Prologue:

"Breathe in the Air"

The Saddle Arabian sat quietly in meditation just outside the labor room. The muffled sounds of someone in labor came from behind the door he was seated next to. Inspite of the loud cries of his wife inside the room, the Saddle Arabian's face appeared perfectly neutral, showing neither fear nor worry. It was his duty as a Saddle Arabian to remain calm and logical inspite of any outside forces, even it were the birth of his first child.

However, even with his face and exteriour remaining placid, his mind was still occupied with the health of his wife. She herself was not a Saddle Arabian, but rather a unicorn, and therefore a member of the Equestrian race. He knew for a fact that Saddle Arabian's were larger and considerably stronger than Equestrians, and as such, he felt concern for her. Would the birth be successful? Would the child be a healthy one, without handicaps or deformities? The mating of Saddle Arabian's and Equestrians was a rare occurrence, so the results of such a union were always unknown, even to the best doctors and medical professionals Saddle Arabia had to offer.

However, even in the face of uncertainty, he knew that a Saddle Arabian must never let their emotions get the better of them. One must always remain calm and, above all, logical. In fact, the more he thought about the situation he was, the more he felt at ease. He had calculated a eighty-seven percent chance of a successful birth, and therefore, he needn't worry. Those odds were more than enough for him.

"Pardon me, Elder Savak," a voice spoke. The Saddle Arabian turned to see another Saddle Arabian standing in the doorway of the labor room, dressed in the traditional uniform of a nurse.

"Yes?" Savak asked, being sure to maintain his stoic air, even if there was a touch of worry in his heart.

"The birth has been successful, you may see your wife now." The nurse said, quietly stepping aside to allow Savak room to enter. Savak nodded and stood up and, without a word, stepped inside.

The labor room was a simple affair, just a bed, one or two chairs and the medical equipment and a single medical droid. The medical droid hovered over the gray unicorn mare lying in the bed. Her white and purple mane was frazzled and unkempt from her hours of labor. Her coat glistened slightly from the sweat and lather that covered. Cradled in her arms was a tiny filly, bundled up in swaddling cloth. The mare looked towards Savak, her eyes shimmering from the tears of joy in them.

"Oh Savak," she said, her voice still somewhat weak from exhaustion. "She's so beautiful."

Savak walked up to the bed quietly and looked down at the tiny filly in his wife's arms. He reached a blue coated hand towards the filly, gently moving the cloth so he could see his sleeping daughter's face. The filly's coat was a shade of lavender, and her mane was a rich dark purple with magenta highlights. The thing that set her apart from most fillies in Saddle Arabia though, was the small horn jutting from her forehead.

"She is a unicorn, Velvet," he said, looking at his wife. His wife nodded, her face beaming with pride.

"I know. She's so beautiful and wonderful. Our own little filly." As Twilight Velvet said this, the tiny filly awakened, yawning briefly before her eyes opened, revealing them to be the same shade of purple as her mane. As soon as she opened them however, the filly started bawl and cry uncontrollably, her arms and legs starting to flail about.

"Oh no, no, no," Twilight Velvet cooed, cuddling the crying filly and rocking her slightly. Savak said nothing, remaining his typically impulsive self.

"Look, there's nothing wrong deary," Twilight Velvet shushed, motioning towards Savak. "That's just your father, Savak, see?"

The filly seemed to calm slightly and looked towards Savak, still sniffling.

"Greetings young one," he spoke quietly, leaning down so that his seven foot frame was a little closer to the filly. The filly looked at him for a moment, her eyes wide with curiosity, having already stopped crying.

"Well Savak? Aren't you going to hold your daughter?" Twilight Velvet asked, eyebrow raised. Savak looked towards Twilight Velvet for a moment.

"Very well," he answered, gently reaching out and taking the filly from his wife's arms. He held her firmly, her tiny form dwarfed by his own, considerably larger form. Now that he held her in his arms, he could see that she looked almost exactly like any other Equestrian infant, except she was just a little bit longer and slimmer. The filly looked up at him, reaching a tiny hand to gently play with the tassels on his traditional Saddle Arabia elder's cloak.

