Voyages of the Lightbringer: Episode 4: Variances

by Admiral Wyatt Stone


(V2) A Sudden, Apocalyptic Awakening

(VARIANCE START)

"What we knew, is gone. Our home, our lives, all that we were.... dust."

Endings.

When you go on a journey, you sometimes think that they could never end, that you'll always go about doing what you're doing. You don't expect or want to have to stop doing the things you love, despite the coming changes and things that'll happen to you.

You wish you could go on with your friends, stay with them forever and keep up the fun nonstop. But, sometimes, you have to change, let go, sacrifice your time with them because there's something more important to do. You have to say good bye and then fulfill your mission, even if it means you never see them again.

I know because it's what I've been through.

Ever since the day I left Stable 2, I had made friends, defeated many villains, and saved the Equestrian Wasteland from destruction. Though, in the process, I gave up the chance to see my friends in flesh and blood for a long time, having to tend to Equestria's weather, make sure that no one tries to take control of it or destroy the rebuilding Wasteland with it. While it's not the happiest fate I'd like, it's better than losing everyone I know and love to the evils of the Enclave.

But it turns out that it wasn't my story that was coming to an end, but rather the story of my home, all that our ancestors fought for, built, and worked so hard to preserve would be for naught... and what I would wake up to would be akin to something from a nightmare.

<<<>>>

I awoke with a gasp as I took my first breath in over ten years, lifting myself out of the pod, my bones weak and aching. As I lifted my head up, I was stopped by a.... paw? No, it couldn't have been a paw, it felt hairless! I looked around to see where the paw had come from, and was stunned to see a calm (and hairless) face near me. "Easy, you've been in there for a while, this hypo should fix you up after a moment's rest."

Before I could speak, I felt something press against my neck, a bit of pressure following after as the device was lifted away. As I steadied myself, I noticed a similar looking being walk over to us, looking to the first one as he spoke. "Sir, we've gotten the Princess' mind downloaded into the chip, we should be ready to head out at your word."

"Excellent, I should only need a moment." As the second being moved away from us, the first one turned back to face me. "My apologies for the abrupt arrival, I should get started quickly. My name is Daniels, I'm from a group known as the Universal Alliance, our duty is to protect the many universes from any and all hostile groups that might want to intervene." The person named Daniels gave a frown as he continued. "And unfortunately, one of them is here, and they intend to attack this planet. I have several ships in orbit as some on the surface working to evacuate the planet before the enemy succeeds. As for you, we're getting you out and taking you aboard the starship Chestnut, she's sent a shuttlecraft to pick up the people at a nearby town that your friends reside at."

I looked at Daniels with wide eyes, stunned at the news. Okay, so there was a group called the "Universal Alliance", and they were fighting a group that wants to kill us. Alright, sounds convincing. But... if we had to leave here, then what about Celestia?

Daniels must've read my mind as he spoke again. "And don't worry, we've gotten everything we can salvage from this place, including your friend and former leader, Princess Celestia. If you'll permit me doing so, I can install her consciousness on your Pipbuck there."

I raised an eyebrow at his words, but nodded in agreement as I held my Pipleg up, the bipedal being inserting a chip into a slot on the device's side. As he stood up again, I felt the room shake, a low boom sounding as I stood up. Something hit the S.P.P., and I could only guess as to who it was.

"We should hurry, Littlepip." Daniels said as his friends gathered their equipment, myself levitating my items into my saddlebags, Orb #8, the Fluttershy Orb, Calamity's hat, the drawing from Silver Bell, the ashes of the filly from Friendship City, the Ministry Mare Statuettes, and of course, Little Macintosh.

As I put my prized pistol into it's holster, I trotted over to Daniels, who tapped a small badge on his chest before speaking into it. "Daniels to Lompoc, have you finished the rescue operations at Junction Town yet?"

"Affirmative, Sir." A female voice replied back, all of us stepping into the main control room of the S.P.P. as the voice spoke again. "Also, we've got your new friend's buddies onboard, she won't be alone for the trip."

"Good, get over here as soon as possible, we'll need a ride for the trip back." Daniels replied as the room shook again, dust falling from the ceiling as the officer on the other end replied.

"Understood, Lompoc out." As the signal cut out, we walked over to the exit door, which opened for us to get out. I was surprised at that, but after thinking it through, I assumed Celestia must've deactivated the security protocols, allowing us to leave and enter whenever we wished.

