Heart of Courage

Chapters

Chapter 2: The Artifact
Chapter 3: Goodbye
Chapter 4: United Equestrian Nations
Chapter 5: Ancient History
Chapter 6: On the Far Side of the Galaxy
Chapter 7: Out of the Frying Pan
Chapter 8: Steel Carnage
Chapter 10: Lessons Learned
Chapter 11: The Longest Night
Chapter 12: Elysium
Chapter 13: Unlucky Break
Chapter 14: Ashes
Chapter 15: Baptism of Fire
Chapter 16: Take Flight
Chapter 17: Falling Stars
Chapter 18: Collapse
Chapter 19: Singularity
Chapter 20: Harmony
Chapter 21: Equestria Bound
Chapter 22: Through Time and Space
Chapter 23: Epilogue
Chapter 1: Rendezvous
Chapter 9: Retaliation and Remembrance

Chapter 2: The Artifact

Twilight Sparkle’s hoofsteps echoed down a cold, dark hallway. Not alone, she proceeded onward, flanked by two hulking beasts wielding wicked-looking spears. A small torch placed every dozen strides or so, glowed just bright enough for her to pick out a few distinguishing features of her escorts. Even under thick shaggy coats, their dense muscular arms bulged noticeably outwards, each ending at a clawed hand that looked like it could easily extinguish the life from her before she could even scream.

She carefully walked forward with purpose through intervening shadows before reaching the next patch of light. Her gaze darted upwards, only to be met with a predatory glare in their eyes that put ice in her veins. The fiend noticed her scrutiny and its lips curled into a snarl of elongated jaws, revealing a mouth with pointed teeth more numerous than any living creature deserved to have.

An involuntary shudder washed through the purple unicorn. Don’t panic, Twilight. The wulven can sense fear. Calm down, you can do this. You have to.

Only words of self-reassurement kept her from succumbing to panic. This deep in the mountainous region beyond the Frozen North gave her little faith she could return home by herself. Twilight did her best to focus on the mission at hoof and remind herself how much her friends back in Equestria depended on her.

Eventually, the trio reached a golden door large enough for an ursa minor to navigate without trouble. One of the beasts hammered his clawed fist against it twice, creating a deep resonating boom. Two loud clangs reverberated through the hall and the door slowly began to open. Twilight watched in awe until a sharp prod from one of the guard’s spears made her jump forward in fright. “Move, unicorn,” a growling voice snapped at her, “and don’t talk unless you’re spoken to. If we see your horn glow, you will be dead before you can use your magic.”

“Okay, I’m sorry.” Twilight squeaked, only to yelp as she was poked again.

“I said no talking! Now move!”

She complied with both demands this time. As they passed through the doors, Twilight noted that they had been opened by several more wulven warriors. Even though the golden slabs must have been heavier than a small house, it didn’t seem to faze them in the slightest. Their eyes hungrily rested upon her, but she swallowed the lump in her throat and kept walking. She had a job to do and too many lives depended on her actions today.

Up ahead, a massive wolfish monster adorned in golden armor lounged in an equally adorned throne. Taller and larger than the half a dozen guards surrounding him, he easily could have looked Princess Celestia in the eye without trouble. The bipedal canines clutched at their weapons with white-knuckled grips and they watched the little pony with malice as their leader spoke.

“Hmm, Twilight Sparkle I presume? I see the all-powerful Celestia finally sees it fit to acknowledge our presence with an ambassador from Equestria.” His smoldering voice echoed throughout the mountain hall, stressing each syllable with an acidic inflection.

Twilight fought to keep her pride in check as she kneeled before the throne. “King Moonclaw, I am honored to be in your presence. I come from Canterlot with a request from Princess Celestia to ask you for peace between our lands.”

“Ah, yes. Celestia wants to resolve our little disagreement, does she?” The King chuckled and leaned forward in his throne. “She wants to forget about past grievances and let bygones be bygones. If she cares so much about her little ponies, why did she refuse to see me herself? Is she afraid of me?”

His dismissal of Princess Celestia and the severity of the situation they were currently in made Twilight’s eyes narrow. She spoke carefully, hesitant to displease her dangerous host. “With all due respect, your majesty, this is more than a little disagreement. We have confirmed reports of small towns and villages being attacked and burned to the ground by your forces. Princess Celestia understands your anger at her and she thought it would be best to not risk alienating a chance for peace with her presence.”

“Of course she would understand!” Moonclaw roared, causing Twilight to flinch in fear. “Her and her sister are the ones who locked me away thousands of years ago. Don’t stand there and tell me she is surprised by what I’ve done? What did she expect me to do after I escaped Tartarus? Did she think I would forget the challenge I made?”

Twilight averted her eyes and tried to ignore a nervous itch under the coat of her neck. “You challenged her?”

“Of course I did, I have to show her how wrong she is. Why else would I create my perfect army?” Moonclaw motioned to the dozens of wolf-like beasts in the throne room with them. “Miss Sparkle, it would be my honor to formally introduce you to the wulven.”

Two tall musclebound forms stepped out of the line of warriors around Moonclaw’s throne, looking very much like the two guards who escorted her throughout the frozen mountain. “These are my main foot soldiers; my carnibeasts. No other creature can match their raw physical strength, not even your hardy earth pony kin.”

The two creatures returned to their original places as a lone wulven moved into Twilight’s field of view. Missing the beefy stature of the carnibeasts, this one had a much more limber appearance. The reason for this became apparent to her as soon as she noticed the two large leathery wings folded along its back. “To compete with your pegasi, I needed flyers. My wraithwolves will negate the air superiority that you ponies have been fond of so far. I find that claws are far more lethal than hooves.”

Baring its teeth at her, the wraithwolf bent its knees before leaping into the air, wings stretched wide. A few quick flaps and it vanished in the dark recesses of the ceiling above. As Twilight looked back down, a new beast stood forward from the rest. Not as well built as the carnibeasts, or as limber as the wraithwolf, she felt just as frightened of this one as she took note of the two ram-like horns curling around its head. “I sure cannot wait to see your best spell castors go up against my hellhounds. How well do you think Celestia’s prized student would fare against one?”

Twilight didn’t acknowledge the threat. Instead, she gulped nervously while the hellhound wulven sauntered away, heading down an adjacent hallway leading off to who-knows-where. She waited until it had fully disappeared before meeting Moonclaw’s smiling face. “Of course, I saved the best for last; my honor guard. How would you like to face all three at once, Twilight Sparkle?”

The king had just finished when a trio of dark forms fell from the ceiling and landed hard on the stone floor in the intervening space in front of the throne. Their sudden entrance forced Twilight to step backward in order to assess the newcomers in front of her, and when she did, the cold hand of dread gripped her tightly. Standing in the epicenter of each impact was another wulven creature. This one though had the physique of a carnibeast, wide curving wings like a wraithwolf, and long spiraling horns mirroring a hellhound’s.

They stared down the pony in front of them before one by one, a dark aura began to encompass their horns. Three starbursts suddenly popped to existence, temporarily blinding Twilight, and as she blinked back her vision, she only saw empty space where they had been. She breathed heavily, glancing every which way, but the powerful creatures were nowhere to be seen.

“I… I still don’t understand.” The purple unicorn asked after taking a moment to calm herself down. “Why would you create an army to mirror pony-kind and what do they have to do with your challenge? Your warriors are powerful and vicious, but at the end of the day, they are just fabrications; magical constructs. They aren’t actually real. So why are you doing this?”

A look of surprise graced King Moonclaw’s face and his mouth curled into a hair-raising smile. “Oh, Celestia didn’t tell you, did she? Tell me what she did choose to reveal to you about our little spat back in the day.”

“Princess Celestia told me that you were not pleased with her becoming the ruler of Equestria.” Twilight retold the tale of what had happened long ago, leaving out a few, more incendiary, details. “She said you tried to take over the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters, but she and Princess Luna stopped you.”

“That’s certainly a small part of the whole story. I know Celestia must have told you more than that.” Moonclaw’s lips slowly lowered and he raised an eyebrow at the small pony, daring her to continue.

Gulping, she tried to tread carefully. “She mentioned that you saw nothing to gain by helping the united pony tribes prosper.”

Twilight unfortunately seemed to strike a nerve and Moonclaw lost his patience, swiping through empty air in frustration. “We tied ourselves down when we settled with the tribes in Equestria. We had so much potential to be mighty rulers over these lands; so powerful that no one would have ever challenged us. I tried to reason with Celestia, but she refused to accept what we were becoming.”

“What do you mean?”

He glared at her. “She made us weak.”

“Weak? But Equestria is not weak!” The little pony bristled at Moonclaw’s assertion. Around her, wulven guards shifted threateningly as they reacted to her accusatory tone.

The king then did something that she did not expect. His scowl vanished as he leaned back and let out a hearty laugh from deep within his chest. Twilight cocked her head, not seeing the humor in the situation and somewhat unsure how to respond.

It took a moment, but Moonclaw finally calmed down enough to notice her reaction, or lack thereof. “Oh, you actually believe that, don’t you?”

Twilight answered gently, feeling a little unease by his seemingly random mood swings. “Your majesty, I don’t know why what I said was funny. Would you mind explaining?”

“All you ponies think your nation is safe and secure. Have you already forgotten about Nightmare Moon? How about Discord, or King Sombra? What about Queen Chrysalis, and all of the other threats and dangers Equestria had suffered in the past that are now lost in legend and myth? If your past is any inclination, then I doubt your future will fare much better.”

“But we defeated Discord, and King Sombra! We stopped Queen Chrysalis, and brought back Princess Luna! How can you say those things when we stopped all of them?”

“You speak of victories, but not one of those struggles ever had to happen in the first place. If Celestia had only listened to me, then her sister would never have turned on her. All she wanted was a willing ear to listen to her plight. Then maybe, her jealousy wouldn’t have gotten out of control which allowed that malevolent parasite to take hold.”

Moonclaw continued raving, his voice growing more intense with each sentence. “And the changelings, Discord, or Sombra? I can’t believe that Celestia would be irresponsible enough to send you to stop them alone. The entire nation’s future, resting on six feeble little ponies. What a joke, what was she thinking? If she had seen things my way, then we would have effortlessly crushed our enemies by our combined might. No one would have dared threaten us ever again.”

“There is no way to know those things for sure, your majesty.” Twilight took a step towards his throne, and the wulven guards adjusted to hold their weapons in a more aggressive stance. “It took the combined power of the Elements of Harmony…”

“Stop!” His command cut her off mid-sentence, and he waved a paw through the air as if swatting away an annoying fly. “Don’t even start lecturing about those antiques; relics of an ancient time. I’ve heard it before and I never understood why Celestia put so much faith in those fickle artifacts; each so particular about the bearer who wields it. Her greatest sin might well be the fact that she gambled with the fate of Equestria just to help some unsociable bookworm make some friends.”

Twilight’s ears flared back and she glared at King Moonclaw, stamping a hoof against the ground. “You don’t understand what the Elements of Harmony truly are! Because of that, Princess Celestia is a much wiser ruler than you are, your majesty.” Her sarcastic inflection did not go unnoticed, and the wulven on her right reversed its grip on its spear before slamming the pole down hard onto her back. She cried out and collapsed onto the ground in agonizing pain, whimpering faintly.

As she fought to catch her breath and see through tear-filled eyes, King Moonclaw stood up off his throne and sauntered over towards her. “You disrespect me, Twilight Sparkle. If you do not control your outbursts, I will make sure that Celestia’s sun will never grace your face again.” The King circled around Twilight’s prone form. “As for your request, I am going to have to say, no. If Celestia can’t see how pathetic her little ponies are on her own, then I am going to show her.”

The king stopped in front of her and hunched over so that his face was only inches from hers. As she struggled through the pain lancing along her spine, Twilight stared into his eyes. Twin irises of brilliant gold speckled with obsidian betrayed the intelligence resting behind them, even if it was tainted by a flawed reasoning. She understood now that Moonclaw meant every single thing he had said, and he would carry out his promises no matter what the consequences might be.

“It doesn’t have to be this way.” Twilight’s shaky voice whispered, pleading one last time to end this peacefully. “I just know that we can solve the dispute between you and Princess Celestia. There’s no need for any bloodshed. Please….”

For a brief flicker, she saw guilt in Moonclaw’s large golden eyes before it was replaced with a pity directed at her. “Unfortunately, we are well past that point, little pony. I do admire your determination and courage though. Hold on to them, especially the last one. You will need it in the dark times to come.”

King Moonclaw turned his back and made his way to the throne. “Goodbye, Twilight Sparkle. The next time we meet will not be under the best of circumstances. Guards, return her to Equestria.”

The two wulven grabbed Twilight’s front legs and unceremoniously dragged her out of the throne room. As the door slammed shut, she squeezed her eyes closed and tried to stem the flow of tears trickling out of them. The entire time, only one thought filled her mind. I failed….

A week later, Twilight stood in front of a large open history book. Alone in a small ancient library, she poured over the tome in front of her looking for some piece of information that might help Equestria in this terrible war. The extensive underground repositories of Canterlot held vast swaths of knowledge; much of it forgotten over the centuries. She and her friends were supposed to leave for the Crystal Empire soon, but she still had not found anything useful.

This one is a bust. Twilight frowned, thinking bitter thoughts as she levitated it back to its original place. The lavender unicorn reared up and pulled at another one when a sharp pain shot through her back, causing her to drop it. As the book’s impact with the hard granite floor faded away, she rubbed the spot where the wulven guard had struck her a week before. Why can’t I do anything right?

“Darling, are you alright?” asked a cultured voice behind her, sending another wave of agony through her body as she jumped in fright.

Trying to not grimace, Twilight answered haltingly, “Rarity, I’m fine. I just… pulled something this morning when we were training.” She played it off to keep from worrying her friend, but the cheesy grin plastered on her face did little to convince the white unicorn.

“Twilight, I may not be the element of honesty, but I can still tell when you’re lying. Now, you’re going to tell me what’s wrong, right now.” Rarity gave Twilight a look to let her know she would not take no for an answer.

Twilight’s ears drooped in submission “I feel like I’m holding everypony back. I’m the only one who hasn’t done anything to seriously help Equestria.” Eyes closing in shame, she let out a heavy sigh as her head hung helplessly. It was a thought that had plagued the lavender pony quite often since her ambassadorial visit had ended so poorly. Meanwhile, her friends had all used their skills to help Equestria, both behind the front lines and on it.

Fluttershy’s work in the infirmary helped teach many lifesaving techniques, and Pinkie Pie’s baking skills kept scores of refugees from going hungry. Applejack and Rainbow Dash served as commanders in the ground and air corps respectively. Even Rarity, the last pony to ever get her hooves dirty, had surprised all of her friends with her skills as a sharpshooter. She even helped to design the combat and formal uniforms used by Celestia’s troops.

Thinking of her friend’s accomplishments only served to further dampen Twilight’s spirits. They had all succeeded in positions well suited for their own individual strengths, while she had failed at one thing she was supposed to be good at, diplomacy. I could have stopped all of this from ever happening, but I didn’t so here we are.

Rarity paced around the little alcove in which Twilight was using to read, glancing at all of the different sized and colored books. “Don't be silly Twilight; you’re going to be the pony that will save all ponykind.” She smiled over at her friend. “And once Moonclaw shows his hideous face, we will use the Elements and send that ruffian packing! Don’t let what happened in his fortress get you down. Obviously, he made his choice long before you arrived.”

“But personally, I’m just glad you made it back safe.” Rarity walked up to her and gave her a warm hug before letting go and placing a hoof on her shoulder. “Anyway, it’s time for dinner and it would be rude to keep the princesses and your friends waiting.”

Twilight sighed but couldn’t hide the small grin on her face. Leave it to Rarity to say the one thing that could get me to stop reading. She mused as she regarded the dusty bookshelves around her. “Well, okay. I guess I can call it quits for tonight. I am feeling a bit tired now… but I’m going to wake up extra early tomorrow.” The last statement was spoken more as a challenge but Rarity just tossed her flawlessly groomed mane and laughed.

“That’s perfectly fine with me dear, as long as you enjoy yourself tonight. You need some rest before we leave Canterlot again.” Gazing at the immense collection of books crammed into the shelves in the alcove, Rarity asked, “Have you explored all the bookshelves in this section?”

“Not yet. I’ve been to every row from here to the door but haven’t gone past that one.” Twilight pointed with her hoof at a tall multi-tiered bookcase far down the line.

Rarity trotted over and took a peek around the corner. “Well Twilight, you’re almost done with this…” She stopped talking and stared at something at the end of the aisle. “Oh my! What is that?” She hollered out before immediately disappearing down the pathway.

“Rarity! What about dinner? Ugh!” Twilight sighed and followed her path at a brisk trot. Thoughts of food made her stomach growl and the pain in her back was flaring up again, but she ignored both.

As she rounded the corner, Rarity appeared at the very end of the cases. In front of her stood an open archway tall enough for Princess Celestia to easily pass through without ducking. It led to a strange room in the shape of a dome, twice as high as its entrance. Intrigued, Twilight galloped forward to get a closer look. Maybe I’ll find something I can bring back this time. A new hope flared to life in her heart, replacing her exhaustion and pain.

Twilight ran past an awestruck Rarity and entered the room. Following her friend’s startled gaze, her eyes fell upon a stone table in the middle of the room. On the table sat a dusty golden stand, about the size of an old record player, and held at its heart rested a crystal sphere holding a beautiful silver hourglass.

As Twilight stared at the hourglass, her breathing steadily grew slower and the ambient sounds of the castle became muffled and distorted. It took some concentration and will, but the unicorn pulled her violet eyes off of it and everything snapped back to normal. She shook her head to clear it before glancing over to see what had captured Rarity’s attention. At the base of the stand, a partially dusty diamond the size of her hoof sparkled in the dim torch light.

“What a magnificent gem! I have never seen such a flawless diamond of this clarity! I simply must take it for my collection. Such a waste that it has been sitting down here getting dusty for ages!” As Rarity moved forward, Twilight stopped her with a hoof.

Something about this device gave the lavender mare an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. “Wait,” she started “it’s attached to that hourglass thing, and I don’t particularly trust it. I think it will be safer if we leave it alone and ask Princess Celestia about it later.”

Rarity pouted and she gave Twilight the most downtrodden face she could muster. “Okay,” she conceded as she re-composed herself, “you’re probably right. I wouldn’t want to turn into something icky and slimy. That would be the worst, possible, THING!”

“What’s taking you so long, Rarity? I thought you said you knew how to get Twilight to stop reading and come eat!” the voice of Twilight’s number one assistant echoed down the row of books. Food seemed to be on the baby dragon’s mind at all times.

Twilight turned to see Spike and the rest of her pony friends walking down the dark aisle, before coming to a halt right outside the room. “Hi everypony, we’re coming.” Twilight smiled at them. “Rarity just wanted to look at a pretty rock.”

“It’s more than just a rock, Twilight Sparkle!” Rarity scoffed. “Oh, how I wish I could take it.” She walked over to the diamond, gazing at it like a mother watching over her child. Before turning around again, she blew the small covering of dust off of its otherwise flawless surface. As both unicorns began to leave, a faint click stopped them in their tracks. “What was that?” Rarity twisted her head around and fixed her eyes on the table.

The diamond had dropped down an inch into the device, and it now glowed and hummed with power. Above it, the little hourglass spun rapidly inside the crystal sphere. Twilight’s eyes grew wide as she felt the enormous amount of magical energy beginning to coalesce inside the device. It had a telltale signature of the same kind of energy she used to create barriers and shields, but this felt several orders of magnitude more powerful than what she commonly dabbled with. Both unicorns exchanged terrified glances when they both reached the same conclusion. This device was powering up for something.

Twilight Sparkle reacted first, trying to save her friend who stood frozen with fear. The lavender unicorn rushed between Rarity and the table, whilst twisting her body around. Then she bucked the immobile pony straight through the archway with a kick that would make any Apple family member proud. Rarity flailed through the air with an audible oof and plowed into her other friends, knocking them down like bowling pins. Without wasting precious time, Twilight turned and dove for the arch. Everything seemed to slow as she flew through the air.

The archway was so close. I’m going to make it! Twilight thought, but right before she passed through the opening, a wall of magical energy popped into existence right in front of her. The unicorn smashed into it and rebounded off, slamming into the unyielding ground. The impact all but rendered her unconscious.

Twilight opened her eyes and looked around. The walls and floor radiated a dull, red light, and a transparent crimson barrier shimmered in the archway. Her friends all crowded in the opening, staring at her wide-eyed with fear. Wobbling to her feet, she took note that the hourglass currently spun around in its stand even faster now. In her horn, she could feel a different type of magic growing in strength; one that terrified her beyond reason.

For a unicorn who studied the subject nearly every day of her life, she knew about almost every form of magic that existed. Only a select few particularly worried her and this was on that list. Twilight tried to use her own magic to break out of the room but whatever the device was, it just overpowered every single attempt. There was nothing she could do to escape. She was utterly and hopelessly trapped.

Chapter 3: Goodbye

“Somepony go get help!” Spike frantically swung his tiny fists against the glowing shield.

“I’ll get the Princess!” yelled Rainbow as she dashed off in a prismatic blur.

“T… T… Twilight, can you use your magic to get out of there?” Fluttershy asked quietly with a look of terror on her face.

“I’ve tried using every spell that I thought might work, but the shield is too strong. Every time I try to teleport, I just end up with a massive headache instead.” The purple pony rubbed her forehead with a hoof. “Whatever this thing is, it keeps overpowering me.” Twilight eyed the table with a frown on her face.

“Well, what in tarnation is that thing, Twi?” Applejack cocked her head to the side, gesturing to the hourglass with a foreleg.

“I have no idea Applejack, but I’m nervous of what might happen if I fight it too hard.”

“It’s so pretty! When we get you out of there, let’s use it as a strobe light at my next party!” giggled Pinkie Pie, though Twilight could read the concern on her friend’s face.

Twilight laughed a hollow laugh, forcing herself to smile weakly. The gravity of her situation weighed down on her, but she tried to not let it show. Her friends’ anxious eyes encouraged her to put on a brave face, and Fluttershy’s terror was almost tangible even through the solid barrier.

Spike, breathing heavily, abandoned his effort to break the wall. “Try to teleport again, Twilight! See if it will work this time!”

“Okay, Spike, hang on a second.” I’ll try putting more power into the spell. Perhaps that will let me overpower the device. Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated. She imagined standing on the other side of the shield and she poured her will into that image. Her horn began to glow as more power surged into the spell.

Right before it reached completion, Twilight felt all of that built-up magic involuntarily drain from her body and pour into the hourglass. The rush of energy leaving her sparked off a massive headache and made her wounded back hurt. “Ouch.” She rubbed her head with a hoof. “I'm not going to try that again.”

Luckily, that’s when she heard Rainbow’s voice call out. “Over here, Princess!” Twilight’s hope soared when realized that her mentor was here. Princess Celestia must know how to stop this thing for sure. I’ll be out of here in no time and we can all laugh about it at dinner. Rainbow Dash fluttered up with Princess Celestia right behind her. The alicorn trotted up to the opening and looked inside at Twilight.

“Hi Princess, I'm really sorry for turning this thing on but I can’t seem to figure out how to stop it or get out of here. Whatever this is, it keeps draining all of my magic. Do you happen to…?” Her voice trailed off as she saw Princess Celestia’s reaction to her situation. The regal alicorn’s expression went from one of concern to pure terror. Uh oh, this can’t be good, she thought. “Princess Celestia, are you okay?”

For the first time since Twilight could remember, the Princess was at a loss for words with a look of dread plastered on her face and it demolished all the defenses she put up in her mind to keep her own fear in check. “I'm not getting out of here alive… am I?” Twilight’s last hopes were shattered as her guide and mentor, the one pony she looked up to the most, became as frightened and shocked as her friends.

There was the faintest shake of the Princess’ head in reply as tears began rolling down her face. “I'm… I'm so sorry Twilight. In all of Equestria’s history, anypony who used the rift apparatus was never seen again, and if I broke the barrier; the resulting magical discharge would kill everypony here and destroy most of Canterlot.”

Twilight choked back a sob rather unsuccessfully. “I… I understand, Princess.” At that moment, the light in the room dimmed and the whining sound from the rift apparatus reached a new high. Its magic started coalescing together and Twilight could feel a strange magical tug on her horn. The air in the room began swirling and the dust on the ground crept towards the table. It seemed that whatever was going to happen would happen soon.

“Everypony,” Twilight did her best to keep her composure and not cry. “I'm so lucky to have been able to call you my friends. I had the best times of my life with you and my only regret is that I wish I could have spent more time here.” Tears rolled down her face and her lips trembled while she struggled to finish. “I love all of you so much and I hope you’ll never forget me when I’m gone.” Twilight fell back on her haunches and lost her self-control as sobs racked her body.

“Twilight, don’t say that!” Spike yelled. The little purple dragon sat down crying. “You can’t leave me!”

Twilight sniffled, wiped her eyes with a hoof, and managed a weak smile. “You need to be brave, my number one apprentice. I love you so much and I’ll always be there to watch over you.” Oh how I wish I could hug him one last time.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack cried out in frustration “No! Twilight!” They attacked the shield with ferocity, trying to buck and kick through it. Even though they were two of the strongest mares in Equestria, their desperate attempts to free her did nothing to weaken the barrier.

Fluttershy buried her face in Pinkie Pie’s shoulder while she cried. Pinkie lost her usual cheery self and watched Twilight with teary eyes while her mane slowly uncurled. “We will miss you, Twilight.”

Twilight turned to look at Rarity who also had tears running down her face. “I’m so sorry, Twilight! I didn’t mean for any of this to happen!” The white unicorn wailed in between sobs. Black mascara ran down her cheeks, leaving dark streaks on her otherwise spotless face. “I'm so, so sorry!”

“It wasn’t your fault Rarity, it was an accident! We had no way of knowing this could happen. I don’t blame you at all, so please don’t blame yourself.” Twilight tried her best to console her friend as quickly and forcefully as possible. She had no desire for Rarity to feel guilty and burdened by this mishap for the rest of her life.

Twilight put her hoof on the shimmering wall and all her friends mirrored her on the other side. For the last time, they looked into each other’s eyes, all shining with tears. “Please be strong, everypony. Equestria needs all of you if it’s going to survive.” She then glanced up at Princess Celestia. “Please tell my family that I love them.”

“I will. Goodbye, Twilight Sparkle, my most faithful student.” Princess Celestia was the last to touch the wall as a tear dripped off her chin and landed on the stone floor; a glistening, watery diamond of grief.

Simultaneously, a deep base note sounded and an intense light exploded from the hourglass causing everypony to turn away and shield their eyes. Then, at the heart of the magnificent source of illumination, a dark orb formed. Void of any light, it was darker than the blackest night in the middle of the Everfree Forest.

The orb grew, and started consuming all of the magic and air in the little room. Twilight felt it dragging her, so she tried to dig her hoofs in to resist, but it was too strong. She whimpered in fear as she slowly slid across the floor towards the shadowy sphere waiting to pull her down into its hungry maw.

Meanwhile, Celestia jumped forward with a crazy idea in her mind. She touched the barrier with her horn and began concentrating, hoping that she wasn’t too late. Twilight would have to be the luckiest pony ever to survive this ordeal, but maybe it would give her a fighting chance. The others were still crying for their friend as they watched her being pulled away from them. Nopony noticed the Princess’ strange behavior.

Twilight screamed as her hooves slipped and she flew across the remaining distance towards the device. As she spun through the air, her last sight was that of her friends looking back at her tearfully. The instant before impact with the orb, a final thought rushed through her mind. I wish I could have found something to help save them. Then the unicorn mare fell into the sphere. She shrieked one final time before she vanished into darkness.

Immediately, the lights all came back on. The shield disappeared along with the orb, the bright halo surrounding it, and their best friend and companion, Twilight Sparkle. When the shield vanished, there was a loud pop as air rushed in to refill the room. All that was left was the table and the golden stand with a motionless hourglass. First to rush in, Spike looked around for the lavender unicorn but she was nowhere to be found. The little dragon fell to his knees and whimpered quietly.

Twilight’s soul ripped free from her body. Panic took hold as she frantically tried to scrape together some idea of her fate from her strange surroundings. Falling through a painfully bright, prismatic-hued tunnel, she followed its random twists and turns, unable to see beyond the walls surrounding her. I don’t think I’m dead, so where am I?

In rapid succession, the passageway burned through the colors of the spectrum from red to violet and then back to red as the sequence started over. Looking down at her hooves, she tried to scream when she only saw the walls of the flashing tunnel instead. Like her nonexistent forelegs, no sound emitted from her throat no matter how hard she tried. Where is my body? Where are my friends? Tears would have been brimming in her violet eyes if she physically had any. Twilight Sparkle could think of no explanation for what was happening but instead of losing all hope, she fought against her fear and despair.

Trying to keep calm, Twilight focused her attention on the tunnel walls. The time interval between color changes began to rapidly shorten, eventually reaching the point where everything blurred together into a white light. Maybe this is what death is like. She thought tiredly, bracing herself as the illumination grew from the end of the tunnel and enveloped her completely.

All she felt was pain. Pure, unaltered pain wracked her entire body. She kept on thinking, I'm dead! But this didn’t make any sense. Her eyes barely worked but at least she could tell that she had her body back again. A severe chill shook her, and Twilight opened her eyes to see her resting place; a snowy plain that stretched out far and wide. Wherever she happened to be also felt colder than the snowiest, iciest, windiest day of winter in Ponyville. This probably was the coldest she had ever been before in her entire life. I don’t think this is the afterlife. The unicorn mare shivered violently.

She tried looking around to determine where she was but there were no familiar landmarks in sight. Right about then, the cold faded away and she stopped shivering, a sure sign of severe hypothermia. This is bad. If I can’t feel how cold I am, then I am in a lot of trouble. I need to find shelter and some way to warm up right now.

Twilight tried to stand up but she couldn’t acquire enough oxygen from the thin atmosphere for her body to cooperate. As a result, the mare involuntarily collapsed back into the snow while her lungs burned from the frigid air. Hyperventilating, she fell down on her side as the rest of her strength left her. Eyesight dimming and heart fluttering weakly, the little pony slowly rolled her head over to gaze upwards. If I’m going to die, I don’t want to be staring at the ground.

High above, the sky shone a dark silky black, dotted with millions of silver jewels. While admiring the stars and reminiscing forlornly about her old home, meteors dashed across the sky. Twilight‘s eyed widened in awe, grateful for such a beautiful light show to mark the end of her short life. As the edges of her vision faded to black, she thought, Wow, the thin atmosphere really makes these showers beautiful. I wish my friends could have seen it.

Her eyes had just about closed completely when a large shape appeared overhead, blocking out the sky. A deep humming sound filled her ears and twin beams of light illuminated her body, partially blinding her. After a heartbeat or two, Twilight felt the ground shake as something heavy landed next to her. In her muddled mind, she wondered if a meteorite had impacted nearby, but before the darkness took Twilight Sparkle, something gently picked her up.

Princess Luna walked quietly by her sister’s bed, in which five multicolored ponies and a baby dragon slept fretfully, and made her way to the balcony. She stopped next to the Princess of Day and quietly spoke. “How are you doing, sister?”

Princess Celestia squeezed her eyes shut but Princess Luna noticed a glimmering of moisture. “I’ll be fine.”

“It wasn’t your fault, sister. Even I forgot about that room and that device.”

“How was it not my fault?” The white alicorn shouted, before quickly turning to make sure her guests hadn’t awoken. She then took in a deep breath and continued, “I’m sorry for that, Luna, but I failed my responsibility as a leader. I forgot about that horrible invention and it ruined the lives of so many ponies, and possibly this nation. Without the elements, I do not know how we will stop Moonclaw. I should have remembered why that area was sealed.”

“Celestia, stop! We locked up that part of the castle so long ago. We never thought that we might have to search all of Canterlot’s hidden records for something to help avert a disaster of this magnitude. Equestria has never had its existence in peril as much as it is today. If Moonclaw isn’t stopped, ponykind will be no more. It is no more your fault than mine. Sometimes accidents… just happen.” The dark alicorn mare put a hoof on her sister’s shoulder. “Don’t forget about you jumping in to guide her journey. It was foolish to fight against that kind of energy, but it was very brave of you.” Princess Luna turned to view her full moon rising above the mountains.

“Thanks, little sister, you certainly know how to make me feel better.” Princess Celestia lifted her head up to watch her younger sibling’s beautiful satellite slowly make its way across the night sky. “I ordered the guards to brick up that room with the rift apparatus first thing tomorrow and to put warnings on the wall. We won’t let the same mistake happen twice.”

After a few minutes of silence, Princess Luna asked “Big sister, how far away did she go?”

“Oh Luna, I don’t have the heart to tell you.” She did her best to hide the despair in her voice. “I only managed to catch the tail end of the spell. There was only so much I could do. She will be in a strange and dangerous world if she survives the journey.”

“But you told me you managed to guide her somewhere she would be saved though!”

“No, Luna, I only had enough time to make sure she was sent somewhere she might be saved. A lot can happen between now and when she will reappear in our universe. The odds are still against us but I gave her a fighting chance.”

Princess Luna thought for a second “But it won’t end there will it? She will have to figure out how to make a new life. Not many time travelers have returned to their original time period, and nopony has yet to survive that awful device.”

“Yes little sister, but I think she has learned much from studying friendship during her stay in Ponyville. She will need those lessons where she is going and I have faith that she will be able to adapt and prosper.”

“Then why not tell her friends?” The blue alicorn turned to glance at the room behind her.

Princess Celestia looked back through the doorway to the sleeping forms on her bed. “I was afraid they would believe she would return for sure, or that they might try and follow her. I didn’t want them to live the rest of their lives with a false hope burning in their hearts. I know it sounds heartless but with this war going on, I need their skills and focus to help save this country. I wish I could tell them but I feel like that would cause more harm than good at this time. Maybe after this is all said and done. I hope you can understand.”

Her sister nodded sadly then gazed at her hooves and kicked at the ground “I miss her too, you know. She went out of her way to help me acclimate to today’s way of life. She was my first real friend in a long while. We should consider ourselves lucky to have known such a pony, even if our time with her was so cruelly cut short.”

Princess Celestia nuzzled her little sister in agreement and they both looked up at the night sky. High up above Canterlot, a beautiful meteor shower rained down upon them. After the day’s events, it had a calming effect on the two alicorns. Both watched in complete silence except for three words whispered by the younger princess. “Good luck, Twilight.”

Twilight Sparkle gasped a huge breath as she shook awake. She tried to open her eyes, but a painfully bright light forced her to involuntarily slam them shut right away. After a minute or two of heavy blinking, a glass square in the ceiling overhead came into focus as the source of the brightness in the room. Wow, I had the worst dream ever. What were the princesses talking about?

Growing curious, Twilight forced her head to lift up and examine her surroundings. She lay on her back in a bed occupying a long narrow room with a dozen identical white beds in it. All of them empty except hers. I’ve never seen this room before. Am I in a hospital? What happened last night? Where is everypony?

Rubbing her eyes with her hooves, Twilight took in a deep, relaxing breath. Calm down Twilight, I'm sure there is a plausible explanation for all of this. Maybe I took a tumble on the way to dinner. Or maybe this is one of Pinkie Pie’s pranks. She tried to smile but it did little to convince her.

Her fears came back in full force when she made the realization that the walls and ceiling were made of solid metal and not stone or wood. Also, she noticed that the only door into the room had no knob or handle. Where am I? Twilight was on the verge of panicking when the metal door slid open to reveal a butterscotch pegasus pony. “OhhthankCelestia! WhereamI? Whathappenedtome? Whoareyou?” The questions poured out of her too fast to distinguish individual words. Trying to lean up further to face this new pony, something restrained her. She looked down to see several straps wrapped around her. “WhyamItieddown?” Her hyperventilation threatened to return.

“Please calm down, Miss. You need to relax now.” The pony trotted to her bedside. “Your body is still recovering from extreme hypothermia and breathing that terrible air. There were also several nasty hairline fractures in your spine. We were worried you weren’t going to make it but you sure are one tough little mare.” The pegasus had a large sincere smile on her face.

Twilight calmed her breathing down slightly and reiterated her last question at a more reasonable pace. “Why am I tied down?”

The pony walked around her bed and began unlocking the straps. “Just in case you woke up while nopony was in the room. We didn’t want you wandering off.”

Once the last strap unlatched and retracted to the far side of the bed, Twilight leaned up to better study the unfamiliar pony. She had a short cropped black mane and tail, butterscotch colored coat, and green eyes, but the rest of her body wore a uniform of some kind. The pattern on it seemed to be a type of camouflage, but instead of the green and brown patterns used by Celestia’s army, this one used blues and greys. On its front, a series of colored bars on one side made two parallel lines and a name tag reading Wrench lay pinned on the other. Twilight looked for her cutie mark, but on the uniform’s flank was a patch of a cloud with a tricolored lightning bolt coming out of it. Above the mark read PFDS-20.

“I am Lieutenant Junior Grade Socket Wrench!” The pegasus cheerfully hopped her front hooves up off the floor. “My main job is keeping an eye on our engines while we travel. When I’m on break though, I like to help Victoria around the medical bay if she is busy.” She glanced towards the doorway and shook her head side to side. “Somepony in the machine bay dropped a crate of spare parts on himself so she had to run down there very quick. She should be back soon.”

Twilight’s eyebrows knitted close together in thought, frowning at the strange pony before her. What engines is she talking about? Traveling? Victoria is not a common pony name. Machine bay? Am I on an airship? While each thought ran through her mind, something finally hit her. “That cutie mark is Rainbow Dash’s!” She yelled out and pointed a hoof at the pegasus’ flank.

Socket jumped back a little at the outburst, obviously not expecting that statement. “Well, yeah. We’re on the Rainbow Dash.” Then she leaned forward inquisitively “How did you know that? You were completely unconscious when we docked and brought you onboard.”

“On Rainbow Dash?” thought the extremely confused unicorn. “What do you mean on Rainbow Dash?” as she asked, Twilight looked down around her bed to see if Socket was being literal.

“You are currently onboard the Rainbow Dash, Patrol Frigate Deep Space Twenty and the fastest ship in the UEN fleet!” Socket Wrench’s suspicion conceded to pride as she bragged about her ship.

“What are you talking about? Are we on a boat or an airship? I don’t think Celestia named a boat or an airship after Rainbow, because if she had, then I’m sure I would have never heard the end of it. What do you mean by deep space?” Twilight’s brain started to hurt.

Socket Wrench now looked just as confused as Twilight, and as they both tried to figure out what the other was talking about, the door slid open again. A bipedal creature walked in wearing the same camouflage that the pegasus wore. Twilight’s heart leapt in her throat at sight of the creature. Wulven! Frantically she looked for an escape but the monster currently blocked the only exit. Panicking, Twilight lost all sense of reason and decided to try and bolt past it.

“Watch out!” She yelled to Socket tried to clamber off her bed, but to her surprise, the pegasus tackled her and held her down. “What are you doing? It’s going to kill us!”

“Calm down! It’s just Victoria! She is chief of the medical bay!”

Twilight slowed her struggles, taking a closer look at the creature and realizing it wasn’t wulven at all. This creature walked on two legs but stood straight up, unlike a wulven which hunched over menacingly. Standing up, Twilight figured her own head would come up to its belly. It had thin feet which seemed to be wearing boots, and its hands had four fingers plus a thumb, similar to Spike’s hands. The hands and face were furless with a light peachy skin. The creature’s face had a small mouth, nose, and rounded ears and its blonde mane was much thinner and finer than a pony’s. Twin glacial blue eyes on its face were very small but seemed to be full of life and compassion.

“Hi, my name is Victoria Schaefer,” the strange creature spoke with a unique, yet somehow familiar accent. She pulled a chair out from behind a desk along the wall and sat down at a respectable distance from the pony’s bed. “I’m not going to hurt or harm you and I will do my best to answer any questions you have.” She smiled at her and Twilight’s fear dissipated away.

“What are you and where did you come from? Are you from a country faraway from Equestria?”

“I am a human. My species originated from another planet named Earth. It is very far away from your pony home world Harmony. Humans actually live on Harmony now and I myself was actually born in Flankfurt.”

So that is where her accent comes from. I knew I recognized it, Twilight thought and before Victoria could continue, she interrupted her. “So are you an alien? Why is Equestria called Harmony? Why do humans live on Harmony instead of Earth? When did this happen?”

Victoria chuckled, unfazed by the interruption. “I guess you can technically call me an alien but I’m not going to eat you.” Her face grew somber when she added. “Earth doesn’t exist anymore. Long story short, my species was lost, destined to wander alone in space forever until we found Harmony and ponykind. Your Princesses were more than willing to accept us. That’s when the United Equestrian Nations was formed, or UEN for short. Of course the longer story is a little more exciting than that but I’ll tell you another time.”

Socket Wrench smirked next to her and added, “Humans have been living with ponies for over four hundred years now. Harmony was the name given to our home world a thousand years ago when Ponykind first reached the stars.”

Twilight had a sinking feeling in her stomach as her strange questions were met with stranger answers but that last line from the pegasus send a cold wave of terror through her. No, there is no way this can be possible, but I have to know for sure. Twilight cleared her throat and hesitantly began a line of questions she dread knowing the answers to. “Where are we right now and what is the Rainbow Dash?”

Victoria seemed to know exactly where Twilight’s inquiry was headed. “We are in the medical bay in the heart of the Dash. The Rainbow Dash is a frigate class warship that operates in deep space outside of a planetary atmosphere. You are in a spaceship, Miss.”

Twilight’s heart thumped in her chest, and cold beads of sweat formed all over her body. “How long ago was the Wulven War?”

Victoria turned to Socket Wrench who wrinkled her brow in thought and put her hoof to her chin. “The Wulven War?” Her eyes grew and she glanced at the human almost as an unspoken warning before facing Twilight. “Dear, that war ended over five thousand years ago.”

Twilight Sparkle leaned forward, breathing rapidly and feeling sick. Spots appeared in her vision and a faint ringing grew in pitch, seeming to originate from everywhere in the room. Her body trembled and she toppled backwards onto the bed before everything went black.

Chapter 4: United Equestrian Nations

Princess Celestia walked the hallways of Canterlot side by side with Rarity, though the white unicorn bore little resemblance to the former seamstress from Ponyville. Her usual well-brushed tail and mane were barely groomed, and her puffy eyes and messy face made it apparent that she hadn’t seen a touch of makeup in many days. She wore a simple black gown; something completely alien to her usual gaudy sense of fashion.

“Princess,” Rarity glanced up at the taller Alicorn, her ears drooping downwards, “how are we going to stop them without her? The elements are now incomplete and everypony knows what I did. I see the way they glance at me when they think I’m not looking.”

Princess Celestia spoke, shaking her head. “Rarity, for the thousandth time, it wasn’t anypony’s fault.” She stopped the gloomy unicorn and hugged her with a wing. “We will figure something out to save Equestria, even if we cannot use the elements. Even though your friend is gone, you cannot lose hope.”

The pair continued around a corner into a large circular room full of tall glass windows. Named the Hall of Heroes, it was a place where Equestria honored ponies who performed valiant acts of heroism for the nation. Located in a remote wing of the castle, it did not often attract visitors.

“She wouldn’t want you to blame yourself for something you aren’t responsible for.” Princess Celestia’s voice now gently echoed in the spacious chamber. “The Twilight I knew would want you to accept what happened in the past but focus on saving the future. If you decide to live your life in misery, you will only be disrespecting her memory.”

The pair stopped walking in front of a marble statue of a unicorn. The plaque below read, Twilight Sparkle: She gave everything she had for those she loved. “For all she did for Equestria, I think it is fitting we honor her by giving her a place here. Equestria needs heroes now more than ever. What are you going to do, Rarity? Will Twilight’s fate consume you? Or are you stronger than that?"

Rarity paused for a second and took a deep shaky breath as she fought back tears. “I will do my best to accept what happened but I will never forgive myself for losing my best friend.” She shook her mane like she used to when it needed a little rearrangement, and her blue eyes iced over with a steely stare. “For her memory though, I will be brave and fight for all ponykind.”

Twilight Sparkle bolted awake and looked around frantically, calming down once she recognized the steel room with all the beds. A medical bay they called it? At least I’m not tied down again. The door remained shut and her bed still had the only occupant. It was all real then. I somehow traveled millennia into the future. My friends and family… they must be all gone. A heartbreaking wave of hopelessness washed over her. “I will never see them again,” she whimpered out loud to nopony.

“Oh, good! You’re awake! I was really worried when you passed out.”

Twilight jumped to see the bipedal creature sitting in a rotating chair at a desk near the back wall. Floating above the top of the desk stood a glowing three-dimensional image, of what looked like an earth pony, before it winked out and disappeared. A quick stab of uncertainty shot through Twilight until she recalled that this creature meant no harm. A human was what she said she was, right?

“How are you taking the news, sweetie? I am so sorry for causing so much distress, but lying to you would only make the resulting consequences worse.” The blonde-maned human rolled her chair, which not only could spin around but apparently had wheels on its legs, to the side of her bed.

Twilight gazed into the strange creature’s compassionate eyes and realized she couldn’t hold her despair in anymore. The truth of her predicament hit hard. “My…my family and friends… they are all gone...” her voice wavered slightly. “They are all… d-dead aren’t they? I will never see any of them again. I'm so alone.” She choked out between sobs, squeezing her eyes shut when she felt two soft, strong arms hug her. Opening her eyes a little bit, she saw the human hugging her as if she were her best friend. Twilight couldn’t even remember her name, yet this alien creature cared for her and empathized with her. Twilight wrapped her front legs around the human and wept into her shoulder.

“You aren’t alone anymore. We will help you adjust to your new life and make new friends. Right now, we are making our way back to Harmony where the Princesses will decide how to best help you start over. They will know what to do.”

It took a second for what Victoria said for it to sink in, and Twilight’s eyes then lit up as a small sliver of hope blossomed in her heart. “Princesses? Are Princess Celestia or Luna around? Could I speak to them?” Having some part of her past still around could help make her feel less lonely, and to her joy, the human’s face mirrored her own enthusiasm.

“Actually, we were sent here by Princess Celestia herself! I don’t know how she knew you would appear out here, but that’s something we can ask her when we get back to Harmony. Princess Celestia rules part of the civilian side of UEN government. Princess Luna is still around and she leads the UEN military.”

Twilight let out a shout of joy, squeezing her eyes shut and smiling despite the tears running down her face. Sure, she still had her mentor, but it didn’t change the fact that all her friends and family were long gone. After a few seconds, Twilight calmed herself and slowed her breathing. Once she composed herself, she pulled away from the human. The purple unicorn rubbed her nose and chuckled a little as she asked “Why are you so nice to me? I freaked out when you walked in and I’ve already forgotten your name.”

The smiling human laughed before she answered. Her laugh brought a warm sense of comfort to the unicorn pony. “I'm Victoria Schaefer, a human from Flankfurt. You think you freaked out? I need to show you some video from the first time ponies and humans met each other. That was a sight to see.” Victoria leaned back in her chair, rubbing her chin before gesturing with her hand. “See, we used to have animals on Earth called horses which looked fairly similar to you ponies except they weren’t sapient. Also, once you ponies found out that humans ate meat, there was this misunderstanding and rumor spread that we wanted to eat ponies. Those first few months were quite chaotic. Later on though, many struggles united both races and forged an everlasting alliance. We are called the United Equestrian Nations, or UEN for short.”

Twilight leaned back slightly, giving the human a nervous stare. “You’re a carnivore?”

“We are mainly omnivores.” Victoria smiled a toothy grin to show the different types of teeth in her jaw. Curiosity and her love for science got the better of Twilight and she leaned forward for a closer look. “We need both plants and meat. Humans can’t digest grass or hay like you ponies but fruits and vegetables are necessary requirements for nutrition. Also, humans won’t eat meat from intelligent creatures, though we may joke about it from time to time. It is a pretty big cultural taboo.”

“Well where do you get your meat from? Do… do you have slaughter houses?” The thought sent revulsion through the pony’s body.

“On old Earth many ages ago we did. Once the human population grew too large, we had to find another source of food which led to the food synthesizer. Now all human and even pony food is created in machines from basic building blocks of matter. No animals are harvested yet the synthesized food is apparently indistinguishable from the real thing, although I wouldn’t know the difference since I’ve never eaten any meat that was once alive.”

At that moment, the sliding door opened again and the butterscotch pegasus trotted in. She noticed Twilight sitting up and walked over to her bed. “How are you feeling?”

Twilight wracked her memory for a split second trying to remember her name. “Socket Wrench, right?” The pegasus nodded happily. “Yeah, I feel better. I'm sorry I scared both of you. It… it was a lot of information to digest.” Twilight scratched the back of her head with her hoof.

“Yeah, Victoria explained the situation to me.” Socket nodded her head. “I didn’t know where you came from, so at first I was as confused as you. Well, maybe not that much.” She turned to Victoria. “The captain is on his way here now to talk to her.” Socket Wrench thought for a moment before turning back to Twilight with an inquisitive expression. “By the way, what is your name?”

“I'm Twilight Sparkle.” At the sound of her name, shock, disbelief, and amazement flashed across their faces. After a moment of confusion, Twilight realized, they’ve heard of my name before. Before she could ask out loud, Victoria spoke.

“You mentioned the Wulven war. I assume that is the time period you came from, Miss Sparkle?”

“Yes, we were three months into the war when the… incident happened.” Another thought came to her. “Oh, did we win the war? Were the Wulven defeated?”

Taken aback by the question, Socket Wrench opened her mouth but before she could answer, Victoria quickly interrupted. “Socket, don’t forget about the Wells Doctrine. We can’t tell her anything about her time period until she sees the Princesses and the UEN Council.” She turned towards Twilight, but had a mischievous grin. “I can tell you this though. Equestria still exists today so you can probably figure out your answer from that bit of knowledge.”

“Well, well, well. And I thought I was the only devious one around here.”

Twilight, Victoria, and Socket all looked up towards the door where the new voice had come from. Leaning against the open entrance stood another human. This one had a short black mane and dark brown narrow eyes. Its face and body structure differed slightly from Victoria and its voice was deeper so Twilight figured this human was a male. He shot a smile at them and made his way over to her bedside.

Victoria sighed and said, “Zhang, how in the hell do you get through those doors without making a sound?”

Zhang spoke again and Twilight picked up yet another new, familiar accent. “Sweet Victoria, you know a magician never tells his secrets.” He waved his hand, sending a few small colorful sparks in the air.

Socket Wrench lightly punched him in the hip “One of these days, I’ll figure out your tricks and then we’ll see who has the last laugh.”

Zhang smiled and turned to Twilight, extending a hand. “How are you, Miss? My name is lieutenant commander Isamu Zhang. I am from Shanghay, and I am the Weapons Control officer on the Rainbow Dash, as well as one of her shuttle pilots. I flew the shuttle that took you onto the Dash.” Twilight put her hoof in his hand and gave him a combination hand-hoofshake. She opened her mouth to introduce herself when another pair of voices interrupted her from the hallway just outside of the open doorway.

The first voice sounded annoyed. “I swear Dmitri, if you were under anyone else’s command, you would be in the brig twenty-four-seven. I don’t know why I put up with your crap. Sometimes, I think you’re going to inadvertently cause a mutiny some day and throw me out of an airlock.”

A thick hearty laugh ensued, “Don’t act like you hate me, comrade. You enjoy dealing with my bullshit. That why you want to pilot patrol frigate instead of larger fleet vessel. More freedom to do what you want. Anyway, crew love you. Mutiny least of your worries. Worry more about our guest.” Twilight recognized this speaker’s thick, choppy accent from the region near Stalliongrad.

The pair of voices turned out to be a male pony walking next to another male human. They turned the corner into the open doorway and strode up to Twilight’s bed.

“Ah, she is awake!” The stocky, brown stallion with the Stalliongrad accent yelled with a huge grin on his face. “How you feel? Do you have headache?” He laughed before the male human smacked him on the back of his head.

“Dmitri, if she has a headache do you think the best cure is yelling in her face with your terrible grammar?” The human turned to Twilight and shook her hoof. “Hi, I’m Captain James Fletcher. I'm the captain of this ship and I was the one who found you down on that snowball of a planet. I’m sorry about Dmitri here. See, I am pretty sure his mother dropped him on his head when he was a little colt.” His face hardened slightly when he asked, “But, I also would like to know why you are important enough to drag us this far away from the war effort.”

Dmitri rubbed the spot where he was smacked “Bah! You wish I was.” He looked at Twilight and guiltily spoke “Sorry about that. Got carried away for a second. My name is Dmitri Bearclaw. I'm the Lieutenant Commander of the Dash. I help James keep the ship and its crew operational.” At the last remark, James rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“Nice to meet all of you,” Twilight said. It was difficult understanding and learning about her situation with just Victoria and Socket there. Now it seemed like everyone important on the Rainbow Dash surrounded the medical bed and wanted to learn more about her. It felt very overwhelming. “I’m Twilight Sparkle and I'm sorry for being a hindrance.” Her ears drooped slightly.

“James, she came from the Wulven War.” Victoria’s eyebrows rose upwards in a knowing look, which brought an instant reaction of shock from him and Isamu.

“No, it can’t be. That’s impossible.” James looked back at Victoria, who nodded at him with a grim expression on her face. “You know what this could mean right?”

“What’s going on?” Dmitri asked

Ignoring him for the moment, James questioned Twilight. “May we take a look at your, umm… your cutie mark, Miss Sparkle? We need to verify something. Dmitri, Isamu, and myself will step outside for a minute.”

“Why would you do that?”

A confused look crossed his face before Socket Wrench laughed “James, she is from old Equestria. They didn’t wear clothing everyday back then.”

The comment made Twilight feel slightly embarrassed and she tried to defend herself. “Hey now, we…”

“No, no, no, no, I don’t mean anything bad by that. What I mean is that our culture has changed very much over the centuries. To be blunt, I would enjoy walking around without always having to wear clothing. Nothing beats having a cool breeze grace one’s flank. Sadly, that is looked down upon at most places.”

Victoria raised her hand to her face. “Socket, you sounded just like Dmitri for a second there.”

“Before we get carried away with thoughts of naked freedom, it is really important that we verify who our time traveler is,” Isamu advised as Dmitri opened his mouth to further derail the conversation.

Twilight moved her bed covers and leaned to one side exposing her right flank and the cutie mark upon it. Everyone crowded around to take a look at the purple and white star pattern.

Isamu’s impassive face filled with awe, “It really is her.”

Socket Wrench’s eyes grew very large while Victoria shook her head slightly in incredulity. “I can’t believe it.”

“We are in the presence of a living legend, my friends.” James leaned back and gazed at Twilight with a newfound respect. “I now see why Princess Celestia wanted us out here in the ass-end of the galaxy.”

“Speaking of ass,” Dmitri said, “nice flank.”

Smack.

“So everypony knows who I am even this far into the future?” Twilight asked, as Victoria gave her a final checkup so she could leave the medical bay and visit other areas of the ship. There had been a lot to ponder, and Twilight knew that she had a lot of information to catch up on.

“Everyone learns about the Elements of Harmony in school. They are the most famous magical artifacts in the galaxy. To this day, we haven’t been able to discover where exactly they came from or how to use them without a bearer. The Elements, unfortunately, haven’t chosen new bearers since your time period.” She met Twilight’s wide open eyes. “Yeah, that’s right. You and your friends are the last bearers in history regrettably.

Victoria held up a strange device in front of the unicorn’s face, moving it around in a circular pattern. Once she had completed three circles, it chirped loudly and Victoria set it back down, seemingly pleased with the results. “The Elements would be invaluable in the war we fighting now. One of the few bits of information we have discovered is that the Elements of Harmony can manipulate a seemingly unlimited amount of magical energy. So theoretically, they could be used for amazing feats from shielding an entire fleet to perhaps blowing up a star.” Victoria’s face had a strange expression at the last comment, Twilight noted. It looked almost like a pang of remorse.

Ignoring her curiosity regarding the human’s reaction for the moment, Twilight began a different line of questions. “You mentioned a war? Please don’t tell me I left one war to be thrown into another.”

A guilty look crossed her face when she answered. “We have been at war for over four hundred years. In fact, the war started right before humans joined the UEN. After we get your room situation settled, James asked me to take you to the conference room for a crash course in the current predicament we are in.”

“Four hundred years!” Twilight’s eyes opened wide. “Well who are you at war with?”

“We call them the cygnul. They originate from somewhere in the Cygnus outer arm of the Milky Way galaxy. Even after fighting them to a stalemate for hundreds of years, we still don’t know much about them. I’ll explain more about the cygnul in your orientation.”

“Okay well, why are there no Element bearers anymore?”

“No one knows. We can’t force the Elements to choose so they sit idle in… the Royal Palace in Canterlot.” Victoria’s pause drew a sliver of suspicion from the lavender unicorn. The human refused to meet her accusatory gaze as she typed something on a futuristic typewriter device.

Letting the comment slide, Twilight filed it away in her mind to bring it up later. “The Palace is still standing after all these years? I guess that means the Princesses and my friends did save Equestria after all.”

“It was updated over the years and is a lot bigger now. Also the city around Canterlot is huge. I know you’re fishing for information,” The human’s eyes flicked to hers for a moment, “but, I can’t tell you anything that happened within a thousand years of your time though. I have to follow the Wells Doctrine.”

Twilight Sparkle frowned and fiddled with her blanket for a bit. “You mentioned that before, what exactly is it?”

Twisting towards her, Victoria ceased her typing. “There was a famous human author many millennia ago by the name of Herbert George Wells. He wrote many famous works of science fiction and one of his more notable novels was The Time Machine. Equestria has had problems with time travelers in the past and they needed to decide how to deal with them.” At this, Twilight remembered her first experience with time travel and how such a short journey caused so much trouble.

“After the UEN formed, humans and ponies sat down and wrote out the current precautions to take when dealing with time travelers. The document they wrote was called the Wells Doctrine to honor that author’s name. To summarize, we are not allowed to discuss current events from a traveler’s time period until the UEN High Council meets the traveler. This is to keep anyone from screwing up the past. Right now, James is taking us back to Harmony where the Council will help you start a new life.”

“Human authors sound very interesting. I would love to get my hooves on some of those books.” Twilight’s inner librarian drooled at the thought of reading literature written by a species from an entirely different planet.

“I’ll have Socket show you the Dash’s digital library and teach you how to access it. There are enough books stored there for several lifetimes of reading.” Victoria then gave a short laugh at Twilight’s shocked reaction. “You are going to learn a lot about the technology of our time. It will astound you.”

Victoria finished her checkup and began packing up her medical bag. “Unfortunately, because we are a long distance from Harmony, it might take a few months to get back home.”

“Months! I'm cooped up here for months?” The thought of living in the medical bay for months made her sick to her stomach.

A familiar voice from the doorway drew her attention. “Twilight, you aren’t going to be living here. We need this room for any wounded and I don’t think you would enjoy sleeping here while somepony is having surgery.” Socket Wrench laughed. “You can stay with me. I don’t mind the company or sharing my room. I'm an officer so I have a room to myself.”

Twilight hopped off the table and stretched her legs out. “Wow, thanks a lot Socket! I really appreciate that. I hope I won’t be a nuisance.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. I'm sure you won’t.” Socket Wrench threw a bag onto Twilight’s bed. “We can’t have you walking around the ship without wearing any clothes, can we now?”

The comment brought a snicker from Twilight. “I guess not. I wouldn’t want to look out of place.”

“Here is an extra uniform I had made. You can have it. I don’t want you distracting all the stallions aboard this ship with that flank of yours.” Socket Wrench laughed at the flustered look on the unicorn’s face and the blush that bloomed onto her purple cheeks. “Also, James doesn’t want your identity to be revealed to the general populace yet. The crew will keep quiet, but if we dock somewhere, anypony that recognizes your cutie mark might start an unstoppable rumor, and rumors travel faster than the speed of light.”

Twilight finished wriggling into the uniform which hung loosely from her body. Before she could ask for a smaller size, Socket walked over and pulled a small black tab on the waist. The clothing shrunk to fit her snugly. “How did you do that?”

“The uniform is one size fits all. The cloth is made with a bunch of tiny microscopic machines. It’s called nanotechnology. They shrink and expand the material when needed. Cool huh?”

“Wow, technology is really advanced isn’t it? My friend Rarity would love to get her hooves on this kind of knowledge.”

“Nanotechnology is way ahead of your time by a few thousand years.” Victoria said as she finished putting her bag away. “You’re all checked out Twilight. You can see the rest of the ship but I do ask that you always stay with one of us five just in case an emergency happens. This is a military ship after all. I would also stay away from Azure Lightning. She is very competitive with other unicorns and can be quite the bitch.”

“Who is that?”

“Azure is the battle mage on our assault team. She is great at her job but pretty much lacks any social skills. That’s part of the reason she is assigned to a patrol frigate instead of the main fleet.”

“Okay thanks. I will keep that in mind.” Twilight headed to the door while Victoria went back to work on her computer.

Socket smiled as she headed down the passageway with Twilight following. While walking throughout the ship, Socket Wrench tried to explain more about the Dash. She learned it was a rather large craft for its classification because it was designed to operate on its own, far from an orbital base. She figured that whatever crash course Victoria was talking about would shed more light on the situation. They passed a few crew members of both species but most of them were ponies. All of them saluted Socket Wrench and gave Twilight a formal bow.

“Why are they bowing at me?” Twilight whispered to Socket after the third such occurrence.

Socket Wrench’s pupils shrunk and her face scrunched up. “Oh, horseapples.” She halted and lifted a forehoof, fiddling with a glowing screen on her leg with her nose. “You’re somewhat of a … celebrity I guess.” The pegasus mare waved her hoof in the air after she finished fiddling with the device. “I’ll have James alert the crew to stop that in case it raises questions.”

Twilight nodded, uncomfortable with the special attention. Then they continued their trek through the frigate. “Why are there more ponies on this ship than humans? It seemed from your short explanation that humans were more advanced?”

Socket’s smile disappeared. “We’re here, I’ll tell you inside.” She stopped at a doorway and put her hoof in a glowing screen next to it. A chime sounded and the door slid open. “I already programmed the door to open for you too. Just place your hoof there and you’re good to go.”

Once the door shut after them she spoke again. “Ponies outnumber humans by almost thirty to one in the UEN. A long time ago humans were almost wiped out to extinction. They barely survived when their home planet was destroyed and to this day, their population is still recovering. Their devotion to help each other and will to survive saved them, and ended up saving us ponies too. I’ll show you what I mean in the conference room.”

Twilight felt a twinge of sadness. Humans seem to be very friendly creatures.

“You can use whatever you need in my washroom and I have extra clothes for you to wear. My bed is decently sized so I hope you don’t mind sharing for tonight until I can have one built for you.”

“Not at all! Thanks again for all of this, Socket Wrench.”

She beamed a smiled “Don’t worry about it. I'm glad to help. Now let’s go give you a crash course in the history of the United Equestrian Nations.”

Twilight followed right behind her. “This shall be interesting.”

Chapter 5: Ancient History

Twilight Sparkle strolled alongside Socket Wrench as they made their way to the conference room. She asked the pegasus about life in the present and Socket was more than happy to oblige. She started out small, simply explaining the few culture shifts that transpired, but soon ended up in a longwinded spiel about all the things that had changed over the years.

It seriously shocked Twilight to learn that Harmony now boasted a staggering population of five billion UEN member species, with another billion scattered amongst the other planets in the solar system where the UEN called home. On Harmony, Canterlot and Ponyville rivaled each other economically, and apparently, there were even cities on Luna’s moon. Socket called them bubble cities. None of these revelations however, surprised her as much as the next thing she learned.

“So you’re telling me that there is a huge pony-made ring orbiting the moon that can teleport ships anywhere in the universe? How is that even physically possible?” As she learned more and more about the technology of today, Twilight couldn’t help but felt more and more lost. How could I possible adjust to a new world where daily life was so different from what I grew up with?

“Well, not the universe. Its range only extends out to our borders. But yes, the warp gate on Luna’s moon gives the UEN a large advantage in keeping our colonies safe. The humans brought us the technological experience and we built it together.” Socket Wrench eyed Twilight with a perceptive look. “I know you might be afraid about all these changes, but it will work out. You look like a tough pony and I'm sure with Princess Celestia’s help, you will be able to live a new happy life.”

“What about you and Victoria? Would I be able to see everyone again?”

Socket’s smile faded and the excitement in her eyes drained away. “Probably not, Twilight. We travel far from Harmony on our missions. I rarely get to see my family at all.”

“Oh… okay.” Twilight turned away. I am going to have to start making friends from scratch all over again. It was hard enough the first time I did it. I really miss my friends so much. Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a sharp sarcastic voice in front of her.

“Hello, Socket Wrench. Is this… thing, the reason why we are wasting our time while other ponies are dying out there?”

Twilight Sparkle looked up to see a dark blue unicorn with a white mane and tail. Her yellow irises studied the lavender pony in front of her; sizing her up. The stranger’s horn began to lightly glow and Twilight felt a detection spell wash over her.

A simple spell; unicorns used it to judge another unicorn’s magical ability. Though, it was rarely used without consent because most viewed it as a rude invasion of privacy. This unicorn obviously didn’t care, but Twilight felt a small sense of satisfaction when the blue unicorn’s eyes widened at the realization of how powerful her magic was. She was the bearer of the Element of Magic after all.

This proverbial slap in the face only broke the dark unicorn’s composure for a heartbeat, but before she could speak, Socket Wrench jumped in, trying to diffuse the situation. “Azure, our orders came from the Princess herself. Captain Fletcher did what he was told and it’s our job to follow him.”

Shifting gears, Socket’s voice changed to a more intimidating tone. “You should also show respect. This is Twilight Sparkle, the last bearer of the Element of Magic.” Socket Wrench then waved a hoof in the air dismissively. “And once we drop her off at Harmony, I’m sure we will be sent back to the front lines.”

Socket Wrench then glanced at Twilight with an apologetic smile. “This is our squad’s battle mage, Azure Lightning.”

Twilight did not particularly like the unicorn at all, but before she could take the high road and be friendly, Azure opened her mouth. “I don’t care who you are. You are keeping us away from the fight so I have a problem with you, Twilight. Don’t cross my path.” Then she walked between Twilight and Socket, bumping into the purple unicorn hard as she passed.

When Azure rounded the bend, Twilight turned to Socket. “What the hay is wrong with her? I didn’t do anything!”

Socket Wrench had a distressed expression on her face. “I’m sorry about her, Twilight, but you have to understand something. Azure has nothing for her in life except fighting the cygs. She was in the regular navy when her home planet was attacked. They wiped out half the planet before help could arrive. Azure was forced from an escape pod as her home burned, and the experience changed her for the worse. Her new demeanor quickly got her into trouble and the choice was either a dishonorable discharge or volunteer for the Patrol Frigates, so James brought her on the team. Azure’s lightning magic has gotten us out of a few close calls. I know she is cold but I only hope you understand why.”

Twilight felt guilty for her outburst earlier. “Wow, I had no idea. I feel really bad now.”

Socket put a hoof on her shoulder. “Don’t be, she deserves your frustrations for the way she treated you. But she also deserves your pity and respect. She is the kind of pony where if you are in trouble, she will put her feelings towards you on hold and do anything she can to help.” Socket started walking down an adjacent hallway. “Come on, Twilight, we’re almost there.”

Twilight followed and she soon turned into another sliding doorway that had the words Conference Room above it. The room itself was rather small and had no chairs or a table; perhaps only the size of the upstairs room in the library where she and Spike used to sleep. That library probably didn’t even exist anymore. Her life had gone through so many drastic changes recently, what with the start of the Wulven war and now this whole mess. This is like a nightmare. What happened to the peaceful Equestrian way of life that I grew up in? Why is there so much darkness?

“Welcome to the Dash’s virtual conference room.” Socket said, interrupting her inner monologue.

“Virtual?”

A voice from the doorway caused Twilight to turn her head to see James Fletcher leaning against the wall. “This conference room uses virtual reality technology to make it seem like you’re somewhere else. We usually use it to communicate with Harmony, but today, Alice is going to give you a crash course in history.”

Suddenly, an earth pony popped out of nowhere in front of Twilight. This pony had a translucent greenish glow and a cutie mark consisting of a series of ever-changing zeros and ones. “Hi! I’m Alice, the Rainbow Dash’s artificial intelligence. We haven’t officially met yet.” The pony stuck her hoof out.

“… I’m … Twilight.” The stunned unicorn replied. When she tried to shake her hoof, Alice’s leg passed straight through Twilight’s, and she let out a yelp of surprise.

The green pony laughed. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t help myself.”

“Can we get back on track, Alice? I’ve got to take an important message from naval command in an hour.” James gave a deadpan stare towards the AI but he couldn’t completely hide the small grin that was there.

“Aye-aye, captain.” She turned to Twilight and spoke, “Let’s get this show on the road.” Then she vanished.

Twilight looked around the room for her but a moment later, the lights went out and pitch blackness took over. She reached a hoof out, trying to find James or Socket but she couldn’t see anything. All of a sudden, a light source popped on next to her, and Twilight turned her head to spot a floating ball of yellow fire.

“Eeep!” She cried out and jumped away. Once she reached an acceptable distance, Twilight studied the floating sphere and realized that it didn’t act like normal fire. Instead of burning upwards, it seemed to burn gently in all directions at once. At that moment, a smaller blue and green sphere floated in front of her face. This one had a smaller white ball orbiting it. Around the edges of the room, thousands of white dots hung motionless, clustering tightly in one direction. That’s when it finally hit her. “This is a solar system isn’t it?”

Alice’s voice from the room’s speaker answered. “Yes it is. That planet in front of you is Harmony; home of ponykind.”

Twilight walked around the planet that was her home. It had beautiful green landscapes, majestic mountain ranges, and large wild oceans. As she studied the world, icons appeared marking major cities including Canterlot, Manehattan, and even Ponyville. “Then that must be Luna’s moon and Celestia’s sun.”

“Indeed, you are correct.” James replied. “Ponykind reached out for the stars twelve hundred years ago. Our story though, begins two thousand, three hundred and ninety one years before even that.”

The Solar system shrank rapidly and the stars swung around as the virtual reality chamber centered on another solar system. This one had a bright, healthy yellow star just like Harmony’s system. Twilight noticed three small planets rotating around the star but only the last caught her eye.

It had the same sparkling blue water, artistically sculpted continents, and white swirling clouds as Harmony, but the landscapes and oceans were shaped differently. The little garden world drifted in front of her, looking as lovely and wonderful as her own home. This planet even had a natural satellite, though it seemed smaller and floated further away than Luna’s moon.

A pointer popped up labeling the planet with the name, Earth. A series of statistics under the name told Twilight that it had a similar size as Harmony, but less land area. Earth also had a matching atmospheric oxygen content but with slightly higher levels of carbon dioxide. “This planet is beautiful.” She continued staring at the colorful world. “So this where humans come from?”

Alice’s voice filled the room. “Earth was the birthplace of Humanity. It is the third planet from Sol, the name of their sun. The Sol system resides in the Orion arm which is a minor branch of the Milky Way galaxy where we all live. The most notable aspect of this portion of the Orion arm is a complete absence of any magical energy that graces the rest of the galaxy. Humans lived in a world where magic existed only in myth and legend.”

“No magic at all?” Twilight thought back to her first Winter Wrap Up and the hassle she had trying to fit in with the earth ponies. “How did they get anything done?” She remembered that most major construction projects of her time couldn’t be accomplished without at least few unicorn engineering specialists.

“Creativity and adaptability,” James interjected before Alice could respond. “Humans always had to work hard to survive on our world. We prospered for thousands of years without the abilities to control weather, use healing magic, or regulate our sun and moon. It was a hard life for a long time until our technology progressed far enough, but those experiences forged what we are and gave mankind the will and the tenacity to fight for survival. One unfortunate side effect humans received was our desire to fight amongst ourselves. We waged war against each other during most of our entire history up until the Sundering.” His voice wavered slightly at the end. Twilight could detect sadness with a touch of bitterness in James’ tone.

Alice once again started talking. “As far back as we can tell, humans have always looked upwards at the stars with curiosity. With their ingenuity, they began living amongst those very stars in a fraction of the time it took ponykind made the same trip. Many solar systems were colonized and eventually, the human sphere of influence grew to encompass planets outside of the magic-devoid Orion arm. The discovery that some humans could use magical energy shook society in a way never before seen in history. The only event to top that revelation was the first meeting between humans and ponies, but we will discuss that topic later.

“The rapid expansion of human worlds led them to encounter many alien species, a few of which were even sapient. There were arguments between humans about what to do with the new races that might compete with them. This led to mankind aligning behind one of two major powers.

“One group sought to enslave or eradicate anything not human. Going by the name Nida, their xenophobic view was to protect humanity from the threat of being outclassed by an alien race. These humans carved out a system of worlds under a dictatorship rule, utilizing propaganda to control their populace.

“The rest of humanity formed the Coalition where sapient alien races were given voting rights in a republic form of government based on Earth. They used their free market economy to keep innovation and prosperity high. Personal freedoms and liberties were highly protected and seen as unalienable.”

The room zoomed out of the solar system, leaving the tiny blue planet behind. The view halted to a topside perspective of the Milky Way. A blue, somewhat circular line appeared with a tag next to it that read; Coalition Controlled Space. Off to one side, a small section of the circle had a glowing red perimeter and a tag reading; Nida Controlled Space. Alice began focusing in on one of the many systems that dotted the border between the two nations. This one had a bright reddish star and three healthy looking planets orbiting on a narrow track. Twilight walked up to them to take a closer look when Alice spoke again.

“The signs were very clear that a war was going to be inevitable. As a result, both sides built up militaries in order to protect themselves. During the arms race, Nida realized it could never hope to compete with the Coalition in the long run. Their economy easily tripled the size of Nida’s, and the gap widened every year.

In a desperate move to save itself, Nida unleashed a fury of devastating surprise attacks all across Coalition controlled space.” Bright flashes covered the three planets in front of her. When they subsided, grey ash and black seas replaced what once were green fields and blue oceans. “Billions died and billions more were injured in the strikes. This act of violence started the last human civil war.”

The terrible scene in front of her shrank again as the galaxy map reappeared with the blue and red territory marking. A time scale appeared over Twilight’s head, marking the different battles as the blue Coalition circle slowly took over the red one. “The war was a long and bloody one. Nida’s indoctrinated populace mindlessly fought to the last man, woman, and sometimes even child. Eventually at great cost, the Coalition won the war; but with an economy in shambles, a populace in shock, and a weakened military, it was the worst possible time for mankind to defend itself from the invasion that followed.” A series of yellow arrows appeared, completely surrounding the Coalition territory.

“During human exploration in space, many alien species were discovered. More than a few were quite prone to violence, but the Coalition was able to find a balance to keep the peace. One race however, had no intentions of working alongside anything else. Called the Hive, their level of xenophobia put Nida’s to shame. The Hive was an insect–like race led by a single queen. They lived with only one goal in mind; to endlessly pursuit and totally eradicate every other species. The human civil war left the weakened Coalition ripe for the taking.”

Twilight watched as the yellow arrows began converging upon the blue circle. One by one, star systems marked with blue winked out and were replaced by yellow. Finally, only one star remained. The last stand of the Coalition would take place at Sol. Her view zoomed back into the solar system.

“The Hive surrounded the alliance of humans and aliens by capturing and destroying all colony worlds one by one as they made their way to Earth. The Coalition fought back ferociously, but their defeats outnumbered their victories. One by one, worlds fell and the allied species in the Coalition were rendered extinct, leaving humans alone once again. The final step for the Hive was to take Sol, with Earth as its prize.”

Alice didn’t have to narrate the battle for Earth as Twilight paced around the room to watch it herself. Hive ships swarmed into the solar system from all sides, and human ships, though outnumbered, flew to meet them. From the system’s planets, orbital fortresses and huge lunar based weapons emitted dazzling streams of fire in an unending barrage. The display was amazing but it was already perfectly clear who would win this fight. There were just too many Hive ships.

Humanity must have known this was a losing battle, but rather than give up, they just fought all that much harder. Time and time again, she watched the invaders forced away from the human colonies on the other planets and moons in the system. The warring fleets resembled two schools of fish engaged in a deadly, yet beautiful dance. Moves and counter moves played out as the two sides fought across the debris strewn battlefield.

Against all odds, the humans held their xenophobic enemy back. In the back of her mind, Twilight began to hope that maybe they could win. Unfortunately, that was when the Hive finally began annihilating the outer colonies. One by one, the human presence on the moons orbiting the outer gas giants went dark.

The outermost rocky colony, a red, green, and blue planet named Mars, had a major settlement there according to Alice’s pop up icons. The defenses orbiting the planet halted the Hive advance momentarily. Not long after, the innermost planet, Mercury, was captured followed by the second planet, Venus. The time scale hovering over the holographic solar system told Twilight that a full month had passed since the beginning of the siege.

It took another week for the aliens to wipe out Mars. Unlike their other conquests, they didn’t even bother landing to capture the planet. The hologram zoomed in on the colony to show hundreds of Hive ships bombarding the colony. Their weapons turned the planet’s surface to glass, vaporized its oceans, and burned away much of its atmosphere.

As the hologram zoomed away from the red planet, a label appeared, marking a handful of human ships that managed to escape to Earth. For the first time since the battle began, Alice spoke. “To split the human defenders, a Hive fleet had attempted to take Earth during the attack on Mars. Though they were pushed back, Hive ships managed to hit the planet hard.” In front of Twilight, she gazed upon the burning world. Much of its dark side now glowed a dull red at night.

“To add insult to injury,” Alice continued, “the Hive Queen moved to take up residence on Mercury to oversee the destruction of Earth herself. Protected by millions of Hive ships, human forces had no hope of reaching her. That is when the top levels of Human government and military finally decided that Earth was not worth defending anymore. During the battle for Mars, the hearth of humanity had taken too many hits from kinetic and nuclear strikes, rendering ninety percent of its surface already uninhabitable. At the Coalition’s peak, humanity numbered twenty one billion souls plus thirty five billion other member species. Now, only a few million humans remained.”

That brought a gasp from Twilight before Alice continued. “The remaining civilians boarded refugee vessels and joined the few remaining naval ships humanity had left. Then, their endgame went into effect. Using technology we still do not fully understand, humanity would force its sun to do something it normally couldn’t do. They would force it to detonate and destroy the solar system. The explosion would cover the survivors’ retreat and hopefully kill the Hive Queen during the process.”

Twilight looked at James “What? Make the star explode? How is that even possible? Why would they do such a thing?”

The human sighed heavily. “They had to, Twilight. Earth was already lost. Our home was gone, and the survivors had no hope of outrunning the Hive fleet to safety. Our best bet was to have our remaining ships jump out of the system at the same time we blew the star. If they made it, then our species would have a second chance. If they didn’t make it away in time, well, there was no way anyone wanted to let the Hive Queen escape to perform another… atrocity ever again. The risk was deemed acceptable.”

James turned to look at the star with sad, tired eyes. “The scientists and military personnel who worked on the project decided to not share the technology with the survivors so we still don’t know how they did it. Those same few saviors of humanity also volunteered to stay behind and make sure that technology died with them.” Twilight turned to look at the healthy yellow sun. Her eyes were also drawn to a dead, dark world that used to be full of life.

Twilight watched as the few remaining human ships left Earth and flew up and out of the solar system before blinking away. A splinter of the huge Hive fleet already had peeled away from the main force to follow the humans, but then something happened to the star. Sol began to grow bloated and red as flares popped up all over its surface. All of a sudden, the star vanished behind a blinding bright light, before detonating in a silent explosion that nearly made Twilight scurry backwards for fear of being caught in it.

She watched as the expanding ball of fire slammed into Mercury and absolutely vaporized it. The blast wave continued and burned up most of the second planet. When it reached Earth, the remaining atmosphere blew away immediately and its moon shattered into a million fragments. The nova scorched the surface and broke the planet into two large pieces.

Twilight glanced over at James and Socket. Both stared at the death of Earth with somber expressions. The blast continued outwards destroying, burning, annihilating… yet, also cleansing the solar system of the tragedy that befell here. Once the nova burnt out, a much smaller Sol glowed with a cool reddish color instead of the bright yellow it used to be. No trace of the Hive or humanity remained in the largest graveyard of the galaxy. Twilight felt tears trickle down her face as she stared at the sickly looking star marking the death of the humanity’s home.

