“Oh my,” whispered Fluttershy as she looked at the scene before her as she and the others stood in one of the many hallways between the cave they had been staying in and their destination. Three ponies in suits and sunglasses lay on the floor courtesy of Gigawatt and Rainbow Dash. Gigawatt’s horn was still sparking from their small fight while Rainbow remained in the air, throwing mock punches to keep herself pumped.
Alongside Fluttershy was the remainder of her friends who looked upon the scene with mixed expressions. Fluttershy could see Rarity hiding her expression behind a hoof, but despite that she knew the fashionista was repulsed by what they had just seen. Pinkie Pie wasn’t hopping nor smiling, looking rather confused as if she couldn’t decide how to act in this situation. As for Twilight, it looked like this was getting to her. Fluttershy knew she was putting on a brave face, but she could not keep the sadness from her eyes.
And Applejack…
“Wish Ah had some rope ta tie these here varmints,” muttered Applejack as she looked disdainfully at those on the ground.
“Or, um, maybe we could make them a bit more comfortable so when they wake up they won’t be in too much pain,” said Fluttershy, almost flinching when Applejack’s head snapped in her direction. “I mean, they are only doing what they were told.”
“That level of kindness is wasted on the likes of them,” snarled Gigawatt as he motioned them to keep moving. “They knew what they were getting into when they decided to help commit treason! Besides, we don’t have the time to waste! Every second that TOM gets closer to destroying Equestria.”
Fluttershy didn’t respond. She just looked down on the heavily beaten agents, wishing that there could be another way. A way to reason with them or to show them that they weren’t bad ponies. But, considering her role in the events that brought about this situation, they wouldn’t be likely to listen to her. She was most likely the one that the lunar ponies hated the most, alongside Applejack and Pinkie Pie. When she looked up, she noticed that the others were already on the move. Whispering one last ‘sorry’ to those who couldn’t hear her, she began to gallop after her friends.
“I’m surprised that that’s the first group of thugs we’ve encountered,” said Rainbow Dash. “Figured this place would be crawling with goons trying to stop us. It almost feels like this place is deserted or something.”
“The LBI does not have limitless ponies at its beck and call,” said Gigawatt as he signaled them to turn a corner. “And I’m sure not all of them are here. Land Share and Document most likely only told a hoofful of agents what was really going on while the rest were sent out to various other Domes to keep them out of the way.”
“The same goes with the remaining guard,” said Twilight from the rear of the group. Despite the drugs in her system keeping her mobile, there was a limit to what she could do. “The LBI most likely told those still stationed on the moon to head to various other locations. Probably farthest away from Dome Zero.”
Gigawatt nodded. “That means that Land Share is strapped for ponies,” he said. “I’d say he’d have no more than twenty to thirty ponies in the castle. Many of those are probably keeping the entrance secure, the princesses kept locked up, and keeping the castle staff contained.”
“So it looks like it’ll be smooth sailing from-” begun Rainbow, but stopped as an LBI agent went flying face first into a wall ahead of them before slowly sliding down. Without pausing, the herd moved forwards and saw that there was another hallway on their right side which the agent had come from. Moments later, Shadow Blade walked into the hallway they were in, wiping the sweat from his forehead as he did so.
“Shadow!” cried Twilight happily as she raced towards him.
Shadow’s ears perked at the sound of his fiancée’s voice. “Twilight!” he said as he turned in her direction. The two quickly closed the gap between them, forelegs and leathery wings wrapping the other in a tight hug while a choir of ‘aw’s’ went on in the background.
“I missed you,” whispered Twilight as a tears appeared in her eyes.
“I’m so sorry,” replied Shadow in a low voice. “I should have been there when you woke up.”
“It’s all right, I understand,” said Twilight who pulled away slightly before turning to look at the five Equestrians. “Besides, you left me in good hooves.”
“Not that this isn’t touching,” said Gigawatt as he tapped his hoof on the ground. “But we really need to get moving. We don’t have much time left to stop that TOM!”
-x-
The doors to the shuttle bay opened as the craft Shining Armor was piloting entered. As the door closed and the atmosphere returned, a group of five LBI agents slowly approached where the shuttle had been designated to land. Among this group were two earth ponies, a unicorn, a bat pony, and a pegasus in the lead. When they reached their destination, all of them stood waiting at the back of the shuttle, waiting for the doors to open and its occupants to exit.
They did not have to wait long. Shortly after the engines had been turned off, the back door opened to reveal Shining Armor, the Lunar Guards he had brought along, Princess Cadence, and her daughter. Shining Armor took the lead, approaching the five while his eyes scanned for anything out of the ordinary. As he walked, the five saluted him.
“Captain Shining Armor, glad to see you made it back in one piece,” said the pegasus LBI agent. “Things have gotten a little crazy while you have been away.”
For a moment, Shining Armor said nothing. He eyed them all slowly before he spoke in a firm tone, full of authority. “I noticed. Would somepony please inform me why a TOM is flying towards the planet and what is going on with the Crescent Hope?”
“While you were away, the Equestrians escaped thanks to some outside help,” said the pegasus immediately. “We have no idea at the moment who is helping them. But whoever it is was able to direct them to the control room. We believe they had planned on dropping a TOM on one of the Domes but, like a bunch of idiots, they instead sent it to Equestria. They are currently locked in the room and we are trying our best to deal with the situation while the Guard is away. However, we are unable to teleport in thanks to the teleportation redirection field nor have we made any progress in negotiation.”
