Chapters Voyages of the Lightbringer: Episode 5: Breaking the Mirror
Fight in the Storm/Crossing the Bridge
"Captain's Star Log: Equus Date: 3/6/2274: Alliance scouts have reported strange Terran activity in the Badlands. They claim that the vessels have only appeared occasionally and would leave almost as soon as they would arrive. They also said that their scans on the intruders show a high amount of chronitons on each of the ships, meaning that this must be the work of more temporal interlopers assisting the Empire. Considering the provided data and the fact that the Terrans have been made aware of the Universal Alliance even before it's formation, I feel that it would be best for us to lend a hoof and find out what these Imperials want before it's too late."
The stars shifted to small dots once more as the Lightbringer dropped out of warp, the large orange cloud that was the Badlands filling our view out the window. The area was dominated by several tall vortexes that could tear a ship apart if one got too close, and, surprisingly, there were a few planets in the area.
As I sat up in my seat, Calamity's console beeped as he turned to me. "Looks like we're here."
"Indeed, and it looks dangerous." I replied as my friend looked back to examine the sight on the screen before Velvet Remedy's console beeped.
"I'm not detecting any other vessels on sensors, but my scans show several anomalies around the area." The charcoal mare said before I looked to the screen. As I squinted my eyes, I could see a few small wormholes farther out from our position.
"Calamity, bring us to the closest anomaly. Velvet, prepare to take a scan." I said as I turned to my two friends, both of them nodding as they began doing their work. I felt the ship jump slightly as we started moving forward, the anomaly getting closer as we neared it.
The Lightbringer kept going towards the small yellow anomaly for a few seconds before coming to a stop, a blue light emitting from the bottom of the ship a moment after. As the scanning field vanished from sight, Velvet looked to me. "This anomaly seems to be just another interdimensional gateway for Terran starships. I'm not detecting anything on the other side, but we should close it before continuing onward."
I nodded in agreement as she tapped her console, which beeped before I turned to face the screen. A gold energy wave fired out from the Lightbringer, the portal shifting before shrinking and popping out of existence.
"Now that that's been settled, let's head to the next one." Calamity nodded as he turned to his console and began his work. The ship shifted forward again as we flew towards the second portal, several small pieces of debris becoming visible as we got closer.
As we came to a full stop near the debris and the portal, I heard Velvet tapping her console before I saw a blue energy wave pass over the debris. Once it faded away, I heard Velvet's console beep as she spoke to me. "The debris seems to be from a vessel of unknown design. I'm also getting a high amount of energy that has a similar signature to the multiversial anomalies."
I raised an eyebrow at my friends words before I replied. "Must be some kind of lure for us. Close the portal before they can send anything through." I then turned to Calamity, who looked to me as I continued. "Calamity, once the portal's closed, take us to the last anomaly."
The rust-colored stallion nodded as he turned back to his console, another gold energy wave passing over the small yellow portal before it began shrinking. As the wormhole disappeared, Calamity tapped his console before the ship jumped forward and turned to the right slightly, the final anomaly up ahead getting closer as we flew to it. As the portal came closer into view, I noticed another object near the portal. It was a small probe that had several arms around it's upper section and red lights all over it's hull.
After a few seconds of flying the ship slowed as it reached the portal, Velvet Remedy tapping her console the moment the ship came to a complete stop. I heard a beep from my friends console a moment later before she turned to me. "Besides the interdimensional portal, that probe near us seems to be of Imperial design. There's no weapons, but it has a single tractor beam mortar on it. I'll see if I ca-" Velvet was cut off as the ship shook slightly, a blue glow emitting from the small probe on the screen as it locked onto us with it's tractor beam.
"Lock weapons and fire at the probe, then we'll close the anomaly!" I said as the ship's alarms blared loudly, Calamity tapping his console as he did his work. A few seconds later a single pink beam of energy fired from the front side of the Lightbringer, striking the satellite for a few seconds before it exploded into flaming pieces of metal.
As the blue glow faded, I heard Xenith's console beep before she turned to it. "I'm detecting a large starship exiting the anomaly, it is a Terran cruiser." I looked to the screen to see a large Sovereign class starship fly out of the portal, it was relatively the same as the Sovereign class ships from our realm, except it bore yellow markings all over it's hull.
I sat up in my chair as I watched the ship turn towards us, four orange beams firing at us as I turned to Calamity. "Evasive maneuvers! Return fire!" The Pegasus nodded as he worked at his console, the ship shaking as we were hit once more by the Imperial starship.
As a flurry of green torpedoes shot out at the Terran starship, Velvet shrieked in fear, myself turning to her as she spoke. "Our shields are down to 56%! Our shields can't take another hit like that!"
"Steelhooves, analysis!" I said to my armored friend as he tapped his console, the ship shaking once more as we were struck by a shield draining beam. As Steelhooves' console beeped with finesse, his voice sounded surprised as he gave his analysis on the enemy vessel.
"It seems those "interlopers" have given some impressive tech to our rival over there, their weapons are tearing through our shields like a hot knife through butter."
I gasped as the ship shook again, myself turning to the screen to see the front shield facing of our ship flickering out. Velvet cried out once more as a single red torpedo struck the hull of the Lightbringer, a section of the wall to my right exploding with sparks as I faced my unicorn friend. "Our forward shield is down! I'm picking up transporter signatures from the enemy vessel!"
Before I could reply, seven fields (maybe eight?) of blue energy faded into the room, Terran officers appearing in their place as we all stood up from our seats. As I examined the intruders, I became surprised at their appearance, instead of wearing the modern Imperial attire of the 25th Century, they wore gold armor and black uniforms, reminiscent of the ones in the Mirror Universe of the 2250s.
As Steelhooves turned towards the intruders, they all pulled out small devices from their utility belts before activating them, several bright green beams shooting out from each of the devices and striking us all in mere seconds.
But I didn't feel any pain. Instead, I was frozen in place, as well as my friends. As we all stood at our positions helplessly, one of the officers broke off from his group and jogged over to one of the wall consoles near Andromeda, who merely watched with worried curiosity as the officer worked at the console.
I heard a laugh from behind one of the officers as they slid to their left, a single charcoal grey unicorn with a white mane and tail trotting out of the group of soldiers as she smirked devilishly at us. I heard a gasp from Velvet as she looked at her, myself doing the same as her doppelganger spoke to us.
"Thank you all for giving us this information, with it, we'll take control of the Equestrian Wasteland without any annoyances from your friends in the Alliance." She looked to my friend with a nasty grin, Velvet (our Velvet) giving a fearful glance at her as she faced her evil duplicate.
"The download's finished, can we get the hell off this ship now?" The officer said with a hint of annoyance, Velvet's counterpart giving a faint glare at him before her horn glowed. The officer held his head as he crumpled to the ground, crying out in pain as evil Velvet's horn stopped glowing.
"Of course we will, but that kind of attitude is not one we will have when under such circumstances as these. Is that clear, Ensign?" The officer nodded slightly as evil Velvet's Pipbuck-shaped device beeped, the mare lifting it as she spoke into it. "What is it?"
"The shuttle is ready, Lady Remedy. Just give the word." A accented feminine voice said as the cruel unicorn laughed before replying.
"Excellent, beam us over there immediately, we have what my friend is looking for."
"As you wish." As the signal cut out, Velvet's evil duplicate faced me once more, blue fields of energy surrounding her and her team as she grinned sinisterly. The moment they all disappeared, the fields holding us firm vanished as they released us, Velvet looking to me as she spoke with a quiver in her voice.
"W-was that.... me?!" I nodded worriedly before I replied.
"And if she was here, then that can't be a good sign!" I then turned to face Andromeda, the blue alicorn examining her console as I spoke to her. "Andromeda, what did they take?"
The tall mare looked to me with worry before she gave her answer. "They've downloaded everything regarding the Mycelial Network, as well as data involving J'ula's weapon!"
I returned the fearful look as I heard Calamity speak up behind me. "Lil'Pip, Ah'm detectin' a single ship breaking away from the enemy cruiser. They're headin' fer the portal!"
I turned to look at the screen upon hearing my friend's words. I saw a small ship fly out of the back of the saucer section, it was too hard to get a good glimpse of it, but I could tell it was some kind of runabout.
As the small shuttle sped towards the blue portal, I saw a flash of blue appear near the Terran warship, several blue bolts of energy striking it's hull before the vessel blinked away. Then it appeared again, repeating the same tactic two more times before the Imperial vessel glowed a brilliant orange, the room shaking as the Lightbringer was struck by the destroyed ship's shockwave.
After the cloud of fire dissipated, another blue flash appeared in front of us, a large ship facing ours as it hovered in place. It was a modified Crossfield class ship, the most noticeable change being the nacelles. The bussard collectors were of a diamond-like shape, with a blue glow emitting from them.
I stared at the ship with wide eyes, but then looked to the right of the explosion to see the small shuttle fly into the portal, a tractor beam firing out from the large starship as it tried to catch it. The beam missed and faded away as the shuttle vanished into the anomaly a few seconds later. I broke away from the screen as I looked to Velvet, who looked to me as I spoke to her. "Velvet, get me a scan of our new visitors."
The charcoal grey unicorn nodded as she worked at her station, myself turning back to face the screen for a moment longer before I heard a beep. I then turned back once more to face Velvet, who looked puzzled as she spoke to me. "Littlepip, that starship has a Terran signature, and the identification signal is …intriguing." She looked to her console again with a raised eyebrow before continuing, my mouth opening wide in surprise as she read the ship's name. "I.S.S. Discovery, NCC-1031."
"Discovery?!" I said in shock as I faced the ship, my friends joining me as I continued. "But wasn't that ship sent back to it's own time during that incident at Pahvo?"
"And destroyed in the Prime Universe by Klingon attackers?" Steelhooves backed me up as Windsheer's console beeped, the brother of Calamity examining it before turning to me.
"They're hailin' us." I nodded for him to put them onscreen, the pegasus tapping his wall console before the screen shifted to show the bridge of the Discovery, a single human female sitting in the command chair.
She gave a faint smile as she spoke up. "Well, it seems we're a little late to the party, aren't we?"
"It would seem so." I replied as I gave a hopeful smile, the Discovery's captain standing up as she spoke once again.
"My apologies for the improper introductions, Captain. My name is Patel, formerly the Discovery's chief engineer. We've been recruited as new agents for the Temporal Initiative and are tasked with protecting you on your mission."
I raised an eyebrow at Captain Patel before I replied. "I assume you mean that shuttle that just escaped?"
The captain nodded in approval before she explained. "They've been trying to get ahold of that data for some time. They think that it can help them out in conquering another universe, one that I'm sure you and your friends are all familiar with."
I looked to my friends curiously, all of them returning my gaze as I asked them, "You all studied the data logs regarding the Mirror Universe, right?"
Calamity nodded as he spoke up. "Ayep, but Ah don't recall hearin' 'bout one similar to ours."
"Well, it seems we've been proven wrong about that, haven't we?" Velvet replied to her husband before we all turned to face the viewscreen, Patel looking stern as she continued.
"Indeed. It would seem that every universe has it's own mirror variant, and yours is being invaded by a battalion of Terrans from the present, the 29th Century, and some others from the 2250s." I saw Patel frown slightly as she finished. "I hate to rush, but we should get going as quick as we can, I'll explain on the way."
"No problem." I replied as Patel held a hand up, all of us stopping to listen to her.
"Also, if you don't mind, I'd like to send some officers over to install a cloaking device aboard your ship. We'll need it for where we're going."
I nodded in agreement as I replied once more. "Thanks, we'll be right behind you." Patel nodded back as the screen changed back to show the Discovery in front of us. As I sat back in my seat, I faced Velvet Remedy, the unicorn looking to me as I spoke to her. "Velvet, lower our shields and beam the officers and their gear over. Once that's done, take us into the anomaly."
My friend nodded as she returned to her console, tapping it for a moment as I looked to the screen again. The Discovery began turning towards the portal, the Lightbringer following after her as we turned towards the wormhole.
I turned towards Velvet again as her console beeped, the charcoal mare looking at it before facing me. "We have them."
"Good, tell them to get to the bridge once they've installed the cloak." Velvet nodded as she worked at her console, myself turning to face the screen once more. We formed up behind the Discovery as we neared the portal, the rogue Terran starship entering into the anomaly a moment later, our ship following suite.
