Well, it seems like some have forgotten we're in a universe that is centered around magical ponies. Which means the excuse of 'magic' is usually viable, or at least as duct tape for any holes that science can't answer.

Added edit that we've completely disregarded a 'cardboard decoy', since that's after the fuck-ups started. So not sure who's the one in the wrong here.

3195944
Stardust and Match shrugged. "Well, saves us a Mode 0," Stardust noted. "Asgard, personnel onboard allied ship has taken Star to their medbay for treatment."

"Good to hear, Captain. Saves us a Mode 0."

The two gave each other a knowing glance before starting to move to follow Orion.

"Hey, Dusty, you can stay with Star if you want."

"No. She'll be fine. Let's go find Orion, see if we can get a direct line to the top, instead of blasting transmissions and waiting for them to reply."

Match put a hoof on his friend's shoulder. "Hey, I think someone should at least stay to see that everything goes alright. Check up on her. Just be there in case she needs someone that knows her. And who better than you?"

Stardust sighed in defeat. "Fine. I guess so. You got the diplomatic stuff?"

"I'll be fine. Go."

The two gray pegasi split ways. Stardust went off at a trot to chase after Star.

"Hey, was that your sister?" one of the ponies asked him as he passed by.

"Uh, yeah," he replied as he went by. "Sorta."

"Well, uh, good luck!"

"Admiral Orion, this is Commander Raylight of Unity Station. We have the capability to comply with that request. We see those new ships you're pointing out on our map now." The stallion turned to Twilight. "Princess, should we do it?"

"I see no reason why we shouldn't. We have no knowledge of them having any business to be here. It may be a misdirected FTL jump, given the unstable nature of this universe. You are free to carry it out."

"Admiral, we will comply with that request. Give us a minute to charge up the system." He started preparing. "Sensors, any threats in the area?"

"Negative. None in our immediate vicinity."

"Generators, power?"

"100%."

"Shut down shields. FRIENDSHIP to Mode 3. Aim for the location of the new ships around the gas planet. We're forming a wormhole there. Scan for UID and locate their universe of origin; make the exit point there."

"SHIP to Mode 3, aye sir."

"Admiral, it's your request. Just say when."

3197634

Like I said, I won't argue with you anymore, because of your nature, but yeah.
I liked it better when you were dead.

3197542

"Battle command engaged. Confirmed CBS Forefront as new flagship."

"All ships, assault ram formation. Destroyers in front, Frigates back them up, Capital Battleships behind the screen and Carriers stay around Unity. Everyone keep clear firing sights and don't deviate course before letting other ships know."

Orion watched the cluster of red dots come around Mars.

"At current speed, they will hit us in approximately three hundred seconds."

Tightening her grip, Orion twisted the throttle slowly, easing the ship forward. As one, the formation proceed forward.

"On my mark, fire all weaponry." Orion waited a few seconds. "Fire."

The Destroyers and Frigates lurched, firing twin beams of ionized destruction at the approaching forces. The CBSs fired, all forty two beams sweeping against the ships and leaving husks in their wake.

"Worldship detected. Warning."

A fiery beam of liquidized titanium-uranium lanced out, splashing across the shields of the smaller Frigates. The shields glowed white hot, before collapsing. Several detonations were recorded.

"Break formation and engage as necessary. Prepare for battlegroup orders when they come." The neat formation split apart at the seams, releasing the ships into a massive furball above Equestria.

Orion eyed the Radar, and noticed three unknown contacts nearby Unity. A single double-barreled turret turned, and fired its Positrons just past Unity, missing the mast by a fraction, before splashing against and destroying three Firewitches which were going to fire upon the station.

"Eyes open for a cloaker ship, must be one somewhere." Orion gunned the throttle again, sailing her ship into the fray.

3197691
"Fire it."

The beam from the FRIENDSHIP laser sustained itself for a good five to ten seconds, aimed at the new fleet. In another few seconds, the contacts slowly disappeared from the map as they got sucked into a wormhole. Soon, none remained.

"Check UID scanners, see if there's any remains."

"None that we see."

Stardust was sitting somewhere outside Star's room. Just waiting. As expected, some inquired about his relation to Star, but for now, none knew or were told the true answer.

"Hey, so where are you from?"

Stardust watched as a pony sat next to him. He chuckled. "Equestria."

The other pony chuckled back. "Yeah, but where Equestria? I know you're one of them from Unity, but where's Unity from? I'm hearing a little bit of stuff that's going around, and one of my friends works in comms. Something about only one of your type being around in this space. Was really empty space before we got here."

"Probably just like you guys. Lost and somewhere we weren't meant to be."

"I also heard that the pony in there- your sister?"

"Yeah." And there it is again.

"She met Admiral Orion on the ground when she crashed here and helped her out. Thanks, for that. I hope she gets better."

"Thanks."

"And I don't know how close they got while she was off our radar, but they said about a week. Must be pretty close if you're sticking around to help us out. Thanks for that as well."

"No problem."

"Think we'll keep in contact after all this is done?"

"Maybe. Of course, planet defense first, then we worry about keeping contact."

"We can hold off a couple of oversized bugs." The pony motioned his head into the room with Star. "I'm sure you'll want to."

Shortly later...
A shot just narrowly missed the laser mast. Explosions promptly followed. "Sir, they've got ships in cloak."

"I want an overlay of UID scanner data with the regular map." The map changed as told, and immediately, more showed up. "Keep track for any in our vicinity. Track all incoming shots. I want maximum efficiency on our power consumption."

"Be cautious, Commander," Twilight advised. "Shields are the only thing we have," she noted as shots intermittently hit Unity's shields. "And we're sticking out like a sore hoof. I'm sure they're going to notice our combat effectiveness soon. We should shift our focus to something the fleet is not covering as much."

"Keep shields up." Raylight played a second card he had ready. "We're going to cut back on laser usage on the main projector. Armory, are those nuclear warheads ready?"

"Aye sir, warheads ready to be loaded into the chamber."

"Projector control, aim for cloaked ships. Cross-reference between standard sensors and universal ID sensors to confirm."

"Affirmative, targeting cloaked ships."

"SHIP to Mode 1. Fire on my mark." One ship on the map had a box appear around it, indicating it was being targeted.

"I do believe you're pulling off what I think you are?" Twilight said. "Stardust got some information regarding those reactors on those ships. Check with them to see if it would be smart to."

Raylight contacted their ally. "Admiral, what would a nuclear explosion inside a changeling ship do?"

3197981

Orion wrenched the controls, sending the massive CBS into a barrel roll as another stream of titanium-uranium splashed against her shields.

"Shield holding at 72%. Cannons ready."

Orion looked at the Worldship, and squinted at the turret. Immediately, six beams lanced out, ripping through the hull, disabling it for the moment.

"GARDIAN to max capacity. Destroy those interceptors."

"Admiral, what would a nuclear explosion inside a changeling ship do?"

Orion mulled the question even as she destroyed another Firewitch. "There's a reason why we use Positrons and nothing explosive around those things. Unless you can guarantee a direct hit upon the reactor, they go up like a sun. Be careful if you want to use nuclear weaponry."

"CBS Maximus, requesting immediate help! I've got a Worldship class on my back, and my shields are down...!"

A nuclear flash. Orion watched as the Maximus's aft end containing the reactors and engines separated from the fore fuselage.

A sudden screeching sound overtook her radio, and her view blacked out for a second.

As one, any and all mobile Firewitches turned and ran. The Worldship's turned as well, moving away from battle.

"All ship's return for emergency repair and refit. Any ships which are not badly damaged are requested to help evacuate the sunken CBS Maximus." Orion sat up, her view dissolving and bringing her back to real life.

"Shit, we're getting torn apart." Orion quickly drank from her bottle.

A screen came up for her. "Admiral."

"High Princess." Orion inclined her head slightly.

"The battle is tense."

"Understood. You must never underestimate the might of the cornered rat."

"In any case, there seems to be a lull in battle. We have an hour, possibly more, before they can jump back in again to engage us. Take this time to check on your friends."

"Wilco."

Orion stepped out of the elevator, barely evading a gurney with a horribly burnt stallion on it. His shoulder insignia labelled him as from the Maximus.

"Stardust." Orion enunciated clearly at the screen, which flashed and directed her to a place she knew very well.

Walking along, Orion let her eyes stray here and there, eying the patients and helping out when she could. The normally five minutes journey stretched to half an hour. By that time, her hooves were caked in blood, like most of the soldiers around her.

Eventually, she found the OT.

"Still working on her?" Orion asked the observing nurse.

"Yes mam. She has several lacerations, but the hardest part is the infection of the cells. That blade was coated in the same stuff that drove you crazy."

"Can't chuck her in the Vallian healer?"

The nurse shrugged. "We don't know if that will work. She wasn't exposed to the Vallian radiation like you were, it might not take kindly to her uncorrupted cells."

Orion nodded, peering into the bay. Doctors worked quickly and efficiently, removing blackened slices of flesh and replacing them with new ones, flash grown from a cellular sample taken earlier.

"How much longer?"

"Theoretically, she could be up in the next few minutes. It depends on her natural healing abilities."

Orion thanked the nurse and moved off. She approached the two Unity stallions with two bottles of the alcohol the Marines drank, fiery substances that was once reported to be 'almost able to spontaneously combust upon contact with air'. Orion didn't believe that report, but she had once been forced to use that as fuel for her flamethrower back on Galileo-five...

"How are you guys holding up?" Orion asked as she left the bottles on the nearby table, just in case. "The doctors say Star can be up in the next few minutes."

Twilight paced. "I don't like it. They destroyed one Battleship, and ran?"

Applejack was contemplative as well. "Was there a reason, some kind of enhancement?"

"HARMONY. Harbinger, Arisen, Rex nicknamed Forefront, Maximus, Orion, Noteworth and Yeller." Twilight contemplated. "The seven survivors of Vall."

Something clicked. "Wasn't Maximus the only ship to have a GARDIAN mark seven-ex?"

"Experimental. It was designed to destroy anything bigger than a Firewitch... Wait..."

Twilight grabbed the radio set. Her troubled expression looked out for the approval from her friend. Applejack nodded slowly and gravely.

She completed the circuit, and waited for Orion to pick up.

"Admiral."

"Yes, High Princess?"

Twilight took a deep breath.

"They're gonna fling asteroids at Equestria."

"What's our best possible accuracy rating on hitting the reactor area on a Firewitch?" Twilight asked.

"Given sufficient distance," one technician answered, "100%. Diminishes as target gets closer. Minimum distance for full accuracy on a maneuvering ship is roughly two-fifths of the distance from the earth to the moon."

"Very well. Commander, you may use said tactic should another battle occur." As the commander next to her nodded, Twilight turned her attention to the developing situation regarding their allies. "Captain, how are things going?"

"Star was still barely alive when we were taken aboard. They're fixing her up now. She's got a case of infection from a changeling virus. They say they can treat it, but we can always check her again when we get back."

"What about getting to their leadership? Can you arrange a meeting maybe? After all this is done, of course."

"I'll see what I can do."

"Princess, Commander, Changeling forces are confirmed to be on full retreat."

Twilight's expression perked as she remembered something. "Excellent. Reposition Unity, place us in position for ground support."

"Aye, ma'am. Unity to allied forces, we are repositioning to support an operation on the planet's surface. Notify us if you need anything."

3198186
Match motioned over to the bottles and Orion nodded. He took both, giving one to Stardust. The darker gray pegasus was the first to take a swig, sloshing it around in his mouth before drinking it down. "Hm. Almost as good as the griffon alcohol we found last week."

Stardust took a quick drink, before slouching down. "Command asked me to ask you if you can somehow contact your leadership," he sad to Orion. "Arrange a formal meeting of sorts for later. So yeah. Just... keep it in mind."

Stardust sighed. "You know, we've traveled to all sorts of places. Lots. Numerous. I dare say that this might be the worst shape I've seen her in. Pretty remarkable, if you ask me. Actually, no, second worse.

"Doctors told us how she was doing. You just missed her heart. Nicked an artery though. Lung damage. Never mind being exposed to a vacuum. Amazing what ARCANEs do to brain functions to ensure survival. Still, I got a feeling she won't be amazingly happy when she wakes up."

Match chuckled. "In her position, who will?"

"Just sayin', she's goin' to mention it." He turned his attention back to Orion. "About that changeling infection. I know you know a lot about it. Can you tell us its story?"

Meanwhile...
The five and Twilight regrouped in a generally secure area behind some heavy-duty crates. "So is there any support available in the area?" Applejack asked.

"We're going to need something, Rainbow," Rarity said as she continued peeking through her scope. "I'm not too sure about available anti-armor capabilities."

"We can... hijack one of their vehicles?" Pinkie suggested. Seeing the looks everyone was giving her, she went back on it. "Okay, not that desperate yet," she said sheepishly.

"Well, looking at the map," Fluttershy said, not looking up from the tablet, "We've stopped their push. For now. Luna's rallied troops and it's helping out."

"Is there anywhere we can attack effectively?" Rainbow asked. "Without any outside support?"

"I'll take a look."

"Rarity, you're hurt," Twilight noted, seeing the gash on the unicorn's leg.

Rarity waved it off. "I'll be fine. I've had worse."

"Well, seeing that we're not moving, I think I can heal it a bit." Twilight's horn lit up, and she concentrated on healing the injury. "And since we're not moving up, can you tell me what you all came here for in the first place?"

"It's about the safety of your world."

Rainbow continued. "If you think our position is bad, in orbit above your planet, Unity and Orion's forces are fighting off some space changelings. Seeing that we're still alive, which is maybe a bit ironic considering we're on a battlefield right now, Orion must have disarmed the bomb in orbit. If it detonated, it would have destroyed an entire hemisphere."

"Oh. Oh... wow."

"So while we're fighting for survival down here, up there, they're giving us that chance in the first place."

"So basically," Applejack said, "We came down here to tell you that an alien invasion is being held off right now, and that really crazy stuff might happen. And maybe really bad stuff too. So if and when others find out about it, you can tell them about it."

"Having you around and knowing what's happening will help us talk to your leaders if we need to later," Fluttershy reasoned.

"Huh."

Their radios crackled to life. They had found radios and hooked up their comms to them. "Harmony, this is Asgard. Do you read?"

The five looked up and grinned. "Harmony reads," Rainbow answered.

"There is currently a break in the action up here. We're taking the time to support you. Tell us what you need."

"Gotcha. Give us a moment to get ready to move."

3198455

"Honestly speaking, there isn't much to be said. Changeling bogey virus works into your cells, rewrites the DNA, turns you into a changeling." Orion reclined. "It just my... condition... after the Vall mission that my cells aren't as defensive of such an intrusion, hence, I lose control faster."

Orion looked at her hooves, curling and uncurling them. "That wasn't my first time, maybe third or fourth already. Once it takes over a certain degree of cells, mental atrophy occurs. The mind of the queen that infected the host will begin to enforce its will. Unless the queen is already dead, in which it would take over the body most suited for its survival."

Looking sideway, she watches the Stallions drink. "Overall, not something I like talking about."

Her radio beeped. Orion excused herself for a moment, turning and taking the call.

"Yes, High Princess?"

"They are gonna fling asteroids at Equestria."

"What's new?" Orion asked as she left the area, taking the lift back up to command again.

"Well, we actually have something to defend. Intel thinks they will try and distract our fleet with the asteroids enough to slip an assault force down our flanks and invade Equestria, starting with your last known location."

Orion thought about it. "It's unlikely they had the time to build the flinger station, so they can only fling one or two massive ones at us. But they will obviously make it count."

"But the presence of Worldship classes just now does tell us their forces are going to more than quadruple the next time we see them."

Orion grit her teeth.

"I humbly suggest the descent of foot soldiers and mechanized infantry to counter any invasions."

"You say it like it's gong to happen."

"I know it is going to happen."

"I'll talk to Unity, they seem to be in charge when it comes to inter-universal stuff."

Twilight put down the radio set, before picking it back up again.

"This is High-Princess Twilight Sparkle, contacting Unity Space Station. Ms. Twilight of Unity, I know you are there. A vessel of that much latent magic is easy to detect and hard to ignore. We believe the Changelings to be restaging a more skillful assault soon. They will begin with a couple of ballistic asteroids, flung at high speeds towards Equestria. Our six remaining Capital Battleships will engage the asteroids, and the smaller ships will be take out any rubble. In the chaos, our ships will not be able to focus upon defending for any ships, they may choose to slip some forces through to descend upon Equestria. This will be the time to deploy the Marines and Mechanized Infantry if that is allowed, and that is why I contact you."

