We all gasped in surprise as we heard the now panicking Tholian guard speak to his colleagues aboard the T'skang, the station's alarms going off around us as he spoke. "HOW MANY ARE THERE? CAN YOU REACH THE BASE?!"
"SOME OF THE SHIPS DON'T REGISTER AS ALLIANCE DESIGNS, SIR. THERE'S AN ICONIAN CRUISER TARGETING US ALONGSIDE TWO FEDERATION WARSHIPS.... SIR, ONE OF THEM IS OF THOLIAN DESIGN!"
I looked around the cell for a moment before spotting a screen to the right of the room. I trotted over to it and tapped a few buttons on it, my friends joining me as I pulled up a visual of the outside of the station. There was a small task force of vessels fighting against the T'skang and it's escorting ships, one of them stood out from the rest. It was a strange vessel to look at, a tall main hull that bent slightly and had a blue orb in front of the bended section. Around the hull were six fins, yellow markings adorning each of them and the main hull. This was one of the Quas cruisers that fought in the Iconian War.
As the large Iconian cruiser fired dark blue beams of energy at the Tholian warships, I saw seven smaller vessels flying towards the base, the largest one of them being another Mesh Weaver. Unlike the other ones, however, this one had yellow markings similar to the Iconian vessel. The six other ships were of Iconian design, two sharp arms sticking out of a thin main hull, Mir fighters.
Wondering if I could access allied transmissions from inside the brig, I tapped my Pipbuck and looked for a frequency, pulling out my earbloom to prevent the Tholian guards outside the cell from listening in. When I found the right one, I heard a voice speak through my Pipbuck. The voice was the same as the one I heard when a Tholian speaks within an EV suit. "THIS IS CAPTAIN DLYRENE OF THE LOSKENE, WE ARE HERE TO ASSIST YOU, LIGHTBRINGER."
I looked back to the screen to see the Tholian vessel Loskene fire tetryon beams at the four tractors holding the Lightbringer in place, each of them flickering out as the blue beams of energy ceased.
"THE LIGHTBRINGER IS FREE, SIR!" I heard another computerized voice say as I looked back out the cell force field, the two guards were looking at us now, one of them tapping the wall console to deactivate the force field. The purple alicorn helped Steelhooves put his helmet back on as the force field dropped.
As the two guards entered the room, I continued listening in on the Loskene's comms. "ARE OUR AGENTS READY TO BEAM DOWN?"
"AFFIRMATIVE SIR, I'VE DETECTED THE LIGHTBRINGER'S BRIDGE CREW, WE CAN BEAM THEM THERE ON YOUR ORDER!" One of the officers on the Loskene said as Captain Dlyrene gave his word.
"BEGIN BOARDING PROCEDURES!" As I pulled out the earbloom, the guards stood between my friends and I as we were escorted out of the cell, all of us making our way deeper down the hall.
As we reached the door, we heard a transporter beam behind us and looked to see our visitors. In front of the group was Lacunae, behind her were two Iconian Heralds and two Tholians from the Loskene. Our escorts tried to fire, but Lacunae was faster. Her horn glowed and the Tholians between us froze, the two screeching and chirping in their native tongue as the two Heralds fired blue beams of energy at them.
As the two Tholians fell to the ground, Lacunae trotted up to us, my friends and I smiling as she spoke. "I hope we aren't late to the party, everyone."
"Not at all, Lacunae." I replied happily as I asked her, "How'd you all get here?"
"The Loskene got a call from a friend of yours, they said you were in trouble and wanted their help. They agreed and called the Forerunner along with them. Back home, Fluttershy and I were on a survey mission to Maripony when we found that one of the I.M.P. vats was missing in the rubble. We were then contacted by a friend of yours to join them on this rescue mission, claiming our discovery might hold some answers to the actions of this rouge group of Tholians you're dealing with."
"And that's how you got here?" The alicorn nodded with a smile as I turned to Velvet and her trio of alicorns, the purple one stepping out to speak to her sister.
"Lacunae, I believe we have a plan to stop the Goddess." Lacunae raised an eyebrow as she replied.
"Let's hear it." The guards stood at attention as they listened in.
"We've found that the Goddess has a high amount of psionic energy within her and the vat. I believe if we can somehow connect the crystal we acquired from Pahvo to her, we may be able to stop her."
