The First and the Last

"Houston Command, this is the Santa Maria, unknown anomaly is pulling us toward the planet's surface at an exponentially increasing rate of speed, time to impact, unknown, how copy?"

Whistling and static permeated Mikko's headset, as he tried reaching Earth for what felt like the millionth time. Finally this time, a voice tried cutting through the interference, "Santa—and, only partial copy. Coronal Ma—ion heading for Earth and Mar— irty and seven hundred kilometers per second. Recommend ejection of landing—in twenty seven minutes, do you copy?

It took Mikko a couple minutes to decipher what had been said to him, but in a moment's time it all became clear: the sun threw off part of its surface and it was heading straight for Mars... with Earth right in its path. But what was recommended to him was asinine. To eject the landing pod would leave them with minimal fuel for course corrections or to slow their speed, and Mikko had already spent nearly three quarters of the thruster fuel trying to get them back on course.  Even with Mars' thin atmosphere, they would skip across it and into deep space like a flat rock on a pond's surface.

"C-command, negative on ejection, speed and trajectory unsuitable for positive landing."

The radio crackled and whistled some more until the voice of the Flight Chief came on, with just enough time for no interference to make the message unclear, "Captain... right now it's your only hope. With what we read from your on board computer, even if you are able to change your course right now, it won't be enough. This flare is huge, and coming for both us here and you. We're taking shelter here, but we're reading such a massive spike in radiation and force, it'll be a miracle if the magnetic field holds. If your speed and direction keeps changing, you'll have to be ready to land at a moment's notice, and it won't do to have a literal bomb coming in after you."

A loud whine interrupted him and Mikko nearly threw his headset across the ship it was so loud. He readjusted it and turned the volume down a bit as the last of the message came through, —not going to sugar coat this Cap—you will most likely land only moments before it reaches you. If you make—shelter immediately. Good luck, Toivo, and Godspeed."

Those final words cut through Mikko, pangs in his stomach and head throbbed as the severity of the situation took hold. He unbuckled his harness and leaped from the cockpit to the hibernation bay. He grabbed a handle bar next to Kathy's sleeping form, bringing himself to face her. Running a hand down the glass in front of her, his head thunked against the door of the pod.

He whispered to her, "I... I don't know if I'll talk to you again. I know you can't hear me, but I just had to say I love you one more time." With that, he kissed the glass, and pushed back towards the cockpit to start the separation sequence.

————————————————————

Twenty four soldiers stood at attention inside Celestia's castle, their matte-black armor reflecting no light from the solitary candle in the dark dungeon room. Before them sat three princesses, Celestia, Luna, and now Twilight Sparkle. Both Luna and Twilight had their eyes closed, focusing on the magical force emanating from the forest in the valley below. Celestia how ever, stared unblinking at the elite force. She cleared her throat and took a step towards the Captain at the front of the platoon.

"Captain Night Silence, I have asked you and your soldiers here because we require your assistance. You're the best of the best, and something may be coming that will be difficult even for yourselves. As you know, nothing I am about to say will ever leave this room. What I will say has not even been told to Twilight yet. What I will say... will change how you look upon Equestria forever. If any of you wish to excuse yourselves, you may do so, but do so now."

The Captain looked at his soldiers, none of whom moved a single muscle. He turned back to the princess and smiled. "No pony is leaving, Your Highness. We took and oath to do what no other pony guard would or could do, and we'll hold that oath to the death."

The surge of pride Celestia felt brought a kind, albeit brief smile to her face. As the smile faded, she nodded. "Very well, I will begin. You all know of the mission I had told you of months prior, where if Princess Twilight failed to return before the Mirror sealed, you would be sent in on the next opening to retrieve her, correct?"

A chorus of "Yes, Ma'ams" rang through the tiny room before she continued, "Well, I must inform you that there is another mirror. One more ancient than the one Twilight ventured through, and older than either myself or Luna. It is much bigger and as far as we know, something or someone is coming through it."

