//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 - Interdimensional Contact // Story: The Light of Equestria // by Sinthia //------------------------------// WARNING!! WARNING!! ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE DETECTED! SYSTEMS CHECK... AUTOPILOT OFFLINE NAVIGATION SYSTEMS OFFLINE COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS OFFLINE GUIDANCE SYSTEMS OFFLINE EXTERNAL SENSORS OFFLINE Chapter 5 - Interdimensional Contact “We are travelers, constantly moving forward, and looking back. Alone, and as one. We have no choice but to try; for our insatiable curiosity, for our fear of what should happen if we don't..." ~Commander Shepard Lexine cursed at the diagnostics display before her. Today was looking to be a bad day. Within moments of exiting jump-space, things went south, very quickly. First off, Lexine was expecting to jump into outer space, presumably near the orbit of whatever planet she was to explore. Certainly, she didn’t expect to jump straight within an atmosphere. When a ship exits jump-space, it’s still traveling at very high speeds. Upon entering an atmosphere, a pilot needs enough time to properly slow descent to prevent burning up on reentry. Unfortunately for Lexine, this wasn’t an ordinary jump. Considering that little was known about the other end of the portal, she should’ve felt lucky that she wasn’t jumped into the core of a star. Still, traveling at several miles a second in the lower atmosphere of a planet isn’t exactly an optimal situation. Upon entering, the ship was subject to violent deceleration against the air of the atmosphere. The outer hull took extensive heat damage, and a multitude of the ship’s external instruments were incinerated. To make matters worse, whatever energy was released when she exited the portal managed to fry some crucial internal functions of the ship. The ground below was approaching rapidly, and there was only one thing Lexine could do. Slow down. From the ground, the ship looked like a meteorite falling from the sky. Even though air friction was causing the ship to slow down, the impact would still be deadly; destroying the ship and anything unfortunate to be around it. Lexine activated the air brakes and put what little power the ship had towards the reverse thrusters. As the earth below got closer, she could make out small details of the land. She was headed straight towards a lush mountainside, against which looked to be a small city. She could see settlements dotted all over the rolling hills that spread to the horizon. Besides the Last City, Lexine had never seen occupied settlements. Of all the places she explored, everything was either dead or abandoned. An opportunity to explore a new frontier was exactly what she wanted, if she could first survive the landing. “Ghost, how are we looking?” she shouted amidst the chaos within her ship. Warning lights and sounds throughout made it hard to focus. “We’ve slowed down enough so that we won’t cause a mile-wide crater,” said Ghost, “but the ship will still be totaled, and we won’t survive. We’re going too fast.” “Maybe I can maneuver the ship to a softer landing. It looks like we’re heading straight towards that city.” “At these speeds, not likely. Our main thrusters are offline and we’ve lost most controls.” “Dammit!” Lexine needed to do something, quick, or else the whole mission was going to be a failure before she even started. “As a last ditch effort,” said Ghost, “I can transmat us out of the ship before we hit the ground.” “Won’t that still kill us, anyways? We’re moving too fast, we’ll hit the ground really hard.” “Yeah, well, it will kill you. I can float.” Lexine shot a cold stare at Ghost. “What?” he said. “I’ll bring you back, of course.” “No. No, wait, let me try something.” Even in the most dire of situations, a Guardian must always find a solution, and more often than not, that solution lies with their Light. Lexine thought back to when she learned a new defensive technique from Ikora Rey. When fighting enemies in close quarters, a Warlock can channel their Light to form a very tough barrier around their body, protecting them from harm. She aimed to do the same thing now, with the ship. Lexine focused and began to harness her inner Light. From outside, a light blue barrier grew and engulfed the ship. Lexine strained to keep it active against such a large mass, but it held. “A flame shield?” said Ghost. “Good thinking. If you could glide the ship as well, it would help.” Lexine