Voyages of the Lightbringer: Episode 5: Breaking the Mirror
The room shook slightly from the stress of the ride as I sat in my seat, looking at Captain Patel on the viewscreen as she explained the overview of the mission. According to what she had said, the Terrans were sending ships to the Prime Universe to capture Alliance vessels, specifically those that are affiliated with the Universal Alliance. Over the past few days that they've made attempts, they had met with failure, that is, until they found us there. Now that they had the data regarding the Mycelial Network, they might be able to create a weapon similar to the one J'ula had, perhaps one far worse. Not only that, but they had found allies within our Mirror universe, and one of their new assets was someone I had hoped I wouldn't have to deal with: My counterpart. Patel said that instead of destroying the Black Book back at Maripony, she used it to become stronger and take control of a good amount of the Equestrian Wasteland.
But as I would find out shortly after, there would be some resistance, thanks to some help from the Alliance.
"But we won't be alone for this mission." Patel said as I raised an eyebrow at her.
"Really? Who else?" I replied to the rogue Terran captain before she answered me.
"Our friends in the Terran Task Force have made contact with some allies in your Mirror Universe. With their help, we may be able to put an end to the Terran incursion."
I gave a hopeful smile to my new friend as I heard a beep from behind me, Velvet looking up to me as she spoke. "Our friends down in Engineering have installed the cloak."
"Good." I turned to Xenith before continuing. "Xenith, activate the cloak and set the ship to Yellow Alert."
"Of course." The zebra replied as she turned back to face her console, myself looking back to the screen as Patel spoke up again.
"Oh, and about your new visitors. You remember that story about Ministry Mare Rainbow Dash and the assassin named Gilda, do you not?" I nodded in acknowledgement before she continued. "Well, you're bound to uncover the answer to another mystery any minute-" The human captain was cut off as the turbolift behind us opened up, two beings entering the room. As I stood up to examine them, my mouth opened in surprise as I recognized them. The first one was a mare with a cyan coat and a rainbow mane and tail, along with some dark crimson and black armor and glowing yellow lines all over it. She also had some kind of patch that consisted of a thunderbolt with wings.
"..Now." Patel finished as I continued looking at our visitors. The other one was a griffon, who also wore similar armor. She had yellow eyes and a scar on her eye, as well as a similar patch to the one her fellow officer was wearing.
Rainbow Dash smirked as she looked around the room, then turning to me as she spoke. "Looks like we're going to have a fun time, aren't we?"
I nodded as the two walked over to me, Rainbow Dash shaking my hoof as Gilda spoke. "I get we should give our names, but with what's goin' down I think we should just get to the point."
I released my hoof from Rainbows as I went to Gilda's claw, smiling slightly as I replied. "Don't worry, I'm very familiar with what you two have been through."
Rainbow laughed a little as she spoke once more. "Ha, good, cause we don't have time for storytelling." The cyan mare then pointed a hoof to the viewscreen, I turned to it to see the image of Captain Patel shrink to reveal the sight of the glowing white end of the wormhole growing bigger before flashing brightly. As the light died down, the sight we saw was familiar yet... intimidating. The planet of Equus was mostly the same, save for the fact that there was still a cloud cover, as well as a few lights on certain spots on the planet. The moon was also very much the same, except there were some new, large craters on it's surface, as if some kind of weapon had struck it. In orbit of Mirror Equus was a fleet of starships, some larger than others.
"Get us a closer shot of that fleet." I said, Xenith turning to her console again before tapping it, the screen shifting once more to show a closer view of the Imperial fleet in orbit. There were several starships of various classes and eras, Constitutions from the mid-to-late-23rd Century, Paradox dreadnoughts from the 29th Century, and even a few Cardenas class starships.
But the one that caught my eye was one that dwarfed just about all the other ships around it. It was a long vessel, two large pylons holding two long nacelles at the ship's sides, as well as a tall bridge at the front of the vessel. I also noticed a small ball of energy on the top of the vessel, glowing brightly as it powered the beast. It was a terrifying ship to see on the field.
My friends all stared in awe at the large starship, taking in the sight as Gilda spoke up behind me. "Styx class, one of the most powerful warships in the Terran Empire during the 2250s."
Calamity nickered a bit as he responded to the sight of the dreadnought. "Well, that's a damn big thing they have there, alright."
"Confirmed, ID signature shows it as the I.S.S. Ragnarok. According to the history books, that ship was decommissioned back in 2258, but it seems the Terrans are trying to bring out their old starships in order to fight us." Patel said through the viewscreen's speakers. Her voice sounded surprised as she continued. "That's strange, we're reading higher power levels on the vessel. They must have some kind of additional power source onboard."
I put a hoof to my chin as I thought over Patel's analysis, the Black Book was very powerful and could grant the user the ability to do many different (and dangerous) things. Perhaps my counterpart managed to make it enhance the ship's power? That was the only plausible guess I could think of. I put my hoof down, turning to face Velvet as I spoke to her. "What's our status, Velvet?"
"The cloaking device is working perfectly, Littlepip. They haven't detected us." I smiled as I turned to face the screen, which shifted once more to show Patel looking to me.
"So what's the plan?" I asked the former Terran officer as she replied.
"We have to beam down to the planet and round up our allies from the TTF and the resistance groups. We can take up positions over the North Pole of the planet, the radiation there might affect scans outside the area around it. Once we're there, we should be able to beam down to the surface without being detected."
I nodded in agreement before I turned to my friends, all of them looking to me as I spoke. "Alright, Velvet, Calamity, Steelhooves, Xenith, Cassiopeia, I want you all to come with me down there during the mission." I then turned to Andromeda before finishing. "Andromeda, take care of the ship while we're gone."
"It shall be done." The blue alicorn replied before she trotted over to my seat, myself and my friends all joining up before Gilda and Rainbow Dash stopped in front of us.
"You're not going down there without us, we want a piece of the action too." Rainbow said to me before her old rival joined in.
"And frankly, you'll need our help for this one."
I looked to the two-hundred-year-old mare and griffon for a moment, both of them looking to me expectantly before I replied with a smile. "Thanks, it's nice to be fighting alongside you two."
"Don't sweat it, kid." The rainbow-maned pegasus said with a cocky grin as she continued. "I'd say we should be saying that after hearing about what you've done."
I laughed lightly as we all gathered up into the turbolift, Velvet raising a hoof before speaking to the ship's computer. "Deck 3, please." We all raised an eyebrow at our charcoal unicorn friend for a moment before she defended her action. "I hate to cause a delay, but I think we should bring Pyrelight along with us. She could use the exercise, after all."
I smiled at Velvet before nodding in acknowledgement, the mare rejoining us as the turbolift shifted downwards and took us to Velvet's destination.
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The blue fields of energy shifted once more as the view of a desert plain appeared in front of us, my friends and I replacing the transporter beams as they faded away. As my friends and our security escorts examined the area, I lifted my Pipbuck to eye-level and took a scan of the area. No enemy signatures as far as I could see, but I was sure that there would be someone who had a stealthbuck on them somewhere out here. The idea of stealth only became more plausible as I looked up to see the scorched and damaged Wasteland around us, turning to my right, I noticed several scorched, broken buildings and a set of train tracks a short trot away from us. Upon closer examination, I noticed that the "buildings" were actually several sets of damaged train cars stacked on top of each other, as well as a ring of broken ones surrounding it all.
I put a hoof to my muzzle as I realized what that place was.
"Somethin' wrong, Li-" Calamity started to say but stopped as he saw what I was looking at. The others all joined the two of us as they stared at the broken, ravaged town of New Appleloosa, taking in the horrid sight of the destroyed settlement.
"What.... What happened here?" Velvet said as she looked on at the burnt stacks of train cars, Pyrelight hopping onto her back as she did the same.
"I don't know, but it obviously wasn't good." Steelhooves said to Velvet as he looked to the broken, lifeless town.
My curiosity got the better of me at that moment, I lifted my Pipbuck again as I took another scan, Calamity and Cassiopeia peaking over my shoulders to get a better look at what my little friend was about to show.
As it beeped in finality, the small screen showed no life signs within the town. That would be expected, it looked uninhabited from here. As I dropped my forehoof to the ground again, I turned around to my group, all of my friends and the four security officers looking to me as I began speaking. "Okay, so we're at New Appleloosa, and we're supposed to find a resistance group somewhere on this planet. Where do you think we should start?"
Velvet put a hoof to her chin as she pondered the idea, the others all looking to each other for ideas as they thought. The pondering was broken when Xenith spoke up. "Perhaps we should travel to Tenpony Tower? They might be a part of the Resistance."
I thought on that for a moment, but shook my head as a bad image popped up in my head. "Maybe not. This is the Mirror Universe, and as we know, we're on the enemy side here. We should try to send a signal to anyone who can hear us, and inform them of our presence... and who's side we're on."
"Good idea, we don't want it t' be like when Ah first met ya, 'Pip." Calamity said as he gave a guilty expression, myself returning the look as I remembered that horrid introduction we had.
"And what about our guard? Should we do as little harm as possible or go all out?" Cassiopeia asked me as I replied to her.
"Set weapons to stun, we don't know who we'll meet with during our walk, and if they're willing to talk without shooting us, we should try not to kill them." My friends and the guards all nodded in agreement as they pulled out their weapons, Pyrelight squawking for a moment before taking to the air above us.
As I pulled out Little Macintosh and set the energy barrel on stun setting, I heard another squawk from above and looked up, my friends all doing the same. Pyrelight was looking to our left, indicating that she saw something, we all turned to see a far out into the desert, two griffon-shaped silhouettes flying above it and another pulling it.
Our staring was interrupted when Cassiopeia stepped in front of us and asked, "Should we call out to them?"
I squinted my eyes as I tried to get a better sight of the two griffons, the smaller one appeared to be female, and was holding a single pistol of sorts that I recognized. I heard Calamity gasp next to me as he recognized who it was.
"Is that Reggie? And Kage?!" The rust-colored pegasus said with an excited grin as he looked to me.
"I think so." I replied to my friend before looking to Cassiopeia, the green alicorn waiting for my answer. "I suppose we could give it a shot."
Cassiopeia nodded with a smile before turning to the wagon, waving a hoof up as she called out to the group around it. "HEY!!!"
The two griffons looked towards us as the wagon stopped, both of them facing us before a faint pink glow appeared in front of the smaller one. My eyes grew wide with fear as I saw the glow fade slightly, a pink bolt of magical energy shooting towards us.
"Look out!" One of the security officers cried out as Cassiopeia deployed her magic shield, which was struck by the magic bolt the moment it came up. My friends and I all gathered inside the large shield as the two griffons came flying towards us, Pyrelight flying inside and onto Velvet Remedy's back as we all pulled out our weapons. More bolts came flying at us and hit the shield as the two wagon escorts continued their assault.
Two members of our security group, one blue alicorn and a pegasus, threw out small devices in between us. They both glowed for a moment before two shield barriers formed in between us, our group splitting into two and taking positions behind them a moment later.
As the two griffon siblings passed around us, I aimed Little Macintosh and fired, the shot passing by Kage as he flew over it. The large griffon took the advantage and threw one of his knives at the pegasus officer, hitting him in the wing. He cried out in pain as he fell to the ground, the alicorn guard taking cover as she examined his bleeding wound.
I looked to Velvet as another flurry of pink magic bolts shot at us, striking the defensive shield as I spoke to her. "Velvet, do you think you could hit them with an anesthetic spell?"
The charcoal unicorn nodded as she replied. "I could try, but we'd have to hit them when they aren't moving. Perhaps if we could grab or restrain them..."
"I can grab them in my magic and hold them there for as long as you need." Cassiopeia offered as we looked to her. Velvet looked at her friend worriedly before replying.
"Assuming they don't shoot you first, that is."
I raised a hoof up as I spoke to the two mares, Calamity looking to me as I began. "Calamity and I will distract them, once they lock their focus on us, then you can use the spell."
They both looked at me worriedly for a moment, but then nodded as Velvet smiled at her husband. "Alright, just try not to get shot this time, please?"
"Trust me, hun, we'll be fine." The stallion replied before we both dashed out, Calamity flying beside me as we ran to the right.
Regina took the bait as they sped towards us, the griffon aiming her two pistols at us as we raced away from our friends. I looked back to see Kage engaging my friends inside the shield, Xenith jumping up and charging at him as they began to fight. I forced myself to look forward again as Regina fired a few more shots, all of them missing me as the daughter of Gawd cried out angrily, "I'm going to enjoy tearin' you apart, you little bitch!"
As I kept running, I aimed Little Macintosh at Regina once again before firing, the small griffon dodging the bullet as I'd expected. Calamity spun around me and flew at Regina, dodging the two incoming magic bolts and knocking the griffon onto the ground. As he pinned her down. I stopped and watched anxiously as the two fought, the young griffon tried to point her pistols at my friend's chest, but Calamity was faster as he smacked the two guns out of her claws. Regina retaliated by kicking him into the air, the pegasus hitting the ground as I aimed my pistol at the griffon. Before she could react, I fired a single stun bolt at her, striking her right wing as she fell to the ground.
