Ponyville
Golden Oaks Library
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Dusk and Celestia appeared in a flash of light outside of the castle near Ponyville. Under normal circumstances, someone would bother looking at the new arrivals, but with the pop of teleportation now a normal occurrence around the village, most just ignore it as background noise. Like birds chirping, or someone occasionally yelling expletives in the marketplace.

“So, why are we visiting this architectural travesty?” asked Dusk.

“That “Twilight Sparkle chick” that you referred to some time ago happens to live here. And with her past experience regarding multiverse travel, I believe that she might be of some assistance.” noted Celestia.

Before Dusk could retort, the front door was opened by a tall purple dragon. The dragon looked first at Dusk before shifting his gaze to Celestia. Without missing a beat, he shut the door.

Dusk snickered. “So, do you usually get the door shut on your face before you can open your mouth?”

“Just wait for it…” said Celestia with a smirk. As if the universe wanted to prove a point, the door opened yet again, this time with a purple alicorn of similar stature to Violet blocking the view of inside the structure.

“Celestia! What brings you here?” asked the mare.

“Well Twilight, I was hoping to introduce you to a friend of mine who could use your help.” Motioning to Dusk, “Twilight, this is Dusk.”

“Good to meet you Dusk.” said Twilight with an outstretched hand.

With nothing better to do, Dusk returned the gesture. “Likewise princess. Now, can we come in? I have a lot to bring you up to speed on and very little time to do it.” Dusk proceeded to push past Twilight, leaving a bewildered look on her face.

Twilight looked back at her former mentor, a look of confusion clearly written on her face.

“Just roll with it.” instructed the diarch. “You’ll need to hear what he has to say eventually. Might as well start now.”

Twilight took her visitors to her library, where she listened with rapt attention to the story that Dusk was weaving. It wasn’t difficult; multiverse theory is a complicated subject, and with Twilight’s love for learning she had a reason to maintain focus.

“So, logically one can construct portals to an infinite number of universes?” inquired the student.

“Absolutely. But I need you to analyze one of these portals to see if you can determine who built it and why they’re coming here.” answered Dusk.

Twilight cocked an eyebrow in confusion. “You never mentioned that you already had a portal. Better yet, you never said anyone was even coming through.”

“You’re right. But coming straight out with something along the lines of ‘we’re being invaded from another universe and I need you to save us all’ doesn’t work. So, buttering up an egghead with scientific wonder before dropping a potential bomb had to suffice.” replied the unicorn.

“I’m sorry, can you repeat that last part.”

“We’re being invaded from another universe? I don’t see how anyone can-”

“Ok, what do I do… I need books and... Right! Checklist!” yelled Twilight

Immediately, Twilight’s horn lit up and books started flying off the shelves. Dusk noted that a number of them were historic military strategy texts, mixed in with some illegible tomes that were easily from before his time, a few more modern texts and at least one book regarding quantum physics. All of them were swirling around Twilight, here eyes having developed a distinct purple glow as the books rotated around her.

“So…” questioned Dusk. “What exactly is she doing?”

Celestia just smiled. “Dear Twilight is overdoing things. Again.”

“Again?” asked the unicorn

“Again.” replied the princess. “Now, I believe that the logical answer would be to go through the portal and determine who is using it…”

“So, an expedition then?” inquired Dusk.

“Indeed. Just a handful of your people and the necessary supplies.”

“And my ship.”

“Why would you need that?”

“Well, I already have enough gear loaded to begin with.” retorted Dusk.

“Any other reason?” asked Celestia.

“Who doesn’t have the need for a very big gun?”

Suddenly, Twilight dropped her books and looked at her visitors with something of a wild grin.

Dusk cocked an eyebrow and the young princess. “Anything you’d like to share with the class?”

“I know what to do!” she replied.

“Does it involve going through the mirror?” asked Dusk.

Twilight stopped, and developed a rather defeated look. “But how-”

“Kid, we figured that plan out all of thirty seconds ago.” replied Dusk. “However, I need you to figure out how to get my ship through that portal with us.”

“Just what type of ship are we talking about?”

“Please… It would just be easier if you saw it.” With that, Dusk began charging his horn with a teleportation spell. Quickly, an audible pop was heard, leaving the castle library empty.

Steeljack was digging around in the Guardian’s hull when he heard an audible pop, followed by some sort of conversation. Pushing the momentary distraction aside, he returned to his task at hand; the main guns. For the most part, it was good stress relief. The guns that he helped build were something of a surrogate child for him. So, when an unseen hand grabbed him by the leg and dragged him from his work, Steeljack was rightfully pissed.

