//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Starlight Glimmer // Story: Unfriendship: Pony Gods // by littleman001 //------------------------------// In the Canterlot Castle from the main world, Twilight just finished setting up the Crystal Mirror according to the calculations of Trixie and Starlight. Said unicorns just entered the room as she added the final touch. "Ready?" Twilight asked them. "As we'll ever be." Starlight replied half-heartedly. It was clear to Twilight that she didn't much faith in this idea. Mostly because they were just going with the untested idea of Trixie. She probably wouldn't have agreed to it if they had more time to come up with something fullproof. But sadly, they didn't. "Alright. The mirror is ready. I've managed to lock in on their closest location. Focus on the mirror with your strongest telekinetic spells and we'll be able to pull them back into our world." Twilight instructed. "In theory." Starlight added. Trixie frowned at her. "You're just mad that Trixie came up with this idea and not you." she scoffed. "Girls, settle down!" Twilight admonished. "It's not important who came up with the solution! All that's important is to get our friends back!" Starlight reluctantly gave in. The three unicorns stood next to each other in front of the mirror and charged up their horns before releasing the necessary spell at the mirror. For a few moments, nothing happened. "Why isn't it working?" Trixie complained. "Try harder!" Twilight told them. They increased the strength of their spells, but once again, they couldn't make anything happen. But suddenly, the mirror started lighting up. "Is it working?" Trixie asked hopefully. Twilight wasn't sure, but Starlight realized what was happening. "Break the spell! BREAK IT!" she yelled. The unicorns did as she told. They all ended the spell, but for some reason, the connection between the mirror and Starlight remained. Twilight and Trixie stared in confusion. "What's happening?" Twilight asked. Starlight wasn't sure, but she didn't have time to dwell on it as she suddenly felt a pull on herself. Her eyes widened as she realized what was happening. The mirror was pulling her towards it! "Oh, horseapples!" she yelled, struggling to resist the mirror's pull, but it was too strong. Twilight and Trixie also started panicking. "Starlight, break the spell!" she screamed at her student. Starlight tried to break the connection, but she couldn't. It was as if something stronger from the other side was pulling her in. "I can't!" she yelled as the mirror's pull strengthened and before she knew it, the mirror completely sucked her in and she found herself on the other side. Once she came to and realized what had happened, she was understandably quite frightened, mixed with a little anger. "Trixie, when I get back, I'm going to kill you!" She looked around to see what kind of place she ended up in. She saw that she was in a big room with a round table and several chairs in the middle. On the wall, there was a big map of Equestria that looked like it was used for the planning of military operations. And all around the room were laying all kinds of magical instruments and weapons. "Well, that's just great! An alternate version of Equestria wasn't enough, it just had to be a war zone." she grumbled in annoyance. She then heard voices from behind one of the doors, which seemed to be getting closer. Starlight panicked and ran to hide behind a wall. As the voices got closer and closer, she eventually realized that she knew whom they belonged to. "I'm not sure that letting the changelings run these operations is the best idea." said Insurgency Sunset Shimmer as she entered the room. There was another figure next to him that Starlight recognized as Sombra. "They may not be the as reliable as Regime troops, but their guerilla tactics are efficient and the mayhem they create is useful." Insurgency Sunset didn't seem too reassured by that response. "We're gonna need more than guerilla tactics and a few changeling vandals if we want to take down Twilight." That one line made Starlight forget all about her confusion about how Sunset could be here with Sombra when she was supposed to be sitting in the dungeons of Canterlot Castle and her distress about her current situation. She narrowed her eyes at the two ponies in the middle of the room. "That's all I needed to hear." she whispered. She charged up her horn and ran out of her hiding spot, charging at them. Fortunately, Insurgency Sunset noticed it from the corner of her eye and got in front of Insurgency Sombra, activating a shield spell before Starlight's attack could hit