“I don’t-” began Cadence, but stopped when Shining Armor raised his hoof. The stallion’s eyes were locked onto the agent’s.
“If that’s the case, then why hasn’t anypony tried blasting their way in?” asked Shining Armor, his eyes narrowing sharply at the pegasus before him. “I’m sure with the stakes this high; Captain Shadow Blade would have allowed it. Or perhaps hacking the door open. In fact, since you knew I was coming, why hasn’t Captain Shadow Blade tried to make contact with me?”
The agents regarded each other for a moment in a silent conversation. “Sir,” said the pegasus after a moment. “We didn’t want to tell you this since, well; you would have a personal interest. You see, before they made their way into the control room they also took Assistant Director Twilight Sparkle from her hospital room and are holding her hostage. The Captain of the Royal Guard is sitting this one out and believes that you should as well. And since-”
Shining Armor held up a hoof once again, this time at the LBI agents. “Let me see if I understand the situation. A group of ponies from a world where they haven’t mastered steam technology have broken out of one of the most advanced cells in the Republic, foalnapped my sister, brought her to an area that should be heavily protected at all times both physically as well as electronically, and managed to redirect a TOM. Oh, they have also teleported all of the Guard on the planet to Crescent Hope while disabling everything other than their life support on that ship. Does that sum up the situation?”
“Ah, yes sir,” said the pegasus agent slowly. “Now if you come with me we can get-”
“I take it you think I’m stupid,” said Shining Armor as his horn began to glow. “It’s the only explanation that I can think of that would make me believe for you to think for even a moment that I would fall for that.”
The pegasus took a deep breath while pushing out his chest a bit. “Sir, I know you might be a little emotional knowing that your sister is-”
“Enough,” said the LBI unicorn as her horn began to glow red. “He’s not going to fall of it.”
“I told you that lame ass cover story would fall apart,” added the LBI bat pony as he reached into his coat for his shock glove. “But it doesn’t matter. We just need to stall them until the TOM destroys Equestria.” Suddenly the bat pony’s head jerked to the side, ears twitching as he did so. The stallion looked around with his mouth half open.
“Destroy Equestria?!” yelled Cadence angrily, horn blaring with magical power. “That will NOT happen!”
The pegasus smirked. “Every moment you waste here is another moment closer to the end of your barbaric ponies,” he said. “And we’ll make sure to draw them out.”
“Oh shut up!” growled a voice behind him, causing all of the LBI agent’s eyes to widen. They had thought that nopony other than the agents knew about Shining Armor and his crew. But this voice, a mare’s voice, was not one that they recognized. And before they could turn their heads or vocalize their confusion, three bat ponies shimmered into existence to tackle them from behind.
Ruby had gone straight for the pegasus in charge, punching him in the back of the head with her right forehoof so hard that his head shot towards the floor. As she lifted her head up, she caught a glimpse of Lone Wolf biting down on the unicorn’s gloved foreleg while jerking his head back and forth like his name sake would. As the unicorn screamed in pain, Shining Armor and Cadence used their magic to send the two earth ponies flying across the large room until they slammed into the wall at full force.
The only one who seemed to be having trouble was Darkwing. Perhaps it was because the LBI agent’s heightened hearing had clued him in that something was going on, allowing the sneak attack to fail. Now the two were in the air, wildly flapping their wings as they moved through the hangar bay. Darkwing was trying hard to grapple with the other pony and bring them both down, but the agent seemed to avoid his grasp. Eventually the agent managed to strike Darkwing in the chest with his glove, causing Darkwing to scream in pain as thin streaks of electricity danced across his body. When the LBI agent pulled his hoof back, Darkwing fell helplessly to the ground below.
But he didn’t hit it, instead being caught by Princess Cadence’s magic. As Darkwing was gently lowered to the ground, the other Lunar Royal Guards exited the craft to point their weapons at the remaining LBI agent. Not only that, the Equestrian bat ponies surrounded him making it more difficult to escape while Shining Armor’s horn began to glow.
“Well, I know when I’m beaten,” said the agent as he lowered himself to the ground. Once all four hooves were touching the metallic surface, he laid down and put his forelegs behind his head.
“That’s it?” asked Ruby as she landed. “You’re just giving up?”
The agent snorted. “Like I said, I know when I’ve been beaten,” said the agent. “So I guess the pink Equestrian princess would like to torture whatever information out of me. Or is she just going to kill me like the rest of her kind wants to.”
The fur on the back of Cadence’s neck bristled as she glared at the agent. “I would never do such a thing,” she said as her eyes narrowed.
“Calm down Cadence,” said Shining Armor as he stepped in-between the two. “He’s trying to rattle us up so that we waste our time.” The Captain of the Shield Corps then turned to look at the smirking LBI agent on the floor. “And I doubt you’re going to tell me what I want to know quickly. Meaning that I will have to-”
Shining Armor was cut off as the doors leading out of the hangar bay and into the castle opened. For a split second, everypony tensed with the fear of more foes coming. That fear vanished, however, when they saw that it was Lightning Dust. The pegasus took one look around and groan.
“Great, looks like I missed the action here as well,” she groaned as she galloped over to Shining Armor.