She felt a small elation when the hologram finally zoomed back out to a galaxy view again, leaving the heartbreaking scene she just witnessed. A soft glowing blue line began tracing its way across the rotating spiral arm in the Milky Way. An indicator popped up labeling it as the path of the human survival fleet. Comprised of around fifteen thousand civilian ships containing just over two million civilians, they were escorted by only a hundred or so warships. This ragtag fleet made its way along the spiral arm.

While Twilight watched the last humans trek across space, Alice began speaking again. “To reduce strain on their ships, the human fleet traveled at sub light speeds and used their jump drives sparingly. Their main goal was to find another Earth like planet to settle down and start over anew. The journey took many decades but no suitable candidate was found. The Hive had destroyed every habitable planet in Coalition space during the war.

“I should mention a discovery that occurred during humanity’s initial expansion among the stars. Back during our first ventures into new solar systems, when we learned of magic and how to look for it, we discovered a series of unique spheres of arcane energy. Each a different size, they all expanded outwards from a small yellow star similar to ours. Its origin was so far away, that only a few scientists ever tried to study it. Well, after a century of no luck, our leaders decided to make their way across the Milky Way’s spiral arms for the magical beacon we had detected so long ago. Maybe it could lead our species to a better life.”

Twilight looked upwards to the ceiling. “Alice, you mentioned, jump drives? What are those exactly? Also, I noticed the ships in the hologram blinking away as if they were teleporting. Do your spacecraft have the ability to teleport?”

From behind, James spoke up “Before discovering magic, humans designed a scientific means of teleportation for spacecraft. It only works if there is no large gravitational signature nearby, meaning we can’t use it near a planet or star. As a plus, it’s much more efficient than using magical energy to move an object the size of a ship.”

On the map hovering in front of Twilight, a green triangular blob appeared, identified as pony-controlled space as Alice continued talking. “Eventually, we closed in with the expanding remnants of the large magical surges, and the human fleet reached the solar systems colonized by ponies and their allies. The initial meetings were strange and awkward to say the least, but once the shock wore off, regular communication ensued. It was especially confusing since they weren’t sure what caused the surge of magic that led our ships to them.”

“In the beginning, the elected representatives in pony government were worried about the amazing technologies these refugees possessed. A majority of the populace were initially afraid they would use them to take over new worlds to settle down on, but those fears were soon extinguished when both princesses spoke for humanity’s behalf and shared their recent history with all. Humanity had no desire to forcefully take a home from any sapient species. They just wanted peace.

“Princesses Celestia and Luna felt empathy for this wandering species of the stars so they allowed them to stay in an empty solar system in the heart of pony space until a suitable planet could be discovered. The solar system in question had no habitable planets but was rich in raw resources. In return for their generosity, humans traded many technologies to the ponies. They didn’t trust ponies completely so they withheld any knowledge dealing with spacecraft or space warfare. This relationship held steady until the cygnul appeared. Then everything changed.”

The galaxy map blinked out and on the far side of the room, a nightmarish creature appeared. It stood on two legs and resembled a cross between a reptile and an insect. Feline turquoise eyes seemed to glow with an otherworldly energy, and its bulging muscular arms ended with razor sharp claws much deadlier than any wulven’s. Twilight fully understood that this was just a hologram, but the sight of this creature sent chills down her spine. That is the definition of a monster if I’ve ever seen one.

James walked over to the alien and circled it. “Twilight, this is a cygnul warrior. We don’t know much about them except that they are artificially created soldiers designed with one sole purpose; to kill. In this war, surrender or forfeit aren’t options. Who or what created them is still unknown, but they seem to be controlled with some sort of telepathy. Cygs are as strong as any human or pony in a combat suit, and their talons can cut through steel like butter.” He walked back over to lean against the wall. “Alright Alice, lets show her.”

The nightmare disappeared to be replaced with the galaxy again. On the map, a dark turquoise force began eating away at the oblong triangle representing pony space. It attacked from the outer rim of the galaxy. Unlike what happened during the human war with the Hive, this enemy made a beeline towards Harmony, only taking over worlds that were in the way.

“The initial alien contact sent the Princesses’ government into chaos, and the pony military was not ready for this kind of attack. The cygs had numerous spacecraft and easily wiped out any defenses that were put up before them. The human fleet, fearing their species’ extinction, cut all trade agreements and communication with Harmony, and began making arrangements to flee further away.

“It wasn’t long before Harmony herself was under siege. For reasons we still don’t understand today, the cygnul landed on the planet intending to capture her intact rather than bombard from space. Their armies surrounded Canterlot and began a siege. Princess Luna barely escaped on her personal ship to try to gather any help she could muster from the griffons or maybe the dragons. Princess Celestia stayed behind to oversee Canterlot’s fortifications, most of which were derived from technologies traded from the humans, who didn’t mind selling planetary defenses. What followed was the battle for Canterlot.”

“Wait, Alice.” James halted the artificial intelligence’s history lesson. “Do you have the files from the actual battle?”

“Yes I do, Captain.”

“We have time before my meeting, let’s actually show her what happened.”

“Yes, sir. I am loading the virtual files now.”

Socket Wrench called out to Twilight. “Come stand back here, you’re going to want to see this personally.”

Twilight stepped back to stand beside her when the hologram expanded to encompass the whole room. Everything turned bright white and the next thing she knew, Twilight swore she could feel the wind blowing in her mane and smell the frigid mountain air. She now stood at the battle for Canterlot.

Chapter 6: On the Far Side of the Galaxy

Princess Celestia stood at the windy peak of a much larger Canterlot with a determined scowl in her eyes. Covered head to hoof in golden armor, her cosmic mane and tail waved freely in their own arcane way, regardless of the wind’s direction. As the hologram filled in more detail and widened her view, Twilight noticed that behind the Princess stood an enormous artillery field gun. Slowly turning to look around her, more cannons and defensive emplacements came into view. Their barrels pointed outwards from the city, and she spun around to peak over the walls of Canterlot.

Cygnul filled the northern valley as far as the eye, and Twilight felt an almost palpable terror drape over her in a constricting blanket. Even during her own time period, Moonclaw didn’t have anywhere near as many wulven warriors. In the distance, several large hazy outlines marked cyg landing ships. The Canterlotian defenders must have been outnumbered a thousand to one. There are so many.

Suddenly, as if by some unspoken command, a loud motorized whine filled the air as the massive artillery pieces elevated their thick barrels high into the sky. As one, they took aim and opened fire. Twilight jumped in surprise when the first guns fired, even though the audible intensity must have been reduced by Alice in order to avoid harming their unprotected ears. If weapons of the future were anything like their predecessors, the sound level at the peak of the city should have been deafening.

Large mechanical arms and levers worked in a cyclical motion on each cannon’s receiver, and almost as soon as the first shot had left the barrel, the second was already primed to fire. The few guns Twilight knew from her time with were hoof-loaded and could launch a maximum of maybe three rounds every five minutes. These spat out rounds at a rate of fire of at least a hundred a minute. The roaring cacophony marked Princess Celestia’s first strike in the siege as the cascading volley screamed across the sky towards the cygnul forces.

Out in the valley, the first shells slammed into the ranks of cygnul, lighting up the entire countryside like a Pinkie Pie fireworks show. Some of the rounds went off deep in the earth, throwing rocks and dirt into the air, along with cygnul soldiers and vehicles. Others detonated above the ground, peppering the area with deadly shrapnel. The amount of firepower the ponies poured into the valley was staggering. Even so, the seemingly innumerable cygs still kept coming.

Eventually, the cygnul answered the pony cannons with rocket artillery of their own. Lines of tracers crisscrossed the sky as Canterlot’s defenders shot down hundreds of the incoming missiles. Small tactical shields popped into existence at the last second to protect the city from those that made it through the curtain of weapons fire.

Twilight held her breath during the resulting deadlock. Celestia’s forces held the cygnul at bay, but eventually, one of the unicorn shield casters on the outer wall failed to power up the spell before a cygnul rocket slammed home. Chunks of stone and steel flew high into the air, tossing ponies aside or crushing them. The cygnul infantry immediately made a beeline for the hole.

Twilight turned around to watch for Princess Celestia’s reaction. The snowy white alicorn stared in shock as the cygnul made to move into her city. Closing her eyes momentarily, she gave a resigned sigh and then glanced up towards the sky. “Oh, Luna. Where are you?”

At once, their view of Canterlot zoomed away at rapid speed, with an abruptness that made Twilight flinch with surprise. The hologram shot up past the atmosphere, giving them a good look at the massive cygnul fleet sitting idle in orbit over Harmony. A thick cloud of debris scattered amongst the alien-looking craft, indicated the existence of an extremely one-sided space battle. Further and further they soared, eventually stopping when the garden world was about the size of a billiard ball.

After a few moments of stillness, three small objects rocketed past, and Twilight ducked out of instinct. As she stood back up, more small objects passed them, flying towards Harmony. Their view followed suit, shrinking back towards the planet until the first three flying objects were close enough for her to make out. They were some form of spacecraft.

In the middle, a bat-like ship of deep blue and black flew upon twin pillars of cobalt fire. The vessel’s side bore the easily recognizable flag of Equestria; two Alicorns circling the sun and moon. Flanking this ship on either side were two spacecraft of similar size but a different design. They were painted grey with dark red on their leading edges, and unlike the middle vessel, these resembled darts with short stubby wings. Both boasted the same design of a somewhat familiar looking green and blue planet.

Slowly, the hologram left the three ships behind, forcing Twilight to turn in order to keep watching them. As she spun around, her eyes widened in shock. Now, she knew where she recognized the planet on the dart-like craft. Behind the three lead ships trailed an armada of warships on a vector centered on Harmony. Humanity, it seemed, had chosen a side.

From next to her, James spoke. “When Princess Luna left Canterlot, she had a hard choice to make. There was only enough time to reach one nation to ask for help. Griffon and Equestrian relations have warmed up considerably since your time, Twilight. Even so, they are extremely staunch about their neutrality and Princess Luna feared they would take too long to make a decision.”

“The Dragon Protectorate might have helped but their closest outpost was too far away for any reinforcements to arrive in time. Her best chance was to fly to the nearby star system where we had been quietly living. Luckily, she caught our fleet just as it was in the process of leaving the system. Princess Luna managed to convince Admiral Nelson, the supreme commander of the human fleet, to come to Harmony’s aid instead.

James called out towards the ceiling. “Alice, go ahead and show her the exchange between the two on the eve of battle.”

The hologram changed instantly. One second, Twilight stood in open space, and the next, she found herself in a crowded room buzzing with a dozen humans working with glowing and blinking equipment. On a raised dais sat another human who studied a thin device displaying an assortment of tactical data. Thick lines of worry creased his fur-less face, as one wrinkled hand ran through his short snow white hair.

Satisfied with the readout, he pressed something on his chair and on the far wall, Princess Luna’s face appeared on a large video screen, replacing a view of Harmony. Her large cyan eyes fixed upon the elderly human, and she gave him a respectful nod as her graceful starry mane fluttered in the air. Nearly five thousand years had passed since Twilight’s time, yet it still seemed that the Princess of the Night hadn’t aged a single day. Seeing her again brought a pang of homesickness to the time-traveling unicorn.

Before she could dwell on those thoughts for too long, the human cleared his throat. “Princess Luna, the cygnul haven’t detected us yet, surprisingly. We may be outnumbered, but surprise is on our side. If I may ask, please allow me to coordinate the battle from my ship. I mean no offense, but we have fought this type of war before and we are very good at it.”

Princess Luna’s lips tightened into a thin line and a trace of concern flashed across her eyes. “No offense taken, Admiral Nelson, I would have made the same suggestion. Thank you again for helping Equestria in this dire time. I would like to assist your fleet in the defense of my home, if possible.”

Admiral Nelson nodded back at Princess Luna, his face betraying no emotion. “Very well, Princess. You will join with the fifteenth flotilla and engage in hit-and-run strikes on their capital ships. Once their shields are down, our battleships will finish the job.” Nelson paused for a second and his stoic face softened. “Princess Luna; I want to apologize. We were ready to run away, abandoning your species to certain extinction.” The human lowered his eyes and took in a deep breath before sitting up in his seat and smiling at the dark blue alicorn. "Over the years, it seemed we humans forgot what was really important, and it is us who should be thanking you, Princess. Thank you for helping us find ourselves again.”

Princess Luna’s eyes sparkled and she gave the human admiral a second, much lengthier bow of her head. “You are most welcome, Admiral. I look forward to fighting alongside humanity, and I promise you this. When we win this battle; you will never need to search for a home again. See you on the other side, Admiral Nelson.” With a smile on her face, the front screen flickered back to the previous view of Harmony, though the planet now took up more area than before.

The hologram changed, and Admiral Nelson’s bridge faded out. Once again, Twilight observed the fleet from space as it raced towards Harmony, but now with Alice’s commentary once more explaining what all was going on. The human formations opened up to allow each ship a clear line of fire and they dove in as one into the planet’s gravity well.

Suddenly, in a synchronized fashion, every ship in the fleet unleashed a salvo of fury heading straight towards the unsuspecting cygnul fleet. Rays of fiery light stretched across space, burning away at the cygnul. Following their initial volley, missiles erupted from their launch tubes and arched downward at the cygs. In the center of the barrage, Luna’s personal craft joined the fight by firing a glowing bluish white beam of pure, untamed energy.

The initial barrage wrecked absolute havoc on the cygnul ships in orbit. Dozens were destroyed outright and many more were severely damaged. The cygnul began rearranging themselves in preparation for a classic distanced battle but the human ships did not allow them the luxury. They closed in clashed with the cygs at point blank range.

Human guns poured unrelenting fire into the cygs, sending a million deadly fireflies towards the cygnul ships every second. Their ships seemed to be completely covered in weaponry of all sizes. Luna’s ship blasted bolts of energy, melting through cygnul armor like a hot knife through butter. She may have only been able to fire at one ship at a time, but every volley resulted in a kill. Her escorts stayed alongside and assisted with both attack and defense. No missile or enemy was allowed close to the Princess of the Night.

A small group of large human ships made their way towards the planet’s atmosphere when a large group of cygnul began forcing their way to intercept. In response, Admiral Nelson’s huge flagship made her appearance, facing down several enemy warships on her own. The kilometer long human spaceship used huge thrusters to swing about to show the enemy her flank. On her starboard side, hundreds of turrets rotated outwards and opened fire. The barrage of shells blinded Twilight’s eyes, forcing her to look away. When the light dissipated, a cloud of floating debris had replaced the cyg formation.

Behind the Admiral Nelson’s flagship, Twilight focused her attention on the group of ships that hovered in the upper atmosphere of Harmony. James helped Alice with her commentary, pointing at them, saying “Those are specialized heavy cruisers. They are equipped for planetary assault and are about to rain hell down upon the cygnul ground troops.” One by one, an intense beam of red light emitted from each cruiser, linking them to the planet’s surface.

“Show the ground battle now, Alice.” James said. The hologram changed so that Twilight watched the conflict unfolding by Canterlot again. The battle was going badly for the Canterlotian defenders. Weakened by the constant assault, the unicorn’s shield had started to collapse and parts of the city were in flames.

Then, several bright red beams of light stabbed down into major cygnul troop concentrations. The planet-searing plasma cutters began tracing a path through the enemy army, leaving nothing but blackened glass in their wake. In the sky, human troopships created dazzling contrails as they fell through the atmosphere, ready to bring reinforcements to relieve the weary pony defenders. High in the towers of Canterlot, Princess Celestia looked skyward to the lightshow marking the space battle above. With a smile on her face and tears in her eyes, she whispered “Thank you, little sister.”

With the outcome of the surface conflict determined, Alice brought the hologram’s point of view back into space. Hundreds of miles above the planet, the battle looked completely chaotic. Ships on both sides maneuvered to avoid debris just as much as they did to avoid incoming fire.

While Twilight watched in awe at the complexity of the fight, James began speaking. “What ended up being the deciding factor in the battle over Canterlot was the fact that the cygnul had almost no experience in space warfare. It only took a simple study of their recent tactics to learn of their weaknesses in close range, ship-to-ship combat. On the other hand, humans have fought several wars since our space age began, so being outnumbered didn’t faze Admiral Nelson at all. He fought smarter than the cygnul which is why we won. Remember that Twilight, your mind is your best weapon.”

Twilight gazed at the battle. My mind is my best weapon. The thought made her smile. I like the ring of it.

As she considered the new advice, a medium-sized cygnul ship blew apart front of her, throwing pieces of molten armor everywhere. Through the expanding cloud of debris flew Princess Luna’s uniquely designed ship alongside her escorts. The Princess’ craft twisted left and right to avoid broken hulls and burning spacecraft. Rotating around a large destroyed cyg ship, she zeroed in on the largest cygnul vessel still operational.

Princess Luna opened fire, sending beams of scorching energy towards the massive craft. Her human escorts joined in the attack, launching their smaller but more numerous projectiles alongside her. The combined barrage of science and magic-based weaponry lit up the front of the enemy ship, turning it to molten slag. As Princess Luna dove out of the way, Admiral Nelson’s battleship came in behind and opened fire with her huge main guns. The weakened cygnul ship didn’t stand a chance. It broke in half before detonating in a huge ball of light, and the battle was finally over. Harmony and Canterlot had been saved.

Twilight’s heart continued pounding as she walked back to her room with Socket Wrench. “And after that battle, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna invited the humans to live on Harmony?”

“That’s right!” Socket replied “Together, we formed the United Equestrian Nations.”

As they turned into Socket’s room, Twilight still couldn’t stop thinking. Her mind felt like it was moving at a million miles an hour. “Socket, I don’t think I can sleep yet. I’m much too awake after that history lesson, which is a strange thing to say. Your past is the future to me.”

Socket raised a hoof to her chin as she pondered or a moment. “Well, do you want to use my computer and start catching up? Alice can teach you how to use it and help you find whatever you want. Don’t forget that the Wells Doctrine will keep you from accessing some historical data.” Socket Wrench made her way to the bathroom. “I would stay up with you, but I have a lot of work to do tomorrow.”

Twilight glanced over at the computer before facing her roommate again. “You’ll let me use your personal computer? Wow! Thanks, Socket!”

The pegasus vanished through the bathroom door when Twilight heard her reply. “I know you have a lot to learn but try to get some sleep.”

As she walked over to sit in front of the computer, Twilight thought about all the things Socket had done for her. I feel like I am a freeloader. Deciding quickly, she called out to the butterscotch pony. “If it’s okay with you, could I help out around the ship tomorrow?”

Socket Wrench finished brushing her teeth before answering. “Sure, you can help me out tomorrow morning. We’ve got some rigorous work to do, but I think your magic will help us finish earlier.” She smirked and crawled into bed. “Don’t stay up too late! Good night, Twilight!”

“Okay, I won’t,” Twilight beamed a wide smile, “good night!” There was so much she wanted to learn, and she had a feeling there would be many long nights ahead. Anyway, she was also afraid of sleeping. Her vivid dream of Rarity and Celestia disturbed her more than she cared to admit. The pain of her friend looked so real that the thought of falling asleep was terrifying.

Instead, Twilight powered up the computer and started researching. If I stay up late and read, I’ll be too tired to dream. The unicorn liked the idea but deep down, she couldn’t seem to convince herself that it would work.

“C’mon, sugar cube. You’ve got this.” Applejack helped a wounded earth pony solder climb over an upturned carriage. He let out a shriek when his wounded front leg knocked into its rear wheel. His scream echoed over the smoky ruins of Stalliongrad, a historic city that had seen better days. The orange mare patted the white stallion’s back reassuringly, taking a chance to glance behind her. She let out a yell of surprise and yanked him over the other side of the coach with her.

They both landed in a tangle of limbs when a howl sounded right behind them. Applejack turned around to watch a wulven carnibeast climb over the same carriage. It hunched, preparing to leap as she swung her clunky blunderbuss up and pulled the firing lever. An ear-ringing blast sounded as the beast fell backwards, already breaking down into black smoke. Another wulven climbed up immediately and locked a glare on the orange farm pony. Applejack’s eyes opened wide, clutching the now useless weapon to her chest. The wulven leapt towards her with a snarl.

As she cringed in preparation of the mauling sure to come, a whooshing gust flew overhead, culminating in a heavy wet thud as a fletched wooden bolt sunk into the carnibeast’s head. Applejack dodged the now dead body as it crashed down into the cobblestone street, dissolving away like its former compatriot. Breathing heavily, she turned around to see Rarity standing a dozen strides away. The white mare stood with one hoof curled up near her body. A thick recurve bow hovered next to her, floating in a light blue aura of magic. With wind blowing her mane, Rarity was the only pony who could pull off camouflage fatigues.

“Thanks for savin’ my rear end there, Rarity. I really appreciate it.” Applejack dusted herself off and gave her friend a deep hug.

“Oh, no problem at all, Applejack.” The white unicorn calmly replied as she brushed away a stray piece of mane. “I am always glad to be of service.” She smiled while slinging her bow on her back.

The pair focused their attentions on the wounded soldier when an armored pegasus swooped down at lightning speed. “If you three are done, the airship is waiting. We need to be out of this city yesterday if you want to see Canterlot again.” Rainbow Dash’s angry tone contrast the worry in her eyes.

“Calm down, Rainbow. We’re coming.” Applejack slid her blunderbuss into a sheath on her saddlebag. The three Elements helped the wounded stallion make their way to the last airship tower platform. Their zeppelin lifted off as soon as the four ponies were aboard, and it immediately angled south towards Canterlot. On the stern of the ship, Loyalty, Generosity, and Honesty stood and watched the Equestrian city burn behind them as the fires of war consumed another victim.

“Will this ever end?” Rarity whispered but neither Rainbow Dash nor Applejack could answer her.

Twilight sat alone in the empty galley. Just late enough to see none of the ship’s night shift and early enough that most of the day crew still seemed to be asleep. The brooding mare slowly stirred a pile of nano-fabricated grits on her plate. Victoria had claimed that the food should be indistinguishable from the real thing but it still tasted bland and boring.

She was technically still supposed to have an escort at all times, but after two weeks aboard the ship, Twilight had learned her away around well enough for James to be lenient and let her travel by herself occasionally. That ended up turning into a blessing because of the recent nightmares that plagued her sleep. Being alone helped her collect her thoughts without worrying about waking Socket Wrench up.

Staring at the apple next to her grits, the mare’s eyes drooped heavily from lack of sleep. Her late nights and early mornings were spent on Socket’s computer trying to catch up, and her days were spent working in the engine compartments. Most of that work involved heavy lifting, but Twilight’s magic really helped out when dealing with extremely hot mechanical parts. There were other unicorns on the ship, but their magical abilities paled in comparison with hers. Azure Lightning seemed to be the only other unicorn on the ship with a capable magical talent, but she spent most of her time training in the ship’s simulator. Her demeanor towards the lavender unicorn remained unchanged since their first meeting.

The apple on her plate brought back memories of the sleepovers at Applejack’s farm and the amazing breakfasts that followed. “Her grits tasted a lot better than this.” She mumbled to nopony in particular. Another memory flowed through her mind of the six of them laughing and running through the apple trees in summer. Twilight squeezed her eyes shut as they grew misty. She could almost smell the trees and hear her friend’s laughter. So focused on her inner thoughts, the mare didn’t hear someone sit down across from her.

“Twilight Sparkle.” The voice of Isamu Zhang cut through her daydream and caused her to jump. “You are beating yourself up over something that isn’t your fault. It’s not healthy for you at all.” He then observed the state of her body before giving a heavy sigh. “Please pardon my forwardness, but you look terrible.”

Twilight took notice of her appearance for the first time in days. Her disheveled mane stuck up and curled in random directions, her scruffy coat looked dirty and unhealthy, and she felt as exhausted as if she just finished the Running of the Leaves race again. “Wow, you aren’t kidding.” Her face scrunched up as a pang of embarrassment cut through her.

“I know you love your friends, Twilight, and I know they felt the same towards you. Tell me, how would they react to seeing you like this? What would they think if they saw you this deep in the pit of despair that you created for yourself?”

She gazed down at herself and answered quietly, “They would be so upset and worried about me.” Twilight closed her eyes in shame.

“Then why are you beating yourself up?” Isamu leaned forward with a discerning stare directed at her.

Images flashed through her mind; bucking Rarity away, slamming into the shield, seeing her friends crying while staring at her, screaming as she felt her body disintegrate. Twilight’s eyes slammed open and she let out a slight whimper while fighting to suck in oxygen. Her lungs rapidly expanding and contracting, she began to feel slightly dizzy. She knew those were just memories but they felt so real; especially that last one.

“Twilight, are you okay?”

After a few seconds, she had calmed down enough to respond “Yeah, I’m okay.” She waved a hoof in the air trying to play it off. “It was nothing.”

“That wasn’t nothing, Twilight Sparkle. Something is haunting you and you’re not facing it. You’re ignoring your fears which will make them only fester.”

“Then what should I do?” She snapped back.

Isamu calmly replied, ignoring her outburst. “Talk about it right now. Tell me what happened. I want to know everything that occurred, not just the basic story you told us already. I know you left out most of the details. I also want to know what is keeping you from sleeping. Talk to me, Twilight. You need to do this.”

She gave him a pleading look but Isamu seemed dead set on this. With a shuttering sigh, Twilight gave in and started to talk. “It all started one day when I was researching in one of Canterlot’s secret libraries….”

Like a dam breaking, the story poured out of her. Twilight told Isamu about the discovery of the rift apparatus, her saving Rarity, the realization that she was going to die, the last sight she had of her best friends, feeling her brutal disintegration, and the flight down the multi chromatic tunnel through time and space. Tears ran down her eyes, and her body shook when she finally finished.

“Breathe, Twilight. Keep breathing and let it all out. You’re a strong pony, and you can fight through this. Nothing that happened to you was your fault.”

Twilight thought hard about what happened. The rapid pace of recent events had mentally burned her and she did not realize it until now. Her mind had been slowly dying by inches. Even though thinking about what happened hurt greatly, Twilight forced herself to. Eventually, her pain fizzled out and acceptance began taking root. Slowly, she retook control of her body once again and her breathing rate dropped down to a more acceptable level.

“I know you blame yourself for what happened, Twilight, but you shouldn’t and you can’t. Neither Rarity nor you are at fault for activating an ancient artifact, especially one so easily triggered as it was. Twilight, you saved your friend from this fate by sacrificing yourself. I have known many humans and ponies throughout my life and I am certain when I say this. Twilight Sparkle, you represent the pillars of friendship better than anyone I know.”

Twilight pondered over the words said by the human sitting across from her and she finally accepted what he was saying. It’s not my fault. She thought. It’s not my fault, and it was irresponsible of me to believe so. I may be trapped in this strange new world, but I have to make the best out of it. The final vestiges of pain from her memories faded away and for the first time in many dark days, a real, healthy smile crept onto the lavender unicorn’s face.

Isamu smiled back and chuckled. “That’s the face I wanted to see.”

Twilight grinned and leaned forward, giving Zhang a huge hug. Due to the table between them, it felt slightly awkward, but the human returned the embrace without hesitation. When they broke apart she felt slightly embarrassed for needing such an intervention like this. “I’m sorry about that, Mister Zhang. I guess I never realized how bad I felt.”

“Call me Isamu, Twilight. I am glad to be of service. If I may ask another question though, what has been keeping you from sleep? Socket Wrench told me she has heard you bolt awake several times while saying some strange things.”

Twilight rubbed a hoof on her head. “I think I’m going crazy. Nearly every night, I dream of what my friends are doing right now, but unlike a normal dream, these feel so real. That sounds insane because, well, I know the war ended thousands of years ago and it shouldn’t be possible for me to see them. It just is as if I was still in their time period. They can’t see or hear me, but I can feel what they’re feeling.”

Twilight paused for a moment before continuing slowly. “A week ago, I was in a field tent watching Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie frantically throwing together as many meals as they could for a line of wounded soldiers. I could hear a rumbling in the distance from some battle going on.” Twilight rubbed her face with her fore hooves, wiping a tear away. “Yesterday, I saw Applejack almost get mauled in Stalliongrad as the city burned. There was nothing I could do but watch. It was so hard to not be able to help.”

From behind her, a new voice spoke up. “That sounds like a serious case of time bleeding syndrome.” Twilight twitched in fear as she quickly spun around to see Victoria sitting cross-legged behind her.

“How does everypony manage to sneak up on me?” Twilight somewhat yelled out to no one in particular.

The human’s lips curled up in a ghost of an amused smile. “I walked in with Isamu because I wanted to observe your reactions. Sorry for startling you, but we do care about your health, dear. You’ve had us all very worried recently.”

Victoria shifted in her seat and brought her hands together. “As I was saying, time bleeding syndrome is something documented in a portion of other time travelers in the past. Its severity seems to correlate with the strength of the patient’s ties with family and friends, which explains why your experiences are so vivid. They should go away within a year or so but there is nothing I can do to help you through this. Not much is known about how the syndrome works but what is generally understood is that these images and scenes you see actually happened in the past.”

Twilight thought over the visions she already had witnessed. The knowledge that her friends had to live through violence and horror every day made her sick to her stomach. She began to seriously regret eating breakfast now. “So… I might see them…die?” Her lips threatened to tremble.

Victoria looked at Zhang with a pained expression. Taking a second to answer, Isamu spoke slowly. “Twilight; I….” He cleared his throat before continuing. “That is something you could be forced to witness.”

Twilight Sparkle drooped her head down towards at her half eaten breakfast and squeezed her eyes shut. She felt like throwing up. Oh dear Celestia. Please don’t let me see that.

Inconsistent with the dismal atmosphere in the mess hall, a loud cheerful voice suddenly brought her out of her melancholy. “Gahh! You humans are too hard on her!” Twilight turned towards to the sound in time to watch Dmitri walking into the mess hall. “All your death and war talk is ruining her! I want to hear good times in Ponyville! Tell me, Twilight. Tell me about your life and your friends’ lives."

The request stunned the lavender pony enough where she couldn’t answer right away. “You… you want to hear about my life before the war?”

“Da! Tell us please! I’m sure you have many funny stories!” Dmitri bellowed as he sauntered over and sat next to Isamu, bumping him aside roughly with his flank and earning an annoyed scowl from the human.

Victoria stood up and moved to sit next to Twilight. “Yeah, Twilight, Dmitri is right. Tell us about yourself. We already know what history says about you but what was it really like? What does our perspective have wrong about your world?”

”Okay,” the unicorn started as she thought of a story to tell. “Well, there was this one time when Fluttershy basically kidnapped Princess Celestia’s pet phoenix….”

James strode down the hallways of the Dash alongside Socket Wrench. “So are the engines going to be at one hundred percent? Command just sent word. They have an important mission for us and we have no choice in the matter.”

“Do they know who we have on board?” Socket angrily started to rant before she noticed her commanding officer’s stare. “Sorry, Captain. I triple checked everything. Unless we take an unlucky shot, the Dash will be able to achieve full acceleration. Also…” Socket trailed off when laughter reached her ears. They swiveled around until she locked onto the sound. “That came from the mess room. Isn’t it only five in the morning?”

James scratched his chin, “It’s unusually early for the crew to get rowdy. Let’s see what’s going on.”

Both of them rounded the corner to the mess hall entrance. More hooting and hollering ensued and to no surprise for James, he could easily discern the voice of Dmitri Bearclaw. They entered the hall to see a group of ponies and humans surrounding one of the tables in the middle. Sitting along the bench-style seats were Twilight, Isamu, Victoria, and Dmitri. The latter’s Stalliongradian accent effortlessly carried over the crew’s rambunctious laughter. “Oatmeal, are you crazy? Oh… I wish I could have met this Pinkie Pie!”

The laughter died down quickly as soon as everyone noticed their Captain was standing in the room. Dmitri still silently chuckled and Twilight bore a guilty look on her face. James Fletcher gazed around the room slowly. “Alright, we just received word that an abandoned cygnul orbital fortress was sighted by a reconnaissance probe in a nearby solar system; well within our jumping range. Because we are the closest capable ship, Naval Command has ordered us to board it and look for any intelligence. I want everyone at their stations in two minutes.”

Shocked faces stared back at him. Victoria and Isamu both looked from Twilight back to James. As one, they stood and opened their mouths to protest when Fletcher raised a hand to stall them. “I don’t want to hear it. I know. We don’t have a choice.” He then pointed at their ship’s precious cargo. “Twilight, you follow me. Let’s go everyone!”

Immediately, the mess hall began to clear as ponies and humans ran for their posts. Twilight Sparkle dodged the traffic and trotted after James as he navigated the frigate’s crowded passageways on his way to the bridge. “Do you think we will see a fight?”

James walked briskly, forcing the purple unicorn to keep trotting just to stay beside him. “The Admiralty thinks that we won’t, but the cygs are devious bastards. Why would an entire orbital fortress be abandoned near our border with the Griffon Kingdoms? We are pretty far away from regular cyg space for them to be messing around here without a good reason. This smells like a trap and I want to be ready for anything.”

Twilight followed in silence for a handful of seconds as she thought about the situation. Finally, she looked up at James and asked, “How are you going to tell if it’s a trap?”

James glanced down at her and smirked. “Because we will spring it.”

Chapter 7: Out of the Frying Pan

Twilight Sparkle followed James Fletcher as he briskly strode onto the ship’s bridge. Ponies and humans already worked frantically at computer stations, trying to prepare the warship for their mission. Dmitri had run ahead and already waited in his seat, nodding at them as they entered. “Captain, all systems green. We ready for jump.”

James returned the gesture. “Good job everyone. Spin up the jump drive and prepare for subspace travel on my mark.” He took his seat on the raised central dais and waved to a smaller chair next to him. “Sit here, Twilight. I had Socket install this for you. This way, I can keep you close by if anything happens.”

The unicorn mare sat in the chair, obviously designed to accommodate a pony, as James stared at a holographic readout of some sort of information. Isamu Zhang’s chair was in front of her at the weapons’ controls with Dmitri sitting next to him. On the far side of the room, a wall-to-wall-sized screen currently displayed the black veil of outer space, dotted with pinpricks of starlight. “Twilight,” James spoke softly, pulling her attention to him, “link with my computer.”

Nodding, the lavender mare activated her chair and quickly brought up the ghostly screen. After two weeks of late night ventures on Socket’s personal computer, she had become quite skilled at the strange new futuristic machines. It didn’t take her long to remotely plug into James’ monitor to see what he was doing. On the computer screen, Socket’s face popped up in a small window in the corner. “Sir, engines are running at one hundred percent and holding steady. Jump drives are charged and primed to go.”

“Roger that.” James acknowledged her before the window closed. “Alice, I read that the ship is ready to go. Please confirm.”

Another window opened up and the ethereal face of Alice smiled. “Secondary check complete. Rainbow Dash is green across the board. I will jump at your command.”

James gave a quick, redundant look at his data readout before nodding to Alice. “Do it.”

Twilight felt a familiar pull in her horn, similar to whenever she used her teleportation spell. The stars outside the ship blinked out, leaving only blackness wherever she looked. Next to her, James spoke up. “We aren’t jumping far so this will only take a few seconds. In that time though, we will have traveled over fifteen light years. Our jump drive takes us out of normal space and brings us back into it at a different point. Subspace is the name we give to the dimension we take our shortcut through.”

She listened attentively, and made a mental note to look up more information about subspace on Socket’s computer later. James then looked over his screen at Isamu. “Zhang, keep those weapons primed and ready to go. I don’t want to drop in with our pants down.”

“Yes sir, all targeting systems are online and ready to fire, Captain. Never fear, our pants are belted and ready.”

The corner of James’ mouth curled up slightly before he called up Azure Lightning. Twilight recoiled slightly when the hostile mare’s scowling face popped up. “Azure,” Fletcher said, “are the marines prepared and ready to board?”

“We are ready to kick ass and take names, Captain.”

“Good. We will be arriving soon.” James closed the window.

Twilight looked over at him and asked somewhat hesitantly, “What would you like me to do?”

“Stay here on the bridge and use your computer to monitor what’s going on. I’m going to send three squads onboard. Dmitri and I will take one to the command center as we have the most experience with cygnul computer systems. Azure will lead one to the fortress’s fire-control room to manually disable its weapons, and Socket will lead one to the reactor in order rig it to self-destruct when we are finished. You can safely watch our progress from your seat. It never hurts to have an extra set of eyes watching us.”

Twilight nodded and faced forward. Something she learned from the opening conflicts against King Moonclaw back home was how she hated the wait before a battle. It never failed to strain her nerves and twist at her gut, but luckily it wasn’t long before Alice’s voice came over the speakers. “Exiting subspace in five … four … three ... two … one.” The familiar tug happened again and outside of the ship, the stars winked back on but in a completely different pattern from before.

Immediately Zhang called back to James. “Captain, sensors report no enemy activity in the system. Our gravimeter is only picking up the fortress dead ahead of us. We’ve locked on but it appears to have only minimal power. Our target is currently in orbit around a large gas giant that, according to the star chart, was named Charybdis a hundred years ago by griffon explorers.”

“Bring us in close, Alice.”

“Yes, sir.”

Twilight leaned over to quietly ask James a question. “What’s a gravimeter?”

“Because it’s difficult to see long distances in space, we have several ways to figure out what exactly is around us. One of those is our gravimeter which detects anything with mass. Basically, it’s the fastest way to figure out if there is someone out there, even if it can’t tell us whose side they are on. We use other ways, such as our radar or optical sensors, to figure that out.”

Twilight nodded in understanding, having read up on some of the new technologies used today. As for the words she did not recognize, a small notebook and pencil magically floated out of a pocket on her uniform so that she could write them down to look up later in her shared stateroom. I need to read up on how this radar thing works.

Putting the notebook away, Twilight stared forward at the main screen as the Dash crept closer to the massive, acorn-shaped fortress over a hundred times the size of the little patrol frigate. Behind the cygnul structure rotated a large beautiful planet covered entirely in clouds. Bands of orange and brown wrapped around the gigantic world, creating a vista that rivaled any landscape she had seen in Equestria.

As the Rainbow Dash approached the cygnul fortress, its exterior could be seen in much finer detail. Bulbous structures dotted every surface, their purpose unknown to the unicorn. She also took note of several burn marks and holes that appeared to be randomly scattered all over its skin. Some sort of battle damage maybe?

Next to her, James studied the structure in quiet contemplation as his ship circled all the way around. Then his face lit up with a grin. “I knew it.”

Twilight looked over inquisitively. “Knew what?”

“It is a trap. The cygnul outdid themselves this time. I almost missed it.”

Dmitri leaned forward and narrowed his eyes. “What? It is? I don’t see trap.”

In front of them, Zhang turned his head. “I agree with your speculation, Captain. This is most certainly a trick.”

Twilight stared at the damaged structure, scratching her chin in frustration. “How is it a trap? The fortress looks like it was attacked and abandoned.”

“Alice,” James said “bring us around again.” Then he turned towards Twilight. “Study the station carefully. Use your computer to identify any structures you are curious about. I want you to figure out why this is a trap. Call it… your first lesson on situational awareness.”

Twilight gave an annoyed sigh and began scrutinizing the cygnul fortress carefully. Her computer marked the various weapons turrets, airlock doors, sensor hubs, exhaust vents, and a few other points of interest. It also identified each burn mark or scar, and calculated the actual damage sufficient enough to create those pockmarks. She read over the data closely and tried to find the connection. She didn’t understand most of it, but if James thought she could figure it out, then she would try.

By the time Dash had made her second pass, it finally dawned on her. She may not have trained for this advanced of combat, but the answer was very simple. It was so simple in fact, that she almost missed it as well. With a smirk, she looked over at the knowing grins on James’ and Isamu’s faces.

“What did you decide, Twilight?” Captain Fletcher leaned back in his seat, waiting for her answer.

“The attack was too clean. The damage and burn marks must have been done on purpose by the cygnul.”

Zhang laughed. “Good job, Twilight Sparkle! How could you tell?”

She pointed with her hoof at the computer screen. “Well, I eventually realized that the damage doesn’t impair any useful structure on the fortress, except the airlocks and landing bay but I’ll get to that in a second. The only places that seem to be severely hit are regions of thick armor plating. Then I looked at the actual damage itself. The blasts don’t even penetrate through the actual armor itself. It is all superficial. The landing bay was destroyed but again, the damage doesn’t progress further than that. I assume that is to keep you from using Tank to get onboard. There are three airlocks and two of those seem to have been smashed, leaving just one for you to use which would be perfect for an ambush. I don’t know how much actual strategy has changed over the years, but it looks like a setup to me.”

James nodded his head. “Very good, that is exactly what I saw as well.” He then glanced over at Dmitri with an amused expression. “Keep it up, Twilight, and maybe I will give you Dmitri’s job.”

The earth pony waved a hoof in the air. “Gah! I knew it was trick whole time.”

“Sure you did.” Zhang’s chuckle was rewarded with a glare from the earth pony.

James then stood up out of his chair. “Alright, enough fooling around everyone. Zhang, you have the control of the ship. Put a few slugs in every weapons turret you can find. Their shields are down so the five inch guns should be able to get the job done. Then bring us around to the less damaged airlock of the two that the cygs wanted us to avoid. We should still be able to make a strong enough seal to get onboard.” He then paused for a second before continuing. “If anything happens to us, I want you to get Twilight to Harmony as soon as possible. Let’s get ready, Dmitri.” Then he turned and left the room.

Dmitri jumped out of his chair and trotted after James with a big smile on his face. “Let’s go crash a party!”

Twilight watched the stocky earth pony leave the room then turned back towards the front to watch Zhang maneuver the Rainbow Dash around again. Before she could ask what he was doing, several thuds reverberated through her chair, and a pop-up on the computer notified her that the ship had opened fire with secondary weapons.

She clicked on the icon and a view from the exterior cameras popped up, just in time to watch as several squat, double-barreled turrets sent a second round of shells into the fortress’ weapons. Zhang lazily drifted the Dash around the acorn shaped station as her weapons kept up a barrage of fire. Soon, every cyg turret bore a label as being out of commission.

Zhang then announced over his communications system, “Captain Fletcher, all cygnul weapons are destroyed. I’m bringing Rainbow Dash over to the airlock you requested. Good luck, sir.”

Twilight switched the external camera view to one inside the ship’s airlock where the assault team waited. Both humans and ponies wore full suits of combat armor. The humans carried weapons in their hands while the ponies had small turrets positioned above their flanks. The few unicorns among the group carried weapons with their magic. One human, almost unrecognizable in his helmet, looked up towards the camera. That must be James, she thought.

Fletcher’s voice came over the radio. “Good job, Zhang, We are ready to go as soon as we get a working seal. Twilight, go ahead and keep an eye on us. Let me know if you see something we miss.”

“Okay, James… I mean, sir… I mean, yes sir!” A flustered Twilight stammered.

James laughed over the radio. “You’re not under my command, Twilight, so just James will do.” As soon as he finished speaking, a hissing noise sounded and a loud thump was heard over the speakers. “Airlock seal is in place, we are moving out.”

Twilight fiddled with her screen until she pulled up the camera from James’ helmet. She now had a first person view of the assault on the cygnul fortress.

James Fletcher followed behind another human marine as the group stormed into the orbital station. He trained a small boxy weapon around while scanning for signs of movement. The dark grey walls and poor lighting helped cast eerie shadows that grabbed at the assault team’s peripheral vision. Even though Twilight watched from the safety of the ship, it was still unnerving. I would hate to be onboard that place.

Breaking the silence, Socket spoke through her com system. “The damage to the station doesn’t extend past the external armor plating. There is still air in here and it’s clean enough to breathe but it will taste pretty stale. I’m picking up no heat signatures nearby, sir, and I also detect no booby-traps, magical or scientific.”

“Keep your suits sealed for now in case they try to vent the atmosphere.” James replied. “Let’s move out.”

The assault team eventually reached a hub where several corridors split off in different directions. The marines checked down each one to make sure no surprises awaited them. After making sure the area was clear, James turned to address the team. “Socket, take Konk, Firestorm, and Glock. Capture the reactor room and rig it to self-destruct.”

“Yes, sir.” The pegasus nodded, gave a salute, and left down one of the passageways, followed by a human and two earth ponies.

James then turned to the team’s battle mage in her custom painted armor. Deep blue lightning bolts covered her entire suit, which also lacked a weapon mount. However, she did use her telekinesis to hold a large human pistol. “Azure, you take Hack, Zero, and Gauge. Go to weapons control and see if you can permanently shut down their anti-ship missiles. The silos are too well protected and numerous for Dash to destroy them without taking all day and wasting all of our ammo.”

“Got it.” Azure said nonchalantly as she trotted down another hallway, followed by a unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony.

She is very rude. Twilight thought.

James shook his head after her and then turned to the remaining six marines. “We are going to the bridge to see if any useful data still resides in their computers. Dmitri, take point.”

“Da, Captain.” The large earth pony trotted down the remaining passageway. He kept his head low as the large weapon on his flank swiveled to aim wherever he looked.

James’ squad moved unhindered throughout the space station. The dark passageways and unnatural lighting didn’t do much to calm the marines’ nerves, but the trip was largely uneventful. Eventually, the group came to a large metal door labeled as the navigation room on their heads-up-displays.

Over the radio, Alice began speaking. “Behind that door is where the navigation instruments are. On the other side of the room is the entrance to the bridge. I can’t penetrate the thick walls with my sensors, but I can detect minute vibrations in the metal. There are at least a dozen cygnul inside and they must know you’re here by now. As you enter further in the room, I will lose the ability to communicate with you over your helmet. Be careful, Captain.”

“I always am.” James then turned to his squad which had taken up breaching positions along the wall. “We have twelve, maybe thirteen cyg soldiers inside this room which has excellent cover and good firing positions. They know we are here and they know that this is the only way in. So that means we are fighting an entrenched enemy, twice our number, who has us in a chokepoint. Any questions?”

The marines snickered to each other before Dmitri spoke up. “Nyet, Captain. How rude they don’t invite us in. When can we join the festivities?”

James smiled through his face plate before taking up a spot right next to the door. He checked his weapon before pulling a large tubular shaped grenade out of his belt. “Dmitri, breach the door and I will toss a flash grenade. Once it goes off, get to cover fast. We will leapfrog up until every cyg is down.”

The human and pony marines nodded and lined up against the wall. James pulled the pin on the grenade and gave Dmitri a quick nod. The earth pony turned to face away from the door and took a deep breath. He then leaned forward, balancing on his front hooves, and gave the door a mighty kick that Twilight thought would have made Applejack proud.

His suit amplified the strength of his already powerful legs and sent the steel door flying into the room. An unfortunate cyg soldier had been listening through the door when it blew off its hinges, killing it instantly. Dmitri quickly moved to the side as the doorway lit up with interlocking streams of cyan-colored beams fired from the remaining cyg soldiers.

In their haste to exterminate the invaders, they failed to notice the small black object that rolled underneath their weapons’ fire. Dmitri screamed, “Happy birthday, you ugly bastards!” right as the flash bang went off, filling the room with a blinding white light and a resounding boom. The cygs cowered behind instrument consoles while they waited for their eyes to recover. Some of them fired blindly in the direction of the door.

The marines made their move while their enemy was reeling from the grenade. James shouted “Go! Go! Go!” as he sprinted in the navigation room while laying down covering fire with his gun. The small boxy weapon spat out a continuous stream of slugs with a sound similar to ripping a canvas sheet. The rest of the marines followed suit, running for cover while returning fire with various types of weaponry. By now, the cygs regained the use of their eyes and the firefight began in earnest.

James peaked over the console he was using for cover just in time to see a cygnul soldier pop up in the back of the room with a large tubular weapon containing a glowing crystal at its end. “Shit!” He yelled as it fired a large sphere of energy across the intervening distance, blowing the console apart and tossing him like a ragdoll.

Oh Celestia! I hope he’s okay! Twilight covered her mouth with a forehoof, but luckily she watched him push himself up with one arm and stagger up to hide behind a nearby column while he recovered. Her view from James’ helmet began to stutter and break up and a static sound buzzed over the radio before everything winked out completely. James and his team were now on their own.

Twilight Sparkle realized she had been holding her breath while watching the gun battle from the human’s helmet camera. The fire fight had been so intense that she lost track of anything else. “What happened?” She asked after the video feed cut out.

Isamu looked back over his shoulder at her. “They’re in the heart of the fortress where the walls are too heavily shielded to allow wireless means of communication. We can’t reach them until they download the station’s mainframe and exit the room.”

Twilight nodded, but she pressed her lips together in frustration. To distract herself, she fiddled with her computer until she managed to switch over to Socket Wrench’s camera. The pegasus was currently trotting down a passageway following an earth pony, while a human and another earth pony took up the rear. All four swiveled their weapons across the hallway, looking for any movement.

The group turned down a wide corridor that ended at a large metal door a hundred feet away, with another passageway intersecting halfway down. As the group cautiously moved towards the metal door, Socket spoke over the radio. “We found the entrance to the engineering compartments. So far we haven’t seen or heard anything.”

At that moment, two cygnul soldiers leaned around the corner of the intersecting passageway, each holding the same weapon Twilight saw used against James and his team. Socket screamed “Incoming!” as the malicious creatures fired.

The four scattered instantly as their training took over, but they weren’t fast enough. The first glowing sphere slammed into the lead earth pony head-on and detonated, filling the hallway with brilliant blue-white light. His heartrate indicator on Twilight’s computer spiked only an instant before flat-lining. The explosion threw his body into Socket Wrench and smashed her hard against the rear wall.

The second cygnul’s weapon fired high and went off when it hit the ceiling above the remaining members of their group. Even though it missed hitting anyone directly, the armored ceiling did nothing to absorb any of the exploding sphere’s energy. Instead, the blast rebounded downwards and engulfed the second earth pony and the human, killing both before they could even scream.

At the end of the corridor, Socket writhed in agony against the bulkhead. The first blast had ripped her weapon off and cracked open her suit. Back on the ship, Twilight Sparkle panicked from the rapidly escalating situation on the fortress. The cygnul had just murdered two ponies and a human, and the only remaining survivor lay helpless on the ground.

“Isamu, she needs help!”

“Yes, I know, Twilight!” He quickly hailed Azure on his computer.

The unicorn’s annoyed face appeared on his screen. “What, Zhang? We haven’t reached the weapons control room yet.” The daggers from her eyes traveled through the camera feed into the Dash’s bridge.

“Socket’s team just got hit by an ambush. Konk, Firestorm, and Glock are all down. Socket is wounded badly and two cygs are moving up to her.”

Azure stared at Isamu for a moment, gaging him to see if this was a joke. When she spoke, her demeanor remained unchanged. “You have got to be kidding me.” Then her face disappeared.

Twilight felt confused by the pony’s reply. “Is… she going to help?”

Zhang sighed as he glanced backwards. “Yes, she will.”

Afraid of the answer to her next question, Twilight nearly remained quiet, but she couldn’t help herself. “Will she make it in time?”

Isamu Zhang met her gaze with fear in his eyes. “No.”

Twilight watched on her screen as Socket wheezed in pain and waited for her inevitable end. No, this isn’t right. Twilight stepped out of her chair and stood up. “I’m going to help her, Isamu.”

Shock filled his face. “What? That’s suicide. You have no armor or weapons! They will tear you apart! I won’t let you die too, you are my responsibility!”

Doubt crept in her mind but she steeled herself. “I’m not going to stand here and watch her die!” Twilight then thought of the hallway that Socket was dying in. She pictured every detail she could and poured her will in that image. Her horn began to glow as Zhang jumped up and rushed to tackle her. Right before he could hit her and disrupt the spell, a flash of pinkish-purplish light filled the room and Twilight disappeared. Zhang flew through the empty space and crashed ungracefully into her empty chair.

Twilight appeared in the dark hallway. The air tasted strange but it was breathable. She quickly noticed the wounded pegasus right next to her and the sight of her injuries caused her to gulp. Judging by the angle of her rear leg, it had most likely been broken. Her right wing twitched uselessly, as most of its feathers had been burned away.

“Socket! Can you hear me?” Twilight placed a hoof on the pony’s neck when she heard a reptilian scream behind her. The unicorn turned to see the two cygnul staring at her.

“Twi…Twilight?” coughed the butterscotch pegasus pony. Blood trickled down the side of her mouth as she looked at the unarmored mare. “What are you doing? You shouldn’t be here.” Socket’s eyes trailed to oncoming cygnul and pushed away at the unicorn. “Go. Run. Leave me.”

“No, I won’t leave you!” Twilight Sparkle spun around to face the two cygs. Terror stabbed her insides but she screwed her eyes tightly closed and gritted her teeth. The click of claws on the metal floor nearly broke her concentration as she took a fighting stance with her head lowered, horn pointed at the monsters who hurt her friend.

The cygnul slowed and stopped as they pondered the unarmored unicorn in front of them. Twilight’s horn glowed purple and she sent a blast of energy that slammed into the right cygnul. It only stumbled backwards a few feet before catching its balance. The cyg first looked at its unharmed chest before grinning at its companion. Both of them resumed their slow pace towards the two ponies.

Uh oh… thought Twilight. From behind, Socket mumbled something to her, so she turned her head. “What was that, Socket?”

The injured pegasus had pushed herself up so now she leaned against the wall. She spat out some blood before speaking again in ragged bursts. “Hotter…. More energy…. Make it hotter…. They have natural body… armor.”

Twilight nodded and faced forward. Legs shaking, she powered up her magic again and readied another blast. This time she poured more and more energy into her horn until she thought her head might explode. She hadn’t used this much power since the incident with the Ursa Minor. Then, Twilight leaned forward and released the spell towards the right cygnul, aiming straight for its ugly, grinning face. Eat this.

The smiling cygnul never knew what hit it. A purple beam of searing energy lit up the hallway, instantly vaporizing the creature. The blast continued on and burned through the metal doorway at the end of the hall and kept going, only partially melting the back wall in the engineering compartment.

Twilight shook her head before looking at her hoofwork. Where the cyg had stood, nothing remained, not even a pile of ash. The metal door in the back was marred by a large hole, and its edges glowed bright yellow. Further back, a slump of molten steel lay at the foot of the back wall in the engineering compartment. Wow! I didn’t think I had it in me.

From behind, Socket managed to mumble. “Holy manure.”

Twilight’s satisfaction was short-lived as the second cygnul screamed and broke out in a sprint down the hall. Running at an unnatural speed, the creature covered the intervening distance too fast for her to power up another energy blast. Flustered, she scoured her mind for a spell or an idea. Another scream broke her concentration as the cygnul leapt in the air and dived towards her, claws extended. The lavender unicorn panicked and grabbed the cygnul with her telekinesis, halting its killing lunge. It may have been heavy, but she had carried much more weight before.

Encased in her violet aura, Twilight Sparkle slammed the cygnul into the left side wall, before smashing it back into the other. All the while, she shouted. “This… is… for… hurting… Socket… Wrench!” She then launched it into the ceiling and into the floor, pin-balling the cyg around. Finally she gave it three powerful slams into the ground. Each time it shrieked out until a sickening crunch accompanied the last impact. Letting the broken cygnul drop to the ground, it lay unmoving, except for one sharp claw twitching in a post-mortem reflex.

Breathing hard from the short battle, Twilight stared at the dead cygnul when somepony yelled out from behind her. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Thinking it was another cyg, she spun around while charging her horn. Just before she attacked, Twilight realized it was Azure standing behind her. Through the battle mage’s faceplate, she could see two yellow eyes filled with fury, and the blue unicorn powered up her magic in response to Twilight’s reaction. The situation was one second away from another blood bath, but Twilight calmly released the hold on her magic, letting her body relax. Still breathing heavily, her legs trembled. “I was saving Socket.”

Azure strode up to Twilight as her squad attended to Socket and checked to see if anyone else was alive. She raised a hoof and knocked the lavender pony back “I told you to stay out of my way! You almost got both of you killed! What were you thinking?” Her glaring eyes never wavered.

Taken aback by the fury radiating from the battle mage, Twilight decided to tread carefully. Azure seemed ready to attack at the slightest provocation. She slowly backed up to create space between the two as she tried to diffuse the situation. “But… I was just trying to help. I’m sorry!” Twilight explained. “You wouldn’t have reached Socket in time.”

“Yes I would have!” She screamed. “I would not have failed again!” Azure’s eyes twitched in rage.

Twilight froze in fear, afraid to do anything that could set off the mage in front of her. One of Azure’s squad mates came to the rescue though. “Azure! We need to get Socket back now!”

Reminding her of the wounded pony shook Azure out of her rage. “How are the other casualties?” She asked when the pegasus in her squad looked over at the pair and shook his head.

Azure silently glanced away for a second before a rumbling sound began emitting from deeper in the fortress. The group of ponies looked around for a second before Alice spoke up from all of their com systems. “Get out of there now! The cygnul are fully powering up the fortress! We need to leave before they can…” She cut out as static overpowered the A.I.’s voice.

“Shit,” Azure stamped her hoof. “If they have their jammers on already, then the Dash doesn’t have much time.” She turned to her squad. “Pick up the fallen and get Socket back to the ship. Twilight, teleport back before you get somepony killed.”

Twilight Sparkle nodded and tried to charge up her spell but the battle had sapped most of her energy. “I can’t. I don’t have the power after that fight.”

“Weak,” Azure mumbled before looking over at her team’s pegasus. “Zero, take her with you. I will continue into the engineering compartments and try to buy you enough time.”

Twilight called out to the other unicorn “Wait, how are you going to get back then?”

Azure slowed but didn’t turn around. “I have a plan. Tell James to remember the Samar. He will understand and know what to do. I don’t want to say any more in case the cygs are listening.” She paused for a second as she made up her mind about something. Then she turned around and, with her magic, she lifted her shoulder holster and placed it on Twilight, clicking into place. “Take my pistol. It’s a human-made, high-caliber hand cannon, so keep a steady hold on it with your magic when you use it. Don’t scratch it or I will kick your flank.” She then grabbed a rifle from her squad’s unicorn. “Hack, you won’t be able to carry Socket and shoot, so I’m taking this.”

Mouth open in shock, Twilight fought to form words. “Are… are you sure you want me to have this? My firearm training is rather limited. In my time, our weapons were rather… simple.”

The battle-mage rolled her eyes. “Firing guns hasn’t changed much over the years. Just point and shoot. Oh, and don’t shoot anypony on my team.” She cantered down the hallway towards the engineering compartment door. When she reached the end, she stopped and turned to glance back. Azure gave Twilight a haunting stare for a short moment before vanishing around the corner.

Chapter 8: Steel Carnage

Gauge led the way back to their ship with Twilight Sparkle following him. She held her new weapon with magic while the others carried Socket and her team. Trotting as quietly as possible, the group moved from shadow to shadow in order to avoid drawing any more cygnul. Navigating a maze of corridors and rooms, Twilight quickly lost her sense of direction, but Gauge must have had a map in his helmet because he took every turn without hesitation.

Twilight nervously surveyed the area around her as they traveled. Dark hallways pulled at her vision and she flinched at every strange sound. She wore no protective armor like the rest of the ponies, which left her feeling much more vulnerable. Her arcane bout with the two cygs earlier sapped a generous portion of her strength, leaving her with a massive headache.

Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea, the unicorn thought. But at least we haven’t seen any more of those monsters. As the group opened a door into a medical bay of some sort, Twilight realized she spoke too soon. Two cygnul stood in the room near the opposite door, and both let out a screech as they raised their weapons.

Time seemed to slow as Twilight’s throat seized up and adrenaline flooded her body. Blocking his line of sight, Gauge yelled out. “Shoot, Twilight! Shoot!” She lowered the floating pistol until she could look down the sights. Lining up on the chest of the left creature, Twilight pulled the trigger with her telekinesis.

An ear-splitting BOOM filled the air, and the hand cannon almost went flying out of Twilight’s magical grip. Collecting herself, she tried shaking her head but it did nothing to quell the high pitched ringing in her ears. Staring forward again, she watched the cygnul fall to its knees with a gaping hole where much of its chest used to be. Black blood poured onto the metal floor as it finally slumped over. The cygnul’s partner began scuttling sideways while shooting towards the group.

Luckily, in its haste to avoid meeting the same fate of its partner, the cygnul’s first shot went high, missing them completely. Acting on instincts, Twilight quickly brought her gun to bear and rapidly pulled the trigger as she held on with her magic.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The sound nearly deafened her ears. Her first shots missed, but the last two hit the cyg, sending it tumbling into the wall. Its right leg, only partially attached, dangled uselessly and most of its upper left chest was a plastered smear across the bulkhead. Twilight’s heart and lungs raced out of control, but a pat on her shoulder from Gauge brought her back to her senses. “Good shooting, Twilight.” Because of the sharp ringing in her ears, his voice sounded muffled, as if she was listening underwater.

“Thanks!” Twilight yelled much louder than necessary, causing Gauge to cringe. Grimacing, the mare forced herself to apologize a little quieter, “Sorry!” The earth pony smiled and nodded at her before making his way through the room.

When the group passed the bodies, Twilight took note of her work. Even in death, both of the cygnul’s faces conveyed nothing but fiery anger and spite. As their glowing turquoise eyes dimmed, they stabbed at Twilight. Carefully, she walked by them, watching the light slowly go out in both monsters’ eyes, leaving blackness. Who or what could create such evil creatures, and why?

For the rest of the trip, they made good time and encountered no more resistance before meeting a group of marines guarding the airlock. Dead cyg bodies scattered in the last hallway signified that the vile creatures had attempted to capture the ship. The marines quickly grabbed Socket and rushed her onto the Rainbow Dash, towards the medical bay. The dead were quietly carried off towards another part of the ship.

By the time they returned to the frigate, most of Twilight’s hearing had recovered. Even with a slight ringing tone in the background, she had no trouble hearing the yelling that assailed her ears when she stepped onboard. “What the hell were you thinking, Twilight? You could have gotten yourself killed!” Twilight turned to see James walking up to her. He snatched the pistol from her telekinetic grasp and gave it to another marine. “That was a stupid decision,” he continued, “you are so lucky that the cygnul didn’t reach you. They would have ripped your heart out and showed it to you!”

Moisture collected in her eyes while her legs wobbled from her diminishing adrenaline high. “I’m sorry! I was worried about Socket Wrench!”

James’ face expressed anger, but his eyes betrayed a hint of fear and also understanding. The human wasn’t about to let her off easy though. “Never do that again! Hear me? Your group was the last one to return. If you took a little longer, we could have all been killed!”

Twilight’s ears drooped in shame and tears slid down her cheeks. She looked back up to see the anger in James’ face, replaced with confusion. “Where is Azure? She was supposed to be with you.”

Twilight dried her eyes on a sleeve before answering. “Oh, she had a plan to buy us time. She said not to worry though and that it has something to do with the word Samar. Does that mean anything?”

James leaned his head back as he closed his eyes before quietly muttering. “Azure, what are you doing?”

“What are you talking about, James?”

“Follow me.” He turned and made for the bridge with Twilight in tow. “The Samar is a famous ship. She actually is a patrol frigate like the Rainbow Dash, but she is much older. Several years ago, she was overseeing a colony evacuation to avoid a volcanic eruption when a lucky cygnul raiding force attacked.”

James took a deep breath before continuing. “Outgunned and outnumbered, a group of volunteers snuck aboard one of the cygnul ships and overload its reactor. The resulting explosion either destroyed or severely damaged the remaining cygnul ships, and the Samar was then able to move in and finish off the rest, allowing the civilian ships to escape.”

Twilight’s eyes widened at the realization. “Oh, Celestia! She is going to try to blow up the fortress with…with her still inside, isn’t she?”

“I think so.” He said as they turned through the door to the bridge. James took his seat and Twilight climbed into hers. She caught sight of Isamu shooting her a scolding look before turning back to his screen.

“Alice, try to punch through their jammers to reach Azure. Also, send out a message probe towards friendly space to tell them what happened. There should be a quantum communications buoy in the Serana system nearby.” James spoke to his computer.

Alice’s voice came through the speakers. “I have been trying to do that since the station came online, but I have had no luck. The cygs are easily overpowering my hailing attempts. I did get a probe out, though I doubt that there are any UEN ships nearby. The closest outpost is a mere automated space weather station and communications relay.”

“James!” Isamu called out. “Several anti-ship missile silos are powering up and more are coming online every second! We need to leave now!”

James leaned forward in thought. “Dammit. Azure will just have to wait for us to pick her up. If one of those missiles even detonates close by, we are in for a world of hurt.” He then sat back in his seat and started giving orders. “Disengage from the fortress Zhang; let’s widen the distance between us. Alert the crew of the impending acceleration. Our inertial dampers won’t be able to bleed all of it off.”

Twilight watched as the Dash pulled away from the active cygnul fortress. The formerly dead station now had more lights than the Canterlot Winter Festival. A deep rumble grew in intensity and Twilight felt herself being pushed into the back of her seat. Hull cameras showed twin dazzling blue contrails stretching behind the ship from Rainbow Dash’s engines, and the fortress quickly became a tiny pinprick of light on the backdrop of stars.

“Sir!” Zhang yelled out from his station. “I’m detecting a lot of missile launches and they all seem to be targeting us. James, they’re coming up fast!”

“Alice, take us down into Charybdis!”

“We will bleed off too much acceleration, Captain. I don’t recommend that course of action.”

“You’re right, but this gas giant’s hyper-active magnetic field and thick atmosphere will help hide us from the missiles. Our odds are much better down there than up here.” James yelled. “Take control of the five inch guns and the forty millimeter batteries. When they get in range, I want sand rounds and point defense fire protecting our tail!”

“Yes, Captain. Please brace yourselves; we are now entering the planet’s upper atmosphere. This is going to be a bumpy ride.”

The Rainbow Dash dove through yellow brownish clouds of ammonia and methane. Charybdis’ thin atmosphere normally would have offered little resistance, but the frigate shot through the sky fast enough to create a bow wake that flared brightly on her leading edges. The ship left a burning trail of superheated gas as she flew across the heavens, making her easily visible to the naked eye, but to the seeker heads in the anti-ship missiles, the electromagnetic interference from the planet made it harder to discern their target.

Twilight’s eyes opened wide with amazement at the scene around them. Even with the rough turbulence shaking the ship and its occupants, the beauty outside fully captured the small pony’s attention. The frigate’s nose burned with a flame that seemed to be as hot as Celestia’s sun itself, yet it still refused to melt. On either side, huge colorful cloud banks spanned the horizon as far as the eye could see. Earthy Browns, bright yellows, and fiery oranges painted quite an incredible backdrop.

Alice noticed Twilight admiring the view and the miniature holographic avatar of the earth pony popped up on the armrest of her chair. “Charybdis is a gas giant planet over one hundred times the mass of Harmony. It’s composed mainly of hydrogen and helium but the color of the clouds comes from trace amounts of ammonia and methane. Charybdis also has an unusually powerful magnetic field that interferes with the cyg missiles tracking us. Outside, the flames you see are from the intense heat generated from the ionized atmosphere due to the shockwave created by our high velocity.”

On Twilight’s computer, a small speed readout popped up that showed a number too large for her to fully comprehend. Alice then continued. “Rainbow Dash is currently flying several orders of magnitude faster than her namesake ever could. We don’t melt or implode, because her armor protects us from the heat and pressure. As long as we don’t descend too low, Dash will be able to withstand Charybdis’ denser atmosphere.”

“This is unbelievable. It’s a lot to take in.” Twilight muttered to the A.I. “Back in my time period, I rarely left the borders of Equestria. Now I’m in a space ship that is soaring through the clouds of an entirely different type of planet in an entirely different solar system!”

“The universe is a big place Twilight. It’s full of both terrifying and wonderful things.” The tiny pony gave Twilight a quick smile before blinking out. Rainbow Dash continued her dive, deep into the swirling Charybdis veil. As she began to taper her decent, a particularly large cloud bank blocked the way, but the frigate showed no hesitation as she fought against the raging wind currents and punched through to the other side.

Suddenly, the turbulence subsided as the ship entered a calm region of sorts. All of the shaking and jolting had stopped and from the exterior cameras, Twilight observed a wall of dark clouds circling an immeasurably large area. The opposite side was obscured not by haze, but by sheer distance. She used the hull-mounted cameras to take a full look around. Above shone the brilliant sky of stars she saw before. I think Princess Luna would have enjoyed this view.

The mare wore a half smile as she took in the scenery; the missiles on their tail forgotten in all the excitement of this new atmospheric phenomena. But, when Twilight looked under the ship, her heart leapt in her throat and she found it difficult to breathe. Clouds corkscrewed around in a massive spiral, dropping down into the largest vortex she had ever seen. Its depth stretched unfathomably far below. The churning atmosphere swallowed everything that fell into its gargantuan, gluttonous maw.

Without warning, the holographic earth pony reappeared on Twilight’s chair. “This is one of those frighteningly powerful things in our universe. In these gas giants, sometimes the weather does crazy things like this. The vortex you see is only slightly smaller than the diameter of Harmony and the winds are spinning at thousands of miles per hour. Oh, and Twilight…” the lavender unicorn looked at the A.I., “this isn’t even the scariest or most dangerous thing in the universe; it’s nowhere close.”

“What could possibly be worse than this?” Twilight slowly asked with a nervous voice. She almost didn’t want to know the answer to such a question, but as usual, her curiosity got the best of her.

“Well, there are neutron stars, gamma ray bursts, hypernovae, singularities…” Alice froze mid-sentence. The holographic pony tilted her head and looked to the side as if she was thinking about something. Then her eyes widened as she blinked out of existence.

Twilight was extremely confused until Alice reappeared an instant later on James’ chair. “Captain, we didn’t lose all of the missiles!”

“What!” He shouted as Alice pulled up a view from the stern of the ship. The storm they had just passed through took up the entire screen as a wall of orange and brown, with flashes of light giving away the impact points of cloud-to-cloud lighting. After a dozen seconds or so, missiles began punching out of the cumulonimbus wall. Alice marked each with a red icon to make them easier to see. Very quickly, the screen became crowded with icons.

“Dammit, the planet should have hid us!” James struck his armrest in frustration.

Zhang calmly called back. “It did, Captain. They launched a lot more missiles at us than what I see here. This is only a tiny fraction of what the cygs threw our way.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” James snapped.

“You shouldn’t blame yourself, Captain. Your course of action was the best option possible.”

“Well it makes me feel better.” Dmitri spoke up from his chair, only to quiet down when both Isamu and James gave him a steely look.

Twilight asked James. “What are we going to do? Can you make a shield around us or something?”

Alice shook her head. “Rainbow does have her own shields but they can’t withstand the destructive yield from one of those anti-ship missiles. I have to shoot them down with our defense system. Unfortunately, its range is very limited inside of an atmosphere.”

“Good hunting, Alice.” Isamu said. The A.I. nodded towards him then vanished again.

Her voice then came over the speakers once more. “Missiles are now entering my range envelope. I am opening fire.” The ship began shuddering again like it did during the assault on the fortress, but now, between each heavy shake, a staccato of vibrations broke the silence. Twilight pulled up the camera mounts on the rear of a ship to get a better view of what was happening.

Rainbow Dash continued her flight across the maw swirling below. She kept a level and straight heading, trying to pass over the maelstrom as quick as possible. Dotted along her surface, squat double barreled turrets pointed towards her stern and fired continuously behind the frigate. Their shells detonated with puffs of dark smoke among the oncoming missiles while flashes and sparkles lit up the horizon, marking the deaths of the cygnul weapons.

Not visible before, Twilight noticed that several dozen smaller gun emplacements had folded out of hidden recesses in the hull. These single barreled guns fired a lot faster than the larger double barreled weapons did. They swiveled around quickly as they tracked their prey across the swirling sky.

Even though Alice devastated the incoming swarm, it didn’t take long for the cygnul missiles to close in with the patrol frigate. Dash had knocked most of them out of the air, but the few left were getting very close. In a last ditch attempt to avoid the remaining ship killing weapons, Alice brought the ship in a series of tight turns. It worked for a moment as two missiles flew overhead and were easily shot down. But the turns bled off too much speed and a lone missile slipped past Alice’s defensive screen.

To Twilight, time began to crawl. She watched the lightning fast streak as it seemed to dance through the interlocking curtain of gunfire. At the last second, it pulled slightly upwards before diving into the hull above the starboard engine. A blinding flash of light flared for a split second before all of the camera feeds on the topside of the frigate cut out.

The detonation hit the Dash like a sledgehammer. Her bow shot up as the expanding cloud of superheated gas forced her stern downwards. The impact pushed Twilight so hard into the seat of her chair that she nearly blacked out. Luckily she had strapped herself in as did most of the crew, but the few who hadn’t were trying to recover after being tossed like ragdolls.

As Twilight Sparkle blinked away stars, she saw Isamu already working frantically at his station. Next to her, James continued to shake his head, trying to collect his thoughts. Dmitri lay sprawled on the ground, holding a hoof against one of his eyes. He must not have buckled up, Twilight thought, concerned for the rambunctious pony. Red lights flashed, casting dark shadows and an alarm klaxon blared from the back somewhere. Twilight rubbed her hurting hears with her hooves, when she realized Alice was shouting at James.

“Captain, we’ve lost engine number one! I had to eject the reactor; its shielding was cracked and it was about to blow!” Suddenly a loud boom reverberated through the ship from a nearby explosion. “We had a major power surge and engine number two is dying! The artificial gravity and life support suite are still working but not much else is!”

Still groggy, James had a hand on his forehead. “Alice, what’s happening?” He asked the tiny holographic earth pony on his chair.

“James, we are falling!” She yelled at him, stamping a hoof in frustration. “I’m doing all I can, but I can’t stop our descent!”

Twilight’s eyes grew impossibly large. She felt her stomach clench as the nose of the Rainbow Dash finally lost its upward momentum, and quickly swung towards the center of the planet. The hungry mouth of the twelve thousand kilometer wide vortex filled up the entire forward view screen. With no engine power, the frigate fell and rapidly gained speed, shaking from the thickening turbulent atmosphere.

“Alice! Can you jumpstart the port reactor?” James began pulling windows across his holographic screen as he looked for any way to save his ship.

“I can’t from here. It would require manual reactivation, but all of the mechanics are sealing off the starboard engine. Maybe we could….” Alice trailed off for a second before she jumped with surprise. “James, someone else is in the engine compartment.” A camera screen popped up to show a heavily bandaged pegasus working on a keyboard of sorts before limping over to tighten a pipe fitting.

James leaned forward, narrowing his eyes for a second before shooting back against his seat. “What the hell is Socket doing down there?”

Twilight watched the butterscotch pegasus as she tried to force various machinery to restart. Even through the camera feed, her grimace of pain was hard to miss. Alice began rapidly talking again. “Captain, I can’t reach her! The speakers in the area must be down! I’m also detecting extremely high temperatures, meaning the coolant system isn’t working!”

Socket tried to tighten a large pipe fitting that had a column of steam emitting from the coupling. Her body shook with strain as she pulled the wrench down to the ground. Sweat dripped from her brow and sizzled on the metal floor plates.

“She is going to die if she doesn’t get out of there!” James yelled as he jumped up. The captain stared at the feed showing the pegasus fighting to save his ship. Shaking his head, he turned towards the purple unicorn with pleading eyes. “Twilight, I don’t want to put anymore strain on you. You’ve been through a lot recently, but please help me save Socket. Teleport me to the engine room with her. Can you do that?”

Twilight quickly assessed the situation. My teleportation spell only works if I take someone with me. He must not know that or else he wouldn’t have asked. She stole a quick glance at the video feed from the engine room. I didn’t save her in that fortress just to watch her die now. Ugh, James won’t be happy with me for this.

The mare trotted over to James and put a hoof into his open hand. “Okay,” she fought to steady her tone, “I’ll teleport you to Socket.” Twilight moved to stare at the far wall to focus on charging the spell. Even though the battle on the station had taken a lot out of her, she had enough strength to perform this one task. On the other hoof, it still sent a sharp pain through her head, bringing a grimace of pain to her face.

Isamu must have sensed something in her tone or seen something on her face, because as the spell reached fruition, he jumped up and yelled out, “No!” but both Twilight and James had already vanished in a blaze of pinkish light. The comfortable and well-lit bridge of the frigate flashed away, to be replaced with darkness and a wash of sweltering hot air.

Stifling and unbearable heat assaulted Twilight’s senses. Like a smothering weighted blanket, the temperature sapped away at the unicorn pony’s strength and it did not take long for her purple coat quickly became drenched with sweat. The spell had also put a great deal of strain on her horn, manifesting itself as a painful headache pinpointed at the spot where her horn met her forehead. I will need to take it easy after we get through this… if we get through this. She scanned her surroundings and spotted Socket still wrestling with the pipe. The metal floor burned her hooves but she forced herself to walk forward.

Next to her, James finally noticed that he had not teleported alone. “What the hell, Twilight! You were only supposed to send me!” Beads of sweat ran down his face and quickly soaked into his clothes.

“I’m sorry, James. I could not have left Socket here anymore than you could.” She then turned and trotted over to the wounded pegasus as the human shook his head in frustration before joining the two ponies.

Socket’s eyes widened in surprise at first at the sight of the new company, but she quickly refocused on the task at hand. “James, if I can tighten this pipe, the coolant system will activate and we can restart the reactor.

“Okay, got it. Twilight, since you’re here, give us a hoof.” James then grabbed part of the wrench and began straining to pull it down. His muscles bulged and the veins in his arms nearly jumped out of his skin. Perspiration poured off of him as his body fought to maintain a stable temperature in the incredible heat.

Twilight joined them and began to help. She clenched her teeth and ignored the scalding metal burning her hooves. Her muscles strained for all their worth, but it felt like the pipe fitting would not move even a hair. Almost shaking with fatigue, she didn’t think she could continue pulling when a high pitched screech sounded. The wrench finally began twisting.

The three of them slowly brought the pipe wrench downward and sealed off the leak. Once the steam jet had stopped, an alert sounded from a console high up on the wall, but the metal scaffolding that led up there had partially collapsed from the impact with the missile. Socket turned to Twilight. “Can you levitate me up there? I still can’t fly yet.”

“Sure,” replied the unicorn, even though she did not feel convinced her tired body could manage it smoothly. Twilight took in a deep steadying breath, trying to clear her mind before powering up a simple levitation spell. A purplish nimbus of magic encased Socket Wrench, and she floated to the remaining platform with only a few jerks here and there as Twilight’s concentration and strength wavered.

Landing safely, the pegasus limped over to the console and immediately went to work as James and Twilight watched. “Hurry up, Socket! I don’t know how much longer we have before the Dash falls below the minimum safe depth. After that, it won’t matter if the engine works because Charybdis’ pressure will crush us.” James called up at her.

“I’m going to restart the reactor now.” She called down before pressing something on the console’s touch screen. A high pitched whine began to sound before cutting off. Socket’s ears swiveled quizzically before she ducked down and tore off the front panel on the engine controls. “The power overload must have blown something. I have to short circuit the emergency ignition.”

James pondered for a second before his eyes grew large. “Socket!” He yelled. “There are a couple hundred thousand volts in that circuit!”

The pegasus pulled out two thick cables with frayed ends. “I know James.” She had a sad look of determination on her face, “I have to save the crew, no matter the cost. It’s been an honor serving you, Captain.” She flashed a quick, sad smile before forcing the two cables together.

“Socket!” Twilight cried out as a bright blue flash blinded her and a loud buzz filled the air. After it subsided, the high pitched whine came back but this time it continued to grow in pitch before a rumbling shook through the floor. For a moment, it felt like the deck had rotated upwards, pulling her along with it.

Compensating for the errant shifting gravity, Twilight took a wider stance while she blinked away the blue spots in her vision. Able to see again, she looked up to where Socket lay unmoving, next to the cables and console. The unicorn mare ignored her aches and pains and quickly grabbed the pegasus with her telekinesis, gently lowering her to the floor. James rushed around Twilight and grabbed Socket, protectively holding her close.

“Twilight, teleport us to the medical bay now!” he yelled as he reached out to grab Twilight’s mane.

She quickly pictured the room and forced all of her remaining magical energy into the image. I’m going to have a horrible migraine later. She thought as the three of them popped out of the engine room and reappeared in a busy medical bay. Injured ponies and humans filled most of the beds as Victoria and other doctors worked quickly. James quickly put Socket onto an unoccupied gurney. “Victoria, get over here now! She isn’t breathing!”

The blond-maned human rushed to the group and placed her glowing arm-mounted scanner over Socket’s body. “How did she sneak out of here?” she asked no one in particular. After a few seconds in silence, Victoria held up her left hand which had some sort of mechanical looking glove and gauntlet. “Her heart has an arrhythmia. I’m going to shock her.” Then she fiddled with the computer on her forearm before placing her hand on Socket’s chest. A zap sounded and the pegasus involuntarily seized up before relaxing limply on the table. Victoria counted to three and shocked Socket again, trying to reset her heart.