Lacunae nodded at the idea, looking up to her fellow alicorn as she gave her answer. "I like the idea, sister, but since we have this in mind, my friend here has a request." As she finished, Lacunae stepped to the side to reveal Fluttershy behind her.
We all smiled at the sight of her, the yellow pegasus returning the smile as she spoke. "It's good to see you all again, everyone."
"Same to you." I said before raising my eyebrow. "So, you wanted to ask us something?"
"Yes, and I don't think you'll like it." We all looked at each other as Fluttershy said that, the former bearer of the Element of Kindness brushing her hoof past her mane before speaking again. "I think we should try to save Trixie."
"What?!" My friends and I all said in a chorus, the pegasus looking embarrassed as she defended her plan.
"I understand this must be tough to agree on, but we must remember, Trixie was once a pony like us, and she became that monster in there by accident. And while she has done things that have hurt other ponies, I believe she deserves a second chance to change her life for the better."
We all looked at each other skeptically, waiting for someone to speak up when Velvet Remedy stepped out. "I agree, besides, Fluttershy was the one who caused the bombs to fall on the Last Day, but we still gave her a chance." She trotted up to the pegasus before continuing. "And if we, along with our friends back at Junction Town, are willing to accept her as a friend, then we should do the same for Trixie, if she'll permit it, that is."
We all nodded in agreement, Velvet and Lacunae taking positions within our group as Fluttershy spoke. "When the fighting's ceased, give me the signal."
"You got it." I replied as one of the Heralds and Tholians took positions next to Fluttershy, the other two escorting us back into the Goddess' chamber.
"Wait!" I said as I remembered something we'd need from the Lightbringer. We all stopped in front of the door as I tapped my combadge. "Littlepip to Lightbringer, do you have the crystal onboard?"
"Affirmative, Captain. You need it for something?" A mare onboard our ship asked as I replied.
"Yes, we need you to beam it to our location, we're going to use it to incapacitate the Goddess."
I heard the officer gasp in shock before replying. "The Goddess is back?!"
"Yes, and there's no time to waste! Also, get every alicorn stationed onboard over here, we'll need their help in fighting her!"
"Yes, Ma'am!" The officer said as the signal cut out.
I then looked to my friends, giving my most confident expression as I said, "Let's hope this works."
As we entered the large room, we all saw the Goddess staring down at us, her alicorn minions facing down at us as well. We all pulled out our weapons as we faced her, Calamity readying his newly modified battle saddle as he took up a battle stance. The new saddle looked like a simple belt with a small, thin cylinder on the back of it. But when it opened, two slots on the cylinder would open up, pieces of metal exiting and shifting before they formed two cannons on either side of the saddle. Calamity had looked proud of the thing when he showed it to us, and he had told me as I examined it, "Ya can never be unprepared fer a fight when on duty."
{{WELL, IT SEEMS OUR CAPTIVES HAVE ESCAPED THANKS TO OUR NEW VISITORS. UNFORTUNATELY, IT WILL HAVE TO BE SHORT LIVED. SEIZE THEM, MY CHILDREN!}} As the Goddess finished, her drones took flight around her, one of them speeding towards us and landing hard on her hooves in front of us. As I looked at her, I recognized her, she had a blackish green coat and black eyes with green irises. If she'd been wearing Luna's skeleton for armor, I'd have noticed her sooner.
"Nightseer?!" I said as my jaw dropped, the alicorn laughing as she replied to me.
"You remember me, little one? I'm touched." Nightseer smiled malevolently as the flock of alicorns hovered over the Goddess, waiting for us to make our move.
And make our move we did. "Well, lucky for us, we've got backup of our own, old friend." I said to the dark alicorn as I looked to our right, several transporter beams appearing before several alicorns took their place. Unlike the Goddess' children, our alicorns varied between males and females of purple, blue, and green, while the drones above were all mares.
Nightseer seemed unfazed by their appearance, but the Goddess sounded surprised as she spoke to our alicorns. {{YOU WOULD DARE TO CHALLENGE YOUR GODDESS?!}}
"Indeed we would!" Lacunae said as she took flight, the Pahvan crystal beaming in near us.
As our purple alicorn took hold of the large crystal in her magic, the Goddess responded to our airborne friend. {{LACUNAE?! HOW DID YOU ARRIVE?!}}
"I have made friends, that's how." She said with a smirk as she looked to us. "You all get that crystal near the Goddess, I'll try and hold her off!"
