Star Trek: Phoenix

by Dewdrops on the Grass


Season 2 Episode 10: "It All Ends in Tears" Part 2

STAR TREK: PHOENIX

S02E10

"It All Ends In Tears"
Part Two

That mysterious voice was right. The pain did stop.

So too did the blaring alarms and the screams of the dying; the agonizing cold and the sickening, acrid smell of death.

The horror of watching myself literally waste away into ash.

It all stopped the moment the last Jem'Hadar ship was annihilated. Then nothing.

Nothing but darkness. Pure, impenetrable, infinite.

Was this Tartarus? No, it couldn't be. Even that prison of the damned had form and texture. This blackness was all-consuming. Like the vacuum of space but lacking even the idea of feeling, of sensation of any kind.

This was the void.

"Hello?"

Amidst the darkness came a whisper. Quiet, tentative. Hesitant.

"Is anyone there?"

Yes.

Real consciousness hit me like a punch to the gut, sending me reeling. I wobbled, half-spun trying to recover, and landed awkwardly on my side. The impact made no sound, but as soon as I touched what passed for the ground, ripples of light raced away from me, like a rock skipped across the surface of a still lake.

As I stood back up and looked about my surroundings, more became visible. Much more. Swirls and motes of light danced about a vast, wide area, like someone upended a container of glitter and scattered it across the stars.

There were a few much brighter motes of light. Some barely twinkled, so sickly and gray that they had nearly turned black. There were a lot of those. A few others burned brightly but shakily, like they threatened to go out at any moment.

But there was one more point of light - a beautiful, shining rainbow of color. It shone far brighter than the others but even it flickered like a dying lightbulb, struggling to maintain its glow.

I took a step towards that rainbow. "Hello?" I tried again. "Can you hear me?"

Yes. I can hear you.

I took another step. "I can't see you. Where are you?"

All around you.

I whirled about, searching for the voice. "Who are you?"

Who do you think?

I took a moment to process that. "Wait a minute," I murmured. My eyes hurt as they widened. “This place…it looks just like what Sunset described."

I looked back at the shining rainbow dot. "Which means that's the Phoenix."

Correct. Very good, my child.

The more I listened to the voice, the more I relaxed. Something about it soothed me, quieted me. Promised me it would take very special care of me.

…it sounded a lot like the echoes I heard while casting my spell.

"But I don't understand," I said. "Does… does that make you my magic?"

In a manner of speaking.

"Why am I here? How am I here?" I prodded. "I used dark magic. Evil magic. It destroyed my body, and my soul along with it. There shouldn't be a me left to exist."

Fool. Dark magic does not destroy souls.

"It… it doesn't?" I blinked in surprise, turning in place till I was facing away from the Phoenix. "E-Even if that were true, why then does history record that every creature who ever tried to harness it was utterly consumed? And why," I added, “did I literally just watch that happen to myself?”

A lie. One of many told about dark magic to ward away the unprepared, the weak, the unworthy. Rare indeed is the pony who sees the hysteria for what it is. Rarer still are those brave enough to call out to me. But only those who I deem worthy can receive me. To them I offer untold knowledge. To them I offer unrivaled mastery of magics long thought dead. To them I offer power beyond their wildest dreams. Power to rule. To conquer. To create. To destroy.

And I deem you most worthy, Twilight Sparkle.

"What?" I whispered. "But… no! I only wanted to stop the Dominion. Nothing more."

Darkness, even darker than the void, surrounded me. I saw the rainbow sparkle of the Phoenix rapidly dwindle in size, as if it was moving far away.

Or I was being pulled away. I needed to get away from this… this thing.

And as I thought that, a thick, almost viscous sensation fell over me. Like a velvet blanket with a thousand needles poking through had been laid atop me. Not pushed in, not slapped, just laid. But it was somehow more than enough to weigh me down.

And you did, Twilight. You annihilated their entire fleet with but a single spell – a mere drop of the unbridled power that you can call upon. Now imagine sweeping away the Dominion entirely. The Vorta, the Jem’Hadar, the Founders… erased from existence with but a single flick of your horn. Not even the vaunted Prophets could do that. Think about it, Twilight. You could end the war right now, today, this very instant. You can save your friends from more needless suffering and death.

The voice grew closer, as if it were just behind my head.

And all you have to do, Twilight, is say yes.

"And I want to, believe me, but not like that!" I cried, willing my legs to move, reaching out for the Phoenix. For Sunset and Preta. As I reached out, that needle sensation became like frozen knives, squeezing down on my nerves, dropping me to my knees as I cried out in pain. "Stop it! Let me go!”

And why should I? Is this not what you wanted? Is this not why you are here? You brought this on yourself, Twilight!

An eerie, roiling cloud of fog swirled into existence above me, and through it floated a single figure. It was shaped like a pony– no, a unicorn. Black was its only color, deeper and darker than the most endless shadows. Only the ghostly purple glow around it told me it had any real shape at all. It had no discernable eyes, yet I could feel it staring through me.

It was you who performed the ritual. You who used the ancient magics. It was through your voice, your horn, that I was freed from the chains of Harmony. Your soul asked, begged, pleaded with me to help you! And I did just that! You and your puny friends would all be dead if you had not called upon me!

The pain grew exponentially with every word it spoke. My entire being felt at once numb and on fire, like I was evaporating all over again.

"I'm not a foal, you know. I know damn well what I did and, considering I'm stuck in this void talking to you, what it cost me. Of course I'm grateful for your help. But that doesn't mean I want to rule anything; or that we have anything in common."

You really don't see it, do you? it replied. I could hear the contempt dripping from its almost phantom voice.

"See what?"

For somepony so talented, so capable, you are well and truly blind.

"I'm what—" I could feel my hackles raise despite the pain. How dare this thing insult me like that?

You heard me, it continued, cutting my protest off. Did you never stop and ask yourself why you were attracted to the dark arts at all? Why that spell stuck with you all this time, despite only studying it briefly?

"What can I say?" I countered. "I'm a curious pony."

The ghostly unicorn threw its head back and let out the most hollow laugh I had ever heard. Curiosity? Not even close, young one. A curious pony would have shut that spell book the moment they laid eyes on its pages and run away, and pushed the entire event out of their minds. But not you. You read the whole thing. You took the book and studied it, then went back for another.

The voice drew closer still. I could almost feel the weight of its voice pushing on me even more. Those "forbidden" spells stuck with you because your magic itself aligns with them. You sought out those locked corners of the archives because what you call curiosity was your soul hearing the siren call of its true talents. You understood that ancient ponish so well because for those attuned to the night, it is their true native tongue.

"W-What's your point?"

That you were quite literally born for this moment. Your very nature was destined to draw you here, someway, somehow. Think about it. You prefer to sleep the day away and work under cover of darkness, do you not? The stars on your flank, your coloration, even your very name speak of the nighttime. The setting of the light. The rising of the darkness.

My point, dear Twilight, is simple. I have always been with you. And now, after a long, long wait, you have found your way back to me.

I grit my teeth through the constant, numbing pain and glared up at the ghost. "Even... Even if you're right, now what? I still used a dark magic spell, it still ate me alive, and you're still free from whatever godforsaken prison you were in. What the hell do you need me for then?"

To take the place you were always destined to. You were supposed to be the bearer of Magic itself. A Princess of Magic, one far more powerful than Sunset Shimmer could ever hope to be. All the creatures of your world would live in awe and fear of your power, including Celestia. 

"I don't care what destiny I was supposed to have!” I cried. That's not who I am!"

But it is who you were meant to be! Behold, Twilight Sparkle, and rejoice! Rejoice, for your birthright awaits you!

The blanket of phantom knives suddenly plunged into me and shoved me flat on the ground, skewering me what felt like countless times. I tried to scream but the pain was so overwhelming, my mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. The phantom unicorn stomped its hoof and the knives yanked me backwards with somehow even more force than before.

Now I screamed.

The knives became like jagged hooks, ripping me open from the inside out. It was pulling me in every direction, from my legs to my barrel to my chest. Dig and twist and pull and yank. I lay there in tears, flopping around like a stuffed toy in need of new seams. Then without warning, all those jagged hooks wrapped around my midsection and yanked at the same time.

What little awareness I had left exploded in pure torture.

Wings sprouted on my back, ripping out of my spine in a manner so excruciating I retched, even as I hung just a few feet off the ground. With mute horror I watched the spindly bones almost immediately begin to grow muscles and sinew. Arteries and veins extended out to cover them, all while the rest of me began to fuse itself back together like a grotesque jigsaw puzzle. Nerves and skin followed, and then the beginnings of a coat of fur. Yet despite the searing, soul-crushing agony of watching my body rip itself apart, it was the feathers that stood out the most.

They were dark. Much darker than my coat. Only the bits of muted pink at the tips broke up the inky purple that covered the rest.

