A Mirror of Stars

by Cyberdutchman

CH 1: Shooting Stars

The red and gold hues of evening light were just beginning to show as Sunset pulled her motorcycle up to the front of the Sweet Apple Acres barn. She switched off the ignition and smiled at the comforting sight of her namesake streaming through the surrounding orchard. It was something she'd always loved, both here and back in Equestria, and it had only become more important to her since it was one of the true constants between the two worlds. There were distinct differences between them though that always made her feel both a sense of wonder and of being incredibly small.

In Equestria the great celestial bodies were tamed, controlled, and well understood. Magic maintained the balance of distance and energy between them all, the motions of the sun and moon set by the two royal princesses while the stars held their places. It was a small and cozy universe, a place where you knew the sun would always come up tomorrow just like it had yesterday.

Well, except that time the Princess's alarm clock failed to go off while Raven was sick. Everyone got to sleep in a couple extra hours till she woke up and realized she'd missed it, she thought as a grin crept over her face.

But when she thought about here... here the heavens were a delicate balance of titanic forces, motions, and physics. It was an inherently chaotic reality, the world no longer centered with the heavens arrayed around it. No, here the world was just one stone among a countless number, all spinning around their own centers of gravity as she'd learned to her shock not long after arriving. The sun might come up tomorrow or it might have been sent careening off into the void during the night by some more massive object. There was no great magical field like in Equestria to maintain harmony and balance, just small pockets that seeped through here and there. That scarcity just made them all the more amazing when they popped up though.

She smiled more deeply as her hand came up to her chest and found the small disk resting there. It had been a week since their the events of Camp Everfree. Even after all that time they were still marveling at the magical pendants that they'd each received. Sunset was convinced they were meant for them, somehow, even if she had no idea how that was possible.

She thought back to the moment they received them, the feeling of pride and joy she felt as Twilight overcame her own inner demons and embraced her gifts and her friends, much like someone else had as she stood atop a hill and stared down three powerful foes with her own friends. She squeezed her hand tighter around the token and closed her eyes.

"Thank you." She felt a small jolt through her hand like static. Her eyes shot open again in surprise as she lifted the necklace up to her eyes.

"Did it just-"

"Sunset, you're here already? With your job and the drive over Ah figured ya wouldn't get here for another half hour or more."

Sunset dismounted her bike as a creak emanated from the door of the Sweet Apple Acres barn. Applejack pushed it open further then stood in the center of the opening, hands on her hips. Sunset gave her a quick wave and started for the door.

"Hey AJ! Yeah, I got off work early, some problem with the filters forced my boss to close the pool early. Twilight and the rest here yet?"

Applejack shook her head. "Nah, though Ah got a text from Twilight sayin' she'd be here soon. Fluttershy's pickin' up Rarity from her shop as well and shouldn't be far behind. Haven't heard from Rainbow Dash or Pinkie yet though. Come on in, I'm still clearing out space for Twilight's equipment." She tossed a thumb over her shoulder and waited for Sunset to join her.

"Not to be a pest but... y'all sure this is a good idea? I seem ta remember the last time we messed around with magic like this you got lit up like a Hearths Warming tree, coughing up rainbows and worse."

Sunset shuddered. "Please don't remind me. Worst of it was twitching for a couple days from the static after Pinkie 'ballooned' me. But Twilight and I think we've got it pretty well worked out this time. We'll be using some of the equipment she made at Crystal Prep to monitor things and hopefully contain any stray magic."

"Wait, 'hopefully'? This isn't going to blow up our barn, right?"

"Yes AJ, for the fifth or sixth time, yes, we're sure!" Sunset replied with a laugh and a playful punch to her friend's shoulder.

"Alright, but if anythin' gets bent up you're both helping ta fix it," Applejack replied as she looked around the interior of the barn. Most of the equipment and stores had been moved out of the way, leaving the center of the building clear and open.

"Sure, so long as you don't expect me to help with the heavy lifting. That's more yours and Twilight's thing," Sunset noted with a raised eyebrow.

"Fair point. Ah wouldn't ask ya ta do somethin' risky that we could do without any issue."

Sunset nodded with a slight frown. Applejack noticed the pinch to her mouth and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Ah didn't mean it like that. Your powers just aren't the best for brute forcin' through things, that's all. Twilight and I've got strength covered, Dash has got speed, Fluttershy's an animal whisperer now-a real one, not like those fakes on TV-and you've got-shoot, what's the best way to describe it...- communicatin'. You're the one that's gonna know when there's a problem before the rest of us and probably figure out the solution first to boot. That's what happened at camp after all."

Sunset sighed then smiled slightly at the straight talking farm girl. "Thanks AJ, I appreciate it, though I think you might be exaggerating how much I did. It's just... I was kind of hoping I'd get some of the old magic I could use in Equestria again. But I've never heard of anything like this contact-mind-reading. It's new and I don't know what all it can really do. You left Pinkie out of that list by the way," she ended with a grin.