him. Insurgency Sombra turned around in shock to see the blue unicorn that came out of nowhere. "What in the name of..." "You said this place was secure!" Insurgency Sunset complained. Insurgency Sombra rolled his eyes. "Just keep her busy!" he replied before running out of the room. Starlight was about to follow him, whatever he was up to, it couldn't possibly be good, but she was stopped when she was stopped by a blast from Insurgency Sunset that struck the floor in front of her, making Starlight jump back. The yellow unicron menacingly advanced on Starlight. "I'm gonna enjoy this! Payback time." Starlight had no idea what she was talking about, but she understood enough to know that Insurgency Sunset attacked with killer intent. As she bolted around the room, dodging blasts , she couldn't help but feel like something was wrong. Sunset Shimmer was not usually this bloodthirsty. But for the moment, she merely thought it to be a side effect of hanging around with Sombra. Starlight was so busy with this train of thoughts, that she didn't notice that Sunset had cornered her. All she could do was stand in the corner and wait for her oppenent's next attack. Insurgency Sunset smirked. She started gathering energy in her horn and released a huge blast at the other unicorn. Insurgency Sunset waited until the dust settled, expecting to see the scorched remains of Starlight, but she was in for a surprise when she saw her standing there, completely unscathed. "What?! How are you still standing?" she asked with wide eyes. "You know the good thing about holographic projections?" Insurgency Sunset heard from behind her. She tried to turn around, but before she could, Starlight knocked her out with a spell. "They're invulmerable to physical attacks." Starlight said smugly to the downed unicorn. "I wish Twilight could see this." she giggled to herself giddily. "Nice trick." Starlight heard from behind herself. She turned around to see Insurgency Sombra in full battle armor. "Too bad it won't work twice. Like my new armor? It's not only defensive, but enhances the effects of my magic." Starlight narrowed her eyes. "It's not the magic that counts, Sombra. It's the pony who wields it." Insurgency Sombra rolled his eyes. "Did you read that in a fortune cookie?" Starlight ignored him and just blasted the supposed crystal tyrant, but it turned out his claim was true. Her blast did little to affect him. "My turn." he blasted the blue unicorn with a spell of his own, sending her through the doors at the back of the room into the next room. Starlight slowly got back on her hooves. "Ugh." she groaned. "Son of a breeding mare! That really hurt." "Get used to it, Regimer!" Insurgency Sombra snarled as he also entered the room. "The pain is only starting!" Starlight raised an eyebrow. Regimer? What did he mean by that? But she didn't have time to dwell on that as Insurgency Sombra fired another spell at her. Starlight successfully dodged and she bumped into something that sent a slight shock through her body. She turned around to see a large, round, spinning generator. A smirk grew on her face an idea formed in her head. She waited until the appraoching Insurgency Sombra was close enough and the she bucked her backhooves into the generator and then she fired a lightning spell at him. It didn't hurt him, but then he realized that he was being drawn towards the generator. His eyes widened as he realized what's about to happen. "Oh, horseaAAAAAAAAAGH..." he screamed as his body was slammed into the generator. Starlight teleported out of the way just in time and smirked at him as the generator short circuited and shut itself down. Insurgency Sombra collapsed on the ground and Starlight shot a triumphant smirk at him. "When magic lets you down, a little science will do the trick." she quipped. "At ease, Starlight!" she heard another voice from behind her. She turned around to see Insurgency Celestia, surrounded by the main world ponies. "Celestia?" Starlight asked dumbfounded. "What are you doing here? And why is your eye bandaged." She was even more surprised when she saw Cadence and Rainbow Dash going to help Insurgency Sombra up. "And why are you two helping Sombra up?" Insurgency Celestia ignored her at first and she beckoned a few changelings into the room with a quick instruction to fix the generator. "And why are changelings taking orders from you?" The alicorn finally decided to answer the preplexed Starlight. "Please, follow me to the briefing room, Starlight. I shall explain everything." Starlight was hesitant at first, but then she decided to play along. If nothing else, she might hear a pretty