The Fate Of Equestria Book 1: Sombra's Reign

Back at the bunker, Vinyl and Fluttershy had made it safely inside. Luckily for Fluttershy, Vinyl had woken up sometime midway through the journey there. Once they had descended the ladder and stepped onto the floor below, they took a moment to breathe in the clean air. After making sure she was ok, having suffered just a few scratches and a very clearly broken nose, Fluttershy caught Vinyl up to speed on everything. Vinyl didn’t really act all that shocked to hear any of it though, but she always had been pretty laid back and easygoing. She was so busy chatting that neither of them heard the footsteps coming down the hallway towards them. It wasn’t until they heard the sound of someone gasp that they stopped talking and turned around to see Sunblast and Rainbow Dash standing there. Fluttershy teared up when she laid eyes upon her old friend. She knew that Rainbow would look bad, but this was worse than she expected. The metal of her left wing and arm gleamed in the light like Jet’s had, a large chunk was missing from her right ear, and a faded pink scar adorned her right eye and cheek. Rainbow’s eyes lit up in shock at seeing her friend here, safe and sound. Without any exchange of words, the two embraced in a tight friendly hug. Meanwhile, Sunblast and Vinyl locked gazes, Vinyl giving him a casual ‘sup’ nod. He could tell by the slight angle of her muzzle that her nose had been broken. After a moment, the two girls broke their embrace and stepped apart.

“Fluttershy, I can’t believe it’s really you. Holy hell, what happened to you? I assumed the worst….” Rainbow said with a wide smile.

“I wish I had an answer for you, but I don’t know. It’s really good to see you though.” Fluttershy replied.

“Whatever it is, I’m sure we can get it figured out.” Rainbow said, putting a reassuring hand on Fluttershy’s shoulder.

“That’s pretty much what Jet said.” Fluttershy said with a soft giggle.

“Oh yeah, speaking of, where is he by the way?” Rainbow asked, finally realizing he wasn’t with them.

“He told me to bring Vinyl here then headed off towards Canterlot castle.” Fluttershy replied, looking down briefly in a moment of worry.

“Right… He was going to try and intercept Sombra. He better come back alive or I swear to Celestia I’ll kill him myself.” Rainbow said idly.

“Uh… I’m not sure that’s how that works, Rainbow…” Sunblast chimed in, gently nudging her with an elbow.

“Shut up, it makes sense to me.” Rainbow retorted, trying to stay serious.

“In any case, I’m sure he’s just fine. We all know he’s not one to give up or give in. He might come back beaten and bruised, but he’ll win the day. It’s what he does.” Sunblast said in an attempt to lift everyone’s spirits.

“You know what, you’re right. I worry too much, I guess.” Rainbow said, seeming to be cheered up by Sun’s upbeat words.

“Good, because there’s something we need to talk about when he gets back. Something Discord dug up.” Sunblast said in a slightly hushed whisper to Rainbow.

“Should I be worried?” She asked, giving him a concerned look.

“I don’t think so, it’s nothing harmful or bad this time. It’s just… Strange, is all.” He replied, scratching his head lightly in thought.

“I see… We’ll cross that bridge when the time comes. For now though, let’s get these two a shower, some fresh clothes, and some medical attention.” Rainbow said, motioning for Fluttershy and Vinyl to follow her.

Sunblast nodded in agreement, he and Rainbow leading the way down the hall and into the cafeteria. It was empty for the time being, dinner still being a few hours away. Though there were a few random ponies milling about, some of which were shocked to see Fluttershy in her current state. They decided it was probably best if she took the girls to get showered and changed. Sunblast went back towards his lab to get some things prepped there while Rainbow showed the girls to the shower room. She got them fresh towels and showed them where the soaps and things were before heading out to fetch them some clean clothes. To make things easier and quicker, she just got some of her own fatigues from her room. Thinking smart, she grabbed her hairbrush.

By the time she had returned with the clothes, both girls were done showering. Vinyl didn’t look much different, having been stuck in that suit of armor for who knows how long. Fluttershy on the other hand looked much different, her hair was still a tangled mess, but it was a lot lighter in color and the various leaves had been washed out. With it being wetted down, Rainbow could see just how long her hair was now, reaching nearly down past her ass. The two of them sat on the benches with their towels wrapped around their wastes. Rainbow handed the pair the neatly folded fatigues and hairbrush without trying to seem like she was staring. The two of them quickly got dressed and stood. Vinyl had no trouble running the brush through her still short hair, but Fluttershy was having an awful time trying to brush the large tangles out. She got frustrated when the brush got stuck entirely and hung in her hair freely. With a huff of exasperation, she gripped her hair tightly and in one swift motion from her clawed hand, she slashed at it near the top. She continued at this until she had gotten through all her hair, then picked up the brush from the tangled remains on the floor and finished brushing her hair out. She had very roughly cut her hair into a wavy shoulder length mass of light pink. It was clearly much more manageable now as she had almost no trouble brushing the remaining tangles out.

Once they were both satisfied and cleaned up, Rainbow led them back up the hallway and towards the medical wing where Redheart was already waiting with a couple of clean empty cots. The pair each took a seat on one of the cots as Redheart came over to them with her clipboard and pen. She looked over Vinyl first, figuring she'd be the easier of the two to diagnose. After a quick standard check-up and once over, Redheart scribbled some things down on her clipboard before flipping the page over and moving to start on Fluttershy. She made a slight look of worry as she started examining the clearly mutated pegasus. She looked over Fluttershy's claws, fangs, and even leathery wings. After another few scribbles on her clipboard and she stepped back, taking a few steps back to look over her notes. Without a word, she turned and headed towards the medical supply cabinet. She grabbed a handful of things out and returned to the side of the beds, handing Vinyl a wooden tongue depressor.