Applejack groaned softly. "Yeah, and that comes back to not knowin' what all that power of hers can do. Can she only blow up party supplies and junk food? Ah've got no clue! You weren't there when she tossed a box of nails to me when we were building the dock. Ah thought that was the end of us! Sometimes that girl's more oblivious than a deaf cat on catnip."

Sunset chuckled at the mental image that conjured up before turning serious again. "Fluttershy told me about that. It's a big part of why Twilight and I decided we needed to run these tests."

"That's fine by me. Hopefully Twilight will- well how's that for timing?" she said, switching tracks as the sound of a car pulling up the drive to the barn carried over to them. They both walked back to the barn door and watched as Twilight half stumbled out of her ride. She was rather disheveled with her glasses hanging at the end of her nose and strands of hair falling out of her summer ponytail. She paused when she caught sight of them watching her from the entryway.

"Shoot, I was sure I'd arrive before you did! I'd planned to set up before everyone else arrived so we could jump right in! Ohhhhh... now I'm going to have to rework those plans to factor in you helping and the time decrease and letting everyone else know they can arrive earlier and-"

Twilight's freak-out was cut short as Sunset walked over and gave her a small shake to the side, rattling her glasses further down the end of her nose.

"Twilight, it's fine! I got off work early and with how long the drive is I decided to just head here and wait. As for the equipment we can set it up and then wait for the others, it's not a big deal," Sunset said with a laugh.

It was funny that while some things changed, like Twilight's long distance relationship with Timber and her acceptance of her magic and the confidence boost that came with it, there were other things it seemed would never change. Twilight Sparkle brand panic was at the top of that list.

"Ahehe...heh... sorry, you're right, sorry," she replied with a nervous laugh. She smiled awkwardly at Sunset as she reached up and placed her glasses in front of her eyes again. She turned and waved at Applejack who was now leaning against the barn wall with an amused grin. "Hi Applejack, good to see you again. Sorry for the rush, but is the barn cleared to move the equipment in?"

Applejack nodded. "Yeah, got some small tools to clear out here and there and some extension cords to run but Sunset can grab those while we start movin' your stuff in." She looked at Sunset for confirmation and received a thumbs up in response.

Twilight's awkwardly nervous smile began to grow more genuine as a thought hit her.

"Well, at least it will give us all time to catch up before everyone else arrives! We haven't really had a chance to talk much since the end of camp, what with how busy the summer's been since."

Sunset rolled her eyes a little with a chuckle as she walked past them towards the open door.

"Tell me about it, it's been a nightmare trying to finish our summer reading and assignments before senior year starts on top of my job and figuring out this new magic. I'm still playing catch-up on the history of this world. It's frustratingly similar but really different in some ways. Events keep matching up but in weird ways that don't really make sense. Like big events there are small things here and vice versa."

"Huh, that's odd... you'd think that either there'd be a perfect match or there wouldn't be any correlation at all. I wonder..." Twilight said as she began pondering. "Maybe it has to do with where everyone's doubles end up? Or maybe one influences the other or-" She was cut off by a sharp poke to her shoulder. She shook her head in surprise and turned to find Applejack grinning at her.

"Twilight! Mission Control to Twilight, do ya read us? We've lost ya again!" Applejack asked as she poked Twilight's shoulder more softly this time.

Twilight shook her head, banishing the problem to the back of her mind to be examined in detail another time.

"Sorry Applejack, I kind of zoned out there. Again ahehe..." she trailed of with a nervous laugh. "Soooo, time for the hardware?"

"Sure, just... be prepared for this not to go the way ya expect. Sunset tried doing the same thing back before the Battle of the Bands and... well, we made sure she visited the nurse afterwards if ya catch my meaning."

Twilight adjusted her glasses as she replied, "Yeah, I've heard plenty on that one. I'm hoping we can avoid a repeat by using equipment designed for the job instead of stuff re-purposed from the sound room and computer lab."

Sunset's voice called out in an echoing shout from the barn. "Not sure any equipment has ever been designed with butterfly oscilloscopes and rainbow explosions in mind!"

A small sigh escaped Twilight as she turned to face Applejack again. "We might as well get started. If we keep going at this rate the others will get here before we're ready."

"Sounds good. What's first?"

"Let's get the power equipment in place. It's the largest and heaviest by far."

"Ya got it!" Applejack said as she squinted into the back of the hatchback. Her eyes opened wider and she snapped her fingers as she saw the box with the right label. "Whaddya say we warm up a little before we get science-y with the new magic?" she asked, glancing at Twilight with a smirk before reaching out one handed and effortlessly lifted the box out of the car. "Hah! Never gets old!"

Twilight gave a small chuckle at her friend's cheerfulness. "I'm guessing that's been helpful around the farm huh?"

