//------------------------------// // Among Shadows (Stargate: Shangri-La) // Story: The League of Sweetie Belles // by GMBlackjack //------------------------------// “Cinder, something seems different about you,” Rarity commented from the other side of the call. “I’ve… seen a lot,” Cinder said. “It’s only been… how long has it been for you?” “Feels like forever…” “It’s only been a couple weeks here.” Cinder furrowed her brow. “Swip, how long have I been on board?” “Fifteen days,” the ship responded. Cinder accepted this fact with a slight nod. “Did anything in particular happen…?” Rarity asked. “You usually tell me everything about your missions - no matter how much of a heart attack they give me.” “The ponies were mean, clueless, or manipulative ghosts,” Cinder said, keeping her expression level. “There was a tense standoff.” “Sounds… par for the course, really.” “It was. There was danger, Nira took care of it, and then we wrapped things up and went back to Swip.” “Took care o-” Rarity’s pupils shrunk in realization. “Swee- Cinder, I…” “Have you ever seen it happen?” Cinder asked Rarity. “You’ve been on lots of adventures, encountered a lot of danger. Have you ever seen it?” “...I… I am aware some of the beings we’ve encountered have done some serious collateral damage… but I only hear about it later.” Cinder gulped. “It’s very different. I can’t describe it.” “...Do you need to come home?” Cinder looked from the image of her sister to the walls of her room on Swip. “No… No, I don’t think I should leave. I’ve seen so much and made so many friends… I just need to push through this.” “I’m here if you need anything,” Rarity reminded her. Cinder smiled. “Thanks, sis. And thanks for not having a heart attack.” “Oh, I’m certainly having something close. I expect there will be some stress eating in about an hour.” She laughed nervously. “It’s not… easy to accept that you’ve chosen such a dangerous life.” “I’m kind of surprised you can.” “Well…” Rarity looked like she had something to say, but lost the words for it. “It’s okay, I-” “Stargate Network detected!” Swip announced. The instant the message ended, the sound of Seren’s squeal of delight met the ears of every Sweetie on the ship. “T-talk to you later,” Cinder said, covering her ears with her hooves. “I’ll h-have to see what this is about.” “No… problem…” Rarity whimpered, putting her hooves over her own ears. Cinder hung up and scrambled out of her room, pressing her hooves harder into her skull. She stumbled into the lounge. “SEREN! FOR THE LOVE OF SEABISCUITS, SHUT UP!” Squiddy shouted, pointing her gun at the mage. Seren sucked in her breath and held it in an attempt to get herself to stop. This lasted all of five seconds - the release of breath brought with it more squealing. Squiddy would have coated the girl in ink had Blink not stopped her with a well-placed hoof. “No friendly fire!” “Then get her to shut up!” “Watch and learn!” Blink grabbed a pillow from one of the couches and stuffed it into Seren’s mouth. She kept squealing, but now it was heavily muffled. “Ugh…” Cinder shook her head. “Why’s she so excited?” “We found a Stargate Network,” Sweetaloo said, walking in with a pair of selective-noise headphones around her head - quite the sign of preparation. “We rarely find those outside of the E-Sphere, and she absolutely loves studying them.” “...And what is a Stargate Network?” Seren ripped the pillow out of her mouth so forcefully feathers went flying. “What’s a Stargate Network!? Only one of the most versatile methods of transport in the multiverse!” She clapped her hands, prompting Swip to drop a large screen from the ceiling. With a flick of her scepter, an image of a ring-shaped device appeared on the screen, similar to Swip’s interdimensional ring. “This is a stargate, a device designed to create punctures in space-time able to travel vast distances in an instant! The only requirement is that you have a gate at the other end and know it’s address!” She clapped her hands together. “These wonderful creations are the basis for our non-magical dimensional drives!” “Basis?” Cinder asked. “Dammit Cinder, why do you have to be so curious?” Squiddy muttered. “We’re Sweetie Belles,” Sweetaloo offered. “It’s one of our primary character traits.” “Not me!” “Liar,” Blink commented. Seren had kept talking. “One of the original universes of Merodi Universalis - heck, one of the universes part of the Alliance long before that - was a world called Earth Tau’ri, where the entire galactic culture depended on these stargates to get from planet to planet, galaxy to galaxy, and eventually universe to universe!” She giggled. “Every stargate in a universe is part of its local Stargate Network, a web of spatial connections. We’ve developed technologies that can tie these networks together across universes, and every time we find a new one we get instant access to virtually anywhere in the universe!” “Can’t Swip do that normally?” Cinder asked. “Well, yeah, but Swip doesn’t really know where good places to show up are. As Overhead-General O’Neill says, ‘if there’s a gate there, it’s important to somebody’. We