“Lightning Dust, what in the void is going on here?” demanded Shining Armor.
“It’s Land Share. He’s the one behind everything from your sister being stabbed to the TOM being dropped on Equestria,” said Lightning quickly, ignoring the look of shock on Shining Armor’s face as it paled. “I know it’s hard to believe, but Captain Shadow Blade found out the truth. He’s heading to the control room right now to hopefully stop all of this. Princess Luna and Celestia are also heading that way as well.”
“Princess Luna,” said a shocked Shining Armor. “She’s here as-”
“How?!” demanded the LBI agent. “How did you manage to free the princess? We had her under lock and key!” Instead of answering, Lightning hit him upside the head with her right hoof, knocking him out cold.
“The path behind me is clear,” said Lightning as she looked up at the ponies before her. “Captain Shining Armor, as the shield of both Princess Luna and the Republic, I think you know where your place should be.”
“I-I know,” said Shining Armor before looking at the captured LBI agents. “But we’re going to need to have a few ponies watch over them just in case.”
“Well take care of them,” said one of the Lunar Guard ponies.
“But you’re needed at the control room,” said Shining Armor.
“We won’t take long,” replied the guard as the others began to pick up the traitorous LBI agents. “We’ll find a secure location for them before locking them up. Once they are secure we will head directly to the control room.” Shining Armor was about to argue this. That he needed them with him and he could ask the Equestrians to do it. But the white stallion knew that wouldn’t work. They didn’t know where everything was nor would they know how to lock up a pony up. Buck, they would most likely waste more time trying to explain to them how to work the key pad system. Yet the guards knew where everything was, how it worked, and could catch up to them quickly.
Shining Armor let out a sigh. “Alright, but be quick,” he said to the guards. He then turned to where Lightning Dust had been standing only to find it vacant. Somewhat alarmed, Shining Armor began to look around until he spotted her heading towards one of the remaining fighters. “Lightning Dust, where in the void do you think you are going?”
“In case you guys don’t make it, I’m going to try and take down that TOM,” said Lightning Dust without turning around.
For a second, Shining Armor said nothing as he stared at the mare heading off into space to try and stop a rock that would end all life on the planet below. Then, with a sigh, he turned to race out the door with the remainder of his group following him.
-x-
“Here it is,” said Princess Luna as she and her sister approached a closer, silver door.
“Are you sure?” asked Celestia nervously. “It looks like every other door around here. There isn’t even a label next to it. Nor is there any pony guarding it.”
Luna did her best not to give her sister a deadpanned expression. Given what was at stake here, Luna would have been nervous about making such a mistake as well. But she didn’t have time to explain that she had been in this room many times over the years or that placing guards in front of it would have raised the alarms of anypony walking by.
“Just trust me big sister,” said Luna simply. “This is the door we want.” Without another word, Luna walked over to the key pad next to it and pressed her off against it.
“Access denied,” said the computer.
“I knew it wouldn’t be that easy,” muttered Luna before she turned to look at her sister and the three young ones with them. “If you had any doubts that this isn’t the right door, this obstacle should relieve them. There isn’t any room I’m not allowed in. Land Share has locked me out.”
“So if it won’t open normally, then can’t we put in that code again?” asked Scootaloo.
“Sadly, the code we used of our escape was for that cell only,” said Luna as she shook her head in sorrow. “And I fear we will be unable to force our way in using brute force. That door is thicker than the bars of any cell. Without powerful magic, our only hope will be to hack our way in.”
“PRINCESS!” yelled a familiar voice. Turning around, both Celestia and Luna saw a large group of familiar looking ponies heading towards them with Gigawatt in the lead. Seeing Twilight awake and moving, it took everything Princess Luna had not to go over to her so that she could embrace her surrogate daughter. The same could not be said for Scootaloo who raced towards the purple mare as fast as she could.
“Mom!” she cried out happily as she wrapped her small forelegs around Twilight’s own, tears running down her cheeks. “I-I thought something bad had happened to you.”
“I’m all right, for the most part,” said Twilight gently as she patted Scootaloo on the head while wrapping her other foreleg around the small filly to bring them closer together.
“This here door given ya trouble?” asked Applejack as she made her way to the door with a focused look in her eye.
“It is Applejack,” said Princess Celestia as she gave the door a nasty look, as it if had just said a rather insulting joke at her expense. “I have been told that we will require power mag-” Before the princess of the sun could finish, Applejack had acted. She moved in front of the door and then spun around in order to buck it. Everypony watched in surprise as the door dented on impact from the Apple mare’s powerful hind legs. But this show of strength came at a price as Applejack howled in pain and began to limp as she turned around to look at the door again.
“Dang it,” whispered Applejack as she tried her best to keep the pain out of her voice. “That door’s sturdier than Big Mac’s stomach. Don’t rightly think Ah can do that again.”
“You did your best,” said Shadow.
“Princess, can’t you-” began Gigawatt, but stopped when he saw the rings on the horns of the two princesses. “Ah. Right. Of course Land Share would think of that. If you give me some time I could probably get those off of you.”
“That time would be better spent trying to get this blasted door down,” growled Luna as she kicked the door.
“I’ll do what I can,” said Gigawatt as lightning began to dance around his horn. “But my magic isn’t fully charged. I, er, used a large amount a little while ago in a shuffle.”