Twilight hardly breathed as she watched Victoria work to bring Socket back. It took four shocks before the pony finally drew in a shuddering breath. Victoria then strapped her down and placed her hand on various points of her body while the computer beeped periodically. “She should make it, James. Now go get us the hell out of here!” The human shot Fletcher and Twilight a smile before returning to work.

“Come on, Twilight!” James said as he turned and began sprinting back to the bridge. She had to gallop to keep up with him but it didn’t take too long to travel through the ship. Every time her hooves hit the ground, a wave of pain rushed through her head, but she continued to push through.

As they bolted into the control room, James called out. “Alice, give me an update!”

Breathing heavily, Twilight made her way to her chair when she noticed that on the front screen, she saw a black night full of stars rather than the hungry vortex from before. I’ve never been so happy to see stars before.

The holographic pony reappeared on the captain’s chair. “You restarted that engine just in time. Any lower, and Rainbow Dash would have been crushed. We are almost into orbit, but with only one reactor, it will take some time to jump. We also still haven’t heard from Azure yet.”

Dmitri huffed and looked over at James with one good eye. The other had swelled up enough to render it unusable for the foreseeable future. “Well, at least we aren’t being shot at anymore.”

Just as the earth pony finished speaking, a red alert popped up on Isamu Zhang’s computer. He leaned forward to scan the data scrolling up on his screen “Sir, I’m detecting several subspace jumps nearby. Our gravimeter is reading two frigates and four corvettes, and they just turned towards us.” He quickly spun around to face Twilight and Fletcher. “James, they are cygnul!”

Before anyone could react, Alice’s voice filled the room. “Enemy ships are opening fire!”

“All hands brace for impact!” James Fletcher yelled out on the intercom a second before the ship shuttered under the first of many hammer-like blows. “Alice, return fire now!”

“Many of our secondary weapons were damaged by the missile strike but I am firing back with what we have. Shields have dropped to ten percent.” A few recognizable thuds sounded between the cygnul strikes as Rainbow Dash tried to defend herself.

“Then charge up the jump drive! Get us out of here!”

“I’m putting all of our spare power into the shields. It would take a minimum of five minutes just to jump a short distance away. The cygnul haven’t opened up with main guns, just secondary. It looks like they want to capture us.”

James sat in silence for a second as he thought over the multitude of possible scenarios that could play out from this situation. Then he spoke calmly. “We can’t let them capture us or the ship. Alice, at the last second, when there’s no chance of escape, overload the reactor. Maybe we can take a few of the bastards with us.”

Twilight’s mouth hung agape as she froze in pure shock. Except for the sounds from the raging battle, no one in the control room moved or spoke. Even the usually boisterous Dmitri sat still, staring at his hooves. After a long moment, Twilight finally broke the silence. “So, is this it?”

“I’m sorry, Twilight.” James took his time answering. “There is no chance of rescue if we are captured. We all would be tortured to death and I won’t let that happen... I’m sorry about everything you’ve had to go through.” James then smiled at her. “You would have made a hell of a soldier though. Princess Celestia would have been proud.”

A small beep on Isamu’s computer caught his attention. Discerning its cause, the human quietly spoke up. “At this point, I don’t think it matters anymore, but our gravimeter just picked up a cruiser jumping in. Probably their fleet’s flagship. This… will be over quickly.” He then let out a heavy sigh. “At least it will be painless.”

Chapter 10: Lessons Learned

Twilight Sparkle ducked behind the concrete barrier as a rolling wave of flame washed overhead. The divider absorbed most of the blast, but a wall of red fire still partially obscured the purple unicorn’s vision. Once the danger had passed, she checked the condition of her armor by glancing at the heads-up-display in her helmet. Everything looks good. If I wasn’t wearing this suit, I’d be in a lot of trouble.

She stayed low and used her suit’s auditory sensors to try and detect anything moving towards her position. Meanwhile, she determined her next plan of action, but before she executed it, she couldn’t help but glance at the night sky. A huge, wide expanse of stars cast the only heavenly light on the darkened city. Twilight Sparkle closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then, she made her move.

Taking advantage of the lull, the unicorn mare shot to her hooves and galloped across the debris-strewn street. Bullets flew by her, striking the pavement and blasting concrete shards into the air. Loud metallic pings from shrapnel reverberated through her suit. Twilight used her telekinetic grip to point the assault rifle she carried towards the source of the gunfire. Squeezing the trigger, a long burst of return fire silenced whatever adversary that had the pony in its sights.

Twilight made it safely behind a burning vehicle of some kind. She didn’t recognize the model but all she cared about was the fact that no one was shooting at her anymore. Quickly, she ran through her inner checklist. Armor status? I’m good. Radio? Twilight turned on her communicator. “Hello, can anyone hear me?” To her dismay, the only response she received was static. Still down. Rifle check? …reloaded and good. Ammo check? I have thirty seven rounds left; horse apples, that’s not good.

Sighing with frustration, she rummaged through her pack for any gear that might help. Deep in the bottom of the bag, a black handle caught her eye. Azure’s pistol? I don’t remember grabbing this. With practiced ease, she cleared and checked the weapon before placing it back. I have a full magazine but I hope I won’t need it.

A loud, high-pitched whine filled her helmet as dust and smoke blew across the burning street. Twilight retreated deeper in the dark shade of her cover as she looked upwards with dread. Please no. The long, rippling shadows cast from scattered fires vanished as the world became as bright as high noon. In the air, a large hovercraft floated above the street, its massive spotlight directed upon the insignificant pony below. Oh, manure.

Twilight Sparkle didn’t waste a second. She bolted towards the closest building, firing her assault rifle telekinetically as she went. She did not have much hope for her tiny rifle to do any damage, but maybe she could throw the pilot’s aim off.

A handful of strides from a doorway, a lower pitched hum grew louder. Just as she flew into the half demolished structure, a deep roar filled the air and her world seemed to end. Twilight galloped through burning hallways as the building disintegrated around her. Gritting her teeth, she fought back her fear as her eyes grew blurry. No, it will not end this way.

Up ahead, an open hallway led to the left of the gunship’s strafing pattern. Forcing her body to run even faster, Twilight ran for all she was worth before leaping safely out of harm’s way. Behind her, a cloud of fiery sparks and molten metal continued down the path she had been running along a second ago. That was too close, Twilight thought as she tried to regain control of her breathing. Remember your training. Take deep, long breaths. Slowly, she calmed herself down while resting in her new, temporary shelter.

With her short moment of respite over, Twilight forced her tired legs to stand up. Moving would make her a much harder target. The moment she stopped, she would be dead. Slowly and quietly, Twilight began creeping through empty rooms and eerie hallways.

Outside, like a cat chasing a mouse, the hovercraft circled around the complex. Long streams of white light danced between every crack and cranny, forcing her to move carefully. Every dozen seconds or so, the pilots opened fire on a section of the building, either because they thought they saw something or they were trying to scare her into making a mistake.

Keeping her fear in check, Twilight Sparkle made her way to a boarded-up window to look outside. She could see another wrecked street running parallel to her window, but what caught her eye was the intersection right in front of her. That’s the road I need to take in order to meet up with the squad.

The street filled with white light and the loud roar returned as the aerial predator made another pass along the avenue. Ducking down reflexively, she stayed below the probing spotlight. I’ll never make it as long as that hovercraft is looking for me, but I don’t have anything that can harm it. She thought about knocking it down with her magic, but that would require a clear line of sight and several long seconds of concentration to power up such a spell. I have a feeling the hovercraft pilot won’t be that generous, Twilight rolled her eyes at the thought with a small measure of sarcasm.

She wracked her brain for any idea that would get her safely across the street without becoming Swiss cheese. Twilight had taken to heart the piece of advice James had given her. My mind is my best weapon. Finding no solution with any of the gear she carried, she began looking around for anything that would give the little pony an advantage over the flying killing machine outside.

She found the answer when she took a break from thinking to look at the sky again. When the purple pony glanced upwards between the boards on the window, her eyes caught sight of a large neon sign hanging haphazardly on a tall building at the intersection. The building looked like it used to be a movie theatre before the battle in this part of town had begun. Focusing back on the sign, Twilight noticed that only a handful of steel cables kept it aloft. If I took out one or two of those wires, I could bring that sign down on the hovercraft. It looks heavy enough to do some serious damage.

With her plan decided, it was time to set it in motion. Now I need to lure that hovercraft back. Taking out Azure’s pistol and setting it down, the mare checked her assault rifle. Three rounds left; dang. Well, I hope they are listening, she thought as she aimed outside and fired the last of her rifle ammo into one of the few unbroken glass window of the movie theatre across the street.

Sure enough, the hovercraft picked up on the gunfire and flew over to investigate. Twilight remained hidden until the spotlight passed her window. Once it moved on, she peeked outside to see that sure enough, her hunter was hovering right where she wanted. She picked up her hand cannon and carefully aimed up at the sign. Remembering her training, Twilight slowed her breathing and put all her focus on the shot she needed to make. Once she felt satisfied, she took a deep breath and slowly exhaled half of it. Then she squeezed the trigger.

BOOM! The pistol rocked in her telekinetic grip but she compensated and quickly got back on target. Her first shot had flown true and cut cleanly through one of the steel wires, but the sign didn’t drop. With a deep groaning sound, it rocked back and forth now, making the remaining cables a much harder target. To make matters worse, the hovercraft’s spotlight swiveled right to her hiding place. Uh Oh.

With only a handful of seconds left, Twilight fired off as rapidly as she could at the sign. Four shots in, luck found the purple unicorn again. With a high pitched crack, one of the slugs found a cable and sliced through it. Now on top of the sounds from the hovercraft, a sharp metallic screech filled the street. Twilight watched as the sign slowly leaned forward off of the movie theatre, snapping the few remaining cables left.

The hovercraft pilot must have sensed something amiss because the gunship’s engines flared to life as it tried to avoid the falling debris. A throaty roar grew louder and the craft’s nose tilted forward. Unfortunately for its pilot, the heavy assault ship couldn’t accelerate out of the way in time, and the sign slammed into the starboard side of the hovercraft, followed by several tons of steel and concrete from the theatre.

Twilight watched as the ship’s right engine exploded in a bright ball of blue fire. The remaining engine’s whine increased in pitch as the pilot tried to regain control. Below the craft’s fight for survival, the little unicorn pony went unnoticed as the hunter became the hunted.

Spinning above the street, the ship knocked back and forth from building to building, pelting the ground below with shattered glass and concrete. One particularly harsh impact resulted in a large plume of yellow flame to erupt from the remaining engine. The ship shuddered once before its nose dropped and it dove straight towards the window that Twilight happened to be standing by. Oh, manure.

Wasting no time, she turned and galloped across the room, running perpendicular to the hovercrafts final dive. With a resounding crash, the ship barreled through the concrete exterior as if it were made of tissue paper. Floorboards erupted out of the ground in a wave, picking up the purple pony and hurling her through the wall into the next room.

Acrid smoke filled the air but the filters in Twilight’s suit managed to clear most of it and keep her from suffocating. Still, she coughed up a fit as she pulled herself up again for what felt like the hundredth time that day. Ouch, I really could use a hot bath; she thought with a grimace. Taking a look behind her, what was left of the hovercraft filled the next room and continued through the back wall. All over the place, flames from the wreckage cast eerie shadows throughout the building. I don’t think any survivors from that crash are going to be a threat to me anytime soon.

Walking to a window in her new room, Twilight turned and kicked out the boards covering it. She hopped through the new opening and trotted across the intersection to the shadows alongside the concrete and steel skeletons from what used to be a lively neighborhood. When she had reached about a hundred paces down the road, the sound of clapping could be heard behind her, resonating between the wreckage.

Twilight spun around while moving deeper into the darkness, expecting some sort of ambush. Instead, she saw Captain James Fletcher standing on the street in his uniform. He wore a wide, toothy smile on his face as he continued clapping his hands together. “Well done, Twilight Sparkle. For someone who didn’t even go through an official training regiment, you’ve done better than some other soldiers I know.”

Twilight calmed down and walked over to where James stood. “So I passed? Is the exercise over?”

Before the human could answer, a hazy pixilated cloud appeared next to them before resolving into a familiar brown coated, red maned earth pony. “That was awesome!” Dmitri Bearclaw yelled while rearing pack and throwing his fore-hooves into the air. “You were like; whoosh! But then, you were like; bang, bang! And finally, you were like; ka-pow!” Dmitri gave a hearty laugh before sitting down on his haunches.

With an annoyed look, James waited for the interruption to finish before smiling again. “You most definitely passed. Not many have made it through this simulation without being shot once or twice. In fact,” he added while glancing at Dmitri, “I remember one earth pony that ended up being shot seven times during his turn. I also think that same earth pony is supposed to be on the bridge right now.”

Dmitri waved a hoof in the air flippantly. “Ah, that average for me. I still beat Miss Sparkle’s time.” Then the earth pony fizzled out and disappeared.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night, Dmitri.” James rebuked before his avatar vanished as well. The world around Twilight grew less clear and focused. A white wall appeared on the horizon and rushed towards her before everything went black.

The sounds of the real world came back to her slowly. A series of clicking sounds circled her head before she could finally see light again. Twilight leaned forward and rubbed her eyes with her fore-hooves. Blinking away the blurriness, she saw James storing the pony version of the virtual training helmet she had worn. Next to it on the table were several more helmets. Some of them were more rounded and looked like they would fit human heads.

Twilight rolled off the inclined bed she had been laying on and landed on her hooves. Stretching out her sore muscles, she looked over at James. “The simulator always feels so real when I’m inside.”

“It’s a great piece of technology, that’s for sure. I personally think it’s a lot better than the classroom.” Fletcher finished locking away both helmets before turning to look at Twilight as she continued recovering. “You’ve done very well in your training. I’m extremely impressed with the progress you made, and I’m not too worried about your safety anymore. You sure can look after yourself.”

Twilight sheepishly averted her gaze. “Thank you; I just want to help.” She responded with a smile.

With a knowing smirk, James made his way out of the room while waving her on. “Follow me, Twilight. I’ve got something to show you.”

Eyes narrowing with distrust, Twilight followed the human captain. Both his grin and the light in his eyes reminded her of Pinkie Pie’s or Rainbow’s face right before they pulled some sort of prank. She still walked behind him but her senses were on high alert.

“I can’t help but wonder if you are about to pull a fast one on me, James.” Twilight spoke while scanning the hallways of the Dash with her eyes.

That drew a Dmitri-like laugh from the captain. “Why would you think that?”

“Because,” Twilight answered slowly, “you’re acting like how my friends usually would before tricking me.”

James slowed his walk to let Twilight catch up to him. His eyes were now wide with interest. “Really? Who were the great pranksters of your time? Let me guess, Pinkie Pie?”

Twilight snorted before replying. “Yeah, she always enjoyed her pranks. Nopony ever understood her but she could always make us laugh; even in the darkest times.” Twilight smiled at the memory of bubbly Pinkie Pie. “She could always enlist the aid of Rainbow Dash to bring a wave of pranks upon Ponyville.”

“Rainbow Dash was an avid prankster?” James asked; his tone slightly incredulous.

“Oh yes,” Twilight boasted with emphasis, “those two were unstoppable.” She gave a short chuckle and looked up at James. “I remember one time they switched out my ink with some invisible ink. Once it touched paper, it would vanish after a few seconds. They got me good with that one. I was so confused when my writing kept disappearing.”

James covered his mouth as he laughed. “I can just imagine the bewildered look you must have had on your face.”

Twilight gave him a glare. She might have looked legitimately angry except for the small upwards curl of her lips that she failed to hide. “Hmm, really? Well how about you tell me about any pranks pulled on you? Or are you the one pulling them?”

“Me? No, I don’t play tricks on anyone really. You know who does though?” James looked at her with one raised eye.

“Well, if I had to guess, I would say Dmitri.” Twilight mused.

That brought out another loud laugh from the human. “He tries so hard but nine times out of ten, his pranks backfire. It is always an enjoyable experience.” He paused for a second. “Actually, the most mischievous person on this ship is Isamu Zhang. The guy seems to be able to appear without a sound and he seems to always know what’s going on. For someone who has never outright lied to me, he still can be a pain in the ass. I know he can use magic and all, but that can’t be the only explanation for some things I’ve seen him do.” James shook his head side to side.

Twilight thought for a moment about this new side of Isamu that she never knew existed. “Has he pulled any pranks on you?”

The captain’s eyes lit up again and he grinned. “Hang on, we’re here.” He motioned her to pause as he put his palm on the scanner next to the captain’s cabin door. It flashed green and the door slid open before he continued. “So, back when I still attended in the Academy, I was up for a performance review. The day before, I made sure to set out my dress uniform, all pressed and clean. Well, I’m not sure how he did it without me noticing but Isamu switched my uniform out for one a size smaller.” James walked over to his desk and sat down in his chair. Twilight clambered up in one of the seats facing him. “By the time I realized it, there wasn’t enough time for me to find my real uniform.”

“Oh no,” Twilight’s eyes sparkled as she snickered, “how bad did it look?”

James typed quickly on his computer and pulled up a picture. What she saw immediately put her into a fit of giggles and laughs. In the picture, James stood in his military dress uniform shaking the hoof of a pony covered in dozens of medals, ribbons and badges. The Captain’s outfit seemed about a deep breath away from bursting completely open. Though he had a serious look on his face, she could definitely see annoyance in his eyes. “Wow James,” Twilight managed to get out between laughs, “I think you work out too much.”

“Ha, ha,” James sarcastically replied, “Isamu was very proud of this one. He circulates it around the ship every year on my birthday.”

“I hope he didn’t get you in too much trouble.” Twilight Sparkle slowly relaxed as her snickers died down.

The human leaned backwards with an amused expression. “Funny thing actually; after the ceremony, Admiral Comet Dust told me that he was impressed at how in shape I was. He then recommended that I should upgrade my uniform size to be more comfortable. I wholeheartedly agreed with him.”

“Well done, Isamu.” Twilight smiled, making a mental note to congratulate the lieutenant commander later.

James closed his computer before taking in a deep breath and slowly letting it out. Then he pulled open a drawer in his desk, lifted out a sturdy looking, black plastic box, and placed it in front of her. “Now,” he started, “this is why I brought you here.”

Curiosity wracked the inquisitive unicorn’s brain.

“Go ahead,” James gestured with an outstretched hand, “open it.”

Twilight picked up the plastic case in her hooves and inspected it closely. The grooved surface bore hundreds of small bumps and one side had a small handle too tiny for a pony to use. “This looks human made. Why do you want me to have it if I can’t use it?”

“Twilight, just open the damn thing!” The exasperated human exclaimed.

She let out a humf, before scrutinizing the strange box again, and she caught sight of two small clasps on the same side as the handle. They were too small for a hoof to click open so the unicorn resorted to her magic. Two clicks sounded, allowing her to open the lid of the box. Swathed in a violet aura, the case swung open on James’s desk, revealing a large black weapon inside; one very recognizable to Twilight. Leaning back into her chair, her mouth hung agape. “Is… is that Azure’s pistol?”

“Twilight Sparkle, I want you have this pistol as your personal sidearm. I am very impressed with your skills, especially your strategic and forward thinking abilities. I’m going to need those when we visit Midnight City. A battle mage is a very important asset to my squad makeup, and you’re probably the most talented unicorn I have ever met.” James then leaned forward and pointed a lone finger at her chest with a serious look on his face. “Trust me when I say that. It means something. I have seen some heavy magic users, but they pale in comparison to you.”

Twilight smiled sheepishly at the last remark. “Thank you James, that means a lot to me. Thank you for the pistol as well. I can definitely say; I was not expecting to ever see it again. I was very much surprised to have it during the last simulation.”

“Don’t thank me just yet. This means if needed, I can bring you with me down on the planet and you could be put in harm’s way. I want you to be armed with more than just your magic. Midnight City is a dangerous place.”

A realization swept through Twilight and her eyes widened with understanding. “That’s where you have been training me! The large city under a night sky. That’s Midnight City, right?”

“I was wondering when you’d figure it out.” James grinned. “Yes, lately I’ve been pitting you against the type of forces we could be up against if something goes wrong. I like to hope for the best but plan for the worst.”

Twilight nodded. She liked that quote as well, but something else bothered her. “James, why are you giving me Azure’s pistol? Why not another standard issue firearm? This one feels… different.”

“I don’t know if you remember from your research, but that weapon is not standard issue. That particular pistol was one of many given to ponies by humans during the first contact between our species.”

“Woah!” Twilight looked at the black metal weapon with newfound respect. “Should it be in a museum?”

James waved dismissively. “They have plenty. Hundreds of these guns were given as gifts, but this particular one is special.” He leaned over and pointed at the weapon. “My ancestors gave this gun to the ancestors of Azure.”

A pang of sadness stabbed into Twilight’s chest, and she glanced away before replying. “Why are you giving it to me then? Shouldn’t her family have it?”

James didn’t answer right away. When he did, he spoke slow and quiet. “It turns out that almost her entire family was wiped out when the cygs hit her home planet. That attack is still considered to be the deadliest in the war. Heck, we were so taken back by the sheer number of casualties that it led to the development and construction of the Warpgate on Luna’s moon.”

The Captain took a moment before meeting Twilight’s wide-eyed stare. “When I was searching for any living relatives from her family, I came across something peculiar. She has some family living safely on Harmony, but it turns out that she has a relative who lives on this very ship; a particular purple coated unicorn mare.”

“What!” Twilight yelled in shock. “How is that possible? I never had any foals!”

Her reaction brought a series of laughs from the human. “I can’t give you any specifics and all Twilight. The Wells Doctrine, remember? Anyway, you’re thinking too narrowly if I may say. You had a decent sized family in Equestria before you left, did you not?”

“Oh yeah, I guess I freaked out there for a moment. Still, this is strange.” Twilight thought about Azure which led to her wondering something. I wish I could have gotten to know my descendent better. Maybe we could have gotten along in the end. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”

As if he read her mind, James answered with sorrow in his voice. “I’m sorry Twilight, I only found out while looking for Azure’s family. Before yesterday, I had no idea.” A grimace then crossed his face before he stood up and walked around his desk. “Here, stand up. Let me teach you how to arm yourself properly.”

Over the next half hour, James taught Twilight all of the ins and outs of this particular weapon. He told her its strengths and weaknesses so she could keep them in mind when planning any strategies. Also inside the case was a holster designed for a pony to wear. This allowed Twilight to keep the pistol on her without having to telekinetically hold it at all times.

Once he finished, the human took a step back and admired his work. “Damn Twilight, you look like you could kick some ass! Check your weapon for me one last time.”

Twilight Sparkle pulled the pistol from her holster with ease, quickly wracked the slide to make sure it was unloaded, then held it in her magical grip pointing upwards in a safe direction. “I just hope I will be of help. I still feel out of my element.”

“Well, if Twilight Sparkle out of her element can save the lives of my crew and my ship from utter catastrophe, then I’m slightly afraid of what Twilight Sparkle is capable of when she is in her element.”

She laughed at that remark and was about to ask another question when a pinging sound emanated from the computer on James’ desk. He flipped it up and hit a flashing green button which opened a video screen showing the cheery face of Dmitri Bearclaw.

“Captain, we arrive in system soon. Minute tops.” With his message delivered, the earth pony vanished.

James gestured towards the door. “Shall we?”

The pair made good time on their way to the bridge of the Rainbow Dash. Twilight followed James onto the raised dais in the room’s center and took her seat next to him. While she waited for the human captain to fiddle with his computer, a rumble sounded in her stomach.

Why am I so hungry? She quickly ran through the events of today in her mind. That’s right; I was in the simulator during lunch. I haven’t eaten since breakfast! Ugh, I'm starving. Remembering James’ advice from the Battle of Charybdis, as the crew called it; Twilight opened one of her uniform’s pockets and withdrew a food bar. Fueled by hunger, the lavender unicorn tore apart the shiny metallic wrapper standing between her and her meal. She then proceeded to scarf her food down in an unladylike way that would have made Rarity scoff in horror.

The voice of Rainbow Dash’s Artificial Intelligence pulled Twilight from her inner monologue. “Exiting subspace in five … four … three ... two … one.”

Twilight felt the usual tug on her horn as starlight once again filled the view screen. Off to the left, a deep-red star took up a decent portion of the front canopy. Even though this sun radiated more red light than Harmony’s sun, her eyes did not ache as bad when she looked upon the ball of fusion that made up the heart of this solar system. She could stare at the sun for a lot longer before she needed to avert her eyes.

“Welcome to the Tartarus System, Twilight. Midnight City is located on Erebus, the closest planet to Tartarus itself.” James said from her left. “Erebus orbits around its star less than a fifth of the distance Harmony is from her star. That being said, Erebus can support life because Tartarus is a tiny, red dwarf star. It is cooler and smaller than the yellow sun that gives life to Harmony. Actually,” James then pointed off to the right of the Dash’s front view screen,” you can see Midnight City right there.”

Pulling her eyes from the solar system’s cool burning sun, Twilight noticed a bright crescent that stood out among the starry backdrop of the Milky Way. That must be Erebus, she thought. The side of the planet that faced the sun shone a bright yellow, which gave it the illusion of a molten sea of gold. On the planet’s dark side, night was driven away by billions of artificial lights. This entire half of Erebus seemed to form a megalopolis of immense proportions. Twilight couldn’t believe that such a large city could survive the intense heat of the planet’s daytime. She guessed that even though Tartarus was a cooler star, Erebus should be close enough for its surface to bet still scorching hot.

Her thoughts were interrupted when James pulled up a zoomed in view of Erebus on Rainbow Dash’s view screen. “See how the side closest to the sun is partially molten? One of Midnight City’s largest exports are heavy metals collected by well shielded harvesters that take advantage of the planet’s rampant volcanism. Tartarus weakens Erebus’ crust, which makes it easier for magma to push up from the mantle…”

“Which fund the crime lords that live in the Outlier Systems.” Isamu completed James’ sentence from his seat in front of the captain’s chair, earning an agreeing glance from him.

Something bothered Twilight about this planet. “James, if the side of Erebus that faces its star is covered in molten rock, then how does city not burn?”

James pondered her question with confusion on his face for a moment before his eyes widened. “Twilight, Erebus is tidally locked. It rotates with its sun so that one side always receives sunlight and the other receives none. On the planet’s dark side, Midnight City keeps the atmospheric temperature stable with millions of vents that pump hot or cold air, depending on what is required. The entire city receives its electricity from massive geothermal power plants buried deep in the crust.”

Twilight nodded before studying the peculiar planet in front of her. It seemed so strange that a world cursed with eternal night could support so much life. Times sure have changed. Twilight thought as she was reminded time and time again that the universe was a strange and dangerous place.

As if it heard her inner monologue, the universe reaffirmed her thoughts when the warning klaxon blared to life on the bridge.

“Sir,” Isamu called out, “two small ships are accelerating in our direction. They look like pirate hunter-killers.”

James activated the ship-wide intercom. “All hands, man your battle stations.” Then he called up Rainbow Dash’s A.I. “Alice, I want a closer look at those ships, and can someone tell me where the Athens is?”

“She hasn’t dropped out of subspace yet, Captain.” The A.I. replied as she used Rainbow Dash’s external cameras to zoom in on the attacking ships.

They reminded Twilight of one of Rarity’s sewing needles; long and thin without any large protrusions extruding from the hull. A long trail of glowing blue plasma stretched out from each vessel, making them look more like gigantic missiles than spaceships. They sure are fast, but I don’t see many weapons, Twilight thought. “James, can Rainbow fight them off?”

“Normally, yes.” He said with a grim determination on his face. “But in our weakened state, they would chew through us and they know that.” Leaning forward and swiping through various screens on his computer, James searched for a solution to their predicament.

Twilight sat in her chair quietly as to not interrupt the human’s brainstorming when an idea popped into her head. Pulling up her computer from the seat’s leg rest, Twilight took an inventory of the Dash’s weapons and power supply. That should be enough, she thought. “James, I have an idea.” She said as the human’s eyes locked onto her face. “They can surely tell that Rainbow Dash has been weakened by the damage on her hull. What they don’t know is if she suffered any internal damage. What if you fire the main gun as a warning shot to scare them away?”

In front of her, Dmitri ran a hoof through his mane. “That might work, but they would be sure to try again. I fought these types before. Also, no way we could power up another shot in time.”

“We don’t have to.” Isamu called out, turning to face Twilight with an excited expression on his face. “We just need to buy us time for the Athens to show up. That is a great idea, Twilight.”

“I like it.” James nodded at her with a sly look. “Alice, fire a warning shot from the main gun across the closest pirate ship’s bow.”

“Yes, Captain. I am redirecting all non-critical power to the solar cannon.”

Twilight felt rumbling under her seat and through the front view screen, a warm red glow began emanating from Rainbow’s nose once again. On her computer, she could watch Alice redirecting electricity to the spine mounted gun from all parts of the ship. Because Rainbow Dash’s reactor wasn’t taxed from any recent engagement, such as avoiding anti-ship missiles above a planet sized maelstrom, it only took a short amount of time to fully charge the weapon.

“Firing.” Alice announced over the bridge’s speakers a split second before a column of searing energy flashed into existence. The virtual pony’s aim was true. Only missing the lead most pirate ship by a few hundred meters, the warning shot was far enough away to leave the ship undamaged but close enough to show them that Rainbow Dash still had teeth.

Isamu stared at his screen intently while calling back to James. “Sir, they are changing course. It looks like they are moving to a holding pattern a few hundred thousand klicks off our nose….” He then trailed off as a blinking icon appeared on the computer in front of him. “Captain, the Athens just dropped out of subspace a hundred klicks off our port side!”

On Twilight’s screen, she opened a window from one of Rainbow Dash’s cameras. Zooming in on the steel-grey UEN cruiser, she could see the Athens bristling with weaponry as she prepared to protect her charge. Next to Twilight, James laughed. “Looks like those pirate ships are fleeing. I would too if a fully armed capital warship dropped in to say hello.”

Dmitri laughed while working at his station. “Captain, I have Deval Aldridge on hold. He wishes to speak to you.”

James reached out and pressed his index finger on a blinking image on his computer. The bridge’s front view screen fizzled for a second before the face of a human replaced the solar system’s starry backdrop. This human had dark colored skin, much darker than Isamu’s, and his black hair coiled in long, thick dreadlocks traveling every which way. His smile brought a sense of unease to Twilight when she studied his pearly white teeth.

When she took a look into his eyes, she saw a very cold and calculating creature and it sent a wave of primal fear though her body. This human looked nothing like James, Isamu, Victoria, or any of the other crew. This one was purely a predator, and a very intelligent one at that.

“James Fletcher of the United Equestrian Navy, it is nice to finally meet your acquaintance.” Deval Aldridge spoke in a low raspy tone with an unfamiliar accent. “You are the Captain of the Rainbow Dash; a ship nearly as famous as her namesake. What could an Outlier world such as ours do for your…little flotilla?”

“We received some damage recently. Enough that we require the use of your dry dock and repair facilities.”

“Oh, is that so? Why should I help you? Are you going to threaten me with force?”

James let out a short breath from his nose. “I’m not stupid enough to threaten you, Mister Aldridge. The Athens is here just to keep the scavengers at bay.”

“Smart man.” On the view screen, Deval’s grin grew wider. “Back to business; how are you going to… compensate me for such expensive work?”

Now Dmitri spoke up from his seat. “By calling in favor from old friend.”

When Deval’s eyes found the earth pony, he let out a loud laugh. “Dmitri? Is that you?” He yelled with a wide smile on his face. “It has been a long time, my friend!”

“Too long.” Dmitri replied with a chuckle. “As you can see, we were scuffed up pretty bad.”

“Say no more,” Deval Aldridge said with a raised hand. “I’ll have my best repair workers take a look at the Rainbow Dash. She will be fully operational inside of a week. I guarantee it.”

James nodded at the screen. “Thank you, Mister Aldridge.”

“Please, call me Deval. A friend of Dmitri’s is a friend of mine. Make your way to docking bay A, and you have my word that no one under my command will accost you during your stay in system. Welcome to Midnight City.”

Chapter 11: The Longest Night

The ancient, blackened airlock door slid upwards with a loud hiss, revealing a dark, dirty hallway very different from those onboard the Rainbow Dash. Fighting the urge to make a face of disgust, the unofficial battle mage of the Dash followed her captain onto the orbital dry dock over Erebus. At least I’m not bare-hooved, she thought, trying to make the situation seem better than it was. On each of her four hooves, Twilight wore tight fitting titanium shoes courtesy of Socket Wrench. They looked quite similar to the ceremonial shoes Princesses Celestia and Luna wore, except these had one extra benefit; Twilight could use them to defend herself if needed.

Grumbling to herself, she continued walking along the airlock passage caked with oil, grease, and dirt. Twilight absentmindedly readjusted the holster situated right behind her left shoulder while tuning into the conversation happening in front of her.

“Victoria, I just don’t trust these people.” James argued. “We need to be careful here. This place is dangerous.”

“James, give these people a chance. Life is much harder out here than back in UEN space.” Victoria Schaefer spoke adamantly about her position. “I’m sure they will come to surprise you.”

“The only surprise I’m expecting is to be stabbed in the back, either literally by some assassin, or figuratively when Deval steals my ship.”

“James Fletcher!” Victoria’s tone betrayed her anger and she glared threateningly at him.

“Okay, okay!” James had his hands up in mock surrender. “I was just kidding. I’ll give them a chance.”

“James, you should have learned by now. Never argue with a woman.” The group turned to see Isamu Zhang walking off the Rainbow Dash with Socket Wrench and Dmitri Bearclaw in tow.

Dmitri let out a loud hearty laugh. “Ha, ha! This because they crazy!”

The earth pony’s comment earned him glares from Socket, Victoria, and Twilight, as well as annoyed glances from Isamu and James. “Oh Dmitri, and you wonder why you’re single.” James whispered under his breath too quiet for him to hear but loud enough to incite a snicker from Twilight.

The group continued moving along the airlock tube to an identical rusty door at its other end. Before activating the control panel, James stopped and faced everyone. “Now remember, don’t call Twilight by her real name. Even though we are in the Outlier Systems, if someone is smart enough to put two and two together, we could end up in a dangerous situation. Unless we are on the ship, with only members of the crew onboard, we all need to call her Moondancer.”

Twilight lifted a hoof in confusion. “I’ve been wondering; why that name? It sounds so familiar for some reason, but I can’t remember why.”

“I don’t know,” James replied, “Alice picked it out for some reason. She said something about it fitting your appearance, or your cutie mark, or whatever. I still don’t understand. I would have picked something along the lines of Violet Star or Stargazer. Anyway, if anyone on this station or down in the city can see your cutie mark, then we have a different kind of problem.”

Humans and ponies both laughed at the last remark from the captain except for Twilight who glanced around curiously, trying to figure out what was so funny. After no one came forth with an answer, Twilight asked. “Why would that be a problem?”

This incited another round of laughs but Socket walked over and patted the lavender mare on her side. “It means you would be walking around naked, sweetheart.” Twilight’s face burned from embarrassment.

Without warning, the airlock door slid open on its own, making the three ponies and three humans instantly quiet down. Standing on the other side were two humans with assault rifles held against their chests. The one on the left scanned the group and locked eyes onto James. “Please come with us, Mister Aldridge would like to see you… all of you.”

“I can understand him wanting to meet Socket Wrench, my head mechanic, as well as Dmitri and I, but surely he doesn’t care to meet anyone else. That would be a waste of his time. The rest of my team should coordinate repair schedules with your dock workers.”

Twilight watched the soldier put two fingers on his right ear. Deval must be eavesdropping on us now. The soldier listened for a moment before his eyes flashed to her face. A cold wave of fear washed along her spine and down into her hooves. I don’t like this.

The human stood motionless for a second more before saying, “Yes sir, understood.” Then he returned his right hand to the handle of his assault rifle, keeping one extended finger alongside its trigger housing. “Mister Aldridge has given explicit orders. Please, if you all would come with me right now.”

James let out a sigh before nodding. “Come on everyone. Let’s get this over with.”

The group of humans and ponies followed one of Deval Aldridge’s mercenaries while the other walked closely behind them. They kept their rifles pointing down and towards the side but their body posture betrayed a severe distrust towards the UEN sailors. The UEN must not be too popular around here. Twilight walked with confidence but she did not stray far from James.

After ten minutes of walking, they reached a series of thick armored doors in the heart of the space station. Twilight mumbled aloud the words painted above the doorway; “Space Elevator.”

“How long is the trip to the surface?” James asked the mercenary in front of him.

“Twenty minutes,” the armor clad human stated, “It can move thousands of tons of cargo a day but for this trip, Mister Aldridge reserved the entire elevator just for us.”

“How kind of him.” Socket’s voice had a slight sarcastic inflection as the heavy air-tight door opened with a loud hydraulic whine.

As the six inch thick steel plate rose above eye level, Twilight could see a massive open area that made up the interior of the planet’s space elevator. Separated by steel beams, every wall had eight massive window panes, revealing the starry night sky that she enjoyed studying so much. Her library tree house would have fit inside the elevator several times over, and there still would be extra space. The curious unicorn would have been in awe at this marvel of engineering but she could sense some sort of magic spell at work, even if her eyes told her that the room was entirely empty. What is going on here?

Once the mercenary trailing the group entered the elevator, a loud metallic crash reverberated through the floor as the door closed and locked. The lead mercenary then turned around and faced James. “Sir, I’m going to have to relieve you and your crew of their weapons.”

James took a slight step backwards while crossing his arms in defiance. “I don’t think so.”

Twilight noticed the soldier grip his weapon tighter and his tone grew aggressive when he asked again. “Hand over your weapons, Captain. Don’t make this difficult.”

Before James could respond, a low raspy voice filled the elevator from an unseen source. “Stand down, Lieutenant. They are our guests and I’m sure they will remain civil. Am I correct, James?” Against the opposite window, the light distorted in a large sphere before revealing a lone human figure facing away with his hands clasped behind his back. Around him, a red magical aura faded out before he turned to face the group.

Deval Aldridge! Twilight’s panicked thoughts crowded her mind. He was there the whole time! His invisibility spell must have been what I felt earlier. The idea of someone like Deval having the magical ability to create a nearly perfect stealth field made her feel very vulnerable.

Next to her, James stood firm but Twilight could tell from his body language that he felt just as unnerved as she did. “Of course, Mister Aldridge, we don’t want any trouble. I just believe that it is our right to defend ourselves if necessary.”

“That, I agree with, Captain; and please, call me Deval.” The dark skinned human walked up to James and extended his hand. “Welcome to my planet.”

James only hesitated for a split second before he took the mercenary’s hand and shook it. “Thank you, Deval. How soon can we expect to be underway again?”

“Come; let us discuss this in my office on the surface.” As soon as he finished speaking, the elevator jerked once before plummeting in a rapid decent towards the planet below.

Twilight allowed her stomach to settle before she walked over to one of the windows and looked down. Below lay the night side of Erebus, sprinkled with innumerable specks of light that tended to congregate in one of ten concentric rings. From horizon to horizon, the rings that comprised the city wrapped around a single point. At the center of the megalopolis, the space elevator dropped quickly down to a massive building complex on the surface. This is my first mission. Don’t screw up, Twilight.

With a hiss, the air pressure inside the elevator equalized with that of the city outside. Twilight sniffed hesitantly through her nose, testing the unfamiliar atmosphere. Much to her surprise, it smelled similar to Manehattan in the dark of night. When the doors opened, she followed the rest of the group into the docking bay for the space elevator.

Twilight couldn’t take in the sights fast enough. As her eyes darted back and forth among the milling crowds, she counted a dozen different species in the first ten seconds. Some, she recognized from Equestrian history, while others she had never seen before. She also noticed a few humans here and there but they were few in number when compared to any other species.

They walked along a large metal catwalk that ran along the inside of the hollow capital building. Bright neon signs and lights flashed and pulsed, chasing the darkness away while vying for attention from possible customers. Street vendors competed with one another as they yelled out their wares towards any passerby. Twilight couldn’t catch more than a word from any particular shopkeeper even though she strained her ears trying.

It didn’t take long for Twilight to notice that everyone avoided their group. Like water rushing around a boulder, the teeming masses moved out of the way, only to reform behind them. She noticed that the closest creatures averted their eyes as soon as they noticed Deval Aldridge. They fear him, she thought. Something about the human made Twilight wonder. There must be a good reason to.

The lead mercenary made an abrupt turn and when the crowd in front of him dispersed, it revealed another elevator entrance. Flanked by two additional guards, they shot to attention when they saw Deval. Smaller than the space lift, this elevator still had more than enough room to fit the three ponies and six humans.

During the quiet ride to the top of the tower, Twilight looked out on the store fronts below. The capital building had several more levels just like the one they just left, each filled with thousands of creatures and beasts. “There are so many ponies.” Twilight muttered under her breath.

She thought she spoke quietly enough to avoid being overheard but from behind, she heard James say “It’s been a long time since you’ve been in a big city, Moondancer.”

Moondancer? Twilight thought with confusion. She started to turn and ask James why he called her Moondancer when a cold pang of terror shot through her body. I almost just blew my cover. Twilight steadied her breathing, trying to not show any signs that would alert Deval of the true nature of their situation. She could feel the collar of her uniform dampening with perspiration. Calm down, Twilight.

Much to her satisfaction, everyone else’s attention shifted when the elevator halted its ascent and the door slid open. Twilight followed next to James, scanning her eyes around what looked like Deval’s lobby. I hope nopony noticed my near slipup.

A female griffon sat behind a large and ornate wooden desk constructed from some type of tree that Twilight wasn’t familiar with. Even though the wood looked organic, it had a metallic sheen to it which led her to believe that it probably didn’t come from Harmony in the first place.

“Good evening, Mister Aldridge. You have seven important messages on your computer.”

“Thank you, Talon, my dear. I will be sure to look at them once I am finished meeting with my guests.” Deval said with a wave from his outstretched hand.

“Very well, sir.” The female griffon replied, bowing her head with deference.

Deval Aldridge led the group around his secretary’s desk and through a wide double door into a large open room. A video screen along the entirety of one wall showed Midnight City below. It could have been an actual window to the outside if Twilight hadn’t learned to pick up on the subtle differences between the real thing and a camera feed. She also assumed that a human as smart as Deval would not have a large structural weakness in his personal office.

In the center of the room, a large, beautiful, rectangular stone table had room for seven chairs; one at its head, and three along each side. With a dismissive wave, the two mercenary escorts saluted and briskly left the office, closing the doors behind them. “Sit, my friends!” Deval grinned as he took a seat at the head of the table.

James and Dmitri took the chairs closest to Aldridge, while Twilight Sparkle made sure to grab one of the chairs as far from him as she could. “Now, before we proceed with our business, I think some introductions are in order. You all know who I am, but I only know two of you, James, if you may.”

James Fletcher took a deep breath before starting. “You know Dmitri.”

Interrupting him, Deval laughed. “Ah yes. Dmitri Bearclaw. Born in Stalliongrad, attended the Academy with James, and second in command on the Rainbow Dash. We had some good times working together on Anubis, did we not?”

Dmitri snickered and hooted. “Yes we did, yes we….” He trailed off when he noticed the annoyed stares around the room.

“Continuing,” James said, “Isamu Zhang, my ….”

Again, Deval’s thick accented voice drowned out the UEN officer. “Weapons control officer. Born in Shanghay, and I believe he also attended the Academy with you and Dmitri. Expert at close quarters combat, he is also able to control and wield magic; an uncommon ability in humans.”

“Deval, if you know everyone then why am I giving you introductions? I think we get the point you are trying to make.”

“James, please!” Aldridge leaned back with both arms outstretched in a conceding manner, the smile never leaving his face. “Indulge me.”

“Fine; this is Victoria Schaefer.” James didn’t even bother continuing because sure enough, Deval stepped in.

“Medical specialist, born in Flankfurt and attended medical school at a young age. I also believe she went through a sniper training program but I assume she doesn’t get to use those skills very often.”

Victoria gave the outlier a steely glare. “That’s a side of me I don’t enjoy showing.”

Attempting to diffuse the situation, James gestured to the seat opposite of Twilight. “This is Socket Wrench.”

“She is head mechanic on the Dash.” Deval ignored the continuing stare from Victoria. “From Cloudsdale, she became an engineer while training as a reconnaissance officer. She joined your crew right before the battle over Pegasopolis where she distinguished herself from the rest of your mechanics.”

The moment Twilight dreaded finally came. “And lastly,” James dictated without any hesitation or anxiety, “my battle mage, Moondancer.”

Forcing herself to glance nonchalantly at Deval, she managed to keep her motions fluid even though fear wracked her body. Don’t screw up. Don’t screw up. She gave him a slight nod before returning to stare at the wall screen of Midnight City.

Deval watched her for a long, uncomfortable moment before speaking. “Moondancer? Clever, James. I had my suspicions, but I would have been uncertain if this was her until I saw the way she looked at the central market earlier.” Twilight’s stomach dropped. “Tell me, Twilight Sparkle, what is it like traveling so far into the future?”

It took less than a second before Deval Aldridge sat staring down the barrel of a hand cannon encased in a purple nimbus of light. A loud click sounded as its hammer locked back and a smaller click signaled its safety being disengaged. Not a moment later, the two wide double doors burst open as six heavily armored human mercenaries entered the room wielding a various assortment of shotguns, assault rifles, and submachine guns.

Before they could react, Twilight’s glare shot over at the new intruders. With her horn shining brightly, she proceeded to grab every soldier’s weapon with her magic, yank it from their clutches, and spin each gun around to point at its owner’s face.

Everyone in the room froze and Twilight took this time to assess the situation. James had his submachine gun trained on Deval, while Isamu and Victoria pointed their handguns at the mercenaries in front of the doorway. Socket Wrench stood on all fours, hunched over, wings extended and ready for flight, with a long black combat knife extending from a metal contraption on her foreleg. During all of this, Dmitri sat in his chair glancing around in amazement. “Holy shit!” he exclaimed, breaking the silence.

Twilight, still keeping her magical hold on her pistol and the six weapons she acquired through force, turned to glare at Deval who was still grinning. That is very unsettling, she thought before opening her mouth to speak. “No one has to get hurt. Please just let us go back to our ship and leave in peace.”

Deval Aldridge burst out laughing. His gaze had yet to leave the pistol in his face and the purple unicorn wielding it. “I am very impressed, James. You have been training her, haven’t you?” He then turned his head to face Rainbow Dash’s captain. “Please, let us all be civil about this. I merely wanted to witness her reaction when faced with some danger. I’m glad to see that Miss Sparkle can handle herself quite adequately. I meant it when I said no harm would come to you or any of your crew, Miss Sparkle included.”

Twilight looked over at James. He seemed to ponder Deval’s statement before clicking his submachine gun’s safety on and stowing it in its holster. “Stand down everyone.”

Twilight slowly released her hold on the mercenary weapons, allowing their original owners to retake possession. Then she safetied and rotated her pistol upwards while easing the hammer back to an uncocked position. Around the table, Isamu, Victoria, and Socket visibly relaxed and sat back into their chairs. Deval dismissed his bodyguards with a flick of his wrist and they shuffled out of the office, closing the doors behind them.

“How did you know?” Twilight softly spoke once the doors locked. “How could you possibly have known? This makes no sense.”

“She brings up a good point, Deval.” Isamu joined the conversation though his facial expression resembled someone in deep thought. “Twilight traveled thousands of years into our time period. This is information that, as far as I know, only existed in the upper echelons of Harmony’s government. Maybe even only Princess Celestia and Princess Luna knew about Twilight’s impending arrival.”

Along with the rest of Rainbow’s crew, Twilight Sparkle stared intently at Deval Aldridge. He slowly glanced around the table, never allowing his gaze to linger too long on each UEN citizen. “I have my ways,” the mysterious human responded in a controlled manner.

James rubbed his eyes with a sigh. “Deval, please; I need to know if Twilight’s life could be in danger.”

“You brought her onto this planet and you are asking me if she is in danger?” Deval Aldridge leaned back in his seat with a skeptical raise of an eyebrow and a slight smirk.

“Come on, Deval, there is a difference. You know that with her magical abilities, she is a valuable member of my crew. We are trying to get back home, but, if word were to spread of her situation, she could become a target for billions of sentients. With the Elements of Harmony in limbo, many might believe that controlling her is the key to harnessing their power. Twilight is a smart and powerful mare and she can look after herself, but it would be much safer if her identity was kept secret.”

With a slow conceding nod, Deval brought his hands to rest on his chest while collecting his thoughts. “I wanted to hear your reasoning behind your actions, brother. I do agree with you of course. If it makes you feel better, I am the only person on this planet who knows the truth behind your new battle mage and I plan to keep it that way.”

James stared at the table in front of him while thinking. “How can you be the only one in your organization who knows? Did you … retire the members of your intelligence agency who told you of Twilight?”

That question brought forth a series of chuckles from Deval. “No, not at all, James. I also did not discover the information about her arrival from espionage. Rather, I happen to hold a piece of history in my possession. I own a diary written by a pony who lived a long time ago and was actually quite close to you, Miss Sparkle. Her name was Rarity.”

Twilight’s throat seized shut and her vision narrowed to mere pinpoints. A diary written by Rarity! She opened her mouth, attempting to ask a million questions at once but all she managed was a feeble, “How?”

“I am quite fond of antiques; they are, perhaps I should say, a weakness of mine.” Deval Aldridge reached out and knocked a large fist against the stone table. “This petrified oak table may not look it, but it is several thousand years old; around five thousand to be exact.”

“No…” James remarked, denial thick on his tongue.

Deval Aldridge simply nodded. “Yes, brother. Believe me, because I speak the truth. This table sat in a Canterlot museum for millennia because it is a relic from the past. Also, the fact that the wielder of the Element of Generosity was its last owner surely helped in its preservation.”

James seemed to carefully choose his next words. “Deval, did you steal this table?”

“Not at all!” He refuted with indignation. “I may be a criminal in your eyes but I still have my standards. During the attack on Harmony by the Cygnul, several major museums across the planet were severely damaged in the initial bombardment. Most of them were rebuilt but at a cost. In order to raise funds some museums had to auction off their less important wares. This table was auctioned off because it had no other special significance except for being owned by Rarity; or so they thought.”

Deval Aldridge stood up and slid his chair back but waved James back down when he attempted to rise. “Let me show you something.” He began moving around the table, dragging his chair with him. “I had it carefully disassembled and brought in here where I spent my free time reassembling the pieces.” Deval reached the opposite end of the table and sat down. “While lifting and moving the different table sections, I found that this end section was slightly lighter than it counterpart. When I investigated, I found a secret compartment.” Deval lowered a hand to the edge of the table for a moment before an audible click broke the intense silence in the room. A small drawer popped out and Deval’s other hand pulled it open. “And what I found completely changed the way I viewed the world.”

Reaching into the drawer, Deval’s hand withdrew holding a small, sealed box constructed out of some transparent material. Twilight had refused to blink during the long conversation but her dry eyes had no trouble seeing what lay nestled within the box. A dark canvas-bound book; three faded diamond-shaped stencils on one side; the calligraphed signature that spelt out a single name. Rarity. Oh my Celestia! It’s really hers! Twilight’s already narrow vision continued to shrink as darkness overtook her peripherals. Before everything vanished into black, the last thing she saw was the name of her best friend, a pony she had last seen a few short months ago but who had also died millennia before.

Rarity stood in a suit of custom forged armor on the bow of Equestria’s flagship, the Alicorn. On either side of her stood the other Elements of Harmony, each adorned in their own unique protective outfits. A cold, smoky, northern wind ruffled the elegant mare’s coiffed mane and tickled her nostrils. Large blooming storm clouds filled the horizon in front of the airship.

“Excuse me ladies, the aerial fleet has returned from the latest raid on Moonclaw’s eastern flank. Latest reports determine that these attacks are slowing his advance towards Canterlot.” A voice behind the five mares caught their attention, revealing a unicorn stallion. “In addition, all refugees have been safely evacuated to the southern half of the country.”

“Thank you, Captain Knighthawk. Send a message to Princess Celestia that we will return to Canterlot as soon as the fleet regroups.” Rarity calmly addressed the guard pony who bowed before making his way to the airship’s bridge.

Returning her gaze to the dark storm clouds to the north, the white mare let out a heavy sigh. To her left, Fluttershy rubbed her nose against Rarity’s cheek. “It will be okay,” the yellow pegasus whispered.

On Rarity’s other side, Rainbow Dash laid a wing over her back. “We will all make it out of this alive.” She turned to see a small smirk on the cyan-coated mare’s face. “Don’t you worry, Princess Celestia will lead us to victory.” Rainbow’s tone may have been unwavering, but the pegasus couldn’t hide the anxiety in her eyes.

Rarity returned the smile before facing forward again. Part of her couldn’t help but wonder. If the Princesses could turn the tide, then why haven’t they done so yet? Her thoughts mirrored the cumulonimbus clouds that slowly trudged their way south.

Pulling out a small journal, Rarity sat back on her haunches while flipping it open to the last page. She had one final entry to write before she needed to start a new book. With practiced ease, the white unicorn slipped a pen out from the spine and wrote the date and time. She thought for a moment about what to write and debated whether to describe today’s events in detail like her other entries, but with the wulven so close, she didn’t want to dwell on the storm at the horizon. With a quick flick of the pen, she simply wrote down a single sentence. They are coming, and we can’t stop them.

Twilight Sparkle came to, still staring at the well-preserved journal held in Deval Aldridge’s hand. She must not have blanked out for long because it seemed like nopony noticed her lapse in reality, but her heavy breathing did alert Victoria who sat in the seat next to her. The lavender unicorn initially flinched when she felt a soft hand touch her back, but she relaxed when she realized who it belonged to.

Worry and concern filled in the blonde-maned human’s eyes while she reassuringly rubbed the pony’s back. Twilight took in several deep breaths to slow her heart rate before simply giving Victoria a wordless nod. With a last supportive squeeze, she removed her hand but still kept her eyes on the purple unicorn. Gazing around the table, Twilight tuned into James, Socket, Isamu, and Deval quarreling over the journal.

“I’m not calling you a liar, Deval.” James leaned forward against the table, pointing one finger at the mercenary. “But how could paper survive for so long?”

Isamu continued to stare at his hands in front of his face. “The diary should have disintegrated centuries ago.” Next to him, Socket Wrench nodded in agreement.

“I’m telling you! Rarity placed a powerful preservation charm on the journal! This here is the real deal.” Deval rebutted with a wave of his arm, gesturing to the clear case on the table.

James opened his mouth to argue when Twilight quietly chimed in, “It’s real.”

All conversation ceased as six pairs of eyes locked onto her face. “Are you sure? How do you know?” James gently asked.

Twilight let out a deep breath, glancing at the canvas journal once more. “I am one hundred percent sure that is Rarity’s journal. I … just know.” Victoria gave Twilight a reassuring touch before nodding at James.

Deval Aldridge rapped his left knuckles against the table before pointing one of his large fingers at Twilight. “I’ve read every single entry of your friend’s journal, Miss Sparkle. She wrote about your untimely death in great detail, but something about your run-in with this… Rift Apparatus rubbed me the wrong way. From the description of your accident, it sounded more like you were pulled into a space-time portal.”

The dark-skinned human placed both elbows on the table and rested his chin on his hands. “Your friends tried researching anything and everything they could find on that device, but the princesses gently forced them to stop.”

A lump formed in Twilight’s throat. “My friends continued looking for me? Why would Princess Celestia stop them?”

“Princess Celestia’s actions led me to believe that she must have known when and where you were traveling to. There would have been nothing your friends could have done and she needed them focused on Equestria’s current predicament at the time, the Wulven War.”

Twilight’s ears drooped and her gaze rested upon the small enchanted book. “They must have missed me so much.”

“They did, Twilight Sparkle.” Deval Aldridge let out a small sigh, surprising her.

He is a deeper person than he lets on. After a short moment of silence, Twilight stood taller in her seat. “Please, continue Mister Aldridge.”

“How many times must I say it?” The mercenary’s volume surprised the purple pony and made her flinch, but her apprehension vanished when she saw his humorous smile back in force. “Please, all of you can call me Deval! We are amongst friends.”

“My apologies, Deval,” Twilight smiled and waved a hoof for him to carry on.

With a respectful nod, Deval Aldridge clasped his fingers together before speaking. “When I pieced the truth of your fate together, I knew that you had not reappeared yet or my intelligence organization would have been able to find evidence of your return. A secret like that would have been impossible to hide. So, I just had my spies pay attention to any strange orders sent out from the UEN naval headquarters with the hope that you would return in my lifetime.”

Socket Wrench had been quiet for most of the conversation but she interjected before Deval could continue. “What if she didn’t return in your lifetime?”

“I plan on living for quite some time, Miss Socket Wrench, but eventually I will groom a worthy successor to run the solar system after I am no longer here. I was going to make arrangements to ensure that the Element of Magic would have an easier time reaching Harmony.”

“Deval, this is all great to hear and all,” James spoke with slow conviction, “but I just want to know the answer to one question. Why? Why do you care about Twilight’s fate?”

With those words, Deval’s characteristic smile vanished, replaced with a look of bitterness and disgust as he lifted an arm and fiddled with a device on his wrist. On the ceiling in the middle of the group, a holographic emitter flashed on and Aldridge immediately typed a few rapid commands into his personal computer. After a moment, he hit enter and in the center of the table, a three dimensional figure appeared. The being that now hovered in the air made Twilight gulp, as she had become quite familiar with them recently. “The cygnul.” The mare muttered just loud enough to be heard by everyone.

Deval Aldridge stabbed a finger at the ghostly cygnul rotating in the hologram. “I am sick and tired of these bastards pushing on our boundaries. On paper, they are only in open conflict with the UEN, but in reality, they are extending every one of their borders. I don’t know how much your naval intelligence knows, James; but cygnul raids have been steadily increasing over the past fifty years. There is never enough hard evidence to prove it, but I’m not an idiot. I know what their work looks like. It’s not just us outliers too. The griffons have been attacked just as much as we have.”

“Why can’t you join forces with us then? We could form an alliance!” James slammed a fist on the table in frustration.

“It’s not that easy, brother. No one trusts the UEN and it would take hard evidence to prove to the media that the cygnul are a real threat. You and I know the truth, but the public needs to be convinced or a full blown civil war could break out.”

James Fletcher stared at his fist for a second before continuing. “So you want to see if Twilight can reactivate the Elements of Harmony?”

“I ran the numbers based off historical combat data my organization has stolen from the UEN and the griffons.” At this remark, Deval held up a hand to stall Fletcher’s protest before he could start. “If we don’t find a new strategy or weapon, we have maybe a century or two at tops before the cygnul can overwhelm all of us. Your warpgate staved off the apocalypse and in my opinion, bought you a hundred years. Unfortunately, the cygnul can build and crew ships a lot faster than the rest of us can.”

With this revelation, a thick silence fell among the ponies and humans in the room save for an awkward cough from Dmitri who had been uncharacteristically quiet recently. Eventually, Twilight spoke up. “So the fate of all our species rests on me taking up the Element of Magic again?”

“Yes it is, Twilight Sparkle. Right now, it seems the Elements are our only hope.” Aldridge dipped his head towards her. “I just feel it be true.”

“But, what if I can’t figure out how to make them work? I only got the Elements to work last time with the help of my friends,” her voice trailed off, “and they’re … gone.”

Isamu Zhang met the frightened unicorn’s wandering gaze. “Twilight Sparkle, you are a smart pony and I know you will figure it out. You are still the Element of Magic. Do not ever doubt that. We will cross each hurdle, one at a time.”

“He is right, Twilight. You’re here now and there is nothing that can stop you.” Socket Wrench beamed her sunny smile at the lavender pony.

“So, the plan is to take Twilight to Harmony, wake up the Elements, and end the war.” Victoria examined the nails on her right hand before looking around the table. “But we can’t leave here until repairs are done. What should we do in the meantime?”

James leaned far back into his chair. “Well, I don’t know about everyone else, but after everything that just happened, I sure could use a drink.”

“Me too.” Dmitri Bearclaw, Socket Wrench and Isamu Zhang replied in unison resulting in a series of chuckles from the trio.

Twilight stared at her two forehooves resting on the table edge in front of her. First, it was just my country’s future at stake, but now it’s the entire galaxy’s. What have I gotten myself into? Turning her head to the left, she gave James a worn-out stare. “I could use a drink too.”

A loud clap from Deval caught everyone’s attention. “It is settled then! You all have been under too much pressure recently and it is time to unwind. You are all going to be my guests tonight at the most prestigious nightclub in the Outlier Systems, Elysium.”

At this, Dmitri leapt out of his seat, pumping a hoof in the air. “Woooo hoooo!”

Deval Aldridge stood and motioned the rest of the table to do the same. “Come, my friends. Let us party through the night.” He winked at the group and gestured to the view screen still displaying the city that would never sleep.

Chapter 12: Elysium

Need… water. Twilight Sparkle’s brain mumbled to her as she forced her eyelids open against their will. Not alone in their protest, her eyes burned with an angry fire, now completely red around her irises. The muted light in the room was more than powerful enough for the unicorn to concede to her pounding head’s demands and seek the comforting darkness underneath her pillow.

Why is my pillow heavy? Twilight’s muddled mind thought as she fled the light. Why is it so warm? What the hay, did it just move on its own? She shot up and opened her eyes in fear, their sensitivity ignored as her fight-or-flight response took precedence. It took a few powerful blinks before Twilight’s brain remembered how to focus her vision, but eventually she realized what she had slept on last night. Socket Wrench?

The butterscotch pony lay curled up on her side, her back facing Twilight as her chest rose and fell rhythmically. Every few seconds, her wing, along with one of her ears, twitched as the result of some faraway dream.

The unicorn stared at her friend for a long minute while her mind rebooted. Slowly, but surely, her thoughts became more clear and concise. That usually would have been a good thing, but as she sluggishly became more aware, her confusion continued to rise. Twilight sensed something draped on her coat and when she studied herself, she saw that instead of her uniform, she wore regular pony clothes. The cute outfit she wore sparked a few snapshots of memories in her mind, but Twilight still felt that much more had transpired in the last twelve hours. What happened last night?

Looking around, the lavender unicorn took in her surroundings. She currently sat on her haunches in the middle of a large, nearly cloud-like blanket; a comforter of sorts crumpled on the floor. In front of her, Socket lay curled up, wearing civilian pegasus attire from some designer she didn’t know. Looking across the room, she realized that the source of the ambient light in the room came from a wall-to-wall display of Midnight City below, albeit from a different view than the one in Deval Aldridge’s office. Lines of flying vehicles crisscrossed the sky at different altitudes creating the threads of commerce that gave the city its life.

In front of the view screen stood a work desk, its surroundings littered with assorted papers, writing instruments, and a few books. The culprit of the mess apparently did not make it very far; Twilight realized that laying on top of the desk, with his head hanging off and tongue lolling out of his mouth, was James Fletcher. It felt strange seeing him wearing anything but his uniform, but the captain now also wore normal clothes. On the floor underneath James’ head, a puddle of drool grew steadily larger, leaving a thick watermark on an official-looking document.

Far to the left to the desk, a large king sized bed took up half of the adjacent wall. Well, that explains where the comforter came from. Twilight considered as she tilted her head to see above the footboard. In the center of the mattress, Deval Aldridge lay sprawled on his back, still wearing the dark colored clothes he wore yesterday. Surprisingly, all of the blankets remained folded neatly into the sides of the bed. His head rested on a lone white pillow, though the bed looked like it should have been large enough to fit two more.

As if sensing the unicorn’s stare, Deval leaned his head up and gave her his characteristic smile. “Good morning, Twilight Sparkle,” he said with absolutely no indication of a hangover. He seemed to enjoy the exhausted look on Twilight’s face before he let his head rest once more on his pillow.

I have a feeling no one will ever really understand that human. Twilight shook her head with disdain. Unfortunately, she quickly regretted that decision as a spike of pain lanced through the back of her brain, reminding her of the terrible hangover that her body would have to deal with soon.

Once the pain subsided, Twilight continued scanning the room even though it seemed to raise more questions than it answered. Off to the right of the cityscape, a large brown reclining chair resided in the corner. An overhanging lamp above and two tables of old paper-bound books on either side made it look like a great place to relax and read. Currently though, the recliner’s only occupant seemed to be too preoccupied with waking up than enjoying a good novel.

Curled up around a large fluffy pillow, Victoria Schaefer mirrored Twilight’s actions as she slowly glanced around the room. The human’s blonde mane, usually brushed immaculately, hung loosely across her face in a tangled mess, and her dress was clearly creased beneath her long legs. Victoria’s tired eyes finally found Twilight’s red ones. Wordlessly, the two females both asked the same thing: What happened last night?

With a loud groan, Victoria pushed herself out of the recliner and stood up to her full height. Rising on her tiptoes, she stretched her arms high in the air, letting out a quiet squeak. She ran a hand through the tangled mess of her hair before walking towards the wall behind Twilight.

Twilight’s body chose this time to remind her of its intense craving for water. Oh my Celestia, I need water now! Stumbling to her hooves, the mare turned to see Victoria disappear into a large and ornate master bathroom. She quickly followed the blonde maned human and reared up to reach the second sink, next to the one occupied by Victoria. Both pony and human spent several long seconds gulping down cool, refreshing, liquid life to satiate their bodies’ thirst.

A sound from behind Twilight caused her and Victoria to freeze, halting their voracious consumption of water to try and find its source. Her eyes locked onto the one thing that probably did not belong in this bathroom; a pair of human legs clad in dress pants, dangling out of the edge of the bathtub. Sharing an inquisitive glance, Victoria and Twilight walked over to investigate.

Inside of the bathtub lay Isamu Zhang. His head rested on a comfortable-looking pillow as he stared up at the two females with disdain. “What did you two do to me? I can feel my heart beating in my head.” Isamu croaked.

“You don’t remember?” Victoria asked quietly. Her face grimaced with every raspy word.

“I remember a few things.” Isamu grumbled as he began pulling himself out of the tub. Twilight and Victoria helped him to his feet before he quickly headed for the sink to gulp down water.

Twilight thought hard about the events of the previous night. “I remember a little bit as well, but I keep drawing blanks throughout the party. I don’t remember everything”

Victoria walked to the sinks and pulled open a few drawers before finding a hair brush which she began using immediately. “Same here. One thing is bothering me though. Everyone is here except Dmitri. Do either of you remember where he ended up?”

Twilight and Isamu exchanged questioning looks, water dribbling down the human’s chin “No idea.” Twilight answered.

“That is a problem. Dmitri out by himself… it’s not a good thing.” Victoria had managed to force her hair to relax into a semblance of a normal hairstyle. “Let’s see how the others are faring.” She turned and smiled at Isamu and Twilight before leading the pair back into the bedroom. During the conversation in the bathroom, their voices must have been loud enough to awaken the rest of the group. Socket Wrench and James Fletcher were both studying their surroundings as they fruitlessly tried to piece together what had happened, and Deval Aldridge stood next to his bed stretching out his leg muscles.

“Good morning, my friends.” Aldridge chuckled at the disheveled appearance of everyone in the room. “I haven’t had that much fun in a long, long, time. In fact, I don’t think I have ever had a night where I could not remember everything that happened.”

“Too bad we also have the same problem.” Isamu ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

“Deval,” Twilight asked the dark-skinned human, “do you know where Dmitri is?”

The outlier let out a loud laugh causing everyone else to involuntarily flinch in pain. Then he simply raised a finger and pointed up. Five pairs of eyes rose to look at the large vaulted ceiling above. In the center, hung an impressive chandelier carved out of crystal. Though its beauty was captivating, what caught their attention was hanging below the chandelier.

“That is… interesting.” Isamu mused aloud while Victoria and James stared openmouthed.

“Wow.” Twilight sat on her haunches to get a better picture of the scene. Dangling below the expensive-looking chandelier like a large, distended cocoon, hung Dmitri wrapped head to tail in a white bed-sheet. Or probably several bed-sheets from the look of it.

Dmitri’s neck and head were the only things visible from the cotton cocoon around him as he slowly rotated in a circle, blown by a nearby air vent. The brown-coated earth pony let out a deep throaty moan while he blinked a lone half lidded eye. Swollen and blackened from a large bruise, his other eye remained closed. “Ugh, please get me down from here!”

Socket Wrench broke the tension with a hearty chuckle. Twilight let out a giggle at the earth pony’s predicament while across the room; James stared at his second in command with fascination. Meeting Twilight’s gaze, he cleared his throat before speaking. “Twilight, what do you remember from last night?”

Raising a hoof to scratch her chin, Twilight Sparkle wracked her brain for details. “Well to start, I do remember now that all of us changed into civilian clothes to avoid any incidents with the locals and our UEN uniforms. Then, Deval led us to Elysium….”

“Two glasses of sparkling wine from Saumur for the beautiful mares in front of me.” A handsome unicorn bartender smirked at Twilight Sparkle and Socket Wrench as he served the two ponies. “Excellent choice if I may add. Saumur is known for all types of wines.”

“Thank you, monsieur.” Socket Wrench beamed at the unicorn pony as she scanned a card over a sensor, and input a generous number for a tip. The bartender bowed his head in thanks before moving on to the next customer.

Socket smiled at her friend. “Bartending is hard work. Showing a little gratitude will get you a long way with ponies in jobs like his. I just paid for good service and even better drinks. Welcome to the future Twi… oh, I mean Moondancer!” She winked at her friend and held her glass up. Twilight, with a slight amount of concentration, raised the delicate flute with magic. The two ponies laughed and clinked glasses before taking a liberal sampling of the wine.

“Wow,” Twilight stated as her taste receptors went wild, “that is very good!”

Socket smiled, taking another sip. “This is my favorite wine from the colony. Hey, I have an idea. After we take you back home and end the war, how about we get the gang together and go on vacation to Saumur? We can relax by one of the beaches and also go wine tasting!”

Twilight answered by raising her glass for another clink which Socket mirrored immediately. “It’s a deal!” As she took another sip of wine, Twilight noticed an earth pony mare climb onto the bar seat next to her out of the corner of her eye. Normally, she wouldn’t have paid any attention to the stranger as she couldn’t keep track of the hundreds of sentients in the bar, but a familiar voice caught her ear.

Setting her glass of wine down, Twilight glanced at Socket who returned her inquisitive stare. Without saying a word, the two ponies covertly sized up their neighbor while pretending to scan their surroundings. Though the mare herself wasn’t familiar in any way, Twilight and Socket snickered when they realized who she was conversing with.

“Da, I am privileged doctor from Kane system. Here on business trip but I find time for relaxation.” The thick accented voice from Dmitri Bearclaw drifted over to the two giggling UEN ponies nearby.

“Oh, very interesting!” The mare had a pleasant, surprised look on her face. Whatever she saw in the brown-coated earth pony in front of her was lost on Socket and Twilight.

Glancing back to make sure her friend had a good look at the spectacle in front of them, Twilight saw Socket Wrench stick her tongue out and make a face as if she had eaten something foul. The lavender unicorn had to cover her mouth with a forehoof to keep from laughing out loud.

“Then you must know Doctor Penicillin; head of medicine at Headley Memorial,” the mare pressed upon Dmitri. Socket and Twilight shared a wide-eyed look before quickly turning to see Dmitri’s reaction.

For his benefit, the brown earth pony’s features only flashed fear for a split second before he answered. “Of course! I met him earlier today actually.”

Regrettably for him, the mare caught his lie. “Doctor Penicillin has been off world for a week now. He has been distributing vaccines for feather flu in the Freya solar system.” Before Dmitri could open his mouth to recover, the mare stood, scoffing at his dumbfounded face before sauntering away.

Watching her leave with a heavy sigh, Dmitri glanced upwards to see Twilight Sparkle and Socket Wrench laughing at his predicament. With a grumble and a roll of the eyes, the stocky earth pony stalked off to search for a new target.

Socket Wrench downed the rest of her wine between giggles before waving at the bartender who quickly ran over. “Could my friend and I have two rum and cokes? Top shelf rum and make them triples please.” She beamed a sunny smile at the unicorn pony.

“Right away, miss!” The bartender called out as he immediately went to work.

Finishing her wine, Twilight’s glass joined Socket’s on the bar top. “Triples?” She asked with disbelief.

Socket shot her a mischievous smirk. “Oh, yes.” Just then, two large glasses swirling with ice, rum, and coke appeared on the bar. “Thank you, darling!” The butterscotch pegasus tipped him again with her card before sliding off her seat. “Moony,” Socket said with a wink, “could you grab the drinks? I can see James and Deval at a table over there.” She pointed across the club with one of her wings.

“Ha, ha. Very funny.” Twilight sarcastically replied. She used her magic to lift both rum and cokes before following the pegasus. “I’m right behind you.”

“After that, my memory gets fuzzy. I can thank that rum and coke, Socket ordered for me.” Twilight stated while reading the breakfast menu for the restaurant on the roof of Deval’s place. Across the table, Socket Wrench gave her an innocent smile. “I just need one of you to jog my memory.”

“Well, I can help you there.” Isamu Zhang did not even try to hide the regret he felt for drinking so much the night before. “Do you remember the shots we took?”

“Oooo, yes!” Yelled Socket, earning her a few glares from those who still had headaches.

Twilight smiled over at Isamu. “Ah, yes. The shots.”

“Shots! Shots! Shots! Shots!” Four humans and three ponies led the chant as a tableside bartender shook a silver mixer behind a row of seven small, empty glasses. Even Dmitri, whose face was freshly soaked from the drink after overstepping his bounds during a failed flirting attempt, yelled excitingly while wiping vodka from his eyes. Enjoying the attention, the human bartender made a flashy show of mixing and pouring his customer’s drinks.

As a cool blue liquid flowed from the silver mixer and into the line of glasses, the human called out, “and seven snowdrop shots!” Then he slid each glass to a member of the table.

Deval Aldridge raised his glass first but he was quickly joined by everyone else. “To the end of the war!” He paused for a moment as everyone watched him intently, waiting for him to continue. “To the end of the war so we can do this again whenever, wherever, and however many times we like!” A chorus of cheers erupted around him and everyone tapped their shot on the tabletop before downing it in a gulp.

“Wow!” Twilight stuttered after she daintily set her empty glass down. Cold shivers ran up and down her spine as the snowdrop shot made its way to her stomach. “That was strong, yet oddly refreshing.” Twilight took in a deep breath of what felt like frigid artic air, making her feel invigorated and energized, even if her previous drinks had begun to cloud her mind.

Across the table, James chuckled at Twilight’s shivering while he fought his own response to the chilling alcoholic concoction. Looking over at the bartender, James raised his voice to be heard over the music. “Seven sonic rainboom shots please!” The bartender nodded and deftly pulled fresh glasses from behind his mobile bar table as he went to work.

Twilight watched in amazement as the human held four bottles of various colored alcohols with his right hand, and three more with his left. By rotating his wrists, he was able to lightly pour layers of different colored liquors without mixing them, leaving behind a shot containing all the colors of a rainbow.

As each shot reached its owner, James cleared his throat. “Moondancer and Deval,” he started but had to pause for the drunken chuckles from the table at Twilight’s new name. “The officers of the Rainbow Dash have an unofficial tradition where we order a round of sonic rainboom shots whenever we are lucky enough to have shore leave. Now, neither of you are formally part of the crew but I think extenuating circumstances come into play here.”

James now looked across the table at the lavender-coated unicorn. “Twilight Sparkle,” he spoke quietly enough to avoid being overheard by the busy bartender cleaning up his workspace. “You’re my unofficial battle mage and your actions have saved multiple members of the crew as well as the ship herself. We wouldn’t be sitting here if it weren’t for you.”

Now, the captain’s gaze fell upon Deval Aldridge. “Deval, I don’t even want to think about what would have happened if you didn’t agree to help us. I may not see eye to eye with you on everything, but you have my sincerest thanks.” The dark-skinned human nodded his acknowledgement to Fletcher while his ever-present sly smile played mysteriously on his lips.

James Fletcher raised his glass, an action mirrored by the rest of the table. “Allow me to quote a saying from Old Earth.” He collected his thoughts before continuing. “A ship in port is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for.”

The four humans and three ponies knocked their glasses together with a clink and once more, seven shots vanished down the hatch. It was a good thing that Twilight had managed to quickly drink all of hers, because it did not take long before the sonic rainboom shot took effect. Very quickly, a fiery sensation flooded her mouth as if she had just eaten a spoonful of cinnamon. Her chest and stomach heaved painfully making her feel like she had been apple-bucked. While reeling from the drink, Twilight rubbed the tears from her eyes and she became aware of the sweat soaking the fur on her face and neck. “Those hit hard!” She managed to squeak out.

Around the table, the other ponies and humans also reeled from the effects of the sonic rainboom shot. Dmitri seemed to have the weakest reaction as he only had a few tears in his eyes while he laughed at everyone else. Though, those tears might be from that drink thrown into his face, Twilight thought with some amusement. Next to him, Victoria waved a hand at her lolling tongue, trying to cool it off, while Socket Wrench tipped her empty rum and coke glass upside down to pour some of the ice into her mouth. James and Deval both sat back in their seats, neither willing to show any reaction even though sweat coursed down their faces. Finally, Isamu kept himself busy by gulping down large quantities of whatever drink he had ordered earlier.

“Da, little pony!” Dmitri grinned at her as he slurred his words. “They are ssshtrong now, but jushhht wait five minutesssh and you sheee how shhhtrong they really are!” The earth pony leaned his head back, laughing loud enough to attract a few annoyed stares from nearby tables.

Twilight’s ears drooped and her eyes grew impossibly wide as she slowly averted her gaze back down to the empty glass in front of her. Uh Oh…

“I have to say,” Twilight managed to mumble around a mouthful of some of the best oat pancakes she had ever had. “Dmitri, you were right. Those shots hit me five minutes later, almost to the second.” Swallowing that bite, she wasted no time replacing it with more syrupy-soaked-heaven-on-a-plate.

Victoria dabbed a napkin to her mouth before speaking. She still refused to act uncouth even if she battled hangover-induced hunger. “I still don’t know why we take those shots. The same thing happens to us every time. Remember what Albert Einstein said? Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

James set fork down with a grin before motioning with an open hand. “Victoria, we serve on a patrol frigate, a class of ship that has the highest casualty rate of any spacecraft, civilian or military. I’m pretty sure we are insane by definition.”

The blonde maned human nodded her head in agreement. “Touché, James.”

Twilight took advantage of the lull in the conversation to gesture at the waiter in order to replenish her dwindling supply of water. While he filled up her glass, she let her mind wander about last night for a short moment before she came across a memory that made her immediately burst out laughing. The mare glanced around the table at the curious expressions staring back at her. “I just remembered something. Did anyone see how Dmitri got his black eye?”

At mention of the swollen side of his face, Dmitri lightly touched it with one of his hooves, only to flinch and groan from the pain. “Ouch! I feel like I got hit by train.”

Twilight covered her mouth with a hoof while giggling. “At the time, it looked really painful, but I guess alcohol helped deaden the nerves.”

“That sounds like Dmitri’s usual treatment for anything,” James managed to get out around a mouthful of scrambled egg. Swallowing before continuing, the human cleared his voice and began an imitation of Dmitri’s Stalliongradian accent. “Broken leg, need cast you say? Nyet, just give me vodka.”

Dmitri glared at the laughing humans and ponies sitting around the table with his lone, healthy eye. “Da, very funny.” The earth pony waved a foreleg in the air nonchalantly, but flinched when his hoof brushed against the swollen skin on his face. This resulted in another wave of laughs from the table.

“So Twilight, how did Dmitri get that shiner?” Socket Wrench asked with a wide grin on her face.

“It happened after those shots, while we were out on the dance floor.”

Twilight, Socket, and Victoria twirled, spun, and shuffled in their corner of the dance floor to a thumping, electronic song. To Twilight, every dance melody seemed to blend into the next one, leaving no clear beginning and ending. In time with the beat and the flashing lights, the purple unicorn reared her front legs up before dropping down and kicking her back right leg out. I am the best dancer on the floor! The mare thought, not even realizing that it just might have been the shots talking.

With a big smile plastered on her face, she watched Socket dance in front of her. The pegasus used her wings to backflip and spin around in a series of moves that would have been graceful if the mare hadn’t gone drink for drink with Twilight. Next to her, Victoria twirled around on her two legs; a feat still amazing to Twilight. How can humans do that so easily? The blonde-maned human shifted her hips around while holding a drink in one hand, and pumping her other in a fist to the music’s beat.

