~Delphic Sphere Interior~
The room was almost barren of sound save for the energy coursing through the walls of the sphere, the room was made up of several circle-shaped platforms, some of them having short cylindrical consoles in their centers, that were connected by railways, with a few platforms that were closest to the walls of the room had platforms to the doors that lead to the next room. One of the platforms disturbed the silence in the room as it became aglow with light, with 9 humanoids and 1 equine appearing from the field of energy before they'd dissipated. Sunset looked around the room to look for any sign of security, the transporter officer would be getting a raise for where he'd put them later on, as there was not a single guard of defense turret in the area. The schoolgirl then looked to her friends before speaking. "Alright, we need to find the core generators, Twi, you know where they are?"
Twilight tapped her tricorder a few times before she replied to her friend. "Well, it seems that that transporter operator put us right near it, and there's several officers within the chamber, so we'll need to blast anyone we see before they can hit us."
"Ha! That'll be easy, I've rigged some power cells into some of the weapons already, so they should take out their personal shields with one good hit!" Trixie said before Sunset spoke up.
"Good, now, our plan is to get to each of those generators and plant the bombs while Trixie, Creepybloom, and I take out the guards inside, once we've done that, we'll beam off and detonate the bombs!"
"Ahright, now let me see how many of these power cells can do y'all for your shields." Creepybloom then inspected her saddlepack before she pulled out a few containers carrying several power cells, most of them being medium ones.
"Use them wisely, they won't show any mercy in stopping us, so grab what you need and let's go." The group then grabbed almost all of the power cells inside the boxes, with each person carrying around six or seven, and made their way across the platforms. They'd ran around several consoles before reaching the door to their target, Rarity scanned the door with her tricorder before turning to the group.
"The door's sealed, but it isn't shielded, so I think a good explosion from a bomb should do it." Applejack then pulled out three photon grenades, set their charges, and set them down in front of the door before they all stepped back for cover.
Inside the generator room, Noye and one of the Sphere Builders stood in front of the middle platform, which was connected to two pathways holding two other platforms, along with another pathway leading to the entrance door. Each of the platforms had several consoles on them, each being operated on by security officers and showing data for the energy wave being prepared. Noye looked to the main console as he smiled in malice before speaking. "With these in our hands, the Alliance won't stand a chance, and my wife's murderer's blood shall be shed across the stars!"
"Yes, at last, vengeance for the dead, vengeance for Tuteria!!!" The Sphere Builder said as the two continued their focus on the console. Their excitement was interrupted, however, when a large blast occurred at the entrance door, blowing it to smithereens before several beings appeared from the smoke, Noye had recognized most of them, especially the small pony alongside them.
As Applejack set up a shield in front of the group, Noye looked to his guards and ordered, "Kill them, don't let them reach the generators!" before they all started to pull out their weapons, Sunset and Trixie were ahead of them, though, as they'd had their weapons out and started blazing at the troops. One of the guards managed to shoot at Applejack, who was running behind her escorts as she held onto the detonator for the bombs, knocking her against the railing as the bolt narrowly missed her arm.
Sunset ran towards the console as she fired her rifle at the right wing of guards, holding the trigger down as the rifle fired rapidly, hitting all of the guards on the targeted wing, while Trixie took the other wing with her minigun, spraying lasers across the room and killing all but one of the guards on the left side. As the others made their way to the consoles to ready the bombs, Sunset had made it to the edge of the railway before she was tackled by the surviving guard, but Sunset was resilient as she smacked her head against the guard's, before smacking him with her rifle twice as the guard flew over the railing to his death at the second swing. Sunset wasn't free for long, however, as the Sphere Builder lunged at the schoolgirl and tackled her to the ground. Noye attempted to pull out his pistol and shoot Sunset, but Trixie raced towards the scientist and tackled him as well, Noye tried to pry himself free of the magician's grasp, but Trixie smacked Noye in the face with her elbow, ripped off his weaponized gauntlet, and sliced Noye in his stomach before throwing him across the platform. He'd landed near the railings and tried to get up before Trixie tossed the gauntlet down and pulled her phaser out and aimed it at Noye, looking at him with an infuriated face as she spoke.
"You're lucky I won't kill you, you're coming with us." She said viciously before Noye responded.
