//------------------------------//
// Chapter 27 
// Story: Hegira: Rising Omega 
// by Guardian_Gryphon 
//------------------------------//

Earth Calendar: 2117
Equestrian Calendar: 15 AC (After Contact)
Twelfth Month, Fourteenth Day, Celestial Calendar

Luna

One might be tempted to think that patience would come more readily to a creature that had endured a thousand year exile.

But, if anything, all that time cooped up with the Nightmare had simply reinforced my natural Pegasus instincts;  An abject hatred of inaction in all its forms.

I had missed one thousand years, hamstrung as the seasons went by.  It had been glorious to finally be free.  But even so, I'd had to more or less grow up once again before I could so much as lower the Moon reliably.  More waiting.  More patience.

And even now, sitting on the throne, fully vested with royal authority once again, at the peak of my physical and magical prowess...  Waiting.  

More interminable, horrid, gut wrenching waiting;  Lowering my sister's Sun, and raising my Moon the only real break in the intense, roiling, sickly still monotony.

I knew something terrible had befallen Celestia.

Unrelated by blood, even long ago as Unicorn and Pegasus, bound only by years of mutual struggle and looking out for each other, we'd always had a powerful connection.  Plenty of beings talked of such connective threads.  Even Humans in their magicless world seemed to have such bonds.

That they exist is a foregone conclusion to any with eyes, and an ounce of humility to admit the presence of forces which are impossible to measure, or control.

I knew something terrible had happened to my sister;  I could feel it, like a creeping blanket of glass shards wrapping its way around my bones.  She still lived, that much I was also sure of...  But beyond that...

"If you don't stop pacing like that?  You'll wear a groove through the floor."

I hadn't even realized I was pacing at all until Stanley's words struck me with an almost physical force.  

I stopped, closed my eyes, mantled my wings, and began to count breaths, and heartbeats, doing my best to bring both downwards in rate, and into synchronization.

Though I had no intention of noting it aloud, I knew for a fact that the portion of the floor of my study along which I'd been walking did indeed have a worn groove of several hairs' depth.  

I'd had a rug commissioned specially to cover it.

The rug's threads were already beginning to show wear in the same spots, albeit only to the very sharpest of eyes.  The Gryphons had probably noticed it by now, at any rate.

As if the universe were responding to my train of thought, Sildinar rapped twice on the office door with one claw, and then let himself in.  I could tell it was him from the particular rhythm of his claw on the wood.

Stanley and Kephic jumped up and rushed to meet the Prince.  IJ, Shining Armor, Varan, and I managed to maintain dignified stillness.  The urge to bolt to the roan Gryphon and shake answers out of him was so intense that I could feel an itch developing in my withers.

Patience Luna.  Just a few more breaths.  He will say all he knows, concisely and descriptively, as he always does.

"Celestia is alive.  She endured severe physical and mental injuries.  She is out of trauma surgery...  But still comatose.  They expected her to awaken, however, and promised to send a courier as soon as that happened.  Given the distances and travel times involved, we should expect to receive that message sometime after sunrise today."

Sildinar sat back hard on his haunches, and scratched absently, worriedly, at the feathers above the bridge of his beak.  I felt my ears droop reflexively, and I finally gave in to the impulse to at least close the distance.

By way of further answer and elaboration, he raised his other claw and handed me the scroll on which the courrier's message had arrived.

I made a mental note that he held a second one bearing a Gryphon Kingdom seal as I swiftly parsed what I recognized as Fyrenn's own claw writing.

His description of what had transpired was succinct, but still somehow horribly detailed.  I felt sympathetic pain in the roots of my own wings and horn, biting back tears aggressively as I reached his description of my sister's current condition.

First the Elements...  Now this...

I lowered the scroll in my magic, and began to roll it tightly into a compressed cylindrical bundle, pressing down harder, and harder, as I fought to control ever darker spirals of thought.

We were losing this war before we even had a chance to stand up and properly fight.

What Fyrenn had said about Skye's interaction with the Nightmare gave me some small hope, but he had been most vague about that particular portion of the story.  Perhaps for security reasons, or perhaps because he was exhausted.  Or perhaps because Skye herself had not been able to fully articulate to him the truth of what had transpired.

That little Unicorn and I had much to talk about upon their return.  Mercifully, that would be as soon as Celestia was able to travel, based on the way Fyrenn had signed off on the missive.

Sidlinar raised the second scroll, and gestured towards Kephic and Varan as he opened his beak to elaborate for the benefit of all.

"Your brother has been extremely busy.  The courier put a dozen letters easily this size, or longer, into the hooves of another flyer just as soon as she arrived.  All destined for the Kingdoms."

The Prince gave me an intriguing sideways glance, pausing to collect and organize his thoughts before elaborating.  Whatever Fyrenn had written to him, it was no simple matter.

"Fyrenn is already aware of much of what we ourselves have recently learned.  He believes that we are facing imminent invasion.  That the first, and greatest stroke will fall here, on Canterlot.  In light of what we now know, both from our own investigations, and his and Skye's, I must agree with his assessment.  Though he did not have space nor time to fully elaborate to me all of his plans in this letter...  He is calling for a full wartime stance for the Kingdoms, and total defensive commitment."

I found myself nodding in agreement with Kephic and Varan almost without thinking.  I saw no expression of objection or concern on anyone else's face either.

My own request to the King and Queen at the War Council would have been more or less the same.  They too were due to arrive soon.

Perhaps I would indeed feel better once the Council had sat and discussed the full breadth of the matter for the first time.  Small, cold comfort, but a comfort nonetheless.

"So....  What does that mean, practically speakin'?"

Stanley raised an eyebrow, swishing his tail in agitation as he returned to his previous place at IJ's side, sprawled out on one of my guest couches.

Varan's response felt like a dagger made of ice, slipped between my ribs, delivered with a chilling dispassion.

