Mass Core 3: Thebe Paridigm

Now in orbit, Scotaloo watched the unnamed planet below slowly revolve. She could storms slowly gathering across its poles and moving across its glistening blueish-green oceans. In a way, it calmed her to know that this planet that she had never before seen- -and likely never would again- -had existed for at least as long as Equestria Prime, hidden and almost alone for countless eons. At the same time, that thought made her feel profoundly alone; it meant that she, too, could just as easily vanish into pure obscurity. While the planet likely cared little, she did had already lost a great deal and decided that she did not want to lose any more of the life she had worked so hard to cultivate.

She shifted in her chair. While she had absolutely refused to wear the high-tech armor that Six had offered her- -it looked far too similar to that worn by Xyuka, a pony that Scootaloo wished she could forget- -but she had accepted a more ordinary set of clothes. The fit was not perfect, but fortunately most clothing in the Milk Path galaxy was made of relatively stretchy materials. The only unfortunate aspect was that the suit of pony armor was colored the most hideous shade of pastel pink.

Scootaloo’s solitude was suddenly broken by Inte bounding into the bridge.

“Captain Scootaloo!” cried the quant. “Something is terribly wrong!”

“What is it?” said Scootaloo, turning quickly, opening her control hologram and preparing for evasive maneuvers from whatever it was that was attacking.

Inte looked up at her, seeming to be on the verge of tears, and spread an extremely fluffy pair of green wings. “The alicorn Seven has found a way to access my core preference files! My security has been breached! I feel violated!”

“Wow,” said Scootaloo. “Those are some REALLY fluffy wings.”

“But I’m supposed to be an earth-pony! You set me that way! I do not appreciate your friends changing my settings without your permission! Would you let them touch me if I were a real filly?”

“But you’re not a real filly.”

“I know! My moral outrage is programmed to invoke your pity to ensure you keep your security settings safe! I’m now going to start crying to further make my point!”

“Don’t cry. Please,” said Scootaloo. She already had a mild headache. “Just restore your default settings.”

Inte beamed, and her poofy wings fizzled.

“Aw,” said Six, entering the room and sounding disappointed. Inte’s eyes immediately widened and she jumped behind Scootaloo’s chair with a small sqeak. “I really liked the fuzzy wings.” She looked up at Scootaloo, and then her smile suddenly vanished. “Not- -not that small wings are a bad thing! I can appreciate a mare’s wings at any size! It’s really more about shape than anything else!”

“Says the mare with an enormous pair.”

“It’s not that great, actually. I always need to preen them, and they sometimes give me back problems if I’m not careful.” Six extended her wings and flexed them. Scootaloo did feel a slight sensation of arousal; she had always had thing for muscular wings. Six’s were not as large as Seven’s, but they were impressive. Her injured wing also seemed to have mostly healed.

“So,” said Scootaloo, trying to avoid looking too long at her friend’s impressive appendages. “What’s our next step, Six?”

“I’ve sent out some feelers,” said Six, “but I’m still waiting to get word back. Until then- -and I know you’re not going to like this- -we need to lay low.” She opened her omnitool and projected a starchart. “Here,” she said, pointing at one planet. “This one is a rachni world. I have some connections there, and the rachni are not nearly as tolerant of bounty hunters as Aria is. We should be fine there.”

Scootaloo considered it for a moment, and then sighed. “Right,” she said. “As much as I hate running away, I guess I have to for- -”

Without warning, the ship was suddenly rocked by a powerful explosion. Scootaloo was nearly flung out of her seat, and Six sturmbled from the rapid shift in the deck’s slope.

“What the hell?!” cried Scootaloo.

“Direct hit to aft port,” reported Inte almost instantly. “Defensive protocols engaged. Raising shields. Power system damaged, attempting to compensate.”

“Hit- -hit by what?!” cried Scootaloo.

“On screen,” said Six.

Inte immediately responded, and part of the display plates that were previously showing the planet below shifted into monitors showing an approaching ship.

“Identify!” said Scootaloo, ashamed that she needed to ask a machine to do what she had once been able to do on her own almost instantly.

“Hermes class Alliance vessel, closing in fast and- -engaging evasive maneuvers!”

The maneuvers knocked Scootaloo to the side, but were still not enough. The ship shook again, but this time not as severely.

“Shield efficiency decreased,” said Inte. “I am not optimized to withstand this kind of bombardment. Recommend immediate evacuation.”

“Set coordinates to location!” said Six. “Course to Cocentrica Alpha-seventeen-G, Sector 6N37, subgroup 8.0076, 200.14, 1789116!”

“Course set,” said Inte. “Activating mass-jump.”

Through her screen, Starlight could see the space around the enemy ship warp and collapse as it mass-jumped to a new location.