knew what Ghost meant. There was no way to manually put the ship into a glide, as the controls were offline. No, Ghost was referring to a Warlock’s glide ability, which was a way of movement through controlled levitation. When performed properly, a glide could let Warlocks survive falls from great heights. If she could pull it off, utilizing her Light to glide and shield her ship, then both her and the ship could survive the impact, possibly in one piece. “If it looks like I can’t do this,” said Lexine, “then you go ahead with Plan B!” Lexine strained against the size and weight of the ship. Normally, the act of gliding and shielding herself would come as easy as breathing. However, the act of shielding a ship many times larger than her body, along with levitating a mass falling with the force of a bomb, this was exponentially different. She certainly felt the strain, but it was working. Through the painful effort, Lexine could feel the ship slowing. If she could open her eyes, she would see the mountainside city getting closer. At that height, the denizens below could be seen, dotting the many streets and walkways. They were scattering, knowing of the projectile from the sky that was coming straight for them. “Brace for impact,” said Ghost. “Five...” The ship’s hull creaked and groaned in protest of the intense forces against it. “...Four...” Lexine’s Light was strong, but not endless. “...Three...” Citizens of the city below acted quickly, clearing the streets to take cover from the fireball hurtling towards them. “...Two...” Lexine devoted all of her strength to the final moments, fighting against the rules of physics to survive the impact. “...One.” The smell of scorched metal was the first sense that Lexine regained. The taste of metal came shortly afterwards. A shock of pain flared up from her stomach. She forced her eyes open to see the the damage. Instead of open space, her eyes met against the familiar HUD of her visor. Ghost must have equipped her helmet moments before the crash. A proper precaution, but even her armor couldn’t prevent all damage. A sharp piece of debris managed to pierce both her passive shields and armor, lodging itself into her lower abdomen. Not fatal, but it certainly hurt. She reached down and grasped the hot piece of metal. Gritting her teeth, Lexine pulled it free. The pain was blinding at first, but it quickly dissipated. She decided the wound was mostly superficial, and the piece of metal didn’t pierce too far deep. The damage done to her ship, however, wasn’t nearly as negligible. Besides the majority of internal systems deemed completely inoperable, physical damage to the hull and the ship’s engines were irreparable, at least in the foreign location they were in now. “It worked!” said Ghost, appearing next to Lexine. “Well, relatively speaking. We could have been smashed into a million bits.” “Yes, but now we’re stuck here,” said Lexine as she forcefully ripped her seat restraints off. “Nobody had any idea that the ship would be in mid-atmosphere whe-” Lexine interrupted herself with a sharp gasp as she attempted to rise from the pilot’s seat. She gripped her wound, fresh blood trickling out of the break in her armor. “You’re hurt,” said Ghost. “Here, let me-” “I need to know what’s outside. Let me guess, visual sensors are offline?” “Yep. Opening blast shields.” Slowly and clumsily, several external plates along the outside of the ship shifted to expose the one-way windshields in front of the cockpit. The dark interior of the ship flooded with light, and for the first time, Lexine took a proper look of the world she arrived in. Up close, she saw the city was much more lively than from the sky. Though it was cleared following the crash, several shops and street vendors lined the area, giving the impression that the street was busy only moments before. Within the buildings, Lexine could see movement, most likely the citizens hiding. Windows, doors, sidewalks, and streetlights; though the planet was foreign, Lexine felt more at home here than she ever did anywhere but the Last City. “Congratulations,” said Ghost. “You’ve established first contact with new extraterrestrial life.” Lexine noticed a group of the aliens moving towards the ship. They were dressed in something metallic, shiny; and held primitive melee weapons. Lexine could recognize armor and spears anywhere, even on an alien planet. “Not yet, I haven’t,” said Lexine. “Let’s go say hello.” “Right now? Shouldn’t we take care-” “Right