“You won’t be doing this alone,” said Twilight as she moved next to Gigawatt, her own horn glowing dimly. “I’m going to help stop Uncle Land Share before he does something nopony can ever take back.”
“If you would be so kind, I too would like to assist,” said Rarity, her horn shining the brightest out of the three.
The three unicorns looked at each other for a moment, and then nodded. Together they lowered their heads to point their horns at the dent made by Applejack before unleashing their magic against it. Three beams hit close to each other, striking the door with everything they had. But despite the door making a crinkling noise, it wasn’t enough. The door was standing its ground. Yet the three didn’t give up. Instead they dug down deep for whatever power they had within them, knowing that if they held anything back at this point the world was doomed.
For a moment, their beams intensified enough to where it was painful to look at the spot they were aiming. However, it still wasn’t enough and everypony there could see that the three were reaching their limits. Sweat was beginning to appear all over their bodies and they were starting to breath heavily, especially Twilight. It was clear to everypony there that they didn’t have the power to break down the door.
That was something that didn’t sit well with Scootaloo. She knew how important it was to get in there and to stop Land Share. She knew what was at stake, wanting to help with everything she had. But what could she do? The procedure that allowed her to fly had taken away the stub of a horn she once had on her forehead. And, even if it was still there while not being useless, she wouldn’t have been able to use it since she had never studied magic a day in her life.
‘I want to help mom,’ thought Scootaloo as she looked at Twilight whose horn was dimming with each passing millisecond. ‘But not even dad can help since he doesn’t have his armor. If only I had a weapon of some kind.’ She then looked at Dinky and Spike, both staring at the door. ‘Well, maybe I can convince them to help. But do they even know how to use magical blasts? I’ve never seen Dinky really use her magic and Spike needs me to pull his tail in order to-’ Scootaloo’s eyes widened as a revelation occurred in her brain. Without saying a word, she wrapped a hoof around Spike barrel while the other grabbed his tail.
“Hey!” shouted Spike, alarmed as Scootaloo brought them over to where the adults were. “What are-”
“No time,” snapped Scootaloo. “If we want to help save Equestria then we need to do what we did when we were foalnapped!” Spike’s eyes widened at this, realizing what Scootaloo had in mind. With a quick nod, he lowered his head and Scootaloo pulled on his tail. At once magical green flames shot out of his horn, joining the others beams.
But it still wasn’t enough. The door began to faintly glow red, but held firm.
It looked like this was the end…until four more beams of magic hit the door! Everypony who could turned and looked to see Shining Armor, Princess Cadence, Trixie, and Sunset Shimmer giving their all to breaking down the barrier before them. While the door had held strong against three unicorns, it was no match for six unicorns, a dragon turned colt, and an alicorn. Within moments, the door was knocked down and the magic users ended their spells.
While Luna, Scootaloo, and the other natives of the Lunar Republic were more than a little miffed to see Sunset, they didn’t voice this as they entered the control room. Nor did they question the appearance of Equestria native bat ponies who were staring at Princess Luna, looking like they were trying to figure out how to talk to her or something. Sadly, all of them would have to be dealt with at a later time. They had bigger problems to deal with at the moment.
The control room was a moderate sized room full of workstations, each with their own computer screen floating it the air. And sitting at three of these stations were LBI agents who were looking at the Princesses with their mouths hanging open in surprise. Land Share was at the forefront at the room, staring at the massive screen that took up the entire wall, not bothering to look at the intruders.
All those gathered to stop him could not help but look at the image Land Stare was fixated on. It was the TOM, now dangerously close to the planet. The engine at its rear was burning at maximum power to direct the TOM towards its destination. But that wasn’t all that was there. Crescent Hope was on the screen as well, flying right above it as all of its fighters were unleashed to try and stop the meteor. Everypony could see energy beams and missiles being fired all over the rocky surface in an effort to take away as much of its mass as possible. However, it appeared their efforts were in vain. The TOM was simply too massive and too thick for them to do any significant amount of damage. But still they tried.
“They just started a few moments ago,” said Land Share calmly, turning his head to look at them with a blank expression. His eyes scanned the intruders and lit up when he saw Twilight. It was then that he turned around, his wide eyes fixed on the mare. “Twilight, you shouldn’t be here. You need your rest.”
Twilight opened her mouth, her eyes full of sadness. However, it wasn’t her voice that spoke out. “Senator Land Share,” stated Princess Luna firmly. “For acts of high treason and attempt of genocide, I hereby relieve you of your position and place you under arrest. If you stop this, I will consider sparing the lives of those foolish ponies who have followed you into this madness.”
“As I said before,” said Land Share as he calmly looked at Princess Luna. “We have done all of this knowing our fates afterwards. Our commitment to the peace and preservation of the Lunar Republic is absolute. No other Dome will ever befall the same fate as mine did, destroyed because of the actions of Equestrians.”
Luna closed her eyes. “I had a feeling you might say that,” she said. “But still, I had to try.”
“As long as I draw breath, I will see this through to the end,” replied a very calm Land Share as he stared at the angry expressions in front of him.
“So be it then,” said a princess. It was not Luna, but instead Celestia as both she and Luna lowered their heads in unison. Both Twilight and Shining Armor looked on with shocked expressions as they witnessed the two princesses charging at Land Share together. The renegade senator watched all of this with an impassive expression, not bothering to dodge the attack upon him resulting in having two horns penetrating his chest.