I took a breath as I put my weapon into it's holster, my friend jumping back up and flying up next to me as I trotted over to the incapacitated griffon. She grunted in pain as she glared at me. "G-go ahead.... ngh, shoot me! Just like ya did t' mom!"
I stood over her with a stunned expression, my mouth agape at Regina's revelation. "What? You don't mean-"
The daughter of Gawd returned the surprised look as she continued. "Ya don't remember? Ditzy was there! She saw ya blow her head off! She told me an' Kage that when we met 'er!"
"Perhaps these are not the targets you're looking for." A sweet, yet intelligent voice said behind us, Calamity and I turned to see... Ditzy Doo, the wagon sitting nearby as she had detached herself from it during the fight.
I stared at her in shock as the ghoul stopped in between the three of us, looking at me analytically as she continued speaking. "I notice some key differences in appearance when compared to your target, for one thing, she's wearing a blue stable uniform."
"D-Ditzy Doo! You can talk!" I said ecstatically to her as she turned to Calamity, examining him before replying to me.
"Yes, I was not so foolish to talk back to the slavers during one of my incidents with them." Ditzy then turned to Regina before speaking to her downed escort. "And from what I can see, you weren't trying to hurt us."
Regina looked me over again as she took in the news, her eyes wide as she realized what Ditzy was saying was true. "So... you're not that crazy mare that wiped out my mom and her buddies over there?"
"No, we're not." I said as I trotted over to the griffon, levitating her pistols up to her and helping her up as I continued. "In fact, we're here to help."
Regina looked to me again as she stared at me, taking in my appearance once more as she spoke to me. "Well, after what's just happened, I can believe that."
I smiled to her as we all trotted back over to the group, Kage's unconscious body lying on the ground as Velvet sat next to him. Reggie gasped at first, but she became calm once again when I said, "He's alive, just knocked out. We had our weapons on stun."
"I can wake him if you'd like." Velvet asked the daughter of Gawd, who nodded to her as she pulled out a hypospray. A few seconds after she injected it into Kage's neck, the griffon stirred slightly before jumping up in surprise. At first, he tried to reach for his knives, but Regina put a claw on his shoulder as she spoke to him.
"It's okay, Kage, they're not tryin' t' kill us." Kage looked at us in surprise as he took in his sister's words, all of us giving friendly smiles as he spoke up.
"Well it seems yer right, sis. If they wanted t' roast us alive, they would've."
"We're from the Alliance," I said as the children of Gawd looked at me attentively, listening to every word I said as I explained our presence here. "We're here to take care of the Terran incursion that is happening here, and we need to find some friends before we can take them out."
Regina smiled as she replied to my explanation. "Well, if you're lookin' fer allies around these parts, we've got some buddies over at the ruins of Stable 2. Former Knight Lemonade and her friend are there watchin' the place while we're out."
I gave a surprised look at her as she mentioned my old home, but shook my head as I gave my answer to the two griffons. "Then that's where we'll head first. Meet up with your friends there, then we'll try and meet up with the Terran Task Force and put an end to this mess."
"Terran Task Force?" Kage asked with a raised eyebrow.
"They're a part of the Alliance, they're rounding up all the allies that they can get here so they can perform a final offensive." Cassiopeia explained to the two siblings, both of them staring at the tall mare with shock as she looked down at them. When she noticed their expressions, she cocked her head. "Is there something wrong?"
Regina shook her head as she came to her senses. "Uh, no. Just haven't got a close-up look at one of your kind before."
Cassiopeia raised an eyebrow at that. "Oh?"
Yeah, the Enclave and the Goddess have formed an alliance recently in order to fight against Littlepip and her Terran friends." Regina looked at me apologetically, I gave a thankful smile to her as she continued. "While they aren't trying to kill us, we haven't made friends with any of them so far. The only allies we've made is Blackjack and her fellow mercenaries at Hoofington. They said that they wanted us to help them in taking you all out so we could take the Wasteland back, even though we we're fighting her and her forces earlier on." My friends all looked to the two griffons as they listened to Regina, the griffon giving a dour expression as she finished her story.
"Of course, we agreed, since, you know, Littlepip's evil double went nuts over our mother's base and slaughtered everyone there."
I frowned sadly at Reggie's words, so, Gawdyna Grimfeathers was dead, as were her allies. That hurt me to know that, she could've really put up a fight against those Imperials with our help.
"I'm sorry for your loss, Regina." I said to the daughter of Gawd, who returned my expression as she replied.
"It's alright, as far as I know, she'd want us to help you all out, and that's what we're gonna do."
I smiled at Regina as the alicorn security officer deactivated the shield generators on the ground, putting the devices back into her saddlebags before standing at attention. "Alright, to Stable 2 it is then. If you'd like, my security officers can take care of the cargo run if you wouldn't mind."
"Thanks, she was heading out to Neighvarro to drop off some supplies there. It's a dangerous trip, but I think she'll pull through."
I then turned to the two uninjured security officers, both of them saluting to me as the alicorn spoke. "We will not fail our duties, Captain."
I nodded to them as I replied. "Thanks, good luck out there, you two." As they both trotted over to Ditzy Doo's wagon, the ghoul looked to me before speaking once more. "Thanks for the help, you all should be careful as well. The Terrans might show up to try and attack us soon."
I gave a hopeful smirk as I replied. "If they do, we'll be ready for them. Don't worry."
Ditzy Doo nodded once more before she turned back to her wagon, our two escorts taking positions in between it as Ditzy strapped herself to the harness. As they began trotting off to their destination, Velvet helped the injured stallion to his hooves as he spoke. "I'll be alright, just a little dazed."
I nodded to him before I looked to Regina and Kage, both of them looking back to me as I spoke. "Now that that's been settled, lead the way, Regina."
The griffon nodded as she began walking off to our left, all of us following behind her as Kage flew behind us. "The stable's this way, once were there, we should be good to go."
Voyages of the Lightbringer: Episode 5: Breaking the Mirror
Treachary/Allies in Enemies
The sun slowly lowered over the horizon as we neared the broken, still standing replica of the Apple Family barn, which would lead to the entrance to Stable 2. After a little more walking, we stopped right outside the door, my friends all checking their gear and equipment while I lifted my Pipbuck to begin a scan. After a few seconds, the little device beeped before showing a map of the stable's interior, as well as two green dots that indicated someone was down there.
"Okay, I've got two lifesigns, those must be Knight Strawberry Lemonade annnd…." I trailed off as I wasn't told of the other ranger's name.
"Knight Beachcomber." Kage answered for me, chuckling a little as we continued on into the barn. While we walked, Reggie and Kage explained how Strawberry Lemonade and her companion joined Blackjack's mercenary group. After (Mirror) Steelhooves' betrayal and conflict with the other rangers, Knights Lemonade and Beachcomber abandoned their allies in the Fillydelphia Contingent and tried to find new allies to help out. Shortly after the Terran Empire began their incursion, they both joined Blackjack's Hoofington resistance group and were tasked with taking out any and all devices and groups affiliated with the Imperials.
But for the moment, they we're tasked with gathering data at Stable 2 while the newly recruited children of Gawd were to find and assassinate us. Of course, once we entered the stable, there would be a change of plans.
As we neared the door to Stable 2, I trotted up to the terminal as I began to enter the override code for the door. "So, what's your guys' story?" Kage asked me as Rainbow Dash answered him.
"Some time ago, the Terrans were sending some of their ships to the Badlands in an attempt to acquire data regarding the Mycelial Network. Eventually, Captain Littlepip and her crew here came to investigate, and they were attacked by one of the invading starships." She nickered a bit before continuing. "Fortunately, our starship, the I.S.S. Discovery, a former Terran warship came to save the day. We then escorted them into this universe and..... yeah, that's where we are now."
Gilda and Kage laughed a bit as Regina spoke up with a smirk. "Well, it's good to know that some of those guys can see who the good guys are."
"Ayep." Calamity agreed as the large door to Stable 2 hissed a bit before opening slowly. Once it was fully opened up, we all trotted inside, the sound of our hooves and claws being the only sound that was audible, aside from the electrical humming from the lights.
As we traversed within the abandoned stable, I took occasional peeks within the rooms we passed. Some of them had corpses inside, one of them looked like my Pipbuck Technician mentor.
When we reached the end of the hallway, I saw a familiar face lying in a bloody mess on the ground. I stood frozen as I looked at the corpse. She had a light pink coat and a dark pink mane and tail.... It was my mother.
"Littlepip? Are you alright?" Velvet asked me as I stared at the body. I could hear a hint of fear in her voice as she spoke to me.
I shook my head fiercely for a moment before looking back to my friend. "Uh... Yeah, I just... wasn't ready to see that." I replied with a slight quiver in my voice as I gathered myself back together, my friends looking to me as I took a deep breath. "Let's keep going." They all nodded as we continued trotting through the halls. As we turned a corner, I noticed Cassiopeia's horn glowing as a green barrier formed behind our group. Good thing she was prepared for a fight, we weren't sure if we were being followed yet, and Goddesses know whether or not if the Terrans could detect our transporter signature through the poles.
As we began trotting through the next hall, we all stopped as we heard a sweet, yet fearful voice call out to us from down the hall. "W-who's there?"
Regina raised a claw into the air as she called back to the voice. "It's Regina, Strawberry, and we've brought some friends." She then looked at us for a moment, then back to where the voice had come from before continuing. "You promise not to shoot them?"
"What do you mean, Regina?" Another mare's voice called out, this one was less fragile than Strawberry's voice was.
"Just come out and say hello to them, they're here to help." At Reggie's words, a single pony in Steel Ranger armor trotted out from the second closest room. She had her helmet off, revealing a mare with a blue coat of fur and a yellow, green-striped mane within the armor.
Upon seeing us, the mare's eyes went wide, myself putting a hoof behind my team as Knight Beachcomber spoke. "Y-you brought those butchers into this place?!"
"We're their counterparts." I said simply, Beachcomber still didn't look convinced.
"We're from another universe," Rainbow Dash said as she explained to the rogue Steel Ranger. "We're here to deal with the Terrans and their allies here. This is Littlepip's counterpart from our universe."
I could see Knight Beachcomber's expression soften as Strawberry Lemonade trotted out of the room, her helmet was also off too. I smiled as I saw her face, still as pleasant as ever. Strawberry almost jumped with panic when she saw us, but Beachcomber looked to her before she could run off. "It's alright, Lemonade, they're friendlies."
The pink mare with a yellow mane steadied as she examined us, then smiling slightly as she spoke. "..Oh, I'm sorry, it's just..."
Kage tapped my shoulder as he whispered, "She's a bit shy to killing."
I raised an eyebrow at his words before turning back to the two rogue rangers, both of them returning our gaze as Beachcomber broke the silence. "Well, I don't see how I can argue with that. You look... different, somewhat."
"Yeah, I noticed. I have a blue stable uniform instead of a red one, Steelhooves has red markings on his armor and...." I trailed off again as I tried to explain all the differences we had in comparison to our counterparts.
"And your other unicorn friend there's wearing a uniform as well." Beachcomber added as I chuckled lightly.
"Haha, yeah, forgot that." I said to the two armored mares in front of me, both of them looking to me as I continued. "Anyway, we're here to gather up some allies to fight the Imperial incursion force, and your friends here told us you could help."
"Ah, yes. We can, but first, we should get the supplies we've stolen from the various Terran control posts in the past few weeks." Beachcomber said as she pointed a hoof behind her. "We've got it all down in the deeper parts of the stable, so if you'll follow us, then we can get this whole mess here taken care of."
I smiled thankfully as I replied. "That sounds good, and maybe while we head down there I can explain our side of the story."
The rogue Steel Ranger nodded before she turned around and began trotting to a door in the middle of the hall. As she stopped in front of it, she spoke once more. "This way."
Strawberry then began trotting over to her friend as we followed suite. Beachcomber tapped a button on the wall as the door opened, the two armored mares stepping inside before us. As my friends all passed through the door, I took one last look at the hallway, visually scanning the room before I saw a small device on the ceiling ahead of us. As I squinted my eyes at it, I noticed it was some kind of camera... and it was looking directly at me, a small red light blinking on it's side as it faced me.
"Littlepip, are you coming?" Steelhooves asked me as he trotted up to me, then turning his head to see the camera I was staring at.
I shook my head as I snapped out of my thoughts. "Yeah, I just.... I have a bad feeling about this place."
"So do I." Steelhooves replied as he looked to me once more, the both of us looking at each other for a moment before trotting through the door to catch up with our friends.
