The Prism of Infinity

The Prism of Infinity

Three
Invaders from the Twelfth Dimension!

Written by
Jed R.

Editors/Pre-Readers
Doctor Fluffy

“Danger's my middle name. Rainbow 'Danger' Dash.”
Rainbow Dash, The Mysterious Mare-Do-Well.

Help me, please. Please. You have to -

Celestia shook her head, the image of the mare in the mirror vanishing once more from sight. Since the painful… experience she’d had in the throne room (for want of a better word), she hadn’t been able to shake the lingering presence of that tortured mirror image, but she didn’t have time to think about it.

Only a scant few moments after the incident in the throne room, Guardsponies had dashed in, panic on their faces.

“What’s the matter?” she had asked. All they had done was point at the window, and when Celestia had looked, she had understood why.

Outside, floating somewhere above Ponyville, was a giant metallic vehicle. It looked like it might have been some bloated, reworked version of an airship, but that was irrelevant. What was relevant was the fact that it was coming towards Canterlot. And that made it a problem.

Immediately, Celestia had summoned some of the officers of her navy and Guard. As the Guardsponies ran off to fetch them, she had returned her attention to the image of her other self.

She was… fleeting. She never seemed to be in the same place between blinks, and she was always in the corner of Celestia’s eye, as though hiding. And yet, sometimes, she was right in front of Celestia, pleading silently.

How do I help you? Celestia thought desperately.

The other mare either could not answer or would not answer, instead continuing to plead silently from the corner of Celestia’s eye. Sighing, Celestia sat on her throne and waited for her officers.

Today was not going brilliantly.

Alright, so maybe flying straight at the thing wasn’t the best idea she’d ever had.

Truth was, Rainbow Dash didn’t know what she was looking at: it was big, made of metal, and seemed to be floating above the town of Ponyville at a high altitude. All she knew was that lots of stuff had been incredibly weird for the last few hours and that this giant metal thing, whatever it was, was the most likely culprit.

She slowed up, flying alongside and underneath it at what she hoped was a safe enough distance to prevent any kind of assault, which was enough to give her a chance to look at it properly.

The hull was metallic grey. The main things keeping it up were definitely the balloons, but it had dozens of what looked like advanced propellers keeping it afloat too, and behind it seemed to be some sort of glowing engine that might have been magic, but somehow didn’t ‘feel’ like it. She could also see other markings: the number E011 was printed in more than one place, as was the word ‘ARRO’ over a symbol not unlike an arrowhead, as well as the name Endeavour.

The Endeavour, huh? Rainbow thought, frowning. Wonder just what sort of endeavour it’s on. Heh. She grinned at her own wordplay. Gotta remember that one when I finally make it aboard and kick its crew’s flank.

“Rainbow!” she heard a voice cry out. She turned in mid-air as she flew, and to her surprise saw Twilight coming up behind her.

“Twi!” Rainbow yelled, waving at her as she reached a parallel course. “How’d you catch up to me?”

“Teleported, and you slowed down,” Twilight replied tiredly. She looked in the direction of the ship. “Figure anything out?”

Rainbow shook her head. “Only that’s it’s big -”

“Which we knew.”

“- and that it might be called the Endeavour,” Rainbow finished. She pointed to the name on the hull, and Twilight turned to look at it.

“Endeavour,” she repeated, making a soft ‘hmmm’ in the back of her throat. “There’s something at least.” She looked back at Rainbow. “I take it you didn’t have a plan of attack?”

“Uh, yeah?” Rainbow said, making a ‘duh’ expression. “I had a great plan. Attack.”

“Attack where?” Twilight asked. “How? Do you know who’s on it, or what defences they have?”

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Alright, Twi, what’s your plan?”

Twilight sighed, before looking back at the ship. After a moment, she looked back at Rainbow.

“We need to get closer to it,” she said. “See if there’s some sort of external access port.”

“You mean, you want us to sneak aboard?” Rainbow asked, raising an eyebrow. “And then we kick flank, right?”

Twilight sighed. “And then, we find out who’s onboard, what they want, why they’re here. I don’t want to escalate the violence until it’s absolutely necessary.”

“It’s a giant airship floating over Ponyville!” Rainbow snapped. “What isn’t necessary about fighting whatever’s driving it?!”

“Flying it,” Twilight corrected absently.

“Who cares?!” Rainbow retorted. She pointed to a series of cannons that lined the side of the vessel. “Those look like battle cannons, Twilight. This thing must be a warship. Why would anypony bring a warship to Equestria if they didn’t want to fight?”

“We don’t even know who they are,” Twilight countered.