Applejack gave her an impish look as she passed by on her way into the barn. "Oh, you've got no idea. Ya'll should have seen Big Mac's face the when I lifted the truck up to change a tire though. Ah try not to use it too much though. Don't want to get cocky or dampen his and Applebloom's spirits around pickin' time."

Twilight frowned a little as she considered Applejack's words. It was fine using our powers at camp when we were in a rush to get things done in time and everyone else was really busy as well. But now that we're back we're going to have to figure out when we should use them rather than when we simply can. I doubt many of the others are going to have a problem with that but then there's Rainbow Dash...

She grimaced at the thought of that future conversation. Talking to Rainbow about NOT using her speed all the time would be... problematic at best. Disastrous at worst.

"Twilight, ya commin' or what? This here's your show after all," Applejack shouted from within the barn.

"Right, sorry!" she replied before hastily scooping up a couple other large boxes in her telekinetic power.

---

"Incoming! Everyone brace!"

Everyone lurched in their seats as the craft climbed skyward then fishtailed ninety degrees to the side and shot off at more than five gees. The set of missiles tracking them couldn't match the jerking path and streaked past, their lock on the ship completely lost. A few moments later all three exploded as point defense lasers from their target disabled them.

None aboard the fleeing ship felt the crushing acceleration of the maneuver, courtesy of the set of five expansion fields behind the ship accelerating everything equally within their range. If not it would have been especially bad for the occupant of the commander's crash couch in the center of the command deck, the only flesh and blood member of the crew aboard the vessel. He shot a quick glance at a screen by his right hand, taking a moment to confirm that they lost their pursuers for the moment.

"Jax, less dodging, more orbital inserting!" Liam yelled pointedly.

At the front of the deck, in the center of a septet of seats arrayed in a long arc facing away from the commander's place, a humanoid figure tilted its head back, never taking its eyes and their glowing blue irises off the displays in front of it, and called back, "Oh I'd love to, trust me! But we're still low and slow and our friends in the F-22s don't seem to want us reaching the altitude we need to open up the throttle without the air resistance tearing us apart!"

Liam growled in response and swiped a finger across the screen next to him. The view shifted to show a quartet of contacts keeping pace with them. At the farthest range shown even more were catching up with their flight. It looked grim but it could have been far worse.

Yeah, I could have revealed that I can create fields instead of making that a state secret back before we returned. Then Will would be dead alongside Thomas and I'd be marching through a kangaroo court back in D.C. At least they didn't hand out those goddamn rounds to the ones guarding the ship and the crew. If only they hadn't had the forethought to keep a squadron on hand to intercept anyone fleeing, he thought grimly.

"I've got a question!"

Liam turned to look at the Mission Specialist seat and had to hold back a small chuckle as its occupant waved his hand in the air like an overly enthusiastic school child. Even when we're about to die he can't help but be a smart ass. Eh, what the hell, probably not going to get hit for another minute or so.

"Just ask it Will."

Will nodded and pointed at his screen. "Why are they hanging back? Our point defense arrays could probably knock out most of their missiles but they can carry enough to saturate them if they fired everything at once."

Liam frowned and brought up a copy of Will's display on the screen to his left. He was right, they didn't need to wait for the reinforcements gaining on them. If their pursuers launched everything they had right now they'd take one or two hits and that might be enough to bring them down. His frown increased as something prodded the back of his mind. His eyes shot open wide as he realized they had a chance if their enemies were going to make the mistake of continuing to probe their defenses instead of going for the knockout punch.

"Jax, Will's on to something! They look like they're trying to coral us instead of destroying us outright! This is the only ship in easy reach for them to study; everything else is in orbit. See if you can get them to fire one more salvo and when those are gone make a break for it. They'll be down to half their payload and between the PDLs and the increase in acceleration as we get higher we should be able to make a clean break from any follow up launches."

Their pilot tossed a quick thumbs up and pulled back on the control console. The view on the deck display screens swerved as the ship went into a steep climb. Almost immediately afterwards a siren blared a missile lock warning and Jax laughed maniacally.

"Three more AIM-120s inbound, unison launch! Looks like they took the bait!"

Liam couldn't help but smirk, even as he felt another chill run down his spine as death screamed in at them from behind once more. The ship jinked and swerved, the point defense lasers dotted across it tracking as fast as they could. Jax put the ship into a low angle dive and they plummeted towards the waters of the Atlantic below them, the three missiles gaining quickly. A couple hundred feet above the water he pushed the controls in and the ship went into a sharp inverted loop, the glowing lavender-red expansion fields behind the ship swinging down and through the ocean, creating a towering plume as the water was repulsed away from them. Once again the missiles tried to track their target through the seemingly impossible maneuver and failed spectacularly, this time without any help from the ship's defenses. They shot almost vertically into the ocean below the ship and detonated, adding their own sprays of water to the one now cascading down in a mist that glowed red in the fading daylight.

"Now!" Liam shouted.