could create a map of galactic population centers… I could get astrological data on an entire universe without waiting for Swip’s instruments…” “It’s not that much faster,” Swip said, indignantly. Cinder went through the information she’d read on Merodi Universalis - Overhead-General O’Neill, the man in charge of the Military Division. From Earth Tau’ri, now that she thought about it. She didn’t know much about him, but apparently he had a reputation for dry humor. If her memory of his file was to be believed, anyway. Seren was still talking, but Cinder had been distracted enough by her own thoughts that she lost context. “...not to mention the possibility of opening up a new quantum nexus if the Q-Sphere gates can be synthetically fused... “ “I take it you want on the mission then?” Suzie asked, leaning on a nearby door frame. “YES OH YES YES YES!” Seren said, waving her hands excitedly. “I haven’t seen a stargate for months I’m dying to get my hands on one…” “Then you’re on the team. Burger, Cinder, Squiddy, you’re with her. Go enjoy this piece of Merodi history.” “Seren is not going to shut up…” Squiddy moaned. “Well, at least I’m not squealing anymore!” Seren said - proceeding to punctuate the sentence with a squeal. “...Oops.” “Hey, it’ll be fine, we’ve got each other,” Cinder said, putting a hoof around Squiddy. “I’m sure we can make something out of this.” “You actually want to listen to her.” “...Yeah, a little. But that doesn’t have to be all we do there.” Despite herself, Squiddy smiled ever-so-slightly. “Sure. Yeah. Right.” Burgerbelle folded herself up from the ground. “Smells like everyone’s ready to go!” “I’M GOING TO ACTUALLY DIAL A GATE!” Seren screamed, generating a magic screen in front of her face. When Burgerbelle, Cinder, and Squiddy arrived she was already keying in strange symbols, making Swip’s ring vibrate slightly. “I can just connect there directly,” Swip commented. “But that wouldn’t be authentic!” Seren quipped. “The art of stargate travel has something special about it - and a real monodirectional transmission wormhole is something you need to experience!” She pressed a thumb onto her magic screen. “CHEVRON SEVEN LOCKED!” Instead of creating a direct window to another world, the ring made a ‘KAWOOSH’ noise and formed a rippling surface of bluish light, almost like excited water. “...We use nine chevrons to dial other universes,” Swip corrected Seren. Seren tossed her hair back. “...Yep. I just keyed the seventh one in last!” Squiddy facepalmed. Cinder cautiously tapped the rippling surface. “Huh. This is…” Seren shoved her in with a giggle. Cinder’s body vanished into the rippling surface. Burgerbelle jumped in while Squiddy smirked. “Nice one, Seren.” Seren shrugged. “Didn’t want her getting cold hooves.” “Feet.” “She’s a pony, it’s hooves.” Squiddy shook her head. “How can you be so technical one moment and so f- HEY! GET BACK HERE!” Seren had already jumped through the gate, leaving Squiddy to angrily follow her. ~~~ Swip’s normal portals were transitionless. You walked through them like you would walk through air. The traditional stargate experience was something else entirely. The moment Cinder was shoved across the event horizon she could feel her body dissipate into nothing - it wasn't painful, merely unnerving. She became aware of a sudden, dramatic twist of everything. She couldn't see, but she sure could feel the cosmos whipping by her at impossible rates. There was no body, but the vertigo was extreme. The entire universe was laid out before her mind as she zipped along the corridor of spacetime… And then she popped out the other side, body fully functional and very nauseous. She stumbled a bit, walking out of a large stargate - a bit larger than the ring Swip had, and covered in a lot more interesting runes. She couldn't make out many of the shapes, seeing as how her head was reeling. I can see why they don’t use these all the time… though I guess you probably get used to it. “INTRUDER!” Someone was shouting and it wasn't a Sweetie. “...What?” Cinder asked - just in time to see a bolt of energy fly inches past her head. “WAUGH!” She wildly shot off a fireball, jumping away from the gate to hide behind a rock. As the energy bolts flew past her, seldom hitting her rock, she forced herself to look at where she was. Outdoors, next to a sparse deciduous forest, under a sky with two moons - though one was large enough to be a planet. Behind her was a large temple-like structure with a slight golden tint, guarded by a few dozen ponies - ponies brimming with dark power. They were launching both dark magic and dark crystals at her with intent to kill. They looked a bit like images she’d seen of Sombra, though not as large. Curiously, some of them were pegasi, and their wings were the source of the lethal crystals. Burgerbelle had already popped out of the gate and was using a “flamenco-dance” style of combat to jump between the shadow ponies and knock them silly out of their hooves. It was laughable how much they were missing her - even as a two-dimensional being, she wasn’t making any efforts to be hard to