-----\
As Knight Lemonade tapped the wall panel next to the tall, grey door, it opened to reveal several crates inside, some of them open and revealing their contents. My friends all stepped inside to examine the room, Steelhooves and I entering last before splitting off to take a peek inside one of the boxes to my right. Inside it were several small, hexagon shaped objects, at least six of them.
"What are these?" I asked aloud as Knight Lemonade trotted over to me.
"Some kind of explosive we found at a nearby outpost, they had a whole surplus of them there." The former Steel Ranger answered as I stared at the small devices. These would definitely come in handy in our mission.
"You know, I think we could put these to use when we begin our mission on the Ragnarok." I replied with a hopeful smile to Lemonade as she opened her mouth to speak, but stopped as we both heard a grunt from our left. Growing worried, I looked to Knight Beachcomber, who was gritting her teeth as she grunted. My friends also turned around to look at the mare, who was putting a hoof to her head as I trotted over to her. "Are you okay, Beachcomber?"
She shook her head as she tried to ignore what was happening to her. "Ugh... It's nothing, just a minor headache."
"Minor?" Velvet said with a raised eyebrow. "I've had a minor headache myself, and what you were doing was no indication of a 'minor' one."
"Don't worry about me, let's just get this stuff unpacked and get out of this place." Beachcomber said with a hint of annoyance as she began trotting over to one of the other crates, Strawberry Lemonade doing the same as we looked watched them.
"Ah-ah-ah... I don't think so." I heard Blackjack's voice say through a speaker inside the room, it reverberated around us as I saw Strawberry Lemonade gulp fearfully as she put a hoof on her right hindleg.... as if she was trying to grab something. "You didn't think my agents would take your old home and not make use of it's equipment, did you?"
"Yeah, about that headache...." Knight Beachcomber said as she held out a phaser pistol, aiming it right at us as Strawberry followed suite. My friends and I all stood back slightly as we stared at the two rogue rangers, Regina and Kage joining our huddled bunch as their former friends kept their eyes locked on us. "That was a stall."
"Lemonade?" Steelhooves said in surprise as he stared at his fellow ranger's counterpart, the mare's legs shaking slightly as she held the weapon.
"I'm... I'm so sorry, Steelhooves... please, forgive us for this." Strawberry replied with a shiver, Kage growling as he stared at the two armored mares.
"I knew I shouldn't have trusted you two bird-brains, at least you won't have to worry about being cooked and served up by the Terran butchers. I hear they really love those Risian bird eggs a lot." Blackjack said with a sinister laugh as Kage started to charge at the Beachcomber and Strawberry, but Calamity flew at him, knocking him to the ground.
"Are you crazy?!" Calamity said as he and the son of Gawd hit the ground, Beachcomber then lifted her phaser before firing, striking Regina clean in the chest. The griffon screamed in pain as her body disintegrated, turned into a fine pile of ash.
"REGGIE!!!" Calamity and I screamed in horror, the two rogue mares aiming at us once more as we turned to face them.
"N-nobody move!" Beachcomber said shakily as she stood her ground, Strawberry was shaking from the horrific sight she saw as she tried to keep a grip on her weapon. My friends all stared at the pile of ash with fearful expressions before looking back to Beachcomber, Kage was glaring daggers at the two mares now, both of them standing anxiously as Blackjack spoke once more.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Shoot them!" The two mares looked at each other for a moment as they held their pistols at us, then turned back to us as Beachcomber spoke up.
"Uh... Ma'am, I understand our mission, but these aren't the on-" The armored mare clutched her eyes shut as a faint whine sounded in the air, she screamed in agony as she fell to the ground. Velvet and I began trotting over to help her, but we stopped as soon as she brought her arm back up in a swift motion, aiming the phaser at us once more.
"You heard me, Kill. Littlepip... NOW!!!" I raised my forehoof slightly as Beachcomber shook from the trauma inflicted by whatever was hurting her. The mare looked at us with apologetic eyes, then to Strawberry before pointing the weapon at her chest and firing. She let out a scream as her body turned to vapor, the pile of ash reminiscent of Regina.
I heard another whine from my right and turned to see Knight Lemonade hold her head as she grunted in pain, then let out a shrill scream as she fell to the ground, her armor clacking as it hit the floor. Velvet rushed over to her, pulling out a tricorder as she took a scan of the fallen ranger.
"She's alive, but she'll need some rest from the trauma." I breathed a sigh of relief as I looked at Strawberry's unconscious form, then turned to my friends, all of them looking to me as I heard Blackjack speak up again.
"Oh? You want to help other ponies? Ha! Good one, pipsqueak. Like you would ever care."
I glared at the walls around us, growling furiously before speaking back to her. "Do you realize what you've done?! We were trying to help deal with the Terrans! We're their counterparts, you dimwit!"
I felt like I'd shot some sense into Blackjack as she was silent for a moment, then finally replied. "Wait.... you mean you weren't going to try and take my stuff and attack our home?"
I heard Kage growl angrily before he joined the conversation. "If she wanted to kill us, Boss, she would've. We got into a fight with her back out there."
There was once again a moment of silence as we all waited for a reply, Kage and Calamity getting up as Blackjack finally responded. "I...I'm such an idiot."
I had to force myself not to chuckle as I heard the silly response in such a morbid situation as this. I took another deep breath as Blackjack spoke one more time. "Uh, Commander Dawn? Could you take over the comms for now? I need a moment in my chambers."
"Sure thing, BJ. I'll take care of this." The familiar (and not insane) voice of Morning Glory's mother replied over the speakers as we heard a faint shuffle in the background. I looked around the room for a moment before finding a single camera at the end of it. I trotted over to it so it could see me perfectly, all of my friends and Kage joining me as the voice of Dawn spoke to us.
"I see that we've picked on the wrong target. Our most sincere apologies to you all."
"I wouldn't blame you, our counterparts are cooking up something big up there, and unless we work together, we're all doomed to fall to the Terran Empire." I replied as Dawn spoke again, my friends looking up to the camera with me as they listened.
"So... Captain?" Dawn said quizzically as I nodded to the camera, the mare letting out a chuckle before she continued. "What do we need to do to help put an end to this invasion?"
I looked to my friends for a moment before turning back to the camera. "You don't have hostile relations with the Enclave, do you?"
"Sort of, unfortunately." I could hear Dawn gasp faintly as she realized what I was getting at. "....You want us to meet up with them, don't you?"
I nodded to the camera as I spoke to it. "Tell them the Alliance sent you, my friends and I will be heading there ASAP. We're going to need you and anyone else we can get if we're going to win this fight."
Dawn was silent for a moment before she finally replied to me. "...Alright, we'll get everyone together and make our way there shortly."
"Good, we've got our own ride for us to use." I blinked for a moment as I thought about the idea, the radiation could block transporter signatures, but what about detecting shuttles?
"...Maybe." I said before tapping my combadge. "Littlepip to Lightbringer, do you read?"
"We hear ya, Lil'Pip. Y'all okay down there?" Windsheer asked through the small badge as I spoke into it.
"Yeah, we're planning to make a trip to the Enclave base, and we'll need a ride, do you think you could send down the Tortoise to us?"
I thanked the Goddesses as I heard Windsheer's reply. "Yer in luck, Cap'n. She's all set an' we'll have 'er down shortly."
"Thanks, Littlepip out." As the signal cut out, I looked up to the camera one last time. I could feel Dawn looking at me through it as I spoke once more. "Good luck."
"Same to you." I then heard a descending whine from the camera, the darkening light on it indicating it had powered down. I turned to my friends, Kage looking down at his sister's ashes as Calamity trotted over to him.
"...Sis." The orphaned griffon mumbled sadly as Calamity put a hoof on his back, his voice sharing Kage's sorrow as he spoke to him.
"Ah'm so sorry, Kage... she's gone."
I grew a hopeful smile as I trotted over to the two. "Maybe not."
The two turned to look at me in confusion for a moment. "What d' ya mean, 'Pip?"
"Your sister is still alive in our universe, Kage. She could use another brother there." I offered to the son of Gawd, who contemplated for a moment before reflecting my smile.
"..Thanks, I don't think I have a future here, but I might there." Kage then turned to join our group, Calamity doing the same as all of them looked to me.
"Alright, while our ride tries to get here, we should grab everything we can and bring it with us. Calamity, Kage, you get the weapons. Velvet, Xenith, medical supplies. And Steelhooves, you help me grab any advanced tech we find." My friends all nodded in agreement as they began trotting over to the crates, Cassiopeia trotting over to the door.
"I'll watch for our shuttle." The tall mare said as the door opened in front of her, trotting through it before it closed. Steelhooves and I then trotted along with me to the crate of Terran bombs, picking them up in my magic as I began storing them into my saddlebags.
View Online
Voyages of the Lightbringer: Episode 5: Breaking the Mirror
The Resistance/Operation: Shatter/Infiltration
"This is a nice view, isn't it, 'Pip?" Velvet asked me from my left as I sat up in my passenger seat as I watched the sight outside the window, Calamity observing the night sky as we flew over the cloud cover inside the Tortoise.
"Yeah, even better since we're not being shot at." I replied to my friend before we both turned back to the window as we tried to spot anything that indicated the location of the Resistance base. We had taken less than half an hour and had found everything we believed that would be of use. Shortly after exiting the stable, we heard a roar above us and saw the Tortoise fly down to us, landing near our group before the aft door opened to reveal Windsheer on the other side. He helped us load our cargo and set up the seating configuration on the ship before we took off. By now it was night, and we had sped up into the sky and over the cloud cover and were now looking for the Resistance fortress.
As for Strawberry Lemonade, she was treated and woken up by Velvet Remedy. She was scared of us at first, turned to see the now awake mare in grey armor speaking to Steelhooves, her voice quiet as to not attract attention. "Elder Steelhooves…. Again, I-I'm really sorry for what happened back there. I didn't want to hurt you or your friends."
"I understand, Lemonade. Don't fret over it now, I forgive you for that, as have my friends." He turned his head to look at me, Strawberry following his eyes before facing me as well.
"I hope I'm not interrupting." I said with a sheepish smile as Steelhooves chuckled a little.
"Oh no, not at all... In fact, I wanted to ask you something." The armored mare said as I faced her, I nodded in approval before she asked, "Do you mind if I lend a hoof in your mission?"
Steelhooves and I both looked at her with stunned faces, then to each other before I replied to Strawberry with a question of my own. "Are you sure you want to do that? I heard about you from Kage and Reggie, and I heard that you were reluctant to fight."
"Yeah, they were right about that." Strawberry said before she formed a stern expression on her face, smiling confidently as she continued. "But, if I'm not a soldier, then why do I wear this armor? I was trained quite a bit by the other rangers, even when I was afraid. But right now our lives and the lives of all who live in the Wasteland are in jeopardy, and I'm not going to stand by and mope while people die both up there and down here." She then turned around to look at the detached helmet of Beachcomber, which sat next to her own. "It's what Beachcomber would want."
I gave a thankful smile to the mare as she turned back around to look at us. "We'd be glad to have you with us, just be careful, okay?" Strawberry nodded before I heard Calamity speak to me from behind.
"I've got the base on sensors, it's just a half an hour away." Steelhooves, Strawberry and I all turned around to see a large fortress far out into the distance, several Enclave airships hovering around it, as well as two other ships. As I squinted my eyes to get a better look, I noticed that they both looked to be of... Federation design?
One of the ships was a Constitution class in it's refit stage, it was made up of a saucer that was held by a neck attached to a cylindrical secondary hull. Attached to that were two pylons that each held a long nacelle.
The other starship was an Excelsior class, it had a similar appearance to the Constitution, but it had a thicker neck and shorter pylons that bent upwards to hold two nacelles on top of them.
I stared at the sight in awe as we flew closer to the fortress, but my gaze was interrupted when I heard a beep from Calamity's console. I stood up and trotted up behind him, Velvet doing the same as we both looked at the map on it. "We got two bogeys comin' in from the base, looks like they noticed us." Calamity said as we all looked out the window to see four cloud trails speeding right at us, then flying behind us as two of the trails flew right between us. Enclave soldiers, they must've detected us thanks to those two starships near their fortress.
We all then looked down to the console as we heard a beep from it, a hail was coming in from the Enclave squadron. I tapped it to initiate the transmission, and was met by a stern mare's voice speaking over the comms. "This is Flight Commander Pride of Rumble Squadron, y'all are enterin' territory under protection of the Grand Pegasus Enclave without permit, state yer business here!"
Calamity and I looked to each other as my friend's eyes went wide at the voice of his brother. As he was about to speak, Rainbow Dash trotted over to us before speaking to Pride. "Commander Pride, this is Agent Rainbow Dash of the Universal Alliance, we're here to help out in the conflict with the Terran invaders. We request permission to land and meet with your superiors."