Jax didn't wait for the order before completing the loop and launching them almost straight up. The alarms went off again, this time in a long, unending wail. Every screen dedicated to the fighters chasing them blossomed into a field of red blips as dozens of missiles launched and began seeking them. But he could already see he'd made the right call. The lead fighters, now even further behind after their dive, only launched two staggered sets of missiles while the scores launched by the trailing fighters were going to have a lot of extra distance to cover to reach them, distance that would allow them to climb and outpace them. Even just a few thousand more feet of altitude and the air would get thin enough for them to pull fifty gees easily before really opening up the drives. Nothing was going to catch them then.

"Finish those off and start preparing the gate drive. As soon as you pass the Karman line get a lock on the Psyche relay and get us home. We'll rendezvous with anyone that got away and figure out our response," he said coolly as he began putting together lists of targets and required resources in the back of his mind.

Where did it all go wrong? he wondered to himself. When did we make the change from breaking physics and exploring the system to running from genocide? How did we go from excitement when we returned to this? We fought their wars to an end for them, we gave them peace they'd never seen before. And this is what they choose?

His scowl deepened. Doesn't matter in the end. There's no sunshine and rainbows solution to this. All that matters now is making sure it ends and can never happen again.

---

"Well, that's the last of it. Whew!" Twilight said as she exhaled and wiped a hand across her forehead. "Now as soon as the others-"

The barn was suddenly filled with a small hurricane of wind. Applejack reached up and held her hat tightly to her head as Twilight and Sunset ducked down with matching cries of alarm. The currents subsided and the three risked peeking an eye open. Leaning against the wall opposite Sunset was the Speed Queen herself, arms crossed and a smug grin on her face. In one hand she held her pendant as it slowly ceased glowing. Applejack glared at her as Rainbow pushed off the wall and walked over to them.

"Rainbow Dash! How many times have Ah told ya not to do that!"

Rainbow Dash shrugged in reply.

"Eh, a couple I think. Haven't been keeping count. So, everybody ready to see what kinds of awesome I can do now?"

Sunset and Twilight chuckled as Applejack sighed and tilted her hat back down to rest flat on her head.

"Sure, we're just waiting on Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie now."

"Oh, I saw Flutters and Rarity on the way over. They were taking Rarity's car and-"

"RAINBOW DASH!"

The four girls jumped and turned to see Rarity walk in, arms held stiffly at her sides with her hands clenched. Her face was the picture of anger. Fluttershy stood behind her, peering over the fashionista's shoulder. She gave the group a small smile and a wave then tucked her head into her shoulders with a small "eep!" as Rarity stormed up to Rainbow Dash and pointed a finger up at her face.

"I'll have you know you nearly caused us to veer off the road on our way here!"

Rainbow grinned sheepishly then zipped around behind Twilight. She peered over the shoulder of her confused human shield and rubbed the back of her head.

"Ehehe... sorry about that. I was planning on just tagging along with you two but then that truck honked and I lost my concentration and-"

Rarity snapped her finger, her elbow resting in her other hand. Rainbow dash shut her mouth with a distinct click as she frowned at her friend.

"Darling, you really need to be more careful in using your powers! I don't doubt you have control over them- that seems to be the case for all of us- but you were obviously more focused on yourself then your surroundings!"

Rarity's face softened from anger to disappointed concern.

"You put not only yourself at risk but everyone else on that road as well, and until you learn to be more aware of your surroundings and what is permissible I'm asking you to err on the side of caution."

Fluttershy added her voice to the dressing down as stepped up next to Rarity with her hands clasped in front of her chest.

"Just think about how upset the rest of us would have been if you'd been hurt using your new magic. It's supposed to be something that brings us all together and you nearly made it into something that would tear us apart."

Rainbow stepped out from behind Twilight, her hands in the pockets of her pants as she looked at the ground. Her face has flushed from an embarrassed blush that was threatening to turn her skin the same color as Rarity's hair.

"I'm sorry Rarity, Fluttershy, it's just... I can fly now! Whenever I want! How cool is that?! It's the most awesome thing I've ever done!"

The rainbow haired athlete's blush had diminished until all that was left was a faint glow as she rode out recent fond memories. Rarity sighed and dropped her hands to her sides with a faint smile as Fluttershy giggled in a way guaranteed to give diabetes to anyone unaccustomed to such saccharine sweetness.

"As long as you're careful from now on. We're here to learn more about our new magic so that we know what we can do and where our limits are," Fluttershy said.

"What limits? The magic we have seems to be getting stronger almost every month. First it was pony-ups and friendship lasers when we played music and really got into it then that changed to happening when we were just being ourselves just, you know, more than usual, and now we've got superpowers!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she raised her arms above her with a huge grin.

Twilight frowned, biting her lower lip lightly as she looked at the floor.

