides of the forearms, instead." Stellar pointed out to Applebloom. "Someone's been doing some interesting modification work to these older style of destroids."

"Yeah! An' tha middle one's got a normal head, not that squishied-in-looking slit-thingy." Applebloom pointed out.

"So it has." Stellar said with a nod. "Most interesting. It seems the new mounts of the main cannons allow them to pivot around so they point backwards along the arms, allowing the hands to be used without the cannons getting in the way. Most fascinating." Stellar told Applebloom.

"Can you give me lessons, then?" Applebloom asked.

"Maybe simulator training might be more beneficial, Applebloom. After all, I hardly know how to pilot one of these myself." Stellar reminded Applebloom.

"Ahh, shoot. Ah forgot that." Applebloom nodded as they kept walking around. They found a small bay with Cyclone Veritech Riding Armor in their travel containers stacked from floor-to-ceiling in racks; other parts, weapons and other additional systems stored in the same bay. "These could really do somethin' fantastic fer tha Royal Guard Earth Ponies." Applebloom suggested to Stellar.

"Indeed, they could, with some modification." Stellar agreed. "Another project for you, perhaps."

Applebloom grinned as she contemplated this. A lot of the other small bays contained ground vehicles unlike any seen on Equestria, all tied down and sealed in air-tight containment within the bays. In one, however, was an aircraft that was bigger than the Alpha fighters, and was quite different in configuration. "What's this thing? It looks a bit primitive compared to tha Alphas."

Stellar grinned. "Well, well... this, my dear Applebloom, is an original Veritech fighter, a VF-1 series Veritech." Stellar checked under the body and nodded. "It's a VF-1S model. You can tell by the four laser cannons attached to the head-unit, rather than two or just one, in the case of the VF-1A." Stellar looked about and saw boxes that seemed to contain other pieces. After checking the numbers of them, she was surprised to find out what was in them. "These contain the add-on packs the Veritechs could have attached to them. There's both the 'Super'-pack and the Battloid Armor pack."

"Really? An' what do they do?" Applebloom asked with all due curiosity.

"The 'Super' pack is a set of booster engines with extra fuel and weapons launchers built into a large structure that is attached to the back of the fighter. There's also extra conformal fuel tankerage and two extra missile launchers fitted to the arm units." Stellar explained to Applebloom, showing her the completed modifications on the tablet computer she was carrying. "The 'Battloid Armor', as its name suggests, attaches to a Veritech in its Battloid mode, for extra armor protection and missile carriage capacity." She looked at the fighter, which was in a neutral white paint scheme with subtle blue striping. "I wonder what this is doing here? As far as the records go, this fighter-type was supposed to have been replaced by the Alpha-Beta combination aboard all REF ships."

"Maybe tha captain was doin' research, like she was doin' with tha Raiders an' Excaliburs." Applebloom suggested again.

Stellar looked down at Applebloom, a smile on her face. "That is a very good analysis, Applebloom. You might be onto something there." Stellar answered. "I know she was researching ways to refit the Tokugawa-class ship-design with some interesting upgrades... maybe she had ideas about the mecha as well."

"So what now?" Applebloom asked.

"Well, we have the bay sealed properly, and found some new things to work with... I think I'll mark the VF-1S as mine, for now. We'll pick up some of the Cyclones and take them to one of the smaller maintenance bays on the engineering deck, and you can see what you can do with them." Stellar grinned. "I'll see about re-making one set of the CVR-3 body armor for you to work with, Applebloom. That way, if you do come up with something, you can try it out properly."

"Thanks, Stellar! That sounds like fun!" Applebloom grinned up at her friend and Captain.

After shifting five of the crated Cyclones to the workbay, Stellar watched as Applebloom managed to transform one to motor-bike mode, squealing and jumping back as it did so. After giggling behind a forehoof, Stellar left Applebloom to work on the transforming armor and headed for her quarters. A good sleep was waiting for her, and there was still time for six hours before her next duty shift.

Stellar was concluding breakfast in her quarters, after a good six hours' sleep. She'd just cleaned her dishes and sat them to dry when the door-sounder chimed. Looking up, she answered "Come in", and headed back out into the main room.

The door opened and Scootaloo looked in. "Stellar, you got a moment?" She asked.

"For you, Scoots? Always." Stellar replied. "Hello, what do you have there?" She asked, seeing Scootaloo had something in her front hoof.

"I found this when we were closing all the hatches that first time we were going through the ship." Scootaloo told Stellar, holding out the little device.

Memories came back to Stellar as she took hold of the little electronic device. "Well, well... Scoots, you've found yourself a music player."

"That little thing plays music?" Scootaloo asked.

"It most certainly does. But it stores music as digital memory files, instead of as grooves in a record disc. Much more compact." Stellar explained. "Have you charged it up?" She asked.

"I found the charger for it in the room where I found it. I think it's charged." Scootaloo answered.

Stellar nodded. "All right. This is similar to the portable unit Vinyl Scratch uses for her headphones, but much smaller." Stellar explained to Scootaloo. "And these are ear-buds, the compact equivalent of her headphones."

