"This is a nice view, isn't it, 'Pip?" Velvet asked me from my left as I sat up in my passenger seat as I watched the sight outside the window, Calamity observing the night sky as we flew over the cloud cover inside the Tortoise.
"Yeah, even better since we're not being shot at." I replied to my friend before we both turned back to the window as we tried to spot anything that indicated the location of the Resistance base. We had taken less than half an hour and had found everything we believed that would be of use. Shortly after exiting the stable, we heard a roar above us and saw the Tortoise fly down to us, landing near our group before the aft door opened to reveal Windsheer on the other side. He helped us load our cargo and set up the seating configuration on the ship before we took off. By now it was night, and we had sped up into the sky and over the cloud cover and were now looking for the Resistance fortress.
As for Strawberry Lemonade, she was treated and woken up by Velvet Remedy. She was scared of us at first, turned to see the now awake mare in grey armor speaking to Steelhooves, her voice quiet as to not attract attention. "Elder Steelhooves…. Again, I-I'm really sorry for what happened back there. I didn't want to hurt you or your friends."
"I understand, Lemonade. Don't fret over it now, I forgive you for that, as have my friends." He turned his head to look at me, Strawberry following his eyes before facing me as well.
"I hope I'm not interrupting." I said with a sheepish smile as Steelhooves chuckled a little.
"Oh no, not at all... In fact, I wanted to ask you something." The armored mare said as I faced her, I nodded in approval before she asked, "Do you mind if I lend a hoof in your mission?"
Steelhooves and I both looked at her with stunned faces, then to each other before I replied to Strawberry with a question of my own. "Are you sure you want to do that? I heard about you from Kage and Reggie, and I heard that you were reluctant to fight."
"Yeah, they were right about that." Strawberry said before she formed a stern expression on her face, smiling confidently as she continued. "But, if I'm not a soldier, then why do I wear this armor? I was trained quite a bit by the other rangers, even when I was afraid. But right now our lives and the lives of all who live in the Wasteland are in jeopardy, and I'm not going to stand by and mope while people die both up there and down here." She then turned around to look at the detached helmet of Beachcomber, which sat next to her own. "It's what Beachcomber would want."
I gave a thankful smile to the mare as she turned back around to look at us. "We'd be glad to have you with us, just be careful, okay?" Strawberry nodded before I heard Calamity speak to me from behind.
"I've got the base on sensors, it's just a half an hour away." Steelhooves, Strawberry and I all turned around to see a large fortress far out into the distance, several Enclave airships hovering around it, as well as two other ships. As I squinted my eyes to get a better look, I noticed that they both looked to be of... Federation design?
One of the ships was a Constitution class in it's refit stage, it was made up of a saucer that was held by a neck attached to a cylindrical secondary hull. Attached to that were two pylons that each held a long nacelle.
The other starship was an Excelsior class, it had a similar appearance to the Constitution, but it had a thicker neck and shorter pylons that bent upwards to hold two nacelles on top of them.
I stared at the sight in awe as we flew closer to the fortress, but my gaze was interrupted when I heard a beep from Calamity's console. I stood up and trotted up behind him, Velvet doing the same as we both looked at the map on it. "We got two bogeys comin' in from the base, looks like they noticed us." Calamity said as we all looked out the window to see four cloud trails speeding right at us, then flying behind us as two of the trails flew right between us. Enclave soldiers, they must've detected us thanks to those two starships near their fortress.
We all then looked down to the console as we heard a beep from it, a hail was coming in from the Enclave squadron. I tapped it to initiate the transmission, and was met by a stern mare's voice speaking over the comms. "This is Flight Commander Pride of Rumble Squadron, y'all are enterin' territory under protection of the Grand Pegasus Enclave without permit, state yer business here!"
Calamity and I looked to each other as my friend's eyes went wide at the voice of his brother. As he was about to speak, Rainbow Dash trotted over to us before speaking to Pride. "Commander Pride, this is Agent Rainbow Dash of the Universal Alliance, we're here to help out in the conflict with the Terran invaders. We request permission to land and meet with your superiors."