"Have you devised a name?" He asked, looking towards Twilight Velvet. Velvet shook her head.

"I wanted to wait until you saw her, Savak. I wasn't about to name our first born without consulting you love."

Savak nodded slightly in acknowledgement. "A perfectly logical conclusion Velvet. Do you have any especially favored ones?"

Velvet thought for a moment. "Twilight Sparkle," she said, smiling warmly and looking towards her daughter with love. Savak nodded.

"Than that is what her name shall be, my wife. Twilight Sparkle." He looked down at the young filly, who was still playing with his tassels. Twilight simply burbled in response, too enraptured in the tassels to notice. Savak smiled, allowing himself to show the slightest bit of emotion.

"You are destined for true greatness Twilight, of this I am assured." He let out a quiet sigh, his face now beaming with pride inspite of himself.

"True greatness indeed."

/

"Sir we're about to arrive at the source of the temporal anomaly Captain," Said the ship's pilot, a wire thin pegasus pony with a short brown mane and coat, turning his chair to face the captain as he spoke. The captain, a tall crystal pony with a pale green coat, nodded.

"Very good, Helmscolt. Prepare to drop out of warp."

"Aye Captain." The pilot replied, turning his chair back to face the controls. He reached forward and flicked a couple dozen switches in rapid succession, before holding a hand at the ready over a large lever. "Dropping out of warp, in three, two, one."

At the word 'one' he pushed the lever forward, and the ship lurched forward briefly as the ship dropped out of warp.

"Whoa!" The helmscolt said, his eyes widening in surprise as the bright blue sheen outside the viewscreen that was normally associated with warp space faded to reveal a strange sight. Hanging in the black curtain of space before them was what could only be described as a tremendous thunder cloud, with a wild array of flashes of what looked like Sky Strike.

The Captain instantly looked towards his science officer, a lanky giraffe, who sat at a control panel to the Captain's right, looking equally shocked.

"Well Science Officer Eli, any idea what that could be?" The Captain asked concerned.

"I-um-I have no idea at all what this could mean Captain, its like nothing I've ever seen." the Science Officer replied, turning to look at the Captain with confusion. "But its reading like the space time anomaly that was reported in this quadrant, that's all I know."

The Captain nodded, turning to look back at the viewscreen. "Well, whatever it is, it appears to be rather large don't you think?" He asked.

"What do you think it is Captain?" A tall and rather handsome lavender pegasus pony with a rainbow colored mane asked. The Captain glanced up at him for a moment before refocusing on the mysterious cloud.

"Well, if Science Officer Eli doesn't know what it is, we're all in the same boat First Officer Strike."

The Pegasus nodded, a worrisome look on his face. The Captain seemed to take notice of his worried expression as he gave him a sympathetic glance. "Don't worry Sky, I'm pretty sure you're wife will be fine."

Sky Strike swallowed, "Thank you sir, I appreciate your concern." The Captain shrugged.

"What can I say. Its not everyday that somepony's wife is in labor on a starship-"

"Captain!" Science Officer Eli shouted, causing both the Captain and Sky Strike to refocus their attention back on the viewscreen.

"What in Celestia's name?" The Captain gasped as they all took in the sight of the object appearing out of the cloud.

A ship that dwarfed their own ship came slowly from inside the cloud. Its sleek and biomechanical design indicated it to be one that most likely belonged to the Changeling Empire. The thing that set it apart however, was its truly vast size. From what the crew on deck could see, it seemed to be at least five hundred times larger than their own ship. It loomed over them, filling the entire viewscreen with its black and green form.

There was a long silence as everyone watched the ship come to a stop in front of them, looking like a massive predator inspecting a prey item.

"Captain, what do you suggest we do?" the Helmscolt asked, looking towards the Captain with concern. The Captain held a hand up.

"Relax, Skycloud. Lets see what our Changeling friend does first before coming up with a response of our own. Don't want to start a interplanetary incident because of an itchy trigger finger. But just in case, raise the shields and be ready to fire phasers. Just in case."