For once, the rigid soldiers broke their stances as they looked at one another. Even the Captain managed to blink a couple times as the odd news registered. Celestia allowed it soak in, before furthering her explanation. "This mirror... is where Luna and myself came from. When we left the place where the mirror leads, it was a desolate and unlivable world. What could survive such conditions scares me, and what frightens me more, is that it could be coming here. Whatever it is, it knows magic, otherwise it could not open the mirror. As of right now, that is what I can share with you, but know that you must be ready to face anything that could come through—"

The Captain spoke up as a thought crossed his mind, "Princess, excuse the interruption, but could we not go through it ourselves and stop whatever it is from coming through?"

The princess smiled and shook her head. "Unfortunately, this is not as similar to the smaller mirror. It is one way only, so if this thing comes through, it's here to stay."

The Captain shrank back and stood next to the pony soldier on the end. "Very well, Your Highness, we will do whatever you ask of us."

"Good. It shall reach maximum power in just under four hours. Be ready to airship to the mirror just before it does."

————————————————————

Mikko was back in the cockpit, but couldn't do anything more than watch what unfolded, the booster behind having been ejected, and he had spent the remainder of his fuel on trying to change the ship's course. Unfortunately, the ejection process triggered the Pinta's and the Santa Clara's ejection as well, so now both of their pods would crash near the Santa Maria's crash zone, further heightening the danger.

The camera on top of the pod had long since gone off line, yet the abrupt cut off of all communications, even the locator beacon, from Earth told him all he needed to know. The Ejection had already reached Earth and wasn't far behind himself. He had tried playing his music over the speakers, but all power was transferred to life support for the pods, Mikko himself sitting in his suit. The ship had reached such a speed, that they were mere minutes away from entering the atmosphere.

A shadow overcame the ship, and Mikko stared wide eyed as another strangeness appeared before him. Phobos, the larger moon of Mars, was whipping around the planet at an alarming rate of speed. Not only was it going too fast and too close for Mikko's liking, he noticed it was completely out of its regular orbit. Watching it for a moment, he ran a few quick calculations in his head with his eyes shut. They snapped back open when he realized where it was heading, it would strike them before Mars even had a chance to tear their lives away. Knowing he had no options, he swallowed hard, and began reciting the Lord's Prayer out loud.

"Our father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, one Earth as it is in Heaven."

The shadow passed ever closer, though Mikko payed it no mind, his eyes focused only on the planet's surface. He shook his head and yelled the next lines of prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread! And forgive us our trespasses! As we forgive those who trespass against us!"

His eyes clenched shut. He could nearly feel the looming presence of the moon coming closer. "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil!"

The seconds until death ticked away in Mikko's head. "For thine is the Kingdom!"

Less than ten seconds. "And the power!"

Five seconds. "And the glory, forever and ever!"

Boom...

Yet, no "boom" came. Mikko, his breathing heavy and sweat dripping from his forehead, peeked one eye ever so slightly open. "A... men?"

The moon was directly in front of the ship and had stopped moving. It was stopped dead in its tracks.

"This... is impossible!" Mikko yelled in frustration. "How is this possible?

He banged his helmeted head on the console a few times, the last one forcing the glass of his visor to split his forehead open and halting his self harm. He lay there for a moment, countless possibilities running through his mind, yet none of them coming close to explaining what was happening. But one more thought crossed his mind. He forgot the pain in his head, and flung it back up to look at any point of reference outside.

The ships had stopped moving. He pulled the radar up again, and saw that indeed, they were staying at two kilometers above Phobos' surface. He strained his head at the side window and saw the Pinta less than two hundred meters away, seemingly frozen in time. Mikko plopped back down into his chair. He leaned his bleeding head against a gloved hand and laughed.

"All I wanted to do is fly again. Now I'm here, I just want to go to the ground and never be airborne again."

He leaned back and closed his eyes, numbers running through his head and wondering how the abrupt stop from thousands of kilometers an hour didn't liquefy his body. Or even move him for that matter. He slid his gold tinted visor down as the sunlight outside began to lighten against his eyelids. In a couple moments, he thought of how they weren't even facing the sun.