interesting story. Regime Twilight Sparkle, the Empress of the Equestrian Magical Regime was not pleased when she entered the ruins of the Castle of Two Sisters. She sent Regime a Rainbow Dash, her second in command and Regime Prince Blueblood, who has proved himself a powerful enforcer on several occasions to capture Insurgency Celestia when she found out she was making a move in that place. She believed that her second in command and the strongest unicorn serving in the Regime would be more than enough to handle this task. But when she entered the ruins, she was forced to realize that she was wrong. She was greeted by the battered and bruised bodies of her agents lying on the floor unconscious and she cast a spell to wake them all up. The four ponies groaned in pain as they came to and started bickering amongst themselves, trying to shift the blame on each other and figure out who would be the one to break the news of their failure to the Empress. Regime Twilight suddenly cleared her throat, which caused the four ponies on the floor to widen their eyes and immediately jump on their hooves to line up before the empress. As they expected, she wasn't happy. "Blueblood, Macintosh, Cozy Glow, I will deal with your failure later. For now, return to our base in Canterlot. Rainbow Dash, follow me." the two stallions and the Pegasus filly immediately left the building and Regime Twilight headed deeper inside the room with Regime Rainbow Dash behind her. They were standing in front of the vault that Insurgency Celestia and the doppelgängers opened a few hours ago. "Celestia was never one to take risks." Regime Twilight stated, staring at the empty vault. "She wouldn't have come back here unless she would have gained a huge advantage out of it." Regime Rainbow Dash agreed. "Well, now you have a way to track them down, don't you? With the samples from the other Celestia! We could locate where the Insurgency is hiding and finally snuff them out before she could try anything!" But Regime Twilight merely shook her head. "We would no doubt find ourselves facing heavy defenses and even if we could get through them, she could still get away and set up base elsewhere. No matter how many times we tracked them down, this would happen everytime and the only thing we'd achieve is growing the list of our casualties." she explained. "No, I'm not going to give her the home team advantage."Regime Rainbow Dash didn't understand. "Well, then... What's your plan?" she asked in confusion. Regime Twilight slowly turned to look at the Pegasus with a sharp grin. "We are going to lure them out into the open." Back at the Insurgency's HQ, Starlight spent the previous few hours studying Insurgency Celestia's anti-alicorn device. After she was filled in on the events that took place in this world and the struggle against the Regime, she immediately agreed to help. She was sitting at the table in the middle of the war room, surrounded by her friends from the main world as well as Insurgency Sombra and Insurgency Sunset. It was a little awkward, considering she just bucked their flanks a few hours ago, but they didn't seem to hold it against her. After a thorough examination of the broken device and Insurgency Sombra's blueprints, she figured she finally managed to crack how to fix it. "Okay, I think I finally got it!" Starlight announced happily. "If you guys could send me back to my world, I could fix this thing up easily." the others were happy to hear this. "Maybe we could even bring back reinforcements!" Rainbow Dash suggested. "With all of our friends here, we could take out the Regime in no time!" the others seemed to agree with her, but they were soon forced to realize that a dark shadow has been cast on their plan. "I'm afraid there's no time for that." Insurgency Celestia said as she entered the room, holding a newspaper in her hoof. "One of my spies in Canterlot just brought me this. I believe you should see it as well." she gave the newspaper to Cadence, who opened it for everypony in the room to see. It read: BREAKING! CELESTIA CAPTURED AND SENTECED TO DEATH! The former Princess of Equestria and current leader of the Insurgency, Celestia has been captured by Regime forces and Empress Twilight has swiftly sentenced her to be executed at Friday, 10 AM at the courtyard of Canterlot Castle. Empress Twilight had the following thing to say on the matter: "I am greatly conflicted at the moment. Celestia has been my mentor and closest friend since I can remember, but I simply cannot ignore the destructive actions of madness she has been forced into by her inability to deal with the tragic events of Canterlot