Twilight grew serious. "What is the status quo on such matters of landing trans-dimensional infantry on a foreign planet?"

Orion climbed back into the simulation, and was running checks on the repairs when a green light appeared in her view, vaguely pointing to the med-bay.

"Doctor."

"Operation complete, success. We gave her an adrenaline boost, so Miss Stardust may be moving in ten minutes."

"Very well." Orion eyed forward again. "She is free to do whatever she wants, tell her if she wants to find me, I'll be on the bridge."

3199492

"New contact detected. It's massive."

Orion opened a line to the aliens, giving them the exact same data and strategies as what Twilight gave Unity.

"So, our six heavy ships will go forward into space between Mars and Equestria. Can I get your ships to stay behind and engage any loose asteroids, in case we aren't able to engage all of them?"

3200568
Raylight and Twilight glanced at each other, slightly surprised at being directly contacted.

"Well, at least it seems that she has no qualms about talking to another version of herself," the stallion remarked. "At least we know contact later will be relatively smooth."

Twilight nodded. "I hope it will. But right now, in the middle of serious matters such as this, we may not all have much choices."

She replied to herself. "High Princess, this is Princess Sparkle. Ordinary protocol restricts the mass landing of troops by interdimensional forces. However, our doctrine also states that we must do what we can to protect a world from extra-dimensional threats, should such an occasion ever occur. And so, as it is, we are allowed to partially override regular protocol. Partially.

"Standard operating procedure states that we must refrain from intervention in internal affairs as much as we can; our usual missions involve sending down at most a small team to observe and interact. Keeping the amount of operatives low also keeps intervention relatively low, and discovery of their status as other-worlders is therefore a very low rate. However, if intervention by another outside force occurs, then we must counteract it with a force to preserve stability as much as we can.

"My point is, landing an armed force is extremely circumstantial, and must be done very deliberately. If the decision were up to me, despite technically being so, I would only do it if the changelings begin their invasion and it becomes evident that there is no other way to stop them from orbit. I would even wait until the first to make it past our defenses and drop too low into the atmosphere. I understand that not preemptively sending forces would be tactically unwise, but since you asked for the protocol, I have given it to you."

Twilight thought about the planet above her at that moment, large and visible through the ceiling window in the bridge above her. If only the command center wasn't buried under the bridge and thick armor. Then she could see the land, maybe pick out the spot where her friends were dug in, and where Unity was currently giving artillery support.

"If you would like to leave a ground force ready in orbit, of course, there is nothing wrong with that. As the advisory Princess on this expedition, those are my rulings."

"Commander, Princess, new signature on the sensors. If we thought the Equestrian capital ships were massive, well, I don't know what this one is."

"What is it?" Raylight asked.

"Covenant. Sangheili. Uh... 57 klicks in length."

Raylight swiped his hooves over the holotable, looking for information. "Huh... so apparently that thing actually does exist, at least here."

Stardust and Match sat over in the corner in Star's room, waiting for her to wake up. Her armor suit had also been retrieved when they left, and it was currently placed in the corner.

"Are you Stardust's brother?" a nurse asked the grey stallion.

"Yeah. Yeah." And there it is yet again.

"Well, she's going to be alright," the unicorn replied. "Admiral Orion informed us that once she awakens, she is free to do as she wishes. The admiral is on the bridge herself, she said, if Captain Stardust wanted to go see her."

"Ah. Alright."

The nurse laid a comforting hoof on his shoulder. "You have a very beautiful sister, and she's very lucky for everything... what's your name?"

"Dusty," he said without thinking. 'Oops. Please don't notice.'

"Dusty. So, Stardust and Dusty. What an odd name for twins. Is that your full name?"

Stardust felt something touching his chest. "Hey, hey, what are-"

"I'm checking your tags," the nurse said, levitating his tags to view.

"I'm telling you, you don't-" And still, somehow, it managed to slip into visibility. He looked over to Match, who just shrugged at him, as if saying 'Not my problem'.

"Captain Stardust Rapture? That's... quite odd. I mean, I suppose as twins, it could make sense, just call you Star and Dusty, but still. Hm."

Stardust grumbled. "Yeah... wait, what's that?"

The unicorn then levitated over a scanner. "Identification scanner. Can see cutie marks through armor. I'm curious if you and your sister share a similar talent; it occurs every now and then, and since you're both soldiers..."

He tried to shy away, but was unsuccessful. "Don't say I didn't try to warn you, Miss Overly-Curious."

The nurse finally fell silent. "... H-how? How do you both have the same mark? No two ponies can have the same mark, or at least not while alive at the same time..."

Stardust felt a hair get plucked from his mane. "Geez. Well, have fun with that DNA scan. And early access to insight about information that will likely be made known later by Unity."

He walked over to Star's side, Match following his friend closely. They waited.

As if their presence awoke her, Star stirred and groaned. "Oh... where the hell am I?"

"CBS Forefront. Orion's ship. Brought back from the brink," Dusty answered.

"Really? I wasn't dead yet?" Star moaned in discomfort. "Amazing ARCANE brain programming. Sort of wondering if just doing a Mode 0 would have been better."

Dusty looked over to Match. "See, told you she'd bring it up." He turned back to his counterpart. "How you feelin'?"

"How do you think?" she weekly retorted.

"Like hammered shit," he flatly stated.

"I feel like I've been skewered on a stick and put to roast over a fire. I feel like I'm burning."

"The skewering part you already know, but I'll hazard a guess and say the second part is because you were infected by the changeling virus."

"Is that it? Huh."

"They fixed you. Quite a bit of surgery to replace damaged cells and flesh, but you're fine. Orion's in the bridge if you want to go see her. Think you feel good enough to?"

Star groaned as she attempted to get up. She was helped along by the two stallions. "Well, I sure as hell aren't staying in here while the ship's in combat. Is Orion busy?"

"Combat ended some time ago. Break in the action. Want to wear your armor?"

Star shook her head. "No. Don't want to wear anything heavy or confining right now. Just... help me over and support me." She waited for Dusty to get into position before slowly getting to her hooves, leaning on her counterpart. "Thanks."

"Let's go then." They set off at a manageable pace for the bridge.

3202170

Orion was taking a checklist from an A.I. when a flustered report sailed into her consciousness from the medical wing. She scrutinized the title and then dumped it, returning to her checklist.

"Can you get the engineers to check our shield systems, don't wanna get hit by the rocks."

"Yes madam. Immediately."

Orion noticed a grey light in one of the lift systems, and selected the lift. It revealed to be the trio from Unity. She shunted that lift to high priority, allowing it to bypass other units in the movement system.

She breathed out and let go of the simulation again. Coming out of her trance-like motions, she leaned back, arching her spine sharply and stretching. She turned to watch her friends limp down the spiral staircase.

Just watching Stardust go down the stairs, requiring support...

Orion got off her pedestal. She had changed out of her armor into a more loosely fitting set of uniform. The bars and star on her shoulder weight heavily on her.

Orison approached the injured mare...

And just... hugged her. Orion used only one hoof, making sure to not lean whatsoever upon the mare.

"Thank you. This Equestria now has a fighting chance, and we have the chance to avenge our own fallen planet." She whispered. Not really knowing what else to say, she stood there and waited for the reply.

Suddenly, the radar operator jerked upright.

"WE HAVE CONTACTS!"

Orion turned. "Engage GARDIAN. Move into defensive positions. We lost our planet, I don't think we want others to suffer the way we did."

The entire bridge shouted hoorah, before resuming a steady bustling regime.

Orion trotted back to the control station and slid in. Just before she dropped, Orion flashed a smile at Star.

Twilight considered.

"No. If we let the bugs get past us before reacting, by the time we drop any forces, it will be too late." She looked up. "Get the six carriers into low orbit. Prep all Talon Interceptors and Threshold Dropships for immediate air-to-air and land-to-air combat, maybe even land-to-land. The marines are to be ready to drop in less than five minutes."

Twilight turned. "We can ill afford to sit idly and wait while we could stop the deaths of many. I think we learned that back on our Equestria, bless her burnt soil."

3202972
Twilight's counterpart's reply came back, and it was as she expected. She couldn't really blame her either; Twilight only said what she did because it was the rules she was bound to.

"I understand your decision, and I will not stop you. Even if I had to stop you from doing so, which Unity is capable of with great effort, it would be highly illogical to. Given the circumstances, my only option is to support your decision then. And if you choose to drop troops, I would like to request that you send some forces to the location of the crash site of the EWS Conflict. There's a... conflict going on down there, fittingly enough, I suppose, and some of our... combat specialists are in the middle of it."

"Asgard, what's the word on reinforcements? Are you sending any? Artillery support is nice and all, plus I'm sure everyone's already wondering where it's coming from."

"Just hold on, Rainbow. Equestrian fleet troops are on their way while we mobilize our own."

"Make it quick. I think they're throwing everything at us, and I know you don't want to crater the whole place."

"We know. We see it."

"FRIENDSHIP control, Mode 3," Raylight ordered.

"Aye sir."

"What are you planning, Commander?" Twilight asked.

"They're throwing asteroids at us, right?"

"Ah. You plan on redirecting the smaller ones back into them."

"As much chances as we get to. Hopefully there's enough of manageable size to dent their fleet."

Dusty and Match decided to get out of their armor, if only to make their stay a little bit more comfortable. The armor separated into sections, held aloft by a magic levitation field. Stepping out, the armor reassembled itself and was put aside, and the three now only wore their combat uniforms. As they did so, the two grey pegasi caught more glances due to their striking similarity.

The three found a place to sit off to the side. Dusty helped Star sit down, who was still clearly in some pain. "So how you feelin' now?"

"Chest still hurts some. Bit lightheaded maybe."

"Feeling any symptoms of aggression? Increasingly homicidal?"

Star gave a weak chuckle. "'None more than usual'. It'd be tragic if the virus took me over. Because I think me and Orion are on good terms again."

"Wasn't she trying to kill you three days ago?"

"Might've been the virus."

"Speaking of, do you have any idea how she got cured?"

Star gave him a look. "The last conscious thing I did was slap on the neutralization collar. And then I woke up a couple of minutes ago."

Dusty shrugged. "Guess we'll just wait and see then." He got onto his radio. "Unity, any new developments?"

"Their fleet is preparing to drop ground troops in defense of a possible invasion. It's been cautiously permitted by Princess Sparkle, seeing that there may be no other choice."

"Captain, it's me, Twilight. You and Captain Grade are free to join in the fight on the ground with Harmony if you wish."

Stardust shook his head, as if Twilight could see. "No thanks, Princess. We'll stay here with Star. She's still recovering. We could stay here as emissaries."

"Sounds good. Good luck. Unity will continue supporting space operations as long as possible. Should a ground invasion occur, we might shift complete support to there."

"Gotcha."

3204042

"Engines to full." Orion twisted the controls, pushing the ship forward and away from Unity. "Renegade battlegroup, head for pseudo-Equestria and begin rapid deployment of forces. Stay frosty until Changelings descend to the ground, then drop troops."

"Responding." A whole cluster of stars, roughly seventy small-ships, broke off.

"All turret crew, don simulation gear. Stay strong." Orion watched as the many turrets dotting the hull began moving and swiveling, each individually controlled by a pony. "GARDIAN and Megalons to max capacity."

It must have looked somewhat messy, six massive ships moving towards the same point. But there was a sort of coordinated movement to them.

"Contact, long range. Class-B, diameter of seven kilometers. Current trajectory suggests possible ELE.
Contact, long range. Class-C, diameter of three kilometers. Current trajectory confirmed ELE...

The list went on for about another seven. Orion tightened her grip.

"Listen up. Any one of those hits, and that's an ELE." She broadcast fleetwide.

"Aye, gotta get 'em, then."
"Gnats."
"Easy as pie."
"We have a 85.9345% chance of getting everything. Statistics show that we can do it."
"Bring it, we can take them down."

"Contact, long range... Class-S. Diameter of nine hundred kilometers. Confirmed ELE."

Orion zoomed into the asteroid.

"That's... That's a fucking dwarf planet." She replied. "A fucking dwarf planet."

"Contacts crossing terminal line for Positron dissipation."

That line snapped her out of her thoughts. "All ships, FIRE."

The Renegade battlegroup soared in low, the arrowhead formation of frigates forming a giant red arrow in the sky. They decelerated, entering the proper atmosphere. At that point, the group broke apart, all moving off to a different part of the planet to patrol.

"This is Renegade Three, to ground Unity forces. Support is inbound, standby."

The 500 meter Frigate loomed over the battlefield, firing microbursts of propellant to ease itself nearer to the ground. Several bay door opened, dropping several small four pony units of fireteams onto the battlefield, some on wheeled APCs, some on tanks. The spinal runway opened, releasing five Talon fighter Jets.

The APC's engaged the titanic armored suits, giving covering fire as the Anti-tank weapons ponies moved up, past the secure crates the Unity Operatives were hiding behind.

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"Asgard, two tanks north of our position, 30 yards! Take 'em out!"

"Copy that. Heads up, danger close."

The two tanks went up in a cloud of dust as a round impacted between them, launched from orbit just a few seconds ago.

"Asgard, we're going to need some direct intervention eventually! Equestrians are already wondering where the artillery support is coming from!"

"Harmony, hang tight. Reinforcements inbound."

A boom in the sky alerted them to look up, and their sight was greeted by a ship in reentry. "We can see that."

They watched the gigantic ship loom over the battlefield. Both the Equestrians and Claritans were obviously surprised. Both sides stopped shooting.

Applejack noticed the apprehension on her own side, which she was sure was the same on the other side. "They're friendly, they're friendly!" she shouted across the field, waving her hooves so the Equestrians could see her. "Trust me on this one!"

The atmosphere was still tense, and the five could see weapons being raised. The ship landed soldiers, which immediately went to work.

"Can somepony tell me what's going on?!" Twilight yelled.

"We just got reinforcements from Orion's fleet," Rainbow stated.

"Which means we're gonna have a lot of explaining to do," Applejack added.

"Asgard, I didn't know it was going to be a whole company! Or even battalion!"

"Rainbow, I know we've totally revealed everything. But we didn't have a choice."

"What do you mean 'didn't have a choice'?!"

"Their Twilight requested to drop soldiers in preparation for a possible changeling invasion. Better sooner than later, I suppose. Both the invasion and revelation."

Rainbow sighed. "Alright. Guess there's only one thing left to do." She peeked over the crates, catching a few stares from the AU Equestrian soldiers. She waved her hoof at her friends, beckoning them- "Forward!"

"Commander, we've got multiple asteroids on our sensors. Trajectories indicates impacts with Earth."

"How much of a threat are they and how much can we assist?"

"Sir... they just launched a... that thing's 900 klicks in diameter."

"Holy shit..." The commander got contacted Orion. "Admiral, what do you plan to do with that planetary-sized object?"

"We may be able to redirect that," said Twilight. "It's going to take a lot of energy, and we'll have to drop our shields and pour all generator power into the FRIENDSHIP, but we might be able to use it to plow through the changeling fleet."

"I'll suggest it."

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"We've got zilch in destructive force for combating something that size." Orion shouted into the bedlam, as the sounds of battle came from around her. Positrons discharging, guns clattering, and missiles firing all but took over her hearing. "Our best bet has always been to redirect it, by attaching several thrusters to one side and igniting them, pushing it the crucial one or two degrees off course."

She winced as a broken Frigate detonated right in front of her viewpoint, lifeboats jetting like tiny dots towards her ship.

Even though her side was putting up an effective wall of lasers, lead and explosives, it just wasn't enough. Orion watched mutely as several Firewitches slipped right by her guns, some getting only slightly damaged. Random chunks of destroyed asteroids burnt up against her shield.

"Time till Critical-line: two minutes."

"Extrapolate all debris and ship movements for the next two minutes. Axis contact point is the Unity station. Take into account no shielding system." Orion looked as the red lines crisscrossed, appearing and then disappearing. Finally, the lines narrowed down to a single line.

She cradled her head.

The line shot neatly through the laser mast.
The display read: 'Class-G. Diameter less than five hundred meters. Estimated severe damage to superstructure. ALREADY PAST DEFENSIVE LINE.'

"Will we be able to intercept?"

"To get rid of that G, we will need to turn for more than a few seconds to fire Positrons upon it. We will be neglecting hundreds of other similarly sized parts. It will become a war of attrition, with us firing upon the asteroids now coming from behind us, each time increasing until we are overwhelmed."

"Can we cut down on time?"

"Any less that what is already extrapolated, and it will hit with enough force to disrupt the integrity of their mast. We've also already factored in their own weaponry."

Orion thought for a bit. In the end, she gave up and radioed back.