As we stepped out the door, we all formed up in a line as we entered one of the walkways outside the main hub, the large shield down and both sections of the building exposed to the outside world. While we all stood on the walkway, I could hear several roars above us, and after looking upward, I saw several small objects flying higher into the sky. Those must have been the evacuation transports Daniels was talking about, I hoped ours would be here soon.

My examination of the area was short-lived when my Pipleg beeped, the voice of Celestia speaking through it. "Littlepip, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, your Highness." I replied with a smile as I lifted my Pipleg, looking at the computerized image of the sun goddess displayed on my screen. She smiled back as she spoke to me.

"Good, before I was copied onto the data chip, I lowered the security fields in order for us to escape. I assume it worked?"

"Perfectly." I replied as I turned my Pipleg to show Celestia the shields, the princess smiling with satisfaction as I pulled her back to me. We were all silenced as a roar sounded above us, all of us looking up to see a large ship, it must've been the size of an Enclave raptor, but it had thick wings and a small head attached to a neck.

As the large ship hovered over us, a growl sounded from the vessel before it was hit by two orange beams of energy. A few seconds later, a flash appeared around the vessel before two red projectiles screamed towards the ship, hitting it's belly hard. As the alien ship flew away from us, a smaller (but still large) ship pulled up in front of us. It was made up of a large fuselage with four pylons on the sides holding two engines of sorts, yellow and brown markings adorning it's hull. I assumed that was our ride.

The vessel turned around as it's aft door opened, several people and ponies standing inside as the officers at the edge of the opening waved their hands at us. "Hop in, we don't have much time!" One of the officers said before Daniels' escorts jumped off the platform and into the transport, myself lifting me and Daniels as we hovered into the ship. As we both touched the floor of the vessel, the doors shut behind us, the ship lurching forward as it flew away from the S.P.P. facility.

As I began to look around, I noticed several ponies I recognized to my right, Ditzy Doo, her daughter Silver Bell and her husband Lionheart. I also saw Pyrelight perched on an edge on the wall and three alicorns sitting in the room, their eyes closed as they rested. My search ended when I heard several familiar voices from my left calling my name. "Littlepip!" I turned to see my old friends, Calamity, Velvet Remedy, Xenith, her daughter Xephyr, and even Homage. All of them raced to me, giving me no time to prepare as they embraced me tightly.

"Guys, you're all okay!" I cried out joyfully as we hugged, but broke it several seconds later as Calamity spoke to me.

"What's goin' on here, Pip? Did they tell ya or Velvet anythin'?" I nodded to him as I replied.

"From what my friend over there says," I pointed a hoof to Daniels, who was helping out one of the other officers nearby as I continued. "our home is under attack from a dangerous force, and they feel the need to get us all off planet to protect us."

"Well, that explains the rude awakening we got from our visitors earlier this morning." Xenith said with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"From what they told us, the others are all in other ships. They're taking us to their mothership for protection." Velvet said as she held Calamity's hoof.

Our chat was cut off when the shuttle shook, the female voice I heard earlier speaking throughout the room. "Everyone hold on, the ride's about to get bumpy!"

As the shaking ceased, I turned to face Daniels, who was just finishing up with his friend as I asked him, "Do you mind if we take a look outside?"

Daniels nodded as Velvet tapped my shoulder. "I know a room that'll provide a good view, follow me!" As my friends and I followed the charcoal unicorn down a small hall, we turned to our left to enter a small, but cozy room. Along with two double beds, there was a window at the side. We all trotted over to it to see the clouds in the sky pass by our ship, several more transports coming into view far away from us.

As we watched the sight outside, we heard a beep from my Pipleg. I lifted it to see Celestia as she faced me. "I'm getting a signal from an ally in orbit, do you want me to put it on?" We nodded as she did so, another tab appearing with a wavelength within it.

A moment later, we heard a male voice speak out of it. "Sir, I'm detecting another anomaly opening near the planet, something big's coming out!" We all looked to try and find the strange ship, which came into view after a few seconds of looking around. The ship was indeed massive, it was a large, blue starship with a diamond shape to it. There were also several fins boasting off of the top of it, and if my eyes were seeing things right, I thought I saw waves of energy coming off of it's hull.

As the ship exited the large blue vortex above it, another male voice spoke up, fear clearly noticeable in it. "Damn, it's the Drej, Elisa, contact our transports and tell them to break off and get to a safe distance immediately!"

"Aye Sir!" A female voice said before a beep sounded through the transmission, the female speaking again as the Lompoc turned to the right. "Sir, I'm reading a high energy buildup within the mothership, they're preparing to fire at the planet!"