"How?!" I asked in bewilderment as the lone alicorn flew towards the Goddess, her horn glowing as the Trixie-monster glared at her.
"She needs to remember something!" I tried to call out to her, but she was already starting to fight the Goddess as our alicorns took flight, their horns glowing as they faced the Goddess' children.
{{STOP THESE FOOLS, MY CHILDREN! THEY MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO REACH ME!}} The Goddess said as her alicorns flew towards us, myself turning to look at my alicorn crewmates.
"Hold them off, make sure they don't get in our way!" They all nodded as they flew towards their evil sisters (and brothers?), magic beams firing as the two armies began the battle above us.
I turned to my friends as I ordered, "You guys get to the Goddess and ready that crystal, I'll hold off Nightseer!"
"By yourself?!" Velvet said in disbelief as the blue alicorn in our group flew beside me.
"I will assist Littlepip, the rest of you go, quickly!" My friends and the two guards nodded as they raced towards the Goddess' vat, Nightseer cutting her shoulders and creating blood daggers.
As she began aiming them, I shot both daggers with magic bolts, both weapons turning to glowing ash as the dark mare looked to me. "You're gonna have to get through me if you want to stop them!" I said angrily at my old enemy, who merely laughed as she replied.
"Very well, little filly, I'll play your game." She then took to the air, her horn charging up as she finished. "Just make it fun for us both, okay?"
As she stopped in the air, she fired a pulse of magic down at the two of us, my alicorn friend protecting us with a shield as the blast impacted it. As my friend lowered her shield, I fired two bullets at Nightseer, hitting her on her left forehoof and her wing. The bitch barely cringed at the pain as she flew down at us, my alicorn ally firing several beams of magic at her. The dark mare was an agile flyer, as she dodged every single one of them before focusing on me. I pulled out one of my photon grenades and flung it up to her, smacking her face as she stopped in the air.
Despite her head being knocked to the side a bit from the force of the smack, she slowly turned her head to face me, a sinister grin forming on her muzzle as she spoke to me. "Is that all you've got, little one?"
As I activated the grenade near her head, Nightseer's horn glowed before firing a pulse of energy in front of us, my alicorn and I being shot back against the wall as Nightseer flew upwards, the grenade exploding on the floor.
As we both recovered, we looked up to see Nightseer cutting her shoulders again, several drips of blood flying out of her wounds. As we looked closer, we saw she was making several more daggers to throw at us. As she held them, I heard a shot coming from my right as a large bullet-shaped object flew towards the dark mare, who caught it in her magic. She then turned it to face us, but was too late as the weapon exploded in front of her, her blood daggers turning to vapor as she fell to the ground.
As Nightseer hit the floor in front of us, I turned to my right and saw two familiar faces at the entrance door. A blue mare with a purple mane and tail, a poison joke plant as he cutie mark. Alongside her was a rusty grey pegasus with an orange mane and tail, the stallion dressed in an old Enclave uniform and wearing a fancy battle saddle of his own.
"Jokeblue, Windsheer! You're here to help?!" I said with a smile as the two galloped over to join us.
"Ayep, we heard y'all had been captured an' we sent a signal t' some friends nearby." Calamity's brother said as we heard Nightseer grunt in pain, the mare getting up slowly as we all turned to face her.
As I examined her, I noticed her horn had been broken off, whether that had been from the fall or from the weapon that was shot at her I didn't know, but she was hurt.
"Is.. that all you have to offer?" Nightseer grunted as I focused, my horn glowing as I smirked at the dark mare.
"Actually, let me show you something I learned back home." As I said that, I grabbed the large alicorn in my magic, throwing her on the ground hard as the ground cracked.
And I threw her down again, and again... and again.
After throwing her down to the ground about seven times, I released my grip, I trotted over to Nightseer, the mare's eyes wide at my actions as she coughed a bit. The dark mare spoke to me once more, Windsheer and Jokeblue joining me as I listened to my old enemy. "Not... bad, little one. P-perhaps I misj-udged you, after all."
"I'd say so." I replied to the dark mare as I looked at my two friends, the blue alicorn joining us as I asked, "Can you two watch her while I help the others?"
"Don't worry 'bout us, y'all help mah brother over there, ya hear?" I nodded as my alicorn escort and I sped towards our friends near the vat, Jokeblue and her assistant staying near Nightseer to help her recover from her injuries.
