Carry On

The bridge of the Wings of Harmony was a large space, and square in nature. There was a central pyramid of steps leading up to a holographic table display in the center, and the entire room was surrounded by consoles of various use and make. These descended in a similar pyramid fashion to the holotable space, but there were larger distances involved. Three tiers in all led up to the top, which was level with a catwalk that connected the bridge to the rest of the destroyer.

It was, in fact, larger than the bridge of it's mother ship, the supercruiser Morning Star. This was by design--in case of emergency, it could be counted on to fit all of the important people from the self-sustaining miniature fleet in one space. As it happened, that purpose was being fulfilled.

The commanding officer of the flottila, Commodore Trotsky, greeted his own CO. "Captain Ares. It is good to see you alive and well."

The Commodore was gray coated, a muscular pegasus reaching his later years. He had facial hair that extended over his lip to connect to a thick mane of blackness covered by a service cap. Trotsky carried himself with an air of formality, offset by jagged scars. His eyes were the steel of his flotilla, scything into enemies as a laser, and welcoming friends with a strange, fatherly gruffness that made one feel almost safe, but slightly uneasy.

The Commodore was on one side of the holotable, his back facing the dominating window and display that made itself master of the room. The blackness of space was punctured by stars, illuminating the area beyond the sea blue light from the magical fixtures.

On Trotsky's right was Commander Nightbeam, a thin, wiry unicorn with cunning eyes. His brown mane and blue coat had an interesting effect with the lighting, making him seem almost invisible. He supervised the frigate Sunstrider, a stealth vessel.

His left found Illiraes, Commander of the Falador. Illiraes was a large earth pony, white of coat and mane, which seemed in contrast to his jovial, messy manner.

Others, lesser officers and various crew from the Wings of Harmony itself, were also arrayed behind the three prominent ponies.

Across the way, Captain Ares Sol returned Trotsky's sentiment with a nod. "You too, Commodore. You may have noticed that I brought some friends."

On the edge of the steps at his left, Chrysalis stood regal and determined, proud despite the stares she was given by many of the crew. A changeling was something very new indeed. Despite this, the former queen showed a face of pure confidence and ability--though Ares suspected some doubt lay beneath Chrysalis' proclivity to superiority.

Luna was closer in, an imposing figure at about twice the size of most regular ponies, even considering her severe physical atrophy over her stranded millenia. Through her endless blue eyes, Ares saw something similar to Chrysalis' cockiness, but with a softer, caring tone. He felt as though he had a mother hidden in there, someone to calm his fears and tell him there were no monsters in the dark--even if he was certain there were.

A smooth black-and-yellow mane cascaded over an indifferent, freckled face. Lieutenant Open Sky always seemed bored or angry. Still, the Captain got the sense that she had something to prove.

Perry was immediately to Ares' left, a close-cut figure of precision. However, he was hardly more than a colt to the Captain. Despite his sensitivity and shyness, though, the kid had a good nature, and a natural sense of things around him.

Wesley made himself appear as intelligent as he could, and maintained an I-don't-even-know-this-guy face as Eastley was doing his best to be extraordinarily awkward with Discord. Celestia was in between the two sporadic entities, and appeared amazingly indifferent to them.

"Yes. And you all might be?..." Trotsky indicated the foreigners.

"Queen Chrysalis of the Changelings," the insect pony trumpeted proudly.

"Princess Luna, Servant of the Realm, Bringer of Night," said the dark alicorn.

"Lieutenant Open Sky, sir."

"Oh, uh... I am Dr. Wesley Reid. I specialize in material science and astrophysics," Wesley said. "This is my brother Eastley," he continued, nodding his head to his brother, who snickered strangely.

Celestia stepped forward. "I am Princess Celestia, Servant of the Realm, and Bringer of Day."

Discord coughed a little ahem and followed up, saying "I am the Lord of Chaos, Discord." The sound of a short wind fanfare flickered briefly, evidently conjured from the enigmatic Discord himself.

"Alrighty then. It's good to meet you all. I'll have you in your own quarters shortly so you can get some rest. In the meantime, Ares, we need to find out explaining what happened to the Morning Star," Trotsky finished the greetings.

"Agreed. If you would?" Ares asked.

"Surely," Trotsky replied, and a holographic projection of the solar system exploded onto the table between the newcomers and the officers.