"It means that Nightmare knows that her future hinges on her ability to defeat the Equestrian Nation.  If this city falls, Equestria falls.  If Equestria falls, then her army's effective physical size increases massively.  If that happens?  Earth is next.  This city is the lynchpin of this kingdom, and Ponykind is the capstone against which the future of this world rests.  The fate of all will be decided here.  And soon.  One last decisive battle."

Kephic smirked.  I found some comfort in the expression, and in the warmth of his words as compared to Varan's almost prophetic screed.

"And that means there are about to be a whole lot of Gryphons here in Canterlot  And they are going to come armed for war like no one born in this age has ever seen, or dreamed of."

Gryphons knew war as I knew the Moon and stars.  Celestia and I were the only Ponies drawing breath who were old enough to remember the last times they had fully mobilized their nation.

And both of those cases before they had gotten a taste for Human technology, and tactics.

If we were to make a last stand?  They would certainly not be doing it by half measures.

Kephic's words were, if anything, a gross understatement.





Twice.  

That was twice that the damn Unicorn had left her mark on the Void.  

Left her mark on the Nightmare herself.

Unthinkable arrogance.

Nightmare rankled at her loss.  It was not a great loss, true;  At such a late stage, shadowy manipulation was becoming increasingly secondary to the preparation for full and open warfare.

But it had not yet lost all of its potential usefulness.  Nor, in spite of the loss of her ability to influence dreams, had the Nightmare run out of ways to herd the weak minded to her desired outcomes.

Humans were gullible.  Almost as gullible as Trolls.  There remained plenty of opportunities to nudge them into damaging themselves.

But the inability to make the feckless red Gryphon, or the hated Lunar Avatar pay for their own continued insolence...  That rankled more than anything else.

That red Gryphon.

Fyrenn.

Chosen of Seldar, and inheritor of his mantle.

Successor to that Hell-damned meddler who had led the charge last time.  

Seldar's fury had cost the Void countless ships, and all of their best combat platforms besides.  The Chaos and Discord that conflict has set loose were far too small and kind a punishment to the others for siding with the thrice-be-damned Gryphons.

For eschewing their rightful role as servants.

Nightmare fully believed Fyrenn when he'd said that he would rather destroy both worlds, than allow the Dispossessed to reclaim their rightful place.

*That* was going to be a serious problem.

There was no chance of the Humans putting up a real defense.  Far too many would eagerly collaborate, hoping for an escape...  Until it was far, far too late to mount any real resistance.

With the entirety of Equestrian Pony-kind inhabited and turned to the task of war, backed by legions of Trolls and Changelings, it wouldn't matter even if the Humans could scrape together a military response.

But if they had a fallback...  A way to fall on their own sword...  Many had escaped on the first wave of Genesis.  The likelihood that the seeds the Forerunners had sown would find fertile soil might make them less averse to the idea of a species-wide suicide pact, if it came down to it...

A dozen orders were dispatched through the Void with the speed of thought itself.

Best not to leave anything to chance.  

The gamble of compressing the timeline for victory through immediate action was small in comparison to the gamble of leaving the Forerunners with the option to open a localized singularity that would swallow both worlds.

It would not do to be victorious in Equestria, and gain ground on Earth after that, only to lose at the last hoof-length before the finish.

Victory in Equestria was not a foregone conclusion...  But it was close.

No single kind could muster the raw martial power to oppose even the diminished, carefully rationed forces the Dispossessed had been able to assemble from the bones of the fallen.

With three Hiveships and a quarter million physical forms to assault Canterlot, when the last of the assault bodies were completed?  

Victory was almost as sure as the setting of the Sun.

The Gryphons would rise to the city's defense, of course...  The Interloper's Changelings too, perhaps, few in number as they were.

But it would not be even half of enough.

Every other nation, every other species, was far too busy with a dozen brush fires, and intercine hatreds.  The carefully constructed walls of a cage that would leave the Hosts, and their winged Paragon defenders, to stand alone against the storm.

No grand alliance to challenge the Void this time.

'And that's where you're wrong.  That's exactly how you will lose this war.  Look at the family you face;  Their strength is in their bond, and their diversity.  That unity is infectious.  It will spread like a fire through dry brush.'

Nightmare seethed internally, but suppressed the rage with as much violence as she could muster.  As if she didn't have enough to deal with...  Now the Host was bubbling up to provide her opinion with a regularity that she hadn't felt in years.

'If they are foolish enough to try their luck at that tired old tactic?  Then they will have to leave the crumbling safety of their citadel.  And if they do?'

Nightmare clamped down on the Host and unleashed a torrent of raw, unfiltered pain, drawing on eons of the Void's own memories of constant suffering, and redirecting those sensations straight into the Host's own senses.

The Host screamed incoherently into the back of her mind as Nightmare dealt the final verbal blow.

'If they show their faces out in the world?  Then I will kill them.  I will kill them all.'





Earth Calendar: 2117
Equestrian Calendar: 15 AC (After Contact)
December 14th, Gregorian Calendar

Neyla

A peculiar atmosphere hung over Lucapa.  Not the pall of a rout, or a resounding defeat, but something that was close kin to it.

Our losses had been steeper than the Humans had expected.  While we Gryphons knew better how to cope with that aspect of it, we were just as uneasy.  What weighed most on us was the deaths of those we'd gone to rescue.

For those of us with more battle experience it was an intense sting, but one that would fade with time, and a growing understanding that we had done all we could, and had no blame to bear.  For those who were new to the sickly churning feeling of remorse, mixed with frustration, and stress, it would be a valuable foundational learning moment.

Alloy can only be forged in blazing fire.  So too warriors can only be forged in pain, and blood, and struggle.

To me, the pain was all too familiar.  Having fought for so long as a Sentinel, the hollowed out depressive reactions of the Humans was also familiar, and easy to handle.

The strangest part of it all, for me, was the way the Ponies were coping with what had happened to Celestia, especially the natives.  Converts were, as the saying goes, a decidedly mixed bag;  Some worshipped her, but most fell on a healthier spectrum from rightly revering her as a hero, to merely considering her another governing entity with vague interest, and a little awe at her raw power.