Glancing behind her, Twilight could see James, Isamu, and Deval engaging one another in an argument at their table. The trio’s clumsy movements and glazed eyes indicated that the sonic rainboom shots had taken effect. James’ gestured to Deval with an open hand while speaking, though Twilight couldn’t hear anything being said over the music. He must have said something funny because the three humans broke out in laughs before reaching forward to clink their drinks together.

Twilight let her eyes roam the sprawling dance floor of Elysium. Large enough to hold a couple hundred different sentients, she tried to pick out the remaining member of the group. Scanning the teeming masses, she caught sight of a familiar brown-coated earth pony. Dimitri had resumed his hunt for a mare to dance with, but his lumbering gate told her that the shots affected him more than he had let on earlier.

On the raised level surrounding the floor, Dimitri sauntered drunkenly up to a lone pegasus mare who had been watching the crowd while lightly bobbing to the music. Like before when she watched the three human males, Twilight couldn’t hear a word being said between the two. But from the shocked expression on the mare’s face, Twilight assumed that Dmitri’s attempted flirting might have been a bit too forward. A slap on Dmitri’s face from the pegasus confirmed her suspicions, and the mare chose to fly away from her trashed suitor, leaving him bleary-eyed and stumbling against the bar.

Dmitri, will you ever learn? That’s no way to talk to a mare. Twilight thought with disappointment. She shook her head ruefully and turned to rejoin her two friends, but at the last second, something caught her eye. Over by Dmitri, a huge earth pony had arrived, with the angry pegasus mare in tow. Nearly twice the size of the UEN pony, the newcomer jabbed a hoof into Dmitri’s chest to accentuate a point.

Waving a hoof casually in the air, Dmitri replied while turning away. Whatever he had said must have severely angered the large earth pony because at that moment, he reached over, pulled Dmitri close, and punched him in the face with a hoof hard enough for the impact to be heard over the music. The large earth pony then lifted and threw Dmitri into a table, knocking off every drink into its owner’s lap.

The occupants of the table that Dmitri now lay on were not pleased about having alcohol and broken glass spilled on them. One of the denizens, a humanoid alien covered in shaggy brown fur, lifted up the brown pony by the scruff of his shirt. By this time, Dmitri had regained enough of his wits to understand what was going on, but not enough to use common sense. While the alien roared into Dmitri’s face, the pony reared a hoof back and clocked the furry creature in the side of its head. One of the alien’s friends dove after Dmitri, but even intoxicated, the earth pony ducked as his new attacker flew overhead and crashed into the next table. It was then that all hell broke loose.

Twilight gasped and held a hoof over her mouth before she ran over to a staggering Dmitri, who held a hoof to his bruised face. “Ouch,” He managed to slur out when Twilight reached him and checked if he was okay. With her magic, she picked up a chunk of ice from a spilled drink and held it to his face.

A whooshing sound overhead followed a large bottle as it missed Twilight by inches. “Look at what you started!” She yelled at the brown-coated pony. All around the club, fights broke out left and right. Pure pandemonium had taken hold, and pretty soon, shouting and yelling began to drown out the music. Twilight quickly looked for her friends, but in the brawling sea of clubbers, she couldn’t pick out any familiar faces. Oh no, this is not good. She thought while still applying the ice on Dmitri’s cheek.

A human waiter relied on his serving tray to parry a drunken customer holding a broken bottle. On the other side of the club, the unicorn bartender held the crowd at bay by using his soda gun like a fire hose. A large bony-plated alien smashed some poor griffon into the DJ’s turntable, cutting off the music with an ear-splitting screech. Hidden doors began to open up as black shirted security forces moved in to quell the fighting. Punching indiscriminately, the specially trained bouncers put down anyone who showed any sign of resistance.

Luck struck the purple unicorn as she finally noticed James standing on his table waving at her. His nose had a small stream of blood coming out of one nostril and he gestured for them to come. Wasting no time, Twilight forced the loopy Dmitri to his feet and led him through the path of least resistance to rejoin her friends. Several times, she had to duck out of the way of thrown projectiles and once she even had to power up a shield to block a table that had been pushed off of the upper balcony. It seemed the brawl had spread to other rooms of the club.

The moment she reached James, he grabbed Dmitri and hauled him off to the closest wall where the rest of their group waited. Upon seeing Twilight, Deval opened a secret door and waved everyone through. “Come, my friends. We need to make our escape. Things have gotten a little too hot in here.” The dark skinned human grinned and followed Twilight into the escape tunnel before closing the door behind him. Running along the dimply lit passage, crashes and thuds from the fighting sounded muffled as the three ponies and four humans increased the distance between themselves and danger.

“That was close,” Twilight managed to sputter out between breaths. She hadn’t realized how exhausted she was after the recent events. With her adrenaline levels falling, she felt the familiar sensations of fatigue. By the time her and her friends exited out of a hidden alleyway door and onto the streets of Midnight City, the purple pony had trouble keeping her eyes open.

Deval Aldridge patted Twilight on the head, momentarily giving her a boost of awareness. “That was an interesting party. Maybe we should finish the night at my place.”

“And I don’t remember much after that.” Twilight wiped her mouth with a napkin while the rest of the table recovered from a serious bout of laughter. “Coming off of that rush from the fight Dmitri started wore me out.”

“I could tell.” Isamu nodded towards Twilight. “You fell asleep at a crosswalk on our way home. I carried you the rest of the way, but you did wake up for twenty minutes or so after we got to Deval’s.”

Twilight blushed and covered her mouth with a hoof. “Did I really? I do not remember that.”

James’ mouth stretched in a wide grin as he leaned forward, looking at Dmitri. “Only you could destroy a nightclub with a stupid pickup line. What did you even say?”

The only pony not enjoying the recent story stirred a large mug of black coffee with a spoon held in his teeth. Dmitri grunted before setting the utensil on the table. “Hmm, I can’t remember exactly what it was.”

Socket Wrench let out a snicker and whispered at Twilight, quiet enough for only their table to hear. “Hey Twilight. What did Dmitri say to that mare? You never told me last night.”

“I have no idea. I couldn’t hear what he said because the music was too loud.”

“I know that.” Socket Wrench shrugged. “I mean, when he told you at Deval’s place.”

Twilight pondered her memories of the night before but she couldn’t come up with anything. “I can’t remember. We had just gotten on the street and the next thing I knew, I woke up to you as my pillow.”

Socket’s eyes grew wide as did her smile. “So you don’t remember yelling at Dmitri and saying how he was a pig? You used Deval’s extra bed sheets and tied him up on the ceiling!”

“What? Are you serious?” Twilight raised her voice and glanced around the table at everyone’s facial expressions. She looked for any sign that they were pulling her leg but all she saw were widening smiles as everyone began laughing.

“Awesome, Twilight. Just, awesome.” James gave Dmitri’s back a friendly smack while nodding towards her. The contagious laughter of the table overtook Twilight’s shock and pretty soon, she joined in with her friends. Other tables in the restaurant gave them dirty looks but for the moment, the three ponies and four humans didn’t care one bit. All of the stress and worry vanished from the forefronts of everyone’s mind as the seven friends enjoyed the short respite they had before going back into the fray. Twilight knew that their break would be over soon, but she chose to lose herself in the moment.

Chapter 13: Unlucky Break

“I am impressed, Deval.” James gazed up at the sleek, curving hull of the Rainbow Dash. “You were true to your word. It’s only been six days and your workers are almost finished with repairs.”

“I keep my promises.” The mysterious human let out a quiet chuckle. “Your ship will be battle-ready later today. Then you may take Princess Sparkle back home.”

Standing next to the two humans, Twilight Sparkle rolled her eyes at Deval Aldridge’s latest nickname for her. With her gaze averted, she missed the deadpan stare James gave their new friend. “Ha, ha. Very funny, Deval,” She countered sarcastically.

“I aim to please, your majesty.” The dark-skinned outlier gave a short bow while returning Twilight’s annoyed stare with his characteristic sly grin. “Why don’t you show James the latest spells we have been working on?”

At this request, James Fletcher regarded the pair with a confused look. “What? You’ve been working on spells together?”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed at Deval. “You told me he was okay with our training.”

“Oops.” Aldridge shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and James let out an exasperated huff of air.

“Well,” Twilight turned to face James, “Deval has been teaching me some new magical spells that might be helpful. They were rather difficult to learn but I think I’ve got them down. He taught…”

Deval interrupted before she could continue. “James, I taught her three spells that took me six months combined to perfect. She did it in three days. I’ve never met anyone with her magical prowess.” Giving Twilight a nod of approval, Deval continued. “You sure do live up to your legend, Princess.”

Twilight blushed at the complement but sighed at the annoying nickname. She did not like how he used it as if he knew something she did not. Trying to not entertain the outlier, she continued from earlier. “Deval taught me his invisibility cloak spell, the ability to fire a plasma bolt hot enough to take down a cygnul soldier, and how to create a small pocket dimension to hide things in.”

James nodded approvingly. “Those do sound useful. Maybe I can overlook you going behind my back on this, Deval.” The captain patted his friend’s shoulder. “What was that last spell? A pocket dimension?”

“Only those who are experts in the art of magic can learn this particular spell.” Deval began excitingly. “The spell caster creates a small pocket of space, no larger than a backpack, in a dimension close to ours. With great focus and will, the caster can create a permanent link between themselves and the pocket. Like a backpack, any item can be stored in this dimension where it is invisible to every known detection method in the galaxy.”

James stared dumfounded at the grinning human. “Wow, that sounds useful… and dangerous.”

“Only if used by the wrong people,” Deval gave a sly wink. “Luckily, knowledge of this spell is known only by a few dozen researchers and magi. The list of those who can cast it is even shorter.” Deval’s hand began to glow a deep red as he waved it in a circle. Slowly, the air began to shimmer in front of his face. The human reached forward and his fingers seemed to fade from existence before he pulled them away. The distortion vanished as if nothing had happened, but between Deval’s thumb and index finger rested a dark brown cigar.

“Impressive.” James crossed his arms and nodded approvingly. Glancing towards Twilight, his eyebrows raised. “So, what do you keep in your pocket?”

Twilight closed her eyes to concentrate, and her horn became obscured behind a bright nimbus of purple light. In front of her, James could see the familiar distortion before a large hand cannon popped into existence. Opening her eyes, Twilight’s right lip smirked upwards as she held the pistol with her telekinesis, pointing it upwards in a safe direction. “I like to be prepared.”

“That could come in handy.” James said with a laugh. “Hey Deval, I think she did that faster than you.” He lightly slapped the outlier on his back and for the first time since they had arrived, the dark-skinned human was at a loss for words.

Later that night, Twilight climbed into her chair on the bridge of the Rainbow Dash. As she settled in, the unicorn let her worries fade away. Even though they had already gone through hell and back again, surrounded by her friends and the Rainbow’s professional crew, Twilight felt safe. They would fight to keep her from harm. And now that I have some training, maybe I can return the favor.

To her left, a cheery voice caught the lavender unicorn’s attention. “Welcome back, Twilight! It’s good to see you again.” On her chair’s foreleg-rest, a pint-sized holographic Alice stood, beaming up at her.

“It’s good to see you again, Alice.” Twilight returned the smile before the artificial intelligence vanished, only to reappear on James’ armrest.

“Captain, two Valkyrie-class patrol frigates jumped in-system an hour ago. I have been hailing them, but they say they will only speak to you. I received an information packet marked for your eyes only from Admiral Hawke, but when I asked if it was urgent, I never received a reply. I did not want to alert anyone on the station so I waited to tell you personally.”

“Thanks, Alice,” James replied as he began to use his view screens. “Though, I’m sure Deval already knows about their presence. Not much gets by that man.” The human let a small smile creep onto his face. “Have you peeked at the message yet, Alice?”

The A.I. stared at the ceiling innocently. “That would be highly illegal, Captain. If you believe such a break in procedure occurred, you are free to check the ship’s logs. Those are impossible to alter in anyway.”

James let out an amused huff of air. “You have been around long enough to know how to break into any secure system without leaving evidence.”

The A.I. gave a virtual shrug before giving James a more serious gaze. “You really need to read that message as soon as possible, James.”

During the following silence, Twilight mirrored James’ actions and activated her chair’s computer. On her screen, she pulled up the locations of the two patrol frigates that had entered the Tartarus System. The ships orbited the star system too far away for normal optics to see clearly, but two red circles marked their position far off in the distance. A line traveled from each circle to a part of the screen showing close up diagrams of each ship, downloaded from the Rainbow Dash’s extensive database. The UEN Whirlwind and the UEN Sprague, Twilight read off the names of the ships in her head.

“James,” Twilight hesitantly called out, “why do these ships look different than the Rainbow Dash? Aren’t they also patrol frigates?” Twilight had studied the newcomers, and although they had a similar sleek form, subtle differences set them apart from the Dash.

“The Valkyrie-class is the new class of patrol frigate. They are smaller, cheaper, and have better armor, but they can’t accelerate as fast as we can.” Pulling his eyes off the screen, James met Twilight’s gaze. “For us patrol frigates, speed is life; more so than weaponry, shields, or armor. That’s why I prefer the older ship-class.” The human captain then pulled open the virtual envelope marked for his eyes only.

“Do you want to read that in your cabin?” Alice asked with an inquisitive gaze.

“Why waste the time. You already know what it says, and I’m going to keep my crew in the loop anyway.” The two ponies exchanged shrugs, one real and one virtual before they looked at James’ computer while it quickly decrypted the file.

Once the status bar had filled, a video tab opened, showing the face of a grizzled elderly human male. A grey head of hair, more salt than pepper, topped his head while long lines of worry creased his unsmiling appearance. Twilight’s eyes were drawn to the multitude of metals and awards decorating Admiral Hawke’s uniform. He must have seen a lot of combat in this war, she thought with a pang of pity. It shows on his face.

“Captain Fletcher of the UEN Rainbow Dash,” the human began, “We have received a private communication from the Cygnul leadership, and the message itself has been determined to be authentic. The Cygnul have called for a ceasefire and want a meeting at a neutral location to discuss the end of hostilities between our forces. Yesterday, the Senate voted overwhelmingly to pursue a diplomatic end to this war.”

Admiral Hawke hesitated only momentarily, but he grimaced as if he had swallowed something bitter or sour. “The meeting will take place at the neutral Griffon colony, Valles, on the thirteenth day of this month, at o-six-hundred hours galactic standard time. Unfortunately, the Athens has to complete her original mission and won’t be able to assist, but I have placed two patrol frigates under your command to act as escorts.” He paused for a few seconds and let out an almost imperceptible sigh. “I know you are carrying a special package of great importance but my hands are tied. Be safe, Captain.” Then the video tab vanished.

James, Alice, and Twilight stared at the blank screen in silence for a long minute. The end of the war? She thought to herself. No more fighting. No more deaths. We could safely go back to Harmony. After being torn from her friends and family in the midst of a war for survival, and tossed smack dab in the middle of another one, Twilight let an ember of hope flare to life that she could finally experience peace again. Finally, the unicorn broke the silence. “Do you think it will work?”

James closed his eyes and rubbed them with his hands, allowing them a startling glimpse past his usual confident demeanor. Sitting next to her, he hunched over and let out a deep pent up breath. All of a sudden, the human male did not look like the self-assured ship captain anymore. Rather, he resembled someone who had grown tired of losing friends over the years. From somebody who Twilight assumed would yearn for the war’s end, what he said next snuffed out her optimism.

“No, Twilight. I don’t think this will work. The Admirals, and probably the princesses, feel the same way.” The human glared and waved a hand dismissively at his screen. “It’s irrational for the civilian government to delay our return to Harmony on this fool’s errand. You’re our real hope for victory. Many just don’t believe in the Elements anymore.”

Neither Twilight nor Alice replied for a handful of seconds. Hesitantly, the glowing earth pony shuffled one hoof against the other. “I agree with you, sir. A ceasefire will only delay the inevitable.”

Twilight looked from the small virtual pony and back to James. “How do you know for sure?” The lavender unicorn asked timidly.

James rubbed his forehead before explaining. “There was a clue in the message that the Admiral wanted us to pick up on, but no one else. He never said that the military or the princesses agreed with the meeting. Only the Senate did. Honestly, it’s a surprise that the cygs have waited this long to pause the war in order to finish building up their forces. It’s a smart move.”

A cold lump formed in Twilight’s throat. “Then what can we do?”

At this remark, a sly smirk appeared on the human’s face. “Well, the Navy is way ahead of you. The fact that they set the meeting at Valles, is a dead giveaway. That is the closest griffon colony to the tripoint where Griffon space, Cygnul space, and the Outlier Systems meet. If I wanted this meeting to work, I would have it at one of the Kingdoms’ heavily defended inner colonies, not at a place like Valles, which has no standing fleet. A move like this is just bait dangling in front of the cygs. Also, I would have placed more than two patrol frigates as our escort.”

Twilight mused over the facts for a second before coming to the realization. “The Admirals want the Cygnul to come after us and in the process, force the griffons to join forces with the UEN?”

James pointed one index finger at her. “Bingo. Patrol frigates are the fastest ships in the fleet so we have the best chance of escaping a cyg treachery. All we need to do is tempt them to chase our ships.” He raised his eyebrows. “Maybe it will be something as simple as dropping a hint that we have valuable information in our onboard database.” On his armrest, Alice seemed to stare into the distance, though Twilight guessed that she was probably running calculations and generating their odds of success. After a short moment, the A.I. turned to face James. “What do you think, Alice?”

“We are tasked on an extremely complex mission that depends on hundreds of factors out of our control,” the virtual pony shrugged her shoulders before allowing a light smile to grace her face, “but I think we can do it.”

Thoughts of all the different issues and concerns that could go wrong flooded Twilight’s head. What if they don’t come after us? What if we can’t get away? What if the Griffon Kingdoms refuse to ally with the UEN? What if I mess up and let everypony down? Shaking her head to dispel the doubts flooding her mind, she let out an exasperated huff. “This is a very elaborate deception.”

“Indeed, Twilight,” James let his eyes pour over the data screens in front of him while a plan formulated in his brain, “but this time, we have the advantage of surprise.”

Long streaks of sunlight stretched lazily between wooden planks boarded over a cracked window. A lone candle burned on an antique wooden table, casting the only artificial light in the tower’s chamber. At the table, the room’s sole occupant sat writing on a long scroll of dirty parchment with tiny, purple-scaled claws.

The sound of the pen’s incessant scratching ceased momentarily as a short exasperated huff of smoke arose from the baby dragon’s nostrils. Setting the quill down, he rubbed his strained eyes with his hands before skimming over the report he had just written. Eastern trench grid is still under construction…. Medical tents have been established behind Clover Ridge…. Air strikes have been successfully harassing Wulven flanks, slowing down their advancement.

Satisfied with what he had inscribed, Spike rolled the parchment up and tied it together with a thin, dirty ribbon attached to a dull, golden royal seal. He took in a deep breath before letting out a small puff of magical green flame. The scroll disintegrated in front of him as the transportation spell sent it to Princess Celestia.

Taking a moment to rest, Spike mindlessly straightened out the stack of mismatched blank parchments on his desk. Most of the paper had been requisitioned on order of the princesses themselves to compensate for the heightened traffic needed to ensure adequate communications during the war.

Spike plugged the top of his ink well with an old cork and blew out his dwindling candle before picking up the feather lying next to it. He ran his claws through the light red plumage along the end of the quill, its color faded by age and use. Others had offered to give him a new pen, but Spike always refused.

Jumping off of his chair, the purple scaled dragon wandered over to the nightstand next to his bed. He opened up a small wooden box before placing the quill inside. Spike glanced at the photograph tapped on the inside of the lid. It was a picture taken not an hour after he had hatched from his egg. Little baby Spike sat in the bottom half of his egg, while a young Twilight Sparkle stood behind him, beaming with joy.

Spike closed the lid slowly, murmuring, “I miss you, Twilight.” Then he turned and left the dark tower room to grab some dinner before the sunset. Spike took one last look at the box next to his bed, before closing the door with a soft click.

Twilight’s stomach somersaulted as the Rainbow Dash and her escorts reappeared back into normal space a week after leaving Erebus. A flash of radiation announced her arrival in the griffon-controlled solar system housing one of their garden worlds, Valles. Alerts immediately filled the bridge as orbital defense radars locked onto the newcomer, trying to discern its intentions, but before any warning message could be transmitted to the Dash, James Fletcher sent a hailing call to the command center rotating around the habitable planet. “This is Captain James Fletcher of the United Equestrian Nations. I am here to represent the UEN in peace talks with the Cygnul.”

“Roger that, Captain Fletcher, this is Orbital Control.” A middle-aged griffon appeared in the corner of the front view screen on the bridge. “The Cygnul representatives are already planetside at Installation Twenty Six. You are cleared to enter Valles airspace via shuttle where you will be directed to a designated landing site. I am forwarding the flight path to you now. Any deviation will be seen as a hostile action and we will respond accordingly. Orbital Control, out.”

“Roger, Control, we copy.” James replied nonchalantly while reading over the flight path sent by the griffons. “Isamu,” he called out to the weapons officer, “take a look at this.”

Isamu pulled up the data file on his work station before musing over it. “This is not a standard atmospheric reentry path.”

“I noticed.” James said with a wave of his hand. “It is way too steep. What are the griffons up to? Are they in a hurry?”

Isamu spun around to face James and Twilight. “I don’t think they are working with the cygs if that is what you’re thinking, sir. I can easily do this reentry, though it will be very uncomfortable. They probably want us to divert off this path so they can remind us who is really in charge here”

“Ahh, I see. We will show them how well trained our pilots are then.” James deactivated his computer and stood out of his seat. Gesturing with his hand, he began making his way off the bridge. “Twilight, Isamu, come with me. Dmitri, you have the con. Take care of my ship.”

“Aye, aye; I have con.” Dmitri announced with his thick stalliongradian accent before pulling up a screen detailing the ship’s status readouts. “Good luck, you three.”

Twilight slipped off her seat and followed after the two humans. They strode briskly down the passageways of the Dash while enlisted crew members moved quickly out of the way of the trio. “James, why do you want to bring me to the meeting again?”

They turned into the ship’s armory and James started pulling on his combat suit. “The main reason is that our plan should paint a big fat target on the Dash. Therefore, the three of us should have an easier time slipping away and regrouping. Another reason is the griffons are going to take any of our weapons away for the meeting, but I frankly don’t trust the cygnul to play nice so we won’t either.” He pulled a small submachine gun off of a weapons rack and loaded a full magazine into it. Racking the bolt, he stepped towards Twilight, holding the gun out towards her. “Here, can you hide this in that pocket dimension of yours along with your pistol? You’re the only way we will be able to sneak firearms past their security systems.”

Twilight gingerly took the weapon with her telekinesis; a nimbus of purple light encompassing the gun. “I think I will be able to fit both, but I don’t think I can fit any extra ammunition.” She scratched her chin apprehensively.

James paused, mid-click of a buckle on his leg guards. “Hmm, we’ll have to improvise then.” He shrugged his shoulders, and Twilight closed her eyes in concentration. With a flash of light, the submachine gun vanished from the world.

“At least we’ll have something to defend ourselves with.” The lavender unicorn smiled at the human before she began pulling on a combat suit designed for a pony. Twilight fought the form fitting suit, forcing her hooves down each sleeve until it sat snugly around her. Though she knew this armor could hold up to damage much better than the Equestrian battle attire of her era, its lightness in weight did not do much to reassure her.

Isamu must have sensed her apprehension because he strode over in his flight suit and patted her back reassuringly. “Don’t let the armor’s size fool you. It will stop most small caliber rounds and it’s very flexible to allow you to move about as if it wasn’t even there.”

“Thanks, Isamu.” Twilight forced herself to smile. The human’s use of the word most when describing her protection did not do much for her nerves. With a final snap, she attached the helmet ring around her neck. In a moment’s notice, it could be triggered to fold out a fully sealed helmet and visor to protect her during combat. It even had a ten minute supply of oxygen in case, Celestia forbid, she ended up in an airless environment.

Stretching out in various poses, Twilight tested her suit’s elasticity. Sure enough, Isamu hadn’t lied. She felt no hindrance from the armor and she even enjoyed having her mane and tail free of confinement. “James, if this armor is supposed to be able to withstand a vacuum, then why are my mane and tail free. Not that I am complaining of course.” Twilight swished her tail around and followed after the two humans as they left the armory. “But comfort won’t help me if I asphyxiate in space.” The unicorn gulped down nervously.

Glancing back at her, James grinned. “Those suits are designed to allow your mane and tail to be free while keeping an airtight integrity around them. We humans can shave our long hair without the discomfort your kind would face if you did the same thing. That was something discovered early on in your species first ventures into space.”

“Oh, okay.” Twilight replied as the trio continued traversing the ship. “I enjoy the additional freedom, though I wish your culture didn’t look down upon naked ponies. I definitely do miss that level of freedom.” She said with a sly smirk, earning a couple of chuckles from James and Isamu.

Not long after the end of their conversation, Twilight entered a reinforced door labeled, Hanger. Inside the largest room on the patrol frigate sat the two shuttles she carried. Both craft stood about half as high as her home in Ponyville, and extended nearly four times that in length and width. A wide cockpit jutted from the shuttle craft’s nose, containing several transparent panels to allow its pilot to look out, and two large multi-barreled Gatling guns projected out of partial ball turrets along the shuttle’s bow. At the back of the craft, the stubby wings tapered into a long tail containing another, yet smaller multi-barreled cannon.

Following James, Twilight climbed up the sloping rear hatchway of the left shuttle while Isamu inspected the outside of the small ship. They walked through the large, empty cargo bay before entering the cockpit behind a thick bulkhead. Inside sat four chairs in two rows of two. James took the front right seat and began fiddling with the holographic computer screens as a high pitched hum filled the air. Twilight sat in the pony designed seat behind him and strapped herself in tightly. “How bumpy is this ride going to be?”

From behind her, Isamu entered the cockpit. “It will not be as nice as an elevator trip to the surface. I guarantee that.” He took the front left seat and imitated James’ movements with the screens in front of him. Twilight gulped as she pulled her chair’s straps a little tighter. “The ramp is up and locked. We have airtight integrity. Engage atmospheric shielding and open the hanger door,” Isamu calmly stated while buckling up in his seat.

James finished locking the last belt around his waist before turning a holographic dial in front of him. “Unlocking docking clamps. The board is green and we are good to go. Rainbow Dash, this is Tank, initiate launch procedures, over.”

The voice of Dmitri came over the cockpit’s speakers. “Roger, deactivating hanger gravity. Good luck.”

For the second time that day, Twilight’s stomach did a somersault as she went from feeling gravity to complete weightlessness in a fraction of a second. Don’t be sick, don’t be sick, don’t be sick…. By will alone, she forced her breakfast back down before being thrown forward against her straps as they reversed out of the hanger. In front of her, Twilight watched a semi-transparent blue wall slide around Tank’s form as the shuttle left Rainbow Dash’s hanger. Designed to keep air in but allow ships to leave, the shield remained active until the frigate closed her thick armor plated hanger doors.

Isamu grabbed hold of the yoke in front of him and spun Tank’s nose around. The sleek, shark-like Rainbow Dash vanished from view to be replaced by a bright planet, dappled with a pallet of browns and greens. White fluffy clouds swirled over portions of its southern hemisphere, and small patches of dark blue marked the few bodies of water visible from space. “Wow.” Twilight murmured in awe at the beautiful marble in front of her.

“Welcome to Valles, Twilight.” James cheerfully said as he continued fiddling with his controls. “One of the Griffon Kingdom’s worlds, and home to one point two billion griffons, it is an arid planet but still has some neat features.”

“Really,” Twilight’s curiosity took hold of her, “what are they?”

“Valles hosts a large chain of very active volcanoes on its far side. They always give tourists a fascinating display of fire. Also, a rare spice is harvested from desert plants along the arid equator. The Griffon Kingdoms make a hefty profit from its export. Finally, dune racing is very popular here, and I believe the Knossos Cup is in a week. That’s one of the bigger races in the galaxy,” the human stopped his description of the griffon world to adjust a few dials, “and that’s pretty much about it.”

“Can we visit any of these things you described? They sound fascinating!” The purple unicorn stared at the garden world in awe.

“Sorry, Twilight but I don’t think this trip is going to be a pleasure cruise. I have a feeling we might need to leave quickly.”

Twilight’s ears drooped slightly. “Okay.”

An awkward silence fell upon the cockpit for a few seconds before Isamu spoke up. “James, you didn’t tell her about the Greken Canyon.”

The human captain gave his pilot a disapproving stare while gesturing with his open palm. “Isamu, I was going to surprise her.”

“Oh.” Isamu Zhang kept his eyes staring straight ahead to avoid antagonizing his commanding officer again. “I’m sorry.”

James shook his head side to side. “It’s alright.” Then he glanced back at an inquiring Twilight leaning forward against her straps. “The Greken Canyon is the largest canyon in the known galaxy.” Turning forward again, James pointed at the rapidly approaching planet in front of the shuttle. “See that dark line running diagonally across the northern hemisphere?”

Twilight studied Valles more closely. Along the top half of the planet; what she thought was just a river grew more sharply defined with every passing second. A long dark cut in the tan-colored countryside stretched across what must have been thousands of miles of land before opening up into a small ocean.

“At five thousand miles long, and fifteen miles at its deepest point, the Greken Canyon is the largest and longest of its kind. They aren’t sure how it formed exactly, but many theories circulate the galactic web. An ancient river, meteor impact, ancient aliens, they are all there with plenty of conjecture to sift through."

Twilight gave James a questioning stare. “Why did you try to surprise me with that?”

Up in front of the shuttle, Valles grew close enough to completely fill the forward facing windows. “Because the site for the meeting sits at the end of the canyon,” James gave Twilight a friendly smile. “And it’s one hell of a view.”

Twilight’s smile radiated back before a sharp maneuver of the shuttle tried to throw her to the side. Shaking her head to clear it, Isamu twisted the controls in front of him, swinging Tank’s nose around to point towards the rounded horizon of the planet. “Entering the atmosphere now, Captain. Shields are at full power and engines are prepped for de-orbital burn. We’re in the pipe, five by five.”

“Good job, Isamu.” James pulled on his tightening strap while Twilight did the same. “Go ahead and take us down. Don’t deviate from their flight path. Show them how it’s done. I’m going to activate everyone’s helmets.”

With a push of a button in front of him, the three neck attachments all opened up as one, folding out several panels that all locked together in half a second to form airtight seals around their occupant’s faces. Twilight jumped slightly at how fast her helmet deployed, though she continued to breathe regularly. A slight hissing sound signified fresh air being pumped into her mask.

Adjusting the controls once more, Twilight felt her body pulling against the straps as Tank spun around to now face a starry expanse of sky. Far ahead on the left, a bright yellow star cast its light upon the Griffon colony as well as the tiny spacecraft rocketing across the heavens. Unlike Erebus’ sun, Hades, this star shone too bright to look at directly. Twilight averted her eyes until the windows automatically darkened to adjust for the increased lumens entering the cockpit.

Slowly, the shuttle began shaking and a constant roar grew progressively louder with each second that passed. An abrupt change in velocity made Twilight panic, thinking that the shuttle had been hit by something. Before she could vocalize her fear, Isamu’s voice spoke over her helmet’s speaker. “Engines engaged at one hundred and ten percent power. Coolant temperature is rising but still below danger threshold.”

“I’ll keep an eye on the temperature readouts.” James nonchalantly replied.

Outside the windows, a wall of flame grew to encompass shuttle, and the mixture of turbulence and thunder continued to increase in intensity. Twilight held on for dear life as only a few inches of armor separated her from the steel-melting temperatures outside. She bit down hard to keep her teeth from chattering, and her eyes squeezed shut while she prayed for it to end soon.

After what felt like an eternity, the shaking slowed down, and a strange silent calm settled down in the cockpit. Twilight relaxed slightly, not even realizing how hard she had strained her body until a wave of exhaustion mixed with relief flooded through her. “Is it over?” She asked cautiously.

“The hard part is.” James said as Isamu adjusted the throttle next to his seat. “Now onto the fun part. Isamu, bring her around and cut back the engines. We can store our helmets now.” Just as fast as they had deployed, all three helmets folded up into the collars around their necks.

The use of maneuvering thrusters resulted in short abrupt changes in Tank’s vector as the shuttle spun around to face forwards along her flight path. As Tank lost altitude, Twilight leaned forward to more closely study the planet below them. By now, they had crossed into the night side of Valles and bright clusters of lights indicated the locations of several major cities on the surface, all of them gathered around decent sized bodies of water.

In the southern hemisphere, Twilight noticed dozens of dividing lines comprised of glowing red dots and streaks. They branched across a massive range of mountains before terminating at another inland sea. “James, is that the volcano range?” She pointed with a hoof.

He glanced down before returning to keep an eye on the screen in front of him. “Yes it is. I haven’t had the chance to visit them yet but I know a few who have. They all say that it’s amazing to bear witness to a landscape of molten rock as far as the eye can see.”

“That sounds fascinating. I hope I can see it one day.” Twilight gazed across the fiery countryside.

“Me too, Twilight. We’ll make a trip of it.”

“That sounds good to me.” Twilight resumed her study of the desert world while Isamu continued to bring them closer to the landing site. Rays of sunlight stretched across the horizon as the shuttle passed once more into the day side of the planet. They dropped in altitude and small features became more easily visible to the cabin crew. Long, thin rivers snaked across dusty plains, rocky plateaus sporadically jutted out of the ground, and mounds of sand creeped ever so slowly across the desert, pushed by seasonal winds.

Tank had reached an altitude of only a few hundred feet when Twilight noticed a large griffon-made complex growing steadily larger in front of them. Several small structures sat behind a large fence topped with razor wire, and a large tower marked the middle of the facility, several times the size of any of the other buildings nearby. Almost at its peak, a landing pad protruded out of the side of the tower.

In front of her, Isamu keyed the shuttles radio. “Installation Twenty Six, this is UEN flight zero five zero. We are finishing our approach and are requesting permission to land, over.”

Silence returned over the radio long enough for Twilight to grow anxious, but finally a response came through from an apathetic flight controller. “Roger flight zero five zero, you are cleared to drop off your envoys, then you must proceed to the designated holding pattern. Forwarding you flight data now, over.”

“James,” Isamu began after keying off the radio. “They do not sound prepared. It is as if they don’t see the cygnul as a threat. And look at this holding pattern.” The pilot gestured to the map sent by the griffon flight controller. “I will be nearly two hundred miles away. If anything goes wrong, you will both be alone for a few minutes without any support.”

James Fletcher rubbed his chin while Twilight gulped behind him. “I know, but there is nothing we can do about that. Just be ready to punch the accelerator if it kicks off.”

“Yes, sir.” Isamu pulled up on the yoke while pressing buttons on his holographic instrument panel. A series of hydraulic wines sounded as the shuttle switched into a hovering mode. The craft lifted higher above the ground in preparation to land on the tower pad when Twilight gasped at what she saw. On the other side of the complex, a huge cut in the earth zigzagged across the planet’s surface, away from the point where the griffon base sat. Sheer cliffs encompassed either side of the gorge, casting long shadows as the sun had not risen high enough yet to reach the entire canyon floor. The multi-colored walls displayed various reds, oranges, and browns that distinguished each unique layer of earth, visible in the massive scar on the planet’s surface. Off to the right, a small river poured over the cliff lip, the water turning into mist by the time it reached the bottom several miles straight down.

Twilight stared in amazement at the geological marvel that continued on and on, until it vanished over the far edge of the horizon. Several smaller chasms, though each larger than any back home in Equestria, branched out of the central canyon at intermittent points along the walls. “That is amazing,” Twilight exclaimed in awe.

The shuttle lowered until landing softly on the tower’s flight pad. As James unbuckled, he lifted out of his seat and grinned at Twilight. “I thought you would enjoy that.” He helped her rise from her seat and they exited the cockpit. “Let’s go, we have a cygnul diplomat to meet, if they even do have such a thing.”

“Be safe.” Isamu called after them as Twilight followed James down the rear ramp of their shuttle. Waiting by the entrance to the tower stood two armed griffon guards. Clad in thick plated armor, they sharply contrasted a third smiling griffon between them in a form-fitting flight suit. The third griffon waved at the duo and made his way towards them as Tank loudly lifted off the platform.

“James Fletcher!” The beige-feathered griffon yelled over the roar of Tank’s engines before they grew quieter as the craft sped away. “I had no idea they were sending you for this mission.”

“Theron Mikkos. It’s good to see you!” The human strode forward and clasped the griffon’s outstretched foreleg. “I thought you were moving here next month.”

“My deployment got moved forward because of this meeting. The Kingdoms wanted another wing of Raptors stationed in orbit in case someone didn’t play nice. My family landed planetside last week. If you’re free after all of this political business, you should see about stopping by.”

“I can only hope, but you know how the military is.” James replied before his eyes grew wide and he looked at Twilight. “Oh, I'm sorry. Theron,” he said with an open palm gesturing to the pony, “this is Moondancer. She is my battle mage.” With a gesture towards the griffon, James faced Twilight. “Moondancer, this is Theron Mikkos. I met him a few years back when the UEN worked with the Kingdoms to bring down a pirate lord. He flies a griffon Raptor fighter, and is one of the best pilots I have ever met.”

Theron smiled at Twilight while reaching forward with one of his clawed feet. “It’s nice to meet you, Moondancer.” Twilight nodded and mirrored the action, shaking his foreleg. As soon as she had put her hoof down, a loud reverberation filled the sky as another spacecraft came in to land. Though it may have been much smaller than Tank, the ship took a longer time to settle over the pad before landing roughly.

“Well, sorry to cut this short but that’s my ride.” Theron yelled over the griffon ship’s thrusters. “It was nice to see you, James.” He reached forward and pounded a clawed fist against the human’s. Turning towards Twilight, he lightly bowed his head. “Nice to meet you, Moondancer.” Then the griffon trotted up the shuttle ramp before the craft took off and accelerated into orbit.

James’ smile slowly faded, his brow furling while watching his friend leave the planet. Twilight noticed the look and concern graced her features. “What’s wrong, James?”

The human didn’t answer immediately, but when he did, he spoke slowly and quietly. “Nothing, Twilight,” James gave her a fake smile before turning towards the tower. “Let’s go.”

He lied to me, Twilight thought to herself. James must be really worried about something if he won’t even tell me. The lavender unicorn moved on autopilot as she tried to figure out what bothered the human captain enough to keep it to himself. It must be something out of our control. She hardly noticed the griffons search them for weapons, and of course finding none, nor the long elevator ride to a floor deep in the rock. The next thing she knew, Twilight stood outside of the entrance to the meeting room. Shaking herself out of her stupor, she realized the griffon guard had been explaining something to James.

“… and then we will allow your shuttle craft to pick you up. Do you both understand?” The griffon guard finished his speech. James nodded his conformation and Twilight shook her head up and down though she had no idea what had transpired in the last ten minutes. The griffon, satisfied with their answers, touched a keypad and unlocked the double doorway in front of them. Each guard took one side of the entrance and pushed the doors apart.

Twilight’s eyes grew wide at the sight before her. Sitting awkwardly in chairs not designed for them, sat two large cygnul warriors, just like the ones she encountered on the fortress. Their large clawed hands clasped in front of them across the steel table, twin cat-like turquoise eyes stared unblinking at the newcomers to the room, and the chitinous armor plating on the creatures’ shoulders bulged slightly as they flexed the muscles underneath.

What sat between the cygnul warriors though, caught Twilight’s attention right away. A much shorter, but no less menacing, cygnul creature sat facing the two UEN representatives. This one lacked the thick armor of its bodyguards and its clawed hands looked suited to more delicate tasks than melee combat. Another distinctive characteristic was its body shape. Twilight estimated the creature to stand around the same height as a human, and it also had a head twice as large as the generic cygnul she had encountered. Its eerie, intelligent glowing eyes shifted between James and Twilight, like a predator sizing up its prey, while a disturbingly human-like mouth grew into a sly smile.

Twilight and James made their way to the table where the cygnul sat waiting. Though she used her inner strength to control her fear, she couldn’t keep from staring at the strange looking cygnul. It gave off an aura of some kind that made Twilight feel very uncomfortable. Her horn tingled annoyingly and the unicorn found it harder to concentrate as she approached the table. Shaking her head to try and clear the fog settling in, the unique cygnul turned its head directly at her. Twilight stopped her approach to the table, causing James to slow and look at her inquisitively, his unspoken question plastered on his face, wondering if she was alright.

Staring straight at the creature, the unicorn pony couldn’t tear her eyes from the black slits boring back at her. The cygnul’s eyes narrowed as it leaned forward slightly, and Twilight immediately felt another presence reaching out towards her mind. She let out a light cry as the unseen entity probed at her mental defenses. Now, James and the two griffon guards stared at her worryingly. Sweat soaked into her lavender coat from the strain of holding up her mental barricades.

For his benefit, James turned back towards the cygnul creature with a furious look. He took one step forward before the dark entity slipped past a crack in Twilight’s defenses and entered her mind. Twilight gasped as she encountered the controlling manifestation behind the cygnul. Before she could react, the creature scoured through her mind, learning everything about her. Gearing up to repel the invader, Twilight began her counterattack as it paused on one piece of information in her head; the Elements of Harmony, and how she was the bearer of the sixth element.

A resounding magical explosion blew outwards from the cygnul creature after its turquoise eyes opened wide in realization. YOU! The beast mentally screamed in words not spoken aloud. Its telekinesis picked up Twilight, James, and the two griffons while they all yelled and struggled to no avail.

The cygnul floated Twilight closer towards it while overpowering her every attempt to escape. Loud words filled her head as the creature spoke psychically to them all, causing her to flinch at each syllable. YOU ARE AN ELEMENT OF HARMONY! YOU CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO LIVE!

James cried out against his magical restraints. “Do something, Twilight!”

She floated ever nearer to the three cygnul, the two warriors flexing their claws in preparation to strike. Every escape spell she tried was blocked before she could even begin powering her horn up. A cold pit grew in her stomach as hopelessness set in while Twilight watched her inevitable end come closer.

Chapter 14: Ashes

The two cygnul warriors stood from the table and walked around its edge towards the four helpless forms wriggling in the air. Magical bands of energy held Twilight Sparkle, James Fletcher, and two griffon guards in an inescapable grip. Every single teleportation attempt by the lavender pony fizzled to nothing as it was blocked by the unique cygnul diplomat still seated in front of her.

While Twilight Sparkle’s impending death stalked across the room, a single resounding word emanated from her mind and filled the chamber. No! A surge of energy, centered at the point of the unicorn’s horn, burst forth, followed by a loud, ear-splitting crack. The restraints binding her blew outwards, and the cygnul envoy screamed out in pain. Wide-eyed surprise replaced the frustration and fear on the pony’s face as she fell towards the ground.

Another flash of her horn, accompanied with a lurid electronic pop, and Twilight’s fall stopped short of the steel floor deck. Hovering in midair, her pupils dilated a split second before they produced a radiant purple blaze of light, filling the room an eerie glow.

Every ceiling light detonated in a shower of sparks. A deep gong reverberated through the air, causing the steel deck to vibrate like the sound bow of a massive church bell. Twilight lowered her head slightly to stare at the cygnul to which she was psychically linked. The beast squeezed its claws on the edge of the table, sinking deep into the metal. Another rush of mental force crashed unsuccessfully into the unicorn’s barriers, washing over her as water on stone. My turn now. Twilight narrowed her eyes, pushed forward with her mind, and assaulted the cygnul entity at its source.

She slipped past the creature’s unprepared defenses, feeling an emotion very uncharacteristic of the cygnul; fear. For a moment, Twilight saw through the eyes of the source of control behind the cygnul. A wall of white light blinded her for a moment, but slowly, her sight returned. A wide expanse of stars had now replaced the dark steel bunker buried deep beneath the griffon colony. Turning around, she spotted a massive gaseous planet, similar in size to Charybdis, taking up most of her field of vision. Instead of a banded atmosphere of browns and yellows, a bright and motely combination of cherry-pink splotches peppered this gigantic Jovian world.

An eruption of superheated gasses vented outwards from a spot in the planet’s southern hemisphere. The flare arced across space before fizzling into a nebulous cloud, cooling to a deeper magenta against the black breadth of space. The point of discharge darkened slightly in color, matching half a dozen other unremarkable blemishes on the world. Her attention had been so focused on the new scenic view that an important observation had just registered in her mind. This planet has no shadow on it.

The entire face of the enormous world seemed to radiate a muted violet-red light. Thinking it was a trick of the mind; Twilight spun her vision around to search for the solar system’s star. Maybe it’s directly behind me, she thought, but when she had finished turning, she saw nothing but pinpricks of faraway stars sparkling where there should have been an in-system sun.

When she looked upwards, the unicorn tried to gasp with surprise. Wow! A massive stellar formation stretched above her; a bright orange eye encircled by an iris of crimson and incorporating a pupil of intense white light at its center. She stared for several long seconds before realizing how large the construct must be to extend so far across the sky. Twilight Sparkle suddenly felt incredibly small. She wished she could continue studying the formation when she sensed a foreign mental stab.

Twilight felt herself forced out of the cygnul entity’s mind, as the scenery around her faded to black before the room’s surroundings came into focus again. Back inside her own head, she became aware of her elemental power threatening to magnify out of control. Hovering in a bluish-purple corona, Twilight fought the wild and free magical energy rolling through her body that urged to be released to scour the room completely in an inferno. Imposing her will upon the flood coursing in her veins, she forced a majority of her power down into a small mote inside her chest while any excess bled off as light.

For a split second, all sound ceased in the room. Then, a roar filed the air, followed by an explosion of raw kinetic energy expanding rapidly from the floating pony. Though it reached out in all directions, she managed to focus most of its power forward at the three cygnul. The blast picked up the creatures and threw them forward to slam into the far wall, denting the thick steel bulkhead. Both warrior cygnul dropped to the ground, momentarily stunned, but alive. On the other hand, the unique cygnul did not fare as well. Sitting directly in front of the brunt of Twilight’s attack, the kinetic blast tore the lightly armored creature to pieces.

Unfortunately, the weakened but still powerful edge of Twilight’s spell smashed into James and the griffons. James somehow managed to activate his helmet, protecting his face from the blast, but the force slammed into his body with the energy of a sledgehammer. Thrown into a slide, he crashed into the side wall of the room before immediately rising to his feet. The two griffon guards struggled to right themselves, disoriented with flash blindness, and noses bleeding from the concussion.

Magic temporarily spent, Twilight crumpled in a heap to the floor. Without any remaining lights, darkness fell upon the room once the unicorn’s spell fizzled out. Breathing heavily, the unicorn pony struggled to her feet while her ears swiveled about, picking up sounds of the other room’s occupants moving around. To her right, one of the griffon guards activated a flashlight on his assault rifle, and the cone of light illuminated a cygnul warrior charging across the floor straight towards him.

Twilight gasped and recoiled as the thunder from the rifle filled the enclosed space. Turning around to run the other way, she slammed into something hard and bounced off with a cry of pain. As she hit the ground, whatever she had run into grabbed her and lifted her up over its shoulder. The pony struggled momentarily until she heard a familiar voice. “Come on, Twilight! We gotta go!”

The human ran towards the exit, using a light built into his suit to see. Behind the pair, Twilight watched one cygnul warrior slashing at a griffon on the ground, spraying blood across the floor. His partner ran forward, attempting to help, but he never noticed the second warrior sneaking up behind him.

The carnage vanished behind a sturdy metal door, kicked shut by James. He continued running until they reached a large freight elevator. Slowing his pace, he stepped inside and punched a button for the landing platform floor. During the pause, Twilight could feel James breathing hard as she lay across his shoulder. He laid a hand on her hoof. “Are you okay?”

Twilight did not answer right away, still in shock from the slaughter she had just witnessed. After a few seconds, she managed to murmur, “…yeah. I… I think so.”

James Fletcher lifted Twilight off his shoulder and set her down in front of him. She sat down on her haunches straightaway while he went down on one knee to look into her eyes. “Twilight,” the human started while patting her shoulder, “stay with me. You’re in shock now, but I need you to come back. I can’t get us both out of here on my own. I need your help. Can you do that for me?”

Though she nodded back, Twilight could not follow anything James said. Instead, she sat there, trying to comprehend what had happened. As the situation dawned on her, she took in faster and shallower breaths while tears formed in her eyes. Oh my Celestia, those poor griffons died back there and it’s all my fault. She let out a sob and shivers ran through her body. “I let them die!”

“No!” James roared, shaking her shoulder. “You are not responsible for that. If you had not acted, we would have all been killed.” Twilight Sparkle gazed dumbly at him, her mouth agape. “You need to snap out of it, Twilight. Remember your training. I need you to help me. I need you, here. Now. Can you do that for me?” The human stared at her for another moment, until she nodded. He gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder, then stood and faced the elevator door, back rigid and shoulders tense.

“Isamu, do you read me?” James spoke into a backup microphone on his wrist. A haze still clouded Twilight, but enough of her rationality remained to question why her friend didn’t use his regular communicator in his collar. “The cygs cut short our meeting. We need a pickup now. Authentication phrase is scarlet mantis. I repeat, scarlet mantis, over.” Pacing in the elevator, the human reached a wall and turned to walk the other way, allowing Twilight to see the damage to his armor. Thin cracks in the ceramic plating created an elaborate spider-web pattern up his right side, all the way up to his neck and through the helmet collar. Her eyes widened and she recoiled from the sight of the damage her spell had caused to her captain.

With a crackle of static from James’ wrist, the bored voice of Isamu filled the elevator. “Already in route, Captain. A couple cygnul drones attempted to dissuade me from coming to your aid. I am on my way now, over.”

“Are you okay? Did you take any damage?”

“Negative, but I should inform you we are flying several hundred rounds of ammunition lighter now.” Isamu’s calm demeanor clashed with the severity of the situation they were in, but his attitude triggered a ghost of a smirk on James’ face.

“Roger that. Alert the flotilla to sound general quarters and be ready to leave soon. We will meet you on the roof.” With that, James Fletcher lowered his forearm and faced Twilight to check on her. The unicorn gaped apologetically at the human. With the damaged right side of his armor sharply contrasting the pristine left half, his suit resembled some sort of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide monstrosity.

“I'm so sorry, James. I’m so, so sorry” Her voice cracked before a flood of apologies poured out of the pony’s mouth. “I lost control, and I was so scared, and I didn’t know what to do, and I….”

Interrupting her, James lifted Twilight’s chin and forced her to meet his gaze. “Stop. There was nothing we could do back there. You were drained from your spell, and there is no way we would have survived had we stayed. If you hadn’t lost control, then all of us would have died. I know it’s terrible that we couldn’t save the griffons, but we were unarmed and outmatched.”

The elevator continued trudging upwards as James’ words resonated. Twilight’s hopelessness and despair began to fade away, replaced by sorrow and anguish for the two lives extinguished in front of her. James stood and strode to the far side of the elevator before turning to face the door. “We need to get back to the Dash before they regroup.” The human then glanced at her from the corner of his eye. “Then we can lay some hurt on the cygs and get some payback.”

At this, a spark flared to life in Twilight’s chest. Her breathing slowed to deep, long breaths and she stood on all four hooves. The unicorn pony shook her head, tossing her dark violet mane side to side, closing her eyes in the process. Relaxing her tired muscles, she focused on the current predicament they were in. Concentrating on one fact at a time, she did not skim over the smallest of details. “James,” she started, catching his attention. “We succeeded in triggering the cygnul to break the neutrality pact with the griffons. Unfortunately, we made ourselves the target in the process.”

The human nodded. “They are sure to come after us again, but in force.” Twilight furrowed her brow and stared at the wall, deep in thought. Sensing something troubling the lavender pony, James interrupted her contemplations. “What’s bothering you, Twilight?”

With the slightest swaying of her head, the unicorn mare let out a sigh. “The incident back there with the cygnul…” she paused to dispel the scene of the two griffon’s gruesome deaths. James stood by, patiently waiting for her to continue. “When I retaliated the mental attack, I entered into the cygnul’s mind, and … I saw something.”

“Twilight,” James’s quiet voice broke the repeating monotonous sound from the elevator trudging ever on upwards. “No one has ever done that before. What did you see?” He asked, taking a step and leaning forward.

“It was strange. I saw stars at first but when I turned….” Twilight’s depiction of the invasion into the mind of the cygnul was interrupted when the elevator abruptly ceased its ascent, and began to plummet towards the ground. A loud metallic clang filled the elevator shaft with a racket loud enough to hurt their unprotected ears, and the drop halted almost as soon as it had begun. Caught off balance, James fell to the side and ended up sprawled on his back. Twilight had widened her stance reflexively when she felt the falling sensation and she managed to land upright on all fours, her knees bending to absorb the fall.

Striding forward, Twilight helped James climb to his feet before turning to study the elevator in an attempt to discover the reason for its emergency stop. The only sounds filling the room now were breathing and footsteps from the two sapients trapped in the metal cage. “Isamu, can you read me?” The human tried calling on his suit’s backup radio. “Isamu! Are you there?” For all the yelling he did, not even static replied over the speaker.

Twilight tried both of her radios, to no avail, causing lines of worry to crease the human captain’s face. “Did the griffons do this?” She asked with doubt. The contagious fear in the elevator’s atmosphere currently put the pony at unease.

“No,” James rubbed his chin and glanced at her. “Much worse.”

Cygnul! She let name remain unspoken as she grasped the fact that their hunters were not done with them. And now they have us trapped in a convenient location to deal with us at their leisure. Suppressing a shiver, Twilight noticed James attempting to climb up the corner, reaching for a panel in the ceiling.

“Come on, Twilight.” He pulled down the panel, revealing a wide trapdoor which he pushed open. The large metal grate swung around and impacted the roof of the elevator with a loud clang. The human braced himself and reached out towards her with an out stretched hand. Twilight tilted her head and shook it once, a small grin barely visible on her lips. She closed her eyes momentarily in concentration and a small spark of violet flared at the tip of her horn. A purple sphere encircled her and she floated herself through the opening and onto the roof of the elevator, landing lightly on her hooves. “Ah, yeah. Forgot about that.” James deftly pulled himself out of the lift, closing the door behind him.

Glancing up the elevator shaft, Twilight gulped nervously. The level for the landing pad sat hundreds of feet above the broken elevator. How are we both going to get up there? She furrowed her brow in thought.

Meanwhile, James had climbed the short vertical distance to the next floor and he currently strained against the thick steel plates, trying to force them to slide open. “Stupid… lockdown… argh!” Stopping to catch his breath, he examined the rewards of his exertion. A small crack, barely a centimeter wide, allowed a pulsing emergency light from the room above to illuminate the opening with a deep red light. An alarm from somewhere in the building blared out its irritating, incessant wail. “Twilight,” James peaked carefully through the hole, checking the corridor on the other side for threats. “Can you widen this with your magic? We can find a staircase and run the rest of the way up.”

Glancing once more at the height they would have to traverse via stairs, Twilight let out a sound of discontent. In that moment, she remembered a similar situation she had been in at the Crystal Empire back when King Sombra had been trying to take over, millennia ago in another life. “I have a better idea.” She strode to the wall beside James and lifted her front legs to push on the vertical surface. Closing her eyes, Twilight’s magic coalesced into an invisible aura large enough to encapsulate both her and the human. Her magic altered the gravitational force inside of the area around her, not breaking but rather bending the natural laws that governed the universe. Releasing the pent up energy, Twilight opened her eyes and climbed up the wall in front of her as the force of gravity swung around to now pull in a perpendicular direction from before.

Since James stood inside of the affected area of the spell, he felt the shifting of gravity along with Twilight. Pushing his arms over his head, the human righted himself, now standing on the side of the elevator shaft. He bounced on the balls of his feet, gaining a feel for the change in physics before grinning at Twilight. “Well, this isn’t something we did back in basic. Nice work, battle mage.”

Beaming at the compliment, the lavender pony nodded her head and turned back to stare at their destination in the distance. “Stay close to me, Captain. This spell doesn’t have a large range.” James nodded his head, and the pair began running along the wall, reverberations from their pounding steps echoed up the chamber. Twilight cantered alongside James, matching her speed to the slower human.

Up they went, with Twilight’s magic allowing them to reach the landing pad floor in a fraction of the time it would have taken normally. James reached the doorway first, laying down and pushing the two thick steel panels away from each other. Twilight stood to the side, focusing her concentration on the magical aura around her. She flinched at a slight twinge in the back of her mind, reminding her that she could not hold the spell indefinitely, especially after enduring that psychic assault earlier. Come on, James, hurry up.

As if reading her mind, something must have sheared off in the locking mechanism of the doors because with a shrieking protest of metal, James pushed hard enough to create an opening wide enough for them to use. Unfortunately, he fell victim to the new direction of gravity when his grip on either side of the entrance failed. With a short yell of surprise, the human dropped through the doorway and plummeted down the middle of the hallway on the other side. Eyes widening in shock, Twilight opened her mouth when Captain Fletcher dropped out from the encompassing area of her aura. He then proceeded to impact the ground with an audible oof, and tumble gracelessly a couple meters along the deck before stopping.

Carefully placing one hoof in front of the other, Twilight maneuvered onto the floor while adjusting her magical field until she made a clean transition back to normal gravity. The lavender unicorn released the spell, striding over and helping the human to his feet in the process. “Are you alright?” She held a hoof out for him to use as a support.

James shook his head, blinking his eyes rapidly before groaning. “I swear I’m not usually this clumsy.”

Glancing around the empty passage for threats, Twilight’s eyes jumped from shadow to shadow cast by the rotating emergency lights. “You’re probably still feeling the effects from that dark magic.” She cast a quick detection spell for any cloaking fields, both magically and conventionally powered. Sensing no danger, she returned her attention to the human. “What’s the plan?”

With enough free time to clear his head, James dropped to a knee and stared down the hallway. His eyes remained unfocused while he threw around ideas in his mind. “First, we need our guns.”

Nodding in agreement, Twilight closed her eyes and reached out with her magic in a direction not normal to their universe. Finding the small pocket dimension that lay nestled between planes of existence, she then focused on the string connecting the two. Energy flowed through the unicorn mare’s body to the point of contact at the tip of her horn as she widened the connection, allowing access to the two weapons inside. All of this occurred in a handful of seconds before the two firearms popped into reality once more. Twilight opened her eyes and levitated the Captain’s submachine gun to his outstretched hand while she kept her pistol pointing upwards next to her.

“You’re getting quicker at that.” The human performed a swift weapon check, prompting Twilight to do the same.

Smiling at the compliment, she wracked the heavy slide back once, loading one of the fat rounds into the chamber. The unicorn then took up position behind James, keeping her gaze off to the side before tapping his shoulder twice in rapid succession. He readied his pistol and began creeping forward silently, hugging the left wall while Twilight kept careful watch on their flank and rear.

Together, the pair moved as a cohesive unit, never allowing their gaze to linger in one direction for too long. The only sounds from the pair, twin vocalizations of the word clear, were nearly drowned-out by the wailing alarm. Twilight blinked rapidly at a drop of perspiration from her left eye, yet she refused to allow her attention to falter in order to dispel the burning sensation. Traveling down abandoned hallways in the griffon base, the only signs of life they found were bullet impacts and their resulting debris, indicating that some sort of firefight had occurred on this level. Much to her contentment, they did not come across any griffon casualties. I hope nopony was hurt.

Much quicker than expected, James halted in front of a familiar sight, a large steel plated door marked with the word Hanger. The human placed the exposed back of his hand right next to the metal surface for a few seconds to check for heat, before moving to the access panel. “Cover me, Twilight, while I get this open.”

With a barely perceptible nod of her head, the lavender pony took up position to protect the distracted human with her customary shield spell if anyone took a shot at them. Violet eyes shifted from various intersections and entranceways in front of her, straining to pick up any movement that might signify an attack. Meanwhile behind her, James let out a curse after a sharp cackle of electricity filled the air. The acrid smoke burned at Twilight’s nostrils, bringing a few tears to her eyes. She ignored both distractions, instead focusing on a dark shadow moving from one of the corridors down the hall. Oh, Celestia! Something is moving down there!

“Freeze! I will shoot!” Twilight yelled in a commanding voice. Her pistol now aimed in front of her face, while she simultaneously formed a protective quarter dome of magical energy between them and the shape. In reply, the shadow halted in its tracks, and a series of loud cracks accompanied a dozen rounds that poured down the passage. In the light of the weapon’s muzzle flare, twin turquoise eyes full of hatred stared into Twilight’s eyes. The unicorn flinched as her shield absorbed the kinetic energy from whatever projectile rifle the cygnul trained on her. Had she not put a barrier up, the cygnul weapon would have torn them to shreds.

Ignoring the painful magical feedback from the impacts on her shield spell, the lavender unicorn made good on her previous warning. The pistol barked twice in her telekinetic grip, sending one round an inch too high. Her second shot traveled too far left but when it hit the steel wall, the slug ricocheted and punched into the cygnul’s shoulder with a spray of ichor. Screaming in pain, the creature fell to the ground, allowing Twilight to see the rest of its compatriots moving down the hall behind it. Uh, oh….

“James?” The unicorn anxiously called over her shoulder. “We’ve got company.”

Having heard the deafening commotion taking place right behind him, he shouted back. “I’m on it!” Fighting his rising adrenaline levels and shaking hands, the human calmly cut and reattached wires behind the access panel to the hanger door. If he rushed, crossing the wrong cables could lock them out permanently. His eyes blinked reactively with every ear shattering shot the purple unicorn sent in answer to the cygnul barrage.

Twilight sent another four rounds down the passage into the oncoming squad of cyg soldiers, dropping two of them. Six shots left… five… four, she counted out the remaining ammunition in her only magazine. She paused with barely any ammo left and the unicorn made a showy act of carefully aiming down the weapon’s sights, as if lining up a kill shot. Her dramatic acting paid off, and the cygnul scattered for cover, taking quick potshots that flew wide of her shield. Before the cygs were able to regroup and force their quarry to use up more precious ammo, a chime sounded from the control panel on the wall and the thick hanger doorway slid upwards.

Wasting no time, the human-pony pair turned and dove towards safety, but one of the cygnul pulled off a lucky shot. The slug punched into the armor around Twilight’s neck, sending a wave of pressure through her shoulders. Oh, Celestia, I’m hit! Her hooves moved to her neck, anticipating the feeling of hot blood pouring from the wound but she felt nothing but broken ceramics and wires. James immediately pushed something on the computer panel inside the hanger, and the steel slab slammed back into the ground. Twilight’s chest heaved in and out, as she realized how close they had been to being cut down. I think I lost my helmet, but I’m still alive.

Shouts behind them interrupted the lavender unicorn’s relief, and they twisted around in time to watch a white feathered griffon peek over a stack of hard plastic chests and fire at some unseen enemy. The young, unarmored technician clutched tightly at his rifle, dropping its empty magazine and flinching when a series of impacts shifted the makeshift barricade. Shuffling a clawed hand at his belt, the griffon managed to almost drop a fresh magazine twice before finally slamming it home in the rifle.

It took several seconds for him to notice the pony and human crouched by the entrance in front of him. The three of them stared at each other, breathing silently, deciding if the other was an enemy. James calmly lifted a hand and displayed his open palm to the griffon. Attempting to diffuse the situation, he called over to the young soldier. “I think we are on the same side now. May we come over there and help out?”

The griffon’s eyes shifted uncertainty, worried that this was some kind of trap. Twilight felt sorry for him. His world had been turned upside down in a few minutes. According to the historical records on the Dash, the griffons had not seen a real war in hundreds of years. Their last war veterans had expired generations ago. The extent of their combat experience comprised of chasing off pirate raiders. Most griffons never expected to even fire a weapon in anger anymore.

Two loud impacts on the far side of the makeshift barricade forced the griffon to take a chance. “Ah!” He cried out before waving over the pony and human. Quickly, they moved to hide on either side of the technician. “The name’s Seres. My job is to keep the scout bikes in working order, not fighting some damn war your kind brought upon us!” He yelled over the cacophony of gunfire in the spacious room.

The other griffons were apparently doing a good job keeping the cygnul occupied, because fewer shots flew their way. For inexperienced soldiers, these griffons sure do well under pressure. Twilight was momentarily reminded of the more war-like griffons of her era.

Taking advantage of the lull in their part of the hanger, Twilight peaked over the scarred, hard plastic case. She scanned the room once before dropping down to avoid unwanted attention. “There are three cygnul hiding behind two stacks of boxes like this one, probably sixty yards across the bay.”

James nodded at her while he thought up a plan of attack. “Okay, Seres, you and I lay down half a dozen rounds of covering fire to keep their heads down.” The human pointed a finger at the griffon’s chest before turning his gaze to her. “Tw… Moondancer, I want you to step out and remove their barricade however best you see fit.”

The lavender unicorn poured over the lengthy list of magical spells she knew well. Judging them based on how useful they were versus the magical energy required, it helped narrow down the bracket to something easier to work with. There was no sense in using a very powerful hex to turn the thick, heavy crates into paper mache if the exertion would knock her unconscious. Keeping that in mind, she decided on using a simple spell; one of the first she had actually learned. Crouching down low to make herself a smaller target, the mare waited for her opening.

James Fletcher and Seres, the griffon engineer, stood as one and loosed a series of accurate shots, spaced close enough to force the cygnul to keep their heads down. Taking her cue, Twilight stepped out from behind the stack of boxes, her horn ablaze in violet light. Her eyes narrowed at the hiding spots of the cyg soldiers, and she released the pent-up energy of her spell. The two stacks began to glow in a purple aura before lifting up in the air, leaving three confused cygnul crouching behind no cover.

“Take them down!” James Fletcher roared across the hanger as he aimed over his crate. Five assault rifles, a submachine gun, and a heavy pistol filled the air with a deafening thunder. The crossfire cut down the cygnul like wheat through a thresher. They never stood a chance.

As the ringing subsided, Twilight rose the barrel of her empty pistol. Not needing it anymore, she calmly powered up her horn again, and slipped it into her pocket dimension. Meanwhile, the other griffons in the room hesitantly stood from their hiding places, staring warily at the UEN warriors. Seres let out a deep sigh, setting his rifle on top of the crate in front of him. “Thanks for your assistance, human.” He ruffled the feathers of his head with a clawed hand, and then nodded over at her. “And you too, Moondancer. That was some helpful magic you threw around.” Twilight smiled, bowing her head at the compliment.

“I don’t mean to be a bearer of bad news, but there are even more cygs behind that door.” James gestured with a thumb over his shoulder. “I don’t know how long it will take them to find a way through, but we need to distance ourselves from here in order to buy us time. I have a shuttle on its way now, and we can all fit inside.”

“No, Captain Fletcher, we have nowhere to run.” One of the other griffons, this one with glossy plumage of a dark, navy blue, interrupted the human. “We should hold this hanger for reinforcements to arrive from one of the nearby bases. As long as the door is shut, they can’t get through.”

James gave the newcomer an inquisitive stare. “You know who I am, but I haven’t met you before.”

“I am Commander Axten and I was in the radar tower a few minutes ago when the cygnul envoy launched a dozen drone squadrons and a full salvo of disruptor missiles inside the point defense grid. Nearly everything shut down or burned out.” he paused for a second. “Your shuttle included.”

Twilight’s heart leapt into her throat. No, Isamu! She turned to look at James, whose now impassive face betrayed no emotion. His eyes though; she saw the fear in them.

James Fletcher calmly responded. “UEN shuttles are hardened against electromagnetic and other radiation-based weaponry. Even if the surge protectors are overwhelmed, they have backup mechanical systems that would remain unaffected, allowing the pilot to reboot and regain control.”

Commander Axten strode over to James and Twilight. “But your shuttle was low to the ground when the cygnul struck. He had a clawful of seconds at most to react, and don’t forget about the drones! They are bioweapons, immune to their own electromagnetic armaments so they are still out there.”

“I’m not giving up on my friend.” The human nearly interrupted the griffon. They stared each other down, neither willing to give an inch. Standing next to them, Twilight raised a hoof to diffuse the situation when a loud crackling noise caught her attention. The three of them faced the hanger door to see a fountain of sparks spraying out of a hole in the thick steel plating.

“What were you saying about staying here, Commander?” Twilight took a step back from where the cygnul were burning their way in.

The griffon froze, mouth open in shock. “How…?”

With an exasperated huff, James took off for the landing platform across the bay, forcing Twilight to trot to catch up with him. “Cygnul combat engineers carry breaching equipment, Commander. We need to get out of here. Our ride should be here any second.”

“Captain Fletcher!” The griffon engineer called out. “They will be through that door soon, and without radio, we don’t know how far your shuttle is. We can’t stay in the open either, or we’ll be easy prey for the cygnul drones.”

His statement caused James and Twilight to slow; both of them glancing at the griffon expectantly. “What do you suggest, Seres?”

Smiling for the first time, the griffon stepped to the side, raising an open clawed foreleg to gesture behind him where a line of scout bikes sat parked. “They are all fueled up, and ready to go. I can swap the burned-out hardware in a few seconds, and if we hug the canyon, it will be more difficult for the cygnul to catch us.”

A shocked expression replaced the scowl on the human’s face. “I haven’t flown one of those in years!” He took off for the bikes, like a young colt in the candy store. Running his hands on their sleek, curved surfaces, James studied the strange machine intensely. Its front cone-like nose bowed outwards a few feet, before tapering off into a long tubular tail that had a black saddle shaped area where Twilight assumed the rider would sit. A large transparent screen protected the bike’s occupants from the winds that accompanied high speed flight.

Seres scampered around the flying vehicles, expertly pulling out and replacing the small black plastic cards that contained the driving intelligence behind the machines. Over at the door, the cygnul had burned a large c-shaped cut through the steel, its edges glowing a dull yellow. “There we go; the bikes will fly now.” The engineer climbed onto the long seat, designed for a griffon to use. He flipped a switch and twisted a dial, initiating a loud whine that steadily increased in pitch. Reaching behind him, Seres pulled out a fully enclosed griffon helmet and slid it onto his head.

The rest of the griffon soldiers followed suit, grabbing bikes of their own. James stepped over the vehicle closest to the door, starting the engine as deftly as the other riders. The human examined his bike’s helmet for a moment, frowning slightly before tossing the useless equipment to the side. Instead, he pulled out two backup goggles. Placing one over his head, he glanced at Twilight and gestured behind him, tossing her the other pair. “Come on, we’ll stay with the griffons for now until we can meet up with Isamu. He’s smart and I have no doubt he will find us.”

Scampering aboard clumsily, the lavender unicorn sat behind the human while playing with her goggles. Just when she thought they sat comfortably around her head, something would start itching underneath the elastic band. During the third readjustment, a loud roar overwhelmed all other sounds in the hanger, and Twilight squealed in fear. She clutched James forcefully with her forehooves and turned her head to see a jet of flame pouring from the tail of their craft. Her teeth chattered from the quick staccato of vibration generated by the powerful hovercraft as it lifted a few feet off the ground and moved forward. “James!” she yelled out as loud as possible.

One by one, the griffons accelerated towards the open hanger, with James taking the rear. The cygnul had nearly completed their cut, but their prey would be long gone by the time they finally got through. “What, Twilight?” The human shouted over his shoulder, not worrying about anything hearing them over the cacophony reverberating around them.

The unicorn lost sight of the rest of the griffon riders as she clutched tightly around James’ armored torso. He would have had difficulty breathing without the suit on. Bright sunlight flared, causing her to blink rapidly when they exited the hanger bay. “I hate flying!”

“Well,” James replied over the mechanical thunder, “that’s going to be a problem because we aren’t alone anymore.” He gestured with his chin to the right, and when Twilight craned her neck around, she could see twin dark shapes growing larger as they closed in with the base.

Cygnul drones! Ice coursed through her veins, and she suddenly felt extremely vulnerable on the exposed hover bike. Not a moment later, a second thought wormed its way into her head. “James, this platform sticks out over the canyon! Why are we still acelleraaaaaaahhhhhh!” Her question transformed into a scream as the nose of the craft dropped straight down; its pilot flooring the throttle. Heart pounding frantically, stomach in her throat, and her eyes wild and unblinking, Twilight shrieked for all her lungs’ worth. With her head against James’ back, she watched the rush of browns and yellows zipping past at an alarming rate, when a sound from James caught her attention. In her fear, it took a second to place the extraneous clamor. Is he… laughing?

Chapter 15: Baptism of Fire

The agile hover bike banked hard right, flying close enough along the unforgiving canyon wall for its exhaust to knock loose small rocks and boulders which tumbled aimlessly towards the valley floor far below. Behind it, one of the cygnul drones let loose a burst of fire from its twin lance batteries. A flurry of bright spear-shaped projectiles stitched a line across the cliff face above, missing the small craft by feet.

Twilight Sparkle squeezed her eyes shut as the near miss pelted them with stone shrapnel. Her mane and tail whipping in the wind, the bike dove away and rocketed towards the canyon floor, sacrificing altitude for speed. The mare ground her teeth together as her stomach dropped for what felt like the hundredth time in as many seconds. She glanced around the human’s shoulder, letting out a squeak of fear when she saw the rough terrain come rushing up in a blur of dappled amber.

At the last second, James pulled the yoke back and gunned the throttle. The already piercing scream of the bike roared even louder, causing Twilight to cringe and lay her ears flat against her head. Their pursuer fell behind, not anticipating the maneuver. Taking advantage of the short respite, they caught up with the closest griffon pilot in front of him. James drew his attention with a waving arm, and then spun his hand around in a repeating circular pattern.

The griffon pilot nodded and pulled his bike away, ducking down a smaller offshoot gorge to the left. He spread the word to the rest of the fliers and they scattered, each aiming for one of the narrower intersecting ravines, leaving the wide open canyon in favor of someplace with more cover. James mirrored the rest of the squadron, banking his craft in a hard right turn, which allowed Twilight to look behind them. The two cygnul drones had recovered from their quarry’s evasion, and altered their course to follow their bike.

“James!” Twilight had to scream over the wind, “They’re both following us!” In front of her, the twin walls of the smaller canyon came rushing forward as they sought safety in its labyrinth of twisting rock. Both cygnul drones converged on their prey, taking their chances in the dangerous terrain. This was not a target they would cease their pursuit of so easily.

Their bike soared around each turn, the smaller flying craft maneuvering easily in the tight quarters. It might have been peaceful if the inaccurate bursts of gunfire didn’t serve as a reminder of the deadly predators on their tail. Twilight craned her head around to see the cygnul fliers falling back, the larger fighters unable to keep up in the slender canyon, and a wave of elation filled her body.

Twilight peered over James’ shoulder and her heart sunk when they burst forth into a flat river valley. Realizing their dire situation as quickly as the unicorn on his back, James immediately attempted to dive and hide them in a clutch of trees along the bank when a massive shadow blocked out the sun over them. Both human and pony swung their heads upwards, fearing the worst when a wonderful sight greeted their eyes. A scarred, but still flying UEN shuttle with an easily recognizable face waving from the transparent canopy. “Isamu!” Twilight cried out with glee, waving a hoof back at him until the bike shifted and her foreleg quickly snapped back to grip James’ torso.

Pulling the throttle back, James pitched the hovercraft upwards. They slowly moved to the rear of the shuttle where the open ramp lay waiting. As they slipped into the larger machine’s slipstream, they slid forward and landed easily in the spacious cargo bay.

Before they came to a stop, Twilight leapt off the bike, landing on all fours and stretching her cramped back legs. Following her, James placed his hands on his hips and cracked his spine while moving towards the nose of the hovercraft. “Help me out, Twilight. We need to lose the dead weight.”

Nodding, the lavender unicorn focused her mind on this new task, using it to keep her exhaustion at bay. Ignoring her fatigued body and mind would probably cost dearly later, but for now, survival took precedence. Together, pony and human pushed against the front of the hover bike, forcing it along the deck with a metallic screech. Its nose rose up off the floor as its center of gravity moved over open space. The bike tilted backwards and fell into the sky, dropping like an anvil towards the ground below.

Twilight and James leaned forward to track the craft’s plummet, watching it tumble end over end until it slammed into the tributary below in a flare of white spray. Further behind the shuttle, the cygnul drones had finished navigating the narrow canyon and shot forward after their new target. “Uh oh.” She muttered before turning to follow the human running for the flight deck.

“Isamu!” James cried out, cupping his hands around his mouth to be heard over the much more powerful engines of the shuttle. “They’re on our tail!”

Either Isamu heard him, or he picked up on their pursuers just in time. The ship suddenly banked left and cut its speed, narrowly avoiding the cygnul’s first firing run. The quick thinking actions of their pilot had one unforeseen circumstance. Tank’s deceleration violently threw both human and pony hard against the bulkhead in front of them.

A flash of white momentarily interrupted Twilight’s vision and the next thing she knew, a wall of grey-painted steel encompassed the majority of her peripheral sight. Heaving herself up with the help of an equally dazed James Fletcher, a wet feeling on her snout soon drew her attention. The moment her hoof made contact with her face, a lance of pain triggered an involuntary spasm. Ouch! Glancing down at the perpetrator, Twilight’s eyes grew wide at the sight of sticky blood in the matted fur of her forehoof. I’m bleeding!

Another bank of the shuttle, albeit not at abrupt as the last, forced her to place all four hooves on the ground in a wide stance to avoid becoming a pony-pinball again. I’m hurt, but not gushing blood. Her rationality came through just in time. Calm down, Twilight. Let’s just get out of here and deal with it later. Pushing any thought of her possible broken nose away, the lavender unicorn carefully walked along the angled deck behind James. Two legs by themselves may be less stable than a pony’s four, but a human’s hands gave them a tremendous advantage if handholds were available.

Holding onto an exposed support beam with one hand, Captain Fletcher cycled the flight deck door and let gravity swing it open. Both of them surged into the room, scrambling for a belted seat before an evasive maneuver could throw them around again. Twilight had just locked her leg straps down when Isamu called back at her with an order that caused her stomach to drop.

“You want me to do what?” The mare frowned at the back of the human’s head, her chest still rising and falling rapidly from their recent excursion of Valles’ Greken Canyon.

“I need you to go back into the cargo bay and get on the tail gun on the upper floor!” Isamu let out a deep groan as he drew the control yoke towards him, the shuttle shuddering in the air while two dark streaks overshot their target again. Next to him, James finished strapping himself in and reached forward to grasp the identical yoke in front of him, aiding Isamu with his own strength.

“We’re flying this thing with no hydraulics and we can’t escape the cygs forever! They are just too fast!” James shouted while straining to help fly Tank; his veins growing more pronounced on his neck as he did so.

Taking advantage of the lull, Isamu twisted his head over to look at her. Heavy bags hung under his eyes and streaks of sweat ran down into his suit’s neckline. “Twilight, you can do this. I know you can.” He gave her a weak smile. “Trust yourself!” A heavy series of thuds ran along the length of their ship, and every eye went for the standby instruments, a small backup panel of physical sensors.

“We’re hit, but it looks like they missed everything vital!” James bellowed; his eyes returning to the canopy in front of them, searching for their hunters. “Go, Twilight! We’ll hold her steady as long as possible for you!”

Gulping down her fear, Twilight loosened her straps and dashed towards the perilous cargo bay where one wrong move could throw her into the open sky, a hundred feet above the valley floor. In her current condition, such a fall would be short and undoubtedly fatal. This thought certainty that helped her double her speed. She clambered up a ladder next to the ramp, carefully but quickly placing each hoof to avoid slipping to her death.

Her haste to reach the catwalk paid off when the shuttle’s nose pitched upwards, and a high pitched burst of gunfire passed close enough for Twilight to instinctively duck. She threw her forehooves around one of the railings just in time to keep from sliding off the elevated platform. Her rear legs kicked uselessly in the air while she fought to pull herself up. “Argh!” Grunting in frustration, her body shook from exhaustion. Through the open rear of the shuttle, the two cygnul drones banked away. Their engine whine dropped suddenly in pitch as they buzzed the helpless transport.

Unable to drag herself onto the catwalk, Twilight cried out in despair. She just did not have the strength anymore after pushing her body well past its limits. Glancing over at the gun suite a dozen strides away, her lips trembled and her eyes moistened. I’m so close. The unicorn’s mind wandered to the two humans struggling to keep them from being shot out of the air. If she couldn’t get on that weapon, they would all die.