hit. The crystals and bolts just kept missing. “What are you!?” One of the shadow ponies shouted, backing up. “What have the Lanteans found!?” “Burgerbelle!” Burgerbelle said, shoving a Happy Meal box into the mare’s face. “And I have no idea who the Lanteans are.” “I DO!” Seren said, waving her head as she ran from the gate, seemingly unaffected by the unusual method of travel. “They’re an offshoot of Ancients from Earth Tau’ri! This universe probably shares the same lore!” The shadow ponies started shooting and charging at her, only for her to raise a magic shield that absorbed the energy. “Aw… I was thinking we could be friends!” Squiddy jumped out of the gate, gun ready. “EAT INK MOTHE-” “Ceasefire!” Cinder blinked in surprise - it wasn’t one of them who had called that. It was one of the shadow ponies - a mare of the pegasus variety with a grayish-purple coloration. The shadow ponies looked at her in shock. “Wh… ceasefire!? Keeper, they are intru-” “Yes. I want to speak with them,” the Keeper said, striding through the confused shadow pony guards. “I have a simple question for you beings.” “Shoot,” Burgerbelle said. “Not literally!” Cinder scrambled. “She means ‘shoot’ in the colloquia-” “I know what she means,” the Keeper interrupted grumpily. “Be quick. Are you from another universe?” “All of us are from different universes!” Burgerbelle confirmed with a grin. “Burgerbelle, Cinder, Squiddy, and Seren, all different versions of Sweetie Belle, members of the League of Sweetie Belles! We are explorers!” “Explorers who come in peace!” Cinder added. “Please let us come in peace. We like peace.” “Peace…” the Keeper said, distaste evident in her voice. “Your purpose of exploration and discovery is evident, but I wish to know how you accessed this gate in particular.” “Oh, was it under a security protocol?” Seren blushed sheepishly. “Sorry, I guess I forgot to check with that when I integrated with the Stargate Network. We just searched the network and chose somewhere random.” “...You were able to search the entire network?” the Keeper’s eyes opened wide in shock. “Oh yeah, we’re experts on stargates, one of our founding universes had them. They’re the basis of a lot of our modern technology.” The Keeper narrowed her eyes. “And how might we get access to this capability?” “Well…” She paused. “I don’t usually give the speech…” “I’ll do it!” Cinder said, pushing all her concern behind her and spouting out the ‘Merodi Universalis relations’ spiel, telling the Keeper the basics of interaction with them and the rest of their government. “...and yes, technology trading is part of all that. We don’t usually give weapons, but if I know my rules correctly something as simple as stargate understanding is certainly on the table. Right?” Burgerbelle nodded in confirmation. The Keeper stared at them in disbelief. “This is… excellent! Yes, simply excellent!” She turned around, forcing a smile onto her face. “You and… you! Prepare something in the guest room for our new… allies!” “...Keeper, we don’t have a guest room,” one of the shadow ponies responded. “Then make one. We don’t want them feeling unhelpful do we?” “N-not at all!” The shadow pony waved a few others to come with him and scramble to prepare something. Anything, really. The Keeper had to process a moment to figure out what to do next. “...Welcome to the Monastery! I’m the Keeper, and we are the umbrum!” “Monastery?” Cinder asked. “Oh, no, we don’t do any worship in here, it’s just what it was used for before we… found it.” Her forced smile faltered slightly. “It’s currently a… research outpost. For processing the most advanced of umbrum technology and understanding the lost Shangrian devices.” “Shangrian?” Cinder asked. “Oh, does this world have Shangri-La?” Seren asked, grinning. “That’d be so cool! I don’t think we’ve encountered a Shangri-La sect of Ancients in the multiverse before!” “They are a common thing?” the Keeper asked. “Oh, well, not around here, but in other areas of the multiverse virtually every world has a builder of stargates, and they have a habit of making flying space cities…” As the Keeper and Seren talked back and forth about science and history, the group walked into the Monastery itself. Cinder took a moment to look around - the structure clearly wasn’t designed for pony hooves, but these shadowy umbrum were making good use of it, having littered the area with dark boxes. Their ominous presence contrasted sharply with the beautiful, curving architecture that seemed to be lit from everywhere at once through some unknown method. The ceilings were high and vaulted, while the designs engraved into the walls formed patterns full of meaning Cinder couldn’t figure out. From the behavior of the umbrum she saw, it was clear they didn’t respect the place they were in - a few of the artistic engravings had been defaced, while others had been unceremoniously blocked by the umbrum’s own ugly devices. She’d even seen some bones lying around. They clearly never had visitors, since every time one saw Cinder they looked ready to attack until they noticed the Keeper leading them. Cinder gulped - all the Keeper had to do was give the word and every umbrum would attack with reckless abandon. Burgerbelle and Seren could probably take them. Probably. “I really don’t trust these ponies,” Cinder whispered to Squiddy - careful not to let any of the others here. “Well duh, they’re dark and violent,” Squiddy muttered. “Textbook definition of evil.” “Yeah. How come we’re going along with them? I know Burgerbelle sees it too.” “Because we’ve made mistakes before.” Squiddy let out a grunt of annoyance. “Too many times have we acted hastily and branded the ‘dark’ ponies evil, even when they weren't.” “...Nira.” “Yep, any one of these psychos could be the next Nira.” Squiddy stretched, trying to make herself relax. “They’re probably evil and waiting to kill us, but if there’s even a chance they’re not, apparently we have to be friendly anyway.” Burgerbelle was suddenly between the two of them. “Also, befriending the evil empire is a very useful strategy.” “And stupid,” Squiddy muttered. “You cannot deny it’s effectiveness.” “Befriending the evil empire…” Cinder rolled the idea around in her mind. Even if they were evil, befriending them could change them; even if they were stubborn, Merodi Universalis could exert pressure… That was a clever tactic, she had to admit. Even if it was a bit manipulative for her tastes. “So, do you make anything other than weapons?” Seren asked the Keeper out of the blue. The Keeper had to process this for a moment. “Yes. At the moment the primary output of the Monastery is weapons, but we’ve made energy sources and construction materials in the past.” “So why all the weapons now?” “It’s just what’s needed right now,” the Keeper said. “Hmm…” Seren put on a big, innocent smile. “I bet I could help with those anyway!” “You could?” “Yeah! Show me some of the technology you’ve got and I can do some quick tinkering, tell you how it works! Magic scans work wonders!” The Keeper stared at Seren like she was offering her infinite birthdays. “...Yes. Yes! YES!” “Thought you’d be happy.” The Keeper was trying to restrain a somewhat creepy laugh and failing. “Guard! Take these three to their… guest room. I will be going down to the manufacturing bay with this one.” “...Keeper, are you sure?” “Definitely,” the Keeper said, rubbing her hooves together. “Tell me everything you know.” “I can’t tell you everything, but I’ll tell you some things!” She turned to Burgerbelle and the others - and winked. What kind of plan could she possibly have!? Cinder wondered as the group was split up. ~~~ Seren didn’t really have a plan, she just wanted to see some of their technology and learn a bit more about them. Sure, it was probably a little foolish. She may have been a genius but she was still a kid. A kid who liked shiny machines a lot. Especially stargate-style machines, since those were a kind of device she had studied in detail. For Seren, ‘in detail’ meant ‘extended contact for about two weeks’. It was almost like she was designed to understand freaky machinery with childlike glee everywhere she went. The Keeper took her into one of the machine bays, specifically to a cart filled with energy weapons, most of which looked like they could be affixed to the hull of a ship. “Hm… The actualizer is missing… Regardless, these ar-” “Military grade quantized plasma lances!” Seren said, beaming. She levitated the weapon in front of herself. “Somewhat unsophisticated… the energy crystals are in the traditional alignment instead of jan-cui formation… I suppose black crystals are normal for you, given your biology...” With her magic she created a small, red crystal. She popped open the side of the weapon and exchanged the crystal cylinder with her own, slapping it closed. She fired the bolt into the ground, coloring it red before crumbling it to dust. The Keeper stared at the hole in the ground. “That was Shangrian alloy…” “It’s just a material,” Seren said, proceeding to take the weapon she had just improved apart to get into the nitty-gritty bits of it. “All materials have a limit. I don’t care how resistant it is, enough energy will break through!” She quickly added some more spells to the gun and improved it markedly, giving it a soft purple glow. “Now you have auto-aim, increased power, a navigation feature, and a ‘friendly’ safety!” The Keeper took the gun and examined it closely. “This is Shangrian based technology that we barely understand. And you not only understand it, you’ve markedly improved it in seconds with your mastery of the arcane.” “Yep!” Seren said with a grin. “It’s what I do. Sometimes. Oooh, what’s that!?” She ran to a large metal box and popped the side open, investigating the crystal lattices inside. “A power fluctuator, nice, nice - could improve calibration here and here, but I don’t want to work on it while it’s on, that might cause a real big explosion.” The Keeper seemed very interested now. “You recognize the potential for destruction in this?” “Oh, easily. Clearly not what it was intended for, but all it would take was some tweaking. Oh! I could also turn it into a soft-serve machine if I had enough milk!” The Keeper