"We are here," Trotsky said, pointing with a hoof to the location of the flotilla, holding postion on the sun side of Equus. "The Morning Star is on the other side of the planet, along with an unidentified vessel of massive proportions. We detached when they engaged each other in combat. Scout drones patrolling the area discovered that both ships are sitting seemingly derelict. However, faint signatures of life are evident, leading us to believe that the Morning Star has been boarded. If not, then there are at least some survivors onboard--both situations are possible at this point.

"The unkown quarry is still extremely dangerous. It does not register anywhere in any database onboard, and its appearance and method of engagement is unlike anything I've ever seen."

Ares nodded. "Are you sure it isn't some pirate dreadnought? It's doubtful, but it's all I can think of."

Trotsky shook his head. "Pirates, sir? It's nearly twice the size of the Morning Star by my estimate, at least. Not to mention it took over the ship in less than three hours, and our scouts have found multiple fighter patrols. Furthermore, raiders wouldn't be all the way out here. There's no life in this system for them to leech from. It could be a hiding post, but we detected a single jump in before the assault. If this was a hideout, there would be more."

"Yet what else could it be? Why would we be attacked so far to the edge of ESF space? It doesn't make sense," Ares argued.

"I know. But... the evidence points to something else. Scout drones can't tell for certain, nor even manned patrols. What do we do?" Trotsky replied.

The question hung in the air, quietly slipping through the minds of those listening. It was evident in the shifting hooves, the twitching ears, a few cautious, speedy glances. Eyes locked for imperceptible moments. What do we do?  It was a perspiration-inducing thought. What do we do? The words came again, echoing without noise through the bridge.

What do we do?

The Captain thought for a moment. After a long, anxious wait, he finally spoke up. It was both relief and pain to hear: "The only thing we can do: take back the Morning Star."

****************************

Darkness swallowed her whole.

The empty void before whispered quietly around her body, while at the same time it crushed her with impenetrable force. She was winded by agony and showered in pure ecstasy. It was the strangest feeling she'd ever experienced... yet, somehow, it had a certain... harmony. Harmony. The word felt funny, as though it was a friend she'd known for a while that had suddenly changed personalities and found new meaning.

Harmony. Harmonyharmonyharmony. Har. Mon. Y.

She knew it wasn't, but it sounded... almost... maybe...

Like a name?

It was a question, though she wasn't certain if her mind had produced it.

A name.

Not her.

You.

Immediately she became frightened. It seemed as though a huge mass was speeding in, threating to tangle her in vines of malice and swallow her whole in some horrificly scary fashion shecouldherscreamsscreamsofagonypainhurtrunrunawayquickly

Shhhh... it's okay...

If she could feel her heart, she knew it would be racing.

Quiet now... Mommy's here...

She wasn't certain if that was supposed to be comforting or scary.

Creepy or cute.

Ugly or pretty.

Mean or nice.

Nice or mean?

Nice and mean.

Harmony.

That was the being in her mind, snuggling against her absent heart and clawing it apart.

Harmony.

That's me.

Wait, waitwaitwait. What was that "mommy" thing?

I'm your mother.

Slow the fuck up here. Her mother's name was not Harmony.

Depends how far back we're going here.

She wanted an explanation.

What's the name of that guy's mother?

Wait, who's that--wait, when did I--this doesn't even make sense--okay, so this guy that's here with... us...

You.

Me... Anyways, I don't know his mother's name. You're dodging the question.

His mother's name is Harmony.

I'm seriously not getting this. He's not... my... our... brother.

But he is. And all these people...

Names of old friends, relatives, and in fact everyone she'd ever met came flitting by.

Their mother is Har... wait. The fuck? What in the fucking fuck? You're not... what. WHAT?

I am the Alpha and Omega. The beginning, and the end. I am the mother of all of the creatures that ever have lived. My Elements once spread the words and power of peace throughout time and space. Now they are separated, pulled apart. You are a segment of Magic, the sixth Element of Harmony. You are one of my daughters. I imbued you with magical properties of reincarnation. Unlike my other creatures, who die and stay with me, you are a keeper of the realm. All six Elements together represent all of my power. In a way, you are me. You are magic, you are friendship, you are harmony. I am Magic, I am Friendship, and I am Harmony.

You might know me better, child, as Twilight Sparkle.