His eyes flew open once again, although immediately slammed shut at the blinding light in front of him. His eyes squinted he tried seeing outside the windows, and was again floored by what he saw. The light blinding him was not from the sun, but from a beam of blue light stretching from outside of his view from the cockpit, and lighting up the entirety of Phobos. He leaned forward to see where the light came from, but mingling outside the ship with the blue light was the white-yellow plasma soaring through space at incredible speeds. The plasma joined with the blue light, turning it green.

Mikko pressed his face against the visor and the window and stared, ignoring the light spots forming in his eyes. In a split second he was thrown back into the seat with so much force, he was sure his spine had shattered. The light outside brightened, as the ship itself moved towards the moon at the speeds it traveled before. Mikko uttered one final phrase before the light enveloped him:

"Help me, God."

————————————————————

A circle of blue light danced under the heavy vegetation in the Everfree Forrest. A few miles away atop a hill clear of anything save for a large tree, a platoon of camouflage painted soldiers, three rulers and five civilians looked towards the ring. The sun had reached its zenith, and with the non-existent wind, the air was unusually warm for a Spring day making one particular white unicorn rather perturbed.

"Goodness me, whatever it is that's coming couldn't have picked a worse time. My mane is going to be absolutely ruined before the hour is up! Could we not simply wait at the castle where it has a nice and cool breeze until whatever it is shows up?" She waved a paper fan at her sweaty brow while a hoof tried pushing an errant lock of sweaty hair off her forehead and back into its curly place.

Twilight turned with an amused smile to her friend. "Sorry Rarity. If whatever comes through is dangerous we'll need to be right here to stop it. Besides, the heat isn't too bad today."

Rarity forced out a supposedly humored laugh while her fanning increased. "Speak for yourself Twilight, but believe me when I say I will certainly tell you 'I told you so' when you all have realized we could and should have just stayed up at Canterlot. Certainly because what could be stronger than three Alicorns and the Elements of Harmony and that group of... rather dashing royal guards there."

One of the guards broke his stoic composure, turning and quickly winking at Rarity before a prismatic mane and cyan body obscured her vision. Rainbow Dash smacked her lips and yawning, rubbed the post-nap sleep from her eyes. "Somepony say my name?" She mumbled.

"Nopony said your name, Rainbow Dash. Although your current bed might just have a few new nasty names to call you in a moment."

"I don't know what that means, Rari..." Dash turned her head around and blinked a couple times. "Rarity, where are you?"

"Look down, please."

Dash turned her gaze down, seeing a purple mane and white horn peeking out from underneath her. Dash's face suddenly scrunched up, her eyes tearing up and her body shaking. "Dash, what are you—" Rarity's next words were drowned out as Dash rolled off her, her whole body jerking around with raucous laughter. An orange hoof appeared in front of Rarity's blushing face, which she immediately accepted, being pulled from the dirt and grass to face the hoof's owner.

"Thank you, Applejack."

"No prob, Sugar Cube. And Dash, you really need to find a better spot to nap than random trees. You know it's already nearly happened to me 'n Big Mac, and we could take it, but someday you're going to fall and hurt some poor passing pony."

Dash sniffed and wiped the tears from her eyes, her laughter having died to a slow chuckle. "Nah, I'm too light to hurt anypony I'd fall on!"

"If you say so," Rarity muttered under her breath.

Without warning, Pinkie Pie fell out of the tree as well, right next to Rainbow Dash, a flurry of confetti drifting in her wake. "But, Dashie! You said you couldn't eat anymore of my cupcakes for awhile since you said you're getting too far over the Wonderbolt's weight requirements!"

Dash's face went beet red as she sputtered while the rest of the ponies laughed at the pegasus. Even Fluttershy, who had been hiding behind the tree opposite of the glowing ring in case anything particularly scary came out, giggled softly.

"P-Pinkie Pie!" Dash dropped her voice to a whisper, "That was supposed to be a secret!"

"Oops, sorry Dash! I probably should have Pinkie Promised on that one."

"C'mon! I'm not getting... too heavy! C'mon, Twi, you can tell I'm not—"

"Look! Up in the sky!" Twilight interrupted, pointing a hoof directly above them.

