• Published 21st Dec 2012
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Forgiveness Pending - Kiroberos



Moon Mender's adventure continues right where left off. He jumps at the chance for a new life, but will his old one truly leave him in peace? Some things are better off forgotten.

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Ending 1

It's really difficult to grasp exactly how large space is. The easiest way to fully understand it was actually through the opposite, by realizing exactly how small you were. Slowly, I stepped out of the distortion, feeling reality 'roll' me out into this place and my hooves finding purchase on the rock beneath me. And all around me, really. Some were the size of a car, and other floating chunks were as big as moons. Reality was slightly tinted now, my eyes covered in the crystal lenses that folded seamlessly out of my skin. My dermal layer made me immune to the effects of atmospheric differences up to a few thousand atmospheres anyway, so as long as I didn't fall into a black hole... or turn into a black hole... I should be fine.

I'd been here before, of course. This was the same spot we'd entered into the last time Rainbow and I had skipped through dimensions. The long cold, broken remains of ship parts drifted around me as well, evidence that the Grosh hadn't bothered returning for the wreckage of their fallen comrade. It only added to the miasma of debris that was in the localized space, thin atmosphere still present causing an eerie effect of being able to hear faint echoing sounds in the otherwise silence. Heavily muted, given that it was probably dozens of tons of rock crashing into each other somewhere in this mess. Given a few million years or so, assuming our star didn't go supernova or something otherwise drastic, this would probably be a planet again. Gravity had a way of attracting things together like that. It didn't bring the inhabitants back, of course, but they were in a better place now. Marginally. Well, about a third of them, anyway. I didn't think the afterlife was quite as clear cut here as it was in Equus.

Keela's ship rested amongst the debris. This was as close as I'd gotten to her since leaving this dimension, I suddenly realized. I looked the ship over, noting it was heavily repaired since it was attacked by the Grosh. The missing wing had been simply welded over, converting the usual 'C' shape of the mining vessel to more of a banana shape instead. It would have to do, though. It didn't comfort me in the slightest to see the rudimentary missile pods and lasers strapped to it either.

Instead, I looked out through the debris. My eyes zoomed in, telescopic lenses rotating into place as I magnified several hundred times across the open space. My stomach felt cold as I saw them. It was a full preliminary invasion force. I counted three main siege ships, about four times larger than the science vessel Rainbow and I had taken out. That put them at about eight kilometers long, and about one wide. They were armed to the teeth with standard armaments, and each carried two planet buster particle cannons. Worse yet, there was a flagship present. It was easily twelve kilometers long, and two wide. Three times the firepower and probably just as impressive shielding and armor. Accompanying the four giants were around two hundred support vessels, varying in size between a kilometer long to the seven meters or so. This wasn't going to be easy. Thankfully, I already assumed it wouldn't be and prepared accordingly.

Keela flicked onto my display on the right side, picture absurdly crystal clear. She looked tense, which was understandable, but gave me a nod and weak smile. "Seeing you right here is... There are a lot of emotions running through me right now..." she admitted, sighing a little.

I smirked to her and nodded. "Don't worry. We can talk face to face once you're safely in Equus and we've kicked their flanks all over space..." I assured, 'looking' right at her. She relaxed a little, then smirked back, which was exactly what I was trying for. If I was stuck being a 'leader' here, I had to at least appear confident. I was confident, but clear-headed. That familiar cold sensation had already set in, making everything seem crisp and focused. Emotions lessened, and my head got very active as I embraced the sensations. Thinking during combat, especially when I was also the tactician, was a must.

The amused snort over short feed communications to my right alerted me that they'd also made it through. Rainbow walked up next to me, wearing a coy grin as she looked out right at the target fleet instead. "Psh, ha! Seriously? That's all they brought?! I was expecting three times that number. We'll have this wrapped up before supper!" she chirped, snickering afterwards. Not that I really needed to act confident when I was entirely overshadowed by my companions anyway. But they were way more used to the spotlight than I, so they were welcome to it.

All six of them were in emergency harnesses similar to mine, the leather bands wrapping over their backs to secure the air tanks, then down and around their stomach to lock together. There were a half a dozen extra straps, however, including one that slid back behind their rumps and under them there, and another two that went around their shoulders, one going under their forelegs along their chests, and the other forming a sort of collar around their necks. Once padded, I’m told the harness of sorts formed the bases for what a construction pony wore for protection, and what the guard’s armor locked onto as a support frame. Theirs was just the strappings, however, for it was lined with strands of silver that the Ether flowed through, supplying energy for the enchantment covering them in a thin layer of pressure-resisting barrier energy. All of it was supplied by the heavy crystals on their chest, also enchanted with an emergency teleportation spell, just in case. I was proud of throwing all that together on such short notice!

"Rarity?" I asked, but she gave me a smooth nod before I could even continue my train of thoughts.

"Feed back to Equestria is loud and clear, it says. Further, our 'selfie' cams are working properly. That's such a cute name, by the way! I don't imagine you came up with it yourself, did you?" she reported, smirking after as I gave her an annoyed look back.

Applejack snickered, causing her smirk to instantly falter into a glare as well, aimed at the orange mare. She shot a wink back to the unicorn in return, then reminded, "Mender can be plenty cute when he wants ta be. Ah admit, when he's serious-like, Ah doubt he'd have come up with tha name, so yer probably right. But Ah know ya know about that cute bit..." Oh hell. Nope, changed my mind. Didn't care. Shoot me now.

That left both Rarity and me blushing furiously, but Fluttershy just giggled as she caught up with me, Pinkie doing long, slow hops next to her in the 'almost' zero gravity. I nodded to all of them, just as Twi brought up the rear, wings flicking lightly as she looked over the glowing display that floated after her. Rarity had control points floating all around us in her own custom system, of course, controlled by her ribbon effect. Some acted as cameras for the ponies back in Equestria, while the others displayed small holographic information panels on barrier surfaces. Same tech my orb system worked on, and it was all networked into me.

"I'm seeing several larger chunks that are suitable for our needs, as well as several hundred smaller pieces, also useful," Twilight reported, straight to business as I'd expected. My cheeks calmed down and I gave her a nod, looking out and around at the bits of planet around us. Useful indeed.

Nodding, I inquired, "And how's thing's Equus-side?" Rarity gave me a pleased, toothy smile and nod a moment later, after checking her own data screens. It had been fairly simple yesterday to use their already existing nanites to install small 'display' upgrades in their eyes. Now they could get computer projections like I could, all linked through my computer systems.

"Connection loud and clear. Patching us through to Cadance," she reported, yet another window opening in my vision. I looked to it, immediately spotting Cadance in the image, mid-shout.

"No, move the first aid supplies over there! I want easy access for all of the doctors and nurses, just in case!" she shouted, then perked as she spotted the orb drifting around her.

Twilight grinned to her, and she winked back before assuring, "I know it's on your checklist, Dear, but everything is running smoothly here. We have Equus' best assistant on the case, remember?"

Spike, who was all of three meters from her, wasn't quite out of earshot and blushed, smirking back in her direction. "Of course! Just double checked, and all readings from the generator are nominal. I'll report any strange readings immediately! All of the three hundred guard stations are also online and displaying ready status!" he assured, gesturing to the large display in front of him that was hooked into the main systems. Cadance was in charge of the staff directly tending to the guards, as well as all the medical staff that was there. Spike, meanwhile, was in direct contact with Twilight and keeping a close eye on the magical and technological equipment in Equus for us. Given his vast experience with being Twilight's number one assistant, there was literally nopony more qualified.

The lavender alicorn gave a relaxed sigh, then nodded to the dragon. "I'm glad. Keep an eye on things and page me immediately if there are any abnormalities. And good work, Cadance. We're counting on you to keep everything in order there..." she confirmed, smiling more softly again.

The Princess of Love snickered, then gave a hoof motion and exhale towards Twi, who nodded and repeated it, visibly calming down. Cadance gave a nod in return finally after, then assured, "I'm on it. I've got to go check on the engineering team to make sure they're ready for the activation then. Once things start, I'll be right here with Spike, don't worry."

I nodded to her, smiling as well as the screen flicked off again with a little static, then blip noise. There were several beeps after that, and our Keldarian ally on this end gave an annoyed growl. Raising my eyebrow to her through the viewscreen again, she noticed my attention and nodded. If it was what I figured it would be...

Keela sighed, then warned, "We're being hailed. I'm patching it through..." Of course. If we could see them...

"You're kidding. You're kidding, right?" Nirru asked, sounding a mixture of surprised and amused over the intercom. She then continued with, "The deal was that they go onto the vessel, Sister. That's the only way I'm sparing them. Not that I really care that much about seven tiny ponies out on the rocks in space, but it was indeed part of my very reasonable and remarkably charitable-" Ugh. That offer to shoot me still stood.

"Oh, shut up," I finally interrupted, giving an annoyed stare in the direction of the ship, then added, "I think you just like to hear the sound of your own voice. Nopony here cares about anything you have to offer, unless it's a surrender. You have one... single... chance. Turn around now. You can't log out this time."

Her image on the data display as it finally patched through was priceless, expression shifting from smug to outright surprised. Then there was a flicker of hesitation in her eyes before they narrowed. She didn't look so great actually, now that I looked her over more in the camera shot Keela’s magic offered. She had a deep gash that looked barely patched shut running into the collar of her space suit, and multiple scars across her neck and face. The lines were jagged, definitely not made by anything all that sharp, and I immediately guessed shrapnel. Guess her pick-up by her 'saviors' hadn't been as gentle as she'd anticipated.

"You little bastard. You're taking my offer and just throwing it away, huh? I guess your ego isn't going to let you just step aside," she spat out, hitting a few keys on her dash. The ships started moving into position, and I nodded once. Twilight's eyes softened slightly at the sign, and I saw the energy shift in her horn ever so slightly. The data panel lit up, and I felt the massive energy engines that were constructed just on the other side of reality hum to life. Thanks, Dad. I'll blow up a Grosh warship for you.

Keela glared at her at that. "I was wrong, Sister. There's nothing good in you left at all, is there? This isn't ego. Compassion, honor, and duty are all I see. They're willing to stand against you to protect their loved ones, which is something you can't even understand, can you? And they're right..." she declared. I smirked, and Nirru's eyes widened as Keela stood up in her display, the camera panning back to catch all of her as she stepped back from the console.