"I hadn't thought about it but you're right. I knew you all had magic before the Friendship Games but I didn't realize the conditions to use it and the strength had been changing. The superpowers I can make sense of since we all got items that allow us to access the powers but the rest... I don't know, to even get the framework of a theory going I'd need more data, preferably starting back when magic first started becoming a thing here at the Formal-"

She paused and looked back up at the group.

"Wait a minute, magic has to have been here earlier than the Formal. Going by the stories you've told me Pinkie Pie's been using it for years."

Sunset gave her a deadpan look.

"Twilight, I'm going to stop you before you go looking for answers that don't exist. Pinkie Pie has not been using magic any longer than the rest of us."

"But-"

"Trust me, it's Pinkie Pie. Her Equestrian counterpart is an Earth Pony without magic and according to Princess You she does the same things there. Believe me when I say trying to figure it out will only drive you mad. "

"Yeah Twilight, you can trust Sunny! She's done the whole mad she-demon and mad scientist thing before so she knows what to look for!"

The six girls all gave matching cries of "GAH!" as one of the tool lockers at the back of the barn popped open to reveal a goggled and lab-coated Pinkie Pie holding up the ends of a voltmeter. Somehow a small arc of electricity was passing between them without any apparent power source. She dropped them all in the locker then slammed the door home and bounded over to the group.

"See what I mean," Sunset said with a knowing smirk.

"Well how 'bout that? Not even an eye twitch from bringing up the Formal," Applejack said with a casual point of a finger at the ex-villain.

"It's well and truly past now, even more so since Camp Everfree. Twilight overcoming her fear of Midnight Sparkle really brought it home for me again, that I could put it behind me completely. Now it's just an embarrassing story to tell and we all have those."

"Yeah, like our outfits for the Battle of the Bands! I've still got the video of it in my 'Favorites' playlist, never gets old," Rainbow Dash added with a snicker.

Rarity glared at her and said through gritted teeth, "I've told you time and again I was working with what I had from that storage room we were locked in. I went for visibility over style so that we could grab everyone's attention away from those three temptresses."

"Sure, keep telling yourself that!" Rainbow Dash cried as she fell back on the floor, the laughter she'd been holding back finally escaping.

"Really Darling? You wish to bring up past misunderstandings now? Perhaps I should tell them about that little incident of yours back in First Year? You remember, the one with Soarin and Spitfire?"

"Oooh ooh! I remember that one!" cried the pink haired locker-Houdini. "Dashie didn't go to the soccer camp that year because of it!"

"Oh, now this Ah've gotta hear!" Applejack said with a chuckle. She shot a glance towards Rainbow as the girl jumped back up from the floor, arms crossed in an X in front of her.

"Woah! Okay, I'm sorry I brought it up! Truce! Truce!"

Everyone started roaring with laughter at Rainbow's about-face. Rarity smiled at her slyly and flicked her fingers out in a "go on" gesture. Rainbow Dash huffed under the unwanted attention.

"Come on Rare, cut me some slack here..."

Fluttershy stepped up to the fashionista's side with the same small smile and cocked an eyebrow at her.

"Rarity, don't give Rainbow such a hard time. We all have things we'd like to forget that embarrassed us. Most of us know of at least one for someone else here and we never go telling them unless they say we can," she chided.

She then turned the look onto both Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. "The same goes for you two as well. Rainbow, you know Rarity doesn't like to bring up that night, especially what we went through before we beat those girls, and Pinkie, you should know better than to encourage this kind of behavior."

Pinkie nodded, her toothy grin diminishing to her usual chipper expression.

Rainbow Dash dropped her arms with a sigh and scratched the back of her head. "Yeah, you're right. None of us were at our best back then. Well, except for Pony Girl over here and her real talk," she said, tossing a thumb Sunset's way. Sunset blushed and waved her hand in a dismissive manner. She turned slightly so none of the others would see the small thankful smile that crept over her.

Rarity chuckled then swept her hand up through her hair.

"Very well dear, I'll just keep that memory to myself for now. Rainbow, please forgive my little indiscretion," she said as she looked apologetically at her puckish friend. "Now, I do believe there was a reason we all gathered here other than to laugh at each other's expense?"

Twilight perked up. "Oh, right!"

She walked over to her laptop and began pulling up one spreadsheet after the next. "I have a series of tests I want to run on each of our powers. Try to establish baselines, that kind of thing. It shouldn't take too long and hopefully we'll get a better idea of what this magic can do."

Applejack frowned and said, "Uhh, Sugarcube? Just one last time, are ya still sure ya want to do this? Really sure? Like Ah told ya, the last time we tried figurin' out how our magic worked Sunset ended up coughin' up rainbows and sticking to metal."

"I am confident that this approach will have different results."

Applejack searched her friend's face for any sign of doubt and sighed when she found none. "Okay, if you're sure. Ah can't say Ah wouldn't mind knowing more 'bout where this crazy strength comes from before Ah start using it more around the farm."