The entire party of ponies lifted their head to the nearly clear blue sky, trying to ignore the sun's ray but spot what Twilight had seen.

"Ah don' see nuthin!" Applejack said, using her hat to block out the sun.

"From my position, it's four point seven five degrees to the right of the sun," Twilight clarified.

Most of the ponies cast a quick, bemused stare at Twilight before looking up, and indeed seeing what she was seeing. Amid the bright blue, a glowing green dot had appeared, slightly hazy from the noontime heat.

"What is it? I can't tell," Twilight asked the princesses.

The two goddesses looked at each other and nodded, their lips drawing a grim line across their faces. "It's the transport spell. Something is indeed coming, and it's that green light. The blue mana mixing with the plasma from a yellow star, turning matter into energy. When it comes, it will take a moment to properly tell, but judging from the brightness of the spell, it's something big, or a lot of someone."

Luna nodded in agreement as Celestia Stepped forward to her elite guards. "Captain, are your mares and stallions ready?"

The Captain, not taking his eyes off the green, growing dot, nodded and said with surety, "Absolutely, Your Highness. We await your orders."

"Very good, Captain. When the portal opens, the area surrounding the covered mirror will be vaporized. You will have a fairly straight and unblocked course to the edge. When it's done opening, you will proceed directly to the mirror's edge. Whatever comes through, I want it contained. Luna already gave the newspapers a cover story of a training mission for advanced guards, but I cannot imagine the panic if it gets in eyesight of a civilian. Understood?"

"Yes, Ma'am." The Captain walked in front of the camouflaged guards that stood at attention. "Right! You heard the princess! Our mission is to contain at all costs. No slip ups. Saddle Horn, I want your unicorn team in front with shield, offensive, and caging spells. Fletching and Broadhead, I want your team right behind them. Spell infused arrows if you please. Iron Frog, I want hoof-to-hoof specialists on the flanks with pikes and swords, in case we need somepony for close up fighting. Everypony understand?"

"Sir, yes sir!" The cry sent a shiver through the Elements' spines, even more so when they began preparing their instruments of death. The guards got into their individual formations and set into an attack pose, eyes only on the glowing circle. The rest of the group turned to the green in the sky, seeing it come into the atmosphere, evaporating the wisps of cloud, rocketing toward the ground at nigh impossible speeds.

The heat increased as it grew nearer, yet slowed before piercing the ground at the center of the ring, a mass of blindingly green light the size of Canterlot, the castle and town combined. The ground shook, and began to twist and deform inside the ring. It gave a mighty heave from below, and the forest's contents exploded from the device below, trees, rocks, and unfortunate flora and fauna disintegrating within seconds. It created a shock wave that blew everypony over or from the air, save for the three, stoic princesses and their guard. A moment later, the sound caught up, causing everypony this time to crouch and cover their ears at the pitch and volume of the explosion.

The dust settled, and all the ponies opened their clenched eyes to see a vast, perfectly clear mirror lying in the center of the forest. "That was louder than we remember, Sister," Luna said, chuckling.

"It has been many millennia since we have heard it, Luna." Celestia turned to her guard. "Captain, move forward. Whatever it or they are, should materialize in moments."

"Yes, Ma'am. Alright boys and girls, let's move, move, move!"

A thunderous rumble that could almost rival the explosion just hear emanated from beneath the soldiers' hooves as they galloped down the hill. The rumble grew faint as they neared the target, but within just a few hundred meters, the rumble began to increase once more. It grew and grew until the very leaves of the trees were being shaken off. The heat around the mirror rose, forcing the galloping guard to slow, stop and in a moment, start to retreat, the manes smoking and camouflage paint running from the sweat.

The mirror's perfect reflection dipped, and a white dome appeared, shortly by a second and a third on either side of the center. The three objects rose, slow at first but picking up speed. The ponies on the hill, including the princesses gasped as they saw the sheer size of the objects. Distinct colorful squares and words emblazoned on the side of dome-capped cylinders, pure white, save for black scorch marks on the flat bottom. On top of the center one, a glare off the surface revealed a possible window.