Her controls folded away, data displays shifting purely holographic as they expanded around her from multiple floating orbs. The lights in the command center dimmed entirely, then shifted red as the entire vessel went into battle mode, weapons activating over the entire thing as her crew turned and faced their stations all around her. Her outfit was finally revealed, and I was surprised she'd brought one with her.

Segmented plates covered her vital areas, with skin-tight synthetic rubber underneath covering her whole body. Blue lines, glowing with fiery energy, ran the full length of the armor. An Amplification Battle Armor. Keldarians invented it a half a dozen years ago in order to magnify their natural spellcasting abilities. They were rare, though, due to the expensive materials that formed the magnification lines. She'd found two in the supplies they'd acquired when they first appropriated the mining vessel. We found no trace of them in the logs of the ship, and still had no idea what they were even doing there. Tym stood in the background wearing the second one, which scared me just about as much. He was disgustingly powerful, but sometimes I forget that Keela was a full council member, which actually put her magic abilities a rank above his.

"You're... going to fight me, too, Sister?" Nirru asked, frowning in the display, a look of momentary sadness almost rapidly passing through her expression. Keela's scans finally came through, showing her as indeed the only living entity on the entire flagship. The other three siege ships had three Grosh each, which was standard. They didn't like sacrificing their own, so most of their vessel designs were heavily automated. Their life support was also immensely expensive, logistically, to maintain, so it made sense.

Keela shook her head slowly, her suit flaring up with energy. I was surprised Nirru hadn't noticed the lines were already glowing, which would have indicated that her sister had been using her magic already the entire time. "No, Sister. You're going to leave, surrender, or we're going to destroy you. I cannot forgive you this time, and I'm not going to lie to myself any longer..." she muttered, swallowing weakly and blinking away the water forming in her eyes before glaring upwards again. Her hand moved.

"Fire," Nirru growled, on edge already apparently. Space lit up in the direction of the enemy fleet. Seven intense beams of energy streaked across the distance in less than a hundredth of a second, shattering through the mining vessel in multiple places and almost blowing it in half. Parts of it exploded violently, ripping apart and sending bits of debris into space. Nirru frowned, but I just turned and looked back to the enemy fleet instead, not all that surprised. She was willing to attempt to kill her sister to achieve her goals. That told me all I needed to know.

"It's too late, Sister," Keela warned calmly. The almost destroyed mining vessel warped and faded away in a distortion of light, eight copies of it warping back into place randomly in the five kilometer radius of space we were guarding. She'd never been there to begin with, and her magic was strong enough to fool organic and electronic senses alike.

Nirru snorted at that, shaking her head before finally shooting back with, "It doesn't matter. Your illusion and clairvoyance magic isn't going to win this fight. And seven ponies aren't going to be enough to-"

"Not just seven," I assured, then gave another nod. We'd stalled long enough now. The rocks were fully tagged and the engine was charged entirely. Further, we had two full charges of magic ready now, and the plan was set. Time to trigger it and take full advantage of her blinding overconfidence.

Keela's magic had been in effect the entire time. The spell was maintained over the entire area, and she manipulated the senses everywhere within. The rocks were already warping around us as my master enchantment fired off. The echoing creaks and groans shattered the peace of space, absurdly loud even through the thin, almost non-existent atmosphere around us. My eyes widened, feeling the energy surge through me from our Ether Engine back in Equus. My magic flooded out in all directions, warping the fabric of the rocks nearby in my already pre-determined pattern. All I needed to do was channel it.

For a moment, I knew what Twilight felt like for most of her life. An ocean of magic passed through me, directed by my pattern and spell. For that brief moment, my blue and silver energy cascaded outwards like a small sun on the surface of the rock we were on. Except it wasn't a rock anymore. I tore the mineral deposits from the very chunks of planet around us. Stepping forward, my hooves made clanging noises on metal suddenly, a full sized command center forming around me out of the rocks. It came together blindingly fast, etched from the pattern and flowing like water until it solidified. Impossibly huge, I directed five pieces of the actual continental shelf under us to break apart, drawing in literally billions of kilograms of matter. It was beyond intense, and I gritted my teeth as it flowed through me with the force of a waterfall from space.

All of my training aided in simply letting it slide through me, and a bead of blood still slid from my nose, spikes of pain shooting through my skull. The blueprints were all ready to go in the mechanical parts of my mind. Metal, mechanics, instruments, generators... A mixture of technology and magic to form the universe's first hybrid space vessel, all in about twenty seconds. My eyes opened again, wafting energy radiating off my body as I stood in the fully formed command center of our flagship. Six kilometers long, and one and a half wide, we fit the mass specifications of a 'dreadnought' class warship, the second largest classification of space vessels the Keldarians had.

"Rest, Mender. We have it from here..." Twilight assured, stepping past me. Inside the vessel, Keela's illusion had been dropped, and I smirked as I saw her literally radiating with lavender and darker red energy, her eyes two beacons of light. Her horn was expanded from her head by my enchantment, and I counted over seventy increments as it split itself eight times, branching off her horn like a single, exotic antler instead. Magnification. I'd taken her enchantment concept from Sweetie's design, and ran with it. Twilight's was unbound, causing branching 'horns' the more energy she channeled, and magnifying her natural energy levels by a factor of five. It scared the hell out of me, and I was rather glad she was on our side.

Dash grinned from her spot in the back and nodded. "Oh yeah! Engines, on!" she announced. I 'felt' the back part of the ship light up, looking like six large 'wings' expanding backwards, and based off Rainbow's own enchantment. She was in full control over it, and it was wired right into our main engine clusters. She controlled our speed completely.

"S-Stabilization, on!" Fluttershy added, giving a nod and a surprisingly focused look as her wings lit up as well, expanding ten fold off her back in lines of energy. She stood slightly in front of Rainbow, behind me still, and the cyan mare grinned at her as she activated her enchantment. The two massive stabilization planes to either side of our ship lit up, radiating energy from the thrusters that were spread out along them. This vessel had easily twenty times the maneuverability of its weight class, and Fluttershy was in direct control of our movements, synced to Rainbow's reaction speed.

Rarity smirked to my right, swishing her mane once to the side before declaring, "Subsystem and Ribbon Array, on." Thousands of spires activated and detached across our hull, floating free as hundreds of screens appeared around her. Her horn lit up, thousands of lines of energy expanding off it instead in a completely different enchantment than Twilight's. Multitasking and precision control, and every single spire reacted to her magic around our entire vessel. Of course, each spire also had a micromissile system and laser array for attacking purposes. Our main guns couldn't be expected to handle swarms of smaller craft accurately, after all.

"Heee, main shields, so totally on!" Pinkie chipped in, hopping in place to my left inside of a sphere of energy. A spring platform sat in the center of the sphere where she stood, and four disks activated along the surface of the bubble, tracking the location of her hooves at all times. She grinned and did a rapid, effortless flip, causing our projection shields to expand around the vessel at the same time, the four concentrated Aegis Barriers following her hoof movements along the outside of our ship. Her own senses were hooked directly into the computer's as well, and it was already tested. Her Pinkie Sense worked at whatever range she experienced things at. This also scared me.

I nodded, standing up straight again and wiping my nose off. "Data center and tactical overlay, on," I announced, my processing cores all activating at once, including the one I'd replaced to make up for the petrified one I'd lost. Sensor arrays activated across the entire ship, and I took over management of all of the electronic and computer systems therein. Maps opened up in front of me, and I nodded, just as we burst forward out of the illusion. To finalize it, I called out, "Royal Equestrian Spaceforce, RES Celestia reporting for duty." Tia had been saddened by the name, insisting that naming a mountain after her was already overkill, but Shining refused to listen. Heh.

Nirru's eyes widened as a massive dreadnought with thirty times the speed and twenty times the maneuverability of the norm shot forward into space, seemingly out of ‘nothingness’, thanks to Keela’s illusion magic. No, she wouldn't even get time to react. "Applejack!" I called out.

The orange mare was already at her station in front of us all, smirking. "Main batteries, on!" she declared. A hundred rail cannons folded out of our hull, her forelegs raising and causing them all to extend as her armor folded over her body. The harness activated, and I gave her the data stream of all of the rocks around the enemy fleet.

"Openin’ fire," she announced, eyes flashing green for a moment. Faster than any targeting computer could manage, she 'felt' out each and every rock I'd selected. They were locked onto in half a second, and every single cannon fired at once. A hundred bright red apples sailed off into space, each moving at about fifty thousand meters a second, give or take.

Even at that immense speed, it still took about four seconds for the barrage to reach the enemy fleet. "Apples?" Nirru managed to ask skeptically, a second before the now glowing fruit collided with the rocks and debris around them. "Shi-" she added, but it was drown out as the entire area lit up in massive explosions, undoubtedly erasing that skeptical look entirely, much to my satisfaction. Of course, the apples had been accelerated through about ten of my barriers on their way out of the cannons, which effectively put the energy they contained equal to about three hundred times what we were using in the tests earlier. The only thing that prevented them from exploding instantly was the sheer acceleration they'd been hit with before going through the barriers.

"Now!" I shouted. Fluttershy gave a shout, whipping her wings downwards in an instant, just as Rainbow almost screamed as her own wings flared with energy. Then, for the first time ever, a six kilometer long dreadnought pulled a ninety degree 'backflip', blasting in reverse as hard as it could manage. Twilight smiled, her magic releasing the two hundred kilometer wide chunk of planet we'd been hauling, it passing under us at almost forty thousand meters a second. We rotated, and the lavender alicorn stepped into her station just in front of me.

"Ether Furnace Main Cannon, on!" Twilight shouted, her horn radiating out light as it split momentarily into hundreds of branches. Damn.

The entire bow of our ship opened up, just as we completed our 'flip'. A massive lock targeted the chunk of planet as it sailed right into the enemy fleet, and Twilight let out a loud bellow at the top of her lungs, her magic momentarily washing out my sight of the cabin around us.

It all flooded right down the main barrel, twisted into as tight a corkscrew as she could manage. The beam of pure Ether still expanded out to almost a kilometer wide, tearing out of the front of the ship like a vast solar flare. There was no registered passage of time before it struck the chunk of planet in front of us, the explosion of energy ruptured across the mantle of the plate, and it fragmented, shattering into thousands of superheated chunks that blasted across the entire enemy fleet like a shotgun from Tartarus. My sensors were disrupted from the levels of heat and debris, and I nodded.

