Fragmentsby Striker1959ChaptersOutpostEpsilon EridaniTributeAmoreProphecyBroken MirrorAftermathPrologue - The House Always WinsOutpostHMS Redoubtable One Day after the end of “The Long Road” Cosmo When Sombra had said he had expended whatever goodwill he had with the Princesses I would’ve imagined that he was kidding. But as we milled about the bridge of the veteran frigate Redoubtable I began to believe his statement more and more. She certainly has the advanced sensors he’d need… As the former tyrant and his partner strolled onto the bridge I had to do a double take. Instead of the simple tunic that I was familiar with he had donned a rather fancy grey uniform likely taken from the wardrobe of the Redoubtable’s last Human commanding officer. “All right, gather round.” He ordered as he walked up the main holotable. At his word the entirety of my assembled team quit their meandering and found open spaces around the glowing piece of human engineering. For this journey I had only taken Phalanx, Cloud, Sky and Trixie along. “Are you going to tell us more about where we’re finding this last fragment?” I asked. “Indeed.” Sombra replied, punching up a holographic representation of the tundra north of the Crystal Empire. “Based off of what I can gather we’ll find the last fragment a few miles away from the North Pole.” As he pressed another button a red dot started blinking on the map. “But I stumbled onto something when I originally came up here to recover the fragment.” The image changed, and over the red dot the three-dimensional shapes of buildings developed. “Where’d the building come from?” Phalanx asked. “We believe it was built some time within the last decade.” Radiant explained. “The original map was constructed using data provided by the cartographers in the Crystal Empire. The current image was provided by one of the UCAVs that was stored aboard this vessel when it passed over the site early last week.” “Based off of the scans of the structure, our best guess is that ONI built it during the war.” I couldn’t help but shake my head. “That's a bit too much of a coincidence.” “My thoughts exactly.” Sombra noted. “If I could track the fragments by their magical signature, I don’t see a reason that ONI couldn’t have somehow detected the fragment as well.” “But didn’t the humans give the locations of all of their bases and facilities on the planet?” Trixie asked. “If I remember correctly that was a stipulation of the peace treaty.” Sombra nodded. “While that is true, that doesn’t mean that the public is allowed to know where they all were.” Sombra brings up a good point. I did ask about ONI’s bases after the treaty was signed, but I was instead told that the information that was given to the Princess was classified. “I guess that the Princess saw some locations on there that struck a bit close to home?” “That's what I would assume as well.” Sombra replied. “But discovering this outpost is why I asked for your aid. Just because the facilities that ONI constructed were all turned over to the government, there’s nothing to suggest that there isn’t some sort of security measures in place to prevent unauthorized access.” “Sounds like Felix should’ve tagged along.” Sky observed. “We’ll just have to make do with who’s here.” I said. “Indeed you will.” Sombra handed me a tacpad from across the holotable. “That has the map of the facility that we’ve developed. You’ll find the main entrance marked on it.” “Excellent.” I said with a grin. “Let's go to work gang.” *** If I was asked by someone if they should bring a heavy coat if they were to go on a polar expedition, I’d have to tell them yes. Just find a heavy jacket you’d bring, then go find one twice as heavy. Even through my bomber jacket, snow pants, face wrap, goggles and hat the chill that the winds through about still managed to reach my fur. As we marched from the dropship to the door to the outpost even Cloud began to have problems, the joints in his power armor freezing up if his hobbling and the groans of metal on metal were any indication. As we finally reached the metal sliding doors that would let us out of the cold Phalanx stepped forward, and with the fine skill of a duelist jammed his sword into the seam that marked the two halves of the entrance. “Come on!” He groaned as he tried to lever the door open. Cloud finally stepped forward and jammed his hands into the gap and started pulling against one half. Slowly the door gave way to reveal the dark interior of the structure. And one by one we all managed to slide through the crack and out of the elements. While dark and chilly the interior of the outpost was a decided improvement over the bone chilling winds of the tundra outside. Behind me the lights on Cloud’s armor flickered to life to unveil a sparse entrance to the rest of the structure. “I’m starting to appreciate those lights Cloud.” I said, thinking back to when he installed the recessed LED lights. “I told you they’d come in handy one day.” Cloud replied, an air of pride evident in the way he spoke. I simply stepped out of the way and gestured. “Then lead on.” As Cloud stomped past I got a good look at the new paint scheme that he had applied. He kept the same black, but replaced the Enclave logos with the crest of the Northern Guard. Sky, my old friend and Cloud’s partner, was right on his heel. She had long discarded the standard riot gear for a bright blue and gold set of armor, one that originally started out as a standard set of combat armor that Dusk and his crew had brought back from their expedition. The building was, of course, empty. No signs of life, just the occasional work station or inactive computer. But as we hit the end of the hall the room opened up. In the middle of the floor was a large hole that led down into the permafrost. “I’m starting to think that ONI was looking for that fragment.” Phalanx said as he stared down into the dig site. Someone finally found the main breaker, as that point the entire building lit up. “That’ll do it.” Cloud called out from his place at the electrical cabinet. And do ‘it’ Cloud did. Spotlights all flickered to life, instead showing a excavation far shallower than it appeared, maybe only four feet down at most. But in the center… In the center was a crystalline structure that looked rather like a pedestal. “What the hell is that?” Sky, having gone with Sombra on some of his expeditions, instead jumped down into the pit, landing right next to the crystal. “Shit…” I heard her mutter. The rest of us dropped down and joined our pegasi companion. “What’s wrong?” Trixie asked. “The fragment isn’t here.” Sky said as she smacked her palm down on the crystal. “ONI must’ve taken it.” “Well they didn’t take everything…” I muttered. “Spread out and the main computer core. We’ll pull it and take it back to the Redoubtable.” By the time I had scrambled out of the pit both Cloud and Sky were bouncing between terminals, pulling up the file listings in hope that they found the main computer. I walked up to a terminal I saw that one of the access panels had been removed to show a large box with two handles. “I found it!” I called out as I slid the core out of it’s enclosure. As the entire group gathered round I couldn’t help but shake the item, feeling a bit better now that we have actual information. “Now let’s get this thing out of here.” *** HMS Redoubtable, Half an Hour Later… “I thought you said that you could get that thing working…” Sombra muttered. Felix was on the floor beneath the stallion, his head inside the guts of one of the Redoubtable’s terminals. “Well I’m sorry, but I can’t snap my bloody fingers and produce results!” The fox called out from his workspace. After a few more minutes of watching a blank screen, it finally blinked on. While I’d expect to see ONI’s sigil, an unknown symbol that read ‘Materials Group’ appeared before changing to an interface. I pushed past Sombra and took a seat at the terminal, and tapped the ‘logs’ tab on the screen. “Lets see what we’ve got…” I tapped the most recent entry at the top of the list, dating from the final days of the war with the Enclave. “Says here that specimen 01.225-E was transferred to a secure storage container, scheduled to be moved to an annex site…” I had to read the location again to myself to get it to finally register. “In Casbah City on Tribute.” “Son of a bitch…” Felix muttered. “They took the fragment to another planet?” I nodded. “That's what it looks like.” Sombra sat down in the adjacent chair and sighed. “Damnit…” He cursed. “We don’t even know where this planet is, do we?” “Not a clue.” I answered. “But even if we did… Sombra, this is way out of our ability to handle.” “I know that…” He answered. “Besides, I can’t drag you off to another planet. You’ve got Archer to worry about.” And he has another point. I can’t just leave Archer alone… “We’ll go with you.” I whipped around and saw that Sky and Cloud were both standing over us. “Even so we still need transport.” Sombra pointed out. “And we don’t know where Tribute is.” Cloud’s grin finally became noticeable and he shook his head. “You’re worrying too much Sombra. Besides, I’ve already got it covered.” “How do you already ‘have it covered’?” Sombra asked. Cloud simply handed the old king a datapad. “I called Dusk after we came aboard, and asked if he could call in one of those infinite number of favors that Admiral Osman owes him. She’s got a prowler on the way to Canterlot as we speak.” *** Canterlot, Two Hours Later… Cloud wasn’t kidding when he said that Osman had sent a prowler. By the time we had arrived in Canterlot the sleek black craft was already sitting in the castle courtyard, guarded by a group of three Spartans. As the dropship we were riding in touched down we were greeted by both Dusk and Dart. He explained that as he didn’t know where we would be taking the prowler, Osman assigned Red Team as ‘escorts’ should the makeshift expedition run into trouble. But to admit that Trixie and I would be remaining on solid ground while both Cloud and Sky instead took to the stars seemed to catch Dusk off guard. As I put it with him, it’s one thing to go off for a few hours and leave Archer back in Vanhoover, but it’s a completely different story to abandon her for what could be weeks. It’s just not responsible parenting. But that didn’t mean I wouldn’t help load supplies onto the ship, and that’s where I was when Dusk and Dart returned fitted out in full combat gear to take our places. “You two are nuts.” I groaned as I stowed one last rifle away in the weapons locker. “Neither of you really know Sombra. Sky does, and where she goes Cloud tends to follow.” “You’re also letting my little brother run off to another planet.” Dart retorted from her seat next to me. “I wouldn’t be a responsible big sister if I didn’t look out for him.” “You didn’t even know that you had a family until a year ago, and unless something changed you don’t remember growing up with them either!” I spat. “Seriously, neither of you have a reason to tag along on this wild goose chase.” Out of the corner of my eye I saw Dusk shake his head in disagreement. “I think that’s exactly a reason to.” As one of the Spartans trudged past I simply pointed at the super soldier. “You’ve got three of them to babysit. Do you honestly think you’d be needed?” “I’m probably the only one who can convince ONI to return that chunk of Amore.” Dusk pointed out. “As for Dart… Why are coming again?” “Because I can’t let you have all the fun.” “There we go!” Dusk exclaimed. “Look, we’ll be fine. We’ll go see the Materials Group on Tribute, do our thing, and be back before you know it.” While that is good to hear I can’t help but feel a bit apprehensive. As we loaded the last of the supplies and I stepped off the ship, that feeling didn’t go away. And seeing the prowler lift off the ground and blast away into the sky only made me feel worse… “What’s wrong?” Trixie asked as we stood in the wake of the prowler’s departure. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” I muttered. If my gut is anything to go by, I doubt that their trip will be as easy as Dusk makes it sound. Author's Note While short, I felt I needed a good setup... Next time we arrive in the Epsilon Eridani system. 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 Epsilon EridaniEpsilon Eridani System Twelve Hours After Departure Cloud Runner If I’d have been asked a few years ago if I ever thought I would be one of the first ponies to step foot on another planet, I’d have called whoever asked me that question insane. But as I woke up from my nap in the passenger compartment of the prowler, I was reminded that I was among that group. Yet even though it would stand to be a momentous part of Equestrian history, no one seemed to be all that interested. If anything it appears that I only noticed it due to my educational background. But even with that in mind I can’t say I feel any different. Just like in the aftermath of Carniola, I don’t know how I truly feel… I should feel a bit excited but something in the back of my head is nagging at me, telling me that our destination of Tribute has some sort of importance. Maybe it was mentioned in some of the human historical files that I had read right after Carniola? But as I heard the hum of the engines sputter and die off, Dusk sat up in his seat across from me. “We just came out of slipspace.” He groaned. “So we’re almost there?” I asked. Dusk got up and looked down at the pipbuck that he was wearing and shook his head. “No… We dropped out a few minutes early.” Dusk didn’t say anything else, and I simply followed him up the rear stairs to the upper control deck. It was a long and open affair, with control stations spaced every few feet on either side. The only true windows were the small viewports in front of the pilot’s station, But outside those windows… That was a different story. There was a large piece of hull plate floating in the void in front of us. Even with all the scorch marks, the white letters spelling out the word ‘Musashi’ were still legible. “Did something happen?” I asked. “Something did…” The female Spartan at the controls muttered. “It wasn’t recent though.” Something must’ve clicked in Dusk’s head, because he seemed to realize where we were. “You dropped us out in orbit of Reach, didn’t you Alice?” “Didn’t have a choice.” The Spartan replied. “Tribute Control sent out a navigational warning. We would’ve dropped out right in a debris field.” “And this is better?” Dusk asked. Alice shook her head. “Not by much, but I needed to drop us out of slipspace early. It’s part of the protocol if you receive a navigational warning.” She pressed a few keys and signed. “We’re in a dead zone. Comms are down.” I heard the other two Spartans cross the deck behind us before stopping, likely to look out the viewscreen. “What’s a dead spot?” I asked. “Any place that subspace transmissions can’t be sent or received.” One of the Spartans behind me replied. “I guess there’s still enough residual radiation out there to create one…” Just how big of a fight was this? And how long ago? Its obvious that the Spartans know something about this planet when their somber behavior is taken into account. “Reach was your home, wasn’t it?” “It was the closest thing any of the Spartans had to a home.” Said Alice. “We weren’t there when she fell, but by that point in the war all bar three of the survivors were there to defend the planet.” Alice took the stick and rolled away from the piece of hull. “Most of them died down there trying to hold Reach. Some died during the siege of Tribute covering civilian evacuations… But it didn’t do anything. Every single colony in this system was attacked by the Covenant, but Reach took the worst of it. It’s barely habitable anymore.” As we passed more debris of Human ships, I started spotting chunks of purple metal floating out in the void, then finally dismembered ships of the same color. “I take it that your military didn’t just let the Covenant have the system.” “They didn’t.” Alice muttered. “But after was said and done, there were just over a billion lives were thrown away either protecting our territory or trying to escape the system.” Outside the viewport I saw a burnt helmet tumbling in zero gravity as we passed. That acted as a trigger and got me thinking… There isn’t even a billion ponies on all of Equis, yet humanity has those numbers in spades. “Just how long did your people fight the Covenant?” “I don’t know… Close to thirty years?” Alice replied. “It’s hard to tell if the war really ended when we’re still fighting a bunch of Covenant splinter groups.” While the last of the visible debris zipped past the viewscreen, I got the impression that we’d be seeing more signs of battle eventually. You don’t simply lose so many lives and not leave plenty of scars. But at that the comms panel crackled to life. “Tribute Control calling UNSC From the Ashes, please respond.” Alice simply reached over and flicked the broadcast switch. “This is From the Ashes, Sierra-130 reporting, go ahead.” “Sorry for the sudden navigational issue Spartan, but we’ve got a bit of an issue on our hands.” The controller explained. “Some insurrectionist ships dropped out of slipspace, and you would’ve slammed right into them.” Alice turned around and looked at one of the Spartans standing behind us. “That would mean they dropped out inside the orbital perimeter.” “Indeed they did, although I seriously doubt that was their intent. With that in mind one of the ships has gone to ground about a click north of your landing site. The other two are being pursued by Midsummer Night.” “That's a bit too much of a coincidence…” One of the Spartans muttered. “Douglas does have a point.” Dusk added. “Control, was their anything that predicted any hostile actions in recent days? Maybe a reason why the insurrectionists decided to visit?” “Not that we’re aware of…” The controller stopped, seemingly having realized something. “Wait, I think there was a senator visiting on some inspection tour.” “Then it’s a hit job.” Said Alice. “There must be someone tailing this senator. And if he’s doing an inspection, what’s to say he didn’t stop at the Materials Group lab?” Dusk stepped forward and keyed up a map of the area surrounding the lab we were headed to. “There’s nothing else to see out there… They’re definitely after this senator.” “Control, what’s so important about this senator?” Douglas asked. “He’s a retired navy officer, has some serious connections with both the fleet and the political circles back on Earth.” “Alice, get us down there.” Dusk ordered. “And Control, I need a name.” “Just a moment…” The computer screen next to the comms panel lit up and showed the image of an older human male. “It’s Senator Andrew Del Rio.” *** Casbah City Outskirts, Twenty Minutes Later… “So there’s been no word from the lab?” Sky asked as she stuffed rifle clips into storage pouches on her armor. Dusk shook his head as he swung his own rifle onto his back. “Not according to Tribute Control. Data uplinks to the lab are down in addition to the comms, so the assumption is that they’re being jammed.” Sky nodded and grabbed a battle rifle out of the gun locker. “Then what’s the plan?” “Sombra and Radiant will stay with the prowler.” Dusk explained. “It’s our only line of communication, so we can’t just leave it alone. The rest of us will head for the lab and assess the situation. After that… We’ll have to figure that out once we know what’s happening.” The prowler shuddered as the landing struts made contact with solid ground and the ramp smoothly swung down to rest on the pavement. “Then let’s go find out.” Sky retorted, marching off down to solid ground. By the time that I made it off the Prowler it was starting to slowly drizzle, going well with the somber atmosphere of the night in what appeared to be an abandon part of the city. While there were scorch marks along the walls left long ago, the streets were otherwise clear of rubble and debris. The main thing that I noticed was the noise, more accurately the lack thereof. “I’m not liking this…” I heard Dusk mutter as our group rounded the corner of what looked like a warehouse. “Jerome, do you have anything on the comms?” As I looked around the street, I blocked out Dusk’s conversation. Across the street I saw something shimmer in the dim moonlight, and whatever it was it was moving down the opposite sidewalk. I glanced down at the EFS indicator on my heads-up display and saw that there was a yellow dot on it. “Hey, you Spartans have motion trackers, don’t you?” I called out. The shimmering form stopped, and after a few moments I couldn’t tell where it was. “We do.” Alice replied. “I’m just not seeing anything on it.” Another look at the EFS confirmed that something was still across the street. That's when I remembered that Dusk was wearing a pipbuck. “Dusk, drop into SATS.” Dusk froze for a moment, before instantly snapping out of his apparent stupor. “There’s something across the street using active camo.” He said as he shouldered his rifle. “Doesn’t seem to be hostile.” I flared my wings and smirked under my helmet. “Then let's introduce ourselves.” I whipped around and launched myself forward with one strong flap. As I reached the other sidewalk it's seemed as if my surroundings were slowing down just as the shimmering form of an invisible fist appeared in my vision. I managed to kill my momentum and skidded to a stop a few feet from the curb. Right in front of my visor was clearly that invisible fist, the arm it was attached to now fully outstretched. “Well that’s one way to say hello.” I noted aloud. “Son of a bitch…” I heard the shimmering being exclaim. The active camouflage that ‘he’ was using shut down and revealed the form of another Spartan, this one wearing a slate-blue set of armor. A quick glance at the hand that the Spartan was going to hit me with revealed an interesting detail; it was a robotic appendage. “What the hell are you?” With it clear that in the Spartan’s moment of confusion that he was no threat, I reached up and pulled my helmet off. “I’m what you could call an Equestrian.” I replied. “And you… You’re a Spartan.” As the three members of Red Team took positions behind me with weapons raised the opposing Spartan seemed to relax and tugged his own helmet off, revealing his red and grey-streaked hair. “I take it that those three are with you then?” I nodded and motioned to the Spartans to relax. “What can I say? I tend to roll with the best.” “Roll with the best…” He mumbled, mulling over what I meant. After a moment the Spartan’s eyes went wide. “They’re Twos.” I nodded. “If you haven’t already met, these are the badasses of Red Team.” At that point I turned around to face Jerome, only identified by the numbers ‘092’ on his chestplate and shrugged. “You know, I don’t think I caught this guy’s name.” “Frank Kodiak.” The Spartan replied as he grabbed Jermome’s hand. “So are you guys our rescue team?” I turned around and cocked an eyebrow. “Excuse me?” “The only thing out here is the lab.” Frank retorted. “Where it’s an ONI facility I can see them sending some of their own Spartans… But aliens too?” He said, gesturing at Dusk, Dart and Sky. “I get the feeling that you’ve been having insurrectionist troubles.” Dusk observed. “Ya… Wait, how’d you know?” Frank asked. “The distress call only went out a few minutes ago.” “We were here for an unrelated mission.” Jerome answered. “ONI removed an artifact from the Equestrian homeworld a few years ago. We were tasked to escort these individuals to it’s last known destination so they could try to reclaim it.” Frank looked rather confused. “Since when does ONI give anything back after they’ve taken it?” “Since I asked Admiral Osman so nicely.” Dusk said. “Believe it or not, it’s a fragment of the crystallized form of an important leader of my species. We’re hoping to recover it and reconstitute her.” The poor Spartan’s confusion seemed to only deepen. “Uh… What?” “Look, we just want something of ours back.” I said. “And according to ONI’s records the artifact we’re searching for was taken to the lab that you were apparently protecting.” “Right…” Frank replied. “Well then, we need to move quickly. I left the base to try to find help after the comms got cut.” “What’s the strength of the opposing force?” Jerome asked. “Twenty strong.” Said Frank. “All armed with old rifles… But get this, they’re all equipped with some sort of Mjolnir setup.” “Uh, Mjolnir?” Alice asked. “Are you sure?” Frank nodded. “They’ve got the shields, and the strength that comes with the suit. Looks rather crude, but the stuff works.” “Then that complicates things.” Jerome stated rather firmly. “Well… Is this stuff shielded against electromagnetic pulses?” Dusk asked. Frank seemed to think about what Dusk said before he shrugged. “It could be… But it might not be either. What are you thinking?” Dusk simply smiled as a few sparks skittered off the edge of his horn. If that grin is any indication, he’s already got some sort of idea. And judging by the feeling in my gut, this might not end all that well. Author's Note Another short chapter, but up next we fight some insurrectionists. And that cobbled-together armor? Ya, it's Buccaneer; 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 TributeCasbah City Outskirts Cloud Runner With Spartan Kodiak’s guidance we were able to reach the lab’s perimeter in about ten minutes, backtracking along his original route though partially blocked alleyways and burnt out industrial buildings. From our perch on the second floor of what used to be some sort of office building we could see the small group of three insurrectionists that he had told us about, and he wasn’t kidding about the armor that they were wearing. Even from here the crude shapes of the thrusters on the back was apparent, and I noticed exposed conduits on their helmets. The only thing that looked somewhat professional was the large golden visors on their helmets. “You said that those guy have shields?” Dusk asked, having taken a perch on top of one of the rubble piles and was using the remnants