“Well, I dunno, there Invaders from the Twelfth Dimension or something!” Rainbow snapped frustratedly. At Twilight’s blank stare, she sighed. “It’s a comic. Point is, we don’t know, but we can guess anypony in a warship isn’t going to be wanting to bring us flowers and cupcakes!”

Twilight frowned, but she had to concede that point. “I guess we’ll find out what they want once we’re onboard.”

Rainbow grinned and nodded. “Alright then! Where d’you wanna try first?”

Twilight glanced at the ship again, before motioning for Rainbow to follow her. She headed for one of the armoured balloons that was keeping the thing in the air, and seemed to be flying slowly, as though trying not to attract undue attention.

Huh, she’s really coming on with her flying, Rainbow thought. She tilted her approach angle, and came up next to Twilight as the two of them started skimming along the hull.

“There are some windows,” Twilight said softly. “We need to be careful.”

“Gotcha,” Rainbow said. She pointed ahead to what looked like a gantry, some eighty metres ahead of them. “That looks like it might be a way on.”

“Agreed,” Twilight said. “Come on.”

Even as she said it, however, there was a whirring sound from above them. They looked up, to see a hatch opening up in the hull. What looked like a smaller cannon built into the hull popped out, before whirring and spinning to face them.

“Horseapples!” Rainbow swore, as the thing opened fire. She dodged the shots, and felt a wave of relief as she saw Twilight raise a defensive shield.

“Some sort of defence!” Twilight yelled. She kept her shield up, but a lot of the shots were impacting her. “Get to the gantry, I’ll cover you and try to find a way on later!”

“Gotcha!” Rainbow yelled again, and she dashed forward, making for the gantry. As she landed, she turned to see Twilight still blocking shots, steadily falling back away from the ship.

As it turned out, there was a hatch. Rainbow let out a breath, and turned the handle to open it: it was stiff, but it gave way soon enough with a little effort, and led into a small, cramped corridor.

Alright, Rainbow Dash, she said to herself. Time to find out what this ship is.

Twilight dodged more of the shots, wincing as a few still impacted on the shield she’d put up. To her surprise, however, she found that they had slowed in their pace as she got further away.

Maybe they only have a limited range, she thought, frowning at the ship as she resumed her parallel course. Or maybe they only attack within a certain radius.

Interesting as considering the possibilities was, those thought had to be secondary to the potential threat this machine posed. She could only hope that Rainbow would find out something that could help them figure out what this ship was doing here.

She was right about one thing, she thought grimly as she looked the machine over. It’s definitely a warship. Those are battle cannons of some description. But I don’t understand what it’s doing here!

Ahead of the ship, Pegasi were scattering, heading back for Ponyville. Although she was far up, Twilight could see ponies running into their homes and generally panicking. Then, suddenly, Twilight realised where the course this warship was taking would lead.

It’s heading straight for Canterlot, she thought, a hollow pit opening in her stomach. That couldn’t mean anything good.

Twilight pushed herself harder, moving to try and overtake the machine, but she couldn’t go fast enough. The warship was slowly increasing speed, gaining a greater lead over her every second.

Darn! Twilight said, pulling up as her wing muscles began aching from the strain. She hovered in place, watching the ship pull further ahead of her. She felt a chill run along her spine, knowing that this massive war machine was heading for the city that she had grown up in, heading for some of the ponies she loved most dearly.

And there was nothing she could do to stop it.

Rainbow, she thought desperately, it's all on you. Please, find some way to stop that thing.

Rainbow Dash glanced around a corner, then the opposite corner, before stepping out into a grey, uninspiring hallway. It was bare and utilitarian: just what she would have expected from a warship. There were a few signs: arrows pointing for H-Deck, signs pointing to the engine room, the stairs, and the main lift.

Okay, Dash, she thought, following the sign for the stairs. Gotta be super stealthy about all of this. We don’t want to…

She heard a clanking sound from somewhere behind her, and immediately looked to see a door opening. Without thinking, she ducked into another doorway and pressed herself against a wall.

Two figures walked by the doorway, neither of them looking in her direction as they did so. Rainbow frowned as they walked off: they had been bipedal, wearing blue uniform jumpsuits, but she hadn’t been able to spot any other details.

Never seen anything quite like that, she thought. Her mind began racing. Maybe they really are invaders from the twelfth dimension… nah.

Dismissing that thought as soon as she had it, she began following in the direction they had gone, making sure to hover in the air to prevent her hooves from clanking on the metal floor.

As she went, she passed a sign. All Pegasi crewmembers are reminded to travel on foot within the ship to prevent accidents.

There are Pegasi aboard? Rainbow thought, frowning at the sign. But why would Pegasi be aboard this sort of warship? Are they from Equestria after all?

