Ten Hours Post-Canterlot Battle
Neighfair

It’s finally over… West Wind is dead. Kovac is dead. The war is effectively over and we can all work on finding a way home. But while those of us that survived through the failed trap at the Canterlot Ruins are celebrating, burying our dead and securing all of the equipment that was left behind here at Neighfair, I’ve been sitting in the now-empty control room on my own for hours. Darkness had long since fallen, leaving orange-tinged lights partially illuminating the control room from their place on the outer walls of the fortress.

“There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you.”

“Steeljack…” I muttered, keeping my focus on the central courtyard of the fortress where festivities were continuing well into the night.

“Alright, something’s up.” He said as he leaned against the table next to me. “We won and you’re up here moping like an abandoned puppy.”

“Did we really win?” Looking over at Steeljack I could tell that he was confused. “You think I’m crazy, don’t you?”

“Ya, kinda.”

“Alright, well look at it like this. We thought we killed De Witt, that Griffon we took on a few years ago. Yet while I thought that my parents and Gramps were dead they were off tangling with him. We thought that West Wind was killed a few weeks ago, yet he shows up with a giant space gun and tries to destroy Vanhoover. Right now we’re two for two on bad guys coming back from the great beyond Steeljack, so I really don’t feel too good about our odds. That, and we still don’t know who teleported us out of Canterlot before that Raptor crushed the two of us…”

“Fair enough.” Steeljack admitted. “And you still need a way home…”

I thought about what Steeljack just said for a moment, and it hit me like a sack of bricks. “You’re staying behind?”

Steeljack nodded. “That’s what I’m planning to do. I have an opportunity to be with my family, and I’d be stupid to pass it up.”

“I can respect that.” I said as I started turning over my shotgun in my hands. “It won’t be the same without you, you know that? You were family to me when I thought I didn’t have one, and you stood with me when death was knocking at our door… I’ll miss you.”

“Well at least I know I did something right…” Steeljack admitted. “So what are you going to tell Don about his shotgun?”

I swung the weapon off my back and looked at the sheared off stock long and hard. “I honestly don’t… What the hell?” My eyes finally fell on the ejector port of the weapon, with a translucent white casing jammed in it.

Steeljack saw what I was looking at and deftly plucked the obstruction out of the weapon. “This is a shell from a bean bag round…”

“Well who loaded them?” I spat. “I got those things in Manehattan because they were cheap, but I only grabbed a tube’s worth.”

Steeljack handed me the shell and shook his head. “Doesn’t matter now, does it? We haven’t seen a body left over from Kovac…”

“He’s gotta be out there somewhere.” I said, getting up and walking over to the window. “Damnit… Steeljack, we’re not ready for another fight. Not by a long shot.”

“So what do you suggest?”

“When we find a portal home, you need to destroy it behind us. That’ll buy us some time to get ready for Kovac.”

“And just what are we supposed to do? Just sit around and hope he doesn’t come after the lot of us here?” Steeljack questioned. “I mean come on, we’re talking about a stallion who can make an army of robotic pony duplicates and we still don’t know how he made them or where they were really hiding.”

“Damn Steeljack, I just don’t have any answers… But maybe that’s a good thing.”

Looking at Steeljack I could tell that he was confused. “You mind bringing me up to speed on the how?”

“Well lets assume that Kovac nabs one of us and somehow figures out what sort of preparations we’ve made for his return-”

“Assuming he thinks along those lines.”

“Right. But if I don’t know you’re plan, and you don’t know mine, then neither of us can rat out the other.” I explained, feeling slightly more at ease given the rather concerning trend that stands to be followed.

“Only you could find a silver lining in a shitty situation…”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Well one of us needs to be positive.”

Suddenly Steeljack’s radio crackled to life. “Steeljack, where are you?”

“Command center, why? What’s up?”

“Well find Dusk and get down to the armory. We’ve found something.”

***

“Son of a bitch…” That’s all I could bring myself to say as Steeljack and I strolled into the now emptied armory. No more artillery pieces or vehicles, the lot of them having been rolled out into the courtyard… But there was a giant section of wall that was missing that revealed a large and familiar shape. “That looks just like the mirror we found in the Badlands.”

“And it gets better.” Comet said as he led the two of us over to a control station. “Everything is unlocked. We’ve got full access to the system.”

The three of us were silent for a few moments. We had unknowingly been using Neighfair as our temporary home, and it came with a direct route away from this hellhole of a destination. “Well I guess this explains the synth now, doesn’t it?” Steeljack pointed out.

Thinking back to that robotic monstrosity that we’d run into when we arrived, I’d have to admit that Steeljack was right on target. West Wind, and by extension Kovac, were probably using this fort as an embarkment point before we arrived. When we made contact they obviously thought that it would be a good idea to cover up their prior presence within these old stone walls. “Just how’d they hide this thing?” I asked.

“An incredibly powerful illusion, likely of Kovac’s design.” Comet replied. “With him not around anymore to maintain it, it probably just ran out of juice.”

I bit my tongue and nodded. “So can you power it up?”

Comet nodded. “It’s already running through it’s boot-up cycle. We should be ready to go in another minute or so.”

“Well I guess this is it then…” Steeljack muttered. “Gents, it’s been an honor.”

“Likewise Steeljack… I take it you still remember our plan though?”

The grey stallion nodded. “There should be enough ordinance left over to blow this popsicle stand, assuming of course you guys leave something for the rest of us.”

“Right on… Porter! Front and center!” I yelled.

On cue the yellow marine came running into the armory. “Yes sir?”