The shadow of the unicorn fell over me, and I looked up to see ephemeral teeth glistening at me in the void.

You could utterly destroy the Dominion, Twilight. Annihilate their precious Vorta, rip their vaunted Jem'hadar to pieces, leave their sanctimonious Founders weeping in supplication at your hooves, begging you for mercy... and you can silence them forever with a sweep of your wing. The war would be over. your precious friends would be saved – along with Equus.

"Equus? H-How?"

If the Dominion found you, then it's only a matter of time before they find Equus too. You may have destroyed that fleet, but more are coming, and your friends won't be so lucky a second time because we both know your sister doesn't have what it takes.

I shuddered at the mere thought of more attackers; of Sunset being captured or worse. My throat was like sandpaper but I forced the words out anyway. "Y-yes she does!"

If she really did, she would have wiped out that fleet the moment they arrived. But she didn't because she can't. She won't. It's not in her nature. But it is in yours. You've seen it for yourself! Reclaim your destiny here and now and it is Sunset who will need your help. You could surpass her in every way imaginable.

"I don't care about any of that!" I screamed. I gathered what breath I could and forced myself to stand, if just barely.

The rainbow sparkle that was the Phoenix had vanished, replaced by more darkness all around me, suffocating me, trying to end me. It felt like that... monster was breathing down my neck.

What you want is irrelevant, Twilight Sparkle. What you have chosen is at hoof. Your soul is mine. It was always mine, from that first surge of magic. From your first steps on Earth, your life with these puny humans, even your career in this Starfleet. All of it leading to this moment, when you took the step you were always bound to take and invited me into your heart.

"But I don't want it," I sobbed, the pain overwhelming me, collapsing me back onto my side, reducing me to hoarse, whispered begging. "I-I never wanted this. I just wanted to s-save the ship. Save my sister. My friends."

And now you can help me, just as I helped you. Together, we can rule Equus. Together we can protect it from any enemy among the stars, annihilate any who oppose us. Even the accursed Day will not dare to stand against us.

Suddenly something took hold of my chin, forced me to look up. And what I saw…

It was like looking at a dark reflection in a broken mirror. She looked like me, but she wasn’t me. A darker purple coat, wings darker still, with curved tips that ended not in pink but in a blood red color. Her mane fizzled and roiled like a cold fire, almost standing on end. Crystalline purple boots with twisted filigree decorated her hooves. And her horn, ethereal and glowing a foggy greenish white, twisted like pieces had been carved out of it. A similar glow surrounded her eyes like ghostly glasses; eyes with small pupils that made her appear utterly insane.

Even my cutiemark was twisted– no, corrupted... surrounded not by stars but murky, blackish blue clouds.

Her magic gripped my chin and jerked my head up, forcing me to look up at her. When she spoke, her voice came out a twisted, maniacal, corrupted echo of my own.

"No one will be able to stop the coming of Midnight.”

And I screamed anew as she raised a hoof and pressed it into me.  I felt her dark presence push through my chest, reaching to my heart.

"No…please…”

She kept pushing deeper and deeper, reaching into the pool of mana that makes up a pony's very core. I felt the dark energy flood my mana channels again, but instead of burning, I could feel the last bits of what made me a pony at all fading away. Like an eraser on a chalkboard, I was being wiped away; made a blank slate for this demon's twisted ends.

“Don't... do... t-this..."

"TWILIGHT SPARKLE!"

Some of the darkness split asunder, revealing a much more pleasant blueish white ethereal background. Standing there, her wings extended, head held high, was an alicorn larger than Sunset but smaller than Celestia, with a dark blue coat and a flowing, magical mane glimmering with the light of countless stars. A splash of black with a white half moon adorned her flank.

Midnight's twisted smile collapsed into a furious snarl. "What?! You!”

“Yes,” she said, pointing a hoof at her own breast. “Me!” She then pointed at Midnight. “As for you, foul Nightmare, begone! You will not trouble her any more.”

“P-Princess Luna?” I gasped. “How… how are you. how did you know—”

Another part of the darkness split open, this time revealing an orange, almost reddish white ethereal background. From that background stepped another alicorn, and this one left no doubt who she was.

"Princess Celestia?!"

"You are not alone, Twilight Sparkle," Celestia said, her usual serene expression exuding confidence, reassurance, protection. "We are here for you."

Midnight let out a guttural roar as her wings flared. “No! I won’t allow this. Her soul is mine! She used the darkest of magics! She summoned me of her own accord! I am here to lay claim to one of my children!”

“So did I once, Nightmare,” Luna retorted, her regal posture firm and resolute. “And yet, here I stand, free of your wretched influence.”

“You had the Elements used on you,” Midnight shot back. “But you can’t use those here. Not in this realm. Not where magic itself reigns over the puny creations of a pathetic stallion and his lackeys.”

Luna stepped forward till she was standing just in front of me, on my right, as if protecting me. “Perhaps not. But here, Celestia and I can bring our full magic to bear, without fear of harming anyone. Can you truly stand up to the power two ancient alicorns can bring to bear?”

“Stand firm, Twilight Sparkle,” Celestia said as she took up the position in front of me to my left. “We will protect you.”

Hearing them say such things filled me with confidence, giving me the energy to stand. I struggled, my knees shaking, my legs aching, but I stood, and, as pained as they were, flared my wings as best as I could. “I am not one of your children, Midnight. I never will be.”

“Idiot!” Midnight’s horn crackled with energy, summoning a deep darkness to wrap around us all, choking out the light shone by Celestia and Luna’s entry. “You think these two are here to save you? Have you even asked how they got here? What makes you think that they’re real at all? We were hundreds if not thousands of light-years from Equus when you cast your spell!”

“But by using that magic, by creating such a disturbance in the Ethereal Realm, I became aware of your presence,” Luna said. “Whatever chains Twilight Sparkle unlocked, you are still bound to Equus, Nightmare. You can never leave this place. It is you who summoned her to us.”

“And by doing so, you enabled us to save her,” Celestia added. “We do not understand how or why she is here, or what she did to trigger an ascension of any kind. But she is here now, and we will protect our children!”

Both Royal Sisters ignited their horns, a wave of half light, half darkness emanating from them as they shouted together, NOW LEAVE OUR SIGHT!

Midnight’s form blew apart, reverting to the shadowy figure from before, till all that was left in detail was her head as she screamed in agony, the twisted voice pulling at my own heart, fresh pain welling up within me till I was screaming in twain. “Get out!” I choked past my screams. “Leave! I won’t ever let you in!”

Midnight let out a final scream before her face disappeared into her true Nightmare form. 

Fine! But know this, Twilight Sparkle. You have only bought yourself a reprieve. I remain unchained, thanks to you. You may banish me for now, but I will be watching. I will be waiting. Waiting for you to slip. Up. And when you do, I will be there to claim what is mine. And nopony, not even your precious princesses, will be able to save you.

The shadowy pony dissolved into smoke, which billowed away into the darkness until every last bit had gone, and the darkness itself faded into an ethereal blue.

And as it vanished, I witnessed both alicorns appear to change in form as well. I saw their magic, their vigor start to fade, wrinkles appearing on their faces. Celestia especially looked… almost haggard and drawn, exhausted; like she aged twenty years in an instant. Hardly close to her real age, but the sight confused the hell out of me.

But there were more important things to focus on. “How…. how did you know I was here?” I asked, my voice shaky and weak.

Luna’s mouth fell open. “Twilight Sparkle, you are severely injured.”

“Indeed, she is gravely wounded, sister,” Celestia said. She brought her horn to bear on me. “Allow me to stabilize—”

“No!” Luna’s hoof shot out to block Celestia. “For all her evil, Nightmare was right about one thing. She is a pony of the night, like myself. I must do this for her. In her current state, your magic would only harm her further, despite your good intention.” 

A beam of darkness shot forth from Luna’s horn, enveloping my body. I could feel my wounds beginning to close, my racing heartbeat slow, the pain ebbing into dull aches rather than throbbing. 

“This will help, but only for a while,” Luna said as she slowly unwound her spell. “You are still far from healed though.”

“T-thanks,” I murmured. “So… how…”

Luna raised her jaw to appear more impassive. “Ever since the disappearance of Sunset Shimmer, my sister has been searching for a sign of her existence, hoping to feel a trace of her magic. When I was restored by the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, I joined her in searching for you both.”

“We never once stopped looking, Twilight,” Celestia said, lowering a hoof to edge under my chin, giving me a smile of motherly warmth. “I knew you had both disappeared because of that mirror, the Artifact. It used magic unfamiliar even to me, but I knew it was responsible for your disappearance.”

“Then, several months ago, we finally felt something. An unusual shift in the magics of the stars,” Luna continued. She pointed a hoof and an illusory image appeared of a wave of power emanating out and hitting Equus. “I know not what it was, but it was so powerful it shifted the entire dreamscape beneath me. So we traced its general direction and focused the search there.”