five years ago. Therefore, it was with a heavy heart when I signed her death warrant, but for the sake of my little ponies, I have to cast my feelings aside and sentence my former mentor and princess to death for her crimes against Equestria. May Faust have mercy on her soul." Insurgency Celestia waited until everypony in the room managed to progress what they were reading, which she assumed from the horrified expressions on all of their faces, before speaking. "Getting help will have to wait. Rescuing your Celestia has just become our primary objective." Applejack was the first one who managed to overcome her horror. "Well, then what are we waitin' for? Let's head down to Canterlot and rescue her!" she shouted, slamming the table with her hooves in determination. But the others saw things a bit more realistically. "AJ, we can't just rush in to the Regime's base to launch a prison break!" Rainbow Dash told her. "Well, why not?!" the farm pony asked sharply. Cadence went over to Applejack and wrapped a wing around her in an attempt to calm her. "Applejack, don't you see? This is a trap. Going up to Canterlot to try and break Celestia out is exactly what Twilight wants us to do. No doubt the entire Regime army will be waiting for us ready to arrest all of us. Or worse." "Cadence is right." Insurgency Celestia nodded. "We're going to need a plan if we are to save her." Applejack seemed to accept her friends' reasoning, but she still wasn't happy. She hated feeling so powerless. "Well then, Ah reckon you have one." she said to the Insurgency's leader, who nodded again in response. "Of course, I do." she then used her magic to summon a map of Ponyville. "Your Celestia is not even in Canterlot right now. She is still being held in Ponyville. She will be taken to the capital on the day of the execution by train." "So, we will be hittin' the Regime prison in Ponyville?" Applejack asked. Insurgency Celestia shook her head. "No. Even that sight is too heavily guarded. Our best chance is to extract Celestia between the two cities." Shining Armor realized where she was going with this and didn't really like the idea. "Wait a second. Are we going to extract her from the train?" he asked a little nervously. "Yes. It is risky, but it is out best chance. It is a move Twilight is unlikely to anticipate." Insurgency Celestia replied. "Shining Armor, I trust I can count on your assistance on this mission." the addressed stallion slowly nodded. "But how are we going to get her off the train? In your depowered state, you won't be able to teleport us away and my teleport spell is adequate at best. I definitely won't be able to teleport the two of you away." Shining pointed out. "I will see to that." Insurgency Sombra offered. "Once the train is close enough to the city, I will be able to get you out of there and back to HQ." Starlight looked at him in disbelief. "Sombra is going to help in rescuing Celestia. I just heard that with my own ears and I can still hardly believe it." Insurgency Sombra put on a sad expression. "Am I really that bad in your world?" he asked. "No. You're not." Cadence answered to Insurgency Sombra's relief, but that relief was short-lived as the pink alicorn continued. "You're worse." "Much, much worse." Rainbow Dash added, causing Insurgency Sombra to look down in dejection. "So what about the rest of us?" Applejack asked. "You will be part of a diversion I have planned for the Regime. Leading the Insurgent forces, you will attack the sight of the execution, but before the time of the execution. I'll need you to keep the Regime's forces occupied while we get Celestia off the train." the other ponies looked at each other with a sense of anticipation. It was clear that they were all looking forward to finally take a strike at the Regime. "That still presents a problem." Starlight added. "We don't know which train she will be on or when does it leave Ponyville." fortunately, Insurgency Celestia also knew the solution to that. "That information can be obtained from the royal archives in Canterlot Castle." she stated on a perfectly calm tone. Something that the other ponies in the room didn't share. "The main base of the Regime?!" Shining Armor exclaimed. "And just how do you expect us to get it from there?" Insurgency Celestia looked at Starlight. "With her help. Starlight, since your counterpart serves with the Regime and they are unaware of your arrival, you are the perfect candidate for this task." ecerypony looked at the unicorn in question, expecting some reluctance, but to their surprise, she instantly agreed. "You can count on me! I told you I'm ready to help in any