Helmsman Skycloud nodded worriedly as he set about flicking the necessary switches and dialing the correct knobs in order to raise the ship's shields. In the background, the captains orders were being relayed around the ship. A beeping sound caught the Captain's ear and he turned to look towards the Communications Officer, an earth pony, who was holding a headphone to their ear.

"Captain we're being hailed." she said, motioning towards the screens in front of her. The Captain nodded.

"On screen then." he ordered, turning to face the screen. The image flickered for a moment to reveal a burly looking changeling on screen. His face was covered in several dark green stripes and he carried himself with a noticeably menacing air.

"Greetings, I'm Captain Starchaser of the C.S.S. Excelsior, how may we be of service?" he asked, keeping his voice level and calm. The Changeling seemed to be scanning the room, looking for someone, before refocusing his attention on Captain Starchaser.

"Captain we wish to speak with an Ambassador Twilight Sparkle." the Changeling said, his voice carrying with it a noticeable buzzing tone. Captain Starchaser and Sky Strike exchanged quick glances before Captain Starchaser returned to the screen.

"I'm sorry, I believe you are mistaken, but we have no Ambassador Twilight Sparkle aboard this ship sir." Captain Starchaser replied, raising an eyebrow. The Changeling narrowed his eyes for a moment before turning to speak over his shoulder to someone off screen in his native language, a complex series of buzzing and clicks. There was a response, also worded in Changeling, and the Changeling nodded, turning back to face the screen.

"My Queen wishes to see you personally aboard our ship, Captain Starchaser. If you would please come aboard, my Queen wishes to question you further." the Changeling stated plainly. Sky Strike looked at Captain Starchaser, who seemed to milling the proposal over in his head.

"Give me a moment to make a decision." Captain Starchaser replied, and the Changeling nodded.

"You have one minute." he said, and the screen flicked off, once more revealing the looming form of the Changeling vessel.

"What do you intend to do Captain?" Sky Strike asked, looking at Captain Starchaser with concern. Captain Starchaser rubbed his chin.

"I don't know Sky...I don't know. What do you think would be the best course of action?"

Sky Strike shrugged slightly. "I'd say we call for reinforcements. Something about this feels weird, Captain, and I don't know what."

Captain Starchaser nodded. "In any other situation, I'd agree, and I too find this whole thing to be rather odd. For one thing, we're awfully close to the border between us and the Griffin's for a Changeling ship to just be wandering about, let alone one this size. To be honest, its the biggest starship I've seen, period. That being said, I don't think these guys are willing to wait the three hours for any of our reinforcements to arrive out of the blue and uninvited." he said, motioning towards the ship.

"Then what do you suggest Captain?" The pegasus asked.

"I say we play politics. I'll go aboard, talk with this Queen, and see whats her game. If they're friendly, then we ask to escort them back to the nearest Celestian Base so we can debrief them."

"And if they're not friendly?" Sky Strike asked, his voice laced with trepidation.

"Then I want you to get the hay outta here and get to Odysseus Base as fast as you can. Do not try to put up a fight. We're nothing more than a simple exploratory vessel. Its obvious that these guys can outfire us eighty to one. Got it?"

Sky Strike nodded. "Does this mean I have the con sir?" he asked.

Captain Starchaser nodded. "Yes, but if all goes well, I should be back in less than ten minutes." he then turned to face the viewscreen again. "Helmscolt, on screen."

Helmscolt Skycloud nodded and the Changeling reappeared on the viewscreen.

"Have you reached a decision Captain Starchaser?" he asked, his voice carrying with it a sense of foreboding. Captain Starchaser nodded, apparently unfazed.

"Yes I have. I shall come aboard via shuttlecraft and speak with your Queen and we can possibly reach some sort of agreement and discover the identity of this 'Twilight' you asked about."

The Changeling nodded. "Very well. We expect you soon." the viewscreen flickered again and the ship returned into view as the communication went dead. Captain Starchaser stood up and started towards the elevator.