now, Ghost.” Ghost made some mechanical noises and Lexine’s scout rifle appeared in her hands. “Just in case,” he said. Moments after, they disappeared from inside the ship. Outside, the armored aliens surrounded the ship in a circular formation. Lexine appeared outside, her weapon at the ready but not yet raised. She looked closely at the aliens, and they looked familiar. The creature she encountered at the science facility was not unlike the aliens that faced her now. Indeed, in many ways they held similarities with what she knew as horses, four legs, tails, and long faces. Yet, these were different from the monster that emerged from the portal. They were alive, by comparison, and that’s what set them apart, even if their weapons were pointed directly at her. One of the aliens shouted something, something that had to be a command, in a language that Lexine could not understand. She didn’t want to seem like a threat, but she wasn’t about to comply to the alien’s wishes just yet. “I mean no harm, but I need to speak to your leader,” Lexine said, despite knowing her words would likely fail to be understood. The alien replied louder, more aggressively. “Ghost,” Lexine whispered, “can you translate?” “Already working on it... but I need you to keep them talking.” Lexine understood, and turned back towards them. She turned behind her, seeing that the aliens had completely surrounded her and her ship. The street behind her was ravaged, a direct result of her rough landing. If her plan didn’t work, there would be a large crater in the middle of the city instead of a large scrape along a roadside. At first glance, it didn't look like there were civilian casualties. The aliens around her hadn’t attacked, so they weren’t looking to kill her, at least not yet. “I’m sorry about the road,” said Lexine. “I did everything I could to make a soft landing.” The alien, who looked like the leader of the bunch as it was always the one calling commands, responded to Lexine’s words. Of course, she couldn’t understand. “Keep them going.” “Look, I just need you to keep talking so I can actually understand you.” The alien replied, sounding more and more impatient. The others rose their spears towards Lexine. “...And so you can understand me. Let’s just take it easy here.” The alien started shouting again, barking more commands to Lexine. Every word was important, and Ghost was gaining progress, but the situation wasn’t. “Keep yelling at me,” Lexine said, as calmly as she could to avoid escalation. “It’s pointless what either of us say right now.” Under command, the aliens began to advance towards Lexine, weapons forward. Lexine held her own weapon firmly, but didn’t raise it just yet. She raised her left arm into the air, hoping they would be able to read body language. “Hey, we don’t need any trouble.” She backed against her ship, trying to show as little aggressiveness as possible. The aliens continued their advance. Lexine remained calm, with the primitive weapons and armor they had, they likely stood little chance against her in a fight. Still, she greatly preferred not to start relations with an alien world with bloodshed. Just then, a large shadow quickly passed over them, followed by a large blast of wind. Something just flew over them, and Lexine looked up to see what it was. Whatever it was passed by very quickly, and when she looked up, the blue skies were clear. The aliens around her seemed unfazed, like they knew exactly what was going on. Moments later, readings from her scanner began appearing on her visor. WARNING!! SIGNIFICANT SOLAR ENERGY DETECTED In an instant, a bright flash appeared between Lexine and the aliens. It looked like a small explosion of fire, and gave off heat, but it wasn’t an explosion. As quickly as the flash appeared, it was gone, and in its place was another alien, much larger than the rest. Lexine recognized the form of this particular alien instantly. Wings, and the horn on its head; it looked very similar to the monster she fought before. Even now, the horn began glowing bright yellow as it approached Lexine. It started to speak, in a quiet voice. “Lexine, the energy signature coming from that one is very close to what we saw in LA,” said Ghost. “Just focus on their words,” she reminded him. The large alien walked closer, pointing its glowing horn towards Lexine. She noticed something along its head, where even in an alien world it was an indistinguishable object. A crown. She threw her rifle around her shoulder, and raised both