"Move in for the kill from the right flank," I ordered. No mercy or hesitation now. I closed my eyes, feeling inside of myself at the same time. Smiling, I felt them, billions of eyes all opening at once at the same time as mine did again, feeling the stirring all around me.

Twilight nodded, turning back and focusing on recharging the Ether Core while Fluttershy and Rainbow shot us around to the side, bits of burning planet fragments skipping off our shields as we moved... I sighed, and then swallowed before bracing myself.

"Malice, awaken..." I finally announced.

It was simple, really. We were surrounded by billions of kilograms of matter. We ultimately needed more than one ship to defend this large of an area. Ships needed pilots and crew. Solution!

They formed ten at a time, less than two seconds per 'ship'. A base structure of my enchantment carried to a suitably sized rock by a few dozen Malice spirits. They pushed my magic into the rock, my awareness traveling with them all the way back to where we first entered. I could see through their eyes, which was a bit strange at first, just like when we tested this back in Equus. Together, they controlled the transmutation and animated the mechanisms. The crystal warped into its core a moment later, and the clear glass at the top lit up, the image of one of the three hundred guards back home.

One by one, they powered up, mechanized ponies made out of bits of planet, each about seven meters tall, and piloted by a guard. Shields and lances formed, carried to each side of their shoulders, both enhanced with Aegis Barriers. The jets were the last to form, and I saw hundreds of trails light up behind us, spreading out over the entire area, then forming a massive Aegis Barrier all interlinked between the points on their shields like a great net. Well, a great net with sharp and pointy things sticking out everywhere, that were actually a combination of lance and cannon. Pony training was amazing fighting in phalanx, I'd discovered.

"New technique, Aegis Net established," Twilight confirmed, looking over her data panel before looking back at me. Perfect.

Nodding to her, I ordered, "Surprise advantage is ours. Move in for the kill, ponies!" No hesitation. Fluttershy whipped her wings to the side, and Rainbow flared hers with energy behind her. We were gone in an instant, rocketing through space and far to the right of the panicked enemy vessels. Shots were being fired almost randomly through the debris, which was actually doing an amazing job at making it worse, given they were hitting and exploding more of the chunks of planet, and incandescent plasma was drifting everywhere now. Of course, it was also making it kind of hard for us to get target acquisitions, but that didn't really matter.

"Twilight?" I asked, checking my system displays.

"Twenty seconds," she reported back, and I nodded. No time, then.

"Applejack, can you feel them?" I asked instead. Several stray beams flew in while we skidded to the right, and I could have sworn I heard 'twitchy twitch' before three Aegis clusters whipped around and parried them.

I saw her focus for a moment, then smirk. "Lively little buggers. Ah can see 'em clear as day with all tha movements they're doin'," she murmured, which was ironic given her eyes were closed. Not that she needed them to ‘see’ her targets, given that they were made out of metal in a complete void. A highly pure grade of metal, which apparently a skilled Earth Pony hooked up to a magical empathy amplifier could ‘feel’ instead.

"Open fire, full barrage," I returned, flicking my display over to scans instead.

The image feed showed Big Mac grin, then give a shove to the trough feed in Equus. Thousands of apples flooded down the troughs and right into the portal, my displays suddenly picking up on six thousand two hundred and fifty-three 'ammunition' quantities loaded into us.

She got the green light and grinned, her magic feeling them out as the cannons opened fire. Each of them targeted individually with brutal precision, as she 'harvested' the enemy fleet with her magic. Apples sailed in-between rocks and timed to arc around minor gravity flows, each smashing almost dead on with their targets. The entire area in front of us suddenly was ablaze in burning orange orbs of flame. A few dozen ships shot through the fire, of course, flying towards us fast. Some were hit, but most of the second wave of apples missed due to evasive maneuvers.

"Rarity, you're up. Applejack, switch to the frigates!" I ordered quickly. Rarity's horn lit up just as the fighters swarmed in...

Most of them didn't swarm out. Spikes of crystal came alive like a thousand swords floating around our massive vessel, even as we charged through the cloud of fighters at thirty thousand meters per second. Her ribbons came alive, and her precision was absurd as she sliced and cut, ground and ripped. Some were cut in half entirely. More lost wings and thirds of their vessel. Every single one of them exploded violently when hit, leaving single digits left to the swarm as we carried through.

"Twilight!" I called out, just as Fluttershy gave a sharp left and spun us away from one of the large planet bits. Pinkie was a blur, shields bouncing around the front of the vessel and parrying bits of rock as we shot into the cloud.

"Ninety-eight percent!" she shouted back, her entire body burning with lavender energy as it flicked off the massive crystal orb in front of her. Almost! The third volley from our batteries fired, this time centered in clusters on the larger of the support ships as they turned to try to position guns on us. Flames lit up space in large orbs as dozens of them shattered away, and I heard a chorus of squeaky screams over the intercom from the first Grosh siege ship as they suddenly realized we were literally right there, practically within ramming distance.

Missiles fired from the massive ship as we tore through their support like leaves to a shredder. As predicted, they opened up with every port they had, thousands of missiles flying free into space and homing in on us. I smiled. Right into the trap...

"Flak," I ordered rather easily. Hundreds of pointed blades zipped around to the front of our ship as we sailed in, not slowing down even slightly. The missiles clustered in to get at our smaller vessel, and Rarity fired. Their barrage of missiles was met with thousands of shards of flickering energy, cascading like snow through space. Every one of her spires was capable of firing off a cluster of raw Ether shards for anti-missile protection. The waves of explosions removed all visibility in a heartbeat, washing away both visual and thermal sensors in a sea of fire.

Fluttershy had her cue already rehearsed. She gave a surprisingly loud shout, at least for her, and whipped to the side, and we dipped into a barrel roll under the wave of flames. They didn't track us. Their bottom defenses didn't even come online by the time we shifted under them. At the speed we had been moving, any other ship in our size class would have been limited to just plowing through the flames. "Fire," I ordered, and Twilight smirked.

My scans showed the inside of the ship through already established information. We had lined up with their formation perfectly with that roll, though, and I directed the angle upwards. We whipped out of our spin under them, the front of our bow already open and burning with energy. The lance of power ripped through space, smashing hard into the underside of the ship and punching right up through the space that I knew their main coil generator was located at. Being less dense than normal to account for the heat sinks, our main cannon ripped through it like wet tissue paper, punching straight out the other side of their ship at an angle upwards. They all screamed, and the entire center of the ship suddenly erupted into flames and shattering metal.

The beam kept going, shattering into the other area of their formation and blowing right into the side of siege ship two, tearing into the exposed coil generator on the side that powered the left planet buster. The explosion was massive, rocking the entire ship to the side as it lurched, catering through several more parts of planet before hitting the third siege ship. The impact was immense, and another huge explosion rocked out from between them as the second siege ship shattered the coil generator on its other side as well, blowing the bottom out of the third ship.

We shot past the first one in a heartbeat, Dash opening us up again to full speed. It exploded behind us, tearing itself into three pieces as it disintegrated under the heat of its own generator output going nova. Thirty seconds on the clock, one siege ship down, one incapacitated, and another reeling. Every support ship connected to the first siege ship had also disabled, as anticipated. We were ahead of schedule!

Nirru knew we were behind her at this point. "You little bastards!" she screamed out, now seething with rage as she tried to rotate the flagship. We outclassed it about fifty times in speed, however, and our two pegasi worked in tandem, dropping us beneath the range of the upper guns and under the cluster of forces now above us. The bottom cannons opened fire, of course, but Pinkie was already moving before we even turned. Shields parried the five beams, instead sending them lancing across the scrambling support ships.

"Charging?" Twilight asked, but I shook my head this time.

"No time. Keep the second shot in reserve and power the batteries instead. Full cannon support," I ordered, just as we whipped under the two struggling siege ships as they tried to disengage from each other's hulls without destroying the third ship's planet busters. Heh.

"Ah see tha soft spots!" Applejack murmured, looking up as all the batteries followed her gaze. I smirked.

Pinkie giggled gleefully, flipping onto her front hooves as her two back ones parried another three beams. "Oooh, tickle their tummies, AJ!" she called out. I nodded to that, trying not to laugh.

The cannons opened up again, this time the apples leaving burning streaks through space as Twilight flooded our attack systems with more power. Something was being screamed from the second siege vessel, my translator activating through Keela's relay with it. The Grosh native tongue was translated a moment later, coming up as, "You said the small equines were defenseless, feline whore!" Okay, I laughed.

My eyes widened a moment later as the third ship did something mildly unexpected. It rotated instead. The cloud of apples that were incoming instead had the entire second ship 'flung' sideways into them. Dozens scored across the bottom of the second ship, blowing bits of paneling away and tearing off most of the lower armor, but none of them struck true to actually hit the generator as the ship rotated. Over half of them instead crashed into the badly damaged side, exploding mostly harmlessly off the ablative surfaces. Tch.

"Evasive maneuvers, roll and get some distance. Twilight, start charging again," I ordered. No, save the other shot... charge again. Plus, our cannon probably couldn't survive the stored shot. At the angle of their rotation, we could dodge their ship, but that would bring us into line with their upper guns, which would hurt. No, better to go into the range of their smaller front bottom guns and get some distance.

"Wait!" Applejack shouted, then called out, "One more burst under, everypony! Big Mac, load it!" Wait, what? Load what?

Rainbow grinned, and suddenly I got a really bad feeling about this. But no, I trusted them, so I nodded and we lurched forward, rolling and flipping under the rotating ship again. Big Mac looked surprised on the viewscreen and swallowed uncomfortably, which really made me nervous, but then he tossed a single apple down the chutes a second later. I frowned, having never seen an apple like that before at all. It was surprisingly... colorful.

"Load it, Twilight, an' charge just that cannon!" Applejack ordered, taking aim as we spun out under them and they opened fire with missiles instead.

The alicorn flared with magic, radiating out power that shot right into only one cannon, smack in the middle of our upper deck. Applejack cried out, aiming as her eyes almost glowed with her magic, and the cannon roared to life, firing the apple at almost six times normal speed. Despite being well within the energy levels of the coils, the cannon literally tore itself apart as it fired. Uh... What... What had we just launched?