of the outer wall as a bipod for his marksman rifle. “They do.” Frank replied. Dusk shook his head and looked down at Frank. “How the hell did these guys build power armor?” Frank shrugged. “No clue. And before you ask, I have no idea how they managed a proper augmentation process either.” “Then let's address the elephant in the room. How do we level the playing field?” Dusk asked. “I’m open to suggestions.” I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. “What about that lightning trick you do?” Sky wondered aloud. “What did you call it… Hurricane Slash or something like that?” Sky was definitely thinking, because I wouldn’t have thought to use it. The ‘trick’ in question was a perk that I picked up through the method that gave me my wings back. As Sombra put it, the leading edge of both of my wings can channel the same magic that allows me to manipulate clouds into an electrical discharge. That discharge could either be ‘flung’ as a short-range wave, or employed to make a strike from my wings into a rather shocking blow. Either way, unarmored ponies have been knocked right out. But in this case we’re talking about soldiers equipped with power armor and shield systems. “If you want me to knock them-” I stopped when a thought popped into my mind. Those are energy shields and power armor. “What if the slash can scramble their armor?” “Like an EMP?” Frank muttered. “If that was normal Mjolnir it wouldn’t work where the systems are hardened against electromagnetic pulses… But they certainly aren’t wearing a normal setup.” “So will it work?” Alice asked. I got up and flexed my wings out. On my display the flight systems all read ‘standby’, and a lightning bolt appeared right next to it. “There’s only one way to find out.” “Just be careful.” Sky muttered as she patted me on the back. With a flap I took to the sky, rocketing up to a crest before rolling over into a dive right at the insurrectionists. I leveled out and skidded across the pavement right in front of three of the soldiers. Through that motion I whirled around and flung my right wing out. As I turned to face the human soldiers again I could see the tail end of the electrical ‘wave’ slam into the three of them. The two on the left and right simply froze and toppled to the ground, their armor sparking from various spots. But the one in the center seemed to get off a bit better. Although he was forced to his knees, he clearly wasn’t as helpless as his comrades. “What are you?” The soldier groaned as he got back to his feet and pulled his sidearm from it’s spot on his thigh. I felt a tinge of pride as I glaced at the two incapacitated soldiers. “Who, me?” I rushed forward and swung a punch right against the side of my opponent’s helmet. “I’m you’re worst nightmare!.” I brought my knee up against the soldier’s groin as hard as I could. The soldier stumbled back, but managed to catch his balance. “That doesn’t answer my question.” As everything seemed to slow down I decided that it was time to finish this third combatant. With speed that would easily rival the self-declared ‘fastest mare alive’, I swung hard at the soldier’s helmet once more. Thud! “I-” Thud! “-am-” Thud! “-Tempest!” The world around me returned to it’s normal speed as the soldier collapsed to the ground, his visor badly cracked with fragments knocked clear during my barrage. Through one of the small holes I could tell that the person wearing the armor had shaved off all of his hair. POP! “Damn it Cloud, where’d all that violence come from?” Dusk exclaimed as the flash of his teleportation spell faded. “I have my moments.” I retorted, turning to face the group that Dusk had brought with him. “Now what’s next Frank?” The Spartan simply raised his rifle and motioned to something behind me with it. “We deal with the bees nest that you just hit.” I whirled around and saw that the sliding doors to the base were opening, another group of armored soldiers within the lab rushing towards us. “We can take em’.” I flicked both of my wrists and the microfusion beam emitters spurred to life. As the leader of the opposing group was aiming his rifle at me, I lined up the aiming marks on my HUD with his chest. With a twitch of my thumbs, two red beams coursed out from my gauntlets and smacked into the still-active shields of the leader. “Shit, cover!” I heard him yell as the doors stopped, his group taking cover on either side of the large metal slabs. “Open fire!” Dusk yelled. Behind me rifle reports made themselves known, followed by showers of sparks as the bullets slammed into the large entry doors. “Cloud, come with me!” Frank yelled as he broke off into a run towards a part of the building that jutted out, interrupting the otherwise clean lines of the building’s utilitarian architecture. I tore off after the Spartan without question, catching up to him at a sealed bulkhead that was otherwise out of sight of the insurrectionists. “Where’s this go?” “It’s a maintenance corridor.” Frank replied. “Should take us right into vehicle storage.” “And why do we want to get into a glorified garage?” I asked. “Because we can access the core room from there, then cut through to get behind those insurrectionists.” He explained. “It’s just a simple flanking maneuver. It's either we try to get a leg up on these guys, or we’re going to run out of ammo exchanging fire.” I didn’t say anything, as I couldn’t find any real issue with Frank’s impromptu plan. I’ve seen those doors, and they don’t appear to be prone to a catastrophic failure when facing simple rifle fire. Frank did manage to get the door to slide open wide enough for the two of us to pass through after some struggling. Maybe the issues with opening the door had something to do with the doors themselves being locked, but I can’t say for certain. Rushing after Frank I finally entered the storage bay he had referenced. While more the size of a hangar, there were certainly ‘vehicles’ lining the walls of the room, assuming one could count the large grey and yellow robot things as vehicles. “What are those?” I asked. “Those would be Mark IX Armor Defense Systems.” Frank answered. “We just call em’ Mantis. As far as I known Hannibal has been using those to test weapons upgrades they’ve been developing.” So they’re prototypes… “Can they shoot?” I asked. Frank shrugged. “They should be able to, why?” “Go grab one.” I said. “I’ve got a feeling that those soldiers will be more scared of one of those than just the two of us alone.” Frank swung his rifle onto his back and nodded. “Head out into the main corridor. Stairs on the left will take you into the core room. About twenty feet away is a door on the same wall as you entrance. That’ll take you out into the entry area.” I turned around and broke into a sprint. Right beyond the door was the corridor with the staircase that Frank had told me about. I tore up it and was rounding the corner into the core room right as something swung out from my left and slammed right into my face. I stumbled back from the blow, not yet having seen my attacker, only to be grabbed around my waist tossed to the ground. “Whatever the hell you are, don’t even think about it.” One of the rebel soldiers ordered as he stood over me. I managed to roll onto my back and stare up at the rifle barrel that was aimed right at my face. “Seriously, don’t do it!” While I couldn’t see the soldier’s face under his helmet, I could tell that this guy was spooked. His hands were shaking, and he kept shifting his weight from foot to foot. Something had this guy scared, and I don’t think I was the prime reason of his clear concern. I simply put my hands ‘up’ and nodded. “Just take it easy.” I said softly. “Why should I? Your buddy took out my whole squad!” The soldier yelled. I certainly doubt that Frank has move that quickly, and I don’t think that Dusk and Red Team have managed to get in through the front door as of yet… “Stand down!” I glanced off to my right and saw a white and gold armored Spartan standing on the opposite side of the room. But that helmet… That helmet was something else. Come to think of it, that looks like Dusk’s old helmet. Hell, that sounded like Dusk. The soldier swung his rifle up towards the Spartan and shook his head. “No, stay back!” But the Spartan didn’t stay put… Instead he started glowing as he marched towards the insurrectionist. As he grabbed the human by the neck I saw his helmet shatter and fall away into a pile of dust on the floor. There was certainly an equine head under there, but I couldn’t tell who it was through the glow that radiated from the rest of the armor he was wearing. “Now… Be gone!” The heads up display on my helmet darkened to protect my eyes from the sudden flash of light. As everything faded I could hear a ringing in my ears… But as for what was in front of me? Try absolutely nothing. As I rolled up onto my knees and looked around there wasn’t even a sign that anyone else was in the room. “That was creepy…” I muttered. “Cloud!” I heard Sky yell as she ran in through the other door. “What the hell did you do?” Red Team came in right behind her with weapons already stowed away. I looked at the Spartans before pulling my helmet off and turning my confused gaze at Sky. “What are you talking about?” “The insurrectionists. They’re all gone.” Jerome said. “Not just gone, but no trace that they were ever here.” I thought back to the spectacle that I had only just witnessed and shrugged. “I don’t know...” “Well it doesn’t matter!” Dusk called out as he and Dart came around the back of the power core escorting two humans. “Whatever the case, those rebels are gone.” One of the humans, a grey-haired male, stepped past Dusk and helped me get back to my feet. “I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting to be thanking aliens for saving my hide today.” I recognized the human’s face from the picture that I had seen shortly after the prowler dropped out of slipspace. “Hey, you’re Senator Del Rio.” The Senator looked rather confused at my unexpected recognition. “I don’t think we’ve met before…” “We haven’t.” I assured the Senator as I held out my hand. “I’m Cloud Runner.” The Senator froze for a moment before returning my gesture of friendship in kind. “Andrew Del Rio, Senator of the United Earth Government… But just how did you know who I was to begin with?” I motioned to Jerome. “Red Team was actually escorting us here when the attack started. Tribute Control sent us your picture.” Del Rio glared at the Spartan before looking back at me, his glare softening substantially. “And just what were you coming here for?” “If I may Senator-” The familiar voice of Catherine Halsey rang out as she stepped forward. “-I think I know the answer to that question.” “You do?” Del Rio asked, looking rather confused. Halsey nodded and handed the Senator her tablet. “A crystal that was brought here a few years ago. The one I’ve just started studying. That’s what you’re here for, isn’t it?” I nodded. “So it is still here?” “It’s in my lab under the scanner.” Halsey replied. “It’s quite unusual… It looks like some sort of preserved organic tissue. It even has a pattern on the outer surface reminiscent of fur.” “Wait, are you talking about that brown think you were looking at?” Del Rio asked. Halsey smiled in response. “Indeed. And with Dusk and some of his associates showing up, I feel that my theory has been confirmed.” “Well don’t keep us guessing Catherine.” I encouraged. “Enlighten us to your line of thinking.” “I still don’t know what you’re getting at.” Del Rio complained. “Then understand this-” Halsey snapped “-that crystal is a missing fragment of Princess Amore of the Crystal Empire. And if they’re here looking for it…” “It’s the last one Doc.” Dusk finally said. Halsey started to smile when she heard that. “Tell me Dusk, did Sombra tag along with you?” Dusk nodded. “And he brought the other fragments.” Halsey’s grin grew even further, more akin to that of a child in a candy store. “Do you know what this means Senator?” She asked. “Not a clue.” Del Rio admitted. “It means that we’re about to defy most of the accepted scientific laws that humanity is built on.” Halsey turned around and nodded at Dusk. “No go call Sombra. I think its safe to say that we’re do an education.” Author's Note And there's another chapter in what will be a short diversion from my work on E-201 and Broken Mirror. Those of you that have read Chaos Theory know that one of the many "echos" left of Dusk after his inevitable "demise" that's coming at the end of Broken Mirror Part II can seriously effect the physical world. In this case this echo wiped out a squad of insurrectionists and saved Cloud from what would've likely been a messy death. Not only that, but where his "death" involved jumping into a tear in the fabric of reality with a nuclear device, it's not too much of a stretch for these echoes to show up anywhere or anywhen. Dusk's appearances in works of CategoricalGrant and Volrathxp are certianly echoes in Mirrorverse canon, but in those cases the echoes are far more developed, essentially being clones of Dusk as opposed to metaphysical manifestations that exist only to preform a single task before disappearing. But enough of that, because in the next chapter will see Princess Amore reconstituted! Yay! But it's not going to be all sunshine and roses, no... Amore will present some knowledge to Cloud regarding a prophecy that had otherwise been forgotten by pony kind, one that will help frame the events that will eventually be seen in Broken Mirror: Reflections (which is still a ways off). And in other news I'm thinking... Which is a dangerous thing, I know, but I'm thinking about what to do with Fragments once it is done. The big thought that I have right now is to commission an artist to turn this deviation into a comic of some sort. Again, still thinking, but the idea is there. 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 AmoreMaterials Group Lab, Tribute Cloud Runner By now I think I can safely say that most ponies don’t get to go see entirely alien planets. Most ponies don’t go off on adventures with the stated goal of restoring an otherwise long-dead monarch to life. And most ponies certainly don’t get unusual opportunities like the ones I’ve been given on what feels like a semi-regular basis. So here I am, sitting in a rather bland laboratory on some alien world watching as a reformed tyrant was finishing assembling a large assortment of brown-colored crystals into the shape of the princess that he had deposed centuries ago… And instead of feeling excited, I’ve adopted a far more somber view of the whole debacle. Part of that stemmed from the confusion I had over my encounter with the rebel in the core room. Something that sounded a hell of a lot like Dusk disintegrated the poor bastard, yet Dusk is sitting on the other side of the lab talking to the Senator. Meanwhile all I’ve been doing to distract my mind is trying to clean up my armor, having hopped out of the suit to do so. Lucky for me all I had to do was clean the accrued dirt and glacial crud out of the armor joints. And that’s essentially what I’ve been struggling with for the past two hours… Suffice to say glacial silt isn’t readily removed from wherever it gets stuck. “So… Cloud, was it?” I turned around and noticed that the Senator and Dusk had meandered over to join me. I nodded and turned away from my armor to face the Senator. “Unless I’m mistaken that is what’s written on my birth certificate.” “See, that’s what bugs me.” Del Rio replied. “What you call ‘equish’ and we call ‘english’ are entirely identical. How the hell does that happen?” I just shrugged. “No idea. Is it really a problem though?” “Well no… But for two completely different sapient species to have an identical language system? That still boggles my mind!” While I haven’t thought of it before, the Senator brings up a good point. “Maybe it’s just some astronomical coincidence?” I suggested. Dusk simply chuckled. “That would be one hell of a coincidence, don’t you think?” “What can I say? We live in a weird universe.” “We certainly do.” Sombra said from the other side of the lab. “Now if you three are done we’re going to get started.” I finally realized that Sombra had finished reassembling the pieces of Princess Amore while I was talking semantics with the Senator. There was a definite yellow tinge to the brown mass of crystals, something I hadn’t entirely expected. “Is there a reason that she looks like that?” I asked. “You mean the shine?” Sombra asked. “It’s the preservative aspect to the original Umbran spell. That’s probably the only thing that gives this a chance of working…” “Come again?” Dusk asked. Sombra sighed. “I’ve feared for some time that shattering the Princess after she was crystallized would’ve disbursed the preservative aspect of the original crystallizing spell. In fact this spell was originally designed to preserve umbran soldiers in a sort of suspended animation until such a time that they were needed.” “And it makes a good prison…” I observed. Sombra nodded. “That was my original line of thinking. Suffice to say shattering Amore and scattering her fragments to all corners of Equis was done on impulse…” “And just how old are you again?” Del Rio asked, obviously curious. “Old enough to know when I’ve made a terrible mistake…” Sombra retorted. His horn flashed for a brief moment and the cracks between the individual fragments of Amore’s body flashed in turn, revealing a fully intact statue of the old Princess. “And with luck I’ll prove that I’m wise enough to fix them as well.” Dusk simply patted Del Rio’s shoulder. “If it helps, this is the end of a nearly millenia-year old saga. Now come on, let’s give Sombra some room.” Dusk led us out of the lab and into an adjacent observation room where the rest of our group was waiting. Sitting at a desk next to the window as Doctor Halsey, surrounded by three small tablets. Two had readings streaming across them while she was taking down copious notes on the third. “This is amazing…” I heard her mutter. “What’s so amazing about it Doctor?” Del Rio asked. “Just… Just the data!” Halsey exclaimed. “None of what Sombra is doing so far as his magic is concerned correlates with any previously recorded scientific data. What we’re seeing is something entirely new to us. Honestly I haven’t been this excited since I was in college!” Other than my armor on the far side of the lab, it was empty bar Sombra and the frozen form of Princess Amore. “Are you all ready?” Rang the former ruler’s voice over the intercom. “As ready as we’ll ever be.” Dusk replied. Through the window I could see Sombra nod as he turned back to Amore. His horn flared once, and the statue began to glow. Slowly that glowing began to part in walls of yellow light, as brown crystal gave way to tattered clothing and light pink fur. Everything began to move faster as more of those ‘walls’ began furling outward from random spots across Amore’s form. With only few spots of crystal left, the glow engulfing the Princess pulses, and the remaining fragments shattered and fell to the platform as particles of grey dust. “Princess?” Sombra asked. “Can you hear me?” Immediately Amore’s eyes flew open and her horn lit up in a pale blue glow. Sombra was engulfed by that same color as he was lifted off the ground and tossed right at the observation room window. I reacted fast and threw myself over Halsey, shielding her from the splinters and pieces as they exploded inward away from Sombra’s point of entry. “Sombra!” The Princess roared out in the lab. “Where have you taken me!?” I got off of Halsey and turned to face the old ruler, who was busy rubbing the back of his head as he pushed himself away from the wall. “Shit…” He groaned. Radiant quickly knelt down next to Sombra and helped him back to his feet, all the while out in the lab we could hear the sounds of equipment breaking and machines being thrown around in rage. “I told you she’d probably be pissed.” Sombra made his way to the window and steadied himself against the back Halsey’s chair. “Good to see you again Your Majesty. Have you lost weight?” “What the fuck is he doing?” Del Rio whispered into my ear. I shrugged and glanced over at Sky. “You’ve known Sombra longer-” I was interrupted as Sombra started glowing again and was wrenched back out into the lab. “-so what the hell is he doing?” “Improvising.” Sky retorted as she pulled out her revolver. “Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do.” I could only watch as Sky hopped through the window, all while the Spartans lining the back of the observation room watched the whole debacle unfold. “Are you four just going to stand there?” I asked. Frank offered a shrug. “Obvious domestic disputes are a bit above my pay grade.” I rolled my eyes and vaulted over the window sill. And just what did I jump into? Try Sky holding Amore at gunpoint while the aforementioned Princess was choking Sombra against the side of what was likely the only piece of equipment that was bolted to the floor. I heard another set of boots hit the ground behind me, followed by Dusk’s audible sigh. “Really guys? Can we all stop trying to kill each other for five minutes and try talking instead?” Amore heard Dusk and dropped Sombra at once, immediately turning her attention to the night-sky colored stallion. “You…” “This isn’t where you call me an insolent fool for interrupting, is it?” Amore glanced over at Sombra and shook her head. “Not at all.” As she seemed to study Dusk’s face, her expression hardened. “We’re… We’re not in the Crystal Empire anymore, are we?” Dusk stepped forward and shook his head. “We’re actually on another planet. The locals call it Tribute.” Amore nodded. “And how long-” “Just over a millenia.” Dusk said, figuring out what Amore was trying to ask rather quickly. “Don’t worry, it’s all still there. But I seriously doubt that the current royal family will be all that willing to give you the throne back.” Amore nodded once more and I noticed that her expression began to shift, showing signs of what appeared to be sadness as he turned to help Sombra back to his feet. “You restored me?” “I’ve spent every waking minute since being freed of the Umbran influence tracking down the pieces that I broke you into.” Sombra replied, as me waved his hand at Sky, before wheeling around and motioning to Radiant. “I did have some help, of course.” Radiant bowed her head as she joined what was likely a slowly-growing group. “Your Majesty.” Sky simply stood in place and nodded. “I’m Sky by the way.” Amore looked around at the assembled ponies, and I noticed a tear stream down her right cheek. “But why? Why go through all the trouble for me?” Sombra placed his hand on the Princess’ shoulder, looking a bit broken up himself. “I can’t speak for anyone else… But it was the right thing to do.” Amore simply whipped around and wrapped Sombra in a tight hug. “Thank you…” We were all silent for a few minutes while Amore and Sombra managed to compose themselves. That silence was finally interrupted when Senator Del Rio joined us. “Look, I like a heart wrenching reunion as much as the next guy, but shouldn’t the lot of you be doing something?” It took a moment to get what Del Rio was referring to. Amore’s clothing was a mess, covered in tears and magically induced burns. And through all of those observations I noticed something rather important… But Amore must’ve realized what Del Rio was getting at as she stepped away from Sombra and looked down at her garb. “Sombra, your friend said we’re another planet…” “We are.” Sombra replied, a blush now starting to show through his dark fur. She nodded and looked at the Senator, a rather embarrassed grin crossing the Princess’ muzzle. “You wouldn’t happen to know a good tailor, would you?” Author's Note Well this one was a bit shorter... But jumping into the next scene felt better if separated into a different chapter. As such we'll get into prophecies and whatnot in the next chapter. 