Twilight Sparkle ground her teeth hard, taking in a deep breath and squeezing her eyes shut. I will not fail. Reaching down deep within her, the tip of her horn ignited in violet light and she vanished from her precarious spot on the upper ledge and popped back into existence on the gun platform. Immediately, the mare collapsed to the ground, clutching her head with her forehooves; whimpering and sobbing in agony.

The pounding torment in her skull threatened to paralyze her with inaction right then and there, but the Element of Magic proved to be tough to bring down. Blinking through her tears, Twilight dragged herself to her hooves; every exhale of breath accompanied with a grunt of discomfort. In front of her, the tail gun sat bolted to the floor, its long multi barreled cannon pointing high in the sky. The auto-targeting mechanism on the back of the weapon remained uselessly locked in place since its computer had been fried earlier.

Twilight carefully activated several red clamps on the mechanical arms that usually would traverse the gun around in its field of fire, unlocking them one by one and letting them drop to the floor. Her stomach fluttered in her belly when the ship once more dove towards the ground. In front of her through the tail canopy, her eyes picked out two black specs heading their way. On either side of the shuttle, tall rocky cliffs rushed by as Isamu and James attempted to hide in the rugged canyon.

Finally, the last robotic arm clanged against the steel deck with a reverberating boom. The rear of the tail gun slowly swung up as the slightly heavier barrel assembly drooped down low. The lavender mare reared up on her back legs, reaching above her to grab the spade handles on the back of the receiver with her forehooves. Swinging the heavy weapon around, she found it surprising to feel how easy it traversed. Though it must have weighed ten times as much as she did, the mount seemed balanced enough for her to have no problem adjusting its aim.

Using one hoof to hold onto the grip, Twilight yanked at a small helmet hanging on the nearby wall and forced it down on her head to keep her eardrums from being blown out. With that same hoof, she reached forward and wrapped it around the thick bolt on the side of the receiver. A loud clacking sound accompanied the first round being loaded into the firing chamber.

Steeling herself, Twilight Sparkle gripped the weapon and stared down its sight profile, a grim expression of determination plastered on her face. Only a slight increase in pressure from her forehooves would be all it took to activate the squeeze triggers on the handles. Flying in the canyon meant they had little to no maneuverability anymore, something the cygnul drones should attempt to use to their advantage by slowing down and taking their time racking their tail with concentrated gunfire.

The cygnul had attempted to kill Twilight half a dozen times today alone. She had been shot at more times than she could count and they had even tried to strip away her free will in a brutal psychic assault. Her friends had been threatened and she had to watch the ruthless devastation brought upon a planet that wanted to make peace in the galaxy.

This was an enemy that would stop at nothing to destroy her world and bring ruin upon all she loved. During her fight for survival, Twilight Sparkle had been forced to react to everything thrown at her… until now. With the two cygnul fighters approaching what they assumed would be an easy extermination; they entered the kill zone of the shuttle’s tail gun. Taking in a deep breath, Twilight fully depressed both handle triggers and an ungodly roar answered in response as the heavens filled with fire. The hunters had become the hunted.

A column of flame flared from the barrel assembly, reaching several feet out and obscuring much of the weapon’s backup sight profile. Twilight’s whole body vibrated as she fought to keep the shuddering weapon trained on the small drones behind them. Pivoting the heavy gun around, she stitched a line of slugs across the sky, blowing rock off the cliff walls in a powdery spray. Every second, a hundred shell casings poured out of the ejection chute and into the air behind the shuttle in a glittering golden rain.

Twilight used the weapon’s tracers to walk its stream of fire towards the first drone. The sparkling fireflies met the cygnul craft and transformed it into a ball of molten slag in an instant, leaving it to impact solidly on the valley floor. Realizing the danger posed by the UEN shuttle, the second drone banked hard, attempting to accelerate forward past the ship. Its bid for safety was blocked when the lumbering shuttle dropped down low, keeping the cygnul behind them. Wasting no time, the purple unicorn moved sideways to track her remaining target.

Glaring over the rapidly rotating barrels of the cannon, Twilight let out a scream of pure defiance as she refused to let up on the triggers. Her yelling joined with the machine’s and together, they dished out an unforgiving punishment upon the cygnul. In a last attempt to escape, the drone pulled up hard, scrambling for altitude when the pony connected it to the tail gun’s torrent of shells. She must have hit something vital because the cygnul craft detonated in a blinding explosion, rocking the UEN ship hard enough to throw her off the gun.

She stumbled backwards, legs flailing in the air when her spine slammed into the platform railing. Twilight slid down and came to rest on her haunches, staring ahead with a shocked expression. After listening to the intense racket from the tail gun, silence now seemed bizarre. Raising her right hoof, the mare pulled off her helmet and tossed it to the ground. It’s over. Closing her eyes, she listened to the blowing wind rushing through the open cargo bay and the soft thrum of their engines, no longer taxed with the additional maneuvering power. It’s over… for now.

“Come on Owlowiscious. Where are you?” Fluttershy called up at the leafy canopy in Canterlot’s sprawling gardens. The yellow pegasus drifted among the old trees, her feathery wings beating softly. She smiled at a family of squirrels peeking out from a hollow knot in an oak trunk. “Oh, hello there! That is a lovely home you both have.”

She smiled at the tiny woodland creatures who cheerfully chirped back to her when a small brown owl flew up to her from further in the gardens. “There you are, Owlowiscious! Did you have a nice afternoon flight?” Fluttershy asked as she floated towards the ground, landing lightly on her hooves.

“Whoo. ” The feathered assistant perched upon the pegasus mare’s hindquarters. Owlowiscious folded his wings and Fluttershy began her trek back to the castle.

“Good, I’m glad to hear that.” Stepping around a patch of weeds, she avoided the brambles that had returned since the groundskeepers stopped tending the garden. Princess Celestia had tasked them with other duties to assist Equestria in the war. Pruning roses and clearing away dead branches fell in priority compared to feeding refugees forced from their homes by King Moonclaw.

A cool breeze ruffled through her mane, earning a shiver from the pegasus. Winter’s breath reminded her of the approaching season change. She could already hear a rumble of thunder from the first of the large fall thunderstorms. “Let’s go inside before it rains. Maybe we can go see if Spike needs any help.”

“Whoo. ”

“I know he does. It’s been hard adjusting.” Fluttershy’s head drooped and her voice grew quieter. “Where do you think she went, Owlowiscious?”

“Whoo. Whoo. ”

“I don’t know. Princess Celestia wouldn’t tell us exactly what happened to her. I just… wish I knew whether she was still alive or… or if she is….”

Owlowiscious snapped his beak to grab her attention and he shook his head side to side.

“Okay, I know. You’re right. I need to stay positive and focus on the present.” Fluttershy paused at the doors leading into the castle. “I just really miss her.” Her eyes began to moisten when Owlowiscious hopped forward and rubbed his head against her neck, earning a smile from the pegasus mare. “Oh, Owlowiscious. You’re sweet.” She beamed a smile at the owl. “Let’s go find Spike.”

“Wake up, Twilight. We are here.” James shook the unicorn’s shoulder.

Eyes opening in surprise, Twilight examined her surroundings. “Huhh? What?” She mumbled through a dry and sticky mouth before letting out a large yawn. The last thing she remembered was buckling up in her seat while Isamu and James prepared to accelerate into orbit.

“You fell asleep right after strapping-in from adrenal exhaustion.” Isamu said while James helped her unbuckle and stand up. “I’m surprised you didn’t wake up during our initial burn. It was rather violent with our navigation suite offline. Did you sleep well?”

“I… had one of those time bleeding flashbacks." Isamu and James shared a concerned look and Twilight scratched the messy mane behind her ears in the awkward silence that followed. “How long was I out?”

“Two hours.” James smirked at her stunned face. “It took a bit longer for the Dash to find us with no radio.” The human turned and knocked once on the sealed cabin door. After a second or two, an answering double tap sounded and Isamu cycled the lock.

Before the door could completely open, Victoria had charged through with a large white medical kit in her hands. “Are you all okay? Is anyone hurt? How are you feeling?” Her barrage of questions nearly forced the three survivors back with their intensity.

Raising a hand to stay her, James calmly responded to her interrogation. “We are all fine, Victoria. A little banged up and tired, but nothing that requires immediate attention. I promise that we all will see you in the medical bay but not until we leave this system.” He edged around the unmoving human with Isamu close behind.

Twilight tried to follow when Victoria stopped her. “Twilight, you’ve been shot!” She yelled out, dropping down on a knee. Her hands reached out to examine the wound on the pony’s neck.

Remembering the injury, the mare sighed. “It was just a graze.” Raising a hoof, she felt the rough scab that had already formed, but it still felt tender enough to incite a twitch from her. The motion was not missed by the human, and she opened her mouth to protest. “I’ll get treatment, I promise!” She interjected. “I will visit you when we enter jump space.”

Victoria followed behind the lavender unicorn, letting out a huff of air in frustration. “I’m going to the bridge with all of you. The last thing we need is for someone to collapse and crack their head open.”

The mare smiled back at her as they exited the shuttle, passing dozens of ponies and humans already working on the transport. Glancing up at the ship that had gotten her home, Twilight frowned at the numerous burn marks and bullet holes that peppered the heavy machine. We really took some serious damage down there. She thought with a sliver of fear, recognizing how close they had been to not making it back.

Both of them walked briskly down the comforting passageways of the Rainbow Dash. The armored ship gave off an aura of protection and safety, unlike the tiny griffon scout bike she had been on earlier. During the trip to the bridge, Victoria asked Twilight dozens of questions about her condition, digging through the medical kit for supplies to use.

“Victoria, please!” Twilight waved off another attempt to bandage her neck. “It’s not bleeding anymore. If you want to help me right now, can you get me something for my headache?” They rounded a corner and the entrance to the bridge came into sight.

“Did you perform a large number of magical spells down on the planet?”

“Yes.” Twilight frowned and paused to rub her horn before resuming her trek. “I had no choice at the time.”

“Then you probably have spellcaster’s cephalgia. It’s a pain in the head caused by magical exertion.” Victoria pulled a small orange cylinder out of the kit and removed a large white pill before sealing everything back up. From a pouch on her waist, she drew a plastic bottle and unscrewed the cap. “Here,” she stopped in front of Twilight and held out the pill. “This will ease your headache.”

Twilight stopped herself before she picked up the tiny white tablet with her telekinesis. That probably would be a bad idea right now. So she mimicked the earth pony way and scooped the medicine onto one of her forehooves and into her mouth. Accepting the canteen, she washed down the pill with a gulp of refreshingly cool water.

Noticing the satisfaction on the unicorn’s face, Victoria stopped Twilight from handing her back the canteen. “Finish it; then we can move on.”

Smiling despite herself, she quickly gulped down the rest of the water, soothing her parched throat. She needed much more than this little bottle could carry to rehydrate, but it was a start. “Thanks!” Twilight returned the empty container and walked onto the bridge with Victoria in tow.

“Double check those readings.” James Fletcher pointed towards one of the ensigns in the room. “It looks like a gravity distortion to me and could indicate something big coming through.”

“Sir,” the earth pony replied. “I’ve confirmed the data three times. Our sensors detect gravitic fluctuations at point along the system plane approximately a hundred thousand kilometers from Valles’ moon, Parum.”

James leaned forward and placed his hand over his mouth as he studied the screen in front of him diligently. Twilight quickly pulled herself up in her seat next to him and read over a summary report of the events in space over the last couple hours. “Things don’t look good.” She whispered over to the captain. Victoria took advantage of her immobility to start bandaging her neck up.

“From the moment they started firing, the cygnul envoy lasted ten seconds before a griffon planetary defense cannon blew it out of the sky.” James spoke in a low tone. “They succeeded in causing plenty of chaos and panic though. Ships are leaving the planet in droves. We are hiding amongst the evacuee fleet now. As soon as we clear the moon’s gravity well, we will jump for UEN space.”

“Why did they open fire then?” This cygnul strategy made no sense to her. Sure, the cygs almost caught them on the ground, but the sneak attack was tiny in scale compared to the griffon presence here. “If the cygnul wanted to risk engaging the griffons, then they should at least have tried to take advantage of their unpreparedness.”

The human nodded, his eyes never leaving his screen. “That’s why I think we haven’t seen their main attack yet.” He tilted his head towards her. “You forced their hand during the, ah, negotiations, and they attacked before the main fleet could arrive.”

“The main fleet?” A cold dread settled upon her like a blanket. On the computer attached to her chair, the yellow cautionary banner that marked the gravity distortion turned red. Warning, Enemy Ships Detected. She read the line in her head as a multitude of icons popped into existence, marking the cygnul ships that had just jumped in system. The cygnul fleet clustered together and altered their course to head straight for the vulnerable griffon colony. Oh, no.

A klaxon began blaring on the bridge, and Alice’s voice came over the speakers. “Cygnul fleet detected. Fifteen frigates, eight destroyers, two cruisers, and a siege breaker. They are in a standard cygnul planetary assault formation.”

“Dammit. Here we go.” James muttered before sitting up straight. “Kill the alarm. Get the planetary defense captain on the line right now.”

“He is refusing our call.” Alice appeared on his armrest. “I am now detecting the activation of the griffon orbital defensive grid.” On the front screen, the A.I. pulled up a zoomed in view of the massive guns of Valles, their thrusters spraying reaction mass as they rotated their heavy spinal mounted cannons to face the oncoming threat. A raiding fleet the size of the current cygnul invaders could glass a planet in an hour, much faster than it would take to call in reinforcements. The cygnul had to be stopped right here and now if Valles was to be saved.

As the cygnul ships fell planet-ward, the front of the siege breaker opened up. Extending five large spindly arms in a wide arc, a light teal shield flared into existence in front of the fleet. One by one, the kilometer long orbital guns opened fire, belching out ship-killing bolts traveling at relativistic speeds. Each shell slammed into the half domed shield in a spectacular display of light. Energy rippled across the glowing construct as it absorbed the barrage without appearing to lose any strength, and so the cygnul trudged on.

Dread fell upon Twilight. “James, can the griffons break through that shield?”

“Not with the forces they have.” The human worked quickly on his computer, trying to think of something, anything they could do.

A small icon appeared on the system grid of the local space. “Captain,” Alice alerted James. “The griffon fighter contingent is preparing to engage the cygnul fleet.”

“No, no, no, no!” His outburst startled Twilight. Hands moving quickly, James opened a live feed to the lead pilot of the fighter squadron. A familiar light-browned griffon face in a sealed flight suit appeared on the front screen. “Theron! What are you doing? The cygnul will annihilate your squadron!”

“I don’t have a choice, James.” His somber eyes gazed back; the face of someone who knew they were going to die. “My family is still down on that planet, and I have my orders.” James Fletcher stared openmouthed at his friend, unable to form words. “Good luck, my friend. You should be able to safely make it out of the gravity well. I’ll see you in the next life; wherever that is.” Theron gave a final smirk before cutting the connection.

The griffon fighters entered the cygnul fleet’s engagement zone and they immediately opened fire. Thin energy beams reached out across empty space, vaporizing the tiny space craft and their occupants in an instant. Dozens of bright fireballs flared into existence as the cygnul weaponry burned the outgunned griffons like moths to the flame. Not a single Raptor fighter managed to close into attack range. Light debris peppered the cygnul ships, not even succeeding in slowing them down.

Twilight Sparkle stared forward in shock. The shear ferocity of the cygnul as they obliterated the griffon fighters brought a sickening nausea to her stomach. Total silence, save for the low hum of the ship’s ventilation system, fell upon the bridge. Turning to her left, she noticed the white-knuckled grip James had on his armrest. He continued watching his screen unblinkingly; his mouth pursed in a tight line. One by one, crew members turned to face their captain, looking to him for his next order.

“James.” Victoria’s whisper broke the stillness in the room. “I’m so sorry.” She walked over to his seat and placed a hand on his shoulder. Feeling the contact, he turned his head up at her. “What are your orders, Captain?”

James dropped his gaze. “You know, Theron and I had an arrangement. If something happened to one of us, the other would see to it that our families would be okay.” The human placed his hand over Victoria’s and looked back at her. “His daughter turned one year old last month. I am not going to let him down.”

His jaw set with a grim determination and he went straight to work on his computer screen. “Alice, run a full scan of the cygnul fleet. Analyze each weapon and find their strengths and weaknesses. Everyone else, I want you all to brainstorm on any ideas to help the griffons out. I want numbers, strategies, combat maneuvers, anything you can think of. If you had a good idea in the shower this morning, I want to hear it. Go!”

“Aye aye, Captain. I’ll be on the medical deck.” Victoria took off, jogging through the door to the rest of the ship.

Twilight Sparkle pulled up the map of the battle space around Valles. Various indicators marked the locations of every ship, satellite, and space station in a million kilometers. Their little UEN formation of three frigates currently accelerated away from the colony among a long line of refugee ships. This vector would take them close to the planet’s lone natural satellite, Parum. Composed of abundant and relatively common elements and compounds, an incentive to develop the airless rock never passed the simple exploratory phase.

The moon seemed insignificant enough, but its position relative to them and the cygnul gave her an idea. Before she could bring it up, Dimitri called back from his station. “Captain, if we can knock out that siege breaker, it should throw the rest of the cygnul fleet into disarray.”

“Building on Dmitri’s idea,” Isamu inclined his head towards the earth pony. “The griffon’s orbital guns will be able to engage their ships as well.”

James nodded at both suggestions, also listening to a few ideas from other crew on the deck. Twilight felt hesitant about competing against the suggestions from the Rainbow Dash’s actual crew who had been fighting in space much longer than her, but she overcame her anxiety and tapped the human’s forearm. “James, what if we hide behind the moon to get closer to the cygnul?” For a moment, she was reminded of the horrible fate of the griffon fighters caught out in the open.

Suppressing a shudder, the unicorn angled her screen to show him her idea to come around the moon and hit the cygnul fleet from the side when their ships were closest to the lunar body. Alice popped into reality on her seat, studying the plan along with James. “Captain, this actually looks like our best shot. The moon’s gravity will give us a much needed boost in speed.”

“Do it, Alice. Run the numbers and call up our escorts.” James rubbed his mouth and sat up straighter in his chair. The two captains of the other frigates appeared on the front monitor of the bridge. A young, green-coated earth pony stallion nodded at them from his frigate’s command chair, a boxed caption in the top corner of the display listed a short profile of the pony and labeled him as the captain of the Sprague. Similarly, a sky-blue-coated pegasus mare sat in the Whirlwind’s captain’s seat.

Wasting no time with formalities, James went straight to the point. “That shield needs to come down.” He forwarded Alice’s battle plan to the UEN captains with his seat’s computer. “If we don’t help out the griffons, the cygnul will glass the planet, murder billions, and render Valles inhabitable for decades.” He paused to let that point sink in for a moment before continuing. “But I believe we can give them a fighting chance. I won’t order you to do this, but I’m asking.”

Twilight’s breath caught in her throat as the two ponies read over the plan, their expressionless faces betraying no emotion. The pegasus mare finished first and faced them once again. She pushed a few strands of her snow white mane back into place before letting out a sigh. “You’re right, Captain Fletcher, and I won’t sit idly by and let genocide happen on my watch if I can do something about it. My ship is yours.” Her side of the front screen went dark.

Last to speak, the stallion gave them a weak smile and shrugged his shoulders. “We are patrol frigates. This is what we do. Let’s save this planet.” His smile vanished as well when he cut the connection.

“Sir,” Alice waved a hoof to catch his attention from Twilight’s seat. “I don’t mean to intrude but we are fast approaching the time to maneuver. I have been given control of both frigates, but what do you want to do about our special passenger?” The A.I. motioned towards the lavender pony behind her.

James stared into her eyes, a tight lipped frown on his face. “Get Lieutenant Hailstorm here on the double. He can take her to safety in the backup shuttle. They can rendezvous with…”

“No!” Twilight interrupted him, glaring at the human sitting next to her. “I’m not going anywhere.”

His face softened faintly. “Twilight, you have to make it back to Harmony. The war effort depends on it.”

Shaking her head, her multicolored mane swung side to side. “No, I could never live with myself if I left.” Her eyes lost their focus as she imagined the possible lonely future from that decision. “Besides, running away from this fight would be a betrayal of the Elements of Harmony. If you want me to take up my mantle again, then I must stand up to the evil of the cygnul. I can’t keep hiding anymore.” She shut her eyelids and lowered her head before returning her original glare upon the captain. “Anyways, you couldn’t make me leave.”

Alice glanced from pony to human, wondering what to do. “Captain? Should I call Lieutenant Hailstorm to the bridge?”

James Fletcher conceded first, smirking and turning to work on his computer once more. “No, that won’t be necessary. She is right. I doubt I could force her to leave.” The glowing pony nodded and fizzled away.

Twilight faced forward again, breathing heavily. Relieved she won the argument, it still left her in a very dangerous position sitting in a warship hastening its way to engage an enemy that brutally outnumbered them. I’m glad James is unaware of my exhaustion. I doubt I could levitate a quill right now. Her weariness had one added benefit; it definitely helped keep her composed.

Staring forward, she calmed her breathing and double checked the seats restraining straps. The front monitor now showed a traditional view from the nose of the frigate where Valles’ sole moon grew larger and larger with every passing moment. A small countdown timer off to the side displayed the remaining time to the start of the action. Small specks of light marked the line of civilian ships angling away from the fight, unlike their current path.

“Attention all hands,” James spoke over the ship’s intercom. “Artificial gravity generators are shutting down. Brace for high-G maneuver. Good luck, and I’ll see you on the other side.” He keyed off the icon on his computer and leaned over to speak quietly with her. “Twilight, remember the high gravity teaching we touched on in your training. It’s going to be uncomfortable, but you will survive. Don’t panic and you will be fine.”

She bobbed her head in reply, not trusting herself to speak right now. A stillness fell upon the bridge as every crew member mentally steeled themselves for what was to come. When the ship’s artificial gravity switched off, Twilight felt a few butterflies in her stomach and her mane and tail hung freely in the air. With the timer running down to zero, the moon swung from the right side of the screen to the top as Alice rotated the frigate. “Five… four… three… two… one… full thrust.”

Momentum shoved Twilight into the back of her chair; her mane and tail now falling straight back towards the wall. A deep grumble grew in pitch, vibrating the deck walls and floors as the massive engines of the aging frigate responded to the necessity of speed. On the front view screen, the fluffy white surface of Parum suddenly rushed forward, its craters slinging by in dark blurs.

Falling into a curving flight path around the celestial body, Twilight felt the g-forces shift to pull her more towards the deck. Her cheeks began to tingle as the blood drained from them and flowed towards her hooves. Grunting in frustration, she fought to stay conscious even though the hues in the room greyed out and the edges of her vision began to darken.

With lunar regolith vanishing almost as soon as it appeared, their velocity continued to rise while they burned a trail of plasma through airless space. Twilight’s eyesight shrunk to small pinpricks, failing to resist the encroaching blackness. The unicorn mare struggled to keep breathing, a task much more difficult under the heightened acceleration. She tried to call out for help, but the sound merely vocalized itself as a feeble meep.

Just before the remaining vestiges of her sight blacked out, the ship pulled out of its slingshot maneuver, now flying directly towards for the cygnul fleet dead ahead. Almost all at once, gravity lessened to a much more manageable level generated solely from the frigate’s engines. It didn’t take long before several pinpricks of light amongst the cygnul ships preceded a jarring shake of the Dash.

“They are shooting at us sir!” Dmitri called over his shoulder, seemingly unaffected by the vicious acceleration.

“Well then, shoot back!” James Fletcher’s voice growled. “All weapons systems, fire at will!” A familiar red haze illuminated the patrol frigate’s nose as her main gun powered up and fired. Flashing into existence, a thin red beam connected the Rainbow Dash with the center of the siege ship.

Metal boiled away into space, and molten slag expanded from the impact point along with a large cloud of gasses from the ship’s internal atmosphere. The cygnul ship reeled from the impact but seemed to still be operational. Then the Dash’s cannon shells reached the formation.

Traveling at a much lower velocity, a torrent of high explosive slugs punched through the cygnul vessel’s thinner armor amidships and detonated. Pieces of the cyg ship joined those already leaving a trail of debris in the fleet’s wake. As the Rainbow Dash reloaded and recharged her weapons, her escorts cleared the moon and joined in with their weaponry, tearing into the massive cygnul capital ship.

The two fleets closed rapidly, and the UEN frigates shot over the cygnul too fast for the eye to see. “Now, Alice! Flip us over!” James commanded the A.I. “Kill the engines!”

Anticipating the order, thrusters fired before the human had finished speaking. “Yes sir, bringing us around.” Stars spun wildly as the ship flipped over to face the enemy once again. The hum of the frigates powerful engines vanished to keep from slowing them down now that they were currently soaring backwards now. Without their persistent juddering, Twilight could feel each time one of their turrets fired a volley.

All three UEN ships unleashed their weaponry into the unmarred port side of the siege ship, quickly marring it with craters. Though the cygnul vessel outmassed them by several orders of magnitude, the UEN fleet’s element of surprise allowed them to hit where it hurt the most. As if somepony had flipped a switch, the umbrella shaped shield flickered twice, then vanished. On the bridge, a cacophony of cheers erupted momentarily, until something hard slammed into the nose of the ship.

Twilight would have easily been launched across the deck had she not been belted in. Instead, she was rewarded with a painful ache in her shoulders and waist from her straps. “What was that?” She asked as red warning lights illuminated every computer screen.

“Near miss of an anti-ship missile.” Isamu calmly stated over the alarm as if he had been describing the ingredients on the back of a cereal box. “Alice got it with the point defense guns, but more are inbound. It looks like the cygnul are upset we broke their toy.”

“Break formation,” James keyed over his seat’s communicator. “All ships, vacate the engagement zone!” In front of their ship, one of the cygnul cruisers had altered its heading. Swinging to face them, its nose lit up in a bluish corona before it fired a beam into the UEN Sprague as she tried to accelerate away. The entire ship simply vanished in a burst of white light.

The Whirlwind had slightly better fortune. She threw off the cygnul’s aim with a random course change and the missile targeting her ship only managed to throw the frigate into an uncontrollable tumble off into space. Next on their list for revenge, the Rainbow Dash pushed her nose forward and burned her way downwards out of the solar system’s plane. Cyg weapons reached out for her, missing by less and less each time. Trembling, Twilight braced herself for a horrific impact when the griffons finally acted.

The cygnul fleet on the front monitor remained in their original tight formation around the now defunct siege ship. Suddenly, ten bluish-white fireballs flared up amongst the cyg vessels. Taking advantage of the opening the UEN ships had given them; griffon orbital cannons targeted the invaders with a brutal vengeance. At this close range, they had no chance of missing. Each shell hit with the kinetic equivalent of a high-yield nuclear weapon, and they quickly transformed the twenty-five remaining warships into nothing more than a thin, wispy cloud of debris. The battle for Valles had finally ended.

Chapter 16: Take Flight

Twilight Sparkle sat on her haunches in the vacant starboard lounge, nose nearly pressed up against one of the few actual windows in the patrol frigate. Her slow, deliberate breathing continuously replenished a patch of fog that gradually faded during her inhales. A quiet humming of Rainbow Dash’s never-ceasing ventilation system alone broke the silence in the room as it pumped in fresh air.

During combat, armored panels would slide down to cover this structural weakness, but with no imminent threats nearby, the purple unicorn took advantage of the amazing view the windows afforded. The surviving UEN vessel currently orbited around a lonely ice giant named Elissa in the griffon controlled system. A large number of orbital repair facilities revolved around the decently sized planet. UEN Whirlwind still remained in one such station as damage to the frigate had been extensive.

The lavender unicorn’s thoughts fell upon the fate of their other escort, the Sprague. A blast from a cygnul cruiser at point blank range had completely vaporized the warship. If it’s any consolation, Twilight, Captain James Fletcher had told her later in private, they didn’t feel any pain.

A twinge of agony flooded her upper chest. All of those ponies and humans… gone in a blink of an eye. They never even had a chance. Twilight pulled her gaze away from the fluffy turquoise sky in front of her and squeezed her eyelids shut. And those brave griffon pilots who charged forward in a suicide run; knowing they flew to their deaths; to protect their homes and loved ones. How much longer can we do this? How much longer can this war continue?

Thankfully, a hiss of pneumatic pistons interrupted her downward spiraling thoughts and her ears twitched around towards its source. In the faint reflection on the glass in front of her, she watched two ponies join her in the otherwise empty lounge. “Twilight!” The earth pony Dmitri Bearclaw yelled out in greeting, further breaking her somber mood.

“There you are,” a softer tone from the other pony contrasted the bellowing tones from Dmitri, “we’ve been looking all over for you.” Socket Wrench ruffled her wings before joining Twilight by the window.

The lavender mare smiled at each pony, happy for their company. “I thought I needed some time alone, but I’m glad you two are here.”

“Something bother you?” Dmitri wrapped a forehoof around Twilight’s shoulders, bringing her in for a short hug.

Twilight Sparkle gave the earth pony a cheeky grin. “I just wanted to collect my thoughts.” Her short-lived smile slowly faded, replaced with a faraway gaze. Attempting to distract her, Socket Wrench draped a feathery wing around the unicorn, interrupting her brooding.

On her other side, Dmitri enjoyed the view outside of the window and uncharacteristically remained quiet for a surprising amount of time. Though, this didn’t last too long as the earth pony seemed unable to handle extended amounts of silence. “Twilight,” he prodded, “do you enjoy flying?”

The mare raised an eyebrow at the thoughtless question. “I know that this may come as a shock to you, Dmitri, but I am a unicorn pony; not a pegasus.” Twilight smirked at the face the stallion made when he realized what he had asked.

“Nyet, I know… I did not mean… I am trying to say….” Dmitri Bearclaw’s mind went into overdrive as he tried to explain. Behind a giggling Twilight, Socket Wrench glared daggers at him.

“I know you have no wings!” The earth pony made a showy response of laughter while dismissing his earlier question with a raised forehoof. “That would be weird wouldn’t it?” He prodded the mare’s side where a nonexistent wing might have been. “Twilight Sparkle; an alicorn. You are most obviously unicorn pony!”

If Socket had been shooting daggers before, her eyes now shot plasma bolts at Dmitri. On the other hoof, Twilight remained none the wiser and she enjoyed the recovery of the bumbling earth pony. “Thanks, Dmitri.” She managed to say between laughs. “I really needed that. I feel a lot better.”

Dmitri shook his head and gestured towards the blue ice giant. “You’re welcome, but what I was trying to get at is; have you read about Jovian flying yet?”

The mare’s face scrunched up as she mulled over the phrase. “I know that gas giants are sometimes called Jovian worlds. They are almost completely made up of gas though. How could you safely fly in one?”

“We use microlight fliers and special protective suits. They have several redundant systems to ensure safety. That way it reduces the possibility of death by freezing, extreme weather, or falling into the planet’s crushing depths,” Socket the engineer, nonchalantly answered.

Twilight’s ears drooped and she gulped down in fear. “That sounds… intense.”

“Oh, it is!” Missing her apprehension, Dmitri fidgeted as he grew antsy. “I can have the ship’s printer build us a few fliers. By the time we get suited up, they should be ready.”

Twilight thought of Charybdis. The first such Jovian world she had encountered, she remembered brutal winds, lightning storms everywhere, and the maelstrom that tried to pull them down. And that was in a frigate! An entire warship! A shiver ran over the mare’s body and she took a step back from the window. “I don’t know. I think I’ll pass. I did not particularly enjoy the last gas giant we visited.”

“Oh, honey!” Socket walked forward and placed a reassuring hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Elissa is nothing like Charybdis. This world is much smaller and tamer than that giant planet. The gravity in the upper atmosphere is barely higher than Harmony’s, and the only thing we need to worry about are sporadic thunderstorms which are slow and easy to fly around. You can see them coming from a hundred miles away!”

The unicorn halted her retreat but remained unconvinced. “Are you sure?”

“Da!” Dmitri bellowed. “I never flown this world, but I have done so on many like it. I find it rather… relaxing.”

Socket nodded at her companion and faced Twilight again. “It is an amazing experience that you will never forget.” She scratched her chin in thought before her eyes lit up. “I tell you what. How about Dmitri uses a one-seat flier and you and I can share a two-seater? That way, I can work the controls and all you have to do is enjoy the view!”

Twilight thought it over momentarily before giving in. “That actually sounds pretty nice! I could use the distraction.”

“Then it’s a plan.” Socket Wrench led the way off Rainbow Dash’s observation lounge. “Let’s go flying!”

Thin air gently rocked the UEN transport as it skimmed the upper reached of Elissa’s atmosphere. Tank still hadn’t been fully repaired so Twilight, Socket, and Dmitri caught a ride in Aspire, the other shuttle carried by the frigate. “We are reaching the drop zone. Lower the ramp,” Tempest Fury, their pegasi pilot, called over the radio. A human standing off to the side of the shuttle bay pulled down a lever, engaging the mechanism to lower the spacecraft’s rear ramp.

A light whistling of air mixed with whining hydraulics as more and more of the ice giant’s curved atmosphere became visible. Fully faced with the reality of what they were about to do, two purple forelegs wrapped tighter around the front bar of a large ultralight flier with a white-hooved grip. “I don’t know about this!” Twilight Sparkle yelled over her space suit’s radio. Next to her, Socket grimaced at the volume of her voice.

“You will be fine, dear.” The pegasus performed another check of their small craft’s idling engines. “You also don’t need to yell. I can hear you just fine over the comm.”

Twilight swallowed nervously and twisted her head around again. Behind them, Dmitri waved at the shuttle bay technician and readied himself on his flier. Returning the gesture with a thumbs-up, the human’s voice came over the radio. “Belt activating in three… two… one… go!” He then pressed a large black button on the wall. With an initial wobble, a conveyor belt in the floor came to life and slowly moved the two ultralights back towards the wide open sky. “Have fun, you ponies.”

The tail of Dmitri’s smaller flier stretched out over emptiness, and the wild earth pony released a hoot of excitement before the craft rocked up and slid out of the cargo bay, vanishing below the shuttle. Seeing this, Twilight’s blood ran ice cold and she began to seriously regret her decision to try Jovian flying. Oh, Celestia why am I doing this? Even though the pony’s instincts screamed at her to remove herself from this situation, she refused to give in. Instead, she continued watching as they crept closer to the edge.

Sitting next to her, Socket Wrench pushed the throttle forward on their flier’s console and its small main engines increased in power. Their tail reached open space and when Twilight stared down, she saw nothing but an endless sky. Oh dear Celestia! The mare’s mind screamed as their center of gravity left the shuttle. A heartbeat later, their ultralight tilted up, rolled back, and dropped towards the heart of Elissa.

Twilight Sparkle’s stomach clenched up as she experienced the strange sensation of weightlessness once again. For her benefit, the mare only uttered a single squeak of fear before clamping her mouth down. Aspire seemed to rocket away high above them as the two-seat ultralight plummeted ever faster.

“It’s alright, Twilight.” Socket’s calm and collected voice sounded in the unicorn’s ear. “Remember, we need to drop to a thicker portion of Elissa’s atmosphere. Everything is normal right now.”

Not trusting herself to respond verbally, Twilight Sparkle nodded instead. Her teeth ground together and she sucked down large gulps of fresh air continuously supplied by an advanced rebreather system on her back. Her view rotated forward as Socket rolled the ultralight over to dive nose first. With aerodynamics now working in their favor, turbulence levels dropped considerably.

Their gentle dive had a secondary effect as well. Twilight’s subconscious began to accept that she no longer faced an imminent death anymore. With that, the unicorn pony followed her lessons learned on the Rainbow Dash to control her breathing and nerves. Although, diving into the depths of a surface-less planet many times larger than Harmony still brought a sense of discomfort. Twilight could not help but remember the experience with the maelstrom encountered back on Charybdis.

It took some time, but slowly, Socket leveled them off above a layer of multifaceted cloud banks. She banked them around a tall fluffy cerulean spire and they entered a long corridor of calm weather. The combination of thicker air and increased flight speed allowed their tiny winged aircraft to perform the job it had been designed for. Instead of falling, they were now flying.

The reassuring feeling of gravity once more chased away the weightlessness that Twilight’s stomach despised. Now that their flight resembled something that the mare had grown used to, she finally felt at ease. Wiggling around in her restraints, she made herself comfortable before gazing around her.

Light green wispy streaks high above refracted the light of the solar system’s sun as it passed through bands of micro-sized ice crystals, thus creating dazzling rainbows. Several times further away than Harmony’s, the local star hovered almost directly overhead, only prominent because of its relative brightness compared to any of the other visible stellar pinpricks. A series of elongated points of light zipped by at speeds too fast to be natural satellites. Those must be the orbiting space stations. Twilight Sparkle’s face lit up. One of them might even be the Dash!

Twilight’s ears began to twitch as she noticed a new sound. A whistling grew louder and louder before a shadow soared barely overhead, resolving itself into another ultralight machine. Dmitri Bearclaw turned back to wave at the two mares who smirked and rolled their eyes at his sneaky flyby. Ignoring or not caring about their reaction, the earth pony eased back and took up position slightly behind the pair; content to match their leisurely flight.

Meanwhile, thicker clouds around them were drawn and twisted into swirling designs by localized wind currents, all the while displaying palates of oceanic colors. Some stretched away, pulled into oblong shapes by unseen jet streams. Others spiraled up into large mushroom topped structures many times the size of any city Twilight had visited. Glancing behind her, she caught sight of Aspire, following them a few hundred yards off to the side; yet, close enough to be there in case anything happened.

The shuttle’s presence had a reassuring effect that helped put the unicorn mare’s worries to rest. Twilight couldn’t help but crack a smile as the starship banked away to purposefully plunge through a fluffy wall of cyan, dragging along several swirling trails of vapor as a result. As if sensing her gaze, the pilot rolled the bulky craft around in a lazy barrel roll. It seems we aren’t the only ones having fun. Twilight let out a slight chuckle that did not go unnoticed by Socket Wrench.

Taking a moment to meet her gaze, the pegasus wore a huge cheesy grin, easily visible through her faceplate. “Enjoying yourself, Twilight?”

The unicorn slowly took in all of the scenery around her once again before answering. “This is amazing. It is so calm up here.” She shook her head and looked back at Socket. “It’s nothing like Charybdis was.”

“Not all gas giant planets are monsters. They are as different and unique as each one of us.” Socket adjusted the flier’s yoke, banking them down another long corridor of calm weather. “At our altitude, storms are fairly uncommon. They tend to accumulate much deeper.” At this, the pegasus pointed her free hoof downward, where the exposed skeleton of the ultralight allowed the ponies to see underneath them.

Though rare, clear conduits exposed the ice giant’s depths for observation. Unlike the calm climate at their level, dark storms of blue and black toiled in deep chasms that stretched far down to where even sunlight couldn’t reach. Brilliant cloud to cloud lightning flashed into short-lived existence as meteorological forces at work fought to equalize their unbalanced charges. The high energy release of untamed electricity flared as bright as the sun, further exposing a never ceasing turmoil that lurked within the Jovian planet.

The worst lightning storm Twilight had ever witnessed back in her old life completely paled in comparison with the weakest strikes seen below them. She began to think that it could not be any more impressive when off to their left, a continent-sized cumulonimbus cloud sparkled to life in a near blinding array of light. Thousands of white bolts streaked upwards, jumping erratically from point to point, stretching past their altitude and continuing up to the upper reaches of Elissa’s atmosphere where it eventually fizzled out.

“Wow!” Three ponies simultaneously shouted over the crackling radio.

“Did you see that?” A fourth voice joined them from the UEN shuttle.

Twilight Sparkle suddenly felt somewhat vulnerable. She had a feeling that their space suits might not fare so well against that much raw energy. “What was that?”

Socket pulled her eyes from where the light show had happened to meet Twilight’s nervous stare. “That was a lightning jet. They are very rare on worlds like Harmony, but they can happen anywhere with weather.”

Hearing the pegasus, their shuttle pilot’s voice came over the radio once more. “I hope you are right about that.”

“Tempest, you are safest one in sky right now. Quit being baby.” Dmitri called out the shuttle and the pony flying it.

The radio channel immediately filled with laughs and snickers, much to the pilot’s chagrin. “Very funny, Dmitri. I’ll have you know that I… hang on a second. I’m receiving a priority message from Captain Fletcher. Wait one.”

Twilight Sparkle and Socket Wrench shared a worried glance. Messages were never tagged as priority unless they dealt with a very serious matter that needed to be addressed as soon as possible. Assuming that their leisurely flight would most likely be canceled right away, the butterscotch pegasus went ahead and began angling their ultralight towards Aspire with Dmitri close behind.

Their fears proved to be correct when Tempest’s voice filled their speakers again. “I’ve been asked to gather you ponies up right now and make for the frigate at full speed. Apparently, the griffons are squawking mad on every form of communication they have. All of their quantum buoys are jam-packed with requests for reinforcements. Let’s not waste any time.”

Aspire’s engines flared and the large shuttle rapidly closed the distance between it and the micro fliers. Socket held their craft steady as the UEN ship’s slipstream knocked them around, but the pegasus had no trouble landing in the cargo bay. As soon as the two ponies leapt free, Dmitri came barreling in, bumping hard against the deck.

“Miss Twilight!” The human who oversaw their launch called over to her. “Can you push the ultralights out of the back? We don’t have time to stow them properly!”

Nodding, the lavender mare concentrated her will as her horn lit up in a violet nimbus. It was the easiest thing to lift the lightweight aircraft and drop them out of the open cargo bay. Both fliers flipped erratically through the air behind them, plunging down into the depths of Elissa where they would be soon crushed by the gas planet’s unforgiving pressure. Twilight couldn’t help but feel a small pang of pity at the fate of the twin machines. I was having such a good time.

Turning from the scene outside, Twilight made her way to the shuttle’s cockpit to safely strap in for their return journey. Already, warning alert symbols pulsed on the ship’s many data screens. Sitting down and wrestling with her seat’s buckles, the mare took in a deep breath. I wonder what it is this time….

“It’s a GDA, or gravitational distortion anomaly.” James Fletcher pointed it out on Twilight’s computer screen. Back on the Rainbow Dash’s bridge, they currently accelerated out towards the far reaches of the solar system. The clustered infrastructure orbiting Elissa made it a prime candidate for a possible attack.

“When a ship uses its warp drive, wrinkles in the local fabric of space precede the vessel’s arrival. It’s kind of like dropping a pebble into a still pond except the ripples happen before the actual impact. We can detect those distortions once they grow to a certain size. The larger the incoming mass, the larger the ripples.”

In front of Twilight, she studied the anomaly in question. Though it was located over a light hour from them, it was only a few light minutes from Valles. Her screen showed what should have been empty and unremarkable space, except that now, something sharply pulled and pushed at a point in the smooth gravitational metric that comprised the solar system.

“So, every time we teleport, Rainbow Dash creates ripples like that?” Twilight pointed at the sine-wave graph recording the phenomena. Looking back at a time history, she noticed that over time, the amplitudes had grown taller while the wave frequency continued to increase.

“Yes, but because the Dash is a patrol frigate, her signature is extremely small. In fact, a ship would have to be within a hundred kilometers of our exit point to even pick our transit up, and that is almost nothing when compared to the vastness of space. Even then, they would only have a couple seconds of warning.”

Twilight nodded in understanding. Many of her late nights had been spent researching into the ship that not only carried the name of one of her best friends, but was her home away from home. Patrol frigates were designed to be small, inconspicuous, and fast. It would not serve their purpose to have something alert an entire system of their impending arrival, like a giant flashing sign saying, I will be appearing right here!

“The strength of space-time ripples increases exponentially with mass. So an individual ship, or even a small flotilla, might not give any warning of their arrival, but when a large number of ships warp in simultaneously, it can be detected by sensitive equipment.” James continued on. “And when an entire fleet jumps in, there is plenty of warning time for that.”

Twilight Sparkle narrowed her brow in thought. “For how long can you watch an entire fleet teleport?”

James’ eyes lost focus and he took in a deep breath. “The largest direct engagement of the war so far was the battle over Pegasopolis. Nearly a thousand capital warships on both sides slugged it out for hours before the Cygnul withdrew. We might have been able to capitalize on the victory if the cost hadn’t been so high.”

His explanation of the battle trailed off and Twilight gave him a few seconds to continue before she asked her question. “Were you there for the entire fight?”

He nodded before getting back on subject. “We were refueling in-system for a standard reconnaissance mission when the warning net first sensed the GDA. Naturally, we stuck around to support our forces when they came in through Luna’s jump gate. There was plenty of time to prepare, since it took half an hour for their fleet to show up.”

Twilight studied her computer’s analysis more thoroughly, searching for one piece of information that she both feared but had to see. Situated beneath the system map, a timer continuously counted upwards from the initial time of first detection. Thirty three minutes… oh no…. The unicorn mare thought as a chill swept through her. Distracted by the ominous realization, she missed the human’s next words. “What did you say?”

“You don’t have to be here, Twilight.” James repeated. “You don’t have to watch this.”

She stared confusingly at him and it took a moment for his statement to sink in. “What do you mean?”

“We are safe on this vessel right now so you don’t need to be on the bridge with me. You can go to wait in Socket’s stateroom until it’s over if you want.”

Twilight Sparkle’s eyes drifted across the room, thinking hard before answering. “You all expect me to take up my element and stop this war. I want to play my part and I can’t do that hiding away from the horrors I will have to face.” James nodded his head, saying nothing, but Twilight caught a flicker of admiration in his eyes. The bridge grew quiet except for the muted sounds of digital notification alerts at various crew stations. Trying to keep her mind on track, the unicorn focused on her seat’s computer again.

Zooming away from the anomaly location, Twilight studied the local battlespace. The griffon Second Fleet that had arrived yesterday waited patiently between where the cygnul were sure to arrive and their colony Valles. Their bronze-hulled ships shared a standard design comprised of a long flat body with curving wing protrusions where they stored large ship-killing missiles. Several bombardment vessels formed the center of a hexagonal formation that stretched over hundreds of kilometers. Rainbow Dash would have looked miniscule next to any one of the capital warships.

Other than the local area around Valles, there were few other spacecraft transiting between planets. She only spotted a hoof-full of civilian vessels and most were trying to leave the solar system. Nearly the entire colony had already been evacuated to other safer worlds in response to the previous cygnul incursion.

“Captain!” Dmitri shouted back over his shoulder as alarms began blaring on the bridge. “They are coming through!”

Red warning lights flashed and all eyes went to the forward view screen which displayed a feed from one of their sensor probes recording the anomaly. Because of the drone’s remoteness from them, everything they watched live actually occurred over an hour ago. The machine did not have a faster than light communication capability and had to use regular light speed laser transmission instead.

In the center of the screen, the usual starry backdrop of stars twisted and warped around a single point. The sky appeared to boil across a thousand kilometers, as the fabric of space reacted to the imminent arrival of such a large amount of matter. Impressive looking in the visual spectrum, the x-ray and gamma emission screens appeared even stranger. Potent radiation sparkled in a dazzling show of energy emission.

Not waiting around for the cygnul fleet to fully arrive, the griffon fleet unleashed the first salvo of battle. White smoke-like trails sprung forth from the impeccably arranged formation, screaming forth soundlessly across the short intervening distance. The griffon barrage executed perfect timing to catch the initial wave of appearing cygnul ships. With a second or two at best to react, only a couple point defense beams flickered rapidly at the oncoming volley, striking missiles from the sky.

It proved to be too little, too late. Over ninety percent of the griffon weapons survived and they detonated amongst cygnul warships with nuclear ferocity. Short-lived suns flared into a fleeting existence, spraying superheated plasma across the arrival point. Larger cygnul ships broke in half or were knocked into chaotic spins, while smaller vessels outright boiled away from the intense heat. A couple blasts bore a brilliant blue hue from antimatter charges launched by the largest griffon ships. No enemy could survive such raw power from those weapons.

As the hazy wall of gas dispersed and cooled, more cygnul craft dropped into real space. Debris sparkled amongst their shields as the enemy formed up in a spear-shaped attack pattern. Already, griffon forces had launched a second missile barrage, combined with a few energy beams and railgun rounds. The faster weapons crossed the short intervening distance in a few seconds, further adding to the carnage.

Their assault did not go unanswered this time. Drone fighters poured forth from cygnul heavy cruisers and battlecruisers that also snapped off high energy particle beams traveling a hair’s breadth under the speed of light. These flared against griffon shields as the defenders lit up their sublight engines, trying to hinder cygnul firing solutions. The maneuver proved ineffective and the defenders of Valles suffered more than a few losses. Ships died on each side now, and both formations maneuvered to outflank the other.

Shells, beams, and rockets crossed each other over a distance of a few light seconds. In the intervening space, fighter squadrons on both sides engaged in a full on dogfight while the two fleets brought all weapons to bear, holding nothing back. Repeated direct hits withered down griffon shields on even the largest ships, but even as their armor melted away, they never slowed their firing.

Another massive wave of missiles leapt free of their silos, curving up and over the cloud of debris separating both groups of ships. In a coordinated maneuver, the heavy cygnul vessels formed a blockade, bringing their main armaments to bear on the incoming threat. Ship after ship blasted away at the nuclear swarm, swatting away many more of the griffon weapons than before. One of the cyg beams hit a payload of anti-matter and it self-ignited instantaneously, consuming everything around it.

The anti-matter bomb burned up all nearby missiles, but its death had one unintended consequence. Twilight watched as the cygnul lost track of any remaining missiles behind the bubble of expanding plasma. By the time they reacquired the remaining nuclear weapons, it was too late. Fusion charges bloomed and cygnul ships perished.

“James, it looks like the griffons are holding their own.” Twilight Sparkle leaned over to whisper to the human, not wanting to interrupt anyone else on the bridge. Crew members worked diligently in the tense atmosphere, monitoring the status of their ship as well as the battle raging for the solar system. She tried to not think about the lives being lost a billion kilometers away, looking instead at the situation from a cold calculating perspective. Is this what it’s like to have a position of authority? Am I forced to put all of my emotions aside for the greater good? Her stomach churned at the callous thought.

Pointing at his computer where she could see, he highlighted the gravitational distortion where space continued to churn. “There is still a large incoming amount of matter. We haven’t seen the full cygnul attack force yet.” The human frowned. “I think they are just trying to force the griffons to use up their precious missiles. Once their main stores are up, it will severely reduce their firing rates.”

“Is there anything we can do to help?” The unicorn ran over their ship’s proficiencies in her head, simultaneously studying the local metric for anything that might give them a tactical edge. “Like how we helped out during the last attack?”

Captain Fletcher shook his head, expression still grim. “The cygnul had a lot fewer ships, and we had the element of surprise.” He poked his screen with an extended finger, bringing up a rotating readout of a cygnul battleship that had just dropped into real-space. The dark chitinous hull of the massive vessel resembled a wicked insect pupa of some kind. Long sharp protrusions jutting out of the ship’s nose cycled through a deep blue glow before emitting a high energy arcane blast. Next to it on the summary screen of the huge craft, a tiny image of Rainbow Dash helped convey the enormous size disparity.

“We can’t hold our own against something that powerful.” James finished, closing the detailed readout window on the cygnul vessel. More ships poured out of the enemy jump point, joining the fray against a kingdom fighting to protect its territory and its citizens.

The griffon’s situation grew worse. Cygnul forces now heavily outnumbered the defenders and they formed a large line of defense to provide cover for the rest of their ships warping in blind. Down to a single large missile bombardment ship, the bronze fleet swung around and fell back towards Valles. Orbital cannons fired away, keeping the cygs at bay for the moment. Severely reduced in numbers, griffon fighters pulled away from the chaotic skirmish, licking their wounds.

Several dozen titanic warships dropped in-system, their design terrifyingly familiar to Twilight. Long spindly arms extended wide and powerful shields winked on, easily weathering the assault from Valles’ defenses. Siege breakers… A knot twisted up in her gut. She remembered how effective a single one of those fifteen hundred meter long vessels could be. Their protective screens seemed to be able to shrug off an insane amount of damage.

Even more troubling, a series of long spindly ships marked as carriers on the tactical readout took in a close position behind the blockade of siege ships. Slowly rotating, they released clouds of drone fighters that swarmed off and away from the cygnul and griffon standoff. Accelerating out of the planet’s gravity well, these cygnul had a different target in mind.

“Captain, look at this.” Isamu Zhang used his station’s controls to change the view on the front screen on the bridge. A top down map of the solar system displayed the lines of battle near Valles and an icon pointed out the huge group of drones vectoring towards the outskirts of the system. A line stretched out from the wayward squadrons, highlighting their predicted route which would perfectly rendezvous with Rainbow Dash’s future position.

“They are coming after us, Captain.” Alice’s voice came over the speakers. “If we continue our heading and acceleration, they will catch us in four hours and thirty three minutes.” On the side of the front display, a timer appeared, counting down how long it would take for the cygnul drones to catch up.

“Very well,” James studied his computer intently. “Keep me informed if any of their warships try a short in-system hop. Keep our jump drives fully charged.”

“Yes, sir.”

Twilight Sparkle poked her screen with a forehoof, bringing up one of the incoming fighters. The stingray-shaped craft matched the ones that had chased their hover bike through the canyons on Valles, and she couldn’t help but briefly relive that terrifying flight. “James, are we in any trouble?”

“No, not exactly,” he shook his head. “We are clear of Elissa’s gravity well and can jump away in a moment’s notice. The problem is that the cygnul know this, yet they are only sending short range fighters after us. A smarter move would have been to use a few corvettes or frigates to warp over and hopefully catch us off guard.”

The lavender pony scrolled over to the main cygnul fleet. They seemed completely content with waiting at their jump point. Griffon kinetic warheads continued to impact upon the siege breaker’s shields with no effect. “What do you think they are….” She stopped when a loud ping interrupted her.

On James Fletcher’s armrest, the glowing transparent body of a miniature earth pony mare popped into existence. “Captain, I have Admiral Hellena on the line. She is relaying through a short range FTL buoy in far Elissa orbit so the delay should be fairly manageable.”

“Well, that means the griffons survive the next hour.” Isamu Zhang pointed forward at the front screen where the standoff continued a light hour away.

“Thank you, Alice. Please put it up on the main screen.” The human sat up straighter in his seat as the forward display switched over to show a worn out female griffon. She had dull grey feathers and a short golden curved beak. Her hazel eyes betrayed her exhaustion but she still emanated an indomitable aura.

It took a noticeable amount of time for the griffon to begin talking. “Captain Fletcher, I apologize for not contacting you sooner. First, I want to thank you and your crew for your efforts in saving our colony. The Kingdoms are forever grateful for the sacrifice of those who perished protecting Valles.”

James waited for her to finish speaking before waving his hand. “I understand. I know you have been busy evacuating and preparing for war. As for our actions against the first cygnul raiding party, we took advantage of a tactical situation and engaged the forces of an enemy of the United Equestrian Nations.”

He is downplaying our involvement. Twilight kept her composure calm and her eyes on the griffon admiral at the front of the room. It seemed that politics had become even more confusing and complex over the past couple millennia. I don’t think the Kingdoms would be happy to learn of the true reason behind the UEN’s choosing of this system for the negotiation location. Though, there is no way we could have known that the cygnul would take it this far, this quickly.

After the time lag period had passed, Admiral Hellena spoke again. “Whatever your reasons may be, your actions are why the Kingdoms ultimately decided to join with the United Equestrian Nations to fight the cygnul. We will fight side by side with you and we will see this through to the very end,” She paused but held up a single claw to indicate she still had something to say.

“The primary reason I am contacting you now, is because I have to warn you about the cygnul.” Every eye on the bridge now was now glued on the front screen. “They have cut you off from allied space and I believe they are about to make their move to take out your ship.”

For his benefit, the captain of their frigate did not twitch. Out of the corner of Twilight’s eye, she did see him move a hand to adjust their acceleration and vector to take them out of the solar system’s plane faster. Meanwhile, Admiral Hellena didn’t waste any more time. “Just now, our interstellar communications alerted us that all nearby griffon and UEN star systems are under heavy assault. Your fleets are better prepared than ours but they are still stretched too thin. You very well may be out of options.”

“Captain,” The little glowing pony stared up at James from her perch. “Take a look at what the Admiral just forwarded.” A map of local interstellar space popped up next to the communicator window, marking every system in range of their jump drive. Various sized stars populated their neighborhood, housing a wide array of infrastructure from simple mining facilities to fully developed garden planets. Every allied one had a flashing icon labeling it as under attack. Even the two outlier-controlled colonies were under siege.

“Shit,” Dmitri gestured at the spectacle. “It looks like cygnul are finally making their final move.”

As the new revelation set in, Alice tilted her head to the side and pawed at the armrest with a holographic hoof. “That’s strange.”

“What is it?” James Fletcher touched his screen, zooming in on a nearby yellow sun that, according to griffon reports, housed a UEN weapons research lab. A cygnul cruiser on a suicide run had rammed the station, forcing the local defenders to pull back in order to regroup.

“If the reports are correct, these attacks consist of a sizable force of heavy capital ships to keep allied forces busy while flotillas of fast attack corvettes and fighters patrol throughout the system.”

“What do you mean?”

“They aren’t fighting, sir.” Isamu spoke up from up front, apparently seeing whatever had troubled the A.I. “These small clusters of ships are evenly spread around the star’s gravity well. We could come out of warp anywhere in the system’s metric, and they would be close enough to catch us before we could recharge our jump drive.”

“Alice, what is the absolute farthest from a star that you can push our drive to safely transition back to real space?”

“It varies depending on stellar mass, but generally about ten billion kilometers, Captain. Anymore and we seriously risk becoming trapped in the warping dimension. Even at that remote distance, cygnul patrols are frequent enough to intercept us.”

“The cygnul want us to teleport so that we will be trapped.” Twilight Sparkle stared at the star map. Traveling to any one of them would end in nothing but their death. Except… wait…. That might not be the case. She thought as an idea formed in her head. It was crazy insane, but due to extenuating circumstances, it seemed their best chance. Unfortunately, before she could reveal her plan, the griffon admiral interrupted her.

“Captain Fletcher, four cygnul destroyers are vectoring your way! I believe the…” her warning ended abruptly as the ship jerked violently to the side. Red strobing flashes contrasted the traditional white bridge lights and it took a few seconds for the living members of the crew to recover.

Not bound by the same biological restrictions, their A.I. reacted much faster. Small shudders felt throughout the hull signified an effort to fight back as Rainbow Dash’s secondary turrets engaged their attackers. The feed with Admiral Hellena flickered and vanished to be replaced by a whirling of stars outside while they spun away from incoming fire.

“Captain!” Alice’s avatar had vanished at the first indication of danger and her voice now came from the ceiling speakers. “We have a cygnul destroyer two thousand kilometers off our stern. They got lucky with their jump, sir, and fired at us right away. Right now, they are trying to target us with their main guns but I’m making it difficult for them.

“We need to jump now!”

Another violent shudder rocked the patrol frigate’s hull. “I need coordinates, James! Where do you want to go?”

Torn with indecision, the human captain hesitated. Traveling to any UEN, griffon, or outlier star system in range would make them easy prey for the cygnul. They couldn’t stay put either, if the enemy warship on their tail was any indication. The only soul in the room who had an idea chose that moment to speak up.

“James!” Twilight fought against the acceleration of their ship to highlight a tiny white star on the local map. “Let’s go to Gateway!”

Alice took Rainbow Dash in a tight turn, avoiding a shot from the destroyer, but the particle beam passed by close enough to be visible on the front screen. Grunting from the g-forces, Isamu’s voice growled as they continued throwing off their pursuer’s aim. “But that’s a cygnul system!”

“She might be right,” Dmitri chimed in. “To attack with this many ships, they must have depleted their standing forces. We may have drop on them!”

A loud groaning of their hull complimented Alice’s mad maneuvering skills. Pushed to its limit, their ship threatened to break apart from the extreme stresses bleeding through the inertial dampeners. Even though they made it difficult for their pursuer, the cygnul warship on their tail refused to let up on the chase, firing away at them as quickly as it could recharge its main guns. Avoiding the cyg beams had an unintended side effect. Unable to continue accelerating, the destroyer closed in with their smaller frigate and it began to miss by less and less each time. They were running out of time.

“Do it Alice!” James Fletcher yelled out over the cacophony of warning alarms. “Take us to Gateway!”

“All hands, prepare for imminent jump.” The artificial pony announced over the ship’s speakers. With a gut wrenching jolt, the patrol frigate took a direct hit, overpowering her shields with a shudder that reverberated through her hull. The stars spun around through their front view screen as they focused in on a single dim point of light. Wasting no more time, space warped around the ship and the crew of the Rainbow Dash vanished from the universe.

Chapter 17: Falling Stars

In an instant, the UEN frigate’s five day long journey came to an end and the universe blinked back into existence. Stillness fell upon Rainbow Dash’s bridge as its artificial intelligence passively scanned the solar system for enemy threats. Seconds stretched by, but no alarms went off.

“Well, I’ll be damned.” Captain Fletcher finally spoke after the pregnant silence. “They have absolutely no ships here.”

Twilight Sparkle examined her screen which displayed a top-down map of the cygnul-controlled system. Named Gateway by equestrian surveyors several centuries ago, it had been captured during the first few weeks of the original cygnul incursion and they had held on to it ever since. At its heart rested a white dwarf; a tiny remnant of a star not large enough to blow itself completely apart in its death throes. This one contained the mass of Celestia’s sun in an extremely hot and compact sphere the size of a small planet. Though the stellar corpse had ceased fusion long ago, it had enough residual thermal energy to shine quite brightly.

Gateway, it seemed, contained one other peculiar aspect according to Twilight’s computer. Because of its location in the local neighborhood, it allowed ships to travel to over thirty other solar systems bunched up in five separate clusters. Its strategic status as a chokepoint made it important, but the United Equestrian Nations had never gotten around to seizing it. With hundreds of planets to protect, Harmony’s government always had more pressing matters to attend to.

Their skillful artificial intelligence had dropped Rainbow Dash into real space as far from the solar carcass as she could have managed. By the time their light had spread out to anything in the system, it should have dissipated enough to render them undetectable for the time being. Curious about any planetary bodies in the system, Twilight pulled up a close in view of the few planets that orbited the star. Four small airless rocky worlds managed to survive their home star’s death as a stellar nova. Burned to their cores, there were no distinguishing features on any of them.

Twilight read through a summary list of cygnul forces that Alice had detected in her analysis of Gateway. The only enemy presence consisted of fifty or so fortresses orbiting each of the four nondescript worlds. Luckily the vast distance separating their ship’s position from the closest facility rendered the odds of detection to be extremely minute. Invisible to the cygs, the crew of the Rainbow Dash took advantage of the opportunity to study the system and update their charts.

“Well, Captain, it looks like Twilight’s idea worked.” Alice fizzled into her traditional miniature earth pony form on James Fletcher’s armrest, her cutie mark continuously cycling through random numbers consisting of ones and zeros. “Where should we go from here?”

Dmitri Bearclaw worked on his computer and on the front screen, icons highlighted every visible cygnul station. “Do we even need to leave? Cygnul do not even know we are here. We have plenty of fuel to run on low power until navy take care of cyg forces.”

“Is that true?” Twilight Sparkle directed her question at Alice before James could answer Dmitri.

“About our fuel? Yes it is.” The A.I. pawed a hoof on the armrest as she ran the numbers in her synthetic mind. “Our fuel reserves are nearly full so we could keep all life support systems online for fifty seven months and twenty days, but…”

“…but,” James interrupted her, “the cygnul will come looking for us before the navy can. They will soon figure out where we jumped to.”

“We have a three day head start before the cygnul will scramble to figure out what we did, and I don’t think it would take long to come to the conclusion that we snuck into their territory.” Isamu’s fingers rapidly typed a few commands to zoom away from Gateway and back to the cluster of allied solar systems under cyg attack. “The farthest friendly star we could have traveled to from Valles is the outlier-controlled Skall, and that is an eight day trip.”

James slid a finger across the touch screen of his monitor, drawing a continuous line between stars in cygnul controlled space. After connecting nearly two dozen different points of light, he ended at one that bore an icon displaying the familiar UEN standard. “We will circumnavigate the Nullic Reef, and then make for Pegasopolis. The fifth fleet is permanently on station there now ever since the cygnul tried to take the system from us. They will make it very difficult for the cygs to try again.”

While James discussed the details of their choice of passage with Alice, Twilight scrutinized the galactic map. A long void of empty space separated a wall of cygnul-controlled stars and UEN-controlled stars. Because current warp drive technology couldn’t bridge the immense distance, these regions were labeled as reefs; named for the rocky underwater barriers that hindered the first ancient sailors. These impassible areas were also the reason why a dead star like Gateway was even sought after in the first place. Its position as a bottleneck gave it immense strategic valuable.

Panning back to the second star in line, Captain Fletcher pulled up a detailed readout of a generic yellow sun named Pox. “Look, sitting here and waiting for them to come to us is not an option. We’ll jump from star to star, hiding in the empty outer reaches of each system. The cygnul will have a hard time discerning a small starship traveling alone, giving us enough time to recharge the warp drive for the longer trips.”

“Captain, no one has visited these systems in years.” Isamu Zhang flipped through each star chart. “Some of them haven’t been surveyed since the cygs took them when they first attacked Equestria. That was over four hundred years ago. We have no idea what they’ve built there since then.”

“This gives us a rare opportunity to maybe find out who or what controls the cygnul.” Alice gestured towards the front screen with a semi-transparent foreleg.

Twilight had a flashback to her encounter with the shadowy entity in that dark room far below the surface of Valles. Remembering the almost greasy feeling of its mind touching hers sent a frigid shiver down her spine. With all of the intense events that followed, their escape and then the orbital engagement, she had completely forgotten the experience. I need to bring up what I saw with Victoria later. She thought the medical professional would probably be the best to ask about what might have happened to her.

Lost in thought, the unicorn mare stared off across the bridge and didn’t notice James talking to her until he reached over and pat her shoulder. “Hmm?” She answered in response, rejoining the conversation.

“I asked if you were alright.” All eyes were now on Twilight. “Alice said you looked upset a moment ago.”

Nervous about bringing up her experience in front of everypony, she shook her head and waved off James’ concern. “I will be fine. I’m just not feeling well but I’ll go see Victoria later.”

A few months ago, her protectors might have ignored her plea and addressed any possible problem she might have right away. But after all they had gone through together, all of the trials they faced, Twilight Sparkle had earned the trust of her shipmates. The little pony from a different time bravely stood up against their common enemy and proved that she could take care of herself.

“Very well, Twilight.” James nodded at her and dropped the subject. “Alright Alice, go ahead and start our journey. Pox isn’t far at all and the drive should be able to jump us now. You have the ship.”

“Yes sir,” The artificial pony vanished and her voice emanated over the ceiling speakers. A slight burst of maneuvering thrusters adjusted their vector and the frigate now pointed towards a point of light much brighter than any of its neighbors. “Jumping in five… four… three… two… one… warp drive engaging.” Twilight’s stomach clenched at the unnatural sensation of leaving the universe for another dimension. No matter how many times they traversed the stars in their empty bubble of space, she still had not gotten used to the nausea that accompanied the transition.

The stars vanished and as soon as the ship’s power levels returned to normal, the bridge crew visibly relaxed in their seats. “Five hours to Pox. All hands, stand down. I want a skeleton crew rotation while everyone else can take turns grabbing a decent meal.”

With that, several crew members closed their stations down and shuffled out through the open sliding doors that led to the rest of the ship. James, Isamu, and Dmitri remained behind along with a few others, still monitoring the frigate’s systems. Twilight slid off of her chair and stretched out her legs before stepping off the central raised dais. “James, I’m going to get something to eat.”

“Okay, we will finish up here and see you down in the galley.” The human replied, not taking his eyes away from whatever data readout he had scrolling on his computer.

Alone, Twilight Sparkle walked the passageways that linked the various rooms throughout the patrol frigate. She passed by the galley entrance, choosing instead to take a detour first. Riding the elevator down a floor, the hallways were already empty on this level. The lavender unicorn moved on autopilot to the medical ward, lost in her thoughts about the cygnul.

She slowed her pace just before reaching the sliding entrance to her destination. A hydraulic whine accompanied the steel plate vanishing in the ceiling. Like most doors on the ship, UEN engineers designed them to be able to cordon off sections of the ship in the event of an emergency decompression. That way, a single puncture in Rainbow Dash’s hull would not be able to vent away their entire supply of breathable air.

The first thing to hit the mare’s senses was the smell of cinnamon and vanilla from a wall-mounted fragrance aerator. Nose crinkling at the unexpected scent, she made a quick cursory glance to find the room’s two lone occupants. Victoria Schaefer stood at the end of the rectangular medical suite, typing something into the computer on her forearm. A familiar pegasus sat on the hospital bed in front of the blonde-maned human, rubbing her right foreleg with a hoof.

“Socket! Are you alright?” Twilight’s eyes widened with concern as she broke out in a trot.

Ears perking up at her name, Socket smiled at the onrushing unicorn. “Hi, Twilight! Don’t worry, I’m fine.”

Victoria glanced momentarily at Twilight as the mare skidded to a stop next to her before tapping a few fingers on the screen attached to her arm. A golden glow enveloped Socket Wrench’s injured foreleg for a second before vanishing. “Just as I thought; your leg isn’t broken but there is plenty of trauma to the surrounding tissue.”

“What kind of recovery time am I looking at?” Socket asked while leaning over to carefully hug Twilight.

The blonde human dispelled her holographic computer. “If you don’t work too hard, you will be fine after a few days. Or you can take a nano injection and be fine in half an hour.”

Socket Wrench’s nose crinkled up and she stuck out her tongue. “No thank you. I always lose my taste for a couple days after using nanos.”

“That is an unfortunate side effect.” Victoria smirked as she dropped to a knee in order to embrace the new arrival as well. “What are you doing here, Twilight? You aren’t hurt, are you?” The human held her at arm’s length to examine her for any obvious injuries.

“I’m okay.” The lavender mare smiled at the show of concern. “I just wanted to ask you about something I saw in one of my visions.”

Hearing this, Victoria nodded and took a seat on the hospital bed next to Socket. The pegasus scooted over to make room for her. Both human and pony waited quietly for Twilight to continue, not prodding or pushing her in any way while she climbed onto the next bed and curled up, legs folded underneath her. Taking a few steady breaths, the unicorn prepared herself to relive the terrifying encounter she had faced alone.

“During the meeting with the cygnul envoy on Valles, it broke into our minds. I don’t quite know what they were looking for, but after seeing something in mine, it panicked and attacked us with a powerful psychic assault.” Twilight trailed off when Victoria and Socket shared a foreboding glance. “What? What’s wrong?”

“Well, we have been trying to figure out why the cygnul have been so focused on us recently, and I think we just did.” Victoria’s blue eyes stared at her and shook her head. “They probably know about the Elements now.”

Twilight felt a chill run down her spine. “The cygnul are after me?”

“Don’t worry, Twilight. We won’t let them succeed.”

“Victoria is right,” Socket Wrench reassured her with a smile. “You’re on the most fine-tuned ship in the United Equestrian Navy, if I may say so myself.”

Twilight couldn’t help but smirk at Socket’s pride in her work. Next to her though, Victoria raised a lone eyebrow at the pegasus’ assertion. “Is that right? Then how did a ventilation duct fall on your leg?”

“Uhh,” Rainbow Dash’s chief engineer stammered as she tried to respond. “It was during my fine-tuning process!”

Victoria’s lips showed a ghost of a smile and she let out an amused huff of air. “Try to move out of the way next time. You know I like having these beds empty as much as possible.” Facing forward, the blonde human met Twilight’s gaze. “But getting back on topic, what happened after the cygnul learned about the Elements? How did you escape?”

Smile fading away, Twilight Sparkle’s eyes lowered as she continued recounting the events of the failed arbitration. “The cygnul envoy held all of us up in the air and blocked every one of my spells. I felt so helpless. Nothing I did seemed to work, but watching the two cygnul warriors taking their time as they walked towards James and I…. I just panicked and threw all of my will against the presence holding me and I broke through. ” The mare slowly swung her head side to side and looked back at her companions. “And then I saw, something.”

“What was it?” Socket gently prodded as the unicorn trailed off.

“One second I was in the bunker, and then next, I was somewhere in space.” Twilight then described in detail the glowing gas giant planet and the colorful astral nebula she saw.

Victoria’s face scrunched up in confusion. “You teleported into orbit? That makes no sense. It shouldn’t even be…”

“Wait,” Twilight stopped the human mid-sentence. “I don’t think I was physically present wherever I was. Rather, I think …. I think I was seeing what the cygnul was seeing.”

Across the short intervening distance between beds, Socket Wrench and Victoria Schaefer forgot to blink as they grasped what Twilight has just said. Only the soft droning from Rainbow Dash’s life support cut through the silence. Eventually, the shock wore off and questions flooded their minds. The two U.E.N. sailors stumbled over one another but Socket’s voice eventually overpowered her human companion’s.

“Wait, wait, wait… you saw whatever has been controlling the cygs was seeing? But you just said you only saw stars, a nebula, and a glowing planet? By the way, what did you even mean by that?”

“I don’t know,” she shrugged her shoulders, “The planet had no shadow on it but I couldn’t see a local sun when I turned around.”

“And you could see the nebula with your naked eyes? It must have been extremely close and very young then.” Victoria’s eyes lost focus as an idea formed in her head. “You know, next time we exit jump space, we could have Alice look for that nebula of yours. Maybe we can narrow down the star system the cygnul come from.”

“Do you really think she could do that?”

Startling the three girls, a voice emanated through the ceiling speakers. “Of course I could!”

“Alice,” Twilight’s eyes drifted upwards, “have you been listening the whole time?”

“Of course I have. I always keep an eye on all of my crew members.” The artificial intelligence replied cheerfully.

“That is … unsettling.” Twilight earned agreeing nods from Victoria and Socket Wrench.

Ignoring the unicorn, Alice continued on. “Twilight, I would like to get some idea of what I should look for. Can you meet me in the virtual conference center so I can show you a series of different nebulas of various shapes and color schemes? It might help me narrow down the search.”

“That’s a really good idea, Alice.” Twilight stood up and hopped off the bed. As she landed on her hooves, a loud grumbling sound from her stomach caught everyone’s attention. The mare rubbed her stomach and smiled. “Perhaps we should stop by the galley on the way.”

The potent smell of succulent frosting wafted out of one of Canterlot Castle’s smaller kitchens. Once a peculiar pink pony had seized the premises, she kicked out the usual staff quite forcefully, screaming about flour, eggs, and sugar. Annoyed with the unorthodox disruption, they grumbled to themselves as they left, probably to go lodge a complaint with Princess Celestia later.

In a small dining room connected to the kitchen, four mares and a baby dragon made their way in from an adjacent stairwell. Even though it usually only served to give the cooks a place to eat, it still had plenty of room for the five visitors. They sat down at one of the non-descript tables, making themselves comfortable as the clanging of kitchen equipment echoed through Canterlot’s stone walls.

“Girls, do you think Pinkie Pie is okay?” A soft-spoken yellow pegasus whispered behind a raised forehoof to keep her voice from being heard in the next room.

“Fluttershy, don’t worry. She is just being Pinkie!” Rainbow Dash dismissed her friend’s concern with a wave of her forehoof. “I’m just happy that she is returning to her normal self finally.”

“Well Rainbow, you can’t say she didn’t have a good reason.” Across the table, Applejack frowned at the brazen pegasus. Sitting adjacent to the farm pony, Spike averted his eyes and turned his head away.

Ears drooping, Rainbow Dash stuttered as she fought to explain herself. “That’s not what I meant!”

“Rainbow,” next to her, Rarity placed a reassuring hoof on her shoulder, “I am quite sure that Applejack meant nothing by that.”

Realizing how much her comment upset her friend, the cowpony shook her head and tried to backtrack. “I didn’t mean that, Rainbow. I only meant…” A glare from the cyan mare cut her off mid-sentence.

“Don’t say it, Applejack. Don’t even say it.” Rainbow sharply accented each syllable. Letting out a snort, she refused to meet anypony’s gaze. Instead she glared at the stone floor as she stepped off her seat and walked towards the exit. Pleas from the others at the table went unanswered and Rainbow Dash’s prismatic tail eventually vanished in the stairwell.

“Now, Applejack. Why did you have to go and say that to her? You know she feels responsible for what happened that night.” Rarity glanced sadly between the orange earth pony and the empty doorway. “She holds herself accountable for letting her friend down.”

The orange earth pony removed her hat and placed it next to her on the table. “I know, I know! I didn’t mean to imply that she doesn’t care anymore. It’s not like there was anything anypony could do. Even Princess Celestia couldn’t save her.”

“Rainbow Dash has been under a lot of stress with all of the preparations lately.” Fluttershy quietly spoke, barely loud enough to be heard over the chaotic ensemble in the next room. “We should probably go find her.”

Spike stood up in his seat and leaned forward on the table. “Good idea, Fluttershy. She couldn’t have made it far.” The three ponies went to scoot their chairs back when a loud shrieking voice caused them all to jump.

“I’M DONE! Hey girls!” Pinkie Pie strode out of the kitchen with a large cake balanced on her rump. “Are you ready to eat some cake? Wait, where did Rainbow Dash go? RAINBOW DASH!”

“I’m here, Pinkie.” Rainbow’s unsteady voice resonated from the stairwell. Slowly, the cyan mare reentered the small dining room, staring at her hooves as she walked.

In classic Pinkie fashion, the earth pony kicked up her back legs and sent the cake flying through the air to perform an impossible, yet perfect landing on the middle of the table without a single dollop of frosting out of place. She then zipped forward and pulled the pegasus in for a powerful hug, eliciting a deep groan as the air was forced from her lungs. “RAINBOW! You almost missed my birthday party!”

“Birthday party?” The prismatic pegasus rubbed at the ear Pinkie had screamed into as she reclaimed her spot at the table next to Rarity.

“Of course! You can’t celebrate a birthday without cake, silly!” Pinkie Pie stuck a hoof in her cotton-candy-colored mane and pulled out a long kitchen knife which she promptly used to cut into the cake. Placing the various cut pieces on plates that had also somehow mysteriously appeared from nowhere, each pony at the table received a slice.

Glancing around the table, Rainbow Dash saw confused expressions on everypony but Pinkie. “That’s not what I meant. Whose birthday are we celebrating?”

Before she could answer, Spike spoke up. “It’s Twilight’s.” His unfocused eyes regarded the pink pony as he slowly slid back down into his chair. “It’s Twilight’s birthday today.”

“Yes! Spike, you’re correct! Don’t tell me the rest of you had forgotten?” The overly cheerful pony cut one last piece of cake, stuck a lit candle in it, and then placed it in front of an empty seat at the head of the table. Tied to the back of the vacant chair, three colorful balloons hovered in the air even though nopony could remember them being there before. The four mares and Spike all stared wide-eyed at the lone slice of cake as Pinkie climbed up into the seat on the other side of the table.

Finally breaking the silence, Applejack tentatively attempted to address the proverbial elephant in the room. “Uhh, Pinkie. You do know that Twilight isn’t here, right?”

“Obviously she isn’t here. I think we would be able to see or hear her if she was. Unless of course she was using an invisibility spell, though I have never seen her use one before so I don’t even know if she can turn herself invisible, but if anypony could figure out how to become invisible at will then I think it would be Twilight.” The bubbly earth pony answered with her usual smile plastered on her face. “But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t celebrate her birthday!”

Fluttershy covered her mouth with both hooves, Rainbow Dash suddenly found the rough stone floor to be fascinating, Spike rested his forehead on the table edge, and Rarity’s eyes opened wide but she could not form a coherent thought. It took the element of honesty to take control of the conversation. “Pinkie Pie, I mean that Twilight,” the farm pony herself wavered only momentarily, “Twilight isn’t coming back. She is gone; for good.”

“Applejack, she’s not gone for good.” The pink pony rolled her eyes as she drew out the last couple words.

Applejack mulled over the thought in her head. “What are you talking about?”

“Twilight is just somewhere else for now.”

Rainbow took this moment to finally overcome her apparent paralyses. “Are you telling us that Twilight is alive?”

“Of course she is alive. My pinkie senses told me so!”

A blanket of silence settled among the room as this information slowly sunk in. “Pinkie, if she is still alive, then why didn’t you say something before? Why would you let us think that our friend had…?” Rainbow’s voice caught painfully in her throat, and she coughed a few times in an attempt to cover it up.

“Because I didn’t know for sure until this morning! I was studying my toothbrush to make sure I did not have an odd number of bristles. That’s a sure way to get cavities by the way if you don’t have the proper number of bristles. You ponies should check your tooth brushes too, just in case. You never know if…”

“Pinkie!” Five voices spoke in unison.