The soldiers down the hill began advancing again albeit, slowly this time. The ponies up the hill, however, made no move other than to subconsciously huddle closer together in fear. The guards reached the mirror's edge and retook their formations. Captain Night Silence's voice could be heard faintly from below.

"Right, pikes and archer at the ready, unicorns, ready and fire containment spells at will."

"Sir, I have movement!" the voice of one of the archers was heard.

Sure enough, slight movement in the window on top of the center object was seen, before it disappeared  The Captain voice rang out once more.

"This is Captain Night Silence of the Equestrian 37th Special Operations Division! Come out with your hooves... limbs up and make no sudden movements!"

Minutes passed and no other movement was seen from inside, nor did it appear anything was trying to make it's way out. The Captain's patience wore thin, and with a growl, turned to the lead archer.

"Broadhead, take out that window, we'll drag it out if need be."

"Right-o Captain, one breaking and entering, coming up!" The archer raised his bow and set a glowing arrow in it's place. He pulled the bowstring back with his wingtips, aimed, and timing his shot with the up and down floating of the object he fired. The arrow whizzed through the air with a sharp whistle, and struck the window... but merely bounced off, leaving only a slight crack in the surface. Night Silence stamped his hoof with a growl.

"Archers and unicorns, ready to fire! Don't blow it up Saddle Horn, but make sure the thing gets open."

"Ready!" The archers slid their arrows from their quivers and nocked them on the bowstring, while the unicorns' horns glowed in a myriad of colors.

"Aim!"

A gentle breeze wafted towards the mirror one that Rarity silently thanked the Creator for.  But in a moment, her thanks turned to scolding, as the winds picked up, further and further until a veritable gale was rushing towards the mirror. They could all see it wasn't anything natural, as the trees that still stood around the mirror all bent towards the device, the wind creating a sound not unlike that of water circling down a drain. The ponies started moving their hooves to their ears again, but before they truly needed to cover them, it grew silent, and the wind stopped blowing.

Night Silence looked around at the trees still bowing back and forth after being stretched so far. He looked towards the hill and received an approving nod before stepping directly on the mirror's edge.

"Right-o! Archers, back to where we were. Aim..."

The archers raised their bows once more, taking aim on the small circle of glass. Night Silence himself studied the entirety of the ship, calculating the moment to strike. He decided on a moment when he saw the milky white of the ship fully appear and an ashen yet glowing red cone of metal came into view beneath it.

"Fir—"

His words were drowned out, as was anyone's sight of him in a blaze of smoky fire that exploded from beneath the three objects. The heat forced the princesses to create a shield around those on the hill, raising it in the nick of time, if the smoking manes of the ones closest to the mirror gave any indication. The force of the flames almost made them drop it from the strain. Through the yellow, blue, and purple shields, they could all see the three objects rise quickly from the ground.

"What is this, Princess?" Twilight screamed over the roar of the objects flying away.

"I think they're ships, Twilight! When Captain Night Silence ordered the attack it may have spooked whatever is inside. It may be trying to leave!"

The objects screamed away, while the mares in the shields screamed themselves. Eventually, the flames dissipated and the princesses dropped their shields. They all stared at the sky, watching the three objects fly high above the clouds.

Luna and Celestia stared down at the mirror, finding it completely obliterated, shards of clear metal and glass littered the ground, their faint glows fading. Nothing could be seen of the Captain Night Silence and his soldiers, save for the random, blackened sword or helmet here and there. They both let out a silent sob, and recited an internal word of remembrance for the departed soldiers. None of the other seemed to notice, however, their gazed locked solely on the flying ships.

As they shrank to the size of a bit in the ponies' eyes, the flames disappeared and the ships began to teeter off to the West. They reached their peak, and shot back towards the ground, aiming straight for the capital city.

"They're going straight for Canterlot! C'mon, we have to get there before they do!" Twilight yelled and sped off to the waiting airship. Everypony else followed, but Rarity sped along to catch up with Twilight. She used her magic and poked her in the ribs, making the princess look at her.

"I hate to say it," Rarity said with a smirk. "But I told you so."