pretended to understand what soft-serve was. “...You really do have a mind for weaponry, don’t you?” “I’m more of a jack-of-all trades,” Seren admitted. “But I can help will all sorts of stuff, if you want!” “...Come with me, I want to show you something more… interesting.” Yes! Seren thought. I’m in! The Keeper led Seren down, much deeper into the Monastery. They eventually reached a point where they could go down no further - the basement of all basements. The lighting was darker down here for some reason, and there were significantly less umbrum walking around. There were guards though - lots of guards. They were guarding prisoners, so the number wasn’t that unusual. As the Keeper and Seren passed the cell, Seren was surprised to see a version of Bon Bon and Lyra sitting in a cell with three humans - the oldest of which was wearing what she recognized as Tau’ri insignia. “...What are you!?” Lyra asked, agape. “And why aren’t they shooting you!?” “Some half-pony half-human…” the older man said under his breath - the comment making a younger human uncomfortable for some unknown reason. “She is none of your business, Lanteans!” the Keeper shouted. “She is helping us.” “Why are you helping them?” Lyra wailed. “They’re evil! They’re trying to enslave everything! Everything!” “They have a lot of cool stuff for me to look at,” Seren said with a shrug. “C’mon Keeper, I wanna see the thing already.” The Keeper smiled in relief. “Glad to see you’re still on board. And you certainly won’t be disappointed.” “Goody!” The Keeper led Seren to the deepest research room in the Monastery. In the center of the room floated a large, spherical crystal brimming with blood-red energy. “This is our most prized creation - the enigmatic pulsar. Gathered from dozens of crystal spell matrices over multiple years, this thing ca-” “Can blow up countrysides…” Seren said, smile faltering. “Just toss it through a stargate.” “Yes!” The Keeper said, her smile widening. “It’s proven to be too unstable to go into proper testing, but… Well, if you had a look at it…” “I already know what to do,” Seren said, clasping her hands together and raising her scepter. “It’ll take some time… like, an hour, or something.” “I can be patient.” “Good,” Seren said. Here goes nothing… “Let’s start with an antimatter cascade node…” ~~~ “I just saw two umbrum beat another one within an inch of his life,” Cinder said, ducking her head out of the hallway to their ‘guest room’ - which was clearly just a large storage closet filled with hastily grabbed boxes of food and sleeping mats. “Pretty sure they’re evil.” Squiddy rolled her eyes. “And yet, we’re still going with the ‘befriend the evil empire’ option.” Burgerbelle nodded. “Seren is clever.” “Clever, sure. Cleverness isn’t everything. She could get distracted by a butterfly if she’s alone!” “...You don’t think she’s actually giving them secrets, do you?” Cinder asked. “She probably is,” Squiddy muttered. “Won’t be able to resist the technology.” “...That’s probably bad.” “No shit.” “We need to do something,” Cinder said, taking out her communicator. “Have Swip teleport her out or… why isn’t this thing working?” “Science-fiction walls,” Burgerbelle said, knocking the metallic structure surrounding them. “Messes with communication and portals sometimes.” “Sometimes?” “Multiverse isn’t consistent,” Squiddy muttered. “I’ll bet that we’ll be in another structure like this in two weeks and our communicators will work fine.” Cinder shook her head. “So we can’t call for help. But we do have our weapons and supplies…” “Can’t take the entire cake,” Burgergelle said. “...Escape?” “No idea where Seren is,” Squiddy reminded her. “So we just wait then!?” “Looks like it,” Squiddy muttered. “No,” Burgerbelle said, approaching the doorway carefully. “We get stealthy.” “Blink isn’t here.” Burgerbelle flattened herself onto the floor, using where it met the wall like ground for her two-dimensional self. “Platforming time…” “You’re going to try to sneak like that!?” Squiddy shouted. “Yep! Ponies hardly ever look down.” “You are not the same color as th-” They never got to finish the argument as there was a large explosion that shook the entire monastery. The instant the place shook, an umbrum kicked the door open and started shooting crystals from his wings - he had the excuse he needed to tear them apart. Instead of using her weapons to attack, Squiddy jumped onto the umbrum’s face and tackled him to the ground, suffocating him with her tentacles until he passed out. The other umbrum guards had apparently all run to take care of the explosion - or had been tripped up by Burgerbelle, which was the case with one poor mare. She lashed out with shadowy energy only to hit a stop sign. “Stop! You’ve violated the law!” Burgerbelle announced - and several ropes and hoofcuffs appeared around the mare, subduing her easily. Cinder was used to this sort of thing by now, dashing out of the room without giving Burgerbelle a second thought. “Seren! ...What did she do!?” “I have no idea but it was probably something stupid,” Squiddy muttered, hefting her gun. “Let’s find her.” “We have