“They’ve jumped,” she said. “Jurneu, I need those coordinates!”

“The geth listening network is working,” replied Jureneu, calmly staring at the extensive projections in front of him. “And…I have it. Passing the data to you.”

Starlight quickly pulled his information onto her screen and ran it through her omnitool, manually setting the coordinates. Beside her, Sbaya watched in awe.

“Engaging mass jump,” said Starlight, powering up her ship’s Alliance-built engine and warping space to pursue her target.

Scootaloo’s ship emerged from space on the verge of a massive nebula in a distant, empty part of space. Somewhat disoriented, Scootaloo looked around, having no idea where they had just gone.

“There!” said Six, pointing. “Get us into that nebula! If we can hide in the magnetic interference, we might- -”

Another explosion ripped through the ship. This time, the result was severe. Scootaloo’s screen indicated that she shields had momentarily buckled, and the particle beam had cut through the lower half of the ship. There were secondary explosions as several internal systems failed violently, and coolant and plasma pressure began to drop precipitously.

“I’m hit,” said Inte, looking almost ill. “Direct blow. Attempting to compensate…”

“Seven!” cried Six on her comlink. “Get down to the quant room! Yes, I know there’s radiation, but you’re going to have to deal with it! If we don’t stabilize that core, we’ll be as good as mashed space-hamster!”

“They followed us,” said Scootaloo, taking control of the ship. “I don’t know how, but they did.”

“Why is the Alliance attacking us?” said Six. “It doesn’t make sense, they don’t have a stake in- -”

“It doesn’t matter! Inte! Prepare for another jump! If they’re tracking us, they have to be using a network! We need to get to a frontier galaxy!”

“Unable to comply,” said Inte as the ship shifted, only partly avoiding another beam.

“What the buck do you mean ‘unable’? We’ll die if you don’t!”

“My power system is damaged. While I am able to mass-jump, it would require me to lower the shields and hull integrity stabilization matrix- -considering the Hermes class’ rate of fire and the 7.2 second delay of mass-jum- -”

“She means that if we jump, that ship will blow us out of the sky before we even get a chance to get out!”

Scootaloo pulled the ship to the side and entered a manual code for an Equestrian evasion pattern, hoping that the Alliance was not aware of it. It seemed to work, for the moment, but her mind was racing trying to find a solution.

“Weapons!” she said. “Do we have weapons?”

“Yes,” said Inte, “but not any that can penetrate the enemy craft’s hull.”

“Then- -then access the Equestrian Teleportation Network!” cried Scootaloo, grasping for ideas. In her own time, starships had not been capable of mass-jumping. They had instead relied on being teleported long-ranges by the raw power of the sister-Goddesses Luna and Celestia. She reasoned that if most ships could teleport on their own, the old network would still be open.

“Teleportation?” said Six. “That- -that might actually work!”

“Attempting to link to Lunar or Celestial teleportation networks…no connection found.”

“What?!” cried Scootaloo. “It has to be- -”

“I am not currently detecting the necessary server,” said Inte. “I am sorry. Lunar or Celestial teleportation will not be possible.”

“Then- -then do SOMETHING! Hack them!”

“You can’t hack an Alliance ship!” shouted Six. “They don’t have computer mainframes!”

“Checking for solutions…” Inte paused. “Solution found. Opening communication channel.”

“Wait, Inte, no, that isn’t- -”

It was too late. The room darkened, and a hologram appeared in the center. It rapidly resolved into a detailed image of a pony- -and Scootaloo stared dumbstruck as she realized that the pony staring back at her was none other than Starlight Glimmer.

Except that she looked different than Scootaloo had remembered. Starlight had been a close friend of hers. She had been intelligent, witty, and despite her harsh past an overall kind and caring pony. The holographic pony that sat before her looked like her friend, but with none of those elements. Instead, she sat wearing hard, threatening looking armor, with one of her hooves covered completely in an omnitool. What was most striking, though, was her deep crimson eyes. Even with one of them covered by an eyepiece, Scootaloo realized to her horror that they had been taken from breeders.

Starlight stared at Scootaloo with a gaze of pure hatred. It terrified Scootaloo to see a pony she had once known look upon her like that, but she fought the urge to look away and addressed her friend.

“Starlight!” she cried. “Hold your fire! It’s me, Scootaloo!”

Starlight stared up at her. “Yes,” she said. “I am aware of this.” The circular center of her omintool shifted, and another blast struck Scootaloo’s ship.

“Sheids are down!” squealed Inte. “Hull matrix reinforcement is dropping!”

“Don’t say that out loud!” chastised Six.

