//------------------------------//
// Season 3 Episode 5: "Foreseen Consequences" 
// Story: Star Trek: Phoenix 
// by Dewdrops on the Grass 
//------------------------------//


STAR TREK: PHOENIX



S03E05



“Foreseen Consequences”



    


The red alert had barely sounded before a pair of blasts rocked the ship, nearly sending me tumbling out of my chair. I could see sparkles of Cerenkov radiation flying across the viewscreen, which told me the shields were already beginning to buckle under the strain. “Shields at forty-seven percent!” Danielle cried.

“Miss Maia, target the lead Orion ship and return fire, full phasers!” I ordered.

On the viewscreen we watched as Rodriguez pivoted the ship on its axes enough to bring the forward phaser banks to bear on the enemy ships. Phaser fire built up along the strip and arced out with a whine that reverberated through the hull.

“Damage?”

“Minimal!” Maia reported. “Our phasers just aren’t strong enough.”

“Bridge to engineering,” Zhidar barked. “We need more power to phasers.”

“I don’t have it to give.”

“Take it from whatever systems you have to!” 

Wattson’s answering reply carried a tone of desperation. “It's not a power issue, sir, it's a capacity issue. We restored the phasers' functionality, yes, but we lack the parts to fully restore their energy capacity. Until we can solve that, channeling more power into them won't make a difference.”

Damn it. She was right. Even seasoned bridge officers sometimes fail to realize you can’t just shove power into a system and expect it to work just like that. If the system couldn’t handle the load you were putting into it, all the power in the world meant less than nothing. 

“Then we need another solution!” I shouted as the ship shuddered under more disruptor fire. 

“Photon torpedoes, full spread!” Zhidar said.

“Now, Mr. Zhidar!”

My eyes darted to the viewscreen expecting to see a full brace of torpedoes streaking toward the enemy. Only two emerged into view though, striking the lead ship's port side and causing their shields to buckle in that area.

“Quick, phasers, target their warp core!” I shouted. 

The phasers laced out once more, but to my dismay the shields had already come back up to full strength, leaving our phaser fire limp.

“What happened?” Zhidar demanded.

“Damage to the torpedo tubes, sir,” Maia replied. “They keep targeting our weapons.”

Before I could give any new orders, the ship bucked so hard Zhidar was sent rolling across the deck, alarms blaring like crazy, a number of consoles shooting sparks out of the wall panels. “Shields at twenty-five percent!” Danielle reported. 

“What the hell did they hit us with?” I demanded, just barely catching myself from falling out of my own seat again.

“They overcharged their disruptors,” Maia said. “We’ve lost torpedoes. Power to the tactical pod has been knocked offline; our sensors aren’t as effective.”

Luna used her magic to help him back into his chair. “Are you hurt?”

“It is nothing,” he said, waving it off.

“Bridge to engineering,” I called out. “We need that tactical pod back online.”

“Sorry, captain, it’s taking everything we can to keep main power online throughout the ship.The EPS conduits in the deflector dish are barely staying stable as it is.”

Damn it. We needed options. I swapped the viewscreen to a rear view of the three Orion spacecraft chasing us. The curved hulls of their ships evoked the shape of a boomerang, though in this case both ends were bristling with weapons. A central spine jutted out from the center, narrowing to an almost jagged point at the forward-most tip. At a distance they cut a similar profile to a Klingon B'rel or Romulan D'Deridex class.

Birds of prey. 

Yet unlike birds these three hunted in a pack, with the lead ship showcasing additional symbology on its outer hull, like a kind of war paint marking it as the pack leader.

I switched back to a forward view, staring at the dancing moons in their orbits, and frowned as one in particular caught my eye. “Danielle, is that moon geologically active?

“Confirmed,” she said. “It appears to be similar in composition to Io. I am reading substantial plumes of sulfur and sulfur dioxide, as well as plentiful magma flows on the surface.”

A grim smile crossed my face. “Helm, take us in. I want us as close to the surface of that moon as you can. Singe the paint if you have to.”

“On it,” said Rodriguez.

I felt the inertial dampeners spike for just a second as the ship pirouetted into a dive toward the fiery moon. “Miss Danielle, I want you to find the most active volcano. Maia, as soon as we pass by it, I want a phaser strike to trigger an eruption,” I ordered.

“Aye, ma’am,” the two women chroused as they worked on their task. 

“Rodriguez, keep us on the deck as best you can till Danielle gives you the location.”

“We will be caressing it like a gentle lover, ma’am,” he said.

I sat back in my chair to wait, but fortunately I didn’t have to wait long. “Helm, I have the coordinates,” Danielle said.

“Adjusting course to match,” Rodriguez added immediately.

“Good. Nice and steady, Mister Rodriguez.”

The viewscreen showcased the unusual sight of craters and blasted out rubble of an atmosphereless moon, with us skimming it like a racing shuttlecraft. The ship creaked and groaned under the strain, but what caught my eye was the faint cyan glow just to my left. I turned and saw Luna's face wrinkled in concentration, her horn glowing brightly. “I am attempting to reinforce the ship’s hull,” she said quietly. “It is difficult, but I can manage.”

“The Orion ships are bearing down on us,” Maia reported. “They’re moving into formation for a three way tractor beam.”

“Probably think we’re crippled already. Helm, keep her steady. Time to volcano?”

“We’re passing by the volcano in eight seconds,” said Danielle.

“Get ready with those phasers, Maia.” Zhidar ordered.

Maia replied, “Ready… preparing to fire in three… two… one… now!”

“Helm, away from the moon, full impulse!” I barked. 

I swapped the viewscreen over just in time to see the phasers strike the volcano, which was a particularly long and slender looking one that bore the appearance of an ancient cannon atop a battlements. The phaser beam kicked up a thick cloud of debris as it drilled through the side of the volcano. For a split second the viewscreen was blinded by the haze, until a huge column of lava erupted into the sky like a trail of hellfire.

“Eruption confirmed!” Maia shouted.

I watched with a bit of glee as the wall of magma engulfed the lead ship, which exploded almost on impact. The shockwave shoved the second Orion ship out of the way, but the force of the blast tore off one of its nacelles, leaving it drifting and trailing plasma.

“One down, the other disabled!” Maia reported. Her console bleeped. “We’re being hailed!”

“On-screen,” I said, standing from my chair. “Maybe he’ll be willing to negotiate now.” 

Dessan wore a mask of pure rage, his face taking up most of the viewscreen. “Dessan, we’re prepared to render assistance to your ship if you’ll just stand down—”

He cut me off with a bellow of rage. “You just killed my mate! That was your last mistake, Shimmer. You’re dead!”

A fresh alarm blared as the signal cut off. “Photon torpedoes, incoming!” Danielle reported.

“Evasive maneuvers Mister Rod—”

BOOOM!

I must’ve hit my head, because for a moment everything went black. When I came to, red alert klaxons blared like they’d taken up residence inside my ear canal and roared at full blast. “Reh… r-report,” I coughed out, slurring my words.

Once again Luna’s magic surrounded me, shifting my position till I was standing mostly upright. “Easy. You momentarily lost consciousness.”

“Med team to the bridge,” Zhidar ordered.

I swept out a wing, despite the blast of pain this summoned in my head. “Belay that. I’m fine.” I sat back in my seat. “Rep—”

Another blast of disruptor fire sent us reeling again. Through the renewed ringing in my head I could barely hear Danielle shouting, “Shields at ten percent!”

“Damn it,” I hissed. I looked up at the viewscreen, and pointed with a forehoof. “Helm, take us into the rings. Maybe we can lose them in the debris somehow.”

“Aye, ma’am, but the helm, it is becoming less responsive. We cannot be maneuvering as well,” Rodriguez reported, even as the ship surged ahead and the screen was filled with dozens upon dozens of rocks and balls of ice the size of houses. The view dipped and bobbed in an almost nauseating fashion as Rodriguez sent us on a curling course in and out of the path of the rings to keep from getting too close to any of those chunks of debris.

“Just do what you can, Rodrigo,” I grunted. “Maia, did Dessan’s ship take any damage during the eruption?”

“Some. Their shields took a big hit when their lead ship exploded.”

“Then we just need to disable him,” I concluded. “Rodriguez, we still have warp, yeah?”

“Yes, ma’am, but we cannot be outrunning him just yet.”

I nodded. “Right. Take him down first, then we can escape. Alright, let’s coordinate. Maia, we’re going to use the phasers to keep blasting chunks of rock into his path, force him to dodge till he can’t. His ship’s smaller but we’re more agile; it’s a losing game. I hope.”

The ship abruptly rocketed forward from another beam of disruptor fire, lurching like a drunkard stumbling out of a bar at closing time as another alarm blared. “Shields at five percent!” Danielle cried. “One more hit and they’ll collapse!” 

Maia tapped at her keys, then in an uncharacteristic burst of anger, snarled wordlessly and slammed her fists into the pad. “Sorry, ma’am, phasers just went offline.”

“Tractor beam—”

“Also offline.”

Cursing under my breath, I tapped at my comm panel. “Engineering, the phasers—”

“On it, ma’am, but it’s going to be a few minutes.”

“We don’t have a few minutes, Wattson!”

There was silence on the other end for a moment, then both she and I abruptly blurted the same thing. “The deflector dish!”

“Right, of course. You have someone who can configure it in place?”

“Yes ma’am!”

“Then get it done! Rodriguez, buy them time!”

Rodriguez grunted out a quick, “Aye,” as he sent the ship spinning, fast enough to turn the bits of rings ahead of us into a kaleidoscope of color and smearing visuals, leaving my stomach twisting in knots despite the inertial dampers keeping us from feeling it. Much.

And as we dodged through, I winced at every burst of disruptor fire from Dessan’s ship that flew past us, blowing apart pieces of frozen, jagged rock. If even one of those shots hit us…

“Captain!” chirped Wattson’s voice over the comms. “Deflector dish is ready.”

“Miss Maia, fire!” I ordered. 

Rodriguez spun the ship on its axis like a ballerina, pointing the deflector back at Dessan's ship just long enough for Maia to light the deflector pulse. A wave of energy washed forth from it and slammed into a number of different pieces of ring debris, sending them directly into his path.

And this time he couldn’t dodge. They pelted his ship like so many wrecking balls, sending him hurtling off in a trail of sparks and plasma.

“Hah! Well done, everyone,” Luna cheered.

“We are being hailed,” Maia reported.

“On screen,” I said, feeling a smirk cross my face. “So, Dessan, ready to surrender?”

Dessan’s bridge looked like absolute hell, with fallen beams, scorched chunks of consoles, and dead bodies littering the floor around him. “You think you’ve won, Shimmer?” he snapped. “This is just a minor setback.”

I sighed. “We’re willing to render assistance if you’re willing to cease hostilities.”

He threw up a rude gesture with his hand. “I’d sooner die! You haven’t seen the last of us, Shimmer. We’ll hunt you down eventually, and next time, you won’t have a convenient moon to shoot.”

The comms cut off. 

“Well, that’s your decision then,” I said with a snort. “Helm, get us the hell out of here.”

“Captain,” Zhidar said quietly as the ship slowly accelerated. “We should consider finishing him off. If he contacts the Dominion like he threatened—“

“Then we will die regardless of if we destroy his ship or not,” Luna said. “If he was intelligent, he would’ve already notified them, and postponed any attack until they arrived. Perhaps he was bluffing.”

“It doesn’t matter,” I sighed. “We’re not at war with the Orions, and we can’t afford to be either. I’m not going to destroy a disabled ship just because it might be more convenient. We’re Starfleet. We’re better than that.” 

Zhidar let out a canine-like growl, but he nodded. “I didn’t like the idea either,” he said. “And, the ambassador does make a point. Surely there is a bounty on our heads if found. A more savvy belligerent, even an Orion, would tail us at a distance and wait for the Dominion to capture us.”

“Besides,” I added with a bit of sarcasm, “it’s not like we have active weapons anyway. Unless you want to take a shuttlecraft and shoot potshots at him.”

Then another klaxon blared, more sparks flying from several panels as a loud thud reverberated through the ship from below decks, a tell-tale sign of an explosive power failure. “We just had an EPS overload across the board,” Danielle reported. “Shields are offline.”

“Do we still have navigational deflectors?” I asked. 

“Yes, barely.”

I stood up, feeling my vision swim as I did so. “Then helm, get us out of here, warp four. Put our backs to the rings and debris fields to help obfuscate our warp trail, then resume previous course once we're clear. I don’t want us being tracked if we can manage it.”

“Aye, ma’am.”

Briefly I watched the viewscreen as the ship leapt to warp, then once the stars were streaming by, I said, “Zhidar, you have the bridge. I’ll be in sickbay.”

I stumbled into the turbolift, feeling weaker on my hooves by the minute. My head pounded like I’d taken a few shots of Dessan’s disruptors personally to the face. A few more minutes in those rings though and he may well have gotten the chance too. That was way, way too close for comfort. 

Damn it, I’d known running into Orion pirates was a possibility out here, but they were shockingly close to Equus. We’d only left the nebula behind ten days ago. If they ever got it in their heads to try and hide inside that nebula…

On the other hoof, I reminded myself, Dessan had been genuinely surprised to see a Federation ship out this way at all, much less the Phoenix. And Equus did have a stout defense in the form of the two satellites. So hopefully we didn’t have anything to worry about.

As the turbolift discharged me onto Deck Twelve, the pounding in my head flared up even worse than before. “Oh damn... oww…” I grit my teeth and tried to push through the rest of the way to Sickbay, but the moment I turned right and tried to head down the corridor, the floor seemed to spin sideways on me and I crumpled to the deck like a sack of apples. For a moment I couldn't see anything, but I could vaguely hear a voice shouting at me. “...tain? Captain? Can you hear me?”