“Tell your men we’re pulling out. Leave a few crates of high explosive artillery shells but take everything else. If it isn’t bolted down it’s coming with us.”

“Uh… Where are we going?”

I just pointed at the quantum mirror, now starting to light up as it finished it’s sequence and rolled my eyes. “Do I REALLY need to explain?” Porter just looked at me, over at the mirror, then back to me before saluting and running out into the courtyard to rally his men. “Damn… I guess something good did come out of this whole trip after all.”

“And just what was that?”

I just smirked and offered a slight shrug. “A lackey who doesn’t talk back.” As the mirror finally powered on, it’s silver glow lit up the armory like a high-output LED. “Alright, I’ll go through and let them know that we’re coming. Steeljack, wait five minutes and then send the first group through.”

“I’m all over it.” Steeljack replied as I marched away.

Standing at the foot of the mirror, I could almost make out the translucent image of the empty chamber on the other side. Come to think of it this is the first time I’ve really studied these portals in detail… I know how to use them, how to fix them and, most importantly, how to break them. But I’ve never taken in the details.

Oh well, there’s a time and a place for everything. I stepped through and while the glow of the portal remained, above me was a massive hole, revealing the early morning Equestrian sky. “Well that’s something…” I muttered. Someone had also built a rather sturdy ramp up to the surface, likely our ponies who wanted to cart out anything of value that was down here.

“Alpha One, this is Sierra-104. Do you copy?”

I unclipped my radio and started walking up the ramp. “Alpha One here Spartan, mission successful. West Wind and his forces have been eliminated. We’re coming back with significant amounts of material and personnel, and we’ll need airlift support.”

“I’ll see what I can arrange… But we’ve got other problems. You and General Meteor Shower are needed back in Canterlot.”

Down below Porter’s soldiers were already starting to file through. “Hey, one of you go back through and tell the General to get up here! On the double!” Turning back to my radio I continued walking out into the open courtyard of the destroyed Enclave fortress. “He’s on his way Spartan, just tell me where you plan to pick us up.”

***

Canterlot Castle
Two Hours Later…

“Welcome back General.”

“Thank you son.”

“Sir!”

“Good to be home, son.”

This new and annoying trait of the Guards dropping what they were doing to address Gramps was already annoying after the first two out in the garden. But we’ve since gone past ten more of these poor sods and they just won’t shut the hell up. It’s fricking annoying! But as our Spartan escort, a gent named Fred, led us into the Castle’s command center the greetings stopped. Officers were surrounding a large holotable, lit up blue with a map of some island. But they were actually ignoring the three of us. “Well this is nice…” I muttered.

“Alright, who does that naggy wife of mine want me to fight now?!” Gramps yelled, drawing the attention and confused looks of all the officers present in the war room.

And I was among those with confused looks. “Uh… What?”

“Well don’t you know you’re ancient Equestrian history? Anyone who-”

“Meteor!”

As the old Stallion was interrupted by the sudden arrival of the solar princess herself, he stopped his verbose line of thought on a dime, only to obviously pick up on another one that was just as confusing and annoying. “Honey, I’m home!”

Celestia of course ignored Gramp’s sudden shift to the annoying, walked over, grabbed his ear and dragged him over to the holotable with Fred and I in tow. “Do you recognize this island?”

Gramps shook Celestia off him and turned to study that translucent blue map of light. “That’s Carniola…”

“And it’s also your next assignment.” Celestia said as she tapped some keys on the side of the table. Whatever she did marked off a large swath of beach in red. “Twelve hours ago Captain Baxter initiated Operation North Star in cooperation with the Griffon government. The goal was simple, while our military retook the island the Northern Guard would eliminate the Griffion commander.”

“De Witt… He finally took full control of the island, didn’t he?” Gramps asked.

Celestia nodded. “Sadly he was fully prepared for our landings. The Northern Guard has been badly beaten, and our marines are barely dug in on our beachhead after being bombed out of their positions in the city of Emona.”

“Let me guess, rocket artillery?”

Celestia nodded once more. “We didn’t expect him to actually have any…”

“So you ignored all of my reports and intel. That’s just wonderful!” Gramps snapped. “How many injured? How many ponies did we waste?”

“So far there’s only been one casualty, a mare with the Northern Guard… But… Damn it. Meteor, De Witt brutalized her. It’s Cloud Runner all over again.”

The pegasi’s name rung a bell right off the bat. “Woah, back up. Cloud Runner? What’s he got to do with this?”

“I’ll tell you on the flight out.” Gramps replied. “So when do we leave?”

“Immediately.” Celestia replied. “I’ve already been briefed on the material and soldiers you’ve brought back with you… HMS Redoubtable is picking them for redeployment as we speak.”

“Alright, I can deal with that.” Gramps said as he wheeled away from the table.

“Wait, we only just got back. Can we at least catch some sleep or something?” I asked.

That got Gramps’ attention. “Dusk, we don’t get the luxury of sleep until the blood stops running. So come on… We’re going to war.”

Author's Note

See, there we go. The final chapter of Broken Mirror! WOO! A quick and clean ending, and a segway into Blaze Squad's introduction into the Carniola Theater (along with a few easter eggs relating to The Long Road). And this sets up an eventual Meteor Shower prequel story, which I'll probably start working on over this winter. Next up will be the first few proper prologue chapter to Reflections. My buddy Marik is already working the cover art, and so far the sketches are LIT! Stay tuned!

In the meantime, anyone got questions? Like what you're seeing so far? Hell, maybe have some gripes? There's a comment section and the Mirrorverse Codex. Read and comment away, because I want to hear from you fellow denizens of this corner of the internet. Until next time gang!
-Striker