“Oh, yes, so I was about to brush my teeth when I was hit by one serious doozy.” The earth pony mare shook her head as if the recollected memory haunted her. “And I knew it had to do with Twilight finding out something very unexpected sometime soon.”

Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Spike each tried to absorb the news that their friend had not died when their thoughts were once again broken up as Pinkie spotted the still-burning candle sticking out of Twilight’s slice of cake. “Oooo! We’ve got to hurry before the wax melts! Everypony, now. Happy birthday to you….”

Pinkie led the tune, eventually being joined in by her other friends. They shared smiles and real, heartfelt laughter once again filled their lungs for the first time in a long while. Taking turns retelling old stories, the six friends enjoyed their cake while reminiscing the old days.

“Remember when I thought I could harvest the entire orchard myself? Gosh, I was so stubborn. I’m glad Twi brought me to my senses in time.”

“That reminds me of when I thought Owlowiscious was trying to replace me as Twilight’s assistant. I can’t believe I thought she would think that mouse toy was real.”

“Don’t forget about the hero we didn’t deserve, but the one we needed. The Mysterious Mare Do Well! Oooooooo!” Rarity did her best spooky impersonation, waving her fore hooves around in Rainbow Dash’s direction. The rest of the table giggled and snickered as the pegasus tried to flaunt her indifference.

“I knew it was you girls the whole time!” Her response ignited a shouting match as everypony but Fluttershy of all ponies called Rainbow out, forcing her to concede with a happy grin. “Okay, okay, you all win. You got me good with that one.”

Twilight Sparkle’s closest friends continued celebrating her birthday throughout the afternoon. Even with the ominous presence of Lord Moonclaw’s encroaching Wulven, something had changed in the demeanor of five ponies and one little dragon. In that little bland dining room buried deep within Canterlot, the remaining Elements of Harmony felt at peace. With the knowledge that their lost friend had not perished, they finally had something to give them hope.

Eventually though, all good things must come to an end and as their cake supply dwindled to nothing, the party fizzled out. One after another, Spike and the girls said their goodbyes to go deal with some errand or chore they had neglected in order to meet up in the first place. As their number decreased, it finally came down to just Rarity and Pinkie Pie.

“Pinkie darling, I’ll assist you in the cleanup. Thank you again for putting everything together.” The unicorn mare beamed a wide smile at her friend. “It really was quite nice. I haven’t had that much fun in ages.”

“Thank you, Rarity, but that won’t be necessary at all!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed before leaning over and literally licking her plate squeaky clean.

Rarity’s lip curled upwards as she rolled her eyes at the pink pony’s usual antics. “Come on, Pinkie. Let me help you!”

The pink pony scratched her chin with a forehoof as she contemplated Rarity’s request. “Hmmm, but if you help me, how will you be there to walk Sweetie Belle back to your place from school when she gets out in five minutes?”

“Oh no, Sweetie Belle! I lost track of time!” Rarity’s eyes opened wide as took off galloping up the stairs.

Unfazed by Rarity’s hasty departure, Pinkie Pie began picking up after her friends. She hummed a light-hearted tune to herself as she deftly stacked the dirty plates and balanced them on the top of her head. Trotting to the kitchen sink, she leaned forward and the pile vanished under a blanket of soapy water. Silverware followed the plates as the bubbly earth pony did her best to leave the kitchen and dining area spotless for the usual staff. With a final wipe down of the table, Pinkie smiled and nodded in satisfaction at her work.

Her attention then turned to the head of the table where a single piece of cake sat. Its candle had burned down nearly to the frosting. Melted wax pooled off onto the plate, but a small flame still managed to cling to life.

“I know you aren’t here with us, Twilight.” The pink mare took a seat on her haunches and she glanced up at the ceiling. “Even though you are super-duper far away, I still want you to know that we all miss you tons. I know that the birthday pony is supposed to make a wish, but with you not here and all… I thought I would make a wish for you.”

Pinkie Pie squeezed her eyes shut and sat uncharacteristically still. After a long moment, her mouth curled upwards in a smile and she inched her face closer to the candle. Opening her eyes, Pinkie released a large pent up breath and the candle flickered out.

Twilight Sparkle shot upright in her bed, clutching at a mass of covers damp with her sweat. Sucking in large gulps of air, she ran a hoof through her forelock before searching for Socket Wrench, but the absent butterscotch pegasus must have started work early today. An empty, impeccably-made bed replaced the typical chaos in her cotenant’s corner of their living space.

Pushing off her covers, she rolled off the edge of her bed and landed on all four hooves. Even though Socket’s position afforded her a private room, it became quickly crowded if both of them were present while trying to get ready in the morning. Even so, the pegasus had still managed to fit an extra bunk that the ship’s printer fabricated for her.

The lavender mare stifled a yawn as she checked the time displayed on a wall mounted screen. Eight thirty-three? Gosh, why am I still tired? Twilight did not have anything planned until after lunch so she debated going back to sleep, but after considering the chances that she might have another episode of her time-bleeding syndrome, she decided not to. Instead, she reached underneath her bed and pulled out a large trunk that contained the few possessions she had.

A couple nondescript uniforms were neatly folded and stacked in the corner. Next to them sat the box in which her descendant, Azure Lightning, kept her pistol. Though, it was currently empty of course since the pistol was stored in the ship’s armory for safe keeping. Finally, she had a picture of her and her five friends together in Ponyville. It had been taken not long after the first time she realized that friendship had been the one thing missing from her life, the one thing she had needed.

That picture was one of the first things given to her. Victoria even designed a lovely picture frame for her to keep it in. She would have kept it on a bedside table if she had one, but then again, with all of the intense maneuvers Rainbow Dash had been forced to perform during her stay, the frame would not have remained intact for very long.

Twilight ran a hoof over the photo, thinking about her friends. She felt deep in her heart that she would never see them again. In fact, will I ever have the chance to see Ponyville again? Blinking away the moisture in her eyes, the violet mare grabbed a clean uniform, and left for the lavatory.

Alone in the bathroom, Twilight changed from her nightgown into the uniform she routinely wore on the frigate. Its nano-fabric assembler automatically adjusted itself to fit the pony’s body shape perfectly, like it had done every single day for the past few months. Without looking, she replaced her sleepwear in the trunk before pushing it once again under her bed.

“Alice, what does my day look like?” The unicorn pony made her way into the empty hallway, glancing above her as he walked.

A sparkling green cloud in the corner of Twilight’s eye caught her attention as it materialized into a full sized ghost-like earth pony, keeping in stride with her. “You have a training session scheduled at fourteen hundred hours.”

“Hmm, so two PM?” Twilight only took a moment to convert the modern way of telling time in the military to something she knew better. “Do you know what we are practicing today?”

“An orbital insertion onto a floating city on Pegasopolis under attack by cygnul forces.”

Failing to suppress a shudder, Twilight met Alice’s eyes when the A.I. stopped to see why she had slowed down. “You know I don’t like drop pods.”

“Why not?” Beaming playfully, Alice hopped into the air and floated around the frowning unicorn. “It’s just like flying.”

The violet mare’s eyes narrowed. “Are you serious? It is nothing like flying.” Twilight remembered her first time experiencing an orbital drop in the simulator. The claustrophobic environment combined with gut-wrenching turbulence and sweltering heat bleeding through the armor did little to calm anyone’s nerves. Except Dmitri; nothing seems to phase that stallion.

Alice giggled cheerily and led the way into Rainbow Dash’s mess hall. Usually bustling during this time, especially while their ship remained safely hidden in the warping dimension, not a soul inhabited the common area. Only a single janitorial drone remained. It sat alone, parked in the corner until something triggered its automated cleaning protocols.

“Where is everypony? I thought we didn’t arrive in the next cygnul system for another couple of days?”

“You are correct. We should drop out in orbit around the binary stars Yama and Yami in about seventy six hours. There is a skeleton crew overseeing each department, but most are at a strategy meeting right now.”

“Oh,” Twilight thought of the small conference room and how crowded it must be with so many ponies and humans, “I don’t envy them then. Are you sure they don’t need me there?”

Alice gestured to the back wall where all the meal fabricators were located. “James wanted you to have breakfast first.”

Twilight’s ears perked up and she made her way over to read the daily menu. Though the ship’s food processor could technically create any ingredient and combine them in any possible arrangement, standard galley protocol limited the crew to half a dozen or so choices. Interestingly, having fewer selections helped hungry sailors pick something they might actually enjoy. Alice had explained on her first week aboard, that it is generally easier to make a satisfied decision when there are fewer options on the table.

Cinnamon glazed donuts, bran muffins with steel-cut oatmeal, strawberry-banana pancakes…. Mmm. Twilight Sparkle read each breakfast dish in her head. They all sounded delicious in their own way, but the problem ended up being that she just did not feel hungry enough to eat anything. Her stomach curdled at the mere thought of food. “I think I will just have a cup of tea for now.”

It took a lot to surprise a hyper-intelligent artificial intelligence. “Are you feeling alright, Twilight?”

“What?” She worked a touch screen to initiate the rapid brewing process before smiling at the holographic pony. “Oh, I’m fine. I just don’t feel like eating right now.”

Alice chose not to respond, waiting patiently for Twilight to finish mixing her steaming mug of tea. The hot cup floated through the air with her magic and settled on a nearby table, a whispering trail of steam marking its flight path. The violet pony held her drink close to her chest. Its warmth helped chase away the seemingly perpetual wintery chill of the warship.

Twilight sipped at her tea, visibly relaxing as the therapeutic drink worked its magic. Her aches and pains washed away, leaving her mind clearer than before. Letting out a long sigh, she earned a raised eyebrow from the immaterial pony sitting in front of her.

“Feel better?”

Nodding mid-sip, Twilight downed the rest of the mug and set it down in front of her. “I feel much better. Thank you, Alice.”

The A.I. phased through her bench seat to stand upright. “Are you ready to join in the meeting now?”

A dissatisfied huff of air blew through Twilight’s nostrils. That tiny room must be so unbearably packed. A kernel of regret took hold in her mind, but she dispelled it right away. No, even though they might not need me, I still should be there. Especially if I am supposed to take up my Element again.

“I shouldn’t keep them waiting any longer. It was nice of James to let me sleep in.”

Alice took off out of the mess hall and Twilight barely had enough time to return her empty tea mug to be washed before losing sight of the A.I. “Wait, Alice!” She broke out in a canter and gave chase.

The two ran throughout the empty passageways of the frigate. Alice led the way further back towards the stern, moving quick enough for her pursuer to never quite catch up. Her non-corporeal body had no limits on endurance, or speed. Always a few strides behind, Twilight leaned forward and ran for all her worth. Luckily the Dash wasn’t the largest ship and she knew the chase would have to end soon.

Twilight Sparkle ducked around a protruding bulkhead and spotted Alice standing in front of a large set of doors. She planted all four hooves into the deck and slid to a halt just next to the glowing green pony. Staring the reinforced armored slabs, she tilted her head. “This isn’t the conference room. It’s the hanger bay.”

Alice didn’t answer, instead choosing to smile at her before extending a forehoof towards the doorway. A harsh mechanical whining filled the air and the sliding metal slabs slowly retracted into hidden recesses on each side. Twilight stared intently at the widening entrance, but her eyes couldn’t pick anything out inside. All of the lights had been shut off.

Eventually, the armored doors fully opened and all Twilight could see was the darkened hanger entryway. “I don’t understand. Where is the meeting?”

At that moment, the hallway filled with a simultaneous fusillade of blinding light and a deafening chorus of “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” Overwhelmed, the little lavender unicorn leapt back, legs and tail flailing in the air. She landed on her rump hard and nearly flopped over backwards in a very clumsy display. Even so, she curled up a foreleg in front of her heaving chest as she surveyed the new scene in front of her.

The usually spacious hanger bay was filled to the brim with ponies and humans. It looked like nearly every single soul aboard the ship was in attendance. A sea of grinning, smiling, and laughing faces all stared at the little pony, still reeling in shock. Colorful streamers, balloons, and party favors adorned each wall, the ceiling, and even the two parked shuttles. Along one side of the room, a long table boasted a series of uniquely decorated cakes and sweets with no two sharing any likeness.

“Wha… I don’t understand?” Twilight stammered as the crowd moved towards her. Crew members cheered, clapped, and pat her shoulders and back. Out of the surrounding mass, Victoria Schaefer pushed her way up front, a huge grin on the blonde human’s face as she helped the jumbled lavender pony to her hooves.

“I hope we didn’t scare you too bad. It wasn’t my idea to have a surprise party, but Dmitri was quite persistent.”

“Hey!” Twilight turned towards the shout just in time to have her field of view filled with by the grinning face of a large-statured earth pony. “Twilight! I throw you big party, da?” Dmitri Bearclaw drew the smaller unicorn into a powerful hug, earning a squeak from her as he squeezed the air from her lungs.

Luckily, Socket Wrench fluttered into view and lightly smacked Dmitri’s shoulder. “Hey, you’re hugging her too tightly!” As he released Twilight, she acquiesced to her body’s demand for oxygen.

“This is… all for… me?” She sputtered between breaths. Her eyes studied the circle around her where James and Isamu finally nudged their way in.

Rainbow Dash’s captain shot her a toothy grin. “Don’t tell me you forgot your birthday! I know having a few thousand years under your belt can affect your memory, but you still look pretty good for your age.”

A surge of quiet laughter washed through the crowd. Twilight’s lips curled upwards before she swiveled her head to meet the content faces of all of those around her. “I don’t know what to say. You put all of this together for me? Thank you. Thank you all so much.”

“Twilight Sparkle, when you came to us, you left everything you have ever known behind. But that isn’t the case anymore.” Isamu Zhang raised his arms, gesturing to the sea of ponies and humans around them. “You are a crew member of the Rainbow Dash. You are a part of our family.”

The little unicorn pony sucked in a choking half breath and the faces around her grew blurry. It took some rapid blinking to clear up her vision as she tried to think of a worthy response. Luckily for her, Dmitri came to her rescue. “Enough talk, not enough celebration! To the cake!”

A collective cheer went up from the crowd and Twilight found herself lifted up by the humans surrounding her. Pegasi ponies took to the air, and swooped around the hanger bay as cries and shouts for cake echoed against the armored walls. Several of the crew carried her on her back towards the end of the temporary table that had been set up to showcase the dazzling display of desserts. At its end, she finally noticed a massive tiered birthday cake absolutely covered in candles.

Walking in front of the group, Isamu Zhang rolled his arm around in a flourishing display. A soft white aura encompassed his hand before he snapped his fingers. Sparks erupted at once from every single candle on the cake as they lit spectacularly, much to the enjoyment of the crowd.

When they rounded the frosted mountain of sugary bliss, her carriers plopped her down on a tall stool at the head of the extensive buffet of sweets. The massive cake took up most of her field of view. Though each individual candle may have been small, together they emanated a warmth strong enough to seep through the film of tears on Twilight’s face.

“You know,” the birthday pony started, and the hanger fell silent around her. “It is technically morning. I don’t think this is exactly the healthiest breakfast.” She waved a foreleg at the spread before her.

Humans and ponies alike laughed heartedly. Next to her, James cheerfully spoke up. “Come on, Twilight. Have you never had cake for breakfast? It’s your birthday! Make a wish, break some rules, and live a little.”

The corners of her mouth curled up and the unicorn pony nodded wordlessly. Twilight concentrated on the wall of flickering flame and she focused on breathing long, deep breaths. She had a lot going through her head, and as it turned out; it became troublesome to come up with something to wish for.

She thought about the little gathering five ponies had put together to remember the loss of one of their own. Separated from them by not only an unfathomable distance, but also by aeons of time, they still gathered together to celebrate her birthday. Knowing they continued to care for and miss her tugged at Twilight’s heart, but she didn’t break down again like she might have a few months ago. It may have taken her awhile, but Twilight had eventually managed a reluctant acceptance of the inevitable passing of her friends.

Even though Twilight Sparkle still yearned to see them again and part of her wanted to make that her birthday wish, she ultimately chose not to. It hurt to let go of the hope she had to go home, and it resolved itself as a sharp twinge in her chest. A small truth can be hard to admit sometimes, but she could not dwell on the past anymore. Now, more than ever, she needed to focus on the future.

Patient faces waited quietly around her. Sailors who volunteered to put their lives on the line to keep the United Equestrian Nations safe. Far away from their homes, they risked everything to protect all they held dear. Out here on the front lines, there were no divisions based on race, creed, or even what species you were. These ponies and humans on board the Rainbow Dash stood shoulder to shoulder with one another. More than that, Twilight could see something else in the eyes of those watching her; something shared by each and every crew member.

They believed in her.

They believed in a little pony, torn away from her former life and thrown headlong into a strange new world fraught with danger by the likes that she could never have imagined before. They believed she could awaken the Elements from their slumber once more and bring an end to the centuries-long conflict. They believed in her because she truly was their last chance for peace.

With the weight of civilization bearing down upon her, Twilight Sparkle began to understand the gravity of the situation she was in. The future of this ship, of Equestria, of all of the souls who lived in this part of the galaxy; they all rested their hopes in her. Such a burden might have caused a normal individual to surrender to despair, but Twilight chose instead to sit a little taller. She was an Element of Harmony after all, and she had to fulfill her role accordingly. One did not become a bearer by being weak.

For the first time since she had arrived here, Twilight Sparkle stopped feeling like an outsider. She now knew her place in this world and it brought her a sense of harmony. With that, she had an idea of what to wish for, so she closed her eyes.

Please let us get back home safely. Please let me have the strength to take up the Elements again. Please help me save them.

Twilight opened her eyes and she sucked in a deep breath. Horn glowing, she combined her exhale with a magical burst of air that washed over her birthday cake, neatly extinguishing every candle. The rambunctious cheer that followed slightly hurt her ears, but she couldn’t stop smiling. They had a long journey ahead of them, but deep down in her heart, Twilight felt confident. We are going to be okay.

Chapter 18: Collapse

“I still think this is a horrible idea!” Twilight Sparkle had to shout over her suit’s radio just to be heard over the piercing cracks of incoming cygnul weaponry and the heavy rumble of anti-aircraft batteries firing into a pale yellow sky. The little unicorn mare huddled behind a low wall while repeated impacts filled the air with an acrid smoke, as the high-energy beams sloughed off the outer layers of whatever rock-like material the cygs used to construct their planetary bases. Her nose would probably have been burning if her faceplate’s filters didn’t continuously clean the air she breathed.

“It’s our only chance to break through, Twilight!” Next to her, James Fletcher crouched low while reloading his boxy submachine gun. Slapping its bolt forward, he lifted his arm up and let loose a long burst of return fire, filling the air with the virulent buzzing sound of an angry nest of bees. A near miss by a lucky sharpshooter nicked the top edge of their barrier, dazzling Twilight’s eyes with a brilliant blue-white flash. Closest to the impact, the human captain dropped to the ground, cursing over the radio as he blinked back his vision.

On his other side, another human raised an open hand and a white-hot sphere of flame kindled to existence. Isamu Zhang looked over at her and grinned through his faceplate. “It’s going to work, Twilight. Just trust us. Alice doesn’t miss.” He then stood up and threw the fireball in the direction of their attackers. The moment it left his hand, he had enough time to duck down before the world turned white. Her suit’s audio speakers clicked off to keep her ears from bursting from the resulting sound wave.

Twilight peeked up over the wall, seeing half a dozen cygnul still reeling from Isamu’s arcane flash bomb. She telekinetically lifted her heavy pistol and took aim down the weapon’s sights. Boom! She fired once, missing her target by inches. The cyg, realizing it was being shot at, scrambled for cover as she began squeezing the trigger as fast as she could. Four shots later, a slug caught it in its back and the creature finally dropped. I really need to work on my aim, the lavender unicorn thought to herself as she reloaded her firearm.

A cygnul heavy weapons emplacement took notice of the exposed pony from its perch somewhere on the facility in front of the UEN battle line. Before Twilight Sparkle could lower her head back down, a disk launcher opened fire, sending down a cascade of basketball-sized magical missiles. The oval-shaped charges arched in on curving trajectories, glowing a brilliant turquoise while they closed in on their target.

She saw them coming just in time. In the span of a second, six super-heated disks of plasma impacted upon a dome of violet light. The shield bore the brunt of the assault, filling the air with a sharp arcane shrieking. Twilight ground her teeth hard, letting out a rough grunt due to the intense magical feedback stabbing through her mind like a knife.

As soon as it had begun, the cygnul barrage ended and Twilight collapsed from exhaustion. She whimpered and curled up in a ball against the damaged wall, clutching her head in her forehooves. Each beat of her heart sent a fresh wave of pain throughout her mind.

“Victoria, we need you! Twilight is down!” James yelled over his radio. “Socket, do something violent to that disk launcher!”

“Roger that. On my way.” The calm and collected voice of their field medic contrasted the dismal situation Twilight felt they were in. It only took a glance behind them at the ruined tail-end of their wrecked shuttle, Tank, to remind her of that.

Twilight’s headache subsided enough for her to take a peek at the cygnul weapon that had very nearly turned her into nothing more than a smoking crater and a pleasant memory in the minds of those who knew her. Already, she saw three of the creatures working to realign its heat-dissipation lattice. That was when a shriek ripped through the air, and an armored pegasus swooped by at high speed. A small warhead detached from Socket Wrench’s side and slammed into the launcher, blowing it apart spectacularly.

Having completed her attack run, Socket Wrench pulled away. Twin gouts of flame blasted out of the boosters of her suit as she outpaced the tracking systems of a nearby cygnul anti-aircraft battery. A beam cannon swept across the sky in an attempt to knock down the pony, but it burned through nothing but empty space.

“Good shooting, Socket. We appreciate the help.” James waved in the direction of the departing pegasus mare.

Just before Socket vanished behind another tower, she wagged her wings. “Don’t mention it; glad to be of service. I hope Twilight still has her coat after that close call.”

Twilight Sparkle couldn’t help but flash a grin. “I am fully accounted for, but my suit might need the soot scrubbed off of it.”

A sharp whooshing grew louder, sending an icy chill through the lavender mare’s veins and she panicked, thinking it was another attack. To her relief, the sound resolved itself to be a human in a jetpack-equipped suit landing next to her. “Twilight, are you okay?” She moved with a firm resolve, but Victoria Schaefer’s blue eyes only showed concern for her wellbeing.

“I’m fine.” Twilight tried to wave off Victoria as the latter checked over her vital readouts. “My head hurts a little from throwing up that shield.”

Victoria seemed content with whatever readings her arm-mounted diagnosis scanner told her and she leaned against the wall with Twilight. Even so, she still pestered the unicorn about her condition. “How bad does it hurt?”

Before she could answer, a thick stalliongradian accent crackled in on the radio. “Her head feel better if you don’t bother her, da?”

Through her faceplate, Twilight watched Victoria’s eyes narrow. She opened her mouth to rebuke the earth pony, but James interjected just in time. “Dmitri, how about you focus on getting that tail gun operational. We’ll need the firepower if we want to hold them back. I don’t know how long it’s going to take Alice to punch through their jammers.”

“Da, Captain. Almost ready. Need cover fire to cut off last panel”

“We can do that for you.” James Fletcher scooted far enough from the broken wall to address his team but not far enough to put himself in the cyg’s crosshairs. “Alright, listen up. We are going to lay some suppression fire down on the cygnul. Try to pick off a few of them, but focus on keeping them preoccupied.”

“Captain,” Socket Wrench called over the radio. “I have one last AGM I can drop on them as well. I will swoop in after you open fire.”

“Good idea, Socket. Everyone, ready up!” James returned to his place in their battle line, slapping a fresh magazine in his weapon. Isamu brought up a large tubular shotgun and flipped off the safety. Twilight Sparkle reloaded her pistol and readied herself while Victoria Schaefer pulled a modular battle rifle off of her back. It folded open in the human’s hands and she met Twilight’s gaze, nodding to her once.

“Now!” James barely finished the word before the four of them took aim over the wall. Rounds flew downrange and impacted among the cygnul. Twilight aimed for the warriors on the far left, her gun blowing chunks of their barricade in the air. The cygnul triggered a series of defensive smoke grenades, and the resulting cloud further obscured her vision, making it harder to pick out anything moving beyond the dusty veil. This gave some of the cygnul the opportunity to return fire, but their eyesight didn’t fare any better than the UEN soldiers and the battle soon dissolved into a chaotic furball.

Cyan beams sliced through the air, fired by erratic cyg soldiers. Most passed by harmlessly and had little effect on Twilight Sparkle and her compatriots. A lucky few that did manage to get close only disrupted their concentration for a moment or two at most.

Twilight carefully aimed through the smoke and fired a trio of slugs whenever she saw a cyg particle rifle flash. Next to her, Victoria did the same, but with much more precision. The human carefully squeezed her battle rifle’s trigger, sending accurate fire downrange one round at a time.

Eventually, Twilight Sparkle’s slide locked open and she ducked down to reload. A magazine, encased in a lavender aura, popped out of a pouch on her suit and replaced the empty one after it dropped away from the pistol. As she flicked down the slide stop lever, sending a fresh round into the chamber, she heard the familiar whine of Socket’s engines.

Wings stretched wide, the pegasus came in guns blazing. Her mounted machine gun spat out a line of tracers, cutting a swath through the cygnul lines. Enemy soldiers scrambled for any cover to protect them from the onslaught but it did them little good. On the heels of the final burst of gunfire, a micro air-to-ground missile leapt free from its rails and dove into the side of a barricade, blowing debris and cygnul everywhere.

Socket Wrench pulled away, pushing her suit to its limits as enemy fire crisscrossed the sky after her. The pegasus pony’s luck ran out though when a particle beam sliced into her side, blowing out one of her engines. This sudden loss of propulsion threw her into a chaotic spin. Twilight watched her flap her wings hard, but it was to no avail as she spun into the ground.

“No! Socket!” Twilight cried out. She focused on the incapacitated pony struggling to get on her feet as the cygnul peppered the area round her with weapons fire. The lavender unicorn narrowed her gaze and poured her will into a spell she knew quite well. An arcane pop sounded and suddenly, she stood over the downed pegasus.

She leaned in and powered up her magic once more and the two ponies vanished from the open plaza. Reappearing back where she started, Twilight pulled Socket’s prone form towards Victoria. The human wasted no time checking up on her, holding down the struggling pegasus, even as she fought to free herself from the still smoking wreck that had once been a micro-jet engine. Sparks sprayed forth from a jagged tear in its titanium housing as a damaged compressor fan still struggled to rotate.

Someone finally activated an emergency release latch and a mechanical click sounded as the broken component dropped to the ground. In her fit of anger, Socket let out a long string of obscene words as she kicked the engine away with one of her rear legs. The impact sent it spinning through the air, venting grey smoke and emitting an almost pitiful screeching sound. It might have been humorous had their circumstances not been as dire.

“It look like you won’t be flying no more.” Dmitri’s voice filled their speakers as cygnul potshots continued to streak by overhead.

“What?” Socket Wrench struggled against Victoria’s typical diagnostics routine, but she managed to right herself on all four hooves. The pegasus flared her armored wings and lowered her head, directing a furious stare towards the wrecked ship behind them. “I still have my wings.”

“Easy there, Socket.” Isamu tried to defuse the situation. “You are perfectly capable of flying. Just don’t expect to be going very fast when you do.”

Socket Wrench pursed her lips tighter; her pride hurt more than herself. For the benefit of his team, James stepped in, taking a break from firing downrange to glance over at her and flash a toothy grin. “Think you can get up on the shuttle and help that poor excuse of an engineer get that gun online?”

A sly smirk immediately replaced her scowl. “You bet your flank I can.” She then ducked low, before jumping into the air upon her outstretched wings. The cygnul had apparently still not recovered from the airstrike and only a few stray shots made it anywhere near the pegasus pony. Socket deftly angled around the crashed shuttle and vanished into the open tail-gun suite.

“How does it look in there?”

“Well,” Socket Wrench’s confused voice paused, “I now know why it’s taking Dmitri so long.” She finished speaking and the earth pony’s rambunctious laughter filled the airwaves.

James tightened a fist, shaking his head side to side. “Dammit, Dimitri. This isn’t a game! What are you doing?”

“You’ll see.” He said between chuckles. “Get ready for this.”

Three humans and one unicorn turned as one just in time to watch a crumbled armor plate drop away from the tail of their ruined shuttle. As one, their mouths dropped open with shock. In the open compartment just inside, Dmitri Bearclaw stood on his hind legs behind what could only be called a macabre example of mechanical design.

The earth pony had apparently not been satisfied with just bringing the tail gun back online. Somehow, he thought it had been a good idea to actually go and drag the two front guns up from the nose of the craft. Then with what appeared to be a copious application of welding and cutting, Dmitri Bearclaw had built up a weapon mount for the three ship-grade rotary cannons. The asymmetrical turret and its seemingly random assortment of angles and flanges almost hurt to look at.

Any reservations the UEN soldiers had were vindicated as soon as Dmitri spun the turret downrange. “EAT THIS MOTHERF….” His voice cut out and the air filled with the roar of an explosion. But, instead of the incredible sound of three gouts of flame blazing forth from the Gatling weapons with shell casings pouring out in a cascading waterfall, they were greeted by the sight of the entire rickety gun platform blowing apart spectacularly.

Twilight Sparkle might have been concerned with the clumsy earth pony’s fate had the airwaves not been filled with his angry ranting and ravings about sound mechanical design. As soon as the smoke cleared, she could see a grime-covered Dmitri swinging an angled piece of metal against the ruined weapon turret. Even from this distance, it didn’t take any squinting of her eyes to tell how angry he was.

A flurry of particle rifle strikes peppered the area around Dmitri, burning holes in the already shattered shuttle remains. The earth pony’s personal shield lit up several times, and Socket Wrench had to drag the still kicking stallion away from his failed creation. More incoming cygnul fire made it clear to the remaining defenders that their time was running out.

“Alice, we really need you now!” Captain Fletcher held his weapon up and blindly fired a full magazine downrange.

“Hold on just a little longer, Captain.” Their AI’s calm voice finally crackled over the radio.

“I’m with Twilight on this one.” Victoria started before pausing to pick off an exposed cygnul who got too greedy with its counterattack. “We are way too close for an orbital strike, even a precision one. Maybe we should retreat further back before calling it in.”

James flipped the tab on his last grenade and tossed it over the wall, dipping down before a deep rumble reverberated through the ground. “Retreat? Where would we go? They will cut us down before we could make it to the shuttle!”

“We should think about this before calling in the strike. Alice, can you hold off for a moment?”

“No, that is not going to be possible.”

Victoria froze mid magazine change. “Why not?”

“Because I launched the kinetic rod twelve minutes ago.”

Twilight Sparkle’s pupils widened and her head shot up to look at the sickly yellow sky. Her eyes darted between each wispy little cloud, straining to pick up any sort of movement. Though she tried as hard as she could, the eyes of a pony are not sensitive enough to see a tiny meter-long metal rod traveling ten times the speed of sound. However, at the last second she did catch sight of the resulting fireball of superheated gas enveloping the invisible weapon just as it streaked overhead and slammed into the side of the cygnul bunker.

Human-derived kinetic weapons are scarily powerful, as Twilight came to learn from her studies of their technologies. An orbitally-launched tungsten bar picks up quite a bit of speed as it falls planetward from a patrol frigate in space. Its flight path calculated by a sapient hyper intelligent computer, it managed to impact the target point within a few inches, transferring all of its stored up kinetic energy into its surroundings. When a piece of metal no taller than a pony hits something as hard as rock whilst traveling eleven thousand feet per second, it explodes violently.

One second, Twilight Sparkle lay crouched against a wall. The next, she flew in the air as the ground heaved underneath her. An audible oof, squeaked involuntarily from the little pony’s lungs; the impact knocking the wind out of her even through her body armor. As she tumbled away, she flailed her legs futilely as the world quaked around her. Eventually, the shaking ceased and she managed to right herself on all four hooves.

Carefully, she worked up the nerve to peek over her cover and take a look at the devastation in front of her. A massive crater now sat where a series of low walls, weapon emplacements, and defensive fortifications used to be. The kinetic rod had come in at an angled trajectory, directing most of its energy in a forward-facing blast of splintered rock. Whatever resistance the aliens had relied upon was now crumpled, twisted, and broken.

Twilight Sparkle stared wide-eyed and slack-jawed. The little pony stood frozen as her mane and tail gently wavered in a light breeze whipped up by the updrafts above the impact site. Delicate lines of smoke drifted lazily upwards into the sky, riding along currents of warm air. The heat from the kinetic strike created enough of a temperature variance in the air to refract the sun’s light in a shimmering mirage centered in the crater’s heart.

She didn’t notice her compatriots joining her to take in the devastation before them. The intense silence weighed down upon her like a constricting blanket. After their frantic firefight only moments before, the soundless calm that had settled over the battlefield only seemed to get under the unicorn’s skin. Twilight made to open her mouth to say something, anything, when she heard Socket Wrench speak from behind her.

“I’ve never seen a kinetic strike from so close. Everything is just… gone.”

“It’s something you never quite get used to.” James chipped in, and Twilight glanced to her right in time to catch sight of the human’s expressionless face. He stood there for a moment longer before stepping away. “Come on, team. Let’s see what is so special about this facility.”

Quickly, the ponies and humans navigated around the jagged edges of the bombardment site. They had to steer around a few larger boulders thrown clear from the epicenter, but with nothing shooting at them, the debris only served as a minor hindrance and they easily made it to the entrance of the bunker. Twin slabs of hardened steel lay uselessly along the ground, crumpled by the sheer intensity of the blast.

The UEN team formed up for only a moment on the ruined entryway before slipping inside. Dmitri and Isamu led the way, James and Socket kept an eye on their surroundings, and Twilight covered their rear with Victoria. Weapons swiveled every which way, leaving no alcove or shadow unchecked.

With only one way to go, they followed down a long main hallway that descended gently into the recesses of the barren world. Dark stone columns lined the pathway, each as unremarkable as the next. A few small globes spaced every dozen paces or so, served as the only light sources Twilight could see. They bathed the nearby area around them with a muted cerulean light, making it easy on their eyes, but doing little to penetrate the deeper shadows in the narrow passage.

She turned her suit’s auditory sensitivity to its max setting, trying to hear anything attempting to sneak up on them. Though Twilight strained with all her concentration, she failed to pick up any sound but their soft footsteps echoing faintly. Her instincts screamed at her that something was about to go horribly wrong even though they truly seemed to be alone. This doesn’t feel right. This doesn’t feel right at all.

After what felt like an eternity of traveling with no landmarks of any kind, Twilight Sparkle glanced ahead and noticed the hall leading towards a large auditorium brightly lit with scores of the usual spherical cygnul lights. A quick click of her radio, and she opened up a private channel with James in front of her. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

The human pivoted his submachine gun around another column, finding nothing but barren rock just like the last couple dozen he had checked. “Me too. The cygnul fought pretty hard to keep us out of here. They must have had a reason.”

“I think we are about to find out.” Twilight spoke as they reached the end of the passageway. It opened up into a vast hexagonal central chamber. Like the ribcage of a tremendous creature, six arches curved far overhead, towering above and beyond anything she had ever seen except maybe the highest buildings in Manehattan. On the far wall in between two arching columns, an enormous double door stood taller than her tree house back in Ponyville.

“This is rather impressive.” Socket Wrench stared at the ceiling high above. “But what purpose could this place possibly have?”

“I have a feeling it has to do with those over there.” Isamu gestured across the wide-open atrium towards the doors on the far side. “Alice, what do you think? Have your scans picked up anything new?”

Their A.I.’s voice fizzed over their radios. It seemed being this far underground made it more difficult for her to transmit, but they could still hear her clearly enough to understand over the background static. “It almost looks like a cygnul cloning facility of some kind, though I haven’t detected any changes in power consumption since we entered in orbit around the planet. I am having trouble accessing their bio-network remotely, but it still seems that the facility is running on low power.”

“Well, I think I have seen enough. Let’s cut a few holes in these walls and find a conduit we can manually tap Alice into in order to bypass their security. Then she can power up whatever reactor runs this facility, and rig it to overload and melt down.” James pointed to the nearby wall face where Dmitri and Socket trotted to in order to get to work. “Alice, call in Aspire, we will need a pickup since Tank got hit on the way in.”

Twilight kept an eye on their surroundings, but with such a wide-open space she should have felt relaxed due to the fact that there were no obstacles for a cygnul soldier to take cover behind. Even across the arching ceiling, her eyes could not pick out a suitable perch for a sniper. Her ears twitched in her helmet as her nerves began to get the better of her. Something terrible is about to happen.

Over by the wall, Socket Wrench had assembled a small portable cutting torch Dmitri kept in his utility pack and the two ponies began carefully burning through the cygnul metal. The butterscotch pegasus did most of the work while the rambunctious stallion grew bored relatively quickly. He took his eyes off of the temperature gages for a moment and noticed Twilight fidgeting nearby.

“Calm down, Princess.” His statement was met with glares and annoyed stares from everyone except Socket who rather kicked out at him with one of her rear hooves.

“Because Deval isn’t here doesn’t mean you need to fill his place, Dmitri.” Twilight skimmed across the chamber again, her eyes flickering at imaginary flashes of movement.

The earth pony laughed and adjusted one of the knobs on the cutting tool when its blue-white flame sputtered a few times. “Just trying to get you to relax, da? Everything will be fine. This place not even operational. Nothing can go wrong.”

Twilight Sparkle had enough time to spin around and take in a deep breath in order to chew out the troublesome pony for challenging the universe when it beat her to the punch. She caught sight of a heavy metal slab drop from the ceiling and close off the pathway back to the surface. Instantly, the lavender unicorn lowered into a combat stance, quickly looking around for the danger sure to come.

“James, watch out! I am detecting a heat bloom in the facility just ahead of you!” Alice’s frantic shouting filled the airwaves and all six of them turned around to see the massive doors across the room start slowly swinging outward. Before they could completely open, two monstrous claws shot out of the darkness and sunk into the heavy metal slabs as if they were as delicate as tissue paper. A screech filled the air as the doors were torn from their hinges and tossed aside.

Twilight froze, staring at the darkened opening where four glowing cerulean eyes stared back at her. She couldn’t settle on what terrified her more; the sight of the creature’s claws tearing through metal like butter, or the fact that the eyes she was staring at were situated a dozen feet above the ground. She didn’t have time to make a decision when it stepped forward into the lighted atrium and she finally realized how much trouble they were in.

The cygnul titan had to duck under the top header of the opening before it could stand fully upright. Its clawed feet hit the ground with enough force to send reverberations through the floor that Twilight could feel even through her armored suit. Plates of black chitin covered its body from head to toe, appearing with the sort of commonality one might expect to see on a main battle tank. It held its hands out with claws extended on either side of its body and from its back, four thick tendrils whipped around erratically, each ending in a razor sharp scythe.

Twilight Sparkle took a step back when the titan opened a mouth with too many teeth and let out a roar easily heard without the assistance of her helmet’s audio microphones. As she had been taught by James, standard operating procedure for combating a bio-organic cygnul siege weapon, such as a titan, usually entailed the use of a radio and the frequency to the nearest artillery firebase. If this wasn’t possible, a limited orbital strike would work in a pinch.

But seeing as there were no friendly artillery units on the planet, and they were too far underground for the strike, they went with the next best thing. The three ponies and three humans took off running while hosing fully automatic fire at the cygnul titan. It only waited a second before taking off after its prey, and the battle began in earnest.

The titan moved much faster for a creature of its size than it should have, and in no time it had halved the intervening distance between it and the UEN team. Its jaws opened wide, and a glowing sphere of energy grew in intensity in its throat before launching towards them. By unspoken command, the humans and ponies scattered to avoid the attack whilst still pouring copious amounts of firepower into the cygnul monster.

A harsh buzzing sound accompanied the rapidly encroaching energy blast. Twilight, being closest to the incoming attack, spun on her hooves and ran towards it, closing the gap before it could drop low enough to hit her. The lavender mare galloped as the crackling sphere flashed overhead close enough to dazzle her eyes for a second before it smashed harmlessly into the floor with a resounding blast of heat and energy. Twilight had to shake her head to clear her vision before she realized that her clever escape left her in a precarious situation; running directly at the cygnul titan now bearing down on her.

Luckily for her, the towering monster seemed just as surprised as her for the moment and it failed to seize the initiative. Twilight continued forward and easily dodged a series of terribly aimed blows from the titan’s scything tentacles. In the meantime, she made sure the cygnul paid for its mistake and a full magazine’s worth of heavy slugs slammed into its right leg. Twilight may have been proverbially shooting from the hip, but with the carriage-sized shin of the cygnul within spitting distance from her, she did not miss a single shot.

Cygnul titans are typically only used for planetary assaults against heavily fortified positions and as such, it would take more than a few pistol rounds to put the beast down. However, when it tried to dig its damaged leg into the ground in order to go after the little unicorn pony, the wounded appendage gave in and it crashed to the ground screaming furiously.

Twilight took a glance over her shoulder at the flailing monster while she exchanged her empty magazine for a full one. She then altered her course around in a shallow turn to meet up with the closest team member to her, a galloping earth pony whose suit-mounted turret spat a continuous stream of particle fire behind him as he ran. Dmitri nodded at her as she took up position alongside him, and a click in her helmet preceded his voice coming in on a private communications channel.

“Good shooting, da? That was nice move, Twilight Sparkle.” Even through his helmet, Twilight could easily see his customary smile.

“Thanks… Dmitri.” She spoke between heaving breaths. Running had never been her strong suit anyway. “Any idea… how we can… stop this thing?”

Dmitri Bearclaw turned towards her to answer when the barrel of his turret swung upwards to shoot at something above them. The two ponies both looked up behind them in time to see that the cygnul titan had somehow used all of its appendages to launch itself high in the air, coming straight at them. Its mouth stretched wide, emitting a horrifying shriek and its arms and bladed tentacles extended out, ready to slice through both of them. Though it fired for all its worth, all Dmitri’s cannon seemed to do was discolor the outside of the creature’s natural armor plating.

As the building-sized living siege weapon dropped out of the air, both ponies screamed; one, a feminine shriek, and the other; a not-quite-so-masculine squeal. Acting on instinct, Twilight powered up a quick kinetic blast and fired not at the titan, which probably wouldn’t feel it anyway, but at Dmitri’s flank instead. The earth pony cursed from the unexpected blow, as he bounced along the ground. The tumbling stallion ended up landing roughly, but at least he did not have to worry about an incoming cygnul crashing down on him.

On the other hoof, the titan now had its sights fixed squarely on the lavender unicorn beneath it. Oh, dear Celestia. Twilight Sparkle’s eyes widened and her horn grew brightly before her world vanished in a flash of light.

With a massive swipe of both clawed hands and a flurrying stabbing of scything tentacles, the cygnul tore into the armored deck plating as it landed. Debris and rubble flew through the air, accompanied by the harsh screeching of tearing metal. The cygnul roared as it furiously ripped into the ground under its feet, leaving no possibility that anything could have survived.

Fortunately for her, Twilight witnessed all of this from above as she fell from the top of the curving ceiling where she had teleported to at the last second. She gathered her will in her horn once more as she dropped, keeping an eye on her target below. Slowing its progress, the titan stepped back to survey its handiwork, expecting to see the shredded remains of its prey but finding nothing but torn plating instead.

Its surprise lasted for only a moment when a little pony plunged by it and fired a superheated blast of magic into the right side of its ugly face, burning away several layers of its bio armor. The titan reared back screaming, swinging a scythe around to catch its foe before she could hit the ground. Twilight caught sight of the attack in time and with a melodious pop, she vanished once more.

She reappeared in front of the titan in time to watch its living blade cut through empty air. All four of its glowing eyes seemed to lock on her yet again and another two tentacles came around in wide arcs meant to catch her no matter which way she ran. I have to level the playing field if we are going to have a chance, Twilight thought, not knowing what the others were up to and not having the time to spare a look. Strategizing on the fly, she took off directly towards the cygnul once more. Titans appear to have trouble in close quarters. I’ll have to use that to my advantage.

Angling to her left, the titan sped up its right scythe, attempting to slice her in half, but Twilight had other plans. The unicorn’s magics flared brightly as she directed her power into a slightly different version of her usual blasting spell. Instead of using the energy stored within her as a single-shot beam attack, she allowed it to coalesce around her horn and extend somewhat further out from its tip. Then, she directed its shape to form a wide, thin blade of superheated arcane plasma.

As the tentacle came around, Twilight kicked off the ground with her back hooves and jumped into the air, rolling forward as she did so. The cygnul appendage swung below her harmlessly just as her horn came about, and the nearly blindingly bright lance cut cleanly through the titan’s armored tentacle. The scythe-bearing section flew away, spraying ichor as it convulsed along the ground. Staggering from the loss of its limb, the monster let out a mighty shriek of pain.

Twilight Sparkle completed her front flip, but she did not quite land as gracefully as she would have liked. She fortunately still had enough momentum to be able to turn her awkward tumble into a somewhat coordinated forward roll forward to right herself and keep moving. The titan snapped off another poorly aimed swing of its claws, but the little pony easily ducked under them.

Stepping about to face her, the titan stabbed forward with all three remaining scythes, trying to not give the unicorn the same opportunity she had before. Twilight Sparkle stopped and glared down the cygnul before performing a simultaneous teleportation spell whilst keeping her arcane lance burning bright. She appeared above the titan and allowed gravity to do its work, accelerating her down alongside the two left tentacles, which she cut through as well.

From that high of a fall, she landed on her hooves hard enough to crumple to the ground. By the time Twilight had recovered, the furious titan managed to swing the back of one of its hands and it brutally knocked her across the floor. She tumbled and rolled against the unforgiving surface, crying out with each jarring impact. Even though her combat armor kept her from breaking any bones, the impact still knocked her quite senseless.

Twilight Sparkle’s vision blurred between grey and black while she attempted to right herself. Every beat of her heart sent a surge of agony through her mind. The sharp coppery taste of blood brought her back to her senses and she grew aware of a stinging pain in her mouth. Ow, I think I bit my tongue. She might have been more concerned about her injury or the pounding in her skull, but the cygnul titan bearing down on her took precedence.

Wracking her aching brain for ideas, she tried to come up with any plan that would save her life. The amount of magic she had been throwing around, almost carelessly, had begun to take its toll in the form of a massive migraine threatening to overtake her mind. Physically, her legs wobbled badly, making it debatable whether or not she could even run. It seemed the only option she had was to pick up the discarded heavy pistol nearby that she had dropped sometime in the last minute or so. Even the simple telekinetic spell she used to hold the weapon felt like a knife slicing through the back of her skull. At least I have some way to fight back.

Twilight Sparkle stood tall, aiming down the sights of her pistol at the titan coming straight at her. Figuring that she might not fare so well in the next dozen seconds or so, she thought about activating her radio to talk to the squad one last time when something cylindrical flew in from her left, trailing a few hoses behind it. It took a second to register the cutting-torch canister before it hit the cygnul on the damaged portion of its head with a hollow, thunk. The impact did nothing noticeable to the creature, but before it could fall more than an inch, an incendiary round from a battle rifle punched through the thin metal and the entire canister erupted into flame.

A brilliant white sphere of superheated gasses blew apart against the weakened portion of the cygnul titan’s skull. The volatile mix of fuel used to quickly cut through high strength steel burned away organic chitin, either outright vaporizing it or causing it to bubble and pool to the floor. Even with so much damage done to it, the titan only faltered. It fell forward, catching itself on its remaining limbs, shrieking incoherently.

“Bring it down! Bring it down!” A voice roared over the comm net just as every UEN soldier answered the call. Several different types of weapons poured unrelenting gunfire into the now broken section of the titan’s head. Twilight Sparkle squeezed the trigger of her pistol as fast as she could keep it on target, watching round after round strike true. In front of her, the titan wavered for a moment, letting out a gurgling moan before it finally dropped to the ground once and for all.

Twilight lowered her weapon slowly, making sure the beast had actually expired. Its remaining eyes glared at her as their glow gradually faced and it lay still. Adrenaline levels falling, the unicorn mare looked away and closed her own eyes. She bit down on the terror and guilt bubbling up from her stomach that threatened to make her physically ill.

Though the confrontation probably only lasted for a minute or two, the shear intensity of the brawl made it feel like an eternity. What if I hadn’t pushed Dmitri in time? What if I had gone right instead of left? What if I had been a little slower? She kept second-guessing herself. The same questions flew through Twilight’s mind, like they did after every battle.

On top of the anxiety that naturally accompanied such a close brush with death, the unicorn pony also had to deal with shame she faced for what she had to do to the cygnul in order to stay alive. They may have tried to end her life countless times before, but she still never hated them for it. She consciously knew and understood that they were mindless killing machines that had to be put down, but it never failed to make her feel ill when she thought about it.

The weary pony took a shaking breath and spoke, not bothering to uphold the pretense of checking if she was transmitting or not. “Alice, is it over now?”

The artificial intelligence answered right away, sounding as if she were standing right next to her. Missing the crackling of her previous radio transmissions, Alice’s clear voice exhibited a knowing concern for her condition. “Of course, Twilight. Stand by for withdrawal.”

The walls of the chamber grew fragmented and disjointed, allowing a bright white light to shine between the fractal patterns of cracks that grew in the chamber. As the world faded, Twilight allowed herself to be pulled away freely. Her vision flared white only for an instant, leaving her in a comfortable darkness with the reassuring humming of Rainbow Dash audible in the back of her head.

The sound of boots hitting the deck grew louder and two human hands helped pull the virtual reality helmet off of her head. Twilight blinked back her vision, seeing James Fletcher place her helmet back on its shelf. Around her, the others from the simulation worked silently to store all of the delicate equipment. They were all well aware how she felt after a battle and their usual post-combat jokes would wait until she settled down. Surprisingly, even Dmitri somehow managed to keep his mouth shut.

“Here you go, Twi.” A glass of cool water wrapped in a feathery wing appeared in front of her muzzle.

Twilight turned to see the smiling face of Socket Wrench, holding the drink out for her. Taking it in her hooves, the lavender mare washed away her dry cottonmouth with the refreshing liquid. “Thanks, Socket.”

“How do you feel, Twilight?” Victoria came over to sit next to her.

“I’m okay.” She spoke, taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly. “But that was just so brutal and violent. I don’t know if I ever will get used to it like all of you are.”

Victoria placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Twilight, no one here enjoys fighting this war any more than you do. We hide behind our humor, using it as a shield to keep from bringing us down in despair. This world is so different from the Equestria you come from, but we were born into it.”

She gestured to the others watching them expectantly. “All of us have lived our entire lives during this war and because of that, we are sadly used to a darker way of life than you are. I am truly sorry that we ask you to train with us. We only do it just in case the unthinkable happens and you have to defend yourself. That being said,” Victoria paused for effect, giving her a reassuring squeeze, “if you ever want to stop then don’t be afraid to let us know. There would be no shame in it.”

Twilight lifted her head and met the human’s gentle eyes. “It’s alright. I will be fine.” She took in a heavy breath and let it out before hopping off the recliner to land on her hooves. As she left towards the exit, the others fell into a natural pace alongside and Twilight felt a ghost of a smile creep onto her face. “But if we do end up finding a cygnul planet, I would like to stay as far away from it as possible.”

Walking next to her, Victoria’s face tightened and she let out a short snort. Obviously trying not to laugh, she nodded her head to the sound of snickering from Dmitri who tried and failed to stay serious. “Of course, Twilight.”

“Yeah, don’t worry, Twilight.” She heard James say from behind her. “The plan is still to take us home in the quickest way possible. No sightseeing.”

Feeling more relaxed; Twilight Sparkle twisted her neck to eye a certain troublesome earth pony. “You just had to open your mouth, Dmitri.”

Smiles and laughter broke out amongst the humans and ponies as they all ragged on their resident clown. Even Alice’s voice followed them via the ship’s speakers placed every dozen feet or so, joining in the revelries they always had to unwind after such a stressful practice. Twilight stared around her as her team threw around various jokes and insults, leaving no one untargeted, but they meant none of them seriously. Twilight herself even snuck in a quip or two, and she may have been a target once or twice, but her grin never faded away.

The mixed group of ponies and humans meandered through the hallways of the Rainbow Dash. Victoria and Socket Wrench peeled off to check on their stations in the medical bay and engineering compartments respectively. The rest made their way onto the bridge of the patrol frigate. Taking up their usual stations, the UEN sailors checked on the status of their ship and its crew.

“How do we look, Alice?” James asked almost absentmindedly as he worked on his seat’s computer.

“We should be dropping back into real space in five hours. From there, we will wait quietly until I have recharged the jump drive and we are oriented to the next system in line. After that, we only have three more jumps until we arrive back in UEN controlled territory.”

Hearing that, a wave of relief washed over Twilight as she climbed into her chair. The past few weeks of traveling in dangerous uncharted territory had been unnerving to say the least. In front of her, Dmitri pulled up a star map of their destination on the main display screen. “I still wonder if this best course of action. After all, you drop us in middle of dying star cluster, Alice. This does not sound safe.”

“We aren’t jumping to any of the stars that are at risk of imminent core collapse. I believe our target is a small red dwarf that probably wandered into the region millions of years ago. It’s also not in any danger from a nearby supernova. The estimated radiation levels fall within acceptable…”

“Wait,” Isamu interrupted the A.I. “You aren’t sure where exactly we are jumping to?”

“It’s too small and faint that it was not discovered by the first explorers that visited the local region. I was only able to pick it up from our previous destination which was only a few hundred light years away.”

Seeing Isamu growing tense, James chimed in to calm any fears. “I know it’s been awhile since the age of exploration, Isamu, but that’s how a lot of stars were studied in the old days. Brave pioneers jumping into an uncharted solar system was a normal thing. Sensors can only tell you so much when you are hundreds of light years away.”

He turned around to meet James’ gaze as he talked, looking somewhat more at ease. “Anyway,” Rainbow Dash’s captain continued, “it was either cut through this cluster with one jump, or go around which would have taken a minimum of fifteen jumps. By now, the cygnul must know what we have done and they are undoubtedly trying to find us. The less time we take getting to Pegasopolis, the better.”

Alice spoke again from the room’s speakers. “Even though we are in cygnul territory and there is no reason to suspect that they would be unaware about this jump point, I determined that the odds of an extensive cygnul presence to be marginal, because of the volatility of the region.”

“I don’t know.” Isamu looked back at the blinking icon on the front screen marking their destination. “If I was going to hide something, a system like that would be perfect.”

James Fletcher nodded his head, acknowledging Isamu’s point. “We can only speculate on that for now. Rainbow Dash is a small vessel and we haven’t had trouble staying hidden from the cygnul so far.”

Twilight swiped her hoof across her own computer as she sat down to zoom in on their destination, a numerous collection of aging red giant and supergiant suns. The majority of which had progressed far enough off the main sequence of stellar formation that the computer model could only guess how much longer they might stay around. “There are a dozen stars here that, if I am reading this correctly, are expected to die at any possible moment. Could one of them have gone supernova during our transit?”

“Actually yes,” Alice’s avatar answered as it appeared on her leg rest. “The last solar system we jumped out of is two hundred and sixty seven light years from the closest star in the cluster that is in its final death throes. When we reappear in normal space, however, we will be less than thirty light years from the closest candidate. Therefore, is possible for one of these stars to die during our intervening journey in jump space.”

“That is kind of crazy. Does that mean every time I look at the night sky, I am looking at stars that might not even exist anymore?”

“Yes it does. Some of the stars you might be able to see, burned out millions of years before you were even born, and they will continue to shine on for a million more. Their light will travel through space forever, gradually fading until not even the barest trace remains.”

Twilight Sparkle studied the stellar construct on her screen, her eyes drifting along the seemingly random patterns it made as its constituent suns swung around each other in shifting orbits. No two stars were the same, with only their size and color giving any indication of their ages. As she rotated the three-dimensional image around, it reminded her of a piece of artwork. Hanging there in the void, the motley collection of colors chased away the darkness, filling space with light.

She thought on a topic Socket Wrench had once brought up. No matter how unimaginably fast it is, it still takes time for light to travel. Twilight wondered if they could somehow zoom in on Harmony from where they were, if she would be able to look far enough into the past to see the Equestria she came from. “I guess you could say that we are always looking backwards into the past.”

Alice smiled and inclined her head towards her. “Indeed, Twilight Sparkle. Some of us more so than others.”

Chapter 19: Singularity

“One minute to re-emergence.” The artificial intelligence of the UENRainbow Dash spoke over ship-wide speakers. Crew members waited attentively at their stations, ready for whatever surprises they might find in the uncharted solar system. So close to the end of their dangerous trek through cygnul territory, the tension in the air of the bridge was palpable.

Five hours dwindled to one, which quickly became scant minutes before they were scheduled to reappear back into the universe. Twilight Sparkle couldn’t help but reflect on how the time had flown by. She still had enough of a break to eat a good meal and try to get some rest, but her mind would not stop racing. The longer they stayed in cygnul space, the more worried she grew that their luck would run out.

As the seconds trickled down, she fought off a yawn before gluing her eyes on a false representation of the tiny star system growing rapidly larger on the front view screen as they traveled many times the speed of light. She knew that the image had to be artificially created on account that they were not even part of the universe at large. The laws of physics did not allow for post-luminal travel and thus, they had to detour through an alternate dimension just to get anywhere in a reasonable amount of time.

The counter had just about run down and Twilight watched her computer’s clock as it cycled through the last few seconds. She swallowed and licked her lips, preparing herself for the uncomfortable pressure that accompanied the transition between dimensions. It had just about reached zero when the ship jerked forward hard, as if a massive hammer had struck its nose. A reverberating bang sounded throughout the entire frigate, something on the bridge blew apart violently, and all sorts of alarms began wailing away.

Re-emergence always seemed to give Twilight Sparkle a temporary foggy-head, but the feeling never lasted for more than a few seconds. This time, however, she experienced a wave of revulsion and terror by the likes of which she had never felt before. Her vision flashed red, a sickly bitter taste overwhelmed her mouth, and a roaring in her ears momentarily drowned out the ship’s alarm systems. Fortunately, the unnatural sensations did not seem to persist for too long and the lavender pony was able to fight back the bile that threatened to rise from her throat.

Blinking back her sight, the mass of grey in front of her stopped spinning and resolved into the metal deck of the bridge. Her seat’s straps dug into her shoulders painfully, and she realized that she was slumped over the legrest of her chair. Flashing lights and screaming sirens all vied for attention and as she glanced around the room; it seemed she wasn’t the only one trying to recover. Every crew member, pony and human alike, struggled groggily to regain their senses.

Luckily, it seemed everyone had used their crash harnesses correctly, even Dmitri, but on the left side of the bridge, one of the wall-mounted control panels had blown apart. Twilight thought she remembered Alice or James telling her a long time ago that it housed manual backup controls for the warp drive, though it did not look functional anymore. Inside of the console, she could see sparks dancing among glowing shards of what used to be a series of large capacitors. The pony who sat in front of the gaping hole put a hoof to his head and groaned in pain. He may have been hurt, but he was at least still alive.

As soon as Twilight felt that the wounded pony did not need her immediate attention, she brought a hoof up to rub her own aching forehead while acknowledging the various warnings on her screen. She stared hard, trying to force her mind to decipher their meanings, while wondering why she was having such a hard time making out individual words. Emergency Re-emergence Initiated… Critical Power Overload… A.I. Core Reboot Activated….

“James?” Her voice cracked harshly, and she flinched from the sharp pain in her throat. Coughing to clear it, she turned towards the captain’s chair. “What’s going on?”

Next to her, James’s head slowly wandered. His unfocused eyes and slack jawed appearance reminded her of the night out with Deval Aldridge in Midnight City, but she felt none of the joy she had been feeling that day. The human mumbled something unintelligible before he tried pressing something on his own computer.

His first attempt failed, but he managed to mute the alarms on the bridge with his second, and their wailing stopped immediately. “Alice!” His voice did not sound much better than Twilight’s. “Situation report! What happened?”

The usually punctual artificial intelligence did not answer them. The armrest on James’s chair where she should have been perched remained empty, and a cold sense of dread formed a knot in Twilight’s stomach. Even though their reemergence had already been fraught with several obvious problems, having their ship’s indomitable computer fail to heed their calls made it clear that something had gone seriously wrong.

We are in a lot of trouble. Twilight focused on her own screen after Alice remained silent. She pulled back the list of ship-wide emergencies and scanned through them again, looking for one that had nagged the back of her mind. A.I. Core Reboot… ninety eight percent.

“James,” She angled her screen to show him easier. “Something forced Alice to reboot her entire core. She should be back any…” Interrupting her, a translucent spectacle of green light flickered through a series of random shapes and patterns before they settled into the miniature earth pony form Alice preferred.

“Captain! We’ve experienced an emergency reemergence from jumpspace!”

“No shit!” From his seat in front of the bridge’s central dais, Dmitri had finally recovered enough to be somewhat back to his old self. The stocky earth pony held his forehead with one hoof while working at his station with the other.

James pressed the AI, choosing to ignore Dmitri for the time being. “What happened to you? Why did your core shut down?”

“We experienced an intense gravitational gradient and it tripped the automated security measures in our jump engines, forcing us to reemerge before the ship could tear itself apart. Without following the standard protocols for reemergence, we experienced a more brutal transition than usual. The ship suffered a power surge and most of my systems had to shut down temporarily to keep me from taking any permanent damage.”

“Well, where are we? What tripped the automated system? Did we emerge too close to the star?”

Alice turned to face the front view screen. Its image sputtered a few times before it managed to focus on a pale red dot, only distinctive because every other star in the near vicinity outshone it by a substantial amount. “We are not close at all. By my initial observation with what’s left of our optical sensors, our intended target is at least light week away, and it is still the closest star to us.”

“That’s not possible.” Isamu Zhang typed a few quick commands at his station and a detailed readout of their intended target appeared on the main screen, confirming what Alice just said. “A star of that mass would have only triggered the emergency reemergence sensor if we were within a million kilometers or so. We are billions of kilometers away. What is going on?”

“The power surge forced me to reboot everything. Not all of my sensors are back and running so I am not entirely sure what happened.” Alice paused a moment before she continued somewhat hesitantly. “I do have our full active sensor suite online, but I did not want to take the risk yet and alert anyone that might be listening.”

Out of the corner of Twilight’s vision, she saw James furrow his brow. “We don’t know what is out there, but something dragged us back into real space and emergency jumpspace transitions give off all kinds of radiation and sensor noise. How long until you have the jump drive back?”

“An emergency reemergence requires a lengthy maintenance routine. Socket Wrench already has her crew working on it as fast as they can. Unfortunately, she seems to be blaming me for the damage done to the jump engine and she won’t speak to me unless she requires certain status readings she can’t get on her own.”

“What about your gravimeter?” James unclasped his seat’s restraints when he took note of the wounded pony by the backup warp drive controls and made his way over to check on him.

“I am still trying to get it back online. The actual device itself needed realignment and Socket Wrench has two engineers putting it back together.”

James gave the pony a cursory inspection, satisfied that he wasn’t in critical condition before making his way back to strap in. “Very well, we don’t have a choice. We need to go active then. Give me one ping only, Alice. Also have Victoria come up to check on ensign Stronghooves”

“Very well, sir. One ping.” The artificial pony stared almost absentmindedly at the front screen, but Twilight figured that she was probably preoccupied as she sorted through the mountains of data that the ship’s active sensors were telling her.

Not more than a minute or two had passed when Victoria came running on the bridge with a bag of medical supplies bouncing on her shoulder. She zeroed in on the injured earth pony and went about checking him out. “He has only superficial wounds, James. Nothing serious, but he is lucky.”

James nodded when on his armrest, Alice’s eyes narrowed and the main screen changed to display the frigate’s position in the local neighborhood. An expanding bubble centered on the Dash continued widening as their active sensor ping explored their immediate surroundings. Various specks appeared, marking small rocks and chunks of ice; surprising since this supposedly empty region of space should have been cleared of any debris from the intense solar winds pouring off the nearby star cluster.

Though the presence of this much interstellar debris certainly drew Twilight’s suspicion, the sudden appearance of a Jovian-sized planet immediately captured her attention. Murmurs washed over the bridge crew as they all reacted to the rogue planet’s presence in the middle of what was thought to be empty space. Taking control of the situation, Captain Fletcher addressed the ship’s AI. “Quiet down everyone. Alice, what can you tell us about that planet?”

“It is large, but not compared to the larger gas giants I have in my database in terms of volume. I cannot determine its mass yet without further observation or the use of my gravimeter, but by how much radiation it is giving off, I would suspect that we are looking at a brown dwarf.”

A brown dwarf? Twilight’s eyes went out of focus as she wracked her memory for details about the strange world that blurred the line between planet and sun. Not massive enough to sustain fusion of regular elemental hydrogen, they still could give off their own energy by fusing the lightest element’s heavier isotopes.A failed star is what I remember them to be.

“That brown dwarf is too far to have tripped the emergency sensors, but could there be a cygnul construct or something that might be able to do such a thing?” James glanced to his right at Twilight and something in his eyes gave her the inkling that he had a theory formulating in his head.

“There is no detectable cygnul presence orbiting this side of the planet.” Alice’s voice seemed to end somewhat abruptly and her avatar froze on James’ armrest. Even the cutie mark of ever changing ones and zeros sputtered for a second before she went back to normal. “I have fully finished rebooting the ship’s optical sensor array if you would like to look around. I am currently cataloging the nearest known supergiant stars to triangulate our exact position.”

Twilight Sparkle worked on her seat’s computer, bringing up a camera feed to the ship’s exterior optical sensors. All around them, stars burned brighter than any night sky she could ever remember seeing. She could even see faint patches of glowing light, indicating the presence of gas clouds illuminated by the local stellar neighborhood. Following the indicator markers that Alice had overlaid on the image, it only took a few seconds to pan around and zoom in on the failed sun.

A splotchy cherry dot widened on her monitor. Still too fuzzy to make anything out other than color and general shape, Twilight could pick out a faint shifting of the planet as it moved away from them. Starting from the top of her screen and cascading to the bottom, the image slowly came into focus as the ship’s computer adjusted the resolution.

She studied its glowing surface, her brow furrowing at something tickling the back of her mind. Suddenly, the lavender unicorn’s breath caught in her throat as she gawked at a brown dwarf that had never been visited by ponies, humans, or any of the other member species of the United Equestrian Nations for that manner. A system that had never before been named, catalogued, or even detected that would have remained undiscovered possibly for millions of years had they not accidently stumbled upon it. She stared at her screen, slack jawed and wide-eyed, because she had seen this planet before.

No… it can’t be… it must just be a coincidence. She clung to that faint hope, quickly changing the dials on her computer in order to continue studying their surroundings. Brightly shining stars spun by, creating a vista that she normally would have taken some time to admire. With the temperature on the bridge feeling a dozen degrees colder, however, Twilight could not waste a single moment as she searched for something to dispel her worst fear, or even worse, confirm it.

She worked the hull cameras so fast that she nearly overlooked what she was searching for. A flash of brilliant colors zipped by quick enough that had she blinked, she might have missed it. With a huff of impatience, the unicorn mare carefully retraced her steps before she rested on the image. A brilliant nebula took up an appreciable portion of the sky, stretching away from the epicenter of a dying star. Its bright orange eye glowed in the center of a crimson ring, and at its very heart, a tiny white dot sparkled brightly.

“James,” Twilight twisted her screen to show the captain what she had been searching for. “This is the system I saw….”

“Captain!” Dmitri shouted over his shoulder, interrupting Twilight abruptly. “Our active ping is picking up cygnul ships!”

“James.” Twilight tried to get his attention again.

“How many ships?” The human’s attention only focused on the pressing matter at hand. On the bridge’s main screen, tiny red dots marking cygnul ship signatures began to appear much too rapidly for anyone’s comfort.

“Excuse me, sir.” She tapped the side of his seat with a forehoof.

“Several fleets’ worth, it looks like.” Alice answered before anyone else could.

“Where did they get so many ships?” Isamu Zhang could not hide his astonishment. “This is more ships than the UEN has on the front lines!”

“Captain James Fletcher, this is important!” Twilight raised her voice, thick with irritation. Silence fell across the bridge as all eyes went to her. Most of the crew had terror plastered on their faces, but a select few, the captain included, seemed simply surprised.

“I’m sorry, Twilight. I guess I got caught up in the, situation, we are in. I am hoping that you have something good to tell me, but frankly, I don’t think I am that lucky.”

Twilight gulped down the lump in her throat. “This is the same system I saw when I entered the cygnul’s mind on Valles. We are here in the heart of their territory!”

For his benefit, he did not doubt her for a moment, and the calm UEN captain addressed his ship’s artificial intelligence. “Alice, get us out of here.”

No sooner had he given the order when a sharp psychic wave washed over Twilight, forcing her to visibly flinch in her seat. The unicorn shook her head once to clear it before looking around to see if anyone else reacted in the same way. A unicorn stallion stationed at the ship’s communications suite rubbed at his horn and Isamu Zhang seemed to be lost in a gaze, but other than them, no one else had any reaction.

All of a sudden, a warning appeared on Isamu’s computer and he snapped back to focus. “Captain, the cygnul fleets are orienting themselves in our direction. They’ve spotted us!”

“I am still charging the warp drive, but even if it was charged, I can’t route access without that panel.” Alice pointed a holographic hoof at the mess of sparks across the bridge. “Socket Wrench is on her way now to manually bypass it but it will take time.”

“I don’t think we have very much time.” Twilight spoke to no one in particular; taking note of the rapidly climbing number of cygnul ships in the top corner of the front screen.

“Stand by; I think my gravimeter is coming online now. I am receiving data on the anomaly.” Alice’s image pixilated when suddenly, the ship’s maneuvering thrusters kicked on, yanking everyone hard in their seat straps. Then, Rainbow Dash’s powerful main drive lit up at full blast, and they rocketed forward in the general direction of the brown dwarf.

The only one not strapped in, Victoria lost her balance and flew backward. At the last possible second, James managed to fight the acceleration enough to lean over and snatch her out of the air. He grabbed her and held her against the ferocious pull of the frigate’s engines.

Twilight struggled to brace herself in her chair from intense shaking as the ship accelerated much faster than it normally should have. If the warnings that popped up on her computer were correct, then the engines were running at temperatures fifty percent higher than their maximum safe levels. She stared ahead as the image of the brown dwarf slowly began to grow larger, remembering how much closer she had been when she saw through the cygnul’s eyes. “Alice… stop!”

The ship’s acceleration slowed to a more comfortable level where its inertia dampeners could compensate for the high g-forces its crews might otherwise experience. As the bridge crew members regained their composures, Alice addressed them as one. “I’m sorry. We were falling in towards the gravitational anomaly that forced us out of jumpspace, and I had only seconds before we fell beyond the point of no return.”

“Where is it?” James helped Victoria to her feet before he readjusted the straps on his chair with one hand while the other swiped across his computer screen, spinning around the view from an exterior camera.

“Approximately four million kilometers and rising. I have oriented it directly on our stern. Analyzing now.”

Curiosity taking hold, Twilight glanced over James’ armrest as he focused the video feed directly behind them. She could see the twin tails of plasma from Rainbow Dash’s oversized engines trailing behind them. A wall of bright stars stretched across the sky, mixed with several irregularly shaped blobs of glowing gas. Four million kilometers was quite a distance, but whatever had pulled them out of jumpspace remained lost to her. “I don’t see anything, Alice. What am I looking for?”

“Well, that explains a lot. Is it what I think it is?” James studied the starry backdrop. “I see why you got us out of there as fast as you did.”

“Yes, sir. It contains approximately thirty times the mass of Celestia’s sun.”

“A stellar-massed black hole,” Isamu spoke up, having caught on as well, “and a decently sized one too.”

Twilight Sparkle looked at her screen again, feeling unease at the doom they had narrowly avoided. A black hole: the fate of a massive star running out of fuel. Its remnant core can’t stop collapsing upon itself until it reaches a single dimensionless point; a singularity. That much mass in such a small volume warps time and space sharply enough that nothing, not even light can escape its event horizon. She studied the starry backdrop but was unable to pick out anything discerning location of the black hole. “Alice, could it have been what forced us out of jump space?”

“Most definitely. I am ninety nine point nine-nine-six percent sure that is what tripped the emergency sensors. If we had tried to pass as close as we were going to, the gravitational gradient would have most likely torn the ship apart.”

“We should have assumed that we might encounter one. A star cluster such as this would have hundreds if not thousands of massive stars dying and collapsing over just the past million years alone.” Isamu Zhang pressed a few buttons on his console and a map showing the local metric of space appeared up front. Their location was marked with a flashing indicator moving towards the brown dwarf, which only slightly bent the fabric of space around it. On the other hand, the local black hole they were heading away from dragged the metric around it so sharply that it just fell away into an endless funnel. “Perhaps we should have done a more thorough survey before…”

He was interrupted by an angry voice that filled the bridge. “Alice, what the hay are you doing to my ship?”

All eyes turned towards the entryway to see a furious pegasus with a swollen black eye. Socket Wrench walked forward, moving with a slight limp in her front left leg. A large duffle bag hung over her shoulders with several tools and random mechanical parts sticking out of its hastily closed opening. Her remaining good eye scanned the shocked faces of the bridge crew, daring anyone to speak.

“Your maneuver nearly crushed me against a bulkhead! What were… you… think….” She trailed off as soon as she took notice of the readouts on the black hole plastered all over the main screen. Her remaining good eye lost its fire, and she visibly relaxed her posture. “Oh… I see.”

A rumble of the frigate shattered the tension in the air as everyone swung back around to check on the ship’s status. Even Socket rushed forward to Isamu’s chair to read over his shoulder. Alice swiped away the readouts from her gravimeter to pull up the system map again. Cygnul forces marked in red traveled along vectors attempting to intercept their vessel. “Enemy Bombardment Barges have opened fire with long range shells. We are being baked by hard radiation but nothing is getting through the shields.”

“Those frigates are coming in fast.” Twilight Sparkle’s worried gaze locked on a series of the nimble attack ships flying in well ahead of the cygnul capital vessels. Rainbow Dash outclassed these ships individually, but she remembered her first encounter with their brutal enemy and how deadly they could be in large numbers.

“Socket, the panel!” James barked orders quickly and the pegasus mare dashed over to the wrecked warp drive controls. “Alice, can we buy Socket Wrench time? Perhaps a high speed slingshot around the brown dwarf? Diving through its magnetic field would definitely throw off their sensors and our sudden course change would ruin their intercept trajectories.”

“There is not enough time. Even if I push the reactors as far as they can go, they will reach us before we can close in on the dwarf.”

An idea popped in Twilight’s head and she interjected in the conversation. “What about using the black hole?”

All activity stopped and several faces gaped at her as if she had just suggested that they invite the cygnul over for tea and cucumber sandwiches. James eventually broke the silence, more for the fact of their dwindling time window than anything else. “Twilight, are you suggesting we slingshot around the black hole instead?”

“Yes, if we flip over and accelerate, I think we could use the much larger gravity of the singularity to further increase our speed without straining the inertial dampers. After we swing around, we should close the distance with the oncoming cygnul fast enough that they would not be able to accurately target us.”

“You crazy!” Dmitri yelled first to be joined in with a rabble from several other crew members.

“It’s never been done before!” Shouted another one.

“We would never survive the tidal forces!” Yet another argued.

“Hey!” Captain Fletcher silenced the bridge with a sharp retort. “Alice, could you do it?”

“If I am so much as a kilometer off, we won’t survive the maneuver.” The holographic pony stood still for a few moments before giving James a shrug with one glowing green foreleg. “It will be turbulent and many of the ship’s systems will be strained, but I can do it.”

“Everyone, buckle up now!”

Victoria and Socket Wrench dashed towards the back wall where crash webbing had already deployed. As they pulled on their harnesses, everyone else on the bridge double checked their own belts and straps while an alarm echoed throughout the ship, warning the rest of the crew about an impending course change. James waited half a minute for he gave the order to proceed.

“Execute immediately.”

No sooner had the words left his mouth when Rainbow Dash’s maneuvering thrusters fired and her nose swung about. The wall of stars flashed by in a dazzling display of swirling lights until it came to a stop on an unremarkable point in the sky. The ship vibrated as her engines accelerated back to full thrust and they bled off the speed they had previously gained leaving the vicinity of the black hole.

On the front screen, a timer indicated the remaining time until their slingshot maneuver would commence. Already, the flotilla of cygnul frigates had adjusted their incoming vectors to attempt to intercept them. A ticker representing the Dash’s velocity relative to the location of the singularity blurred into unreadability, unable to stay up to date as the mass of thirty suns drew them in faster than any artificial engine ever could.

On Alice’s radar, a few of the slower moving cygnul ships appeared to wobble slightly. Twilight Sparkle’s eyes narrowed at the seemingly random movements when she noticed one cruiser seemingly disappear before reappearing a short distance away. “Alice! The cygnul are attempting to teleport closer to us!”

“No, they aren’t.” The AI pony answered immediately with an air of calm. “I am trying to keep accurate data on cygnul ship locations but it is becoming difficult to adjust for effects from relativity. We are traveling fast enough for space to distort beyond my ability to compensate.”

“Don’t worry, Twilight.” James leaned over his armrest. “The same thing will happen to the cygnul frigates on our tail as soon as we swing around the black hole. They won’t be able to target us at all.”

Speaking of which, Twilight nodded before gulping and turning her attention back to their progress on the front screen. She still couldn’t pick out anything definitive yet, but with the distance to their target dwindling rapidly, she refused to pull her eyes off the video feed. They gained velocity faster than anypony ever had before. Like the pony she had been named after, the Rainbow Dash heard the call for speed, and she answered.

Unblinking, Twilight strained to pick up anything out of the ordinary on the front screen. She did not know exactly what to expect as they closed in with the black hole. Most ponies had the common sense to stay away from such dangerous stellar objects that were strong enough to kill long before one could ever physically reach them. Gravity became so convoluted that it literally ripped apart any object unfortunate enough to find itself passing too close to the event horizon.

It started slowly at first. Slow enough that Twilight’s straining eyes did not notice it initially. A faint puckering of the starry wall seemed to appear out of nowhere just above and off to the left of their trajectory. Stars that were immobile before, all of a sudden zipped around a glowing halo of motley colors. Again and again, this ring cascaded the galactic backdrop in a dizzying display that grew larger with each passing moment.

The countdown timer reached the last few seconds until Alice would commence the gravity assist around the black hole. A few metallic groans vibrated through the deck of the frigate, but the resulting cautionary warnings went ignored by the crew. Everyone here understood that their turbulent journey across the galaxy had taken its toll on the patrol frigate but they had no other option. This was their only chance if they wanted to survive the next ten minutes.

From its center, a pitch-black pinprick expanded and ate away the surrounding vista of suns. Growing rapidly, it distorted the sky to the point where individual stars blurred together around a vibrant vortex of light. Twilight found it impossible to stare at anything else. The collapsed star drew everything around it towards its deadly heart.

In the corner of her eye, the countdown timer ticked down the final second, freezing on zero. No sooner had it stopped when The Rainbow Dash kicked her nose around, centering on the middle of the dark sphere. A violent blow knocked everyone on the bridge back into their seats as Alice dialed up the frigate’s engines to dangerous levels. The human and pony built machinery had been put through its paces already today, but the engines performed their job flawlessly and they slipped into their narrow flight path around the singularity.

Now easily visible on the front screen, the black hole ceased growing larger and it hung in the sky twice the size of a full moon. Twilight felt her stomach drop at the sight of the massive sphere, completely devoid of anything but darkness. As the frigate screamed around it, they traveled fast enough to turn the entire galactic background into a cloudy white curtain. Starlight passing near the gravitational singularity curved into the circular ring as bright as the sun.

If Twilight thought the turbulence before had been uncomfortable, it now ramped up to levels that outright terrified her. The roaring of their engines could not drown out the groaning of the ship as the tidal forces pulled harder on their bow than the stern. She could even feel the severe difference in gravity on her own body, driving her to bite down hard to resist the violent forces assaulting her.

Then, as soon as it had begun, the UEN frigate finished its slingshot and they shot away from the black hole at speed. Behind them, the dark sphere and its starry distortion shrank away in an instant, leaving behind unremarkable sky. The ship’s shaking finally ceased, and they accelerated away towards a particularly bright mote of reddish light ahead.