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 ProphecyMaterials Group Lab, Two Hours Later… Cloud Runner It's safe to say that modesty isn’t the first thing on one’s mind after being imprisoned for over one thousand years. Amore’s reaction to realizing that she was otherwise half naked was all the proof I’d ever need. Unfortunately for the Princess there wasn’t anyone available to make her a new (and far more modest) outfit. So after much searching and agonizing, our search of the store rooms turned up an unused ODST training uniform. While it didn’t fit at first, Radiant managed to warp the material enough so that the cargo pants wouldn’t fall right off the Princess. As for the t-shirt… Well, Amore inadvertently discovered the classic female solution to a shirt that is too large. She simply drew the bottom of the shirt up through the collar and tied it off in a knot, While I’d wouldn't be caught dead drooling over another mare, especially with Sky in the same room, I did make mental note that the Princess looked great. And judging that I caught Sky staring at Amore’s well-toned body, I seriously doubt that I’m the only one to think so. We were still in the lab, but Halsey had the base commander reconfigure the room. Couches, chairs and small end tables were bought in all in an effort to make the space feel more comfortable for us visitors. But us visitors didn’t get much of a chance to speak with Amore as Halsey had intended, as the base commander had deemed that a psychological evaluation was a necessity given the circumstances surrounding her restoration. And with that in mind, the Senator got asked to assist due to his perceived neutrality in dealing with Equestrians… Fed, of course, by the fact that he didn’t know that our species existed until only a few hours ago. “So… Let's see if I understand all of this correctly.” Del Rio said as he put his tablet down. “Your time as a ‘statue’, for lack of a better word, only came about because you successfully pissed off the individual who decided to turn you into that statue when you revealed that you were well aware of his origins… Origins that caused him to exhibit pain while in proximity to an artifact you’ve referred to as the crystal heart.” Amore swallowed her pride and nodded. “That’s about the size of it.” Del Rio simply grasped the bridge of his nose. “So then why did you try to kill ‘Sombra’ after you woke up?” “And you wouldn’t?” The Princess retorted. “As much as I helped create the circumstances that led up to my predicament, Sombra had tried to kill me the last time I saw him. It may have been thousands of years from his perspective, but keep in mind that I only perceived a change in time equivalent to a matter of seconds. How was I supposed to know that he had turned on the Umbrum? How was I to know that he had in fact been working towards some form of personal redemption? Unless I’m mistaken I was a broken statue at the time.” Del Rio simply nodded and typed down a few final notes into the tablet. “Well… I really don’t see anything here that screams ‘potential problem’. With that in mind, I think it’s safe to say that you’re free to go whenever you please.” “Thank you Andrew.” Amore gracefully replied. After the Senator left I looked around and realized that I was the only other pony in the room that wasn’t part of Sombra’s cadre. “So… What now?” “We discuss your friend Dusk.” Amore retorted as she leaned forward, resting on her elbows. “Did you notice something unusual when he first spoke to me?” “You mean while you were trying to choke Sombra out?” Sky observed. “Ya… All he did was open his mouth and you just stopped dead.” Amore nodded. “That’s because I recognized him… Well, his voice at least.” Sombra chuckled. “You do realize that he’s-” “Sombra, don’t.” Amore scolded. “I know you’ve read the same history books that I have… So tell me, what do you know about the Broken Mirror Paradox?” Sombra stopped and seemed to mull his thoughts over rather carefully. “Princess… You do know what you’re suggesting. I’d hate to break it to you but Dusk is still here. And you’re the only one to claim to have an interaction with something that meets the profile of a Fracture.” I glanced at Sky and noticed that she looked just as confused as I was. “What are you two going on about?” Sombra and Amore both exchanged glances before Sombra simply motioned to the Princess. “What we’re referencing is a prophecy that was ancient even in our time. While it certainly may have lost some of it’s accuracy when it was translated from the pre-Imperial dialect-” “Just get on with it!” Sky yelled. “And please explain to me how a prophecy can be called a paradox. Because unless I’m mistaken those are two completely different things.” “Right…” Amore muttered. “As for that last question, the translation into the more modern form of equish didn’t make any sense. As such most scholars came to believe that the writing was the basis for some sort of theory regarding the existence of the universe. Simply put, the writings suggested that the development of our culture, as well as those far outside of our own realm, were influenced by beings of immense power. Our best translation of the term used to describe these beings was fracture.” I briefly thought back to my encounter with the rebel a few hours ago, and the pony-like figure that dealt with the situation. “What exactly did this prophecy say?” “Just give me a minute to recall…” Amore replied. “Ah, yes. The one who breaks the mirror will spawn the fractures that will move ponykind… There was some sort of image inscribed on the original tablet, but it’s been a very long time since I’ve seen it.” “With no real title to go off of the researchers who were responsible for the original translation referred to that text as the Broken Mirror Paradox.” Sombra added. “But even so, I highly doubt that-” “Was this being wearing some sort of armor?” I asked. Amore nodded. “The last thing I remember before waking up was seeing a unicorn wearing white and gold armor of some sort. But his face was-” “It was glowing a bright yellow, right?” Amore’s eyes went wide at that final question. “Yes… Yes indeed. But how did you know?” “Because I’ve seen one of these ‘fractures’ myself.” I said. “When I was trying to cut through the core room I was jumped by one of the insurrectionists. I was about to get iced when that thing showed up and… Honestly I don’t know what it did. It and the soldier just vanished.” I saw Sky shake her head. “Cloud, I saw the security camera footage. You slipped and fell on your ass!” “No I didn’t…” I said, my gaze turning to my armor still against the wall of the room. “And I think I have a way to prove it.” I got up and practically leapt across the room with a flap of my wings, skidding to a stop right next to my armor. “Buddy, showing us heads-up footage of you falling down isn’t going to help.” Sky pointed out, likely having figured out where I was going with my line of thinking. “So tell me something… How many insurrectionists were here?” I asked. Sky shrugged. “Fifteen if I remember correctly.” “See, that’s another problem.” I said, thinking back to our first encounter with Frank Kodiak. “There were twenty of those guys.” I pressed a button on the side of the helmet and a holographic interface appeared. After some scrolling I came across the recording of when we first met the Spartan. “Just listen to this.” “What’s the strength of the opposing force?” “Twenty strong. All armed with old rifles… But get this, they’re all equipped with some sort of Mjolnir setup.” I looked over at a stunned-looking Sky and frowned. “How do you not remember that?” I asked. Sky shrugged. “I have no idea. I distinctly remember Frank saying that there were fifteen of these guys.” I nodded and skipped ahead to the spot where I was running into the core room. “Alright… So then listen to this.” With a flick of my wrist the display grew in size and angled to the seated ponies could see what I had seen. “Whatever the hell you are, don’t even think about it. Seriously, don’t do it!” “Just take it easy.” “Why should I? Your buddy took out my whole squad!” “Stand down!” “No, stay back!” “Now… Be gone!” The footage stopped on the flash of light that preceded the disappearance of both the pony and the insurrectionist. I shut off the display and turned my attention to the shocked expressions that plastered the other ponies in the room. “That certainly sounded like Dusk.” Sky murmured. “I see what happened…” Said Amore. “The Fracture, it must have erased those soldiers from existence.” “Then why leave proof behind?” Sombra asked. “Why leave proof that five humans were simply… Deleted, for lack of a better term.” I sat back down in my chair and thought of something rather bold. “What if we were supposed to see what that thing did?” I offered. “You know, have proof that these Fractures do actually exist.” “That’s insane.” Radiant spat. “What would the point be?” And that right there is an excellent point… What’s the point? This thing obviously changed memories of countless ponies and humans, so why leave proof that something had actually changed? “If that’s Dusk… Or at least a representation of him, what if the Fracture left Cloud’s memories alone as a warning.” Sombra posed. “Maybe whatever the original prophecy was referring to is going to happen in our lifetime. Think about it, that thing sounded like Dusk.” “So we know the ‘who’ but not the ‘how’.” I pointed out. “Princess, the prophecy makes it clear that whoever breaks the mirror is the source of the fractures… But what does the mirror refer to?” Sky must’ve realized something, because she perked up immediately. “The portals…” She said. “The ones that connected our Equestria to the Wasteland reality. Those were officially called Quantum Mirrors.” “There are portals to other universes?” Amore asked. “There are, that’s how I came to this reality from the Wasteland.” Sky replied. “What if Dusk destroyed the last portal on our end after his team returned?” “That could fit the bill…” Amore admitted. “But we need to know for certain.” “Well we can’t do that from here.” Sombra observed as he pulled out a radio. “Jerome, this is Sombra. Can you hear me?” “Affirmative. What do need?” Sombra shook his head in what looked like disbelief. “Well Spartan… We need to go home.” Author's Note WOO!!! Another one down, and we're on the trail to some answers and eventual foreshadowing for how Broken Mirror will end. So far I'd say I'm feeling pretty proud of this here effort... Granted this chapter was a bit short like the last one, but that's what happens when you cut a chapter in half. 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 Broken MirrorSomewhere over Vanhoover Twenty Seven Hours after Departure Cloud Runner The flight back to Equis was easily more peaceful and relaxed than when we had journeyed to Tribute. With our main objective attained, and Princess Amore finally returned to the land of the living, I found it far easier to relax and catch up on some of the sleep that I had missed. Even with the question of this ‘Broken Mirror Paradox’ now looming large, I didn’t find myself all too concerned. Whatever facts were waiting, I have serious doubts that finding them will require getting shot at. But this time someone shook me awake. I wiped the crust away from my eyes and looked up to find Sky standing over me. “We’ll be back in Vanhoover in a few minutes.” She said. I nodded and got up from my seat. Lucky for me, my armor was certainly comfortable enough to sleep in. Reaching up I grabbed my helmet off of the rack above the chair and tucked it under my arm. The deck shuddered and the ramp slowly swung down to let in the cool afternoon air into the cabin. We were finally home, some of the first ponies to set foot on another planet in a completely different star system. It may be the history teacher in me, but I couldn’t help but feel a pang of pride as I marched down the ramp to the roof of the building that had been home for the better part of the last year. “So this is modern Equestria?” Amore asked, having walked down the ramp behind me. I looked at her and nodded. “Part of it anyway.” I heard a metal door swing open, followed by a set of footfalls echoing out from the landing pad’s deck. I wheeled around to find Cosmo, wearing nothing more than jeans and a black sleeveless shirt, making his way over to the ship with a grin that most could see from a mile away. “You guys did it!” He shouted over the dying whine of the Prowler’s engines. “Damn right we did it!” I yelled back. Cosmo certainly was excited, uncharacteristically so if his body language was any indication. He slapped my shoulder pad one he finally was in arm’s reach. “Great work kid.” He proceeded to step back and turn his attention to the Princess, bowing his head in the process. “Welcome home, Your Highness.” “Thank you…” Amore replied, motioning for Cosmo to straighten out. “You’re Cosmo, correct?” Cosmo nodded. “Indeed I am.” Amore seemed to crack a slight smile through her facade of neutrality. “Sky has told me quite a bit about you.” She stopped as Dusk marched off the Prowler carrying some crates of equipment, followed by Dart and one of the Spartans. “Although I do have some things that I believe we should discuss… Assuming there’s some place a bit more private than this.” Dusk didn’t seem to pay our conversation any mind, instead going back up the ramp to get more of our equipment. Cosmo, however, caught on that something was up right away. “Of course there is.” “Then lead on.” Amore replied, waving he arm at the door that Cosmo had emerged from. The walk downstairs was rather uneventful. But I couldn't help but notice that Cosmo looked unusually happy. If I didn’t know any better I’d think he must’ve taken something. But when we walked into the loft and I saw Trixie with a similar expression I put two and two together. “So did you two finalize the wedding or did something else happen?” Cosmo and Trixie both exchanged looks. “There’s that…” Cosmo said. “But I also got the official adoption paperwork for Archer this morning.” The image of the yellow filly popped into my mind and I couldn’t help but smile. “That’s great! Does she know yet?” Cosmo nodded. “Told her myself first thing this morning.” I couldn’t help but notice at that point that Archer was nowhere to be seen. “So where is she?” “Therapy.” Trixie replied as she walked over to the fridge and pulled out some water bottles. “I pulled some strings and managed to convince a local therapist to make house calls for her once a week, conveniently starting today.” “What does a young mare need a doctor for?” Amore asked. “Archer is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.” Cosmo explained. “She watched her birth parents die about a year ago and she’s been slowly getting worse. If Trixie hadn’t found a shrink…” “Long story short, it likely wouldn’t have ended well.” Trixie replied. “Fair enough…” Amore said. “These therapists, are they a recent development?” Trixie shrugged. “They’ve always been around. But the need for them exploded after the war ended, with thousands of traumatized ponies that had never dealt with death on the scale that the Enclave dealt out.” “Ah, yes. Dart did briefly tell me about the conflict.” Amore replied. “All things considered you’ve all managed to adapt quite well if appearances are an indicator.” Trixie handed out the bottles before cracking open hers. “I’d say that you’re right.” Amore did the same and took a quick sip from the bottle. “With that in mind I’m hoping that the two of you might be able to help us.” “And just who’s ‘us’?” Cosmo asked. “Myself, Sombra and Radiant.” Amore replied. “Cosmo, would you be able to get us copies of all information pertaining to the quantum mirrors?” “Quantum… You mean the portals?” Cosmo said, a confused look crossing his face. “What do you need info on them for?” “We believe they are key to an old prophecy that was uncovered a few years before my imprisonment.” She said. “Tell me Cosmo, what have you heard of the Broken Mirror Paradox?” “The what?” Amore shook her head. “I’ll take it that you’ve never heard of it. No matter, we still need that information. Can you get it?” Cosmo looked over at Trixie before turning back to the Princess with a determined look in his eyes. “I’ll go make some calls.” *** Four Hours Later… “Here you go!” Cosmo groaned as he put the box of files down on the coffee table in the parlor. “That should be copies of everything in the archives in Canterlot on the mirrors.” I reached over and grabbed a tan folder off the top of the pile. “Thanks Cosmo.” I flipped open the folder and was met with a color picture of what looked like some sort of aircraft. It was drab green with a number of attachments on the hull. The top corner read ‘Guardian’. I noticed that it appeared to be in some sort of hangar and had suffered some significant damage. “Cosmo, what’s this?” Cosmo leaned over and smiled. “That was the ship that Dusk built. It got shot down about four years ago in the Badlands. From the looks of it that was taken after the bits and pieces were recovered for Princess Sparkle.” “What’s it doing in here?” I asked. “See those attachments on the upper hull?” Cosmo said, pointing at the attachments. “Those were built from parts of quantum mirrors that were recovered from a warehouse in Manehattan. That was supposed to carry Dusk’s team on the originally planned Wasteland mission… But after the Guardian was shot down and Dusk was captured the plan was shelved.” “This Dusk character sounds like he’s quite ingenious…” Amore observed as she read through the contents of the folder that she had picked up. “He designed this craft all on his own?” Cosmo nodded. “I think it had something to do with Dusk’s encounter with a database on his first Wasteland mission a number of years ago. Something about his thought process changed… I just don’t know all the details.” Amore nodded and put the folder down on the table, grabbing a loaded red folder with the words ‘Operation Scorpion’ printed in black letters across its face. She flipped it open and picked up a picture that was sitting right on top of the papers. “Is this one of the portals you refer to?” She asked, handing Cosmo the photograph. Cosmo nodded. “Only one that's still remotely intact. It broke when Dusk took his team through it to reach the Wasteland.” Amore took back the photo and placed it down on the table. “Well it certainly reminds me of a mirror…” “You should’ve seen it when it was running.” Cosmo said, sitting down at the table opposite of Amore. “The portal itself looked like a sheet of polished steel. It wasn’t all that reflective but it was enough to make out the rough shape of your body if you stood right in front of it.” “So it could be the mirror referenced in the paradox…” Amore muttered. “But you said that this is the only one still ‘remotely intact’. Can I correctly assume that there were others at one point?” Cosmo nodded. “The final count came in at six units. Four were destroyed in raids by various Special Forces teams, that damaged one was recovered for study, and a larger disabled one is under guard in a base in the Badlands.” Amore studied the files before her for a few minutes before she shook her head. “No… This is too convenient. The portal that is being studied broke after this ‘Blaze Squad’ passed through it because it was already damaged. If these fragments only appear to resemble Dusk then where are the ones that resemble the rest of his associates?” I grabbed the Operation Scorpion folder and flipped through the papers, stopping when I came across a report of some kind. The top of it read ‘after action operator report’. The line below it had in handwriting next to the line that denoted the operator ‘Dusk Light’. “Hey, look at this.” I said, handing the first page of the report to Amore. “Looks like a blow by blow of Dusk’s entire time in the Wasteland.” Amore quickly read over the first page before leaning over and looking at the second one that was sitting in front of me. “He has this report broken down into segments... “ She took the second of what was apparently six pages, handed me the second two and passed the final ones to Cosmo. “Alright, let's go through these. There might be something in here.” I turned to my pages and found that my section started with what Dusk called a ‘salvage mission’ to the northern part of the Wasteland. I read about halfway down and noticed that Dusk had added a footnote to his entry. “Hey, listen to this.” I said, getting both Cosmo and Amore’s attention. “The first time I encountered the individual calling himself the Mountaineer, I believed that I was hallucinating in my wounded condition after our first encounter with the locals. I distinctly remember the Mountaineer firing off a flare over my position. However as previously stated I believed that I must have been hallucinating. It wasn’t until our second encounter during the Enclave assault on Chicacolt that I realized that I wasn’t crazy and that this individual had saved me from freezing to death only a few days before. I would later believe that this individual died when we destroyed the Victorious, but he eventually reappeared during our final engagement with West Wind in the ruins of Canterlot and save me a third time.” “Mountaineer…” Cosmo muttered. “Is there any other papers in that file on this colt?” I flipped through the file quickly, coming up empty in short order. “Nope, I’ve got nothing. I’ve only got that one footnote.” Cosmo took the folder and shook his head in disbelief. “We’re missing reports.” He said. “Comet, Strike, Dart… Dusk’s is the only one here.” “This is a paper system. Could they have been misfiled?” I asked. Cosmo shook his head. “I don’t think that it's likely, not with reverence that the military places on Scorpion.” “If that’s the case, then did someone remove reports from the file?” Amore asked. “They’re not in there because they’re filed separately.” All three of us turned around and saw Dusk leaning against the counter. “If they’re filed separately, then where are they?” Cosmo asked. Dusk strolled forward and took up the final remaining chair at the table. “They were stored in the royal archives at the request of the Princess. My report is only with the Scorpion files because I put the original there myself.” “The military files are kept as a separate archive…” Cosmo realized. “And the archivist gave you what she had.” Dusk replied. We all sat in silence for a moment before I noticed that Amore was studying Dusk with some intent. “What do you know about this ‘Mountaineer’?” Dusk shrugged. “Not much. My best guess is that he was some sort of synth, but I could never tell for sure.” What I didn't expect was Amore's apparent satisfaction. “Fair enough.” Amore replied, sitting back in her chair. With nothing else to say Dusk got up from his chair and walked out of the apartment, all while Amore was still staring at him. “Is something wrong?” Cosmo asked. “I don’t know…” Amore muttered. “I just don’t know…” Author's Note And there's the sixth chapter of Fragments done and out of the way. The next chapter is the epilogue chapter, set nine years from the end of this story in the immediate aftermath of the final confrontation between Dusk and Kovac. Like with Chaos Theory (which has a comic in the works), the coming epilogue will help set up the proper sequel to both of the Broken Mirror stories. In the meantime, does anyone have 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 AftermathCanterlot, Approximately Nine Years Later Cloud Runner “So that’s it then?” Cosmo asked from the other side of the table in Canterlot Castle’s dining hall. “Kovac and his Synths disappeared?” From her place at the head of the table Princess Celestia nodded. “Indeed… We can’t find a trace that they even existed.” Besides the Princess, Cosmo and myself, a small entourage of other ponies had assembled. The entirety of Dusk’s family, the former members of his squad and the leadership of the Northern Guard had all assembled in Canterlot in the aftermath of last night’s attack. Kovac had made his move, bringing a small army of Synths to bare against Canterlot after a week in hiding. But to our surprise, Archer had known that the raid was coming. Only Cosmo seemed to believe Archer’s warning, for reasons that still aren’t understood. When Kovac arrived at the Castle he and Archer were waiting. While they didn’t manage to stop the one-eyed stallion, they delayed him long enough for Dusk to learn of the attack and order his private army into action. It was after Dusk arrived that he learned that Kovac had breached the hidden door that led to the Nexus beneath the Castle. All we know is that Kovac was killed, Dusk was apparently vaporized while trying to contain the nuclear device that Kovac had brought with him, the Nexus had been somehow disbursed… And somehow Archer had made her way after Dusk and had survived the ordeal. All she confirmed is that Kovac was dead and Dusk had inverted a shield spell around the Nexus chamber when he realized that the bomb couldn’t be disarmed. Beyond that she wouldn’t say a word to anyone. “So that's it then.” An older red stallion, Dusk’s father if I understand correctly, solemnly replied. “We’re only still here because Dusk went and acted like a hero again.” Judging by the expressions of the ponies around the table, it was a shared sentiment. Dusk was known for being brash and reactive at times, but up until a few days ago everyone had apparently thought that he had retired from a life hiding in shadows. And no one had expected that he had used the wealth that he had assembled from the development of the entire planet to finance a private army composed of survivors of the Wasteland Expedition. Well, judged by Dart’s pained expression she did know something about this army of Dusk’s. “Dart…” Princess Celestia asked. “What do you know about this network of ‘Ghosts’ that Dusk established?” Dart seemed to snap out of her stupor and looked up at the Princess. “You mean you didn’t know?” She asked. Celestia looked confused. “You thought that I knew about this?” Dart nodded. “He said you gave him the green light right after we retired. I found out once Osman’s engineers started construction of the Grotto about five years ago.” “Can we back up a minute?” Cosmo asked. “Because from what I just heard it sounds like Dart may have been lied to.” “Obviously he lied about Celestia giving him permission…” Dart said as she realized where Cosmo was going. “But believe me, Dusk did everything with the greater good in mind. The base, the equipment, the army, all of this was meant to deal with Kovac when he made his move.” “Can I just ask a question?” Strike said. “I know that Dusk was technically on our side, but doesn’t rasing a private army break some sort of law?” “Technically it doesn’t.” Celestia admitted. “There isn’t a law preventing such an act on the books, and my refusal to level any condemnation or consequences against the Northern Guard after they first formed established legal precedent.” “Then what do we do about this little private army of Dusk’s?” Strike retorted. Celestia simply shrugged. “I don’t know. I can’t simply dissolve the organization that Dusk has created because I don’t have the legal authority to do so, and nationalizing the group in it’s entirety would allow the heads of the military to gain access to Dusk’s files… Which I think is safe to say that some of the information might be rather damning if it were to somehow be leaked to the public.” “So we leave these Ghosts alone. As long as they’re not a threat I don’t think we have anything to worry about.” Meteor Shower added. “My only concern is that they’re essentially leaderless. Dart, I know you’re aware of their existence but it doesn’t sound like Dusk ever gave you any real responsibilities within this group.” Dart nodded. “You’re right General, I didn’t really do much other than occasionally talk to these stallions… And to be honest I don’t even know where to start so far as succession plans are concerned.” “What if I told you that Dusk did leave a plan?” All eyes at the table turned to Cosmo as he fished out a clean white