"Well. We have a problem. To redirect that planetoid, you have to drop shields and divert all power to laser. At the same time, because of your dropped shields, you will be hit by a Class-G asteroid debris, meaning you mast will be quite severely damaged. I'm not expert in these things, but I'm guessing that means very bad things will occur." Orion brought up a couple of possible simulations. "I could get the Rex to turn around and engage that chunk whilst you fire, but we would compromise our already unstable solution. Hundreds, not the dozens we had projected, of small pieces and ships will slip through."

"Warning! Worldship class..."

Orion felt the shields snap and burn out, as the uranium-titanium fluid drilled into the back of her ship, and essentially her.

Several alerts came up on screen, displaying the damage wrought to the spinal section of the ship.

Orion was too busy writhing. What the ship felt, she felt, and right now, she had the equivalent of breaking her spine repeatedly, followed by the melting of several internal organs.

The turrets on the nearby Harbinger rotated, splashing their loads of Positrons upon the Worldship. It dissolved under the barrage, turning to dust in seconds.

Orion grabbed hold of the controls again. In her eyes, the simulation flickered, part of it dissolving to show the bridge she was in.

It was suddenly very dark.

"Damage... Report." She barely croaked out.

"Main power lines are gone. Decompressions in sectors K1-K15. We've lost contact with sections L-P."

"Can we still fight?"

"... Barely."

"Stardust!" Orion could barely shout. "It would be safer if you retreated to Unity now."

"Class-S has passed Critical-line."

"All hands, abandon ship." Orion leaned down, grabbing the throttle controls. "I repeat, all hands, abandon ship. The Rex is sinking fast, but she has one last deed to complete..."

"Renegade Three, lending fire support."

Several tubes opened, firing out tiny missiles that flew with astonishing speeds. They embed themselves into the ground, and detonated, wiping out several of the enemy forces.

"Renegade battlegroup, this is HQ. Changeling invasion beginning, all ships respond to emergency."

The frigate turned in mid-air, leaning upwards like a barrel.

The fiery streak of reentry was evident in the clouds above. A small, singular dot detached itself.

It accelerated and slammed into the portside nacelle of the ship, gouging a deep trench in the armor. The liquidized metal fell to the ground below in a molten spray, whereas the kinetic warhead plowed into the ground behind the ship.

The ship listed, engines misfiring.

In the seconds before impact, the ship fired its main gun.

The sky split as a singular laser beam the diameter of a pony lanced out, spearing the approaching Firewitch.

The fireball increased in density, before fading, dust falling in a twinkle.

The frigate, however, hit the ground heavily. It tore through the desert floor, tearing a deep trench as the tail end of the ship swung wide, propelled by unequal forces.

"Minor damage to superstructure. Will attempt to take off in a couple of seconds."

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"Princess, we could just maneuver out of its way, right?"

Twilight shook her head. "All major station systems are powered by the twelve generators. The only things the secondary reactors power are life support and internal functions. Since we've begun charging up the FRIENDSHIP, we've got no power to any maneuvering systems. We can divert secondary reactor power to other systems, but it can't power any station maneuver systems."

"Then what do we do?" Raylight asked, contemplative. "We turn back now, we may not have enough time to displace the asteroid. We don't, and we make the asteroid disappear, but then we lose our main functionality afterwards, not to mention our way home."

"It's quite simple, really," Twilight stated. "We just compromise."

"Compromise?"

Twilight scanned through information floating around the holotable, flicking through a diagram of the station, feeds of information tagged to major systems. "Generators are at full power." She looked up. "FRIENDSHIP control, aim offset of the asteroid. Create the wormhole at this position."

Twilight tapped in the hologram's map of the space around them. The planetoid was looming closer to them, and it was massive on the screen. Amidst the chaos of ships being destroyed, she picked a point just seconds ahead of it, and off to the side.

"I see now, Princess," the commander said. "We're just redirecting its path." He got on the radio. "All allied forces near the approaching planetoid, evacuate immediately."

Twilight nodded. "The objective is to prevent any impacts on Earth. Smashing through the changeling fleet was secondary." The heard the projector fire, but the hum of the laser continued in the background.

The alicorn explained. "Our original plan involved sending it through a wormhole of immense scale with the exit point next to the changeling fleet. Seeing that we don't have the time for that, our resulting wormhole would be too small to do that. However, we still have enough time to create something with a gravity well large enough to affect its path, changing its path by a few crucial degrees. Then, with a couple of seconds to spare we reallocate as much available power to shields." She took a deep breath. "Hopefully. That's the plan."

Despite the explanation of their plan, both still felt tense watching the smaller asteroid head on a course for them. It only got worse from there.

"That's bad. This is bad."

"I don't... don't want to leave Orion behind."

The argument between the two grey pegasi was brief. Star clung to her chest when her heart rate increased as the ship took damage, causing pain. It was clear what needed to happen.

"Match, take her back to Unity," Dusty said as he walked over to his armor and put it on.

"No, you take her," Match argued beside him as he, too, donned his armor. "I can stay for Orion."

"No, I'm sure about this," Stardust asserted. "Go now."

"Well she wasn't talking to me when she yelled."

"I'm pretty sure she wasn't talking about me when she yelled either! Stop arguing and just go! She's Star's friend and I'm making sure she gets out!"

Match grumbled, still disagreeing with his friend. But he relented. "Fine. You come back safe, buddy." He gently took Star into his hooves, who was still wincing in pain.

"I will."

Once Star firmly supported herself on Match, the darker gray pegasus radioed Unity. "Unity, I need extraction for myself and Captain Star. Dusty's going to stay behind and make sure Orion gets off safely."

"She's not... might not... agree with you staying behind," Star said through her pain.

"Yeah, well she can argue all she wants, but she sure wasn't talking to me when she told you to go."

"... Arrowhead, stand by. We have to redirect secondary generator power to secondary transporter systems."

"Secondary?" Dusty thought out loud.

"Either they're in the middle of something or this battle just went to shit," Match said, looking around at the ship dying around them.

"Captain Stardust, we need you to do something..."

"Admiral, respond," Raylight said through comms. "We need you to evacuate the area immediately. We are forming a large gravity well in the vicinity of that planetary body." He turned to Twilight. "I don't know if she's hearing us."

"Unity, I need extraction for myself and Captain Star. Dusty's going to stay behind and make sure Orion gets off safely."

"Ohhh great." He wiped his brow, stressed. The laser was still firing in the background, its hum constant and overbearing. "We'll need to use secondary power for them, won't we?"

The alicorn nodded and got on the station speakers. "All personnel, be advised, we are diverting secondary power and all non-essential functions will go out. Backup lighting will be on for the remainder of combat." The CIC, already dimmed, would not see the effects of the power rerouting, but elsewhere in the station, the regular bright lighting was replaced by low level lighting.

"Arrowhead, stand by. We have to redirect secondary generator power to secondary transporter systems." He sighed. "What about the ship? They're headed right for our wormhole.

"We need them to get out quick."

"Captain Stardust, we need you to do something. Our sensors indicate the ship is still under some control. You need to get everyone off the ship with haste. Too long and we risk not being able to retrieve you. We're currently occupied trying to redirect that dwarf planet, but you risk being caught by the wormhole we're forming."

The commander gritted his teeth. "How much longer?"

"We stop firing ten seconds before asteroid impact so we can raise our shields," Twilight answered.

"Asgard, what's the word on fire support?! Changeling invasion is beginning!"

"Harmony, can not comply. We are fully occupied up here. You're going to have to stick with what you've got down there."

"Oh for fuck's sake!" Stardust exclaimed. There was only one he was sure not currently evacuating.

"This seems... like a familiar scene," Star mumbled.

"Unity, how long until you get us out of here?!" Match yelled.

"Give us a moment... Stand by, extracting you now."

The counterparts shared a glance, before Match and Star disappeared in a small flash of light. Dusty knew what he had to do. He ran over to the command console.

"Hey! Admiral!" He shook her shoulder. "We have to get off now! Unity's orders! They're working on that dwarf planet as we speak! I don't know what you're doing, but let them take care of it!"

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Orion heard him, but kept her eyes focused forward. The simulation was slowly rebuilding itself as power surged through the damaged conduits.

"It's not that simple. I can't just drop out of the simulation, the sync rate is too high." Orion blindly pointed to a red dial near her head on the console. "Without the conduits, the A.I.s can't control the sync rate. Any higher than 100% and I can't drop."

The number blinked at 700%.

Orion wrenched the controls, evading a sizable chunk of asteroid. She felt her engines misfiring.

"All hands confirmed evacuated. Reactors unstable. Positron output decreased. Operational capacity of fifteen percent."

A small screen popped up in her view. Outside, Orion knew it would be projected on one of the larger screens.

"Forefront! Admiral!"

"High Princess!"

"What are you waiting for, get out of there!"

"My sync rate is out of control, I can't drop!"

Twilight kneaded her eyes and grunted. Orion winced as she felt the fur on her hind legs crawl, like they were being savagely ripped at. She watched the asteroid chunks plowing into the super-dense armor, leaving many, many scratches and dents.

"High Princess..." Orion whispered. She kept her eyes forward, on the battle, but she fought to control her rising emotions. "Is there any way?"

"You... You could try cutting the sync fibers." Twilight looked down. "Under the console, pull the red lever. There will be ten fibers. Pull the ones which aren't as bright out, those are of nominal usage, I don't think they will affect your mental or physical capacity that much. Avoid the green wires. Go for the dim blue ones."

"You heard her. Start cutting." Orion felt a terrible sense of loss as a stray asteroid ripped one of the engines nacelles off, sending it spiraling off. Probably equivalent to her losing a wing. "C... Cable cutters across the bridge, weapons locker pa.. passcode 'Detrimental'..."

She groaned as the flaming ship barreled towards the wormhole, already feeling the forces acting.

"You'll need to cut at least six or more of the fibers, so hope and pray there are six or more out of the ten." Twilight looked reassuringly at the duo.

"Ha..." Orion looked in the general direction of the stallion with her wet eyes. "No... No pressure."

"Goddamnit!" One of the ECAF ponies dragged herself from the wreckage of an APC. The Asymmetric Recoilless Carbine she wielded was standard issue, and peppered enemy units with tiny shells propelled to a fraction of the speed of light.

Her armor was smoking, charred, like most of the others in her platoon. They all were just chilling, slowly reloading their guns, some even whistling.

Compared to the Original Equestrian, or even the Unity operatives, they were the eye in the storm.

"What the fuck are you guys doing, taking a piss break? The enemy is there, why aren't you firing!?"

The mare looked at the technicolor mane of the cyan mare, and snorted. "Listen, filly. Those aren't our main problem. Hell, compared to our main problem, those are like microscopic viruses. So get the fact that our troops are gearing up for the most intense fight of their extremely short lives into your thick skull!"

"Are you saying I have a thick head? Who the hell are you, anyway?"

"No, sugarcube." The mare detached her helmet, revealing the neatly tied ponytail, and orange fur. Applejack looked up with one eye, the other covered with a scar. "I'm just saying there was always a reason that when you crash, everything seems to break, except your skull!"

"Well said, Admiral!"
"Need cold water for that burn, filly?"
"Hoho, that deserves a drink."

"Somebody get a RPG over the barricade." Applejack turned away. "Make sure it hits."

The ECAF forces all twisted at the same time, pulling out tubular rods from their saddlebags. As one, they all fired, the wave of micro-missiles sweeping the battlefield.

"Claritans retreating." A soldier remarked with a smug voice, seeing the giant armored suits turn and run.

"Renegade three to Admiral on ground. Changeling assault detected. Contacts approaching from six o'clock, treeline. Five hundred meters."

"Drop us the barricades! Tanks on the ground and firing!" Applejack shouted as she picked out a rail extension for the ARC. The Frigate soared overhead, hatches opening and dropping elongated rectangles. These slammed into the ground and unfolded, revealing several stair and ladders onto the fifty meter high battlements, as well as recessed weapons caches. Already, the battalion was swarming on to the walls, opening fire and keeping the bugs at long distance. Tanks parked up directly behind the wall and pitched their barrels upwards, firing lob shots into the swarm.

Applejack sealed up her helmet, and pointed towards the walls. "Piss break's over, wanna see some firepower in action?" She said, before charging onto the battlements as well.

"Renegade three engaging hostile Firewitch."

Missiles swarmed off the hull of the frigate, slamming into the bow of the approaching ship.

This was an honest-to-gods boots on dirt battle, and Applejack was savoring every second of it.

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Stardust quickly went to work, pulling on the lever. "'Detrimental'... who came up with that?" he mumbled. He pulled out his knife. "No need, standard issue knife is made for utility purposes too."

"Dim and blue, dim and blue..." He started cutting wires, the sharp blade slicing through with general ease. "Erggh... Match was always more comfortable with the wire cutting than me..."

With a grunt of effort, he stabbed through another wire. Then he took a look at what was left. "... The rest are all green! There's only fucking five!" He grumbled in frustration. "High Princess, are these supposed to change color or something? Is there anything else I can do?"

He looked at his watch and at the various displays around him. "We've got maybe forty seconds left in here! God, what do I do?!"

He heard the mare on the command console whimper. "Don't worry, I'm not leaving you," he said, placing a comforting hoof. He paced around, trying to find an answer, or waiting for one.

"... Stardust, hang tight." It was the same voice instructing him earlier, but not from the projectors. This was from his ear.

"Twilight?"

"Princess, what are you doing?"

"Get me onto that ship."

"Princess, we're barely thirty seconds away from raising our shields. Which by that time, I'm not sure how long that ship has left intact! Half a minute maybe! And when our shields are raised, we cannot retrieve you!"

"Which is precisely why I'm telling you to beam me onto that ship now! I don't care if he finds a solution in the next five seconds, he's never abandoned me, and I won't abandon him when he needs help, so I'm giving him my utmost support, whether he needs it or not! I don't care whether I give magical assistance or just moral support, at the least I can keep the environment safe! Now do it!"

"The hay are those things?" Rainbow said, looking up.

Rarity looked through her scope. "Want me to give a guess? They look like battlements."

"Um... girls, we have a bigger problem." Fluttershy looked up from her tablet. "I think the changelings are here, and they're coming from behind us."

Suddenly, Princess Luna appeared next to them. "Twilight! And the rest of you! I know not what is happening, but only that we must get out of what we are caught between." Then she stared. "Twilight, what are your friends doing?"

Twilight looked to her friends. Or 'friends'.

"You gotta tell her, Twi," Applejack said.

"Tell me? Tell me what?" Luna shook her head. "Whatever it is, it can wait for Canterlot." Her horn lit up. "We shall go there... go... go..."

"Luna," Twilight said, "what's wrong?"

Luna looked desperate as her horn stopped glowing. "I... cannot transport us to Canterlot. They are... are under full lockdown."

"Oh no..." Applejack said. "'Shy? What's it look like?"

Fluttershy tapped on her tablet. "Canterlot is under attack as well. Equestrian fleet forces are attempting to repel the attack."

"Who... who are you? You look like the Element bearers, and your magic identities show you are, but what I see does not correlate with what I know."

Rainbow looked around. "Princess, I'll explain everything, and Twilight will help, but first, we need to get to safety. Right now, this spot is about to become the front lines." She turned to her squadmates, specifically her designated markspony, heavy weapons, and demolitions pony. "Rarity, AJ, Pinkie, stay here and cover from here. Make sure the defensive line doesn't budge an inch until I say so."

"You got it, Dash." Applejack nodded, cradling her MG.

"Okie doki! Yessir!" Pinkie gave a simple salute and a smile, grenade launcher in hooves and a couple of AT weapons she managed to scrounge together behind her. And a mortar she managed to get from a Claritan squad that moved too far forward.

"As you order, Major." Rarity gave a relaxed but crisp salute, a sniper rifle as long as her slung around her neck.

Rainbow nodded as the three finished their acknowledgements. "Fluttershy, you're with us. We just got to escort them over to those battlements."

Fluttershy put her tablet away and checked her rifle. "Ready when you are, Rainbow."

"Okay. Princess, Twilight, start running. We'll be right behind you. AJ, you three fall back when I call you." The four mares ran off while the three assigned to their impromptu trench stayed behind.

Safely behind the cover of crates and mounds of dirt they dug out, the three looked towards where the changelings were to have said to be coming from.

"I see them," Rarity said behind her scope. "Seven hundred yards." There were loud reports as the unicorn let loose a couple of rounds downrange, resulting in an equal amount of dead changelings.

Applejack looked down the sights of the mortar, adjusting accordingly. "Yup, I see 'em. Pinkie, drop one in."