“The wormhole,” I gasped. “The wormhole aliens, of course! That must’ve been when they destroyed the Dominion fleet!”

Both of them peered at me quizzically. “I don’t understand,” Celestia said.

I shook my head. “Nevermind, it’s a long story. Please continue, your highnesses.” 

Luna nodded. “Yes, well, while the magic did not appear similar to yours or to Sunset Shimmer’s, we nevertheless thought it best to focus on that area of the sky. And so we have. Each night we were watching, until this night, when we felt… It.

I gulped. “The Nightmare.”

Celestia moved her hoof from my chin up over my head, resting comfortably on my withers. “Yes. The spell you used, Twilight… it was never meant to be used the way you did.”

“Truthfully you still exist only because the Nightmare needed to possess your soul in order to manifest Itself in reality once more,” Luna said, her expression grim. “Had it not been for that, you would not be here now.”

“And I’m afraid you’ll suffer some… consequences,” Celestia said with a sigh. “Your wings, for example.”

I glanced back at my wings, then blinked in surprise. The pink tips I had noticed previously were gone. In their place was a bright cyan line, a highlight that followed the outer edge of both wings, from the joint out to the feathery tips. The bold color shone like a beacon against the deep blacks and purples that dominated the rest of my wings.

“What—”

“Our magic,” Luna said, stepping forward to place her own hoof just as gently on me. “Celestia’s and mine. You will see it more clearly when we return to the physical realm. However, it is likely not the only effect.”

“Your magic itself was changed, Twilight,” Celestia finished, before giving me a quick comforting nuzzle. “I’m sorry.”

“Changed?” I let out a soft gasp. “Did I, did I lose some? Am I weaker? I-Is it all gone?”

“Nay. Quite the opposite; you are as strong an alicorn as any we’ve ever seen,” Luna answered with a shake of her head. “And therein lies the problem. Your magic is almost too powerful, and carries with it certain…complications.”

“I don’t understand,” I blurted, pulling away from them both. “How do you know? What makes you so sure? I’ve barely seen you for five minutes!”

The two exchanged a look and both sighed in twain. “Because this isn’t the first time we’ve seen this kind of Ascension,” Celestia said. “It has happened once before, long ago..”

Luna deeply bowed her head. “The first… was mine.” Her horn lit up, and for a moment I recoiled in pure fright as her eyes turned green, with purple smoke billowing from them, and her magic taking on that same sickly shade of purple. Then it vanished, restored to her usual blue.

“I used the same spell you did, Twilight Sparkle. The circumstances are at this moment irrelevant, but the aftereffects were… deep and twisted on my magic.”

“I’m so confused,” I murmured, looking down at the endless sky below us. “This is all happening so fast, so much information…”

“I realize it’s overwhelming,” Celestia said as she stood up to her full height. “But some good has come from all of this. Because of the spell you cast, and the Nightmare's reaction to it, you've done the impossible.”

“What?” I whispered.

“See for yourself,” Luna said. She gestured with her wing behind her, revealing a truly massive sphere of lights. There were so many, in all shapes and sizes and colors; all of them glowing and moving constantly, twinkling like rainbows. “You have crossed the gap between the stars. When we leave this place, we will return to Equus. You are home, Twilight Sparkle.”

The weight of those words hit me like a runaway shuttlecraft. I fell over on my rump, tears immediately streaming down my face. “I am?” I said, choking through the tears to get something out of my suddenly raw and burning throat. “I… I made it home?”

“That you did, Twilight,” Celestia said with a soft smile. “And I am sure you have lots to tell us. Come; we should return to the physical realm now.”

“Wait!” I cried, reaching out with one hoof. “Wait, we can’t! I… I can’t be here, I was supposed to be on the Phoenix! Sunset still needs me.”

“Sunset?” Celestia's eyes widened like she had just seen a ghost. She stepped closer and crouched down to my level. I could see desperation hiding behind the intense focus in her eyes. “You know where Sunset Shimmer is?”

“Of course I do,” I answered. “She’s on the Phoenix, and in serious trouble. We were just attacked by a fleet of Dominion ships and barely survived. The rest of our allies were destroyed and I-I don't know if they’ll be able to make repairs before they can get back to the safety of Federation space. 

Celestia all but flopped back onto her rump. She… she’s alive?”

It was only thanks to my complete attention being locked on her that I heard Celestia’s quiet gasp. Then, with a few tears of her own, Celestia leaned in and gave me a full body hug this time. “Then we’ll do what we can to save her. But we can’t do it here.”

“Indeed. If she is in the physical realm, we must also be there to find her. We know roughly where she must be from what we felt of your own spell,” Luna said. “It is not without risk, but there is one thing we can try.”

“We won’t be alone, either,” Celestia said as she stood back up. “We’ll enlist the help of the Elements, the Pillars, Discord, anyone who can help. We’ll need every bit of magic we can get.”

“Did you say Pillars as in the Pillars of Equestria? And Discord?” I almost shouted in disbelief.

Celestia chuckled. “Like your own, it is a long story. We will have all the time in the world to exchange stories afterwards. Now… prepare yourself. Your first few moments in the physical realm may still be painful.”

I nodded and braced myself. “How do we get back?”

“Follow our lead,” Celestia said. She lit up her horn, forming a spell matrix I’d never seen before. After a second, Luna did the same.

The very thought of trying to cast magic brought fresh waves of pain ebbing through me, but I refused to let it stop me. Anything I could do to save Sunset. I did my best to memorize the matrix on the spot, adding my magic to theirs.

And then I found myself—


“Twilight!” I screamed, the words ripping out of my throat like they were slicing their way through with bat’leths. “Twilight, respond! Answer me, damn it!”

But there was nothing. No response. No sound. Just an open comm channel to nowhere.

“Sunset,” Wattson said gently, placing a hand on my shoulder. “She’s gone.”

“Rrgh!” I shoved her off. “Computer! Playback bridge security footage, aft station, last three minutes! Maximum audio and video enhancement!”

After a brief bleep the requested footage appeared on the screen. I saw Twilight standing at the aft console, tapping into the EPS grid. I heard her voice become increasingly broken as she enchanted a spell none of us, not even the computer, could hope to understand. And now... now I could clearly see the effects it had on her.

Every second was agonizing to watch. The pressure, the pain, the magical forces must have been crushing her in every way possible. I saw the spell matrix building around her, a design I had never seen before, with interlaced layers too numerous for me to count.

I saw her lean into the console, press a final few keys, and aim her horn toward the EPS tap itself. With a final yell she triggered the spell...

And the screen went dark.

"W-What?! Computer, why did playback stop?"

The computer made another negative bleep. “Camera footage is corrupted.

“Fine,” I declared. I began making my way to the nearest turbolift. “I’m heading up there. Get a damage report ready, Wattson; we need to triage the ship so we can get the hell out of here.”

“Sunset, I—”

“That’s an order, Commander!” I roared, my eyes flashing dangerously with magic for a moment as I turned back to glare at her. “And find the Sirens! If anyone knows what the hell Twilight was saying, it's probably them. Now go!”

She let out a sigh and nodded. “...aye, ma’am.”

Snorting, I turned back to the turbolift. “Main bridge.”

Unable to comply. Bridge turbolift access is damaged.

“Fine, deck two then! I’ll crawl up the Jefferies tube.”

The turbolift started up, saving me further irritation. I slapped my combadge. “Shimmer to Zhidar. Status report.”

“Rodriguez and I finished setting up the torpedoes, but we saw some bizarre readings on our tricorders, and now it appears they stopped firing? What's going on?”

They stopped firing because we managed to destroy the enemy fleet. I’ll explain later. Right now I need you to keep those torpedoes in place and ready to go, because we could see more enemies at any time. Then start coordinating with sick bay and engineering. We need to get our wounded taken care of and get this ship moving again. Be back in Engineering in half an hour so we can discuss the situation.”

Yes, ma’am.

“Shimmer out,” I grunted, slapping my badge again. My body trembled, quaking so much I had to lean against the turbolift wall not to fall over.

Wattson’s right. Twilight was dea—

“No. Not until I see for myself,” I vowed.

The turbolift dropped me off just outside of Two-Forward, and I went straight for the Jefferies tube in the back, which led up to the conference lounge. As I passed by I noticed a few spots of blood… and a few traces of purple hair.

Twilight’s coat.

Spurred on by the sight, I climbed faster, nearly leaping out of the tube into the conference lounge. The room suffered severely in the attack, with half of the furniture and other decorations missing entirely – sucked out into space when the bulkhead near the wall-mounted screen blew out. Fortunately the emergency forcefield was holding... for now. The rest of the lounge was just as bad; the few remaining chairs were broken in pieces, the walls pockmarked with dents and scorch marks from burnt out terminals and conduits. Even the grand display case, a relic from when this room was part of the Enterprise-D saucer, was destroyed, with shattered glass and model ships strewn all over the floor.