envelope from his jacket. “Wait, how would you know?” Meteor asked. “Because Archer gave this to me and asked me to bring it to this meeting.” Cosmo retorted as he held up the envelope. “What I hold here is Dusk’s last will and testament. Because he never actually married or had children, he designated heirs both to lead his company and maintain control over the organization he’s built.” He put down the envelope and pulled out two pieces of paper, passing one to Dart while holding onto the other. “Dart, I know that all you have is an engagement ring… But Dusk made sure that you’d be taken care of.” I, as well as everyone else at the table, watched my sister intently as she read through her copy. Her stoic facade began to fail as some tears began to stream down her cheeks a moment after putting the paper down on the table. “He left me everything. The house, the company, his bank accounts…” Clearly something else was wrong, because Dart didn’t seem to calm down as she tried to compose herself. “Dart, is there something else?” I asked. It took her a moment, but Dart nodded. “He knew that I was pregnant.” Dart didn’t need to say anything else, because it seemed that every pony around the table recognized something once they heard Dart’s admission. Dusk knew that he had a family coming, but he apparently didn’t think he’d be around to actually raise a child. Through his apparent fears of Kovac he planned for what he must have believed was an inevitable confrontation that neither stallion would walk away from. “Cosmo, just who did Dusk leave to command this army of his?” Meteor asked, sounding rather pained as he slowly asked the question. Now it was Cosmo’s turn to look dejected. “He left it to Archer…” Even Dart stopped once Cosmo made that admission. “He left an army to a child who’s only military experience came from that memory orb?” Dart asked, pushing down a sob. “I know what happened to the last colt to use that thing, so why should I believe that Archer won’t just go mad?” “Because Dusk was there.” Cosmo replied. “Look, it’s a bit complicated… But there was what I call an echo of Dusk that acted as a guide for Archer, helped keep her mind in one piece. I’ve actually seen it thanks to Luna’s training in dream-walking. As for this will, I only got it because that echo left it for me. That thing admitted that it knew that Dusk was going to die and wanted to make sure that we were all prepared for the aftermath.” Cosmo leaned forward and rested on his arms. “I don’t know what or how, but something is coming.” Cosmo’s explanation has understandably raised a few eyebrows, but I couldn’t count myself among that group. If anything his explanation sounded rather familiar… But I just couldn’t place why it rang some bells. POP! It took me a minute to realize that the pop and simultaneous flash of light meant that someone had teleported into the room. “Dusk is still alive!” Once I managed to get my vision straight I realized that an old friend had joined us. “Amore, do you want to run that by us all one more time?” “I said that Dusk is alive.” Amore repeated. “The Nexus… Cloud, that was the mirror that the paradox referred to! Not only that but the Paradox is proof that Dusk survived because one of the fractures that he created wrote it.” “Amore, I realize that you think you’re trying to help…” Celestia admitted. “But you sound absolutely crazy.” Amore actually cracked a grin. “See, I knew you would say that.” She said as she swung a bag off of her back. “But I have proof!” Amore unceremoniously dumped the bag’s contents onto the table. But these weren’t just any random pieces of junk. Laid out for all to see where very old armor components. Clearly they had corroded over the years and the paint had flaked off, but they were still recognizable as Mjoinir components. But if the different shoulder pad parts were the cake, then the helmet that sat on it’s side on the table was the icing. It was clearly an elongated Fotus model with space for the horn of a unicorn in its peak. Dart picked up the helmet and turned it over in her hands. She brushed some dirt off of the chin, revealing the still-pearl white paint that had coated Dusk’s last set of armor. “Where did you find these?” She asked. “We were excavating the village that was recorded as the source of the Broken Mirror Paradox. There was a small temple in that village where the original inscription was found. Well we found a number of unmarked graves inside the temple itself…” Amore’s grin only seemed to grow more and more. “And in one of those graves was a full set of this armor. No body or sign of augmented remains, no undersuit, nothing. Just the armor components. I think that the fracture may have discarded the armor at some point and buried the pieces at the temple where it left the inscription.” “But we’re talking about a Fracture Amore.” I pointed out. “How does that equate to ‘Dusk is alive’?” “Well this is where I’m going to surprise you Cloud, but I’ve managed to track Dusk down.” Amore stated, looking rather confident. “I started with notes on the subject of the multiverse left by Starswirl the Bearded. As he different universes have different magical signatures. Well that got me thinking… How do you find one pony in a sea of infinite duplicates? Well all I had to do was go to Archer and use her to figure out what I was looking for.” “And just what does Archer have to do with this?” Celestia asked. Cosmo, however, must’ve realized something. “When Kovac first returned he tried to track Dusk down through his magical signature, but instead he found two separate points. Archer was one of them-” “Which means that her magical signature was replaced with a duplicate of Dusk’s.” Amore said, cutting off Cosmo. “So using Starswirl’s notes I managed to construct what he called a ‘reality map’.” She pulled out a golden amulet from the pocket of her jacket and placed it in the center of the table. It lit up immediately in a blue glow before it flashed and turned green. This so-called map was an array of translucent orbs that reminded me of holograms. There was one that instead of green was a bright golden hue. A second one on the far edge of what the map represented was a bright pink. “Incredible…” Celestia muttered. “Starswirl supposedly took the one he made for himself with him when he disappeared but I never actually saw it for myself, nor was I able to determine how to recreate it.” “Then how do we read this thing?” Meteor asked. “It’s rather simple.” Amore admitted. “This golden sphere is the map’s origin point. The green orbs are parallel universes, while the pink one… That’s where the map detected Dusk’s magical signature. Suffice to say the presence of two otherwise identical magical signatures is a bit problematic.” “How so?” Celestia asked. Amore tapped the amulet and the orbs started to vibrate and shift positions. “Because Archer is here and Dusk is in another universe, the fabric that holds reality together seems to be reacting. In essence because the magical signatures of the two are identical, and two ponies can’t be in two different places at once.” “So it’s a violation of a bunch of different scientific laws.” I replied. “And if the map is any indication then existence as we know it is reacting…” Amore nodded. “We need to find Dusk and restore Archer’s original magical signature, otherwise the existence of everything that ever was or ever will be is in jeopardy.” “Do we really need Dusk?” Strike asked. “Couldn’t we find one of these ‘fractures’ and get them to help?” “Well we’d to find one that exists long enough to be of service, but there’s also the sticking point that the Fractures all have unique magical signatures. They aren’t going to understand Dusk’s magic, let alone help reverse its imprint on Archer.” Amore answered. “Then we need a solution.” Celestia added. “Amore, you apparently have a handle on this phenomenon. Do you have any suggestions?” Amore’s smile never disappeared, and to an extent I couldn’t help but feel a bit anxious. “As a matter of fact I do.” She said as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Now where do you want me to start?” Author's Note So while I keep working on Part II of Broken Mirror and go through and work on the full-blown editing of Part I (because lets be honest, that early writing absolutely sucks), we'll see more short stories that'll set up the eventual story of Reflections. This story, the eventual final chapter of Operation Bullseye and others will help with that effort. You know what else Fractures does? Like how Chaos Theory established Blueblood as a figure of importance for Archer going forward, Fragments also sets Amore up to play a bigger role down the road as another mentor for Archer. Where Blueblood will act more as a teacher of the humanities (teaching an otherwise introverted young mare how to deal with other ponies), Amore's near-decade of studies places her as a future technical adviser for Archer. There's also the apparent survival of the original Dusk after the inevitable final confrontation in Broken Mirror Part II. Obviously that story won't get told for a while yet (but we're getting there!) 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 Prologue - The House Always WinsVanhoover, Equestria One Week before Battle of Emona Memorial Constellation Luxury… What do you think of when you hear that word? Maybe a bed that you sink into? A fully tiled bathroom with marble and brass fixtures? Maybe a heated towel rack because… Well, why not? See, my definition of luxury is a bit different. It involves a decided lack of dirt clutching to every limb and piece of clothing, a clean bed to sleep in, and not having to sleep with an eye open for fear that someone would stab you in your sleep. What I have now meets that criteria, easily a stark contrast to the Wasteland that I grew up in. But even with these meager changes, living with them for the better part of a year has started to wear on my mind. In short, I’m bored. I haven’t even had the opportunity to go bash the skulls of the local lowlife degenerates, that duty being taken up by that Sky and her apparent colt-friend Cloud Runner. And when they’re off duty my son Cosmo has been taking care of business, leaving me to wait up to make sure that everyone gets back to the building at a decent hour. It’s an entirely benign lifestyle that most ponies wouldn’t take issue with, but I’m certainly not most ponies. “Is something wrong Mom?” I was shaken out of my stupor by the simple questions from my pony-griffon hybrid son, Storm Chaser. “What now?” “Is something wrong?” He asked again. “No… It’s the just the usual.” I replied. “You’re bored?” “Yup.” “And Cosmo is out beating up petty street criminals?” “You guessed it.” Storm drummed his fingers on the table before he shrugged. “We could go do something?” “Like what?” Storm stopped dead at the question before he slumped down in his chair. “I don’t know…” “So we’re both in the same boat.” Storm nodded and seemed to slouch down in his chair further. “You’d figure we’d have more to do these days.” I offered a curt nod in response. “Honestly I’m starting to miss the raiders. At least then we’d have something to keep us busy.” POP! In a flash of light an envelope appeared before it fell to the table. It landed face down, with the seal of the Ministry of Defense holding it shut. With nothing better to do I picked up the envelope broke the seal and pulled out the letter. Ms. Constellation, It’s been some time since we met, so I’m not sure that you’d remember who I am. However I feel it’s high time we actually meet in a setting more formal than a warzone. As such I feel it prudent to extend you an invitation to come to Canterlot Castle. I’ll be sure to give you the full tour, as I doubt that there was much left of Canterlot from where you came from. Regards, General Meteor Shower Minister of Defense “Well that’s convenient…” I muttered as I handed Storm the letter. “If I didn’t know any better I’d say there’s some higher power that decided to pay attention to us.” “You mean like a Goddess?” Storm asked. I shrugged and nodded “Yeah, just like that.” “Then why didn’t this higher power get involved sooner? It’s not like we haven’t been bored out of our minds for ages.” I keep forgetting that I raised a rather bright young colt. Only he would notice the irony of the arrival of this invitation. “Well as far as I’m concerned this is an opportunity to break the day-to-day monotony that we’ve been dealing with. And what did I tell you about opportunities?” “That you take them when you get them?” Storm wondered aloud. “You got it.” I said, reaching over and ruffling the fluff on the top of his head. “Now unless I’m mistaken there’s no date on this invitation… So what are we waiting for?” *** Canterlot Castle, Three Hours Later If I could say anything about my expectations of Canterlot, I’d say they were rather low. Much of my impressions of the capital had been shaped by the stories of a city shrouded in a pink fog from inhabited by deranged ghouls. But stepping off the lowered ramp of the dropship that flew me and Storm from Vanhoover I already get the impression that I’d be learning something today. We had stepped off the craft in a garden flanked on three sides by the massive polished marble walls of Canterlot Castle. For what seemed like the first time in my life I was awestruck by something that ponykind had made, not wondered how things were before bombs took everything from our society. By the time my gaze turned to the door that led into the castle I realized that our host had been standing and waiting for me, as Storm had already joined him. “I get the impression that you don’t get out all that much.” The General observed as I finally joined him. When we last met he was decked out in the golden armor of the Solar Guard, but this time he had traded protection for substance with a well-fitted suit. “You don’t know the half of it.” I retorted. “It's just… I heard all the stories about how Canterlot died over the course of my life. Now I’m standing on grounds of a palace that I had every reason to believe was a crumbling ruin.” “That’s right, that whole multiverse thing…” The General mumbled. “Fair enough. So I take it you’re hoping to see more that some walls?” “Absolutely!” Storm yelped. I could only offer a reserved smile. “What he said.” “Then shall we get moving?” We walked through the halls of the castle in silence, mostly because I was taking everything in. The stained glass windows that lined the outer walls were beautiful, filtering in the soft colors of the sun that hung high in the midday sky. Considering that the only “stained glass” that I had previously seen were windows coated with bloodstains, the artisan quality to such simple fixture was a welcome experience. “So when did you get promoted?” Storm asked, kicking me out of my stupor “What do you mean?” The General asked. “You signed your letter that you were the ‘Minister of Defense’. I thought you were in charge of the southern theater?” The General finally got what Storm was asking and chuckled. “You can’t oversee a theater of war in a time of peace. So Celestia decided that my talents would best be used in her cabinet, hence the promotion.” “What is she like?” I asked. “Who, Celestia?” “No, the other sun goddess.” I replied. The General chuckled and stopped so he could turn his attention to me. “She’s a great leader, and a good friend of mine. So believe me when I say that half of the legends that you’ve heard about her are pretty spot on except for one point.” “And what would that be?” I asked. “She’s not perfect.” The General instantly replied. “She makes mistakes just like you or me. She drags herself out of bed every morning just like anyone else, easily with the same bedhead. She may be immortal, but she doesn’t act the part.” “And to think a religion grew around such an imperfect figure.” Storm added in a snarky manner. I really didn’t know how to react to that. Storm was always an inquisitive young colt, but he had always found ways to stump me on the topic of my religious beliefs. “You’re doing it again…” I groaned. “And just what did he do?” The General asked, not knowing the point I was trying to drive home. “I made Mom question her beliefs again.” Storm replied with a smile. “Trust me, I do it all the time.” Finally out of my stupor I realized that we were standing at the foot of a large stained oak door, easily large enough to let a dragon fit through. When I saw the symbols on the doors I felt my heart flutter. “Is that really what I think it is?” “If you think that it's the throne room you’d be spot on.” The General replied with a smile. “Celestia is still in a-” As the door swung open two guards walked out, followed by the familiar mug of the supposedly reformed Dark King of the Crystal Empire. “Believe me General, we’re all set.” While I didn’t know what the purpose for Sombra’s meeting with the Princess was, it was clear that Meteor Shower knew. “Did you get anywhere?” He asked. “She’s loaning me a ship with no crew for an extended period of time. I’ll just take that and run with it”. “Fair enough.” He said reassuringly. “Just let me know if you need anything else.” “Will do.” Sombra curtly replied before disappearing in a cloud of grey mist. Storm and I didn’t realize that he must’ve teleported away, but the General certainly recognized that parlor trick. “I hate it when he does that…” “Did he just teleport?” Storm asked. “Sort of.” The General replied. “He’s using a parallel dimension to route his teleportation spell to where he wants to go, not straight point A to B like normal. According to him it uses less energy and affords a greater range to the spell… And that’s assuming I believe him.” “Do you believe him?” “Well I believe getting pulled along with that spell reintroduced my lunch to the outside world.” I shuddered at the thought of the General losing his lunch through Sombra’s unique method of teleportation. “Sounds like fun…” The General motioned to the guards who started the task of swinging the heavy oak doors open. “I’d say you’re about half right on that.” With nothing more to say on the topic I turned my gaze to the throne room and walked through the half-open doors. I had heard stories as a child that the room was itself a work of art and a monument to some of the most important events in our history. Those stories rung true as I shifted my gaze to the stained glass windows that depicted what I would assume to be some of the major historical events that littered the history of our country. Not that I know what half of them mean, considering I’m not an expert on translating the meanings of artwork, but I can understand enough to know that what I’ve heard over my life is the real deal. But as my boot hit a step at the base of the dias I realized that I had kept marching across the room, distracted entirely by my surroundings. “I take it that this is your first time in Canterlot?” Came a voice from above me on the throne. I finally looked up at the sun goddess herself. For a moment I didn’t know what to do before I felt a nudge from my side and nodded. “The stories don’t do the place justice.” By the time I realized what was happening Celestia was already standing in front of me. She was easily half a head taller, so even at ground level I was still looking up at her to an extent. “I can see the resemblance…” She muttered. Now I think I have a right to be confused. “What resemblance?” “Your son Cosmo.” Celestia answered. “He definitely has your eyes.” Thats right, Cosmo has met the Princess before. “Quick question, just what did Cosmo do for you?” “I take it he didn’t tell you?” “He just told me you paid well.” Celestia nodded and stifled a chuckle. “To put it simply he made the Intelligence Service and our Special Forces look bad on a regular basis. So until we got the ponies in each brought up to snuff he did all the field work for both branches. Hence why he was and still is paid well for his services.” “So he was a merc…” I muttered, filing the facts that Celestia had presented me for later. “More or less. But I take it that his skills had something to do with his upbringing.” “Mom is a good teacher.” Storm added, reminding me that he was still in the room. “I know who you are…” Celestia said as she ruffled Storm’s head. “Phalanx talks about you all the time Storm.” Ah, yes. Phalanx. He has taken to Storm and has been trying to be a father figure to him and I can’t complain. Anyone is better than his biological father. “So who don’t you know?” I asked. “I couldn’t tell you if I don’t know them.” The Princess replied with a wry grin. I could only smile in return at the Princess’s blunt form of humor.“Point taken.” “At least you appreciate it.” The Princess said as she led the three of us to a small parlor off the main throne room. She plopped down in one of the rather plush chairs quite unceremoniously but kept that same smile she had out in the throne room. “Now… Tell me about yourself Constellation.” *** An Hour Later After a discussion over tea regarding the finer points of life in this new Equestria that I’ve been adapted to, the Princess gave me a pass to the castle library. Now I’m not a major book pony, but when one is given free reign to go through history texts that haven’t been turned to ash you tend to take up the offer. So for half an hour I’ve had my head stuck in one of the thickest textbooks on Equestrian history that I could find. At almost a foot thick I needed to enlist Meteor to help me move it to a stand that had been specially reinforced to hold books as heavy as it. I didn’t care much for the ancient history, as most of it was loaded with speculation derived from long-destroyed documents. What I was trying to assess where the differences in the lead-up to what we in the Wasteland called “The Last Day”. Right away it looks like Equestria is still managing to maintain good relations with the Zebra kingdoms and tribes, but that was traded for occasional instability along the Griffon and Minotaur borders. I may not know much about pre-war diplomatic standings between us, but I know enough to know that Wastelanders didn’t simply attack Griffons and Minotaurs like they do Zebras. That has to speak for something… “You find anything interesting?” Meteor asked as took a glance down at the text. I offered a nod as I flipped the page to reveal a printed mural of an armored guard staring down a massive Minotaur gladius. “You’ve certainly been busy Meteor…” The General nodded in agreement. “I’ve had one hell of a run.” As I turned to face the General something off to the corner of my vision caught my eye. “What’s that?” I muttered. Sitting behind the bookshelf was what looked like an old wooden plank with some carvings. I brushed past the General and knelt down next to the shelf. I grabbed the plank and pulled it out, revealing that it was in reality a wood-bound book. I waved the book at the General and shrugged. “What the hell is this?” It took a minute for the General to register what I was holding, but his look of confusion turning to one of absolute elation was a suggestion that I was holding something of great importance. “That’s one of the two surviving pre-Discordian texts. And it’s been missing for decades.” I looked down at the book, then back to the nook that I had pulled it out of before returning a now confused gaze to the General. “Then they did a shitty job trying to find it.” The General obviously wasn’t listening, as he already had run off to find whoever he could and inform them of this discovery. But let's back up for a moment. Judging by the General’s reaction this book is incredibly important. After a few minutes both the General and Princess Celestia came running into the library. “I’ll be… She did find it!” Celestia exclaimed. At that point I recognized that I was still holding the book… And therefore had all the leverage. As I charged my horn a simple fire spell began channeling though my free hand. “And ‘she’ has a few demands if you want to see this thing as anything other than kindling.” The General’s jaw just about hit the floor when he realized what I was doing. “You wouldn’t.” He whispered. “I would, assuming that my rather reasonable demands aren’t met.” I retorted. The General was about to offer a response, but the Princess cut him off. “Name your terms.” I felt a cocky grin develop and chuckled “Two percent of the royal treasury, and a decree that acknowledges the Northern Guard as an independent organization that can act under any means to ensure that Equestria and its people remain safe.” “That’s preposterous!” Meteor yelled. But judging by her facial expression the Princess didn’t feel that way. “Consider it done.” The next few hours were rather uneventful. While the General clearly couldn’t get over what he had just witnessed, the Princess didn’t seem to take issue with had been asked. As we were waiting on the Pelican to leave, she arrived and handed me the sealed decree. “I must admit Constellation, what you did in that library was quite unexpected.” The Princess observed. I nodded and sat back in my seat. “Is this where you threaten me to make sure that something like that doesn’t happen again?” The Princess shook her head. “Meteor will likely cover it eventually.” “Then why are you here?” I asked. “To offer you some words of wisdom.” The Princess said as she walked off the ramp. “Keep in mind that the house always wins.” As the dropship picked up from the courtyard I found myself going back to the Princess’ words. “What did she mean by that Mom?” Stormy asked. I didn’t respond. I already have a feeling that Celestia was giving me a warning… And if the Immortal Sun Goddess is telling quoting that age old casino adage, I get the feeling that decree and funding will come with some other cost. Author's Note Well this was the second idea that I came up with. Instead of just a Constellation one-shot, I decided that the story could be something more... And with the cliffhanger at the end of The Long Road, we'll soon have somewhere to pick up (in addition to some cover art in the pipe). 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