of her hands. To others, Lexine looked disarmed, but a Warlock with her hands raised was far from it. Lexine just needed to play the part, she was messing with royalty now. The alien began to speak again, and Lexine noticed its voice was more feminine than the others. “Just a moment, your highness. Let’s not make any bad decisions.” The alien seemed to acknowledge Lexine’s passive behavior, but her horn kept glowing nonetheless. She was very close now, and Lexine could feel the heat radiating from the bright light. “Ghost, hurry up!” “Just a couple more seconds... done! Transferring data to your helmet!” “...I em ruailr du ask erc irrui...one more time,” said the alien, her words garbled as the translation data began to take effect. It was choppy, but Lexine understood those last words perfectly well. “Make a wrong move, and I will not hesitate.” she said again, as clear as day. Her horn began to glow brighter. “Your highness, wait,” said Lexine. As she spoke, her helmet translated her words and relayed them to the outside. Some of the aliens jumped in surprise, and Lexine knew it worked. “You speak our language?” “It took some time, but my helmet is translating for us. I apologize for the rough introduction,” she paused and looked back at her broken ship, “but I had some trouble getting here.” “Here... from where?” “I mean no harm to your people. My name is Lexine, a Guardian from the planet called Earth.” The alien stared at Lexine inquisitively for a moment, before replying. “A pleasure, under the circumstances. I am Princess Celestia, of Equestria.” Celestia cleared her throat, as the tension fell and gave way to subtle unpleasantness. “An honor, Your Majesty,” said Lexine, attempting to break it. Her hunch was correct, she was standing face to face with this land’s leader, and they were seconds away from a fight. Now that they had broken the language barrier, Lexine felt there were certain pleasantries in order. She called for a scan for the atmosphere around her. It came to little surprise that the air was virtually indistinguishable from Earth’s own atmosphere. She decided it safe, and removed her helmet. She held it in her arms and gave the princess a bow in respect to her obvious authority. Celestia inspected the Guardian closely. Two-legged, small eyes, flat face, and a mane not unlike her own on her head. The armor she wore concealed her body, but not her form, and Celestia recognized it, in memories from long ago. “Could it be?” Celestia whispered. “A human, after all this time?” The princess noticed red liquid dripping to the ground. “You’re injured,” said Celestia. “Do you need attention?” Lexine reequipped her helmet, knowing what Celestia was saying, despite lacking the translation. “It’s fine,” she said. “Ghost?” “On it,” said Ghost, appearing next to them. Celestia tracked him with curiosity as he floated towards Lexine’s wound. Ghost cast a small light towards the area, and it quickly began to repair itself. Bleeding stopped, the wound was sealed, and the armor was repaired, all in one swift treatment. “Fascinating,” said Celestia, staring at Lexine’s floating friend. “Princess, I come with major concerns from my home,” said Lexine, cutting straight to the point. “Something I’m hoping you can assist us with.” “Yes,” she replied, “your visit has fallen on the most curious of times. Let us escort you to the castle, where we can speak further on the matter.” “The castle?” asked Ghost. “Yes,” said Celestia, directing their attention to the mountain. Lexine looked towards the top of the mountain, where a grand castle stood along the edge. To her, it was a marvel of architecture, rivaling that of the Tower itself. Golden archways, falling waterways, and beautifully decorated banners and flags highlighted the city’s allure. “Wow,” said Ghost. “Good thing you slowed us down.” Celestia gestured Lexine to follow as she and her guards walked on towards the castle. Lexine looked back towards her ship as it lay broken in the ruined cobblestone street. “Have this area secured,” said Celestia to one of her guards. He nodded and turned back. “Guardian Lexine, with us?” Lexine complied, following the princess and the group of guards. “Welcome to Canterlot,” said Celestia, “capital city of Equestria.” It was a lot in such a short time, but Lexine tried to take in as much as she could from the world around her. The walk to the palace was uneventful, but as she walked through the streets of Canterlot, she knew she was the center of