Ponies who were Equestrian by birth tended to fall much further along that spectrum, with most brushing up uncomfortably close to outright worship, and even the most detached, relatively speaking, holding her in exalted regard.

For them, an icon of their very identity had been laid low;  A fixed constant of their existence, and self, truly defeated outright for the first time in their recorded history.

I'd never before seen the kind of grim horrified resignation that I saw in their eyes.  It was a spine chilling thing, as if the source of their lifeblood had been cruelly ripped from their chest, still beating, and cast aside.  Yet they still lingered on.

Right up until that moment, it was Humans and Converts who had borne the brunt of the stress and burden of adaptation.  I suspected that if we all lived to write about it, that the moment of Celestia's defeat would be marked as the turning point at which the status quo was finally truly shattered irreparably for Ponykind as well.

We'd wanted to contain the truth, at least temporarily, and allow Celestia time to regain consciousness so that the stroke of the blow would not fall so hard.  But EarthGov had done a miserable job keeping the details of the battle secure.  

They wanted to crow their false triumph in the streets.  Give Humans a common enemy, to calm their righteous fury, and deflect questions of blame for the Council's brinkmanship.  And remind Humanity that their soldiers were still powerful, and deadly.

Even that seemed to have blown back spectacularly;  Fear of the sheer might the Wisps had displayed was now mixing freely with the fear of war between Earth and Equestria.  The overall atmosphere in Earth's cities had gone from rage, back to a slowly but steadily building tension, born out of abject terror.

On top of it all, the knowledge of Celestia's downfall had reinvigorated anti-Equestrians, frightened everyone else, and spread a sickly pallor of sorrow throughout the ranks of the native Equestrian populace.

If there was any glimmer of hope, it was in Genesis.  The successful departure of the first wave had not been entirely lost on the world's consciousness, in spite of all that had transpired.  Interest in the program was already picking up momentum once more.

And, too, there was no way for the EarthGov to sanitize the images of the battles that had taken place;  They were being forced to televise both the raw might of Equestria, and to yet again remind everyone that we were at our most fearsome, and best, when we were working together.

It cut the legs out from under some of the exclusionary pro-Human sentiment nicely.

In the end, the concerns of Earth still felt distant to me.  I kept one eye on the news broadcasts, and the emotional tenor of the Genesist facility alternately, but my heart lay wholly with those I loved.

Alyra's reactions were the strangest, to me, among our family, but also some of the most comforting.  She had faced something that sparked fear in us all, and handled it with the grace and experience of a Gryphon ten times her age.

I had to keep reminding myself that she was no ordinary Gryphon, nor even an ordinary Convert.  She'd been tried in a crucible worse than anything that most Gryphons would ever face in their early life already.

To see her acting as an anchor of even-toned emotional support for Skye, and Hutch, Aston, and any others who crossed her path, was a wonder, and a treasure of a thing to behold.

It was also a warm comfort to see that she had escaped the fight mostly unscathed;  A testament to her growing skills and determination.  Fyrenn had been right to fight back his fears, and let her fight.

She wanted to fight.  And we would need every able body.  

Especially the ones driven by such fiery hearts.

Though it had been a short night of sleep, it had been surprisingly peaceful;  Alyra and Skye slept curled up beside each other under my left wing, while I tucked my head under my right.

I don't think Fyrenn slept at all.  

When I awoke, he was in the same place he'd been when we fell asleep;  Perched by the desk, writing feverishly on a dozen DaTabs and Equestrian paper scrolls alike.  

The morning's stack was not the same as the one he'd been working on when I closed my eyes.

He'd been very busy indeed.  He seemed fuelled by an endless supply of carefully harnessed rage, and concern, balanced with the poise of an experienced warrior, the emotions put to work like fuel in a blast furnace.

Something about his waking presence in the space had made it easier for all of us to fall asleep, I think.  

I was grateful that my love had been willing to stand a wholly tactically unnecessary watch all night, particularly for Skye's sake.

I yawned, stretched my forelegs, and then gently extricated myself from the still-sleeping forms of Skye and Alyra, adjusting my daughter's wing to cover Skye in the process.

My daughter.  My love.

That pair of thoughts was a soothing balm to my soul, easily equal to the task of banishing all fear, and sorrow.

I moved to place a wing around Fyrenn's shoulder, and began nibbling at his cheek feathers, glancing down at the pile of paperwork and messages with more than a little curiosity.

I kept my voice low and soft to avoid waking the others.

"What is all this?  There's far more here than just information, or simple calls to action..."

He took a moment to sift through the pile of DaTabs, before passing one up to me to take a closer look.  I flicked my gaze back and forth from the screen, to his eyes, as I took in the magnitude of what he was suggesting.

The surety in his voice;  Calm, but energized, betraying no loss of sleep whatsoever, sparked the same fire in my own heart as my mind leapt ahead to intuit the whole shape of his plan.

"This is the first half of a plan.  The best shot we have, as far as I can see.  I would very much like to have your advice, and eyes on this...  All that we do now?  We do together."

I shuffled position slightly as he scooted aside to make room, sneakily entangling my tail with his as I sat back on my haunches.  He smiled, and leaned forward to place a delicate peck on my cheek, whispering in my ear as he pulled away.

"I want centuries to grow old with you.  We're going to fight beak and claw to make sure we get them."

My ears perked reflexively, and I felt the edges of my beak turn up into a fearsome grin.

Our enemy had made a serious miscalculation.  Threatening to stand between my family and  I?  

That was no sure path to fear.  

That way lay only a fury sufficient to fuel the fusion reaction of a young star;  More than enough rage, fired by love, and the hope of keeping that love alive, to burn away all specters of doubt.

If they wanted a war so badly?

We would be all too happy to oblige.





Skye

I didn't have the nightmares I had been dreading.  Even expecting.

Sleep had come with peace, and quiet, probably driven by overwhelming exhaustion.  I'd never been so exhausted in my life.  Not once.  Not even close.

The retreat, and initial medical workup on the Yorktown, and the flight back to Africa had all passed in such a haze that I honestly don't think I was truly fully awake for any of it.  Falling into bed under Neyla's wing, with Alyra curled up beside me?