OutpostHMS Redoubtable One Day after the end of “The Long Road” Cosmo When Sombra had said he had expended whatever goodwill he had with the Princesses I would’ve imagined that he was kidding. But as we milled about the bridge of the veteran frigate Redoubtable I began to believe his statement more and more. She certainly has the advanced sensors he’d need… As the former tyrant and his partner strolled onto the bridge I had to do a double take. Instead of the simple tunic that I was familiar with he had donned a rather fancy grey uniform likely taken from the wardrobe of the Redoubtable’s last Human commanding officer. “All right, gather round.” He ordered as he walked up the main holotable. At his word the entirety of my assembled team quit their meandering and found open spaces around the glowing piece of human engineering. For this journey I had only taken Phalanx, Cloud, Sky and Trixie along. “Are you going to tell us more about where we’re finding this last fragment?” I asked. “Indeed.” Sombra replied, punching up a holographic representation of the tundra north of the Crystal Empire. “Based off of what I can gather we’ll find the last fragment a few miles away from the North Pole.” As he pressed another button a red dot started blinking on the map. “But I stumbled onto something when I originally came up here to recover the fragment.” The image changed, and over the red dot the three-dimensional shapes of buildings developed. “Where’d the building come from?” Phalanx asked. “We believe it was built some time within the last decade.” Radiant explained. “The original map was constructed using data provided by the cartographers in the Crystal Empire. The current image was provided by one of the UCAVs that was stored aboard this vessel when it passed over the site early last week.” “Based off of the scans of the structure, our best guess is that ONI built it during the war.” I couldn’t help but shake my head. “That's a bit too much of a coincidence.” “My thoughts exactly.” Sombra noted. “If I could track the fragments by their magical signature, I don’t see a reason that ONI couldn’t have somehow detected the fragment as well.” “But didn’t the humans give the locations of all of their bases and facilities on the planet?” Trixie asked. “If I remember correctly that was a stipulation of the peace treaty.” Sombra nodded. “While that is true, that doesn’t mean that the public is allowed to know where they all were.” Sombra brings up a good point. I did ask about ONI’s bases after the treaty was signed, but I was instead told that the information that was given to the Princess was classified. “I guess that the Princess saw some locations on there that struck a bit close to home?” “That's what I would assume as well.” Sombra replied. “But discovering this outpost is why I asked for your aid. Just because the facilities that ONI constructed were all turned over to the government, there’s nothing to suggest that there isn’t some sort of security measures in place to prevent unauthorized access.” “Sounds like Felix should’ve tagged along.” Sky observed. “We’ll just have to make do with who’s here.” I said. “Indeed you will.” Sombra handed me a tacpad from across the holotable. “That has the map of the facility that we’ve developed. You’ll find the main entrance marked on it.” “Excellent.” I said with a grin. “Let's go to work gang.” *** If I was asked by someone if they should bring a heavy coat if they were to go on a polar expedition, I’d have to tell them yes. Just find a heavy jacket you’d bring, then go find one twice as heavy. Even through my bomber jacket, snow pants, face wrap, goggles and hat the chill that the winds through about still managed to reach my fur. As we marched from the dropship to the door to the outpost even Cloud began to have problems, the joints in his power armor freezing up if his hobbling and the groans of metal on metal were any indication. As we finally reached the metal sliding doors that would let us out of the cold Phalanx stepped forward, and with the fine skill of a duelist jammed his sword into the seam that marked the two halves of the entrance. “Come on!” He groaned as he tried to lever the door open. Cloud finally stepped forward and jammed his hands into the gap and started pulling against one half. Slowly the door gave way to reveal the dark interior of the structure. And one by one we all managed to slide through the crack and out of the elements. While dark and chilly the interior of the outpost was a decided improvement over the bone chilling winds of the tundra outside. Behind me the lights on Cloud’s armor flickered to life to unveil a sparse entrance to the rest of the structure. “I’m starting to appreciate those lights Cloud.” I said, thinking back to when he installed the recessed LED lights. “I told you they’d come in handy one day.” Cloud replied, an air of pride evident in the way he spoke. I simply stepped out of the way and gestured. “Then lead on.” As Cloud stomped past I got a good look at the new paint scheme that he had applied. He kept the same black, but replaced the Enclave logos with the crest of the Northern Guard. Sky, my old friend and Cloud’s partner, was right on his heel. She had long discarded the standard riot gear for a bright blue and gold set of armor, one that originally started out as a standard set of combat armor that Dusk and his crew had brought back from their expedition. The building was, of course, empty. No signs of life, just the occasional work station or inactive computer. But as we hit the end of the hall the room opened up. In the middle of the floor was a large hole that led down into the permafrost. “I’m starting to think that ONI was looking for that fragment.” Phalanx said as he stared down into the dig site. Someone finally found the main breaker, as that point the entire building lit up. “That’ll do it.” Cloud called out from his place at the electrical cabinet. And do ‘it’ Cloud did. Spotlights all flickered to life, instead showing a excavation far shallower than it appeared, maybe only four feet down at most. But in the center… In the center was a crystalline structure that looked rather like a pedestal. “What the hell is that?” Sky, having gone with Sombra on some of his expeditions, instead jumped down into the pit, landing right next to the crystal. “Shit…” I heard her mutter. The rest of us dropped down and joined our pegasi companion. “What’s wrong?” Trixie asked. “The fragment isn’t here.” Sky said as she smacked her palm down on the crystal. “ONI must’ve taken it.” “Well they didn’t take everything…” I muttered. “Spread out and the main computer core. We’ll pull it and take it back to the Redoubtable.” By the time I had scrambled out of the pit both Cloud and Sky were bouncing between terminals, pulling up the file listings in hope that they found the main computer. I walked up to a terminal I saw that one of the access panels had been removed to show a large box with two handles. “I found it!” I called out as I slid the core out of it’s enclosure. As the entire group gathered round I couldn’t help but shake the item, feeling a bit better now that we have actual information. “Now let’s get this thing out of here.” *** HMS Redoubtable, Half an Hour Later… “I thought you said that you could get that thing working…” Sombra muttered. Felix was on the floor beneath the stallion, his head inside the guts of one of the Redoubtable’s terminals. “Well I’m sorry, but I can’t snap my bloody fingers and produce results!” The fox called out from his workspace. After a few more minutes of watching a blank screen, it finally blinked on. While I’d expect to see ONI’s sigil, an unknown symbol that read ‘Materials Group’ appeared before changing to an interface. I pushed past Sombra and took a seat at the terminal, and tapped the ‘logs’ tab on the screen. “Lets see what we’ve got…” I tapped the most recent entry at the top of the list, dating from the final days of the war with the Enclave. “Says here that specimen 01.225-E was transferred to a secure storage container, scheduled to be moved to an annex site…” I had to read the location again to myself to get it to finally register. “In Casbah City on Tribute.” “Son of a bitch…” Felix muttered. “They took the fragment to another planet?” I nodded. “That's what it looks like.” Sombra sat down in the adjacent chair and sighed. “Damnit…” He cursed. “We don’t even know where this planet is, do we?” “Not a clue.” I answered. “But even if we did… Sombra, this is way out of our ability to handle.” “I know that…” He answered. “Besides, I can’t drag you off to another planet. You’ve got Archer to worry about.” And he has another point. I can’t just leave Archer alone… “We’ll go with you.” I whipped around and saw that Sky and Cloud were both standing over us. “Even so we still need transport.” Sombra pointed out. “And we don’t know where Tribute is.” Cloud’s grin finally became noticeable and he shook his head. “You’re worrying too much Sombra. Besides, I’ve already got it covered.” “How do you already ‘have it covered’?” Sombra asked. Cloud simply handed the old king a datapad. “I called Dusk after we came aboard, and asked if he could call in one of those infinite number of favors that Admiral Osman owes him. She’s got a prowler on the way to Canterlot as we speak.” *** Canterlot, Two Hours Later… Cloud wasn’t kidding when he said that Osman had sent a prowler. By the time we had arrived in Canterlot the sleek black craft was already sitting in the castle courtyard, guarded by a group of three Spartans. As the dropship we were riding in touched down we were greeted by both Dusk and Dart. He explained that as he didn’t know where we would be taking the prowler, Osman assigned Red Team as ‘escorts’ should the makeshift expedition run into trouble. But to admit that Trixie and I would be remaining on solid ground while both Cloud and Sky instead took to the stars seemed to catch Dusk off guard. As I put it with him, it’s one thing to go off for a few hours and leave Archer back in Vanhoover, but it’s a completely different story to abandon her for what could be weeks. It’s just not responsible parenting. But that didn’t mean I wouldn’t help load supplies onto the ship, and that’s where I was when Dusk and Dart returned fitted out in full combat gear to take our places. “You two are nuts.” I groaned as I stowed one last rifle away in the weapons locker. “Neither of you really know Sombra. Sky does, and where she goes Cloud tends to follow.” “You’re also letting my little brother run off to another planet.” Dart retorted from her seat next to me. “I wouldn’t be a responsible big sister if I didn’t look out for him.” “You didn’t even know that you had a family until a year ago, and unless something changed you don’t remember growing up with them either!” I spat. “Seriously, neither of you have a reason to tag along on this wild goose chase.” Out of the corner of my eye I saw Dusk shake his head in disagreement. “I think that’s exactly a reason to.” As one of the Spartans trudged past I simply pointed at the super soldier. “You’ve got three of them to babysit. Do you honestly think you’d be needed?” “I’m probably the only one who can convince ONI to return that chunk of Amore.” Dusk pointed out. “As for Dart… Why are coming again?” “Because I can’t let you have all the fun.” “There we go!” Dusk exclaimed. “Look, we’ll be fine. We’ll go see the Materials Group on Tribute, do our thing, and be back before you know it.” While that is good to hear I can’t help but feel a bit apprehensive. As we loaded the last of the supplies and I stepped off the ship, that feeling didn’t go away. And seeing the prowler lift off the ground and blast away into the sky only made me feel worse… “What’s wrong?” Trixie asked as we stood in the wake of the prowler’s departure. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” I muttered. If my gut is anything to go by, I doubt that their trip will be as easy as Dusk makes it sound. Author's Note While short, I felt I needed a good setup... Next time we arrive in the Epsilon Eridani system. 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
Epsilon EridaniEpsilon Eridani System Twelve Hours After Departure Cloud Runner If I’d have been asked a few years ago if I ever thought I would be one of the first ponies to step foot on another planet, I’d have called whoever asked me that question insane. But as I woke up from my nap in the passenger compartment of the prowler, I was reminded that I was among that group. Yet even though it would stand to be a momentous part of Equestrian history, no one seemed to be all that interested. If anything it appears that I only noticed it due to my educational background. But even with that in mind I can’t say I feel any different. Just like in the aftermath of Carniola, I don’t know how I truly feel… I should feel a bit excited but something in the back of my head is nagging at me, telling me that our destination of Tribute has some sort of importance. Maybe it was mentioned in some of the human historical files that I had read right after Carniola? But as I heard the hum of the engines sputter and die off, Dusk sat up in his seat across from me. “We just came out of slipspace.” He groaned. “So we’re almost there?” I asked. Dusk got up and looked down at the pipbuck that he was wearing and shook his head. “No… We dropped out a few minutes early.” Dusk didn’t say anything else, and I simply followed him up the rear stairs to the upper control deck. It was a long and open affair, with control stations spaced every few feet on either side. The only true windows were the small viewports in front of the pilot’s station, But outside those windows… That was a different story. There was a large piece of hull plate floating in the void in front of us. Even with all the scorch marks, the white letters spelling out the word ‘Musashi’ were still legible. “Did something happen?” I asked. “Something did…” The female Spartan at the controls muttered. “It wasn’t recent though.” Something must’ve clicked in Dusk’s head, because he seemed to realize where we were. “You dropped us out in orbit of Reach, didn’t you Alice?” “Didn’t have a choice.” The Spartan replied. “Tribute Control sent out a navigational warning. We would’ve dropped out right in a debris field.” “And this is better?” Dusk asked. Alice shook her head. “Not by much, but I needed to drop us out of slipspace early. It’s part of the protocol if you receive a navigational warning.” She pressed a few keys and signed. “We’re in a dead zone. Comms are down.” I heard the other two Spartans cross the deck behind us before stopping, likely to look out the viewscreen. “What’s a dead spot?” I asked. “Any place that subspace transmissions can’t be sent or received.” One of the Spartans behind me replied. “I guess there’s still enough residual radiation out there to create one…” Just how big of a fight was this? And how long ago? Its obvious that the Spartans know something about this planet when their somber behavior is taken into account. “Reach was your home, wasn’t it?” “It was the closest thing any of the Spartans had to a home.” Said Alice. “We weren’t there when she fell, but by that point in the war all bar three of the survivors were there to defend the planet.” Alice took the stick and rolled away from the piece of hull. “Most of them died down there trying to hold Reach. Some died during the siege of Tribute covering civilian evacuations… But it didn’t do anything. Every single colony in this system was attacked by the Covenant, but Reach took the worst of it. It’s barely habitable anymore.” As we passed more debris of Human ships, I started spotting chunks of purple metal floating out in the void, then finally dismembered ships of the same color. “I take it that your military didn’t just let the Covenant have the system.” “They didn’t.” Alice muttered. “But after was said and done, there were just over a billion lives were thrown away either protecting our territory or trying to escape the system.” Outside the viewport I saw a burnt helmet tumbling in zero gravity as we passed. That acted as a trigger and got me thinking… There isn’t even a billion ponies on all of Equis, yet humanity has those numbers in spades. “Just how long did your people fight the Covenant?” “I don’t know… Close to thirty years?” Alice replied. “It’s hard to tell if the war really ended when we’re still fighting a bunch of Covenant splinter groups.” While the last of the visible debris zipped past the viewscreen, I got the impression that we’d be seeing more signs of battle eventually. You don’t simply lose so many lives and not leave plenty of scars. But at that the comms panel crackled to life. “Tribute Control calling UNSC From the Ashes, please respond.” Alice simply reached over and flicked the broadcast switch. “This is From the Ashes, Sierra-130 reporting, go ahead.” “Sorry for the sudden navigational issue Spartan, but we’ve got a bit of an issue on our hands.” The controller explained. “Some insurrectionist ships dropped out of slipspace, and you would’ve slammed right into them.” Alice turned around and looked at one of the Spartans standing behind us. “That would mean they dropped out inside the orbital perimeter.” “Indeed they did, although I seriously doubt that was their intent. With that in mind one of the ships has gone to ground about a click north of your landing site. The other two are being pursued by Midsummer Night.” “That's a bit too much of a coincidence…” One of the Spartans muttered. “Douglas does have a point.” Dusk added. “Control, was their anything that predicted any hostile actions in recent days? Maybe a reason why the insurrectionists decided to visit?” “Not that we’re aware of…” The controller stopped, seemingly having realized something. “Wait, I think there was a senator visiting on some inspection tour.” “Then it’s a hit job.” Said Alice. “There must be someone tailing this senator. And if he’s doing an inspection, what’s to say he didn’t stop at the Materials Group lab?” Dusk stepped forward and keyed up a map of the area surrounding the lab we were headed to. “There’s nothing else to see out there… They’re definitely after this senator.” “Control, what’s so important about this senator?” Douglas asked. “He’s a retired navy officer, has some serious connections with both the fleet and the political circles back on Earth.” “Alice, get us down there.” Dusk ordered. “And Control, I need a name.” “Just a moment…” The computer screen next to the comms panel lit up and showed the image of an older human male. “It’s Senator Andrew Del Rio.” *** Casbah City Outskirts, Twenty Minutes Later… “So there’s been no word from the lab?” Sky asked as she stuffed rifle clips into storage pouches on her armor. Dusk shook his head as he swung his own rifle onto his back. “Not according to Tribute Control. Data uplinks to the lab are down in addition to the comms, so the assumption is that they’re being jammed.” Sky nodded and grabbed a battle rifle out of the gun locker. “Then what’s the plan?” “Sombra and Radiant will stay with the prowler.” Dusk explained. “It’s our only line of communication, so we can’t just leave it alone. The rest of us will head for the lab and assess the situation. After that… We’ll have to figure that out once we know what’s happening.” The prowler shuddered as the landing struts made contact with solid ground and the ramp smoothly swung down to rest on the pavement. “Then let’s go find out.” Sky retorted, marching off down to solid ground. By the time that I made it off the Prowler it was starting to slowly drizzle, going well with the somber atmosphere of the night in what appeared to be an abandon part of the city. While there were scorch marks along the walls left long ago, the streets were otherwise clear of rubble and debris. The main thing that I noticed was the noise, more accurately the lack thereof. “I’m not liking this…” I heard Dusk mutter as our group rounded the corner of what looked like a warehouse. “Jerome, do you have anything on the comms?” As I looked around the street, I blocked out Dusk’s conversation. Across the street I saw something shimmer in the dim moonlight, and whatever it was it was moving down the opposite sidewalk. I glanced down at the EFS indicator on my heads-up display and saw that there was a yellow dot on it. “Hey, you Spartans have motion trackers, don’t you?” I called out. The shimmering form stopped, and after a few moments I couldn’t tell where it was. “We do.” Alice replied. “I’m just not seeing anything on it.” Another look at the EFS confirmed that something was still across the street. That's when I remembered that Dusk was wearing a pipbuck. “Dusk, drop into SATS.” Dusk froze for a moment, before instantly snapping out of his apparent stupor. “There’s something across the street using active camo.” He said as he shouldered his rifle. “Doesn’t seem to be hostile.” I flared my wings and smirked under my helmet. “Then let's introduce ourselves.” I whipped around and launched myself forward with one strong flap. As I reached the other sidewalk it's seemed as if my surroundings were slowing down just as the shimmering form of an invisible fist appeared in my vision. I managed to kill my momentum and skidded to a stop a few feet from the curb. Right in front of my visor was clearly that invisible fist, the arm it was attached to now fully outstretched. “Well that’s one way to say hello.” I noted aloud. “Son of a bitch…” I heard the shimmering being exclaim. The active camouflage that ‘he’ was using shut down and revealed the form of another Spartan, this one wearing a slate-blue set of armor. A quick glance at the hand that the Spartan was going to hit me with revealed an interesting detail; it was a robotic appendage. “What the hell are you?” With it clear that in the Spartan’s moment of confusion that he was no threat, I reached up and pulled my helmet off. “I’m what you could call an Equestrian.” I replied. “And you… You’re a Spartan.” As the three members of Red Team took positions behind me with weapons raised the opposing Spartan seemed to relax and tugged his own helmet off, revealing his red and grey-streaked hair. “I take it that those three are with you then?” I nodded and motioned to the Spartans to relax. “What can I say? I tend to roll with the best.” “Roll with the best…” He mumbled, mulling over what I meant. After a moment the Spartan’s eyes went wide. “They’re Twos.” I nodded. “If you haven’t already met, these are the badasses of Red Team.” At that point I turned around to face Jerome, only identified by the numbers ‘092’ on his chestplate and shrugged. “You know, I don’t think I caught this guy’s name.” “Frank Kodiak.” The Spartan replied as he grabbed Jermome’s hand. “So are you guys our rescue team?” I turned around and cocked an eyebrow. “Excuse me?” “The only thing out here is the lab.” Frank retorted. “Where it’s an ONI facility I can see them sending some of their own Spartans… But aliens too?” He said, gesturing at Dusk, Dart and Sky. “I get the feeling that you’ve been having insurrectionist troubles.” Dusk observed. “Ya… Wait, how’d you know?” Frank asked. “The distress call only went out a few minutes ago.” “We were here for an unrelated mission.” Jerome answered. “ONI removed an artifact from the Equestrian homeworld a few years ago. We were tasked to escort these individuals to it’s last known destination so they could try to reclaim it.” Frank looked rather confused. “Since when does ONI give anything back after they’ve taken it?” “Since I asked Admiral Osman so nicely.” Dusk said. “Believe it or not, it’s a fragment of the crystallized form of an important leader of my species. We’re hoping to recover it and reconstitute her.” The poor Spartan’s confusion seemed to only deepen. “Uh… What?” “Look, we just want something of ours back.” I said. “And according to ONI’s records the artifact we’re searching for was taken to the lab that you were apparently protecting.” “Right…” Frank replied. “Well then, we need to move quickly. I left the base to try to find help after the comms got cut.” “What’s the strength of the opposing force?” Jerome asked. “Twenty strong.” Said Frank. “All armed with old rifles… But get this, they’re all equipped with some sort of Mjolnir setup.” “Uh, Mjolnir?” Alice asked. “Are you sure?” Frank nodded. “They’ve got the shields, and the strength that comes with the suit. Looks rather crude, but the stuff works.” “Then that complicates things.” Jerome stated rather firmly. “Well… Is this stuff shielded against electromagnetic pulses?” Dusk asked. Frank seemed to think about what Dusk said before he shrugged. “It could be… But it might not be either. What are you thinking?” Dusk simply smiled as a few sparks skittered off the edge of his horn. If that grin is any indication, he’s already got some sort of idea. And judging by the feeling in my gut, this might not end all that well. Author's Note Another short chapter, but up next we fight some insurrectionists. And that cobbled-together armor? Ya, it's Buccaneer; 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