way I can. This may not be my world, but Twilight taught me to always do the right thing, no matter what. Besides, I'm very disappointed with the actions of my counterpart, so I'm eager to give her a piece of my mind." she said, slamming her hooves together. "There will be none of that." Insurgency Celestia told her strictly. "This is an undercover, extraction mission. Infiltrate, obtain the intel, leave undetected. Am I understood?" Starlight saluted. "Yes, ma'am." "That said, if you do stumble upon your counterpart, that could make things awkward to say the least." Insurgency Sunset Shimmer added, making everyone turn to her in surprise as she was very quiet up to that point. "Maybe I should come with you. As backup." Starlight didn't like the idea. "Thanks, but I'll be fine. I don't need help from you." she told her with disdain in her voice, which Insurgency Sunset immediately caught. "Look. " she started with an irritated sigh. "Whatever history we share with our counterparts, you and I have none." Starlight was about to argue, but Insurgency Celestia spoke first. "I actually find this a solid suggestion as well." Starlight looked at her in shock. "You want me to work with Sunset Shimmer?" she asked in bewilderment. "Strange bedfellows, Starlight." Shining Armor added. "If your cover is blown, you'll need somepony to watch your back. Besides, if Celestia can stomach working with changelings, surely you can handle her." Starlight finally gave in. She turned to the yellow unicorn. "You will do as I say, whenever I say, got it?" Insurgency Sunset wasn't amused. "Well this is gonna be an interesting partnership." The two unicorns arrived in Canterlot through a network of spy tunnels created by the changelings. They mostly lead into sewers, a fact neither ponies were too thrilled about. "Sewers. These tunnels just had to lead into sewers." Starlight complained, shaking sewage off of herself. "I get the feeling the changelings just wanted to mess with us." "I hate to admit it, but I actually agree." Insurgency Sunset said, before pulling out a map from her saddlebag. "Right, so the map says the next manhole should lead directly to the square in front of the castle entrance." "Assuming your intel is correct." Starlight said cynically. Insurgency Sunset was getting annoyed. On their way here, Starlight couldn't stop badmouthing her, even though they were supposed to be working together. "Would you lay off of me?" she snapped finally. "We're supposed to be a team here, remember? I know what your problem is, but let's get something straight! I'm not your Sunset!" "Even if you didn't help Chrysalis blowing up Canterlot like my Sunset tried to with Sombra, you still did all the other things she did in my world!" Starlight responded. Insurgency Sunset narrowed her eyes. She decided to close this argument once and for all. "And what about you, Starlight Glimmer? Did you try to rob an entire village of their cutie marks?" she asked harshly, making the other unicorn cast her eyes down in shame. It was not something she liked to remember. Her silence was all the answer she needed. "Thought so. So don't act all high and mighty with me! You're not a saint either! And you know what else? You want to hold me accountable for everything your Sunset did? Well take a look at this!" Insurgency Sunset swiped her mane back with her hoof and revealed a large, black wound that was still open, showing burnt flesh. Starlight backed away in horror. "A "gift" from my Starlight. She supposed that when Trixie electrocuted me, targeting an open wound would make it hurt more so that I would finally break and give in to the Regime. That's how low you're counterpart has fallen. So if I'm willing to swallow that, do me a favor; shut up about how evil Sunset Shimmer is and let's get this over with!" with that, she she put the map away and headed towards the nearest manhole. After making sure the coast was clear, she turned back to Starlight who had already put on the replica of Regime Starlight's armor. They climbed out of the sewer and closed the manhole behind them. "You head to the archives and get the info, I'll stay out here and make sure we have a clean route of extraction. If there's trouble, signal me." she instructed, giving her a comm crystal. Starlight nodded and headed inside. It took here while to find the archives since this castle was not the same she was used to, but a rebuilt version, but she eventually did manage to locate it. She was about to enter when she heard a voice from behind her. "Hiya, Starlight!" came the joyful voice of Regime Pinkie Pie as she bounced by, wearing a dark blue vest