Apex Pilots (faction)

The Apex Pilots are a team of elite Pilots and their Titans fighting for the Midnight Coalition in the Equestrian Civil War. They are classed as members of the Royal Armoured Division, just like every other Pilot/Titan in the Midnight.

The Apex Pilots were formed during the Dimensional War by Julia Corus and Dafydd Cynog (undergoing the aliases Apex Pinpoint and Apex Sea-Knight) and at the time consisted of the pair and Connor Pemberton, known as Apex Firebug. After Julia's death and the end of the war, the remaining two members were on the lookout for new members. Between the Dimensional War and the Equestrian Civil War, new recruits for Apex consisted of Emma Corus (Apex Beatdown) and Angus McCallum (Apex Claymore).

As the war was starting to heat up, a new recruit known as Scootaloo (Apex Firefly) joined the team under the guidance of Apex Firebug. After the Battle for Everfree claimed the lives of Apex Claymore and Apex Sea-Knight, a new robotic Pilot known as APD-0001 (Apex Vex) joined the team. The team's final members were recruited in the form of Spitfire (Apex Vertigo) and Rarity (Apex Boutique).

The Titans of the team are unique in having either enhanced or hybridised abilities when compared to the regular counterparts of their models. The Titans were CU-1623 (CU, Apex Pinpoint's Northstar), KK-0103 (Kiryu-Kai, Apex Sea-Knight's Vanguard), XV-0511(Blaze, Apex Firebug's Scorch), TX-9187 (Maverick, Apex Beatdown's Legion), LN-1962 (Ness, Apex Claymore's Expedition), TF-7777 (Sevens, Apex Firefly's Tone), AT-0016 (16, Apex Vex's Polarity), GY-8708 (Rec, Apex Vertigo's Manticore) and SR-0290 (Serena, Apex Boutique's Arcanum).

The Apex Pilots are able to utilise nearly all Pilot Abilities at once, excluding the A-Wall due to them all considering it "cheating" and the spirit of the Pilot being based on mobility rather than remaining still, which the A-Wall forces Pilots to do. However, all other abilities are open to them including Cloak, Pulse Blade, HoloPilot, Stim, Grapple and Sonar Pulse. Apex Firefly is unique in having the ability to Phase at will, a power only seen on Titans and not Pilots prior to her "accident" in the Solar Accord Research Facility on the Shiso Isles.

The Apex Pilots are the nemesis of the Ace Pilots, an elite band of mercenaries working for the Solar Accord and lead by Ace Pilot Spitfire until her defection to the Apex Pilots after the death of Apex Sea-Knight. After that time, Ace Pilot Rainbow Dash took over.

Its clear that the protection of their Pilots is the highest priority of the Titans, but they will often perform a "Fastball" and throw their Pilots for different reasons. For example, the entire team was thrown at the SS Celestia to catch up to it while the Titans would board with a full attack force later. Despite the fact that Blaze "forgot to carry the three" and Connor flew short of the ship (to be caught by Scootaloo using Phase Rewind), Sevens told him "It happens" as if nothing was wrong.

The Apex Pilots recruit members based on their prior skill as a Pilot and their connection to their Titan, but before one can join Apex officially they are taken under the wing of one of the members to undergo special and gruelling training regimes, such as solo-takedowns and Pilot anti-Titan engagements. The Apex Pilot who thinks another Pilot has what it takes is not obligated to personally train the potential new recruit. Apex Firebug suggested Angus McCallum but Apex Sea-Knight was the one to train him. Apex Firefly was trained by Apex Firebug in the form of her first grand-scale mission on the Shiso Isles, however.

Apex Pinpoint was killed in a self-induced Reactor Overload of her own Titan during an improvised Titanfall into an Exodus Warship to save the HMS Diadem, leaving Apex Sea-Knight in charge of the group.

Apex Claymore was shot through the heart by Ace Pilot Rainbow Dash during the Battle for Everfree after Ness was Terminated by Rainbow's Titan, Sideswipe.

Apex Sea-Knight was torn out of the cockpit of Kiryu-Kai but before he could be executed, Kiryu-Kai pinned an Ace Pilot and his Titan and performed a self-induced Reactor Overload as Sea-Knight Embarked him. This killed all parties involved. As the third member of Apex, Apex Firebug was designated leader of the squad.

Apex Beatdown retired from combat due to major Neural-Link damage after her Titan, Maverick, gave his life to get Apex Firefly to the reactor of the SS Celestia to destroy the Hardlight Crucible, not knowing that he had survived the blast albeit with super-critical damage.

Apex Firefly was cast ahead in time by 200 years shortly before the SS Celestia exploded, leaving Sevens to enter Permanent Standby thinking he had failed Protocol 3.

Apex Vertigo was killed by Solar Accord ground forces during the Battle for Ponyville, and Rec recovered her body and placed it inside his cockpit as he suicide-rushed enemy positions after his AI malfunctioned due to the failure of Protocol 3, repeating "Protocol 3" and "Protect the Pilot" as he engaged the forces, eventually being destroyed as he was overwhelmed.

Apex Boutique was sealed inside of Serena during the Last Lights and survived the nukes after Serena told her Pilot "Protocol 3" and "Protect the Pilot," ignoring Rarity's protests. She survived and clambered out of the Titan not long afterwards.

Apex Vex was caught outside during the Last Lights and though 16 was destroyed entirely, Vex only sustained critical damage to his hardware while his software was still active. For 100 years he could not move, remaining inside his dead Titan with no options. He was recovered by the Institute and taken back to their laboratories as a basis for the Synth.

Apex Firebug was taken to Vault 111 by Blaze and during the Last Lights they were caught outside, both surviving due to Blaze's intense hull strength. Both made it to the Vault and Connor was frozen for 200 years as Blaze awaited on the Vault's lift, safe from scavengers and damage as he waited for his Pilot to wake up and reactivate him.