We all held our breath as Pride replied. "Ah, yer all those agents Cap'n Chekov told us about. Send yer credentials fer verification, y'all could be impostors."
"Of course." The cyan pegasus said as she pulled out a isolinear chip and inserted it into a slot on the console. The console made several low clicks before it beeped with acceptance, the mare pulling out the chip as I heard a low 'whoosh' outside the ship. We looked up to see the Enclave soldier on our left flying closer to our ship, looking right at us for a moment before Pride spoke up.
"That checks out, we'll escort ya t' Neighvarro an' ensure yer safety. An' Calamity," My friend looked at the flying stallion with a raised eyebrow as Pride chuckled before finishing. "I'd like t' see ya before the briefing, if ya wouldn't mind?"
"Ayep." Calamity replied as the transmission cut out, Pride flying back to his original position next to us as we all flew in formation to the Enclave fortress.
[|||||||]
The Tortoise jumped up slightly as it landed on a large, circular landing platform attached to the fortress, several armored pegasi surrounding the pad as our aft door opened. We all stood up from our seats before stepping outside the ship, myself grabbing Strawberry Lemonade's helmet and trotting over to her. "Here, you might need this with you during the trip."
The mare smiled as she lowered her head, I lowered the helmet and connected it's latches to her armor before she stood back up. "Thanks."
I smiled back as we both trotted out behind the others, all of us going around the Tortoise before coming to a stop in front of the ship. We heard a crackle of thunder as Pride's squadron flew over us, making a U-turn back to us before landing in front of us. He looked to his squadmates, then to the other soldiers circling our ship. "At ease, everyone. They're allies."
The soldiers all stood firm as they understood Commander Pride's orders. The armored stallion then trotted over to us, removing his helmet as he smirked at us. "Well, Ah'd never thought Ah'd be happy t' see yer faces here."
"Same to you." I replied with the same sarcasm that Pride had showed off before he looked to Calamity and Windsheer, the two smiling at him as he spoke to his brothers.
"Ah'm glad we're all fightin' on the same side fer once, bronies. Ya ready t' smash some Imperial skulls up there?" The armored stallion grinned viciously as Calamity answered his question.
"Yer darn tootin' Ah am! An' we've got some friends to help out!" He then turned to Strawberry Lemonade, who saluted to Pride as she spoke up.
"I hope our recent actions can be forgiven, Commander." I could hear her counterpart's spirit in her voice as she said that.
Pride smiled understandingly as he replied. "O' course, ma'am. At this point, we'll need all the allies we can git fer this fight."
We're happy t' help, brother." Windsheer said as we all heard a shifting noise at the end of the platform, looking to see what it was, I noticed a door on the structure ahead open, two armored humanoids walking out and towards us as the door closed behind them. They came to a stop in front of us before one of them spoke. She sounded female.
"Good timing, we were just getting ready for the briefing. Could you come with us please?"
I looked to Pride for approval, he nodded before I turned to the woman in front of us before replying. "Of course, lead the way, my team will follow."
With that, the armored lady turned and walked towards the door at the end of the landing pad, my team following behind her as Pride joined us with two of his wingmen.
"I hope you don't mind, but we've contacted the Discovery and your ship and they're on their way down here. You should see them around the city while you're all here." I smiled at the officer as the doors opened once again, all of us passing through it and into a hallway before they closed once more.
(|||||||)
The doors in front of us opened as we stepped into a large auditorium, five large, active monitors on the back wall. The first screen showed Red Eye's griffon, Stern, standing in front of the camera. The second one showed the Goddess and some of her alicorns flying around her as they faced us on the screen. I was surprised to see her here for a moment, but I hope that The next two screens showed two other groups of Enclave crowds, two armored ponies standing in front of their groups. The fifth and final screen showed Spike inside his cave, smiling when he saw us enter the room.
Standing within the room were at least a hundred ponies, most of them were Enclave, but some were rogue Steel Rangers, alicorns, zebras, griffons, and even some ghouls, as I looked at them, I recognized a few of them, Lionheart, the ghoul colt from Stable City, Caliber, and even Nightseer, who had several cybernetic implants on her head, as well as a dark red carapace made for her stature.
As my group entered, the whole crowd looked to us with smiles, some cheering with excitement as we stepped up to the platform where a few other people were standing. Those people included Blackjack, her second-in-command Dawn (who was looking much better than her counterpart, might I add), Red Eye, the counterpart of my lovely Homage (who also had a scar on her hoof), and a mare who I assumed was the Enclave leader. She had a black dress with gold slivers going across it's edges. Her mane and tail matched her uniform's colors, and she had green irises in her eyes.
I also saw someone whose face was very familiar as it reminded me of an officer I read up on during my history studies. He once served aboard the original USS Enterprise in the 23rd Century, and later on was promoted to Admiral in the early 2300s. One difference I noticed, however, was that he wore a uniform resembling the Terran Empire uniforms of the 2280s and '90s.
"Ah, good to have you all here, the briefing begins in two minutes." Captain Chekov said as he saw us, the other Resistance leaders looking to us as we stopped in front of them.
"Glad to be here." I replied to the human captain as Homage trotted over to me, a smile building on her face as she spoke.
"Well, this is quite ironic," I raised an eyebrow at her before she continued. "in your universe, we're lovers, but in this one, we're nothing but bitter enemies."
I smiled at her as I replied. "Well, this time we can both put a stop to this invasion Little 'Mirrorpip' is supporting."
"Sounds like fun." Homage said as Red Eye, Blackjack, and the Enclave leader trotted over to us, all of them looking to me as the red stallion joined the conversation.
"Indeed, making friends out of enemies is one thing the Terrans don't understand." The cyberpony chuckled a little as the Enclave leader stood firm before speaking.
"I am High General Death Scythe of the Grand Pegasus Enclave, I have heard of your exploits in your universe from Captain Chekov and I must say, I'm quite impressed."
I seemed to blush from embarrassment as General Scythe laughed heartily before I replied. "...Thanks, but I couldn't have done it without my friends."
"So it seems." The Enclave leader replied with a smirk as Blackjack trotted forward, looking to me apologetically as she spoke.
"It's nice to finally see you in person, Captain. I hope we don't end up shooting each other this time."
I chuckled lightly as I replied to the unicorn mare. "I doubt we will, especially with what's coming after us."
Blackjack nodded in agreement before we heard a chime from the above the room, signifying the beginning of the briefing. The crowd shifted slightly as everyone got to their spots, including us. My friends and the TTF escorts all stood next to me and Homage as Red Eye, Death Scythe, Blackjack, and Dawn all trotted to the other side of Captain Chekov, all of us looking to the crowd as Chekov began.
"Good evening everyone, I am Captain Pavel Chekov of the former Terran starship I.S.S. Enterprise, our allies in the Universal Alliance and the Terran Task Force have brought us all here to prevent an old, familiar foe of ours from taking over your home. The Terran Empire were the first enemy to discover the Preserver spheres that could permit access to billions upon billions of other universes, not to mention this one." As he spoke, a large monitor behind us flickered for a moment before displaying an image of one of the Preserver spheres, from what I could tell, my best guess told me it was the Main Sphere.
"And thanks to the intel the Imperials recovered during their conflict with Admiral Stone and his allies, as well as the assistance provided by the Terran Temporal Division, they've managed to gain access to these spheres and attempt to make footholds within any universes they could find." Chekov continued as the screen shifted again to show a large Terran fleet attacking several strange ships in orbit of a planet. The ships looked like two saucers stacked on top of each other, each of them firing blue bolts of energy as they retaliated against the Imperials.
"As of now, they have recruited Littlepip's counterpart and her allies to help take Equus from you all. Thanks to the powers of the Black Book she has acquired, the Terran fleet has been made unstoppable to fight against. We've already lost Tenpony Tower and Friendship City to bombardment attacks by the Ragnarok, and Canterlot is their next target, but we will not allow them to cause any more damage." Chekov then turned to us as Red Eye began his explanation.
"Our assets have captured an Imperial shuttle for an infiltration mission we've planned. Littlepip and her team will board the I.S.S. Ragnarok under disguises and find the Black Book, once they've disconnected it's influence from the Ragnarok, our forces will head into orbit and hit them with everything we have at our disposal." The screen changed once more to show a long ship on the screen. It was a Starfleet shuttlecraft from the 2250s, it had a slender shape, and had a circular hatch behind it.
General Death Scythe trotted forward slightly as she added her own news to the speech. "My people have enhanced our airships to be capable of space travel. When the Imperials are vulnerable, we will send half of our forces to assist the Alliance, while the rest will stay to protect the surface should they send anything down to stop us."
Blackjack then lifted a hoof up as she spoke to the crowd. "The Harbingers have managed to acquire some equipment from several Terran footholds in the Wasteland, some of it will be used by Littlepip and her friends to stop the Terrans from achieving victory over us. We've also managed to take a few of their runabouts as well, so I'll have some of my bucks help out in the battle above and below the clouds."
"And as for us, I will head to the Enterprise and await our cue to attack. Once the battle has commenced, the I.S.S. Excelsior and I will lead the Alliance forces against the Imperial fleet until we've destroyed them."
The crowd murmured excitedly before the (Mirror) Goddess joined the briefing on the monitor, all of us looked to the screen as she spoke. "While the Terrans have impressive weaponry, my children and I will ensure no Terran leaves the battlefield alive."
"Neither will we!" Stern said with a grin as the crowd cheered the two leaders on. As the crowd's cheering died down, one of the two Enclave commanders then spoke up.
"We will assist with guarding the cave that the dragon known as Spike resides in. Not a single one of those butchers will make it inside on our watch."
"I'll do what I can to help too!" Spike added with a toothy smile as I smiled back at him and the crowd. I felt so thankful for all the help we were getting, despite the different goals everyone had, the people of the (Mirror) Equestrian Wasteland were putting aside their problems in order to fight back against a common enemy. As the crowd and the Resistance leaders on the monitors looked to me, I spoke up, trying to hold myself together as I began.
"My friends and I won't let you down, and... before we conclude, I just wanted to say... thanks. To all of you, without your help, we wouldn't have the chance of having a better tomorrow, and I can't say enough words to show my appreciation. Today, we will change the Wasteland for the better, no matter the cost." I then grew a smirk as I finished, the crowd cheering me and my friends on as I concluded my speech. "So let's get out there, and show them what happens when you fuck with the Wasteland and it's residents!"
I could hear my friends joining in the applause, smiles on their faces as they looked to me. I stood firm as the crowd steadied, Chekov giving a smile of his own as he spoke once more. "Alright, you heard the Captain, let's get out there and finish this fight. Dismissed!"
The crowd became filled with salutes before they all began trotting and flying out of the auditorium, my friends trotting over to me as I looked to Captain Chekov. "Well, I guess this is where we part ways, isn't it Captain?"
"Indeed, I wish you the best while you all are on that ship. But before you go, I must tell you all that you're going to have some help along the way."
I raised an eyebrow as I asked him, "Oh? Who might that be?"
I heard an accented, male voice speak from my left before turning to see an armored humanoid with his helmet off. He had a groomed set of brown hair and blue irises. "Commander David Wiggs, Terran Task Force expert at your service, Captain."
I grew a satisfied smirk as I recognized the name. "Ah, I know you, Admiral Stone told me about how you rescued him one time."
David smirked proudly as he boasted lightly. "Well, good to see a fan of mine here, especially one I'm helping out."
We both laughed as Homage trotted up to me. "And I'm coming along too."
I raised an eyebrow as I looked at my lover's counterpart, the mare smirking as she continued. "I had almost lost faith in friendship until I heard about you, and as your friend, I'm not letting you go out into space without me."
I put a hoof on Homage's shoulder as I smiled thankfully at her. "Thanks, it'd be good to have you with us." I then turned back to Captain Chekov, who was looking at me pleasantly as I spoke once more. "Once again, good luck up there."
"Same to you." The captain replied before we turned around and made our way to the door, which opened as we entered the hallway and travelled to the Hangar.
======|____]
I held a hoof onto the wall as the Terran shuttle we were riding in sped forward, turning upwards as it flew into the night sky. Before our departure, Commander Wiggs provided several holo-emitters for all of us to use when we boarded the Ragnarok, my friends, Homage and I all got ones that would change our appearance into slave ponies, Pyrelight had a cloaking device put onto her so we could sneak her onboard as well. Wiggs would, of course, act as one of the Terran officers who flew the shuttle down, as would Knight Lemonade and Kage. Rainbow Dash and Gilda would don the appearances of two Terrans from the present, they would hack into the ship's security and provide any distractions they could for the Terrans while we acquired the Black Book.