The energy radiated out of the apple as it passed by the swarm of missiles as if they were standing still. They exploded in a long trail following the shot, and my eyes widened at the sheer level of energy put out by the fruit. "Full shields! Evade!" I shouted, Applejack squeaking as we rocked to the side and Pinkie landed on her back, slamming all four hooves together towards the departing apple's direction.

There was no traditional explosion. Instead, it almost looked like space 'distorted' for a moment in a huge wave away from the ship. The missiles all exploded instantly, and for a brief second, everything was still. Then the single apple hit the underside of the ship's hull, briefly registering an impact of around a hundred petajoules, hitting with pure kinetic damage as it shattered out into the armor. The shockwave exploded outwards, blasting across our shields in a massive wave of debris and kinetic energy in a fraction of a second.

My eyes widened as it didn't stop. The siege ship's armor folded away, almost as if it was just dust being blown by a stiff breeze. It kept going, and going, until I saw clear space on the other side, the ship bending as the shockwave and blast tore it into two halves. Bits of ship drifted for just a moment in a miasma of damage as it buckled to the side from the impact. The clean tear was replaced by fire a second later, and more screaming as the ship suddenly exploded violently. Well hell, we didn't really have to bother targeting the weak spot with that thing!

"That woulda made such ah nice pie," Applejack lamented, and I raised my eyebrow over at her skeptically. She just winked at me, though, and suddenly I was terrified. Whatever that apple was, ponies ate it?! They put that inside of their bodies?!

I didn't have time to ask, sadly. "Damn it!" Nirru shouted out, blasting all three primary engines off from the back of her flagship. Ah! Instead of attacking us as I thought she would, she instead made a break right for the portal zone with the entire flagship. Okay, so that attack might have been a little too intimidating.

"Tch, after her!" I called out, causing Fluttershy to flip us right-side up, and Dash opened us up again. We were faster than her for the first six seconds of her acceleration, I knew, and we reached top speed in ten seconds instead.

My vision expanded out, aware of hundreds of different perspectives as I looked 'ahead' of the flagship, to the other end of the battle. As I'd anticipated, she'd sent the smaller ships that were able to navigate through the barrage of rocks forward, almost half of the support fleet attacking our fortification. It looked like it was going very, very poorly for them.

Pony mechs were everywhere, floating to and fro, on and between bits of the planet as they shifted and moved the massive net of energy around, entirely blocking off entrance into the weakened area. Shining Armor was right at the front, and gave another bark of orders as he smashed his Barrier Lance right through an incoming ship, kicking off them and drifting back into the main net. Oh! He was leading sallying forces to smash at support ships out of range from the flanks while the bulk of the guard defended the area. I watched him and his assault squad twist and warp away as they retreated again, and realized he was also coordinating with Keela for illusion support.

To my surprise, Tym had joined the sortie himself as well. A full exo-suit was attached to his armor, looking like it was an old mining getup. It provided both air and multi-directional boosting power as he nimbly shot in-between enemy ships, pushing their line back almost by himself on the other side. Each flick and movement of his hands caused precise blasts of energy to tear through space in sharp crescents, searing ships in half with ease no matter their size. He zipped away long before they exploded, moving on to more and leaving a wide swath of destruction. I was honestly surprised he wasn't on heavy siege, as his strongest spells could easily level a good chunk of the support fleet. Although that would come at the cost of announcing his immediate presence as he charged the spell, too. No, he was a professional, so there was no sense in doubting him. Keela trusted him as well to do what he was best at.

Speaking of Keela, her mining ship still distorted in multiple spots, one occasionally moving and causing the support ships to try to attack it as it charged forward, only to waste a lot of ammo into open space. Flash rewind display in my computer database showed her actually using missile pods deployed all around the battlefield now to fire off ordinances from some of her 'images', lending credibility to her illusions and drawing more fire.

Drawing my focus back to the flagship, I winced, watching it bash its way out of the rubble field that we'd scattered, all shields flicking to the front of the ship to absorb damage from the huge chunks of planet it just rammed out of the way. I gestured us down, following into its wake instead just in time to avoid broken bits of the ship's satellite array that had been bashed free. I didn't even want to see the front of her ship at this point, even with full frontal barriers. It would make the engineer in me cry.

Still, all shielding focus was now on the front of her ship... "Fire into her engines. Aim for those three main clusters in the back there, Applejack," I ordered, highlighting the area in her display. I then added, "Switch back to charging, Twilight." Without shielding, our batteries weren't going to need the full powered umph to tear up the engines.

The ship was unorthodox for Grosh standards. It had two long 'fins' that jutted from the sides of the ship, both mounting a long tube of sorts that ran horizontal to the back engine. Both had thrusters on them, so I assumed they were for assistance and stabilization of the three powerful hybrid engines in the center. Those, forming a triangle, were used for traditional jumping, and as the primary hyperspace propulsion as well, by their shape. Grosh ships didn't use slipstream, like we did, instead using a surprisingly rudimentary hyperspace borehole effect. Powerful and fast, but no ability to turn whatsoever, and unlike our allies, once they went in, they couldn't go out again except for at their destination determined ahead of time. Well, okay, they could, but their ship would come out in pieces and on fire.

Applejack needed less than a second to lock onto the engines, opening fire immediately. Dozens of explosions tore through the metal and supplemental shielding almost as if it wasn't there, shredding the exhaust and propulsion emitters in an instant, and even blowing the hell out of the heat sinks further along the sides. The energy overloaded along the right, causing a surprisingly large blast of flames and radiation off into space, and I gestured to the left, our two expert fliers having us swerving in that direction just to be on the safe side. Predictably, the remains of the engine spontaneously vented and performed a rapid, unplanned disassembly mere moments later.

The ship rocked, jutting at an angle almost immediately from the force of the explosion. To my surprise, the shield emitters didn't slide backwards into the normal position, however. I raised an eyebrow, then heard a rather pissed off sounding, "Tch!" over the feed through Keela’s magic.

"Damn you, rodents! Okay, you surprised me. I'll definitely give you that. But you're going to die horribly regardless," she warned, smirking has she flicked her hand downwards, shattering through a glass panel and smashing down on a button that was apparently on her dash. My eyes widened as the four shield emitters suddenly slid forward instead, powering up to about six times the strength they were before then... No. No!

The curving wings of energy formed off them, even as the decoupling discharges tore the back of the ship off. What I thought were the thruster fins slid downwards to each side as the entire ship suddenly accelerated, a hybrid Keldarian engine hidden behind the remains. She had Slipstream and Aegis Barriers!

"Full speed!" I shouted out, even before she suddenly lurched forward at three times her prior speed. Rainbow fired her wings up again and we shot after her, both massive ships streaking towards the weakened area. Of course! She gave us way longer than the Grosh would have needed to prepare... because they had to build the flagship! Her plan had never been to assault and capture the area...

Twilight looked to me in surprise, but I growled suddenly. "She's going to make a portal here and now. That's not a flagship. It's a giant makeshift portal engine!" I warned. Keela gasped over the feed, looking towards me in surprise, then checking her scanners just in time to see our two ships hurtling towards her area.

"What's the plan?!" Shining asked sharply less than a second later, his location reporting as to the left flank of the field of operations again, locking onto the massive ship instead. My eyes looked over the new shape of the ship, with the primary thrusters not actually running, and the entire thrust being provided by the two fin boosters. That was...

"Twilight, Keela, can you get me scans and a readout of the output from the main engines? Fast!" I requested instead. Twilight flicked the data screen up instantly, just as Keela started feeding the data into it.

"It looks like she's keeping them in standby mode. Oh hell," Keela groaned out. I nodded, seeing the power spikes further inside.

Shaking my head, I instead ordered, "Not standby. She's powering up an FTL jump. Twilight, load the backup charge and switch to powering the batteries. Applejack, tear the right fin off. Hard. She'll veer to the right, opening her whole flank to Shining. Shining, there's power couplings behind the two massive shield emitters on that side. Giving you the data display now. Slice one, or both of them if you can..."

Shining nodded, slamming his shield onto the mech's flank, then using his forelegs to both grip the massive blade, all energy switching to that instead. "Understood. I'm guessing it'll be a tough cut?" he inquired, narrowing his eyes as we came in.

"Like steel cutting through a brick," I warned, then nodded as Twilight switched the two main plugs into the crystal orb in front of her, then flared with energy again.

"Full power to batteries. Backup charge allocated," she declared, smirking as all of our guns radiated the same purple energy as the alicorn. The 'backup' charge kicked in, and I smiled.

Keela raised an eyebrow, however, then added, "You never mentioned a 'backup' charge in the plan..."

Shaking my head, I explained, "There were a few last minute additions. Sorry. Are you ready then, 'backup charge'?"

Glancing to my right, I smiled as the second viewscreen opened up. Tia smiled back, nodding through massively glowing eyes. I couldn't see any of her surroundings at all, the entire area looking like the inside of a star, ten large crystal orbs floating around her and radiating with pure Ether. Wait, ten?

"Backup charge is very, very fully charged. I added a few more crystals because I was bored," she warned, winking towards me. Oh hell. Sighing, I activated the extra shielding around the cannon and nodded. There definitely wouldn't be a main cannon after this.

"Locked and loaded. Open fire, AJ," I ordered, nodding as she glared at the right fin. Flak cannons in the back opened up even as she fired. Rarity fired, too, however, hundreds of mini-missiles swarming into the field of view between the target and us, shooting every which way. Missiles that tiny had limited use in space battles, but I packed most of their mass into the propulsion system for just this use. They lacked the 'punch' the apples obviously had, but ninety percent of the cannons picked up on their much larger heat sources, opening fire on the missiles instead of the apples. Most of the apples streaked through the flames of the detonations everywhere, smashing into their targets with precision.

Being hidden primary thrusters, I wasn't surprised in the least when the strut connecting the right thruster literally exploded when the apples tore through the top of it. All that energy shattered out through the side of the ship, sending a flare of power that tore the engine to pieces as it was flung from the ship. Everything happened so fast.

Shining and six other guards burst forward, rocketing towards the side of the ship even as the explosion lit up space around us, all prepped for killing blows as their back legs folded up into full thrusters. The explosion rocked the entire flagship's rear to the left, exposing its entire side, just as two charged particle cannons lanced across our stern, tearing half of our engine off as Rainbow screamed. I winced as we rocked from the impact, Pinkie still rolling, her hoof blocking four more as her eyes widened in surprise. She was surprised?! No, wait...