The pink pony slid in a shell, and as the two heard the scraping of metal, they leaned away, before a sharp clang signaled the firing of a shell. They looked down range, watching the glowing shell fall towards the earth. It hit the ahead of the charging changelings, causing only a few to fall.

"Gee, Applejack, you've lost your touch," Rarity teased.

"Oh shut up, Rarity. I haven't touched a mortar in ages."

"Reminds you of our time in the army doesn't it? Good old boots-on-the-ground combat in Annamitia. Fighting down and dirty in the jungles, in the fields, in the streets."

Applejack couldn't tell if Rarity was being nostalgic, sarcastic, or condescending of the memories, or some crazy combination of it. She rolled her eyes and scoffed. "And in all the rain. Yup, good ol' fuckin' 'Nam. How could I forget? Pinkie! Fire!"

Another cycle of metal against metal, and the sharp report. It was backdropped by multiple loud gunshots.

"Hm, that was better. Landed ten yards left. Bring your aim fifty yards in."

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Orion felt her grip slip. A piercing shriek entered her mind. When she looked around, a whole slice of the simulation was missing. "It's beginning to work."

"Check the sync rate."

Orion eyed the red digits.

"150%..." She answered forlornly. "Still can't drop."

Twilight sighed explosively, banging her head against the table. "I'm sorry. There's not much else I can do."

Orion winced. In front of her, about five kilometers from her viewpoint, and ten from where they actually were, the ship began shedding armor plating under the extreme stresses. With her sync rate lowered, it didn't hurt as much, but damn it still stung.

"What happens..." Orion began.

"Motor loss of a random limb for a period." Twilight replied instantly. "Legs, wings, Celestia forbid, maybe even your entire facial region. That's the best case scenario."

"Worst?"

"The empty neural feedback will drive any weak mind crazy. It's the equivalent of being shoved into a giant empty room of -3 decibels."

With the shredded regions inching ever closer, Orion just nodded.

"Better than nothing."

Warning, detected destruction of Sync Fibers.
Attempting to reinforce remaining.
Authorization: Directive 457

"I thought you deleted the Dumb A.I.s." Orion forced out a choked laugh. "Well, now we definitely do need those bolt cutters. Unless your knife can cut through woven steel."

The Mobile HQ was busy as hell. Sitting in the spine of a dedicated Destroyer, it oversaw the battle from a safe distance.

The holographic 3-D map was filled with a flurry of colored lines, each depicting trajectories and unit movements. It took trained eyes to decipher them, filter out what wasn't important, and report on what was. Which was why no fewer than twelve analysts watched the battle.

Twilight herself eyed the console. She wasn't as proficient, but could hold her own.

"Sector K2, triple frigate move to sector K10. Attack the Enemy units passing the defensive line."
"Sector C5, singular Destroyer move to Sector D5. Defend against stragglers."

"Keep it up ponies, we're nearly there." Twilight shouted over the bedlam, eying the final wave. Five Worldship class, followed by a Destroyer, spewing Uranium-Titanium beams, but only hitting debris, saving the smaller ships. "Final wave!"

"Goddamned fillies.." Applejack snorted. "Alright people, we got stranded! Get the minor gates open, let the four coming straight at us in immediately. Artillery, give the other three fire support."

The barrels just barely tilted, before chuffing. The high impact payloads arced over the walls, over the trio, and slammed into the approaching swarm with pinpoint accuracy.

"They should really be moving back towards the wall." One soldier remarked as his ARC cycled, smoking.

"They should have retreated with us, before we removed the ladders and stairways. Too late now, they've gotta go through the gates." Another replied, firing sporadically.

"In any damn case, there are Tanks headed our way. ARC-2s concentrate fire upon those Tanks, Artillery as well. ARCs continue firing against the drones." Applejack ordered over coms.

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"It won't need to."

Stardust quickly turned around to find Twilight standing there. "Twilight!"

"No time! What do we need to do?"

"Cut the rest of these sync fibers, or just one more, hope that it doesn't kill her mind."

Twilight looked around frantically, seeing diagrams of the ship as it was being destroyed. "Okay, I'll try and keep her mind safe, and I'll help you as much as I can with the fibers. Here, take this." She levitated out a sheath from beneath her plain dress uniform, throwing it over to Stardust. "You remember what it is, right?"

"Thaumium blade enhanced with magic and technology," he said as he caught it and unsheathed it. "A legend of old made for the modern day and the future."

Twilight's horn lit, an aura appearing around them all in the bridge, around Orion, and at one of the fibers. "Okay, go!"

Stardust took a step back and flared his wings.

"FRIENDSHIP shutdown in twenty seconds."

"Current simulations indicate that the ship has little more than a few seconds after that."

"Commander, changeling fleet has reentered the combat zone en masse."

Markers of all kind lit up on the holotable. The large changeling ships were still far from them, yet the commander knew they would have to help deal with those soon. But before that- "Princess, I hope you come back safe..."

Rainbow groaned as they entered the wall. She winced as she noticed a cut where she had been grazed by a changeling weapon just below her shoulder. Then she noticed the stares she was getting from the other soldiers. "Hey. What's up?" she greeted casually, before continuing to make her way.

She put a hoof to her radio. "Rarity, get ready."

"That will not be necessary," Luna said. "I will get them."

"Are you... are you sure?"

"I'm an old warrior, Miss Dash; I can handle this. I know it does not show. And it will only take a couple of seconds. Wait here." Luna disappeared in a flash light.

"On second thought, Rarity, just stay there."

"Princess!" Applejack yelled in surprise.

"There is no time! Come close!" Her horn lit and a burst of energy expanded from around them, clearing a radius of a couple of meters of changelings. Then the three disappeared in another flash of light.

The three opened their eyes, finding themselves in the midst of the Equestrian fleet forces. Rarity felt the stares. "Uh, hello everyone." She waved a hoof. "Carry on."

Applejack lifted a hoof. "Howdy."

Pinkie just grinned and waved.

"Now then," Luna said, "I believe you have time to explain."

"Rarity?" Rainbow said.

"Very well then," Rarity replied. "Twilight, will you help me please?"

Twilight nodded. "Of course."

They began explaining the situation.

3214161

Orion felt a spike of pain, before the simulation totally dissolved.

Leaning to the side, Orion slid off the console. Her armor descended upon her, sealing her up.

Looking at the concerned faces looking at her, Orion gave a small smile, before testing her limbs. One by one they responded, which allayed her fears for a second.

"I'm fine. We need to move!" She wanted to say.

She felt her mouth move, but no sound came out.

Ahah. Vocal Chord paralysis. Well, it could be worse. Orion shrugged, before gesturing wildly at her throat, and then at a smaller recessed hatch. Hopefully, they would realize that she was getting them to an escape route.

The artificial gravity failed as the wormhole ate the midline gravity generators. Using her Ethereal Wings, Orion tackled both ponies and drove them towards the hatch, which opened immediately. Letting go, it became a slide. Gravity still worked in there as that depended on centrifugal forces.

The metal turned to glass for a couple of seconds. Outside, Orion just spied the ship disintegrating.

The slide ended up in a two-seater cockpit of a ECAF Interceptor, painted in Orion flame red. It already sported more than twenty stars on the rear canopy.

The second seat folded down to give the two other ponies some semblance of space.

Orion quickly typed out a fast message, before starting the engines up front. The canopy clicked shut, and the guide rails grabbed the fuselage.

The message read: Sorry if uncomfortable, but hold on. This ship has barely seconds before the wormhole shreds this part. Not sure if we had time or if the wormhole would affect teleport. Don't tense up, you'll die if you do.

The hanger glowed green.

The catapult went off, propelling the Interceptor at Mach 10 along the rails.

The rails behind them shattered into massive chunks of debris.

The Interceptor pass the one klick end of the runway. As it left the main rails, a booster setup attached onto the end of it, propelling them even faster, at the cost of making it three times longer.

Come on, come on! Orion fired the missile pods, destroying the damaged hanger door. The ship blew out of the bedlam, leaving a slivery streak of exhaust and debris. Immediately, Orion threw the craft into a spin, just barely scraping an asteroid.

If there was screaming from behind, she couldn't hear it.

Hang on.

The asteroid in front of them had a hole burnt right through it, but at random angles. Orion pressed forwards on the throttles, twitching her wings at the last second to make all sorts of minute adjustments. The Interceptor flipped and rolled, just barely missing the walls of the tunnel by inches.

"Wormhole still in effect. Distance still decreasing."

Who's this?

"A.I. Retribution, aboard the Forefront."

Okay, so we're not gonna make it?

"I did not say that. While my control is quickly disappearing, I can still detonate the Flux Reactors and create a wave which can hopefully push you out of the effective attractive range."

Thank you.

"Celestia smile upon your journey. Go get them."

Orion barely saw the flash, before an overwhelming brightness filled the cockpit. She slid down her visor, and used the 3-D scanner to keep an eye on objects detected in front of her. Several structural failure alarms flashed in her visor, but she concentrated upon getting the jet away from the wormhole.

She felt the shuddering slow and stop. Sliding her visor up, she looked back. The destroyed remains of the Forefront slowly spiraled into the wormhole.

Orion typed out a message. Hey, we're clear. I'm bringing you guys back to Unity now.

The Interceptor spun around, facing the now giant station.

Orion eyed the station. Oh dear...

"Artillery! Redirect fire upon that region!" Applejack lasered the approaching Tank formation using her ARC. Almost immediately, they disappeared in a dust cloud.

"They're climbing the walls!"
"Well then fire downwards goddamnit!"

A loud buzzing filled the air.

"Kitters! Everyone duck!"

Several spindly insects swooped down and slashed at random. Several Marines yelled and fell over, clutching deep cuts in their armor suits.

Applejack yanked out a shoulder-mounted Stynx missile launcher. It locked on to several of the Kitters, before firing fragmentation missiles from a revolver style cartridge. These homed in and blasted the insects into ichor and body parts.

She eyed the group down below the battlements.

"HEY! FILLY! GET TO COVER NOW! IT'S NOT SAFE IN THE OPEN!"

"Admiral!" A panicked shout grabbed her attention.

Applejack turned to just block the scything limbs of the Kitter with her shield implement. She was sent flying along the wall, rolling into a crouch.

"Thanks! Let's get back to work!"

3216269
Raylight saw the ship break apart on the holographic map.

"FRIENDSHIP shutdown. Shields to full," a technician called out. The bright laser beam stopped firing.

"Asteroid impact in seven seconds." Up in the bridge, the asteroid loomed. However, even on the holotable, the size was still imposing.

"Shields at maximum."

Outside, the asteroid shattered into large pieces.

"Asteroid is breaking up. Shields successful."

"Give me a report on generator status."

"Fluctuated down to 40%. Slight desyncronization. Recovery in process."

"Detonating warp cores... always works."

"What are you talking about now, Stardust?"

He chuckled. "Nothing. Let's contact Unity." He found a radio and transmitted accordingly. "Asgard, this is Harmony 1, we have escaped the ship and are heading home."

"... Harmony, be advised, there is a dense asteroid field between us. Approach with caution. Cleared to land in Bay 9."

"You know, I never liked the carrier operations. That was more of Rainbow's thing," Twilight sighed.

"Yeah, I remember."

Raylight sighed in relief. "So the Princess is out safe. MAPS control, 1 - 6 on debris clearing. Energy pulses and tractor beams. Clear them a way. All other MAPS to energy pulses. Don't leave any large chunks floating around. All fragments must be small enough to burn up on reentry."

The twelve MAPS mounts on the outer edge of Unity's base went to work. Each large chunk of rock was hit with a pulse of magic, shattering it into even smaller pieces like a hammer to a snowball, as well as stopping their movement. Around the interceptor, piles of rubble were directed away, giving a clear line to the station.

Twilight linked with Orion's mind. "You know, Admiral, I can link with your mind. Good work back there. If you have anything you want to say to us, feel free to do so."

"Dusty? Dusty, you there?"

"Oh, hey, Star."

"How's Orion?"

"She can't talk. Twilight's going to fix her vocal cords later."

"Huh. Well, that's good. Get back here quick, you don't want to stay out there for long."

"Wilco."

Luna interrupted Rarity and Twilight. "Perhaps we should take this elsewhere. There is still a tent standing over there. It will help as framework for a shielding spell as well."

"Fine by me," Applejack agreed.

They followed Luna closely, Rainbow and Applejack walking side by side. "Hey, you heard anything familiar about that voice earlier?"

Applejack rolled her eyes. "No, Rainbow, I can't recognize my own voice."

"You could just hear how condescending it was, how irritated-"

"I'm pretty sure it was just the battle talkin'."

Rainbow punched her friend lightly. "Yeah, right. Sometimes you're even worse than some of me!"

"Ha ha, funny. Least she ain't me. I was never that crazy."

"I'm pretty sure you were at one point. Remember 1016?"

Applejack changed the subject. "So what's the plan now? We keep on fightin' or leave the work to one set of us? I think we should just let them deal with it and we should keep Luna company and help her any way we can."

"It's their bugs," Rainbow shrugged. "Sounds good to me."

3216364

With the field being cleared in front of her, Orion kept the throttles running hot. Opening fleetwide coms, she typed out a message to HQ, detailing their position and her predicament.

As usual, the reply was succinct. "HQ acknowledges, Talon-II fighter escort will be in your area."

Five sweeping dark-blue ion trails swooped into formation around her.

"Hello, Admiral. Epsilon Squadron at your service."

Orion nodded, before flashing a warning light to the jets. They all accelerated slightly, just keeping level with her. Orion flicked a lever.

Behind them, explosive bolts detonated. The booster unit, long since totally used up, broke into manageable pieces and drifted away. Orion felt the freedom of agility come back to the sluggish controls.

Five hundred meters left. Orion looked around, eyeing the smaller asteroid pieces, looking for potential escape routes, and watching, ever watching, for enemies.

The Talon-IIs swooped in and out of the field, their RCS jets far in superior to the Interceptor's. They kept an eye on the field, making sure the Interceptor was well guarded.

"Epsilon Four, I've got some movement in the field, might be Changeling. Three, come with me."
"Roger. Breaking formation."

The two ion trails suddenly disappeared, as the planes disappeared into the field.

"Contacts, Epsilon Four, Three, engaging!"

Laser lines and plasma bursts emerged from the field.

"Admiral! Go, we'll get them! Two, stay with her!"
"Roger."

Orion pushed the engines to max again, accelerating from the battle. Not that she wasn't capable to turning and blowing those Changelings to hell, she was just carrying an important load of cargo. Her Docking Guidance HUD initialized, giving her a good view of the run up required for a hot landing in the assigned bay.

Well, this is gonna be a hard stop, Princess. Please hold on. Orion thought, before pushing the throttle to maximum. The exhausts glowed a bright blue against the darkness of space.

"Unity control to Harmony carrier, you are coming in too hot. Adjust speed to 10% of current."

Orion ignored the voice, instead focusing on the throttle. For this to work, she would have to time this perfectly.

Episilon 2, return to your wingmates. I can handle them.
"... Understood... Complying."

The jet peeled off.

Her HUD blinked.
<Three hundred meters.>

"Harmony carrier, decrease speed now!"

Orion complied this time. Keeping her engines at full, she used RCS and flipped the ship 180 degrees, facing backwards now. The whine of the engines strained her hearing. Orion engaged the RCS thrusters as well, lending her extra deceleration.

The shield dropped just long enough for her to slip into the gap.

The Interceptor slid to a stop inside the cavernous hanger bay, engines just shutting down. Orion let go of the controls and turned around, looking into the second cockpit, and at the two ponies inside.

Here's your stop.

"Fireteam 3, reinforce Fireteam 7, the changelings are starting to take hold there!" Applejack looked at the frigate. "Renegade three, Fire support!"

"Stand-by."

The port missile silos opened, letting loose a flurry of missiles. These drove themselves into the ground, detonating with high--velocity shrapnel.

The battlefield was cleared of Changelings... For now.

"Fuck!" Applejack looked around at her beleaguered troops. They all stared back at her, several with looks of apprehension. Looking at the battlefield, already, she could just about see the new changelings assembling for another attack.

"HQ to Renegade three forces. Respond, marines."

"Twilight. The situation here is pretty dire."

"Same story across the globe. We're barely holding them off at the one klick barriers."

Applejack paused for a second. She imagined all the cities across the globe, with their assigned divisions, and still they couldn't push back hard enough?

"We've cleared up the situation in space, most of the debris won't be a problem. All we've got now is to deal with Five Worldship classes, and one Destroyer class."

"Class-S?"