The former senator made a noise between a gasp and a cough as Celestia withdrew her horn from his body. Blood began to flow out of him from the two holes she had left in him, slowly pooling around his as he fell to the ground. The stallion looked up at Celestia’s rage-filled expression, her horn stained with his life fluid. Yet, he did not scream out in pain or swear or anything. He just looked at her with stoically silent defiance. And that unnerved the solar princess enough to take a step back from the soon to be corpse.
Land Share felt his consciousness begin to fade. He felt himself growing cold and numb. Quicker than he thought possible, his vision was beginning to fade. He could hear hoofsteps coming closer to him and when he turned his eyes to look, he saw Twilight standing above him. And, despite everything that he had done, she was crying.
“Why?” she sobbed as Shining Armor found his way to her side. “Why Uncle Land Share?”
“Twily,” said Shining Armor slowly after pressing a hoof against Land Share’s neck. The stallion closed his eyes. “He’s dead.” He watched as Twilight let out another sob while shaking her head at the same time. Not knowing what else to do, Shining reached over to bring his sister in for a hug which she accepted.
“I-I don’t understand,” cried Twilight. “He was also s-such a good pony. How c-could he…” Twilight trailed off, unable to bring herself to speak of his crimes.
Princess Luna, despite her own sadness over what had just happened, pushed forwards and headed towards the control panel at the front of the room. She sat down, her hooves instantly moving above the controls with the sole purpose of stopping the TOM.
However…
“BUCKING VOID!” roared Luna as her commands were denied. “I should have seen this coming.”
“W-What’s wrong?” asked Celestia.
“Something is blocking my commands,” said Luna as she continued to press button after button. “I think Land Share must have put an additional failsafe system in place, in case we somehow got this far. It must have been why he was so calm.”
“Can you do anything about it?” asked Celestia as she moved next to her sister.
Luna grunted. “Eventually,” said Luna, her hooves never pausing for a moment. “But…it might be too late to save Equestria.”
“I-I’ll help,” whispered Twilight as she wiped away her tears. Slowly she moved to sit on the other side of her princess and mentor, typing away as fast as she could. But her hooves moved at a snail’s pace when compared to Luna’s. The medicine in the purple unicorn’s system was still affecting her and the massive amount of magic she had used to help everypony reach this room had greatly sapped what little strength she had left. Not to mention the emotional turmoil she was going through.
There was a sudden noise behind the three. Only Celestia turned her head and saw both Shadow Blade and Shining Armor accosting two of the LBI agents in the room. Shining Armor had his hoof pressed against the back of his agent’s head in order to press it against the station. Shadow Blade had his agent against the wall, but also pressing his hoof against his head.
“How do we stop this?” demanded Blade as he applied more pressure to the LBI agent’s head, looking like he was going to squish it.
“Only Senator Land Share, a true patriot of the Lunar Republic, knew how,” gasped the agent. “And like him, I’d die for this cause. Go ahead and beat me up or kill me. In less than six minutes, it will all be over and we will never have to fear from Equestria ever again.”
“Umm, Princess Cadence,” said Fluttershy who made an ‘eep’ noise when everypony looked at her. “I was just wondering if, maybe, you could move that rock thingy.”
“That’s right,” said Ruby happily. “Princess Cadence is an alicorn! I’m sure moving something like that would be foals play!”
Cadence, however, shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I don’t have that level of power,” she admitted. “My magic is based around emotions and isn’t powerful like Aunt Celestia’s. Only an celestial alicorn like her or Princess Luna will have any chance moving it.”
“Then what are they waiting for!” snapped Rainbow Dash as she looked at Celestia and Luna. “Use your super-alicorn magic to stop that thing and save our home!”
“I’m afraid we can’t,” said Celestia as she wiped away some of the blood on her horn to reveal the anti-magic ring still safely secured on it. “Land Share, it seems, was very meticulous in ensuring that we would be unable to stop his plans. Our magic is still sealed.”
“Then get it unsealed!” snapped Rainbow Dash.
“I’m on it,” said Gigawatt as he moved to Princess Luna. “I’ll see if I can bypass whatever system he might have put in place.”
Luna waved Gigawatt off. “Deal with my sister first,” she said, continuing her work at the computer. “I cannot afford any distractions or delays at this time. If you can get that thing off of her horn then Celestia will have a better chance at being able to move that blasted rock than I.”
Gigawatt’s expression soured upon hearing this. And, as he looked at Celestia, it only grew worse. The idea of helping her regain her magic while his own princess was without was insane at best. Giving her power in this right, at this moment, would give her the potential chance to take over the Republic. Yet he knew now wasn’t the time to argue, not when the lives of so many children were on the line. So he silently approached Celestia and gestured for her to lower her horn so he could get this done as quickly as possible.
-x-
While all of this was going on, Lightning Dust had brought the fighter she had ‘borrowed’ from the hangar to the TOM. All around her she could see others in a desperate attempt to destroy the TOM with everything they had. Fighters, just like the one she was in, fired their energy weapons madly while the Windigos fired missiles to try and decrease its mass. But all they were able to do was remove a relatively small chunk here and there, nothing that would make a real difference. According to her scans, the total area of that TOM was about 600 square miles on its surface. They would need more firepower if they wanted to make a real difference.