We all held our breath as Pride replied. "Ah, yer all those agents Cap'n Chekov told us about. Send yer credentials fer verification, y'all could be impostors."
"Of course." The cyan pegasus said as she pulled out a isolinear chip and inserted it into a slot on the console. The console made several low clicks before it beeped with acceptance, the mare pulling out the chip as I heard a low 'whoosh' outside the ship. We looked up to see the Enclave soldier on our left flying closer to our ship, looking right at us for a moment before Pride spoke up.
"That checks out, we'll escort ya t' Neighvarro an' ensure yer safety. An' Calamity," My friend looked at the flying stallion with a raised eyebrow as Pride chuckled before finishing. "I'd like t' see ya before the briefing, if ya wouldn't mind?"
"Ayep." Calamity replied as the transmission cut out, Pride flying back to his original position next to us as we all flew in formation to the Enclave fortress.
[|||||||]
The Tortoise jumped up slightly as it landed on a large, circular landing platform attached to the fortress, several armored pegasi surrounding the pad as our aft door opened. We all stood up from our seats before stepping outside the ship, myself grabbing Strawberry Lemonade's helmet and trotting over to her. "Here, you might need this with you during the trip."
The mare smiled as she lowered her head, I lowered the helmet and connected it's latches to her armor before she stood back up. "Thanks."
I smiled back as we both trotted out behind the others, all of us going around the Tortoise before coming to a stop in front of the ship. We heard a crackle of thunder as Pride's squadron flew over us, making a U-turn back to us before landing in front of us. He looked to his squadmates, then to the other soldiers circling our ship. "At ease, everyone. They're allies."
The soldiers all stood firm as they understood Commander Pride's orders. The armored stallion then trotted over to us, removing his helmet as he smirked at us. "Well, Ah'd never thought Ah'd be happy t' see yer faces here."
"Same to you." I replied with the same sarcasm that Pride had showed off before he looked to Calamity and Windsheer, the two smiling at him as he spoke to his brothers.
"Ah'm glad we're all fightin' on the same side fer once, bronies. Ya ready t' smash some Imperial skulls up there?" The armored stallion grinned viciously as Calamity answered his question.
"Yer darn tootin' Ah am! An' we've got some friends to help out!" He then turned to Strawberry Lemonade, who saluted to Pride as she spoke up.
"I hope our recent actions can be forgiven, Commander." I could hear her counterpart's spirit in her voice as she said that.
Pride smiled understandingly as he replied. "O' course, ma'am. At this point, we'll need all the allies we can git fer this fight."
We're happy t' help, brother." Windsheer said as we all heard a shifting noise at the end of the platform, looking to see what it was, I noticed a door on the structure ahead open, two armored humanoids walking out and towards us as the door closed behind them. They came to a stop in front of us before one of them spoke. She sounded female.
"Good timing, we were just getting ready for the briefing. Could you come with us please?"
I looked to Pride for approval, he nodded before I turned to the woman in front of us before replying. "Of course, lead the way, my team will follow."
With that, the armored lady turned and walked towards the door at the end of the landing pad, my team following behind her as Pride joined us with two of his wingmen.
"I hope you don't mind, but we've contacted the Discovery and your ship and they're on their way down here. You should see them around the city while you're all here." I smiled at the officer as the doors opened once again, all of us passing through it and into a hallway before they closed once more.
(|||||||)
The doors in front of us opened as we stepped into a large auditorium, five large, active monitors on the back wall. The first screen showed Red Eye's griffon, Stern, standing in front of the camera. The second one showed the Goddess and some of her alicorns flying around her as they faced us on the screen. I was surprised to see her here for a moment, but I hope that The next two screens showed two other groups of Enclave crowds, two armored ponies standing in front of their groups. The fifth and final screen showed Spike inside his cave, smiling when he saw us enter the room.
Standing within the room were at least a hundred ponies, most of them were Enclave, but some were rogue Steel Rangers, alicorns, zebras, griffons, and even some ghouls, as I looked at them, I recognized a few of them, Lionheart, the ghoul colt from Stable City, Caliber, and even Nightseer, who had several cybernetic implants on her head, as well as a dark red carapace made for her stature.