“What?” I murmured, managing to wrest my eyes open, to see Fluttershy standing over me, a medical tricorder held up by one forehoof on a brace designed to let her use it without having to hold it with her mouth. 

“I was just on my way to the bridge to check on everyone, since no one ever updated us about the call for a Med team. Then I saw you stumble out of the turbolift. You passed out,” she said as she ran the tricorder over me. “You have a severe concussion.” 

“Y-yeah,” I murmured, feeling my words slur a little in my mouth. “Took a… took a blow to the head on the bridge.”

Fluttershy frowned, and folded her tricorder away. “We need to treat this right away. Can you stand?”

Shakily, I managed to stumble to my hooves, and she helped support me as we walked into Sickbay together. Many other med techs milled about, and I heard Doctor Selar shouting for assistance with some sort of emergency operation, but it was all a bit of a blur to me. 

Was that Braeburn over by one of the beds? What was he doing in sickbay?

“Captain,” Fluttershy said, drawing my attention back to her. “Can you get on the biobed for me?”

“Mmhm,” I muttered, and climbed up onto it, flopping over onto my stomach. It wasn’t the most comfortable position, but I didn’t really want to move anymore either.

“Alright, hold still. I’m going to do what I can to treat you,” Fluttershy said. She stepped away for a moment and came back with some kind of medical tool that she aimed at my head. For a split second it reminded me of my first day on Earth, in the science lab with Mother and Doctor Selar. “This might sting a bit.”

“Nnngh!” I groaned as she switched it on. Sting wasn’t quite the right word; it felt like she was rummaging around inside my skull with a piece of glass. Thankfully, the feeling subsided after a few minutes, as did much of the blurriness in my vision. I hadn’t quite realized how foggy and blurry it had become. 

“How’s that?” she asked me. “Better?”

“Little bit,” I said, my words much clearer this time. “What happened?”

“Like I said, a severe concussion,” Fluttershy answered as she pulled out a hypospray and administered it to me. The pain melted away from my head, leaving me sighing in relief. “You were this close to needing surgery though. You really should get treated as soon as you have a head injury.”

“I’ll make sure to tell the Orions to pause the battle while I go to sickbay next time,” I snapped.

Fluttershy took a step back, a hitch in her voice. “Right… sorry.”

Grimacing, I sat up and reached out a hoof for her shoulder. “No, I’m sorry, that was uncalled for. You’re absolutely right, I shouldn’t have belayed the request for a Med team. Believe me, if I could’ve left the bridge, I would have.” 

She smiled softly, then gently pushed my hoof away. “I understand. You’ll need to rest for at least twenty-four hours. No strenuous activity.”

“I'll do my best, I promise,” I answered. I glanced around Sickbay, now that I was feeling a bit more capable, and took in the situation. Seeing nearly all of the biobeds occupied with injured crew made me nauseous. We shouldn't be this banged up, not over some two-bit Orions. What was I thinking, not trying to just outrun them anyway? Was there really no choice but to fight? 

Sickbay’s doors slid open and a familiar-looking pegasus with a persian blue coat and silvery cerulean hair came galloping in, directly over to Fluttershy. “Where is she?” she blurted. “Where’s Flitter?”

Fluttershy swallowed and pointed at one of the biobeds covered in a sheet, where Braeburn was standing, looking distraught at the lump underneath.

A pony shaped lump.

I immediately leapt to my hooves, ignoring both the dizziness in my head and Fluttershy's protests as I barreled my way over.

I watched one of the other nurses briefly pull back the cover, revealing a badly burned pony face. Only the remaining color in their mane and coat gave their identity away. Cloudchaser let out a pained wail and flopped back onto her rump, her whole body trembling.

Braeburn looked over at her, his face tear-stained. “Ah’m sorry, Cloudchaser,” he stammered. “Ah tried to stop her.”

And then I remembered where I’d seen these two before. When I was speaking with Braeburn about ongoing repairs, there’d been a pair of pegasi arguing over a conduit further down the corridor. These pegasi. 

“Cloudchaser,” I began. “I’m sorry this—”

Cloudchaser burst into tears and flopped over the dead body of Flitter, clutching at it through the blanket. “Flitter… oh no, no… no… Flitter…”

“They’re sisters,” Braeburn said, though I’d already figured out that much. “Close as any two kin can be. From what mah cousin told me these two were near inseparable in Ponyville. Ain’t never seen one without the other.” Braeburn’s face fell. “Till now.”

His words cut through me, hard. I pulled him away, leaving Cloudchaser to grieve. “What happened?” I asked. 

“It were that damned EPS conduit,” he answered. “Near the deflector dish. The one we weren’t able to get workin’ right.”

“Danielle did report an EPS overload right after we disabled the last pirate ship— oh god.” I felt like I had taken another blow to the head. I knew exactly which conduit he was referring to. It was one of many we had to patch together for a lack of appropriate parts, leaving them at a much higher risk of rupture than normal.

Staring back at the grieving pegasus clutching her sister’s body, I felt my breath catch in my throat. “But, how did she…”

“Ah was gonna be the one to reprogram the deflector to send out that beam you asked us to do,” he said. “But she said she could get there faster, ‘cause of her wings. She flew up there and she was working like crazy, tryin’ to get it done fast as possible. Ah ran up there anyway, but by the time Ah got there she had already fired off the beam. The overload alarm went off seconds later. Ah was gonna try to shut the thing down but she shoved me out of the way and then…”

Doctor Selar came over to me. “She was the only casualty in the battle, Captain,” she said, her dispassionate tone suddenly grating to my ears. “She was burned over ninety percent of her body, and that plus blunt force trauma from impacting the bulkhead was sufficient to kill her almost instantly. She did not suffer.”

“Small favors,” I grunted. This was my fault. This was absolutely my fault. I’d known the EPS conduit by the deflector dish was especially fragile. I'd known that this conduit, and the ones adjacent to it, needed additional stress testing badly, but I put it on the 'test along the way' list. Simulating battle conditions would have delayed us another week at best, and that was time we could be spending limping home instead.

But we didn’t get to it fast enough. And now a pony was dead, less than two weeks after we’d left Equus. 

Because of my failure.

Fluttershy set a hoof on my shoulder. “Captain? Is something else wrong? Is your head hurting again? I can get you some more medication.”

“N-no, no, that’s… that’s not necessary,” I said, giving her a smile that didn’t come close to reaching my eyes. “I’m just tired. I’m going to head to my quarters and rest, like you said.”

“Oh. A-alright.” She smiled back. “I’ll be here if you need anything.”

Giving her a nod, I left Sickbay, and galloped for the nearby turbolift. “Deck Seven, Captain’s quarters,” I barked at it. 

As the turbolift took me up, I found it was getting harder to breathe again, and my whole body ached fiercely, but no part more so than my heart. 

My fault. All my fault. 

I stumbled out of the turbolift and into my quarters. “Lock doors,” I ordered the computer. “Dim lights to twenty percent.”

As the lights dimmed I trotted over to the couch, where I’d left that uniform jacket of Jacqueline’s. I still hadn’t found the heart to put it into the fresher. 

I collapsed onto the couch, and wrapped that jacket around me.

Only then did the first tears fall from my eyes.











Equestria Base mission log, supplemental. 

Our first attempt to investigate the mysterious energy signatures around the planet was a success. As expected, the dragon was none too pleased to see us at first, and seemed particularly annoyed over the fact that I’m an alicorn. Do all dragons dislike alicorns for some reason? Or is this one just particularly grumpy?

The dragon’s tune changed though, once we proved to him there was more to his cave than he thought. I think we all expected to find some non-native energy source down there, but what we did find blew away any of our expectations.

Dragons at one point had written language. And magitek beyond anything Equestria has ever seen. Even our tricorders can’t identify some of the materials used to construct the hidden cavern we discovered. And that lone computer terminal… that alone is worth at least a dozen research papers. Not only is it responsible for the gem regrowth that keeps attracting dragons to the cave itself, but we stumbled upon a message in a bottle, so to speak. A grainy, choppy video recording stored away in its ancient memory banks. The video was only able to play once, but thankfully we were able to record it ourselves. And thank Celestia we did, because the implications are massive to say the least. Who was the dragon who spoke in the video? Where did she come from? And who were the almost ghostly figures behind her? Did they create that cavern, or build the terminal? What does it all mean?

I’d love nothing more than to dig into just that ad infinitum, but there are of course more pressing matters in front of us. That’s why I’ve given everyone a few days to catalog and begin analyzing the troves of data we gathered from the cave. I’d rather get at least some headway on that before we visit another energy signature location and pile even more data on top of our plates.

Ayhan is focusing on the gem sample we took from the dragon’s den. It’s similar in appearance to the kinds of gems Equestrian miners normally find, but both its lattice structure and its mana capacity are wildly different. The increased purity and efficiency the gem possesses, at scale, would revolutionize everything from fashion to energy production across Equus.

I tasked Vohrn with analyzing the scans we took of the dragon himself, as well as the cavern, looking for any clues as to how the enhanced potency of the mana flowing through it affected the dragon’s physiology, whether for better or worse. Meanwhile, Blackford has been dissecting the recording, poring over every nano second of footage for any more clues as to who made it and when. At the same time, we were all doing our best to decipher the technology behind it all. It definitely wasn’t Iconian in origin, but we still had no idea what it was either.

Meanwhile, the engineering team has had their hands full working out shelter plans and new farming techniques for the locals. The solar satellite fluctuated not once, but twice recently, with scheduled rainstorms in northern Equestrian actually turning to sleet and, in the case of Vanhoover, snow. In late summer. It worried all of us, as without access to the satellite we couldn’t be sure how close it was to failure. 

I’d never say this aloud, but personally I am beginning to fear it is much closer to failure than we first thought.

Regardless, while the rest of the team kept busy, that gave me time to work ahead a bit and run a few surveys of the surrounding lands, gathering information on possible new sites to examine. We’d detected one such place in the lands to the southwest of Ponyville, an area inhabited primarily by Diamond Dogs. Their extensive tunnel system no doubt held many secrets, but just like with the dragon, we couldn’t just barge in there. We’d need a guide.

So that brought Preta and me to Canterlot to meet said guide, along with the rest of the science team. Or at least, that was the plan. Unfortunately, when we arrived, we discovered that an unexpected meeting had come up and she would be occupied until later in the day. So, with more than a few hours to kill, I had the brilliant idea that now might be as good a time as any to make good on my earlier promise to Sunset and introduce Preta to my Equestrian family.

A decision I quickly began to regret…

“So, this is Preta? The one who’s captured my sister’s heart?”

“Y-yes sir, that’s me,” Preta said, flashing Shining a huge toothy grin. Which might’ve been a mistake, because I caught the way he flinched at the sight of her sharp teeth.

Preta’s hand gripped my hoof fiercely under the table as she tried very hard not to wither under the scowl being directed at her from across my biological parents' kitchen table.

“I don’t know about this one, Twily,” Shining said after a moment. “You sure about her?”

“Now, now, ease it on back, Shining,” said Night Light as he carried over a few tumblers filled to the brim with sweet iced tea. He set them down, giving us each one before taking the last for himself. “I know you're trying to be the protective big brother here, but Twilight's a grown mare too. And I'm sure she's more than capable of judging who she wants to spend her time with.”

“Hmm, so long as she’s sure her girlfriend won’t eat her in her sleep,” Shining grunted. 

“Shining Armor!” barked Twilight Velvet, giving him a glare so sharp even Maia would have flinched. “You apologize for that, right now!”

“No no no, it’s okay, ma’am, it’s alright, I’m not offended,” Preta said, shaking her head. A feline growl of amusement escaped her throat before she continued, “It's... not the first time I've heard something like that. And I get it, really. To you I must look pretty fearsome.”

“Maybe, but that still doesn't make his comment any less hurtful,” I said, shooting a glare of my own toward Shining Armor. “I'd say an apology is definitely in order.”

“No no, you're right. I was out of line,” Shining finally huffed. He sat up and looked at us straight. “I'm sorry.”

“Thank you,” I nodded along with Preta.

“I will admit, dear, it is a bit… unusual, at least around here, for a pony to be with someone so… carnivorous,” Velvet said with a polite smile. 

“Um, she’s not the only one in this relationship that eats meat, remember?” I said, flashing my own fangs. Granted, like my wings, I was still not entirely used to them, but after the almost two months since I’d returned to Equus, I’d at least stopped having the need to feel them out with my tongue every few minutes.

Velvet tittered, a laughter tinged with a bit of anxiety. “R-right, of course, I keep forgetting.” She sipped at her iced tea, then eyed Preta. “And you’re sure you’re not an Abyssinian?”

It was Preta’s turn to laugh. “No, no, I promise. I’m a Caitian. We come from the planet Cait, many many hundreds of lightyears from here.”

“You're right, of course, and I meant no offense. It’s just, you look so much like that Capper fellow we met, it’s astonishing. You could easily pass for one if you weren’t wearing that, err… that uniform.” A frown crossed her face. “You’re certain it’s a uniform, and not your sleepwear?”

“Uh…”

Shining snorted, muttering under his breath, “Now who’s being rude?”

Night Light cleared his throat loudly. “So, how did the two of you meet, again?”

“I was her second roommate at the Academy,” Preta answered, and from the way she squeezed at my hoof I could feel her relief at the change in subject. “It’s actually a funny story, when we first met we both overreacted to how cute the other one looked.”

“Cute?” Velvet raised an eyebrow at me.

I sighed. “Especially after Sunset and I had first arrived on Earth, it was all too common to have people look at us like we were giant adorable house cats or something. I've literally walked into a room and seen people reach out with their hands like they wanted to pet me. Apparently some Caitians, like Preta, earn similar reactions. It's not a problem among those we work with of course, but anytime we arrive in an unfamiliar place, there's almost always one or two people reacting like that.”

“Aaaaah,” Velvet nodded in understanding, a smile crossing her face now. “I can imagine how frustrating that must have been. And embarrassing too.”