As the shuttle passed through the open whole in the cloud cover, I turned and trotted over to see the sight of the Neighvarro base below us. Alongside the other Enclave airships and Blackjack's stolen shuttles were the I.S.S. Discovery and my ship, the Lightbringer. If it wasn't any higher over the base than it was, I would've mistaken her for one of the Enclave ships from here.
As the view became obscured by the clouds, I trotted back over to my friends, all of them watching the beautiful view of the space ahead of us as I spoke to them. "So, can we pull this off?" I had some experience from Fillydelphia when I infiltrated the slaver city to help the Steel Rangers years ago, but my friends, on the other hand (or at least as far as I know), hadn't been through such a harsh environment.
"I had everyone go through simulations during our time on the Lightbringer, Littlepip. We'll be ready." Steelhooves said as I smiled at him. Calamity gave a proud smirk as he replied to us.
"Ayep, they can rip mah tail off mah hide with their bare hands, but they won't break mah act."
I felt confident once more as I looked out the window, the sight of the Terran fleet becoming visible to us as the console in front of us beeped. David tapped it to answer. "I.S.S. Ragnarok to unknown craft, identify yourself."
"This is Shuttlecraft Cerberus of I.S.S. Ragnarok, we have picked up several prisoners that may be of great value to Captain Littlepip and her comrades. Requesting permission to land." David replied to the female voice on the comms.
"Send your verification signature." The human officer then tapped a few buttons on the console, which beeped low several times before being twice more in succession.
"Permission granted, Cerberus. Welcome back." As the signal cut out, we continued staring out the window as the shuttle flew towards the Ragnarok, passing over and under at least four starships before we reached the large dreadnought's hangar. As we slowed down near the hanger doors, we saw several other shuttles docked up both on the floor of the room and hung on the ceiling's docking clamps. We came to a full stop as we lowered onto the floor, the shuttle jumping up lightly as it touched the ground.
My friends and I all got into position as Gilda and Rainbow Dash took up positions behind us, David standing up and walking over to the door before tapping a button on the wall panel. As the doors opened, we saw six Imperial officers standing outside in two lines of three. David walked out to greet the ones at the end, we all followed him and stopped just as he spoke to the officers.
"It feels good to be back home and away from those ruffians." He turned to us as he gave a sinister grin, all of us faking fearful expressions as the officer in front of them spoke back to David.
"We can take these filthy mules off your hands, if you'd like." As he started to walk over to us, David pulls out his weapon, aiming it at the officer as he replied.
"And risk a prison break? Steal the glory that is rightfully our captain's? I don't think so. I shall take them to the brig myself."
The officer stepped back into the line as he cleared his throat nervously, forcing himself to stand firm as he spoke once more. "..Of course, sir."
David gave a satisfied smirk as he turned to us and flicked his head towards the direction in front of him. We all began walking with him as Gilda smacked Xenith's flank before commanding, "Move!" The officers didn't interfere as we kept walking for several more seconds, and upon reaching the door, it opened before we passed through it.
As the doors closed behind us, David turned to us as he pulled out a small exocomp droid from his backpack. "Alright, we're in. Dash, Gilda, you head to the security room and access the ship's systems so we have a distraction. The rest of us will make our way to the room containing the Black Book."
"Gotcha, we'll be there in a flash." With that, the two temporal agents began jogging down the hallway, leaving us to do our duty as David activated his exocomp drone, which began floating near us as the TTF agent flicked his head in the direction ahead of us. We all followed him as he took out a tricorder, taking a scan of the area as we ran through the halls of the Rangarok in search of the Black Book.
Voyages of the Lightbringer: Episode 5: Breaking the Mirror
Dancing with Ourselves/Fall of the Ragnarok
I stopped at the end of the hallway before pushing myself against the wall and taking a peek around the left corner, the final hallway just ahead of us with one officer guarding the third door down. I then turned to Commander Wiggs and my friends, growing a smirk as I flicked my head in the direction of the hall, all of us then formed a line behind David before we all began walking through the hallway. We had been doing great so far, as we traversed the halls, I was surprised to see most of them barren, save for a few patrols within the first few. Calamity assumed that they must be amassing in an auditorium on the Ragnarok to plan their assault on Equus, and while we didn't have valid evidence, I was quite inclined to believe him. David proposed that my counterpart must've had the deck cleared as to not risk the Black Book being stolen by any traitors or spies that tried to halt her plans.
If that was true, then she made a very, very bad mistake, because we we're not only about to steal and/or destroy that book, but she had left it highly vulnerable. But then I also thought about the book itself, what if it was also made to act as security? To do the job of eliminating targets aboard the ship? As absurd as it might sound, the book was somewhat sentient. When I tried to destroy the book in our universe at Maripony, it seemed afraid of Trixie. And with every step we made through the Rangarok's halls, I felt a dreadful feeling claw at my heart.
But I would have to push that feeling away for the moment. "Halt! State your business on this level."
As I stopped behind David, the TTF agent stood firm as he spoke to the armored guard. "I am here under orders from Captain Littlepip, she wishes for us to use the Black Book to create our own supersoldiers to combat the alicorn threat," He then turned around as he waved an arm to us, revealing his 'prize' from the planet as he continued. "starting with these six slaves here."
The guard raised an eyebrow as he wasn't convinced. "Well, let's see if your claim checks out, sir." He then turned around to the console right next to the door, looking away from us as David walked closer to him. He looked up at him upon taking notice of him. "You're gonna have to wait a second, I need to get her on the comms first."
"Of course, sir." David replied before giving a mischevious grin at the officer. "And also, when she answers, do you mind passing on a recommendation of mine?"
"Sure, what is it?" The officer asked with a hint of sarcasm before David smacked the officer hard on his back, the guard falling to the ground unconscious not a second after.
"Add more, competent security down here." He said to the fallen officer before he crouched down to him, searching through his uniform before pulling out a small data chip. He then turned to us as he got up. "If I'm right, this'll get us inside that room with no trouble." I smiled as he turned to the console and inserted the chip into a slot on it. The console made several low beeps before finally letting out two chirps in confirmation, the door opening as David pulled the chip out.
As my friends and I stepped inside, I looked around the room. No guards, fortunately, and in the center of the large room were five strange-looking consoles around a cylindrical structure, which was connected to a large set of power tanks above it. The structure itself had eight small arms around the edges that generated a greenish-yellow force field, the dangerous Black Book residing within it.
I lifted my Pipbuck as I took a scan of the room, my friends trotting up behind me as I waited for the results. Even if there was no security, we had to be sure there were no booby traps laid by my counterpart. If there was, then we'd best not trigger them.
As my little mechanical pal from Stable 2 beeped thrice in succession, I breathed a sigh of relief as I spoke to the others. "Good, no traps have been planted. We should be good to try and get the book." And speaking of that, I looked to the consoles, tilting my head as I thought about what they were supposed to do
As I stared at the consoles, Steelhooves trotted over to the closest one before examining it. After a moment, he motioned a hoof to me as I trotted over to him, looking to the console's screen as I read the text on it. "REVEAL YOUR VIRTUE, AND YOU SHALL BE GRANTED IT'S POWER:" Under the bar where the passkey was to be entered was an image, it was my cutie mark. I finally realized how these consoles worked.
I turned around to look at my friends, all of them looking back attentively as I spoke. "Alright, we need to work at the console that shows our mark. Calamity, Velvet, Xenith, Steelhooves, find the console and enter the required passkey."
Calamity rubbed his head with his forehoof as he asked, "Uh, Lil'Pip? Ah don't mean t' make ya feel dour, but how the hay are we supposed t' work at consoles like these without knowin' the passwords?"
I gave a hopeful smile as I spoke to my friend. "Trust me, you'll know them when you see the consoles up close." My friends gave quizzical looks to each other (except Steelhooves) before they all split up, trotting over to each of the consoles several times and examining them before they finally found the ones I assumed was theirs. I then stood in front of my own console, typing the required word into the field shown. I almost jumped when I heard a booming, deep voice speak out within the room, it reverberated as it repeated the word I typed. "SACRIFICE"
The voice continued saying more words as my friends worked at their consoles, their passwords being repeated throughout the room as they were entered. "LOYALTY, KINDNESS, ACCEPTANCE, STRENGTH"
As the last word was repeated, the green force field dropped as I felt a chill pass through me. I felt.... stronger. In physical, mental, and even magical power, I felt better than I had before. As I recovered from the sudden wave of energy, I looked up to my friends, all of them looking around the room as they seemed to recover from whatever hit them. As I looked to the Black Book, I came to the conclusion that it had given us it's power (at least some of it), just as it had promised when we let it out of it's prison.
"Whoa, did y'all feel that?" Calamity asked as he looked to his wife.
"Yes, it was... an interesting feeling. I feel better somehow." Velvet replied to her husband as I spoke up.
"So do I, when I first acquired the book back in Canterlot, it tempted me with unimaginable power, but I resisted it so I could destroy it." I then looked to the book in question before continuing. "And I think it's just given us a sample of that power."
"Is that bad?" Velvet asked with worry in her voice as Xenith replied.
"I would hope not, but we don't have time to find out." I nodded in agreement as I pulled out a small cylindrical device with a button on it before pressing it. If the signal got through, then Captain Chekov and his forces would be here at any minute while we tried to either steal or destroy the book.
As I put away the small device, I grabbed the Black Book in my magic, laying it down on the floor as I spoke to it. "You can offer all the power in the universe for all I care, old friend." I then looked to Homage as she pulled out a Phaser pistol, tossing it to me as I caught it in my magic. "It won't stop me from turning you into nothing but ash." I lifted the weapon over the book before setting it to max, then pulling the trigger as a orange beam struck the book in a continuous stream of energy.
But it didn't melt, not even a scorch mark was left on it as I released the trigger. My friends gasped at the dangerous Zebra relic as Xenith spoke up. "It's as I feared, our weapons will not be strong enough to destroy that accursed book."
"Dammit!" I swore as I lowered the Phaser down, pacing for a moment as I drifted in thought. The book could be destroyed, I was sure of that. When I went to Maripony, the bomb had not only rid the area of life, but had also destroyed the book in the process. Then, it hit me.
"I got an idea! What if we leave the book here and try to destroy the ship? If a balefire bomb could destroy it in our universe, then surely an antimatter explosion should have the same results!"
Xenith gave an approving smile as she replied to me. "That would be our best option, an explosion of that magnitude is so dangerous, it can take any other ships who wander too close with it."
Our planning was interrupted briefly as I heard a klaxon go off within the room, then shaking as the ship was hit by something outside. The battle must've begun by now.
Getting my mind back on the plan, I tapped my combadge before speaking into it. "Littlepip to Rainbow Dash, do you read?"
"Loud and clear, Captain! Whatcha need?" The pegasus on the other end asked before I replied.
"Can you head to the Engineering deck and cause some havoc there? We're gonna need a big explosion in order to destroy the Black Book."
I heard Rainbow Dash laugh with excitement before answering. "You bet, I haven't blown up a ship this big since our mission at the planet Fondor in Universe #3127!"
I laughed as well as I spoke once more to the former Ministry Mare before I cut the transmission. "Thanks, I owe you for this when we get back. Littlepip out."
As I turned to my friends to speak, I stopped myself as I heard the doors at the room's entrance open. We all looked to see five faces we were very familiar with enter the room. The first one to the left was a rust colored pegasus with a crimson red carapace. His flanking ally was Velvet's counterpart, her armored phoenix sitting on her back as she grinned maliciously at us.
On the other side were two other escorts, the first being a pony in Steel Ranger armor, which bore several red and gold markings all over it. The other was a zebra with a set of saddlebags on her back. She also had a visor on her right eye and a brand mark on her forehead in the shape of the Terran emblem.
The leader of the group was a small grey unicorn with a brown mane and tail, along with a red colored stable uniform and barding, not to mention green irises as well as a scar over her left eye. Me.
"Well, well, well, look who decided to steal our key to victory, everyone!" My counterpart said with a victorious laugh as she and her friends surrounded us. "I'm so glad you could come to witness the eradication of my enemies, it's too bad that you won't be alive to see the corpses when today's over!"
My friends formed up at my sides as we glared at our counterparts, who merely returned smiles and snarls as I replied to my evil double. "You are a fool if you think you can just take the Wasteland without someone trying to stop you." I then turned my head to see the Black Book, which was still lying on the floor as I turned back to face Mirrorpip once more. "And if you want that book, you'll have to get through us."
The evil doppelganger and her friends let out laughs at us, they almost sounded maniacal as they let themselves be amused at our 'strong words'.
