Voyages of the Lightbringer: Episode 2: The Deity of Azure

Chapters

Captured
The Goddess' Domain/Imprisoned
Unexpected Rescue/Broken Unity
Cleaning Up/Second Chances

Captured

"Captain's Star Log; Equus Date: 2/29/2274: We've finished having our shore leave at the planet of Risa and are departing the system on our first mission. After a recent temporal incident involving the I.S.S. Discovery, Admiral Quinn wishes for us to examine the psionic patterns and properties of the planet Pahvo. We are to find out how these crystals react and behave around certain subjects and entities and determine the level of risk this planet poses should it end up captured by an enemy force."

Pahvo System, Planet Surface|

I tapped my Pipbuck as I began scanning another one of the large crystals that sat on the ground, Velvet and Calamity trotting to two other ones as they made their own scans. A short time after we had departed from Risa, Admiral Quinn at Earth Spacedock contacted us for a job he wanted us for. Shortly before I became a new agent, the U.S.S. Stratus was sent into the Pahvo system to check for a disturbance there. From their report, the problem was the I.S.S. Discovery, which was brought into our time by a temporal anomaly, along with a load of Klingon warships. After a skirmish between the three sides, the Discovery was sent back to it's own time by the Stratus, the former's captain, Silvia Tilly, having disappeared to a random place in the galaxy via a beam generated by the crystal spire on the surface. The report also said that they were trying to turn Pahvo into a superweapon of sorts, one that could threaten the entire galaxy if left unchecked.

Admiral Quinn believes that the system could be vulnerable to many other dangers besides Captain Tilly and her allies, and asked if we would be willing to stop by the planet and go on a research mission. Wanting to finally get back on our feet after our break, we agreed and set course for the system. Fortunately for us, there were no other ships in the area, allowing us to get started without incident. Along with myself, our purple alicorn, Velvet, and Calamity beamed down to begin our mission, arriving right next to the Pahvan crystal spire in the center of the old Vulcan research area from the Stratus' mission.

As my scan concluded on my Pipbuck, Velvet trotted up to me, a single crystal held in her magic as she spoke. "This is intriguing, my scans show that there is a high trace of psionic energy within these crystals. I think we should take a larger sample back to the ship with us for further study."

"Good idea." I replied as Calamity flew in the air, the two of us looking to see what the problem was. Velvet and I jumped a little as well as we saw a strange being made of blue energy, it had two white eyes on what I assumed was the head of the entity.

"Don't shoot it, Calamity." The tall purple mare ordered my friend, the pegasus hovering back a little as the alicorn trotted up to it, the native lifeform of Pavho merely watching.

"What is it?" Velvet asked as I turned to face her.

"It's a Pahvan, they're the resident species of this place. From what I've heard, the crystals have a heavy influence on them." Velvet nodded in understanding as we turned back to face our friend, the mare holding a hoof up to the large blue alien.

The alicorn closed her eyes as she held her hoof to the creature, Calamity raising an eyebrow as I asked, "What's it saying?" The Pahvans communicated via telepathy, I heard from Captain Na'Zev before we set out on our mission. Our friend was more than capable of understanding them this way, as she had been a part of a large collective group of minds years before.

"They... They are permitting us use of that large crystal over there." The tall mare said as she moved her hoof in the direction of a large patch of crystals to our right. There were several smaller ones around it as well, but the one in the center stuck out like a sore thumb.

Velvet smiled at her friend's answer as she replied to the creature. "Thank you, with your help, we can prevent another tragedy like the incident from several weeks ago."

The creature stood before us, unfazed by us as the alicorn put her hoof down, the Pahvan fading away as Calamity flew to the directed patch of crystals nearby.

"She said the large one, right?" Velvet nodded as Calamity began pulling the large crystal from it's spot, finally breaking off after a few tugs.

As Velvet put her tricorder back into her saddlebags, Calamity flew over with the large crystal, setting it down in front of the four of us as I tapped my combadge. "Littlepip to Lightbringer, we've acquired enough data down here and are bringing a sample back to the ship for study. How's it going up there?"

"We've picked up no hostile signatures nearby, we're ready to beam you all up on your word." The voice of the blue alicorn said back to me as I looked to my friends, all of them nodding in confirmation before I replied.

"Energize." As I said that, the purple alicorn picked up the large crystal in her magic, fields of blue energy surrounding us a moment later. As the fields surrounded us completely, the sight of Pahvo vanished from view, the Lightbringer's transporter room appearing seconds later.

I stepped off of the green and gold transporter pad, the pegasus mare managing the console smiling as she asked, "I hope there were no issues during transport?"

I nodded in response, looking back to my friends as they joined me. "Velvet and I will take the crystal to the research lab, we shall analyze it after we've looked at our data from the scans." The officer nodded to the alicorn as we all made our way out the door, entering the hallway that led to the ship's bridge.

(||||||)

I sat in my command chair as I took a sip of my bottle of Sparkle Cola, my friends all operating their consoles as I stared out into the system of Pahvo. Our research had given us more than we'd hoped to find, the crystals could be manipulated by doing certain things to them, whether it'd be physical or psychological. With the right tinkering, they could be coerced into being able to fire psionic beams powerful enough to destroy entire fleets of ships that weren't prepared for such attacks. We'd also found that the crystals could affect any other beings capable of performing psychic abilities, including alicorns.

It had been a few hours since our return and the examination of the crystal, Velvet and her alicorn friend having returned with their analysis. Sitting up in my seat, I looked to Steelhooves as I asked, "What's our status, Steelhooves?"

The armored stallion looked at his console as he replied. "Our ship is at full power, shields are fully charged, and our weapons are standing by."

I smiled as I turned to Calamity, setting my drink down into a holster slot at the left side of the chair as I spoke. "Calamity, hail Admiral Quinn, I think he'll like what we've found so far."

"Ya got it, should only take a s-" My friend stopped as he looked at his now beeping console, the stallion giving a worried expression as he turned to speak to me. "Pip, Ah'm detectin' several Tholian vessels on an intercept course!"

"Red Alert! Shields up, ready weapons!" I ordered as the ship's klaxons sounded throughout the bridge, the room's upper lights glowing with a faint pink tint as we readied ourselves for a fight.

As I looked to the viewscreen, I saw the Tholian ships drop out of warp in front of us, three Mesh Weavers and a Recluse. The small Weavers were based on the more iconic design of Tholian ships, a similar appearance to the Widow fighter, only bigger and with slightly different fins on the end.

The Recluse was a much larger design, it had three pointy arms that extended out of the main section of the ship, tips of blue boasting off of the hull.

The ships sped towards us, blue tetryon beams shooting out at us as Calamity tapped his console. The Lightbringer returned fire with three pink beams of magical energy, all of them missing as the attacking Mesh Weavers flew around us.

"What? Why are they all flyin' past us?!" Calamity exclaimed as I looked to Xenith.

"Aft viewer!" The zebra nodded as she tapped her console, the holo screen appearing to show a view of the ship's engines. The three Tholian frigates fired blue beams of energy at the Lightbringer's shields, which flickered out in mere seconds.

"Our aft shield is down!" Velvet said as I saw one of the Mesh Weavers fire a spray of torpedoes at the engines, which exploded with fire and plasma as they were hit.

"Engines are disabled, we're dead in the water, Pip!" Calamity cried out as I saw the Recluse fire a shield-draining beam of its own, the shields flickering as they started to fail.