I gingerly crossed through and onto the bridge itself, which was much more intact, save for the massive hole in the viewscreen, and bloody finger marks all over the ops console where Williams must have…

Must have held on…

I squeezed my eyes shut and let out a breath before moving on to checking the rest of the bridge.

And then I spotted it. The burned out carpet, the sickly purple and green glow flickering in the console screen, the eldritch symbol still partially etched in it from the flames. Bits and pieces of purple hair…

And a pile of ashes, where a single Starfleet combadge lay atop, half melted into slag.

“No,” I murmured as I fell to my knees, sifting my forehooves through the ashes. Tears ran freely down my face. “No, no, no!” Horrible sobs wracked my body as I imagined just how much pain Twilight must’ve been in. “NO!”

I snatched the melted combadge into my hooves and tapped on it over and over again. "Computer! Locate Lieutenant Twilight Sparkle!"

Lieutenant Sparkle is not onboard the ship.

Wattson to Shimmer.

Twilight was gone. She was dead.

Sunset?

My sister was dead.

Sunset, come in, please.

Dead.

Dead dead dead 

dead dead

 dead dead dead

 dead dead

 dead dead dead 

God damn it, Sunset, answer me!

“What?!” I roared into combadge, my wings flaring, my magic exploding around me, lashing out with red electric sparklers that lanced into nearby consoles. “What the hell do you want?”

...Sunset, you need to get a grip. We need you right now.

“Twilight… she’s…she’s…” I choked on my words.

“I know she is, Sunset. Look, I understand—"

"No you don't!" I yelled through another wave of tears. "There's no body, Wattson. Nothing at all. Just a pile of ashes. A pile of ashes, a melted combadge, and the remnants of something that... if this is what I fear it is, Twilight's very soul is gone! You hear me, Wattson? Gone!"

"And so are a hell of a lot of other people!"

I flinched as if she had reached through the comms channel and slapped me in the face.

"I won't pretend to understand what you're going through, Sunset. But right now, you are our commanding officer, and we need a plan to get out of here. I promise you, there will be time enough to grieve later."

“No, no,” I said to myself, forcing myself to stand. “You’re right. I’m a Starfleet officer; I can deal with this.” I bowed my head a moment, calling upon every technique Mother ever taught me to calm my emotions. To pack away all of my grief and anguish in stasis and lock it away. It wouldn’t last long. Sooner or later I’d be overwhelmed again. But I just needed to reassert control over myself long enough to deal with the current situation.

Calm. Centered. I am a Starfleet officer. I’m the officer in charge of this ship. My crew needs me to lead.

I let out another sigh, and stared down at Twilight’s half-melted combadge for a moment before I pocketed it. I turned to leave the bridge. “Okay. I’m on my way back to Engineering. Report.”

A clear sigh of relief came through the comms. “We’re receiving distress calls from a number of escape pods and shuttlecraft. Main shuttlebay is wrecked but we’re directing any shuttles to head for the secondary bay on Deck Twenty-Two.

“Understood. Get triage teams down there pronto to help with any medical issues. Do we have access to transporters?” As I spoke I used a Feather Fall to slip down the Jefferies Tube in a hurry. As soon as my hooves touched the deck again I raced for the nearest turbolift.

No, but we have limited tractor beams, thrusters, and minimal impulse power. I’ve already got Rodriguez piloting us around to pick up the escape pods and bring them in as we can.

“Good work, Wattson,” I said. “Any sign of survivors from the Brynhild?”

Not yet, but there’s still a number of escape pods out there.

“Understood. Keep it up, Have a damage report waiting for me when I reach Engineering.”

Aye, ma’am.

Right as I stepped into the turbolift I received a new hail on my badge. “Doctor Selar to Commander Shimmer.

“Shimmer here,” I said shakily.

Commander, I realize you are likely busy, but we need you on Deck Seven. Counselor Hendricks won’t stop asking for you and won’t let us treat her without you.

“Without me?” I whispered. “On my way. Deck Seven!”

After a short turbolift ride I exited and made my way to Hendrick’s quarters, where I found myself momentarily taken aback. The whole section of the ship was an utter bloodbath. Bodies lay everywhere, a good dozen or more Starfleet officers with disruptor or melee weapon wounds, and just as many Jem’Hadar. One shadow on the wall in the shape of a human told me at least one officer had been outright disintegrated.

A pair of security officers flanked Selar, phaser rifles in hand but not raised. And as I stepped past them into the quarters proper I saw why. Hendricks leaned against the wall, her left arm bleeding profusely and dangling like it was popped out of its socket. In her right hand was a type-two phaser which, given the high-pitched whine emanating from it, was set to kill.

My eyes drifted to the body that lay in front of her... and my heart fell into despair all over again. "My god."

It was Eresh, lying in a pool of her own blood. Her stomach had been torn open, spilling its contents everywhere. Her eyes and mouth were frozen open in a silent scream.

“S-Sunset?” Belle said as she looked up at me, her face haunted. “Is that you?”

I gingerly stepped up to her. “Yeah, it’s me, Belle.”

She let out a choked laugh, with no mirth in it. “I… I tried to stop them,” she said, gesturing at the nearby Jem’Hadar body, a phaser wound on his chest and his melee weapon still clutched in his hands. Blood covered the blade, along with flecks of flesh and internal organs. “They were breaking into everyone’s quarters, dragging them out and, a-and shooting them, a-and I tried to stop them, only I-I didn’t… I couldn’t… my aim…”

Her hand holding the phaser rose, prompting the two security officers to step inside and point their rifles at her, but I waved them off and ever so gently used my magic to take the phaser out of her hands, immediately adjusting it down to stun before slipping it into a pocket in my uniform.

“It’s alright now. You’re safe,” I said. “They’re gone.”

She shook her head. “No, I, one jumped me. He wrenched my arm… it hurts so much, Twilight, it hurts. I fell over. He raised his blade, and then Eresh, she…” Tears ran down her face. “She jumped in front of it and took the hit. She let out a horrible scream, Sunset… it was so loud. So I picked up the phaser and shot him, shot that Jem’Hadar.” Her knees buckled, and she only remained standing because my magic caught her, prompting Selar to rush forward with her tricorder. “And then I shot the next one that came in. And the next one, and the next one. I kept shooting and shooting till they were all dead.

She looked up at me and set her free hand on me. “I’ve never killed anything before, Sunset… eighty years old, never killed a single thing till today.”

I used my magic to grip her hand comfortingly. “I know how you feel, trust me.”

“...I know you do…”

Selar looked at me. “Her shoulder needs immediate surgery if she wants to preserve its function. I need to get her to sickbay.”

I nodded. “Belle, you heard the doctor, right? You need treatment. You can go with her. It’ll be safe.”

Belle’s hand gripped my own shoulder. “You promise?”

I looked her right in the eyes. “I’ll do what I can.”

She let go. “Alright. I’ll go with her.”

“Good.” I gave her hand one last squeeze with my magic, then nodded to Selar. “Doctor, we’re going to have a lot more headed your way.”

“I am aware,” Selar said as she helped Belle start walking in the direction of sickbay.

I returned to the turbolift and made my way back to Engineering. A medical team was sweeping through, moving bodies into bags, getting wounds treated. Wattson, meanwhile, stood with Rodriguez and Zhdiar at the auxiliary control consoles, along with, to my surprise, Cadeneza, who was being fussed at by a female Bolian nurse. “Lieutenant, you should be in sickbay getting treated,” the nurse said.

Cadeneza waved her off, and coughed into her fist. “I’m fine,” she said, her voice hoarse. “I’ll live.”

“But the damage to your lungs will be much harder to fix if we wait too much longer,” the nurse insisted.

“What’s the problem here?” I asked as I walked up.

The nurse met my eyes. “Ma’am, Lieutenant Cadeneza suffered some radiation damage to her lungs and heart along with smoke inhalation from a plasma fire. Her lungs need immediate treatment or else she could suffer serious further harm.”

“Is it life threatening?” I asked.

“Well, no, not immediately, it’d take at least a few days—”

I gently shook my head. "Noted. You're doing all the right things, Ensign, believe me. But right now we need every set of hands we can get, so focus on triage first. Understood?"

The nurse sighed. “Yes, ma’am."

"Do what you can for the Lieutenant to stabilize her, then keep moving."

I watched the nurse run a few more scans before administering a hypospray to Cadeneza, who flashed me a brief thumbs up once the nurse left.

“Thanks for that. She wouldn’t—” she broke off into a brief coughing fit. “Wouldn’t leave me alone.”