no idea where she is,” Burgerbelle said, pulling both of them back. “We’re getting out of the Monastery and get help from the others.” She turned around and ran for the exit. “...Makes sense,” Cinder reasoned, following Burgerbelle back to the front area of the Monastery. They were lucky enough to only encounter a couple umbrum - telling that they were running away from the source of the explosion. They arrived in the main hall, not at all surprised to find it devoid of umbrum. They were surprised to see two unicorns and three humans enter the room on the opposite side. “They look like her!” Lyra shouted. The older human didn’t give any time - he lifted his gun and started shooting. Squiddy slammed Cinder to the ground, protecting her from the bullets while Burgerbelle twisted sideways to avoid the incoming projectiles. “Floyd!” the man said. “Got it,” the younger human responded. Focusing for a moment, magic rushed through his body. He grabbed onto the flat form of Burgerbelle and twisted her back into view. She was wearing a secretary outfit now, fixing the team with a disapproving glare. “You are being quite a disruption.” She was suddenly behind them. “How about w-” Bon Bon twisted around and kicked her right in the face, prompting the Flat to stumble backward. The older man moved to shoot her - but he had to dodge Squiddy’s ink and Cinder’s fireballs. “Floyd! Why don’t you know fireball!?” Lyra hissed, hiding behind a nearby column. “It’s not exactly efficient!” Floyd shot back. “A kid’s using it on us!” “I’m not shooting back regardless,” Floyd retorted. “Fireball-shooter or no, she’s still a kid.” Cinder turned to Squiddy. “That doesn’t sound like something bad guys would say…” “HEY!” Squiddy called, stopping her onslaught of ink. “Do you guys hate the shadow ponies?” “Yeah!” Lyra shouted back. “Then we’re on the same side!” Cinder punctuated. “I can’t tell which one’s talking,” the older man muttered. “Not sure it matters, Higgs,” Floyd observed. Lyra called back to the Sweeties. “You’re on their side! We saw the other one helping them with… something!” “Yeah! That’s very suspicious!” Burgerbelle shouted. Bon Bon stared at her. “...What?” Burgerbelle shrugged, pretending to pass out. “Look, she’s trying to get access to their secrets!” Squiddy called back. “Probably being kind of stupid about it, but she’s trying!” “And we didn’t know the umbrum were evil when we arrived!” Cinder added. “We were giving them the benefit of the doubt!” “Who doesn’t know that the umbrum are evil?” Lyra shouted. “Do you hear yourself?” Floyd asked Lyra. “None of us knew they existed until recently.” “Oh yeah… but it’s obvious! They’re trying to enslave everyone!” “Enslave!?” Cinder shouted. “I thought they were conquering! Regular conquering!” “That’s not really much better,” Squiddy pointed out. “...Yeah, I don’t know why I’m defending them.” Cinder poked her head out - happy to discover she wasn’t shot at. “Uh, so, if you guys saw Seren, can you tell us where she is so we can break her out?” “I’m not sure we can trust you yet,” Higgs said. “...We can contact our ‘superiors’ as soon as we leave the Monastery,” Cinder offered. “We’ll resolve this there.” “I’ll accept that,” Higgs said, lowering his weapon. “SR-1, on three, move out. One… Two… T-” “EVERYONE RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!” Seren said, running down the hallway at top speed, panic in her face. Nobody listened to her at first. “Why?” Cinder asked. “I JUST RIGGED THEIR BOMB WITH AN ANTIMATTER CASCADE! THIS ENTIRE STRUCTURE IS GOING TO BLOW!” Lyra gasped in horror. “How could you do that to such an important piece of Shangrian histo-” Floyd grabbed her and started running after Seren, shutting the unicorn up quickly. Soon, four humans, three ponies, an inkling, and a Flat were running for their lives. “GET BACK HERE AND TURN IT OFF!” the Keeper shouted from behind them - brandishing one of Seren’s improved energy weapons. It was awkward - not designed for hoof-held use - but she was making it work with her wings. She fired the plasma bolts at them, hitting Seren’s shields dead on. “I don’t have much energy left…” Seren whimpered. “I’ve got this,” Floyd said, whirling around to create a magic barrier, taking some of the strain off Seren. “...it’s… taking a lot more effort than usual!” “Sorry! My bad!” Seren chuckled nervously. “Seren, did you actually improve their weapons!?” Squiddy shouted, “Maybe?” “SEREN!” “What, I’m blowing it all up! Nothing’s going to survive!” “...Nothing!?” Cinder gasped, visibly paling. “What about... I know they’re evil but…” “Sorry! I had to work fast!” Seren said - her dismissiveness startling Cinder. They didn’t get to continue the conversation - it was at this point everything exploded. The shockwave tossed the Sweeties and their new ‘friends’ far away from the ancient structure’s front doors. The once beautiful site of Shangrian meditation collapsed from the strain, sending an immense dust cloud in the air. Despite her strain, Seren managed to encase everyone in a bubble and roll back to the stargate. The bubble popped unceremoniously, depositing