***************

Private Asakira awoke slowly. Sparks flickered overhead from broken wires. The fighter's cockpit was open. The display came on and off. It wasn't very constant. Behind her, a stallion breathed deeply. She turned, and there he was, unconscious. With her suit's assistance and her magic, she checked both of their vitals. Neither of them had sustained major injuries. Two casts of spells and they were fine. Good as new.

With that, she leaned back in the pilot's chair and tried to discern the strange dream she'd just had. It was quite vivid, but there was no way it could be real...

Right?

She certainly knew what--or rather, who--Harmony was. She was a mythical god-being that had lived millions of years past when ponies and the other creatures were still stuck on Equestria. Supposedly, she'd created everything that had ever been alive on Equestria. Another common name for her was "the Mother."

Asakira never really believed in all the religious bullcrap. It was just some voodoo stuff ponies probably made up way back when. If Harmony had ever existed and had ever created that Princess Celestia, then how could the solar system follow a heliocentric model? After all, Celestia supposedly raised and lowered the sun, but for millennia prior to ponies becoming spacefaring, they'd known they orbited the star, not the other way around.

She knew the dream couldn't have been real, but that still wouldn't explain why the thoughts had come to her in the first place--and why they were nagging her so in her waking hours.

Sitting up in the seat, she decided to ignore the sensation for now and began trying to wake Lokir. Prodding and shaking did little to rouse him from his rest. Not knowing where they were, Asakira did not wish to risk speaking loudly. Unfortunately, for everything she did, Lokir carried on dozing.

Asakira's attention slowly drifted back to the dream. Twilight Sparkle... that was a name she knew. Twilight Sparkle, the Supreme Empress of the ESF until she disappeared in 1.054.10 AL (1,054,100 After Launch of the first ESF starship). That was about a thousand years ago. No one ever figured out what happened to her, but she had left behind plans for a government to take her stead if she was ever assassinated or somehow deposed. Asakira remembered hearing about how the Elements of Harmony were once a potent magical weapon, powered by the individual magic of specially selected ponies. Supposedly, all of the Elements aside from Sparkle had died on Equestria and never resurfaced in other forms. Thus, the Elements were dead relics, and at that moment they were probably sitting in some museum.

It was strange to the Marine; after all, she'd never really thought about those ancient times with any sort of intent. Personally, Asakira minded her own business and tried to stay out of the way of anything big or spiritually involving like that.

Despite even this, Asakira had also felt two other... presences in the dream, aside from the Mother and herself. The being had seemed to relate the three of them as sisters. They'd even responded to the Mother's words together. When they came into the vision, it felt like her mind had melded with theirs, and they shared their experiences.

As Asakira tried to recall those experiences, a sharp pain jabbed through her chest. She made a sort of heavy noise that she stopped from becoming a scream.

A hoof touched her shoulder.

"You okay?"  a slurred and sleepy voice came from Lokir.

"I-I think so. Are you?" Asakira replied cautiously. She wasn't sure what had just come over her.

Lokir rubbed his eyes. "Yeah... yeah, I'm all good. Ugh... Where are we?"

Asakira looked around into the dark corridor before her. It was empty and black from what she could see, which wasn't much.

"We're definitely back on the Morning Star, probably somewhere between the bridge and the main gun, but hell if I know," Asakira whispered.

Lokir was quiet for a moment. "I'll check my armor's map," he said quietly.

Asakira waited patiently. The air was chilled and stale. Suddenly, she remembered the tracking device.

"Lokir, the tracker!"

"Oh shit, you're right--wait. If it was still functioning, wouldn't they have found us by now?" he asked.

Asakira nodded, saying, "Yeah, I guess so. Still, we might want to be careful."

"Agreed," Lokir said. He pushed himself out of the chair and started to climb down. It would be impossible for him to leave the cramped space without her going first, so Asakira stepped out into the hallway, sliding off of the fighter's nose with a light clang. Lokir hopped down beside her.

"Ready?" Lokir asked.

Asakira sucked in a breath. "As I'll ever be."

"Then we're off!"

The whole thing had almost started to become an adventure for Lokir, as he took the lead. If the entire situation wasn't so horrible, the unicorn might have enjoyed it too.

The earth pony was walking straight through the lights in the center of the hallway, and from a glance at her own map, Asakira knew they were heading back to his hideout. She prefered to stay in the shadows during their journey. It was a prayer that they'd save her like they always had.

******************

Masara's eyes flicked open.

Her back was against a bulkhead in some dark corridor. The smell of blood was around her.