No, that didn’t make any sense, did it? Those bipeds certainly hadn’t been ponies. Shaking her head, Rainbow continued onwards.

At the end of the corridor, as the signs had indicated, was a doorway that led to a stairwell. Rainbow couldn’t see or hear any sign of the bipeds she had seen, and so she began flapping her way up the stairs slowly. She did her best to keep an eye out for doors opening, but she knew full well that it was more than likely that she would be forced to fight soon. She felt her muscles tense.

You can do this, Rainbow, she thought, trying to psyche herself up. I mean, c’mon, you’re one of the most awesome Pegasi in the whole damn world. You’re a Wonderbolt trainee. You’re one of the bearers – well, former bearers – of the Elements of Harmony. You’ve stood up to Nightmare Moon, to Discord, to an army of changelings. This is nothing for you.

Saying these things to herself was helping, but nonetheless she felt a pit of nervousness in her stomach that she would never have openly admitted to. This felt different, in a massive way.

She flew up another couple of levels, until she reached a door that read ‘Access to E-Deck’. Looking up, then down, she figured this was as good a bet as any, and so she gently reached for the door and pulled it open…

… only to find herself facing a pink Earth Pony in a blue jumpsuit, a short, straight mane-

(That can’t be good, Rainbow Dash thought.)

-atop her head and blue eyes widening at the sight of her. But if the Earth Pony was surprised, so too was Rainbow Dash.

“Pinkie?!” she gasped.

Pinkie Pie’s short, straight mane curled almost of its own volition, and she gave a massive grin.

“Rainbow Dash!” she practically squealed. “We meet again! But this time… for the first time!”

“Your highness, we can’t have any ships intercept that vessel in time.”

Such was the dour proclamation of Admiral Coal Black, a Pegasus with a colour scheme as dark as his name, a pair of white wings on a shield his cutie mark. He wore a naval uniform, a blue-tinted variant of the usual Guardspony armour.

“You can’t seriously mean we have no airships available to challenge that machine,” another officer, Captain Staunch Defence, said with a slight scowl. “Not even one?”

“I must echo the Captain’s confusion, Admiral Black,” Celestia said grimly. “It seems odd that we should have nothing to defend our capital with.”

“Your highness, our standard aerial defence strategies have always places the majority of our fleet within immediate range of the border,” Black said apologetically. “The Griffons and the Dragons have proven to be serious issues in that area.”

“And we weren’t prepared for them doing something like this?!” Defence snapped.

“This is absolutely unprecedented!” Black shouted back. “Nothing our enemies have is able to just teleport like that! It would take a tremendous amount of concentrated magical energy to instal an artificial teleportation engine on an airship!”

“Leaving aside the matter of how it circumvented our defences,” Celestia said quietly, “we are still faced with the question of what defences we do have.”

Black sighed. “We have a couple of patrol airships in our nearby airspace, but all our experts have concluded that the thing approaching Canterlot has to be some kind of assault cruiser. Unless it is somehow incredibly archaic or poorly equipped, out patrol ships will be no match.”

Celestia nodded slowly. “I understand.” She sighed. “How soon can we have ships here to challenge the unknown ship?”

“I can get emergency messages out, but the best bet is still more than a day away,” Black said mournfully. “We’re on our own here, your highness.”

“Very well, then,” Celestia said grimly. She turned to Defence. “Begin making preparations to evacuate the populace. I will get my sister, and we will see if we can challenge this machine.”

“Alone?” Staunch Defence asked, frowning. “Your highness, with respect, at least take some Guardsponies with you.”

“That would only risk their safety as well,” Celestia said softly. “Make no mistake, Captain, I intend to see this thing for myself and, if possible, challenge it.” Her expression turned resolute. “If there is nothing else we have that can stand against it, there is still me.”

“Pinkie Pie?” Rainbow asked, raising an eyebrow. “What the hay are you doing here?”

“I work here, silly filly,” Pinkie – or, possibly, just a mare who looked like Pinkie – replied, giggling as she pointed to her sleeve. Sure enough, on the arm was a patch reading UES ENDEAVOUR E011, and on her cuff there was a series of white stripes. “CPO Pinkie Pie, ship’s morale officer, at your service!”

“But…” Rainbow said, tilting her head, “you’re… back in Ponyville, in the library.”

“Oh, yeah!” Pinkie said, waving a hoof. “I figured I would be, since we’re totally in the past or something.”

“In the past?” Rainbow repeated blankly.