"Grab the Mesh Weavers in a tractor beam, hit 'em with a spread of torpedoes!" I said as Calamity and Velvet worked at their consoles, two of the enemy frigates being caught in tractor beams a few seconds later. Two volleys of green Balefire torpedoes flew away from the Lightbringer and struck the two Tholian ships, both of them exploding in balls of orange fire not a moment later.

"Good shot, Calamity!" I praised as the Recluse fired several more tetryon beams at us, our forward shield flickering out after five hits.

"Forward shields failing! I'm reading transporter signatures!" Velvet said fearfully as six blue transporter beams phased in, Tholian soldiers appearing in their place. We didn't even have time to react as they all fired a bolt of energy at each of us, my friends and I yelping in pain as we fell to the floor.

I felt paralyzed on the ground as the Tholian boarding party took positions at our consoles, one of them picking me up my the neck as he ordered, "ORDER YOUR CREW TO STAND DOWN, OR WE WILL KILL THEM."

I tapped the comms panel on my chair before speaking, gasping for air as the Tholian held his tight grip on me. "Ach-Attention all decks, this is the Captain, stand down and r-relieve yourselves of your weapons!"

As the Tholian held me, he put a ring around my horn, one of the other officers checking one of the consoles as he spoke to the commander holding me. "ALL DECKS HAVE REPORTED THEIR COMPLIANCE, SIR."

"GOOD, DISABLE THE TURBOLIFTS AND RESTRAIN OUR CAPTIVES." The armored spiders nodded as they performed their tasks, the lights above the turbolift doors turning a blood red color to signify they could not be used.

"Why are you doing this?!" Velvet said as she and her alicorn friends were brought to their hooves, similar rings to the one on my horn being placed on all of theirs.

"Yeah, why didn't ya kill us already?!" Calamity growled as he was picked up and made to stand on his hooves by one of the soldiers.

"YOUR PRESENCE IS REQUIRED BY OUR LEADER. WE WILL BE TAKING YOUR SHIP TO THE AZURE NEBULA, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO RESIST WHILE WE DO SO." As he finished, the Tholian commander released me from his claw, myself coughing several times before being picked up and escorted by another guard. I joined my friends in a group as we were all huddled to the back of the bridge, the commander taking position in front of my chair as he ordered, "T'SKANG, TAKE THE LIGHTBRINGER IN TOW AND SET COURSE FOR THE AZURE SECTOR, MAXIMUM SPEED. INFORM OUR LEADER THAT WE HAVE HER GUESTS IN CUSTODY."

The Recluse class warship caught the Lightbringer in a tractor beam at his words, both of our ships turning away from Pahvo before going to warp, the view changing to show several stars flying past our ships.

I looked to my friends as we stood together at the back of the bridge, Calamity gritting his teeth angrily at the Tholians as Velvet spoke to me. "What do you think they want with us?"

I shook my head as I replied. "I don't know, but I don't think it involves that gun we found back on Risa a few days ago." We all then turned to face the window, the stars passing the T'skang and the Lightbringer as we flew at warp to the Azure Nebula.

||||||

We had arrived into the Azure Nebula in less than half an hour, our three ships taking position over a large asteroid. The asteroid was converted into a base by the Tholians, the only noticeable detail was the large docking port for captured ships.

Shortly after taking position around the large asteroid base, we beamed down with our Tholian guards, three of them in front of us and three behind us as we trotted. Velvet's alicorns surrounded her defensively while the rest of us stayed in line behind them, Steelhooves looking to one of the spider-like escorts as he asked, "We want to know, what have we done that has attracted the Assembly's atten-"

The Applejack's Ranger was cut off as the mechanical voice of the Tholian replied back. "WE DO NOT SPEAK FOR THE ASSEMBLY, WE ARE AN... INDEPENDENT GROUP ACTING ON OUR OWN GOALS."

"I see." Steelhooves replied with surprise as we all made our way through the hallway, which ended at an open doorway that led into a large room. When we entered, we all stood in shock at what we saw, the room looked as big as a colosseum, except instead of rows upon rows of seats, there was just metal that went all the way to the ceiling high above us. In the middle of the room was a large cylindrical structure, the top of which emitted a familiar green glow. Around the large structure were several more Tholians and... alicorns?

I raised an eyebrow when I saw them, the trio of sisters in front of us gasping as they witnessed the sight. The alicorns in the room all turned to us simultaneously, looking at us as we entered the room. Like when we entered Maripony for the first time, it was fucking creepy, even more so with the fact that they looked malicious this time.

As we stopped in front of the Tholian commander, the spider in armor spoke to the large structure in front of us. "WE HAVE ARRIVED WITH THE PRISONERS YOU REQUESTED, YOUR MAJESTY."

I shivered with fear as I heard a familiar, distorted laugh come from the structure, a cloud of smoke rising up from it as we all watched. The cloud shifted and floated around in the air until it took the form of a familiar unicorn pony, fireworks shooting out as it took it's final form.

My friends and I all gasped with fear as we heard the Trixie abomination speak, it's voice reverberating around the room. {{WELCOME TO THE NEW HOME OF THE GREAT AND POWERFUL GODDESS, MY DEAREST GUESTS!}}

The Goddess' Domain/Imprisoned

I felt as if I'd shit myself upon seeing the monster that was the Goddess appear before us, her drones and Tholian servants surrounding us. I'd heard about the incidents between rogue Tholians and members of the Assembly that occurred several times in the course of their existence. Some of the spiders desired to reject the ideals of their people and join the Alliance to provide their intel on the Assembly's movements, while others would abandon both sides and serve their own desires.

But I had never in all my time of being in the Alliance would I expect a group of them to form an alliance with one of our oldest enemies.

When I faced her for the last time in Maripony, we had planted a balefire bomb underneath the Goddess' fortress courtesy of Red Eye. We had expected to wipe her out with ease, but I had also found that the Enclave were planning to side with her as well, the two of them wanting to destroy Red Eye and his army before it was too late. And it would indeed be too late, as the Goddess and the Enclave High Council member Harbinger would perish in the explosion while I would hide in one of the safe rooms.

At least, I thought that's what happened. It would seem that she was rescued in the nick of time by this rogue group of Tholians before the bomb went off, and thirty minutes was more than enough time for them to get her out of there.

The Goddess let out another distorted laugh as she looked down at us, all of her alicorns facing us as she spoke to the Tholian commander. {{I AM PLEASED WITH YOUR EFFORTS, CAPTAIN, YOU MAY RETURN TO YOUR SHIP AND PATROL THE AREA AROUND THE BASE.}}

The Tholian gave a slight bow before he replied to the Trixie-monster in a robotic voice. "WE WILL ENSURE THAT NO INTRUDERS GET BY OUR FORCES, YOUR EXCELLENCY."

{{SEE TO IT THAT YOU DO.}} The Goddess replied before the spider captain turned and made his way out of the room, two of his guards following behind him as the others took positions around the room. {{NOW THEN, WHERE WERE WE?}}

Calamity glared at the smoky form of Trixie as he spoke to her. "Well fer one thing, y'all had just taken us prisoner moments ago, and ya haven't told us all why!"

{{THANK YOU FOR THE CLARIFICATION, PEGASUS. AS FOR WHY WE DID SO, THERE IS SOMETHING OF GREAT POWER WE DESIRE TO CONTROL, AND YOU HAVE GAINED IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING IT!}} My eyes widened at her words, she couldn't have meant Pahvo, could she? Of course, she did. The planet had quite the arsenal that a being such as the Goddess could use, and with the power she already wielded, who's to say she wouldn't do more harm to the galaxy than Tilly could ever do had she gained control?