As my group entered, the whole crowd looked to us with smiles, some cheering with excitement as we stepped up to the platform where a few other people were standing. Those people included Blackjack, her second-in-command Dawn (who was looking much better than her counterpart, might I add), Red Eye, the counterpart of my lovely Homage (who also had a scar on her hoof), and a mare who I assumed was the Enclave leader. She had a black dress with gold slivers going across it's edges. Her mane and tail matched her uniform's colors, and she had green irises in her eyes.
I also saw someone whose face was very familiar as it reminded me of an officer I read up on during my history studies. He once served aboard the original USS Enterprise in the 23rd Century, and later on was promoted to Admiral in the early 2300s. One difference I noticed, however, was that he wore a uniform resembling the Terran Empire uniforms of the 2280s and '90s.
"Ah, good to have you all here, the briefing begins in two minutes." Captain Chekov said as he saw us, the other Resistance leaders looking to us as we stopped in front of them.
"Glad to be here." I replied to the human captain as Homage trotted over to me, a smile building on her face as she spoke.
"Well, this is quite ironic," I raised an eyebrow at her before she continued. "in your universe, we're lovers, but in this one, we're nothing but bitter enemies."
I smiled at her as I replied. "Well, this time we can both put a stop to this invasion Little 'Mirrorpip' is supporting."
"Sounds like fun." Homage said as Red Eye, Blackjack, and the Enclave leader trotted over to us, all of them looking to me as the red stallion joined the conversation.
"Indeed, making friends out of enemies is one thing the Terrans don't understand." The cyberpony chuckled a little as the Enclave leader stood firm before speaking.
"I am High General Death Scythe of the Grand Pegasus Enclave, I have heard of your exploits in your universe from Captain Chekov and I must say, I'm quite impressed."
I seemed to blush from embarrassment as General Scythe laughed heartily before I replied. "...Thanks, but I couldn't have done it without my friends."
"So it seems." The Enclave leader replied with a smirk as Blackjack trotted forward, looking to me apologetically as she spoke.
"It's nice to finally see you in person, Captain. I hope we don't end up shooting each other this time."
I chuckled lightly as I replied to the unicorn mare. "I doubt we will, especially with what's coming after us."
Blackjack nodded in agreement before we heard a chime from the above the room, signifying the beginning of the briefing. The crowd shifted slightly as everyone got to their spots, including us. My friends and the TTF escorts all stood next to me and Homage as Red Eye, Death Scythe, Blackjack, and Dawn all trotted to the other side of Captain Chekov, all of us looking to the crowd as Chekov began.
"Good evening everyone, I am Captain Pavel Chekov of the former Terran starship I.S.S. Enterprise, our allies in the Universal Alliance and the Terran Task Force have brought us all here to prevent an old, familiar foe of ours from taking over your home. The Terran Empire were the first enemy to discover the Preserver spheres that could permit access to billions upon billions of other universes, not to mention this one." As he spoke, a large monitor behind us flickered for a moment before displaying an image of one of the Preserver spheres, from what I could tell, my best guess told me it was the Main Sphere.
"And thanks to the intel the Imperials recovered during their conflict with Admiral Stone and his allies, as well as the assistance provided by the Terran Temporal Division, they've managed to gain access to these spheres and attempt to make footholds within any universes they could find." Chekov continued as the screen shifted again to show a large Terran fleet attacking several strange ships in orbit of a planet. The ships looked like two saucers stacked on top of each other, each of them firing blue bolts of energy as they retaliated against the Imperials.
"As of now, they have recruited Littlepip's counterpart and her allies to help take Equus from you all. Thanks to the powers of the Black Book she has acquired, the Terran fleet has been made unstoppable to fight against. We've already lost Tenpony Tower and Friendship City to bombardment attacks by the Ragnarok, and Canterlot is their next target, but we will not allow them to cause any more damage." Chekov then turned to us as Red Eye began his explanation.