Pinkie looked back forward instead, eyes still wide. No, something else had her attention. "No, it didn't work!" she screamed out as well, just as Nirru growled through her comm, Keela’s magic giving us a perfect image of her whipping a stick to the left while pulling another straight down. The left fin booster decoupled instead, exploding out to the side as it detonated. Shining shouted, veering hard to the left as the massive blast of debris scattered through his formation, sparks and smaller explosions raining amongst them. He spun, shield activating instead as he blocked the remaining debris from his troops, but their momentum was gone. The main engines of the flagship went into full burn a second later, and she shot forward, already starting her Slipstream jaunt as the Wings of Icarus expanded from her four engine clusters. The entire ship momentarily looked like an arrow as it started to blur and distort.

Everything slowed. I felt myself exhale slowly as I looked back at our display. Engines damaged down to thirty percent. We weren't going to catch up. I looked back up, watching Applejack switch over her display and reload the batteries. Too slow. Rarity looked at a loss, and Twilight was turning back to me, gesturing to the readings that showed the damaged siege warship approaching behind us.

"The Elements!" she shouted, nudging her hoof towards the display. On the Grosh ship?! I was suddenly torn, in that instant, as I looked towards the energy output display. Twenty seconds until enemy ship entered Slipstream. Damn it. Doubt hit me a moment later almost out of nowhere, but I realized it was right. No, it was a bad idea.

"No, decouple, Dash!" I ordered instead, Twilight giving me an intense frown even as I pulled my harness off and ran past her.

Rainbow didn't hesitate, even for a second, as she yanked a cord to her left. Our engines decoupled instantly, launching backwards in a blast of power that sent it flinging towards the huge warship. I watched them veer to try to avoid the huge chunk of our ship, their main guns momentarily moving off course. The cyan mare ran after me, knowing what was next but arguing, "The Elements can hit that thing! It might stop it entirely, and we'll still have plenty of time!"

"Then we might ruin our whole point of doing this, if they can get data readings from the Elements themselves! It's not worth the risk! Keela, mining laser on the underside of the hull as they veer. Rainbow, we're launching!" I ordered, looking back at her as she ran up. She frowned but nodded, ducking low into a slide a second later. I jumped, landing on her back as she went under me instead, and she opened her wings up, bursting while in the ship as we flew right for the nose instead. Keela only had two charges ready for the mining laser, but with the way the ship was swerving to avoid impact with our engine, she had a clear shot.

The second blast door partition snapped shut behind us, shooting the nose of the command center out like a missile in front of the ship. Rainbow kept her balance, and I grabbed the pull cord on the right, nodding into the left viewscreen. "Twilight, fire!" I ordered. Her eyes widened, starting to open her mouth, but I shook my head, interrupting her with, "We'll be fine! Fire!"

She swallowed but nodded, then hit the other button. I looked down through the lower viewing port, watching the massive main gun under us flare up with golden light. It looked like a star itself being loaded into the chamber, flashing out like a spotlight onto Nirru's ship. Well, that wasn't entirely inaccurate, I admitted. Prudentia started to glow at my side, and Purdue nodded in my mind, the Aegis Barrier forming under us just as the massive shockwave hit.

Our mech soldiers had scattered already. I had lined up the trajectory. The angle was perfect. None of it prepared me in the slightest for seeing a raw magnified release from the Princess of the Sun, however. Our main cannon magnified it by a factor of ten, and then burned away under the force of the raw power. The front of our ship ruptured from the heat stress, and it was like watching a supernova open up and radiate out under us. My eyes widened, the corona of energy swallowing us up entirely and flinging us along like a spec of dust caught up in a hurricane. We were nothing to the raw power, and Rainbow silently screamed, her voice drown out by the raw noise of the shockwave smashing through our tiny escape pod cabin.

Pushing hard and fast, I shoved the barrier straight down, the cabin blowing apart around us. The barrier was shaped, however, and we rode it out of the wave of raw energy like a surfer would on actual water. Getting flung out of the huge beam, I could only stare in shock as it lanced off into dark space, stretching out beyond my sensors, even. It was over two kilometers wide, actually dwarfing the flagship as it crashed along its side, violently shoving it out of its initial path, even as the two left Aegis Barrier emitters turned to so much ash. Nirru's image disappeared into the light as she silently screamed, the flagship spinning as flames burned off its side, explosions and sparks following the debris into space. If I had anticipated even half of that power, I would have just targeted it directly. Who cared about the Slipstream explosion if the wave of energy you were using sent it all into the next star system anyway?!

The engines exploded into light behind her, the ship managing to lurch forward on its side as the two remaining emitters warped and distorted reality around the bow. Damn it! The tear through reality never stabilized, however, opening a jagged sideways hole as the ship started to push its way through. "Rainbow, after them!" I shouted as we came out of our spin. Her wings were already fully expanded, and this time, it was just us again in open space. Her wings flared with energy as we shot forward and after the ship. "Follow its draft," I warned a second later, watching as the wings snapped inwards and the entire flagship vanished in a distorted warp. No, even if she didn't have siege weapons, there was no way I was going to let that crazy bitch get through to Equus unchecked. She had traditional weapons and her magic, which was dangerous enough as is. I'd promised that not a single pony would be injured, and I meant it.

Looking back to Twilight, I saw my screen split between her and Shining on the left. "Are you two okay?" I quickly asked as Dash leveled us off with the tear that was slowly starting to collapse on itself.

"We're recovered, and running interception for The Celestia," Shining assured. I watched him spin and easily dodge support ship fire as he impaled a missile cruiser with his massive lance.

Twilight smirked to me and nodded, adding, "We're just blockading at this point. We don't have engines, so you and Rainbow are best at going after Nirru. So get going!"

"Roger!" Rainbow confirmed, wings opening up to full burst. We were through the tear in reality before I could even register her answer.

Going through Slipstream without a ship was always an interesting experience. It was actually less disorienting using it to hop dimensions, it turns out, due to lack of normal geometric input. As far as I could tell, the space 'between' dimensions was entirely empty. Or at least, it appeared that way through standard visual observation. Slipstream normally screwed with optical sensors because it started translating the optics into non-euclidean geometry. Perspective was shot at that point, almost impossible to predict, so we used spatial location software to navigate instead. Having no geometric inputs at all meant there was, thus, nothing to translate into non-euclidean geometries. It looked like a mostly black 'tunnel', with distorted prismatic light forming the walls that held back the darkness on the other side. I so didn't want to try to punch through those...

The flagship was a ways ahead of us, but we were closing fast, Rainbow squeaking in surprise as she dodged some burning, distorted debris. "Careful, Dash! Her ship is heavily damaged..." I warned, earning a nod from her as she zipped over to the other side of the tunnel, and the side of the flagship that hadn't been pulverized by a massive solar blast of death.

Rainbow gritted her teeth, her wings opening up to full tilt as we burned after the ship that was rapidly getting larger again in the tunnel. I nodded, leaning as far into her back as I could as I switched through my internal data panels. "We're catching up now. Fifty seconds until interception. Ninety seconds until exit into Equus. You need to get me onto the hull, on the top preferably," I instructed. She nodded, determination shooting through her expression as her eyes narrowed down. The hull had small sentry lasers, but my shielding would be more than enough to guard us as we went past. It wasn't time to play around, and I fully intended to just get up to the control center and tear the entire thing apart. No more Nirru, no more threat.

Marking the cockpit for Rainbow, I sent the schematic down her link, then accessed the comm feeds again. "What's happening?" I asked, video feed taking a moment to link up. It popped on a moment later with Keela looking frantic. Great.

"We only scored an indirect hit with the mining laser! I didn't expect it, but they ejected the entire remaining planet buster array into the path of the beam as we lined up the lower hull shot!" she reported an instant later. Ah, crap. They realized they weren't going to get through the portal to use them at this point, then.

Twilight gritted her teeth in the other screen, then shouted out, "I can't charge the main gun. It's destroyed, and we lost four clusters of the battery cannons when we fired that last shot! We're down to sixty battery cannons for attack, and are relying on flak and Pinkie's shielding for defense." …crap.

"Keela, start charging the cannon's second shot, then stealth around for a sneak attack. Shining, take your skirmish force and try to guard them with a small Aegis Net. Twilight, start charging up the teleport escapes," I called back. The lavender mare hesitated for only a moment before nodding and unhooking her own secondary harness. Applejack growled, then got one more volley off before kicking her own harness off, pushing herself out of it. I watched Rarity unhook hers, then run over and help Fluttershy start to undo her own, but Pinkie’s eyes widened instead, still in her spot.

I looked over at the enemy ship again, just as she whispered, “Uh oh… We… We should run!” Three large pods ejected off the top of the ship, even as the front of it opened up and folded out. Oh. No! Twilight’s eyes widened as she watched their engines flare to full speed, looking back to the massive, full bow length armored ‘blade’ folded into place.

Tym distorted back into reality as he looked back at the ship as well, muttering, “Tch, hell, it’s ramming!” He rotated away from the now exploding and burning remains of the three escape pods and burst towards the side of the ship at full speed, which wasn’t that great for his mining suit. Oh, well at least the Grosh weren’t going to be escaping to warn the others…

“Evacuate, now!” Shining screamed out, already in front of the massive ship with his full shields up. There was no way he could stop that!

“My… My wing’s stuck!” Fluttershy yelped, fighting with her harness to get the stabilization sensors off her wing. Rarity frowned, tugging at the harness as well to try to rip it out of the wall instead, as Applejack ran over towards her station. No, she couldn’t teleport with that extra mass attached to her. The emergency teleports were built for speed of charge and that would burn out the charge in it!

“Fluttershy! Applejack, get her free!” Rainbow shouted out, getting the audio feed at the same time as me.

Applejack spun as she ran in, then shouted out, “Ah’m sorry, Flutters! Ah broken wing is better than dyin’, though!” The yellow mare’s eyes widened, but it was too late for her to even react as her friend smashed both of her back hooves straight into the release clamps. She screamed out, her left wing twisting with a snap as the release clamp tore off, metal shattering under the impact of Applejack’s enhanced legs. Rarity winced, tears sliding down her face, but immediately reached out and hit the gem on Fluttershy’s chest as she collapsed, unmoving. My breath caught, and I looked to her monitor, which displayed low pulse rate. Unconscious… Damn. I couldn’t take this…

The orange mare gritted her teeth, wiping tears from her own eyes as she hit her chest gem, too. Rarity, Pinkie, and Twilight followed suit, all five gems starting to glow. “Ah… Ah’m sorry, Sugar. Forgive me later…?” Applejack asked softly to the now unconscious pegasus.