"Well I'd call it a date, but I'm afraid I must attend to another lady I admire." He said as he placed a small device on his chest before a field of energy surrounded the scientist, Trixie firing her weapon at the field too late as the beam vanished. She then turned to look at Sunset, who was wrestling the Tuterian against the console. Trixie then ran towards the Sphere Builder and attempted to strike her, but the time traveler was quicker as she smacked Trixie in her face with her fist before the magician shot back to the floor. Sunset then smacked her head into the Sphere Builder, forcing her back as Sunset attempted to attack her. She managed to score a good hit on the Tuterian's shoulder, and another near her neck before the Sphere Builder grabbed her fists upon the third try, and then grabbed the schoolgirl's other hand with hers as they stood right next to the railings, Sunset wasn't holding back as she pushed harder than the Sphere Builder was, nearly allowing her to throw them into each other's positions over the railings before Creepybloom turned to the two and leaped at the Sphere Builder, but was grabbed by her neck by the time traveler as she threw Sunset towards the console, hitting the floor as the Tuterian held the filly in her hand tightly, pulling out a Na'Kuhl plasma blade before speaking to Creepybloom.
"So disappointing, I was hoping to keep you as a pet later on, but apparently some things never come to pass."
"L-ike your v-ictory." Creepybloom retorted as Sunset looked to see the gauntlet Trixie had tossed to the ground beside her, grabbing it, she got up and ran to the Sphere Builder before impaling the alien with the blade, the Tuterian grunting in pain as she stopped her arm from striking the filly with the blade. Blood started to leak from the wound as the energy blade turned off and fell to the ground as the Sphere Builder became weak and slowly fell to the ground, Sunset holding her as she pulled the blade out before laying her down.
Sunset looked at the Tuterian with remorse, as much as she'd felt sorry for having to hurt her, she couldn't let her friend get hurt. The Sphere Builder, however, looked at her with disgust as she lay dying. ".....B-butchers, just l-ike-AHH-.... your f-friends...." The Builder said before Sunset replied to her.
"You left me no choice, I wouldn't have done that if you hadn't tried to hurt my friend." After a moment of frozen tension, the Sphere Builder grabbed Sunset by her shirt, holding her tightly as she spoke her last words.
"..A-at least I'll die with the co-omfort that you.... and your lackeys... burn with us on this station." After her words, she let out one last weak grunt before she fell to the ground, no longer moving as Sunset then stood over her dead form. She looked to the other platforms and saw her friends making their way back to the main platform from the third one, looking to Sunset as Dash spoke up.
"You guys OK? You looked like you in quite a fight." Dash said before Sunset answered her.
"Y... Yeah, just some bad bruises is all, how're the bombs?" Flash then stepped out to speak to her.
"About that, the good news is that we've got about two and a half minutes to spare and all of the bombs have been placed, the bad news is.... well, I should've told you a moment ago during all that fighting, one of those damned guards managed to nearly hit Applejack and knocked her near the railing on the way through and... the detonator was damaged. We can still use it... but one of us will have to stay behind as it's signal is cut down a bit."
"What?!" Sunset said as the group gasped in worry before Twilight spoke up.
"I'll stay behind, I know Spike will miss me, but someone needs to blow this thing up."
Sunset then looked to Flash as she spoke. "No, I'll stay behind, you all have things to take care of back there, please, Flash... get back to the ship, I'll handle this."
The group looked to each other and then back to Sunset and Flash as they looked at each other, giving sad expressions before Flash spoke up. "Actually, Sunset... I'll be the one to put my life on the line." He said as he placed a transporter chip onto Sunset's chest, her body being enveloped by the beams before Sunset yelled to him.
"Flash, NOOO-" Was all she could say to him before her body disappeared with the rest of the field, the girls gasped a Flash's action before he spoke to them.
"Girls, head back to the ship, and... tell Twilight, I'm sorry that I couldn't come back, and that my counterpart takes good care of her." The girls fell into a stunned silence, looking at their friend for a long moment before Twilight finished as well.
"You heard what he said, everyone, get back to the Equestria, and.... tell Sunset to take care of Spike... please." The others looked at them for a moment, tears welling in Rarity and Fluttershy's eyes as the fashionista spoke to them.
"We.... *sniff*... we won't forget you, darling. Good luck." After her words, the group then placed their transporter chips onto their chests, all of them being surrounded by energy fields before disappearing, leaving Flash and Twilight alone in the room as Twilight looked to Flash.
"We... we gave them a heck of a run, didn't we, Flash?" Twilight said as the two fell in an embrace, holding each other tightly as Flash replied to her.
"..Yep, we did, Twi... we did." The two held each other as they closed their eyes, hearing the countdown slowly reaching it's mark.
"NINE, EIGHT, SEVEN, SIX," Flash held the detonator around Twilight, the two forcing their eyes shut as Flash pressed the button. And the last thing they'd heard was the sound of a large explosion before everything went out....