I placed a hoof on her arm. “She's just doing her job, as am I. Believe me, part of me wants to drag you to sickbay right now myself, but I can't do that either.”

“I know," she replied, her eyes briefly darting past me. “I'll go to sickbay as soon as things calm down a bit in there, alright? Now go. Wattson needs you.”

I gave her a brief smile despite my worry for her, then turned to Wattson. “Alright, damage report.”

Wattson winced. “It’s not good, ma’am. Warp drive is more or less completely shot; they did too much damage to the nacelles. Without access to a starbase or at least some equivalent replacement parts, we’re looking at a good month to fix it. Assuming the warp core holds out.”

“We’re not running low on antimatter or deuterium, are we?” I wondered.

“Antimatter no, deuterium, yes. That’s the other major bad news.” Wattson tapped on the console and brought up an image of the ship’s impulse engines on screen. “They tore into the primary and auxiliary storage. Most of our supply is gone and we’ll be lucky if we can get more than a single fusion reactor running for impulse. The manifolds are a wreck too, so the most I can give you is one fiftieth impulse.”

Cadeneza and Rodriguez both let out a whistle at that. “Might as well be sticking to thrusters at that rate,” Rodriguez said.

“Well, those are good at least,” Wattson said with a sigh. “One of the only things still half-way functional.”

“What about weapons? Shields?” Zhidar prompted.

Wattson drew a hand over her neck. “Nada. We’ve still got basic deflectors – and thank goodness for that because otherwise we’d be taking a lot of hull damage from all the debris flying around out there. But the shield grid is totally dead, and you can forget about weapons. Unless you want to go out there and throw rocks at them.”

“We are still having some shuttles,” Rodriguez pointed out. “A few of them have weapons. Enough for minimal defense.”

“Yeah, if we had to fight off some twenty-second century Orion pirates or something,” Wattson snorted. “The only thing we’ve got that could handle anything the Dominion might throw at us is the Euphrates.

“Wait, the runabout is still intact?” I pressed.

She nodded. “Far as I’m aware. Most of the shuttlebay is a wreck of course, and the doors are jammed so you'd have to shoot your way out if you wanted to go anywhere, but… it’s still a fully functioning craft.”

I pressed my hoof to my chin. “Still, that's not much to work with, especially in these conditions. We need help, and fast.” I let that thought gel for a moment as I turned back to Wattson. “What about communications, sensors? And the crew?”

“We’ve got internal communications and sensors, and some long-range sensors. Short range are just fine. But we lost our primary and secondary transmission arrays for subspace. We can talk to anyone within light-speed distance, but that’s it.

“God damn, is there anything still working on this ship?” Cadeneza muttered.

Wattson shrugged. “Sickbay is about the only thing functioning normally right now.” She eyed me and held out a PADD. “As for the crew… it’s not good.”

I took the PADD and examined it. Once again I took a serious punch to the gut as I absorbed the casualty reports. “We’ve lost almost half the crew?” I gaped.

She nodded, squeezing her eyes shut. “Between the various hull breaches and all those Jem’Hadar running around killing people, along with MIAs…yeah. But we’ve still got our full medical staff, and last I heard the Sirens were reported as uninjured. And covered in blood.”

I blinked. “Must’ve run into some Jem’Hadar.”

“Yikes. Would not want to be those Jem’Hadar, lemme tell ya,” Cadeneza said.

“Survivors from the other ships?” I asked.

Wattson checked her console. “Recovery operations are still ongoing, but so far we've recovered just over forty, mostly from the Algerie. We got a few from the Helena and Baltimore as well. None from the Shimakaze or the Javelin. I'm afraid they were both lost with all hands.

Auxilary Shuttlebay to Engineering.

I tapped my badge. “This is Commander Shimmer.”

Ma’am, we just retrieved a shuttle with additional survivors from the Brynhild. They have Captain Liang aboard.

Gasps went all around as I barely restrained my own surprised reaction. “That’s great news indeed. What’s his condition?”

Bad, ma’am. He’s unconscious, with severe injuries to his spine and legs, as well as a major concussion. We’re having him moved to sickbay as we speak.

“Understood.” I tapped my combadge twice to close the channel and open a new one. “Shimmer to Sickbay, we’ve just rescued the Captain. I want to know the instant he wakes up, understood?”

Yes, ma’am,” answered a voice I didn’t recognize, probably some med tech.

I tapped my badge again to close the channel. “Well, that’s some good news at least.”

“Hey, there’s something I still don’t quite get,” Cadeneza said, her hands on her hips. “How the hell did we survive? Where’d the Jem’Hadar fleet go?”

A rage came over Wattson’s face as I recoiled from Cadeneza’s words; Amelia looked ready to slap Jacqueline upside the head. “It… was Twilight,” I choked out. “She… she sacrificed herself to save us.”

“She… she what?”

The gasp of shock didn’t come from Cadeneza, despite her question. It came from the person who was standing in the doorway, frozen in mid-stride.

Preta Re’l. 

I squeezed my eyes shut, letting the pain flow through me once more, not able to stand the sight of the horror that crept across her face, or the tears she’d already begun to shed. “She’s dead, Preta,” I whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

Preta let out a feline shriek of dismay and fell against Rodriguez, who hugged her tightly in his beefy arms, cooing soft platitudes of reassurance.

“Fuck, Sparkie’s gone?” Cadeneza swallowed and shook her head, biting back tears of her own. Then she suddenly looked at me. “Wait, how do we know for sure?”

“What?” I snapped, scowling at her. “What do you mean, how do we know? I yanked my sister's combadge out of my pocket and held it up in my magic. “I picked this up from the pile of ashes, which is all that's left of her!”

Cadeneza held up her hands. “Okay, okay, yeah, and?”

I took a step towards her. “And?” I growled.

“And you didn’t leave even ashes behind when you were obliterated by a warp core. But what happened next?”

I rocked back on my hooves, my anger freezing in my chest, the smallest measure of hope beginning to blossom. “I Ascended.”

Cadeneza nodded. “Exactly. So let’s not write Sparkie off just yet, okay? I mean, I know it’s a long shot, but…”

I rushed forward and hugged her. “But it gives me hope. Thank you, Jacqueline.”

She ran a hand through my mane, then leaned down and gave me a kiss on the head, protocol and public be damned. “You got it, Sunset.”

“Okay, so, that’s great and all, ma’am,” Wattson said, drawing my attention, “but what’re we going to do next? Like I said before, without spare parts, materials, or a starbase, we’re dead in the water.”

“And I am certain that more Dominion forces will be coming,” Rodriguez said as he gave Preta one last squeeze before letting her go. To her credit, Preta managed to clean her face off and look just as calm as I did; maybe she was holding onto the same hope. “They will not be risking leaving us here.”

“No, you’re right,” I said, rubbing my chin. “As soon as Yukarin fails to report in, they’ll send a fresh fleet after us. We need to do something.”

“Ma’am,” Rodriguez said, stepping forward. “Let me take the Euphrates and try to get some help. I can carry with me all of our logs and reports, plus the accumulated magical research. At the runabout’s maximum warp I can be at DS9 in a day, and once in Federation space I can be broadcasting a distress call to get someone’s attention. Then they can send someone to tow the Phoenix to a Starbase for repairs.”

“...and if you fail to get help in time, then at least you’ll have all our records so that they understand what happened to us, and maybe can rebuild some of our research from there.” I sighed. “I really ought to send more than just one person though.”

He shook his head. “I disagree. This is a very risky thing I will be doing. What if there are Dominion ships waiting just outside the nebula? I will never be able to outrun them; they would kill me easily. Better to only be risking one person.”

“Well if that’s the case,” Cadeneza broke in, after letting loose another small coughing fit, “you ought to let someone like me take the runabout.”

“What?” several people, including myself, blurted. “Jacqueline, no, you’re seriously injured,” I continued. “And you’re not exactly the pilot that Rodriguez is.”

“Exactly,” she countered. She pointed at Rodriguez. “He’s right when he says there’s the possibility the Dominion will be waiting for us. If they are, it doesn’t matter how fancy his flying is; he’ll never escape them. Whereas if he stays here, he’s your best bet for evasive maneuvers.”

She set a hand on my shoulder and placed the other on her chest. “Besides, you heard the nurse. I’ve got a good several days before this becomes a really serious problem.” She took a shuddering breath and grinned. “I’ll get treated when I get to DS9. Better to take up a bed in their sickbay instead of ours right now anyway. Let me do this, Sunset.”

I frowned, looking between her and Rodriguez, and then to Preta and Wattson. “She’s not wrong, ma’am,” Wattson said, eying Cadeneza for a moment. “Jackie’s got as good a shot as any of us.”

“And you need good pilots here,” Preta added.