"It's gone way off target, with that flux explosion. It won't be much of a problem." Twilight paused. "The main problem is that our forces are nearly decimated. All our battlegroups are reporting 65% losses in small ships, and we've lost two CBSs. The ones that survive are heavily damaged. Munitions are depleted, most reactors are leaking from stress."

"Can we take them?"

"Not with what we have now."

"Told Unity?"

"They are on the same channel, they know."

What the Interceptor looks like:

Notice the double bubble canopy.
What the Talon-II Class fighter looks like:

Both amazing planes are from a Japanese anime easily named 'Yukikaze'.

3218614
Stardust let Twilight get out first, the alicorn only a bit dazed. More irritated with the ordeal than startled. He leaned over to Orion. "You know, the Unity flight controllers don't like it when ponies do that. They don't like getting their paint scratched. Also standard accident safety guidelines, but it's also the paint."

He glanced out over to the side. "Don't stop her from acting like every landing's a combat landing though. Sometimes she even does an aileron roll before touching down," he said, motioning his head over a fighter readying for launch. A blue pegasus with a yellow mane was next to it. "Anyways, you're welcome to stay aboard, Admiral. You're free to set up in our CIC- plenty of room for you to manage your operations there."

He leapt out of the cockpit, gliding down to the deck. "Pleasure meeting you, Admiral. If you're considering the offer, you can follow me back. And if not, you can always ask around. If you ask me, I think they'll want to talk to you, if only for a short moment."

However, instead of heading directly back, Stardust walked over to the mare he was talking about earlier. "Yo, Captain Dust, what's up?"

Lightning rolled her eyes and gave a hint of a grin. "Captain Stardust. You have any idea what it's like being a resurrectee of Unity? A military vet resurrectee? Gave all of us that accepted one a pager for any time Unity's making a jump out. Always thought I'd just live on a kinda normal life after the whole ordeal, but every time that thing pings, I always feel kinda obligated to answer."

"How many times have you actually accepted?" Stardust asked.

"Couple. Not often, but sometimes my emotions get the best of me." Lightning shrugged. "Just... you know, want to do some good, every now and then. Put aside being selfish and repressing the bad memories from long ago to serve again. War sucked, but hey, I'm the one that worked with the Element of Loyalty, and fuck me if I didn't learn some good things."

"This one of the largest Unity ops you've been on?"

"I'd say so. They're actually making me fly gunship on ground support this time- just like 'Nam." Lightning perked as she remembered something. "That was Twilight, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I just remembered- where's Rainbow?"

"Hell if I know," he lied.

"She's down there, isn't she."

"Why would she ever be down there? For what reason?"

Lightning flew over to her cockpit and got on the radio. "Hazard 2-1 to Unity CIC, requesting location of Major Rainbow Dash."

"... Hazard 2-1, Harmony 1-2 is on the ground, outside Clarity City, where your orders state you are to support operations."

She flew back down and gave Stardust a look.

"And because you knowing is good how?"

"Because I'm her friend and I'm concerned!"

Stardust shrugged. "I figured that if you were just deployed out, you could do it without emotions getting in the way. Or possible combat banter."

"My emotions do not get in the way. I, for one, am one of those that believe concern while on a mission is a good thing, keeping soldiers focused and gives them a motive to do their best- and I know you think the same way too. But... the second part I might be able to agree with." She ended with a sheepish expression. "But humor is good! Loosens tension!"

"Alright, alright, just go," Stardust smiled. "And your record was a 9 meter skid mark."

"Damn. You know, they make Unity take 10% of the cost of the paint to repaint those parts of the deck from my paycheck."

"Well, better luck later."

Twilight had already taken her magical teleportation shortcut back to Unity's CIC. "Commander, what's the newest developments?"

"ECAF fleet apparently may not have the capability to take on the remaining changeling fleets."

"What about the Covenant fleet?"

"Analysis says that the dimensional glitches seem to lock on their DID signatures. They keep disappearing from this universe. It would be great to have consistent assistance, but as of now, we can't count on it."

"How about the ground war?"

"ECAF forces are reportedly struggling to hold off the invasion. Unity's own ground combat forces only have enough to support maybe, five of these positions. Obviously, one is being sent to help with Canterlot, and another where Harmony is at."

Twilight stared at the planet on the holotable, thinking. "Is the situation that severe?"

"It seems so."

"Options?"

"If we follow our current strategy now, Unity would continue holding it's position in Earth orbit, supporting both space and ground operations. Provided we don't have to do anything like that asteroid earlier, and instead just destroy ships, the laser should have good effect. But, Princess, there is... another option."

"I think I already know what you're about to suggest."

"You said it yourself. Interference by foreign dimension forces may be countered by another foreign force."

"You understand that decisions like these are exactly why it is a rule that one princess must accompany Unity on every mission it takes."

"I understand."

"And you understand that being in this position means that that I may still deny the request."

Raylight sighed, knowing that she was only stating the truth. "I understand."

"I've said it many times before. Involvement in other universes is always a delicate matter, and is always a very controversial topic with many varying angles. Escalation of a situation, whether specifically our involvement or otherwise, is a constant argument, moral or otherewise."

"I've never known you to be a heartless pony, Princess."

"I'm not heartless, Commander. I am merely abiding by lines we have set but are constantly figuring out and reestablishing. Remember, some may argue that none of this matters to us- why waste our own ponies' lives then? Those are the types of arguments that we always face in these scenarios, and is part of the restrictions that govern the frequency of Unity's own allowance for inter-dimensional travels."

"This is the largest situation of this type I've been involved in during my time as commander of this station, Princess. What do we do?"

"We learn more about the situation as we can as quickly as possible." Twilight put her hoof on the table's console. "Captain Stardust, get the Admiral up here quickly. We need to talk."

3220106

Orion spent part of her time writing out a complex set of rules regarding 'refueling' the Interceptor which culminated in: "Don't touch it at all, unless you have ionized Neon-Argon-Xenon fuel mix and a complete understanding of how to effectively spin an magneto-electric plate." for the curious technicians.

"ECAF HQ to Admiral."

Orion opened a typing interface and quickly began drawing in midair.

'Reporting.'
"You made it. Where?"
'Unity.'
"I see. We're getting reports from our fastest scouts now, I ill send you all the information when we've compiled it."
'Keep me informed, and pull the fleet back to around Unity. Solid curtain.'
"You got it. Oh."
'Yes?'
"Ask if we can use the S.L.E.S."
'... That bad?'
"Worse."

Orion approached the command center. For a giant station, she was expecting something far bigger and grander, but it should suffice.

I'm here, what do you want to talk about? She eyed the unicorn on the opposite side of the holographic display table. And I also have to clear something with you... Questions first, though.

"All land elements, begin orderly and quick retreat to five hundred meters barriers. Set up and fire Kinetic Shields. Dispatch one platoon to the city or town to gather the inhabitants into a secure position. We will begin dropping S.L.E.S. bases, mark position with flares."

"You heard command! Pull back!" Applejack yelled. "Kinetic Shielding units, follow Echo Platoon into city center and set up the shield!"

The troops swarmed off the wall. When the last dropped off, the walls began to glow a dull orange. The Changelings skidded to a halt and hissed at the intense heat of the melting barricades.

"Renegade three!"

"Ready."

"Drop more barricades at the five hundred mark!"

"Fabricators running. Will comply."

Applejack, too tired to give a crap, yanked out a magic-splicing knife, used to subdue unicorns who tried to raise any magical barriers, and ripping into the side of the tent.

"With all due respect, Princess." Applejack poked her head in, looking at the group. "We're retreating, might want to follow us back this time."

3221018
Star glided down from one of the balconies where she was observing the upper portion of the map, landing near Dusty and was assisted by him on landing, on account of her continuing pain from her injury. They were on another side of the table standing amidst a few other officers, observing the lower portions of the planetary map. Star smiled and nodded towards Orion.

"So a command center with a 5 by 5 by 5 meter holotable, numerous display screens, a wide array of computer stations, and a full balcony circling the room isn't enough, eh?" Raylight casually mumbled, not looking away from the map.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Not now, Commander."

The stallion introduced himself. "Admiral Orion, I'm Commander Raylight, commander of Unity. Welcome aboard."

Twilight turned to Orion. "First of all, your vocal chords. It would be helpful if everyone could just hear you directly, and is much faster that way as well."

A glow surrounded Orion's throat as the alicorn healed it. "Now that you can properly speak to all of us, I need to know just how severe your situation is. Do you have any contingency plans? Or are the remaining plans something we'd rather not carry out?"

By the time other Applejack interrupted, Rarity and Twilight had already finished their story.

Luna nodded. "I see. I will try and communicate with my sister later. Let us go for now."

Rainbow motioned outside. "Well, you heard AJ, let's roll." She put a hoof to her radio. "Asgard, Harmony. Be advised, we are retreating towards Clarity City. What's the status on ground support?"

"... Harmony, one MAPS is assigned to assist at Canterlot and another at your position. The rest are on station defense. A flight of gunships was just launched towards your position, ETA 20 seconds. Callsign 'Hazard'."

"So?" Applejack asked beside her as they ran.

"They sent Lightning."

"Well that's good," Rarity said.

"Day might've gotten brighter, but we're still stuck in a storm. No puns."

"Alright, alright, we'll leave that to you two," Applejack commented.

3221087

Orion started by ducking her head for a second, going through a series of intonations to test her vocal chords.

"Alright." Orion looked up again. "Alright."

She opened her own files, which she had just received.

"Well, unfortunately, due to circumstances we didn't foresee, nor were able to predict, we suffered severe losses, as in, 65% of our small ships are sunk or drifting with zero operational capability. We've lost two of the CBSs, meaning the FLuX bombs are not in play anymore. Facing off with five Worldship classes and one Destroyer class, is currently impossible." Orion brought up a schematic of the newest enemy, the Destroyer. "That thing is a CBS killer. The Worldships needed to get close? The Destroyer strikes from afar."

Another map of the ground appeared. "An approximate thirty seven Firewitches and Troop Carriers made landfall. Normally, that wouldn't be an issue, but somehow, they've already dug into the ground, so we can't destroy them. Those Troop Carriers are creating troops faster than we can smoosh them. The Renegade battlegroup in low orbit is depleted of munitions. We have been pushed back to a five hundred meter defensive line from the outer perimeters of most of the major population centers, and have set up Kinetic Barriers. Those will buy us about eight hours."

Another schematic appeared, of a flattened, rectangular block with a chimney-like protrusion on top. "We're currently dropping in Space Lift Evacuations Systems, which will connect to several ships in orbit by wires. Upon these wires, giant containers, capable of carrying tens of thousands of ponies out of the danger zone, will run, bringing the civilians up off the ground, at least for the duration of ground operations.."

Orion paused, looking at the faces of the unity personnel. So far, it looked like they understood, but she wasn't sure.

"Also, by isolating several carrier waves and signals, we've more or less deduced that that Destroyer is inbound to complete what the original Firewitch was not able to complete. It's gonna go in, crap on the world, and settle in the flames. Such orders do indicate the presence of a controlling mind, a Queen, nothing less. Our best hope of defeating the Changelings on the ground, in the air, and in space simultaneously, would be to destroy the Destroyer, and hence the Queen." Orion shook her head sadly. "Unfortunately, that leads us back to our initial concern. We have no ships."

"So we're screwed?" A random officer muttered under his breath. Orion's ears perked up.

"I didn't say that." She raised an eyebrow. "There is... One... But for now, that's off the table until we're seriously, seriously in trouble. You got any plans?"

"Kinetic Barriers, going up!"

The air sparked, before solidifying, compressed to super-dense proportions by magical flux. The changelings slammed into the wall, bouncing off with snarls and buzzing.

Applejack took off her helmet, breathing a sigh of relief. "We've got eight hours. Get the flares up, I want that S.L.E.S. down within the next three minutes!"

"Yes, Admiral!"

Across the city, red and orange lights sprang up.

A new twinkling appeared in the sky. Four Thresholds, each carrying a giant rectangular pallet strapped to their underbelly, soared in, homing on the lights. In sync, the dropped the pallets. These dug into the ground, before extending arms and latching onto each other, They drew together, finally heat sealing the four units together.

From these pallets, a whole swarm of nanites sprung out, and began construction of the base.

"All Platoons, begin directing civilians to the S.L.E.S. center." Applejack cocked her ARC, turning to the group of ponies she was following.

"That means you guys as well, please."

3223692
Raylight rubbed his chin. "Give us the numbers on this 'Destroyer'. Unity's capable of destroying planets, given enough time, so a ship shouldn't be too much of a problem. Probably a couple of minutes. We also need to know if there's anything we should know about destroying it- anything we should hit, anything we shouldn't. We have somewhere around 200 nuclear warheads with magnitudes for ship combat. Granted, these were built to combat ships that were maybe 5 klicks long at most. But with 200 of them, we might have enough.

"As you've probably found out already, Unity's combat profile involves long-ranged, precision, hard-hitting strikes. That's either through the FRIENDSHIP system- the giant laser, using it purely for destructive effects, launching long-ranged missiles, or our very unique way of fighting, sending nuclear warheads through the dimensional void and have it exit at coordinates inside a ship. Granted the last one takes a bit more time to execute, given the precision required, but it pays off."

He turned to Twilight. "Can you at least send a request for consideration, Princess?"

The alicorn nodded. "I'll write a report containing all the information we have immediately."

"Did she just call us civilians?" Applejack irritatedly asked Rainbow.

"I think you did."

Rarity interrupted. "To be fair, we never had formal introductions with them. I'll go clear that up right now." The two other mares just watched as the unicorn approached the other Applejack. "Hello, Admiral, I believe I hear? I'm Lieutenant Rarity, Unity Expedition Force. Our orders are to supervise the ground operations. Thank you for your time."

She walked back to her friends. "Well, that should do it. However, Twilight and Princess Luna..."

"I don't think they have a place here anymore," Applejack admitted. "Hey Dash, get Twilight on the line. She'd probably want the Princesses on Unity."

3223860

"Even we are not sure of what the inner workings of a Destroyer class is, none of our drones nor scout ships have survived to tell us anything." Orion shrugged. "The most I can tell you is that the outer armor appears to be fully reactive, so it will grow and shrink in size as thought necessary by whatever controls it. The last time we tried to nuke it, the nuke detonated point blank, but its armor had built itself into a bowl shape, redirecting most of the explosive energy out to space. We barely cut a hole thirty meters deep into the armor, which then regenerated as we FTL'ed out of the combat zone."

Orion shuffled her hooves. "That's all I know. Some simple echo readings do tend to point to it having massive internal tunnels, which we suspect of being able to carry stuff like Firewitches and Troop Transports. The problem is that those holes seem to change every time, and there are no obvious entry points into the ship."

The room was silent for a moment.
Orion eyed the reading again. Something had caught her attention...

"There is... One way..." She murmured. "It's gonna require a real skillful pilot, and precise targeting though..."

"My mistake, civilian. Unfortunately for you, the last time I checked in our books, you were dead to us, so reinstatement from the grave does not account for jackshit in our ground ops. And while you may have your orders from some alternate Twilight, I still don't care, because, honestly speaking, which of us has better training, better experience, and more boots on the ground?"

Applejack kept an eye on the building. It was just solidifying, and already civilians were being herded into it.

"Admiral! Turns out those troops we fought were mercs. They've given up now, so we shouldn't expect any resistance." A captain shouted as he galloped past. "Just thought you might want to know!"

"Thanks, Hoarfrost! Make sure the civvies get loaded ASAP!" She pointed towards the building. "I want them loaded in twenty, and launch preps done in an hour!"

3227019
"Of course it devolves into that..." Stardust commented.

"Are you volunteering youself for this plan you haven't explained yet?" the commander asked. "Becuase if you are, you're free to do it, once, of course, you explain what you plan to do. Unity can't just sit back waiting on a contingency plan."

Twilight was pulled aside by an officer.

"Wow, it's you on a really bad day," Rainbow commented.

"You know, I'm not sure I can blame her," Applejack responded.

A reply came back from the earlier question. "...Harmony, Unity agrees with that notion. Tell them to stand by for teleportation out."

Rainbow turned to the two. "Princess, Twilight, Unity's going to grab you now. See you later. We'll do the same for Celestia too."

The two weren't able to reply as they were subsequently transported out.

3229704

"Well, we could always try hooking up the five remaining Flux Reactors to your systems and try to destroy the Destroyer with a well-aimed shot. But I don't know if your laser is capable of containing and controlling Exawatts of energy." Orion murmured. "The other is to continuously fire nuclear bombs at the target, slowly but steadily drilling a tunnel into the ship, big enough for me to fly through in my Interceptor. In that case, Mobile HQ has a single Rejecter Cryonuclear bomb which I will carry into the ship."