"Bite down on this, raise your arms, and brace yourself, this is gonna hurt like a bitch." Redheart said calmly.

Vinyl gave a thumbs up and put the depressor between her teeth, biting down hard before raising her arms. Without saying anything else, Redheart put her palms on either side of Vinyl's muzzle. With a sudden jerk and sickeningly loud pop, Vinyl's muzzle was straightened back out. Vinyl winced in pain and her eyes watered from the sudden burst of pain as her nose was broke back into place. Once it was set, Redheart put another wooden depressor on either side of the bridge of her nose to stabilize it before wrapping her muzzle in gauze to keep it all in place, followed by wrapping her chest in gauze as well.

"Very good. Take two of these tonight and come see me tomorrow for a follow-up examination." Redheart said, handing Vinyl a small bottle of pills.

Vinyl gave a thumbs up again as Redheart moved back over to Fluttershy. She gave her a nail file and a small baggie of blood.

"Get your nails in check and drink this, you should feel a ton better afterwards." Redheart said.

"I h-have to drink b-b-blood?" Fluttershy asked, staring down at the baggie of blood in disgust.

"Yes. I'm assuming you feel sluggish and tired?" Redheart replied, looking down at Fluttershy curiously.

"Actually, now that you mention it, I have been feeling run down since that fight with those assassins." Fluttershy said.

"Thought so. Like I said, drink this and do something with your nails. You'll feel better, trust me." Redheart replied with a warm smile.

"Well, ok then…" Fluttershy said, reluctantly taking the file and baggie.

"Good, now both of you get out of here and get some rest. I need a moment with Ms Dash here." Redheart said, motioning to shoo them away.

The pair took the hints and got up from the cots, walking out of the med wing and leaving Redheart alone with Dash. Once she was sure they were out of earshot, Redheart turned to Dash with a serious expression.

"So, what's the damage on them, nurse?" Rainbow asked curiously.

"Well, Ms Scratch wasn't too bad. A broken nose and a few fractured ribs. Ms Shy on the other hand though…" Redheart started, drifting off with a distant look in her eye.

"Don't sugar coat it, just give it to me straight." Rainbow said, bracing herself for the worst.

"From what I can tell, she's suffering from some form of vampirism." Redheart replied calmly.

"But how? Twilight said she got rid of that part of Flutters personality after the fruit bat incident." Rainbow explained with a quizzical tone.

"I'm not entirely sure, it's a pretty rare occurrence, so there's not really a whole lot about it in terms of research. If I had to take a guess though, it could be a result of exposure to the megaspell bomb. She's been out there in the wild all this time being exposed to the aftermath, it could've awakened some kind of mutation that was already present in her DNA." Redheart replied, scratching her chin in thought as she spoke.

"Hm, that does sound possible. None of us are really sure what kind of effects those bombs have on living ponies." Rainbow said.

"Exactly. So it could be that or it could be Sombra's doing. He does seem to have a knack for corrupting ponies." Redheart said.

"One way or the other, it's still his fault though." Rainbow replied with a shrug.

"There is one thing that concerns me though…" Redheart admitted with a frown.

"What is it?" Rainbow asked, getting a little worried.

"Without knowing the extent or the reasoning of her mutation, there's no telling how much control she actually has over herself. She could potentially go feral again at a moment's notice." Redheart said, her tone grim.

"Oh… Is there anything we can do?" Rainbow asked on a concerned tone.

"Until we know more, all we can do is keep a close eye on her and hope for the best." Redheart replied.

"Right… Well, thank you Redheart. You're a big help to all of us." Rainbow said.

"No problem at all, Ms Dash. I'm just happy to be of service during this whole ordeal." Redheart retorted with a half smile.

"Hopefully I won't be seeing you again so soon, but we both know reckless Jet is." Rainbow said with a giggle as she turned for the door.

"Yes, yes we do. Take care, Ms Dash." Redheart replied, going back to sit at her own desk.

"Later, Redheart." Rainbow said as she made her way back out of the med wing.

She headed back down the hall and into the cafeteria, debating on trying to get something to eat, but ultimately deciding to head to the gym and get some training in. They were close to the final battle after all, and she'd been sleeping more than training lately. While on her way down the hall towards the gym though, she heard some kind of commotion coming from inside the gym. Picking up speed with her walking, she quickly made her way down the remainder of the hallway and into the gym to see what the commotion was about. As soon as she stepped into the gym, she saw the source of the commotion. In the center of the gym floor stood Jet and Luna, between them sat an ornate and dirty mirror that was glowing ominously. There was a wide scorch mark on the floor around their feet, Rainbow had seen enough teleportation spells to know that that was a scorch mark from one. Sunblast sprinted in behind her, the two of them looking the returning heroes over with concern. Luna looked perfectly fine, though she looked like the grim reaper herself with the scythe in her gloved hand, but Jet was beaten and bruised far beyond what he had come back with so far. His armor was fractured in various places, his ankles were bleeding, and his mechanical hand sparked lightly from two empty spaces where fingers had once been. She sprinted over to them quickly, worry in heavy in her chest.

"Jet, you're back! Are you ok?" Rainbow asked in a hurried voice.

"I'm fine, just a few minor scratches and such. Nothing I can't recover from with some pain killers, bandages, and a new arm. Speaking of which, heads up Sun!" He replied with a light chuckle to ease her worried mind before detaching his metal arm and chucking it towards Sunblast.

Sunblast said nothing as he caught the arm, he was too entranced by the artefact that Jet and Luna had teleported into the gym with.

"Yeah, I guess so. But you still look like you've been through the ringer. And is that blood or snot?" She said, half jokingly, pointing to the dried green on his gauntlets.