them all into a pile. “Dial Shangri-La!” Higgs ordered. Bon Bon didn’t even need to be told, already keying in the coordinates to the gate. Cinder stood up and looked back at the smouldering wreckage, the flames reflecting in her eyes. “That was a close one!” Seren said with a childish grin. “But we did it! We got away!” Cinder flinched away from her. Seren didn’t notice - she just smiled innocently, looking at the fire. “Is this… normal for you?” Cinder asked. “Hm? What, the explosions? Yeah, of course! I came from a world where this stuff happened allll the time. Explosion wasn’t big enough, actually…” Cinder’s thoughts flashed back to all the stuff that had happened in that fun ‘anime’ fight. It had all been a game then… But to Seren, that was reality. A reality she had grown up with. Cinder realized with some guilt that she was suddenly afraid of Seren. The gate finished dialing. “Everybody in!” Higgs shouted. The Sweeties didn’t waste any time - they didn’t want to wait for the surviving umbrum to notice they were alive. Everyone scrambled into the gate and transmitted through the wormhole to another location in the galaxy. Cinder was once again overcome with nausea - but this time she was more aware of her surroundings. They were inside a technologically advanced room similar in appearance to the Monastery, although it was cleaner and treated with much more respect than the recently-destroyed structure. An aging man in a uniform looked at what had just popped through the gate. “...Higgs?” “General O’Neill, there’s too much to explain quickly and I don’t even know all of it!” Burgerbelle shot up, grinning. “We are the League of Sweetie Belles, multiversal explorers! You look younger than our O’Neill!” O’Neill nodded slowly, trying not to grimace. “...You walk in here and call me old. Bold.” “Hey, nothing you wouldn’t do, am I right?” O’Neill put a hand to the bridge of his nose. “This is gonna be one of those days…” Cinder tuned them out - retreating to her own thoughts for a moment. They’d just destroyed an entire Monastery filled with ponies. Sure, they were evil ponies who wanted to enslave and conquer… and they’d probably killed lots of ponies… But that did little to make her feel better. She glanced at Seren - who was happily jumping around Shangri-La, examining every piece of technology she could find before launching into explanatory monologues about it. She looks so innocent… “Being out here does strange things to your head,” Squiddy said, placing a gentle hand on her head. “...Watch yourself, Cinder.” Cinder gulped, nodding slowly. ~~~ Normally, Cinder would have stuck around and explored the universe some more. Gotten to know Shangri-La, be part of the beginning talks with the new people. Instead she had asked to return to Swip early. And, for the first time, she asked Sweetaloo for a counseling session instead of being forced into one. Cinder told the alicorn what happened in a slow, almost breathless tone. Sweetaloo looked at her with sad, understanding eyes. “...How much experience have you had with death?” “I saw a squirrel die, once,” Cinder said. “That’s… it, before I came here. I heard about the disasters my sister faced, and that sometimes ponies didn’t… make it. But I never saw any of it. I’d hear occasionally that something from the Everfree forest got somepony, but it was never anypony I knew.” She frowned. “But now? I’ve seen someone die in front of me, watched an entire structure collapse because of something we did, and…” She started crying. “Why does it have to be this way?” Sweetaloo wiped a tear from her own eye. “I don’t know.” “I… I want to fix it! I want to help! I want to change everything!” Cinder let out a groan. “But… that’s not going to happen! The people out here are still going to be cruel, even if I fix one universe!” “But if you fix one universe, that’s one less universe of evil.” Cinder stared at her, processing this. “...Merodi Universalis has three major values. Harmony - which includes friendship and alliances. Progress - a consistent improvement of life and technology. But the third value is harder to put into words… we call it ‘aid’ sometimes, but we also call it helping, or interfering, or changing. ...There was once a mare who said ‘we must do better’. And, in the end, you could say that this is our goal. We see the multiverse… and we see that it needs to be changed. If people don’t do anything, the atrocities just get worse.” A glazed expression crossed her face. “We know we can never fix everything. No matter how many universes we save, there will be more behind them, waiting with new, unimaginable cruelties. But we always try to help them.” “...Help takes many forms, doesn’t it?” Sweetaloo nodded. “We’ve fought wars on lesser worlds for their own good. We’ve overthrown governments. There are even a few cases where we’ve sided with the evil empire because it would result in less pain for everyone involved. We are a culture of interference - and as a result, everyone’s morals get skewed. It’s hard to tell what’s good and what’s evil when you have to do evil things to cause good.” “...That feels