"First Officer Sky Strike has the conn," he ordered, stepping inside the elevator that lead to the shuttlecraft platform. "Good luck Captain Sky Strike, treat her right." he said as he saluted and the door to the elevator closed. Sky Strike swallowed, taking a deep breath and sitting in the captain's chair.

/

Queen Chrysalis sat upon her bedraggled throne on the bridge of her beloved ship, the Bellerophon, patiently awaiting the appearance of the starship captain she had communicated with. Something was off. The ship she saw on the viewscreen seemed strangely...primitive and out of date for a Celestian vessel. Her fingers flexed around the large spear in her hands, as her brain working to figure out what course of action to take next.

"My Queen, Captain Starchaser is aboard and wishes to speak with you." One of her many drones said, standing in the doorway of the bridge. She turned, gently pushing her long green mane out of her field of vision and nodded.

"Thank you Ajax. You may bring him before me." she said. Ajax nodded and briefly stepped back through the doorway. After a moment, he emerged, along with three other Changelings escorting the tall Crystal pony that Chrysalis recognized as Captain Starchaser.

"Welcome pony." Ajax spoke in Equestrian. The Crystal pony nodded as he bowed slightly.

"Your Majesty, I am Captain Starchaser of the C.S.S. Excelsior, and..."

"My Queen shall remain silent. She wishes that I communicate in her stead." Ajax stated, cutting the Captain off. The Captian nodded.

"Very well."

Ajax looked towards Chrysalis expectedly for a moment, and Chrysalis nodded slightly. Taking the cue, Ajax reached into his pocket and pulled out a small holographic projector.

"The Queen wishes to know if you have seen this starship," he ordered, pointing towards the sleek Saddle Arabian spacecraft displayed in the hologram. Chrysalis watched the Captain intently, subtly reading his emotions. She could sense confusion in the Captain's mind as he looked at the hologram, his face matching his emotions.

"I'm sorry but I've never seen that ship before, nor any other like it in my entire life." The Captain finally said, shaking his head slightly. Chrysalis' eyes narrowed and she waved a hand towards Ajax, who nodded and clicked to the next holograph image. This time the holograph showed a sage looking unicorn pony mare.

"This is Ambassador Twilight Sparkle. Have you seen her?" Ajax asked. Chrysalis didn't even need to hear the Captain's answer. She could sense his confused emotions.

"No I haven't. Never in my life..." the Captain paused, looking up directly at Chrysalis. "What, might I ask, is the reason for knowing?" he asked, eyebrow raised.

Chrysalis narrowed her eyes. Something was certainly amiss. She stood to her feet, making sure to remain silent, motioning once more to Ajax.

"My Queen wishes to remind you that you do not ask the questions here. My queen wishes to know the current stardate." Ajax ordered, standing straighter in order to take advantage of his large stature as a Changeling to loom over the crystal pony below. The Captain gave Ajax a confused look, obviously at a lost.

"Tell me the stardate." He ordered again, his horn beginning to flicker dark green.

"8.8.1966," The Captain replied, confused.

Chrysalis' eyes widened slightly as she ran through the calculations in her head.

Oh no. she thought as the full scope of what had happened dawned on her. A quick swipe of her spear ended the life of the Captain and his body slumped to the floor.

"Prepare all weapons." she ordered, "And raise our shields."

The ship's pilot nodded and started to ready the ship.

"Your Majesty," Ajax asked, slightly confused. "Why did you kill the Captain?"

Chrysalis sat back down in her chair, her mind focused on one goal.

"Ajax, the gods have seen fit to grant us with a unique opportunity. I intend to take full advantage of it. Destroy the Celestian vessel, for no one must know we are here."

Ajax nodded, and barked her orders towards the crew and every changeling started to scamper about.

It seems I have the advantage Sparkle... She thought, a dark smile crossing her muzzle. And soon I shall have my revenge.