The Marine lifted her head up and glanced around. There were silhoutted shapes on the deck before Masara, and it only took her a moment to discern what they were.

Bodies.

The thought came to her passively. It offered no further explanation of itself--only that it was there. Masara wondered which souls had once been inside those corpses, and if she knew any of them.

The dream-voice lingered in her head. It was a strange vision, definitely. Twilight Sparkle...

Masara was never one for superstition, but it almost made her think something was about to happen. Something... important. Well, things had already started to happen--but the feeling was... different than the one she had before the battle had occurred. It was less of the blood-boiling rage and more of a happiness amidst sorrow.

The Marine had difficulty with emotions.

Typically, she felt one of three things--apathy, anger, or compassion. Apathy for when she wasn't killing something, anger when she was, and compassion for the ponies in her command. The new things stirring within Masara were confusing. She couldn't quite grasp what they were.

Resigning herself to think about them when she was safer, Masara picked herself up and turned on her armor's computer. It flickered into action, though the system was clearly damaged. Some of the readings were marked NOT AVAILABLE or otherwise corrupted. Masara set the computer's priority to vital sign detection, magical amplification, and navigation. She shut down the rest of the processes, aside from her communications module.

Time to get a move on, she thought to herself.

The map of the Morning Star that was built into the suit indicated that she was near the lower hangars. Masara expected those to be infested with the mysterious enemy, so she marked out a course that would lead her to the bridge. That would also be dangerous, but it would probably give her a better idea of what was going on.

Masara turned on her flashlight and sped to a trot, looking for an entrance to a maintenance passage. Avoiding big thoroughfares would probably keep her hidden.

There was one right off the side of the hall, and she ducked in. The path wound its way around the core of the ship for a solid half kilometer.

Midway through her ascent around the reactor area, Masara heard a high-pitched buzzing noise. She glanced around, looking for the source.

Turning around, the Marine found it. A small drone floated on a single rotor, with a central eye that seemed bluish. When it saw her, the eye turned red, and it emitted a beep.

Masara cocked an eyebrow at the thing. It couldn't see through her visor, of course, but she was suspicious.

It beeped again.

Suddenly, from an air duct, at least twenty more of the machines came zipping out.

"That can't be good."

Masara turned and took off up the incline, racing to get around the corners where the machines couldn't see her. They pursued her through the compact passageway, several smacking into the walls because they couldn't turn in time.

The path straightened out, and Masara saw running lights ahead. She forced herself to go faster--

--and immediately started to slow when she saw the elevator shaft in front of her.

"Shit!"

The drones were almost on top of her. Masara flipped and shot out a magical grenade. Only a moment later did she realize the folly of her act. The close quarters would probably send her flying into the lift shaft. Time seemed to slow as the mid-leap Masara tried to hopelessly dodge, unable to do anything but wait for the inevitable--

Boom.

**************

Open Sky sat up huffing and puffing in the bunk.

That was one hell of a dream, she thought.

The Element of Harmony herself, come to visit in the night? Maybe she was going crazy. That would explain a lot. Heck, sitting in a mental ward was probably better than her current situation. She was on a ship that couldn't jump thanks to the massive titan that blockaded her exit from Equus' gravity well. The flotilla of the capital ship she had once lived on was now planning some kind of assault to take back the Morning Star and use it to destroy the enemy.

It wasn't a great situation. And now she was feeling compelled to go on some stupid quest to get back the "Elements of Harmony" or some shit.

Being crazy would definitely be better.

She tried to go to sleep again, but the whole room was snoring up a storm. The Marines were not quiet sleepers. Open Sky wished she could have just stayed with fellow pilots. They were at least decent on the hygene part.

With that, the Lieutenant started to think about the dream. That fact alone was worth noting. Most of the time, she couldn't remember dreaming at all at night.

Open Sky was a fairly spiritual person. Sure, she never prayed at any shrines or anything, but in her times exploring the galaxy the ESF called home, Open Sky came to the conclusion there had to be something else bigger than her. She often thought about life's "big questions" in her spare time. However, this was something else. The dream had seemed almost real. It was quite strange indeed.

Could it have actually been Twilight Sparkle contacting her from... wherever she was? It didn't seem possible. Open Sky had learned to trust her gut, though, and it was telling her that the dream was no dream at all.

At that point, she was feeling tired again, so Open Sky drifted off to sleep.