TributeCasbah City Outskirts Cloud Runner With Spartan Kodiak’s guidance we were able to reach the lab’s perimeter in about ten minutes, backtracking along his original route though partially blocked alleyways and burnt out industrial buildings. From our perch on the second floor of what used to be some sort of office building we could see the small group of three insurrectionists that he had told us about, and he wasn’t kidding about the armor that they were wearing. Even from here the crude shapes of the thrusters on the back was apparent, and I noticed exposed conduits on their helmets. The only thing that looked somewhat professional was the large golden visors on their helmets. “You said that those guy have shields?” Dusk asked, having taken a perch on top of one of the rubble piles and was using the remnants of the outer wall as a bipod for his marksman rifle. “They do.” Frank replied. Dusk shook his head and looked down at Frank. “How the hell did these guys build power armor?” Frank shrugged. “No clue. And before you ask, I have no idea how they managed a proper augmentation process either.” “Then let's address the elephant in the room. How do we level the playing field?” Dusk asked. “I’m open to suggestions.” I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. “What about that lightning trick you do?” Sky wondered aloud. “What did you call it… Hurricane Slash or something like that?” Sky was definitely thinking, because I wouldn’t have thought to use it. The ‘trick’ in question was a perk that I picked up through the method that gave me my wings back. As Sombra put it, the leading edge of both of my wings can channel the same magic that allows me to manipulate clouds into an electrical discharge. That discharge could either be ‘flung’ as a short-range wave, or employed to make a strike from my wings into a rather shocking blow. Either way, unarmored ponies have been knocked right out. But in this case we’re talking about soldiers equipped with power armor and shield systems. “If you want me to knock them-” I stopped when a thought popped into my mind. Those are energy shields and power armor. “What if the slash can scramble their armor?” “Like an EMP?” Frank muttered. “If that was normal Mjolnir it wouldn’t work where the systems are hardened against electromagnetic pulses… But they certainly aren’t wearing a normal setup.” “So will it work?” Alice asked. I got up and flexed my wings out. On my display the flight systems all read ‘standby’, and a lightning bolt appeared right next to it. “There’s only one way to find out.” “Just be careful.” Sky muttered as she patted me on the back. With a flap I took to the sky, rocketing up to a crest before rolling over into a dive right at the insurrectionists. I leveled out and skidded across the pavement right in front of three of the soldiers. Through that motion I whirled around and flung my right wing out. As I turned to face the human soldiers again I could see the tail end of the electrical ‘wave’ slam into the three of them. The two on the left and right simply froze and toppled to the ground, their armor sparking from various spots. But the one in the center seemed to get off a bit better. Although he was forced to his knees, he clearly wasn’t as helpless as his comrades. “What are you?” The soldier groaned as he got back to his feet and pulled his sidearm from it’s spot on his thigh. I felt a tinge of pride as I glaced at the two incapacitated soldiers. “Who, me?” I rushed forward and swung a punch right against the side of my opponent’s helmet. “I’m you’re worst nightmare!.” I brought my knee up against the soldier’s groin as hard as I could. The soldier stumbled back, but managed to catch his balance. “That doesn’t answer my question.” As everything seemed to slow down I decided that it was time to finish this third combatant. With speed that would easily rival the self-declared ‘fastest mare alive’, I swung hard at the soldier’s helmet once more. Thud! “I-” Thud! “-am-” Thud! “-Tempest!” The world around me returned to it’s normal speed as the soldier collapsed to the ground, his visor badly cracked with fragments knocked clear during my barrage. Through one of the small holes I could tell that the person wearing the armor had shaved off all of his hair. POP! “Damn it Cloud, where’d all that violence come from?” Dusk exclaimed as the flash of his teleportation spell faded. “I have my moments.” I retorted, turning to face the group that Dusk had brought with him. “Now what’s next Frank?” The Spartan simply raised his rifle and motioned to something behind me with it. “We deal with the bees nest that you just hit.” I whirled around and saw that the sliding doors to the base were opening, another group of armored soldiers within the lab rushing towards us. “We can take em’.” I flicked both of my wrists and the microfusion beam emitters spurred to life. As the leader of the opposing group was aiming his rifle at me, I lined up the aiming marks on my HUD with his chest. With a twitch of my thumbs, two red beams coursed out from my gauntlets and smacked into the still-active shields of the leader. “Shit, cover!” I heard him yell as the doors stopped, his group taking cover on either side of the large metal slabs. “Open fire!” Dusk yelled. Behind me rifle reports made themselves known, followed by showers of sparks as the bullets slammed into the large entry doors. “Cloud, come with me!” Frank yelled as he broke off into a run towards a part of the building that jutted out, interrupting the otherwise clean lines of the building’s utilitarian architecture. I tore off after the Spartan without question, catching up to him at a sealed bulkhead that was otherwise out of sight of the insurrectionists. “Where’s this go?” “It’s a maintenance corridor.” Frank replied. “Should take us right into vehicle storage.” “And why do we want to get into a glorified garage?” I asked. “Because we can access the core room from there, then cut through to get behind those insurrectionists.” He explained. “It’s just a simple flanking maneuver. It's either we try to get a leg up on these guys, or we’re going to run out of ammo exchanging fire.” I didn’t say anything, as I couldn’t find any real issue with Frank’s impromptu plan. I’ve seen those doors, and they don’t appear to be prone to a catastrophic failure when facing simple rifle fire. Frank did manage to get the door to slide open wide enough for the two of us to pass through after some struggling. Maybe the issues with opening the door had something to do with the doors themselves being locked, but I can’t say for certain. Rushing after Frank I finally entered the storage bay he had referenced. While more the size of a hangar, there were certainly ‘vehicles’ lining the walls of the room, assuming one could count the large grey and yellow robot things as vehicles. “What are those?” I asked. “Those would be Mark IX Armor Defense Systems.” Frank answered. “We just call em’ Mantis. As far as I known Hannibal has been using those to test weapons upgrades they’ve been developing.” So they’re prototypes… “Can they shoot?” I asked. Frank shrugged. “They should be able to, why?” “Go grab one.” I said. “I’ve got a feeling that those soldiers will be more scared of one of those than just the two of us alone.” Frank swung his rifle onto his back and nodded. “Head out into the main corridor. Stairs on the left will take you into the core room. About twenty feet away is a door on the same wall as you entrance. That’ll take you out into the entry area.” I turned around and broke into a sprint. Right beyond the door was the corridor with the staircase that Frank had told me about. I tore up it and was rounding the corner into the core room right as something swung out from my left and slammed right into my face. I stumbled back from the blow, not yet having seen my attacker, only to be grabbed around my waist tossed to the ground. “Whatever the hell you are, don’t even think about it.” One of the rebel soldiers ordered as he stood over me. I managed to roll onto my back and stare up at the rifle barrel that was aimed right at my face. “Seriously, don’t do it!” While I couldn’t see the soldier’s face under his helmet, I could tell that this guy was spooked. His hands were shaking, and he kept shifting his weight from foot to foot. Something had this guy scared, and I don’t think I was the prime reason of his clear concern. I simply put my hands ‘up’ and nodded. “Just take it easy.” I said softly. “Why should I? Your buddy took out my whole squad!” The soldier yelled. I certainly doubt that Frank has move that quickly, and I don’t think that Dusk and Red Team have managed to get in through the front door as of yet… “Stand down!” I glanced off to my right and saw a white and gold armored Spartan standing on the opposite side of the room. But that helmet… That helmet was something else. Come to think of it, that looks like Dusk’s old helmet. Hell, that sounded like Dusk. The soldier swung his rifle up towards the Spartan and shook his head. “No, stay back!” But the Spartan didn’t stay put… Instead he started glowing as he marched towards the insurrectionist. As he grabbed the human by the neck I saw his helmet shatter and fall away into a pile of dust on the floor. There was certainly an equine head under there, but I couldn’t tell who it was through the glow that radiated from the rest of the armor he was wearing. “Now… Be gone!” The heads up display on my helmet darkened to protect my eyes from the sudden flash of light. As everything faded I could hear a ringing in my ears… But as for what was in front of me? Try absolutely nothing. As I rolled up onto my knees and looked around there wasn’t even a sign that anyone else was in the room. “That was creepy…” I muttered. “Cloud!” I heard Sky yell as she ran in through the other door. “What the hell did you do?” Red Team came in right behind her with weapons already stowed away. I looked at the Spartans before pulling my helmet off and turning my confused gaze at Sky. “What are you talking about?” “The insurrectionists. They’re all gone.” Jerome said. “Not just gone, but no trace that they were ever here.” I thought back to the spectacle that I had only just witnessed and shrugged. “I don’t know...” “Well it doesn’t matter!” Dusk called out as he and Dart came around the back of the power core escorting two humans. “Whatever the case, those rebels are gone.” One of the humans, a grey-haired male, stepped past Dusk and helped me get back to my feet. “I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting to be thanking aliens for saving my hide today.” I recognized the human’s face from the picture that I had seen shortly after the prowler dropped out of slipspace. “Hey, you’re Senator Del Rio.” The Senator looked rather confused at my unexpected recognition. “I don’t think we’ve met before…” “We haven’t.” I assured the Senator as I held out my hand. “I’m Cloud Runner.” The Senator froze for a moment before returning my gesture of friendship in kind. “Andrew Del Rio, Senator of the United Earth Government… But just how did you know who I was to begin with?” I motioned to Jerome. “Red Team was actually escorting us here when the attack started. Tribute Control sent us your picture.” Del Rio glared at the Spartan before looking back at me, his glare softening substantially. “And just what were you coming here for?” “If I may Senator-” The familiar voice of Catherine Halsey rang out as she stepped forward. “-I think I know the answer to that question.” “You do?” Del Rio asked, looking rather confused. Halsey nodded and handed the Senator her tablet. “A crystal that was brought here a few years ago. The one I’ve just started studying. That’s what you’re here for, isn’t it?” I nodded. “So it is still here?” “It’s in my lab under the scanner.” Halsey replied. “It’s quite unusual… It looks like some sort of preserved organic tissue. It even has a pattern on the outer surface reminiscent of fur.” “Wait, are you talking about that brown think you were looking at?” Del Rio asked. Halsey smiled in response. “Indeed. And with Dusk and some of his associates showing up, I feel that my theory has been confirmed.” “Well don’t keep us guessing Catherine.” I encouraged. “Enlighten us to your line of thinking.” “I still don’t know what you’re getting at.” Del Rio complained. “Then understand this-” Halsey snapped “-that crystal is a missing fragment of Princess Amore of the Crystal Empire. And if they’re here looking for it…” “It’s the last one Doc.” Dusk finally said. Halsey started to smile when she heard that. “Tell me Dusk, did Sombra tag along with you?” Dusk nodded. “And he brought the other fragments.” Halsey’s grin grew even further, more akin to that of a child in a candy store. “Do you know what this means Senator?” She asked. “Not a clue.” Del Rio admitted. “It means that we’re about to defy most of the accepted scientific laws that humanity is built on.” Halsey turned around and nodded at Dusk. “No go call Sombra. I think its safe to say that we’re do an education.” Author's Note And there's another chapter in what will be a short diversion from my work on E-201 and Broken Mirror. Those of you that have read Chaos Theory know that one of the many "echos" left of Dusk after his inevitable "demise" that's coming at the end of Broken Mirror Part II can seriously effect the physical world. In this case this echo wiped out a squad of insurrectionists and saved Cloud from what would've likely been a messy death. Not only that, but where his "death" involved jumping into a tear in the fabric of reality with a nuclear device, it's not too much of a stretch for these echoes to show up anywhere or anywhen. Dusk's appearances in works of CategoricalGrant and Volrathxp are certianly echoes in Mirrorverse canon, but in those cases the echoes are far more developed, essentially being clones of Dusk as opposed to metaphysical manifestations that exist only to preform a single task before disappearing. But enough of that, because in the next chapter will see Princess Amore reconstituted! Yay! But it's not going to be all sunshine and roses, no... Amore will present some knowledge to Cloud regarding a prophecy that had otherwise been forgotten by pony kind, one that will help frame the events that will eventually be seen in Broken Mirror: Reflections (which is still a ways off). And in other news I'm thinking... Which is a dangerous thing, I know, but I'm thinking about what to do with Fragments once it is done. The big thought that I have right now is to commission an artist to turn this deviation into a comic of some sort. Again, still thinking, but the idea is there. 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
AmoreMaterials Group Lab, Tribute Cloud Runner By now I think I can safely say that most ponies don’t get to go see entirely alien planets. Most ponies don’t go off on adventures with the stated goal of restoring an otherwise long-dead monarch to life. And most ponies certainly don’t get unusual opportunities like the ones I’ve been given on what feels like a semi-regular basis. So here I am, sitting in a rather bland laboratory on some alien world watching as a reformed tyrant was finishing assembling a large assortment of brown-colored crystals into the shape of the princess that he had deposed centuries ago… And instead of feeling excited, I’ve adopted a far more somber view of the whole debacle. Part of that stemmed from the confusion I had over my encounter with the rebel in the core room. Something that sounded a hell of a lot like Dusk disintegrated the poor bastard, yet Dusk is sitting on the other side of the lab talking to the Senator. Meanwhile all I’ve been doing to distract my mind is trying to clean up my armor, having hopped out of the suit to do so. Lucky for me all I had to do was clean the accrued dirt and glacial crud out of the armor joints. And that’s essentially what I’ve been struggling with for the past two hours… Suffice to say glacial silt isn’t readily removed from wherever it gets stuck. “So… Cloud, was it?” I turned around and noticed that the Senator and Dusk had meandered over to join me. I nodded and turned away from my armor to face the Senator. “Unless I’m mistaken that is what’s written on my birth certificate.” “See, that’s what bugs me.” Del Rio replied. “What you call ‘equish’ and we call ‘english’ are entirely identical. How the hell does that happen?” I just shrugged. “No idea. Is it really a problem though?” “Well no… But for two completely different sapient species to have an identical language system? That still boggles my mind!” While I haven’t thought of it before, the Senator brings up a good point. “Maybe it’s just some astronomical coincidence?” I suggested. Dusk simply chuckled. “That would be one hell of a coincidence, don’t you think?” “What can I say? We live in a weird universe.” “We certainly do.” Sombra said from the other side of the lab. “Now if you three are done we’re going to get started.” I finally realized that Sombra had finished reassembling the pieces of Princess Amore while I was talking semantics with the Senator. There was a definite yellow tinge to the brown mass of crystals, something I hadn’t entirely expected. “Is there a reason that she looks like that?” I asked. “You mean the shine?” Sombra asked. “It’s the preservative aspect to the original Umbran spell. That’s probably the only thing that gives this a chance of working…” “Come again?” Dusk asked. Sombra sighed. “I’ve feared for some time that shattering the Princess after she was crystallized would’ve disbursed the preservative aspect of the original crystallizing spell. In fact this spell was originally designed to preserve umbran soldiers in a sort of suspended animation until such a time that they were needed.” “And it makes a good prison…” I observed. Sombra nodded. “That was my original line of thinking. Suffice to say shattering Amore and scattering her fragments to all corners of Equis was done on impulse…” “And just how old are you again?” Del Rio asked, obviously curious. “Old enough to know when I’ve made a terrible mistake…” Sombra retorted. His horn flashed for a brief moment and the cracks between the individual fragments of Amore’s body flashed in turn, revealing a fully intact statue of the old Princess. “And with luck I’ll prove that I’m wise enough to fix them as well.” Dusk simply patted Del Rio’s shoulder. “If it helps, this is the end of a nearly millenia-year old saga. Now come on, let’s give Sombra some room.” Dusk led us out of the lab and into an adjacent observation room where the rest of our group was waiting. Sitting at a desk next to the window as Doctor Halsey, surrounded by three small tablets. Two had readings streaming across them while she was taking down copious notes on the third. “This is amazing…” I heard her mutter. “What’s so amazing about it Doctor?” Del Rio asked. “Just… Just the data!” Halsey exclaimed. “None of what Sombra is doing so far as his magic is concerned correlates with any previously recorded scientific data. What we’re seeing is something entirely new to us. Honestly I haven’t been this excited since I was in college!” Other than my armor on the far side of the lab, it was empty bar Sombra and the frozen form of Princess Amore. “Are you all ready?” Rang the former ruler’s voice over the intercom. “As ready as we’ll ever be.” Dusk replied. Through the window I could see Sombra nod as he turned back to Amore. His horn flared once, and the statue began to glow. Slowly that glowing began to part in walls of yellow light, as brown crystal gave way to tattered clothing and light pink fur. Everything began to move faster as more of those ‘walls’ began furling outward from random spots across Amore’s form. With only few spots of crystal left, the glow engulfing the Princess pulses, and the remaining fragments shattered and fell to the platform as particles of grey dust. “Princess?” Sombra asked. “Can you hear me?” Immediately Amore’s eyes flew open and her horn lit up in a pale blue glow. Sombra was engulfed by that same color as he was lifted off the ground and tossed right at the observation room window. I reacted fast and threw myself over Halsey, shielding her from the splinters and pieces as they exploded inward away from Sombra’s point of entry. “Sombra!” The Princess roared out in the lab. “Where have you taken me!?” I got off of Halsey and turned to face the old ruler, who was busy rubbing the back of his head as he pushed himself away from the wall. “Shit…” He groaned. Radiant quickly knelt down next to Sombra and helped him back to his feet, all the while out in the lab we could hear the sounds of equipment breaking and machines being thrown around in rage. “I told you she’d probably be pissed.” Sombra made his way to the window and steadied himself against the back Halsey’s chair. “Good to see you again Your Majesty. Have you lost weight?” “What the fuck is he doing?” Del Rio whispered into my ear. I shrugged and glanced over at Sky. “You’ve known Sombra longer-” I was interrupted as Sombra started glowing again and was wrenched back out into the lab. “-so what the hell is he doing?” “Improvising.” Sky retorted as she pulled out her revolver. “Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do.” I could only watch as Sky hopped through the window, all while the Spartans lining the back of the observation room watched the whole debacle unfold. “Are you four just going to stand there?” I asked. Frank offered a shrug. “Obvious domestic disputes are a bit above my pay grade.” I rolled my eyes and vaulted over the window sill. And just what did I jump into? Try Sky holding Amore at gunpoint while the aforementioned Princess was choking Sombra against the side of what was likely the only piece of equipment that was bolted to the floor. I heard another set of boots hit the ground behind me, followed by Dusk’s audible sigh. “Really guys? Can we all stop trying to kill each other for five minutes and try talking instead?” Amore heard Dusk and dropped Sombra at once, immediately turning her attention to the night-sky colored stallion. “You…” “This isn’t where you call me an insolent fool for interrupting, is it?” Amore glanced over at Sombra and shook her head. “Not at all.” As she seemed to study Dusk’s face, her expression hardened. “We’re… We’re not in the Crystal Empire anymore, are we?” Dusk stepped forward and shook his head. “We’re actually on another planet. The locals call it Tribute.” Amore nodded. “And how long-” “Just over a millenia.” Dusk said, figuring out what Amore was trying to ask rather quickly. “Don’t worry, it’s all still there. But I seriously doubt that the current royal family will be all that willing to give you the throne back.” Amore nodded once more and I noticed that her expression began to shift, showing signs of what appeared to be sadness as he turned to help Sombra back to his feet. “You restored me?” “I’ve spent every waking minute since being freed of the Umbran influence tracking down the pieces that I broke you into.” Sombra replied, as me waved his hand at Sky, before wheeling around and motioning to Radiant. “I did have some help, of course.” Radiant bowed her head as she joined what was likely a slowly-growing group. “Your Majesty.” Sky simply stood in place and nodded. “I’m Sky by the way.” Amore looked around at the assembled ponies, and I noticed a tear stream down her right cheek. “But why? Why go through all the trouble for me?” Sombra placed his hand on the Princess’ shoulder, looking a bit broken up himself. “I can’t speak for anyone else… But it was the right thing to do.” Amore simply whipped around and wrapped Sombra in a tight hug. “Thank you…” We were all silent for a few minutes while Amore and Sombra managed to compose themselves. That silence was finally interrupted when Senator Del Rio joined us. “Look, I like a heart wrenching reunion as much as the next guy, but shouldn’t the lot of you be doing something?” It took a moment to get what Del Rio was referring to. Amore’s clothing was a mess, covered in tears and magically induced burns. And through all of those observations I noticed something rather important… But Amore must’ve realized what Del Rio was getting at as she stepped away from Sombra and looked down at her garb. “Sombra, your friend said we’re another planet…” “We are.” Sombra replied, a blush now starting to show through his dark fur. She nodded and looked at the Senator, a rather embarrassed grin crossing the Princess’ muzzle. “You wouldn’t happen to know a good tailor, would you?” Author's Note Well this one was a bit shorter... But jumping into the next scene felt better if separated into a different chapter. As such we'll get into prophecies and whatnot in the next chapter. 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