But still, even though they most likely knew all of this was in vain, they had to try.
Lightning moved her craft to the rear of the TOM, right behind its massive engines that made her fighter seem like a speck of dust in comparison and fired wildly into them. Her hope was that she might be able to knock them out so that it wouldn’t continue to build speed or, more hopeful, cause a chain of events that would lead to it blowing up. However, nothing happened.
‘Should have known,’ grumbled Lightning in her head as she continued to fire. ‘Damn thing is too big for me to know what I’m hitting and all of the really sensitive stuff is most likely in the back and out of harm’s way. Most likely there to prevent some outside force from doing something like this. Maybe if I had a bigger, more powerful weapon installed on this fighter then I might…have a…chance.’
Lightning Dust’s thoughts began to drift as an idea came to her. An idea that she knew Twilight and the others would have rejected, calling it dangerous and insane. But it wasn’t to Lightning. Right now, Princess Luna and the others were doing everything in their power to stop that TOM. How could she do no less? She wasn’t a scientist, an ace hacker, or could move mountains with her will alone. But this plan was something she could do to make a difference and do what a Guard is meant to do: save lives.
And that was all Lightning needed to know as her hooves went to work establishing a communications link to Crescent Hope. Knowing that there would probably be many ponies trying to talk to Crescent Hope, Lightning decided to use the emergency channel in the hopes that it would still take priority. And, sure enough, within moments the image of Captain Starway appeared before her. The captain looked slightly panicked, her eyes moving from the screen which Lightning was on to all over the room as if she were trying to consume all information at the same time.
“This better be good pilot,” snapped Starway, her voice slightly hoarse. “I have a scan of your fighter which has informed me that your craft isn’t malfunctioning nor is your health compromised in any-”
“All fighters are reporting that they are not making any significant damage to the target,” shouted somepony in the background that Lightning couldn’t see. What she did see was Starway’s eyes rolling in annoyance.
“I know that already,” snapped Starway as she looked over her shoulder, ignoring Lightning completely. “We need other options. Is it possible for us to land on it and use our engines to divert its course?”
“Negative,” replied some random pony on the bridge. “Scans say that the surface is too rocky for us to land safely and our engines are not powerful enough to move something this massive.”
“How about we-”
“We need to take out the engines,” said Lightning quickly as she saw that Starway looked like she was going to cut off the communications link. Starway turned her head to frown at the pegasus on her screen.
“We have already considered that option,” she said, her hoof hovering over the button that would end this conversation. “It was rejected since the weapon systems have not yet been installed yet. So if you are done wasting my time-”
“We need something bigger than energy weapons to take down something of that size,” interrupted Lightning Dust as she leaned forwards. “We need to ram Crescent Hope into the engines.”
As soon as Lightning Dust finished this sentence, Captain Starway’s eyes widened in horror. Sacrifice Crescent Hope, one of the Republic’s greatest achievements in their recorded history?! Their ticket to exploring the universe, finding more resources, and perhaps even colonizing uninhabited worlds. But with the screens flashing red, singling the damage closing in on to the beautiful world in front of them, Starway had to admit to herself that they had run out of options at this point.
“She’s mad,” said one of the officers on the bridge who was in earshot. “Why would we give up this ship to save Equestria?”
“Because we’ll be saving much more than just Equestria,” said Starway, surprising everypony there. “And we may make up, in some small way, for the damage we caused with Operation: Umbrella. We…owe them that much.”
“It is possible,” said a member of the crew who was working at a control panel. “I just ran the calculations and there is a 100% chance that it will result in creating a chain reaction with the TOM’s engine core, creating massive explosions within it. The chances of both objects being destroyed as a result are at 85%. If this doesn’t work then there is a high chance that we will have destroyed enough of it to minimize the damage. Most of Equestria will be damaged for many years to come, but life on the planet will continue.”
“That’s good enough for me,” said Starway as she leaned back in her chair.
“However, there is a problem,” continued the same crew member. “We still don’t have complete control over all of Crescent Hope’s systems. One of those systems outside of our control is navigation so we can’t plot a course. We…we would need somepony to stay behind and…” The crew member couldn’t finish her sentence. Everypony there knew what she was saying. In order for this plan to work, one of them would have to give up their life.
“…Understood,” said Starway as she pressed a button on her chair. “Attention all crew! Attention! This is the captain! I am giving the order to abandon ship! I repeat: Abandon Ship! We don’t know if the escape pods are under our control so please don’t waste your time on them. Instead, please head to the nearest shuttle bay.” As Starway took her hoof off of the button she turned to look at her shocked crew. “You all have my permission leave.”
“But what about you Captain?” asked a random officer.
Starway chuckled to herself. “I believe there is an ancient tradition that the captain goes down with the ship,” she said. “I will not sacrifice a member of my crew to do something I am not prepared to do myself nor will I abandon this ship. I will see this mission through to the end.”
“But you can’t do that!” shouted Lightning Dust.
Starway looked down at Lightning’s image. “We don’t have time to debate this pilot,” said Starway. In the background, Lightning could already see various ponies moving to leave. Lightning opened her mouth to protest, but Starway wasn’t going to hear it as she instantly cut off the link between them.