attention. The “ponies”, as they called themselves, kept their eyes on her every step of the way. Some eyes were fearful and suspicious, others curious and even friendly. Luckily for the human, the presence of the Princess helped alleviate their concerns. In any case, her arrival in Canterlot created quite a stir, and it resonated through the entire city. The portal led her straight to Equestria, the same exact name that the monster from Earth uttered in its last words. Her first impression of the place, however, was that it was largely unremarkable, at least in terms of an impending threat. This “Equestria” seemed lacking in any technological progress. The buildings were archaic in style, and the guards had simple metal armor and weaponry. It was all beautifully detailed, but primitive nonetheless. Of what Lexine had seen, the only thing that could be notable were of the ponies’ abilities. Besides those that possessed wings to fly, others had horns, and the qualities of which she was very curious in. As they walked, Lexine saw ordinary citizens perform surprising feats. A pony was utilizing an act of levitation to carry a crate of tools. Another pony used her horn to stimulate instantaneous growth in a pot of flowers. What really caught Lexine’s attention was a group of ponies, who looked to be students judging from their collection of books, that were practicing amongst themselves a teleportation act. After an abrupt glow of his horn, a pony would pop out of one space and appear in another. Besides Guardians, there was nothing else that Lexine had encountered before that was able to perform such miraculous acts without the help of advanced technology. To these ponies, it came as natural to them as blinking, or breathing. Of course, Lexine would have greatly preferred to observe this new world from the outside looking in, but the circumstances of her arrival made that impossible. With no chance to scout ahead of time, she hoped her situation with the ponies remained under control. Playing ambassador and diplomat wasn't exactly part of her skill set, but Lexine recognized the unique position she was in. The Equestrians seemed peaceful enough, but whatever she encountered in Los Angeles came from the portal, and the portal led her to Equestria. After some time, they arrived at the castle. The guards left them, and Celestia led Lexine through a series of hallways. “I am sorry for the abrupt introductions,” said Celestia, “but I feel time is not on our side. There are several other ponies I wish you to meet.” They arrived in a large conference hall, where several ponies looked to be waiting their arrival. One of them stood out and approached Celestia. “Sister, why have you brought it to the castle?” she said. “I thought this meeting was only with you.” “Princess Luna, this is Lexine. She is a guest and has requested an audience. I believe we should be interested in what she has to say.” “Pleased to meet you, Your Highness,” said Lexine with a bow, meeting royalty for the second time today. It was expected, she was in a castle after all. Another pony approached Lexine, or rather flew towards her, so quickly that she wasn’t expecting it. “This is the alien from the sky?” she said suspiciously. “Rainbow Dash, don’t be rude,” said another pony. She walked up to Lexine and introduced herself. “Hello! I am Princess Twilight Sparkle,” she said. “I have so many questions! Where did you come from? How did you get here? What are you wearing?” Aside from the torrent of questions, Lexine had to make an effort to process these ridiculous names. “All in due time, Twilight,” said Princess Celestia. “Lexine, you must have went through a lot to get here, and I’m sure it wasn’t for a simple visit.” “Yes. I traveled here through a portal that connected our two worlds. Something hostile came from your end to ours. It threatened war, and I was sent to investigate.” “I assure you, the nation of Equestria wish no conflict with your world,” said Celestia. “Can you describe this hostile something?” asked Luna. “Well,” said Lexine, “it looked mostly like you. A pony, with wings and a horn, but it looked like it was sick or corrupted. Not normal like the ponies I saw in the city. It attacked me, but I defeated it, and before it fell, it told me these words:” Ghost appeared beside Lexine. “Audio playback. ‘Equestria will fall, and in its wake, Earth.’” The demonic voice gave Lexine shivers as she heard it again. “I recognize that voice,” said Luna quietly. “Who is