"You'd look like hell too if you had to fight the queen of the changeling right after a pair of assassin's. Also, it's blood, not snot, smartass." Jet replied with a shrug, looking down at his gauntlets.

"Queen of the changelings?! As in, Chrysalis?!" Rainbow exclaimed in surprise.

"The one and only… Well, the former one and only." Jet replied with an empty tone.

"Wait, so lemme get this straight. You went up against Queen Chrysalis alone… And won?" Rainbow asked confused.

"Sure did. Why are you so surprised?" Jet asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm surprised because it took me, you, and all five of the elements to beat her before. And that was just barely a victory. Either you've gotten much stronger or she underestimated you big time." Rainbow said, still surprised he'd come out on top this time.

"To be honest, it was probably a combination of both. She seemed pretty confident that she'd win." He replied with shrug.

"Well, in any case, I'm glad you came back in one piece. I was a bit worried when Fluttershy and Vinyl came back without you and said you ran off to the castle alone." Rainbow admitted.

"No need to worry, I'm fine and here now. We can start plotting our final move against Sombra. There's not much left for him to defend, so he's likely panicking." Jet said, scratching his chin lightly.

"That's true, but still. I think you should take some time to rest and recover before you head back out into the field." She replied, giving him a serious look.

"I'll rest plenty while we plot and catch everyone up to speed on everything." Jet said with a shrug.

"You're so damn stubborn, you know that?" Rainbow asked rhetorically.

"I do know that, but that has nothing to do with this specific scenario. I'm just so ready to be done with this whole thing and go back to how things used to be." Jet retorted, in a matter-of-fact tone.

"If I may interject, there is quite a lot to do before we end this. I suggest we save the bickering for a later time." Luna interrupted from behind Jet.

"Fine… First things first though, you should at least shower and get some fresh clothes on." Rainbow stated, motioning to his less than presentable appearance.

"I know that you may want time with him before we begin strategizing for the final battle, but I wish to steal him once he is cleaned up. There is something we must discuss." Luna interjected as they began walking off down the hallway.

"Yeah, sure. Probably some royal thing right?" Rainbow asked, turning back towards Luna.

"Hm, yes. That's the best way to put it." She replied with a tap of her chin.

"Alright. I'll send him your way when he's done." Rainbow said with a smile and a wave.

With that, the two of them headed down the hallway and disappeared around the corner towards the shower room. This left Luna and Sunblast alone in gym with the mirror. Sunblast was already examining the mirror with deep interest.

"Is this really the same mirror that Starswirl enchanted to act as a portal to other timelines?" Sunblast asked casually.

"It is indeed the very same one." Luna replied with a nod.

"And that…" Sunblast stood upright and pointed at the scythe she was holding.

"Moonshadow, yes." She said with another nod.

"But why does it look so… Wrong…?" He asked.

"It has been touched by darkness and corruption. It can be fixed, but I cannot do it myself or I fear the corruption will take hold of me once again." She replied with a nervous tone in her voice.

"Well, alright then. What did you intend to do with the mirror?" He asked, looking it over again.

"I am not sure to be perfectly honest. Though, I am assuming that we will be able to make some use of it. Cadence said that this is how Sombra was obtaining all the resources that don't belong in our world." Luna replied, tapping her chin in thought.

"Hm, I think I overheard her saying that too. I'm sure I can figure out how it works and get us some resources to at least level the playing field for our final push against him." Sunblast said with a shrug.

"That is very wise, but do not endanger yourself any more than necessary. You are much more vital to things than you realize." Luna replied, giving him a soft smile.

"Oh, t-thank you princess. That means a lot." Sunblast said with a slight blush across his face.

"You are welcome, but it is only the truth. Now, I do not mean to be rude but I must be off, I have much to do to prepare." Luna said sweetly as she turned to leave as well.

Luna set off down the hallway and up the staircase that was halfway between the gym and the cafeteria. Upon the insistence of almost everyone in the bunker, she had been given a private room to herself on the upper floor. She stepped off the stairs and onto the metal walkway that served as the hall between the various rooms. Her shoes clanked softly against the metal as she walked past the rooms on her way to her own. Some had their doors open with the occupant lounging about studying up on tactics and such or were actually working out to some degree. As she was about to reach her room, which was on the far end of the walkway, she passed the recreation room. With a glance inside, she could see a few ponies watching some old movie and a couple having a game of Chess. She smiled to herself, taking some solace in the fact that they could still enjoy small thing like that even with everything happening outside this place.

Pushing open the door to her room, the lights flicked on with a loud buzz from the fluorescent bulbs but it quickly dimmed down to the same dull hum as the other lights in the bunker. The room she had been given was basically the same as the others, but had an old slightly tattered banner with her insignia on it hanging above the headboard that she had previously used to cover the entrance to her home where Jet had found her. Aside from that, everything else in the room was the same from what she could tell. A long dresser against the wall across from the bed, a footlocker for belongings at the foot of the bed, a small table on one side of the bed, and a small bathroom with only a toilet and sink inside. She pushes the door shut as she stepped inside, laying the scythe on the bed and made her way to the bathroom. She flicked the faucet of the sink on and, while waiting for it to heat up, she took a moment to collect her thoughts and reflect on the events she had just witnessed.

Her mind knew what she saw, but it shouldn't be possible, the entity responsible for such things shouldn't be here anymore. Splashing some warm water across her face, giving it a good wash from being outside, she turned the water back off and grabbed the small hand towel that hung nearby. The towel was soft and warm against her face, giving her a brief moment of comfort before her mind switched back to the coming task. She knew she had to somehow explain what had happened to Jet, he would obviously want to know, but the fact was she had no explanation. A sudden knock at the door broke her free from her thoughts. Stepping back out from the bathroom, she took a seat on the edge of the bed near the headboard before clearing her throat.