/

Meanwhile, aboard the Excelsior, Strike instantly bolted upright at the sight of Captain Starchaser's life signs flatlining. "What just happened?!" he barked, looking towards the ensign sitting next to Helmsmen Skycloud. The ensign, a young unicorn pony shook his head in a panic.

"I have no idea Captain! One minute everything was fine and now everything's reading that he's dead!"

"Then prepare to fire on the ship." Sky Strike ordered, and Helmsman Skycloud nodded rapidly, readying the ship's weapons. The Changeling vessel however, apparently saw this coming, as the entire front end of the ship lit up with hundreds, if not thousands of rounds of phaser fire. TheExcelsior lurched violently as the phasers impacted the shields.

"Captain we've suffered heavy damage!" The Unicorn Ensign shouted.

"How bad Starshine?!" Sky Strike asked, already strapping himself into the captain's chair.

Ensign Starshine glanced at the control panel's in front of him. "Shields at 60 percent and dropping sir! If that ship hits us with another attack like that, we'll probably lose shields altogether!" As if to drive the point home, another round of phaser fire impacted the ship, causing chunks of the ceiling to fall down on them and causing the ship to buck wildly.

"How can that be possible?!" Science Officer Eli shouted, voicing exactly what was on Sky Strike's mind. Sky Strike didn't answer at first, instead slamming the communicator button to talk with the Medical Bay. "Medical Bay what's the damage?!"

The garbled sounds of chaos already told him that there probably wasn't much of Medical Bay left.

"Sky Strike what do we do?" Eli pressed, looking down at him worriedly. Sky Strike shook his head.

"No idea Eli, but I want you to get everypony you can into shuttlecrafts now, got it?" he ordered. Eli nodded.

"And what about you, Sky?" he asked, looking down at the pegasus.

There was a deafening silence between all those left on the bridge, broken only by the wailing siren screaming over the speakers. Sky Strike sighed heavily.

"I'll stay here. I'm captain of this ship, and therefore it's my duty to make sure you guys all get out safely." he answered, his eyes scanning the crew members who remained on deck with him. "It's been an honor serving you, and I suggest you all make your way to any escape vessels right now."

Everyone looked at each other for a moment, the severity of the situation looming over them.

"Go!" Sky ordered again. "I'll be right behind you."

The crew reluctantly made their way out of their seats, each bidding him a farewell. Eli was the last, and put a spotted hand on Sky Strike shoulder.

"Good luck Sky." he said solemnly. Sky Strike looked up at Eli.

"Oh don't worry man. I'll be right behind you. Don't worry. That's what the autopilots for anyways." he said, being sure not to expression how much he thought his plan was doomed to fail.

"What are you going to do?" Eli asked, eyebrow raised.

"Steer the Excelsior into that ship and hopefully that'll take her out. I'll use the autopilot so I can follow you guys out..I hope."

Eli nodded gravely. "But what about your wife?"

Biting his lip, Sky let out a heavy sigh. "As long as she's safe, it doesn't matter what happens to me. Now get out of here. You're a science officer, not a starship pilot." As the rest of the crew fled the bridge, Sky Strike turned and pushed the intercom button.

"All decks, this is the Captain speaking, evacuate immediately. Now!"

With that, First Officer Sky Strike, acting Captain of the Celestial Starship Excelsior threw his ship into chaos.

/

Down in sickbay, Sky Strike's wife Firefly was hurriedly wheeled into a turbolift as she began to go into labor. She opened her communicator, doing her best to ignore the explosions of pain that went through her body with each contraction, "Sky, what's going on?"

"We're evacuating. I have Medical Shuttle 3 standing by, can you get there quickly?" Sky Strike replied, his voice somewhat garbled over the communicator.

"Yes, but Sky, the foal, it's coming!" Firefly cried, as another contraction hit her with full force.

"I'm on my way. Tell the nurses to do exactly what I say, got it? Med Shuttle 3!"

Any reply the mare had was replaced by a moan as her body wracked by more contractions. Up in the bridge, Sky Strike began flipping levers and pushing buttons as he programmed the autopilot for a course that would send it into the heart of the Changeling ship.