with the Regime symbol on it. "Hey, Pinkie." Starlight greeted back without even looking at her. This caused the pink pony to stop in place and look back at her in confusion. "Huh? Are you okay, Starly?" she asked, bouncing back to the unicorn and putting a hoof on her shoulder. Starlight had to restrain herself from groaning. She just wanted to get the information they needed and get this over with. She didn't really feel like chatting with the Regime counterparts of her friends from the main world. "I'm fine. Nothing to worry about." Starlight tried to reassure her. Regime Pinkie's expression was unreadable for a few seconds, before it spread into a wide grin. "You're still coming to that party I'm throwing at Sugarcube Corner tomorrow to celebrate our victory over Celestia, right?" Starlight was getting nervous. She didn't know how she should reply and she felt like Regime Pinkie was somehow reading her. "Uh... Sorry, Pinkie. I won't be able to make it after all. Twilight has new orders for me for after the execution. Besides, I don't think the Cakes would appreciate..." "UH-HA!" Regime Pinkie yelled, pointing a hoof at her. "I was getting suspicious when you greeted me so casually and when you called Twilight by her name instead of Empress, but this confirmed it! The Cakes were delivering an order to Canterlot when it was destroyed five years ago! You're one of those copyponies, aren't you?!" she yelled, before attempting grab Starlight with her forelegs. The unicorn teleported behind her and tried to subdue her, but Regime Pinkie bucked her off of herself. She may not have been as strong as Applejack, but she was still an earth pony. Starlight staggered a bit from the kick and Regime Pinkie tried to take advantage of that and rushed at her. She tackled Starlight to the ground and tried to punch her, but Starlight came to and blasted Regime Pinkie off of her. The pink earth pony was blasted into the wall and tried to get up, but before she could, Starlight decided to repay the favor and bucked the party pony's head against the wall one more time, knocking her lights out. "Sorry, Pinkie, this party's canceled." Starlight quipped, stuffing Regime Pinkie into a nearby closet with her magic. She was about to enter the archives again, but then she found herself surrounded by a magical barrier. She looked around to find the source of the spell and her eyes eventually landed on her Regime counterpart with a magical beam coming out of her horn. She took out a comm crystal. "Rainbow Dash, this is Starlight Glimmer. I found a doppelgänger of myself at the entrance of the castle archives on the way to my meeting with Empress Twilight. Requesting backup, over." Little did Regime Starlight know, Insurgency Sombra had sabotaged the Regime's communication lines weeks ago. Regime Starlight was actually talking to the main world Rainbow Dash back at the Insurgency's HQ. "Copy that, Starlight. Backup's on the way. Rainbow Dash out." she and Insurgency Sombra shared a small smirk. Back at the castle, the main world Starlight teleported out of the bubble her counterpart trapped her in, greatly surprising the Regimer. "Neat energy bubble." Main Starlight said from behind Regime Starlight, making her jump and turn around. "Wanna check out mine?" she then used the exact same spell to trap her counterpart in an energy bubble of her own. She was counting on her teleporting out of it, so she decided prevent that by throwing the bubble all around the corridor. The bubble bounced around like a pinball, making Regime Starlight inside feel dizzy and sick. Starlight used her her magic to open the closet she stuffed Regime Pinkie into and threw the bubble inside, before dissipating it and Regime Starlight was unconsciously dropped on the top of Regime Pinkie. Starlight shut the closet and then took out her own comm crystal. "Sunset, we have a problem. I ran into my counterpart. I managed to incapacitate her, but she said she has to go on a meeting with Twilight." "So?" the yellow unicorn replied from the other end. "If Starlight doesn't show up, Twilight might get suspicious and blow the alarm. I'll have to attend that meeting in my counterpart's place. Which means you'll have to get out Intel from the archives. The path is clear and I'll leave it open for you, but you'll have to hurry." Insurgency Sunset didn't like it, but she realized Starlight was right. "Fine." she sighed. "I'm on my way." Starlight put away her comm crystal and was about to head off to find Regime Twilight, but then she stopped and looked back at the closet door. Maybe she could take her time a little before attending that meeting.