{{AND THANK YOU AGAIN FOR RETURNING THREE OF MY CHILDREN TO US, IT WILL BE GOOD TO HAVE THEM IN OUR NEW ARMY ONCE AGAIN!}} The trio of sisters looked at each other as the Goddess laughed, the other alicorns giving faint smiles at us before the Trixie-monster continued. {{UNFORTUNATELY, IT SEEMS THAT YOU ARE RELUCTANT TO JOIN US ONCE MORE. NO MATTER, I HAVE ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD TO ALLOW YOU TO DECIDE.}}

The green sister pulled out her tricorder and tapped a few buttons on it, the Goddess questioning her in a menacing tone about the device. {{WHAT ARE YOU DOING?}} I noticed all of the alicorns opening their wings and taking a battle stance as the scan concluded.

"I am merely taking a scan of you, it will not affect you or your drones in any way whatsoever." The tall mare replied as the Goddess steadied, her alicorns folding their wings as they also calmed. As she examined her data, the green sister looked to Velvet as she spoke. "This is most intriguing, I'm detecting large swaths of psionic energy above and within the vat. The structural arrangement of the energy is very loose and seems to be affecting the entity I've found in the deeper section of the vat."

I raised an eyebrow at the green mare's words before Velvet asked, "Are there any lifesigns inside?"

"Indeed, though my readings are a little.. fuzzy. It seems it is because of the taint having altered her natural appearance and abilities."

"Most likely." I replied to the alicorn before we all turned our heads to face the Goddess again. As I thought about it, the results made sense, the Goddess was not only very powerful with telepathy and magic, but she could appear as a large, gaseous entity when she wished to reveal herself to visitors or her children. During the Great War, Trixie was set to be the first of an army of alicorns that would serve in the fight against the Zebra Empire, but when the bombs fell on the Last Day, she had fallen into the vat by accident and absorbed a large amount of I.M.P. fluid (AKA taint) that was held inside. Some time after that, she became what many came to know as the Goddess, a being that took random ponies and turned them into mindless drones using the taint over the past centuries after the war.

I also wondered about the vat of taint and it's capabilities, if Trixie could become a being such as the Goddess after prolonged exposure to the liquid, could her children also do such a thing? When I was pursuing him, Red Eye had plans to become the next Goddess by performing a similar act at his cathedral, and he would have succeeded, had I not stopped him. Magic also had similar properties to psionic energy, they could both be used to control a subject and had the capability to harm other lifeforms and damage objects. And taint was a special product that could give anyone that absorbed it such powers, that was how Trixie could talk to her alicorn drones and command them, after all.

My thoughts were swiftly forgotten as the Goddess explained her intentions, all of us staring up at her as she spoke. {{NOW THEN, ABOUT MY PLANS FOR YOU ALL. MY ASSETS TELL ME THAT PLANET YOU HAVE VISITED HAS A VERY POWERFUL WEAPON WE CAN USE TO CONTROL PART OF THE QUADRANT. THE GODDESS DESIRES TO CREATE A BASE THERE AND SCARE THE ALLIANCE INTO SUBMISSION!}} She let out a faint chuckle before she continued, my friends giving looks of surprise at her words. {{AND YOU WILL LEAD US THERE, ONCE I'VE CONVERTED YOU ALL INTO THE FIRST OF MY NEW DRONES, OF COURSE!}}

I heard Velvet gasp in fear as Calamity held her hoof, the three alicorn sisters taking defensive stances around the couple as the Goddess focused on Steelhooves. {{UNFORTUNATELY FOR YOU, I DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO THANKS TO YOUR.... DEFECTS.}}

"Actually..." The Applejack's Ranger said as he looked to the blue alicorn, who nodded as she removed his helmet. I swore I heard a gasp of some sort from the Trixie-creature as she spoke.

{{...I SEE, THEN. THIS IS GOOD THEN, THE MIGHTY ALICORN HUNTER CAN FINALLY KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO LIVE AMONG THOSE HE TRIED TO DESTROY SO LONG AGO!}} The Goddess laughed as Steelhooves looked with frustration to the three sisters, who gave looks of agreement to the unmasked soldier before they all looked back to the gas cloud that was Trixie.

{{AND DON'T THINK I'VE FORGOTTEN ABOUT YOU, DESTROYER!}} I cringed at the Goddess' words as she focused on me, her eyes giving a vengeful stare as she continued. {{I REMEMBER WHAT YOU TRIED TO DO AT MARIPONY YEARS AGO, YOU WERE A FOOL TO TRY AND STOP ME AND MY CHILDREN, FOR I HAVE SURVIVED!}}

"And we have found a way to preserve our kind." The blue alicorn said to the Goddess as she looked to her, the being's eyes meeting her gaze as she continued. "Velvet Remedy and her friend Xenith have helped us in giving us the male alicorns we desperately required to breed. And while my sisters and I have not found mates of our own, we find comfort knowing we have survived." The tall mare looked to me as she spoke once more. "And the so-called "Destroyer" only meant to prevent you from destroying the wasteland and it's people not drive us to extinction."

{{OH? AND WHY DO YOU BELIEVE THIS?}} The Goddess replied as the blue alicorn stood her ground, her gaze still holding as she answered.

"Because she tried to fight for peace in our land, she gave up so much to allow us all to rebuild. You had plans to wipe out any and all species that wouldn't or couldn't become one of us, and after seeing what Littlepip and her friends have done, we see what her true intentions were... and how wrong your plans were." I saw the Goddess' eyes shift to an angry demeanor, our blue alicorn unfazed by her expression as she continued.

"Granted, some of Littlepip's methods in certain situations were... extreme," She looked to me upon saying that, then looked back to the Goddess as she continued. "But she only meant well in the end, despite the collateral damage she caused. After all they have done, my sisters and I agree when I say that a pony can do many amazing things, no matter what their race is, and to kill others because they don't wish to join our kind is evil."

{{ENOUGH OF THIS NONSENSE!!!}} The Goddess yelled angrily, the room shaking slightly as we stood in shock. As the room ceased it's shaking, the Trixie-thing continued. {{IT WOULD SEEM YOU ALL REQUIRE SOME RE-EDUCATION ON THIS MATTER, WE WILL DO SO AT A LATER TIME.}} The Goddess' eyes then moved to face the Tholian guards near the entrance, both of them moving to us as she spoke. {{YOU TWO, TAKE OUR GUESTS TO THEIR CELLS, IF THEY TRY TO RESIST, STUN THEM! WHEN THE PATROL HAS RETURNED, THE UNICORN AND ZEBRA WILL ASSIST US IN CREATING THE REPRODUCTION BREW IN THE LABS.}} As the guards motioned for us to start moving to the door at our left, we started to walk towards it.

I gasped in surprise as I was picked up off of my hooves by smoky, tentacle-like arms and brought to hover face to face with the Goddess, my friends looking on and crying out in worry as the Trixie-abomination spoke again. {{AND AS FOR YOU, LITTLE ONE, I BELIEVE WE SHOULD SHOW YOU HOW MUCH WE.... MISSED YOU AFTER MARIPONY.}}

"Ya keep yer lil hooves off our friend!" Calamity cried out furiously as he started to turn, myself looking to him in fear as I replied.

"No! Don't interfere, just do as the Goddess says.. please." I said to my friends as they all looked up to me, tears in Velvets eyes as the Goddess spoke to them all.

{{IF IT WILL SATISFY YOU ALL, I WILL NOT END HER LIFE. AS I SAID, YOU WILL BE OUR FIRST NEW ALICORN DRONES TO SERVE IN MY CAMPAIGN, AND WHY WOULD I KILL THE ONE THING I NEED TO TAKE OVER THE GALAXY?}} As she looked to my friends, Velvet wiped her eyes and nodded slightly, the others doing the same before turning back to the door, the Tholian guards following behind them as the doors opened.