"Cool." Scootaloo replied as Stellar slipped a pair of the ear-buds from their holder on the back of the DMP (Digital Music Player) and gently slid them into Scootaloo's ears. Then she did the same with a second pair into her own ears. "They feel kinda funny." Scootaloo remarked.

"Uncomfortable?"

"Nah, just... strange." Scootaloo clarified.

Stellar nodded. "You're not used to them, that's understandable." She agreed. "Now... what to play for your first sample of Human music?" Stellar asked herself as she looked through the menus of the available music stored on the DMP.

"Nothing hard, please." Scootaloo asked. "Vinyl's 'wubs' can be a bit hard on the ears at times."

Stellar chuckled. "I have to agree, Scoots. Her music is great, she is just a tiny bit limited in what she prefers to play... Ah, this should be something I think you'll enjoy." Stellar smiled warmly at Scootaloo as she scrolled down and selected a song...

Scootaloo sat and waited, as slow-paced music filled her ears and her senses... then the words started...

Into the distance, a ribbon of black
Stretched to the point of no-turning-back
A flight of fancy, on a wind-swept field
Standing alone, my senses reel
Fatal attraction is holding me fast
How can I escape this irresistable grasp?
Can't keep my eyes from the circling sky
Tongue-tied and twisted, just an earth-bound misfit
I

Scootaloo's eyes widened as the words of the song seemed to tug on her heartstrings. Although some of the terms were different from what she knew, she instinctively knew what they meant, and the theme of the song filled her mind with images of herself, looking to the skies...

Ice is forming on the tips of my wings
Unheeded warnings; I thought I'd thought of everything
No navigator to find my way home
Unladen, empty, and turned to stone
The sole intention is learning to fly
Condition grounded, but determined to try
Can't keep my eyes from the circling sky
Tongue-tied and twisted, just an earth-bound misfit
I

Scootaloo's eyes were filling with tears. It was like someone had captured her efforts to fly and was singing them directly into her heart...

Stellar watched, silently mouthing the words as she heard them. She smiled as the very effect she knew this song would have on Scootaloo slowly filled her. She knew what this song would mean to Scoots, and knew it would always sing to her heart...

A long series of words then played out under the music. Scootaloo and Stellar both recognised them as a recording of some people reading through a checklist and preparing an aircraft for take-off. Then the sound of a large aircraft taking off heralded the last verse...

Airborne am I, on a wing and a prayer
My grubby halo: a vapor-trail in the empty air
Across the clouds I see my shadow fly
Out of the corner of my watering eye
A dream unfettered by the morning light
Could blow this soul right through the roof of the night
There's no sensation to compare with this
Suspended animation; a state of bliss
Can't keep my mind from the circling sky
Tongue-tied and twisted, just an earth-bound misfit
I

Scootaloo looked up as Stellar slid her fore-legs around the young pegasus and nuzzled her as she cried. Finally Scootaloo said "How... how did they know?"

"Know what, Scootaloo?" Stellar asked as she removed the ear-buds from their ears.

"It's... it's like they watched me, for all those years, trying to fly... then made a song out of it. But... it sounds so wonderful..." She buried her face in Stellar's chest-fluff as Stellar held her close and nuzzled her ears. Stellar wrapped her huge wings around Scootaloo as the young pegasus returned the gesture.

Then Stellar's eyes lit up a brilliant white, as scenes started to play across her consciousness. Mouth slightly ajar, she sat there with Scootaloo as possible futures made themselves known to Stellar through her prescient vision...

"Stellar?" Scootaloo asked, her eyes slowly clearing of tears.

Stellar shook her head to clear it. "Sorry, Scoots. You okay?" She asked the young pegasus mare.

"Yeah... but I think I just got a new favorite song." Scootaloo grinned up at Stellar.

"I'm glad you found it so personal.. and enjoyable." Stellar said to Scoots in an affectionate tone.

Scootaloo smiled up at Stellar and returned the affectionate hug. "What just happened with you?" Scootaloo asked in a concerned voice.

"You know how sometimes, an alicorn can see what might happen in the future?" Stellar asked Scootaloo.

"Yeah... I've heard stories about it, at least." Scootaloo replied.

"I just saw with what we call 'Prescient Vision', what could be big trouble happening back home right now and very soon." Stellar told Scootaloo.

"Ut-oh." Scootaloo said back in a worried voice.

Stellar nodded. "We need to make contact with Home and Twilight again." Stellar said. "To the bridge, my young lieutenant!" Stellar ordered, grinning as she stood up.

"Aye, Captain!" Scootaloo replied, jumping to her hoofs and the pair headed out the room door with all haste.

Author's Notes:

And events continue. Stellar finds the former Captain of the Xerxes was extremely interested in both ship and mecha research, Applebloom finds a new project, and Scootaloo finds out what her small rectangle of plastic does, to her delight.

Meanwhile, world events back on Equis are rapidly shifting towards conflict. Who can say what will happen when the Xerxes reaches Equis?