"You may enter." Luna said, looking towards the door.

There was a brief moment of silence before the door creaked open slowly, revealing Jet in a set of fresh clothes. His hair was still damp against his neck and forehead, his arm was still missing, and he had bandages around his midsection and ankles.

"So… You had something to talk to me about?" Jet asked sheepishly as he stepped inside.

"I did, yes. Close the door and take a seat please." She replied, patting the edge of the bed on the other end from her.

He nodded and shut the door quietly before coming over and sitting down at the foot of the bed. There was a long awkward silence before either of them said anything.

"I understand you may have many questions in regards to what took place in the castle back there…" Luna began, breaking the silence.

"That's an understatement, but yeah." Jet replied with a shrug.

"I do not enjoy being the messenger of bad news, but I do not have many answers for you. I will tell you what I believe and do know, hopefully that will shed some light on what you require answers to." She said, giving him a half smile.

"I don't expect you to have all the answers, but I'm sure whatever you can tell me will set me on the right track to the full picture at least." Jet reassured her, returning the smile.

"That is very nice of you to say, Jet, thank you. Now then, the best that I could tell from what I saw, you had somehow briefly been corrupted by the nightmare mist. Which does not make sense as it was banished from our reality not long after my own reformation." She explained.

"Maybe? When you were corrupted, did you have like an out of body experience? I was floating in the throne room and could see everything as if I was watching a movie." He replied, raising an eyebrow.

"No, when I was corrupted it was more like I was a passenger in my own body. I could still see everything through my own eyes, but I had no way of controlling it. How did you come into this out of body experience?" She asked curiously.

"I'm not sure really, Chrysalis hit me with the end of that scythe and I was kinda forced out of myself. If that makes sense." He replied, looking over at the scythe laying across the bed behind them.

"Strange… The end of the scythe is enchanted with a rune that knocks a soul from its body and renders the recipient incapacitated. If that happened to you, then how was your body able to keep fighting? That should not be possible… Unless…" She trailed off, looking at the scythe lost in thought.

"Unless what?" He asked, snapping her from her thoughts once again.

"I do not know much aside from what Tia told me, but your parentage is a mystery to even her. That could explain your strange power absorbing ability, as well as this new turn of events." She replied.

"What do you mean? I know who my parents are. They are… Were Tidal Breeze and Swift Feather from Cloudsdale." He replied, confused.

"No, Jet Stream, those are your adoptive parents. As she told me, Tia found you near the forest one night doing my patrol before I had returned. She did not know where you came from nor who you were birthed by. The only thing she knew was that she could not just leave you to the Timberwolves or worse. Through the use of medical records, she was able to find a pegasi couple that could not have foals of their own. So, she left you on their doorstep one night so as to not raise any suspicion of the princess leaving foals around town." She explained, not meeting his eyes.

"I… W-Wha…" Jet stuttered out, at a loss for words.

"I am sorry you had to find out like this, but it had to be said eventually. I know this is a lot to take in and process, but I hope it helps you in your search for answers." She said, reaching up to put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"Uh, yeah… Hopefully…" He replied absentmindedly.

"I feel it best to change the subject, so I would like to try something if it is alright with you." She said, turning to pick up the scythe, still with a gloved hand.

"Sure… What is it?" He asked, watching her bring the scythe to be in front of them.

"This, if you had not guessed, used to be my royal arm. It has been touched and warped by corruption." She explained with a frown as she looked up on it.

"Woah… Can we fix it?" He asked, looking it over.

"That is what I wanted your help with. I am afraid to try it myself, due to my previous encounter with corruption, but it should be able to be cleansed with the use of a clean slate. So to speak." She replied with a slight shrug.

"I think I understand… You're thinking that with my ability to absorb magical essence, I can absorb and cleanse Moonshadow?" He asked, just to make sure he understood properly.

"That is the jist of it, yes. Will you try it?" She asked, scooting the scythe closer to him.

He nodded and stood up, positioning himself right in front of it. His hands reached out slowly and hovered inches from the handle. Something was telling him not to do this, but he couldn't tell the princess 'no'. With a deep breath, he clamped his hands onto the handle tightly. A surge of otherworldly cold ran across his entire body and he could hear an echoing hollow voice rang in his ears. The sound could only be described as demonic whispering, which he couldn't make out what it was saying but it made his blood run cold in his veins. As he watched, the scythe began to glow, faintly at first but slowly grew brighter. Its shape twisted and bent in his hands, molding into something new instead of its villainous corrupted form. After a few moments, the glow died down and scythe stopped writhing like a worm. The handle had straightened out quite a bit, the blade shortened and became much thicker, the pony skull that the blade had once protruded from was replaced with a pair of symmetrical bat wings on either side, and a smaller secondary handle had emerged from about midway down the handle. The scythe was fixed, but something felt different inside him, almost as if something had fed on the corruption he just absorbed.

"It… It worked… I can't believe it…" He said, stunned.

"I had a feeling it might, but I wasn't sure. Well done, Jet Stream. You continue to surprise me at every turn, really makes me realize why my sister insisted on keeping an eye on you for so long." Luna replied with a pleased smile.

"I'm happy to be of service." He said, handing her the scythe, to which she held up her hand in denial.

"You are much more of a help than you know, and I think it is fitting if you hold onto that for me. It only serves as a reminder of my cowardice that day…" She replied, her voice going momentarily soft.

"I understand and I'm honored to be given yet another Royal Arm. I will weild it with pride." He said with a short bow.

"I am sure you will. Now, I hate to be rude, but there is much I must do to prepare for our final assault on that tyrant's black palace." She replied, standing up from the bed.