“Starlight! Stop!” shouted Scootaloo, leaping down from her chair and approaching the hologram. “Please! I don’t understand! Why are you doing this?!”

Starlight’s eyes narrowed. “I’m doing what Twilight should have done two and a half centuries ago. I’m executing you, Scootaloo.”

“For what?”

Scootaloo had not thought that Starlight’s expression could have become more contemptuous, but it did.

“You…you seriously are…” whispered Starlight. “You’re trying to deny it. To my face. YOU.”

“But I didn’t do anything wrong!”

“You murdered Trixie!” screamed Starlight.

Scootaloo’s eyes widened, and she cried out in pain as she stepped back. Images flashed through her head, but only for a moment. An unusual gun. A dark room, a flash of pink-violet energy- -and of Trixie, her body ruined by some unholy force, her flesh and bone melting away from her cybernetic implants.

“N- -NO!” shrieked Scootaloo.

“You DID!” cried Starlight. “She loved you, and how did you repay her for that? You MURDERED HER! Your WIFE, Scootaloo, and my FRIEND! You KILLED HER! And you tried to do the same to Twilight!”

“But I didn’t- -I couldn’t have- -”

“I saw the body, Scootaloo! There was nothing left! You- -the sister of the Avatar of Loyalty- -you betrayed the Cult of Harmony, Twilight, me, and her. Trixie.” Starlight, no breathing heavily, quieted somewhat. “She didn’t deserve it. She…why, Scootaloo? Nothing she ever did warranted what you did to her…why did you betray her like that?”

“I- -I don’t know!” cried Scootaloo, now on the verge of weeping, both from the indecipherable flashes of memory running through her mind and the sudden realization that Starlight was right- -that it had been her fault.

Starlight paused. “And that’s all you have to say?” she asked quietly. “After all this time. ‘I don’t know’. Scootaloo, you were my friend once. Like a sister to me. But now you just make me sick.”

The hologram cut out, and the room brightened.

“Scootaloo!” said Six, shaking Scootaloo. “Regain composure!”

“I- -I- -I don’t know! I just don’t KNOW!” wailed Scootaloo.

“Inte!” screamed Six.

“Power restored to seventy six percent. Engaging harmonic shield.”

The lights dimmed and the ship went silent. In the darkness, Scootaloo suddenly felt a surge of adrenaline as the memories became so much more vivid. The bridge suddenly felt so distant, and she found herself falling to the floor. She slammed into it, but it felt so distant and strange.

In her mind, she saw the world moving in slow motion. She saw Twilight, staring at her with strange, dead eyes. A smile slowly crossed her face, revealing oh so many sharp, needle-like teeth. Scootaloo felt herself raise the gun, and saw Twilight’s smile fail. In her mind, Scootaloo tried to stop herself, because she knew what was coming next, but she found herself unable to. There was a flash of darkness, and then one of light- -and then the image of Trixie filled her vision, and Scootaloo was forced to see the expression of betrayal on her face, followed by the look of agony as her flesh peeled away from her body. She heard the screaming, and then heard it stop as Trixie’s trachea burned away. It just seemed to cut out on a gurgling, rasping high note.

Then everything went black, and Scootaloo heard a voice calling her back.

Starlight prepared to fire a final shot. As she engaged the forward particle beam, she was prepared to see her foe finally repent for having murdered one of her closest friends and for having attempted to kill another. The beam went off, tearing through space, but just before it struck Scootaloo’s ship the space around the ship distorted.

For a moment, Starlight started to turn to Jurneu, expecting that it was another mass-jump- -only to see the space suddenly harden into a dark-colored sphere around the ship. The beam struck it, but it was absorbed harmlessly.

“Mother of Cadence!” swore Starlight.

“That…that’s a harmonic shield,” said Jurneu, sounding incredibly surprised. He looked up. “That’s a harmonic shield.”

“I know that. What in the name of Twilight’s teats is a ship that small doing with a goddamn HARMONIC SHEILD?!”

“I- -I don’t know,” said Jurneu, going over his readings. “I knew the quant signature was unique, but…but a harmonic shield…”

“What does that mean?” asked Sbaya, meekly venturing into the conversation.

“It means that their ship is sealed in a dimensional bubble,” said Jurneu. “We can’t possibly penetrate it- -”

“Like Tartarus we can’t,” said Starlight, turning back to her screen. She swiped her hooves across it and multiplied it into several. She then began entering data at lightning speed.

“What are you doing?” asked Jurneu. “Ms. Glimmer, you would need a massive computer to calculate the resonant frequency pattern, and this ship doesn’t have one!”

“Then I’ll do it manually,” grunted Starlight, the mathematics beginning to flow across the screen.