“What the fuck!” yelled Steeljack, before his face firmly planted on the ground.

“So, calibrating the guns again Steeljack?” asked Dusk.

“What the hell do you think?” Steeljack then noticed the two guests that Dusk had brought with him while he got back to his feet. To his right was Princess Celestia, while to his left was a smaller purple alicorn with a rather meek smile on her face. “Dusk, what did I tell you about bringing home strays?”

“Nothing at all.” quipped Dusk. “Anyway, you already know our favorite dictator.”

“Favorite dictat-”

Dusk cut Celestia off before she could finish. “And the purple one is the new egghead who’s going to make the Guardian go between universes.”

“Ms. Sparkle then?” questioned Steeljack.

Twilight nodded her head. “Pleasure to meet you.” she said with her hand outstretched.

Steeljack took the initiative and returned the gesture. “Likewise ma’am.”

“Now, down to business. Ms. Sparkle, I need you to make that ship capable of trans-universal travel. Can you do that?” asked Dusk.

“Given the time, I should be able to figure it out.” Twilight looked around the room, seeming to take in the gravity of her present situation.

“Looking for something Ms. Sparkle?” questioned Steeljack.

Twilight turned back to the group. “Dusk mentioned something about a portal… That wouldn’t happen to be around here, would it?”

“Try the cargo bay.” replied Dusk, motioning for Steeljack and Celestia to follow him. “Let’s leave the egghead to her work.”

Following Dusk down the hallway, Steeljack was the first to speak up. “Is it a good idea to leave her around the ship?”

Dusk just chuckled. “What’s the worst she’ll do? Blow something up?”

BOOM!

“Sorry, my bad!”

Steeljack just shook his head. “You’re a dumbass, you know that?”

By this point, Dusk was scowling at his own jinx. “Just shut up and keep walking.” Dusk led his compatriots out of the hangar building that the Guardian was stored in, and made a brisk walk across the courtyard to the main factory building. Dusk proceeded to bust open the nearest door, coming across assembly of Dart, Blueblood and Lilith in the midst of a poker game.

“Might I ask what you broke now?” asked Blueblook.

“What makes you think I broke something?” replied Dusk

“Because you usually break what you’re trying to fix?” quipped Dart.

Dusk rolled his eyes at the comment, seeming to brush it off. “Moving on. Finish up… Whatever the hell you’re all doing and meet in the mess in ten minutes. We have significantly more important things to worry about than gambling.”

Dusk once again motioned for Celestia and Steeljack to follow, leading them to the adjacent mess room. Once inside, Dusk started pulling out weapons from the weapons lockers, arranging them on the table in the center of the room. Pausing for a moment, Dusk seemed to be thinking of something.

“Something wrong Dusk?” asked Celestia.

“Ya… Wait, I know what’s missing!” for a moment, Dusk teleported away before returning with three large pony-sized cases.

Steeljack seemed to recognize what the cases were. “I didn’t think that you had the new gear already finished.”

Dusk just smiled. “Finished is such a strong word… I’d describe these as field-ready prototypes.” Elbowing the side of one of the cases, it opened to reveal a black set of modified combat armor and an armored duster.

“And what are these?” inquired a suspicious princess.

“These, my dear are three sets of prototype power armor.” answered Dusk. “The joints on the armor have hydraulic servos that act to increase the strength of the wearer. It’s a similar deal with the legs. The system is linked through a pipbuck, which already has a connection to the nervous system. With some minor tweaks, the pipbuck can transmit matching commands to the respective joint on the armor to move it. All of this is powered by a micro-fusion reactor. And, even better, in the case of failure or damage, the hydraulics can be disabled and allowed to move freely without use of the control interface to allow movement. Of course, that just means that the hydraulics become dead weight, but it was either that or get stuck in one spot without the ability to move.”

“Alright, so will you just quit gloating and help me gear up?” asked Steeljack, who had pulled out his own set of navy blue armor.

Dusk rolled his eyes. “Me, gloat? Please…”

Roughly ten minutes later the last of the group filed into a crowded mess room. Dusk and Steeljack were at the head of the room, both with rather stoic expressions.

Dusk elbowed Steeljack. “So, should I get us started, or would you rather take the honors?”

“I’ll handle it.” Steeljack stepped towards the table. “Alright, everyone shut the hell up!”