"Right, of course. I'll see you down in the briefing room in a few." He said, heading for the door.

"Yes, we will be there. Make sure you are prepared as well. This will be your toughest battle yet. Oh! And we have an unexpected guest in the holding cell. You may wish to check up on that before we do the briefing." She said, closing the door behind him as he exited.

He gave her a nod as the door shut completely before heading back down the metal walkway and then down the stairs with the scythe in his hand. He made his way through the cafeteria and down the hallway the room they had dubbed the holding cell. It was a small room that was on one side of the hallway leading to the medical wing. In actuality, it was just a small padded room meant for anybody suffering from mental illness of some kind and required isolation. There was a single guard standing outside the room, he was armed with a spear and looked like he was taking his job way too seriously. He was a stallion Jet had never met, but he looked familiar. His buzzcut orangish-yellow hair and well trimmed goatee stood out against his pale white coat and strangely reddish eyes. He was buff but slightly slender, evident through his exposed biceps and the way his clothes cling to his body. Jet walked up and the stallion instantly saluted, standing upright with his spear at attention and his free hand to his head.

"Commander Stream, sir. I've been awaiting your visit!" He yelled, his voice is what tipped Jet off to his identity.

"Bulk Biceps?" Jet asked, hardly recognizing him with his newly more slender appearance.

"Sir, yes sir!" He yelled again.

"Wow, you look so much different than I remember from meeting you before." Jet replied with a surprised tone.

"My workout regime has suffered greatly since Sombra's take over, sir!" He yelled in response.

"Uh, at ease soldier. You don't have to call me 'sir' all the time. It makes me feel weird…" Jet said with a slight shudder.

"Oh, sorry si… Um, Jet. Anyway, I guess you're here about the prisoner?" He asked, finally speaking in a normal voice.

"Yeah. I'll see what this is all about and then you can go relax or something, ok?" Jet replied, moving to open the door.

"Sounds great!" He yelled, stepping out of the way for Jet.

Jet stepped into the small room, his boots sinking into the soft padding that lined the floors, walls, and ceilings. The light inside was dim, but bright enough to see fairly well. He had to steady himself slightly against the soft terrain to keep from losing his balance and falling over. Once he had his balance back, he looked up and laid eyes on a small timid looking changeling balled up in the corner. The two locked eyes for a moment before Jet sighed and shook his head.

"How… Why… Look, I'm not really up to dealing with this so I'll make it short and simple. Who are you?" Jet asked, having had enough changeling interactions to last a lifetime

"M-My name is Thorax." It said shyly, sort of reminding Jet of Fluttershy.

"Why are you here?" He asked again.

"Um… I w-was a spy…" Thorax replied with a shudder as he thought about Chrysalis.

"A spy, huh? Well, Chrysalis is dead. So either side with us or take a quick death." Jet stated, pointing the scythe in his hand at the trembling changeling, making it obvious he was serious.

"I'll side with you! I s-stopped being a spy for her a long time ago anyway… D-Did you really kill her?" Thorax answered quickly to not irritate the pony standing over him.

"Good. And yes, she's dead. Her body's still in Canterlot Castle if you need proof." Jet replied, lowering the scythe back to his side.

"That's the best news I've ever heard." Thorax said, a small smile crossing his face.

"Yep. We good here?" Jet asked, a little coldly.

"I guess so." Thorax replied nervously.

"Great. Head to the gym, we'll tell you where you're needed in the upcoming fight." Jet said, pushing the door open.

"O-Okay…" Thorax responded, heading out of the door and back towards the gym.

"Alright, Bulk. Go enjoy some free time while you can. I'm done here." Jet said as he left the room, heading back down the hallway.

He planned to head back to his room as he stepped onto the first floor, making it as far as the cafeteria before being interrupted by someone yelling his name from the other end of the cafeteria. Turning around, he saw Sunblast jogging over to him. Sunblast had a very excited look on his face as he ran over, his hair a mess and his usual clipboard of notes nowhere to be seen. He stopped in front of Jet, panting lightly, but he had a wide grin on his face.

"Jet, there you are! I've made an incredible breakthrough! I need your help in the lab right away!" He exclaimed in earnest.

"Okay, okay. Chill out a little and lead the way." Jet replied with a chuckle.

Sunblast motioned for Jet to follow as he proceeded down the hallway that led to the labs. Jet followed behind him as they walked down the hall and into the lab. Off to one side of the room, inside a thin tube-like container, hung the suit that Sunblast had mentioned he wore on his scouting excusions. Set up in the center of the lab was the mirror, it had several wires hooked up to it, some of them leading to a separate secondary generator and the rest to some sort of large empty metal pedestal with what appeared to be a trio of claws extending up from its base. The lab was otherwise empty easide from the two of them and the mirror. There was a chair sitting a few feet away from the mirror, pointing at the shimmering reflection contained within. Once they were both inside the room, Sunblast shut the door behind them.

"Sooo, what's this all about?" Jet asked curiously.

"Well, first I have discovered how Starswirl's mirror works! Also, this!" He exclaimed, still very excited, pulling a remote from his other pocket and hitting the button on it to which a second much larger tube-like container ascended from the floor.

Sunblast's grin widened as he stepped over and threw open the long doors of the tube. Inside was a massive suit, completely black in color. On one of its hands was a huge a seemingly oversized hammer-like fist, the other was what looked like a Swiss Army Knife of various blades, and one shoulder bared a launcher of some kind.

"Really? That's amazing, Sun! Also, what the hell is that?" Jet asked in return

"This, is the secret weapon I've been toiling away on in my lab. I call if the Sombra Buster. It's equipped with a seismic spell enchanted hammer fist, a variety of obsidian laced weaponry, and a Poison Joke bomb launcher. All wrapped up in a suit of armor that is made of anti-dark magic steel and miniaturized anti-hypnosis field generators." He replied, running his hand across the suit.