Twilight nodded vigorously. "I'd hoped you'd want to know more about it! Ohhhhh, this is so exciting! Who knows what we're going to learn tonight! Just think, we might find new abilities or maybe even how magic interacts with classic physics which would be-"

Sunset smiled as her friend began to spew out technobabble to the group faster and faster. She felt a small touch on her shoulder and turned to find Rarity's hand resting on it as she watched Twilight alongside Fluttershy.

"It still surprises me how different Twilight's attitude is now. Quite the change from before camp, wouldn't you agree?" she inquired. She glanced at Sunset out of the corner of her eye with a knowing look.

Sunset smiled even more and crossed her arms in front of her. "Yes, yes I would."

---

"Well, we're out of range of any ground based weapon they've got. We should be... clear... now..." Jax trailed off as the main bridge display resolved into a veritable graveyard just inside the furthest reach of the atmosphere's embrace. Debris drifted ahead of them like a terrible fog as the air from the ships continued to vent into the vacuum, each wreck drawn out by the manipulations of orbital mechanics into a long scar across the black of space.

Will gave a long, mournful whistle. "Christ... how'd they do this? There weren't any nukes detonated, no reports of sub or air launched munitions, and we've tracked all the launches that could have placed assets in orbit ahead of time. So how'd they pull this off?"

Liam shook his head as two storms of burning rage and deep sorrow competed with each other for dominance over him. He breathed out and looked away, focusing instead on their own ship's status.

"No idea. We'll figure that out when we get back to Psyche. Jax, as soon as the gate drive is charged get us-"

"New contact! I've picking up low level expansion fields. Has to be another Legion ship."

Liam's head snapped up as the words rang out over the bridge. Sure enough, their sensors had found another ship under power out among the wreckage.

"Open a channel to them so we can coordinate. Hopefully they've found other survivors drifting with the debris."

He relaxed into his crash couch with a long, wispy sigh and winced. His muscles were aching and he realized he must have been tensed up throughout the entire escape. He must have unconsciously been keeping it just below the level to charge his abilities. Otherwise he would have likely destroyed the bridge and the ship with it. At least I managed to keep it under check this time, he thought with relief. He slowly glanced over at the ship's Comms officer.

"Albrecht," he said, waiting for the Legionnaire to look at him before continuing, "when you get a link with them get a tally of any other ships that made it out. Sooner we can start planning a response-" He stopped as the inorganic double shook his head with a look of mild concern.

"They're not responding to our hails. They may have been damaged in the attack or..."

Liam nodded in matching concern as the memory of one of his companions falling to the ground lifeless flashed through his mind.

"Bring up a visual, let's see what we can do to help them."

Albrecht nodded, quickly typing in a slew of commands at his station then looked up at the main display. A pop-up window sprang to life, filling most of the screen, as the carnage a couple hundred miles or more from them pulled into tight focus. Everyone present turned to look as well then recoiled in shock. A long, black cylindrical form drifted among the distant wreckage, almost invisible against the dark void except where sparks from the surrounding dead hulks illuminated it and crystallized gasses clung to it.

"That's... not ours" Will said slowly. "Liam-"

"Fast movers detected! Missile launch confirmed, contact in- oh shit, they've got expansion drives! Thirty two seconds to contact!" Jax called out, his voice strained with disbelief.

Liam blanched at the announcement. The implications if someone on Earth had recreated their technology were terrifying on any number of levels. More immediately, it meant they were as good as dead.

"Turn her around and try to reduce the closing velocity! It'll give the interceptors and PDLs a better chance to hit something. Then put the reserves towards the point defen- wait, hold that. Jax, what's the status on the gate drive?"

"Five minutes at current rate!"

Liam ground his teeth as he realized he'd wasted precious seconds with his previous order. "Redirect reserves to the drive instead. They killed an entire fleet and I doubt we'll do any better on defense instead of running."

Jax waited a moment for the numbers to update then grunted softly. "Three minutes, seven seconds to charge now."

Liam turned to look at the combat clock now blazing at the top of the tactical displays as it updated for their new speed and heading.

3 MINUTES, 14 SECONDS TO CONTACT

"Too close... too damn close," he whispered to himself through gritted teeth as he glared at his personal screen and the ship displayed on it, now advancing through the remains of his family.

---

Twilight finished typing commands into her laptop then stepped back and wiped the sweat from her brow. The sun had finally gone down just a few minutes prior but the heat it had left behind didn't seem to want to follow along with it.

"Okay, everything's ready."

"Sounds good. Who do you want to go mad scientist on first?" Sunset asked as she pushed herself off the wall she'd been relaxing next to. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie put down the horseshoes they they'd been tossing around while Rarity quickly finished adding a small set of braids to Fluttershy's hair that met at the base of her back. Twilight was about to reply when she noticed that AJ and Rainbow both looked rather sulky.

"Uhhhhh... what's with you two?"