"Our assets have captured an Imperial shuttle for an infiltration mission we've planned. Littlepip and her team will board the I.S.S. Ragnarok under disguises and find the Black Book, once they've disconnected it's influence from the Ragnarok, our forces will head into orbit and hit them with everything we have at our disposal." The screen changed once more to show a long ship on the screen. It was a Starfleet shuttlecraft from the 2250s, it had a slender shape, and had a circular hatch behind it.
General Death Scythe trotted forward slightly as she added her own news to the speech. "My people have enhanced our airships to be capable of space travel. When the Imperials are vulnerable, we will send half of our forces to assist the Alliance, while the rest will stay to protect the surface should they send anything down to stop us."
Blackjack then lifted a hoof up as she spoke to the crowd. "The Harbingers have managed to acquire some equipment from several Terran footholds in the Wasteland, some of it will be used by Littlepip and her friends to stop the Terrans from achieving victory over us. We've also managed to take a few of their runabouts as well, so I'll have some of my bucks help out in the battle above and below the clouds."
"And as for us, I will head to the Enterprise and await our cue to attack. Once the battle has commenced, the I.S.S. Excelsior and I will lead the Alliance forces against the Imperial fleet until we've destroyed them."
The crowd murmured excitedly before the (Mirror) Goddess joined the briefing on the monitor, all of us looked to the screen as she spoke. "While the Terrans have impressive weaponry, my children and I will ensure no Terran leaves the battlefield alive."
"Neither will we!" Stern said with a grin as the crowd cheered the two leaders on. As the crowd's cheering died down, one of the two Enclave commanders then spoke up.
"We will assist with guarding the cave that the dragon known as Spike resides in. Not a single one of those butchers will make it inside on our watch."
"I'll do what I can to help too!" Spike added with a toothy smile as I smiled back at him and the crowd. I felt so thankful for all the help we were getting, despite the different goals everyone had, the people of the (Mirror) Equestrian Wasteland were putting aside their problems in order to fight back against a common enemy. As the crowd and the Resistance leaders on the monitors looked to me, I spoke up, trying to hold myself together as I began.
"My friends and I won't let you down, and... before we conclude, I just wanted to say... thanks. To all of you, without your help, we wouldn't have the chance of having a better tomorrow, and I can't say enough words to show my appreciation. Today, we will change the Wasteland for the better, no matter the cost." I then grew a smirk as I finished, the crowd cheering me and my friends on as I concluded my speech. "So let's get out there, and show them what happens when you fuck with the Wasteland and it's residents!"
I could hear my friends joining in the applause, smiles on their faces as they looked to me. I stood firm as the crowd steadied, Chekov giving a smile of his own as he spoke once more. "Alright, you heard the Captain, let's get out there and finish this fight. Dismissed!"
The crowd became filled with salutes before they all began trotting and flying out of the auditorium, my friends trotting over to me as I looked to Captain Chekov. "Well, I guess this is where we part ways, isn't it Captain?"
"Indeed, I wish you the best while you all are on that ship. But before you go, I must tell you all that you're going to have some help along the way."
I raised an eyebrow as I asked him, "Oh? Who might that be?"
I heard an accented, male voice speak from my left before turning to see an armored humanoid with his helmet off. He had a groomed set of brown hair and blue irises. "Commander David Wiggs, Terran Task Force expert at your service, Captain."
I grew a satisfied smirk as I recognized the name. "Ah, I know you, Admiral Stone told me about how you rescued him one time."
David smirked proudly as he boasted lightly. "Well, good to see a fan of mine here, especially one I'm helping out."
We both laughed as Homage trotted up to me. "And I'm coming along too."
I raised an eyebrow as I looked at my lover's counterpart, the mare smirking as she continued. "I had almost lost faith in friendship until I heard about you, and as your friend, I'm not letting you go out into space without me."
I put a hoof on Homage's shoulder as I smiled thankfully at her. "Thanks, it'd be good to have you with us." I then turned back to Captain Chekov, who was looking at me pleasantly as I spoke once more. "Once again, good luck up there."
"Same to you." The captain replied before we turned around and made our way to the door, which opened as we entered the hallway and travelled to the Hangar.