Fate, however, had other ideas. "Autopilot malfunctioning, manual control systems only." the ship's computer responded. Sky Strike merely stared at the panel as the warning screen told him that the autopilot controls had been destroyed.

Belowdecks, in one of the many corridors that led to the shuttlebay, Firefly cried out in pain from her wheelchair as her nurses tried to get her to the Medical Shuttle as fast as they could. "Don't worry, everything is going to be okay. You're going to be fine." One of the nurses repeated, trying to calm the mare down.

"I'd be a lot more sure of that if we could just teleport!" Firefly snapped, groaning in pain as yet another contraction hit her.

"We can't," The nurse replied, "The shuttlebay is lined with duophlebotinum and we can't 'port through that. Now just calm down, you will be fine."

"And the baby too." Firefly added.

"And the baby too." The nurse nodded as they entered the shuttle and sealed the door behind them. A voice came over the com system.

"Med Shuttle 3, is my wife on board?" Sky Strike asked, his voice still garbled and distorted.

"Yes sir, she is." The Nurse replied.

"Good, go now." Sky Strike ordered over the intercom.

"We're waiting on you sir."

"No! Go now! That's an order!"

With some hesitance, the nurse motioned towards the shuttle pilot to take off. The pilot nodded and revved the engine, lifted his craft off of the shuttlebay floor, and exited into the blackness of space.

"Wait, we can't go yet. Where's Sky Strike!?" Firefly had noticed the shuttle's departure and was beginning to panic.

"I'm here honey," Sky Strike's voice crackled over the comlink.

"Sky, where are you? The shuttle left without you!"

"I'm still on the bridge, sweetie...but the autopilot, it's broken. I've gotta stay here... There's no way the shuttle will make it if I don't destroy that ship."

"But, but," Firefly was rapidly breaking down into tears "I...I...I Can't do it without you." She gasped as she was hit with what felt like the hundredth hard contraction.

"Yes you can, don't say that. You are the strongest mare I know, and you are going to be there for our child," Sky Strike replied, a few tears escaping his eyes and splattering on the weapons console. "Because I won't be." He finished in a near whisper.

For the next few minutes, a strange silence seemed to set in on the bridge of the Excelsior, as Sky Strike worked on setting the starship on a collision course with the Changeling vessel. Outside, the ship's weapons worked on keeping the Changeling's weapons distracted and away from the fleeing shuttles and escape pods. Finally, he input the last command. In one minute and tweleve seconds, the Excelsior would impact the Changeling ship. One second after that, the ship's warp core would detonate. As he watched his lifespan tick away, Sky Strike heard another sound, one he had thought he would never hear: The cries of an infant foal.

"What is that, is it our foal?" He cried out, not believing that he'd actually live long enough to know that his child had entered the world.

"Yes, it is" Called out a delirious Firefly, her voice choked with emotion. "A beautiful filly." A sniffle. "Oh, Sky, she looks so much like you, with your hair and your coat, just a little bit lighter blue, and she has the most wonderful eyes!"

"She sounds beautiful honey." Sky Strike had previously tried wiping away his tears, but was now sobbing openly. "I wish you could be here right now." he was practically now weeping. "What are going to name her?" He managed between sobs.

"Let's name her after your mother." Firefly said, her own voice sounding overwhelmed by emotion.

"What, Miriam? Not on your life." Sky Strike said, managing a half-hearted chuckle. "No, let's name her after your mom. Let's Call her Rainbow."

Firefly could be heard crying now. "That sounds wonderful, our little Rainbow Dash."

The Excelsior had now entered the gaping maw of the the Changeling ship, and it would only be seconds until it impacted.

"Honey, can you hear me?"

"Yes! Yes, I can hear you!"

"I love you, be strong for us. Remember that!"

"I will!"

"Honey, I love you so much!"

/

If sound were able to carry through the soulless vacuum of space, the area that future Celestial Fleet maps would mark as Excelsior-17 would have echoed with one of the most haunting sounds ever to exist: The piercing, unforgettable wail of a wife who has just lost her husband.