I take back what I said about the safest place in the worlds being under a Dragon's wing.  I'd say that's tied dead even with being snuggled up beside a Gryphon.

I know the smell of Gryphon feathers spooks some Ponies...  But to me?  After all I've been through with them?  It is *the* smell of comfy warmth, safety, and love, bar none.

Like being curled up with the members of a herd, but somehow that littlest bit better, because in a herd, you never know whether or not something will come along that might just overpower even your strongest defenders.

With a brace of Gryphons?

I think there's precious little that could make me worry if I'd only had Alyra at my side.  With Neyla's wing over us both, and Fyrenn awake at the desk?

I almost wished someone would have tried something.  Just to see the blood-letting.

With a yawn, I shook that thought off, and brought up a hoof to dry the vestiges of tears from my eyes.

No nightmares.  But that didn't mean dreaming had been easy.

I'd dreamed about Celestia.  About her loss, and pain.  And about Astris.  Seeing him again one day, reunited with Martins, and his parents, when my time finally came...

And I'd dreamed about Fyrenn, and Neyla, and Alyra, and Taranis.  Hutch, Aston, IJ, Stan...

We were all swimming, of all things.  

Paddling around this frigid, clear highland lake without a care in the world.  The sun was shining, the clouds were that utterly perfect shade of milky fluffy white, and the air was just warm enough with a summer breeze to make the water bearable, but no warmer.

Alyra was perched on top of my withers, busy trying to knock Varan off Kephic's shoulders, as Fyrenn egged us on and coached us.  Apparently it was a Human 'pool party' game.

Neyla seemed content to merely watch and laugh, until she finally snuck close enough to drag Fyrenn under and dunk his head a few times.

And then Taranis had jumped in and the shockwave had knocked us all into a turbulent, giggling, soaking mess.

It was the sheer perfection of it all that hurt so much.  So real I could still taste the almost minty flavor of the water.  But so distant, in the harsh gray light of another dead dawn, on a dying planet.

Alyra stirred as I moved, and adjusted her wing.

I looked up to see that Neyla was busy at the desk with Fyrenn.  I wanted to jump up and insert myself;  I had some idea of what they were up to, and the thrill of the technical challenge.  But the desire to stay and feel warm, and wanted, and be at peace under Alyra's wing was overpowering.

She was as much a sister to me as a niece.  I hoped she saw me the same way.

The power I had touched, pulling my stunt with Celestia...  That frightened me.  Almost as much as what I'd seen of the Nightmare.  And almost as much as the sense, deep down, that if I was careful, and persistent, I could reach out and take that power fully for myself...

But Alyra, Fyrenn, Neyla, the others...  They were a refreshingly simple constant in a swirl of existentially horrifying variables.

Sure, sometimes its messy, and fraught...  But sometimes love can be simple too.

Love.

I exhaled slowly, and deeply, nuzzling the top of my head into Alyra's side.

I loved these people.

It was the first time I'd ever so blithely admitted it to myself inside my own head.  I'd known it before, accepted it, leaned on it...  But never said it out to myself in my own internal voice quite so concretely.

I loved Alyra, like a sister.  IJ and Neyla too.

Fyrenn, like a brother.

Aston had the makings of a real good friend.  I'd always liked her sass.

Hutch was like an old favorite uncle;  Crass, hilarious, prickly, and he'd die for you without question if the situation called for it.

Stan was like that annoying snot nosed little brother who somehow inexplicably grows up to become a kind, centered, brilliant guy, but never quite parts ways with his childlike side.

Kephic was hilarious, if you gave him the chance, but kind, sweet, and gentle too.

Varan was like the glassy surface of a lake at dawn;  Nothing ever phased him.  And he was so generous in sharing that peace with anyone who wanted it.

Taranis was the only one I didn't know well enough to think of as family yet...

But I wanted to.

I'd seen enough of him to know that I wanted to.

Today is the day, Skye.

Do it today.

What if it all comes crashing down, and you never get another chance?

You came so close again...

The whole world came close...

No.

You killed another Pony.  You cut off the Princess of the Sun from the majority of her magic, and almost killed her in the process.

Your failures don't belong with people like them.

You don't deserve---

I tensed as the dark spiral of thought, almost a voice in itself inside my head already, was interrupted by the sensation of a claw on my shoulder.

With a jolt, I looked up to see Fyrenn and Neyla gazing down at me.  Alyra's wing was still over my back, but she was awake too, and fixing me with the kind of expression that would have made me start crying.

Except that I already was.

I realized with another start that my muzzle was soaked in tears.  The bed sheets too.  And Alyra's side where my head had been nestled.

Thinking back, I'd teared up again remembering my dreams...  And then started sobbing uncontrollably somewhere around the moment I remembered just exactly what I'd done to Celestia...

How would she ever be able to forgive me from---?

"You saved her.  From herself.  What she lost is her fault.  Not yours.  The fact that she's alive right now is a *miracle.*  And you are that miracle."

Alyra's voice sent shivers down my spine.  The good kind.

She spoke with a surety, and an agelessness, that grabbed hold of the dark shadow in my mind and squeezed its throat with a gleeful abandon.

I couldn't figure out what to say.  Light and dark were trapped in a ridiculous ouroboros loop inside my head, neither quite having the power to finally break the other one over their knee and take control.

Alyra leaned forward and placed her forehead against mine.

To Hell with the muddle and mush in my brain.

I closed my eyes and just cried softly, focusing on her breathing, and trying to match it beat for beat.

When I at last reached an even keel, I inhaled deeply, and braced myself.

Now or never Skye.  Be *brave* dammit.  

Be brave.

He can ask you, or you can ask him.  And if you ask him, you'll always be able to look back and say you were brave enough to take the leap.

Words tumbled out like spilled marbles.  

But I managed to stay cogent enough to get my point across.  I was surprised by how even my voice was, in spite of the fact that I was rushing to beat the onset of another potential wave of ugly-cry.