"Wow, you made this? That's truly incredible." Jet said, giving his friend the praise he deserves.

"Thank you, I'm sure it will give you the edge you need to kill that bastard." Sunblast replied with a smile.

"Me? I appreciate the effort and thought, but I'd rather take him down without a crutch that large." Jet said, giving his friend a solemn look.

"That's fair, I suppose I could always use it myself." Sunblast replied with shrug.

"There you go, I'm sure you'll kick so much ass in that thing." Jet said with a smirk.

"Indeed. Now, onto the bigger matter at hand." Sunblast replied, stepping over to the generator the mirror was hooked to and flicking it on.

The mirror flower dimly, but didn't change other than that. Sunblast walked over and knocked against the glass with his knuckle.

"You see, even with a power source the portal ability of the mirror doesn't come into effect. But…" He explained, moving over to stand beside the empty pedestal.

"But?" Jet asked, watching him with interest.

"If you give it a catalyst to pull dimensional resonance from…" He continued, pulling Jet's nano suit unit from his pocket.

He deposited the nano unit onto the pedestal gently. The pedestal began to glow and silently hum, the nano unit levitating between the claws. The mirror briefly glowed brighter and the reflection warped from the center of the mirror like a drop of water falling into a puddle. The ripples in the reflection continued for a few moments until they became almost unnoticeable. Jet's eyes widened a bit as he watched this unfold. Sunblast walked over to the mirror again and went to knock on it, only this time his hand went through the reflection and disappeared through to the other side.

"That's incredible, Sun! But where does it lead?" Jet asked, venturing closer to the mirror portal.

"Well, I haven't done a full reconnaissance of the other side. But, I did peek through and from what I could tell it's some sort of futuristic version of our own world, but with what appeared to be a dictator of some kind given the amount of dictatorial propaganda I saw." He explained, pulling his hand back in front the portal.

"Ok, but why?" Jet asked, still confused.

"As I mentioned, it's using the dimensional resonance of the material found in the nanites that we originally stole from Sombra's supply shipment forever ago. Which means that wherever this place leads, it's the same place he was getting all of his resources." Sunblast explained with excitement.

"I see. Last question, what the hell is dimensional resonance?" Jet asked, trying to understand as much as he could.

"Alright, so you're familiar with the theory of the multiverse right?" Sunblast retorted.

"Sure, that's a really easy one to remember." Jet replied with a wave of his hand.

Sunblast smiled and pulled down a retractable chart that was from the ceiling. It showed two sound waves like graphs, one in blue and one in green. Both were very obviously different frequencies.

"Ok, well that theory goes a bit further. It says that the atoms of any given resident or object native to one universe will vibrate at a specific frequency, or resonance. While something or someone from a differing universe will vibrate at a differing resonance. The blue graph is a normal piece of steel from our universe, while the green one is from the steel that comprises the nanites of your suit." Sunblast explained, pointing to the graphs as he did.

"So that means…" Jet stepped forward excitedly now.

"We can get enough resources to equip everyone in the bunker and make our army even more powerful!" Sunblast finished, still just as excited.

"I can't believe it, we finally get something that works in our favor!" Jet replied, grinning.

"My thoughts exactly! Now, all that remains is to venture into this other world and actually obtain the resources." Sunblast said.

"I'm guessing you want me to go?" Jet asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"For once, no. This is the scientific discovery of a lifetime, I'm calling dibs on this one." Sunblast said with a giddy laugh.

"Oh, I suppose that makes sense. What did you need me for then?" Jet asked.

"I'm glad you finally asked. While I'm inside the portal, I will obviously need to leave it on so I can come back through when needed. So, I'll need somebody here guarding the this side in case anything other than me decides to come through, and you're the most capable of anybody in the bunker." Sunblast explained, already grabbing his suit from the tube-like container.

"That's fair and very smart. This is why we trust you with our scientific stuff." Jet replied with a smile.

"And I'm glad you do. Now then, shall we?" Sunblast asked, motioning to the chair.

"Oh, yeah. Gotcha." Jet replied, sitting in the chair.

"Wish me luck." Sunblast said before stepping through the mirror portal.

With that final statement, Jet was left sitting alone in the labs. Only the gentle hum of the generator and the occasional 'beep' sound from one of the other science-y things in the room, it was the fairly quiet. Jet sat back in the chair, crossing one leg on top of the other. He waited patiently, wondering how long this excursion would take his friend, mostly just to get his other arm back. Heaving a sigh and stretching out as much as he could, he started to whistle an old tunelessly to pass time and fill the silence. His whistling eventually died down and stopped as he grew bored with that as well, always having a short attention span.

Luckily though, before he could grow any more bored, a figure stepped through the portal. It wore an entirely reflective silver suit of armor, welded some kind of glowing spear, and had a large sack on its back. Jet jumped to his feet and gripped the scythe tightly, drawing it back and ready to strike. The figure ignored him and quickly dropped the sack to the floor, rushing over and flipping the switch on the generator. The portal powered down with a soft and sudden 'whirr' just as another hand came through the portal, getting severed by the sudden stop of the connection. The mystery figure turned towards Jet and stepped closer. Unceremoniously the helmet folded in on itself just like Jet's did when he controlled his armor. To Jet's surprise, it was Sunblast, but he looked rough. A five o'clock shadow adorned his face and his hair looked longer and unkempt. He moved past Jet and flopped into the chair behind him.

"It's good to see you, Jet. Sorry it took so long. Thank you for keeping watch all that time though." Sunblast said, speaking as if he'd been gone longer than a few minutes.