“Ten seconds until teleportation…” Twilight announced, looking down at her own gem, then biting her lip and looking up at the massive ship approaching, filling up the entire viewscreen on that side. No… It was too close. Her breath caught, and her brother gritted his teeth in the display, activating full speed on his mech.

His entire squad smashed into the side of the warship as it came in. Abandoning weapons, they all hit the armor plating in front of the ship, crashing hard into it and holding on as their mechs switched to full thrust mode instead. Hull lasers opened fire on them, but they just kept pushing, slowly starting to turn the massive ship, ever so slightly.

“We have to turn around!” Rainbow screamed, looking back at me frantically as she watched.

“We can’t!” I shouted back, knowing it wasn’t possible now that we were already in the slipstream and being pulled along in the flagship’s wake at full speed.

Twilight gave a whimper, backing up against the wall of the command center, the four other mares pushed into her as her horn started to glow. A barrier went up around them, and she reported, “F-Five seconds!”

My breath caught, the ship barely two seconds from impact, the blade coming in that was three times the width of the entire command center. Pinkie cried out, turning to the side and exiting the shield as she ran for her harness. “Pinkie!” Twilight screamed, left foreleg reaching out for her. The signals in Shining’s squad were disconnecting rapidly as the mechs were destroyed. Tym gave out a growl, still four kilometers out as he charged a massive orb of energy from his right hand. No. No!

Pinkie’s eyes widened to full, tears sliding down them as she looked to her right, mid-sprint. Time ground to a halt as a distortion hit the side of the ship, and then exploded. Shattering metal and rupturing armor sounded out, deafening at point blank range just as the ship smashed into the side of The Celestia. My jaw dropped as I watched, almost in slow motion, as the entire mining vessel came out of nowhere and blindsided the siege ship. Its armor wasn’t even a comparison, the metal of the mining vessel caving and crumpling under the huge impact. Its sheer mass, however…

It almost completely nullified the forward momentum of the siege ship, smashing into its armored side and blowing through plating like a massive wrecking ball. The huge blade smashed into the side of The Celestia at the same time, and the viewpoint for my camera rocked violently as all four mares screamed out, sparks falling down everywhere as the lights died and they were jarred from their hooves. Twilight’s shield flickered as the four of them were smashed up against the wall behind her, but Pinkie hit the side of her station hard, giving a pained yelp as she fell onto her stomach instead. The siege ship and Keela’s mining vessel ‘rolled’ along the side of The Celestia, violent explosions rupturing from both of them, the huge mining laser underneath starting to flare up and burn with sixty percent charge in it still. She’d…

“No, Keela!” Tym screamed, staring in shock at the massive collision, even as he slowed down. Rainbow and I looked to Keela’s monitor at the same time, it having gone dark when she’d slipped into hiding to line up the shot. She winced in it, on the floor of her command station with nothing but red light flickering overhead. Litta was in the image, too, lying on the floor a few meters away with blood pooling under her. Blood was on Keela, too, flowing down the left side of her head, but she smiled up at me and rapidly shook her head.

“No, this… It’s payment, Mender. I was so stupid for believing my sister and enabling her all this time to do all this evil. This was always our mess to clean up, not yours. We couldn’t let anypony die for our mess! S-Stop her. For me!” she ordered. I clenched my teeth as she gasped, another rock going through the command center that knocked her to the floor again.

“No! No, I can still telepo-“ Twilight started to shout out. She was gone a second later, communication feed interrupted with all five of them as they winked out of existence, one by one.

Swallowing, I felt my eyes start to get wet as I shook my head rapidly. “You… You need to get out of there!” I called out, feeling my legs start to shiver against Rainbow.

Keela smiled, pushing her upper torso off the floor again before shaking her head slowly. “No time. Can’t… walk…” she whispered, then shivered again, wincing. I widened my eyes, looking to her right, and saw the broken railing of the captain’s platform. She’d fallen off it… Her legs were okay, but the way her waist was twisted… She instead looked up at me, then slowly shook her head again. “Stop her. For me. Mender, I love y-“

Her viewscreen disappeared in a sudden radiance of flame and energy, then cut to static. My breath caught, and I watched the mining laser explode. It consumed the entirety of her ship in an instant, and blew the Grosh siege ship in half, sending its parts scattering across what was left of The Celestia. The last of the enemy ships halted all at once, and suddenly, the entire battlefield just stopped, much like my heart did. No. No, it couldn’t have…

“Did… Is she…” Rainbow whispered, staring in shock at the snow on the monitor. I shuddered, swallowing as I tore my eyes from it. Swallowing, I refused to process any of it and instead looked at our own data panels. The link to her… It was gone. I watched the connection redline, and the pony mechs started turning off, dozens at a time as their connections severed. That meant Tym…

Then I saw that our time until intercept was well past, and my eyes widened drastically. “Dash, we’re behind! Three seconds until exit!” I warned, looking back at her, then up ahead of us, just as she gasped and looked forward again as well. My eyes widened as we were almost on top of the ship, just as it exited the other side of the tunnel and caught the burnt remains of the left wing engine on the lip.

Rainbow swerved hard, me bringing my shields up to bare against the huge cloud of debris as it came in. She cried out an instant later, and I winced as well as a large strut smashed off my left shoulder. We were flung sideways into a spiral out into real space again alongside the broken-to-bits flagship.

Blood. I gasped as I watched it drift up, some escaping from the thin barrier around her before it sealed back up again. Her left eye… was a mess, looking like a sheet of metal had lacerated it open, and there was a three centimeter wide bar of metal sticking out from the top of her left shoulder. The other end passed out under her foreleg, and she grit her teeth, that leg shaking violently now. Damn it!

“Rainbow, evac!” I ordered, turning myself as we drifted so her front faced me, reaching for her crystal.

“N-No! I can… Hah… I can still get you to the front of the ship!” she assured, trying to weakly push my arm away. More blood flowed down from both her eye and shoulder, sliding across her torso now. No, she needed medical attention.

Shaking my head, I leaned forward and lightly kissed the bridge of her muzzle, causing her other eye to widen just a bit. My hoof contacted her crystal at the same time, and she yelped when she realized what I was doing. “Hey, no, I can still-!” she started to protest, but I lightly pushed off of her and drifted towards the badly damaged flagship. The spell that… Keela had been using to talk to Nirru was gone. I didn’t know if it would have worked between dimensions anyway, but regardless, I had no idea what she was doing. The engine read as powered down, probably having baked itself in the Slipstream transfer, but slowly powering up again. It was only at forty percent output, however, and flames and bits of debris drifted aimlessly off into space.

“Mender! You jerk! You’d better be okay! You’re going to be a dad soon!” Rainbow shouted after me, over our short range comm. I turned again, then nodded to her, not having the energy to smile. Maybe I’d smile after the mission was done, and I had that bitch’s head launched into the sun. Firing my tentacles backwards, I latched onto the armor of the ship and yanked myself forward towards the front of the thing just as Rainbow winked away. I exhaled. She was safe now, and they could help her no problem. Pony medical care was amazing… They’d put me back together again after I’d burned my skin off, essentially, plus she had the nanites…

Assuring myself that she’d be fine, I flipped as I came in against the hull, hard. My legs didn’t even bend as I hit and slid, skidding across the metal armor as the magnets engaged in my hooves. The armor around me expanded as I slowly walked forward, tentacles fully extended around me as I watched her hull defenses come online. Yup, figured she’d know I was here.

Three were sliced in half before they even fired. I parried a laser as it came in, slicing that turret in half, too, as I disengaged the magnets and jumped. A vast majority of the guns went utterly ignored as I used my tentacles to whip myself in the direction of her cockpit instead. Trajectory in place, I threw shields up over myself and curled into a ball as I shot the full length of the ship. Lasers bounced off me rapidly as I moved, and I flung out another tentacle, hooking the bow plating on the side and swinging myself around, only to crater into the metal directly over the command center.

Looking down, I saw one of the dozens of cameras focusing on me, and glared down with it, even as my hud lit up with a short range comm communication. Against my better judgement, I patched her through as I stood upright on her hull.

“Figures you’d follow me even here. It really is your destiny to try to get in the way of my-“ she started to declare.

I interrupted immediately with a low growl of, “Shut up.” Keela’s smile flashed through my head, and I gritted my teeth, my hoof cratering hard into the metal. The fracture shattered through the plating, and I pulled back and smashed into it again even harder. The ablative charge fired off, launching the plate into me, but I swatted it away in an instant and launched it sideways off into space.

Turning to face the ship again, I pulled my hoof back, then momentarily raised an eyebrow as I saw the golden glow over the hull instead. “You… You’re not getting inside through that. You don’t have anything that can destroy an Aegis Barrier, and soon, I’ll have the engines back on and be able to…” she started to warn. She trailed off, and I frowned, suddenly noticing the same thing. We were… drifting. She had kept her forward momentum a little as we’d exited the slipstream, but now… we were going sideways? Gravity…

Looking to our left in the direction we were being pulled slowly in, I widened my eyes a little. Oh. It was coming up from under the bottom of the ship, from my perspective, which is why I hadn’t seen it before. We were rotating slowly, however, while drifting forward, and now I could readily see the massive wall of gray moving in at frightening speeds.

My eyes drifted to the edges of the moon, picking up a purple and blue tint, and confirmed it as I saw the silhouette. There was the glow of magic around the entire thing. Luna was moving it. No, she was swinging the entire moon at the flagship like it was a giant mace. The surface was coming at us at a good dozen meters per second, which, due to the pure mass, would be enough to paste this entire flagship and flatten it into one of the craters. I ran the calculation, and came up with about a hundred and eighty seconds until impact.

“What…. the hell? It’s steering towards me?!” Nirru asked, mostly to herself, over the audio.

I snorted, then pointed out, “You pissed off one of the two physical goddesses that lead us all, I guess. Oh, you didn’t know about that? Oops. Pity…” Not that I was going to let the moon kill her. Instead, I pulled my data panel open and accessed my subspace storage.