“More so for me than her,” I grunted as I tried to fight back a bit of a blush. I remembered all too well the way Preta teased me at first about being attracted to her. And judging by the way her own face flushed a bright crimson, I wasn’t the only one remembering that. 

“A-anyway, we became friends pretty quickly, and have remained so ever since,” Preta answered. “Not sure what this says about our sense of timing, but we only got together romantically the day before the Phoenix crashed on Equus.”

“Is that so?” Night Light said with a smile. “Well in that case, congratulations. What finally brought you two together, if I may ask?”

“It’s pretty complicated,” I answered right away, covering for Preta who I noticed briefly hung her head in shame. “Long story, lots of personal details. I think we were both dancing around our own feelings for a while, to be honest. Especially me. But when she confessed to me how she felt, I just... went for it.” I squeezed her hand in turn with my magic. “And I wouldn't have changed a thing, trust me.”

“Are interspecies relationships common in this Federation of yours?” Shining asked, arching an eyebrow. “I mean, there’s your adopted parents, then there’s Sunset who said she’s with one of those humans, and then there’s you two…”

“It’s pretty common, yes,” Preta confirmed. “Most humanoid species are quite compatible with each other, and can even produce offspring with the right medical intervention.”

“Humanoid,” Shining said, tasting the unfamiliar-to-him word. “That’s what you call creatures who stand on two legs, right?”

“Err, yes,” Preta said, grabbing for her tea to cover her sudden flush of fresh embarrassment. “I-I realize that’s far less common on this planet, but most sapient species we encounter are either humanoids, or they’re something entirely different. Like Medusans.”

“Medusans?” Night Light asked, raising an eyebrow of his own.

“They’re a noncorporeal species,” I answered, and when that was met with blank looks, I added, “their bodies are comprised of clouds of energy. In their natural state they’re actually so unusual to the humanoid mind that one look can drive you insane. So any Medusans that travel outside of their home system have to wear exosuits that hide their true form.”

“That’s… actually pretty cool,” Shining said, a smile crawling onto his face for the first time since we sat down together. “And there’s others like that?”

“Loads,” Preta answered, her voice taking on an air of wonder. “Like the Horta, who look like living rocks. Or the Xindi Insectoids, which are like gigantic ants. The Tholians, who are literal living crystals, and so many more. There’s so much life out there in the galaxy, I could sit here for hours talking about dozens and dozens of species. And that’s just what we know about; we’ve barely explored a tenth of the full galaxy.”

“That’s incredible,” Night Light said with a chuckle. “And to think, Velvet ribbed me for being so interested in those science fiction novels while you were gone, Twilight.”

“They did seem a lot less realistic before last month.”

“Yes, love, but I was right in the end, wasn’t I?”

I blinked, sitting forward. “Wait, what are you talking about?”

“Oh,” Velvet sniffed, waving a hoof dismissively. “Your father was desperate to figure out what happened to you… after all, we were plants at the time, we didn’t see you disappear.”

“Plants?” Preta said dubiously, raising both eyebrows. 

“Err, yeah, that was my fault,” I said with a sigh. “Magic surge. Happens sometimes, results in uncontrolled magical outbursts. Usually pretty harmless and easily reversed.”

“Though it was actually quite nice, being a plant,” Night Light said, a wistful expression crossing his face. 

“Maybe for you. Some of us were stiff for weeks afterwards,” Velvet grunted. She rubbed at her back. “In any case, we had no idea what happened to you. All Princess Celestia would tell us was something about a magical mirror. After the first couple of months, I started to lose hope you were even alive.”

“I never did though,” Night Light added. “I’ve always been an avid reader, so in my grief I turned to books, and fell in love with science fiction in the process. I began to speculate you’d fallen into some kind of portal to another dimension or something.” He rubbed at his chin. “Actually, the day after we were first told about your return and shown some pictures of some of your colleagues, I had a dream that the mirror took you to another universe entirely, to a school that looked like Celestia's but was full of nothing but these humans. And everyone was playing in a band for some reason too.”

“...that’s a really weird dream,” I replied, laughing at the thought. “One trip through high school was more than enough, believe me.”

“Seriously,” Preta agreed. “I went to high school on Earth too. I swear, if there’s any place on the planet that’s still as dark and dismal as pre-first contact Earth, it’s high schools. So much drama.”

“Teenagers and drama go together no matter the species, it would seem,” Night Light said with a chuckle.

My combadge bleeped at me. “Sparkle here,” I said, tapping it.

“Lieutenant, the guide just arrived at the castle. She’s ready and waiting.”

“Understood. We’ll be there shortly. Sparkle out.” I tapped my badge again and stood. “Sorry, looks like we’ve got to get going.”

“We understand, dear,” Velvet said. She and Night Light both got up and came over to give me a hug, one I tentatively returned. “Come back and see us anytime, okay?”

“And bring Preta along too,” Shining added as he tousled my mane. “I want to chat with her more about some of those interesting species. And make sure she’s treating my little sister right.”

I brushed my mane back into place, but I smiled all the same. “Alright. See you later.”

As Preta and I walked over to the carriage waiting to take us back to the castle, Preta breathed a massive sigh of relief. “Thank goodness that’s over with. Felt like I was this close to standing in front of a firing squad the whole time.”

“Really? I thought they liked you.”

“You didn’t see some of the glares Shining Armor sent my way.” Preta shivered hard enough to shake the carriage seat. “I swear he still thinks I'm some kind of dangerous wild animal.”

“...yeah, he did seem pretty protective of me,” I admitted. “But can you blame him?”

“No, but maybe yes just a bit though?” Preta said as she leaned over and wrapped an arm around me. “I get it to a point. You were gone for so long, after all. But still, it was more than a little intimidating.” She snuggled me closer and sighed. “Thanks for sticking up for me there, by the way.”

I snuggled into her side a bit in return. “Sure thing. He was being rude for sure. That said, he was the Captain of Celestia's Royal Guard for a while before becoming Prince Consort of the Crystal Empire. So it’s in his nature to be intimidating.”

“You’d think a one point two meter pony would be easy to stare down when you tower over him by over fifty centimeters, but I swear it felt like I was the tiny one.” Preta nuzzled her face into my shoulder, the fluff of her cheek fur mixing with the fluff of my own coat in a funny but comforting manner. “I’m no Maia either. If he came at me with that horn, I’d be hosed.”

I wrapped a wing around her shoulder and pulled her in tighter. “Then don’t worry about it. He warmed up to you, trust me. And if he ever actually tried to hurt you?” I smirked. “I’d kick his ass.”

Preta and I shared a laugh.

The carriage dropped us off at the castle’s main gate, where the rest of the team awaited us next to the shuttlecraft, which was parked just inside the expansive lower courtyard. What I wasn't expecting to see, however, was the striking unicorn standing alongside them.

“Rarity? What brings you here?”

Rarity, wearing a large sunhat and some protective boots on her hooves, lowered her sunglasses and smiled brilliantly at me. “I'm your guide, of course.”

“Really? Huh, that's neat. And unexpected. I would never have guessed you were so knowledgeable about Diamond Dogs.”

“Oh, darling, there’s no pony who knows them better! You are looking at the pony who made first contact with one of their settlements after decades of silence, eventually paving the way to regular trade with these normally reclusive fellows.” She eyed the team as she lifted up her saddlebags and secured them over her back. “Aren’t you going to introduce me?”

“Oh, yes, sorry. Everyone, this is Rarity Belle. She's a renowned fashion designer, and also the foremost expert on Diamond Dogs, it seems. Rarity, this is Lieutenants Preta R’el, Blackford, Vohrn, and Ayhan.”

“Oh my. So many different species,” Rarity said as she politely shook each of their hands. “It’s a pleasure to meet you all. If not for the pressing matter at hoof, I'd invite you all to my boutique here in Canterlot. With your unique builds and colorations, I'm already imagining so many outfit ideas!”

“Likewise, Miss Rarity,” Blackford said. “Um, pardon me for asking, but going back to what you were saying earlier, how exactly does a fashionista end up nearly kidnapped by these Diamond Dogs? I was under the impression they lived outside of pony society.”

“They do. Typically the Dogs want little to do with ponies. Until I bumped into a trio of them a few years ago while gem hunting, the only interactions Equestria had with them was occasionally sending the Royal Guard to repel bands of raiders who tried to overrun smaller villages and press the residents into slave labor,” Rarity said as we boarded the shuttlecraft. “But lately that’s been changing. There are many tribes, or kennels, as they like to call them, throughout the continent, but the one outside of Ponyville is one of the largest. This particular kennel has been setting the example in this regard, with multiple dogs bravely going out into the world to learn entirely new trades. I may not be Equestria's official ambassador to the Diamond Dogs, but I like to think my efforts at trading gems with this kennel in particular helped to get the ball rolling, so to speak.”

I heard the shuttlecraft's rear hatch close behind us, followed quickly by the engines going through their warm up cycle. After checking to make sure everyone was secure, Preta's hands danced across the console and a few moments later the shuttlecraft lifted us into the air. "Coordinates locked, all systems stable. Estimated arrival in five minutes," she said.

“Oh my, this is fantastic!” Rarity said, standing up from her seat to look at the view through the cockpit window. “I’ve flown on airships many times before, but this is amazing. It hardly feels like we're moving at all, yet the ground is zipping by at incredible speed!”

“Inertial dampers cancel the sensation of momentum,” Ayhan helpfully informed her.

“Oh? How precisely do they work?”

My inner lecturer wanted to jump at the chance to explain more cool science, but I had to keep us focused too. “It's... a lot to explain. If we have time afterwards, I'd be glad to walk you through the basics,” I offered. “Now, what else can you tell us about the Dogs you trade with?”

“Oh, yes, well.” Rarity cleared her throat and sat back down. “Of those few brave Dogs I mentioned, there is one in Manehattan who sources gemstones wholesale and sells them. Aidi is her name. I first met her when I was opening my shop here in the city and needed a local source for gems whom I could trust, and found her trying to run a store of her own, with little success. She’d actually been about to give up the whole affair and close up shop when I took a chance on her and effectively saved her business. 

Rarity took a deep breath before continuing. “It turned out that she was from the kennel closest to Ponyville; the same one we're headed to now of course. We hit it off surprisingly well, and eventually she introduced me to their tribal chieftain. Ever since I've been working to further boost relations. It's a grand arrangement, really. Aidi and her tribe can supplement their resources and connect more with the outside world, and I get to adorn my fashion lines with the kind of gems one would normally only find in the most bespoke jewelry stores.”

She used a hoof to fluff her hair as she beamed with pride. “It’s a minor thing when it comes to my overall business dealings, but Princess Celestia appreciates it, and given recent events it may prove most fortuitous.”

“You can say that again,” Vohrn quipped. “So why exactly were they trying to kidnap you, again?”

“Foolish reasons,” Rarity said, her voice tightening a bit. “As I mentioned before, I had been out gemstone hunting when I ran into a trio of Dogs. They wanted to, and I quote, ‘gain enough strength to overthrow the chieftain.’” She rolled her eyes. 

“That was the first contact you mentioned before? Yikes,” Blackford said.

“Indeed. Utter ruffians, the lot of them. Fortunately, the authorities had been made aware of their scheme, and caught up with them just before they would’ve taken me hostage. I recall at the time hearing unusual sounds from the earth, but thought little of it, as I was having to dig for gemstones with a shovel. At the time I cursed my misfortune, but it turns out that had I been much faster in digging I would’ve been easily caught. Though I’d like to think I could have rescued myself if it came to it.” 

“I’m sure you could have,” I said, smiling at her bravado. “So who will we be meeting with?”

Rarity paused for a moment to think before answering. “I believe the current chieftain is Saluki, a member of one of the eldest clans. He has been chieftain for less than a year, but in that time he has been attempting to, for lack of a better word, modernize the political and economic structure of the kennel. He has instituted a council of elders, for example, and placed a far stricter limitation on how long someone could be chieftain.”

“Sounds progressive,” Blackford commented. “Maybe we’ll have better luck with him than we did the dragon.”

Wincing, Rarity said, “I don’t know about that. I have heard little from Aidi since your starship first arrived, but from the one letter she did send, she said the Diamond Dogs are… unhappy with your presence.”

The shuttle’s engines let out a smaller whine as Preta brought us in for a landing. “Did she say why?”

Rarity shook her head. “Something about ancient legends of oppression or something. I’m afraid she wasn’t clear, and I didn’t have a chance to press her for details.”

“Landing complete, ma’am,” Preta said. 

“Thank you, Lieutenant. Well.” I stood and stretched out my wings. “Let’s hope that being led by a pony helps mitigate any concerns they have. Still, just in case…” I reached into an equipment locker and passed out phasers in addition to tricorders. “Keep them holstered and on low stun. Use them only if absolutely necessary.”

“Aye, ma’am,” they chorused.

I turned back to Rarity. “I don’t suppose there’s anything else we need to know before we head in? Such as the dogs only respecting strength or something like that?”

“Oh, heavens no, if anything they would prefer your submission,” Rarity said as she adjusted her saddlebags. “They’re not that aggressive, certainly nothing like, ugh, dragons, but they do tend to be uncomfortable with those who don’t show a submissive posture.”

“So, be respectful, got it,” I said, nodding. “Alright. Lieutenant, remain here in the shuttle. We’ll check in with you every fifteen minutes; if after an hour you fail to hear from us, return to Equestria Base and secure a rescue team. I doubt it will be necessary, but…”

“Yes, ma’am,” Preta said. She flashed me a brief smile. “Good luck.”

“Thanks.” I smiled back at her, then gestured to Rarity. “Very well, Rarity, please lead the way.”