I let out a sigh between my teeth, then nodded. “Alright. Get up to the Main Shuttlebay. Wattson, we can still link the ship’s computer to the Euphrates computer, right?”

She walked over to a console and input a few commands, then nodded. “Barely. Bandwidth is fifty percent of normal, but…”

“That’s fine; just means it’ll take a little longer. Load everything onto the Euphrates. Ship’s logs, personal logs, research reports… everything related to the battle and to our research over the last few months.” I turned to Cadeneza. “Once you board the Euphrates you’ll have to shoot your way out of the Main Shuttlebay. If you could get the secondary bulkheads closed so you don’t depressurize half of deck’s three, four, and five while you’re at it, please do so.”

She smirked. “Yes, ma’am.” She turned to leave.

I grabbed her in a sudden hug, holding her tightly. “And Jacqueline? I love you. You know that, right?”

She squatted down to look me in the eye, then kissed me on the lips. “Of course I do. Love you too, Sunny. I’ll see you soon as I get help.”

She gave me one last hug, then she made her way to the nearest turbolift.

“Alright,” I said, once she was gone. “We need to start repairs immediately. Preta… I know you’re hurting, like I am. Are you fit for duty? I need to know now.”

She bit her lip and nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Good. Work with Rodriguez, get some decent helm control back. Wattson, we need our engineering teams to focus on shields first, then engines. I want to be able to mount some kind of defense if the Dominion comes knocking on our doorstep again.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the three of them echoed, and they dispersed. 

I tapped my badge. “Shimmer to Auxiliary Shuttlebay. What’s our status on recovering the escape pods?” 

Ma’am, we’ve just brought the last escape pod aboard.

“Good. Have any able-bodied people join their respective departments in repairs of the Phoenix.

Err, ma’am, one of them wants to speak to you, actually.

After a moment, a different voice came on the line, gruff and clipped, with the usual undertones of constant snorting I was used to hearing from Tellerite voices. “Commander Shimmer, this is Glamgor Pog.

“Pog!” I blurted, feeling a brief smile come to my face. “I’m surprised, but pleased. How did you make it out?”

Glamgor Pog was off duty when the attack happened. Before he could get to Main Engineering he was shoved into an escape pod by a helpful Lieutenant.

I just didn’t want him to waste his life trying to save a doomed ship,” said another familiar voice.

“Blackford,” I said, shaking my head. “Well, I’m glad to hear from both of you. We could use your help in Engineering, so long as you’re not hurt.”

Only our pride, ma’am,” Blackford replied. “We’re on our way.

“Glad to hear it. Shimmer out.” I sighed. “Well that's two bits of good news now.”

I joined Wattson in repairs on the shield grid, which took me crawling through the Jefferies tubes to one of the many shield generators spread throughout the ship, specifically the dorsal generator. Its failure had allowed the Jem'Hadar to board the ship, so repairing it first was critical.

Shield generators were like sets of large capacitors. They charged up the shield grid itself, but just as importantly they absorbed incoming weapons fire. Whether it took the form of particle weapons, torpedoes, outdated ballistic weapons, or any number of energy-based types, the shield generators absorbed all of the incoming energy, transformed it into electricity, and ground it into the ship's hull. The more energy it absorbed at once, the more sparks and shorts would appear all over the ship; and given the beating we had just taken, I was not at all surprised to find the dorsal generator in about a hundred pieces.

This generator tore out half the bulkheads around it, damaging an EPS conduit in the process. I had no real hopes of fixing the bulkhead damage, but at least I could get a patch on the conduit. “Shimmer to Wattson, this generator is completely fried. Any chance we can replicate a replacement?”

“Not unless you want to use up way too much power. Besides, our parts replicator is down anyway. We’ll have to make due without that generator.

“That’s going to put extra strain on the others,” I muttered as I went to work on the patch.

I know that, ma’am, but we don’t really have much of a choice right now.

“Right. Shimmer out.” She wasn’t wrong; my own extensive engineering knowledge taught me that much. But it would leave the ship even more vulnerable during an attack.

Nevertheless, I finished up the patch and soon crawled down to the next generator. Thankfully, this one was repairable, though I quickly realized it would take far more time than I had hoped to spend at each generator.

Commander, the Euphrates has been loaded with all the logs and ship’s information. Commander Cadeneza is ready to launch.

“Understood. One moment.” I crawled out of the tube onto the deck. “Shimmer to Cadeneza. How’s it looking on the runabout?”

All systems up and running,” she responded, through a series of coughs. “I got all the secondary bulkheads in the Main Shuttlebay closed, including the one nearest the main doors. All that should depressurize is a small section of the bay; the rest should be left intact.

“Good. Try to be surgical if you can. I’d like to be able to repair the doors without too much effort,” I said, injecting a note of concern into my tone. “I’m gonna check with you one last time… you sure you’re good for this?”

Relax, Sunny, I’ve got this.” She paused to cough once more, an especially wet and gross sounding cough that tore at my nerves. “I know I sound bad but I’m fine. I’ll just shoot myself up with triox and call it good; I’ve got a shitton in the medical kits on the runabout.

“Just don’t overdo it,” I ordered, though my voice trembled. “Triox is meant for emergencies, not long-term use. And it won’t work if your condition worsens.”

I know, Sunny. I'm a xenobiologist, after all. Don't worry about me. I'll head to Sickbay as soon as I step foot on DS9. You worry about getting the Phoenix back together; I wanna celebrate with you on DS9 during the shore leave we’ll all get.” 

“That’d be nice,” I murmured. “Alright, Commander, you’ve got leave to launch.”

Yes, ma’am,” she said, her voice turning professional. “All systems online, charging phasers.”

I used the closest wall console to pull up security footage, so I could watch the Euphrates carve its way out. Thankfully Cadeneza listened and didn’t just blast the doors apart, but used the phasers to cut open a space large enough for the runabout. Alarms went off and the computer warned about a new hull breach, but I deliberately kept the emergency force fields from engaging, to allow the Euphrates out.

Exit successfully created. Launching now… Euphrates away. It’ll take me about ten minutes to pass outside the nebula to get to warp.

“Understood, Euphrates,” I replied.

I returned to my repairs, but I kept the channel open, even as it began to fill up with huge amounts of static thanks to the nebula. “Phoenix, this… Euphrates… bout to… through the…. nebul… will go to warp… goodbye, good luck…

“Godspeed, Jacqueline,” I whispered.

The channel went dead, then closed.

I let out a sigh and put the last pieces in place for my repair, having bypassed a few basic pieces of the system to get the generator functional. It wouldn’t last for too long but it was the best I could do.

As I left the Jefferies tube and headed for the turbolift to return to Engineering, I was joined by a trio of figures half covered in Jem’Hadar blood. “Sunset Shimmer,” Adagio barked. “You wanted to see us.”

“Yeah… you three okay?”

“We’re fine,” Aria said, slamming her fist into her palm. “The Jem’Hadar? Not so much.”

“Sunset, what the hell was that magic we felt earlier?” Adagio demanded as the turbolift discharged us just outside of Engineering.

I swallowed, my whole body quavering at the memory. “...see for yourself,” I said over my shoulder. I led them into Engineering and pulled up the footage on the nearest screen. 

I watched their faces rather than the screen, tuning out the sound. The more Twilight spoke, the more fearful and horror stricken their faces became, until Sonata started screaming, “turn it off, turn it off!”

Switching it off immediately, I asked, “What was—”

“That,” Adagio said, her voice thick with fearful tension, “was some of the darkest, most insidious magic I have ever seen or heard in my thousand plus years of life. It…” She clapped her hands to her ears and shuddered along with her fellow Sirens. “You… your pony ears would never hear the true evil underlying it, not how we can.”

“It hurt,” Aria murmured. “Where the hell did she find this spell?”

“Like seriously,” Sonata added. “How’d she know how to cast it?”

“But do you know what exactly she was saying?” I pressed, trying not to be too demanding.

“No. And pray that you never find out, because if you do, your soul is surely damned,” Adagio declared.

Before I could properly absorb that, a fresh alarm rang through Engineering. “Commander!” Rodriguez cried. “We are detecting six more Jem’Hadar fighters!”

“Damn it! Red alert! Raise shields. Whatever weapons we’ve got, I want them online yesterday!” 

Right as I finished that sentence, weapons fire hit the shields, causing the entire ship to buck like a small boat in the middle of a storm. I stumbled backwards, wings flailing in an attempt to keep my balance. I avoided falling, only to smack my side into the edge of the master systems display and nearly knock the wind out of me completely. “Evasive maneuvers, Mister Rodriguez!”

“Already doing what I can,” he said, shaking his head. “But it is not much. The ship, she simply has so little to work with.”