"Uh, you're welcome. But, what are you talking about? You were only gone for like ten minutes at most." Jet replied, furrowing his brow.

"What…? But that would mean… Oh, this is incredible!" Sunblast exclaimed, jumping to his feet and pulling a small notebook from a pocket in his armor.

He scribbled something into the notebook, mumbling to himself feverishly in the process.

"You okay, buddy?" Jet asked, not wanting to get too close in case his friend had lost his mind completely.

"Okay? Okay?! I'm fan-fucking-tastic! This is huge!" He yelled in excitement.

"Calm down and fill me in?" Jet asked with an amused smirk on his face.

"You said I was only gone for around ten minutes, right? Well, long story, but I was in that other world for nearly a week trying to gather the equipment and resources while avoiding their emperor." Sunblast explained with a hurried voice, barely taking a breath.

"So, does this qualify time travel?" Jet asked.

"I suppose in a sense, yes. But what it really means is that not only do other universe vibrate at a resonance different than ours, it means they move at a different rate of time as well!" Sunblast replied with increased excitement.

"I see. And the equipment?" Jet asked in response.

"Oh, right! It's in the bag. There's enough for everyone in the bunker, plus I made custom suits and weapons for our heavy hitters to make them hit even heavier. Which reminds me, heads up!" Sunblast said, reaching into the sack and pulling out a brand new looking arm.

He tossed it to Jet, who caught it easily from the short distance between them. It was shiny and smooth all the way around instead of having the obvious look of being cobbled together with whatever was available to make it work. It looked as if it has been pulled straight from a sci-fi comic. Without any delay, Jet attached it to his shoulder. He barely felt anything as the arm connected itself to his nerve endings. He flexed his new arm, the metal elbow joint gliding effortlessly. The hand and fingers flexed just as easily, acting more like a real arm and hand instead of a false appendage.

"Amazing, thank you so much Sunblast." Jet replied with a wide smile.

"That's not all, hang on just a second. Let's see… That's not it… Not that one either… Is that, no… Aha!" Sunblast muttered as he dug through the large sack, tossing Jet a new nanite unit.

It was different from the one he had before, this one was circular and was red all the way around save for a a series of symmetrical black stripes around it. He put it on his chest like he had the other one and it sprang into action. It was quick to engulf Jet's body with the nearly invisible nanites, flowing over him like water in a warm shower. Once it had engulfed his entire body, he stepped in front of the mirror and looked himself over in it. This new armor was sleeker and seemed to be made of the same newer metal as his arm. It was red with thin black lining at the joints and between the panels. This model had a full helmet instead of just a face plate, the helmet was red like the rest of the armor but had a solid black face section. Jet willed the armor back into its housing unit.

"This is one hell of an upgrade, Sunblast. We're gonna wipe the floor with Sombra and his army." Jet asked, still baring a wide smile.

"Not a problem, I just used what they had available. Which, yes, is one hell of an upgrade. Which brings me to the next item on our shared agenda, the mission briefing. These are for AJ, Rarity, Pinkie, Rainbow, Fluttershy, Vinyl, and the princesses. They're our biggest hitters, so they got specialized suits. I'll bring their weapons after I get these handed out." Sunblast replied, pulling a handful of the units out of the sack and handing them to Jet.

"Right. I'll send out the announcement and see you in the briefing room." Jet responded before turning to head back down the hallway.

They shared a nod and headed out of the lab wing, Jet towards the briefing room on the second floor above the kitchens. Only accessable by himself and the handful of others that would be attending the briefing. He clambered up the stairs quickly, lightly jogging towards the briefing room. Reaching the bright red double doors, he stopped just in front of them. A mechanical 'whirr' emanated from the door and a scanner of some sort sprang to life above the door. A wide white beam flowed across Jet with a quick and sudden scan. The beam disappeared and was immediately replaced by the hiss of the door opening as the seal on it was broken.

He quickly stepped inside and took a look around to get his bearings. The majority of the room consisted of a long rounded wooden table with several chairs around it. The wall closest to him was made up of a single large window pane that looked out over the rest of the bunker. In front of the window sat an intercom system. Behind the table on the opposite wall from the window, was a large screen meant to display things of interest. He sprinted over to the intercom and picked up the mic, hitting the button to talk.

"Attention, all authorized personnel to the briefing room immediately please. All other personnel report to the gymnasium to receive your new battle gear from our resident head scientist." He said into it, broadcasting his voice throughout the entirety of the bunker.

With the announcement made, all he had to do now was wait. He took a seat at what he assumed was the head of the table as it was the only single chair positioned at one end of it. He could hear the commotion from down below as everybody headed to their required destination. It wasn't much of a wait as soon the others filed into the briefing room. Jet stood and deposited the nanite units onto the table, looking them over. They were like the one he'd been given, but some had minor differences in them. He noticed they were color coded, likely to distinguish between each recipient. Assuming that is what the case was, he began handing them out to each of them. There were several thanks as they took them and Jet explained what they were. They repeated what he'd done and put on their new armor to check it out. Each one was similar to his, but colored to match their own styles and had minor differences in design.

Rainbow's was sleek and slender, with retractable roller blades to enhance her speed. Applejack's was bulky and heavily armored, a pair of jet boosters were attached to her shins to enhance her kicking power. Rarity received a suit similar to Rainbow's, except it had a magic ring around where her horn came out of her helmet to allow for greater use of her magic. Pinkie's suit was clearly designed with both speed and strength in mind as it resembled a cross between Applejack's and Rainbow's suits, but instead of jet boosters or roller blades, her suits had boot jets that would increase her jump height exponentially. Fluttershy's suit was the most modest in design as it had armored plating along her shins, wrists, wings, and chest with just a chainmail looking under suit covering the rest along with what appeared to be steel enhancement for her talons. Vinyl seemed to have gotten an upgraded version of her old suit from her time as Sombra's pawn, but likely without the brain washing element. Luna and Cadence received nearly identical suits, both moderately armored and sporting the same horn enhancements as Rarity's suit. Jet decided to suit up as well. They all chattered amongst themselves about their new suits, until Sunblast came in shortly after, carrying the sack once again.