ProphecyMaterials Group Lab, Two Hours Later… Cloud Runner It's safe to say that modesty isn’t the first thing on one’s mind after being imprisoned for over one thousand years. Amore’s reaction to realizing that she was otherwise half naked was all the proof I’d ever need. Unfortunately for the Princess there wasn’t anyone available to make her a new (and far more modest) outfit. So after much searching and agonizing, our search of the store rooms turned up an unused ODST training uniform. While it didn’t fit at first, Radiant managed to warp the material enough so that the cargo pants wouldn’t fall right off the Princess. As for the t-shirt… Well, Amore inadvertently discovered the classic female solution to a shirt that is too large. She simply drew the bottom of the shirt up through the collar and tied it off in a knot, While I’d wouldn't be caught dead drooling over another mare, especially with Sky in the same room, I did make mental note that the Princess looked great. And judging that I caught Sky staring at Amore’s well-toned body, I seriously doubt that I’m the only one to think so. We were still in the lab, but Halsey had the base commander reconfigure the room. Couches, chairs and small end tables were bought in all in an effort to make the space feel more comfortable for us visitors. But us visitors didn’t get much of a chance to speak with Amore as Halsey had intended, as the base commander had deemed that a psychological evaluation was a necessity given the circumstances surrounding her restoration. And with that in mind, the Senator got asked to assist due to his perceived neutrality in dealing with Equestrians… Fed, of course, by the fact that he didn’t know that our species existed until only a few hours ago. “So… Let's see if I understand all of this correctly.” Del Rio said as he put his tablet down. “Your time as a ‘statue’, for lack of a better word, only came about because you successfully pissed off the individual who decided to turn you into that statue when you revealed that you were well aware of his origins… Origins that caused him to exhibit pain while in proximity to an artifact you’ve referred to as the crystal heart.” Amore swallowed her pride and nodded. “That’s about the size of it.” Del Rio simply grasped the bridge of his nose. “So then why did you try to kill ‘Sombra’ after you woke up?” “And you wouldn’t?” The Princess retorted. “As much as I helped create the circumstances that led up to my predicament, Sombra had tried to kill me the last time I saw him. It may have been thousands of years from his perspective, but keep in mind that I only perceived a change in time equivalent to a matter of seconds. How was I supposed to know that he had turned on the Umbrum? How was I to know that he had in fact been working towards some form of personal redemption? Unless I’m mistaken I was a broken statue at the time.” Del Rio simply nodded and typed down a few final notes into the tablet. “Well… I really don’t see anything here that screams ‘potential problem’. With that in mind, I think it’s safe to say that you’re free to go whenever you please.” “Thank you Andrew.” Amore gracefully replied. After the Senator left I looked around and realized that I was the only other pony in the room that wasn’t part of Sombra’s cadre. “So… What now?” “We discuss your friend Dusk.” Amore retorted as she leaned forward, resting on her elbows. “Did you notice something unusual when he first spoke to me?” “You mean while you were trying to choke Sombra out?” Sky observed. “Ya… All he did was open his mouth and you just stopped dead.” Amore nodded. “That’s because I recognized him… Well, his voice at least.” Sombra chuckled. “You do realize that he’s-” “Sombra, don’t.” Amore scolded. “I know you’ve read the same history books that I have… So tell me, what do you know about the Broken Mirror Paradox?” Sombra stopped and seemed to mull his thoughts over rather carefully. “Princess… You do know what you’re suggesting. I’d hate to break it to you but Dusk is still here. And you’re the only one to claim to have an interaction with something that meets the profile of a Fracture.” I glanced at Sky and noticed that she looked just as confused as I was. “What are you two going on about?” Sombra and Amore both exchanged glances before Sombra simply motioned to the Princess. “What we’re referencing is a prophecy that was ancient even in our time. While it certainly may have lost some of it’s accuracy when it was translated from the pre-Imperial dialect-” “Just get on with it!” Sky yelled. “And please explain to me how a prophecy can be called a paradox. Because unless I’m mistaken those are two completely different things.” “Right…” Amore muttered. “As for that last question, the translation into the more modern form of equish didn’t make any sense. As such most scholars came to believe that the writing was the basis for some sort of theory regarding the existence of the universe. Simply put, the writings suggested that the development of our culture, as well as those far outside of our own realm, were influenced by beings of immense power. Our best translation of the term used to describe these beings was fracture.” I briefly thought back to my encounter with the rebel a few hours ago, and the pony-like figure that dealt with the situation. “What exactly did this prophecy say?” “Just give me a minute to recall…” Amore replied. “Ah, yes. The one who breaks the mirror will spawn the fractures that will move ponykind… There was some sort of image inscribed on the original tablet, but it’s been a very long time since I’ve seen it.” “With no real title to go off of the researchers who were responsible for the original translation referred to that text as the Broken Mirror Paradox.” Sombra added. “But even so, I highly doubt that-” “Was this being wearing some sort of armor?” I asked. Amore nodded. “The last thing I remember before waking up was seeing a unicorn wearing white and gold armor of some sort. But his face was-” “It was glowing a bright yellow, right?” Amore’s eyes went wide at that final question. “Yes… Yes indeed. But how did you know?” “Because I’ve seen one of these ‘fractures’ myself.” I said. “When I was trying to cut through the core room I was jumped by one of the insurrectionists. I was about to get iced when that thing showed up and… Honestly I don’t know what it did. It and the soldier just vanished.” I saw Sky shake her head. “Cloud, I saw the security camera footage. You slipped and fell on your ass!” “No I didn’t…” I said, my gaze turning to my armor still against the wall of the room. “And I think I have a way to prove it.” I got up and practically leapt across the room with a flap of my wings, skidding to a stop right next to my armor. “Buddy, showing us heads-up footage of you falling down isn’t going to help.” Sky pointed out, likely having figured out where I was going with my line of thinking. “So tell me something… How many insurrectionists were here?” I asked. Sky shrugged. “Fifteen if I remember correctly.” “See, that’s another problem.” I said, thinking back to our first encounter with Frank Kodiak. “There were twenty of those guys.” I pressed a button on the side of the helmet and a holographic interface appeared. After some scrolling I came across the recording of when we first met the Spartan. “Just listen to this.” “What’s the strength of the opposing force?” “Twenty strong. All armed with old rifles… But get this, they’re all equipped with some sort of Mjolnir setup.” I looked over at a stunned-looking Sky and frowned. “How do you not remember that?” I asked. Sky shrugged. “I have no idea. I distinctly remember Frank saying that there were fifteen of these guys.” I nodded and skipped ahead to the spot where I was running into the core room. “Alright… So then listen to this.” With a flick of my wrist the display grew in size and angled to the seated ponies could see what I had seen. “Whatever the hell you are, don’t even think about it. Seriously, don’t do it!” “Just take it easy.” “Why should I? Your buddy took out my whole squad!” “Stand down!” “No, stay back!” “Now… Be gone!” The footage stopped on the flash of light that preceded the disappearance of both the pony and the insurrectionist. I shut off the display and turned my attention to the shocked expressions that plastered the other ponies in the room. “That certainly sounded like Dusk.” Sky murmured. “I see what happened…” Said Amore. “The Fracture, it must have erased those soldiers from existence.” “Then why leave proof behind?” Sombra asked. “Why leave proof that five humans were simply… Deleted, for lack of a better term.” I sat back down in my chair and thought of something rather bold. “What if we were supposed to see what that thing did?” I offered. “You know, have proof that these Fractures do actually exist.” “That’s insane.” Radiant spat. “What would the point be?” And that right there is an excellent point… What’s the point? This thing obviously changed memories of countless ponies and humans, so why leave proof that something had actually changed? “If that’s Dusk… Or at least a representation of him, what if the Fracture left Cloud’s memories alone as a warning.” Sombra posed. “Maybe whatever the original prophecy was referring to is going to happen in our lifetime. Think about it, that thing sounded like Dusk.” “So we know the ‘who’ but not the ‘how’.” I pointed out. “Princess, the prophecy makes it clear that whoever breaks the mirror is the source of the fractures… But what does the mirror refer to?” Sky must’ve realized something, because she perked up immediately. “The portals…” She said. “The ones that connected our Equestria to the Wasteland reality. Those were officially called Quantum Mirrors.” “There are portals to other universes?” Amore asked. “There are, that’s how I came to this reality from the Wasteland.” Sky replied. “What if Dusk destroyed the last portal on our end after his team returned?” “That could fit the bill…” Amore admitted. “But we need to know for certain.” “Well we can’t do that from here.” Sombra observed as he pulled out a radio. “Jerome, this is Sombra. Can you hear me?” “Affirmative. What do need?” Sombra shook his head in what looked like disbelief. “Well Spartan… We need to go home.” Author's Note WOO!!! Another one down, and we're on the trail to some answers and eventual foreshadowing for how Broken Mirror will end. So far I'd say I'm feeling pretty proud of this here effort... Granted this chapter was a bit short like the last one, but that's what happens when you cut a chapter in half. 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
Broken MirrorSomewhere over Vanhoover Twenty Seven Hours after Departure Cloud Runner The flight back to Equis was easily more peaceful and relaxed than when we had journeyed to Tribute. With our main objective attained, and Princess Amore finally returned to the land of the living, I found it far easier to relax and catch up on some of the sleep that I had missed. Even with the question of this ‘Broken Mirror Paradox’ now looming large, I didn’t find myself all too concerned. Whatever facts were waiting, I have serious doubts that finding them will require getting shot at. But this time someone shook me awake. I wiped the crust away from my eyes and looked up to find Sky standing over me. “We’ll be back in Vanhoover in a few minutes.” She said. I nodded and got up from my seat. Lucky for me, my armor was certainly comfortable enough to sleep in. Reaching up I grabbed my helmet off of the rack above the chair and tucked it under my arm. The deck shuddered and the ramp slowly swung down to let in the cool afternoon air into the cabin. We were finally home, some of the first ponies to set foot on another planet in a completely different star system. It may be the history teacher in me, but I couldn’t help but feel a pang of pride as I marched down the ramp to the roof of the building that had been home for the better part of the last year. “So this is modern Equestria?” Amore asked, having walked down the ramp behind me. I looked at her and nodded. “Part of it anyway.” I heard a metal door swing open, followed by a set of footfalls echoing out from the landing pad’s deck. I wheeled around to find Cosmo, wearing nothing more than jeans and a black sleeveless shirt, making his way over to the ship with a grin that most could see from a mile away. “You guys did it!” He shouted over the dying whine of the Prowler’s engines. “Damn right we did it!” I yelled back. Cosmo certainly was excited, uncharacteristically so if his body language was any indication. He slapped my shoulder pad one he finally was in arm’s reach. “Great work kid.” He proceeded to step back and turn his attention to the Princess, bowing his head in the process. “Welcome home, Your Highness.” “Thank you…” Amore replied, motioning for Cosmo to straighten out. “You’re Cosmo, correct?” Cosmo nodded. “Indeed I am.” Amore seemed to crack a slight smile through her facade of neutrality. “Sky has told me quite a bit about you.” She stopped as Dusk marched off the Prowler carrying some crates of equipment, followed by Dart and one of the Spartans. “Although I do have some things that I believe we should discuss… Assuming there’s some place a bit more private than this.” Dusk didn’t seem to pay our conversation any mind, instead going back up the ramp to get more of our equipment. Cosmo, however, caught on that something was up right away. “Of course there is.” “Then lead on.” Amore replied, waving he arm at the door that Cosmo had emerged from. The walk downstairs was rather uneventful. But I couldn't help but notice that Cosmo looked unusually happy. If I didn’t know any better I’d think he must’ve taken something. But when we walked into the loft and I saw Trixie with a similar expression I put two and two together. “So did you two finalize the wedding or did something else happen?” Cosmo and Trixie both exchanged looks. “There’s that…” Cosmo said. “But I also got the official adoption paperwork for Archer this morning.” The image of the yellow filly popped into my mind and I couldn’t help but smile. “That’s great! Does she know yet?” Cosmo nodded. “Told her myself first thing this morning.” I couldn’t help but notice at that point that Archer was nowhere to be seen. “So where is she?” “Therapy.” Trixie replied as she walked over to the fridge and pulled out some water bottles. “I pulled some strings and managed to convince a local therapist to make house calls for her once a week, conveniently starting today.” “What does a young mare need a doctor for?” Amore asked. “Archer is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.” Cosmo explained. “She watched her birth parents die about a year ago and she’s been slowly getting worse. If Trixie hadn’t found a shrink…” “Long story short, it likely wouldn’t have ended well.” Trixie replied. “Fair enough…” Amore said. “These therapists, are they a recent development?” Trixie shrugged. “They’ve always been around. But the need for them exploded after the war ended, with thousands of traumatized ponies that had never dealt with death on the scale that the Enclave dealt out.” “Ah, yes. Dart did briefly tell me about the conflict.” Amore replied. “All things considered you’ve all managed to adapt quite well if appearances are an indicator.” Trixie handed out the bottles before cracking open hers. “I’d say that you’re right.” Amore did the same and took a quick sip from the bottle. “With that in mind I’m hoping that the two of you might be able to help us.” “And just who’s ‘us’?” Cosmo asked. “Myself, Sombra and Radiant.” Amore replied. “Cosmo, would you be able to get us copies of all information pertaining to the quantum mirrors?” “Quantum… You mean the portals?” Cosmo said, a confused look crossing his face. “What do you need info on them for?” “We believe they are key to an old prophecy that was uncovered a few years before my imprisonment.” She said. “Tell me Cosmo, what have you heard of the Broken Mirror Paradox?” “The what?” Amore shook her head. “I’ll take it that you’ve never heard of it. No matter, we still need that information. Can you get it?” Cosmo looked over at Trixie before turning back to the Princess with a determined look in his eyes. “I’ll go make some calls.” *** Four Hours Later… “Here you go!” Cosmo groaned as he put the box of files down on the coffee table in the parlor. “That should be copies of everything in the archives in Canterlot on the mirrors.” I reached over and grabbed a tan folder off the top of the pile. “Thanks Cosmo.” I flipped open the folder and was met with a color picture of what looked like some sort of aircraft. It was drab green with a number of attachments on the hull. The top corner read ‘Guardian’. I noticed that it appeared to be in some sort of hangar and had suffered some significant damage. “Cosmo, what’s this?” Cosmo leaned over and smiled. “That was the ship that Dusk built. It got shot down about four years ago in the Badlands. From the looks of it that was taken after the bits and pieces were recovered for Princess Sparkle.” “What’s it doing in here?” I asked. “See those attachments on the upper hull?” Cosmo said, pointing at the attachments. “Those were built from parts of quantum mirrors that were recovered from a warehouse in Manehattan. That was supposed to carry Dusk’s team on the originally planned Wasteland mission… But after the Guardian was shot down and Dusk was captured the plan was shelved.” “This Dusk character sounds like he’s quite ingenious…” Amore observed as she read through the contents of the folder that she had picked up. “He designed this craft all on his own?” Cosmo nodded. “I think it had something to do with Dusk’s encounter with a database on his first Wasteland mission a number of years ago. Something about his thought process changed… I just don’t know all the details.” Amore nodded and put the folder down on the table, grabbing a loaded red folder with the words ‘Operation Scorpion’ printed in black letters across its face. She flipped it open and picked up a picture that was sitting right on top of the papers. “Is this one of the portals you refer to?” She asked, handing Cosmo the photograph. Cosmo nodded. “Only one that's still remotely intact. It broke when Dusk took his team through it to reach the Wasteland.” Amore took back the photo and placed it down on the table. “Well it certainly reminds me of a mirror…” “You should’ve seen it when it was running.” Cosmo said, sitting down at the table opposite of Amore. “The portal itself looked like a sheet of polished steel. It wasn’t all that reflective but it was enough to make out the rough shape of your body if you stood right in front of it.” “So it could be the mirror referenced in the paradox…” Amore muttered. “But you said that this is the only one still ‘remotely intact’. Can I correctly assume that there were others at one point?” Cosmo nodded. “The final count came in at six units. Four were destroyed in raids by various Special Forces teams, that damaged one was recovered for study, and a larger disabled one is under guard in a base in the Badlands.” Amore studied the files before her for a few minutes before she shook her head. “No… This is too convenient. The portal that is being studied broke after this ‘Blaze Squad’ passed through it because it was already damaged. If these fragments only appear to resemble Dusk then where are the ones that resemble the rest of his associates?” I grabbed the Operation Scorpion folder and flipped through the papers, stopping when I came across a report of some kind. The top of it read ‘after action operator report’. The line below it had in handwriting next to the line that denoted the operator ‘Dusk Light’. “Hey, look at this.” I said, handing the first page of the report to Amore. “Looks like a blow by blow of Dusk’s entire time in the Wasteland.” Amore quickly read over the first page before leaning over and looking at the second one that was sitting in front of me. “He has this report broken down into segments... “ She took the second of what was apparently six pages, handed me the second two and passed the final ones to Cosmo. “Alright, let's go through these. There might be something in here.” I turned to my pages and found that my section started with what Dusk called a ‘salvage mission’ to the northern part of the Wasteland. I read about halfway down and noticed that Dusk had added a footnote to his entry. “Hey, listen to this.” I said, getting both Cosmo and Amore’s attention. “The first time I encountered the individual calling himself the Mountaineer, I believed that I was hallucinating in my wounded condition after our first encounter with the locals. I distinctly remember the Mountaineer firing off a flare over my position. However as previously stated I believed that I must have been hallucinating. It wasn’t until our second encounter during the Enclave assault on Chicacolt that I realized that I wasn’t crazy and that this individual had saved me from freezing to death only a few days before. I would later believe that this individual died when we destroyed the Victorious, but he eventually reappeared during our final engagement with West Wind in the ruins of Canterlot and save me a third time.” “Mountaineer…” Cosmo muttered. “Is there any other papers in that file on this colt?” I flipped through the file quickly, coming up empty in short order. “Nope, I’ve got nothing. I’ve only got that one footnote.” Cosmo took the folder and shook his head in disbelief. “We’re missing reports.” He said. “Comet, Strike, Dart… Dusk’s is the only one here.” “This is a paper system. Could they have been misfiled?” I asked. Cosmo shook his head. “I don’t think that it's likely, not with reverence that the military places on Scorpion.” “If that’s the case, then did someone remove reports from the file?” Amore asked. “They’re not in there because they’re filed separately.” All three of us turned around and saw Dusk leaning against the counter. “If they’re filed separately, then where are they?” Cosmo asked. Dusk strolled forward and took up the final remaining chair at the table. “They were stored in the royal archives at the request of the Princess. My report is only with the Scorpion files because I put the original there myself.” “The military files are kept as a separate archive…” Cosmo realized. “And the archivist gave you what she had.” Dusk replied. We all sat in silence for a moment before I noticed that Amore was studying Dusk with some intent. “What do you know about this ‘Mountaineer’?” Dusk shrugged. “Not much. My best guess is that he was some sort of synth, but I could never tell for sure.” What I didn't expect was Amore's apparent satisfaction. “Fair enough.” Amore replied, sitting back in her chair. With nothing else to say Dusk got up from his chair and walked out of the apartment, all while Amore was still staring at him. “Is something wrong?” Cosmo asked. “I don’t know…” Amore muttered. “I just don’t know…” Author's Note And there's the sixth chapter of Fragments done and out of the way. The next chapter is the epilogue chapter, set nine years from the end of this story in the immediate aftermath of the final confrontation between Dusk and Kovac. Like with Chaos Theory (which has a comic in the works), the coming epilogue will help set up the proper sequel to both of the Broken Mirror stories. In the meantime, does anyone have 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
AftermathCanterlot, Approximately Nine Years Later Cloud Runner “So that’s it then?” Cosmo asked from the other side of the table in Canterlot Castle’s dining hall. “Kovac and his Synths disappeared?” From her place at the head of the table Princess Celestia nodded. “Indeed… We can’t find a trace that they even existed.” Besides the Princess, Cosmo and myself, a small entourage of other ponies had assembled. The entirety of Dusk’s family, the former members of his squad and the leadership of the Northern Guard had all assembled in Canterlot in the aftermath of last night’s attack. Kovac had made his move, bringing a small army of Synths to bare against Canterlot after a week in hiding. But to our surprise, Archer had known that the raid was coming. Only Cosmo seemed to believe Archer’s warning, for reasons that still aren’t understood. When Kovac arrived at the Castle he and Archer were waiting. While they didn’t manage to stop the one-eyed stallion, they delayed him long enough for Dusk to learn of the attack and order his private army into action. It was after Dusk arrived that he learned that Kovac had breached the hidden door that led to the Nexus beneath the Castle. All we know is that Kovac was killed, Dusk was apparently vaporized while trying to contain the nuclear device that Kovac had brought with him, the Nexus had been somehow disbursed… And somehow Archer had made her way after Dusk and had survived the ordeal. All she confirmed is that Kovac was dead and Dusk had inverted a shield spell around the Nexus chamber when he realized that the bomb couldn’t be disarmed. Beyond that she wouldn’t say a word to anyone. “So that's it then.” An older red stallion, Dusk’s father if I understand correctly, solemnly replied. “We’re only still here because Dusk went and acted like a hero again.” Judging by the expressions of the ponies around the table, it was a shared sentiment. Dusk was known for being brash and reactive at times, but up until a few days ago everyone had apparently thought that he had retired from a life hiding in shadows. And no one had expected that he had used the wealth that he had assembled from the development of the entire planet to finance a private army composed of survivors of the Wasteland Expedition. Well, judged by Dart’s pained expression she did know something about this army of Dusk’s. “Dart…” Princess Celestia asked. “What do you know about this network of ‘Ghosts’ that Dusk established?” Dart seemed to snap out of her stupor and looked up at the Princess. “You mean you didn’t know?” She asked. Celestia looked confused. “You thought that I knew about this?” Dart nodded. “He said you gave him the green light right after we retired. I found out once Osman’s engineers started construction of the Grotto about five years ago.” “Can we back up a minute?” Cosmo asked. “Because from what I just heard it sounds like Dart may have been lied to.” “Obviously he lied about Celestia giving him permission…” Dart said as she realized where Cosmo was going. “But believe me, Dusk did everything with the greater good in mind. The base, the equipment, the army, all of this was meant to deal with Kovac when he made his move.” “Can I just ask a question?” Strike said. “I know that Dusk was technically on our side, but doesn’t rasing a private army break some sort of law?” “Technically it doesn’t.” Celestia admitted. “There isn’t a law preventing such an act on the books, and my refusal to level any condemnation or consequences against the Northern Guard after they first formed established legal precedent.” “Then what do we do about this little private army of Dusk’s?” Strike retorted. Celestia simply shrugged. “I don’t know. I can’t simply dissolve the organization that Dusk has created because I don’t have the legal authority to do so, and nationalizing the group in it’s entirety would allow the heads of the military to gain access to Dusk’s files… Which I think is safe to say that some of the information might be rather damning if it were to somehow be leaked to the public.” “So we leave these Ghosts alone. As long as they’re not a threat I don’t think we have anything to worry about.” Meteor Shower added. “My only concern is that they’re essentially leaderless. Dart, I know you’re aware of their existence but it doesn’t sound like Dusk ever gave you any real responsibilities within this group.” Dart nodded. “You’re right General, I didn’t really do much other than occasionally talk to these stallions… And to be honest I don’t even know where to start so far as succession plans are concerned.” “What if I told you that Dusk did leave a plan?” All eyes at the table turned to Cosmo as he fished out a clean white envelope from his jacket. “Wait, how would you know?” Meteor