As my friends and their guards exited the large room, the Goddess spoke once more. {{OH, I THINK YOU'RE GOING TO ENJOY OUR TIME TOGETHER.... LITTLEPIP.}} As she said my name, I felt a sharp pain in my head, which escalated as the Goddess used her powers to torture me. I closed my eyes tight and let out screams of agony and anger as the Goddess continued her torment, laughing almost maniacally as she enjoyed the sight and sound of my suffering.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

It had been several hours since my torture session with the Goddess ended, and I was now trotting over to my cell, two Tholian warriors in EV suits walking behind me to ensure I didn't try anything. The brig was on the other side of the door that the Goddess had instructed us to go to, so I didn't have to walk very far. As one of the guards deactivated the cell's force field, I felt relief wash over me as I saw my friends inside, their faces beaming with thankfulness as I was thrown into the cell, hitting the floor hard. Calamity and Velvet helped me up, the torture having made my body weak and sore. Though I hadn't been in one of the Terran Empire's agony booths during my training at New Khitomer, I think I knew what it felt like, thanks to the Goddess... and I didn't like it one bit.

I'd managed to find enough strength to lift my head and face my friends, Velvet's eyes were red with tears, Calamity looked worried, Xenith and Steelhooves (still having his helmet off) both looking at me with calm but stern expressions, and Velvet's alicorn sisters all looked to me with worry as well.

"What the hell did she do t' ya, 'Pip?" Calamity asked me painfully, I could tell he had cried a little too from how his voice cracked.

"She... she tortured me. She used her psionic abilities to harass my mind and body." I shivered a little as I remembered one of the worst parts of the torture, a slight bit of pain returning to my head as I finished. "It was horrible."

"We could hear your screams from here, Littlepip." Velvet said as she sniffled, embracing me as she cried some more into my shoulder. "W-what is wrong with her?!"

"Well, I did try to kill her, after all." I replied to my friend as I looked to the trio of sisters, who all gave sad expressions to me before the blue one spoke up.

"We understand what's happened as well, we could feel the pain you went through from here. We had to cease our telepathic connections if we were to be in working order." I nodded in understanding as Velvet stopped crying, wiping her tears again as she spoke to me.

"How do we escape? They've put magic inhibitors on our horns, and we don't have any allies in the area to assist us!" The others gave a grim expression as I gave a reply.

"They damaged our engines during the fight at Pahvo, when the search group looks for us, they'll find this place and get us out." My friends gave hopeful smiles at my words, all of them collapsing into frowns again as Xenith spoke.

"What do you think they will do to our crew aboard the ship?"

"I'm guessing the Goddess will try and turn them into more drones for the mission." I said as I frowned along with my friends, the purple alicorn speaking up next as Calamity stood next to Velvet.

"And, we're all stuck here? Waiting for the Goddess to turn us into more of her children?"

"It would seem so." Steelhooves replied as we sat, myself taking a breath before speaking again.

"Well, we could at least form some kind of plan while we're in here. We still have our equipment, right?"

My friends all nodded before Calamity spoke up. "It seems the Goddess is still bein' a fool when it comes t' our gear, she jus' let us hold on t' it while we sat in here."

"Indeed, and thanks to her mistake, I believe we have one plan we could try during our rescue." The green alicorn said as we all looked to her, a smile building on her face as she explained. "While Littlepip was being tortured, my sister and I analyzed the data we'd both acquired from our mission to Pahvo and my scans from the Goddess. The crystals we saw on Pahvo could be manipulated to perform certain actions one wants from them, and they also have a strong connection to other psionic entities around them." We all looked at each other as we started to understand what she was getting at. "The Goddess also has a high amount of psionic energy thanks to her being altered by the taint, if we can get the crystal here and find a way to connect it's reach to her, we may be able to stop her."

"But we still have a few problems here," Calamity said to the purple mare, all of us raising our eyebrows as he continued, "The Goddess has plenty o' alicorns and Tholians at her disposal. We can't fight all o' them and get the crystal to her at the same time."

"That's true, which means we'll need a distraction of sorts." As Velvet said that, we all stood as we heard a klaxon go off, the two Tholian guards outside our cell looking around before one of them spoke.

"G'ZALLS TO T'SKANG, WHAT'S HAPPENING OVER THERE?"

We all gasped in surprise as we heard the officer on the other end reply. "AN ENEMY FLEET HAS DROPPED OUT OF WARP, WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!"

Unexpected Rescue/Broken Unity

We all gasped in surprise as we heard the now panicking Tholian guard speak to his colleagues aboard the T'skang, the station's alarms going off around us as he spoke. "HOW MANY ARE THERE? CAN YOU REACH THE BASE?!"
"SOME OF THE SHIPS DON'T REGISTER AS ALLIANCE DESIGNS, SIR. THERE'S AN ICONIAN CRUISER TARGETING US ALONGSIDE TWO FEDERATION WARSHIPS.... SIR, ONE OF THEM IS OF THOLIAN DESIGN!"

I looked around the cell for a moment before spotting a screen to the right of the room. I trotted over to it and tapped a few buttons on it, my friends joining me as I pulled up a visual of the outside of the station. There was a small task force of vessels fighting against the T'skang and it's escorting ships, one of them stood out from the rest. It was a strange vessel to look at, a tall main hull that bent slightly and had a blue orb in front of the bended section. Around the hull were six fins, yellow markings adorning each of them and the main hull. This was one of the Quas cruisers that fought in the Iconian War.

As the large Iconian cruiser fired dark blue beams of energy at the Tholian warships, I saw seven smaller vessels flying towards the base, the largest one of them being another Mesh Weaver. Unlike the other ones, however, this one had yellow markings similar to the Iconian vessel. The six other ships were of Iconian design, two sharp arms sticking out of a thin main hull, Mir fighters.

Wondering if I could access allied transmissions from inside the brig, I tapped my Pipbuck and looked for a frequency, pulling out my earbloom to prevent the Tholian guards outside the cell from listening in. When I found the right one, I heard a voice speak through my Pipbuck. The voice was the same as the one I heard when a Tholian speaks within an EV suit. "THIS IS CAPTAIN DLYRENE OF THE LOSKENE, WE ARE HERE TO ASSIST YOU, LIGHTBRINGER."

I looked back to the screen to see the Tholian vessel Loskene fire tetryon beams at the four tractors holding the Lightbringer in place, each of them flickering out as the blue beams of energy ceased.

"THE LIGHTBRINGER IS FREE, SIR!" I heard another computerized voice say as I looked back out the cell force field, the two guards were looking at us now, one of them tapping the wall console to deactivate the force field. The purple alicorn helped Steelhooves put his helmet back on as the force field dropped.

As the two guards entered the room, I continued listening in on the Loskene's comms. "ARE OUR AGENTS READY TO BEAM DOWN?"

"AFFIRMATIVE SIR, I'VE DETECTED THE LIGHTBRINGER'S BRIDGE CREW, WE CAN BEAM THEM THERE ON YOUR ORDER!" One of the officers on the Loskene said as Captain Dlyrene gave his word.

"BEGIN BOARDING PROCEDURES!" As I pulled out the earbloom, the guards stood between my friends and I as we were escorted out of the cell, all of us making our way deeper down the hall.