Twilight Sparkle breathed heavily, bringing a forehoof to her still-tingling face. She squeezed her eyes shut a few times before reaching out to her seat’s computer screen to look over the data from their recent maneuver. Something about the violence of the gravity assist nagged at the back of her mind and a quick peek at their closest flyby distance confirmed her fears. We passed within fifteen thousand kilometers! Any closer and we would have been torn apart!

She glanced over at James’ seat where Alice’s avatar stood perched on his armrest. Sensing her scrutiny, the holographic pony turned towards her and met her gaze. Seeing the fear in Twilight’s eyes, she returned the look with one of her own. Their A.I. seemed well aware that they had traveled around an object with the equivalent mass of thirty stars at a distance not much larger than her home world’s diameter.

The glowing pony stared forward once more and she proceeded to address the crew. “Gravity assist completed; cygnul forces are attempting to engage!”

On the front view screen, red spheres indicated the estimated locations of the oncoming enemy ships. With their closing speeds easily reaching relativistic levels, Alice could only guess where they actually were within several dozen kilometers at best. Even so, incoming particle beams stabbed across the void. Fired by their impatient hunters, not a single incoming beam came close to the nimble UEN ship.

“Alice, return fire!” Captain Fletcher ordered, even though he knew their accuracy was just as badly affected. Even so, Rainbow Dash’s guns barked out an impressive volley of fire. Even with her superior computational skills, Alice failed to score a hit on any of the oncoming vessels. However, her barrage did have one unintended side effect.

In a short span of time, the cygnul frigates went from chasing a fleeing ship to now being attacked by a charging one. They hesitated for a heartbeat, but that sealed the fate on their entire fleet. Cygnul vessels scattered from what they thought was accurately targeted gunfire just to find that they had dangerously altered their vectors enough for one of three things to happen.

As they screamed harmlessly past the UEN ship, a majority of the cyg frigates passed around the black hole at distances that forced them on various trajectories across the stellar system. Unable to close in enough to make the turn, most of the enemy ships ended up scattered across the void. At the speeds they were traveling at, it would take them a considerable amount of time to reverse and burn their engines to bleed off their velocity.

About a third of them suffered a much grislier fate. These ships came close enough to Rainbow Dash for their particle beams to actually become visible to her crew. This put them on a direct course for the singularity and though they taxed their engines to the breaking point, it did little to save them from crossing the point of no return. They died nearly instantly; their ships breaking apart into clouds of glowing matter that swirled into the black hole’s hungry maw.

The rest of the cygnul bore the worst demise. These ships passed too close to be thrown away into space, and too far to suffer an instant death. As they came around the black hole, it bled off too much of their velocity for them to fully escape its gravity. The cygnul pushed their engines to their max, but it did nothing to avert their certain doom. As they spiraled in on ever shrinking orbits, these ships had plenty of time to comprehend their unavoidable fate.

Watching this from the UEN Rainbow Dash as she sped away from the singularity, Twilight felt a chill send a shiver down her spine. They had successfully avoided a much larger cygnul fleet, destroying a significant portion of it in the process, but she couldn’t ignore the lump in her throat. We could have ended up like any one of those ships.

Thinking about the cygnul’s mistakes in chasing them, she also came to another unnerving conclusion. Those cygnul were completely fixated on us. They had no concerns about anything else. Whatever power controls them only had one goal in mind; to destroy this ship.

Twilight Sparkle took her screen’s view off the expanding disk of glowing matter spinning around the black hole behind them. Above the system’s plane, the cygnul capital ships worked to alter their courses, but it would take some considerable time to catch the much faster UEN vessel. It seemed that their unexpected course change had thrown a wrench in the cyg’s plans.

Her attention went ahead, focusing on the glowing point of magenta light that began to take shape as a large glowing gas giant. They closed in with the brown dwarf, and Twilight felt her ears droop from anxiety. She did not know what they would find once they reached it but she knew one thing for certain. It will be nothing good.

Chapter 20: Harmony

The United Equestria Nations’ frigate soared across the void, leaving two identical trails of plasma in the wake of her powerful engines. Much of the cyan paint accenting her leading edges had been scoured away from interstellar dust. It had been a long time since she had seen the interior of a dry dock for some much needed maintenance, and the wear and tear of her difficult journey was easily visible. Even so, the patrol frigate had a crew to protect and like the pegasus pony she had been named for, Rainbow Dash would not let them down.

Onboard the bridge of the Equestrian starship, Twilight Sparkle watched the various data outputs and video feeds she had on her personal computer. She studied them quietly as to not disturb anyone else in the room. A lot had already happened today, and they were not out of the fire just yet. The constant alerts of approaching cygnul capital warships kept anyone from forgetting that.

Behind them lay the dark heart of a dead star. By now, they had gained enough distance to be safe from its gravitational clutches. But many of those cygnul weren’t as lucky. Twilight thought about the fate her and her fellow crew members had nearly suffered and she failed to suppress a shiver down her back. If she zoomed in with a stern-mounted camera, she could still make out a small glowing ring of matter swirling into the stellar massed black hole. A significant portion of the alien fleet had been unable to make the slingshot maneuver, and they paid for it with their lives.

Twilight changed her focus to what was ahead of them. Growing larger by the minute, a glowing brown dwarf was the only other notable body in this strange solar system. Their onboard artificial intelligence, Alice, calculated its mass sitting a hair’s breadth below the limit required to collapse it into the smallest type of star, a red dwarf. Even so, it still had enough mass to fuse hydrogen’s heavier isotopes and thus give off its own muted magenta light. Unfortunately, with no more infalling matter to feed it, the failed star would remain so until the end of the universe.

She took a chance to check on her fellow crewmates. Ponies and humans quietly monitored the frigate’s various sub-systems, doing their due diligence to keep the ship running. Now that the inertial dampers were able to stabilize the frigate’s artificial gravity, Socket Wrench dove straight into the inner workings of the warp drive console on the bridge. The pegasus engineer tore out partially melted fragments of machinery whilst throwing fresh parts into the device, welding and soldering as she went.

Next to her, Victoria Schaefer gently applied bandages to the pony who had previously monitored the ruined station. His condition had improved greatly since their brutal reemergence into cygnul-controlled space and he unsuccessfully tried to wave off the medical officer. Twilight felt her lips curl upwards after the stallion pushed away one of the blonde-maned human’s hands and she glared at him with a stare powerful enough to set lesser creatures into stone. He gave in soon after that for her preferential medical treatment.

A jarring shake of the bridge harshly yanked her from her thoughts. Twilight’s right forehoof shot out and gripped her leg-rest almost hard enough to hurt. Even after the rattling had subsided, she hesitated to cease bracing herself. Her eyes poured over the new status feeds scrolling across the bridge’s main front screen. Overlaid over the image of the brown dwarf, she keyed in on their shield integrity as it trickled back to one hundred percent.

“Alice?” The voice of James Fletcher brought Twilight’s attention on the ship’s captain and the miniature holographic earth pony on his chair.

“That was a near miss by one of the cygnul barges. I am doing my best to saturate their sensors with noise on all frequencies. Coupled with the relativistic speeds we are traveling at, they are forced to guess where our actual position is. However…”

Before she could continue, Isamu Zhang spoke up, “even the blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while.”

The artificial pony nodded her translucent head. “I can make it hard for them to target us, but I can’t make it impossible for them to get lucky.”

“I know you are doing the best you can.” James Fletcher shifted in his seat, his eyes darting amongst several status reports from different sections of the ship. As the captain of the UEN Rainbow Dash, he needed to stay aware of the happenings on his vessel. Every department, every system, and every tactical update fed across his computer. He had to keep an eye on the bigger picture while others focused on their delegated tasks.

Twilight Sparkle felt obligated to help in whatever way she could and she mirrored the human captain’s actions. She worked her way through the entire patrol frigate, from bow to stern. Then, as soon as she had finished, the lavender pony went back and started again. Captain Fletcher may have had mountains of experience compared to her, but she had already proven that she could come at things from a unique point of view shared by nopony else on board. Sometimes, it takes a different perspective to see the best path ahead.

As she finished checking on the backups for their fire control system, Twilight felt a pressure growing in her head. It escalated quickly to the point where she had to place her hooves on either side of her skull, pressing down hard to try and relieve the pain. A rumble of the ship followed another nearby detonation and surprisingly, the mental pressure subsided. Twilight took note that not only did this latest shockwave feel harsher and more violent, but the incoming attacks were coming in at a greater frequency. The cygnul haven’t hit us yet, but they are getting better and better at predicting our movements.

She sat up and swiped away the diagnostic routine on her computer that had just started a test of their main gun’s superconductor coils. It came out clean when I checked a few minutes ago anyway. She reassured herself. Rather, Twilight put in a request for Alice to analyze the cygnul firing pattern from the time they completed the slingshot maneuver up to the most recent near miss.

Pixelated sparks poured off the little pony as she vanished from James’ chair to reappear on hers. The human only glanced over only for a second at them before refocusing on his readouts. Alice and Twilight leaned in as a three dimensional map of local space displayed their flight trajectory as a long curving blue line leading away from the terrifyingly sharp turn they had made around the black hole. Around them, several red lines came in from above the solar system’s plane where the cygnul fleets had been waiting.

Initially, their wildly aimed volleys came no closer to the UEN ship than within a few hundred kilometers. Even the powerful city-buster-sized weapons fired by their bombardment barges did little to the frigate at those distances. However, as they had traveled, the cygs began to miss by less and less with each shot. The last one detonated at a distance of only twenty kilometers, and their shields were starting to feel the strain.

“It’s not just luck.” Twilight whispered to the artificial pony, turning her head to meet the AI’s all too lifelike eyes mirroring her own fear. “They are learning.”

“That should be impossible.” Alice blinked once before bringing a glowing forehoof to her chin in thought. “The cygnul are still too far away for them to be able to predict our position this accurately. This changes things. I will need to make alterations to my avoidance algorithms, radio noise projections, and gravitic jamming procedures until I can determine what they are doing to track us this well.”

Twilight Sparkle felt her gaze fall upon the brown dwarf on the front view screen and she once more felt that pressure in the back of her mind. Still growing larger, their slingshot around the black hole gave them the much-needed boost for them to reach the failed star before the cygnul would. These unfortunate thoughts gave her an idea as to why the cygnul might be getting better at targeting them much faster than they should have been.

“Alice,” she kept her voice low, “when I touched the cygnul with my mind on Valles, I was very close to that brown dwarf. I think they might have something there that could be tracking us.”

“That would explain how they are receiving better targeting data.” The AI nodded up at her before facing forward. “I will direct all of my sensors on the vicinity of the dwarf. Wait one…”

Across the bridge, external sensor feeds ceased updating for a few seconds. Crew members currently studying them mumbled about faulty equipment, looking back at the raised dais, where James and Twilight sat, for guidance. The human captain looked over at her for an answer and she had just opened her mouth to explain when Alice screamed out a warning.

“Cygnul construct coming around the dwarf!”

Twilight Sparkle did not know what she expected Alice to find during her scrutiny, but what she saw was unfathomable even in her wildest dreams. Around the right side of the fiery, magenta-hued sphere, a small moon crept into view. As the orbital satellite, inched around the dwarf, she understood right away that what she was looking at was not a natural construct.

Her first revulsive thought was that of a large sea urchin. The spherical-shaped satellite had rocky spires protruding from its entire surface which itself glowed with a muted, dark navy light. Along its spines, the blue gave way to a deep violet, which shifted to teal up around their tips. Extending for hundreds of miles into space, each spine on its own had little resemblance in size and height to its neighbors. This inconsistent construction led to a pattern-less landscape of abstract design.

Even so, as Twilight studied it further with the ship’s optical suite, she realized something. Those aren’t spines, they are buildings. As the picture cleared, the razor sharp spires resolved into gigantic turrets that rose high into the void. This planet-wide fortress stretched from pole to pole, leaving no portion of the surface untouched. Many of them ended in extravagant city-sized towers covered in brilliant cerulean lights, while an equal number terminated into large flat platforms covered in gun turrets that would have dwarfed a battleship’s main weaponry.

It was a terrifying sight to watch these guns swivel their way, bringing ship-sized barrels around to target the elusive UEN vessel. The physic pressure in the back of Twilight’s mind began to grow once more and she sucked in a deep breath as the first guns released a volley of energy beams. Brilliant columns of greenish-blue light sliced across the void, reaching out for the Rainbow Dash while the frigate danced around them in an impressive display of maneuverability.

Twilight Sparkle tried to think of a way out of their predicament when she fought off another surge of headache pain. It didn’t help that Alice seemed to yank the ship around to avoid another attack every single time the pressure in her head peaked. It began to severely grate her nerves when a strange thought came to her. What if they are related?

Wanting to test it, she concentrated on the dull pounding in her head and compared it to the cygnul firing pattern. Each time one of the high energy beams cut through the sky near them, she could feel a synchronic ache just behind her horn. It’s not just a coincidence. This must be how they have been targeting us all along.

No one else seemed to be as sensitive to the cygnul magic as much as her. Isamu Zhang barely reacted beyond a small shake of his head or a pinching of the bridge of his nose. The other unicorn in the room must not have had the magical aptitude either, since he only glanced around as if searching for an annoying fly. I’m the only one who can do this. Gritting her teeth, Twilight Sparkle focused her magic inward in a direction away from the existing universe. She narrowed her eyes and imagined slicing through the oncoming wave of psychic pressure much like the bow of a ship in a storm. A short brilliant flash lit up the tip of her horn and around her, she felt the broken tendrils of energy wither away as the cygnul’s arcane tracking broke down.

As she came to, the lavender mare took note of several things at once. First, the concerned face of Victoria was only inches away from her and the human immediately recoiled to give her space, seeing that she was up and aware now. As the medical officer started to check on her, the next thing that Twilight noticed was the latest cygnul firing pattern missing them completely. Not a single detonation occurred near enough to even nudge the frigate. This resulted in several confused looks around the bridge at this latest development, but the final thing the unicorn caught out of the corner of her eye was a small flashing transmission request icon in the lower corner of the front screen.

It had been weeks since they had even conversed with friendly forces and the cygnul had never tried to contact them directly before. They generally were a shoot first, don’t ask questions species in her experience; especially with what happened at Valles. Twilight’s shock must have been evident because even Victoria turned to see what had transfixed the unicorn’s attention. “Is that…” The human’s question went unfinished but not unnoticed.

“Captain, the cygnul have stopped shooting us, but…” Dmitri picked up on the flashing icon and his shocked voice caught the rest of the bridge crew’s attention. “I think we are being hailed?”

James Fletcher stared at his screen’s identical request for a communications handshake from the cygnul. He reached out with a hand to accept but he faltered at the last second, leaving his fingers hovering above the touch screen. “Well, how bad can it be?” The Captain of the Rainbow Dash asked out loud before accepting the invitation.

A window expanded from the alert icon and took up the entirety of the front monitor. The black screen flickered as a status bar slowly filled, marking the connection status. “Alice?” James inclined his head towards the glowing pony perched on his armrest.

“Don’t worry, sir. I am keeping an eye on any malignant data packets they might try to send through the connection. Nothing will get by me.”

“Of that, I have no doubt.” Isamu Zhang sat up a little straighter and tried to pull the wrinkles from his uniform.

Seeing this, Twilight Sparkle finally took note of her appearance from the faint reflection on her own seat’s computer. The violent shaking she had been forced to endure left her looking rather frazzled and she had to lick her forehooves and run them through her mane several times to try and pull it back into place. She would need a bath and a brush before she could fully return to normal, but at least she had a presentable appearance. If anything, Twilight thought she had an aura of hardiness about her. It would take more than a simple face to face with the cygnul to phase the time-traveling unicorn.

A soft chime pinged from the speakers and the blackness of the transmission window vanished to be replaced with a peculiar sight. In the center of the screen, a nebulous, sapphire-blue cloud sat in front of a towering winged throne. Talons and claws carved of dark stone clawed the air, and wide nebulous wings splayed out far and wide, extending beyond what they could see displayed on the front screen.

Tinged with a light magenta, the edges of the cloud sparkled and undulated as if responding to a gentle breeze. In the center of the mass, pinpricks of white popped into existence almost as quickly as they were extinguished, leading to an ever-changing display of constellations and patterns. As the video screen finished synchronizing, the center of the nebulous mass swirled around twin points of cerulean light that resolved themselves into two eyes, directing their cat-like irises in a glare directed at the bridge crew.

“You have invaded our domain! You are not welcome here!” The grating voice not only emanated from the ship’s speakers, but it pierced directly into the minds of everyone on the bridge. Ponies and humans flinched together as they felt a physic backlash of anger and fury that was not their own.

James Fletcher addressed the form, trying his hand at diplomacy. “We are just passing through. Let us go and we will bother you no more.”

“You misunderstand. Your very existence is a perversion. We will bring an end to your plague that has infected this universe. This is something you cannot control. This is something you cannot stop.”

The entity’s response confused Twilight and she furrowed her brow in thought, bringing a forehoof up to rub at her chin. Our existence is a perversion? It sounds like it is referring to both ponies and humans. What would all of us have in common? She mulled over it for only a moment before the answer hit her like a kick from a mule. “You’re talking about life, aren’t you? You want to rid the universe of life.”

Another flare of white-hot anger washed over the crew, and the creature’s eyes narrowed even further, directed fully at her. “You! We would have succeeded before if it weren’t for you, Twilight Sparkle. Your Princess of the Moon was ours to command and your world would have died if it weren’t for your… your Harmony!” The voice crackled into a scream at the last word.

“It was you!” Twilight finally recognized the light behind the eyes of the monster on the front screen, remembering where she saw them before. “You are the Nightmare that took over Princess Luna and corrupted her. You tried to cover Equestria in eternal darkness!”

“Her jealousy made her weak; easy to infect. It should have been enough. She didn’t understand what an eternal night would do to your pathetic world. By fire and ice, it would have died!” The layered two-tone voice caused Twilight to wince slightly with each harsh syllable. “But your Sun Princess weakened me enough for you and your friends to banish me. You forced me to flee.”

The malevolent eyes never wavered their unblinking gaze, stabbing at Twilight from the front screen. “But I should thank you, Twilight Sparkle. You gave me a lot to think about and I have had a lot of time to rethink my strategy. If I could not remove your epidemic by myself, then I would need an army of my own.”

“So then, you created the cygnul and you set them upon Harmony and Equestria.” James Fletcher’s voice remained steady and in control, but Twilight could sense a bitter rage in his accusation. “It’s been you who we have been fighting this whole time. All of the cygnul we have ever killed were just mindless beasts under your control.”

“My creations are stronger than you! My creations are better than you!”

“Is that what you think? Have you forgotten Pegasopolis? What about New Cadia, the Polis Massa Asteroid Field, or even the blockade at Kasterborous? Time and time again, we ruined your plans, broke your armies, and destroyed your fleets. Last but not least, I distinctly remember our rag tag fleet sending your forces running scared during our first meeting at the Battle over Harmony.”

“Hold your tongue and learn your place, you mewling, homeless creature.” The nebulous cloud’s edges rippled fast enough to blur into a haze as it directed a venom-laden response towards the human captain. “Your species’ extinction has been long overdue. This is not a fate your dying race will be able to run from this time, no matter how many of your own worlds you sacrifice.”

“You assume much about humans!” Twilight Sparkle felt a spark of brilliant anger rise to her throat and she couldn’t stop herself before shouting out. “I may have not known them for my whole life, but in our short time together, I have seen that they emulate the very best virtues of Ponykind. They’ve experienced the worst the universe had to offer and yet they still remained true to their better selves in the end. You could learn a thing or two from them and then maybe we could all coexist together.”

“Coexist? I remember a time long before even light infected my universe. It was mine before, and it shall be mine once again. You can make your pacts, your treaties, your alliances, but it won’t help you in the end. Your mortal lives will be extinguished while I shall reign eternal.”

Twilight Sparkle pinned her ears far back on her head, and let out an angry snort from her nose. Before she could rebuke the dark mass though, James stepped in. “That is a strong statement coming from a failure like you. You failed to take over Princess Luna. You failed to resist the Elements of Harmony. Then, after having thousands of years to prepare, you still failed to wipe out Harmony a second time when you had it on a silver platter! Do you really think you are going to succeed now that you’re no longer hiding in the shadows? Ponies, and humans, are going to defeat you, and they will do so together.”

Around the bridge, Twilight noticed the crew sitting up a little straighter and calls of agreement circulating amongst the various ponies and humans. Over at the damaged warp controls, Socket Wrench finished plugging in a bypass and she stood up side by side with Victoria Schaefer who held a reassuring hand on her wounded charge next to her. Even though he was strapped in his seat, the warp control pony still managed to glare out of his one unbandaged eye at the malevolent dark entity on the front screen.

Isamu Zhang leaned up from his station and gestured with an open hand. “You claim that your cygnul are stronger than us, yet even outnumbered, we have turned your forces away multiple times.”

“Da, Zhang is right. You overestimate much about your cygnul.” Dmitri Bearclaw leaned back in his seat, avoiding eye contact with the front screen. He waved a hoof in the air flippantly, dismissing the allegation the entity had said previously. If anything, this only seemed to infuriate it further.

“Look around you, cretin. Do you think you will stem the tide of my next attack? Your warpgate can send every fleet you have and it still will not be enough. For every ship you destroy, a thousand will take its place. I will descend upon your worlds and burn them to their cores.”

Twilight took a glance at the system map on her personal computer. Seeing the swarm of cygnul capital ships closing in on them, she swallowed thickly. There are so many of them, she tried to keep a straight face but when she looked back up, the dark cloud stared at her and its edges curled upwards in a dark recreation of a smile.

“Do you understand now? Not even with your new allies could you stand up to me!” All across the system, an innumerable number of cygnul ships dove towards their lonely frigate. The warship counter continued rising as Alice detected more and more heat blooms lighting up in the outer reaches of the system. Warnings screamed a wailing howl as another barrage of incoming projectiles flew their way.“Goodbye, Twilight Sparkle, it is time for you and your friends to die!”

The dark nebulous cloud undulated as a shrill laughter filled the speakers just before the connection terminated to static. Alice quickly brought back the feed of the orbital fortress moon just as its thousands upon thousands of gun towers zeroed in on the Rainbow Dash once more. Enemy target-lock alarms cycled through the text window in the corner too fast to see clearly.

The bridge of the UEN ship exploded in a flurry of activity the moment that the cygnul reengaged them. James shouted out commands to open fire, which Isamu did immediately. Their celestial cannon lanced out a beam of intense red light that connected with one of the platform guns on the orbital fortress, overloading its power systems and blowing it apart in a cascading eruption that engulfed its neighbors in a blinding detonation. A mushroom cloud towered from the surface and slowly drifted apart in moon’s thin atmosphere.

However, even though the self-immolation of one of the cygnul guns took dozens of its neighbors with it, there were miles and miles of these structures, and the little frigate did not have the time to target every one of them. The cygnul weapons zeroed in on them and one by one, they returned the favor a thousand fold. They may not have had a hard lock on their actual position due to the actions of Alice, but enough shells filled the sky to overcome that advantage.

Proximity detonations shook the UEN vessel hard. The turbulence threw Twilight against her seat’s straps and she cried out in pain as they dug into her shoulders. She blinked through tears in her eyes just in time to watch two unfortunate souls, who were not buckled in, tossed haphazardly across the bridge. Socket Wrench screamed as her already injured front leg slammed into an instrument console. Victoria Schaefer clutched the back of her head as she tried to drag the pegasus to clip onto a nearby crash webbing wall.

Twilight tried her hardest to come up with anything that might help their situation, but one look at the encircling warships and rapidly approaching fortress world told her all she needed to know about their chances. The deep pallor of despair settled upon her like a wet blanket and smothered her hopes. All she could do was sit there and wait for their luck to run out. She didn’t have to wait long.

Burning its engines at full power, a cygnul battleship fired its main gun where its sensors thought the Rainbow Dash was. In the blink of an eye, a brilliant turquoise lance powerful enough to vaporize entire cities crossed the intervening distance and cut along the hull of the patrol frigate. Only a last second maneuver from Alice saved them from outright annihilation.

Punching through her shields, the cerulean bolt’s edges tore across theRainbow Dash’s outer hull, spalling away molten fragments of its hardened armor into space. Even though the main body of the attack had missed them, the glancing blow still had enough power to gouge a deep scar along the frigate’s nose. The entire ship shuddered under the impact, knocking her crew around violently. A metallic howling reverberated throughout the entire vessel, and its deathly wail sent chills down the spines of every living soul onboard.

The Rainbow Dash was dying.

A voice from Twilight’s left caught her attention, and she turned to see James staring at her. “What did you say, Captain?”

“I’m sorry, Twilight.” James Fletcher said to her. He spoke gently and she could see the remorse plastered on his face. “I’m sorry we couldn’t save you.”

She looked around the bridge and noticed everypony watching her. She could see the fear in their guilty stares. They had been so close in completing their mission of bringing her home safely, but now in this hidden star system, they were destined to die. The crew of the Rainbow Dash had failed.

“No.” Twilight Sparkle began, pinning her ears back in anger at such a thought. “Stop it. You did not fail. The odds were stacked against us from the very beginning but that didn’t deter any of you at all. Each challenge we faced, we did so together.”

She paused for a moment to collect herself. Everything going on outside of the frigate went unnoticed. There was nothing anypony could do anymore. “I am a stranger to this world, and I came here with nothing but my memories of an Equestria long gone. I lost my home, my friends, and my family.”

Twilight choked back a sob and blinked away a few tears. “I lost everything, yet you all were there for me. It was more than just saving an Element of Harmony. You all did so much more for me.”

“Isamu, you got me to open up about my memories that were haunting me. If you hadn’t come along, I don’t even want to think about how I would have coped on my own. You got me to be true to myself and accept what happened in order to focus on my future.” The human officer gave her a nod of respect, bowing forward slightly.

Her eyes then met those of the ship’s medical officer. “Victoria, you were there when I first woke up in this world. I had just learned about the fate of my family and friends and you did not hesitate to comfort me and to let me know that I was not alone. You have always been there to care for me no matter if I was hurt physically or emotionally and for that, I am most grateful.”

“Dmitri,” as her attention fell to the earth pony, he grinned widely at her, “I want to thank you for brightening up my day over and over. Even during these dark and foreboding times as of late, you always knew exactly what to say and do to make me smile. You reminded me of all of the wonderful stories I have from my old life and it was a pleasure to be able to share them with you.”

“Socket Wrench,” Twilight addressed the wounded pegasus who still managed to give her a feeble smile. “You have given up so much for this ship and its crew. I watched you risk your life to save everyone on board, and you did so with the knowledge that you might not make it out alive. Thank you for taking me under you wing, giving me a place to stay, and all of the little things you do for us all.”

Finally, Twilight twisted her head around to face James. “Last but not least, thank you Captain for keeping us together. You stand up for what you believe in, even if it means you must sometimes make tough choices. Taking on the cygnul over Valles showed me that you are someone I will always be able to rely on to stand by my side, no matter the consequences.”

Twilight turned to address the whole bridge crew when she noticed the intercom icon blinking on her monitor. Apparently, Alice wanted the entire ship to hear her words and a sly smirk from the glowing pony now standing on her legrest confirmed those suspicions. “Life can be fleeting, but that’s what makes it so beautiful. All we can really do in the one life we are given is to love each other as best we can. My friends taught me this lesson back in my own world and you all have reminded me of it here in this one. What truly matters in the end is having good friends by your side, so let me say thank you. Thank you for being my friends.”

Twilight smiled at her friends, blinking away a sparkle in her eye. Settling back into her seat, she felt a calm feeling of acceptance come over her. This may be the end, but I have been so lucky to have such wonderful friends in my life, she thought to herself when something peculiar happened. As she took in another lungful of air, Twilight noticed a pressure building in her chest.

It continued growing and she began to struggle to breathe. Panicking, she placed a forehoof against her chest and was about to call out for help when her world turned white. A continuous chime drowned out all other sounds, and Twilight screamed in fear as she felt a power that was not her own flow into her body. That was, until she recognized it. The Elements of Harmony?

For a short moment, Twilight Sparkle saw herself existing in two places at once. On the bridge of The Rainbow Dash, she saw her body still strapped into her seat. Eyes glowing white with power, her head arched back in the air and her mouth opened wide in a soundless scream. Around her, shocked crew members stared at her and she could see several of them frozen in time as they made to unstrap themselves to help her.

At the same time, she saw a peculiar sight. She could see a huge open room, complete with high arching columns. In the center of the empty space stood a shrine of some kind that glittered under soft moonlight shining in through several tall floor-to-ceiling windows. The shrine comprised of a giant branching crystal that somewhat resembled a tree, and each of its branching arms held a uniquely shaped gemstone. Her heart soared the moment she recognized them.

It is the Elements of Harmony! She thought about reaching towards them when the Elements acted on their own accord. One by one, the various colored and shaped gems glowed brightly before vanishing with an arcane pop. Lastly, the violet six-pointed star seated in the middle of the tree lit up and popped out of existence. At the same time, Twilight felt something wrap comfortingly around the top of her head.

She started to lift a forehoof to her head when the strange tree-shrine room vanished in a burst of white light. The roaring sound of water filled Twilight’s ears when the world at large came rushing back to her. She came to tumbling forward out of her seat and a quick reflexive scramble of her hooves saved her from face planting on the deck. Standing up, Twilight finally had a moment to reach up and feel the Elemental tiara sitting on her head.

Twilight Sparkle stood up and looked behind her. The chair that she has been sitting in now rested in a sagging heap against the rear bulkhead. Next to her, James Fletcher had gotten out of his own captain’s chair, but what caught her eye immediately was that he was glowing, and he had a ruby red lightning bolt gemstone hanging from his neck.

She stopped and glanced around the bridge. James Fletcher wasn’t the only one with an element of Harmony. Victoria, Socket, Isamu, and even Dmitri all wore an Element around their necks. Loyalty, Kindness, Generosity, Honesty, and Laughter!Even though she traveled across time and space, the Elements of Harmony had never left her. She just needed to be reminded about the lesson she had learned so long ago. “Friendship is magic.”

As one, Twilight Sparkle and her five friends faced the front. Slack-jawed crew members stared frozen with shock at them while the main video feed displayed the next incoming barrage of cygnul attacks. They were coming up to the fortress moon and at this range; there was no way the cygs could miss. Closing her eyes to concentrate, she picked up on a melodic ringing that quickly grew in intensity, originating from the tiara situated on top of her head. Twilight felt the Elements yearning to be set free and do what they were meant to do; and so she allowed it willingly.

Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes, now blazing with light, and she became part of the Elements of Harmony along with her friends. A chromatic wave rushed out of the bridge, flowing through the entire frigate in less than a second before it passed through the outer hull and encapsulated the warship just as the first cygnul beams made contact. Arcane shrieking reverberated through the void while the rapidly rotating shield bore off every single attack without fail.

The cygnul threw everything at them. High-energy particle beams, kinetic armor piercing rounds, and nuclear-tipped missiles detonated against the prismatic capsule containing the UEN Rainbow Dash. The amount of weaponry sent after the little ship could have cracked a small moon, yet the Elements shrugged it off like it was nothing.

Twilight and her friends watched all of this happen from the Elements of Harmony’s perspective. As the Elements were part of their Bearers, the Bearers were also part of them. Three ponies and three humans watched as space lit up from thousands of weapon strikes against their shield, and they didn’t even feel the barest flicker of feedback from the insane amount of firepower bearing down on them. The frigate finally rocketed past the cygnul’s fortress moon and the Bearers picked up on an arcane scream of rage and frustration emanating from the horrid structure.

“No, it cannot be possible!”

“You never learned your lesson.” Twilight took the lead and spoke directly to the Nightmare, her words being conveyed directly to the evil creature. “The Elements of Harmony can never be defeated by you, not when there are still those of us who love and care for each other. You had many chances to learn those lessons and you have refused each and every time. Your antics have brought a reign of horror that has hurt millions of souls. We will not give you another chance to change your ways.”

” I will never listen to you, Twilight Sparkle! I will see your home turned to ash!”

“No, you won’t.” Twilight Sparkle felt the cold pinprick of regret, but she, along with her friends, understood what had to be done. The UEN frigate had fully passed the cygnul base and it now receded away from them rapidly since Alice could continue accelerating along their original flight path. The Bearers took note of the moon’s heavily armored crust and though the Elements of Harmony seemed to have no limits to their capabilities, they needed to make sure the dark entity did not have time to escape once it came under attack.

So, after a short deliberation amongst them, the Wielders of the Elements shifted their attention to the glowing brown dwarf. The failed star did not have enough mass to undergo sustained fusion of elemental hydrogen by gravitational collapse alone. However, if we give it the right kick….

With a single thought, Twilight and her friends brought the nose of the Rainbow Dash around to aim at the heart of the brown dwarf. Alice attempted to counter the maneuver at first, but she ceased once she realized that her efforts were futile. Next, they concentrated inwards and reached out to feel the ship. Every nook and cranny, every hallway, every room became known to them. The Bearers could feel how the way the ship’s life support system circulated breathable air, how its massive engines hummed reassuringly to give them power, and how the crew took part in keeping everything running as smoothly as they could. In that moment, the frigate seemed more than just an advanced machine. To her and her friends, she felt alive.

At an urging from James, they focused on one system in particular: the frigate’s celestial cannon. Their target was large, but if they did not hit perfectly dead center, then their efforts might be wasted in a glancing blow. They needed something that could make a pinpoint shot across thousands of kilometers of space and not miss.

Mounted spinally, the entire ship had to be oriented in order to aim, but its ability to channel any level of power through its superconductors made the disadvantage irrelevant. Twilight steadied herself and she felt her five friends do the same. As one, they let loose with the Elements, pouring their energy into the reserves of the Rainbow Dash’s main gun.

On the bridge, the few remaining crew members who still had their wits about them noticed warnings from Weapons Control flash on the main screen. The charge levels of the main guns had risen so high above their max limits that the sensors monitoring the super-conductors themselves had burned out. Worried faces glanced from each other to the six figures standing stock-still in the back of the bridge, still radiating a light almost too bright to look at.

Twilight Sparkle, James Fletcher, Socket Wrench, Dmitri Bearclaw, Victoria Schaefer, and Isamu Zhang leaned back, letting the Element Gems direct their energy fully forward. The musical ringing grew to an ear splitting crescendo, and the ship began to shake once more. Together, they then released it all in one fell swoop and the Rainbow Dash fired her main gun. The universe went white, and a pillar of prismatic fire punched directly into the center of the brown dwarf.

The column of energy burned through the hot vaporous upper atmosphere, continuing down through subsequent layers of gradually thickening gases. Moving at close to the speed of light, the blast did not even slow down as it traveled the seventy thousand kilometers in a fifth of a second. The Elementally-powered beam reached the center of the brown dwarf, coalescing into a tiny sphere so intense and powerful, that it immediately began to tear the super dense core apart. Rather than allow that to happen, The Bearers made one final thought, and the tiny mote of Harmony blew outwards with overwhelming force.

An unstoppable shockwave expanded outwards from the core. Compressing the depths of the brown dwarf to levels not seen even in the largest of stars, its hydrogen fuel had nowhere to go except to smash into its neighbors hard enough to initiate fusion. The subsequent release of energy further initiated more and more of its core to fuse, and soon, a runaway reaction began surging up through the layers of the failed star. A planet-sized volume of matter went super critical and detonated in the largest artificially-created explosion in the history of the universe.

Back in space, the Rainbow Dash’s celestial cannon ceased firing, and the six Bearers of Harmony dropped out of their ascended state. Twilight Sparkle blinked back her normal eyesight and she glanced around at the other Elements. James seemed to be slightly confused at the rapid transition. Isamu and Dmitri were smirking at each other’s necklaces, not realizing that they were each wearing one as well. Victoria helped a now healed Socket Wrench back to her hooves. The pegasus mare pawed forward with her previously hurt foreleg and smiled as it did not hurt anymore.

The lull in battle only lasted for a short moment before they remembered what was about to happen behind them. Then the six Bearers jumped right back into action and status updates were yelled across the bridge. James Fletcher went straight to calling Alice to swing them back around and accelerate at full thrust away from the dwarf. Isamu and Dmitri rallied the rest of the crew to snap them back into focus. Victoria took off running, shouting something about prepping the med bay for warp travel. Socket Wrench practically dove into the backup warp controls, and not having a chair to sit in anymore, Twilight joined her.

As she assisted the pegasus, Twilight kept an eye on the video and sensor feeds on their stern. The brown dwarf’s upper atmosphere roiled from the influx of so much energy imparted to it from the Elemental blast. Electrical storms stabbed massive bolts of lightning across its glowing surface as it tried to equal the static charges that had built up. Even though the core had entered its death throes, the rest of the dwarf had yet to realize that it only had seconds to live.

It happened so fast, that had Twilight blinked, she would have missed it. First, the brown dwarf seemed to puff outwards slightly. Then geysers of hot gas blew out from a thousand different spots, and finally the entire thing went pure white and every single camera feed and electromagnetic sensor on the rear half of the ship overloaded at once.

Twilight had enough time to suck in a shocked breath when a piercing shriek of physic energy cut through her mind. She flinched as the deathly howl cut off not long after. Goodbye Nightmare. I am sorry I couldn’t save you. She thought with a mix of relief and sadness.

Even though she knew they had defeated the dark entity, they still had a more immediate concern to worry about. The creepy thing to her was that there was no sound or instant shockwave to feel. Twilight only knew of the approaching nova from final dying scream of the Nightmare, and the warnings Alice displayed from hull’ temperature-monitoring instruments buried deep enough to survive the initial flash. It disconcerted her and she wanted nothing more than to leave this system once and for all.

“The bypass is active. All I need is your help locking in those circuits there, and there.” Socket gestured with a forehoof when Twilight redirected her full attention on helping the pegasus.

Twilight nodded at her and looked back into the open panel. Wires and cables ran everywhere, some as thick as her foreleg and some thinner than a strand of her mane. She wondered how the pegasus could have fixed something like this without magic, but the ones she had gestured to were easy to spot. They were the only ones in the very back not plugged in.

With a small amount of thought, she levitated both boards and simultaneously attached the loose wires back in place. No sooner had their indicator lights flicked from red to green did the ship’s warp drive begin spooling up. Twilight and Socket made for the crowded crash webbing as the ship began to feel the turbulence from the leading edges of the encroaching shockwave.

“Alice, we need to go now!” James Fletcher screamed in frustration.

“I’m nearly done with the emergency checks!” The artificial computer shouted back while Twilight and Socket struggled to lock themselves in. She took a glance at the front screen where a hazy white cloud started to encroach on their forward field of view. Temperature levels were reaching critical levels and their hull began groaning under the stress.

“Alice, we don’t have time!” Twilight cried out when smoke started pouring out of one of the air vents.

“Emergency checks complete! Priming warp drive!”

James yanked his webbing straps to tighten hard enough to dig into his shoulders. “Jump! Jump! Jump! Jump!”

Alice did not even call out the standard sequence for initiating a jump through warp space, and by skipping the usual processes for such a delicate transition, it was the weirdest one Twilight had ever experienced. She heard her old friends laughing, the front of the bridge seemed to stretch away like bubblegum, she could taste the color purple, and her skin prickled from static electricity washing over her. With a final crescendo, the Rainbow Dash blasted out of the universe and vanished from real space.

Chapter 21: Equestria Bound

Princess Celestia stared down at her city. Perched on a rather large cloud, she had an unobstructed view of the valley below. The setting sun cast long, dark shadows on the miles of barricades built by her little ponies. Weeks of backbreaking work had fortified the Equestrian city just in time for Lord Moonclaw’s arrival. She could see where his wulven had camped in the northern hills. His soulless army did not need food, water, or sleep, but even immortal Moonclaw himself still had to meet the requirements of a living creature much like herself.

The sun princess’ shoulders sagged and her head slowly drooped. Standing alone high above Canterlot, she allowed herself a rare break in her usually indomitable composure. Even her mane and tail seemed to falter in the etheric breeze in which they usually fluttered. For an instant, the immortal princess was as ordinary as the average pony.

The moment did not last long as movement from the enemy lines captured her attention. Princess Celestia narrowed her eyes at a dark shape rising up into the air from the middle of the wulven camp. It angled towards her and she could eventually pick out the two leathery wings flapping hard as they drew closer to her. The large bestial form, straight out of so many ponies’ nightmares, rose up above her before settling down on another small cloud with a poof.

Moonclaw flexed his claws as he stood up and stared at her. His large predatory eyes regarded the alicorn in front of him, trying to gain some insight of her intentions. Princess Celestia bowed her head towards him in greeting before speaking.

“Good evening, Lord Moonclaw. I am glad you agreed to meet with me.”

“This better not be a trick, Celestia.” His rough voice growled an unspoken threat at such an idea.

“It is not, I assure you. No pony else knows that I arranged this meeting. I simply wanted to speak to you face to face.”

The tall wolfish beast narrowed his gaze but detected no subterfuge from her. “Very well then, what would you like to discuss?”

“I want to apologize to you, Moonclaw. I am sorry for what Luna and I did to you.”

Whatever he thought he was going to hear, that obviously was not what he had been expecting. Moonclaw’s jaw hung agape as he processed what Celestia had said. “What? What do you mean?”

Princess Celestia averted her gaze. “My sister and I overreacted when you challenged us. After what Discord had put us through, we did not want to put Equestria through another period of hardship so soon after we had recovered from his chaotic reign.”

“You chose those ponies over me!” The cloud under Moonclaw slowly darkened to a deep grey and a thunderous rumbling reverberated through the air. “You threw me in a cell for wanting more for us! I wanted more for the three of us!”

“And that’s the problem, Moonclaw. It’s not just us anymore. Equestria is a place of harmony and prosperity for every creature. How could watching over such a nation of wonderful citizens not fulfill your desire to make a difference in this world? I think our little ponies could surprise you with their resolve and dedication. They believe in this nation and they risk their short, mortal lives to defend it.”

Over on his cloud, Moonclaw turned away in thought as his perch gently faded back to its original fluffy white appearance. Princess Celestia opened her mouth to press on, but something about the expression on his face gave her pause. She stood perfectly still, yet even with all of her attention directed at him, she couldn’t hear the next thing he murmured.

“What was that?” Celestia cautiously inquired.

“I said Twilight Sparkle surprised me.” Lord Moonclaw lifted his gaze. “I’ve thought about her visit many times since I had her dragged away. She spoke against me in my domain. A weak, vulnerable, little pony talked me down in the middle of my fortress, surrounded by hundreds of my wulven creations. At first I thought that it was stupidity, and that your ponies were no better than wild animals. It took some time, but I finally understood that she risked her life for the small chance that she could have averted a war. I still am amazed at her bravery.”

Princess Celestia could not help herself and she flashed a sad smile. “Twilight Sparkle exhibited the best qualities of Ponykind. I knew that she was special from the first time I met her when she was just a little filly.”

“I heard about what happened to her and if it means anything, I am sorry. She must have been trying to find a way to stop my army, and for that, I feel responsible for her demise.” Lord Moonclaw let his shoulders relax and he composed himself, taking on more of an amenable stance. “I should be happy that you cannot use your Elements to stop me, but I think that she deserved a better fate than what befell her.”

“Please let this stop then.” Princess Celestia fought back as her lips threatened to tremble. “For Twilight’s sake?”

Lord Moonclaw visibly stiffened and with a slow determination, he shook his head side to side. “I am afraid that it is too late for that, Celestia. You went too far for me to forgive over a simple apology.”

Princess Celestia closed her eyes and averted her gaze. “Then can we keep this just between us?”

His ears perked up at this. “You mean, end this once and for all? Just me and you?”

The alicorn princess stood her full height and nodded her affirmation. “Please leave the rest of Equestria out of our feud. Even my little sister only followed my lead back then. Let us settle our disagreements and spare these little ponies from any further pain and heartache.”

“Very well, then. What do you propose?”

“Meet me in the southern tower tomorrow at noon. I will arrange for my personal guards to be elsewhere and I won’t breathe a word of this to anypony, including my sister.”

Lord Moonclaw studied the sun princess’ face for any deception, but not detecting any, he nodded once. “Very well, Tia. I will have my army probe your defenses to keep your ponies preoccupied, but I won’t order them to attack unless you try to break our deal. Regardless of the outcome of our duel, my wulven will cease to be a threat to your ponies.”

“Thank you, Moonclaw.” Princess Celestia gave him a grateful smile. “And that’s the first time you’ve called me Tia in a long, long time.”

With a respectful bow, Moonclaw turned and made ready to fly back to his forces. “I will see you soon, Princess.” He spoke over his shoulder before leaping into the air, flapping his wings hard. Back on her cloud, Princess Celestia watched him go with a mixture of despair and regret plastered on her face. She had managed to negotiate an end to the war that would spare her ponies, but the cost of her gamble might end up being too great either way.

“Wake up, sleepy head.” A cheery voice easily drew the unicorn from her troubled dreams. “We are scheduled to arrive home in a few minutes and I don’t want you to miss it.”

Twilight Sparkle shot up in her bed, breathing harder than one usually should after a long night’s sleep. “Wha… oh, I’m sorry. I must have missed my alarm.”

“No you didn’t.” Socket Wrench said as she pushed her storage trunk back into its secure wall-lock. “I thought you should be rested on your big day so I turned it off and did your daily duties for you. James was okay with it.”

“Wow; that was generous of you.” Twilight swung her legs over and clambered out of bed.

“Well, I am the element of generosity apparently.” Socket winked as she looked over at Twilight. One glance though, and her smiling face changed immediately to a worried gaze. “Hey, are you okay?”

Twilight thought about waving off her friend’s concerns for only a hesitant second before she told her the truth. “I had another vision of the past. I saw Celestia agreeing to challenge Lord Moonclaw to a duel in order to end the war with no more bloodshed.”

“Twilight, I’m sorry.” Socket Wrench stepped over and gave her a hug with one of her wings. “I know these visions are disconcerting, but today is a particularly special day for you and I want you to be happy and excited!”

“Why is that?” Twilight pulled away from the hug to work on exchanging her sleepwear for her uniform.

“Not only are you going home to Harmony, but we are supposed to take Tank down to land at the Royal Spaceport in Old Canterlot. And guess who is going to meet us there.”

Twilight Sparkle pulled the tab to make her outfit automatically shrink to fit her perfectly. Glancing over at Socket, her eyes widened with barely restrained excitement. “Princess Celestia?”

“And Princess Luna!” Socket leapt up and fluttered her wings before landing and turning to trot out of her stateroom towards the bridge. Behind her, Twilight wore a huge grin on her face and she took off to keep up.

The two ponies ran along the corridors of the frigate, neatly avoiding other crew members who were themselves, working fast to prepare the ship for their arrival. Not a single face, pony nor human, bore anything other than smiles and barely restrained laughter. After years of endless war with the cygnul, they were finally going home.

Twilight Sparkle followed Socket Wrench onto the bridge of the UEN Rainbow Dash. Various sailors worked diligently at their stations, passed data slates around, or conversed with others about various sensor readings or ship status reports. All voices murmured down as one by one, they took note of her appearance on the bridge. They all stood at attention, showing respect to the one pony who had made all this possible; the pony who had saved them all.

James Fletcher took note right away of the rest of the bridge crew and he stood up and turned to face her. “Twilight Sparkle, are you ready to go home?”

She smiled up at the human and nodded her head. “Yes, I am.”

Cheers erupted from the sailors in the control room, and Captain Fletcher allowed them to celebrate for a dozen seconds before waving them back to work. “Keep it tight people. I want us to be the best looking ship out of the fleet.”

“Aye, aye, Captain, but we already best looking ship. No one can keep up with us.” Dmitri Bearclaw winked at Twilight as she went to take up her familiar seat. She may have rolled her eyes at him but the corner of her mouth still curled up with amusement.

James went to retort when Isamu Zhang cut in just before he could berate the earth pony. “He means, no barrel rolls this time, Dmitri.” He raised his eyebrows in a sidelong glance aimed at the pony.

The accosted stallion opened his mouth with mock indignation, but before he could get to defending himself from an accusation that Twilight felt was probably one hundred percent true, Alice fizzled to existence on James’ armrest and she addressed the room. “Stand by for emergence into Harmony local space. One minute remaining.”

Her announcement killed the relaxed atmosphere on the bridge immediately, and Twilight watched everyone sit up straight and simultaneously double check their stations. She pulled her seat’s computer around with a forehoof, but every single section of the ship glowed with a reassuring green light. One of her ears swiveled around when the entrance to the bridge slid open again and she glanced over at her shoulder in time to see Victoria stride in. The human made her way over and Twilight angled her screen for the medical officer to see.

Victoria Schaefer’s eyes scanned the computer before she nodded an affirmation. “The repairs done by the Pegasopolis shipyards are holding together quite well.”

“They should.” James answered without looking up. “They’ve been building ships there for generations. Hell, that’s where they built the Dash.”

Victoria reached forward and closed the status readouts on her computer. “Don’t worry, Twilight, the ship is fine. I think you will not want to miss our arrival.”

She smiled up at the medical officer when she heard Alice call out from James’ seat. “Stand by for reemergence.”

“Hang on, Victoria.” James glanced over his shoulder at them, and Twilight felt the human hang on to her seat.

“Exiting subspace in five … four … three ... two … one.” A familiar tug tinged her horn, but the transition went smoothly as the frigate slipped back into reality.

Twilight Sparkle let out the breath she didn’t realize she had been holding in and her shoulders drooped noticeably. She focused on the front screen of the bridge relaying the view outside, and she instantly tensed up again. “By, Celestia…” Twilight whispered as her eyes widened in awe at what she saw.

A thousand shimmering lights danced across the dark, star-strewed sky. Everywhere she looked, fireflies of many different shapes and sizes drifted every which way, each traveling to some unknown destination for some unknown reason. In her mind, she knew what she was seeing were ships and spacecraft, but the sheer volume of them in such close proximity caused her heart to flutter in apprehension.

Twilight swallowed her nervousness, reminding herself that this was friendly territory. However, that thought didn’t help when several of the local craft wildly changed direction. She pursed her lips tightly together as they curved around and over towards them. On the front display, several yellow hazard icons circled each oncoming ship and Alice calmly stated out a warning. “Captain, I am detecting several small civilian vessels heading in our direction. They all seem to be unarmed and registered to the large news corporations based out of Harmony.”

“No doubt they seek to be the first to interview us.” Isamu Zhang’s stoic tone of voice might have expressed his indifference except for the obvious rolling of his eyes Twilight noticed as he peered back at them.

Dmitri tackled the issue more bluntly. “Bunch of bucking vultures.”

“Alice, have they entered our restriction zone?” James kept his voice level and cool, as he always did to keep his crew focused.

“Not yet, but they are ignoring my repeated calls to change their vector or risk us firing warning shots.”

“They are in for a big surprise.” James had turned his head to lean over to speak under his breath to Twilight and Victoria whom both smiled back. They both knew what followed close behind the Rainbow Dash and who should be arriving any second.

Like back when the Athens followed them to the Outlier controlled world of Elysium, it took the larger warship a longer time to make the journey than it did the nimble patrol frigate. Rainbow Dash’s warp drive may have been an older design, but it only had to move a fraction of the mass compared to the heavy missile cruiser. This let them move across the stars much faster than any other vessel, giving them an advantage the crew of the Dash used to stay ahead of trouble on more than one occasion.

Rainbow Dash’s artificial intelligence tried to compensate for the shorter travel times they experienced by engaging the warp drive well after her escorts had left, but faster than light travel was still not an exact science. Like her namesake, the little patrol frigate outdid herself and she still beat the honor fleet assigned to accompany her from Pegasopolis. To the numerous civilian vessels burning their way to the lonely warship to break the greatest news story since the founding of the United Equestrian Nations, it looked like the Dash had traveled alone. It definitely surprised them when three massive Equestrian battleships abruptly appeared in formation around the tiny frigate.

Two kilometer long warships covered in railgun turrets, missile pods, and lance batteries suddenly popped into existence in the intervening space between the Dash and the oncoming news vessels. On the front screen, Twilight saw the local communications network flood with much sterner warnings than the ones Alice had already been transmitting. She didn’t know if it was the wording of these messages or the fact that they were backed up by enough firepower to lay waste to an entire solar system that finally got the reporters to respect their space, but she had a guess that it was probably the latter.

The civilian vessels altered their courses to loiter just outside of their exclusion zone. Twilight Sparkle watched as additional ships from their escort fleet warped in and took up position around them. Heavy cruisers, destroyers, and even a starcraft carrier joined with the Rainbow Dash as they reformed into a protective detail. Up on the front screen, several small message alerts flashed as the news vessels pinged their ship for interview requests, but Alice went ahead and ignored every one of them.

As one, the fleet came about and the stars swung around. All of a sudden, a brilliant yellow orb came into view and Alice had to darken the camera feed to compensate. The small yellow dwarf sun dominated the solar system and Twilight Sparkle couldn’t help but smile when she realized what she was looking at. Celestia’s sun!

Her eyes sparkled at the sight. The sun she had grown up with every day, once again graced them with its gentle light. She was looking at something that, for the last couple of weeks, she thought she would never see again. Twilight carefully took in a shaky breath, feeling her lips quivering but she managed to keep herself together until she noticed a bright, blue and green crescent off to the right of the sun. Then, everything went blurry. I’m home….

“Twilight, it’s alright.” Victoria Schaeffer gently rubbed the unicorn’s back as sobs wracked her body. She wiped at her eyes, trying to focus on the little garden world growing larger in front of them, but all of the weight and worry she had carried came crashing down now that she could see her home planet.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” She finally managed to collect herself enough to make out faces on the bridge but it seemed she was not the only one moved by the sight of Harmony. Multiple crew members wiped at their teary eyes. Even Dmitri Bearclaw sniffled a couple times as he tried to reassure her with a smile.

To her left, James cleared his throat a bit longer than he usually did. “Alice, take us home.”

The cheers from the crew of the UEN Rainbow Dash could be easily heard echoing through the corridors of the frigate.

Princess Luna watched the wulven lines through her telescope. Usually, she reserved its use for exploring the night sky, or to teach the local school children about the various phases of her moon. Tonight however, she used a wider lens to focus on objects only a few miles away, rather than the stellar phenomena she usually studied.

“What are they doing?” A scratchy voice asked from her right. Luna blinked and stole a peek at the cyan-coated pegasus hovering next to her. The pony’s silvery scale armor helped accent her rainbow-hued mane and tail, but though she wore the uniform well, it had been designed with a different purpose in mind.

“They are feinting the flanks again, Rainbow Dash. As soon as they get into range of our spellcasters, they retreat before we actually try to hold them off.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense?” Rainbow threw her hooves up into the air with disdain. Her face scrunched up in a scowl before she crossed her forelegs in front of her.

Princess Luna pulled her face away from the eyepiece and she surveyed the valley before them. “You are correct. It does not make sense.”

“Why then are they doing it?”

Luna ignored the irate pegasus at first while she stared down at the lines of fortifications surrounding the mountain city. Eyes narrowed in thought, she twisted her head towards one of the larger towers of Canterlot. “I do not know, but I have been concerned about my sister since last night. She has not eaten anything since lunch yesterday.”

Rainbow Dash relaxed and faced the dark-coated alicorn. Her eyes widened with concern and the angry bravado she spoke with earlier no longer accented her tone of voice. “That doesn’t sound like Princess Celestia at all.”

“No, it does not. Do you think she knows something we don’t know?”

Rainbow Dash’s wings slowed and she extended her hooves in time to gently land on the balcony. In front of them, a series of horns sounded, reverberating throughout the valley. No sooner had they caught her attention when a dark swarm erupted from the wulven lines, rushing towards the defenders of Canterlot. Pony artillery answered the charge immediately and took a heavy toll on the attacking wave of wulven. Just before the howling warriors reached the maximum range of the front lines, they suddenly routed and retreated back to the safety of their trenches.

What she saw drew a dark glare from the pegasus. Rainbow stamped her hoof and turned towards Princess Luna, “They had more than enough wulven in that charge to make it to our front line defenders. I think we need to go find your sister right now and find out what the hay is going on.”

Princess Luna’s gaze met Rainbow’s and she nodded her affirmation. “I’m afraid you are correct, and we have no time to spare. Gather your friends and meet me in the great hall. Tell them to be ready for anything.”

Rainbow turned to dash away when Luna stopped her with a raised hoof. “In fact, you better retrieve the Elements of Harmony and bring with you.”

A pained expression appeared on her face and Rainbow paused in the air. “But without Twilight, they won’t work.”

“Yes, but they still might offer you some protection. It’s better to be on the safe side.” Luna replied and Rainbow took off with a few powerful beats of her wings. The princess of the night watched her leave before looking back over the stalemate on the frontlines. Already, she could see the wulven army roiling behind their fortifications, ready to make another feinted charge. “What did you do, Tia?”

Twilight Sparkle woke up with a start as a loud alarm began bleeping somewhere nearby. She stumbled backwards in shock as she took in the pristinely white walls and floor around her. Bright, bluish-hued lights hurt her eyes to look at directly but she finally noticed a few familiar faces watching her with concern through several large glass windows.

“It okay, Twilight.” She looked over at Dmitri Bearclaw as the brown earth pony pressed his grinning face up against one of the transparent walls they shared. “Did decontaminate alert wake you up?”

The lavender unicorn rubbed her eyes and swallowed a few times to rid herself of her dry mouth. “I guess I dozed off.” She hopped off of a couch that would have been much more comfortable without a thick layer of cold plastic sheeting on it. Twilight swiveled her ears around until she pinpointed the annoying repetitive blaring coming from a console visible on the other side of a second glass wall in front of her. There, a white unicorn in a long lab coat pressed at the screen a few times until silence finally graced her cell.

The unicorn lifted her head and smiled at Twilight’s tired and still blinking face. “I apologize for the wait. Because of your crew’s … unique encounters with the cygnul, we had to make sure that no pony brought back anything nasty from their region of space.”

“I’ve already told you that we never left the ship while we were there.” Twilight heard James Fletcher reiterate his counterargument for what seemed like the hundredth time as she finally came to and remembered how they ended up here. What did that administrator call us; temporary isolated guests of the United Equestrian Nations?

The frustration she felt about their predicament faded away the moment that the double-paned glass door to her isolated room opened. Twilight walked out and reunited with the rest of her friends out in the observation hallway. The unicorn in the lab coat tried to call out for their attention, but they took a small amount of guilty delight in ignoring her demands as they conversed with one another.

“Victoria, did you see the city lights on the moon? I didn’t realize that…” An angry snort interrupted Twilight and she looked back over her shoulder.

“Please, if you would follow me!” The unicorn grew irate enough to lose her patience and Twilight stopped talking with Victoria to acknowledge her presence. She felt a pang of regret for causing the pony to lash out, especially since she couldn’t even remember her name, but all Twilight had to do was think about the armed reception party that had waited for them in the orbital dock to hold those feelings at bay. My idea of a ‘Welcome Home Party’ is not being held at gunpoint and sequestered into an isolation cell.

“I’m sorry. It’s been a long couple of weeks for us.” James Fetcher stepped in, playing on his more diplomatic side.

The unicorn’s frown faltered and she reached a hoof up to rub at her forehead. “Yes, well, if you would like to leave quarantine, then please follow me. I’ve been directed to bring you to the primary observation deck.”

The pony turned and swished her tail once before making her way out of the opened airlock chamber separating them from the rest of the orbital station. She didn’t even bother to check to see if they were following. Socket Wrench shrugged her shoulders and made the first move, slowly flying after the unicorn.

Eager to leave this horrid portion of the station, Twilight Sparkle followed Socket, trotting lightly to catch up to her. “When do you think we can visit the surface?”

Her pegasus friend gestured a hoof at the back of the doctor and rolled her eyes. “I thought they were going to clear us to land at Canterlot Interstellar Spaceport but we were directed here instead. I guess we really spooked them by showing up alive.”

“Can you blame them though?” Isamu Zhang hopped forward and joined the two ponies. “Look at it from their point of view. We vanished weeks ago during the largest cygnul incursion in decades. Then, we reappear safe and sound on the opposite side of Equestrian-controlled space.”

“Don’t forget that we showed up carrying the news that a simple patrol frigate wiped out the entire cygnul war machine in one fell swoop with the Elements of Harmony.” James carried on with Isamu’s train of thought. “Apparently, Alice told me before we landed that the whole system has been under lockdown for weeks because they’ve been under the impression that someone stole the Elements.”

“Hmm,” Twilight nodded her head as she started to understand the precarious predicament they had brought upon Harmony. “I guess I can see why they didn’t take us fully seriously at first. If I hadn’t been along to see the things we saw, I might not have believed us either.”

As they had discussed their current dilemma, Twilight somewhat noticed them navigating down several pristinely clean corridors. Unlike the dark and dirty space station over Midnight City, the ceilings, walls, and even the floors seemed like they had been cleaned within an inch of their life. Though she no longer had to worry about a layer of oil and grease sticking to her hooves, the complete absence of any other soul onboard aside from the six of them and their guide led Twilight to wonder if the Equestrian leadership had other plans for them.

The conversation died down as they passed through several identical intersections, and it didn’t take more than a hoofful of turns before Twilight felt completely lost. She took note that any wall-mounted screens or signs they passed by all remained dark, so if they needed to make a quick escape, she hoped one of her friends had the directional sense to get them back.

Her fears ended up being unfounded as they walked up a short staircase which ended at a rather large metal door bearing the words, Primary Observation Deck, written in blocky meter-high white letters above it. In front of them, the large sliding door vanished into the ceiling with a pneumatic hiss and their guide stood at the threshold and directed them inside. Twilight and her friends exited the hallway to find themselves in a large circular room with chest-high windows running along nearly every inch of the walls.

She picked out on the broad, low-set booth tables scattered across the wide open space. By a quick estimation, it seemed they could comfortably seat upwards of three to four hundred. They tiered down in concentric circles to an empty central platform that Twilight figured might be large enough for some sort of entertainment to take place.

Twilight Sparkle walked straight over to one of the nearby windows. She stared, mouth-agape in awe as she took in the immense size of the space station they were in. A gently sloping metal deck extended away on all sides from the observatory, interspaced with antennas or sensor domes larger than the Rainbow Dash herself. They protruded from the station’s hull in a random sort of pattern, yet they extended as far as she could see before shrinking to tiny pinpricks that vanished in the distance.

Two tiny spacecraft zoomed overhead, and she ducked on instinct. Twilight Sparkle ignored the thick accented laugh from behind her and she watched as the little round ships zipped across the surface of the city-sized space station and dive out of sight. In the direction they had soared away, she picked out the enormous and beautiful bluish-green marble of Harmony. This close to her homeworld, Twilight could easily discern the artificial rings that circled the entire world.

Their station, larger than any city she had seen from her original time period, was still absolutely dwarfed by the megastructure. It not only wrapped completely around the equator of the planet, but a thinner ring ran up and over the north and south poles. Dozens of immense towers ran all the way from orbit down to the surface, keeping the structure firmly in place. She had never thought of her home world as small, but the structures seemed to crowd her beloved Harmony.

Thousands upon thousands of spacecraft of all shapes and sizes moved across the surface of the garden world. Some were in the process of accelerating out of the gravity well towards a destination among the stars, while others carefully reduced their velocity to dock into the orbital megastructure. Twilight could even see bright lights moving up and down the towers connecting the rings to the planet, marking locations of city-sized elevators ascending into orbit, or descending to the surface.

So enamored was she in taking in all of the activity going on in front of her, Twilight refused to allow her eyes to blink, least she miss a single moment of this incredible spectacle. I’m here. I’m home. I am in a space station in orbit over the planet I came from. It’s right there; so close I feel like I could touch it. Her throat grew thick and she had trouble swallowing for a moment. Using a forehoof to wipe at her cheeks, Twilight did not pick up on the sound of another door opening behind her.

She did perk up, however, when a soothing voice spoke to her; a voice she had not heard in a long, long time. “Greetings, my most faithful student. It is truly good to see you again.”

Twilight Sparkle spun around, afraid that her ears were playing tricks on her. There, in the open doorway across the room stood a tall, regal, white alicorn. Adorned in a flowing white-silk robe, her pastel-colored mane and tail gently wavered in a ceaseless breeze in the still atmosphere of the observatory deck. Other than maybe looking a bit leaner, she did not appear a day older than the last time Twilight had seen her. She still wore the same caring smile, the same gentle eyes, and the same regal composure that drew so many ponies’ trust in her rule.

Princess Celestia strode towards her. Twilight Sparkle felt her legs start to shake and she forced herself to sit down on her haunches before she collapsed. “It’s really you.” She managed to speak, barely above a whisper.

“Oh, Twilight Sparkle.” Princess Celestia stopped in front of the panicking unicorn, lifting a forehoof to caress her chin. “I have been looking forward to this day for such a long time. I am so proud of what you’ve accomplished, even with all of the challenges you’ve faced. You still never cease to surprise me, Twilight, and I am so happy you made it safely back to me.”

“Princess!” Twilight blurted out a moment before a series of crippling sobs wracked her smaller frame and she all but threw herself towards Celestia. The larger alicorn easily caught the little unicorn mare and she sat down as she stroked her back gently.

“Shh, shh.” Princess Celestia held Twilight against her while she cried freely into her mane. “You’re safe now. It’s alright, Twilight.”

“I was so worried I was never going to see anypony again!” Twilight Sparkle sputtered out between ragged breaths. She slowly started to calm down, and she wiped at the damp fur around her eyes and she blinked rapidly until Princess Celestia’s smiling face finally grew clear.

Twilight relaxed her grip and Celestia lowered her carefully to the deck. “My most faithful student, you have traveled across the known galaxy and saved not only Equestria, but all of life as well. We are all so grateful for what you and your friends did for us.”

Stepping back to give the princess space, Twilight Sparkle felt her face flush from the praise. She glanced to her right where James, Socket, Dmitri, Victoria, and Isamu were standing in a row. They all smiled, or grinned at her. “I know I couldn’t have done it alone.”

“Ooooo, Twilight Sparkle.” A sarcastic voice oozing with barely suppressed contempt caught her attention and she looked over behind Princess Celestia to see a strange conglomeration of several different animals float over to her. “The amount of turmoil you and your friends caused while tearing across the galaxy will take years to fully recover from. I could work ceaselessly for a decade and still not come close to what you’ve done to the UEN. Well done; well done.”

“Hello, Discord.” Twilight eyed the draconequus warily as he clapped his mismatched hands together.

“Don’t be like that, little pony.” Discord picked Twilight up and squeezed her against him as he spun around in the air. “I have truly missed your company.”

Twilight’s ears fell flat against the top of her head and she pushed her forehooves against Discord’s chest. “I’m sure you have.”

“Oh, Twilight, I’m being serious.” Discord set her down and clasped his hands together. “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

“Wha….” Twilight took a step back and stared at the draconequus as he wiped away the remains of a cupcake that she didn’t remember noticing earlier from his face.

“Why do you seem surprised? We are supposed to be best friends after all.” Discord cocked his head to the side and gave her a wink.

“Discord….” Princess Celestia rolled her eyes while Twilight’s mouth opened and closed over and over while she processed his words.

“I don’t think I understand.” Twilight Sparkle looked back and forth from Princess Celestia to Discord. “I don’t want to sound rude, but I didn’t think he liked me at all.”

“I think I can explain.” Twilight looked between Celestia and Discord to see a dark blue alicorn coming towards her accompanied by two rather tall stallions; a pegasus and an earth pony. Between them, the alicorn carried a large floating plastic shipping crate nestled in her magical aura.

“Princess Luna!” Twilight hopped forward and threw her forehooves around the lunar alicorn.

Luna returned the embrace before stepping back and gesturing to the earth pony next to her. He had a sunflower-yellow coat, an orange mane and tail, and his eyes were a brilliant deep purple. “Twilight, may I introduce Prince Arthropod. He is one of the high chairman in the Senate and he works with us to run the UEN.”

“It is an honor, Twilight Sparkle.” The earth pony bowed its head, and Twilight returned the gesture.

“And this is Midnight Eclipse, the Royal Historian of Canterlot.” Luna pointed at the pegasus.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” The pegasus reached forward to shake Twilight’s hoof and she saw that he wore an eye patch to cover his left eye.

Twilight tried to not stare at the patch, instead choosing to look at his normal, golden-irised eye. “Royal Historian? That sounds fascinating!”

“Um, yeah. It is!” Midnight Eclipse seemed momentarily taken back by Twilight’s interest in his position and she wondered if he was as reclusive as she had been in her younger years. “I’m here to help you understand some of the weird situations I am sure you found yourself in. Times where you might feel like others knew things about you that make no sense.”

Twilight Sparkle thought about several notable instances where ponies or humans said or did things that confused her. She reminisced about her visit to Midnight City and Deval Aldridge nicknaming her princess, much to James’ dismay. “That would certainly help explain a few things.”

The pegasus smiled and waved a forehoof at the large plastic crate and Princess Luna set it down and opened up the front with her telekinesis. The side facing Twilight swung upwards and as soon as she laid eyes on what was inside, she shot backwards with a shout of surprise. Inside was something she wished she would never have to see again, and one look at the glittering crystalline contraption made her blood run cold.

“Are you crazy!” Twilight Sparkle shouted at the eight faces in front of her. “That thing is dangerous!”

“Don’t panic Twilight,” Luna reached out towards her, “we are perfectly aware about this machine’s capabilities and it is perfectly safe.”

The black-coated pegasus nodded his head and took a step forward. “My duties involved studying this device and its capabilities. I’ve actually spent the greater part of my life studying it.” He seemed to smile a bit as he said so.

“Anyway, Twilight,” he turned his head towards the device, “we now know how this machine works and how to safely use it.”

Twilight Sparkle slowly let her raised forehoof drop back to the deck and she relaxed from a defensive posture to a more wary one. The purple unicorn eyed the machine, still not wanting to get any closer to it. “That sounds fascinating, but please forgive me if I am hesitant to see how that thing is relevant to our discussion.”

“Well,” the pegasus looked from Twilight to the device and back, “I have to use it to send you back home. You were never meant to stay in our time period.”

Twilight stared at the historian. Her mouth opened and closed several timed before she found her voice. “What do you mean?”

“Twilight,” she turned her head to see James Fletcher take a step towards her, “each of us grew up learning stories about you and your friends saving Equestria more times than I can count on both hands. You all lived out your lives thousands of years before I was born. Your future isn’t here with us. We must return you back home to your original time period.”

“You mean I have to leave you?” Twilight’s ears drooped and she blinked to try and clear up the blurry faces in front of her.

James Fletcher’s lips wavered but he collected himself and dropped down on one knee. “It hurts me to say it, but yes. In this universe, you have to go back or else we risk the integrity of this timeline. The longer you stay here, the greater risk we face of our universe radically changing. Five thousand years is a long time for even the smallest of changes to drastically alter history.”

The ease of how James made his argument drew suspicion from her and Twilight wondered if he had practiced it beforehand. She carefully narrowed her eyes at him. “Did you know this whole time?”

“I did,” James did not even hesitate to tell her the truth and he reached forward to touch her shoulder. “I knew from the beginning that we would have to send you back. Though, I didn’t count on us taking a few, unexpected detours, on our way here.”

This broke Twilight’s serious composure and she laughed along with the others in the room before James continued. “I also didn’t realize that we would become the best of friends either. It did hurt knowing that we would have to part ways so soon, but I wouldn’t trade our friendship for anything.”

Twilight’s gaze dropped to her hooves and her chest heaved in a few shallow breaths. She felt herself threatening to cry but she managed to compose herself and look back at her friends. Friends who she had laughed with, whose shoulders she had cried on, who had fought beside her and for her with upmost courage and bravery. But she also could not forget her old friends, those ponies who had originally taught her the magic of friendship. With a quivering smile, she nodded in agreement. The lavender mare concentrated quickly and a large, well-used hand cannon popped into existence next to her. She cleared the weapon to render it safe and then the floated it over to James.

He took the pistol from her telekinetic grasp and slipped it into the small of his back. James then wiped at his face and Twilight took a step forward. “So I guess this is goodbye?”

At this, Victoria, Socket, Dmitri, and Isamu rushed forward to embrace her, dragging James along as well considering that he was in their way. They wrapped their arms or forehooves around Twilight, lifting her up as they held each other for the last time. Twilight sniffled and squeezed her eyes shut, feeling a few tears rolling down her cheeks. “I’m going to miss you all.”

Socket Wrench was the first to respond. “Twilight, I’m sorry you have to leave.”

“We’re going to miss you too, Twilight Sparkle.” Victoria’s shaky voice could be heard from somewhere in the tangle of bodies embracing her.

“I wish it didn’t have to be like this, Twilight.” James spoke up from his position crushed between Dmitri and Victoria.

Though his cheery voice usually did not tremble on the edge of sobbing, she could see Dmitri trying to hide his face in between her shoulder and James’. “I sorry, Twilight, for all my jokes and pranks.”

“No you’re not.” Isamu quickly interjected from somewhere on Twilight’s right and everyone quickly laughed. He then more somberly spoke to her. “We will all miss you, Twilight; until the end of time.”

Slowly, Twilight’s friends released her one by one and they backed up until she was the only one in front of the Rift Apparatus. She eyed the machine with a frown before looking at Princess Celestia. “This just seems so sudden. Why do I have to go back so soon? I mean, I just got back and you’re immediately sending me away? Why?”

Princess Celestia opened her mouth, but hesitated for a moment. “Twilight, I won’t lie to you, but we are pressed for time here. You have to return right now or else you might miss out on your important part in the Wulven War.”

Seeing her shocked and confused, Midnight Eclipse stepped forward to quickly explain. “Twilight Sparkle, you traveled to our time period with the Rift Apparatus. Therefore, you are still connected with the device even if you haven’t been consciously aware of this connection. I know you have been having episodes of Time Bleeding Syndrome during your travels. You have been experiencing these because you are still tied to your original timeline and the Rift Apparatus knows this. It is trying to send you back in order to heal the space-time continuum, but if you wait too long, that connection will fade and cease to exist.”

“Heal it? My part in the Wulven War? I don’t understand why it has to be now?”

“Twilight,” From his perch up near the ceiling, Discord grew bored with a game of cards against three smaller versions of himself, “If you keep asking questions, even I will die of old age.”

Ignoring him, Princess Luna rolled her eyes. “What Midnight is trying to say, is that our timelines are locked together right now and the Rift Apparatus can’t quite send you back to any particular time of our choosing. Every Time Bleeding symptom you experience is another event set in stone that cannot be changed anymore. Each second you spend with us increases the risk that you miss the chance to return to the past.”

“And if you wait too long, you will miss the end of the Wulven War entirely.” Midnight Eclipse finished up.

“We didn’t intend to place this bind on you, Twilight Sparkle.” Prince Arthropod reached a hoof up and scratched the back of his head while giving her an awkward smile. “But we were in a delicate situation where we couldn’t exactly explain what Rainbow Dash’s mission was and why it was so important to the rest of the government. I am sorry that your journey was not an easy one, but I am glad to see you made it back on time and in one piece.”

Twilight Sparkle’s eyes went out of focus as she digested this. It sounded peculiar but her forays into time travel in the past had at least made her aware of how dangerous and finicky a school of magic it was. One thing didn’t make sense though and she spoke up. “What do you mean about my part in the Wulven War?”

“You saved us all, Twilight Sparkle.” Princess Celestia beamed down at her with a wide smile. “Your actions helped end the war and brought peace to Equestria.”

“Wha… I… What do you mean?” Twilight stepped back and raised a forehoof to protect herself.

“Twilight,” the reassuring and calm voice of James caught her attention, “you need to trust us.” He gestured with outstretched arms at her friends standing around him.

“Do you trust us, Twilight?” Isamu Zhang had a sad smile, but she felt herself relaxing from his calm and reassuring composure.

Twilight Sparkle took in a deep breath and let it out with a huff. Then she pursed her lips together and nodded. James Fletcher turned and gestured at Midnight Eclipse who then began fiddling with the Rift Apparatus which immediately began spinning up. An involuntary feeling of ice running through her veins flooded her body but she stood there with her head high.

The time machine powered up much like she had remembered it except when the shield popped into existence, it appeared centered around her instead of around itself. Twilight wanted to break and run, but she fought back her nerves and in a scene similar to the one where she last saw her friends from the past, she met the eyes of her friends from the future. They all stood there, smiling with tears running down their faces, but she could still easily see the pride in their eyes.

“How do I stop the war?” She shouted as the Rift Apparatus grew increasingly louder.

“We can’t tell you that, Twilight!” James Fletcher cupped his hands around his mouth. “But, don’t worry, you will figure it out!”

“How do I know that?” She had to squint her eyes and lift a hoof to block the light emanating from the brilliantly shining diamond at the heart of the device.

“Because you’ve already done it!” She heard James yell a split second before the world warped around her, a searing flash of agony washed across her body, and everything went white.

Chapter 22: Through Time and Space

Twilight Sparkle flew down the brilliantly lit rainbow tunnel once more. Its strange luminescent walls cycled through the seven colors of the spectrum, one after another in an endless and changeless pattern. She soon gave up peering past the painfully bright walls, as they refused to reveal the secrets of whatever exotic pathway the Rift Apparatus used to move her back and forth in time.

Through the color pattern sequence remained consistent, the passageway banked in a dizzyingly chaotic sequence of sharp turns and gentle curves. Her incorporeal body was pulled along with the unseen current, holding her in place while she picked up a tremendous amount of speed. The colors whipped by with increasing frequency, but she had her attention focused in front of her where the oncoming walls finally blurred into bright light that took over everything.

The white emptiness vanished, only to be replaced with a wall of speckled grey that flew dizzyingly fast towards her. The next thing she knew, a jarring impact knocked the breath out of her, and Twilight felt herself tumbling against an unforgivable surface through a billowing cloud of black smoke. She curled up into a fetal position to protect herself but it did little in the end. In the span of a few seconds, she racked up a dozen harsh impacts all over her body before she finally skidded to a halt.

Stars danced across her vision. Twilight tasted copper and she coughed thickly, spitting something out of her mouth. As she blinked back her eyesight, her surroundings coalesced and a dark stone floor covered in slowly falling ash came into focus. Right in front of her, she noticed a blob of bloody saliva plastered on the ground and that made her aware of a sharp pain on the inside of her cheek.

“Twilight?” She heard a raspy feminine voice call out and she lifted her gaze to spot an armored cyan pegasus hovering in the air. Twilight Sparkle’s eyes widened in recognition a split second before a dark red blast of magic slammed against the rainbow-haired pony and launched her across the hallway with a painful cry.

“No!” Twilight screamed. “Rainbow Dash!”

Her best friend flipped over and over before crashing into the unyielding stone floor. Twilight made to race after the tumbling pegasus when she heard a growling snarl behind her. She spun around towards the source of the attack and her piercing glare locked onto a living magical abomination. The wulven hellhound barred its teeth while holding her stare with its soulless eyes. The two ram-like horns on the top of its head sparked to life with a deep reddish aura, and Twilight’s horn tingled with the repulsive sensation of dark magics coalescing in front of her.

Twilight did not give the hellhound a chance to strike first. A roiling mixture of anger with a twinge of fear flooded her body and set her blood aflame. Her horn lit up in a nimbus of magical power before she unleashed a torrent of pure arcane energy directly into the snarling face of the hellhound.

Shadows all along the corridor vanished, and a blinding violet blast ripped away the nearby tapestries on the walls. Twilight had to close her eyes and turn away as the wulven construct blew apart into a cloud of billowing smoke. She shouldered against the rebounding shockwave while her mane and tail whipped around in the shearing winds from her attack.

Once the penetrating glare had died down, Twilight opened her eyes. She frowned at the cloud of cinders as they slowly dissolved above a smoking stain on the stone floor. Satisfied the wulven would never harm another pony again, she spun around and galloped over to where Rainbow Dash had slid to a halt. Her spirits rose in elation when she saw the robust pegasus already trying to scramble to her hooves.

Twilight reached Rainbow just as she shakily stood up. The cyan pony managed to stumble a step or two before she collapsed once more. Luckily a quick flash of her horn saved the pegasus from a painful fall and Twilight ended up catching the falling pony in her forelegs. She used a hoof to examine the side of her armor where the wulven’s magic had struck her, but the charred equestrian metal had absorbed the attack, saving the pony inside.

She then looked up at her friend’s face, her eyes lingering only for a moment at the Elemental Necklace of Loyalty she wore. Rainbow Dash’s chest heaved in and out. Twilight cradled her gently, frowning down at her as her friend’s eyes stared at her. Rainbow’s pupils shrunk to pinpricks, and she slowly reached out with a forehoof to touch Twilight’s face.