~U.S.S. Equestria~
The bridge was almost painted with sweat as the room was hotter from the fighting, the fires had been put out, but the tense fighting and destruction had heated up the room as Twilight wiped beads of sweat from her forehead before giving her next order. "Fire on the cruisers, let's take the heat off of Luna and her crew!" The current weapons officer then tapped on his console before a spread of torpedoes shot out and struck the large Sphere Builder cruiser, breaking off fragments of the ship's hull before the ship turned away and kept on for another run.
Rarity then looked to Twilight shortly after her console chirped before she checked it. "Twilight, the transporter room says that we've gotten our friends back, but two of them are missing and Sunset's on her way up here!" Twilight raised an eyebrow at the news of two away team members, she had started to think of what'd happened to them, but her curiosity was halted as Dash yelled out.
"Twilight, the sphere!" The crew looked to see the sphere starting to sport cracks all over it's hull, the sphere then crunched down to a smaller and smaller size before it finally collapsed, ringing out a large flash of light before the crew was full of cheers and excitement over their victory.
"Yeehaw! We did it, Twi!!" Applejack said as the rest of them cheered at the sight of the destroyed sphere and the retreating TLF spheres on the screen before the left turbolift opened to release Sunset, who wore a panicked expression on her face as she looked to the screen.
"..No.... No.. they're gone." Her words were heard as the crew calmed down to see Sunset, standing near the doors as Twilight spoke to her.
"What, Sunset? What's wrong?" Sunset snapped her attention to Twilight, but tears welled up in her eyes as she spoke to her.
"Twilight, you and Flash's counterparts... they..stayed on the sphere to detonate the bombs. They didn't make it." Her words drained the happiness from the room as Twilight's pupils shrunk upon them, she looked to the viewscreen, as did everyone else, and stared at the spot where the sphere once stood, small fragments of debris flying through the sector as Twilight took in her friend's statement and grew tears in her eyes. Rarity and Fluttershy started to overflow as their mouths quivered before Rarity tried to speak.
"No, not again.... I can't bear this, not like back at the Archive, *sniff*" Rarity said before she and Fluttershy held each other as they sobbed uncontrollably, Applejack pulled her hat off and looked to the viewscreen with a solemn face, while Dash started to tear up as she looked to the screen as well. Pinkie's hair deflated as she started to break down, while the other crewmen simply hung their heads down. Shortly after Sunset had arrived her friends followed her behind, looking at the screen as they too started to break down. Twilight was then snapped out of her thoughts of Flash's human counterpart as a chirp was heard at Rarity's console and she turned to it. "Sorry... we... we're being hailed, it's Wyatt."
"...P-put him through." Twilight said as Wyatt came up on the screen.
"Well done, Twi, we've stopped the Sphere Builders thanks to your friend, Sunset, and the Multiverse is safe once again. Oh, and I believe our friends would like to say something to us." He said before Nom's voice spoke through Wyatt's comms panel.
"I'm glad we were able to fight alongside great leaders like you, Princess Twilight, it looks like we should get fixed up."
"...Yes.. we should." Twilight's manner of speaking worried Wyatt as he spoke to her.
"Twilight, is something wrong?"
Twilight sniffed a little before she steadied herself and replied to her mentor. "..Yes, I've.... we've lost a few friends on that sphere, they died blowing that thing up."
Wyatt sat in silence for a moment before he spoke. "I... I'm very sorry, Twilight, I wish we could've done something."
"We... we didn't see it coming, Wyatt, it was bound to happen anyway." Sunset said as Wyatt spoke to his friend.
"My crew and I are sending repair and medical teams to your ship, as is everyone else. Should I head over there?"
".....Sure, I... I need a moment. I'll see you in my ready room." Twilight said to the Admiral before he finished.
"No problem, Stone out." The signal cut out as Twilight steadied herself before turning to her friends and speaking.
"Applejack, Applebloom, could you prepare the shuttlebay for our friends, please?"
"...Absolutely, Twi. It'll be done in a snap. The farmgirl said before Twilight looked to Flash and spoke to him.
"Flash, if you'd join me in my quarters, please." Flash nodded before he turned to Spike.
"Spike, if you could keep the Princess' seat warm."
"Not a problem, Flash." He said before the two slowly walked into Twilight's ready room, the doors closing as they entered. The rest of the crew then continued to perform their duties as they tried to put their sorrow away for later. So many lives... so many friends had been lost today because of Noye, and while he would pay dearly for his crimes, he had now scarred more people than he could've back when he was a friend to the Alliance, and Princess Twilight and her friends had to come to terms with their friends' deaths later on after this tragic battle had ended.