“Void damn it,” swore Lightning as she tried to reestablish a connection only to have it fail. As she tried for a second time, movement caught her eyes. All of the other fighters were moving away from the TOM. She was also detecting shuttles leaving Crescent Hope as the massive star ship began to slow down.
Lightning narrowed her eyes, Lightning accelerated her craft towards Crescent Hope. Within seconds her fighter was able to close the distance between the two and was now flying parallel to it in search of a docking bay close to bridge. She soon found one and sped towards it while signaling it to open. Warning lights lit her cockpit, warning her of the danger of moving at the speed yet she ignored them. As soon as she came plowing through the doorway, Lightning slammed on the brakes so hard that if it weren’t for her safety harness she would have been thrown through the window. The stop wasn’t clean nor graceful with the fighter skidding across the floor while making a screeching noise that she could feel in her teeth, but she did stop and was in one piece.
And that’s what mattered right now.
Without turning off her fighter, Lightning removed herself from her harness and left the cockpit. The doors to the shuttle bay had closed, allowing her and other ponies to be on the floor. The crew had quickly swarmed onto the floor and began moving towards the shuttles at a rapid pace. Few seemed to notice Lightning and those that did only gave her a passing glance.
“Stop!” shouted Lightning towards a group of ponies heading towards one of the shuttles. “I need you guys to wait here for a minute.”
“We can’t,” said one of the crew members as he looked at Lightning and then back at the shuttle. “We have orders to abandon ship.”
“Yeah, I know that!” snapped Lightning as he grabbed the stallion’s head and forced him to look at her. “I’m going in to get another pony for you guys to take with you. Now just wait!”
The crew member opened his mouth to speak, but Lightning was already galloping away as fast as she could to get to the bridge. This was, thankfully, easy considering most of the ponies in this section of the ship had already left. That was something she was thankful for since she didn’t want to knock down anypony trying to escape. A voice in the back of her head whined that, if she hadn’t lost her wings, she could be there already. But Lightning didn’t even bother to grunt or order the voice to be silent, instead pressing forwards even harder than before.
Soon she made it to the bridge where Starway was the only pony left. She had her face down, staring at the controls in front of her as she maneuvered the ship. But her ears twitched as she heard the door open as well as the hoofsteps galloping towards her. She turned her head, ready to yell at whoever was still on board the ship. But before she could even open her mouth a forehoof connected with muzzle with enough force that it knocked her out cold, leaving Lightning the only pony left standing.
“Sorry for this,” panted Lightning as she picked up Starway and began to carry her out. “But you’ll thank me after we both survive.”
Moving quickly even with the extra weight, Lightning made her way down the hall back towards the bridge. Her plan would hopefully work. She was a much fast pony that Starway, even without her wings. There was a good chance that if she placed the ship a bit further away from the engines she could not only give it more ramming speed but also get to her fighter and get the buck out of there. And, as a backup plan, she knew that Princess Luna and the others were all heading to control center to deal with that scumbag Land Share. Hopefully they would be able to see what was going on and, if they couldn’t get control of the TOM, Princess Luna would be able to teleport her out.
All she had to do first was to get Starway off of the ship. And that wouldn’t be too difficult seeing that the door to the shuttle bay was just a second ahead of her. Smiling, she opened the door…
And entered the now deserted shuttle bay. Lightning began to whisper the word ‘no’ over and over again as she stared at the now empty spot where she had told the crew member to wait. She looked around in the vain hope that there was any craft other than her own around. But there was none.
Lightning looked over at her fighter and gritted her teeth. Slowly she took a deep breath before approaching it. While it was difficult to get into the cockpit with Starway on her back, Lightning managed to do it in a quick amount of time. She then strapped the unconscious mare into the seat before activating the autopilot to take her to Dome Zero. Once that was set, Lightning galloped out of the shuttle bay right before the fighter took off.
While this hadn’t been a part of her plan, Lightning refused to let this slow her down as she galloped towards the bridge. When she got to the helm of the ship, Lightning was pleased to see that Starway had slowed Crescent Hope down before she had been knocked out. At this moment, the star ship was right behind the TOM and would only require some minor maneuvering so that the engines of the TOM would be directly in front of her.
As Lightning began to move Crescent Hope into place, a window opened up on the screen in front of her. Lightning let out a sigh of relief when she saw that, looking at her were all of the ponies in the control room. From her point of view, Princess Luna and Twilight were in the front as they were typing into what was most likely a computer console. Gigawatt looked like he was trying to do something to Celestia’s horn right behind the two. There was a large group of ponies who looked like they were trying to stay out of the way while Shadow Blade and Shining Armor were in the back, working from another station.
“Crescent Hope, this is Captain Shadow Blade coming to you from Dome Zero control room,” said the bat pony. “Crescent Hope, do you read?”
“Good to see you again Captain,” said Lightning Dust with a somewhat hopeful smile. “Looks like you’ve managed to save the princess and retake the control room. Can I assume that you’re about to stop the TOM and give me back full control over Crescent Hope? Or hopefully the teleporters?”
“We wish we could,” said Shining Armor as he lowered his head slightly. “Seems Land Share wanted to make sure we wouldn’t be able to stop him even if we got this far. Several systems are locked out to us. Both Princess Luna and Twilight are working hard to get around whatever programs he put in place, but it’s not looking like they’ll make it in time.” Shadow couldn’t stop himself from glaring at Shining Armor. “What? It’s true! We got about three minutes left! Anyways, we detected the shuttles departing and just wanted to make sure there wasn’t another problem we had to deal with. With all that said, what are you doing on Crescent Hope? Where is Captain Starway?”