As we reached the door, we heard a transporter beam behind us and looked to see our visitors. In front of the group was Lacunae, behind her were two Iconian Heralds and two Tholians from the Loskene. Our escorts tried to fire, but Lacunae was faster. Her horn glowed and the Tholians between us froze, the two screeching and chirping in their native tongue as the two Heralds fired blue beams of energy at them.

As the two Tholians fell to the ground, Lacunae trotted up to us, my friends and I smiling as she spoke. "I hope we aren't late to the party, everyone."

"Not at all, Lacunae." I replied happily as I asked her, "How'd you all get here?"

"The Loskene got a call from a friend of yours, they said you were in trouble and wanted their help. They agreed and called the Forerunner along with them. Back home, Fluttershy and I were on a survey mission to Maripony when we found that one of the I.M.P. vats was missing in the rubble. We were then contacted by a friend of yours to join them on this rescue mission, claiming our discovery might hold some answers to the actions of this rouge group of Tholians you're dealing with."

"And that's how you got here?" The alicorn nodded with a smile as I turned to Velvet and her trio of alicorns, the purple one stepping out to speak to her sister.

"Lacunae, I believe we have a plan to stop the Goddess." Lacunae raised an eyebrow as she replied.

"Let's hear it." The guards stood at attention as they listened in.

"We've found that the Goddess has a high amount of psionic energy within her and the vat. I believe if we can somehow connect the crystal we acquired from Pahvo to her, we may be able to stop her."

Lacunae nodded at the idea, looking up to her fellow alicorn as she gave her answer. "I like the idea, sister, but since we have this in mind, my friend here has a request." As she finished, Lacunae stepped to the side to reveal Fluttershy behind her.

We all smiled at the sight of her, the yellow pegasus returning the smile as she spoke. "It's good to see you all again, everyone."

"Same to you." I said before raising my eyebrow. "So, you wanted to ask us something?"

"Yes, and I don't think you'll like it." We all looked at each other as Fluttershy said that, the former bearer of the Element of Kindness brushing her hoof past her mane before speaking again. "I think we should try to save Trixie."

"What?!" My friends and I all said in a chorus, the pegasus looking embarrassed as she defended her plan.

"I understand this must be tough to agree on, but we must remember, Trixie was once a pony like us, and she became that monster in there by accident. And while she has done things that have hurt other ponies, I believe she deserves a second chance to change her life for the better."

We all looked at each other skeptically, waiting for someone to speak up when Velvet Remedy stepped out. "I agree, besides, Fluttershy was the one who caused the bombs to fall on the Last Day, but we still gave her a chance." She trotted up to the pegasus before continuing. "And if we, along with our friends back at Junction Town, are willing to accept her as a friend, then we should do the same for Trixie, if she'll permit it, that is."

We all nodded in agreement, Velvet and Lacunae taking positions within our group as Fluttershy spoke. "When the fighting's ceased, give me the signal."

"You got it." I replied as one of the Heralds and Tholians took positions next to Fluttershy, the other two escorting us back into the Goddess' chamber.

"Wait!" I said as I remembered something we'd need from the Lightbringer. We all stopped in front of the door as I tapped my combadge. "Littlepip to Lightbringer, do you have the crystal onboard?"

"Affirmative, Captain. You need it for something?" A mare onboard our ship asked as I replied.

"Yes, we need you to beam it to our location, we're going to use it to incapacitate the Goddess."

I heard the officer gasp in shock before replying. "The Goddess is back?!"

"Yes, and there's no time to waste! Also, get every alicorn stationed onboard over here, we'll need their help in fighting her!"

"Yes, Ma'am!" The officer said as the signal cut out.

I then looked to my friends, giving my most confident expression as I said, "Let's hope this works."

As we entered the large room, we all saw the Goddess staring down at us, her alicorn minions facing down at us as well. We all pulled out our weapons as we faced her, Calamity readying his newly modified battle saddle as he took up a battle stance. The new saddle looked like a simple belt with a small, thin cylinder on the back of it. But when it opened, two slots on the cylinder would open up, pieces of metal exiting and shifting before they formed two cannons on either side of the saddle. Calamity had looked proud of the thing when he showed it to us, and he had told me as I examined it, "Ya can never be unprepared fer a fight when on duty."

{{WELL, IT SEEMS OUR CAPTIVES HAVE ESCAPED THANKS TO OUR NEW VISITORS. UNFORTUNATELY, IT WILL HAVE TO BE SHORT LIVED. SEIZE THEM, MY CHILDREN!}} As the Goddess finished, her drones took flight around her, one of them speeding towards us and landing hard on her hooves in front of us. As I looked at her, I recognized her, she had a blackish green coat and black eyes with green irises. If she'd been wearing Luna's skeleton for armor, I'd have noticed her sooner.

"Nightseer?!" I said as my jaw dropped, the alicorn laughing as she replied to me.

"You remember me, little one? I'm touched." Nightseer smiled malevolently as the flock of alicorns hovered over the Goddess, waiting for us to make our move.

And make our move we did. "Well, lucky for us, we've got backup of our own, old friend." I said to the dark alicorn as I looked to our right, several transporter beams appearing before several alicorns took their place. Unlike the Goddess' children, our alicorns varied between males and females of purple, blue, and green, while the drones above were all mares.

Nightseer seemed unfazed by their appearance, but the Goddess sounded surprised as she spoke to our alicorns. {{YOU WOULD DARE TO CHALLENGE YOUR GODDESS?!}}

"Indeed we would!" Lacunae said as she took flight, the Pahvan crystal beaming in near us.

As our purple alicorn took hold of the large crystal in her magic, the Goddess responded to our airborne friend. {{LACUNAE?! HOW DID YOU ARRIVE?!}}

"I have made friends, that's how." She said with a smirk as she looked to us. "You all get that crystal near the Goddess, I'll try and hold her off!"

"How?!" I asked in bewilderment as the lone alicorn flew towards the Goddess, her horn glowing as the Trixie-monster glared at her.

"She needs to remember something!" I tried to call out to her, but she was already starting to fight the Goddess as our alicorns took flight, their horns glowing as they faced the Goddess' children.

{{STOP THESE FOOLS, MY CHILDREN! THEY MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO REACH ME!}} The Goddess said as her alicorns flew towards us, myself turning to look at my alicorn crewmates.

"Hold them off, make sure they don't get in our way!" They all nodded as they flew towards their evil sisters (and brothers?), magic beams firing as the two armies began the battle above us.

I turned to my friends as I ordered, "You guys get to the Goddess and ready that crystal, I'll hold off Nightseer!"

"By yourself?!" Velvet said in disbelief as the blue alicorn in our group flew beside me.

"I will assist Littlepip, the rest of you go, quickly!" My friends and the two guards nodded as they raced towards the Goddess' vat, Nightseer cutting her shoulders and creating blood daggers.

As she began aiming them, I shot both daggers with magic bolts, both weapons turning to glowing ash as the dark mare looked to me. "You're gonna have to get through me if you want to stop them!" I said angrily at my old enemy, who merely laughed as she replied.

"Very well, little filly, I'll play your game." She then took to the air, her horn charging up as she finished. "Just make it fun for us both, okay?"

As she stopped in the air, she fired a pulse of magic down at the two of us, my alicorn friend protecting us with a shield as the blast impacted it. As my friend lowered her shield, I fired two bullets at Nightseer, hitting her on her left forehoof and her wing. The bitch barely cringed at the pain as she flew down at us, my alicorn ally firing several beams of magic at her. The dark mare was an agile flyer, as she dodged every single one of them before focusing on me. I pulled out one of my photon grenades and flung it up to her, smacking her face as she stopped in the air.