“Well, yeah!” Pinkie said, grinning. “Oh, wait, no, to you, I’m from the future and this is the present.” She smacked a hoof against her forehead. “Silly Pinkie, get your temporal terminology right! I am really going to will have to learn this stuff!”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Rainbow said, scowling now. “You’re from the future? This ship is from the future?”

“Yup yup yup!” Pinkie replied, grinning even wider now. “And me, and every other pony on board, too! Well, it’s only the future from your perspective, but from my perspective it’s actually the present, but since you’re the confused one I thought saying future would be less confusing for you than…”

“Pinkie,” Rainbow said, holding up a hoof.

“Yeah?”

“Shut up a second.”

“Okey dokey lokey.”

Rainbow didn’t know what to make of any of this. Is this even Pinkie? Is it like a fake Pinkie? Or a changeling Pinkie?

“This is probably reaaaaaaally confusing for you,” Pinkie said after a moment.

“Yeah,” Rainbow drawled. “Just a bit.” She looked around. “What… what is all of this?”

“Well… that’s a long story, and some of it is super complicated.” Pinkie looked thoughtful for a moment. “Normally, I’d take you to Twilight – she’s like really awesome at explaining this stuff -”

“Wait, Twilight’s here?!” Rainbow said, her eyes wide.

“Uh huh!” Pinkie said with a grin, which quickly faded. “But, uh, she’s… busy.” She grinned again. “So I’ll take you to the Captain. He's really great at explaining stuff, too, even if he is a bit of a grumpy pants.”

Rainbow frowned. “Wait, so, who’s in charge? What’s -”

“Like I said, long story, super complicated,” Pinkie said, turning and heading off down the corridor she’d come down, leaving Rainbow to follow. “And the Captain is probably better at keeping on track than me. Ooh, did you know we have this really awesome mess hall? These Excalibur-class cruisers have way more storage space for ingredients than the old Viper-class destroyer we were on… So many weeks without being able to make cupcakes!”

“I’d say ‘I don’t understand a word of that’,” Rainbow said as she followed Pinkie, “but that’s actually kinda reassuring.”

“Because I’m Pinkie being Pinkie?” Pinkie asked, throwing her a knowing look.

“Pretty much,” Rainbow replied. “I mean… it’s reassuring to know that you’re… you. Even if I don’t understand how that’s possible.”

Pinkie grinned. “Well, I guess you’ll find out.”

When Twilight landed by the library, she felt herself nearly collapse from exhaustion, but she managed to keep herself upright. Her wings were burning from effort, her head was in agony from keeping her shields up as the warship had fired on her, and she felt sick with worry.

“Twilight?” she heard Pinkie’s voice say. She looked up, to see her friend giving her a worried expression. “Are you okay?”

“Not really, Pinkie,” Twilight replied, pushing herself to her feet. “That… that ship… Rainbow managed to get onto it, but I wasn’t able to keep up. And it’s… its…”

“It’s headin’ for Canterlot,” Applejack interjected, as she, Rarity and Fluttershy approached Twilight. She glanced up at the now-distant vessel. “You figure anythin’ out?”

Twilight took a breath, steadying herself and trying to compose her thoughts.

“It’s a warship,” she said after a moment. “Armed. Big. Called Endeavour. Has close-defence cannons of some sort. Probably other weapons. It’s…” She took a deep breath. “Like you said, Applejack. Heading for Canterlot.”

“Do you think Rainbow will be able to stop it?” Rarity asked softly.

“There’s no way to know,” Twilight said mournfully. “We don’t know anything about it apart from what we’ve observed, and what we’ve observed is about as far from ‘promising’ as you can get.”

Pinkie Pie looked thoughtful.

“You said it was called Endeavour, right?” she asked.

“That’s right,” Twilight said, frowning at Pinkie. “Why?”

“‘Endeavour’,” Pinkie said again, her frown deepening. “Now… I’m sure I’ve never been on a big floating warship called ‘Endeavour’, except that I’m also pretty sure I have, because I’m remembering something about a ‘welcome to the new ship party’ I threw, except I’ve never thrown a ‘welcome to the new ship party’, and I would never break an alcohol bottle like that.”

“I dunno,” Applejack said. “What if you had to name the ship? I’ve heard that it’s good luck to smash bottles against ships before.”

“That would be for a ‘naming the new ship party’,” Pinkie said patiently, “and the only time I got invited to one, everypony got mad that I named the ship ‘Dave’. I was gonna name it ‘Dave Elliot’ but then he talked to me after it and it wasn’t a good idea. And I had to agree, I mean… it’s kinda been done already, y’know? After which I realised they probably already had a name.” She sighed. “And it wasn’t even Boaty McBoatface. If you’re not naming your ship Boaty McBoatface or Dave then just what sort of sadistic, boring monster are you? I mean, have some fun with naming it!”