As the shuttle doors opened up and Rarity led us out, we were almost immediately met by a quartet of Diamond Dogs. A trio of stout soldiers blocked the way, each wearing chainmail armor and helms, and carting very sharp-looking pikes. Behind them stood a Dog bedecked in fancy, flowing robes trimmed in a rainbow of gemstones. Clearly an official or officer of some kind. This was my first look at Diamond Dogs in the flesh, and they certainly were far more canine-like than, say, Commander Zhidar’s Antican race was. In fact at first glance the soldiers looked alot like English bulldogs, all muscle and flat faced, while the fancily dressed one bore a longer, more slender muzzle and figure, his eyes shining with intelligence and cunning. 

“Your excellency, it honors me to see you wearing the robes I designed for you,” Rarity said as she bowed her head. “I humbly greet you on behalf of the visitors from the stars.”

The Dog turned his paw and waved it over Rarity’s head briefly. “Your greeting is acknowledged. Rise.” As she did so, he turned his gaze to us, and his lips ever so briefly pulled away from his muzzle. “So, these are the visitors. The rumors are true. You do indeed bear a great resemblance to the ancient legends. Save for the pony in your midst.”

I took that as permission to step forward, and emulated Rarity’s bow. “Your excellency, I am Lieutenant Twilight Sparkle, here on behalf of the Phoenix. We humbly request permission to enter your home, in the pursuit of scientific endeavors.”

“Scientific endeavors,” he sneered. “Pony speak. It means little to me. I only honor this request because it came from Princess Celestia herself. Were it up to me I would never allow any of you to step foot in our tunnels.”

Taking that as reason to continue bowing, I answered, “Respectfully, your excellency—”

He cut me off with a rapid wave of his paw. “Save it. I am well aware this has to do with the dimming of the sun. I know all the reasons you would give. Thus, for the benefit of my people, I will allow you entry.” His eyes narrowed, and briefly dipped to take in the equipment we carried. “Without your weapons.”

That set my teeth on edge for a brief moment. So much for being prepared. “As you wish. Blackford?”

I passed Blackford my phaser, and he collected the ones from Ayhan and Vohrn, and took them back into the shuttlecraft. 

The Dog relaxed a hair, his sneer disappearing. “Good. You obey well.” His eyes drooped to take in the tricorder still on my belt. “What is that device?”

“It’s called a tricorder,” I answered, still keeping my head bowed. “We use it to detect various phenomena. We’ll need them if we’re to accomplish our intended mission.”

“I have seen them in use, your excellency,” Rarity added. “I can confirm they are harmless.”

He growled, a very dog-like sound that chilled at my spine. “Very well. You may keep them.” He glanced down at me. “Rise, pony. You may know me as Chief Saluki. Remember it well.” He turned, his robes sweeping dramatically. “Come. The tunnels are this way.”

“Well, that went better than I hoped,” Rarity whispered to me. 

“That was good?”

“Very. He didn’t even attempt to strike you once. We must have caught him in a good mood.”

“Great…”

One of his guards moved to take up the rear of our procession as we marched towards the plain, stone archway that marked the entrance to the tunnels. My prior research indicated that Diamond Dogs always concealed the entrances to their tunnels as a security measure, so the fact that this one was marked at all gave me a bit of confidence that this kennel was as open to the world as Rarity had implied.

Though I quickly got the sense that they had a ways to go on making things feel welcoming too. As we stepped down into the earth, and sunlight was replaced by glowing gemstone lanterns and bioluminescent fungi, the tunnel narrowed, forcing us to walk no more than two abreast. We had to pass through three separate checkpoints, each more imposing and heavily-guarded than the one before it.

We walked in silence for quite a while, accompanied only by the sound of our footsteps and the rhythmic beeping of my team's tricorders. “These tunnels have been engineered with deliberate structural weaknesses,” Ayhan said. “They’ll collapse if there’s a substantial geological event.”

“Hmph. Astute of you to notice, star visitors,” commented Saluki, for the first time appearing to grin, if only for a brief moment. “We Dogs are no fools. We will not leave ourselves open to invaders from the surface, should any dare attempt to attack us.”

“A wise decision, your excellency,” Rarity chimed in.

We passed by one final checkpoint, this one reinforced with multiple metal obstacles that looked no less dangerous than the pikes the soldiers were carrying. Once past though, we emerged into a far wider tunnel that was buzzing with activity. For the first time we saw Dogs who were clearly civilians. The few who took notice of us seemed ambivalent about my presence, but once they noticed Ayhan, Blackford, and Vohrn bringing up the rear behind us, they scurried away immediately. I was about to ask Rarity about that when I heard someone's tricorder make a very loud pattern of beeps.

“Lieutenant, this tunnel is far more structurally sound than the ones we passed through earlier,” Blackford informed me. “It also appears to be far older.”

“Indeed, this is one of the ancestral arteries,” Saluki confirmed. He paused and turned around, peering at the tricorder in Blackford’s hand. “Your device can tell you such things without the need to smell the earth around you?”

“Smell the earth?” I repeated.

Saluki reached out and tapped the end of my horn. “Yes. Like your pony magics, all Dogs can sense the earth around us. We see, we feel it all, from the content of the soil to the makeup of the most delicate gemstone.” He reached down and scooped out a chunk of rock, seemingly with little effort. As he did so, I noticed Vohrn swap to his Sparkle sensor on his tricorder.

Holding up the rock to me, Saluki said, “It is a measure of pride among us Dogs to be able to manipulate the earth by force of will.” He took the rock, which by all appearances was a solid chunk of granite, and crushed it to powder in his paw. “We can dig anywhere we choose, and build tunnels stronger than any pony mineshaft. What’s more…” 

He began rolling the broken chunks of rock between his hands and, with little more than a brief wisp of amber light, the chunk reformed as if it had never been touched. “We can build however we like, so long as we work with stone and earth.”

“That’s incredible,” I said, a big grin forming on my face. “Diamond Dog magic is more advanced than I knew.”

He let out a barking noise that, after a moment, I realized had been a brief bit of laughter. “Pony ignorance is Dog strength,” he said as he placed the chunk back into the floor of the tunnel, seamlessly melding it back into place. “We have long preferred our solitude. Many Dogs would be content to never see another creature for the rest of their days. In truth I empathize with that sentiment. But as Chieftan, I must ensure the continued prosperity of this kennel, and in that I see value in expanding our relations with the outside world.” He glanced Rarity's way as he continued. “Changing Dogs' habits even a little has not been easy. That we have come this far is due in no small part to the efforts of one of our own, Aidi, as well as Miss Belle here.”

Rarity smiled and gently dipped her head. “You honor us both, your Excellency.”

“Lieutenant,” Vohrn said quietly, “you should look at this reading.”

“Pardon me, your excellency,” I said to Saluki as I fell back to look at Vohrn’s tricorder. “What is it?”

He held it up to me and pressed a few keys. “Here is what I recorded while Saluki manipulated that piece of rock.”

I watched intently as the readings played back. “On the surface, these readings are roughly consistent with the energy output we see whenever you, your sister, or the Sirens use magic. But,” Vohrn tapped a few extra keys, “here is what it looks like in the narrow-band filter.”

The readout changed and I saw it immediately. There was an undercurrent, a secondary energy wave, beneath Saluki's own thaumic output; one that didn’t go away once he had finished his spell.

“What is that?” I wondered as I broke out my own tricorder. 

Saluki growled for attention. “Is there something wrong, pony?”

“No, your excellency, just unexpected.” I looked up at him as my tricorder continued to record signs of the constant magical current. “You said that this was one of your ancestral tunnels?”

“Yes, I did,” he confirmed. “It is one of many tunnels, as old as Dogs themselves, perhaps even older. Legends passed down through the generations say that the very first Dog was brought to these tunnels as a place of salvation, after he was cast down from the surface to dwell in the dirt by those who oppressed us.”

“Respectfully, your excellency,” said Ayhan, “but these oppressors of yours, who were they?”

His lips rippled, exposing his teeth briefly as he scowled at Ayhan before sighing and relenting to her question. “I am not the one who should tell such stories. It is better you hear from Elder Ibazan. She is our storyholder, the one who knows the ancient legends best. I shall guide you to her.”

He resumed walking, and as he did, Blackford moved to walk beside me. “Lieutenant, perhaps these oppressors he speaks of have something to do with the message we witnessed in the Dragon cavern.”

“I was thinking that too,” I said, remembering what we’d seen. Those humanoids, so devoid of any features, and yet distinctly different from any other species on Equus. Enough so that Ayhan, Vohrn, and Blackford, despite all being different species, all garnered the same levels of ire and wariness from the Dogs. “Keep taking readings. It’s possible there’s another terminal here like the one from the cavern.”

“Aye, ma’am.”

We followed Saluki through more tunnels than I could count, each of them varying in size and direction. The only constant was the suspicious looks we got from nearly every Dog we passed by along the way. Finally, Saluki turned and led us to a tunnel that looked setup for residential use, judging by the relatively uniform spacing between things. Each home was marked with a curtain of unusual fabric, something my tricorder indicated was fungal in origin, colored in different shades. 

“Each curtain represents the status of different clans of Dogs,” Rarity helpfully informed me as we walked. “The more intricate the curtain, the higher their status, and the more important jobs they’re allowed to do for the kennel as a whole.” She sniffed. “Most of them are laborers, helping to grow the various types of mushrooms and other cave flora that the Dogs eat, or helping to raise the animals they use for meat… some sort of lizard-beast. Terribly foul creatures though, utterly horrid temperaments.”

“She speaks the truth, star visitors,” Saluki said, a note of amusement slipping into his voice. “The cave lizards bear terrible claws, and would rip you to shreds if you ever gave them the chance. But a Dog needs meat to live, and so we must raise them, much as some of us wish otherwise.” 

“Pardon the question, Chieftan,” Blackford interjected, “but if raising such meat is difficult, have you considered trading with the griffons or dragons for access to better meat?”

Saluki paused and looked at me, his eyes narrowing considerably. “Your subordinate asks a difficult question, Twilight Sparkle. Trade with ponies is difficult enough for dogs. Trade with others…”

“It is something I have suggested to him before,” Rarity mentioned. “But this kennel is the only one open to trading with the surface world at all, and griffons and dragons alike are very far away.”

“Oh. That surprises me,” I said. “Given the exquisite quality of the gems here, I’d be shocked if dragons weren’t bursting down the door to trade.”

Saluki’s lips quirked into a brief, if cunning smile. “It is something I wish to see us do eventually, it’s true. But it will take much time.” He resumed walking, and soon turned a corner, and gestured to a larger cavern decorated by the most extensive, ornate curtain we’d seen yet. “The elder awaits within.”

Even as he spoke, the curtain drew back, and a Dog stuck her wrinkled, aged face out to look at us. Her eyes bore the clouds of cataracts, and she moved stiffly, occasionally grunting with pain. Nevertheless she greeted us with a smile, as if she was welcoming back old friends. “Aaaah, the star visitors come to speak with one such as me? You honor me with your presence.”

Saluki grimaced. “I shall leave you with her— ow!” 

Ibazan trundled out from behind the curtain and smacked Saluki upside the head, eliciting a most dog-like whine of pain. “You think you can leave without at least saying hello to your grandmother?”

“Grandmother, I have duties I must attend to,” Saluki groused. “I cannot stay.”

“Even so, the least you could do is remember your clan properly,” Ibazan snarled, before abruptly wrapping her arms around the taller Dog. “Proud of you though I am, your constant striving for progress sees you forgetting your past.”

“It is not intentional.” Saluki sighed, and hugged Ibazan for a moment before retreating away. “Now, I must attend to my duties. I shall leave the guards with you, in case the star visitors decide to show hostility.”

“Oh, nonsense, they are hardly the Oppressors of old,” Ibazan said with a snort. 

“Nevertheless…” Saluki turned to one of the guards. “Stay with them. Escort them wherever they wish, but keep them away from the pups.”

The Dog soldier let out a single bark in response and pounded his pike into the dirt, prompting Saluki to nod. “Then, farewell for now, visitors.”

As he walked off, Ibazan waved us into her cave. “Come, visitors, come and sit with me.”

We stepped inside, finding the cave a cozy place, with a small fire burning in a hearth, its smoke funneled through a narrow, stone chimney of sorts that connected to an equally sized hole in the ceiling, presumably part of a shared ventilation system. Furniture formed from stone and covered in pillows and blankets made of fungal cloth were tastefully arranged near the fire, and another curtain marked what was likely a smaller bed chamber.

A small rectangular table sat against one corner, with a small dining set on one side and, to my surprise, a pony-made radio on the other. The brightly colored radio stood out like a beacon amidst the otherwise muted color palette of the room.

Ibazan took a seat by the fire and warmed her paws, while the rest of us found seats in the room. “Aaah. It pleases me that you came to speak with me… I had hoped to share the stories with the visitors ever since I first heard of your arrival.” She glanced at Rarity and grinned. “And it is always a pleasure to speak with you, Rarity.”

“Likewise, Elder,” Rarity said with a matching smile. “May I introduce Twilight Sparkle and her, err, crew.”

I briefly named each of them, then bowed again to Ibazan. “It is an honor.”

“Oh, fie, you needn’t bow to me,” Ibazan said, waving it off. “I’m too old for that nonsense anymore. That’s for the younger Dogs to worry about.” She took a moment to stare at me. “You are originally from our world, aren’t you?”

“That’s right,” I said. “I was born in Canterlot, but I was transported to a distant world when I was young, much like my older sister, Sunset Shimmer.”

“Sunset Shimmer, that name I know. The leader of you and your visitors.” Ibazan hummed to herself. “I had hoped to speak with her before she and her ship of the stars left, but I suppose I shall content myself with the four of you. And you, Twilight Sparkle... You are as much a child of Equus as you are a child of the stars now, so I hope you too find value in the words I speak here.”

I could see a mild look of scorn in Vohrn's eyes, but I silenced him with a look of my own.

“We would be honored to hear your stories, Elder.”