"Cryonuclear?" A especially smart looking officer inquired.

"Don't ask me, apparently it fuses atoms together and rapidly cools them using bose-enstein condensate yadda yadda sciency stuff. Basically it squeezes shit together, the freezes it into brittle pieces. I'm sorry I can go more into detail, maybe we can trade notes when this is all over."

"You'll be trapped inside the ship by the regenerating hull, no? This is a one-way trip!" Another officer asked.

"No, the Interceptor can be remotely controlled by a system very much like the CBS control system. I can fly the mission from this room, with the right equipment." Orion stated, neglecting to mention the almost fatal error she had just underwent a couple of minutes ago might also affect this flight. "And anyway, even if it didn't have the system, everyone has to make that trip sooner or later. I would be ready to go."

"They are dropping the cables, everybody stay away from the red regions!" Applejack shouted as the mammoth lines dropped serenely from the sky, swaying in the wind. Only when they approached did they begin to manifest as truly massive, as one accidently destroyed an already abandoned skyscraper just by touching it.

The lines immediately gravitated towards the S.L.E.S station, attracted by magnetic fields generated by the station. They locked into place with a loud clang, and screwed in.

Hundreds of kilometers above the stations, all manner of Frigates, Destroyers and even Carriers were tethered to the ground in geosynchronous orbit. All across the globe, each ship dropped a part of itself, a giant container storage unit, from their underbellies.

The containers slid down the lines, firing retrorockets to slow their descent. These slid smoothly into the station, before opening up to reveal almost eleven compressed stories of space, enough to contain thousands.

"Load up!" Applejack shouted as the civilians began moving in an orderly fashion onto the transports.

Looking back, she spotted the Unity operatives looking unsure of what to do. Sighing and wondering if she was too harsh the last time, she moved back over.

"You might as well make yourselves useful, since you don't want to be considered as civilians." She told them as a Threshold landed nearby, carrying a small cargo unit. "Inside is parts and machines to build any weapon you can imagine, very quickly. And it also contains the Harmony Suits. Since my version of the Six was shattered, might as well lend them to you. As you'd imagine, they are very powerful, and harness the Harmony Gemstones for power. Make good use of them, go out and kill some changelings. We need cover for the lift, the Kinetic Barrier only reaches so high."

She left quickly, making sure not to say anything else that might offend. Applejack was happy to see her friends again, even if they weren't her own.

3232590
"Admiral," the commander spoke, "We don't need extra power. The twelve mage generators on this station give an incredible power output. We punch through to other universes for Celestia's sake. If we can do it with the laser, we'll do it with the laser. No point in wasting lives if we can afford not to.

"And if that doesn't work, why waste nuclear weapons when we can just drill with the laser? Sends a nice clean hole through, and we can just send a missile through with your bomb, and done."

"Probably because it ain't as climactic," Dusty commented quietly from the side.

"What was that, Captain?" Raylight asked.

"Nothing, Commander," Star answered. "He was just commenting on how it's important that we choose the most effective plan, while also being the simplest and quickest solution given the circumstances."

"Captain Stardust, I've been told by the Princess that you have a saying- 'go with what works'," the commander said to the stallion. Raylight turned to Orion. "So tell us, Admiral, what works? You've fought this thing, we haven't. As much speculating as we can do, I believe experience gives you the initiative. A simple and quick solution is ideal, but first and foremost, it needs to be effective. We're running as many sensor scans as we can on it right now. Take in what you can."

Stardust was tapping his hoof on the table, pondering. "Ultimately, our options are to stay afar and use precision strikes, or go in close with a precision strike. Or both. Which is technically a solution to everything."

Twilight rejoined the table next to the commander. "Commander, I've sent my report. We should get a response shortly."

"Well, you heard Alternate-AJ, let's keep on helping!" Rainbow said, motioning to the Threshold.

"Hm," Rarity said as they neared the craft. "How wonderfully convenient for suits powered by the Elements to be here."

Pinkie was somehow in hers in a couple of seconds. "This is so awesome! It feels really cool! Time to make explode-y things!"

The rest quickly got into theirs. "Aww yeah, this is pretty sweet," Rainbow remarked.

"You know, this kinda makes me miss those two augmented legs I had a long time ago..." Applejack said as she tested the suits movements.

"Comfy..." Rarity said as she moved around in hers. "... Functional. And yet still quite stylish. I approve."

Fluttershy gave a simple smile of approval.

"Look at all the stuff I can carry!"

The four blinked at all the ordnance and weapons strapped to Pinkie's armor.

"Well, you remember the objective," Rainbow said. "Help defend." She began assembling her own weapons- small, light, easy to carry around, and did not stop shooting. Content with the amount of weaponry that the suit could carry, she looked to her friends.

Rarity carried what might class as an anti-armor rifle, somewhere around a half longer than her. In addition to a smaller rifle. In the sense that it was more handleable, being around her length.

"Are you... sure that's really going to be useful?" Rainbow asked, slightly skeptical.

"Please, she said anything we can think of. And you just made some small SMGs and assault rifles. Rainbow, you mustn't be afraid to dream a little bit bigger, darling," the unicorn smirked.

"Well," Applejack began, "you're the one that had the crazy dream-stuff-up power in that comic book adventure from ages ago. Okay, Rainbow, where to?" Applejack asked as she holstered a revolver, in addition to a heavy machine gun and an automatic shotgun.

"We'll take the perimeter. Get close to any stragglers that make it through the first line of defense... Wait, is that the revolver Red made?"

"Uh... yeah? What, didn't you make yourself one?"

"No... I sorta forgot to."

"You forgot to make a sidearm that shoots explosive bullets." Applejack sighed, reaching to her side and throwing it over with a hoof. "Take it. And all the ammo. I'll just make another."

Rainbow fumbled with all the things coming at her at once. "Fluttershy, you ready?"

The yellow pegasus looked up, seemingly finishing a checklist. "Hm? Oh. I think so. Suit mounted energy weapons seem good," she said, lifting her wings, watching the weapon barrels move smoothly under them. Then she checked the light machine gun in her hooves. "All good here. What do you need me to do?"

"We're taking defense up top, below the gunships. Speaking of..."

Rainbow was coincidentally interrupted by her radio. "This is Hazard 2-1. Flight of four gunships. Rainbow Dash, I know you're down there. Unity gave me your frequency."

"Hey, Lightning. Right on time."

"So what's the deal down here? Where do you need us?"

"It would be great if you could thin out the lines heading for the barriers. Every little bit helps."

"I've got contacts in the air. Marked friendly. Make sure those ECAF guys give us good top cover, 'kay? And you too. Don't let me get shot down again. First time was no fun, and the second doesn't count as 'better'."

"At least we've always been even on it."

"I'm pretty sure you might still owe me at least one..."

"Let's hope I don't have to make up for it later."

"Done deal. Where you headed?"

"Edge of the secure perimeter. Picking off stragglers. Just track me."

"Gotcha. All ECAF forces, this is Hazard flight from Unity, flight of four gunships. We are on station and providing close air support."

Twilight and Princess Luna sat at a table. It was a spacious atrium in one of the more luxurious parts of the station. Off to one side, a few hoofsteps away, was the opening to a bar and small restaurant, and to their other side, was a small garden on a risen platform. It had a few very low trees, and if they traced their eyes up, in their upper peripheral vision was something that dragged their gaze higher. The high ceiling, fifteen to twenty meters up, looked like glass, but past it was a large metal construct, some arrows painted on it, and was evidently fairly thick armor.

Twilight gazed at it, wishing that it was in its retracted position, so she could see out the window and into space. She idly prodded her food.

"Twilight? Will you be alright?" Luna asked.

The unicorn sighed. "I don't know. They said Princess Celestia will be here too, right?"

"Indeed. I await my sister's arrival. Perhaps they are leading her to us now." Luna leaned to her side, looking behind Twilight. "For now, though, you may be comforted by reuniting with your friends."

The five ran over to Twilight, sharing an embrace. "So..." Rainbow started, "How did we get here? The last thing I remember was being in the forest at our picnic. What crazy stuff happened while we were gone?"

Twilight flinched. "Uh... uh... uh..."

Applejack looked to Luna. "Princess?"

"Forgive her," Luna said, "I... am not quite sure where to begin either."

"Perhaps you can start from when we disappeared?" Rarity suggested.

"Oh... alright," Twilight said. "That's probably as good as a place as any... So... how do I say this..."

"Just give it to us straight, sugarcube."

"You were kinda replaced by Star's version of you girls."

The five blinked. "And they're... where now?"

"Luna!"

Their heads turned to face their beloved Princess Celestia. The white alicorn calmly walked over to her sister, leading to an embrace. "I am glad you are safe, and Twilight and her friends as well."

"We are in strange times, sister," Luna said.

"Twilight?" Twilight's friends asked.

"Maybe we should just skip to the really important details..."

3234082

"Well then, why did you have to wait for me to say something?" Orion retorted, albeit quietly. "You said you wanted to hear our theories, fine. It's not like we have any experience with your laser."

Nonetheless, she tuned out everything and began reading the screens. She read as fast as new information entered the screen, watching them fluctuate. She could see the tunnels widening, thinning, elongating, and shortening, but the longer this went on, the more irritated she got. The scanners were real good, but they weren't capturing what she wanted to see...

"You know..." She started. "When our scanners really couldn't get anything, we found out that the good old fashioned scan for trace gases in comparison to ambient space gave us a really good idea of the projected movement of the tunnels. Any high concentration meant that the tunnel was about to open, lower meant it was closing. Find the locations where the concentration is absurdly high, and you've found the minds. Unfortunately, you need to hit all five at the same time to kill the ship, miss one and it regenerates the others quickly. Thankfully, they are quite close to each other, deviation of about thirty meters."

Orion rubbed her forehead. "I don't know, this is your weapon. You yourself know it's capabilities. We've never taken down that ship before."

"Movement, sector 12. Dispatching."

The Carbine bucked thrice. Three splotches of green goo.

Applejack cycled her magazines. This had gone on for a long time now, the shield was starting to disintegrate at the ground level, meaning smaller drones could squeeze in. Nothing huge.

Yet.

Mam, incoming Drone report.

Applejack opened the file. Scanning the contents, she quickly broke down her rifle and slid down the ladder.

"I want three marines with me. Get a transport. We're heading to sector 4. Got reports of an ambushed convoy there! And where's the HARMONY suits?"

"Ain't sector 4 the fallen place?" A marine asked. "Reports only?"

"Yeah, it's odd, I know." Applejack wondered as well. "The drone couldn't get a good scan, something's interfering. But the Changling interference drones are stuck outside. Very odd."

"HARMONY last seen on the outer ring. Currently in combat, mam!"

In minutes, they were saddled up in a truck. One marine driving, two on either side, on mounted MGs, and AJ on top, on a Shredder AA railgun.

"Smoke, mam." Applejack turned, seeing the column. It was very faint, small.

"Seems new!" She shouted. "Let's get to it!"

3237776
Raylight nodded. "I see. Projector control! Mode 1."

"Mode 1, set."

"Armory, ready 5 nuclear warheads in Chamber 2. Set on timer, simultaneous explosions."

"Yes sir, 5 warheads in chamber 2, set for simultaneous detonation."

"Sensors, identify locations that match the Admiral's descriptions."

"... Found sir. Five locations of concentrated gases."

"Lock coordinates of those positions, coordinate with targeting. We need to send these warheads one at a time and all five of them have to have a nuke in them by the end of it."

"Generators producing optimal power. On your word, sir."

"Commence."

The laser gave a relatively short burst. "First warhead, delivered."

There was a delay as the second warhead was prepared. Then a second burst of the laser. "Second warhead, delivered."

This went on for the remaining three. A countdown showed on the table, showing thirty seconds before synchronized detonations.

Another notification blinked. It was a small note, closest to where Twilight stood. "Commander, they... they've approved. Command's approved of our request. They're just waiting for the word."

"Now. We need them now. I'm not too sure of the numbers regarding our how much ground forces our fleets carry, but any more assistance on the ground is good."

Although the changelings weren't pouring onto them, they certainly still had work to do.

The five were running patrols over in one area. Rainbow and Fluttershy took the air, picking off any stray changelings that got in, as well as pointing out targets for the others. Applejack and Pinkie hunkered down at ground level getting others that got by, as well as thinning out the approaching changelings in general. Rarity kept on overwatch on the battlement, taking care of any changeling that looked to be a generally greater threat.

All in all, it was a fairly standard defense mission.

"Yo, Rainbow, thought you might like to know, there's some big changelings getting ready in the back," they heard Lightning say. "We got enough ordnance to take 'em out right now, but if this keeps up, I'm not too sure about it."

"Good to know."

"Otherwise, the defenses are fairly good over here. We're going to take a wider sweep around, see if there's some place that really needs help. Lend a hoof to anyone that got stuck outside of the defensive walls. You gonna be alright down there?"

"We'll yell if we need you."

3237776 ...

3239290

Orion watched the displays, seeing the red dots depicting the nukes entering the superstructure...

"Hold on." Orion squinted. The red dots were shifting minutely, twitching, even. "Something's up."

Nuke one disappeared.

Orion scanned the battlefield, running her eyes over the simulation quickly.

Nuke four had disappeared as well.

"Where have the nukes gone...? They can't have just...Teleported away!" Orion heard the exclamation behind her, and turned.

"Adaptive... Copying..." She murmured. Her eyes widened.

CBS Yeller detonated. The force of five nuclear warheads ripped through her unprotected insides, bouncing off the insides of her shields and compounding the force. The explosions consumed her reactors, magnifying the force. Inside the maelstrom, metal warped and vaporized, before reaching the shield systems.

The shields broke with a snap, releasing the fury contained. Around the CBS, frigates and destroyers boiled, turning to scrap instantaneously.

The shockwave reached out, debris pinging off the shields of lucky ships further away from ground zero. Where once stood a strong and powerful monument, now was a field of orbiting shards.

Orion stood firm, as the shockwave rolled over the station. Instead, she focused upon the Destroyer. Silhouetted against the backdrop of space, the peculiar design of the ship came to light.

"They copied you ponies..." Orion ground her teeth as a splitting image of Unity station came out, albeit darkened and much more angular. "I didn't anticipate them being able to."

"Admiral!"

"High Princess, Adaptive Copying. How does it work?"

"Well... It's theoretically impossible! They would have needed to see the main gun for them to be able to copy it! There's a reason why they never were able to Copy our CBS frame!"

"I'm heading to the Mobile HQ now, get a berth ready and unpack the Cryonuclear bomb." Orion pulled out two FMGs, attaching them to her suit's weapon arrays. "I think you have a pest problem somewhere, Star. Might want to sort that out."

3397874
"Captain Rapture!"

"Star! Star, wake up!"

Consciousness came rushing back to the mare.

"Star, are you alright?!" Dusty was in her face, gently shaking her awake.

She groaned. "I... I feel like I've been out for weeks."

"Star, are you sure you're fit for duty? That wound might be more of a hinderance than you can counteract."

"Dusty, I'm fine. Just... what happened?"

"You fainted. Orion's gone and went somewhere. And she says we might have changelings on board."

"What do you think?" Commander Raylight asked.

"I think it's a ruse. Everyone stay calm. It's likely all they did was re-utilize teleporter tech. Until that thing starts jumping dimensions, I don't believe a thing."

Twilight nodded. "I agree. Even if that were the case, the main projector contains most of the equipment necessary for teleportation. It's the entirety of Unity Station that's essential for our higher functions."

"Nonetheless, I still believe we should take precautions," Raylight said. "Send squads to sweep the modules. I want a full bio-scan of every inch of this station. All access from the outside is to have heightened security. Shields are to be raised so all incoming teleports are through our direct system- no indirects."

The command holotable emitted an audible blip. Behind them warped in the entire 1st Fleet.

"Unity, this is Admiral Skies of 1st Fleet. How can we be of assistance?" a mare's voice came over the radio.

Compared to the ships of the alternate Equestrians, their ships were much smaller in size. Their largest only reached a comparatively measly 5 kilometers. However, they made up for it in numbers, shield strength, generally good weapons, and good maneuverability.

"1st Fleet, Princess Twilight Sparkle. Your main objective is to support ground operations. The situation is global. Authority to delegate forces is given to you, Admiral. We're also sending over a full report on combat data right now to inform you of our enemy."

Star looked like she was going to pass out. She was propped up by her counterpart. "Alright, Star, you're clearly not ready for this yet. Come on, we've got another job for you. Go greet the natives. They're over in Section 5."

She was hesitantly dragged out of CIC.

Raylight turned to the princess. "What are our options now?"

