Ponies in Space

'''Ponies - In Space! (Incomplete)'''

It all began one year ago, in the magical land of Equestria. The first ever successful spacecraft was soon to breach the virgin skies. An ambitious and determined Earth Pony, Stardust, and her tireless, thankless assistant Glitch, a small, timid dragon with astounding intellect would be the two who brought about this wondrous occasion. But that feat alone was not Stardust's goal; she wished to leave Equestria for good. A one way trip for adventure and wonder.

As prideful as she was, she could not manage such a thing all on her own. And, that was something her luckless servant could not handle on his own, either. So, she hired a crew, from all walks of life. Each that arrived showed up for their own personal reasons; some light, some dark. Some VERY dark. But whatever their reasons, they were about to be apart of something special, a monumentous occasion for their world.

The first launch of the ship, christened the Iron Apple was rough, but successful. And after some final additions and deliberations a few days later, the crew was ready to depart into the places never travelled by ponykind before.

Unknown to anyone, was how significant that day would actually become.

But I digress, for there's much more to be said. The Iron Apple left her homeworld, and set a course for parts unknown, the only goal being to see what no one had saw before. They learned rather quickly though that they were not at all the first ones to see the wonders of space. Not three days after the historic event, the ship was set upon by arachnoid pirates, boasting a ship of their own. Not expecting such a thing, they had little in the way to protect themselves; and beyond that, there were broader implications, that only Glitch seemed to realize at the time. They had their reputation to consider; it seemed there was sentient life elsewhere in the universe, and it would be most adverse if the galactic community's first impression of the Equestrians was one of violent brutes, killing or destroying those who accosted them. With this in mind, and perhaps against the odds, a peaceful negotioan took place; and the result was no loss of life, and no goods were stolen. Not bad at all for our heroes.

Perhaps fate was a vengeful beast, because no sooner did the pirates leave, was the Iron Apple attacked yet again, this time by a strange alien beast, invulnerable to the vacuum and cold of deep space, and terribly hungry. The closest thing these hapless Equestrians could hope to compare it to would be the horrible, disfigured offspring of a giant octopus and a jellyfish, with claws and teeth. And to only further their terror, and to laugh in the face of conventional beasts, it managed to spawn three smaller versions of itself inside the ship where a battle took place. Almost before the battle even began, the huge Earth Pony Onjage was dealt a mortal blow; his throat torn to ribbons by an unforetunate swipe of a claw; but was miraculously kept alive by Moonshine's magic (the only Unicorn on the crew, who would later sport a love interest with the Earth Pony), and later the combined efforts of Avalon, the ships only Griffon and serving medic, and the young dragon Glitch. With only their hooves and kitchen utensils at their disposal, the crew rest of the crew fought them off, and eventually destroyed the spawn, at which point their host released its vice grip on the Iron Apple, and departed to the dark reaches of space once more. While being stabalized for the time being, Onjage drifted into a state of unconsciousness, as his body prepared itself to recover from a wound that would otherwise have proved mortal.

And if things could not get bad enough, such an event was seen as an opportunity for a certain Smiles Hooveskavich, the ship's psychologist. The Unicorn had done his damndest to appear friendly and helpful to his fellows; and it was all a facade. When this manipulative pony joined, his stated reason was to be apart of history, a rare opportunity to get into the history books. His actual reason was to be trapped in an iron tube with ten or so ponies, to kill and torment them as he pleased. And now seemed the perfect opportunity to fly his true colors, as the one person he considered the largest threat to this goal was currently out of action. So a mutiny took place. The odds were still stacked against him, but aside from his sadistic nature, he had one more card up his sleeve. His special talent and magical ability allowed him to influence the minds of others. To make them doubtful, fearful, to plague them with imagined horrors, all within their own head. A kind of attack for which there was little to protection.

Yet even with this great advantage, the hardy Iron Applers managed to overcome this treachery, namely with the combined efforts of Glitch and Falling Star, a Pegasus who was already becoming fast friends with Onjage, and the love interest of Avalon. After a brief and desperate struggle, Smiles retreated to the escape pod, upon realizing he should not be expecting much mercy for his actions. And to his dismay, he discovered the pod was unpowered, Glitch, the ship's engineer, having removed its functionality remotely. So, trapped was the Unicorn, in an escape pod he couldn't use. But it was not the end for him; Glitch, for his own reasons, allowed Smiles to escape, preferring to let him go than to stain their collective hands in blood. It would be a decision he would learn to regret.

Despite some serious injury, the most severe belonging to Elsie Dee, the ship's computer technologist, who lost her eye in the struggle, the Iron Apple at last manages to reach civilization. Known simply as a Trade Station, the giant alien construction could be compared to a city-sized space station, where weary space travellers could rest and resupply. Upon docking the ship with this behemoth construction, the crew saw for the first time how widely varied sentient life actually was. All manner of alien creatures walked, crawled, lurched, slithered and slunk down the steel corridors. Grim reality tempered their amazement however, as they realized they did not have any money to pay for some much needed supplies. Equestrian 'bits' were all but useless in the inter-galactic commerce. Well, not entirely. Selling their money for the metal value, they garnered a decent sum of credits to make their necessary purchases. It wasn't enough and wouldn't last long however. And so it was the Iron Apple crew, the most historic crew in Equestrian history, took on some menial jobs for a time, working as medical aides, jewelry shop security, janitors, and similar occupations. It was during this time they began to learn more of the galaxy that was waiting to meet them.

So they got to chill out for awhile! After a solid two months, things started to shape up for the Iron Applers. But lo! For it was not to last. Unbeknownst to them, Smiles had been a busy little bee during that time. Very busy indeed - but that is for the TGTN synopsis, not this one. Regardless, a bounty was placed on the heads of the Iron Applers by none other than Smiles. The crew discovered this when Onjage and Elsie Dee mysteriously disappeared for seemingly no reason. While out shopping for something as meaningless as some pastries, the pair of them were accosted by a Pegasus, Red Sunburst (formerly one of Smile's associates), and after a scuffle in the foodcourt, Onjage was defeated and captured. Elsie Dee, however, was given the choice to flee and warn her companions - but instead chose to surrender. Her reasons why are an enigma. But the fact remains she was taken all the same.

Upon learning of their capture, the Iron Apple crew organized a rescue mission. And Red Sunburst, the same pony who captured them in the first place, was going to help them. You wanna know why? Ask her, because this is too long as it is! And I have so much more to go...

Right, anyway, the plan was to 'capture' some more members of the crew, and deliver them to Smile's ship in cages. But also provide them with the means to escape these cages at an opportune moment. And as they'd already one antagonist helping them, it was less surprise when they managed to rope in the pirates they first encountered months ago into aiding them as well - for a fee, of course. And the plan was sprung.

The plan did not go entirely...well, as planned. Confusion and chaos ensued, as the sortie fought against Smile's minions, and the search for their captured pals got desperate. Onjage was eventually discovered, but Elsie Dee was not, and time was running out. Yet an opportunity presented itself, to get rid of Smiles once and for all; a combat on the bridge of his ship could set things right. Though it proved to be a mistake. Falling Star was killed in the ensuing battle, and the rest just managed to escape with their lives.