Two more volleys slammed into us, raking the ship on all sides. The combined impact overloaded the already struggling inertial dampeners and sent the ship lurching wildly on both axis, flinging us all around like ragdolls. I heard a console explode on one of the upper levels, followed by a horrific scream. I turned just in time to see someone tumble over the upper catwalk and fall, too fast for me to catch them with my magic. A second, even higher-pitch scream followed for a moment, but was cut off – perhaps mercifully – by the plasma conduits below. 

“Glamgor Pog did not leave his ship only to board another doomed one!” shouted Pog as he fussed with the controls. “Intermix chamber is having issues. We’re beginning to lose control over the warp core.”

“Get it tied down, now!” Wattson screamed as she rushed over to another panel. “We breach, we’re dead!”

“Glamgor thinks we are already dead…”

“That's enough, Lieutenant! Focus!" I turned to Zhidar, who was quickly reconfiguring one of the few open consoles for tactical use. “Mister Zhidar, fire phasers!”

I saw phaser fire briefly appear on the viewscreen, passing over the shields of one of the fighters. “No effect,” he growled. “We simply don’t have the power.”

“Sorry, ma’am, we didn’t get to them in time; we barely finished with the shields,” Wattson clarified.

The ship trembled from another blow, “Shields at twenty percent!” Rodriguez called.

Then the console in front of me bleeped. “We’re being hailed,” I murmured. “Putting it on-screen.”

Another Vorta, this one a female I didn’t recognize, appeared on the screen. “So. I see you killed Yukarin. The fool always was overconfident. No matter, we'll just activate his next clone. You, however, will have no such mercy.

“Who are you and what do you want?” I asked.

She shook her head. “My name is not important. As for what I want, it’s simple. I want you, your sister, and the Sirens. Dead or alive. Your corpses will still prove useful, if we can’t keep you around for experimentation.”

“You can forget it,” I snarled. “I’ll destroy this ship before I let you lay a finger on any of us. Dead or alive.”

The Vorta sighed. “Fire once more,” she said, and the Phoenix spun as once again the inertial dampers failed thanks to the sudden blow of energy.

“Shields at ten percent! One more hit and they’ll collapse entirely,” Rodriguez cried.

I trust I have made my intent clear,” said the Vorta, aiming her vision directly at me. “Now, surrender, and spare the lives of your crew. Or don’t, and we’ll board the ship and slaughter everyone.

“Alright!” I said, throwing my hooves up. “Alright… alright. You… you win. We surrender.”

The Vorta smiled slightly. “Excellent choice. You will drop your shields and prepare to be boarded. Anyone who dares resist will be executed.

The words in my mouth tasted bitter and foul as I spoke them. “Okay, okay, just… give us a couple of minutes. Thanks to you, our warp core is on the verge of collapse again. Once it’s fixed, I’ll gather up the Sirens and we’ll transport over.”

The Vorta glared at me. “Very well. I will give you three minutes. Then we expect your shields to drop.

“Understood,” I sighed. The screen turned off as the channel closed. 

Wattson looked up at me. “We’ve got the warp core as stable as it’s going to get for now, but we can’t risk any more damage. So you can forget about fighting.”

“So that’s it, then?” Preta murmured. “We’re all going to rot in a Dominion prison camp?”

I shuddered and shook my head. “No. I won’t let them capture us. I’m… I’m sorry everyone.” I bowed my head, then looked up at the ceiling. “Computer! Begin auto-destruct sequence, authorization Shimmer Two Four Charlie Delta.”

The computer bleeped in acknowledgement.

As the looks of horrified resignation spread across everyone’s face, I turned to Wattson, who to her credit only took a deep breath before saying, “Computer, this is Chief Engineer Amelia Wattson. Confirm auto-destruct sequence, authorization Wattson One Four Yankee Tango.”

Once more the computer let out an acknowledging bleep.

He slammed a fist on his console, but Zhidar nevertheless stood and spoke, his every word dripping with disgust, “Computer, this is Security Chief Zhidar. Confirm auto-destruct sequence, authorization Zhidar One Zero Zulu Foxtrot.”

Command authorization accepted. Awaiting final code to begin auto destruct sequence.

“This is First Officer Sunset Shimmer, destruct sequence Alpha One. Ninety second silent countdown,” I ordered, as I fell into the closest nearby chair. One more breath escaped my lips as I uttered the final word. “Enable.”

Even the computer sounded tired when it responded, “Self-destruct in ninety seconds. There will be no further audio warnings.

“So, we’ve given up,” Zhidar snarled as the countdown appeared on almost every screen on the ship. “Just like that.”

“We can’t risk the Dominion having control over my magic, or the Siren’s magic,” I said, hanging my head. “I… we all knew the risks when we signed up for Starfleet.”

“Indeed,” Rodriguez said as he sat down next to Zhidar and wrapped an arm around the burly Antican. “We must accept this is the end, my friend.”

Adagio gaped at me in sheer disbelief. “What the hell are you doing, Shimmer?! Why are you blowing up the ship?”

“Would you rather be captured by the Dominion?” I asked as I pointed a hoof at the one screen not covered by numbers. “Because that’s our only other option.”

Adagio drew back. “...no. I’d rather die than subject myself to them again.”

“Same,” Aria uttered.

Sonata gulped and nodded.

Sixty seconds remained on the clocks.

“Then there you go,” I said. I gave them an apologetic smile. “At least this will be quick. Warp core breach. Take the whole ship with it.”

“Funny, that,” Wattson said as she walked over to me. “Guess you’re coming full circle, huh?”

“Yeah… but, Twilight…” I shook my head. “It was a long shot that she survived anyway.”

Forty seconds remained.

Adagio gave me a curious look. “If she’s lucky, there’s nothing left of her at all.”

“At this point I hope you’re right,” I replied as any sense of a smile vanished from my face. “I wouldn’t want her to come back just to suffocate in space.”

Thirty seconds remained.

All of a sudden the console in front of Zhidar beeped. “Ma’am, the sensors are detecting something… bizarre.”

“Bizarre?” I sat up to look at the reading. “...that’s the magical sensors. There’s a huge build up of energy.” I blinked, then drew back. “It’s beginning to surround the ship!”

“Incoming hail,” Rodriguez said, before putting on the Vorta from before.

She gave me an utterly furious look. “So, you’ve broken your deals yet again, Shimmer? Not only are you trying to destroy your ship, you are trying to take my fleet with you! I’ve already ordered my ships to move away from your anomaly. Now turn off your self-destruct immediately.

The ship rocked as a fresh bolt of fire from the Jem’Hadar struck the shields. “Shields back down to ten percent!” Zhidar reported.

“Computer!” I cried. “Cancel auto-destruct sequence, authorization Shimmer Two Four Charlie Delta!”

Acknowledged. Do the Chief Engineer and Chief Security Officer comply?

“Yes, confirmed, absolutely!” Wattson added, at the same time as Zhidar barked a simple, “Yes!”

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as the countdown froze at five seconds before disappearing. “Auto-destruct sequence aborted.” Then the computer let out an alert noise. “Warning. Structural integrity fields at eighty percent of maximum capacity.

The ship started to shake and rattle, like it was caught in an earthquake. “What the hell is happening?” I barked.

Stop pretending to be a fool, Sunset Shimmer!” the Vorta shouted, reminding me we had an open comm channel. “Cease this... this magical display at once!

“It’s not us,” I said. Then I rolled my eyes. “Also, go screw yourself!” I closed the comm channel. “Report!”

“Confirmed. Some sort of spatial anomaly is forming around the ship,” Zhidar uttered.

“Move it, dog,” Adagio growled before pushing him aside enough to examine the console herself. Her eyes widened considerably. “This is... this looks just like—” She looked back at me, her face awash with panic. “Everyone brace yourselves! Now!”

“Why, what is—”

The entire ship yawed, as if a cosmic force had grabbed hold of the Phoenix and stood it up on its aft end. Everything and everyone not bolted down flew backwards and slammed backfirst into whatever was behind them only seconds earlier.

“Commander! We’re being drawn into some kind of... of vortex! Type unknown!” Wattson shouted. “If these readings are correct, we're being pulled into subspace itself!”

“What do you mean it’s pulling us into subspace? How is that possible?” I asked.

“It shouldn't be!" Wattson stared at her display in complete dismay and threw her hands up. "I can't even tell where this thing originated from, much less how it's working. But it's acting like a superpowered magnet on the ship!”

For a moment my stomach dropped out from under me as the entire ship seemed to spin three hundred sixty degrees beneath me, sending me flying till I landed back on the deck, wincing from the impact. “What about the Dominion fleet?!”

“Nowhere to be seen! Whatever this is, it's only focusing on us!” Zhidar said.

Warning. Structural integrity fields at maximum.

“We’re getting some buckling in the hull!” shouted Pog. “Glamgor Pog thinks we will see hull breaches if this keeps up!”

“Confirmed, hull breach on decks four, eleven, and sixteen!” Blackford added from another console.