My friends and I all gasped in fear as we looked back to the Drej starship, a long beam striking the surface of the planet as several more ships passed us. A few seconds later, the beam vanished before firing again, this time a shockwave shot out around the planet as it struck the surface. As the shuttle turned some more, we looked to the planet. The blast from the alien vessel had left a fiery wound on our world, most likely killing anyone and anything down there. But the thing that caught my eye was the rotation, I noticed the planet slowly spin faster, several flashes appearing in the oceans as we flew away.

"What are they doing to our home?!" Velvet cried out fearfully as the shuttle stopped turning, the world of Equus becoming fully visible as our transport flew away. We all watched in horror as the planet's rotation continued accelerating, the blue water turning red as several cracks appeared on the surface. The planet spun faster and faster, more cracks appearing on each of the continents as we heard a female voice speak throughout the room.

"All hands, brace yourselves! The rides going to be a bit rocky from here on out!" As we continued watching the sight out the window, the world of Equus spun for a little bit longer before it exploded, a brilliant light blinding us as we all held our hooves to the ground. As the light faded, the remains of Equus flew apart and shot out at us, some pieces hitting the other evac ships as the Lompoc made a hard turn to the left, the moon becoming visible as the debris flew outwards. As our shuttle cleared away from the area at high speed, we all looked out once more to see the moon being hit by several large pieces of debris, the large, rocky ball splitting apart as it was struck by the remnants of it's owner world.

(||||||)

I held Homage as I cried into her shoulders, Calamity and Velvet doing the same as we mourned the loss of our home. After the destruction of Equus, we all gathered at a rendezvous point near the Chestnut and her allied ships, all of our shuttles landing and dropping us off onboard the ship. After getting checked out, we asked to find a room to stay in for a little bit. But in reality, it was so we could cry our hearts out after losing the one place that ponykind and many other species had been nurtured by for centuries.

By now we had been letting out our emotions for hours, Xenith and Xephyr not joining our sorrow and rather heading to another area of the room to relax. As I bawled into my lover's shoulders some more, the grey unicorn held me tight, Velvet wailing aloud as she held her husband. "Monsters! How could they do this?!"

We all looked to see the two zebras enter the room, their expressions being apologetic as Xenith spoke up. "I apologize for the interruption, but may I say something regarding this whole incident?"

I wiped my eyes with a hoof, my friends doing the same as I answered the zebra politely. "Y-yes, what is it?"

"I understand the pain of losing our motherly cradle, but we should still be on our guard. If they intended to destroy our planet, who's to say they won't send more in to finish us off?"

We all looked to each other as we thought on Xenith's words, before turning to the door as Daniels walked in. "It would seem you are correct on that, Xenith."

"What's the problem, Daniels?" I asked as we looked attentively to him.

"I'm happy to report that we've gotten over half of the population off the planet before it was destroyed, I've got some of the results on this PADD here, and I thought you might want to see it." Daniels then held up a small tablet in his hand, I grabbed it in my magic and looked at it as I examined the list. There were over sixty names on it, each description ending with the phrase, "View File".

Survivor Count - Page 5:

Spike - Dragon - Male
Crystal Éclair - Zebra/Android - Female
Tooty Fruity - Pegasus - Male
Life Bloom - Unicorn - Male
Windsheer - Pegasus - Male
Murky - Pegasus - Male
Skydive - Pegasus - Female
Jet - Pegasus - Female
Gutshot - Pegasus - Male
Majina - Zebra - Female
Barkin' Saw - Diamond Dog - Male
Fluttershy - Pegasus - Female

As I read the names, I smiled, happy at the fact that at least most of our friends had survived with us. "We have them all on the other ships escorting the Chestnut, for the moment, we're setting a course for New Khitomer to drop them all off while we come up with a battle plan." He walked over to the bed before sitting on it, our eyes still focused on him as he continued. "Unfortunately, we've found out that J'ula and her forces are planning an attack there, so we feel it would be best if we wait here for a little while longer while the planet's defense fleet holds them off."

I nodded in understanding as I replied. "Daniels, why did they try to kill us?"

"I was getting to that, you see, J'ula has formed an alliance with several other factions in other universes, and intends to wipe out any possible candidates that could stop her from creating a foothold in various realities. When she found out that we were heading to your world to recruit you, she sent the Drej mothership in to prevent us from succeeding. In their universe, they were responsible for destroying Earth in the year 3028, scattering Humanity across the galaxy. From the intel we got, J'ula seems to have convinced them that you and your people were a threat to them, and had to be wiped out."