Despite her head being knocked to the side a bit from the force of the smack, she slowly turned her head to face me, a sinister grin forming on her muzzle as she spoke to me. "Is that all you've got, little one?"

As I activated the grenade near her head, Nightseer's horn glowed before firing a pulse of energy in front of us, my alicorn and I being shot back against the wall as Nightseer flew upwards, the grenade exploding on the floor.

As we both recovered, we looked up to see Nightseer cutting her shoulders again, several drips of blood flying out of her wounds. As we looked closer, we saw she was making several more daggers to throw at us. As she held them, I heard a shot coming from my right as a large bullet-shaped object flew towards the dark mare, who caught it in her magic. She then turned it to face us, but was too late as the weapon exploded in front of her, her blood daggers turning to vapor as she fell to the ground.

As Nightseer hit the floor in front of us, I turned to my right and saw two familiar faces at the entrance door. A blue mare with a purple mane and tail, a poison joke plant as he cutie mark. Alongside her was a rusty grey pegasus with an orange mane and tail, the stallion dressed in an old Enclave uniform and wearing a fancy battle saddle of his own.

"Jokeblue, Windsheer! You're here to help?!" I said with a smile as the two galloped over to join us.

"Ayep, we heard y'all had been captured an' we sent a signal t' some friends nearby." Calamity's brother said as we heard Nightseer grunt in pain, the mare getting up slowly as we all turned to face her.

As I examined her, I noticed her horn had been broken off, whether that had been from the fall or from the weapon that was shot at her I didn't know, but she was hurt.

"Is.. that all you have to offer?" Nightseer grunted as I focused, my horn glowing as I smirked at the dark mare.

"Actually, let me show you something I learned back home." As I said that, I grabbed the large alicorn in my magic, throwing her on the ground hard as the ground cracked.

And I threw her down again, and again... and again.

After throwing her down to the ground about seven times, I released my grip, I trotted over to Nightseer, the mare's eyes wide at my actions as she coughed a bit. The dark mare spoke to me once more, Windsheer and Jokeblue joining me as I listened to my old enemy. "Not... bad, little one. P-perhaps I misj-udged you, after all."

"I'd say so." I replied to the dark mare as I looked at my two friends, the blue alicorn joining us as I asked, "Can you two watch her while I help the others?"

"Don't worry 'bout us, y'all help mah brother over there, ya hear?" I nodded as my alicorn escort and I sped towards our friends near the vat, Jokeblue and her assistant staying near Nightseer to help her recover from her injuries.

As we stopped near our friends, I looked up to the ceiling, the alicorns were causing quite the dogfight above us. Fortunately, I had seen no bodies fall, meaning that they were doing everything they could to distract them while we did our part.

As I watched the battle in the sky take place, I heard the Goddess speak, her voice sounding shocked as it reverberated throughout the room. {{WHAT ARE YOU DOING?}}

As I listened, I heard several cries above us before looking to the ceiling, some of the alicorns floating in midair as they ceased their fighting. Whatever was happening to the Goddess, her children felt what she was feeling. They were telepathic, after all.

I was snapped out of my stare as the green alicorn in our party spoke to me. "Lacunae was used as a memory dump by the Goddess, she holds all of the memories that she does not want to have. At the moment, she's showing those same memories to her, and that's our cue to get started!"

I nodded as I asked, "Alright, what do we do?"

"If I'm right, I believe my sisters and I can make a connection between the psionic power in the crystal and the Goddess. And, if we do it just right, we can drain her power."

"We will have to have complete focus on doing this, however, so cover us." We all nodded as the trio of sisters set the crystal down next to the wall of the vat, their horns glowing as they began their process.

I heard a door to our left open to reveal several Tholians heading our way, screeching in their native tongue as they took aim. I pulled out Little Macintosh again as I fired, several bullets hitting their armor as they screeched in pain. Calamity took to the air as he fired his battle saddle, bullets and Phaser bolts shooting out towards the remaining two Tholians attacking us.

I looked to my right to see another door open, several more Tholians racing towards us as I yelled, "On our right!"

Calamity was too late as he was struck in the wing by a bolt from the closest Tholian, the pegasus yelping in pain as he hit the ground.

"Calamity!" Velvet and I cried out in worry, the former racing over to her husband as I fired a flurry of magic bolts at the Tholian squad.

As the group of armored spiders melted into a glowing pile of goop, I ran over to my injured friend, who grunted as he tried to speak. "Ah'll be fine, just-NGH"

I looked back to our alicorn friends as Velvet tended to Calamity's wound, the crystal glowed as their magic enveloped it, the girls all scrunching their faces as they focused harder. A moment later, a beam of energy shot up before curving back down into the center of the taint vat, Trixie crying out as it struck her. {{ACH! WHAT IS HAPPENING?!}}

I heard several cries of pain above me as we all looked to see some of the alicorns hovering in midair, and, as I squinted my eyes, I could see them holding their heads as they continued screaming. They were feeling their Goddess' pain, they felt her losing her power from the crystal, the shiny object being manipulated by the trio of alicorns as they kept their efforts locked on it.

{{WHAT.... ARE YOU THREE.... DOING TO ME?!}} I heard the Trixie-abomination cry out in pain as her power was drained, the three alicorns gritting their teeth as they tried to hold it.

"Just... a little... longer!!!" The blue one said as she held her focus, the crystal starting to crack from the amount of energy drained.

As I looked above the vat, I saw the Goddess' form shrink a little, a large amount of gas floating out of the vat she was hovering over. Curious, I focused my magic and lifted myself above the vat, gasping in surprise as I saw the vat partially empty. The Goddess was trying to gather every bit of energy she could get out of the taint, and she was exhausting it all very slowly. If the sisters kept this up, they could get rid of all the taint in the vat and Trixie would be done in. Speaking of Trixie, I looked down into the vat, and gasped again when I saw the faint silhouette of a pony deep inside the taint pool. As I inspected further, I noticed the body expand slightly, the taint draining further and further until the vat was drained to half of it's original amount.

I couldn't believe my eyes, Trixie was using every inch of taint she could get to rebuild her physical body! I had remembered the recordings I'd watched back at Maripony during our first visit with the Goddess, when Trixie returned from the pool of I.M.P. fluid in the testing room, she was transformed into a strange, glowing illusion that had taken the appearance of her physical form. She had been in the vat for much longer than planned, allowing her to absorb more than was needed to become the Goddess.

And it was a good thing she was creating a body for herself to survive in, we didn't want to kill her this time.

I looked back down to see my friends and the three alicorns, the crystal's glow intensifying as I saw more cracks appearing on it.

"GET CLEAR!!" The three sisters cried out simultaneously as Lacunae flew next to my friends, a shield erecting around them as the crystal exploded violently. As the large crystal shattered, a large psionic shockwave expanded outwards towards me, knocking me out of my telekinetic grip and straight into the taint vat.

As I floated in the taint, I looked around to find Trixie's body, finally seeing her now awake form down below me. I grabbed her in my magic and pulled her up to me, the blue alicorn looking surprised as I started swimming back up with her behind me. As I reached the surface, I gasped as I let out a breath, Trixie doing the same as I released her from my magic and held her with a hoof.

"Someone help us out of here!" I cried out as I held Trixie, Lacunae flying up to us and pulling us out and onto the floor with her magic shortly after.

As I stood on my hooves, I took a breath as I looked around, seeing Velvet, Calamity, Steelhooves and Xenith galloping over to me as I embraced them.

"We did it, guys. We got her." I said as we broke the hug, Calamity's eyes widening at the sight of the now organic Trixie.