wrong.” “If you ask Suzie, it is definitely wrong,” Sweetaloo admitted. “It’s not the way things are supposed to be. But we haven’t really found a better option.” She placed a gentle wing on Cinder. “Everyone comes out of it different. Seren grew up with rampant destruction all around her, so she doesn’t bat an eye. Squiddy is suffering from her memories of death, so she’s angry. We live on the fringe out here, Cinder.” Cinder stared ahead, processing. “...I’m sorry you had to be shown all this so early,” Sweetaloo said, smiling guiltily. “You’re supposed to be eased into it. Told little things, bit by bit, and change over time. Perhaps we are showing you too much.” “I’m seeing exactly what I need to see,” Cinder asserted, looking Sweetaloo right in the eyes. “I don’t want to hide from it.” Sweetaloo smiled warmly. “There isn’t a pony alive who can face all of it, Cinder.” “I’m not going to seek it out. I’m just not hiding.” She swallowed. “I… I’ll see all the destruction. And I’ll handle it.” Sweetaloo shook her head. “Cinder… you shouldn’t be in a hurry to grow up. You should have your fun.” Cinder glanced at her cutie mark - remembering how she got it. How it had only come once she’d stopped trying so hard to get it. She grimaced. “...I’m doing it again…” “None of us ever learn lessons immediately,” Sweetaloo said, lifting up Cinder’s teary face with her hoof. “It takes time. And we can revel in that time, content in where we are, no matter what sort of problems there may be. You can be anything you want, Cinder. But please, reconsider wanting to get used to death.” Cinder started bawling, pulling Sweetaloo into a hug. Sweetaloo pulled her in tighter, giving her the support she needed. After that, they talked for several hours. In the end, Cinder didn’t exactly feel better - but she felt like she didn’t have to worry so much. It was a strange, complicated mixture of peace and dread about everything around her. She returned to her room - and pulled out her communicator. “Hey, Rarity? Think I can talk to Apple Bloom?” ~~~ “Keeper, explain how you lost an entire weapon factory and store of Shangrian knowledge! It is your job to scour those stores - if that one held the location we needed...” The Keeper glared at her fellow umbrum. She had lost a fair chunk of her mane in the explosion, but was otherwise none the worse for wear. “Interdimensional explorers.” “And why didn’t you kill them the instant you saw them!?” “Because they were useful.” “That was foalish! They were your doom!” The Keeper’s scowl turned to a grin. “...And they were a boon.” She pulled out the enhanced weapon and shot the floor, turning it to dust. “In their infiltrations, they showed me many tricks. How to realign magic crystals to increase weapon efficiency. How the weapons work. And, above all, I was able to watch as their master mage seamlessly integrated technology with magic crystals from scratch. No longer will the weapons of mass destruction be dreams, they can be made. By us. From base materials.” An umbrum - the Inquisitor - narrowed his eyes. “...Perhaps this was not a complete loss…” “Furthermore, we know the stargates can access other universes now. I saw the gate dial - there were nine coordinates. With enough research…” “I’ve heard enough, continue with whatever it is you do, and bring us the results.” The Inquisitor narrowed his eyes. “Now, tell us of these interdimensional travelers…” “Well, you see…” A portal opened up behind her, scaring her enough to yell out. An older man walked out - covered in wrinkles and wearing a gray uniform marked with an orange-gold ‘μ’ symbol. The umbrum attacked him with their shadowy magic, but some kind of shield protected him. “The name’s Overhead-General O’Neill,” O’Neill said with a smirk. “Seems like you lot are enslaving a galaxy. We’re going to have to put a stop to that.” “You will do no s-” the Inquisitor was cut short by something invisible slapping him across the face. It felt like a fish. “What in th-” Another portal opened next to O’Neill - rolling in the barrel of a giant magitech laser cannon. “Ready to fire when you are!” a goblin shouted from atop the cannon. “Only if they don’t stand down.” The Keeper stood down, and a handful of others hesitated. However, the umbrum were inherently violent - and several surged forth in rage. O’Neill made a mental count of who had and hadn’t held back. Now that he knew who was willing to talk and who wasn’t, he dismissed the cannon. “W-what?” the Inquisitor spurted. “What game are you playing?” O’Neill smirked. “The one where you all listen to us. Actually, it’s not really a game, you don’t really have a choice.” Several smaller portals opened around the room, producing bolts of magic lightning that paralyzed all the aggressive umbrum, leaving only those willing to talk. O’Neill grinned and sat down on an umbrum’s chair. “Now, where were we? Oh yes, your liberation of all worlds under your control, no questions asked.” There was no response - only disbelieving stares. O’Neill shrugged. He could be patient. The looks on their faces were more than enough fuel to keep him going.