"Such brave words for a little filly who wasted her life letting others ruin her home instead of taking control of it all." Xenith's mirror said as several Terran officers entered the room and stopped behind them.
"Well, y'all haven't got the brains t' ensure ya win this fight!" Calamity retorted to the evil zebra as he pushed a button on his battle saddle, a section of it glowing as his body was enveloped by a flashy Enclave carapace. It was mostly the same as his old armor, but it had orange stripes going along it, along with slivers of red and gold on the hooves and helmet.
Steelhooves spoke back. "Even if you defeat us here and now, you'll still fall to our allies outside."
My counterpart laughed once more before she snorted angrily, her friends getting ready to pounce on us as she spoke once more. "We'll see about that, metalhead!" The five Wasteland conquerors then charged at us, my friends doing the same after I lifted my Pipbuck and tapped a button on it. In mere seconds, five holographic beings appeared near Cassiopeia, Homage and Commander Wiggs, three Starfleet officers and two Steel Rangers. The group then charged alongside us as we closed in with our counterparts, Cassiopeia pulling out a lightsaber blade and activating it as I engaged my counterpart. Strawberry Lemonade broke off from her group and ran next to Steelhooves as they attacked the latter's evil doppelganger. As Velvet Remedy ran at her duplicate, Pyrelight picked off her cloak and took to the air as the two fought with their mirror doubles.
We both rolled beside each other as I pulled out Little Macintosh and took aim, Mirrorpip took a different approach as she picked me up in her magic, throwing me against the left wall as I grunted in pain. As I hit the floor, I fought to hold my eyes open as my counterpart took out her own LM and aimed at me. I retaliated by grabbing her weapon in my magic, fighting her grip as she pulled the trigger. The shot missed and instead hit the ceiling as I rolled over, picking up my gun and taking aim as good as I could before firing.
I smirked victoriously as I scored a shot on my counterpart's flank, which spewed blood all over the floor as the injured mare tried to regain focus. As I charged at my double, she jumped up and over me as she took a shot, striking me clean in the back. I cried out as I tried to regain stability, rolling to my left as another shot came and struck the floor. As I got back up Mirrorpip ran at me again as I pulled out one of the detonators I still had from the trip to Stable 2, activating it before throwing it at her. She was fast enough to put up a defensive shield to protect herself, but was blasted up to the wall as the bomb exploded. I took a breath as she hit the floor, dazed. I then pulled out a hypospray and injected it into myself to numb the pain in my back.
I looked up to see Calamity engaging his counterpart, bullets being exchanged between the two as they circled around each other. Calamity rolled around as his evil double fired at him, a few of them hitting my friend's armor and one striking through his hoof. I could hear a faint grunt from my dashite friend as he did a barrel roll over his counterpart, who merely looked back in bewilderment as he circled around.
I then saw Pyrelight blasting her double with a wave of fire as the bird screeched in agony, flailing about before hitting the ground beneath her. I also saw Kage take to the air and throw one of his knives at Mirror Calamity, striking him in the flank. As his mirror counterpart tried to regain control of his flying, Calamity took the chance and fired a flurry of bullets and Phaser bolts at his double, the evil pegasus crying out in pain as he flailed to the ground.
"Ah told ya y'all didn't have the brains t' stop us!" My friend said as he laughed at his counterpart on the ground, Kage flying over to him as they both moved down to my friend's fallen double. I then turned further to my left to see Velvet dodging several magic blasts fired by her evil doppelganger. The charcoal mare was grunting with each move as she growled to her counterpart.
"You would really harm a soon-to-be mother, wouldn't you?!" Velvet's horn glowed for a moment before a shield formed around her, Mirror Velvet pulling out a shotgun and firing at the shield, which went down as she retorted to my friend.
"Oh? This makes things even better!" Velvet then pulled out her Phaser rifle and took aim, Mirror Velvet following her counterpart's actions before the rifle fired, striking the shotgun and reducing it to nothing but ashes. The charcoal mare's sinister double seemed unfazed as she pulled out a knife from a holster on her hindleg. The mare laughed maniacally before charging at the medical mare. "I'm going to enjoy ripping that foal from your carcass!"
Velvet's horn glowed once more as she fired a blast of magic at the evil mare, who attempted to dodge the shot, but the effort proved to be futile as she was struck by the bolt of magic, yelping and falling to the ground hard with a thud as Velvet huffed at her counterpart. "Perhaps don't charge at your enemies next time, that was laughable."
I turned my focus back to my counterpart as she picked up the Black Book in her magic, laughing maniacally as she yelled at me. "You are such a fool to try and fight me! With this book, I've become a GODDESS!!!" She then grabbed me in her magic, grabbing at my head before I saw a ring of green magic envelop her neck. Mirrorpip gasped for air as she was strangled by the magic ring, myself becoming free of the madmare's influence as I grabbed the book and ripped it away from her. I then charged at her, the mare recovering as I turned and bucked her hard, kicking her against the wall once more.
As I took a breath I tried to hold back for a good long moment, I looked over my shoulder once again to see Cassiopeia looking down to me with a smirk, I smiled back as the mare turned back to fight the Terran soldiers below. The alicorn spun her lightsaber around in the air, deflecting the many red Phaser bolts from the Terrans before flinging the spinning laser sword at them, cutting them into several, messy pieces in seconds.
I then looked back down to see Xenith engaging her counterpart. The zebra blocked an incoming strike with her left forehoof, then another with her right hindleg. Mirror Xenith then swung around and kicked my zebra friend into the wall. Xenith got up swiftly and pulled out a brew from her saddlebags, drinking it greedily before charging at her counterpart. The evil zebra did the same before two bat-like wings sprouted from Xenith's back, she then jumped over her counterpart, taking flight and performing a loop as her double watched in awe. Xenith then dived down, both forehooves stretching out as she made a hard turn upward, crashing into Mirror Xenith and sending her flying. My zebra friend smirked confidently as her counterpart struck the wall hard, the evil zebra looking dazed as she slowly peeled off the wall and hit the floor comically.
I heard a missile fly past me and turned to see Steelhooves clashing with his double. The Applejack's Ranger fired two missiles of his own at his evil double before a hatch opened on his armor, a grapple hook shooting out and grabbing Steelhoove's helmet in the blink of an eye. My armored friend cried out from the shock as the grapple emitted electrical beams onto his suit, electrocuting him for a good moment before another missile came at Mirror Steelhooves, the armored stallion being too late to move as he was struck by the weapon. The grapple hook was ripped from Steelhoove's helmet as his counterpart slammed into the wall with a resonating thud, the armored doppelganger crashing to the floor a moment later.
As Steelhooves recovered from the attack, he looked to where the missile had come from, Strawberry Lemonade saluting proudly as her fellow soldier nodded in gratitude for her assistance.
I then turned my head away from the sight as I tried to look for the Black Book, finding it on the floor after a moment of searching. I ran to it, picking it up in my magic as I heard a growl from behind me. Turning, I saw my counterpart charging at me, a knife held in her magic as she tried to strike me down. "You're not taking that book from my hooves for as long as I'm still breathing!"
I held the book tightly in my magic, pulling it away from Mirrorpip as Homage galloped over to where I was before stopping in front of me. I then heard a fleshy crunch and an agonizing grunt from the DJ as my counterpart stabbed her.
"Homage!" I cried aloud as my friend stood in front of me, my evil double staring at my savior in surprise for a moment.... then she began laughing, as if she had already won the battle with what she just did.
"Oh, Homage, I never thought you would go this far to ensure my failure against your little 'Resistance'!" As I tried to recover from the shocking scene in front of me, I took a peek around my lover's double, looking over my counterpart as I put Little Macintosh away. I thanked the Goddesses that my evil self had another knife in her hindleg holster.
"Do you feel satisfied? That you've given your life for these worthless mules?" Mirrorpip taunted her rival as I grabbed the blade in my magic, ripping it out of the holster as I raised it up at the evil mare. I growled in anger as my counterpart looked up to the weapon in shock, I brought it down on her neck, puncturing her on the right side. She whimpered from the pain before coughing continuously, her body falling to the ground as her wound spilled crimson liquid onto the floor.
I caught Homage in my hooves as she fell, lowering her to the ground as my friends all gathered around the two of us. Seeing my injured counterpart, I looked to Velvet. "Velvet, make sure she doesn't get up." The charcoal mare nodded as her horn glowed, a magic bolt striking Mirrorpip as her body went limp from the anesthetic spell.
I then felt the ship shake hard as I heard a muffled boom from somewhere on the ship. Either that was a weapon striking the ship, or this place was about to blow. I tapped my combadge as Commander David and the others came over to us. "Littlepip to Rainbow, what's going on?"
"Gilda and I have just sprung a coolant leak down in Engineering, and we've got five minutes to get off this ship before we're blown to bits! I've already contacted Windsheer for pickup, so you should get to the shuttlebay immediately!"
I looked to my friends with a worried frown before replying to the cyan pegasus. "Got it, we'll meet you down there shortly. Littlepip out!" As I cut the signal, I noticed Homage's horn glowing as she picked up the book in her magic, holding it in her hooves as she looked up to me.
"You a-all should go, I'll make sure no one gets ahold of this b-ook while you escape." I tried to argue with her, but she was right. We didn't have time to screw around, and even if we got Homage back onboard the ship, we'd probably lose her before we could treat her on the Lightbringer.
Taking a deep breath, I replied to the grey unicorn with a somber expression. "Okay, we'll make it there in time." I crouched down to her before finishing. "And thanks for saving me back there."
"My pleasure." Homage said before grabbing my hoof, myself staring at her intently as she gave her final request to me. "..Tell Red Eye I'm sorry I d-didn't come back." I nodded to the unicorn as I stood up, looking to Commander Wiggs as he placed a small device onto my counterpart's head. I also saw Cassiopeia's horn glowing as she put more of the devices onto Mirrorpip's allies as they were all surrounded in fields of blue energy, their bodies fading away with the transporter beams in seconds.
David then looked to us as he jogged over to the door. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get out of here!"
"Right!" I replied as my friends and I all galloped after him, Pyrelight hopping onto Velvet's back as we made our way into the hall and back to the hangar of the Ragnarok.
(||\_/|||)
The turbolift shook violently as the doors in front of us opened, revealing the smoky, flame-ravaged hangar of the Ragnarok. As we galloped out of the lift with my friends, I took a look around the room, several officers were running to the nearby shuttles within the hangar, a few of them taking off as they attempted to flee. I didn't spot the Tortoise, though, Windsheer must be having trouble getting inside with all those shuttles coming out. With the time we took to make it back to the hangar, I guessed that we had no more than two minutes on the clock before we were all turned to space dust.
As I lifted my Pipbuck to access the Lightbringer's comms, I heard another door open over the ruckus. My friends and I all turned to see Agents Rainbow Dash and Gilda flying out of the second turbolift and straight towards us. As they stopped and hovered over us, the rainbow-maned pegasus spoke up with a smirk. "Looks like our ride's being stalled by our friends out there."
I nodded at the flying mare as I asked, "How's the fleet?"
"The Terrans sent all of their troop transports and some of their frigates to the surface shortly after the battle started. Fortunately for us, our allies are holding their ground." Gilda answered for me as I breathed a sigh of relief.
We all turned around as we heard a roar from the edge of the shuttlebay, the Tortoise flying in and circling around in front of us before lowering to the ground. We raced over to the ship as the aft doors opened, Commander Pride raising a hoof to us as he shouted, "Hop in! This place'll blow in any minute!"
We didn't waste a second as we ran into the shuttle, passing by the armored pegasi manning the turrets as the door shut behind us.
"Punch it!" I said to Windsheer as another boom sounded outside the Tortoise, the pegasus complying swiftly as he thrusted the control sticks forward. I held onto the floor with my hooves as the shuttle sped out of the fiery hangar bay, spinning in a barrel roll as we flew past the nearby shuttles.
As I took a seat behind Calamity's brother at the helm, I raised my Pipbuck hoof again as I tried once more to access the Lightbringer's comms frequency. I then put my earbloom in as I heard Andromeda speak over the transmission. "Jokeblue, damage report!"
"Hull is at 43%, major damage to decks 4 and 7! I'm sendin' repair teams to fix us up!" Homage's old friend replied as I heard Io speak over the chatter.
"I've detected Captain Littlepip's shuttle leaving the Ragnarok, shall we head to their position?"
I could hear a blast of electrical sparks burst out of someplace on the bridge as Io's sister replied. "That's very risky for the ship in this current state, but we must not let them be destroyed. Take us in closer, prepare to open the starboard shuttlebay doors!"