“You can’t be serious! I’m a Spectre with an IQ exceeding two hundred, and even I couldn’t- -”

“Shut up and stop distracting me,” said Starlight. She began pulling the numbers out of the first wave of calculations and organizing them as needed, her hooves moving faster than she had ever seen them move before as she operated the system. Sbaya watched, looking over Starlight’s shoulder, her mouth agape and her eyes wide- -although she was looking less at the indecipherable code and more at the pony attempting to solve it.

“Almost…there!” said Starlight, completing the calculation and entering the resonances into the ship’s forward battery.

Jurneu was now watching agape. “How did you- -that math- -that isn’t the technique, unless you completely rethought the transform analysis and…and I need to write this down!”

“There’s a reason I’m the High Priestess,” said Starlight, leaning forward as she unloaded the ship’s energy cannon into the harmonic shield.

The effect was immediate. With its resonance matched, the beam cut straight through the shield and struck the ship within. The effect was so great that it immediately lost the majority of its power, and the harmonic shield collapsed.

“I’m diverting power,” said Starlight, dropping her own ship’s shields.

“Wait,” said Jurneu, “I have to recommend against that- -”

“One last shot,” said Starlight. “One last shot with everything we have! I won’t miss, and I won’t fail. I end the traitor here and now!”

Scootaloo slowly regained consciousness. The first thing she saw was Six looking terrified, but as she sat up she realized that her ship had become badly damaged.

“Scootaloo,” said Six, hugging her tightly. “I thought I’d lost you!”

“Six, we need to...”

“Unable to compensate,” said Inte, who now seemed to be staring straight forward. Scootaloo felt her short mane bristle when she saw the expression on Inte’s artificial face. “Harmonic shield down. Hull breaches detected on levels two and three. I am not able to solve this problem alone.” Her eyes widened, and the intensity of her color suddenly increased. “Accessing restricted subroutine archive. Establishing quantum-link connection to core paradigm.”

“No no no!” cried Six, nearly dropping Scootaloo as she raced futilely toward the hologram.

“What’s going on?” said Scootaloo, still barely able to stand on her own.

“She’s establishing a quantum link!”

“Protect Scootaloo,” said Inte. She was speaking to herself instead of to Six or Scootaloo. “Protect the mission- -summon reinforcements. The mission must succeed. The Goddess must rise.”

Starlight’s ship suddenly tremored. That filled her with a deep sense of dread, but it was only compouonded by the readings she suddenly saw scrolling across all her screens.

“What- -what’s happening?” said Sbaya, clutching her head with one hand and the back of Starlight’s chair with the other.

“By the Goddess,” whispered Jurneu. He looked up at the screens surrounding Starlight. “Dimensional rift forming at sixty kilometers…my readings don’t make any sense…is it a mass jump?”

“No,” said Starlight, feeling her body chill as she realized what was happening. “No, it isn’t.”

On the far side of Scootaloo’s ship, space suddenly tore apart. Numerous holes opened, each pouring out atmosphere from a realm with a diseased looking brown-yellow sky. The tears stabilized into portals, and starships suddenly burst through. There were at least twenty of them, all black and marked by the sign of a star. Structurally, they somewhat resembled Equestrian ships, but their design was strange, as if it had been perverted and altered by a harsher parallel path of architectural evolution.

The starships immediately swarmed around Scootaloo’s craft, surrounding and defending it. Starlight’s particle beam fired, but it was too late; rather than striking Scootaloo’s wounded craft, it struck one of the large black ships and was completely absorbed by its shield.

Onboard the commanding ship, a turian looked out over the battlefield. The machinery that encased his body clicked and whirred as he stepped forward, trailing a small trail of violet corona behind him. He was one of a precious, select few: one of just a handful of individuals who had survived becoming one with Her power.

To his side stood a semi-abstract representation of a pony, its bodily hologram tinted with violet.

“Vocqutus exit complete,” stated the hologram in an emotionless, matter-of-fact voice. “All sensory parameters within Gaussian expectations, apart from several unusual energy signatures in the nearby nebula.”
“Status on the target vessel,” said the Commander. It was not a question, but an order.
“The target vessel has been defended. They are currently in retreat to safety,” replied the quant. “Scans indicate that their engine will be prepared for mass-jump in between five and eight minutes. Currently awaiting orders concerning the heathen ship.”

The commander looked out at the small ship. With the power flowing through his body, he could feel the presence of the occupants within. For a moment, he closed his eyes and listened to the divine voices that screamed constantly within his head. They were confused and muddled as always, made even less decipherable by the barely contain biotic energy that ran throughout his mortal body. From these voices, he focused his mind and attempted to discern the will of the Paradigm. It did not take him long.

“Open fire,” he ordered. “They are an obstacle to Her will. Destroy them.”