“You’re… real…” Rainbow choked out. Her eyes wavered and grew burry as a wave of tears appeared and ran down the sides of her face. “You’re alive!”

“I’m here, Rainbow. I’m okay.” Twilight smiled at a pony she feared she would never see again. She brought Rainbow in close and wrapped her forelegs around her. The pegasus returned the gesture and Twilight chose to not mention the sobbing she heard from her friend.

Though the logical voice in her mind nagged at her about the time bleeding visions she had experienced, Twilight relished this hug. She had missed Rainbow so much and her heart soared at the idea that she would now be able to experience a similar reunion with the rest of her family and friends of her original home.

Another part of her felt a conflicting doubt as a flicker of guilt set in. The faces of James, Socket, Dmitri, Victoria, Isamu, and Deval mixed with the faces of Spike, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity. Twilight so looked forward to seeing her friends again, but a small pang of sorrow drew a few heaved sighs from her when she remembered that she would never again see her friends from the future.

Twilight shook her head to dispel this dangerous line of thinking and helped her friend up. After the pegasus scrambled to her hooves, Rainbow took a nervous step back and her eyes roamed her body. The shock and fear plastered on her face was easy to pick out. “Um, Twilight?” She hesitantly asked, swallowing once before gesturing a hoof at her. “Are you okay?”

Following the pegasus’ stare, Twilight cocked her head around and took note of the remains of the form fitting uniform she had been wearing. Now, what was left of it hung about her in a few burnt strips of tattered cloth. She ran a hoof across her back and brushed off the last few pieces, letting them fall to the floor. A warm feeling of embarrassment flushed her cheeks as Twilight remembered how long it had been since she hadn’t worn clothes in public.

“Ah, never mind these.” Twilight changed the subject before she wasted any more time dwelling over the various cultural habits she would need break if she made it through the next few hours unscathed. “We don’t have a lot of time. Where is Princess Celestia? I think she might be in danger.”

Rainbow’s eyes narrowed and she rubbed her chin with a forehoof in thought. “She was acting really weird earlier this morning, but when the girls and I went to investigate, we were jumped by a bunch of wulven! I held them off long enough for our friends to get away, and then you showed up.”

“It looks like I got here just in time.” Twilight eyed the dark stain on the stone floor with a wary look.

“Pshh,” Rainbow shook her head and waved her hoof around, “I had everything under control. It was four against one and I took out three of them.”

Twilight rubbed a hoof against her nose to hide the faint smile that crept on her face. She didn’t realize how much she missed her friend’s bravado whenever the going got tough. Even so, she chose to let Rainbow’s pride go unchallenged. “Where are the others? We need to meet up with them and get to the South Tower right now.”

“This way, follow me!” Rainbow Dash flared her wings and took off. Twilight galloped after her, quickly falling behind the much faster pegasus. However, once she realized that her friend could not keep up, Rainbow circled back and flew at a much slower pace alongside her.

The two of them ran to the end of the corridor before taking a hard left down the adjacent flyway. As Twilight sprinted along the carpeted hall, the floor to ceiling glass windows that lined the walls let her see the other towering pillars of the mountain-side city around them. Her heart fluttered at the familiar sight. She had not seen her hometown in so long and Twilight had to blink away her blurry vision.

She sniffled and shook her head, but redoubled her efforts and faced forward with a determined stare. Rainbow Dash didn’t seem to notice her momentary lapse in focus and Twilight continued following right behind her prismatic friend. They crossed the passage connecting the two towers and Twilight’s nose crinkled up from the acrid smell of smoke as they burst out into a massive atrium.

The enormous tapestries that decorated every such royal foyer burned. Jets of fiery red magic flew across the spacious hall and several multi-colored ponies flew, ran, or dove in order to dodge the hellish beams. Half a dozen wolfish monsters stood at the opposite end of the room in front of two towering doors. Their curling horns crackled with their dark power and they fired beam after beam across the atrium at their elusive targets. They poured out a constant stream of magical firepower, yet their poor accuracy just meant that every shot they fired missed entirely before gouging deep troughs in the pristine white stone walls that had stood resolute for centuries.

Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash never slowed their pace. The faster pegasus shot upwards in a spiraling corkscrew, drawing the attention of every wulven hellhound. Their combined fusillade of the crimson beams cut into the arching ceiling and completely failed to even come close to the multi-colored blur they had been aiming at. Stone chunks rained down and Twilight watched a dark blue alicorn weave around a pair of falling masonry before firing a blindingly bright ball of blue light. The rapidly spinning orb slammed into the middle wulven and subsequently released several arcs of electricity, frying half of the magical abominations, while its creator banked around hard to avoid any reactionary attacks.

The tendrils of lightning may have lasted for only a millisecond but Twilight could still see their outline on the inside of her eyelids while she tried to blink back her vision. The lavender unicorn rubbed at her eyes with a forehoof before she took a widened stance and lowered her head. She spotted three hellhounds that had survived the attack through her still-recovering vision, and she carefully aimed with her horn. Twilight collected her will, concentrated for a heartbeat, and a precise violet-hued lance cut the rightmost wulven down. Before its dying roar finished echoing through the atrium, an identical beam reduced the hellhound next to it into a greasy stain on the ground.

Twilight sighted the final wulven and fired a third beam. However, it had enough time to leap sideways and avoid her attack. As she tracked the creature, she immediately took off running forward and to her left, making herself a harder target to hit. The wulven rolled to a low crouch, and its horns lit up with dark magic. A broiling lance of magic seared into the ground where she had been standing a moment before.

A retaliatory beam from her horn answered the wulven attack, but with its glaring eyes locked on her, it neatly ducked under this strike as well. I need to close the distance, thought Twilight and she ground her teeth hard as she realized that she had one opportunity to defeat this adversary. The two combatants ran towards each other, juking and ducking left and right as they launched a barrage of magical attacks at one another.

They closed the distance till it became a near impossibility to react fast enough to dodge when the hellhound managed to snap off a fireball that Twilight was forced to shield against. The wulven took advantage of its advantage and it stalked forward, launching spheres of hellfire against her barrier. Over and over, Twilight stood fast as flames roiled over her shield. The wulven carefully timed its attacks to give her no chance at dropping her shield to fight back. Each time she bore the brunt of the hellhound’s assault, she felt a sharp pain flare up in the back of her mind. She could bear the pain for now, but she wasn’t sure for how long.

Suddenly from behind her, Twilight heard a pony grunt along with the sharp crack of hooves impacting stone. Out of nowhere, a pony-sized chunk of masonry smashed into the ground right in front of the wulven before tumbling through the magical beast. The boulder bounced and flipped end over end, leaving a billowing cloud of evaporating wulven remains. It hit the edge of the stairs leading to the entrance to the southern tower, spiraled into the air with a loud crack, and finally slammed into the sturdy wooden doors. The massive rock proved to be too much for the heavy oaken slabs, and they splintered under the assault, ripping free of their hinges and falling to the ground with a deep reverberating boom.

Twilight Sparkle released the hold on her shield and it fizzled away, allowing her to get a good look through the ruined doorway. Standing in the middle of the next room, a wounded Lord Moonclaw held a battered Princess Celestia in the air with one of his clawed hands. Both alicorn and wulven stared at her, with shocked expressions on their faces. Moonclaw slowly released his adversary and as she dropped to the ground, he stepped towards Twilight. “Impossible….”

His coat had seen better days and Twilight noticed several ragged burn marks across his arms and chest. One ear had been singed clean of hair, half of the dark cloak draped over his shoulders looked like it had been sheared away by an impossibly sharp knife, and she noticed that he seemed to be favoring his left leg. The Lord of the wulven took another step, limping as he slowly trudged her way. “No, it cannot be. You cannot be here.”

Crumpled on the ground, Princess Celestia lifted her head and shouted at Twilight, weakly raising a foreleg towards her. “No, Twilight! Run!”

Lord Moonclaw’s head shot around to Celestia, then faster than Twilight thought he was capable of, given his current appearance, his brutally angry glare directed all of his fury towards her. “Traitor! I knew I couldn’t trust you, Princess!”

He spit out the last word, just about snarling as he lifted a clawed fist that immediately began glowing a deep shade of purple tinged with red. The towering wolf widened his stance. Lifting his arm high into the air as he prepared to deliver the final blow to his adversary, he let out a mighty roar before bringing the turbulent sphere of energy down at Celestia.

An instant before the attack made contact, a flash of azure light appeared before Princess Celestia as her younger sister teleported in to deflect the attack. Moonclaw’s destructive magic impacted Luna’s arcane shield, and the sound of a million breaking windows assailed everypony’s ears. Right on its heels, a hurricane-force gust knocked the legs out from under Twilight Sparkle and she clutched at her eyes and ears with her forehooves until the noise and wind died down.

A high-pitched ringing in her ears refused to go away while she staggered back on her hooves. Twilight shook her head side to side, and the double image in front of her coalesced into a scene of destruction. In the middle of the southern tower now sat an enormous crater in the floor. The contrasting magical spells left a harsh metallic smell in the air that curled up her nose as she ventured into the open space. She immediately spotted Lord Moonclaw’s prone form on one side of the crater, but her attention focused on the two alicorns on the other side.

“Princess Celestia! Princess Luna!” Twilight shouted out, galloping over to the Equestrian Princesses. Both were breathing, she could tell as she reached them, but they seemed to be out of it for the moment. She began a cursory check on their condition, remembering some of the medical tips she had learned from Victoria in a different place and time, when Twilight noticed that Luna had forgone her regular tiara for one more familiar to her. My Element?

Twilight’s hoof was just a bare millimeter from touching the sparkling six-pointed star in its crest when Princess Luna’s eyes shot open. Her mouth opened wide and she shouted out a warning. “Twilight! Look out!”

Acting on instinct, Twilight Sparkle closed her eyes and forced a surge of magic into her horn. With her violet aura blazing, she phased out of existence and reappeared exactly twenty paces behind where she had been standing. Reality came into focus and she watched as a wounded, but still very much dangerous, Moonclaw completed a backhand of his paw in an attempt to knock her away. The wulven lord took a step back, surprised by her immediate disappearance and his head went left and right as he tried to find out where she had gone.

A lance of searing light slammed into Moonclaw’s already wounded leg, and he let out something between a wounded scream and a furious roar as he fell to the ground. Twilight made to sidestep to her right, just barely avoiding the glowing arc of dark energy he tried to throw at her. Though the onrushing shockwave seemed to consume all light in the tower, the little unicorn could still feel heat radiating from the unique blends of magic the wulven preferred. That was close….

She stared at the wulven in front of her as he swung his other clawed fist around. Glowing with the same sort of visible light as his last attack, Twilight prepared to dodge this one as well, but before he could release the dark magic, a rainbow blur shot across her vision. The next thing she knew, there was a meaty thump of a hoof meeting a face. Moonclaw’s stored magic fizzled away to nothing and the wulven’s head was now cocked to the side.

“Take that!” The brash voice of Rainbow Dash accompanied her blitzing strike against Moonclaw. With an audible swooshing sound, the pegasus flipped over and swung around the princesses where she skidded to a halt into a defensive posture with wings raised in front of them.

Lord Moonclaw shook his head and focused on the pegasus pony who had dared to physically assault him. A deep rumble slipped between his snarling fangs when one of the large hanging tapestries bonked him on the back of his skull, making an audible crack. As he grabbed his head, the fabric proceeded to unfurl and wrap around his face over and over. His roar of pain choked into a muffled moan, and he clawed at the priceless Equestrian artifact as it tied itself in a knot around his head.

“Stay back, you ruffian!” Twilight looked over to see Rarity trot up to them with her horn aglow as she continued to thwart the leader of the wulven with a nothing more than a tattered strip of burnt cloth.

Lord Moonclaw ripped and tore the knotted mass encircling his head. It did resist him for a moment but once they found purchase, his clawed paws shredded through the antique fabric like tissue paper. His murderous gaze locked onto the white-coated unicorn who struck a defiant pose in complete disregard for him and his antics.

“I don’t think so, sugar cube.” A thick corded rope dropped from above and lassoed around Moonclaw’s shoulders. It went taunt and pulled tight around his chest, holding his arms against his body. The wulven twisted and turned, but the cowpony holding onto the rope kept a firm grip on the lasso, belying her much smaller size.

Moonclaw widened his stance and flexed his muscles against Applejack’s rope. Popping sounds of fibers snapping under stress could be heard. His arms bulged and strained, until with a final snap, the lasso flew apart and fell to the ground. Twilight watched as he raised his right paw up. On instinct, she made to charge her horn up and defend her friend, but it proved to be premature when Moonclaw suddenly staggered forward after something pink and fluffy slammed into his back. He fell to his knees when the brightly colored pony now clutching his shoulders squealed out an excited wail. She waved a wide-brimmed Stetson in one hoof and kicked her spur-wearing hind hooves into the wulven lord’s sides.

Moonclaw yelped. Jumping straight up in the air, he swiped behind his back at the pony who continued kicking her hooves into his sides. Twilight Sparkle felt a smile grow on her face while she watched the crazy scene happening in front of her. Pinkie Pie continued hooting and hollering as she thwarted every attempt to dislodge her. The party pony ducked and dodged each claw that came her way.

A thunderous snarl left Moonclaw’s mouth when he finally brought both of his arms down and slammed them into the ground. Pinkie Pie flew forward off of his back and sailed into the air. “Weeeeeeeeee!” She squealed out, hooves open wide when a yellow pegasus swooped in and gently caught the rambunctious earth pony. Pinkie giggled as Fluttershy carefully lowered her down to the floor minus her spurs and hat which had somehow completely vanished from sight.

Twilight Sparkle filed away the strange scene that had just unfolded in the back of her mind and she readied to strike at Lord Moonclaw again. If I can hit the same leg, I might be able to weaken him long enough for the Princesses to recover and end this. Twilight made the mistake of quickly glancing over where Celestia and Luna who were both awake, but still out of the fight for now. In the time she took to check on them, the little pony gave her adversary enough time to outthink her. A growl was the only warning she had before a mouthful of teeth and fangs leapt at Twilight.

The little pony panicked. Her eyes widened, and she grit her own teeth before unleashing the power she had been gathering in her horn. Twilight Sparkle yelled, the room flashed into a blindingly violet light, Lord Moonclaw yelped, and the lavender unicorn felt a pair of claws pass harmlessly through her mane as she ducked in the nick of time.

Twilight’s chest heaved in and out. The close call to what seemed to her like certain death had that effect, but it didn’t stop the unicorn. She came up from her nimble dodge in a wide stance, ready to defend herself, but for the moment, it seemed that Lord Moonclaw was incapacitated for the time being. No longer looking like the imposing leader of an unstoppable army of monsters, he curled up in the middle of the crater he had created during his battle with Celestia. The wulven clutched at one of his eyes and Twilight could see a faint trail of blood leaking between his paws. “You will die with them.”

She glared down at a wounded Moonclaw when she heard somepony shout out her name. “Twilight!” The lavender mare’s ears perked up at the familiar voice, and she looked up at Princess Luna who had managed to stagger to her hooves.

Next to her, Princess Celestia had her head lifted up. She looked from Twilight to Moonclaw and she stared intently at him through her blackened and bruised eyes. “Throw it, Luna!” The lunar alicorn glanced at her sister for a moment before she hefted the Elemental tiara on her head with her magic, and launched it across the room.

The Element flew through the air, and with a quick thought from her, Twilight caught it in a violet aura and brought it to sit on her head. The second it touched her fur, she closed her eyes and felt a shiver run across her coat as the Element merged with her very being. Like an old friend, it greeted her and she felt the other five Elements as well join in the connection.

Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash were there with her, and yet she could somehow still feel Dmitri Bearclaw, Victoria Schaefer, Socket Wrench, Isamu Zhang, and James Fletcher. The Elements of Harmony transcended the past and future, and Twilight now understood how to make things right again. She opened her eyes to see Lord Moonclaw still collapsed in the crater before her. The other bearers stood in a ring around the crater, their Elements glowing with harmonious light.

As one, the six ponies closed their eyes, and a beam of pure light connected the Elements. Glowing blindingly bright, a melodious chime filled the air and Twilight Sparkle felt herself rise into the air. The room filled with static electricity and Lord Moonclaw raised a feeble paw to block the light, while he still clutched at his ruined eye with the other. The wulven lord snarled and shouted out one last time, “No!”

Twilight Sparkle opened her glowing eyes and the magic swirling around each Element surged inward towards Moonclaw. A torrential spiral of energy filled the room, soaring into the air where it blew off the entire top of the Canterlotian tower. The thundering cyclone drowned out the wulven’s final cry with a roar that echoed across the entire valley. Up and up, it continued rising away from the city where finally, a titanic explosion of color spread across the entire sky. This Elemental surge of magic spread outward from Harmony in a neverending, expanding bubble that one day, would serve as a beacon to lead a lost species to a new home.

The Elements of Harmony wound down and Twilight felt herself slowly lower to the stone floor, still warm from the onslaught that had just happened. As her vison cleared, she sighted Lord Moonclaw, now unconscious but still breathing. The Elements had purged him of all his magic. No longer would he be able to maintain his arcane army which would now fade away without their power source to keep them going.

Silence fell upon the room. Twilight Sparkle released the breath she had been holding in and she stood upright and she surveyed the scene of destruction around her. Across the floor, she spotted several dozen piles of broken glass, along with various sized chunks of wall and ceiling. Not a single window remained whole in the entire atrium and over half of the roof was just gone, allowing her to see the clear blue sky above.

“Twilight?” She looked up at the orange coated earth pony standing next to her around the crater. Applejack stared at her and took a hesitant step forward. “Is that really you?”

“Yes, Applejack. It’s me.” Twilight Sparkle smiled when a pink blur slammed into her from the side.

“TWILIGHT!” The shrill, deafening scream from Pinkie Pie surprised Twilight so much that she yelped out loud. She felt herself being swung around in a circle. Her vision cycled through walls, ceiling, floor, Applejack pressing her hooves against her ears, then the walls again.

“Pinkie!” Twilight shouted to no avail as Pinkie Pie ceased her screams only to blurt out every single thought going through her head all at once.

“I just knew you were okay, Twilight, and that you were going to come back to us but I could tell that you were busy and had other ponies to save in a strange, strange world far, far away, and I understand even though it made me sad that you missed your birthday but we can always celebrate your birthday when we go home to Ponyville…”

“Pinkie Pie, stop!” She finally got the excited earth pony’s attention and Pinkie reluctantly set Twilight down. Placing a forehoof on the party pony’s shoulder, she smiled at her friend. “I missed you too.”

Twilight Sparkle stepped back when another pony hit her from the side. This time, though, she wasn’t knocked over and she turned to see a long pink mane, covering most of a yellow pegasus’ face nestled into her shoulder. Twilight reached over and pulled Fluttershy into a hug while her friend’s muffled voice professed how much she had missed the unicorn.

More hooves embraced her as Applejack and Rarity made their way over. A somewhat calmer Pinkie Pie jumped onto the group, and even Rainbow Dash landed next to them in order to join in. Twilight laughed as they all squeezed in to hold her. “I missed you girls so much!”

“We missed you too, darling!” Rarity’s voice wavered in pitch, and she sniffled through her nose. “I’m so sorry, Twilight!”

“It’s okay, Rarity.” Twilight wrapped one of her forelegs around the white unicorn as she began to sob into her shoulder. Her grip wavered, and only Twilight’s hoof around her friend’s back kept her from collapsing onto the ground. “It wasn’t your fault.”

Applejack stepped in to cover for the distraught Rarity before she fully lost her composure in front of everypony. “Gosh, it’s so good to see you again, Twi. I am so glad that you are okay.”

Fluttershy mumbled something as well, but Twilight could not pick out anything she said over the well wishes from the rest of her friends. She let herself enjoy the moment, and months of built-up stress seemed to wash away. Twilight wanted to stay right there. She wished she could go straight to find Spike and the rest of her family to let them know that she was safe, but she needed to check on the Princesses.

She need not have worried though because she felt another set of hooves hug her. Twilight opened her eyes and her blurry vision grew more indistinct when she saw the wounded but not beaten Princesses of Equestria also embracing her and her friends. “Princess! Are you okay?”

Celestia’s tired smile looked down at her and she nodded. “We will be fine, Twilight Sparkle. It is you, though, who we have been worried about for many moons now. We are so happy you came back to us.”

“Me too, Princess.” Twilight Sparkle smiled at the faces of her friends encircling her. “Me too."

From behind the far western smoky mountains, dying rays of the evening twilight stretched across the heavens. The sky gradually shifted into separate bands of light mirroring the colors of the rainbow. Heavily tinted to a deep, deep red, the sun grew bloated and seemed to struggle against the horizon while it slowly crept out of view. Weeks of accumulated smoke and other airborne pollutants, discharged in the air during the wulven’s march to Canterlot, inadvertently created an unusually stunning sunset.

Twilight Sparkle sat on her haunches overlooking the valley below from one of Canterlot’s western towers. Far below, the defenders of Equestria’s capitol worked hard to disassemble the hastily thrown together fortifications they had built to stop Lord Moonclaw’s forces. She wished she could be down there helping them, but after the traumatic events of today…

I just need a moment to collect myself. Twilight frowned and her vision grew unfocused as she once more began to mull over the last few hours. Movement against her side yanked her back into the present and she glanced over to check on the prone form of Spike leaning against her. After their tear-filled reunion, her number one assistant had refused to even leave her side and he eventually fell asleep with her serving as his pillow. Each time Twilight shifted her legs, he would reach out and wrap one of his tiny claws around her hoof, to make sure she was still there.

Twilight leaned over and gently kissed the top of his head. Deep in the dream world, the baby dragon mumbled a few unintelligible words before curling up closer to her side. She smiled down at her number one assistant and had to use a forehoof to wipe away the moisture from her cheeks. Her ears picked up on a snort and she glanced at Rainbow Dash who sat right next to her. Not encased in armor anymore, the prismatic mare struggled to hide her smirk behind one of her cyan wings.

“He really missed you, Twilight.” On her right, Fluttershy leaned forward to smile at the sleepy dragon’s prone form.

“I missed him so much.” Twilight Sparkle wrapped her foreleg around Spike and pulled him a little closer to her. She then looked around at the ponies surrounding her. “I missed all of you.”

Twilight heard hoofsteps coming up behind her and both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna joined the group on the balcony. “I’ve sent out several of my guard out to retrieve your family, Twilight. They will be here by nightfall.”

She smiled up at the princess. Both of the royal sisters looked much better after some much-needed healing magic treatments from the city’s unicorn doctors. They moved a little slower than usual, but all their bruises and burns were gone. Just the bandages still wrapped around Celestia’s wing gave any indication of the fight that had occurred only a few short hours before.

“Thank you, Princess. How are you and Princess Luna feeling? You both look much better now.”

“Restorative magics do wonders for the body.” Princess Celestia shot a wink over at her. “The doctors and nurses said we will feel much better after a good night’s rest. I can’t say the same for Moonclaw however.”

This made Twilight curious and she hesitantly asked a question she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer to. “How is he?”

She noticed the sadness in Celestia’s eyes, but the alicorn princess blinked once and smiled down at Twilight. “He is stable. As soon as he heals, we will return him to his cell in Tartarus with some added protections to keep him from escaping again. However, that shouldn’t be too difficult since the Elements drained him of all of his magic. It will be many centuries before he will be able to even lift a grain of sand again.”

Twilight felt a mixture of relief and guilt as she looked once more at the destruction down in front of them. “He had so much hate bottled up inside. If he had just been willing to talk, I don’t think any of this would have ever happened. I hope he finds peace.”

“I do too, Twilight.” Princess Luna chimed in. “Moonclaw used to be our best friend a long time ago. I hope he can forgive us someday.”

“Me too, sister.” Princess Celestia placed a forehoof on her sister’s shoulder. She then focused her attention back on Twilight. “I am however, most grateful that you’ve returned to us in good health. I only had a small window of opportunity to aid in your travels and I was worried that my guidance would not be enough to keep you safe.”

“Twilight,” from the other side of Fluttershy, Rarity sat up and carefully requested of her, “if you don’t mind me asking, where did you go?”

Twilight Sparkle’s eyes went out of focus and she wavered for a moment. “I… I went far away… so far away, Rarity. I don’t think I could ever properly explain half the things I saw.”

She thought over what it took to get her here. Her journey had taken her further than anypony she had ever known or even read about. Twilight Sparkle traveled and explored an Equestria that wasn’t bound to a single world. The galaxy she voyaged across would not exist for thousands of years. She had set her eyes on planets that everypony other than the Princesses of the sun and moon would never know even existed.

The little unicorn pony from Ponyville narrowly escaped from a nameless frozen tomb world, took part in stellar combat around massive gas giants that dwarfed her own tiny home world, and she had experienced perpetual twilight in cities that never fell asleep nor stopped partying. Her travels brought her in contact with some of the most interesting creatures she had ever known. Of all the aliens Twilight had encountered on the various worlds she had explored, none held her fascination or respect like the humans did.

“Princess?” Twilight looked up at Celestia and she sat down between her and Rainbow Dash.

“What is it, Twilight?”

She hesitated as she struggled to think of a way to tell her teacher about something that would happen in the future without jeopardizing their timeline. In the end, she tried to be somewhat vague about it. “You will meet someone named James Fletcher a long, long time from now. He and his friends saved my life, and they taught me much about friendship.

“Life can be fleeting. It doesn’t have to last long no matter how much we want it to.” As Twilight spoke, she looked at the faces of her friends, mentors, and her sleepy number one assistant who still snoozed against her. “All we can really do in this life is love one another the best we can, because in the end, having good friends by your side is what truly matters.”

“Well said, Twilight Sparkle. This James Fletcher and his friends sound like wise ponies.”

Twilight used a forehoof to hide the grin on her face. “They were very wise indeed.”

Down in the valley, pegasi ponies came in from the south, hauling in rain clouds over the lower reaches of the battlefield. Methodically, they moved the storm line up to wash away the last signs of their desperate holdout around Canterlot. Soon, the rest of Equestria would follow, and they could forget the horrible memories caused by this war.

Twilight Sparkle, her friends, and the two princesses watched the pegasi work, content to sit there quietly and enjoy one another’s company. As the clouds bunched up, the rumbling of thunder grew louder. The wind suddenly picked up, and a cold breeze tossed around their manes and tails. No pony made to leave the balcony though and soon, a faraway roaring could be heard as the storms opened up with a deluge of rain.

Like the scarred landscape washing away in front of her, Twilight would let her painful memories of the two wars fade. The fields around Canterlot would grow back and their damaged cities would be rebuilt. Hopefully the Equestria of the future, of which she only obtained a glimpse, would also be able to recover. Twilight Sparkle looked forward to going back to her old life in Ponyville with the friends surrounding her, but she knew she would never forget the friends she made in a place and time so far, far away.

Author's Note

There it is! The final full-length chapter!

I've got the epilogue edited too. Give me a few days to format it and I'll get it posted! Thanks for all your patience.

Chapter 23: Epilogue

The city’s old walls shook as multiple shockwaves reverberated through the ancient stonework. Buildings that had weathered thousands of years of use stood resolute against the thunderous booming washing over them from the sky. High above, the stars hid from sight, as a continuous barrage of exploding shells smothered the air with their own artificial light. From horizon to horizon, the sounds of heavy artillery joined with screaming rockets and the rapid staccato of chained fuses going off in sequence.

The light show above had been going on for hours now, but it did not show any signs of ceasing anytime soon. This part of town was far outside of the residential districts and its streets remained empty of any other denizens this late at night. This seclusion made it easier for the five dark figures ducking from shadow to shadow to stay hidden.

The group of shapes, two were short and three were tall, paused in between two towering administration buildings. They crouched in the darkest corner of the alleyway, out of sight from any living or electronic observation. Four of them stood stock still while the last fidgeted nervously as another cascade of lights and colors crawled across the heavens. Though the entire street lit up, the figures remained obscured enough to remain unseen.

As soon as the latest light show ended, they took off running. The only sign of their passage across the street was a faint shimmer of the air, gone as soon as it had passed. Not one of the nearby security cameras picked up on the military grade stealth systems while they passed by them. However, if anyone had been paying attention to their live-feeds, several alarms would have been activated when the last shimmer tripped over the median curb and tumbled several feet across the ground.

Luckily, with the commotion going on above the massive city, the monitoring station watching the cameras was closed and unoccupied. If someone had been watching, they might have missed the tumbling mirage, but they would not have missed the distortion blinking away and revealing an earth pony tangled in a stealth-field cloak. The pony clambered to his hooves and vanished from view again, quickly following his compatriots across the street and down an elaborately carved set of marble stairs.

The stairs ended at a courtyard in front of a gigantic ornate structure built into the side of a cliff. Columns of pristinely cut stone lined the front facade. Stained glass windows rose from the ground all the way to the roof, each depicting a famous event in the history of Equestria. From grand battles, to the creation of powerful alliances between species, these windows displayed Equestria’s already rich history well before they reached out to the stars. Under their watchful gaze, the shimmering figures slunk along the edges of the cliff up to a pair of towering wooden doors, older than Equestria’s first moon landing, their well-kept oaken slabs contrasted the very modern locking mechanism at its heart.

“Alright, Alice. You’re up,” the lead form whispered. A tiny holographic cloud of lights popped into existence around the lock, swarming around the device for several seconds before it unlocked with a heavy mechanical clang. Even though it must have weighed several tons, the massive door was easily pulled open on its perfectly balanced hinges.

No sooner had the forms crept towards the opening when a booming voice, dripping with barely contained amusement, seemed to come from every nook and cranny in the courtyard. “Greetings, champions of Equestria! Welcome to the final level!”

Without warning, the two gigantic doors slammed shut with a tremendous bang, and the entire courtyard filled with light and sound. Sirens wailed and spotlights on the rooftops swiveled around to target the group of shadowy figures huddled by the entrance. All around the open square, doors burst open and a flood of black armored bipedal soldiers came running out, hip-firing their boxy rifles on automatic.

The six figures leapt sideways, scrambling for cover behind the two nearest pillars to the doors. Ceasing their onrushing assault, the matte black armored soldiers took up positions around the courtyard, keeping their weapons trained on the group’s hiding spots. After a moment of silence, only punctuated with the wailing of proximity alarms and the humming engines of two hovercraft fliers who had somehow flown in without making a sound until now, one of the cloaked shapes stood up and pulled off his stealth tarp. The human walked down the stairs and up to the line of soldiers, until he could see his reflection in their tinted face-plates.

He looked from one expressionless soldier to the next and shook his head. From here, he could easily notice the mismatched horns poking out of their helmets, as well as the long snaggletoothed smirk peeking out below their face-plate. Raising his arms out wide, James Fletcher called out with a loud yell. “Discord, you can show yourself now.”

The lines of what were clearly smaller draconequus wearing identical black tactical armor broke apart and stood at attention as a much taller draconequus strode forward in an officer’s dress uniform. His chest bore a multitude of medals, service ribbons, and badges. Most of which James was sure were fantasy since he could not remember a medal bearing a golden profile of Discord’s face from when he had to study decorations at the academy.

As Discord walked up to James, the rows of magical copies saluted as one and the taller draconequus returned the salute before stopping in front of him. James frowned and put his hands on his hips, craning his neck back to stare up at Discord. That small little smirk, and the barely contained excitement in his eyes, told James that his team had not come close to successfully sneaking away from the festivities taking place across the entire planet. Discord had noticed, and had allowed them to come this far only for his amusement.

“How did you know?” James Fletcher let his neck relax and he pinched the bridge of his nose while wondering how much trouble they were in.

Discord snapped his fingers and brief flash of light filled the courtyard. When it was gone, all of the soldiers, alarms, spotlights, and hovercraft had simply vanished. Now wearing a formal tuxedo and bowtie, the master of trickery walked around James who joined him to make their way back up the stairs towards the double doors. “I thought you and your friends would try and sneak away from the celebration in Canterlot, so I just waited and watched for you to make your move. I’ll admit, the stealth cloaks were clever, but I knew exactly what to look for so I thought I would have a bit of fun.”

“Yeah, I guess it was pretty obvious how much we didn’t want to be there.”

“I’ve always found you mortals to be so very predictable. I personally would love to be the center of attention of every single creature on all the planets of the Equestrian Nations.” Discord smiled down at James, who let out a sigh.

“It’s just too much for us right now.” James said as the pair reached the landing at the top of the stairs. Discord smiled at Dmitri Bearclaw, Victoria Schaefer, Socket Wrench, and Isamu Zhang as they shed their own stealth cloaks and joined their captain and captor.

A massive bang filled the air, and the group turned around to watch as the night sky rivaled high noon. The entire planet seemed to be completely taken up with celebration. Explosions of color chased away the dark. Across the entire horizon, brilliant motes of blue, yellow, and crimson fire continuously erupted, blanketing the city with a rainbow of color.

Rolling booms echoed from every direction. Even the cheering crowds from the party happening all the way out in downtown Ponyville could still be heard miles away. Though James and his friends would have rather slipped away unnoticed than take part in the celebration, he couldn’t blame them for celebrating. The war that every human, pony, griffon, or most of the other species in the UEN had been born into was finally over. Only the immortal Princesses of the sun and moon, Discord, and a few other powerful magical creatures could remember a time before the war.

James wondered what the United Equestrian Nations would do, now that they did not have to worry about the bombardment of their homes or the destruction of their fleets. This victory would surely usher in a golden age for them and he felt a warm sense of satisfaction that the next generation wouldn’t have to deal with the nightmares of cygnul extermination fleets.

He frowned as the memories of darker times pulled at his focus, when he felt a warm hand grab his own. Looking up, James saw the smiling face of Victoria as she squeezed his hand. A knowing kindness in her eyes eased his fears, and James felt himself relax as the stress that had been building vanished completely.

“Shall we go inside, Captain?” Victoria pulled James around and gestured to the now unlocked double doors behind them. Discord snapped his fingers once more, pulling open both slabs, and the whole group entered the Sanctuary of Harmony.

The polished marble floor extended far across the interior of the sanctuary. Tapestries and paintings adorned every wall, continuing the story of Equestria started by the stained-glass windows on the front of the building. Their first permanent moon colony, the defeat of the rogue Naga kings, the great solar eclipse, and even the first meeting with the humans, was all on dazzling display.

In between the two-dimensional art exhibits, statues of granite and gold stood several stories tall. Ponies, long dead from Equestria’s past, posed regally in royal attire. Earth pony, pegasi, unicorn, and even alicorn sculptures watched over the Sanctuary with their eternal gaze. Like the artwork, each monument embodied a renowned pony of the nation’s past.

In the center of the massive open space stood the crystalline Treehouse of Harmony. Glowing with its own natural aura of light, the Treehouse filled the hearts of those in the sanctuary with a deep, calming warmth. The Elements had been returned back to the living representation of Harmony and their new bearers could feel their presence.

However, what caught the attention of the six bearers and stopped them in their tracks was the presence of two very real alicorns and a large bipedal wolf sitting next to the Treehouse, admiring its glimmering branches. “I haven’t seen the Treehouse this healthy in a long, long time,” Princess Celestia glanced their way and smiled. “I know I’ve said it a thousand times before, but thank you all for what you’ve done for Equestria.” The tall regal alicorn stood and waved over the new bearers to join them. James, Dmitri, Victoria, Socket, Isamu, and even Discord made their way across the sanctuary.

“I’m sorry we left the party you threw for us at the castle, Princess,” James began but stopped when Luna raised a hoof to stop him.

“Apologize for nothing, James Fletcher. We know that entertaining the Canterlot elite can be… rather taxing. Especially after all you have gone through recently.”

“We just wanted to get away for a bit.” Socket Wrench craned her head to stare up at the glittering rose-colored leaves of the Treehouse. “It was all too much too fast.”

“You miss her, don’t you?” The large wolf spoke up.

“Don’t you?” Isamu Zhang pulled his eyes off of the Treehouse to focus on the eye-patch-wearing lupine. “Royal Historian? That’s a stretch for you, Lord Moonclaw.”

The wolf smiled and he shook his head. “Well, I am technically a researcher of time magic so it’s not too far off the truth. You’re right though, I do miss her.”

“The disguise was a good one, though.” Victoria Schaefer walked up and gave the large wolf a hug. “Thank you for sending her back home. It was the right thing to do.”

Moonclaw knelt down to return the hug. “I’m glad I was able to thank her. I realized how wrong I had been after serving my time in Tartarus, but by then it was too late.”

“Twilight Sparkle had a wonderful life.” James Fletcher spoke up while staring at the row of pony statues directly behind the Treehouse. There, stood granite effigies of an alicorn, a unicorn, two pegasi, and two earth ponies. “She had wonderful friends, a wonderful family, and she did so much for Equestria. She lived a long, happy, and prosperous life.”

He turned to address the rest of the group. “Our good friend lived and died thousands of years before any of us were ever born. I never would have guessed that a pony we learned about in history books about would be able to teach us so much about friendship in leading by example. It was so hard saying goodbye to her, but I’m so thankful we were able to share part of our lives with her.”

“Even if it wasn’t as long as we all would have hoped for,” Dmitri added on. “Appreciate those who are close to you and never take them for granted.”

“That is a good lesson that I think Twilight Sparkle would agree with,” Princess Celestia nodded her head at the earth pony. “She always told me how important you all were to her and she cherished your friendship for the rest of her life. But don’t forget that you all have your own lives ahead of you now. Live them well, and make Twilight proud.”

“We will, Princess,” Socket fluttered over to stand next to the tall alicorn. “And when we are done, maybe we will see Twilight again.”

James Fletcher took another long look at the statue memorializing Twilight Sparkle, the first Princess of Friendship. He nodded his head and turned to make his way from the sanctuary. The rest of the creatures made to follow him and they left through the towering front doors. Pausing in the courtyard outside, they stood under the night sky still dominated by shimmering lights and starbursts of celebration.

He wondered how many years it would take to fully recover from the war. There was a lot of work ahead of them before things would truly quiet down again. Though the tasks seemed daunting, there was relief in knowing he wouldn’t have to face them alone. Glancing left and right at Dmitri, Victoria, Socket, Isamu, and even Alice’s tiny glowing form on his shoulder, James knew they would be all right.

They would face these challenges the same way they ended the war; by working together, side by side, as friends.

The End

Author's Note

And fin!

Thank you all for sticking through it with me while I write this story. Again, my apologies for not cranking it out faster. Real life has a way of getting in the way of things. I hope you enjoy where we went and how Heart of Courage ended. I know G4 will be finishing soon and it was a wonderful ride. MLP has the best fandom I've ever interacted with in my opinion.

Some background information about this story if anyone is interested. The main plot point of this story was decided upon when I first started writing some background and reference information down. I always wanted Twilight to be thrown into the far future where a united pony and human interstellar nation was at war with an alien race controlled/created by the entity that created Nightmare Moon. All the while, there would be a conflict going on back in her original timeline. I also always planned to have Moonclaw be redeemed after Twilight's passing of old age and meet her somehow in the future.

On that note, I personally feel that immortality is a curse, not a blessing. Because of that, I only had those the show confirmed to be immortal survive into the future timeline. I felt like it made their goodbyes more poignant. Forcing Twilight to outlive all her friends and family seems way too cruel in my opinion. (Cadence and Flurry would be in the same boat I guess)

I started this story halfway through Season 2 so I know the canon has changed quite a lot since then, but I did my best to continuously rework certain parts to try and stay as close to canon as possible. This is another reason why Twilight is a unicorn and not an alicorn. I didn't try to be too sneaky about it, but I enjoyed throwing in references to later seasons that her future friends knew about, but she didn't.

Many of the fight scenes in this story were actually inspired by music and the name of the story itself comes from Two Steps from Hell's song, Heart of Courage. Listen here!

I spent a few weeks studying black holes and their wacky effects on surrounding space. The math is just nuts and I built an excel spreadsheet to crunch the numbers and figure out exactly what would happen during the big space battle in the cygnul home system. I had dozens of formulas working together to try and keep the battle as realistic as possible. It took some fine tuning, but I was able to get our heroes as close to the black hole as possible without ripping the ship apart. Once I got that number, I calculated the time dilation (which wasn't much at all for a small black hole) and the apparent diameter it would look like. I learned a lot actually and it was a fun side project to this story. (Big fan of the movie Interstellar by the way)

If you have any additional questions about the story, feel free to ask me in the comments for this chapter. There's a lot that goes into a story this long so I don't want the Author's Notes to be any longer.

Thank you again for reading Heart of Courage. I hope you liked it! Cheers! :twilightsmile:

Chapter 1: Rendezvous

A squat-looking shuttle plowed its way through a raging ice storm. Its pilot struggled to stay in control of the aging spacecraft while harsh turbulence buffeted them around. In the rear cargo bay, the spacious room held only two occupants. The pair held tight to their harnesses while fighting to keep down breakfast.

The first passenger turned towards the cockpit and yelled over his radio, “Lieutenant Zhang, we need to be able to leave the planet after this mission. If Tank has to go through another minute of your flying, he’s going to start falling apart instead. I hope you enjoy…” A huge gust of wind forcefully tossed the shuttle craft up a dozen feet, interrupting the occupant’s insult as he nearly bit his tongue off.

“Captain Fletcher,” the pilot calmly replied, “I have everything under control. Tank can take this weather. He has been through far worse and survived. Oh, and one other thing, we are about to pass through a rather large funnel system so brace yourselves back there.”

Captain Fletcher had enough time to say, “Wait, what?” before the shuttle keeled over and began a vertical nose dive whilst spinning rapidly. From the cockpit, every alarm blared loud enough to be heard over the buffeting winds outside. Ignoring the cacophony, Lieutenant Zhang fought with the controls, trying to stabilize the out-of-control ship. As they plummeted from the sky, Captain Fletcher held on to his harness and gritted his teeth in anger. I will not throw up on my shuttle.

The second occupant didn’t fare the sudden twisting as well. A sickly splashing noise sounded over the radio followed by a series of Russian curse words. Fighting the g-forces, Captain Fletcher looked over to see the front faceplate of the other occupant’s combat suit covered in half digested oatmeal and milk. The sight made the usually impassive Captain break out in a smug grin. Slowly, the shuttle righted itself and pulled out of the twisting wind currents.

From the front of the ship, Zhang came back over the radio. “I knew Dmitri couldn’t outlast you James. This means Socket owes me fifteen bits.”

The second occupant pulled his helmet off and went to work cleaning it. “Gahh! I shouldn’t have had milk.”

James looked down at his friend. “You were the one who made this bet, Dmitri. I had no part in it. But don’t forget, we both ate the same breakfast.”

“Nyet, I want rematch.”

Zhang answered before James could. “Good, another chance to watch Dmitri clean puke out of my shuttle. Anyway, that will have to wait for another time. The storm is clearing up and we are seconds from the plateau you picked out, Captain.”

“Alright, here we go. Dmitri, clean that damn helmet and get it back on right away. The air is too thin here and, no matter how much I would like to, I can’t let you asphyxiate.” James turned towards the cockpit. “Isamu, keep Alice scanning for any threats and be ready to move quickly if something happens. When we land, I’m going outside to get a better view.”

As they carried out his orders, James glanced at his arm-mounted computer. It displayed a live camera feed, allowing him to watch the shuttle dash over frozen valleys and mountain ranges. Thin air currents pulled at the icy peaks, creating long trails of glittering clouds at the tops of the highest mounts. A shudder throughout the craft indicated its pilot engaging the vertical takeoff and landing thrusters. Slowly, their speed and altitude dropped until the ship settled lightly on a flat cliff top. With the ease at which Isamu Zhang set the shuttle down, James wondered if their inbound turbulent flight had been done on purpose.

James shook his head and unbuckled himself. Next to him, Dmitri grumbled while he finished cleaning up before slipping his helmet back on. Once the familiar click sounded, indicating a good seal, he went to work on his straps which had become quite tangled in the bumpy ride. Fletcher had reached the back of the shuttle and activated a large red switch. “Dropping the ramp.” He called over the radio as the large steel deck swung downwards to the ground, throwing up a small flurry of snow in the process.

Pacing around their landing site, James checked the integrity of the cliff side to ensure they wouldn’t tumble over the edge. Satisfied, he scanned the valley below but saw nothing of interest. That changed when he looked up into the night sky and watched as millions of tiny rocks morphed into brilliant sparks. The dazzling display filled the entire night sky with a light bright enough to cast shadows across the ice.

The meteor shower was quite a show. Too bad this lonely snowball of a planet currently has a measly population of three, thought Captain James Fletcher. As he watched, questions about their presence on this frozen plateau began to surface but before he could ponder for long, an amused voice from transmitter in his ear interrupted his thoughts.

“You like pretty light show, da?”

Fletcher turned to see a stocky earth pony walking towards him. He shot him a grin before turning back to gaze into the sky. “Feeling better?”

“Da! I am not weak. My straps must have been loose. Unfair disadvantage I think!”

James chuckled while watching the light show above. “Sure Dmitri. That must have been it. That’s why you were all tangled up back there.”

The Earth pony stood next to his human friend, sensing that something was wrong. “What bothers you, comrade?”

“Why does Princess Celestia want us here Dmitri? We are four light years from the nearest sensor station and dozens from the closest enemy battle space. All we get is an ambiguous message ordering us to sit and watch for, unusual, activity on this empty rock. A god-forsaken planet with an average temperature that makes even Azure’s heart look warm and cozy.”

The last comment inspired a hearty laugh from Dmitri. “My friend, I learn long ago to stop worrying about things I can’t explain. Sit back and relax, da? Don’t worry!”

Fletcher couldn’t help but grin at his friend’s laid-back manner when it came to dealing with life. Such an attitude helped keep him sane through the dark times in which they lived. Glancing back at the falling stars, he couldn’t help but still wonder why, in all her wisdom, did Princess Celestia want them here of all places. Why couldn’t it have been somewhere a little warmer? Maybe someplace with a beach. With a sigh, he looked back at Dmitri. “Did the sensors on Tank detect anything unusual?”

“Nyet Captain,” Dmitri said as he checked the computer on his foreleg. “Ionic energy low, solar radiation is a little high but that probably from poor excuse of an ozone layer here… nyet, everything within predicted values.”

I must be missing something. Fletcher frowned in thought. There must be one crucial detail, which if he could only figure out, would explain why they were assigned on this seemingly pointless mission. He delved into his memories of his past looking for a clue. Maybe it was something he learned in fleet school, or some advice he was given. Perhaps he did something wrong and this was a punishment of some kind. Memories flew by until a particular one caught his attention. It was when he had first met Princess Celestia and her sister Princess Luna.

During the award ceremony after the battle over Pegasopolis, James was recognized for extreme valor after he risked his ship by docking with the stricken missile cruiser Athens, to help evacuate her crew. His actions had saved over a hundred lives from the ship before her life support system failed. As Princess Celestia put the medal around his neck she had whispered something in his ear, too quiet for anyone else to hear. “You are a brave and loyal solder James Fletcher. I feel that you have yet to reach your full potential, but your time will come.” Ambiguity was a common trait in her decision-making from what Fletcher had gleaned from the Equestrian records of past, but before he could ponder why that memory was bugging him, Dmitri interrupted again.

“Damn computer,” he cursed as he slapped the screen on his leg. “Ugh, how do you change clock from planet-side time to military?”

James sighed. “Go to settings and…” He was halfway through explaining when a realization hit him.

“Da?” Dmitri looked at him and saw a look of shock through the helmet’s visor. “Are you al…”

“Alice!” Fletcher yelled into his communicator, much louder than necessary. “Gather data on all exotic particles and radiation. Look for anomalies in energy concentrations, especially the tachyon readout.”

“Yes, Captain.” A calm female voice replied.

The data began to download onto his screen. Please let this be a false alarm. How could I have missed the signs? If this was real, life was going to be one hell of a mess for a few weeks. The Wells Doctrine was one of the strictest of its kind and any deviations from it were severely punished.

“What the hay is going on!” The confused earth pony yelled.

“Remember when we took quantum mechanics in the academy?” the worried human asked.

The pony’s confused look instantly changed to an amused one. “Ha! Not really. Remember, you helped cover my ass for final exam.” Dmitri laughed as he thought of a much simpler past.

James slapped his forehead. “Ugh, do you know what tachyons are?”

Dmitri put his hoof under his chin and thought for a second. “Is that the particle that can travel through time? You know, you humans always so interested in that science fict…”

“Yes! So why would Princess Celestia want us here in the middle of nowhere for no clear reason other than to prepare for anything?”

The gravity of their situation finally dawned on Dmitri and a cold sinking feeling washed over the both of them. At that moment, both their screens finished downloading the tachyon readout. Dmitri looked at his screen and the cold feeling in his gut climbed into his throat, making it hard to breathe. The current readings were four thousand times higher than normal background levels and rising frighteningly fast. They were also radiating outward from a point in the middle of the icy plain in front of them.

“Shit…”

Chapter 9: Retaliation and Remembrance

Muted detonations reverberated through the Rainbow Dash as the cygnul ships wore down her shields. Twilight Sparkle flinched with every strike, knowing that the Dash would eventually succumb to the heavy beating. Surprisingly, a sense of tranquility settled on the bridge crew as they continued to perform their duties in silence. Ponies and humans had accepted their current situation but they would continue fighting to survive right up to the end.

Twilight glanced over at James Fletcher. The human stared unblinkingly at his computer screen though his eyes remained unfocused. In front of him, Isamu diligently worked the Dash’s remaining guns in a losing battle, but that didn’t faze the resigned lieutenant commander. Dmitri’s face bore his usual grin, albeit it looked a bit more cynical. Even the impending shadow of death couldn’t dampen the earth pony for long. As if sensing Twilight’s gaze, he turned around and gave her a reassuring smile before returning to work.

Watching how Rainbow Dash’s crew reacted while death waited around the corner slowly calmed Twilight down, allowing the terror she felt to fade away. She stared down at her hooves and thought about her life. Sure, there had been a couple of bad times, but they were overshadowed by the wonderful memories she had gathered over the years.

She had grown up with a family that loved her, a big brother that supported her, and a group of special friends that helped her live. There may have been a few bumps along the way, but she learned a lot with each one. She wouldn’t trade those memories for anything, and a smile grew on her face as she joined the crew and accepted her fate.

A much louder series of impacts distracted Twilight’s thoughts and she looked up. Displayed on the front screen, one of the bat-like cygnul ships began to creep closer towards the Dash. “All of our secondary cannons are offline, Captain. Our shields are gone too.” Isamu spoke steadily, leaning back in his seat and taking his attention off his work station. “Unfortunately, it looks like we are only going to be able to take that frigate with us. The rest of the cyg ships are keeping their distance.”

James didn’t answer. Instead, he let out a deep breath and continued to stare straight ahead as the black hulled cyg closed the gap between it and the UEN frigate. Like a predator cornering its wounded prey, the ship took its time. A wounded animal could still cause a lot of damage, and the cygnul were taking no chances. Rainbow Dash was as good as dead.

Suddenly, Twilight’s breath caught in her throat. A series of brilliant motes of light dove downwards towards the lead cyg vessel as it stalked towards them. Half a dozen bright flashes soundlessly erupted on the topside of the enemy ship, filling the entire screen with light before the electronic filter could compensate. Temporarily blinded by the glare, Twilight averted her gaze to blink away the afterimage. When her sight recovered, she looked out to see a cloud of debris in place of their hunter.

Confused, Twilight turned to James. “What was that?” She asked, but he continued to stare at the remains of the cyg, mouth agape.

“What happened to their frigate?” He finally spoke.

Isamu feverishly worked at his computer again. “Sir, six anti-matter ship-to-ship missiles managed to sneak by their sensors and detonate on her hull. I'm not seeing anything larger than a basketball on the radar…. hang on a second.” He paused his talking, furiously typing with one hand while moving holographic screens around with the other. “James!” Isamu spun around to look back at the captain’s seat with a huge grin on his face. “It’s the Athens! She is engaging the cygnul ships!”

In front of Twilight, Alice brought up another feed from one of the few remaining cameras on the hull. The image appeared hazy and unclear at first, before it shifted into focus. High above the Dash, a steel-grey ship with a wide, rounded nose, and royal-blue painted edges dove downwards. With an exterior shell constructed from hundreds of overlapping segments, she resembled a deadly reptile of immense proportions. Dozens of panels slid open across her hull, revealing large boxy turrets that swung to face the cyg ships before opening fire.

A rolling wave of smoke and flame partially obscured the nose of the Athens as multitudes of flashes signaled the launch of more missiles. The glowing streaks arced in graceful curves towards the cygnul ships, which returned defensive fire now that the element of surprise had been lost. One of the cyg corvettes could not shoot down all of the attackers and several missiles slammed into her nose, blowing her to pieces.

Adjacent to the video feed, a three dimensional representation of the local battlespace appeared. The remaining cyg frigate and three corvettes converged, allowing them to take out the Athens’ missiles with interlocking fire. A stalemate seemed to have formed and Twilight didn’t know how much longer the UEN cruiser could continue the barrage.

James seemed to have noticed the dilemma too, because he asked Alice. “How long can the Athens keep this up?”

The A.I. pony appeared on his chair and answered quickly with worry in her voice. “They can continue firing for another forty seconds before they need to reload their main batteries.”

James continued without missing a beat. “Is our main gun still operational? Was it damaged in the attack?”

“No, but I’m sending all available power to our jump drive. We don’t have enough to power up the solar cannon.”

“Alice, you said it yourself.” James pointed at the missile cruiser on his screen. “They won’t have enough ammo to cover us while we charge our jump drive. We need to join the battle and even the odds. I want all available power into our main gun right now. Push the reactor as hard as you can and swing us around to face the closest cyg ship.”

“Yes, Captain” Alice replied before vanishing.

Twilight felt a rumbling through her seat. “James, what’s the solar cannon?” She asked.

James answered while his eyes analyzed the battle that was raging outside. “You’ve seen Rainbow’s secondary weapons, the turrets. They pack quite a punch, but she has a much more powerful weapon built into her hull. ” James tore his eyes from his screen to look at her before continuing. “That means we have to turn the whole ship just to aim, so usually we only use it in long range engagements, but drastic circumstances call for drastic measures.” He paused and started smiling. “I think you’re going to find this fascinating. The solar cannon itself is a weapon created from the melding of science and magic.”

Twilight’s eyes widened in interest and she leaned forward, hanging on his every word.

“Using human superconductors and pony arcane crystals, the solar cannon channels a searing beam of energy that can burn through nearly anything in its way. And because it uses superconductors, it’s only limited by how strong your power source is. The gun in Rainbow Dash is the exact same design as one in a battleship, though it is scaled down a bit. A battleship has a much larger power supply so their cannon is stronger than ours.”

Right after James finished speaking, Isamu spoke up. “Captain, the main gun is charged at sixty percent of full capacity but the Athens is running out of time.”

Twilight faced forward to watch the four cygnul ships situated close together in front of Dash. The three smaller ones had positioned themselves around the largest ship in a triangular formation. Every second, a couple of thin bluish-white lines flashed into existence before disappearing. Each time a line appeared, it was followed by one of the Athens’ missiles exploding. Twilight had not been counting, but it looked like there were fewer launches from the UEN cruiser now than before.

“Alice,” James began, “target the closest corvette. The main gun should have enough power to punch through her shields at this range. If we put a hole in their missile screen, then the Athens can get a few more hits in.”

“Yes sir. I am beginning the firing sequence.”

A low whining noise began emanating from somewhere behind them, deep within the ship. As the sound increased in pitch, the cygnul corvette fired small thrusters and turned its nose away from the Athens and towards the Rainbow Dash. “Um, James?” Twilight nervously asked.

“They know we are targeting them. Hurry up Alice!” James called out.

“I am, sir.”

Both ships now faced each other. The nose of Dash radiated a dark red glow while a bright blue light illuminated the bow of the cygnul ship. At this range, there was no point in attempting to evade. The winner of this duel would be the ship that managed to fire first.

“This one’s going to be close!” Isamu shouted before Alice’s voice came back on over the speakers.

“Firing!”

A red burst of light flashed before a scorching column of energy popped into existence, connecting the Dash and the cygnul corvette. The dark red beam punched through the cyg’s shields half a second before impacting her hull. Armor plates boiled away, spraying thousands of droplets of molten metal that spiraled into space like the sparks from one of Trixie’s magic shows.

The solar cannon fired for only three or four seconds before stopping, but it managed to completely burn away the front quarter of the cygnul corvette. Drifting dead in space, what was left of the ship’s front half glowed an eerie dark yellow. Streams of cloudy gasses spewed out of every seam, pushing the cyg corvette in a lazy corkscrew.

All of a sudden, the ship erupted in a blinding ball of fire that forced Twilight to look away. The shockwave of debris hit Dash hard, shaking her to her core. The explosion also pushed the remaining cygnul ships apart, breaking their formation. Now drifting away in a disorganized fashion, their point defense screen fell apart very quickly.

Like a shark smelling blood in the water, Athens took advantage of the opening that Rainbow Dash had provided. The last of her missile bays flung their deadly payload downwards at the cygnul who were still trying to recover. The cygs managed to only knock out a fraction of the last barrage before miniature suns flared amongst the remaining three ships. Filters darkened the front screen while the nuclear lightshow raged outside.

Once the glare died down enough, Twilight studied the devastation outside of the ship. In front of Rainbow Dash sat a large cloud of debris, slowly expanding and cooling. She couldn’t tell which pieces belonged to which ship anymore.

“Sir,” Isamu broke the silence. “I'm detecting no energy signatures. All cygnul ships have been destroyed.”

Next to her, James let out a long sigh of relief. “Hail the Athens.”

On James’ and Twilight’s computer screens appeared the face of a sky-blue pegasus mare. She wore a clean cut khaki uniform and had a short cropped white mane. A huge grin creased her face before she laughed. “I guess you owe us one, Captain Fletcher.”

James smiled before replying. “Technically, we are even, Captain Nightingale, but the next time we are at the Officer’s Club, I owe you and your crew a drink. Thank you for the rescue, but how did you know where we were? There is no way you could have gotten here from any manned UEN outpost that quickly.”

“You’re right, but we weren’t at the outpost. We were in the Serana system updating communication codes for the relay when your probe warped in. We assessed your situation, and my officers and I agreed that you needed help now and we didn’t have time to wait for backup.”

“Well, we are very thankful that you took the risk and saved our asses.”

“You did the same for us, James.” Nightingale smiled at him before growing serious. “Back to business, do you require any assistance? Your ship looks pretty badly damaged and I’m sure you probably have wounded.”

“Our medical bay is nearly overflowing, but there is another problem. The cygnul fortress is still out there.”

From his computer station, Isamu joined the conversation with Captain Nightingale. “Captain, we knocked out the station’s cannons but its missile batteries are still operational. Unless it changed position, it should pop up over the horizon within the hour.” Isamu glanced back at James before continuing. “There is something else….”

Before he could finish, James spoke up. “We were forced to leave before everyone returned to the ship. My mage, Azure Lightning, stayed behind and is still on the station.”

Captain Nightingale furrowed her brow. “This complicates things.”

“We haven’t heard from her since, and I’m not sure what her situation is.”

Nightingale leaned back in her chair. “What do you want to do then?”

James thought for a moment. “We can’t assault the fortress directly, even with your ship.” He lifted a hand to his race and rubbed his eyes before continuing. “The problem is we don’t know anything right now. We need to make visual contact and maybe we can reach her. A lone shuttle might be able to avoid their missiles and pick her up.”

The blue pegasus pony nodded an agreement. “Very well, Captain. Set a course and we will match your speed and vector. In the meantime, I’ll send a few shuttles over with medical personnel, supplies, and a couple of my engineers to assist your crew.”

“Thank you, Captain.”

Twilight watched the pegasus captain vanish as Alice closed the communication window to the Athens, replacing it with an exterior view once more. Outside, stars flashed by as Rainbow Dash spun around. Eventually, the cloudy Charybdis sky filled the upper half of the front view screen.

“Alice,” James said from his chair, “set a course for the cygnul station. Push the reactor as hard as you safely can.”

“Yes, Captain.” Alice calmly answered as the ship began to vibrate while she accelerated. Rainbow Dash had survived quite a beating, and it showed as she sluggishly picked up speed. But even with all of her damage, she was still in the fight.

Twilight rubbed her eyes with her hooves and took a deep breath, holding it in for a moment before exhaling. The stress had taken its toll and her falling adrenaline levels made it hard to stay focused. She also couldn’t remember the last time she ate something. I feel like I’ve been running a million miles per hour. With every second that passed, the mare’s eyelids grew heavier and heavier.

A yawn escaped from Twilight’s mouth and her eyes took advantage of the distraction to close shut. No, I must stay awake! She forced her eyes open with all her strength but they only managed to open halfway before slowly drooping again. Okay, I’ll just let them rest for a second….

Shining Armor, Captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard and brother to Twilight Sparkle, sat on the cold stone floor in his room of the castle. The window curtains were drawn closed, effectively blocking the midday sun but sounds of construction could still be heard outside. A blank, unfocused gaze had replaced his normal, happy demeanor. On the table in front of him, the white unicorn stared at a picture of him and Twilight hugging. One of Shining’s favorites, it had been taken right after his wedding to Princess Cadence.

Behind him, a creaking noise disrupted the ambient hammering and talking of the construction ponies. Shining blinked and turned to see his wife enter through the door. Disheveled and dirty, dark circles hung under both of her eyes and she let out a large yawn as she walked over to her husband’s side. Princess Cadence sat next to him, closing her eyes and leaning on his shoulder. “How are you honey?” She turned her head and kissed his check.

Shining Armor took in a deep breath and exhaled. Standing up, the unicorn stallion walked forward, opened the drawer and slid the picture inside before closing it. Back next to the table, Cadence let out a sigh as her husband proceeded to walk into the bathroom and toss some cold water onto his face. After drying off, he faced his wife and gave her a feeble smile. “I’m fine, beautiful. Are you feeling well? How are the fortifications coming along?”

In a quiet, yet forceful voice, Princess Cadence stared into her husband’s eyes. “Shining Armor, please talk to me.”

Shining’s smile quivered but recovered. “Talk about what? I’m fine sweetheart.” His legs began to shake so he sat down, trying to keep his facade up.

The pink alicorn moved forward and sat in front of him. She lifted a hoof up and stroked his face. “It wasn’t your fault.”

His eyes dropped and he hesitated before answering. “I… know that.”

Cadence pulled her husband in a deep hug before whispering. “Oh, Shining, I’m so sorry.”

With those simple words, Shining Armor’s façade of strength faltered and collapsed. He pushed Cadence away with his fore hooves, holding her in front of him while he yelled. “How is it not my fault? Twilight is dead because of me! My job was to protect her! My little sister! My little baby sister! I failed her and now she is dead!” Breaking into sobs, Shining Armor drew his wife in, clutching her while burying his face in her tangled mane.

Tears flowed freely down Cadence’s cheeks as she held onto her trembling husband. “There was nothing you could have done.”

Shining Armor spoke much quieter this time. “Do you remember the story behind my cutie mark? When Twily was a little filly, I protected her from a group of bullies when they took her smarty pants doll.” He drew in a shaking breath before continuing. “I can’t even live up to my cutie mark anymore.”

Cadence pulled away and took Shining Armor’s face in her hooves. Staring into his eyes, she spoke with determination. “Stop that nonsense, my love. You do live up to your cutie mark. What would Twilight say to you now?”

The white unicorn’s breathing grew less ragged. “She would want me to keep protecting Equestria.” A smile grew on his face. “She would also probably tell me that everything was okay.”

Rubbing her husband’s cheek with her forehoof, Princess Cadence smiled. “Then let us go help save that which Twilight gave up her life for.”

Back on the bridge of the Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle bolted awake. Her eyes darted around the room in panic before she remembered where she was. Letting out a deep sigh, the lavender mare brought her hooves to her eyes to rub at the damp fur that had not been there before she fell asleep. Poor Shiny, I miss him so much.

Except for the typical humming sounds of the frigate, a blanket of silence had settled over the bridge as Rainbow Dash made her way around Charybdis. No one seemed to notice Twilight’s bout of time bleeding syndrome, until she turned to her left and saw James studying her with a slight worry on his face. Leaning back in his seat, his eyes darted over to his computer screen for a quick second as he typed something.

Twilight felt the air around them charge with magical energy before an opaque cylindrical shield popped into place, encompassing both her and James’ chair. Anything outside of it looked blurry and unclear, and it seemed to block all noise from the bridge and the ship itself.

“This is a privacy bubble, Twilight. Ship captains use them to have private conversations while on the bridge. No one can hear or lip read anything we say. Alice also is programed to not record anything said while one is active.” James told her and his gaze moved back to look at hers. “Now, Victoria has briefed me already about your condition, but I wanted to ask you face to face. How are you holding up?”

Twilight averted her eyes and scratched the back of her head with a hoof. “I…. I honestly don’t know.”

James waited for Twilight to continue, but when she didn’t, he spoke up. “It’s hard seeing loved ones who aren’t here anymore.”

Twilight only answered with a nod.

“You know, I served on the Samar when Aeries was attacked.” With that remark, Twilight lifted her head and turned back to James. The human still faced her but he now stared off into the distance. She could see his sadness in eyes clearly haunted by his past. “I lost many friends. I still sometimes see them in my dreams.”

He paused for a moment, taking in and releasing a deep breath before meeting Twilight’s gaze again. “I don’t presume to know anything about what you are going through. I won’t insult you like that.” He put his hand on her shoulder. “I just want you to know something. You are not alone in this.”

Twilight nodded and scanned her eyes around the bridge. Through the blurry shield around them, the crew of the Rainbow Dash worked hard to keep the ship safe. Even with the visual distortion, she could easily pick out Isamu and Dmitri. They had done so much to help her in this strange new world.

“You’ve accomplished so much with the hand you were dealt. You should be proud.” James smiled at her. “And just know this; I promise to do everything in my power to get you home safely. I won’t let you down.”

“Thank you, James.” Twilight smiled, then out of nowhere, her stomach let out a loud grumbling growl. Rubbing her belly with her forehooves, the unicorn blushed faintly. “I guess I’m hungry.”

James Fletcher laughed and produced a shiny wrapped bar from his pocket. “Time flies when you’re running on nothing but adrenaline, doesn’t it, Twilight? I’ve learned to keep something to eat on me at all times. It can be hard to grab a bite to eat on a mission.” Opening the wrapper, he handed it to her and continued. “Here, it’s peanut flavored. Doesn’t taste as good as the real thing, but it should hold you over.”

Twilight took ahold of the off-brown looking food bar with her telekinesis. She lightly nibbled at one end but the moment her brain realized it was food; she scarfed it down in seconds. “Wow, not bad. I guess I was really hungry.”

“Yeah, those food bars are great when you’re starving. You probably haven’t eaten since breakfast.”

“It feels like breakfast was yesterday.” Twilight quietly spoke before contemplating something for a moment. “Do you think we will be able to pick up Azure?”

James Fletcher’s smile dimmed and he didn’t answer right away. “I don’t know.” He pursed his lips before pushing a button on his console. The privacy bubble vanished, letting the noises from the bridge rush in to assail Twilight’s ears. She hadn’t realized how loud the ship actually was. After some time, her mind must have tuned everything out. If anyone on the bridge wondered about the conversation she had with James, they didn’t show it.

“Update, Alice.” James Fletcher said to the computer.

The AI pony’s holographic body appeared in response. “Victoria has stabilized all of our wounded, including Socket Wrench. She will apparently make a full recovery. The medical personnel and supplies from the Athens made that possible.”

Relief flooded through Twilight. James glanced over at her smile, returning it with one of his own. “I will need to thank Captain Nightingale again. We really do owe her one.”

After James finished, Alice continued speaking. “Repair crews have given us full control over our remaining reactor. All hull breaches have been temporarily patched, our shields are at ninety percent capacity, and I have regained control of turrets three and six.”

James mused for a second. “That’s better than I expected, but I still don’t like the situation. We need a dry-dock in order to get the Dash back to a hundred percent.”

“Captain,” Isamu spoke up from the front, “the fortress is about to pop up over the horizon.”

All eyes turned to the front where Charybdis’ sky continued to revolve over the frigate. Alice activated a flashing icon marking the fortress just behind the edge of the clouds. Slowly, it became visible as a bright star in the distance, and the front view screen quickly zoomed in, revealing the cygnul space station. Already, Twilight noticed parts of it moving around. Some openings revealed large metal dishes while others uncovered massive rockets; the same kind that chased Rainbow Dash earlier. A lump of fear began to grow in her throat.

Twilight focused on the scene in front of her intently when Alice suddenly yelled out. “James, I am picking up a transmission from the fortress! It’s Azure!”

“Put her on!” James shouted. Above, loud harsh static poured out of the speakers on the ceiling. Through the noise, Twilight could hear somepony talking but she couldn’t make out any of the words. James called out to Alice. “Clean up the signal!”

The static continued filling the bridge with buzzing but several pitch changes led to gaps in the sound that allowed the voice of Azure to become clearer. After a few seconds, Alice managed to bring the interference low enough to hear what the unicorn was saying.

“James, … you read me? I managed to…” Azure’s voice cut out again.

“Azure! I read you, and I’m going to send in a shuttle! Get to a hangar and prepare for pick up!” James Fletcher bellowed.

Alice worked to clean up the signal even more but Azure continued speaking as if she never heard James. “… they are coming soon. I have to act fast or they will retake the reactor room.” There was a long pause marked with only the sounds of white-noise in the background. It lasted long enough for Twilight to wonder if Azure had stopped transmitting, but her voice once again filled the bridge. “I hope you can hear me…. I hope the Rainbow Dash got away safely…. I can make sure nopony falls into this trap though. I’ve got a plan.”

During Azure’s communication, Isamu and Dmitri worked furiously at their computers. From his seat, James asked “Why can’t we reach her?”

Dmitri spoke up. “Fortress still block our transmissions. We can only hear her. She can’t hear us.”

“Well, I don’t like her tone. Get me a channel with Azure now! We need to let her know we are coming.”

As if on cue, Azure Lightning began talking again. “If you can hear me, stay away from the fortress. I’ve… rigged the reactor to overload. I’m no Socket Wrench, but it should happen any second.”

James started yelling. “No, Azure! We are coming! Abort the overload!”

The battle mage still didn’t hear him. “I don’t know who is listening… if anypony is listening…. I’m just so tired of this war. Goodbye, James. If anyone could get the Dash out of this mess, it would be y….”

Azure’s voice cut out to be replaced with a short, harsh squeal of static. On the view screen ahead, a blinding white flash blotted out the starry backdrop of space. The ball of fire flared out in a large expanding sphere before quickly cooling and faded away. Where the cygnul space station once orbited Charybdis, now there was nothing.

On the bridge of the Rainbow Dash, no one spoke. Twilight stared at the expanse of stars where the fortress once was. She may have never particularly liked Azure Lightning, but watching and hearing her death like that felt so personal. It felt like a kick straight into her gut.

A loud sigh came from Twilight’s left where James sat. In a low monotone voice, he murmured, not sounding hopeful. “Alice, scan for any life pods. Then contact the Athens. Let’s take care of our dead and leave this system.” The human stood up from his seat. “Isamu, you have the con.” Then he turned and left the room.

“The six coffins in front of us today should remind us that this war is not over.” Captain James Fletcher’s voice rang out through the large hangar bay in the belly of the Rainbow Dash. “They should also remind us of what we are fighting for. These brave souls made the ultimate sacrifice to make the universe a little bit safer for our loved ones back home. They took an oath, the same one you took, that they upheld until death. It is an oath to protect the innocent, to stand up against evil, to prevent genocide from happening again.”

Twilight Sparkle listened to James’ speech as she stood at attention like the rest of Rainbow’s crew. Several high ranking officers from the Athens were also in attendance, including Captain Nightingale herself. A heavily bandaged Socket Wrench stood next to Twilight. Even after a week in the infirmary, she still looked pretty worn down. Twilight had been very surprised that Victoria Schaefer allowed her to come.

In front of the lavender pony, the last metal casket in line caught her eye. Though a flag of the United Equestrian Nations lay draped over its metallic surface, Twilight still knew whose name was written on top of the lid. As the only empty one in the room, its presence was mostly symbolic. She found it hard to believe that the battle had been seven days ago. The wounds were still fresh in her mind.

Memories flooded through Twilight’s mind. She watched Socket Wrench nearly die twice; she relived the killing of her first cygnul; she felt the missile’s impact on Rainbow Dash’s hull. She remembered the vision of her brother and seeing how torn up he was. Then she heard Azure’s last words before they were cut off, replaced by a small, short-lived star. Azure was right. I am also tired of war.

Twilight picked up movement out of the corner of her eye and she realized that her mind had wandered off during James’ speech. In front of him, a human and a pony, three pairs for each coffin, were pushing the caskets into the airlock, a metal room that had a large closed door at one end. As each coffin entered the airlock, James would announce the name of the human or pony inside along with their rank, and place of birth. The pony and human pairs then collected the flag and folded it before taking it out of the airlock.

Dmitri and Victoria walked forward and joined two other pony-human pairs at the last casket in line. James’s voice once again filled the hanger bay. “Azure Lightning; Second Lieutenant; New Rhea.” When he finished, Dmitri and Victoria returned to their places among the ranks, with Victoria holding the now folded flag that had draped over Azure’s coffin. James then moved forward to the control panel on the airlock. With a few clicks, a metal door slid shut, sealing the six caskets.

A thick glass window allowed her to still see inside the door. Then, James activated a blinking red icon on the airlock computer which caused a flashing strobe light to spin in the room. The human turned and strode over to stand next to Captain Nightingale, when a new monotonous sound grew slowly in intensity.

Without turning her head, Twilight Sparkle glanced over to see five ponies and two humans marching towards the airlock. They all carried very ornate looking rifles that each had a large, bright orange device of some kind camped on the barrel. Twilight took note that the rifles held by the humans had much smaller triggers than the ones carried by the ponies. They also didn’t have as large of a reloading lever underneath.

The group of seven halted in front of the high ranking officers before turning as one to face the airlock. With a quick fluid motion, the ponies reared up on their rear hooves in a wide legged stance mimicked by the two humans. Each now pointed their rifle slightly upwards.

Twilight tried to figure out what they were doing when a deafening boom filled the room. The ponies and humans had fired their weapons as one, making her nearly jump into the air in fright. I forgot about the Honor Guard’s rifle volley! She remembered reading about it during her late nights researching on Socket’s Computer.

A sharp, metallic smell filled the room as the Honor Guard fire two more seven-round volleys. Because she now expected it, Twilight found it easier to not fidget anymore. Her ears did ring a little bit, but not as bad as when she first used Azure’s pistol on the cygnul space station. Because she didn’t hear any ricochets or see any impact damage, she mused that these guns weren’t firing real bullets.

After the last volley, James Fletcher bought his arm up in a salute. Except for Twilight, every other pony and human in the room followed suite. A few seconds later, the exterior door opened, revealing a backdrop of stars. All six caskets flew out of the airlock with the rush of air, before vanishing in the dark. The airlock door sealed shut and a loud hiss filled the room as air rushed back to fill the vacuum.

As the airlock slid open, the Honor Guard of humans and ponies turned and marched out of the hangar. Once they were out of sight, James walked forward to stand in front of everyone. Breaking the silence, he quietly spoke, “Twilight, stand by me.”

She hesitated for a heartbeat before walking forward as steadily as she could. Twilight felt everypony’s eyes on her. Reaching James’ side, the lavender unicorn turned to stand facing the room as well. I don’t want to mess up and make a fool out of myself. Her stomach churned from the unease she felt, but when her eyes caught Dmitri’s, he flashed her a quick smile, reassuring her.

“Return to your stations and await further orders.” James sternly announced to the crews of both ships. As one, every pony and human rotated ninety degrees and filed out of the hangar. Twilight stood there next to James until everyone had left the room, leaving them alone. Next to her, the human’s shoulders dropped down as his bearing changed from his earlier demeanor. Slowly, he began walking towards the hangar exit, followed by Twilight.

Only the sounds of heels and hooves hitting the steel deck punctuated the silence during the walk back to James’ cabin. When they reached his quarters, the human captain went over to his desk and sat down, facing Twilight. She crawled up into one of the guest chairs and sat down as well. “Twilight, I need to talk to you about what you did during the battle. You disobeyed my orders twice.”

Twilight Sparkle gave him a confused look. “But, you never gave me any orders.”

James leaned back in his chair while he glanced upwards and to the right. “Hmm, I guess I didn’t.” His eyes returned to her with a scowl. “But what you did was dangerous and it could have gotten you killed.”

“But I saved Socket’s life! Twice! And didn’t I also help save the ship?” Twilight Sparkle tried to defend herself.

The human’s facial features softened a bit. “Yes. Yes you did. That doesn’t change the fact that it was irresponsible. Luck was on your side that day. You just don’t have the training to keep doing stuff like that.” He turned to look at a picture on the wall. It displayed the Rainbow Dash parked in some sort of massive white-walled building with several dozen rows of uniformed humans and ponies standing in front of it.

Twilight thought over his words for a moment before she replied. “Then train me.”

That caught James’ attention. “What?”

“Train me. You said I don’t have the skills to help out around here? Then teach me. If I see somepony in trouble, I am going to try to help them anyway. So the least you can do is provide me with the experience necessary to do so.”

James stared hard at her and she cringed inwardly under his steely gaze. When he opened his mouth, he did not give the response she had been expecting. “Okay. We start tomorrow.”

“But you said it yours… wait, really?” Twilight’s counterargument halted in its tracks. She had been preparing for him to argue back.

As if reading her mind, James let out a light chuckle. “Twilight Sparkle, you forget. I know your history with your friends. I know you mean it when you said you would help anyone in need, but don’t think your training will be as easy as this argument was. It won’t.”

Twilight nodded, lowering her head to stare at her hooves. Unable to speak just yet, she mused over the fact that her life would soon take another dramatic turn. She also had to work through the shock she felt at the short amount of time it took to convince James to let her do this. It’s the least I can do.

When she looked back up at James, he stared off at another picture. This one showed a small group of ponies and humans all carrying weapons and looking at the camera. She recognized a scowling Azure Lightning standing next to a smiling James Fletcher. They both looked much younger. “Being in command is never easy, Twilight Sparkle.” James ran a hand through his hair.

The lavender pony glanced up at the human. She didn’t know how to respond, so she tried changing the subject. “What do we do now?”

Luckily, it seemed to work. “Now? We need a dry dock to fix up the damage to Rainbow Dash. The problem is that the closest one is just so far away and it will be very hard on our remaining reactor.”

A chime sounded from the entrance to James’ stateroom. He clicked something on his desk computer and the door slid open. “That’s not entirely true, Captain.” In walked Isamu Zhang followed by Victoria Schaefer, Dmitri Bearclaw, and a patched up Socket Wrench. “There is one other option.”

“We could go to Midnight City.” Victoria interjected before stopping in front of James.

James stood up, confusion on his face. “Isamu, how did you hear what…” He shook his head before crossing his arms in defiance. “No, that’s not an option.”

Socket Wrench coughed roughly before talking. Her voice still exhibited her usual strength, but a slight rasp gave away the punishment she had endured. “James, our ship won’t make it to a UEN dry dock. At least Midnight City has the facilities necessary for a full repair of the ship. It’s also only two jumps away. We could easily make it without taxing the reactor.”

“Do you know how much those repairs would cost? The Admiralty Board would never agree to it.” Fletcher retorted.

Dmitri looked away from the group and scratched his head with a hoof. “Well… I know Deval Aldridge. He runs the city. We go way back and he owes me big favor.”

Dmitri’s statement caused James to freeze for a moment before he continued. “You mean to tell me that the Deval Aldridge, the most powerful and influential weapons dealer in the Outlier Systems, owes you a favor? How in the hell did you manage that? How did I not know about this?”

“Well, he doesn’t only sell weapons.” The earth pony sheepishly answered.

“Dmitri!” James, Victoria, Isamu, and Socket all yelled in unison.

“Yeesh! Before I join Navy, I help him out with something. I promise him I wouldn’t talk about it again. No one got hurt and it wasn’t that illegal.”

“I'm going to forget you said that.” James rubbed the bridge of his nose with his hand.

Isamu spoke up after the distraction. “James, I see no other option. I know you don’t want to put anyone in danger, but trust me, this is the best course of action.”

James let out a deep breath. “Okay. We’ll do it. I’ll talk to Captain Nightingale about escorting us as far as she can, since we are a sitting duck in our condition. Go back to your posts. We have a lot of work to do.”