We all gasped in horror as we watched the large beam fade away, Crimson crying aloud as we recovered from the sight above. Growing fearful for our ships, I spoke into my combadge, which was emitting static as I tried to get a reply. "Littlepip to Lightbringer, come in! Chestnut, can you hear me?! ANYONE?!"
We all sighed in relief as we heard the static fade slightly, Andromeda's distorted voice speaking through as we smiled thankfully. "Andromeda here, we're all right, but our hull has taken a bit of damage from the beam's proximity!"
"At least you're all still there." I said as I steadied my loose grip on the ground before continuing. "How are the others?"
"The Chestnut has taken major damage, but they're still flying. The Vatal was able to get to safety before the beam came." I raised an eyebrow at Andromeda's next words, all of my friends looking on with worry as she continued. "As for the enemy fleet, that beam was more than they could handle. They've all been vaporized by it!"
I looked to my friends with worry, then to Crimson and Amar as the latter held the crying mare.
"It's alright, you've done good this time. "The genetic scientist said to Crimson before she growled angrily, her horn glowing as she pushed the doctor away hard.
"Good? HOW HAVE I DONE GOOD TODAY?! I ALMOST KILLED THEM ALL!!!" Crimson said furiously as Admiral Stone put his hand on his Phaser pistol, but moved it away as I put my hoof out to stop him. The red mare then looked down shamefully, tears welling in her eyes as she finished. "...Just like I killed those people on that moon."
As Crimson looked back up to us with a pained expression, I looked to her, Trixie joining my side as I pleaded with her. "Crimson, wait. You don't have to run away anymore, we can help you!" I said to the red alicorn, the mare only giving a regretful frown as she faced us.
"How? How can I be saved after all I've done?!" She closed her eyes as her horn glowed again, all of us looking around to try and find what she was going for, but to no avail. Crimson then spread her wings, turning away from us as she finished. "I can't allow you to take me away from here, you all must leave here immediately!" Before we could argue, she took to the air, the red alicorn flying back to Singh's base as I looked to my friends.
"What is she doing?" Velvet asked worriedly as Windsheer spoke through my combadge.
"Lil'Pip? We've noticed high energy signatures comin' from one o' the pieces o' the destroyed moon. Wait a minute..." We all gasped as he finished with shock in his voice. "It's headin' towards the surface!"
"It must be Crimson, her horn was glowing as she left!" Steelhooves said as I looked to Cassiopeia, the green alicorn giving a fearful expression as she spoke.
"She's trying to kill herself, and by bringing that asteroid down here, she'll take every bit of Singh's research with her!"
I grew fearful as I replied to the tall green mare. "We can't let her do that, she's better than this!" As I looked to Wyatt, he walked over and helped Amar to his feet, the man dusting himself off as he spoke.
"Miss Littlepip, please, go after her, I don't care what you or Crimson do to my work, but help her! She holds so much more potential than she knows!"
I nodded as my friends joined me, Admiral Stone tapping his combadge as he spoke to us. "I'll be bringing Mr. Singh back to my ship, be careful down there and try not to get hurt."
"We'll do our best." I replied as he spoke into his combadge, all of us being lifted in Trixie and Cassiopeia's magic as we flew towards the large research base.
"Stone to Chestnut, two to transport." I looked back to see the two men become surrounded by blue fields of energy, their bodies fading away as the transporter beams vanished with them.
As I turned my head to face ahead of us, I heard Andromeda speak through my combadge again, all of us looking to it as we listened to the blue mare. "As if this day couldn't get anymore exciting, we've got more trouble, everyone. A Tholian dreadnought has entered the system and is heading to our position."
"If you can't hold them off, get out of the area and make repairs. Don't worry about us!" I replied as Andromeda spoke hesitantly, her voice sounding worried at my orders.
"U-Understood, good luck down there. Lightbringer out." As the signal cut out, we all faced ahead of our flight path as Trixie turned to me. "I forgot to mention that we had two of those Tarantulas in our fleet, I sent one of them here to guard the base."
"I'm guessing that one has just come back from a patrol mission, huh?" I replied to the blue alicorn as she frowned sadly.