Ibazan moved towards her hearth to place a kettle of water on, letting out a canine-like whine of contentment as she sat back down in a more comfortable spot. “Well, I hope you don’t mind if this old dog makes tea while we speak. You’ve heard, I trust, of mentions of the Oppressors before.”

“We heard a small amount when we came in, yes,” I answered. 

“Though to be honest with you, Elder, I had not, prior to today,” Rarity admitted.

“That’s because ponies didn’t need to know about them; at least not until they arrived. You caused quite a panic among the kennels, you know. One of the northern ones has shut its tunnels entirely, and several others are on the closest we Dogs ever come to a war footing.” She growled under her breath. “Fortunately, my grandson is a smarter Dog than most. He listened when I told him there was nothing to be afraid of.”

“But what exactly is it that the others are so terrified by?” Blackford pressed gently. His voice matched Ibazan’s in its calm, relaxed demeanor, like we were a few academics clustered around a table in a library discussing historical theories. 

“Oh, it is a long tale, going back many generations, to long before the ponies encroached on Dog land.” 

All of a sudden, Ibazan reached into a pouch on her belt, one I hadn’t noticed she’d been wearing, and tossed some kind of dust into the fire. It let out a poof and the fire glowed with renewed intensity, though I felt no excess heat coming from it. Clouds of thin, wispy smoke roiled above it, shifting into ghostly images of a savanna-like landscape. And as Ibazan spoke, her voice took on a slight echo. 

“Once upon a time, many, many centuries ago, we Dogs ruled this land. We built homes, towns, cities. We warred with each other, traded, and thrived. We were a civilization!”

The savanna landscape transformed before our eyes, first with a few Dogs rapidly building a house made of grown earthenworks and stone, then more buildings popping up, and more and more until an entire city sprung up as if overnight, with countless Dogs working and playing. The images shifted again and again, like a montage of a lost society. In each one I could see the growth in their cities, the advances in their technology from roughly medieval levels to industrial.

“The stories of this time vary. Some claim we were but a singular country among many. Others claim we controlled entire nations, perhaps even most of the world!”

The image zoomed out to show a turning planet, presumably class M. I's geography reminded me of how a foal might imagine Equus looks like, with the continents oddly shaped and far out of position. Then the map began to move, depicting changing borders between nations; some expanding, others contracting or merging. It all seemed almost ludicrous to my pony mind. If that really is supposed to be Equus, then Diamond Dogs controlled all of what is now Equestria plus half the dragon lands and even the Griffish Isles. That didn't square at all with any history of the Diamond Dogs that I knew of, much less the rest of Equus in general.

“But then, the Oppressors came. They came from the stars, in flying chariots of metal and light. They destroyed our lands, immolated our homes, and drove us Dogs to the brink of extinction.”

The globe zoomed back to the city landscape, only now everything was engulfed in flames. Bodies lay dead in the streets as pulsating beams of light rained down from the heavens, obliterating anything they touched. And all the while those same ghostly humanoid figures, the same ones we had seen in the Dragon's recording, roamed about, killing indiscriminately. The images were silent, yet in my thoughts I could hear the death throes of the innocent all the same.

“Those few Dogs who survived retreated underground, using our magics to dig tunnels and build caves where we might hide away from those who sought to destroy every last one of us.”

We witnessed in the illusory imagery a family of Dogs dive into the earth, carving away a lengthy, looping tunnel, until they were far below ground. They then cut away smaller tunnels and offshoot caves, which slowly began to fill once more with Dogs.

“We were forced to learn swiftly, the cave flora we could eat versus that which we could not, how to tame the beasts of the cave, bending them to our will. We learned where we could safely dig, and where the beating heart of the earth would drown us in her fiery blood.”

A series of Dogs flitted about a cavern, lit from above with bioluminescent fungi, picking up various mushrooms of different sizes, shapes, and colors. Some of the dogs fell over clutching their stomachs before their bodies faded to dust, while others grew and multiplied. In another image, a Dog dug into the cavern floor until it hit a vein of magma, burning to a crisp in an instant. Then many different sorts of lizard-like creatures came into view, many times larger than the Dogs and bristling with claws and sharp teeth. The creatures terrorized the Dogs, hunting them like prey. But then the image shifted and now it was the Dogs hogtying them and placing them into pens.

“Life for us became one of constant hardship, but as time passed we grew content with our kennels. We became creatures of the underground, hiding and living beneath the very ground that ponies and dragons and griffins and so many others controlled in our place. But we kept to ourselves, because how could we ever trust anyone but our own selves?”

The image of one cavern switched to a side-on view of a continent, with ponies and others shown in cities dwelling on the surface while below ground were scattered tunnels of Dogs, eking out a meager existence next to the splendor of the surface.

“And never, ever, did we allow ourselves to forget. That once upon a time, we Dogs ruled the world, and were cut down by the Oppressors, those who sought our destruction.”

One final image showed an elderly Dog telling stories to her children, and those Dogs growing up to do the same, stretching out over many many repeating instances spanning countless years. We watched in silence as that final image floated down to obscure Ibazan before it faded, leaving her sitting before us. 

“Fascinating,” Ayhan whispered. “An intriguing display.”

Vohrn sneered. “More like a load of bull—” 

“Lieutenant!” Blackford hissed. “Don’t be rude.”

“That story is unlike anything I’ve ever heard,” I said at a normal volume, drawing everyone’s attention. “I don’t believe it’s ever been recorded in any volume of Legendary Myths or Mythological Mysteries, or any other historical volume for that matter.”

“Of course not,” Ibazan said with a doggish whine of laughter as she pulled her now steaming kettle off the fire, pouring some into an earthenware cup. “You think we would tell ponies about Dog history? Oh, the tales I could share of pony offenses against Dogs, how we were driven out of so many of your towns and cities, how a kennel where your grand city of Manehattan is now located was destroyed and the Dogs forced to move elsewhere.”

“But that’s absurd,” I said, the pony historian in me overwhelming my sense of propriety. “Ponies don’t do that. And even if we did, we would’ve recorded it.”

“Would the architects of paradise record every pebble they crushed to build it?” Ibazan shook her head slowly. “Perhaps, perhaps not. Who can say which of our stories are exaggerated, which might be tales taken from other kennels who have reasons to lie? I don’t know. To be honest with you, Twilight Sparkle… I too think many of those stories are, at best, exaggerated. But I have never once doubted the story of the Oppressors and their endless atrocities. Some things may be tall tales, but those... those I am certain of.”

“Do you have any proof?” Ayhan asked, raising a dispassionate Vulcan eyebrow. “I do not mean disrespect with this question, but oral traditions rarely preserve the truth of history due to the distortion that occurs each time it is retold.”

“Hah!” Ibazan broke into laughter at that, her tongue lolling as she let out many canine-like whines. “You think Dogs don’t have writing? Think again, little missy!”

She reached up to one side of the cave and pressed her paw deep into the stone, which melted and flowed under her touch until it revealed a small alcove, from which she plucked three slate gray carved tablets.

“Here, take a look at these,” she said as she handed them over to me. “Careful now, these are far older than I look!”

Blackford, Vohrn, and Ayhan crowded around as I held them up for us to examine. They were covered in writing in a language I failed to recognize at first glance. “Interesting, look at this,” Blackford said as he pointed to the first tablet’s writing. “These lines here, the symbology bears a passing similarity to that of ancient Antican writing.”

“Really?” Vohrn asked as he peered at it. “Too bad Zhidar’s not here to ask about it.”

“Both races do share canine-like origins,” Ayhan commented. “Perhaps it is mere coincidence.”

“True, there are only so many ways that a symbol can be written,” I agreed. I looked up at Ibazan. “Can you read this?”

Ibazan glowered at me for a moment, then sighed and shook her head. “No. No one’s been able to read them for centuries. But we know they’re not like anything that we Dogs could make today. The feel of the stone is… different.”

“Ayhan.”

“Aye, ma’am,” Ayhan replied. She glanced at Ibazan. “With your permission.” At Ibazan’s nod, she pulled out her tricorder. A few quick scans later, she added, “The Elder is indeed correct. This stone is far different from anything we have observed here presently. While it resembles it in appearance, in composition it is more akin to an alloy, similar to tritanium or duranium in strength.”

“A metallic alloy with the appearance of stone?” Blackford asked. 

“Diamond Dog magic has always dealt with the earth and its lifeblood,” Ibazan said as she flopped back down into her seat. “We still make tablets these days, and do so regularly.” She picked up a loose rock off the cavern floor and within moments it had flattened out into a miniature tablet, with a single word in Ponish carved upon it. See? “Though admittedly a tablet of this nature is beyond our abilities, even to my long memory.”

“Then if Diamond Dog magic was stronger and more developed in the past, they could have had unique manufacturing techniques for materials of all sorts,” Ayhan said as she tapped at her tricorder. “As well as unique construction methods and a different perspective on all forms of technology. A more naturalistic approach, perhaps.”

I brought out my own tricorder to examine the tablets, and cursed under my breath. “Wow. Look at the Sparkle sensor readings on these tablets. The amount of magical energy contained within them…” I looked up at Ibazan. “Have you ever seen these tablets do anything? Change their environment or manifest some kind of effect?”

“They’re stone tablets, honey,” Ibazan said with another snort. “I don’t think they do anything other than show a record. I’ve certainly never tried to do anything other than handle them briefly. They’re too valuable.”

“But they seem to have a magical potential like mana gems.” I moved the three till they were hovering side by side so we could examine them more closely. “There.” I pointed at a repeating symbol, some sort of hook shape, which appeared on the lower left corner of each tablet. I pressed it with my magic, but nothing happened.

Rarity, who had been silently observing since Ibazan had begun her stories, leaned in from behind me. “Allow me, darling.” I watched her horn light up and her blue aura take over from my own. “I do have a few earth-based spells to help me locate gems and such. Perhaps I can— Oh!”

As soon as her magic hovered over the hook symbol, the tablet’s surface shifted like water rippling in a pond, till an entirely different set of lines was written there, and in a different script besides.

“Fascinating,” Ayhan whispered as she ran her tricorder over the tablet again. “It appears that the entire composition has altered slightly, in order to present this new… page, for lack of a better word.”

“Let me see that.” Ibazan all but snatched the tablet out of the air and ran her eyes over it, her pupils shrinking with every line she scanned. “This… this is impossible.”

“What is it, Elder?” Rarity inquired. “Are you able to read it now?”

“Not precisely… it is still an old Doggish script, difficult to parse, but I recognize a few words here and there,” she replied. She pointed with an aged claw. “Carriage… metal ship… power of the first…” She moved her hand over to the hook shape on the tablet and concentrated, and the tablet rippled once more, now displaying a set of pictures. She blinked and scowled. “This means nothing to me. Here, you give it a try.”

I took the tablet back and almost dropped it in sheer shock. “Please correct me if I am wrong,” I said as I held the tablet up for the others. “But does this appear to be…”

“A picture of the electron orbits and atomic structures of the first ten elements on the Periodic table,” Ayhan confirmed. “Hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine, and neon.”

“Power of the first,” Blackford repeated. “Could it be referring to fusion?”

As Ibazan and Rarity looked at us quizzically, my mind raced with possibilities. “Diamond Dogs having fusion power would confirm something to Ibazan’s story… but you would think that they would use geothermal power, given their connection to the earth.”

“Geothermal? Are you talking about using lava?” Ibazan asked, her eyes tight as she spoke. “Let me see that tablet again.”

I passed it back over, and she pressed a different hook symbol on the opposite corner I hadn’t noticed before. The tablet rippled once more, reverting to the previous “page.” She ran her claw down it for a moment, then tapped a few words. “Here. There’s a phrase here I recognize. Mother’s lifeblood. It’s an old Doggish way of referring to lava.”

I nodded. “Ayhan, Blackford, switch to scanning for geothermal power sources. Vohrn, you and I will check for Sparkle readings.” Turning to Ibazan, I added, “Elder, with your permission, I would like to take these tablets with us while we explore the caves, to examine them further. They might be able to answer a lot of mysteries. I promise to treat them with respect and to preserve them intact.”

Ibazan’s lips drew back into a Doggish smirk. “Go right ahead, Twilight Sparkle. They’re not doing any good just sitting in an alcove. Just make sure you let me know what you find. This old Dog’s curiosity needs to be sated.”

“Of course.” I packed the tablets away in my sample case, which would keep them protected from harm.

Ibazan stood up from her seat and waddled over to the exit to the tunnels. “Hey, you,” she said, poking the Dog standing guard in his armor-plated chest. “You’re going to escort these visitors wherever they like, on my authority, got it? Take them to the Heart of the Kennel.”

The Dog soldier growled, a low, guttural noise that set my hackles on edge. “That is forbidden to outsiders.”

“Yes, it is. And I just gave you my authority to take them there anyway.”

“I’m sorry,” Vohrn interrupted, raising a hand. “What’s the Heart of the Kennel?”

“Oh, I can answer that, darling,” said Rarity. “It is the center of the entire tunnel network, the hub from which all the tunnels emerge. It is considered a sacred place, used primarily for cultural ceremonies. I’ve never been.”

I didn’t fail to notice the blush on Vohrn’s cheeks from being addressed as darling, which prompted an eye roll from me and a sigh from Blackford. “O-oh, right. Um, thanks,” Vohrn said.

“Why should they have access?” the Dog guard snarled. 

Ibazan all but barked back, her own teeth showing. “Because I said so, that's why. You do know who I am, right?”

The guard let out a whimper and shrank back, then pointed with his pike. “This way,” he grunted.

“Good luck,” Ibazan said to us as we started to follow him. “And thank you for coming to see me. It warms this old Dog’s heart.”

“No, thank you, Elder,” I said with a brief bow to her. “Your efforts may just help save the entire planet.”

“Hah! Wouldn’t that be something, eh?” Ibazan chuckled as she disappeared back behind her curtain.