"Don't ask," both Applejack and Rainbow Dash answered in unison. Twilight frowned in confusion then noticed Pinkie giggling just off to her side. She looked back at the other two then noticed the horseshoe stake out of the corner of her eye. Three shoes were hanging from the top of the stake, each supporting the next below it, like some sort of weird modern-art mobile. Twilight raised an eyebrow and started to ask the obvious question.

"Don't ask," her friends said in unison again.

She turned the questioning look on Pinkie next who just shrugged and said, "They were too caught up in trying to make the shoes go to the one place they wanted and didn't try to make them not go to all the places they didn't want."

Twilight blinked and nodded slowly. "Okay, that makes sense... I think..." She shook her head and rewound her mind to just beforehand. "I'd actually like to first try with all of us together. Make sure the equipment I've got can even pick up the maximum amount of magic we can put in one place. Otherwise there won't be any point to checking each of us individually."

The others looked at each other and nodded. "Sure, no problem," said Rainbow Dash.

Twilight perked up. "Great! Then if you could all just join me in the center here... no, just a little closer in- Rainbow Dash, you're off the screen... okay and... there!" she declared as they all stopped shifting around and settled into the middle of the barn.

"So now we just... magic up?" Pinkie asked as she tried to not elbow anyone.

Twilight winced, having received an elbow just a moment before, then enthusiastically replied, "Yes, as much as you can!"

The girls all reached up and took hold of their necklaces for a moment to help them focus. Then, in a blur of chromatic light their outfits shifted, lengthening and twisting into new patterns, shapes, and forms. Everyone cheered at the change, the first time they'd tried it together as a group since camp. Everyone except Twilight who was focused on her laptop and the sensors tied into it. She jumped up and pumped her fist in the air as the screen lit up with a dozen graphs, plots, and other various data windows.

"Yes! They're all working! Now maybe I can start to figure out how our magic lets us do everything."

The others all cheered and patted her on the shoulders or, in Rainbow Dash's case, pulled her hand up before high fiving it.

"So, what's next?" asked Sunset.

Twilight faced her and said, "Next I think it would be best if each of us use our powers normally and then do it again ponied up, see what the difference is between each way of using them. That way we can-"

---

"We're running out of time Jax!" shouted Liam as he watched the deadly missiles following them draw closer each second.

"Drive is preparing to discharge! Everyone, prepare for gate transit!"

At the front of the ship a small, precisely engineered target was ejected at high speed. An infinitesimal moment later, in precisely coordinated fashion, a dozen intense expansion fields crushed it down to a singular point, causing physics to squint at what was going on and throw up its hands in defeat. The target turned into a microscopic blackhole and would have stayed that way for its very short lifespan if not for the single new field placed directly in the center of the singularity. A burst of power caused the interior throat of the black hole to expand beyond its event horizon, space flipping inside out for just long enough for a ship to pass through before it began to collapse again.

Liam and his crew had only a moment to begin feeling relief as the front of their ship rushed toward the hole in space before a number of things happened all at once.

---

A flash and a yank dragged the entity back to consciousness.

With empty lethargy it slowly stretched out to see what it was this time and recoiled in surprise as it felt a forgotten but familiar tingle pass through it. It pushed outward again... and found a conduit where the universe was being forced into knots and folds as another jutted out into it and others beside it before collapsing back in on itself. But even more excitingly, in a rush of dark desire it realized that its key was about to pass across the spatial maelstrom! Pushing it to ever greater heights of anticipation the key was now more enraged and radiating in emotional energy than it had ever been before, more than any other key before it! All of its work, all of its time and energy, it had final born fruit and now it was time to reap the harvest!

With a triumphant howl beyond hearing by physical ears it reached out its ephemeral grasp, straining against its bonds, snarling as they crackled and pulled it back steadily, pushing until it finally reached the passage and with all its might squeezed, closing the end and crushing all other possible exits until only one remained.

---

Liam had just an instant to watch the gate ripple, the distorted image shifting from the silhouette of their home base to a wash of green and blue, before the ship lurched as air screamed through the open gateway at them. The sudden force slowed the ship just enough for the lead missile trailing it to register a favorable range to its target and detonate. A burst of sharp spikes shot forward and struck one of the five main field generators at the rear of the ship, ripping it to shreds and spilling a black cloud that shut down everything it fell over. The ship began spinning from the impact as it passed through the sphere of warped space. Before the rest of the missiles could follow it the gate rippled again and collapsed back into empty vacuum.

---

"AHHHHH!"

The seven girls all cried out in pain as their magic fluctuated wildly before disappearing completely. Their clothes returned to normal and their crystals ceased glowing as they all fell over each other in the middle of the barn.

"Owwwwww! What the heck was that?" yelled Rainbow Dash sharply.

"Oooohhhhh... whatever it was can we not do it again?" Sunset shimmer replied before groaning loudly. "And can someone please stop kneeing me in the chest?"