"It would seem so." As we looked back to face our path, we saw the entrance to the research facility, a force field sealing it as we landed. As Steelhooves trotted over to the console, he tapped it a few times before the force field fell, all of us racing inside as we tried to find Crimson Star before she could fulfill her dark desires.
[|||||]
"If my scans are correct, she's in here!" Velvet said as we stopped and turned to the right, racing to the doors on the other end of the hall as they opened.
When we entered the room, it was large, there were several consoles around the room, and in the center was a single power generator that had glowing orange rings around it. Above it all was a large, circular window, the night sky permitting the light of the stars to clash with the red and white lights inside the room. Near the generator was Crimson, who was tapping the console as she tried to deactivate the facility's power.
As we saw her, she turned to us, a disappointed expression on her face as she spoke to us. "Well, I see you choose to join me in my final moments, rather than save yourselves and leave me here to end this madness." She looked up to the window, all of us doing the same as we saw a large, burning piece of the broken moon in orbit flying slowly towards us, a faint red glow surrounding the large rock as we faced Crimson once more, her horn glowing.
"Crimson, please, don't do this." I said as I trotted up to her slowly, the red mare standing tall as she replied.
"And why shouldn't I? I'm supposed to me a creature of war, and you fight for peace. Why would you want do save me?!" I could see tears well in her eyes again as Trixie joined my side, the short alicorn frowning as she spoke to Crimson.
"Because you don't have to be what you were made to be!" Trixie's face became stern as she stared at the red alicorn, who was now shrinking a little as the former-Goddess continued. "I understand that I had you made to fight for me, but things have changed, and we don't want you to waste your chance to do good in your life!"
"How can I do good in my life?!" Crimson retaliated as she argued with the blue alicorn her tears now flowing from her eyes as she glared angrily. "I nearly killed your friends up there with that spell I pulled off, I've murdered innocent people just to make a point to our enemies, what has convinced you that I deserve better than death?!"
I trotted over to the two mares as I looked at Crimson, a guilty frown on my face as I gave my own explanation. "Well, the ponies you're looking at aren't anymore innocent."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Crimson asked in angry confusion, Trixie and I unfazed as I kept on talking.
"I murdered a whole town without trial when my friends and I were trying to save our home years ago. I thought I deserved many horrible things for my actions, but I only did it because those people had done so much worse than I could've done, they were cannibals." I said as I remembered my incident at Arbu, Trixie shaking a little at my story as I finished. "And my friends understood me, they knew I wouldn't want to slaughter innocent people like I did back there, and they were willing to follow me to the end, because we all wanted to be better than we were before."
"But-" Crimson was cut off as Trixie told the red mare of her own sins.
"And I have also done wrong in my life, I forced ponies to become my subjects during my time as the Goddess, I killed those who didn't obey and had made plans to destroy any and all who weren't willing to join us!" As the light-blue alicorn continued, I could see tears of her own welling as she looked to me. "And had it not been for Littlepip here, I wouldn't have been able to change my life for the better." Trixie then looked back to Crimson Star, both mares looking into each other's eyes as she finished. "And you deserve to have another chance too."
"But.. b-but how? What can I do to help you all if all I can do is kill?" The red alicorn asked sadly, her legs shaking slightly as I gave her my answer.
"You can save those people up there." I said as I pointed to the window above us, the orange explosions continuing as our ships fought against the Tholian vessel in orbit.
I was cut off for a moment as my combadge beeped, myself tapping it as I heard Jokeblue speak up. "Lightbringer here, we're losing ground, hull is down to 57%, the Chestnut is a burning wreck, and the Loskene's disabled! We can't take anymore hits up here, Captain!"
My friends all gasped as I grew more fearful, then shaking my head as I looked to Crimson once more. "If we don't stop that dreadnought, so many more people will die, and we will too if they get down here and take you with them." As I looked back to Crimson, I offered a hoof to her as I continued. "You can save them all, you don't need to run from yourself anymore, those colonists would want you to keep going even after your past actions, I know they would." I gave a hopeful smile before finishing. "All of us are counting on you right now, help us.... please."