"Ah, I see you ladies are all suited up. I hope they are to your liking." Sunblast said, a seemingly nervous tone in his voice.

"Yer darn tootin it is!" AJ replied with a hearty chuckle.

"They're simply divine darling, you really managed to bring out my eyes with this purple highlighting." Rarity chimed in, checking herself out in the reflection of the window.

"We're going to kick so much ass in these things!" Rainbow screamed in a psuedo battle cry.

"It's fantast-amazing!" Pinkie yelled with a giggle.

"I-It's nice, thank you…" Fluttershy said quietly, barely heard over the clamor of everyone else.

"We are honored to have received such a gift, thank you Sunblast." Luna said, giving him a small hug.

"They're great, though I'd expect nothing less from your brilliant mind." Cadence added.

Vinyl gave him a wide smile and a thumbs up.

"Thank you, all of you. I'm truly flattered and frankly embarrassed to have this much attention all at once. But, there's more to this." Sunblast responded to their thanks and praise, plopping the sack onto the table with a soft 'thud'.

"What else you got for us?" Rainbow asked excitedly.

"Well, what's a suit of armor without weapons? We've got… A seismic hammer for AJ… Wrist mounted 'party' cannons for Pinkie… A pair of energy shields for Rarity… A far more destructive sonic cannon for Vinyl… A pair of energy short swords for Rainbow… An obsidian sickle for Luna… An energy katana for Jet… And finally, an energy crossbow with magically controlled bolts for Cadence." Sunblast described each weapon as he handed them out, giving everybody an idea of what they could do and how to wield them.

"These are awesome!" Rainbow exclaimed again.

"Indeed. Now than, any questions?" Sunblast replied.

There was a short murmur from everybody but no one piped up.

"Great, then we can proceed onto planning. If everybody will have a seat, I'll let Jet take it from here." Sunblast said, taking a seat on one side of the table.

The others followed suit and sat down, Rainbow and Sunblast sitting closest to Jet as they were essentially his right hand cohorts and assistants. Jet pressed a button on the helpfully labeled control panel that sat in front of the head seat. The screen behind him lit up, displaying a shot of Sombra's black palace, the dark layer of clouds hovering ominously above it, and above that was just a black void with a set of white question marks to indicate the unknown abobe the cloud layer.

"Thank you, Sunblast. As we all know, after dismantling his other operations, plus my siege on Canterlot Castle, he has nowhere else to run except his black palace in the Crystal Empire. Our plan of attack is seemingly simple, but it's deceptively simple enough to work. You all will be splitting into teams, leading a chunk of our army from one side of the empire border. Those teams will be Luna and Cadence, AJ and Rarity, Pinkie and Fluttershy. You'll each lead your part of the army in a coordinated rush attack on the border, hopefully throwing both Sombra and his forces off guard long enough for phase two to commence. Phase two of the plan will consist of Rainbow, Sunblast, and Vinyl. Your task will be to make your way to the palace doors during the chaos. Sunblast and Vinyl will hold the doors while Rainbow slips inside to locate Sombra's throne room." Jet explained thoroughly, making marks on the display with a dry erase marker to indicate each position and step.

"Wait, what about you?" Rainbow asked, sitting forward with concern.

"Glad you asked. While you guys are bombarding the palace and keeping him distracted, I'll be up in the air working to get those airships, that Discord told us about, down. That will give us clear skies and even more of an advantage by taking away his permanent shadows and toxin. Rainbow, when you find the throne room through those hallways, you'll relay that location to me so I can meet you and we can finally finish this. Now, any questions about the plan?" Jet asked, finishing his briefing.

"Why in tarnation are ya having Dash go inta tha palace? Won't that be tha most dangerous place?" She asked in a sort of accusing tone as she stood up.

"I'm sending her in because she's the fastest and will be able to navigate the potentially maze like halls of the black palace, locating the throne room, quicker than anybody else." Jet replied with a frown at her tone.

"Oh, well… Ah guess that makes sense." She said, sitting back in her seat.

"Good. Anything more questions?" Jet asked again.

Nobody else said anything or made any motion to do so. Jet took this as everything being understood and gave the room a nod.

"Great. There is one more thing, before you head out to take position with your troops, I require a thirty minute lead. There's something I have to tend to before we do this." Jet said, his voice wavering ever so slightly.

"Got it. We'll get everything set up and I'll see you in the throne room. Be careful up there, it's hard to tell who or what he's got guarding those airships." Rainbow said, standing to give him a hug.

"I will, I'm well prepared for whatever he's got waiting this time." Jet replied, returning the hug.

Everyone finished up saying their 'good lucks' and 'be safes' before adjourning the briefing room. Jet walked to the mic again to make one final announcement.

"Attention all personnel, you will have the next thirty minutes to get your affairs in order before deployment for the final push against King Sombra. If you are not ready and waiting to deploy within the allotted time frame, you will be considered a deserter and a traitor and will be dealt with accordingly. That is all, may Celestia's light guide us all in our hour of need." Jet announced, shutting off the mic and leaving the room himself.

Slotting the scythe into a holster his armor has created on his back, he headed for the exit ladder with a heavy heart. He knew that this coming goodbye he was headed for would be the hardest after what he had learned from Luna, but it had to be done. He hadn't visited them once in quite some time.