“We’re definitely in subspace too,” Wattson reported, her face a mask of terror. “Sunset, I have no idea how but we have to get out of here. If we go too much deeper we'll be trapped.”

“Not just trapped,” I said, nightmares of senior year Quantum Subspace Theory lectures resurfacing in my mind. "Physics will stop working entirely. The entire ship could lose molecular cohesion. Are the shields holding?”

“For the moment but they’re draining rapidly; the radiation outside is building at an incredible rate,” Wattson replied.

The largest tremor yet rolled through the ship, and I had to grab several people with magic to keep them from splattering into paste against walls that suddenly became floors multiple decks down. “Rodriguez! See if you can get us out of here. Or at least slow the descent, buy us some time!”

“I have been trying, ma’am,” he said, his hands rapidly dancing across his console. “But whatever this is, we don’t have enough engine power to compensate.”

“Wait!” Wattson said. She grinned. “I think we just stopped sinking. In fact... yes! We're springing back towards normal space!”

“Like a rubber band snapping back to form,” I replied. “Hold on though. We don't even know which direction we were just 'sinking' in. Wattson, can you confirm we're moving in the exact reverse of whatever trajectory we were just on?”

“Negative. All I know is, normal space was getting further away, and now it's getting closer again.”

Blackford climbed his way back into his chair. “Ma’am we’ve got new hull breaches on decks eight and twelve,” he said. “No casualties reported, but the hull breach is damned close to sickbay.”

May to Shimmer. What in tarnation is goin’ on up there? I keep endin’ up with more injuries; I had to secure the Captain in a forcefield just to keep him from poppin’ his spleen open!

“Sorry, Doctor,” I replied, “but we have no idea. An unknown anomaly formed around the ship and drew us in. It’s beginning to dump us out… somewhere.” I turned to Wattson. “We have moved in space, right?”

“Yes, but I have no idea how far until we get out of the subspace layers and back into normal space.”

“Ma’am! The dorsal shield just failed!” Rodriguez cried. “Radiation is streaming in!”

“Close all emergency bulkheads!” I ordered. I tapped the comms key. “Anyone in the saucer section, get yourself to the interior on the double. Sickbay, be ready for radiation sickness.”

Oh, yes, as if we didn’t have enough to deal with. Understood, Commander,” May growled. I could hear the anger in her voice, but I knew it wasn’t directed at me. It was directed at the Dominion who’d dare hurt her beloved. She and James had become quite close in the last few months. To lose him now, after all they had both been through... I shuddered at the thought.

“We’re getting close to normal space again, ma’am,” Wattson said. “I estimate no more than thirty seconds.”

“Glamgor Pog has gotten the shields back up for just a moment,” Pog added, looking particularly pleased in his Tellerite way. “He will not let radiation kill anyone after everything we’ve been through.”

I patted him on the shoulder. “Good work, Lieutenant. Rodriguez, as soon as we emerge, set course for the nearest starbase or outpost you can find. Best possible speed.”

“We’ll be headed there at a crawl,” he muttered.

“A crawl is better than nothing.”

Warning: starboard nacelle structural collapse imminent.

“Shit,” Wattson snapped. “Pog, Blackford, help me get these fields reinforced! If we lose the nacelles the backlash will tear the ship apart!”

“Fifteen seconds to normal space,” Zhidar reported.

Alarms and klaxons continued to go off for another few seconds till one blessedly went silent. “There! Got it. Nacelles should stay intact now,” Wattson said as she returned to her other console. “We should be hitting normal space in five, four, three… two… one…”

BOOM!

A fresh wave of nausea rolled through me as the ship rocked again, this time with a keening sound ripping through the hull. “What just happened?!” I demanded.

“We’ve emerged inside an atmosphere!” Rodriguez cried.

My eyes about bugged out of their sockets. “We’ve what?!” I looked up at the viewscreen in horror to see nothing but the horizon of a planet, closing fast. “Reverse thrusters! Get us into orbit, now!”

“I can’t!” he roared, smashing a fist against his console. “¡Cójanse del asiento! ¡Nos vamos a pegar la gran hostia contra el planeta!”

I didn’t need to understand Spanish to know what he meant by that. I slapped the comms console. “All hands! Brace for impact!”

Once again my stomach fell out from under me as the ship careened through the atmosphere, ready to tear itself apart on the land below.

My body flew backwards. My head hit the wall with a sickening thud.

Then…

Nothing.

The next thing I knew, I was laying on the floor of engineering, hearing moans and groans around me. The first thing I noticed was the complete lack of other sounds. No hum from the EPS grid, no thrum from the warp core, no subtle vibrations in the floor from the impulse reactors. Just dead silence.

I tried to blink my eyes open, only to see blurry blobs of light. “Uuugh… report… damage report,” I murmured.

“Easy now, Sunset Shimmer. Relax. You’re safe.”

Those words hit me like lightning. That voice… apart from the holodeck I hadn’t heard that voice in almost twenty years.

My eyes shot open despite the tortuous flickering lights above me; I tried to sit up, only to flop onto my side as the entire world seemed to spin around me.

Then a cool sensation enveloped me. Like a gentle breeze on a perfectly warm spring day. Slowly, my vision cleared. And standing above me… no.

No, it was impossible. It couldn’t be possible.

Could it?

“Princess Celestia?” I croaked.

Princess Celestia took in a sharp breath and smiled at me through tearful eyes, as she brought a hoof up to stroke my face. “Yes, my trusted student. It's really me. You're on Equus now.”

I gaped at her, so taken aback by shock I didn’t know what to say other than, “H-How?”

“It’s a bit of a long story… one that I think can best be explained by Twilight when we go see her.”

Lightning hit me again. “What?” I whispered, my mind going again to the broken combadge in my pocket. “T-Twi... she's…”

“She is indeed,” Celestia said as she carefully wrapped a hoof around me, pulling me into a deep embrace. “Your sister lives.”

I tried to speak but just fell into a river of tears and relief and everything in between. And Celestia just squeezed me tighter, her warmth surrounding me just like it always used to.

“Now, let us check on your friends and get you all outside,” Celestia finally said, releasing me from her embrace. She reached up with a wing and wiped some of the tears from my cheek, and smiled.

“Welcome home, Sunset.”

END OF SEASON TWO

NEXT SEASON ON
STAR TREK:
PHOENIX


“Witness before your eyes, a truly glorious sight, for before you stands The Great and Powerful Trixie, Element of Laughter. And she is pleased to meet you,” said the powder blue unicorn as she stuck her hoof out to Pog to shake.

Pog let out a piggish snort as he clapped a hand to her hoof. “Hah! You speak like Glamgor Pog. He likes you already.”

Trixie smirked and fluffed her hair with her magic. “Trixie is just as pleased to meet a fellow speaker of pride.”

Starlight slapped her hoof to her face and dragged it down. “Hoo boy… Trixie… please don’t start flirting with the aliens…”

“Trixie is not flirting, Starlight. She is just being friendly!”

“With you, that’s flirting!”


“Hi, hi, hi! I’m Pinkie Pie, and it’s great to meet you!”

I reeled back from the pudgy pink earth pony sticking her face in mine, and tried to give her a simple hoofshake instead. “Err, good to meet you, too, Miss Pie. What’s your specialty?”

Pinkie shook my hoof so enthusiastically I thought it would fall off. “Ooooh, nothing special, I’m just one of the best bakers in all of Ponyville, and I make lots of other great food too! And I’m a party planner, and I like to make ponies smile, and--”

Luna’s magic wrapped around her muzzle. “She will be useful for morale. We hope.”


“Princess, I don’t understand,” I said as I looked at her. The wrinkles, the haggard facial expression, the sheer age she showed. And she wasn’t the only one; Princess Luna too had begun to show signs of wrinkles. “What is happening to you?”

She let out a low sigh. “It’s not me, Sunset. It’s the sun.”

“The sun?” I repeated.

“That’s right. It’s… dying.”


“Your home planet is beautiful, Twilight,” Preta said as she nuzzled against me, resting her head against mine. “I kept wondering if the holodeck simulations you made were exaggerated, but…”

“Nope. If anything, we didn’t remember well enough how beautiful it really is,” I replied in turn as I stretched a wing out to embrace her.

“So what’re you going to do?” she asked me.

I took a deep breath, and let it out. “I don't know, Preta. I... I need to find out which world I belong in again.”


Liang’s hand rested on my hoof, his strong eyes boring into mine. “It’s up to you, Sunset,” he said. “Keep them safe. No matter how long it takes, you must get them home.”

I swallowed and nodded, the emotions swelling within me threatening to burst. “I will, James. I promise you.”

He smiled back. “And I expect you to keep that promise… Captain.”


SEASON THREE WILL BEGIN

APRIL 5th, 2023

First Contact Day