asked. “Because Archer gave this to me and asked me to bring it to this meeting.” Cosmo retorted as he held up the envelope. “What I hold here is Dusk’s last will and testament. Because he never actually married or had children, he designated heirs both to lead his company and maintain control over the organization he’s built.” He put down the envelope and pulled out two pieces of paper, passing one to Dart while holding onto the other. “Dart, I know that all you have is an engagement ring… But Dusk made sure that you’d be taken care of.” I, as well as everyone else at the table, watched my sister intently as she read through her copy. Her stoic facade began to fail as some tears began to stream down her cheeks a moment after putting the paper down on the table. “He left me everything. The house, the company, his bank accounts…” Clearly something else was wrong, because Dart didn’t seem to calm down as she tried to compose herself. “Dart, is there something else?” I asked. It took her a moment, but Dart nodded. “He knew that I was pregnant.” Dart didn’t need to say anything else, because it seemed that every pony around the table recognized something once they heard Dart’s admission. Dusk knew that he had a family coming, but he apparently didn’t think he’d be around to actually raise a child. Through his apparent fears of Kovac he planned for what he must have believed was an inevitable confrontation that neither stallion would walk away from. “Cosmo, just who did Dusk leave to command this army of his?” Meteor asked, sounding rather pained as he slowly asked the question. Now it was Cosmo’s turn to look dejected. “He left it to Archer…” Even Dart stopped once Cosmo made that admission. “He left an army to a child who’s only military experience came from that memory orb?” Dart asked, pushing down a sob. “I know what happened to the last colt to use that thing, so why should I believe that Archer won’t just go mad?” “Because Dusk was there.” Cosmo replied. “Look, it’s a bit complicated… But there was what I call an echo of Dusk that acted as a guide for Archer, helped keep her mind in one piece. I’ve actually seen it thanks to Luna’s training in dream-walking. As for this will, I only got it because that echo left it for me. That thing admitted that it knew that Dusk was going to die and wanted to make sure that we were all prepared for the aftermath.” Cosmo leaned forward and rested on his arms. “I don’t know what or how, but something is coming.” Cosmo’s explanation has understandably raised a few eyebrows, but I couldn’t count myself among that group. If anything his explanation sounded rather familiar… But I just couldn’t place why it rang some bells. POP! It took me a minute to realize that the pop and simultaneous flash of light meant that someone had teleported into the room. “Dusk is still alive!” Once I managed to get my vision straight I realized that an old friend had joined us. “Amore, do you want to run that by us all one more time?” “I said that Dusk is alive.” Amore repeated. “The Nexus… Cloud, that was the mirror that the paradox referred to! Not only that but the Paradox is proof that Dusk survived because one of the fractures that he created wrote it.” “Amore, I realize that you think you’re trying to help…” Celestia admitted. “But you sound absolutely crazy.” Amore actually cracked a grin. “See, I knew you would say that.” She said as she swung a bag off of her back. “But I have proof!” Amore unceremoniously dumped the bag’s contents onto the table. But these weren’t just any random pieces of junk. Laid out for all to see where very old armor components. Clearly they had corroded over the years and the paint had flaked off, but they were still recognizable as Mjoinir components. But if the different shoulder pad parts were the cake, then the helmet that sat on it’s side on the table was the icing. It was clearly an elongated Fotus model with space for the horn of a unicorn in its peak. Dart picked up the helmet and turned it over in her hands. She brushed some dirt off of the chin, revealing the still-pearl white paint that had coated Dusk’s last set of armor. “Where did you find these?” She asked. “We were excavating the village that was recorded as the source of the Broken Mirror Paradox. There was a small temple in that village where the original inscription was found. Well we found a number of unmarked graves inside the temple itself…” Amore’s grin only seemed to grow more and more. “And in one of those graves was a full set of this armor. No body or sign of augmented remains, no undersuit, nothing. Just the armor components. I think that the fracture may have discarded the armor at some point and buried the pieces at the temple where it left the inscription.” “But we’re talking about a Fracture Amore.” I pointed out. “How does that equate to ‘Dusk is alive’?” “Well this is where I’m going to surprise you Cloud, but I’ve managed to track Dusk down.” Amore stated, looking rather confident. “I started with notes on the subject of the multiverse left by Starswirl the Bearded. As he different universes have different magical signatures. Well that got me thinking… How do you find one pony in a sea of infinite duplicates? Well all I had to do was go to Archer and use her to figure out what I was looking for.” “And just what does Archer have to do with this?” Celestia asked. Cosmo, however, must’ve realized something. “When Kovac first returned he tried to track Dusk down through his magical signature, but instead he found two separate points. Archer was one of them-” “Which means that her magical signature was replaced with a duplicate of Dusk’s.” Amore said, cutting off Cosmo. “So using Starswirl’s notes I managed to construct what he called a ‘reality map’.” She pulled out a golden amulet from the pocket of her jacket and placed it in the center of the table. It lit up immediately in a blue glow before it flashed and turned green. This so-called map was an array of translucent orbs that reminded me of holograms. There was one that instead of green was a bright golden hue. A second one on the far edge of what the map represented was a bright pink. “Incredible…” Celestia muttered. “Starswirl supposedly took the one he made for himself with him when he disappeared but I never actually saw it for myself, nor was I able to determine how to recreate it.” “Then how do we read this thing?” Meteor asked. “It’s rather simple.” Amore admitted. “This golden sphere is the map’s origin point. The green orbs are parallel universes, while the pink one… That’s where the map detected Dusk’s magical signature. Suffice to say the presence of two otherwise identical magical signatures is a bit problematic.” “How so?” Celestia asked. Amore tapped the amulet and the orbs started to vibrate and shift positions. “Because Archer is here and Dusk is in another universe, the fabric that holds reality together seems to be reacting. In essence because the magical signatures of the two are identical, and two ponies can’t be in two different places at once.” “So it’s a violation of a bunch of different scientific laws.” I replied. “And if the map is any indication then existence as we know it is reacting…” Amore nodded. “We need to find Dusk and restore Archer’s original magical signature, otherwise the existence of everything that ever was or ever will be is in jeopardy.” “Do we really need Dusk?” Strike asked. “Couldn’t we find one of these ‘fractures’ and get them to help?” “Well we’d to find one that exists long enough to be of service, but there’s also the sticking point that the Fractures all have unique magical signatures. They aren’t going to understand Dusk’s magic, let alone help reverse its imprint on Archer.” Amore answered. “Then we need a solution.” Celestia added. “Amore, you apparently have a handle on this phenomenon. Do you have any suggestions?” Amore’s smile never disappeared, and to an extent I couldn’t help but feel a bit anxious. “As a matter of fact I do.” She said as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Now where do you want me to start?” Author's Note So while I keep working on Part II of Broken Mirror and go through and work on the full-blown editing of Part I (because lets be honest, that early writing absolutely sucks), we'll see more short stories that'll set up the eventual story of Reflections. This story, the eventual final chapter of Operation Bullseye and others will help with that effort. You know what else Fractures does? Like how Chaos Theory established Blueblood as a figure of importance for Archer going forward, Fragments also sets Amore up to play a bigger role down the road as another mentor for Archer. Where Blueblood will act more as a teacher of the humanities (teaching an otherwise introverted young mare how to deal with other ponies), Amore's near-decade of studies places her as a future technical adviser for Archer. There's also the apparent survival of the original Dusk after the inevitable final confrontation in Broken Mirror Part II. Obviously that story won't get told for a while yet (but we're getting there!) 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
Prologue - The House Always WinsVanhoover, Equestria One Week before Battle of Emona Memorial Constellation Luxury… What do you think of when you hear that word? Maybe a bed that you sink into? A fully tiled bathroom with marble and brass fixtures? Maybe a heated towel rack because… Well, why not? See, my definition of luxury is a bit different. It involves a decided lack of dirt clutching to every limb and piece of clothing, a clean bed to sleep in, and not having to sleep with an eye open for fear that someone would stab you in your sleep. What I have now meets that criteria, easily a stark contrast to the Wasteland that I grew up in. But even with these meager changes, living with them for the better part of a year has started to wear on my mind. In short, I’m bored. I haven’t even had the opportunity to go bash the skulls of the local lowlife degenerates, that duty being taken up by that Sky and her apparent colt-friend Cloud Runner. And when they’re off duty my son Cosmo has been taking care of business, leaving me to wait up to make sure that everyone gets back to the building at a decent hour. It’s an entirely benign lifestyle that most ponies wouldn’t take issue with, but I’m certainly not most ponies. “Is something wrong Mom?” I was shaken out of my stupor by the simple questions from my pony-griffon hybrid son, Storm Chaser. “What now?” “Is something wrong?” He asked again. “No… It’s the just the usual.” I replied. “You’re bored?” “Yup.” “And Cosmo is out beating up petty street criminals?” “You guessed it.” Storm drummed his fingers on the table before he shrugged. “We could go do something?” “Like what?” Storm stopped dead at the question before he slumped down in his chair. “I don’t know…” “So we’re both in the same boat.” Storm nodded and seemed to slouch down in his chair further. “You’d figure we’d have more to do these days.” I offered a curt nod in response. “Honestly I’m starting to miss the raiders. At least then we’d have something to keep us busy.” POP! In a flash of light an envelope appeared before it fell to the table. It landed face down, with the seal of the Ministry of Defense holding it shut. With nothing better to do I picked up the envelope broke the seal and pulled out the letter. Ms. Constellation, It’s been some time since we met, so I’m not sure that you’d remember who I am. However I feel it’s high time we actually meet in a setting more formal than a warzone. As such I feel it prudent to extend you an invitation to come to Canterlot Castle. I’ll be sure to give you the full tour, as I doubt that there was much left of Canterlot from where you came from. Regards, General Meteor Shower Minister of Defense “Well that’s convenient…” I muttered as I handed Storm the letter. “If I didn’t know any better I’d say there’s some higher power that decided to pay attention to us.” “You mean like a Goddess?” Storm asked. I shrugged and nodded “Yeah, just like that.” “Then why didn’t this higher power get involved sooner? It’s not like we haven’t been bored out of our minds for ages.” I keep forgetting that I raised a rather bright young colt. Only he would notice the irony of the arrival of this invitation. “Well as far as I’m concerned this is an opportunity to break the day-to-day monotony that we’ve been dealing with. And what did I tell you about opportunities?” “That you take them when you get them?” Storm wondered aloud. “You got it.” I said, reaching over and ruffling the fluff on the top of his head. “Now unless I’m mistaken there’s no date on this invitation… So what are we waiting for?” *** Canterlot Castle, Three Hours Later If I could say anything about my expectations of Canterlot, I’d say they were rather low. Much of my impressions of the capital had been shaped by the stories of a city shrouded in a pink fog from inhabited by deranged ghouls. But stepping off the lowered ramp of the dropship that flew me and Storm from Vanhoover I already get the impression that I’d be learning something today. We had stepped off the craft in a garden flanked on three sides by the massive polished marble walls of Canterlot Castle. For what seemed like the first time in my life I was awestruck by something that ponykind had made, not wondered how things were before bombs took everything from our society. By the time my gaze turned to the door that led into the castle I realized that our host had been standing and waiting for me, as Storm had already joined him. “I get the impression that you don’t get out all that much.” The General observed as I finally joined him. When we last met he was decked out in the golden armor of the Solar Guard, but this time he had traded protection for substance with a well-fitted suit. “You don’t know the half of it.” I retorted. “It's just… I heard all the stories about how Canterlot died over the course of my life. Now I’m standing on grounds of a palace that I had every reason to believe was a crumbling ruin.” “That’s right, that whole multiverse thing…” The General mumbled. “Fair enough. So I take it you’re hoping to see more that some walls?” “Absolutely!” Storm yelped. I could only offer a reserved smile. “What he said.” “Then shall we get moving?” We walked through the halls of the castle in silence, mostly because I was taking everything in. The stained glass windows that lined the outer walls were beautiful, filtering in the soft colors of the sun that hung high in the midday sky. Considering that the only “stained glass” that I had previously seen were windows coated with bloodstains, the artisan quality to such simple fixture was a welcome experience. “So when did you get promoted?” Storm asked, kicking me out of my stupor “What do you mean?” The General asked. “You signed your letter that you were the ‘Minister of Defense’. I thought you were in charge of the southern theater?” The General finally got what Storm was asking and chuckled. “You can’t oversee a theater of war in a time of peace. So Celestia decided that my talents would best be used in her cabinet, hence the promotion.” “What is she like?” I asked. “Who, Celestia?” “No, the other sun goddess.” I replied. The General chuckled and stopped so he could turn his attention to me. “She’s a great leader, and a good friend of mine. So believe me when I say that half of the legends that you’ve heard about her are pretty spot on except for one point.” “And what would that be?” I asked. “She’s not perfect.” The General instantly replied. “She makes mistakes just like you or me. She drags herself out of bed every morning just like anyone else, easily with the same bedhead. She may be immortal, but she doesn’t act the part.” “And to think a religion grew around such an imperfect figure.” Storm added in a snarky manner. I really didn’t know how to react to that. Storm was always an inquisitive young colt, but he had always found ways to stump me on the topic of my religious beliefs. “You’re doing it again…” I groaned. “And just what did he do?” The General asked, not knowing the point I was trying to drive home. “I made Mom question her beliefs again.” Storm replied with a smile. “Trust me, I do it all the time.” Finally out of my stupor I realized that we were standing at the foot of a large stained oak door, easily large enough to let a dragon fit through. When I saw the symbols on the doors I felt my heart flutter. “Is that really what I think it is?” “If you think that it's the throne room you’d be spot on.” The General replied with a smile. “Celestia is still in a-” As the door swung open two guards walked out, followed by the familiar mug of the supposedly reformed Dark King of the Crystal Empire. “Believe me General, we’re all set.” While I didn’t know what the purpose for Sombra’s meeting with the Princess was, it was clear that Meteor Shower knew. “Did you get anywhere?” He asked. “She’s loaning me a ship with no crew for an extended period of time. I’ll just take that and run with it”. “Fair enough.” He said reassuringly. “Just let me know if you need anything else.” “Will do.” Sombra curtly replied before disappearing in a cloud of grey mist. Storm and I didn’t realize that he must’ve teleported away, but the General certainly recognized that parlor trick. “I hate it when he does that…” “Did he just teleport?” Storm asked. “Sort of.” The General replied. “He’s using a parallel dimension to route his teleportation spell to where he wants to go, not straight point A to B like normal. According to him it uses less energy and affords a greater range to the spell… And that’s assuming I believe him.” “Do you believe him?” “Well I believe getting pulled along with that spell reintroduced my lunch to the outside world.” I shuddered at the thought of the General losing his lunch through Sombra’s unique method of teleportation. “Sounds like fun…” The General motioned to the guards who started the task of swinging the heavy oak doors open. “I’d say you’re about half right on that.” With nothing more to say on the topic I turned my gaze to the throne room and walked through the half-open doors. I had heard stories as a child that the room was itself a work of art and a monument to some of the most important events in our history. Those stories rung true as I shifted my gaze to the stained glass windows that depicted what I would assume to be some of the major historical events that littered the history of our country. Not that I know what half of them mean, considering I’m not an expert on translating the meanings of artwork, but I can understand enough to know that what I’ve heard over my life is the real deal. But as my boot hit a step at the base of the dias I realized that I had kept marching across the room, distracted entirely by my surroundings. “I take it that this is your first time in Canterlot?” Came a voice from above me on the throne. I finally looked up at the sun goddess herself. For a moment I didn’t know what to do before I felt a nudge from my side and nodded. “The stories don’t do the place justice.” By the time I realized what was happening Celestia was already standing in front of me. She was easily half a head taller, so even at ground level I was still looking up at her to an extent. “I can see the resemblance…” She muttered. Now I think I have a right to be confused. “What resemblance?” “Your son Cosmo.” Celestia answered. “He definitely has your eyes.” Thats right, Cosmo has met the Princess before. “Quick question, just what did Cosmo do for you?” “I take it he didn’t tell you?” “He just told me you paid well.” Celestia nodded and stifled a chuckle. “To put it simply he made the Intelligence Service and our Special Forces look bad on a regular basis. So until we got the ponies in each brought up to snuff he did all the field work for both branches. Hence why he was and still is paid well for his services.” “So he was a merc…” I muttered, filing the facts that Celestia had presented me for later. “More or less. But I take it that his skills had something to do with his upbringing.” “Mom is a good teacher.” Storm added, reminding me that he was still in the room. “I know who you are…” Celestia said as she ruffled Storm’s head. “Phalanx talks about you all the time Storm.” Ah, yes. Phalanx. He has taken to Storm and has been trying to be a father figure to him and I can’t complain. Anyone is better than his biological father. “So who don’t you know?” I asked. “I couldn’t tell you if I don’t know them.” The Princess replied with a wry grin. I could only smile in return at the Princess’s blunt form of humor.“Point taken.” “At least you appreciate it.” The Princess said as she led the three of us to a small parlor off the main throne room. She plopped down in one of the rather plush chairs quite unceremoniously but kept that same smile she had out in the throne room. “Now… Tell me about yourself Constellation.” *** An Hour Later After a discussion over tea regarding the finer points of life in this new Equestria that I’ve been adapted to, the Princess gave me a pass to the castle library. Now I’m not a major book pony, but when one is given free reign to go through history texts that haven’t been turned to ash you tend to take up the offer. So for half an hour I’ve had my head stuck in one of the thickest textbooks on Equestrian history that I could find. At almost a foot thick I needed to enlist Meteor to help me move it to a stand that had been specially reinforced to hold books as heavy as it. I didn’t care much for the ancient history, as most of it was loaded with speculation derived from long-destroyed documents. What I was trying to assess where the differences in the lead-up to what we in the Wasteland called “The Last Day”. Right away it looks like Equestria is still managing to maintain good relations with the Zebra kingdoms and tribes, but that was traded for occasional instability along the Griffon and Minotaur borders. I may not know much about pre-war diplomatic standings between us, but I know enough to know that Wastelanders didn’t simply attack Griffons and Minotaurs like they do Zebras. That has to speak for something… “You find anything interesting?” Meteor asked as took a glance down at the text. I offered a nod as I flipped the page to reveal a printed mural of an armored guard staring down a massive Minotaur gladius. “You’ve certainly been busy Meteor…” The General nodded in agreement. “I’ve had one hell of a run.” As I turned to face the General something off to the corner of my vision caught my eye. “What’s that?” I muttered. Sitting behind the bookshelf was what looked like an old wooden plank with some carvings. I brushed past the General and knelt down next to the shelf. I grabbed the plank and pulled it out, revealing that it was in reality a wood-bound book. I waved the book at the General and shrugged. “What the hell is this?” It took a minute for the General to register what I was holding, but his look of confusion turning to one of absolute elation was a suggestion that I was holding something of great importance. “That’s one of the two surviving pre-Discordian texts. And it’s been missing for decades.” I looked down at the book, then back to the nook that I had pulled it out of before returning a now confused gaze to the General. “Then they did a shitty job trying to find it.” The General obviously wasn’t listening, as he already had run off to find whoever he could and inform them of this discovery. But let's back up for a moment. Judging by the General’s reaction this book is incredibly important. After a few minutes both the General and Princess Celestia came running into the library. “I’ll be… She did find it!” Celestia exclaimed. At that point I recognized that I was still holding the book… And therefore had all the leverage. As I charged my horn a simple fire spell began channeling though my free hand. “And ‘she’ has a few demands if you want to see this thing as anything other than kindling.” The General’s jaw just about hit the floor when he realized what I was doing. “You wouldn’t.” He whispered. “I would, assuming that my rather reasonable demands aren’t met.” I retorted. The General was about to offer a response, but the Princess cut him off. “Name your terms.” I felt a cocky grin develop and chuckled “Two percent of the royal treasury, and a decree that acknowledges the Northern Guard as an independent organization that can act under any means to ensure that Equestria and its people remain safe.” “That’s preposterous!” Meteor yelled. But judging by her facial expression the Princess didn’t feel that way. “Consider it done.” The next few hours were rather uneventful. While the General clearly couldn’t get over what he had just witnessed, the Princess didn’t seem to take issue with had been asked. As we were waiting on the Pelican to leave, she arrived and handed me the sealed decree. “I must admit Constellation, what you did in that library was quite unexpected.” The Princess observed. I nodded and sat back in my seat. “Is this where you threaten me to make sure that something like that doesn’t happen again?” The Princess shook her head. “Meteor will likely cover it eventually.” “Then why are you here?” I asked. “To offer you some words of wisdom.” The Princess said as she walked off the ramp. “Keep in mind that the house always wins.” As the dropship picked up from the courtyard I found myself going back to the Princess’ words. “What did she mean by that Mom?” Stormy asked. I didn’t respond. I already have a feeling that Celestia was giving me a warning… And if the Immortal Sun Goddess is telling quoting that age old casino adage, I get the feeling that decree and funding will come with some other cost. Author's Note Well this was the second idea that I came up with. Instead of just a Constellation one-shot, I decided that the story could be something more... And with the cliffhanger at the end of The Long Road, we'll soon have somewhere to pick up (in addition to some cover art in the pipe). 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