We followed the guard Dog through the tunnels, our tricorders making a symphony of beeps and buzzes as we took continuous scans. “Lieutenant, I’m seeing stronger readings the deeper we go,” Vohrn said. “It’s starting to look like the entire tunnel is surrounded by magical energy.”

“That’s not surprising if they’ve been using their magic to dig,” Blackford said. 

“No, he’s right,” I countered. “These readings… This is more than just residual energy patterns. There’s something constantly running through it. Almost like a structural integrity field.”

“Dog magic keep tunnel intact,” the guard Dog grunted.

“But it’s only so strong, right?” Rarity asked, her eyes narrowed into a squint. She’d been twitching every so often the deeper we went, no doubt irked by the amount of dirt we were encountering. Rarity struck me as the type to find dirt inherently offensive, and the looks she kept casting at her hooves seemed to bear that out. “That is, you can only dig so far before the tunnels start collapsing anyway.”

“Yes.”

“And yet it’s getting stronger,” Vohrn said. “The closer we get to this Heart thing, the stronger these readings. This isn’t just some magic leftover from digging, is it, ma’am?”

“No, absolutely not. Ayhan, Blackford, anything?”

“There is some trace of volcanic activity in this region,” Ayhan replied. “I am detecting remnants of lava tubes and magma chambers.”

“I think there might be one coming up, actually, though it’s pretty deep,” Blackford said. He glared down at his tricorder and cuffed it with his palm. “Damn readings are inconsistent though. There’s some kind of interference.”

“Indeed,” Ayhan said. She tapped a few buttons on her tricorder. “And just like the energy readings, the interference is only increasing the closer we get.”

“A dampening field?” I suggested.

“Possibly. I can verify it is not minerals in the rock, as there is nothing about the composition here that would interfere with sensors.”

“Halt!” called out a pair of voices. 

I looked up to see two of the largest, beefiest Diamond Dogs I’d ever seen in my life, wearing full plate armor, carrying halberds lined with gemstones. They weren’t just for show either; I didn’t need my tricorder to tell those gems were carrying enchantments to boost the effectiveness of their weapons. 

The two guards blocked our path with their halberds, their beady Dog eyes glowering at us from the slits in their visors. “No outsiders allowed!” they snarled in unison.

The guard Dog leading us grunted, “They have permission. Orders from Elder Ibazan.”

“What?”

“Impossible!”

Our guard Dog pushed his way forward. “They have permission!” he repeated.

Halberds at the ready, the two larger, more powerful Dogs both began growling, and one of them reached out to grab our Dog and snarl in his face, only to have his grip disrupted by Rarity’s magic.

“It’s the truth,” Rarity insisted. “I could scarcely believe it myself, but she wanted us to visit it. It’s vital to the success of my companions’ research here.”

The two plate-armor wearing Dogs exchanged a look, then one briefly ran a hand over us before whimpering. “Very well,” he said as the two moved their weapons out the way. “Be quick about it. We will be watching you.”

“Charming, aren’t they?” Blackford muttered as we moved on past them into the Heart of the Kennel. 

Rarity was right about one thing – this was unquestionably the center of the entire cave network. Dozens of tunnel apertures surrounded us, each one leading in different directions. The floor itself was a wide-open space, easily big enough to accommodate a hundred Dogs or more. Though there was no formal seating, the well-defined patterns of scuff marks and divots indicated a kind of seating arrangement for gatherings. My eyes followed the pattern to the far side of the room, where an altar of obsidian stood, laden with stacks of stone tablets.

“Spread out, let’s see what’s around us,” I said as I glanced down at my tricorder. The Sparkle readings were climbing rapidly, and in seemingly random patterns as I scanned the area. The altar in particular shone like a beacon under the scan, but not in a way that stood out as anything more than a relative concentration of the residual magic. 

“There’s absolutely some kind of artificial SIF in this chamber,” Vohrn said. “With the way it’s positioned, to say nothing of the myriad tunnels carving right through the supporting walls, this chamber ought to have crumbled. Something artificial has to be keeping it together; it's the only thing that makes sense.”

“Is it just me, or does this chamber seem to be below the rest of the tunnel network too?” Blackford said as he looked at the various apertures to different tunnels. “All the tunnels look like they’re heading up.”

“They surround us on all sides too,” Rarity added. “There’s not a single wall that doesn’t have a tunnel or two.”

That caught my attention. “Ayhan, what about below us?”

She raised a Vulcan eyebrow, then turned her tricorder to the floor. “The Sparkle readings grow much stronger in the floor than in the rest of the room,” she said. She moved about till she paused near one side, close to the altar. “Here. They are strongest here.”

“I guess it would be too convenient if there was a switch like in the Dragon cavern,” Blackford muttered as he ran his hands along the altar. 

“Last time the switch required draconic magic,” I said. “Perhaps this time it needs Doggish magic. Rarity, can you—”

“What are you doing in here?!” 

We all looked up to see Chief Saluki, his paws contorted into fists, his teeth bared, mouth practically covered in foam as he screeched at us. “How dare you enter the Heart of the Kennel?!”

“Your excellency, Elder Ibazan—”

“Does not have the right to allow you into our most sacred of caverns!” Saluki railed. “I should have you executed for this!”

“I beg your pardon?!” Rarity all but roared as she stomped over to him. “You gave us permission to be in these caves. You allowed us to speak with your Elder. She specifically asked that we investigate this chamber. If you don't believe me, ask that guard over there. He escorted us here, again on the Elder's authority.”

“I apologize if we have offended you,” I added. “But we have only done this because we were given permission, and because we are trying to find the key to saving the entire planet. Princess Celestia spoke to you about this in her letters, didn’t she?”

“She did,” Saluki answered after a moment of standing there vibrating with fury. “But that still does not justify profaning our most holy of sites. It is foul enough that we ever allowed those who resemble the Oppressors to enter these caverns, but to see you standing here? Get away from that!”

He stomped over to Blackford, who’d been hovering near the altar, and shoved him aside, knocking him to the ground where he was sent rolling to a halt near Vohrn. Then Saluki paused to examine the altar, as if examining it to see if we’d harmed it somehow. 

“Are you alright?” Vohrn asked Blackford as he helped the other man to his feet. 

“Yeah, just a couple of bruises. Nothing bad.”

“Chief Saluki,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm. “I understand you are upset, but I assure you, we would not be here if we did not think it absolutely vital. I daresay the Elder feels the same, otherwise she would not have asked us to come here specifically. Please, allow us to continue.”

“I will have a discussion with the Elder at a later time. For the moment, her "authority" is the only thing stopping me from eviscerating you myself!” Saluki growled. He approached me and stared down with his admittedly impressive height, having almost a meter on me. “Tell me, pony, why are you even here?”

“Because we think we might’ve found something, something hidden to your people for a long time,” I answered, bowing my head to him. And as I looked down at the floor, I abruptly spotted something I hadn’t noticed before. It was faint, barely visible, but there was a symbol like a hook embedded there. I pointed at it with a hoof. “Chief Saluki, if you would do me the favor of using your magic on that.”

“Using my magic on what?” He looked down at the spot in question, then squatted down. “What is this?” he asked, his voice calmer, more quiet. 

“I don’t know, but it's similar to a mark we found on the stone tablets the Elder showed to us, and it's not something I can activate myself. We need your help.”

“If this is a trick…”

Ayhan coughed for attention. “Then we are at your mercy. We are at the center of your tunnels. Even if we knew the way out, it would be impossible for us to escape without you cutting us down. It is therefore not logical to assume we would attempt hostile action given the circumstances.”

Saluki raised a bushy Dog eyebrow, but he seemed to concede the point. And as he stared at the symbol, he grew calmer still. “I have never seen this here before,” he murmured. “I have looked upon this floor many thousands of times, and never have I seen such a thing.”

“Could it be the tablets we borrowed?” Blackford suggested quietly. “Maybe they revealed something when we entered this chamber.”

“Maybe,” I allowed. “Which means we’re on the right track.”

Saluki let out a few quiet Doggish snuffles of thinking. “Hmmm… very well. I admit, this intrigues me too much not to try.”

He pressed his palm to it, and concentrated. 

The cavern echoed with the sudden sound of scraping stone on stone as a seamless circle of floor abruptly pulled up and away, like an opening hatch, revealing a staircase that descended into darkness. Saluki jumped in surprise. “What is this?” he cried. 

“Something for us to explore, I think,” I said. “Chief Saluki, I think you should have the honor of going first.”

He frowned, and reached into his robes, pulling out a pale yellow gemstone which I recognized as a flashlight of sorts. “Then come, quickly.” He made his way over to the staircase and descended. 

I followed behind him closely, with Rarity behind me and the other three bringing up the rear. We followed the spiral staircase for quite some time, until the cavern we had just left was but a small speck of light above us. I couldn't see much past Saluki's portable light, but I could definitely tell it was getting warmer the further we went.

We emerged into a larger chamber, which lit itself on our approach with larger lanterns similar to the gemstone torch that Saluki was using, revealing a chamber full of machinery. Some of it looked vaguely like a SIF generator on a starship, but the rest looked utterly alien to me. According to my tricorder, the room around us was just over thirty meters by thirty which, like the chamber above us, seemed physically impossible. 

“Lieutenant!” Blackford called, waving me over, gesturing with his scanning tricorder. “This is a geothermal generator alright. Looks like it’s drawing power from a magma hotspot approximately ten kilometers below us.”

“Scan everything,” I said as I reset my tricorder for a full sensor sweep. “I want a full record of this place.”

“What is all of this?” Saluki whispered. 

“It would appear to be your people’s legacy, your excellency,” Rarity murmured in reply. 

Saluki took cautious, slow steps, his mouth agape as he kept looking around like he was watching a tennis match, head snapping to and fro everywhere. “This… this is Dog technology?” He set his hand onto one of the machines, and suddenly smiled. “...yes, it is. It feels… right, to my touch. Different, given the odd materials. But still very right.”

“It all appears to function on some form of magic,” Ayhan said as she continued to scan. “While I hesitate to speculate, I suspect this machinery is the reason these tunnels are able to be maintained as they are.”

“Like a twentieth century bomb shelter,” Blackford added. “Meant to keep its occupants safe.”

“But… but that makes no sense,” Saluki insisted. “All our stories tell us the Oppressors forced us underground. They made us retreat here. But this… none of this could be built by Dogs today.”

“Perhaps the story is inaccurate,” Ayhan suggested. “Or incomplete.”

“Ma’am!” Vohrn cried out all of a sudden, drawing my attention. “Over here.”

“What is it?” I asked as I trotted over, the others hot on my tail.

He pointed to a console standing against one wall, a clear computer terminal if ever there was one, with multiple screens and an array of buttons and switches. “I think this is like the one we found in the Dragon cavern,” he said. “Just… different.”

“Perhaps it has a message as well,” Ayhan commented.

“There’s one way to find out,” I said as I approached the console and looked it over. “Chief Saluki, would you look at this with me?”

“Hmm?” He looked down at the console, briefly gasping. “This is like the ancient records,” he said. “These symbols… We have studied them for generations.” He pointed to a seemingly random button near the middle of the console. “This one I recognize. It says… ‘Remember.’”

He pressed it.

One of the screens flickered to life, the image covered in static, grainy and out of focus. On it appeared a pair of humanoids, just like the ones from the draconic message, and just as before their features were shadowed out, indiscernible. They stood next to a single Diamond Dog, who wore an outfit unlike any we’d seen on any Dog today, some sort of vest and trousers that almost seemed like a sort of uniform.

“The tunnels are prepared,” said one of the humanoids, their voice just as indistinguishable as before. “Your people will be safe.”

“I still do not understand why we must hide below ground like our ancient ancestors. Why can we not dwell upon the surface?”

“Too risky.”

“Your technology is unique. Remarkable, even to us.”

“You might be detected. If you are detected, destruction is all but inevitable.”

I made sure my tricorder was recording every second of this, watching as the Diamond Dog on screen sighed, seeming to deflate. “Then, allow me one final message for my people.”

“Hurry. We do not have long.”

The Diamond Dog approached the screen and looked at us with plaintive eyes. “My Dogs… my dear, sweet Dogs, I know what you must be thinking, if you are watching this. You have lost so much of what made our people special. We—” the signal began to cut out just as the first one had, skipping and bursting into snowy static every few words. “-- once lived -- never forget that we are more than -- dirt does not define -- cannot -- Oppressors must never return -- demons of -- destroyed everything, if not for the Saviors -- remember the Saviors, as we would not have survived without them --  please, be safe. And tell this story, our story, to all who come after.”

The message abruptly ended. I turned to Saluki, and almost gasped audibly when I saw tears running down his face. 

“The stories were true,” he whispered. “Dogs always believed the Oppressors forced us underground, stole away our home. And they were right, but…” He set a hand onto the console screen, as if he was trying to reach through it. “Who… who are the Saviors?”

“We don’t know yet,” I answered gently. “But you’re not alone. We witnessed a similar message for the dragons, and your Saviors were present in that one too. Whoever they are, they saved more than just the Diamond Dogs.”

“They seemed to be like you,” he continued, looking in astonishment at Vohrn, Blackford, and Ayhan. “Perhaps… perhaps over the centuries, we forgot the difference between the two.”

“It is most likely,” Ayhan agreed, “but not without precedent. Even we Vulcans have gaps and unexplained twists in our own ancient histories.” She glanced back down at her tricorder. “Lieutenant, I will need to examine this further when we return, but I believe there was more to that message than what we saw visually.”

“What do you mean?” I asked her, stepping past Saluki to look at her tricorder.

“This is a recording of the message we just witnessed,” she answered. She then pulled up a side by side comparison. “This is the draconic message. There appears to be some sort of similar carrier wave underlying them both.”