Crimson seemed to smile a bit, blinking for a moment as she looked to the window above. As she stared up, her horn glowed again, the large asteroid glowing a bright red as the red alicorn began doing something.
"Uh, not to be rude, but may I ask what you're doing?" Steelhooves asked as his head tilted to the side, all of us standing still as we watched the rock slow.
"Ending this feud." Crimson said as she grunted, her horn flashing before it's magic aura went out. As we looked up, we saw the large piece of debris fly back up into the sky, having been shot up into space by Crimson, who was now sitting on her flank, sweating.
As we trotted over to help her, we heard Xenith speak up through the transmission as Velvet opened her saddlebags. "Andromeda, the moon debris is coming back into orbit, it's heading right for the Tarantula!"
My friends and I all looked with surprise as we watched the space rock fly further away, myself tapping my Pipbuck to try and activate the holoscreen for us to watch.
As the screen came up, we saw the large Tholian Tarantula turn away from the battle as it tried to evade the large moon remnant as it got closer, the vessel being too late as it was hit. As the fiery explosion cleared, we could see the burning wreck of the dreadnought as it drifted towards the remaining moon remnants, the vessel exploding as it came close to it all. As the ship exploded, I saw the rest of the moon debris glow along with the explosion as it all was slowly vaporized, the second blast leaving nothing left.
We all stared in awe at the sight, Jokeblue cheering excitedly as she spoke. "Yeehaw! The dreadnought's been obliterated, along with the rest of that moon there!" My friends and I all let out cheers of our own, celebrating Crimsons actions as the red mare sat down. As we calmed ourselves down, I turned my Pipbuck's holoscreen off as we all turned to Crimson, the mare giving a slightly sad expression while we looked at her in confusion.
"Are you alright, Crimson? You saved our friends up there." Velvet asked worriedly as Crimson looked at us, tears welling in her eyes again as she grabbed us all in her magic. We didn't have time to react as she brought us over to her, the mare embracing us tightly as she cried.
"...Thank you... T-Thank you all." Crimson sobbed as we hugged her back, Jokeblue sounding confused as she spoke through the combadge.
"Uh, Littlepip? Is everything all right down there?" I raised my Pipbuck hoof as I replied, Crimson still sobbing.
"Yes, everything's fine. It's just... can you allow us to have a moment, please? Our friend here needs it."
"No problem. Lightbringer out." As the signal cut out, we all sat with Crimson, letting the poor mare shed her tears as we embraced her. She needed to relieve herself of her pain, and having friends was the only way she could do it, especially after what had happened over the course of her time here. Fortunately, we had plans for her, plans I was sure she would love when we got back home.
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Facility 4028, Beta Quadrant, 1 day later
We all stood in front of Amar Singh and his two security guards, the former in cuffs as he was about to be put back into his old cell. After sending out a distress signal, a Romulan Republic vessel came to our assistance. They took us to their nearby flotilla and had our ships placed there for repairs. The Chestnut would be in there for a bit, but she would pull through, as would the Loskene. One of the Romulan captains, Centurion N'Varran, offered to help us return Singh to his cell back at the Federation prison of Facility 4028, to which we all agreed.
As of now, we were just getting our little chat with the station's holographic warden out of the way when Amar spoke up. "Well, I must say, Admiral, you never fail to impress me. You've helped save my daughter from darkness, and you've removed the last of those traitors your Tholian friend was talking about earlier."
"Never doubt officers like us, Doctor." Admiral Stone replied as Singh gave a laugh.
"Indeed, old friend. And Admiral, Littlepip? I thank you, you've finally shown an appreciation for my work after all that back at H'atoria. I wish I could offer more, but.. I understand the laws that you both uphold."
"Where is this "daughter of yours heading to now?" The warden asked Mr. Singh as I gave my answer for them.
"She's coming with us, unlike the other genetic creations of Dr. Singh, Crimson Star wants to help others in the world, and I think she could do quite a bit of that back at Equus." I said as I looked to the mare in question, she gave a shy smile as she looked back at me, both of us then turning to face Amar before I finished. "She'll be in good hooves, Doctor."