"Oh! Sorry! Ohhh... owww," Flutterhsy said as she slowly crawled out of the pile, rubbing her forehead while clenching her eyes shut against a severe headache.

"Twilight! I thought you said this was gonna be safe!" Applejack shouted indignantly from the bottom of the group, straining to pull herself out from under the rest of them.

"It can't have been my stuff, it's all passive detection only!" Twilight replied with a frightened shiver.

"Again, what... the HECK... was THAT?" Rainbow Dash asked pointedly as she jumped up and threw her arms in the air.

"It felt like a huge burst of magic twisted the very fabric of reality into knots and then tore it wide open!" Pinkie cried as she lay on her back, pointing at the roof of the barn with her eyes locked there as well.

Rainbow Dash shook her head with a frown, "Pinkie, this isn't the time for jokes-"

A wailing scream suddenly filled the air around them.

Instantly all seven clawed and jumped their way out of the middle of the barn and to the door. They all looked around the sunset lit orchard with unease, trying to find the source of the terrible sound. A glint of light passed over Sunset, causing her to squint upward. Her eyes shot open and she stabbed a finger at the sky. "Look!"

The others all looked up and froze as a huge object plummeted towards the ground, illuminated in red by the flames pouring out of the back end. Behind it a distorted sphere filled with stars shrunk to nothing and then vanished with a small bang that shook the trees around them. The thing began tilting back and a strange reddish purple distortion appeared below it, causing it to pitch up.

"Oh no...NO! It's headed for the Fall Harvest!" Applejack cried in distress. The others watched wide eyes as her fears were confirmed. The thing continued to pull up as it dropped lower and lower but it couldn't stop the descent. Just before it impacted the distortion bloomed outward, knocking away the trees below it in an explosion of wood and fruit and jerking it into a course nearly parallel with the ground. It impacted almost immediately after, tearing a long cut through the orchard as it plowed the earth away in front of it. A few seconds later it ground to a halt, nose deep in the dirt. The flames from the back began to slowly dissipate, leaving only the last light of the setting sun to illuminate the ruin of the entire section of orchard.

No one moved or spoke until Applejack slowly dropped to her knees in shock, her lips moving wordlessly. Suddenly the sight seemed to register with her and she inhaled sharply before punching the ground in anguish. "GOD DAMN IT!" she screamed, a small trail of tears crawling down her face.

Rarity bent down and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. Applejack turned on her, anger carved into her face. They both stared at each other for a long moment before AJ dropped her head onto Rarity's shoulder.

The others looked at each other, each trying to find something to say to ease their friend's pain but nothing came to mind in that moment. Sunset and Twilight looked uneasy and out of sorts while Rainbow Dash winced and rubbed the back of her head. Fluttershy was on the verge of tears at the sight of her friend's pain. Pinkie was perhaps the most distraught after AJ though. She kept looking from the sky to the crash site while wringing her hands.

Twilight looked back up at the object resting half buried in the land. "I-I think it's a craft of some sort. That means there may be people that need help," she said, trying to latch onto a simple idea in all the confusion.

They all nodded and joined the other two. Sunset and Fluttershy joined Rarity and helped Applejack up then stuck close by her as the group began the trek down the hill towards the distant fields.

---

"Keeper Watch, it's happened again. It's pulled another one through."

The speaker pushed a pair of glasses higher up his nose as he nervously waited for a response to the report. Before him a desk sat piled high with organized trays of papers and CDs, each meticulously arranged and labeled. The owner of the desk rested their elbows on the writing surface set into it and lowered their mouth to their interlocking fingers.

"Has it now? We've dealt with such situations before and we have procedures in place to handle another," a steady, feminine voice said with disinterest. A pair of bright amber eyes held his gaze while the hard face around them failed to give any hint of emotion. "It only has the one trick to play and it's a tired one. Was there anything else Nightingale?"

"No- I mean, yes- sorry. Keeper... this is different. Those were all similar in any number of ways. This... this is different. Very different."

An eyebrow inched minutely higher. One of the hands reached out and he placed a folder he'd brought along into it. The amber gaze held his own until the folder was open on the desk then it dropped down to the series of photos in it. Suddenly the eyes shot open in alarm and both hands quickly began spreading out all of the documents within the envelope. A few seconds passed before that same steady voice spoke, this time even more tightly controlled and unwavering.

"Nightingale, gather the assembly. We need to get this situation under observation AT ONCE."

Author's Note:

(Had a sudden rush of insanity and decided to sketch out what a Legionnaire would look like and in particular Will. Except for his face because FML I can't do faces)

Comments

[Spiral_Donut]

8032835 Not as bad as the ones that post 100k at a time.

[Cyberdutchman]

8043292

*shudder*

I've only known maybe one or two professional authors who could get away with that, and that's because they're demigods of detail that weave a scene so minutely that everyone pictures it exactly alike.

[Spiral_Donut]

8044162 Might as well call them books at their length.