======|____]
I held a hoof onto the wall as the Terran shuttle we were riding in sped forward, turning upwards as it flew into the night sky. Before our departure, Commander Wiggs provided several holo-emitters for all of us to use when we boarded the Ragnarok, my friends, Homage and I all got ones that would change our appearance into slave ponies, Pyrelight had a cloaking device put onto her so we could sneak her onboard as well. Wiggs would, of course, act as one of the Terran officers who flew the shuttle down, as would Knight Lemonade and Kage. Rainbow Dash and Gilda would don the appearances of two Terrans from the present, they would hack into the ship's security and provide any distractions they could for the Terrans while we acquired the Black Book.
As the shuttle passed through the open whole in the cloud cover, I turned and trotted over to see the sight of the Neighvarro base below us. Alongside the other Enclave airships and Blackjack's stolen shuttles were the I.S.S. Discovery and my ship, the Lightbringer. If it wasn't any higher over the base than it was, I would've mistaken her for one of the Enclave ships from here.
As the view became obscured by the clouds, I trotted back over to my friends, all of them watching the beautiful view of the space ahead of us as I spoke to them. "So, can we pull this off?" I had some experience from Fillydelphia when I infiltrated the slaver city to help the Steel Rangers years ago, but my friends, on the other hand (or at least as far as I know), hadn't been through such a harsh environment.
"I had everyone go through simulations during our time on the Lightbringer, Littlepip. We'll be ready." Steelhooves said as I smiled at him. Calamity gave a proud smirk as he replied to us.
"Ayep, they can rip mah tail off mah hide with their bare hands, but they won't break mah act."
I felt confident once more as I looked out the window, the sight of the Terran fleet becoming visible to us as the console in front of us beeped. David tapped it to answer. "I.S.S. Ragnarok to unknown craft, identify yourself."
"This is Shuttlecraft Cerberus of I.S.S. Ragnarok, we have picked up several prisoners that may be of great value to Captain Littlepip and her comrades. Requesting permission to land." David replied to the female voice on the comms.
"Send your verification signature." The human officer then tapped a few buttons on the console, which beeped low several times before being twice more in succession.
"Permission granted, Cerberus. Welcome back." As the signal cut out, we continued staring out the window as the shuttle flew towards the Ragnarok, passing over and under at least four starships before we reached the large dreadnought's hangar. As we slowed down near the hanger doors, we saw several other shuttles docked up both on the floor of the room and hung on the ceiling's docking clamps. We came to a full stop as we lowered onto the floor, the shuttle jumping up lightly as it touched the ground.
My friends and I all got into position as Gilda and Rainbow Dash took up positions behind us, David standing up and walking over to the door before tapping a button on the wall panel. As the doors opened, we saw six Imperial officers standing outside in two lines of three. David walked out to greet the ones at the end, we all followed him and stopped just as he spoke to the officers.
"It feels good to be back home and away from those ruffians." He turned to us as he gave a sinister grin, all of us faking fearful expressions as the officer in front of them spoke back to David.
"We can take these filthy mules off your hands, if you'd like." As he started to walk over to us, David pulls out his weapon, aiming it at the officer as he replied.
"And risk a prison break? Steal the glory that is rightfully our captain's? I don't think so. I shall take them to the brig myself."
The officer stepped back into the line as he cleared his throat nervously, forcing himself to stand firm as he spoke once more. "..Of course, sir."
David gave a satisfied smirk as he turned to us and flicked his head towards the direction in front of him. We all began walking with him as Gilda smacked Xenith's flank before commanding, "Move!" The officers didn't interfere as we kept walking for several more seconds, and upon reaching the door, it opened before we passed through it.
As the doors closed behind us, David turned to us as he pulled out a small exocomp droid from his backpack. "Alright, we're in. Dash, Gilda, you head to the security room and access the ship's systems so we have a distraction. The rest of us will make our way to the room containing the Black Book."
"Gotcha, we'll be there in a flash." With that, the two temporal agents began jogging down the hallway, leaving us to do our duty as David activated his exocomp drone, which began floating near us as the TTF agent flicked his head in the direction ahead of us. We all followed him as he took out a tricorder, taking a scan of the area as we ran through the halls of the Rangarok in search of the Black Book.