“Huh, let me see that,” Blackford said. He took Ayhan’s tricorder and examined it carefully. “You know what, ma’am, I think she’s right. There’s something embedded in both messages.”

“What does it mean?” Vohrn asked. 

Blackford shook his head. “I’m not going to determine that from a tricorder. I’ll need to analyze them both back at base.”

“If you were to speculate?” I pressed. 

He frowned, tapping at his chin. “...it might be a secondary signal. They look like… pieces, almost, like they could fit together somehow.”

“Perhaps a password,” Ayhan suggested. “Or a set of coordinates.”

“All intriguing possibilities for sure. But, we’re not going to figure it out standing here,” I said. I turned to Chief Saluki. “I apologize again for the intrusion into your sacred cavern, but, I hope what we found here has made up for it.”

“It has,” he agreed, smiling at me for the first time since I’d met the Dog. “You have given my people a new piece of their history. Though… I do not know if I should show all of this to many others.”

“I would recommend against it. This technology is clearly what’s preserving the caverns in their current state. Until we know more, I would restrict access to this only to those you can trust not to interfere with its operation.”

He nodded. “I agree. I would not wish to cause the destruction of our home, not now.” He stood up straighter. “Perhaps, if you are willing, I may request you return to investigate the machinery more thoroughly, help us determine its method of operation.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” I said with a nod. “Though it may be a long while. There are still other energy signatures we need to investigate, much as we have done here.”

“I understand. There are more pressing matters. Still… to think we Dogs used to be so much more, that we have proof now… that alone will change everything for us.” He smiled again, and set a paw on my shoulder. “Thank you. And… my apologies.”

I smiled in turn. “Of course. Alright, everyone, a few more scans, then we’d better get back to the shuttle.”

As soon as we finished, we began the long trek back, though Rarity hung back with me. “Twilight, would you mind if we spoke privately? I have something important I need to discuss with you.”

“Of course,” I said as we boarded the shuttle. “As soon as we land back at base. Lieutenant?”

“Ready,” Preta said. “How was the trip below, ma’am?”

“Illuminating. We found a second message,” I answered. “And more proof that there used to be more advanced societies on this world.”

“Assuming they are native to this planet,” Ayhan commented as the shuttle took off. “An assumption I am beginning to question.”

“What do you mean?” Vohrn asked her.

Ayhan shook her head. “I am not yet ready to discuss it, save to say that the evidence of what we uncovered with the Diamond Dogs, and the Dragons before them, raises many questions indeed.”

The crew continued to chat among each other for the brief shuttle trip, then everyone disembarked save for myself and Rarity. “I’ll pack up here,” I informed the crew.

“Aye, ma’am,” the others chorused.

Once we were alone, I began to put away the last of the equipment. “Alright, what is it, Rarity?”

“Well, first of all, thank you for letting me go along with you on this journey. It was most interesting,” Rarity said as she brushed her hair back. “Secondly… I wanted to ask how you were doing.”

“Hmm?”

Rarity grimaced. “Well, it’s just… If I may be a bit direct, something seems to be bothering you, Twilight. 

“There does?”

“Yes. I'm fairly certain of it, in fact. I could see it nearly every time you spoke. Your muscles tensed just behind the nape of your neck, like you were forcing yourself to focus.”

“So you were watching me the entire time?”

“No. But ponies are highly expressive creatures, after all, and it doesn't take a professional detective to see when a mare's trying very hard not to think about something.”

I sighed, rolling my shoulders, when I abruptly felt a pinch of tension in my neck, exactly where Rarity said it would be. It gave me pause for several moments before I managed to find the words to respond. “It’s nothing, just… thinking about my path in life.”

“Oh?” Rarity smiled knowingly. “You’re wondering about what life might’ve been like if you’d stayed on Equus, and now that you’re finally here again, you’re trying to decide where you really want to be.”

My eyes snapped up to stare at her. “How…?”

Rarity sat forward in her own seat and set a hoof on my shoulder. “Darling, do you recall the little secret I shared with you when we first met? About my accent?”

I blinked, not quite comprehending. “Err, yeah, but what’s that got to do with anything?”

Rarity chuckled. “You’re putting on an act for us, Twilight. You’re trying to act like the officer you’ve become, all in charge and responsible, while in reality you’re quaking under the surface, afraid everypony will catch on.” 

She removed her hoof and touched it to her own chest. “In many ways I do the same thing all the time. My persona, my accent, my whole demeanor, it’s all about getting where I want to be in life.” 

She abruptly dropped her hoof and leaned back in her chair, taking on a far more casual posture. And as she spoke, her refined tone disappeared as easily as one might flip a light switch. “Ya know, if I’m honest with myself I’m just a simple girl next door from a simple little unicorn family, yeah? But like I said before, no one’s gonna be buyin’ no dress from a girl who sounds like this, don’tcha know. If I wanted to be more than where I came from, I had to change myself.”

Drawing herself up, her usual accent returned just as quickly. “Were they to find out my little secret, no doubt many ponies would say I'm putting on an act. A facade to hide who I really am.”

“Aren't you though?” I replied. “If, as you say, I'm acting like an officer, then you're acting like a member of high-society. And I have to assume you're afraid of being exposed just as much as I apparently am.”

“Am I putting on a facade? Yes. Are you? Also yes. But am I truly pretending to be somepony I'm not? To that I say no. I am the elder daughter of a simple unicorn couple from Ponyville. My father made his bits playing sports while my mother stayed home to raise myself and my sister. I remember where I came from, Twilight.”

“But,” she continued, staring intently in my direction, “that alone does not define me, nor will I let it. I am Rarity Belle, trendsetting fashionista extraordinaire, self-made businessmare, and the face of every fashion magazine from here to Saddle Arabia. Fashion, culture, glamour — they're my talents, my focus, my life's ambition. To me, the real facade would be eeking out a life as the homey seamstress in a podunk village.”

She raised her hoof to touch my chest. “You are the officer you act as, because that’s who you’ve become. But suppose you do choose to stay here after your ship returns. Suppose you remain on Equus for the rest of your life. Would you ever look at the stars the same way again, now that you’ve traveled them? Would you lay awake wondering where your ship is now, what wondrous and fascinating things they are exploring? You've seen things little ponies like me wouldn't believe. Can you really leave all that behind? Or would you pine for that which you could no longer have?”

I was so taken aback I didn’t know how to respond. Where had any of this even come from? How did she cut so deeply to the heart of my own worries? It was just like Pinkie Pie, or Fluttershy… both of whom did the same thing, getting right to the core of my insecurities as easily as I read a book.

And the worst part was, just like Pinkie and Fluttershy before her, she was right. I hadn’t really thought about it from that angle. “...I do like the stars,” I admitted. “Even as a little filly, I liked to look at the stars through my father’s telescope. I even majored in stellar science at the Academy.” I smiled a little. “I know more about how stars work than anyone else on the planet.”

Rarity’s smile lit up her face. “You see? You enjoyed traveling the stars, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. I did.” I sighed. “But I only did it so I could find home again. Now that I have…”

“Now that you have, you have a choice to make,” Rarity said with a nod. “And it’s far from an easy one.”

She stood and moved closer; so close I faintly smelled her perfume waft past me. “Forgive me for cutting to the quick, Twilight, it's just... in you I see a bit of a kindred spirit. Two mares far from what we once called home, both of us moving heaven and earth to build the life our hearts dream of, to be the ponies our souls know we truly are.” 

Every word she spoke seemed to ring out like bells in my mind, as if she was speaking to another me entirely; another Twilight still struggling under the weight of protocol and responsibility and worry about her sister and her now two families and Celestia knows what else.

“I know who I am, and I know where I'm at today is where I want to be. What you need to ask yourself, Twilight, is what is it that you, the one that exists past the uniform and the complicated family history, truly want? Is that Twilight's home on Equus? Or in the stars?”

I stared back at her, biting at my lip. “I don’t know,” I whispered. 

She leaned in and wrapped her forelegs around me in a hug. The close proximity made my cheeks burn as I was abruptly reminded of both how attractive she was and how easily equine hormones can be triggered. “I don’t expect you to know right now, mind you. This isn’t a science or a math question, Twilight. It's a question of the heart, one that can't be solved with any fancy computers or spells. Believe me when I tell you, the only resource you'll have is yourself. You’ll need weeks, probably months to even begin to see the answers take shape. But… it’s important that you are true to yourself, to your real desires. To who you really are beneath it all. Finding that isn’t going to be easy. But it’s worth the journey, every time.”

I leaned back from her embrace just enough to look Rarity in the eye. “How…” I whispered, “how will I know when I've found the answer?”

Rarity leaned forward again, bringing her muzzle right beside my ear, close enough to tickle the tiny hairs with her breath. “You'll know, trust me. Suddenly all the pieces will click into place and you'll never want to lose that feeling ever again. You'll feel like, well, you. True, wonderful, beautiful you.”

She stepped back, smiled, and trotted toward the hatch, stopping just past the edge. “Tata for now, Twilight. I'm sure we'll be meeting again in the future.”

I watched her step over to the transport circle just past the landing pad and vanish in a flash of light.

“Huh, what was that about?” asked Preta as she stuck her head back inside the shuttlecraft. 

“Just… some advice,” I answered with a slight sigh. “Let’s get inside.”

As we walked towards the entrance to the base, my mind continued to replay Rarity's words over and over again. 

I looked up at the sky, at the stars that were currently hidden behind the illusion of afternoon sunlight, and I wondered.

I wondered where home truly was for me.








    


At some point, I must’ve fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew, the door chime awoke me. “What is it?” I asked, my voice hoarse from the tears. 

“Captain, it’s me,” came the voice of Wattson. “May I come in?”

I sighed. “One second.” I shucked Cadeneza’s uniform jacket and sat up, wiping at my face.  “Computer, resume normal lighting.” As the lights came up, I added, “Go ahead.”

The doors hissed open and Amelia walked inside, approaching and sitting next to me on the couch. She reached for her combadge and set it down on the table. “I’m here as your friend, if that’s okay, Sunset.”

“Y-yeah,” I said with a nod. “I’m sorry, I must look ridiculous.”

Amelia wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pulled me into a half hug. “It’s alright, Sunset, I think just about everyone gets it one way or another. For the record, though, I really don’t think it was your fault.” Her voice tightened. “If it was anyone’s fault, it was mine. I’m the one who assigned Flitter to that section.”

“No,” I grunted. “I’m the one who insisted we move on without properly testing those EPS conduits.”

“And I signed off on it,” Amelia countered. “Flitter knew the risks. She agreed to come along, knowing her life could be in danger.”

I laughed bitterly. “And now she’s dead, and her sister probably wants my head for it.”

“No, she doesn’t. If anything she’s blaming herself,” Amelia said. “I heard her talking to her sister in Sickbay. She was apologizing for insisting that they come on board and volunteer. She was the one who’d been so enthusiastic, and Flitter the one who was unsure. She talked Flitter into signing up with her.”

“Really?” I shook my head. “Doesn’t make it her fault. I’m the Captain. In the end I'm ultimately responsible for every life aboard this ship, and I’ve managed to get somepony killed less than a week after we left Equus. What must that look like to the rest of the volunteers?”

“Are they mourning Flitter's loss? Absolutely. We all are. But if they're doubting you or the mission, I haven't seen it. Neither has the other senior staff. If anything, they seem even more determined now. Like they don't want her sacrifice to be wasted at all.”

“Maybe so,” I murmured. I let a long sigh escape my lips. “How long was I out?”

“A couple of hours,” Amelia answered. “I’ve got people working on repairs as we speak, should be done with the most critical items by the end of the current shift. Oh, and apologies for bringing it up right now, but I have to ask. We need to plan a funeral, and given our current situation I'm not sure what we'll be doing with the body of the deceased.”

“She’s a pegasus, so it’ll be relatively easy,” I said. “Pegasus funeral traditions typically see the dead cremated, and their ashes spread from high above to be carried by the wind.”

“So, space burial then.” Amelia gave me one more squeeze, then stood and scooped up her combadge, placing it back on her chest. “Well, I’ve got to get back to work, Sunset, but I think you should make an appearance sooner rather than later. They need to see you.”

“Yeah.” 

I waited for Amelia to leave before I hauled myself off the couch. Stripping my uniform, I popped into the sonic shower long enough to clean myself up, put on a fresh uniform, and force myself to eat something. Only then, and after another short bout of tears, did I head back to the bridge.

I wanted to believe Amelia was right, and part of me knew she was. But the other half of me couldn't just accept that. I'm the captain, I'm responsible. The fault lies with me, and I had to find a way to make up for my failure.

But first I had an even more sobering task ahead of me.

As soon as the turbolift discharged me, I sat down in my command chair next to Zhidar. “Report.”

“No sign of pursuit,” Zhidar rumbled. “Engineering reports repairs fully under way, though they estimate more than a day before we can restore shields to any semblance of working order. Lack of parts.”

“Then we need to find some, and fast,” I said. “Somehow.” I sat up straighter in my chair. “Lieutenant Danielle.”

“Ma’am?” Danielle said, looking back at me. 

“I want you to start scanning the surrounding space for a possible port of call. A repair facility, abandoned space station, even a space junkyard will do. Just something that we might be able to scrounge or trade for parts we need. We can’t keep flying around with minimal phasers and worn down shields. We might not get lucky next time we run into those pirates.”

“Aye, ma’am,” Danielle said. “Commencing scans. I will let you know when I have something.”

“Acknowledged.” I let out a sigh and hefted myself from my chair. “I’ll be in my ready room. You have the bridge, Commander.”

I sat down behind the desk and pulled up my terminal, hoping I could work on my official report for this whole mess. But inside I couldn’t stop shaking, trembling, feeling a mixture of rage and grief and frustration, all directed at myself.

All my fault.

All my fault.

What would Twilight think, if she knew I couldn’t even get two weeks away before I got somepony killed? What would Princess Celestia think?