"Well, we are still here. I would say the only thing they've succeeded in doing was stripping us of our home." Xenith asked as he nodded in agreement, all of us looking to our new friend as he spoke again.

"Indeed, and about that. My buddies at HQ are trying to acquire a device that can bring back your home, something from the same universe that the Drej originate from."

I gave a hopeful smile as he explained to us, my friends smiling along with me as Daniels continued. "They call it the Titan, it can create a new planet by gathering raw materials in a select area of space. If we can get it into your universe along with the required materials, we can restore most of what was lost at Equus."

Velvet seemed to grow ecstatic over the news, a grin building on her face as she held Calamity again. "Well, t-that makes the day much less heart-wrenching!"

"Indeed it does." I replied as I looked to Daniels, all of my friends turning to me as I spoke to the human. "And by the way, you said something about recruitment, right? Well, how about my friends and I lend a hoof? I think after what's happened recently, J'ula needs to know what happens when you screw around with the people of the Wasteland."

"Yer darn tootin' Pip!" Calamity said with a grin, him and his wife separating as they stood together. "After all that, Ah'm already lookin' forward t' smackin' some o' J'ula's buddies upside the head fer all we lost!"

"I'd like to help too." Velvet said as Xenith and Xephyr trotted over to her. "We'll need to provide aid to all that are in J'ula's crosshairs, and they will most certainly need medical assistance as well."

We all stood stunned for a moment as a chorus of voices joined our little conversation. "We believe you'll need our assistance as well." The voices revealed themselves as the three alicorns that helped Velvet into the S.P.P. appeared in front of us.

My friends all relaxed at their appearance, myself turning back to Daniels before speaking once more. "So, yeah, I think we've got quite the team, and we don't feel like taking no for an answer."

Daniels gave a thankful smile back before he replied. "Thank you, with your help, we can prevent another tragedy like this from happe-" He was cut off as the ship's alarms blared throughout the room, all of us looking out the window to see a green field of energy appear. As it shifted, the field vanished to show another one of those enemy ships we saw at the S.P.P. It hovered near our ship as my Pipleg beeped, Celestia looking at me worriedly as she spoke to me.

"Littlepip, I'm picking up a transmission coming from the warship, they're trying to talk to us." I raised an eyebrow at the princess' words, my friends sharing my confusion before I replied.

"Let's hear it." As Celestia did her work, another tab opened to show another wavelength, a familiar deep voice speaking through as the klaxons around the room ceased.

"Alliance vessels, do not fire on us! This is Steelhooves, I've hijacked this ship with the assistance of several prisoners and we're requesting permission to beam aboard, do you read us?" We all gasped as Steelhooves spoke up, myself sputtering in confusion as I replied to my old friend.

"S-Steelhooves?! You're on t-that ship?!"

"Littlepip? Is that you I'm hearing over there?" The Applejack's Ranger shared my confusion as Velvet spoke up.

"How did you get over there?! We thought we lost you at Maripony!" We all stood with shock as Steelhooves replied.

"Yeah, about that. May we come aboard? There's a lot we need to talk about."

{VARIANCE END}

We all sat back on our haunches as the screen vanished, shock and surprise holding us in place as Velvet broke the silence.

"That one was worse than the last!" The charcoal unicorn said in bewilderment as she looked to Calamity, the pegasus sharing her shock as she spoke.

"Well, at least it wasn't all doom an' gloom, right?" I nodded in agreement as I tapped the console, the screen showing text that described the current status of the universe we just took a glimpse at.

"You're right on that one, Calamity. From what this log shows, we managed to cripple J'ula's forces and destroy the Drej mothership, and, before taking out the Star Forge, we used it to create the Titan and bring it into our universe." As I sat back on my flank, I let out a chuckle. "Doesn't look like they had to negotiate for that ship now, does it?"

My friends laughed along with me, Steelhooves raising a hoof as he asked us. "Indeed, but about that last part, something just doesn't fit right."

I nodded to the armored stallion as I replied to him. "Yeah, how did your duplicate in that universe take that ship if you had that device on your head?"

"Who's t' say someone didn't help him remove it?" Calamity asked as we all became stuck in thought, myself raising a hoof as my friends suggestion gave me another idea. We all scooted over to the console as I asked my next question.

"What if Red Eye helped us?"