“She’s…not here right now,” answered Lightning. Before anypony could ask where she was, Lightning continued as quickly as she could. “Anyways, I have a plan that looks like it’ll work in stopping this TOM.”
“Really?” asked Shining as a smile appeared on his face. But that smile quickly faded as he noticed something on his end. The two mares could see several others in the room noticing it as well. Both Twilight and Princess Luna stopped what they were doing as horror and sorrow appeared on their faces. It was clear that they had noticed that Crescent Hope’s position was now directly behind the main engine of the TOM, waiting to ram into it. “Y-You’re not serious!”
“You can’t do this!” shouted Twilight, tears pouring down her face. “You’ll die!”
“Well one pony dying is better than an entire planet,” said Lightning in a resigned tone.
As Princess Luna closed her eyes and grit her teeth, Twilight shook her head back and forth. “Please don’t do this!” cried the purple unicorn before she began to frantically press buttons on her control panel. “We…We’ll find another way. Just give me a minute and maybe I can figure out how to control the ship and-”
“There’s no time!” snapped Lightning Dust. “I’m in position and ready NOW. Twilight…” There was a brief pause as the two old friends who had know each other since the day Lightning had crashed into Twilight. Tears were now appearing on Lightning’s face, sad that her friend was so sad but happy that she meant so much to her. It was an odd feeling to be sure. “Twilight, you and I both know that the odds of you figuring out how to stop the TOM or taking control of Crescent Hope in the time we have left…are not looking all that great. Unless we do something drastic, the Lunar Republic will be responsible for genocide.”
“You can’t do this Lightning!” cried Dinky as she took a step forwards. “The Troopers need you!”
“And you have to be there when I join the Lunar Guard,” said an equally distraught Scootaloo. “You’re part of the reason I want to join! You can’t die before that happens!” Scootaloo looked like she was going to have a breakdown, stopped thanks to her soon to be father placing a hoof on her shoulder.
Shadow then looked up at the scene. Lightning could see, as their eyes made contact, that he wanted dearly to order her to stand down. But that order never came. Shadow Blade knew they were running out of options if they wanted to save all life on the planet and that this looked like the only way they could do that in time. Besides, even if he did order her to stop, how could stop her? Threaten to demote her?
“Hey Shadow,” said Lightning as she wiped away some tears in her eyes and then tried her best to smile. Even though she couldn’t see it, if felt far too crooked. “Looks like you’re going to find a replacement for best mare at your wedding. Just make sure that you do everything you can to make that the best day of Twilight’s life.”
Shadow nodded.
Lightning looked over at Scootaloo. “Sorry I won’t be there to see you become a member of the Guard,” she said. “But I know you’re tough enough to make it. You’ll make everypony proud.”
Scootaloo sniffed as a beeping noise was heard from Lightning’s side.
“Looks like I’m almost out of time,” said Lightning as she looked at Twilight. The purple unicorn was frantically trying her best to get the teleporters working but to no avail. “Twilight, it’s ok. Thanks for putting up with me all these years. I know I can be a real pain at times. But if you ever tell your foals about this, try not to make it sound super sappy and a bit more awesome.”
“LIGHTNING DON’T DO-” began Twilight but was cut off as Lightning turned off communications.
With the screen in front of her filled with only the image of her immediate death, Lightning’s thoughts turned to her wings. Instantly she tried to move her new metallic ones without any success. She wished she could have flown freely just one more time, feeling the air as it passed her by. To get that thrill as she flew faster than anypony else, impressing all of those on the ground as she rocked the sky with her tricks. No fighting or anything like that, just a good old fashioned flight. But…she could never have that feeling again. Even if by some miracle she survived this somehow and learned how to fly with these new wings it wouldn’t be the same.
She had never given any real thought about her death before. Whenever the subject came up, she would simply shrug it off. After all, she was still a young mare and, outside of an accident, her death would be decades away. She would think about it when her end was a bit nearer and, until then, she would just live her life while having fun. And now, with her death looking straight at her, all she could wonder was if there was an afterlife would she have her wings back? Would they be waiting for her like a lost friend?
“Let’s…not get sappy,” Lightning said to herself. Quickly she wiped away the tears now forming in her eyes. Despite nopony else being there, Lightning wanted to preserve her dignity up until the very end.
So, without another moment’s hesitation, Lightning ordered Crescent Hope forward. The mare ignored the flashing warning lights as well as the computer telling her to disengage this course as the thrusters went to maximum speed. Even before the ship made contact everything seemed to be shaking about. Systems began to overload, control panels erupted and sparks flew everywhere. Temperatures rose rapidly, making Lightning feel like she was flying into the sun itself. And then, when Crescent Hope made contact with the TOM’s engine, everything exploded at once and Lightning was consumed by the flames.
Lightning didn’t feel a thing as she passed on into the beyond.
Outside, the ponies in the fighters and shuttles watched as the explosion consumed their vision. Chunks of rock and metal flew in all directions away from the TOM. Even from the control room in Dome Zero, the burst of flames consumed the TOM. And everypony there bowed in honor of the sacrifice made by one brave, selfless mare.