"You have all been so wonderful to me...  I am happiest when I am with all of you!  And I've got so many dark, frightening, painful memories of family...  And good ones too, from my old herd...  But I am a fighter.  I've always been a fighter.  I've had to be.  I belong with others who are fighters.  I *belong* with all of you.  And I know we travel together a lot, and we see eachother plenty...  But I want to be a part of your family.  Officially.  And I know that's a lot to ask, but I want to be with all of you forever...  If you'll have me...  Please?"

I finally arrested the pell mell jumble of words as I arrived at the point, and I winced reflexively.

Silence fell.

Oh no.

Wrong move you stupid filly.

They don't want *you!*

How could they ever---?!

And then just about everything vanished into a wall of feathers as all three of them practically competed to see who could scoop me up first.  I found myself ensconced in Fyrenn's forelegs, clutched to his chest, with one of Alyra's wings sheltering me on one side, and one of Neyla's on the other, each of them laying a claw on one of my shoulders.

"Oh my dear, dear sister..."

Fyrenn's voice was deep, and warm, and hit the dark thing in the back of my head with all the force of a fusion pulse warhead, scattering it into tiny giblets all over the floor of my mind.

"...I thought you'd never ask..." 

He pulled back just far enough to look me in the eye as he said the words I'd been dreading.

And wanting.

My whole life long.

"...We would like nothing better.  You *are* family.  And we would love to wrap the truth of that fact in the dressings and happy memories of ceremony."

Holy matterfrakking shipclods.

Well don't just sit there you dumb horn-head.

I threw my hooves around him, and pressed my head into his chest.

And as we sat there, pouring strength, and love into each other in circles, quietly holding that long, wonderful embrace, I finally found a moment of real peace for the first time in years.

It was only a moment.  I knew pretty soon we'd have to disperse from our sickeningly joyful little ball of family tears and smiles, and go look upon the horrors my horn had wrought.

But that moment gave me the strength I never thought I'd have, to face the things I'd seen, and done, in a way that gave me real, honest hope.

What a moment.





Celestia

At first, all I could feel, and see was darkness.  Warm, peaceful, but darkness nonetheless.

It had been a long, long time since I had slept so soundly.  As I drifted upwards towards consciousness, a somehow familiar, yet alien cadence of soft trilling sounds met my ears.

Feeling began to return to my body, and I could sense one ear twitching in time to the beat.

Bird song?

No.  Too rhythmic.  Too patterned.

A Terran computer...

A medical biobed lifesign monitor.

I blinked, and a strange kind of pain exploded behind my eyes.  Most pain is the presence of an offending stimuli;  Heat, or a sharp object, or an impact...

This was the pain of absence.

A gaping void of loss.

I reached for my connection to the Sun through pure muscle memory, as I'd done every morning of my waking over more than a thousand years...

Nothing.

Panic set in immediately, and I began to scrabble madly, all four hooves and both wings flying out in all directions.

There was a soft sound like crystal chimes, and I felt a firm but gentle force arrest my fevered motions, and guide me to a resting position lying on my folded legs.

I finally managed to focus my eyes, and beheld Skye, looking on mournfully, with Fyrenn, Neyla, Alyra, Hutchinson, and Aston behind her in a semicircle.

Fyrenn was the first to speak, as I switched mental tracks, and began a breathing exercise that was an old favorite when confronting the worst stresses of court life.  As memory rushed back in, aided by the slow steady breaths, the fading of the haze of deep sleep, and the red Gryphon's words, everything began to make a terrible, ominous kind of sense at last.

"Take it easy.  You're alive.  You're safe.  Your physical injuries are healing extremely well.  Do you know where you are?"

I nodded mutely, paused to actually process the words, then chewed inside my lips for a moment to work up some moisture before answering.  As I spoke, Neyla proffered a glass of water.

I ignored it momentarily, looking around at the warm, inoffensive, comforting tones of the isolation ward I was ensconced in the center of.

"I am...  Presumably...  Back at Lucapa?  This facility is too inviting to be a military trauma ward.  Too sophisticated to be a civilian hospital."

The words brought visible, palpable relief to the assembled creatures.  I suppose it made sense;  They had no way of knowing if my mind might have been severely damaged by my encounter.  And by the unconventional nature of Skye's rescue...

I reached out to take the water glass as I mulled over those last memories before unconsciousness.

Nothing happened.

The panic began to well up again as I realized what was missing, in full...

My connection to the Sun was gone...  And with it had gone almost all of my magic.

I'd spent so long relying on my role as a servant of the Sun's light, that I had very nearly forgotten how much smaller the sense of power was, when reaching for the magic a Unicorn was naturally vested with.

A frantic glance backwards told me that while I remained an Alicorn, much had also changed.

I was smaller, much more akin to the size I'd grown to in my first years after ascension, rather than the full regal stature I'd achieved in the latter half of that first decade.

My mane and tail, though still long and flowing, had lost their deific multi-hued glowing bands, and reverted to their original natural pastel pink.

My wings were still there, smaller to match my reduced stature, but no less functional...

And my voice!  I realized with a start that my voice sounded younger as well.

I closed my eyes, inhaled deeply, and reached for something old.  Buried.  Forgotten.  But familiar...  Like an old friend not seen in ages.

The noise of crystal chimes filled the room again, and I felt, with an immense wash of relief, my magic reach out and snag the water glass.

I took three slow, careful sips, pausing between each to breathe gently, before speaking again.

"What became of our enemies?  How did the battle end?"

Hutch whistled through his beak, and motioned towards Skye with one claw as he offered up a truncated recounting.

"She and Taranis annihilated them.  We could see the light show on orbital feeds...  It was incredible.  Whatever was left, we pummeled with particle beams, railgun rounds, and fuel air bombs until everything was just dust, and echoes."

The words offered some comfort.  At least we had not sacrificed entirely in vain...

All those lives lost...

Lost, with no chance of salvation.

And I had nearly dragged so many good soldiers down with them.  Nearly lost myself to that howling void...