"Good, you take care now, dear." The doctor said as Crimson nodded, Singh smiling as Admiral Stone spoke up.
"You do so as well, old friend." The dmiral said as we all turned away, but stopping as Wyatt looked back to the trio. "And Amar,"
As he said that, the doctor and his two escorts looked back to us, the admiral smiling before finishing. "I'll see if I can get Admiral Quinn to approve of some of your research for use."
The doctor smiled back as he agreed with his old friend's idea, then looking away as he and his two guards walked away, heading for Singh's old cell.
As we turned back to continue on our path, Crimson spoke up. "Well, now that the pleasantries are out of the way, I presume we must depart now, correct?"
"Yep, the Lightbringer's beaten up a bit, but she can still fly." I smirked slightly as I looked to the red alicorn, who was facing the transporter ahead as I continued. "And about your new job, you're gonna love it."
"I'm sure I will, helping to control the sun and moon will be quite the chore, but I'm happy to help." Crimson said with a smile, myself returning the gesture before replying.
"Also, I hope you don't mind, but you'll be having a roommate at the place you'll be staying at. He'll be a bit surprised at first, but he's quite nice."
"Oh?" Crimson said with a raised eyebrow, all of us standing on the transporter pads as she asked, "Who is he?"
(_________)
As the blue fields of energy faded around us, our vision shifted to reveal a large cave. Outside the cave was a very high view of the Wasteland, several clouds floating above it as we looked around.
"UUUGGGHHH.... Who's... there?" A familiar voice said as something shifted in the darkness, all of us stepping back towards the entrance as a large purple and green dragon stood up in front of us, a look of shock on his face as he saw us.
"L-Littlepip?!" He said as he examined us all, raising an eyebrow as he saw the red alicorn in our group.
"Yeah, sorry for the abrupt entrance, we thought we could spend some time here for the celebration." I said as the large dragon sat down, his expression calming as he spoke to me.
"What celebration?" Spike asked as I pulled out a small radio, all of my friends standing with me as I replied.
"Something that hasn't happened in over two-hundred years, my friend." Spike raised an eyebrow at that, then focused on Crimson, who was standing at the entrance while I continued. "Oh, and by the way, I hope you don't mind having a roommate, but that's Crimson Star, she'll be living with you while she performs her duties."
"Duties?" Spike said as I activated the radio, lifting it in the air with my magic as my friends and I began trotting towards the entrance to the cave, Spike walking over and sitting as I spoke to him.
"Yeah, she'll be our new "Royal Sister" mare after today, you won't believe what she can do." I smiled as we all sat together, watching the night sky as I spoke into the radio. "Is everyone ready, Homage?"
"You bet, love. Just give the word." My lovely Homage replied happily as I looked to Crimson, the mare blushing with embarrassment as I encouraged her.
"Don't be afraid, you can do it." Crimson nodded and faced the sky ahead, her horn glowing as she began her efforts. As seconds passed, we looked to the horizon to see the sun rise slowly, continuing up and up until it was at about sixty degrees above the horizon.
As Crimson's horn ceased, we all stared with awe as we savored the sight of a phenomena that all of Equestria hadn't seen in over two hundred years. As I looked to my combadge, I tapped it before speaking into it. "Lightbringer, you getting this?"
"Affirmative, Littlepip." Jokeblue said as our large starship hovered down to the mountain, facing the now risen sun before I looked to Spike. I could see a tear trickle down his eye as he spoke to me.
"It's... beautiful. I wish Twilight and her friends were here to see this." I nodded in agreement as I gave a hopeful smile to our dragon friend.
"I'm sure they are, Spike." The dragon returned the smile as I lifted the radio over to me, my friends forming smiles of their own as I spoke into the small device. "Everyone, let the festivities of the Summer Sun Celebration begin!"
Several cheers and whoops sounded through the radio, all of us joining in with them as we rejoiced in the fun. As I looked to Crimson, I could see an excited smile on her face as she cheered with us. She was happy, happy about the fact that not only did she find a job she would love doing, but also that she had friends to help her every step of the way.