"Reassess the situation, keep our ears open for anything Admiral Orion has to say."

On the table, they stared down their doppelganger.

3397976

Orion slipped her flight helmet on, clasping the strap with one hoof. The other guided the Interceptor along the hanger bay, closing the canopy as it travelled. The guidance pony waved her batons once, before galloping off.

"Orion, launching." The engines spun up with a whine again, and the force of acceleration pushed her back into her seat.

Her flight didn't last long, as she guided herself to a smaller Destroyer orbiting Unity. The hanger bay opened, and she slid the Interceptor into it. A docking crane latched on to it, and carried it over to the rearmament section.

Orion got out, landing with her helmet dangling from her hoof.

"Admiral!"

"High Princess." Orion bowed to the approaching regal pony. "Our losses are an immeasurable blow to us."

"At this point, nothing will matter if the Changelings take pseudo-Equestria. They will repopulate like rodents, and we will lose. Everything sacrificed to this point will be for naught." Twilight adjusted he beret. "Our losses will just have to be justified by the survival of the planet. Rise."

Orion turned around and faced her jet. Technicians swarmed the flame red dart, slowly guiding a single missile with a glowing blue tip into the open missile bay.

"The cryonuclear warhead. R&D's biggest triumph since FLuX." Twilight whispered. "We have only one shot to end that thing."

"One shot is all I will require." Orion answered, taking a drink from a bottle handed to her by a passing deckhand.

"You have a plan then?"

"It will be costly, and it will be devious. But it will work." Orion turned. "Admiral orders. All ships jump to warp. We're getting out of the line of fire between Unity and Destroyer, now designated AltUnity. Maintain contact with HQ, this is going to be a fast one."

"Unity, this is ECAF fleet. Prepare to bombard AltUnity with everything you've got. Standby for signal."

The engines of hundreds of ships glowed bright blue for a second. One by one, the ships jumped to warp, away from the battle. As each pulse escaped, the protective shield around Unity dissipated.

"All ECAF forces recorded away. Good luck, Unity. Clear to fire."

3401017
"Oh what the hell?..." the commander quietly exclaimed at being left alone unexpectedly.

Now they were truly left staring against the doppelganger.

"Admiral, you are aware that, despite being our shape, that thing has at least 10 to 20 times the volume of Unity."

"We've still got the FRIENDSHIP system though," Stardust said. He rested his head on a forehoof as he stared at the table. "If that's any current consolation."

"The previous strategy is still viable. We just can't give them any time to react. Speaking of, why haven't they started firing yet?"

"Must be like an old West gunfight. Waitin' on the draw."

"Very well then." Raylight redirected his attention to managing the battle. "Admiral Skies."

"Admiral Raylight, Skies here. What do you need?"

"We need some harassing action on the Destroyer. Do you have any long-range cruisers for the job?"

"I can reallocate some on ground duty right now as well as anti-ship duty. What else?"

"Destroyers. Agile ones."

"I've got an entire fleet here. We've got a couple squadrons; about ten. Four per, as usual."

"We'll take two."

"Sounds good. Tell me when."

"That'll be all." The commander switched to managing his own station. "Armory."

"Yes, commander?"

"Start loading missile tubes. Full anti-ship capability. Keep nuclear warheads ready for FRIENDSHIP delivery. Those come with proximity safeties, correct?"

"Yes sir, they have sensors to detect range from friendly forces, especially Unity."

"Set the nukes for detonation on transport."

"Set for DOT, aye sir. Will that be all?"

"It will." As the staredown counted down, Raylight had his hoof ready to draw. "Shields to maximum available capacity. FRIENDSHIP still on Mode 3. Prepare to fire."

In just a few seconds, they were going to throw as much as they had at the Destroyer, and hopefully withstand what was thrown back. Hopefully Orion was getting ready, because this fight wasn't going to be a drawn out brawl.

"To all listening, keep in mind, that thing may look like Unity, but it's bigger and it's definitely not showing all of its guns."

"S-Star!" Twilight exclaimed, surprised.

"Twilight," Star greeted as she limped towards the group.

Rainbow confronted the grey mare. "Star! What the hay is happening to Equestria?! Twilight says space-changelings are about to destroy it!"

"Yeah? What's so difficult to understand about that?"

Rainbow, speechless, was drawn back by a comforting hoof from Princess Celestia. "Captain Rapture."

Star nodded in reverence. "Princess Celestia."

"I understand that the situation of our home is dire, and I appreciate all the aid that is being given. Is there nothing we can do at this time?"

Star sat where she was. "Directly? No. I don't believe so. But I've gotten word that we're evacuating your ponies from the ground. I'd imaging that it's an incredibly harrowing situation. To be invaded by aliens, then have alternate versions of yourselves show up and fight them, as well as tell them to evacuate their homes. I suppose the best you all could do is broadcast yourselves and try to keep spirits up."

"How do you suggest we do this?" Celestia asked.

"I would... recommend our own facilities, but seeing that we're currently a primary target for the enemy, I believe you should do it elsewhere. ECS Constellation, flagship of 1st Fleet, should be safer. The command ship is usually in the least dangerous part of the combat zone and supported by other ships."

"Very well, how do you suggest we do this?"

Star motioned with her hoof. "That... is a very good point. Um... I'll try to have you moved there as quickly as I can, but as circumstances may have it, that may not be feasible. I hope you understand, but we lean more selfish with our actions. We have no qualms about helping you and all, but we have to look out for ourselves first. Please understand."

The eight original Equestrians looked at each other. Celestia nodded. "I... understand. I too, would probably make such a decision. So what shall we do?"

"I'll just get a camera crew to come down here and do it."

And then, it came to Star that she had an alicorn sitting in front of her.

"Actually... about helping directly... I take that statement back. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna? I may have a job for you."

"The DEITI System?" Up in CIC, Twilight was talking with Star. "You want Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to go use the Direct Energy Increase Through Interface?"

"I'm surprised you're not in it yourself. We might need the extra power, correct?"

Twilight turned to the station commander.

"She's got a point. We could boost shield power and engine power and anything else."

The princess returned her attention to Star. "Alright, do it. It's simple enough anyways. Feed magic into the interface. The technicians in charge of it should be able to walk them through it."

3404107

The feeling of acceleration quickly left as the ships exited FTL. Orion reassessed the situation, even as she pulled on a slimmer flight armor suit.

"Microjump complete. Executing phase 2, charging storage cells."

"Twilight, how much of Unity did we grab?"

"We know enough. Your job is just to evade enemy fire for thirty seconds, the system will search for and log what we are looking for, sending us target coordinates."

Orion clambered into the cockpit yet again. As the canopy slid down, Orion guided the plane out of the hanger with relative ease.

"Eyes on target, check it out." Orion looked at the red dot in the far distance, representing AltUnity. Even from a distance, it was unmistakable, the glowing white lines.

They had opened fire.

"That's just comforting." Orion mumbled as she chewed on the bit shoved in between her teeth.

"It's to keep yourself from biting your own tongue off during unshielded transit."

"I realize that, can we get going soon? There are ponies in battle out there."

The ring glowed, rotating quickly. Orion gripped the controls tightly, and closed her eyes. It flashed three times, burning itself into her closed eyelids.

"Jump successful. Evasive action now."

Orion peered out her canopy. Outside, it was bedlam. Missiles and lasers struck the constantly regenerating hull, and here she was, in a modified stealth unit, unable to caution her allies.

She sent the plane into a spiral to avoid a missile barrage. A camera on the belly of the plane located the approximate locations of the copied MAPS and the laser mast weak points.

"This is going to end perfectly." Orion mumbled and turned ninety degrees to follow trail of locations. Missiles splashed across the ridges before her, which only quick reflexes help, she avoided the barrage.

"All coordinates locked, prepare for transit!"

The plane disappeared in a flash of light.

3404872
"DESRON 2 and 6, jumping in now."

Around AltUnity on the tactical map, two groups of four destroyers appeared in separate positions on its flanks. Immediately, they drew fire.

"Cruisers Baltimare, Fillydelphia, Horseshoe Bay, and Manehattan jumping into support positions now."

Farther away, the four cruisers went in pairs and put more harassing fire onto AltUnity.

Meanwhile, Unity was already under heavy fire.

"Be careful and alert. Those MAPS mounts aren't the anti-debris or ship stingers we have. They're full sized anti-ship weapons."

"CIC, Captain Stardust. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are in the DEITI chamber. They're being instructed on usage now."

"Copy that. Power, I need the number on generator usage."

"Sir, 75% is already going to our shields. We're barely able to deliver the warheads through the projector as it is."

"CIC, DEITI. Be advised, additional power incoming."

With the additional power of two alicorns, the immense power radiating through the station kicked up a notch.

"Available power to the projector increased, sir."

"What's the numbers? Any other available options?"

"Enough power for a possibly effective Mode 2 direct laser strike, sir."

"Keep it handy. For now, increase the projector rate of fire. See if we can sever that laser mast with enough nukes."

"Horseshoe Bay to all friendly forces, AltUnity has weapon positions and weapons not on Unity Station. We have incoming fire from numerous ventral positions and outer ring positions in addition to the MAPS copies."

"Admiral Orion, Unity. If you need a hole drilled, we're ready."

3406042

"Admiral Orion, Unity. If you need a hole drilled, we're ready."

Orion grinned. She had already gotten back to Headquarters and was standing at the helm of the ship. Behind her, the four hundred and twenty three remaining small ships prepared, floating in a very specific formation. Further back, the four CBSs took careful aim with their main guns, aiming just into the solar system.

"Received. But, you might want to have your ships inch back a bit, we're about to bring the rain." Orion tilted her peak cap. "All ships, check weapon load, ensure all weapons are firing APWP shells. Coordinates should have been locked, and your next jump will be to regroup behind Jupiter."

"All ships signal green, Admiral."

"Alright then. No more stopping." Orion gripped the console. "All ships, warp in three... two... one..."

The empty space directly above AltUnity boiled. The darkness peeled back to reveal a gaping exit, through which hundreds of ECAF Frigates and Destroyers fell through.

At full speed, they flashed past AltUnity, each falling in cadence with the rest. The weapons onboard AltUnity turned and tried to track the speeding ships, but they were too slow. In contrast, the ECAF turrets were already in position to fire, prepared by the coordinates previously gathered by Orion's foray.

Shells flew, all coalescing into four different spots on the station.

Except these attacks were different from those launched by Unity forces. The shells dug under the outer armor of the Destroyer, and constantly emitted heated plasma into the cavity made by the kinetic impact of the shell. This burned away any newly formed material, effectively stopping regeneration in that area.

Some of AltUnity's guns fell silent.

Another portal ripped into existence under AltUnity, and all the Frigates and Destroyers hurtled into its relative safety. The moment the portal collapsed, four bright red lances of positrons, aimed right at the weakened armor areas, ripped through the station, leaving gaping holes.

"Maneuver complete. All ships accounted for."

"We did some damage, but it isn't out yet. We must push the assault while it is weakened!" Orion watched as her ships reengaged, all rounding the gas giant and slingshotting themselves into the fray.

"CBS Harbinger, Orion, Arisen and Noteworth, engage enemy Worldships on course for attack. Do not let them attack Unity forces."

"Received. Complying

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"6-2 and 6-4 are down, repeat 6-2 and 6-4 have been destroyed."

"All forces, be advised, Worldships are redirecting from their course. Appear to be heading to assist AltUnity."

"Make a choice, Commander," Twilight said. "What's our fight? Ground or space?"

"ECAF's been taking the brunt of the losses. We should support them."

"Then we'll need to pull much of 1st Fleet from ground operations."

"If we can eliminate the space problem, then we can focus on the ground. The troops will just have to hold on a little longer." He set the plan in motion. "All ships, reposition to attack positions around AltUnity. Give 'em all we got."

"CIC, Stardust. The Princesses are getting a bit tired. If you're going to take a shot, it better be soon."

"Keep them notified of the situation. Conserve energy. Admiral Orion, if you want us to take a laser shot, it needs to be within the next two minutes."

"Asgard, where is that orbital support?!"

Rainbow managed to grunt out the frustrated question as she kept a particularly large changeling from chomping down on her. She held it away by the handle of a large knife stuck in its throat. It was still struggling though. She managed to get her hind legs under it and push it up further, allowing her to pump two shots from her revolver into its head.

"Harmony, Asgard, all ships have been recalled to take action against hostile forces. Currently unable to commit to the ground. You'll have to rely on what fighters and gunships were able to be deployed."

Another one of those large changelings, some fast, horned, thick skulled, fanged, sharp-legged, semi-armored everywhere else, nasty-winged thing with sharp scythe-like appendages on its back with which said wings were attached to, started charging her. After a seeing a couple of these things come at her, Rainbow just dubbed them 'chargelings'- didn't change so much as charge.

She dispatched it with the remaining four shots in the revolver, and this time, with enough distance from her, the shots exploded on contact, leaving a gaping hole with blown-up brain matter as it dropped dead.

Rainbow grolwed in discontent. "There's got to be something else we can do than just holding the line..."

"On the contrary, Rainbow, this might be exactly where we should be," Rarity said over comms. There were three loud shots over the radio as she spoke. Rainbow looked in the distance and saw a changeling tank drop dead. She decided to get back to the air.

"I don't know. We got this super-armor and we're just staying here?"

"What do you want us to do? Run out farther, push back by ourselves, and destroy... whatever's back there?"

"Not a bad idea." Rainbow shot at another group of rushing changelings below, catching a few.

"... That was a joke, Rainbow. I'm not insane or hard-headed like you."

"I'm just saying, we should find some sort of critical position where we could do a lot more than this."

It was Applejack's turn to voice her opinion. "And yet a moment ago you were screamin' about orbital support."

"Flutters, find a place on our map that needs help."

"Um, alright. There's got to be a few around here."

"Lightning, do you know anywhere that needs some help from us?"

"Everywhere so far looks the same from up here. Take your pick."

"Come on, Dust, there's got to be somewhere you can see from up there."

"I'll keep a lookout, Dash. But it's carnage in general."

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"Acknowledged. Sit tight on that firepower." Orion gripped the railing as the ship shuddered, its shields being pelted by kinetic projectiles. "All ships, focus firepower on..."

"Detecting massive buildup of energy!"

"What? Warn the fleet!" Orion turned.

"Energy unleashed! Estimated time to impact, forty five seconds!"

"Engines to overdrive! Evade the blast!" The Destroyer groaned as it turned and dove sideways.

The sickly green beam ripped through the fleet. Shields snapped and metal vaporized as many Frigates and Destroyers were scrapped in that instant.

"Damage report?"

"Half the fleet vaporized! Reorganizing remaining fleet for assault."

Orion grimaced and slammed her hoof into the railing. "All ships prepare to get up close and personal. The only safe zone from that weapon is it its shadow." She glared at the station. "We're coming, you motherbucker."

Several Talon fighters descended on the hills, dropping shaped charges and blowing the frontal assault wave to shreds. A stray plasma burst splashed over the wing of one fighter, which pulled up with much difficulty and retreated, smoking.

Applejack looked as the last container retreated, going up into the sky and disappearing from view.

"Civilians evac complete! All troops, begin systematic withdrawal to city center to pick up heavier weaponry!" Applejack smiled as she saw the first Howler tank roll out of the carpool. The tri-barreled turret made short work of a group of changlings, now without fear of civilian casualties, while its secondary missile turret launched kinetic projectiles with accuracy unmatched.

A Fang Gunship rose off the ground, its distinctive curved-beak shape against the glowing sun.

Time to fight back.

3414160
Worldships moving in to support AltUnity."

"Enlarge combat grid. All ships make use of tactical jumps to empty grid sectors. Keep their aim moving." The Holotable was a flurry of activity, groups of ships scattered everywhere. The action revolved around AltUnity and Unity Station.

"Visible damage on AltUnity from ECAF attack."

"Take advantage of it. Send munitions into them."

"Shield status?"

"Fluctuated down to 18% stability at the worst hit. Currently holding average 64% with current incoming fire."

"We need those Worldships taken out."

"1st Fleet, complying. Delegating DESRON 1, 2, and 3 to assault Worldships in a pack."

"So... Captain... what was... the original purpose... of this device?" Celestia managed to ask as she stood feeding magic into a central receptor. Luna stokd beside her doing the same. "Or was it... just an additional feature?"

"It's a long story. Were you told the original purpose of the FRIENDSHIP system?"

"I don't believe so."

"Let's just say that its original purpose required an immense amount of power, something you could provide."

"Destructive... power?"

"No. Quite the opposite, in fact. Reconstructive power. Ressurective power."

"To bring someone back from beyond? Why?"