I looked up and locked eyes with Skye.  I could see the pain behind the twin bright orbs.

There would be time for recriminations later.  Plenty of them.  

I had a duty in the here, and now, and I could not shirk it.  Not after all I'd asked of the little Unicorn with so much heart.  And, apparently, magical potential.

"Thank you, Skye.  I owe you my life.  You risked much to rescue me from my own foalishness.  That is thrice now that so many of us owe you a debt we can never hope to repay, if I am not mistaken..."

Shakily, I rose, stepping down off the table, a victim of exhaustion more than anything else.  It was strange to be slightly below eye-level for the Gryphons, and closer to eye level with Skye.

But there was a kind of welcome relief to it as well...  As if coming down to eye level allowed me to shed the burden of rulership that I sometimes hated so...

I pushed the thoughts aside, and moved to place my muzzle even with Skye's as I continued.

"Your bravery, and your skill, are worthy of great recognition.  Regret has no place in your heart.  I at last slipped into the same dark pit as Luna once did...  And where I was not there for her?  You were there for me..."

I dipped my head, and bent my front legs, kneeling in a gesture of respect, and thanks.  As I raised my head to see the silent shock written on Skye's muzzle, I smiled forlornly.

"This...  Will not be easy for me.  But it is a lesson that I am glad to be alive to learn.  We have much to discuss, you and I.  And all of us together as well..."

I clenched my eyes shut and stumbled slightly, my stomach protesting violently at the lack of energy, and nutrition left in my body.  I could feel a soreness in my wing roots as well, though the pain of my wound had been reduced to naught but a barely noticeable scar by the wonders of Human medical technology.

"...Perhaps some sustenance first?  And then we must prepare to depart.  Our battle is no longer here, on this world.  Not for the present, at any rate."

Seeing the relieved, still-concerned, and inquisitive smiles all around as the group surrounded me, and moved to the door, I knew I'd done the right thing.  

They needed me to prove that I was still every inch an Alicorn.  And ready to muster myself again to the fight.

Whether it was really true, or not?

I could not fail them.

Not again.





Fyrenn

Getting used to Celestia's younger appearance, and voice, was a surprisingly difficult task.

I was so used to thinking of her as an ascended being...  

Not a goddess, or even a demi-goddess...  More like a hero of Greek myth.  Someone in the same vein as Hercules, with the blood of a goddess in her, but still a mortal at the end of the day...

But a mortal in an entirely different bracket of existence and evolution.

Someone with far more experience, wisdom, authority, and power than I.

But now she appeared, and sounded younger, shorter and smaller...

She was still eons old, with all memories and experiences intact...  


But she seemed to have regressed to the body of a young adult of her kind, rather than the mythical Elven agelessness she'd displayed before.  

She was freely discussing it, which I wasn't entirely sure whether to consider a comforting, or worrying thing.  But it was fascinating at any rate.  According to her recounting, Princess Luna had encountered a similar effect when freed from the Nightmare.

At least Celestia's healing regression seemed to be accompanied by a renewal of her energy...  As if she'd been granted a second lease on life itself.

But at the same time, it was easy to posit that what Skye had done, based on how she had explained it at any rate, had robbed Celestia of nine tenths of her actual magical power.

She was no longer an avatar of the Sun, or whatever the 'sun' was for her part of Equestria.

She was more akin to a newly minted Alicorn;  A Unicorn with a slightly larger Thaumatic tap.  Nothing more or less.

That did not bode well, from a tactical standpoint.

Encouragingly, as Celestia had told it, when Luna had re-grown into her fully adult shape, all of her magic, power, and connection to the Moon, had returned undamaged, in full.

But concerningly, that had taken many months of recovery.  

Likely more time than we had left, before we would have to fight the last great battle of a very taxing war.

But those who are granted life, after begging, should not resent the other choice in that equation.

Better to have Celestia alive, and with us, than dead, or much, much worse.

Her words had done a lot for Skye's mental state, and I was deeply grateful for that too.

I cast a furtive glance over my shoulder to see my sister...  And it was so good to know that she wanted to see herself in that light too...  To see my sister laughing at something Alyra had said.  It was brief, but the genuine mirth was there.

Neyla caught my glance, and offered me a smile, and a wink.

'Go tend to our plans.  I will watch over all of them.'

It was almost as if I could hear her voice in my head.

I nodded, and slipped out of the private dining hall quietly.

We were making every effort to insulate Celestia, both for her sake, and the sake of Ponykind, until she felt strong enough to make some sort of official statement.  

Frankly, I knew that wasn't going to happen Earth-side.

We were scheduled to depart later in the day, and as far as I was concerned we should have left then and there.  Of course, there were plenty of reasons we could not...  Skye still had one last task of her own to perform.  Only she, and Neyla, Martins, and I knew of the ask, but the materials were ready, and an empty lab had been provided.

While I was speaking with Martins, and Sorven, one last time, Skye would be busy constructing a vessel for my 'Hail Mary.'  A backup plan to end all backup plans.

As dangerous, and fast-moving as the situation was on Earth, no one would survive if we failed to stop the invasion in Equestria.  

No one but the enslaved, at any rate.

We would have to leave the Earth in the care of Martins, and Sorven, and their colleagues.

Another thing to be grateful for;  I trusted those women with my life, and the lives of my family.  Having strong, trustworthy, competent leaders to care for the world would do a great deal to assuage my fears.

If they and those they in turn trusted to be by their side could not hold things together?

I very much doubt I, or anyone else, could have a hope of faring any better.

With a short, sharp rap of my claws, I announced my arrival at Martins' office.  The journey there had been a blur of a thousand different trains of thought, all culminating in the meeting I had requested with the aforementioned women.

The door slid open, and Sorven gestured for me to follow her into the office.  Martins sat behind the desk, fidgeting nervously with a small model of a space shuttle.  The three of us were alone, as I had requested.

I walked slowly to the desk, withdrew a DaTab from the feathers of my neck, and placed it gently before the ex-Councilor.