this?” asked Twilight. “This is Ghost, my companion,” said Lexine. “We’ve come because Earth is concerned,” she continued to the rest of the group, “and as far as we know, Equestria should be, too. Can you help us?” Luna whispered something to Celestia, and turned back towards Lexine. “We are grateful for your warning, Lexine,” said Celestia. “And you are right, it is of great concern to us. As I said before, you have come in an opportune time, and we may have need of your assistance as well.” “Well, considering the state of my ship, I’m not going home anytime soon,” said Lexine. “As it falls within my duty to protect Earth, I am willing to offer my help as a Guardian.” “Very well,” said Celestia. “We humbly accept. We have much work to do, but for now, Princess Luna and I must discuss our next course of action. In the meantime, I ask Princess Twilight to acquaint you to the castle and familiarize you to Equestria.” “Yes, of course, Princess!” said Twilight with great enthusiasm. “Lexine, follow me!” Twilight trotted off back towards the hallways and Lexine followed, leaving the other princesses behind. “Wow! A human!” shouted Twilight as they walked. “I mean, under all of that, you are a human, right?” Lexine nodded. “What’s so special about a human?” sneered Rainbow Dash as she caught up with them. “Didn’t you read those books I gave you girls?” asked Twilight. Rainbow chuckled, saying, “Very funny, Twi. Well, books or not, we shouldn’t be so trusting,” she said. She shot a glare at Lexine. “Excuse my friend’s incredulous attitude,” said Twilight, “but your arrival shook us all up. With all the attacks going on, it’s hard to imagine that anything falling from the sky would be friendly.” “Attacks?” asked Lexine. “Yes, attacks,” said Rainbow, “from dumb aliens who came from the sky just like you.” Lexine tried to say something but Rainbow Dash started to fly away from them. “Dash, where are you going?” called Twilight. “I need to meet with Fluttershy,” she said as she sped ahead, eventually leaving their sight. Twilight looked up at Lexine. “She just needs some time,” she said. “We’ve had a lot to process these past several days. Everything’s happening so fast.” “What do we know?” asked Lexine. “Well, starting several weeks ago” said Twilight, “some strange sightings were being reported throughout Equestria. Bright lights, and strange noises in the middle of the night, that left as quickly as they came. It turns out, these were portals, and something very bad was trying to get through. The princesses tried to contain the situation, but it was no use. The anomalies are becoming more frequent, we know they are coming. It’s only a matter of time.” Outside, Lexine saw some remnants of smoke from her crash in the city. “That was quite an entrance,” said Twilight. “It sounded like the sky tore apart when you fell from it.” “Things didn’t go... according to plan, exactly.” said Lexine. “Speaking of plans, does Equestria have one?” Twilight led Lexine through a doorway leading to a small library of sorts. In the center was a table covered in books and scrolls, quills and dripped ink. “With what's going on, we have more than one,” laughed Twilight. “The nation is preparing,”she said with a more serious tone. “We haven’t mobilized our army in decades, but the princesses believe this is warranted. As for me and some of my friends, we’re preparing too. I’ve studied some offensive magic, but not on a scale as large as this.” “Magic?” asked Lexine. “Yes. It’s everywhere in Equestria, and we ponies have many ways of harnessing it.” Twilight’s horn glowed, and a spark of purple light floated around her, before slowly fading. VOID ENERGY DETECTED “Interesting,” said Lexine, reading the scans from the visor. “Us Guardians harness something we call Light.” Lexine held up her hand and a small ball of flame formed above it. Twilight looked at it with amazement. "I suppose we aren't so different then, you and I?" said Lexine, gently cradling the flame from one hand to another. "Your kind knows of us, after all. I'm not the first human to set foot in Equestria, am I?" “No, but it's been eons. Lost to myth, but I've done my studies," said Twilight proudly. "If you don’t mind,” she said, her eyes fixated on the flames, “once you’re settled, do you think you can find some time to come visit me here?” Lexine closed her hand into a fist, and the fire dissipated. “Yes, I think I can,” she said. “I feel we can learn a lot from each other. Before either of them could