"That's where things get similar. Where you stand right now was built for the sole purpose of defeating a threat to the entire world."

"I suppose Luna and I should do our utmost best to live up to it then."

"And I as well."

It was an all-too familiar voice. Yet, somehow unfamiliar.

"!..." was essentially everyone's response.

"Apologies our first meeting must be under these circumstances," the alicorn Twilight said. "But we're in dire straits, and Captain Star made a very good point."

She stepped onto the platform. "Keep your heads up. I heard you feel this in your gut."

"Sir, available projector just kicked up a notch."

"Bless you, Twilight Sparkle. Projector control! Cease warhead transport, switch Mode 1! Fire!"

3414589

The bright white beam shot forward like a lance, bisecting the station.

"That did work, but its still regenerating." Mobile HQ, otherwise known as Eternity soared past, going into a circular orbit.

"Admiral, SciTech division report is in. You'll wanna see this..."

Orion scanned the document, before looking up at the screen. The pulsating red glows from within he station... It was coalescing into one...

"Evaluate size of hole!" Orion shouted as she turned and headed for the door.

"It is just big enough to fit a Destroyer, but the cores are just too far apart for a simultaneous kill from Unity's laser!"

"Unity, we've found the cores again. We need you to hole these coordinates, and the Eternity will go in to finish the job." Orion sent the laser targeting data. "We're sending you someone as well..."

Setting course for eventual hole now, hold on to yer flanks, this is going to be a hot drop!"

Twilight Sparkle stalked down the hallways, clad in full power armor, except for her head, which sported a diagonal bandanna covering her previously injured right eye.

"All ready for teleport?" She asked the lead mage, who was using chalk to scribble a transmutation circle on the deck.

"I've never attempted a transmutation like this before, but theoretically it should work. I need you to tell me where to aim this circle though."

"That's fine." Twilight tilted the bandanna, opening her damaged eye. Since it was rendered useless for sight, she had replaced its ability to see light with the ability to see magic, and now she looked for a great source of power within Unity. The glowing balls of light were evident immediately.

"Adjust to Orange 423, Purple 737, aim." The mage scribbled a directional arrow, before dropping the chalk. "Ready."

Twilight and the mage clapped their hooves together, before slamming them into the ground, just on the circumference of the circle. The chalk burnt away, leaving a glowing blue circle of magic.

Twilight felt the deck change, from gunmetal grey to a more pleasing form. The circle crackled, before fading and leaving an unpleasant burn mark on the deck. As she straightened, she eyed the three alicorns before her, remnant blue magic from the teleportation crackling like lightning about her body.

"I'm here to help." She spoke quietly, eyeing the Unity version of her. "Give me instructions."

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"Aim magic at core, over there, release magic," Twilight instructed. "Don't use any spells. Just pure magic. Safety measures are built in so you don't actually give away your magic, so once you're feeding it, let loose. There's no limit to how much you can feed it, and since it's just pure magic, there's no problem of mishaps happening. But if you feel like you're about to explode, I recommend you turn it down a notch. I could compare it to weight lifting in terms of how you're supposed to exert yourself, but with magic. Simple as that, welcome aboard."

"This is all gettin' really weird," Applejack remarked from the side.

Star shrugged. "It's all relative."

"Three of the same ponies in the same room isn't weird to you?" Rainbow asked.

"I'm quite used to the concept."

"There's two alicorn versions of me here!" Twilight exclaimed.

"I'm sure it'll all make sense to you later."

"How would you react if you saw a drastically different version of yourself face to face?" Twilight paused, pondering her question. "You already have, haven't you."

"Aside from the more obvious answers, you can also meet Dusty after this is all done. I'm sure we'll have fun talking to you."

"Unity acknowledges. High Princess Sparkle is aboard. That should give us more than enough power."

"Status on projector."

"Operating at 45% with additional power from DEITI. 5 second bursts and 10 second recharge. Ready to fire."

"Worldship attempting to shield AltUnity against laser."

"Let them bisect themselves. Fire." Again, Unity whirred, and its powerful white laser lit up the darkness of space.

The Worldship broke up and remainder of the shot hit AltUnity, then... nothing. "Sir... AltUnity jumped out."

"Where?! Where are they?!"

All forces, ECS Constellation. Sensors indicate they've put the Earth in between the two of you."

"Bridge, reposition Unity between them and Earth!"

"Jump in 5."

"Why'd they jump?"

"Armor regen, perhaps?" Stardust suggested. "Every second counts."

"Asgard, take care of that space problem, quick! We're getting hit heavy down here!"

"... Or hit the ground."

"Dash, did you see that?!"

"Lightning, where are you?! Get down here and give us a ride! We need to cover that hole in the line quick!" Rainbow looked around. "Flutters, get Rarity!"

"On it!"

"Lightning! What's the breach look like?!"

"Lots of those 'chargelings' and behind them, lotta brutes. It's like watching an army of ants crawling."

Rainbow's day just got a whole lot worse. "When I asked for something else to do, I didn't mean holding off an army..."

3417363

"Frisky sonofa." Orion commented as the Eternity accelerated itself to the speed of light, dropping out seconds later, amidst a field of debris. Already, those ships that were evacuating civilians had opened fire.

"Fleet, provide cover for evac ships, make sure they get to the carriers safely!"

"HQ! What's going on up there? We're taking heavy losses!" The ground receiver crackled.

Orion tapped the holographic display in front of her repeatedly, giving rapid fire orders and redirecting her troops. "Start retreating, Ground Forces. Get to the dropships and get airborne."

"... It's boiled down to this? One last gamble?"

Orion sighed. "Yes. I afraid so."

She swapped channels. "Unity, coordinates remain unchanged, prepare to fire. Aircrews, get the Talons and my Interceptor ready."

Twilight breathed out, cracking her neck and focusing on the core.

No spells... She let the tap open, slowly. Magic in its purest form flowed into the system.

"No limit?" She mused, before letting go entirely. The air itself crackled as she dove deep and pushed on her untapped reserves, an almost visible line of energy forming, linking her to the core. At her highest level of control, she stopped right before she reached her spillover shockwave state. "Take it, use it."

Applejack turned as she boarded the ramp of the dropship. A Howler rolled up right in front of her, and magnetic clamps gripped it tightly to the tail of the craft. Engines whined, and the ground moved away from her.

"All surviving troops accounted for, we're dusting off now." Applejack helped the crew of the Howler on board into the dropship, and prepared to close the ramp, when something caught her eye. Pulling an optic down over her eye, she focused into the distance.

"Goddamnit." She spotted the red flare in the distance, followed by eyes on a family, with a madly waving stallion, on top a multi-story vehicle complex. "I though we evaced everyone."

She made a snap decision. "Turn this dropship around, get us to them!"

"Roger, Admiral. Turning around."

The plane soared low over the rooftops, coming over the roof quickly. It hovered, keeping the ramp just over the lip of the roof.

Applejack hopped out, rushing over to the family. "Let's go!"

"My daughter's trapped in there!" The stallion pushed rather futilely against an overturned car.

Applejack nodded. "I'll get her, you get your family onto that dropship now, alright! Trust me!"

The stallion nodded, before gathering his wife and son and galloping to the dropship.

"Admiral, they noticed us, we're going to get swarmed pretty quickly." Already, plasma bursts sizzled across the dropship armor.

Applejack bucked the door, which bent. "Acknowledged, but I'm getting the kid out of here." Bending down, she could just about make out the terrified eyes of a little filly.

She bucked the door again. One of the hinges snapped, giving her confidence.

"Stand back, kid!" She shouted as her hooves made final contact with the door. The metal snapped in two, and dropped away. Applejack reached in, offering her armored hoof to the filly.

"I won't hurt you, come on." Applejack spoke softly, which coaxed the child out. Immediately, she hoisted her onto her back, and turned for the dropship.

"Shit, too late Admiral! We're taking heavy flak, this bucket won't last much longer!"

The dropship closed the ramp, and angled upwards. Its thrust blew Applejack back, who shielded the filly as the Threshold took off. A lucky bolt of plasma sheared the magnetic coupling off the Howler. It fell, dropping like a twenty ton bag of bricks.

Applejack barely managed to dive to the side, hugging the filly and letting her armored back take the brunt of the impact. The Howler bounced once on its suspension, landing upright.

"Admiral Applejack, requesting immediate evac. How copy?"

"Negative, Admiral. Anti-aircraft presence is too strong, our ships will be taken down if they approach one klick."

Applejack swore, turning to look at the filly beside her. She couldn't be more than seven years of age, and stayed close to the armored mare.

Applejack thought quickly. Her eyes landed on the slightly damaged Howler.

"Come on, kid." Applejack picked up the filly. "I'm taking you for a ride."

3417788
"DEITI assistance increasing. Avalable power to FRIENDSHIP at 50%."

"Target coordinates locked."

"Unity, 1st Fleet. Destroyer squardons report two Worldships remaining."

"Reading large energy build-up in AltUnity. Similar in magnitude to FRIENDSHIP levels."

"Target?"

"... Ground forces."

"... Can our shields withstand the hit?"

"With risk of losing significant shield usage afterwards. Our shield generators will need time recuperate after it."

"... Take the hit."

"Sir?"

"Bridge, maneuver into AltUnity's line of fire."

"Laser ready to fire at first target coordinates."

"Do it quick!"

"Dash, I think it's a lost fight. ECAF looks like they're retreating."

"Well what the hell do we do?"

A gunship promptly hovered in front of them. Lightning waved them on from behind the canopy. "Latch yourself on. We gotta get out of here."

"Where to?"

"Anywhere but here. Keep the bugs away for me, alright?"

The rest of the group ran up to the aircraft and latched on. "You got it. Let's go."

"All Commonwealth forces in Region 2, ECS Constellation, regroup north of your position. Continue flying north until further orders."

"Hazard 2-1, pick up successful, returning to formation."

The gunship screamed ahead as it escaped the battlefield. They watched below as changelings took ground.

"You better win up there, Twi.."

3417905

The laser was dead on, slicing a tunnel straight through.

"Eternity, into the breach!" Orion eyeballed the battle from her cockpit, her plane perched on the hanger entrance, ready to drop immediately. The lone destroyer split off, barreling for the closing hole.

"All hands, brace for multiple impacts." Shields scraped against the closing hole, as Eternal raced down a tunnel barely bigger than itself. The dark tunnel was only illuminated by the meager navigational lights on the destroyer.

"We're flying blind, IP in twenty."

"Once the planes are away, jump out and continue assault, confirm."

"Confirmed. IP in five."

Orion throttled up, dropping out of the hanger bay, followed by several Talon fighters. The speeding destroyer flashed once, and disappeared, jumping to safety.

"Talon wing, form up on me. Engage FLIR and keep frosty." The screen jumped, turning ghostly white. "Head for the waypoint, we're finishing this."

The formation soared within internal tunnels of the Destroyer.

"Contact, do not engage!" Orion sent the interceptor into an aileron roll, avoiding a swarm of changelings. Her cannons made quick work of those in front of her, and she kept flying. "Our target is the core!"

A chorus of affirmatives came from the Talons, who lit up the swarm with guns.

"Scans show a large chamber up ahead."

Orion blasted through a thin wall, emerging in the said cavern. "All units, I'm going to deliver the Cryonuke, keep them off of me!"

The five cores were obviously spread around the room, but they were all connected in some way to the central pillar. However, looking closely, the pillar glowed a sickly green, and discharged. Covering her eyes from the intense light, Orion blinked rapidly to clear the afterimages.

Orion felt the plane lurch, and a noticeable loss in control. The Changeling snarled at her as it stood on her canopy. It disappeared in a spray of ichor as a Talon swept in.

"Admiral!"

"I'm fine, plane's still intact... It's getting hard to control though, I can't see the damage." She continued on course.

"I see it. Your weapons bay door is hanging open."

"The Cryonuke?"

"... Mainly intact."

Orion narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean, mainly intact?"

The Talon leveled off, and Orion could see the pilot. "That detonation shredded its tail assembly. That thing's not flying anywhere under its own power."

Orion leaned back into the padding of the seat. The changelings had retreated for now, the surviving Talons pulled up around her.

"Unity, launch systems for the Cryonuke is wrecked. I'm putting my plane down and manually delivering the device. How copy?"

Applejack tried booting up the Howler, after making sure the filly was safely strapped in next to her. The engine ticked over once, before dying again.

"Horseapples. The engine's dead."

A flashing red light caught her attention. Applejack focused on the motion-detection radar, and saw the wave of red dots.

"Confound it. You stay here, alright? Keep your head down." Applejack instructed the filly as she left the driver's seat and manned the tri-barreled cannon.

The wave descended, flowing across the rooftop as changelings swarmed. The cannon roared as it launched lead projectiles at a rate of 30,000 rounds per minute into the wave.

"Please hurry up!" Applejack kept firing even as she pleaded with the forces in space.

3420398
As the laser cut through the changeling ship, AltUnity's own laser slammed into the shields. "Jump out, jump out!"

Unity warped out of further danger, away from AltUnity and changeling ships.
"Status on shields."

"Isn't going to stop another hit like that."

"Status on ECAF ship?"

"Going for it."

"Track 'em."

"Already on it."

"1st Fleet, Unity, requesting escort screen."

"Copy, Unity, cruisers are on the way."

"Unity, launch systems for the Cryonuke is wrecked. I'm putting my plane down and manually delivering the device. How copy?"

"... Unity copies. Go get 'em."

"Hey, Orion, it's Star. If you've got time, step back, alright? And if not, well, good luck."

"What's the status on the projector?"

"Ready to go."

"Keep it handy."

"3 o'clock!"

"On it!"

A swarm of flying changelings exploded as grenade shells and bullets flew into them.

The five mares sat on either side of the Basilisk gunship, sitting down on the landing gear blister and wing-like weapons pylon on either side. While Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rarity sat on the left, Rainbow and Applejack were on the right.

"6 o'clock! Rares!"

"I see them!"

The hail of gunfire was nonstop from them, and they were barely halfway out of the combat zone.

"Hey, Dash," Lightning said over the radio, "Gunner's got something on our sensors."

"What is it? Good? Bad?"

"Uh, both. There's one ECAF tank stuck getting attacked by a changeling swarm and..."

"And? So what?"

"Well, it's got a high ranking officer in it- other AJ, is the reading it's giving off, and a filly."

"... Well shit. Now what?!"

"I don't know about you, but I'm still a Marine, and my job was to keep the ponies boots on the ground safe-"

"Even if that means going right into the middle of heavy AA?"

"When has that ever stopped me?"

"A couple of times."

"... Shut up. This is Hazard 2-1, redirecting to provide assistance to high value ground unit."

"... Hazard 2-1, Hazard 2-2, copy. Provide us a waypoint and we'll meet you there."

"Dash! Guns ready, we're going in!" The gunship banked and set a course for the lone ECAF tank.

"You're insane, Lightning!" Rainbow and Pinkie excitedly exclaimed.

"You're insane, Lightning!" the other three just yelled.

As the gunship got closer, three other Basilisks dropped in next to them.

"How are we on weapons, guys?" Lightning asked her wingponies.

"Enough to play Wild Weasel and then some."

"Let's rock. 5 klicks out."

"Guns ready!" Dash ordered. The gunships dropped lower to the ground, engines on full. Against the wind, the five fired at the masses below and any that got near.

"Yo, watch your heads, got missiles hot."

On the wing above them, missiles launched from their pylons, aimed for AA positions on the ground. The three other gunships did the same, fireballs erupting on the ground.

"How are we on 3-30 ammo?"

"Thank Celestia for hyperspace drums."

"Then let's light 'em up!" The four Basilisks opened up with chin mounted turrets with triple 30 millimeter cannons, ripping through ground targets.

Plasma was flying past all of them, some hitting the gunship's heavy armor. Podded rockets returned fire. Meanwhile, Pinkie was having a great time with her grenade launcher.

"Hey, watch your legs and tails. I got a fan favorite down there. Six podded .50s."

"No gatlings?" Rainbow asked.

"I like to think single classics are more reliable than a grouped gun. Makes hits on the gun less of a worry."

Heavy machine gun fire added to the din of weapons fire. The strafing continued all the way up to the tank.

"Dash, 10 seconds, in and out! Zone's really hot!"

"Got it! AJ, ready?"

Applejack tested her tether. "Good to go!"

As the tank got closer and the gunship dropped down further, Rainbow and Applejack swung down, landing on top with a metallic thud. The four gunships' engine pods swiveled downwards and hovered around, continuing to mow down changelings.

While Applejack fired into the changeling waves, Rainbow pounded on the hatch. "Open up! We gotta go!"