"That's her?!" The pegasus asked in disbelief as I nodded, Velvet trotting over to her as I answered my friends' confusion.

"I think she tried to use all the taint she could to rebuild her body, that's the best explanation I can give for that issue."

"That's... incredible." Steelhooves said, myself turning to see Velvet scanning her alicorns as we stood together. The alicorns looked like they'd been knocked across the room, I could see a few shards of broken crystal trapped in wounds around their bodies. Thank the Goddesses they didn't get struck in the head, I didn't want to lose them in this mission, especially not after doing this.

"Stay with Trixie, I'm gonna check on our friends over here." The others nodded as I trotted over to Velvet, the unicorn giving a hopeful smile as she turned to me.

"They'll need a lot of rest after today, but they should be fine." I smiled at her words before we all heard Trixie stand up, the mare looking at us in confusion as she spoke in a normal voice.

"Wh.... Why did you save me, Destroyer?" Trixie asked as she breathed heavily, the reconstruction of her body having taken a heavy toll on her.

"Because you deserve a better ending than this." We all turned to see Fluttershy trot into the room, her Herald and Tholian guards standing behind her as she looked at her old friend.

Trixie stared at the pegasus in disbelief as she spoke to her. "F-Fluttershy?! How did you-... I thought you were dead!"

"I would have been, if it weren't for my friends here." Fluttershy replied back as she looked to us, all of us smiling as the former Mare of the Ministry of Peace trotted up slowly to Trixie. "And it's also because of them that you are here with us now."

I noticed that all of the alicorns were now trotting up to our spot, all of them looking on with curious expressions as they watched the two mares talk. "But why would you want to save a monster like me? Even after all that I've done?"

Fluttershy kept her calm demeanor as she answered Trixie. "Because we want you to have a second chance, Trixie." She stopped as she stood face to face with the former Goddess, tears welling in her eyes as she listened. "And You're not the only one who's done wrong. For one thing, I was the one who caused the bombs to fall."

Trixie, along with the other alicorns, gasped in shock as they heard Fluttershy's claim, the mare steadying herself as she continued. "I just wanted to end the war, and I thought those weapons would do it... and they did, but not the way I wanted them to. I ended up punishing myself for what I did, but Littlepip and her friends thought I deserved better than that, and so they freed me from my prison in the Everfree Forest." The two mares looked at each other eye to eye as Fluttershy concluded her story. "And I feel you do too."

"But how?" Trixie asked the pegasus, her voice cracking as she continued. "H-how can I make friends if I'm so weak and powerless?"

Fluttershy smiled as she answered her friend. "I know of a power that make you stronger than magic ever could," She put a hoof out as she finished with a smile. "That power is Friendship. Will you accept mine?"

Trixie stared at Fluttershy for a moment, tears welling in her eyes as she touched the pegasus' hoof, then embraced her as she cried into her friend's shoulders.

"There there, it'll all be okay." Fluttershy said comfortingly as the station shook around us, my combadge beeping as I tapped it to answer.

"Lightbringer to Littlepip, the Tholians have activated the self-destruct and have evacuated the station! We recommend immediate beam-out, now!" One of the officers on the other end asked as I replied.

"Do it! Get everyone at our position off this rock!" The station shook once more as the officer replied once more.

"Understood, Captain!" As the signal cut out, My friends and I all stood together, the alicorns standing still as we were all surrounded by blue fields of energy. A moment later, the sight of the I.M.P. room disappeared, the blue transporter field obscuring our vision as we beamed away to the Lightbringer.

Cleaning Up/Second Chances

My friends and I all stepped out of the turbolift as it's doors opened, permitting us inside the bridge. After beaming back to the Lightbringer, Velvet Remedy informed sickbay to send medical teams for the three alicorn sisters and Trixie's minions. Before we continued to the bridge, Trixie asked if she and Fluttershy could come and witness the battle with us, Windsheer and Jokeblue offering to help against the Tholians as well. I agreed to let them help before we all made our way out of the transporter room, the first medical team entering as we left for the bridge.

As I sat in my chair, I looked to the viewscreen in front of the ship's large window, the battle was very heated, but looked to be in our favor. I could only see three Mesh Weavers (not counting the Loskene, of course), the T'skang, and even a Tarantula dreadnought in the midst of the battlefield! It was a massive vessel, a large hull section with three small wings held by many energy beams shooting out of the main hull.

Once I was done examining the enemy fleet, I looked to Calamity, the stallion already sitting at his console as I spoke to him. "Status?"

"Weapons are workin', engines are at low power, 'Pip. We can't run away." As I opened my mouth to order a spread of torpedoes, I saw the T'skang's front tip glow for a moment, then firing several beams of energy around us as they all formed a massive web around us.

"The T'skang's deployed a web around us! We'll be sliced apart if we don't get out!" Velvet cried out as she examined her console, myself turning to her as I replied.

"Tell our escorts to fire on the web nodes," I turned back to Calamity before continuing. "Calamity, prepare for emergency impulse on my word!"

The pegasus nodded as he tapped his console, Velvet speaking into her console as the ship shook from weapons fire. "Lightbringer to all fighters, destroy the enemy web before it collapses on us!"

"Understood! Squadron 1 Leader to Forerunner, target the web around the Lightbringer, we must free her!" I heard a deep, phased voice say before a section of the ceiling exploded with sparks above me, Windsheer turning to me as he spoke.

"Captain, Ah'm pickin' up another Tholian signature, it's a big one!" As I looked to the viewscreen, I saw another Tarantula class warp right next to the T'skang, the ship slowly flying towards the smaller Recluse cruiser before tearing into it's hull. I gasped in shock as the large dreadnought flew further into the T'skang, the ship's hull screeching from the stress as it was torn apart.

"IT'S THE TIK'R!" I heard Dlyrene say through the comms as the large dreadnought turned towards it's sister ship, firing several tetryon beams at it as I replied to the Loskene's captain.

"Good, let's see if we can clean this mess up quicker with their help!" As I said that, a section of the web in front of us collapsed, the nodes holding it together having been destroyed by our fighter escorts.

"WE SHALL FORM UP ON YOUR WING, LIGHTBRINGER, LET'S FINISH THIS FIGHT!" Dlyrene said through the comms as I looked to Calamity, the stallion needing no reminders as he tapped his console, the Lightbringer speeding out of the web at full speed.

"We're out o' the web! Fire a full spread, 'Pip?" I nodded as he did his work, the flurry of green torpedoes shooting out of the Lightbringer and hitting the enemy Tarantula dreadnought a moment later.

I then turned to Xenith as we flew upward, passing over the Tik'r and the enemy ship as I gave her my order. "Xenith, prepare a shield drain, we're going to break that ship's wings!"

My zebra friend nodded as she worked at her console, Calamity tapping his console as the ship turned around and faced the aft side of the enemy Tarantula.

"The drain beam is ready." Xenith said with a grin as I replied.

"Now!" My friend tapped her console before a blue beam of energy shot out and struck the dreadnought, the shields flickering out a moment later. Calamity then tapped his console as two more torpedoes shot out and struck the aft side of the vessel, the three large engines exploding as the torpedoes hit.

As the dreadnought started to drift away from us, I turned to Trixie and Fluttershy, the two looking on in awe as the former spoke to me. "You have.... quite an impressive ship, Littlepip." I smiled at her before looking back to the viewscreen, the large Tholian dreadnought being caught in a tractor beam as I heard Jokeblue speak up from one of the alicorns' consoles.

"The Tik'r's caught her in a tractor beam, they're pushing her towards the asteroid base!" I looked to Velvet as I spoke to her.