I pulled out the earbloom as I heard an alarming beep from the control console, Windsheer looking over it before turning his head to me. "Ah'm detectin' a huge energy signature comin from the Ragnarok, she's targetin' us!"
I stood up from my seat in a swift motion before trotting over to the door at the back of the Tortoise, getting a good view of the Imperial behemoth as the large, sun-like ball of energy glowed brightly before discharging over seven fiery projectiles from itself. They all spaced themselves out away from the ship before flying at us.
"Everyone hold on!" I heard Windsheer yell to us before I felt the ship jerk forward, accelerating as it tried to outrun the energy missiles coming at us. I gasped in surprise as I saw four blue beams of energy fire at the incoming fireballs of death, all of them striking four of the missiles as they glowed brilliantly for a short moment before dissipating. As I tried to get a better view of where the beams came from, I saw the I.S.S. Enterprise and her escort, the Excelsior, pass us before firing a volley of red photon torpedoes at the three remaining missiles, erasing them from existence.
As I watched the two ships fly in formation, I put my earbloom back on to hear Captain Chekov's voice. "Good work, Lieutenant, now that our allies are safe in the shuttle, take us back around to cover the Lightbringer, we can't let any enemy wessels reach her!" I could see the Enterprise turn to her right as she changed course, the Excelsior following after her as I heard her captain speak.
"Excelsior maneuvering to assist Enterprise!" As the two ships made a U-turn towards us, I saw two fighters come down to us as they followed behind. The ships looked like shuttles, they had a small fuselage with two pylons, both of them holding two long nacelles in between the ship.
As the Tortoise flew away from the burning Imperial dreadnought, I trotted back over to my friends and sat down before looking to the window. The Lightbringer was flying towards us fast, I could see several scorch marks and holes along the hull as it turned to the left slightly before stopping in our path. I lifted my head up to see my ship's hangar doors open, Windsheer moving the control sticks as the Tortoise flew towards the hangar bay. "Brace yerselves!" Calamity's brother said to us as the ship flew into the hangar, jerking hard as we slowed to hover over the landing pads before lowering to the ground.
As the Tortoise's exit door opened, my friends and I all stood up and trotted out of the shuttle, going around the right side of the ship as we got a good look at the Ragnarok. Several flames and explosions blew parts of the giant ship's hull apart for several seconds before the ship was engulfed in a brilliant ball of light. I covered my eyes for a moment as the light dimmed, revealing broken chunks of the I.S.S. Ragnarok drifting away from the blast before the Lightbringer shook from the shockwave. Next to the fiery ball of debris were several other explosions, indicating that some of the Ragnarok's escorts didn't get out of range in time to survive the blast.
After a few moments, the shaking stopped. My friends and I let out cheers and cries of victory as we watched the old Imperial warship burn, the remaining Terran ships turning around as they tried to retreat. As the room died down, I turned to my friends before lifting my Pipbuck, tapping it before speaking into it. "Littlepip to Bridge, report!"
I heard Andromeda breath a sigh of relief before replying. "Andromeda here, good to see you're all back with us, Captain. The Terran fleet is trying to retreat, but we've called in some reinforcements to stop them in case they have the stolen data aboard."
I grew a smile as I heard the news, my friends sharing the sentiment as I replied. "Excellent, what about the ground forces?"
"We're getting reports that the Terrans are falling back and heading back into space. Fortunately, we've only lost a few airships and a few dozen soldiers down there." The blue alicorn cleared her throat before continuing. "All in all, we've won the day, Littlepip. Is there anything I can do to help you out?"
I felt a hoof on my back as I cringed from the stinging pain, turning my head to see Velvet Remedy examining my wound. I let out an embarrassed chortle before answering. "Agh, yeah, get some medical officers down here, we've got some injuries to fix up."
"Understood, they'll be down there shortly. Andromeda out." As the signal cut out, I sat down to rest as I watched the sight beyond the shuttlebay, my friends following my actions as Pride and Windsheer trotted over to us. They were both laughing over the results of the battle before looking to us.
"That was one o' the best flights Ah've ever been a part o'!" Pride said with a smirk as Calamity replied.
"Yer damn right 'bout that, brotha. An' Ah've got quite the story t' tell ya when we're all fixed up!" As the three brothers all laughed in an embrace, I looked behind me to see the door leading to the hallway open, several medical ponies racing out to greet us. I joined in the laughing as one of the medics pulled out a tricorder to take a scan, the rest of my friends laughing with us as we celebrated the defeat of the Terran Empire and the liberation of Mirror Equus.
Author's Note
I noticed that the image that was supposed to show the fighter during the escape sequence won't work, so here's the link to the image if anyone's curious: https://assets1.ignimgs.com/2003/12/05/shattereduniverse_120403_006-652236.jpg
Voyages of the Lightbringer: Episode 5: Breaking the Mirror
I brushed a hoof through my mane as I looked to Red Eye, the stallion finishing on his explanation about his new alliance as my friends and I listened. As we were treated for the injuries in our mission to the Ragnarok, the escaping Terran starships were disabled and taken into orbit around Equus by the U.S.S. Stratus and her escorts. As for the remains of that giant starship, the recovered pieces were sent to the surface for the Resistance to make use of. Shortly after the clean-up process, we decided to beam down to the Resistance base at Neighvarro for a debriefing on the matter. Red Eye was saddened by the loss of Homage in the fighting, but he was glad that we had succeeded in destroying the Black Book and my counterpart's ship. As for her and her friends, they were being held in the Fillydelphia prisons. Stern would ensure that they would never be able to escape from that place under her watch.
"And with these Imperial ships being dismantled for our use, as well as the recovered debris from the Ragnarok, we can clean this mess up a lot easier." Red Eye said as I lifted a bottle of Sparkle Cola to my lips, taking a sip from it as I faced him.
"Yeah, and hopefully, with everyone now united under a common goal, this place can be restored to it's former glory." I replied to the cyberpony as he gave a smirk to us.
"Indeed, it reminds me of a saying Captain Chekov had gotten from a.. colleague of his some time ago: In every revolution, there is one man with a vision." I smiled in understanding as he took a drink of his Sunrise Sarsaparilla, myself raising a hoof to speak.
"And about a few of our allies, I had wanted to take Kage and Knight Lemonade back with us to our universe. After what they've been through, they could have better lives there."
The stallion nodded in understanding before replying. "I would say they deserve a better fate than here, but unfortunately that's not my decision."
We all frowned as we took in his answer, but looked up to see Chekov heading over to us as he spoke. "Actually, I'm sure that we could make that work." He then took a seat next to us before continuing. "We may have to make a cover-up story regarding their absence, and your new friends will both have to take a history session, but I'm confident in the fact that they'll manage."
I gave a thankful smile as I looked at the former Terran Captain, my friends growing smiles of their own as I replied. "Thanks, Captain, we all owe you one for this."
"It's my pleasure." He said before standing up, a TTF officer walking towards him as he said, "As much as I'd like to stay and chat, I've got another assignment to take care of. I hope we can see each other on the field again one day."
"I'm sure we will, Sir. Safe travels up there." I replied to Chekov as he turned to head over to his allies behind him, the trio speaking to each other as I returned my gaze to Red Eye.
"And it appears that you all have duties to take care of as well." I nodded as we all stood up, myself picking up my drink in my magic before the stallion continued. "I thank you all for your efforts here, without you, we would all be slaves to an empire of conquerors and tyrants." He lifted his forehoof to me before finishing. "And Littlepip, can I ask you of one thing before you depart?"
"Definitely." I replied before the cyberpony gave his request.
"Don't let Equestria fall without a good fight."
I smiled to him as I answered. "I won't." With that, my friends and I left him to head back to the nearby elevator, it's doors opening to let out a pair of Enclave pegasi mares before we passed them.
As we all entered the large, square-shaped space, the doors shut before the floor jumped slightly. As the elevator took us back to the surface, I looked to Velvet and Calamity as I spoke to them. "Well, this has been quite a day, hasn't it, everyone?"
The two lovebirds nodded in agreement as Steelhooves spoke up. "Not only that, but hopefully with Red Eye and the Enclave leaders taking up leadership in the Resistance, they can prevent another war like the one two centuries ago."
"We can only hope, Steelhooves. We can only hope." I replied to the Applejack's Ranger as I looked up to the window revealing the morning sky of Equus, a trio of armored pegasi flying over us as the elevator came to a stop. As the doors opened, we all trotted out to see the three Enclave flyers turn around in our direction before slowing to hover in front of us.
"Hey, Calamity, Ah see y'all are headin' out!" Commander Pride said as he looked to his brother, who chortled as he replied.
"Ayep, mah friends an' Ah have t' go an' help out the others back home. Sorry we couldn't stay longer." The rust-colored stallion gave an apologetic look to Pride as he spoke.
"Aw, dun worry 'bout that, brotha. Mah boys an' Ah have a job t' do too." He laughed lightly before continuing. "Hey, before y'all go, can ya say hi to Windsheer an' the others up there fer me?"
"Ya can count on that, partner." Calamity answered with a smile before Pride spoke once more.
"Thanks, y'all have a fun trip back, now." He gave a smirk before he turned and sped off into the sky, his wingmates following suite as we continued on our path to the Tortoise, the large star-tank standing on it's small landing legs as it awaited us.
(|||||||)
The turbolift stopped slowly as the doors opened, Pyrelight flying up to us as we started to enter the bridge. Velvet let out a laugh as she recovered from the shock of her pet bird appearing so suddenly before speaking. "Pyrelight, you shouldn't scare us like that when we enter the room. Besides, we were only gone for half an hour."
The bird looked down in shame of her actions, but looked back up to her unicorn friend as she pet her on her back. I held back a chuckle as I trotted over to my seat, Calamity doing the same as I looked to Andromeda. "So Andromeda, how're the repairs going?"
"We'll need a little more time to fix the hull breaches, but for now we should be fine." The alicorn answered as Xenith trotted over to her console and sat at her seat. I then turned to see Strawberry Lemonade and Steelhooves, who returned my gaze as the latter spoke up.
"Littlepip, if you wouldn't mind, may Strawberry Lemonade stay aboard with us? She feels that we could use another officer to help with security."
"Gladly, we'd love to have you aboard with us, Strawberry." I said with a smile as the mare in question replied.
"Thank you, Captain. I won't let you down." The two armored ponies then trotted around me to Steelhooves' console, both of them standing in front of it as I heard a beep from Calamity's console. The pegasus took a look at it before turning to me.
"The Discovery's hailin' us, 'Pip." My friend said to me as I looked to him.
"Onscreen." I said to him as he turned to his console and tapped a few buttons on it. A moment later the screen shifted to show Captain Patel in her seat, Rainbow Dash and Gilda standing at her sides as the former spoke.
"Hope you don't mind the call, we just wanted to say thanks for helping us out."
I smiled at the former Ministry Mare as I replied. "Not at all, Ma'am. We're glad to have put an end to this whole mess."
"As are we." Patel said as she stood from our seat, looking to me as she continued. "When Captain Tilly betrayed us back at Pahvo, we weren't sure about our future once we got back to our universe. But when the Terran Task Force stepped in to save us, I felt we could start over and make a new name for ourselves." She gave a thankful smile to us as she finished. "And after what's happened today, I think we've regained our faith in ourselves."
I nodded in agreement as I replied to the rogue Terran commander. "I'm sure you all will, and we're glad to have had a hoof in helping you out." I sat firm in my seat as I spoke to Patel once more. "Take care, Captain."
"You too." Gilda said for the trio on the screen as the signal cut out, the image of the Discovery and the Stratus appearing once again as I looked to Velvet Remedy.
"Velvet, are we all set for departure?"
The charcoal-grey mare examined her console before replying to me. "The deflector dish is at full power and in working order, the Stratus and Discovery are ready to head out on our word."
"Excellent." I said to her before turning back to Calamity. "Calamity, set course for Equus, we've got a friend of ours to take home before going to our next job."
The stallion worked at his console for a moment before turning to me. "We're all ready on yer word, Lil'Pip."
"Take us out." I ordered as my friend turned to his console with a smirk before doing his work, myself looking to the viewscreen as a blue light appeared from the front of the ship. As a blue beam shot out from the Lightbringer, a blue portal appeared in front of us before the ship jerked forward, moving towards the portal. As we entered the portal alongside the Stratus, Jokeblue trotted over to me with a PADD in her hoof, I took hold of it in my magic as she spoke.
"That there has all the data regarding our next assignment." The blue mare said to me as I examined the information, then lowered the tablet down before replying.
"The Great Bloom, huh? Well, that shouldn't be much trouble to deal with." I said with a smile as I faced the screen once more, the blue vortex spinning around the Lightbringer as we made our way back to our home.