“It… It doesn’t matter! Nothing matters anymore. It’s too late. If I’m going to die, I’m going to take all of you little rats with me. Try to stop me, I dare you. It’s too late, and you can’t-“ she started to retort.

She hesitated as I drew Ventosus Lacuna out of subspace, the sheath locking to my side with the straps tying around my barrel automatically. “That… You can’t use my own sword against me. Hell, it barely listened to me and I’m a family member. It’s not even going to turn on for-“ she started to point out, apparently failing to notice its changed color schemes.

I drew it directly from the sheath and right into the barrier and metal plating behind it with a flick of my neck, holding it in my teeth. It sliced through like butter, flaring with light as it sliced ahead in measured precision. One flick backwards, and there was a nice 'V’ shape in the hull, that I immediately stomped inwards before dropping through into the command center.

She stared at me as I stood fully upright, her mouth hanging open. The hull sealed itself up behind me, the atmosphere loss only causing papers to go flying everywhere. Sparks came down from the ceiling light I accidentally cut through, but I walked through them as I got closer to her. She shifted to a glare a moment later, spitting at me as she stood up from her console.

“Why?! Why does the sword listen to you and not me?!” she screamed out as I slid it back into its sheath.

That was an easy question, anyway. “Probably because you’re a psychotic, egotistical bitch. Just a thought,” I explained, earning a more pointed glare as I looked around the control room. My systems had already hacked into her data stream, and I saw outputs powering up, which would probably be her engines again. But they were drawing in way too much energy to be that alone. I glanced to the side, and saw her corrective navigational course simply switching our orientation to point at the planet. Ah.

“Yeah, you can see it. If I’m going to die one way or another, I’m dying on my terms. Ever wonder what happens when a dreadnaught class flagship crashes into a planet at several hundred times the speed of light? We’re about to find out…” she confirmed. My eyes narrowed inside my helmet as she smirked.

“You have one chance. Turn it off, and I won’t show you how a real black ops tortures someone. Not for information, of course. Just to see how long it takes before you’re begging me to kill you, like so many others you did the same to,” I spat out, starting to walk towards her again. Her eyes narrowed and she backed up until she bumped into the rear wall.

She snorted at that, standing straighter finally. “I… I’m not afraid of you, Mender. Plus I’m in my real body now, with my full magical powers. Do you honestly think you’re capable of winning? Besides, even if I could turn it off at this point, why would I? You’re a pathetic little pony. I don’t think you’re even capable of cold-blooded torture…” she reminded.

I shivered lightly. She couldn’t turn it off. That told me everything I needed to know. I watched the flames spark into both of her palms and she smirked, dropping down into a magical combat stance. I simply stood there, however. “You killed her. For you, I’ll gladly make an exception. But, unfortunately, I don’t have time for this now,” I lamented.

She frowned, a look of confusion dancing across her expression. “Killed her? Who’s her?” she started to ask. She’d join her in a second, and know then, I supposed. The second she hesitated, I flicked my shoulders back. There was a big downside to a combat style largely encompassing the use of fire.

Two tentacles moved up and back behind me as fast as I could whip them. She gasped, but didn’t have time for anything else as I sliced a truly massive ‘V’ cut right across the top of the entire command center. Several explosions later with the air and energy lines being cut, the armor ruptured and blew around us and the entire room was vented into space.

Her flame magic went out before it even left her hand as both of us went with most of the room. I rotated once, standing on the ceiling for support as we spiraled out into space amidst a sea of loose papers. Seven orbs of energy were charged along my leg as I spun, and after righting myself, I watched her rotate in a tight circle, fighting and thrashing to pull her helmet up over her head. She was in a Keldarian spacesuit, model at least three hundred or more. A trained military professional could deploy the helmet hood in four and a half seconds. I’d given myself three and took aim while focusing.

She finally pulled it over her head, grinning triumphantly at me from upside down as she rotated around to face me again. There was no emotion at all as I fired, putting seven spears of barrier energy through her body an instant later. She stared at me in shock, the thin beams of energy going through both lungs, her heart, her stomach, both kidneys, and right between her eyes. Holding her there for a moment, I shifted all of the poles to blades instead, and yanked them all in separate directions. “Ask her when you see her again. I’m sure she’ll have words for you…” I spoke gently, finally. There wasn’t an answer, of course.

What was left of her drifted off into space, and I watched it for a moment before turning and dropping down into the remains of the command center again. Hope she wasn’t expecting an epic magic duel or something. That’s not how reality worked.

The navigation computer was still running perfectly fine, not caring at all that the whole room was depressurized. The automatic repair plating couldn’t do much about missing most of the roof. The computer reported full charge of the Slipstream engines in twenty five seconds, however. It also reported that the actual folding engine had been turned off. This came with a whole slew of warnings about the fact that we could hit something in the middle of the jump, of course. The engine read as locked out, which meant I’d have to manually go down there and disable the Slipstream countdown in less than twenty five seconds… It would take me longer to just reach the panel at this point. The moon was still forty seconds away from impact. Did the sisters have a way to block a ship hitting the planet at hundreds of times the speed of light?

There just wasn’t any time. I racked my brain as my processors tried to brute force their way past the locks, but the system just disconnected itself fully. Damn it! Options… I couldn’t stop the drive, so that left only two solutions. Slow the jump down long enough for the moon to hit us, or make sure the ship didn’t hit the planet. If I started screwing with the gravity effects from myself, it would force the computer to repeatedly recalculate the pathing, but not slow it down a tremendous amount. Not the dozen seconds or so I needed for it to fall into the moon.

I grew cold, swallowing again before detaching my magnetic locks and floating into space. My tentacles guided me as I latched onto the nose of the ship and pulled myself to it. Engaging them again after, I snapped my legs down to the surface of the nose, the very peak of the bow.

Equus expanded out in front of me. It was a beautiful blue planet, mattings of greens and browns for the continents. I recognized Equestria, still on the dark side of the planet. They would have slept through it all. I closed my eyes, smiling finally as my whole body shivered. I felt the water in my eyes, pressing up against the crystal plates now. Keela…

I wanted to enable the long range antenna and talk to them again. They were probably wondering what was going on. Smiling, I closed my eyes and just let the light of the sun dance over me. My back opened up again, folds of my armor coming out as the Wings of Icarus spread wide. My own FTL software, badly gutted out and only rudimentarily operational at this point, would still suffice. No, calling them would soothe me, but it would only bring them additional pain. There wasn’t any other choice I could think of!

The concept was simple. The only issue was, my own FTL drive didn’t have any charge. I set it to charging immediately, but what energy it would be able to gather in the few seconds I had would only power a jump that was all of a fraction of a nanosecond. I calculated that, if I synced my field with the ship’s as it formed, I could use its own field to move in my slipstream effect. But with my calculations, I could only move the ship thirty thousand meters or so before running out of power. That wasn’t enough to even get it a full percent away from hitting the planet.

So instead, I was only going to use mine to form the initial Slipstream tunnel. I had enough power to turn the ship. Just barely. Unfortunately, that meant that the ship would take over after I finished turning and just go straight until it ran out of power in the capacitor. About five seconds or so. With me stuck on it. I ran the calculation based on the speed of FTL Slipstream movement, and that would only take me about a hundred and sixty million kilometers away from Equus… I’d hit the shield the ancients set up long, long before that. Which meant I just had to be clever with my aim. I set the coordinates for the sun instead.

Looking forward again, I stared down at the planet once more, clenching my teeth. It wasn’t fair. I wanted to scream that at the top of my lungs, but even if I did, it wouldn’t reach anypony that would care. The multi-verse is a rather cruel one. But maybe I was pony enough to make it to the Ether? I smiled at that, then laughed to myself. Prudentia, or should I say Purdue, pinged urgently at my side, almost desperately. No, she deserved another chance, too.

Detaching the book, I gave her a smile as I saw her reflection in the gem on the cover. Then I put it into a tentacle and whipped it at the planet as hard as I could, aiming a bit above Equestria. They’d find her rather fast, given the energy the book put out. I detached Ventosus Lacuna, staring at it for a long moment before nodding and instead turning around, releasing it in the direction of what was left of Nirru’s body.

Seven seconds until the flagship activated Slipstream. I turned and looked back towards Equus, no longer smiling. There was nothing left now. I wasn’t brave, or fearless, or even honorable. I clenched my teeth again, feeling tears sliding down my cheeks as I shook my head. I wished it was somepony else here. I didn’t want to die. I wished there were other options. But… no, I didn’t want somepony else to die for me either.

The energy around the flagship finished radiating out, forming the field of quantum energy. My field synced into it as it started its countdown to engagement at five seconds. That was that, then. Was it a good life? Did I make a difference? I nodded to nothing in particular, shivering as I closed my eyes for the last time. Two seconds left, as the engines started to fire up far behind me. I started to tremble, but I suddenly felt it. Two warm forelegs slid around my shoulders, holding me tight. I smiled.

“I love you, Mom. See you guys soon…” I whispered. My drive activated, and reality warped away…


Epilogue

Twilight gave a sigh, walking down the path through the royal gardens. Left, then right, she glanced both ways after clearing the hedge wall, finally spotting her two wayward companions. Walking up, she gave a soft smile to Fluttershy and Rarity, who turned their heads to look her direction. The unicorn returned her smile, but Fluttershy faltered for a moment before managing a weaker one of her own. She had three flowers fixed to her mane now, matching her eyes and coat. Her flowing dress matched the flowers, of course. Rarity was good at what she did, even if the white bandaging around the left wing stood out a little.

"Hey, girls. How are you doing?" the alicorn asked, swallowing lightly and looking back and forth between them.

Rarity shook her head gently, suggesting, "My injuries are superficial. The numbing spell is hardly ideal for Fluttershy, however, and only had a few hours duration at most, I should remind. Couldn't this have waited a few more-"

"No!" Fluttershy exclaimed, and then coughed lightly, correcting her tone and adding, "I'm not going to wait. He doesn't deserve to have to wait for me. He deserves to be honored." Her voice was strong, with uncharacteristic levels of conviction to it.

Twilight had already talked to her, of course, and smiled. "The wing is healing, and she can manage a few hours. This is important to her, and me, Rarity," she reminded, nodding to the unicorn, who managed a soft chuckle.

"I know, Dear. I only worry. Mender would be very much against, and insist on waiting, but I do understand, you know. It's important to me, too. How are preparations?" Rarity asked, moving back to adjusting the flowers in Fluttershy's mane, tucked behind her right ear.