She lifted it silently, switched it on, and read for nearly two minutes without speaking.  She then handed the device to Sorven, who began to pace the room slowly as she ingested the information.

As sorven paced, Martins pushed a small red and silver disc-shaped, slightly domed metal container across the desk to me.

I lifted it gently, and exhaled deeply.

"I know this could not have been easy to accomplish.  And I know that it certainly could not have been easy to trust me with this...  Even as well as we know each other, and as much as we have done for one another."

Martins raised an eyebrow, and smirked, steepling her hands with the tips of her fingers touching her lips, elbows resting on the desk as she spoke.

"You got that right.  But, ultimately?  After what we saw yesterday?  This is hardly a risk, all things considered.  You did your part to save Humanity.  It is my turn to do my part to save us all...  And as for trusting you?"

She rose, and offered a hand, which I shook warmly, then leaned forward, and offered her a brief embrace

"It was as easy as breathing, Fyrenn."

As we pulled apart, we both smiled, and I secreted the small red container away in the feathers of my neck.

"Thank you, Janet.  I know the contents of that tablet are no small ask either...  But as far as doing your part to keep everyone alive?  That may turn out to be just as important as the rest of your trust."

Sorven moved to stand beside the desk, and set the tablet down, raising an eyebrow, and inhaling deeply before providing her own thoughts.

"You understand that if this does work?  It will change everything.  There will be inevitable, serious consequences for what you propose.  And even with the resources here?  It will still take months to muster what you've asked."

I nodded, and tapped the surface of the tablet with an index talon.  I'd gone over the same thoughts myself, round and round in circles, all through the retreat, and all through the night after our return to Lucapa.

"I understand.  And I am sure;  This is our best bet.  Skye thinks we do have a few months before this all comes crashing down to an end...  We have to make them count, like never before."

Martins sat back in her chair, and nodded, gesturing to the window, and the midday iron gray of the sun.

"And while we are trying to simultaneously avert war here, prepare another wave of ships at ten times the planned original rate of speed, and put together what you've asked for...  What are you planning to do?"

I reached out to shake General Sorven's hand, and then turned towards the door.  As I reached the archway, and the panels slid back, I cast a small smile over my shoulder.

"I'm going to raise one ever living hell of an army."





Taranis

I recognized Fyrenn's claw and pawsteps even before he came level with me in the corridor.

A glance backwards in my thermal vision confirmed the sound cue.  I smiled, and rumbled a greeting deep in my chest.

"Greetings Fyrenn.  How are the others in your family?  Particularly Skye?"

He smiled up at me, and fell into step beside me, his legs working at three times the rate of mine to keep pace as he responded with a soldier's joviality in the face of dark times.

"She is doing better than I'd hoped.  She is to officially join my family, as my sister.  That has given her something to hope for, and she is strong.  The Princess is awake as well now, and her words have certainly helped to bolster everyone.  How about you?  No  intractable wounds, either of mind, or spirit, after the battle?"

I could not resist a hearty laugh.  The sound shook the floor plating, and seemed to briefly alarm several Human technicians in the nearest junction, before they realized that the noise was one of mirth.

"It will take far more than that to dent these scales.  Or my resolve.  Death will need to bring something with considerably more firepower when he comes for me.  And I will still make him regret it before I go."

The red Gryphon chuckled, and his smile widened into one of warm camaraderie.  I liked his sensibility, and his demeanor.  We walked onwards in silence for a few moments before he spoke again.

"Hutch has always talked very highly of you.  And I can see why.  I did a little digging, and read through your file last night in between other tasks.  Including the parts that were supposed to be inked out.  You're a consummate warrior.  And a warrior of conscience, at that."

Fyrenn quickened his pace, moved ahead of me, turned, and sat back on his haunches.  I  halted, and did the same, cocking my head slightly as I waited for him to ask what I thought he was going to ask.

"The war?  The one that really matters?  It's not here on Earth anymore.  And we will need every good warrior we can get, if we want to survive long enough to have the luxury of worrying about Humanity's petty conflicts again.  I want you to come with us.  Join the fight.  And, if you're willing?  Join our clan.  I've seen how you are with the others...  I'd like a chance for you to be a friend, not just a comrade in arms."

I nodded, thrumming deep in my chest as I thought about his words.  They were not entirely unexpected.  Even the ask to join the clan, though that was the less anticipated of the two requests.

Based on what I had seen alone, to say nothing of everything else I'd hear and read, he was not wrong;  The final battle of the most dangerous war of the age would not take place on Earth.

I held up a claw, and inclined my head as I drew breath to give my answer.

"My preference has always been to go where the most important fight is.  I will come with you.  And while I will not give a definitive yes to the question of your clan at this moment...  I would very much like the opportunity to go on fighting beside your family.  I think there is every chance we will be good friends.  And better than half odds that you shall get a 'yes' out of me in the end all the same."

I moved my claw down, and held it outstretched.  Fyrenn smiled broadly again, and clasped it firmly.

"Welcome to the Vanguard of the End Times.  You'll fit right in.  Pack your bags, because we leave at dusk."

I grinned in spite of myself.

Yes.  I did quite like his sense of humor.





Pain was good, as far as Norris was concerned.

Pain meant nerves, nerves meant breath, breath meant life.

As she drifted back to consciousness, the General realized that the pain wasn't even all that intense...  Mostly a function of the protestations in the muscles of her neck, and around her ribs.

The latent bruising, for that was definitely what it was, reminded her of paradrop training.  The feeling of hitting the ground at a speed just high enough to leave a lasting mark.  The feeling of having had an argument with force and momentum that ended in a stalemate.

Norris opened her eyes, and felt a sense of mild relief, followed by sudden concern.

The room was clearly a Human medical facility of some kind;  The visual design language of the walls, the lights, all the technology...  It was unmistakably EarthGov.

But it was immediately apparent that it was not graced with any official EarthGov emblems.

And it was visibly more sophisticated.  

Closer in technical bracket to the Genesis project's equipment, than to the EarthGov's.