Dusk stepped forward, clearly satisfied with the now silent room. “Now, as we all should be aware, we’re staring down an invasion by a force that is significantly more advanced than the regular military.” To prove his point, Dusk hit a few buttons on his pipbuck and a hologram display appeared over the table, showing a set of Royal Guard armor and weapons, alongside the new set of armor that he and Steeljack were wearing. “As you all can see, the Guard has been fighting with glorified pointy sticks. Sadly, our most advanced gear, seen here, is more of a technological anomaly, while the Guard’s equipment is considered the norm.”

One of the Lunar Guards raised his hand. “So, in other words we’re all fucked?”

“Absolutely.” answered Dusk. “However, we have a plan. As many of you know, we have a handful of wasteland experts in the building, so with their help the plan is to launch a combat expedition to gather intelligence on our foe, conduct hit and run operations, and either prevent or delay a full blown invasion. Any questions?”

“Ya, how do you expect us to get back without the mirror?” asked Lilith.

“We’ve got an egghead modifying the mirror that was recovered from the warehouse. She’s trying to rig it up to the Guardian so we can take it with us and use it as a base of operations.” answered Steeljack. “With a bit of luck, we should be ready to move out within the next few days.”

"Completely unrelated,” interjected Blueblood “but has anyone seen Meteor Shower?”

Meteor took the first opportunity to slip out of the mess undetected. Taking the opportunity, he went over to the hangar housing the Guardian. Entering the room, he notice a purple alicorn on the top of the ship, welding new components of an unknown nature onto the hull.

“How’s the weather up there?” asked Meteor.

“Twilight perked up, noticing Meteor’s presence. "Oh, how long have you been there?”

“Long enough to see what you did to my grandson’s ship.”

“Oh, you mean the new projectors?” asked Twilight. “I had to break down and replicate the spell matrix in the mirror, then I broke down the mirror in it’s individual components and modified them to project the portal ahead of the ship as a fixed portal that stays open long enough for the ship to fly through before it breaks down.”

“By using a crystal-based matrix, I assume?”

Twilight stopped dead. “How did you know that?”

Meteor just chuckled. “Call me educated. That’s a most interesting solution, considering it would allow universal transit at will.”

“Absolutely. The problem remains with the power supply. I did segment the power core and modified the recharge spell matrix to allow use of the mirror at the same time that the ship is flying.”

“I’ll take it this is where we find ourselves with a catch?”

“Right. With a mirror-to-mirror transit, it’s far easier to control where you go. The problem is that without a more exact map of this” Twilight paused a moment to break out her air quotes “ ‘Wasteland’, there isn’t an easy method of calculating an exit point for the portal. Granted, with modification to the spell matrix, I think I have it set so that the portal would form at a corresponding position in the other universe, assuming everything is working right.”

“Miss Sparkle, from the sounds of things you have this all well at hand. But I do have one question.”

“Sure, what is it?”

“How do you control it?”

“Well, that’s the problem. Because the system interface is something of a distraction, you need to have a second person operate it during flight. I did have to repurpose some of the displays for the interface, but beyond that everything should be ready to go.”

Meteor nodded in agreement. “One final question then. How do you fly this thing?”

Twilight stopped for a moment. “Uh… I haven’t gotten that far yet?”

“Do you at least know what switch turns on what?” asked Meteor with a rather amused expression.

“I think so?”

Chuckling, Meteor plopped himself down in the pilot’s seat. “Well then, I believe that a test drive is in order…”

Dusk cocked an eyebrow in suspicion, shortly before facepalming. “He walked out, didn’t he?”

“Probably” responded Dart.

“Alright, then who are we missing?” Dusk thought for a moment. “Awe crap.”

“Awe crap what?” asked Steeljack.

“Which egghead decided to not show up to our little tea party?”

At that moment, a loud crash was heard. Walking over to the window, Dusk started banging his head on the glass. Steeljack walked over and was met with the same sight; the Guardian’s hangar had it’s door blown clean off, with the large green craft hovering in the courtyard.

“I didn’t expect that your grandfather was one for joyriding.” quipped Steel jack.

Dusk didn’t even bother with a response, allowing his face to make a warm introduction to the palm of his hand.

Author's Note

Chapter three is now up... Already the playing field is starting to get set. But hey, who says that anyone is going off gallivanting in the Wasteland? Maybe some taste of the future... At this point, I'm thinking that Cosmo is just a named background character of little importance, at least for now. Anyway, Chapter Four is in the works, but there are other things that must receive attention concurrently.