speak, a loud screeching noise echoed from outside the castle. Soon after, a loud alarm began to ring throughout the city. Twilight ran to the nearby window. “No, no, no! Not now!” she shouted. Lexine looked outside and saw exactly what she expected to see. Several Hive dropships were creating rifts in the sky and began dropping smaller craft to the city below. Lexine quickly equipped her rifle, ready to fight. “I need to get back to my ship,” she said. “Wait, no!” said Twilight as she ran across to the other end of the room. “We have a plan, remember? I need to find my friends, can you help me?” Twilight swung open a large closet door, and rummaged through its contents before pulling out a small chest. Lexine looked up at the grotesque ships that now littered the skies above Canterlot. Too soon, they had arrived. The situation was changing quickly, and she needed to react quicker. “....Very well,” said Lexine. “Lead the way, Princess.” Twilight nodded, and without skipping a beat, she headed out the room, with Lexine following behind. The pair raced through the castle interior, heading back to the conference hall they were in earlier. The relative peace of the castle was broken, and the two had to navigate through squads of armed ponies and panicked citizens. Outside, the sounds of battle had begun. “We were all called back to the castle when you arrived, so all of us should be here,” explained Twilight as they ran. “What’s in the box?” “A weapon. It will drive them away, but I can't use it alone. That's why I need my friends.” Twilight and Lexine burst into the conference hall, where several other ponies were already waiting inside. They were standing anxiously, and a pair of them seemed to be arguing. “Twilight! We’re so glad you’re here!” greeted one. “And... oh dear, this must be our ‘visitor’?” “Yes, Rarity,” said Twilight. “Lexine here has offered her help, and I think we’re going to need it.” “Speak for yourself!” shouted Rainbow Dash. “Twilight, these big alien ships arrived not long after your new friend here decided to pay us a visit! How are we not sure she didn’t lead them here?” “The Hive are our enemies back home,” said Lexine. “They are no ally, and Guardians have been fighting them for centuries. I can help.” “Whatever,” said Rainbow. “I’m watching you.” “Rainbow,” sighed Twilight, “there’s no time for this. We need to... wait. Where’s Fluttershy?” “She’s still at the wildlife park!” said Rainbow Dash. “I was going out to get her, but Applejack here won’t let me leave!” “Apple...jack? Wow, I thought the Awoken had weird names...” thought Lexine. “We’re supposed to stay together, and in the castle, hay-brain.” said Applejack. “Search party!!” hollered a loud pink pony. “Pinkie, what did I just say?” Lexine ejected her magazine and inspected its contents. Fully loaded. “If your friend is still out there,” she said, breaking their bickering, “then she’s in danger, like everyone else in the city. I can find her and bring her back. You all can stay here where it’s safe” “No way! To think we’ll trust you with our friend for even a second-” “Rainbow Dash, enough!” said Twilight. “Dear, we appreciate your assistance, but we want to help, too!” “No, Rarity, she’s right,” said Twilight. “Our instructions were clear. With Lexine’s help, we can stay here where we and the Elements are safe.” “Elements?” chimed Ghost. “You’ve got to be joking, Twi,” uttered Rainbow. “I’m afraid not. Lexine, we need you to bring her back safe. Can we trust you?” “You can trust me.” “You’ve got to give us a Pinkie Promise!” shouted Pinkie. “I... uh, Pinkie Promise?” “When you are out there, try to find one of the other princesses. I’m sure they are already assisting in the defense, tell them what’s happened and they can help you.” “I’m on it,” said Lexine, turning to her way. “Bring the yourself and our friend back,” said Rarity, “safe and sound!” Lexine gestured to them, and ran out of the hall. “That’s part of the Pinkie Promise!!” she heard as the door closed behind her. WARNING! WARNING! -- HIVE SIGNATURES DETECTED MULTIPLE JUMP-SPACE RUPTURES ATTACK IMMINENT!! ATTEMPTING TO REESTABLISH CONTACT WITH THE VANGUARD... //UNSUCCESSFUL NEW ASSIGNMENT -- Search and Rescue CANTERLOT, EQUESTRIA - Several Hive dropships are invading Canterlot. The Equestrians claim to possess a weapon that can drive them back. A certain individual who is instrumental in the deployment of this weapon has gone missing; fight through the city and bring her back to the castle.