Norris sat up and rubbed the back of her neck as she swept the room with her eyes.  Small, but not cramped.  Gray, but not spartan.  Uncluttered, but not empty.  And the door appeared to be locked, as indicated by a soft red glow on the access panel.

Curious.

As Norris reached down to scratch her throat, eyes casting about for a source of water, her fingers met up with a smooth, cold surface.  She yelped before she could get ahold of herself, and scrambled madly to bring her head to an angle that would bring the offending material into view.

Casting about furtively, she spied a mirror affixed above a small sink, and dashed over.  The sight of her throat took her aback, freezing her in her tracks.

A red hexagonal gem, taller than wide, perfectly faceted, rested in the hollow of her throat, the skin joined to the edges of it as if it were a part of her neck that had always been there.

Norris gulped, and inhaled raggedly, suddenly finding it difficult to stand, and to breathe.

She closed her eyes, and focused, clenching and unclenching her fists at her sides, until her breathing normalized.  The gem didn't seem to be interfering with the normal operation of her throat, and lungs...  Good.

The General opened her eyes, moved to the sink, and switched on the cold tap with a wave of one hand, making a conscious effort to stare at the gem first, then taking a sip, and taking stock of her clothing as she swallowed.

The fabric was black and gray, with a subtle biophobic hexagon pattern layered over an even more subtle, but still visible energy matrix waveguide of some kind.  It ran all throughout the skin-tight jumpsuit, which even had gloves, and foot covering built-in.

As Norris ran her left finger down the right sleeve, the sound of a hiss and a releasing maglock alerted her to the opening of the room's only door.

She spun and glared as three figures entered.

The tallest was a Diamond Dog Lupine, a bit short and lithe for his kind, with a light colored two tone cream coat, and sharp green eyes, dressed in heavy leather backed steel plate armor of Equestrian make.

The shortest was a Unicorn pony;  Also a touch short for her kind, though it was subtle.  Red fur, orange mane, and a cutie mark in the shape of a musical note.  Norris didn't know enough about musical theory to know the exact note in question.

The Pony also, tellingly, wore similarly well made, but unmarked gray steel armor.

In between the two Equestrians stood a Human.  Norris recognized him immediately.

Councilor Lindstrom smiled, and gestured expansively.

"Please excuse the surprising nature of all of this.  We had to act quickly to rescue you.  There wasn't time for polite discussion, or introductions.  And had you ended up in the claws of the JRSF?  You would be dead now, and we wouldn't be having this conversation."

Norris' eyes narrowed, and she moved her glance quickly back and forth between Lindstrom, the Lupine, and the Pony.  The latter being smirked in a just ever so slightly un-Ponylike fashion that gace Norris pause.

Lindstrom took another step forward, and pointed to the gem on Norris' throat.

"I imagine you must have questions...?  Allow me to shed some light on the subject."

Cam turned to the Lupine, and then gestured towards Norris.

"Matthas, if you would be so kind?"

The Lupine rolled his eyes, and opened the collar of his armor to reveal a red gem identical to Norris' own.

There was a growl, a sudden flash of red light, and when Norris' eyes adjusted to the flare of brilliant magical energy, the Lupine, and all of his armor, were gone.

In his place stood a balding man wearing a jumpsuit identical to hers, with the same gem at his throat.

Norris inhaled sharply as his face registered with her.  She recognized him.  For the same reason she recognized Lindstrom.

"Matthas Korvan?!"

Norris didn't quite realize she had spoken the name as a half question, half statement of stark surprise.

Korvan nodded, and folded his arms, glowering as he spoke.

"The very same.  And you are General Anna Norris, recently of the GMCC.  Damn fine mess you made of that job, eh?"

Norris drew breath to fire off a sharp retort, but Lindstrom interrupted swiftly, holding up both hands in a conciliatory fashion.

"Please, please...  Let's all calm down.  There are plenty of mistakes to pin on all of us, and plenty of blame for various slipups to go around.  And, too, plenty of praise for jobs well done in the service of Humanity, and of peace.  Let's try this again, from the top, shall we?"

Lindstrom's expression morphed smoothly back into a smile, and he gestured to each being in the room in turn.

"Requiem?  Matthas?  This is General Anna Norris, recently of the Global Military Command Center, formerly of the HLF.  General, this is Matthas Korvan, formerly a Councilor of the Biotechnological Combine party, and a patriot, like yourself...  Albeit of a slightly different persuasion..."

The Councilor gestured at last to the Unicorn, who smiled and inclined her head.  The slightly predatory upturn at the corners of her muzzle seemed just a hair out of place on a Pony's muzzle.  Norris shivered.

"...And this is Requiem.  She is the generous donor of the knowledge that created that lovely little piece of jewelry that you and Matthas are wearing, and your rescuer from the jaws of certain death.  She will also be your guide for the duration of your next mission."

Norris balled her right hand into a fist, and leaned close into Lndstrom's face, forcing her words out through grit teeth, and a haze of sudden anger.

"Just what the FUCK did you put into me while I was out Cam, you slimy bastard?!  And what do you mean *guide?!*  I am not going *anywhere* or doing *anything* until I get a detailed explanation.  You understand me?!"

Lindstrom took a step back and held up his hands once again, his voice rising into an apologetic register.

"Anna?  I know you are upset.  Please try to open your mind, and see the bigger picture here.  You are among friends.  Colleagues, even.  A briefing has been assembled for you...  Let's get you some food, some coffee, and get you setup with that before we do anything else.  I promise the packet will answer all of your questions.  Alright?"

Norris nodded slowly, and exhaled, pinching the bridge of her nose and then gesturing in frustration.

"Fine.  What other choice do I have?"

Lindstrom smiled, and placed a hand gently on Norris' shoulder.

"That's the spirit General.  You'll find that we respect, and still recognize your official title here..."

The words brought forth an expression of pure inquisitive interest from Norris, and gave Cam the opening he had been looking for to 'seal the deal.'

"...We're very glad to have a woman of your expertise to help lead us into the next century of Human achievement.  Welcome to the EarthGov Continuity Project."