As we stopped near our friends, I looked up to the ceiling, the alicorns were causing quite the dogfight above us. Fortunately, I had seen no bodies fall, meaning that they were doing everything they could to distract them while we did our part.
As I watched the battle in the sky take place, I heard the Goddess speak, her voice sounding shocked as it reverberated throughout the room. {{WHAT ARE YOU DOING?}}
As I listened, I heard several cries above us before looking to the ceiling, some of the alicorns floating in midair as they ceased their fighting. Whatever was happening to the Goddess, her children felt what she was feeling. They were telepathic, after all.
I was snapped out of my stare as the green alicorn in our party spoke to me. "Lacunae was used as a memory dump by the Goddess, she holds all of the memories that she does not want to have. At the moment, she's showing those same memories to her, and that's our cue to get started!"
I nodded as I asked, "Alright, what do we do?"
"If I'm right, I believe my sisters and I can make a connection between the psionic power in the crystal and the Goddess. And, if we do it just right, we can drain her power."
"We will have to have complete focus on doing this, however, so cover us." We all nodded as the trio of sisters set the crystal down next to the wall of the vat, their horns glowing as they began their process.
I heard a door to our left open to reveal several Tholians heading our way, screeching in their native tongue as they took aim. I pulled out Little Macintosh again as I fired, several bullets hitting their armor as they screeched in pain. Calamity took to the air as he fired his battle saddle, bullets and Phaser bolts shooting out towards the remaining two Tholians attacking us.
I looked to my right to see another door open, several more Tholians racing towards us as I yelled, "On our right!"
Calamity was too late as he was struck in the wing by a bolt from the closest Tholian, the pegasus yelping in pain as he hit the ground.
"Calamity!" Velvet and I cried out in worry, the former racing over to her husband as I fired a flurry of magic bolts at the Tholian squad.
As the group of armored spiders melted into a glowing pile of goop, I ran over to my injured friend, who grunted as he tried to speak. "Ah'll be fine, just-NGH"
I looked back to our alicorn friends as Velvet tended to Calamity's wound, the crystal glowed as their magic enveloped it, the girls all scrunching their faces as they focused harder. A moment later, a beam of energy shot up before curving back down into the center of the taint vat, Trixie crying out as it struck her. {{ACH! WHAT IS HAPPENING?!}}
I heard several cries of pain above me as we all looked to see some of the alicorns hovering in midair, and, as I squinted my eyes, I could see them holding their heads as they continued screaming. They were feeling their Goddess' pain, they felt her losing her power from the crystal, the shiny object being manipulated by the trio of alicorns as they kept their efforts locked on it.
{{WHAT.... ARE YOU THREE.... DOING TO ME?!}} I heard the Trixie-abomination cry out in pain as her power was drained, the three alicorns gritting their teeth as they tried to hold it.
"Just... a little... longer!!!" The blue one said as she held her focus, the crystal starting to crack from the amount of energy drained.
As I looked above the vat, I saw the Goddess' form shrink a little, a large amount of gas floating out of the vat she was hovering over. Curious, I focused my magic and lifted myself above the vat, gasping in surprise as I saw the vat partially empty. The Goddess was trying to gather every bit of energy she could get out of the taint, and she was exhausting it all very slowly. If the sisters kept this up, they could get rid of all the taint in the vat and Trixie would be done in. Speaking of Trixie, I looked down into the vat, and gasped again when I saw the faint silhouette of a pony deep inside the taint pool. As I inspected further, I noticed the body expand slightly, the taint draining further and further until the vat was drained to half of it's original amount.
I couldn't believe my eyes, Trixie was using every inch of taint she could get to rebuild her physical body! I had remembered the recordings I'd watched back at Maripony during our first visit with the Goddess, when Trixie returned from the pool of I.M.P. fluid in the testing room, she was transformed into a strange, glowing illusion that had taken the appearance of her physical form. She had been in the vat for much longer than planned, allowing her to absorb more than was needed to become the Goddess.
And it was a good thing she was creating a body for herself to survive in, we didn't want to kill her this time.
I looked back down to see my friends and the three alicorns, the crystal's glow intensifying as I saw more cracks appearing on it.
"GET CLEAR!!" The three sisters cried out simultaneously as Lacunae flew next to my friends, a shield erecting around them as the crystal exploded violently. As the large crystal shattered, a large psionic shockwave expanded outwards towards me, knocking me out of my telekinetic grip and straight into the taint vat.