"Let's see if we can give them a hoof. Velvet, repulsor beams, quickly!" The charcoal mare nodded as she tapped her console, myself looking back to see the Lightbringer fire it's own beam at the enemy dreadnought. The ship was pushed slowly away from us as it flew towards the large base, the ship hitting the exterior docking bay after several seconds of being pushed away by our repulsors.

As the large ship exploded in front of the base, the explosion became three times brighter as the station exploded with it, large and small chunks of the station remaining as the bright explosion died down moments later.

We all let out cheers and whoops as the explosion subsided, the remaining Mesh Weavers and Widow squadrons trying to fly away from us or being caught in the Tik'r's tractor beams. We watched as the Forerunner came around and fired several dark blue beams at the two remaining frigates, both of them exploding after several hits to their hull.

"The Tik'r's takin' care o' the remainin' ships, the Loskene an' her allies are headin' back t' our position!" Calamity said as Velvet's console beeped, the unicorn examining it before looking to me.

"The Tik'r is hailing us, Littlepip." I looked back to the viewscreen as I replied.

"Let's hear what they have to say." As Velvet tapped her console, the screen changed to show the bridge of the large Tholian warship, the armorless captain standing in the center as it looked to us.

"IT SEEMS OUR LITTLE INCIDENT WENT MORE... EFFICIENTLY THAN I EXPECTED." The Tholian captain said as I smiled, the red spider tapping his console as I replied.

"Yeah, thanks to our help. Is your ship still holding after that crash back there?" The Tholian stared at me, it's expression unchanged as it spoke back.

"MY SHIP CAN TAKE WORSE THAN SUCH A MINOR HIT AS THAT." The Tholian tapped it's console again before continuing. "AND BECAUSE OF YOUR EFFORTS AGAINST THESE TRAITORS, I BELIEVE THE ASSEMBLY IS WILLING TO PERMIT A REPRIEVE FOR YOU AND YOUR ALLIES." I noticed the spider captain then shift a little as it finished, my smile fading slightly at his words. "THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU ARE ALLOWED TO STAY IN OUR SPACE, HOWEVER. I RECOMMEND THAT YOU LEAVE HERE AT ONCE, WE SHALL HOLD OFF THE REMAINING SHIPS WHILE YOU ESCAPE."

I nodded in understanding as I spoke once again to the captain of the Tik'r. "Understood, we'll be out of your hair shortly. And Captain, I do hope we can meet under a more... peaceful situation someday, the Alliance would be happy to have you as allies one day."

"INDEED, UNTIL THEN, CAPTAIN." The Tholian replied as the signal cut out, the screen shifting to show the Tik'r firing on the last four Widow fighters as I turned to Velvet.

"Velvet, tell the Loskene to get a tractor lock on us, they'll need to warp us out with them."

"Got it." The charcoal unicorn replied as she tapped her console, the Tik'r flying away from us as the Loskene came around us. A moment later, the ship shook slightly as the Loskene caught us, the small frigate flying past us as we were pulled behind her.

"The Loskene's chargin' up her warp drive, leaving the system in 3, 2, 1." As Calamity finished counting, the Loskene's engines glowed as it jumped to warp, the Lightbringer still being held in a tractor beam as the Forerunner flew ahead of us.

As I stood up from my chair, Trixie trotted up to me, an apologetic expression on her face as she spoke. "Well, I'm glad that's all over."

"Yeah, and I'm even more happy that you're back with us, Trixie." I replied as I smiled at her, the blue alicorn giving a weaker smile as she spoke again.

"I see that." The former-goddess' smile fell into a frown as she continued. "Littlepip? I... Can you activate the speakers around the ship? I have to say something important, and I want to say it to everyone aboard."

I nodded as I tapped my comms panel on my command chair, the shipwide speakers activating as Trixie began. "I owe you and your friends an apology. I'm so sorry that I hurt you in that room back on the station, and I'm sorry that I did all those horrible things to everyone back in the Wasteland." As she finished, I noticed that she was starting to cry, the poor mare feeling horrible over her past actions as she continued. "Can you ever forgive me?"

I gave a hopeful smile as I held her hoof, Trixie's smile returning slightly as I replied. "Trixie, I think I speak for everyone onboard this ship when I say I forgive you, I think you deserve another chance to change, especially for the fact that you want to." As I finished, Trixie wrapped her forehooves around me as she sobbed slightly, myself returning the embrace as I shared her pain. There were times that I thought I had become an irredeemable monster in my life, especially after my actions at the cannibal town of Arbu. But despite doing such things, I kept going, I wanted to do good in the world, and I'd be damned if I was going to let my mistakes stop me from doing so.

And now Trixie could do the same, she would probably receive some harsh words from those who wished she had stayed dead, but Fluttershy and our friends back home would make sure she would change, they wouldn't let her fall down and never get back up this time, especially not us.

As Trixie and I broke our hug, she wiped her eyes as she spoke once more. "Thank you... You all have helped me see the light I was so ignorant of so long ago, and now I think I can make a much better start than before." I smiled at her words, my friends all joining in with me as we listened to Trixie.

Her smile faltered a little as she asked me, "Wait, what will we do with the others?"

I kept my smile as I gave my answer regarding her former children. "They'll be coming with you and Fluttershy back to Junction Town, they deserve to have another chance at life too." I frowned a bit as I remembered the dark mare that I fought back at Trixie's base. "Though I'm afraid Nightseer may have to stay with us in the brig, should she be unwilling to listen."

Trixie nodded in understanding as she replied to me. "I understand, she was a bit defiant after I had her cloned by the Tholians at the base."

Trixie, Fluttershy and I all looked to the viewscreen, watching the stars pass our fleet before Calamity spoke up. "Say, brother, ya sure Jokeblue and y'all don't wanna join our crew? Y'all would like it here!"

Windsheer smiled as he replied to his brother, Jokeblue trotting up next to him as he spoke. "Well, Ah suppose our ship could use a home t' dock up in." He grinned devilishly as he continued. "And Ah think y'all will love t' hear 'bout our relationship since we teamed up."

I gave a faint gasp at Windsheer and Jokeblue, Calamity and Velvet blushing slightly as they looked at the two lovebirds. "Hey now, when your a temporal agent, ya gotta find love somewhere." Jokeblue said as I laughed a little, my friends laughing along with me as the two ponies held their forehooves.

As we ceased our laughing, I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to face Trixie, the mare smiling sheepishly as she asked, "Um, I hope you don't mind me asking, but could you and I go to sickbay to see your alicorns? I want to have a little chat with them."

I nodded in agreement as Velvet trotted over to us, a hint of surprise in her eyes as she spoke. "You know, even after ten years of having them with me, I never helped them give names to each other, why don't we do that while we're down there?"

I smiled as I approved of the idea, I'd gotten a little tired of calling them by the color of their fur or "You" when I pointed a hoof at the one I was talking to, it didn't feel right to do that, and having names would make it more kind and personal for all of us. "I like that idea, why don't we do that while we head home?" My two friends nodded as we began trotting to the turbolift, but stopping as I looked to Steelhooves and spoke again. "Steelhooves, can you keep my seat warm while we're gone?" The armored stallion nodded as he trotted over to my chair, the rest of us entering the turbolift as he sat down.

As the turbolift doors, opened, I smiled as the large elevator began it's trip down to our destination. Trixie was back with us once again, and this time, she and her former children could build new lives for themselves when they came back. And despite what they had done before in their past lives, I was sure they could improve, they could change.

"Change, ladies, the order of the day." I said to my friends as we stood in the turbolift, the small space shifting as it went in another direction that led to sickbay.