"Everypony's already started to file in. It's... more than accounted for. We started adding seating in the street outside the garden theatre, and expanded the speakers and screen. Well, second screen. Snapshot started crying hysterically while setting the first one up and put it through the stage floorboards..." Twilight reported, giving a small sigh after. Rarity smiled, and Fluttershy looked down, but the alicorn shook her head after and continued with, "After everypony is seated, it's just you two..."

Fluttershy finally nodded, standing again with a light wince. Rarity helped her stabilize, but she just shook her head and straightened herself. "How... How's Pinkie and Rainbow?" she asked quietly, looking back to Twilight instead.

The lavender mare gave a soft sigh, then shook her head weakly. "Insisting on not missing anything, of course. I helped Pinkie get comfortable, and Applejack was helping Rainbow into the front row when I left. Dash can't stay for very long, though..." she revealed.

"We'd best get going then," Rarity agreed, looking to the pegasus, who only nodded. Together, the three of them headed back the way Twilight came from. After clearing the hedge wall and heading along the side of the stage, Rarity and Fluttershy moved to take their seats as the alicorn turned up the incline and onto the platform instead. Princess Celestia smiled softly to Twilight, who nodded in return, then looked out into the ocean of ponies, a soft smile playing at her lips...

* * * * *

"We are gathered here today to honor the memory of a fallen hero. A hero that sacrificed his life in order to save not just his friends... Not just his town... Not even his country... He sacrificed everything in order to save all of Equus. There are no words I could possibly give to honor this magnitude of service to our world," Princess Celestia spoke, staring out into the massive crowd.

Thousands of ponies watched, gathered from all corners of Equestria and beyond. Hundreds of griffons attended, as well as a few dozen dragons, an entire honor guard of Zebra, and an assortment of others. They spilled out of the garden auditorium and five blocks down the streets of Canterlot, view screens set up to project sound and images from the stage. Most had never even met the stallion, but they had all heard of what he had done. And what it had cost.

The Princess of the Sun smiled after that, then gave a weak chuckle. "Yet, reality is sometimes cruel indeed. Despite his unrivaled sense of duty and honor, he was forced to sacrifice everything in order to protect us all. Our only recourse is to do everything in our power to honor our fallen hero, and give him our absolute best. For he might have died to ensure all of us could live, but we can make him live forever by remembering his deeds. That's how legends are born," she continued.

Rainbow watched from the front row, no expression to her face whatsoever. The wheelchair looked unnatural with her, as did the heavy bandaging around her torso and shoulder. Bandaging wrapped over her left eye as well, now dead and glass underneath. Applejack sat next to her, staring blankly alongside her marefriend, both just watching the picture that sat on top of the empty coffin, as if looking through it. There weren't any words left to say that would matter to them.

The Princess gave them both a smile before looking back out onto the crowd. The silence almost ached as it hung on the air, before a small chuckle escaped her lips. "Of course, if you'd known the stallion himself, becoming a 'legend' would be more terrifying than appealing, but he also knew that sometimes, things happened that we didn't have any say over. He was fast to forgive like that. Just like that..." she admitted, ending it in a whisper before slowly shaking her head, letting a tear slide down her left cheek.

Pinkie held no such reservations. Rarity gently massaged her shoulders as she silently sobbed, staring at his picture on top of the coffin the entire time. Spike sat on the other side of the pink mare, frowning as he stared at the grass under his chair instead. He'd not said a word all day.

Celestia shook her head slowly, still smiling yet staring down at the blank podium. "It was probably his defining virtue, if I were to be honest," she admitted finally, then went on to reveal, "Due to my oversight and mistake, I ruined his entire life. I cost him and his family the life of his mother, a very brave mare who was loyal to the end and beyond. I cost him his chance to live like a normal pony, displacing him three hundred years into the future in a cybernetic body." A rare show of frustration danced across her features, and her right foreleg started to tremble gently as she closed her eyes.

Twilight and Cadance frowned to her right, then looked to each other as she undoubtedly departed any script she might have had. Her sister on the other side just smiled, however, finally speaking up with, "Our sister is right. Forgiveness came so simply to him that it wasn't even a thought. He forgave her... us... for everything. It was just that easy. Yet it was something he himself struggled with in return. He blamed himself for everything that had happened. As if it were somehow his fault that the other dimension had discovered Equestria. That a monster, the very one he personally defeated, was willing to sacrifice innumerable lives to get what they wanted."

Celestia smiled at that and shook her head. "I told it to him first, but he summarized it the best. The hardest pony to forgive is yourself. But... It doesn't matter now. I think he has the forgiveness he so desperately sought. Now, I have to try to abide by the lesson I taught him myself, because that same mistake that I made cost him everything. So much that it's now costing the loved ones he left behind, including a foal who no longer has a father, and two mares who have lost their stallion," she continued, losing her smile yet again as she looked to the right.

Twilight gave her a more sympathetic look instead, frowning, then looking down to her left at the yellow pegasus that was resting against her legs. Fluttershy stared at the floorboards of the stage still, expression blank minus the tears that wet her entire face. Her left forehoof strayed over her stomach, and she shivered at the Princess' words.

Turning away again, the Princess of the Sun looked out at the crowd, eyes tracing amongst the thousands of faces. Finally, she concluded with, "Open talking shall commence for anypony who wishes to speak. But first, let us bow our heads in a moment of silence for our departed hero."

Thousands of heads lowered, like a great wave in the silence. The gesture showed countless thanks, personal and impersonal alike. Eyes closed to the sun, the large and golden orb slowly sinking below the horizon in the distance, soft hues of light dancing across the clouds above. The event was scheduled for long into the night regardless, and it would be quite a few hours before sleep for many a pony even after that, tonight…

* * * * *

"Was all this really needed?" I finally asked, staring across the thousands of golden orbs that lit up the night air. Ponies mingled all around, a long line leading up to the coffin in the distance. Everything was through a thick haze, of course. It seemed to settle down like a blanket over reality.

Tia smiled softly, sitting next to me on the hill I relaxed on. It overlooked the small pond in the royal gardens, and had served as quite a scenic spot to watch the funeral from. "I didn't send out invites, Mender. The initial advertisement is all I did. I'm sorry, but these ponies are here of their own accord," she assured, of course. I sighed, my voice echoing lightly in the soft mist. It was a superfluous gesture, given that I didn't have lungs.

I shook my head. "It's only hurting them. Why didn't you tell everypony my wishes?" I asked, still upset with her.

She stared, watching Fluttershy sitting next to the coffin, Twilight and Spike next to her giving gentle comforts, even as the lavender mare herself cried. We both just watched for a moment before she shook her head. "Grieving is important. For you as well, Mender. Even for me. Why did you forgive me for everything...?" she asked quietly, still not looking my way despite being one of the very few here that could see me.

I sat there, the warm mists drifting around me before I closed my eyes. Forgiveness. "You're not that different from a normal pony, Tia. Life here has slowed you down so you match their pace now. You cry and laugh with your little ponies, too. That means you're subject to the exact same mistakes," I explained as simply as I could.

She watched me for a moment, then closed her eyes as well, resting there. It took a while, but she finally asked, "Do you think it's worth it?"

"Without a doubt," I assured, no consideration needed. She deserved to be as 'normal' as she could muster.

She smiled softly, and we sat there in silence for a long while. Ponies came and went. Everything was a haze, the world only partially in focus for me. Everything felt detached and cold inside as I watched all of my friends move on without me. That was how it was supposed to work, wasn't it? It happened to everypony eventually, right? Except it didn't.

Tia stirred again, then smiled back at me. There were only a few ponies left at the viewing, and slowly, I stood up. My limbs almost ached from the cold, and I knew if I focused on it too much, it could be maddening. The longer I stayed here, the worse it would get. She nodded, then suggested, "Everything is about concluded, Mender. You should rest now." I knew what she was talking about. I'd felt the 'draw' already, and ignored it. The funeral felt important to me, but I knew I wasn't satisfied. Was that it, then? I was dead and gone now, just like that? Now I knew how my father had felt, undoubtedly.

"Rest," I muttered, then chuckled weakly and shook my head, admitting, "I feel restless instead. I don't think I'm ready quite yet."

She lost her smile, of course, and gave a small sigh. "Should I talk to Aura and see if she can aid you? Some ghosts do find it difficult to-" she started to offer.

My vision flickered, and for the briefest of moments, a few thousand memories flashed past me at the speed of light. Millions of different lives, all wound up with mine now. My eyes locked with hers, a billion other pairs mirroring the gesture within, and she looked surprised as she trailed off to me shaking my head. "No, what I meant was, I'm not going. I'm staying here," I corrected, just getting it over with and fully embracing the cold. They were all still attached to me, woven through my soul itself. Billions of souls all tied into mine, and I knew they gave me an immense energy density to me. Any necromancer in Equus would require my direct cooperation to 'send' me into the Ether. That meant they couldn't make me, even if they'd wanted to.

Tia frowned at that, slowly turning to face me fully. "Mender, this can't be ideal. What... What's holding you here? A ghost needs a reason to not move on..." she asked, searching my expression before I turned and looked towards my coffin again. They were still there, all seven of them seemingly standing out through the mists. Twilight especially.

She followed my vision, but I answered anyway. "Them. Twilight could take years before she's as attuned to the Ether as you. At least enough to interact with me. Fluttershy can't at all. I... no. I won't accept being apart from them. I'm staying here, and I'm going to continue research on the techniques my father started. It may take me a hundred years or more, but I'm going to find a way back..." I spoke with conviction, looking back at her. She momentarily looked horrified at the mention of that particular line of research.

"M-Mender! No, you can't be serious. This happens to everypony, and you need to accept that. Twilight will become attuned enough to even touch you again soon enough, and eventually, Fluttershy will-" she tried to point out. No. She didn’t get it yet. She didn’t realize…

I shook my head again, then turned and walked slowly away, letting the mists drift around me as I went. "I’ve already decided," I muttered as I walked. She didn't understand, and it wasn't going to work like that. Not now. It was too late. "I... can't accept being apart from them forever. My mind is made up. I guess misbehaving runs in my family..." I mused, almost to myself. I felt sad eyes on my back as I walked off into the dark night, that crushing cold all around me...

* * * * *

“No. No, this won’t do at all…”

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