I could see it, in my mind’s eye. That frown of disappointment. The way her eyes would narrow into a scowl, the way her lips would pull back ever so slightly as she spoke, the way her wings would spread out just enough to make her already imposing stature seem overwhelming. Ever the monarch, ever the perfect pony Princess who never makes a mistake, never has a bad day, and never, ever lets them see her at anything less than her best.

Once again, Sunset Shimmer screwed up. Once again, Sunset Shimmer made a massive mistake, and once again Sunset Shimmer would deserve all the blame.

If it wasn't firmly attached to the desk, I'd have picked up my terminal and flung it into the wall.

Turning in my chair, I rolled it over to the window, looking at the stars sweeping by. As I did so, I wondered how often Captain Liang, or Picard before him, had stood here and stared out this same window, contemplating his own decisions. How many times did they agonize over every call they made, tearing themselves to pieces every time they had to write another report for someone who died under their command? 

Flitter was an innocent pony, who just a couple of months ago had no idea aliens even existed, let alone traveled the stars only to crash in her relative backyard. Yet she’d volunteered to help them all the same, and I led her to a pointless, stupid death. 

If we’d just tested those damned EPS conduits, would she be alive right now? Would she be sitting down in Ten-Forward with her sister, clinking glasses together as they drank a celebratory ale? 

I had no idea. 

A chime came from the ready room door. Sighing, I called, “Come.”

Ambassador Luna entered, and gave me a look. “I sensed you might need to speak with me.”

“Good timing, Ambassador,” I grumbled. “I do, actually.”

She gave me another look, this one more stern. “If you expect me to blame you for Flitter’s loss, you may think again, Sunset Shimmer. I will not heap scorn upon you.”

I shook my head. “I appreciate that, but what I need is your assistance in arranging a funeral for her. I think that Cloudchaser would appreciate you being in charge of this, given the circumstances.”

Luna nodded. “I suspect you are right. But I hope you will take the time to say a few words as well.” She pulled out a PADD. “In truth I have already begun to plan something, even before we left Equus.”

She handed me the PADD and I examined it, seeing plans for a small ceremony to be held in Shuttlebay Two, with the deceased’s body to be launched via inverse tractor beam out into space at the end.

I had to suppress a sudden bit of rage that swept through me at the sight of it, managing to hand the PADD back to Luna with little more than a tight frown. “I see. The plan is good, though I'm not sure what that says about my leadership if you were planning for funerals before we even had the ship fixed.”

“It says only that, like any good military commander, I hope for the best but plan for the worst,” Luna answered, showing no visible offense to my reaction. “I took your warnings seriously, and it seems they were quite justified. Those Orion pirates nearly slew us. It was a close battle, closer than I believe any of us would’ve liked.”

“It was,” I agreed. “We had to pull a pretty big rabbit out of our hat to get away with that one.” I sighed. “All the more reason we need to do better. I’ll leave the planning to you, and I will prepare a few words to say as well. We should hold it, say, tomorrow, 1900?”

“Agreed, that seems adequate,” she said. 

“Right. I'll announce it to the crew then.”

I started to get up but stopped midway, let out a deep sigh, and sunk back into my chair.

“How do you do it, Luna?” I finally said after a long pause.

“Do what?”

“All of... this I guess.” I chewed on every word, trying to make some sense of the thoughts tumbling in my head. “I mean, I'm over here sorting repair lists and trying not to fall apart every time I think about the crew we lost just to get here, and now Flitter's death on top of it all. And here you are overseeing half the crew and pre-planning for death without missing a beat. I-I get the feeling you've done this a few times before.”

“One thousand, two hundred and forty-two.”

It took me a second to recognize she was directly answering the unspoken question. I looked up at her with wide eyes. “You... you remember them all?”

“Sadly, some of the faces escape even my memory after so many years. But I will never forget the number. It is as seared into my mind as my cutiemark is on my flank.” Luna quietly pushed the guest chair away from the desk and sat on the floor, bringing herself more level with me.

“Most of them were lost in the various wars that plagued Equestria's early days. Border wars with the griffons and the dragons, Discord's reign of chaos, and more. The campaign against Sombra in the frozen north was the worst, claiming over a third of the total alone. The final one hundred though... they were my personal Night guard. Bat ponies all. When I became Nightmare Moon, they stayed with me rather than join Celestia's Guard in fighting the demon in their midst.”

Now it was Luna who seemed to sag under the weight of it all. For a brief moment she looked as beaten down as I felt at that moment. “Drunk on power, I imbued them with a sliver of dark magic, turning them into raging banshees. It was only after I stood amongst their broken bodies, cornered and defeated, that I realized the folly of it all. They stayed to try and save me, not fight for me. But I led them to their deaths all the same. That I had to wait a thousand years to visit their graves and apologize for my sins makes their deaths the heaviest ones to bear.”

“I... I never knew. I'm sorry, Luna. I did not mean to open old wounds on you like that,” I whispered.

“It is alright, Sunset. Mayhaps it is good that you brought it up, as up until a moment ago I was worried I had not the words to help you through this difficult moment.” She rose and stepped around the desk, then sat again and placed a hoof on mine. “I'd be lying if I said it gets easier. The hundredth eulogy stings no less than the first one. But what I have learned is that the most important thing is not the words you speak, but the action you take when the speeches are done and the mourners have left.”

“To avenge their loss, you mean?” I muttered.

“In some cases, yes. In others to finish their project, or fulfill a dream for another that they could not themselves do. Or simply carry on their legacy. Either way the goal is the same – do not let them be forgotten. If you can do that, then even the most tragic loss can become a small mote of good weighed against one's mistakes.” 

I squeezed Luna's hoof a bit and sat up. "That's... a lot to take in. But it's also what I needed to hear, I think. Thank you, Luna."

"You are most welcome," she said, standing up and giving me some space. "It is what friends do, after all.”

“Bridge to Captain Shimmer.”

“Go ahead,” I said, tapping my badge.

“Ma’am, I think I’ve found what we’re looking for. There’s an abandoned starbase orbiting the second planet of a nearby system.”

“Change course for that system. I’m on my way.”

“Aye, ma’am.”

I tapped my badge again and returned to the bridge, with Luna following close behind. “Danielle,” I said as I took my seat, nodding to Zhidar. “You said you found an abandoned starbase?”

“Yes, it is orbiting what used to be a class-M planet,” she answered. “From what I can determine based on long-range scans, the planet’s atmosphere was irreparably damaged approximately ten years ago, leaving the planet a lifeless husk.”

“And thus making the starbase absolutely worthless,” Zhidar concluded. “Do we know who it used to belong to?”

“I can’t tell from this range, but I did confirm no other warp signatures in the system.”

“Alright, we’ll get some teams ready. I’ll be heading over myself to help search,” I said as I stood. “We’ll use shuttles for this. Zhidar, start assigning teams. How big is this starbase, Danielle?”

“It is relatively small, comparable to a Federation outpost.”

“So we might not be able to find much,” I concluded. “Still, far better than nothing at this point.”

I hit a different key on my chair, resulting in a bosun’s whistle sounding throughout the ship. “Attention all hands, this is the Captain,” I said, listening to my voice echo. “First of all, I wish to congratulate everyone on a job well done with the Orion pirates we just encountered. Especially given the circumstances, we would not have pulled through that battle without the dedication of each and every one of you to your duty. Repairs are underway, and we have altered course to investigate an abandoned space station for spare parts.”

I swallowed nervously. “Secondly, I am afraid I have some unfortunate news. As many of you may already be aware, we suffered a… casualty, during the battle. Crewpony Flitter, one of our Equus volunteers, was performing a vital service in reconfiguring the deflector dish to allow us to survive the battle, when an EPS conduit exploded. She did not survive.” 

I repressed the sigh I wanted to let out. “Ambassador Luna will be holding a eulogy for Crewpony Flitter in Shuttlebay Two tomorrow at 1900, for those who wish to attend. I…” 

My voice trembled. “I personally wish to say how grateful I am for her sacrifice. She gave her life in the process of saving this ship and everyone else aboard. This can be difficult to accept for the officers who attended Starfleet Academy, let alone our Equus volunteers. But please, do not lose heart, and do not give up hope. I, for one, refuse to allow her sacrifice to be in vain. Flitter gave her all to make sure this ship and her crew make it to the Federation and return with a solution to save Equus in turn. Now it is our job to finish that task for her. Thank you. As you were.”

As I ended the transmission, Zhidar leaned over. “Well done,” he murmured. “I can tell it’s hit you hard.”

“You think?” I said, a mirthless smile gracing my muzzle. “It never should’ve happened.” 

Soon the ship arrived in the system, dropping out of warp in orbit of the planet. I winced at the sight on screen. Danielle hadn’t been kidding; the planet was a brown, desolate wasteland, with sterilized oceans and a sun-blasted surface. “What a waste of a good planet,” Zhidar murmured. 

The starbase in question soon came into view, a blocky, oblong mess, definitely not a Federation design, or Klingon or Romulan. “Looks like this must’ve been an Orion base,” I murmured once I spotted a few markings that looked somewhat similar to those on Dessan's ships.

“Well, that’s a bit of irony for you,” Zhidar said. “Any life signs?”

“None, but the base still has operational life support,” Danielle reported. 

“Alright,” I said as I stood. “I’m headed to the shuttlebay. Danielle, Maia, you’re with me. Zhidar, you have the bridge. Get our other teams ready to board the station. I want this place stripped for parts, people. Anything of value that we can use to repair our systems, we’re taking. I don’t care how much jury-rigging we need to do to make it function.”

“You sure it’s a good idea for you to be going aboard, ma’am?” Maia asked me as she and Danielle joined me in the turbolift.

“I’m still an engineer at heart,” I answered with a slight smile that didn’t quite reach my eyes. “I know what I’m looking for. Just keep your phasers ready in case it turns out there’s some squatters or something hiding out in there.”

We hopped into a shuttlepod and I piloted it myself, followed by several other pods full of teams, some of whom I knew included Equus volunteers. As we drew closer to the station, I was able to get a better look at the place, which seemed far more intact than I would’ve expected. 

“I wonder why they abandoned this place,” I said as I brought us in to dock at an airlock. “Even with the planet uninhabitable, you’d think they’d still use it as a pirate base.”

“It’s not a pirate base,” Maia replied. “That’s why. This used to belong to some of the Orions that weren’t part of the Syndicate itself.”

“How do you know?” Danielle asked her.

I wanted to know that too, but Maia simply smiled. “Because if this was a pirate base, we'd never have been able to just pull up in shuttlecraft and waltz in here undisturbed.”

I wasn’t sure how much I bought that logic, but I didn’t question it. Instead I passed out phasers and tricorders. “Alright, let’s get aboard. Maia, you take point.”

She opened up the airlock and we stepped foot onto the station. Much like the predatory design of their ships, this station oozed with the intent to take advantage of others, with narrower corridors with intentionally designed chokepoints, and dim lighting with the occasional flickering. In some ways it reminded me a little of the station where we found the Sirens.

Thankfully, there were no dead bodies littering the place this time. Nor was there a stench of blood. Instead, it smelled musty, like the environmental controls hadn't been cycled in a very long time. If there were squatters in here, they surely couldn't be breathing very well by now. “These environmental readings are all over the place,” I muttered as I keyed my tricorder. “Look for an access point for that system if you can. We definitely need to verify pressurization before we move too far.”

Maia continued to lead us down corridor after corridor, till we reached what looked like an auxiliary command center, some of which looked to be operational still. “Perfect,” I murmured as I accessed one of the consoles, bringing up their library computer system. 

I immediately dug into one of the logs, which said the station had, in fact, belonged to “The Righteous Ones,” a self-described group of anti-piracy Orions who wanted only peaceful commerce with other worlds. They had colonized the planet and were experimenting with defensive technology. Fascinating, but not something I needed. I swapped over to inventory. 

“Captain, I’ve got everything online now for life support,” Danielle reported. “Looks like the station’s fusion reactors are running low on fuel though. They won’t last much longer.”

“We'll need to make it last then. Power up only what you need to,” I said as I scrolled through the first few lists, which looked to be as thinly populated as I feared they might be.

“I have internal sensors working,” Maia said. “The only life signs are ours. No one else.”

“Good.” I spotted a mention of a smaller hold with crates of EPS conduit cabling. Bingo. “Keep searching any system you can access for storage or equipment logs. I'm going to check a cargo hold two decks down from here.”

“Ma’am?”

“You heard me, Lieutenant,” I grunted as I left the room, heading down another corridor till I found a functioning turbolift that could move in the direction I needed it to.

The cargo hold was just down the corridor as I disembarked from the turbolift, but as I turned the corner, I spotted something… odd.

It was a sign, hanging above a door. A neon sign, of all things, resembling something from Earth’s twentieth century. The sign didn’t have any letters. Just a single, glowing symbol.

My own cutie mark.

“What the hell?” I murmured. I tapped my badge. “Shimmer to Maia. I’ve spotted something unusual near the cargo bay that I’m going to investigate. Come find me if I don’t report back within ten minutes.”

“Aye, ma’am.”

I approached the door, only just realizing it wasn’t a regular sliding door, but one made of wood, with a metal doorknob and everything. I immediately brought out my tricorder and scanned it, only to scowl as it bleeped an error noise at me, the screen blank. Taking a deep breath, my magic gripped the doorknob, and opened the door, revealing a dark emptiness. I took another breath, and stepped inside.

The lights came on.

And I spotted something I never thought I’d see in a million years. 

“Who the hell are you?!” I cried.

A human woman looked at me with warm, teal eyes. The same color as my own. Her hair, golden and red, just like my own. She smiled at me as she finished polishing a glass and set it down on the bar in front of her.

“Hi, me,” she said in my own voice.

“Welcome to Sunset's Isekai.”


TO BE CONTINUED
In Sunset’s Isekai