“Wait, so you're remembering this ship?” Twilight asked. “How is that even possible?!”

“I dunno,” Pinkie said. “Possibly some sort of cross-dimensional connection of mine and a counterpart’s consciousnesses, creating a temporary ansible effect between my mind and hers, thus resulting in us both becoming aware of each other subconsciously and gaining each other’s memories – except obviously, I got more out of it because she’s further ahead of me.”

There was a pause.

“What?” Rarity asked blankly.

“What?” Pinkie repeated, tapping her head. “Sorry, was channeling my inner Geordi La Forge.”

“Your inner who-now?” Applejack asked, frowning.

“No idea,” Pinkie said cheerfully.

“How does that make any sense?” Twilight asked.

“You’re gonna start questioning it now?” Applejack sighed.

Twilight blinked, before shaking her head. “Pinkie… is there… another you on that ship?”

Pinkie gave her a patient smile. “Twi, I think I already said that.”

Twilight and the others (Fluttershy excepted) facehoofed.

“Well,” Fluttershy put in, “that’s good, isn’t it?”

“Is it?” Twilight put in.

“Pinkie would never be on a ship that’s going to do anything bad,” Fluttershy reasoned. “Not willingly.”

“I don’t think the ship is for anything bad,” Pinkie said. “I’d feel a lot more disturbed if it was.”

Twilight didn’t know what to make of any of this. Was Pinkie right? Was what she had said – whatever the hay most of it meant – really possible?

“I hope you’re right,” she said quietly. “I really… really hope you’re right.”

The lift was at the end of the corridor, and this other Pinkie had pressed a button that was labelled ‘Command Deck’.

“The Captain is gonna be surprised to see you,” she said idly as the lift began ascending. “I mean, to be honest, he’s gonna be surprised anyway, since, y’know, the Sun is the wrong colour, and -”

“The Sun is the wrong colour?” Rainbow repeated. “Seriously?”

“Well, yeah,” Pinkie replied. “Everypony we’ve spoken to about it says that the Sun’s gone a sort of ugly orange colour that really clashes with the shade of grey that the sky went -”

“What the hay are you talking about?” Rainbow said, eyes narrowing. “Orange sun? Black sky?”

Pinkie gave her a blank look for a moment, before making a small ‘o’ with her mouth. “Oh, right. We’re before then. Or we sidestepped then. Not sure which it is, but Doctor Hooves isn’t here so… y’know. Can’t be sure.”

Rainbow shook her head. “Wherever or whenever you’re from, Pinkie, you’ve definitely gotten weirder.”

“Thanks,” Pinkie said with a smile. “I’ve tried to stay chirpy. Ponies and people need to be happy more than ever these days – s’why I signed up as a morale officer.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow said noncommittally. In truth, Pinkie’s uniform (and the rank she’d given) were both things that bothered her, but she was ignoring it for now in favour of bigger questions. Like, ‘Just what the hay is even happening here?!’

“Don’t worry, Rainbow,” Pinkie said quietly. “This will all make sense soon.”

And then the lift pinged, and Pinkie led Rainbow onto what she could only assume was the bridge.

It was a large, rectangular room, dominated by a massive observation window at the front, covered in some sort of floating word display. There were bipedal creatures standing and sitting at a wide variety of stations, each one covered in buttons and gizmos that made Twilight’s computer seem positively archaic by comparison. Most were manned by bipeds in the same sort of blue jumpsuit that Pinkie wore, but there were some ponies amongst them, too – even ones Rainbow recognised.

At the centre of the room, looking out of the observation window with two – paws? Hands? – folded behind its back, was another of the bipeds. Unlike Pinkie’s uniform or the uniforms a lot of the bipeds were wearing, this one had a two-piece blue uniform on, tight fitting and decorated with white stripes down the trousers and jacket, as well as on the cuff and shoulder. It had a short, dark mane.

“Captain?” Pinkie said to the biped. “There’s somepony here you’ll want to see.”

The biped – the Captain? – sighed.

“CPO Pie, how many times do I have to -” It turned, and immediately stopped talking, its cold blue eyes fixed on Rainbow Dash. “What the hell.”

Rainbow coughed. “Uh… hi. I’m, uh, here to find out who you are, why you’re here, and to beat you up if you’re a threat to Equestria.”

The biped didn’t react for a moment, but then it suddenly let out a short, harsh laugh. Other members of the crew looked at it, and then Rainbow, and many stopped what they were doing to look st her in shock.

“What?” Rainbow asked, feeling oddly self-conscious.

“Rainbow Dash,” the Captain said. “Just what the devil are you doing here?”