As I floated in the taint, I looked around to find Trixie's body, finally seeing her now awake form down below me. I grabbed her in my magic and pulled her up to me, the blue alicorn looking surprised as I started swimming back up with her behind me. As I reached the surface, I gasped as I let out a breath, Trixie doing the same as I released her from my magic and held her with a hoof.
"Someone help us out of here!" I cried out as I held Trixie, Lacunae flying up to us and pulling us out and onto the floor with her magic shortly after.
As I stood on my hooves, I took a breath as I looked around, seeing Velvet, Calamity, Steelhooves and Xenith galloping over to me as I embraced them.
"We did it, guys. We got her." I said as we broke the hug, Calamity's eyes widening at the sight of the now organic Trixie.
"That's her?!" The pegasus asked in disbelief as I nodded, Velvet trotting over to her as I answered my friends' confusion.
"I think she tried to use all the taint she could to rebuild her body, that's the best explanation I can give for that issue."
"That's... incredible." Steelhooves said, myself turning to see Velvet scanning her alicorns as we stood together. The alicorns looked like they'd been knocked across the room, I could see a few shards of broken crystal trapped in wounds around their bodies. Thank the Goddesses they didn't get struck in the head, I didn't want to lose them in this mission, especially not after doing this.
"Stay with Trixie, I'm gonna check on our friends over here." The others nodded as I trotted over to Velvet, the unicorn giving a hopeful smile as she turned to me.
"They'll need a lot of rest after today, but they should be fine." I smiled at her words before we all heard Trixie stand up, the mare looking at us in confusion as she spoke in a normal voice.
"Wh.... Why did you save me, Destroyer?" Trixie asked as she breathed heavily, the reconstruction of her body having taken a heavy toll on her.
"Because you deserve a better ending than this." We all turned to see Fluttershy trot into the room, her Herald and Tholian guards standing behind her as she looked at her old friend.
Trixie stared at the pegasus in disbelief as she spoke to her. "F-Fluttershy?! How did you-... I thought you were dead!"
"I would have been, if it weren't for my friends here." Fluttershy replied back as she looked to us, all of us smiling as the former Mare of the Ministry of Peace trotted up slowly to Trixie. "And it's also because of them that you are here with us now."
I noticed that all of the alicorns were now trotting up to our spot, all of them looking on with curious expressions as they watched the two mares talk. "But why would you want to save a monster like me? Even after all that I've done?"
Fluttershy kept her calm demeanor as she answered Trixie. "Because we want you to have a second chance, Trixie." She stopped as she stood face to face with the former Goddess, tears welling in her eyes as she listened. "And You're not the only one who's done wrong. For one thing, I was the one who caused the bombs to fall."
Trixie, along with the other alicorns, gasped in shock as they heard Fluttershy's claim, the mare steadying herself as she continued. "I just wanted to end the war, and I thought those weapons would do it... and they did, but not the way I wanted them to. I ended up punishing myself for what I did, but Littlepip and her friends thought I deserved better than that, and so they freed me from my prison in the Everfree Forest." The two mares looked at each other eye to eye as Fluttershy concluded her story. "And I feel you do too."
"But how?" Trixie asked the pegasus, her voice cracking as she continued. "H-how can I make friends if I'm so weak and powerless?"
Fluttershy smiled as she answered her friend. "I know of a power that make you stronger than magic ever could," She put a hoof out as she finished with a smile. "That power is Friendship. Will you accept mine?"
Trixie stared at Fluttershy for a moment, tears welling in her eyes as she touched the pegasus' hoof, then embraced her as she cried into her friend's shoulders.
"There there, it'll all be okay." Fluttershy said comfortingly as the station shook around us, my combadge beeping as I tapped it to answer.
"Lightbringer to Littlepip, the Tholians have activated the self-destruct and have evacuated the station! We recommend immediate beam-out, now!" One of the officers on the other end asked as I replied.
"Do it! Get everyone at our position off this rock!" The station shook once more as the officer replied once more.
"Understood, Captain!" As the signal cut out, My friends and I all stood together, the alicorns standing still as we were all surrounded by blue fields of energy. A moment later, the sight of the I.M.P. room disappeared, the blue transporter field obscuring our vision as we beamed away to the Lightbringer.