Voyages of the Lightbringer: Episode 5: Breaking the Mirror

by Admiral Wyatt Stone

Enter Ragnarok/Assassins

The room shook slightly from the stress of the ride as I sat in my seat, looking at Captain Patel on the viewscreen as she explained the overview of the mission. According to what she had said, the Terrans were sending ships to the Prime Universe to capture Alliance vessels, specifically those that are affiliated with the Universal Alliance. Over the past few days that they've made attempts, they had met with failure, that is, until they found us there. Now that they had the data regarding the Mycelial Network, they might be able to create a weapon similar to the one J'ula had, perhaps one far worse. Not only that, but they had found allies within our Mirror universe, and one of their new assets was someone I had hoped I wouldn't have to deal with: My counterpart. Patel said that instead of destroying the Black Book back at Maripony, she used it to become stronger and take control of a good amount of the Equestrian Wasteland.

But as I would find out shortly after, there would be some resistance, thanks to some help from the Alliance.

"But we won't be alone for this mission." Patel said as I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Really? Who else?" I replied to the rogue Terran captain before she answered me.

"Our friends in the Terran Task Force have made contact with some allies in your Mirror Universe. With their help, we may be able to put an end to the Terran incursion."

I gave a hopeful smile to my new friend as I heard a beep from behind me, Velvet looking up to me as she spoke. "Our friends down in Engineering have installed the cloak."

"Good." I turned to Xenith before continuing. "Xenith, activate the cloak and set the ship to Yellow Alert."

"Of course." The zebra replied as she turned back to face her console, myself looking back to the screen as Patel spoke up again.

"Oh, and about your new visitors. You remember that story about Ministry Mare Rainbow Dash and the assassin named Gilda, do you not?" I nodded in acknowledgement before she continued. "Well, you're bound to uncover the answer to another mystery any minute-" The human captain was cut off as the turbolift behind us opened up, two beings entering the room. As I stood up to examine them, my mouth opened in surprise as I recognized them. The first one was a mare with a cyan coat and a rainbow mane and tail, along with some dark crimson and black armor and glowing yellow lines all over it. She also had some kind of patch that consisted of a thunderbolt with wings.

"..Now." Patel finished as I continued looking at our visitors. The other one was a griffon, who also wore similar armor. She had yellow eyes and a scar on her eye, as well as a similar patch to the one her fellow officer was wearing.

Rainbow Dash smirked as she looked around the room, then turning to me as she spoke. "Looks like we're going to have a fun time, aren't we?"

I nodded as the two walked over to me, Rainbow Dash shaking my hoof as Gilda spoke. "I get we should give our names, but with what's goin' down I think we should just get to the point."

I released my hoof from Rainbows as I went to Gilda's claw, smiling slightly as I replied. "Don't worry, I'm very familiar with what you two have been through."

Rainbow laughed a little as she spoke once more. "Ha, good, cause we don't have time for storytelling." The cyan mare then pointed a hoof to the viewscreen, I turned to it to see the image of Captain Patel shrink to reveal the sight of the glowing white end of the wormhole growing bigger before flashing brightly. As the light died down, the sight we saw was familiar yet... intimidating. The planet of Equus was mostly the same, save for the fact that there was still a cloud cover, as well as a few lights on certain spots on the planet. The moon was also very much the same, except there were some new, large craters on it's surface, as if some kind of weapon had struck it. In orbit of Mirror Equus was a fleet of starships, some larger than others.

"Get us a closer shot of that fleet." I said, Xenith turning to her console again before tapping it, the screen shifting once more to show a closer view of the Imperial fleet in orbit. There were several starships of various classes and eras, Constitutions from the mid-to-late-23rd Century, Paradox dreadnoughts from the 29th Century, and even a few Cardenas class starships.

But the one that caught my eye was one that dwarfed just about all the other ships around it. It was a long vessel, two large pylons holding two long nacelles at the ship's sides, as well as a tall bridge at the front of the vessel. I also noticed a small ball of energy on the top of the vessel, glowing brightly as it powered the beast. It was a terrifying ship to see on the field.

My friends all stared in awe at the large starship, taking in the sight as Gilda spoke up behind me. "Styx class, one of the most powerful warships in the Terran Empire during the 2250s."

Calamity nickered a bit as he responded to the sight of the dreadnought. "Well, that's a damn big thing they have there, alright."

"Confirmed, ID signature shows it as the I.S.S. Ragnarok. According to the history books, that ship was decommissioned back in 2258, but it seems the Terrans are trying to bring out their old starships in order to fight us." Patel said through the viewscreen's speakers. Her voice sounded surprised as she continued. "That's strange, we're reading higher power levels on the vessel. They must have some kind of additional power source onboard."

I put a hoof to my chin as I thought over Patel's analysis, the Black Book was very powerful and could grant the user the ability to do many different (and dangerous) things. Perhaps my counterpart managed to make it enhance the ship's power? That was the only plausible guess I could think of. I put my hoof down, turning to face Velvet as I spoke to her. "What's our status, Velvet?"

"The cloaking device is working perfectly, Littlepip. They haven't detected us." I smiled as I turned to face the screen, which shifted once more to show Patel looking to me.

"So what's the plan?" I asked the former Terran officer as she replied.

"We have to beam down to the planet and round up our allies from the TTF and the resistance groups. We can take up positions over the North Pole of the planet, the radiation there might affect scans outside the area around it. Once we're there, we should be able to beam down to the surface without being detected."

I nodded in agreement before I turned to my friends, all of them looking to me as I spoke. "Alright, Velvet, Calamity, Steelhooves, Xenith, Cassiopeia, I want you all to come with me down there during the mission." I then turned to Andromeda before finishing. "Andromeda, take care of the ship while we're gone."

"It shall be done." The blue alicorn replied before she trotted over to my seat, myself and my friends all joining up before Gilda and Rainbow Dash stopped in front of us.

"You're not going down there without us, we want a piece of the action too." Rainbow said to me before her old rival joined in.

"And frankly, you'll need our help for this one."

I looked to the two-hundred-year-old mare and griffon for a moment, both of them looking to me expectantly before I replied with a smile. "Thanks, it's nice to be fighting alongside you two."

"Don't sweat it, kid." The rainbow-maned pegasus said with a cocky grin as she continued. "I'd say we should be saying that after hearing about what you've done."

I laughed lightly as we all gathered up into the turbolift, Velvet raising a hoof before speaking to the ship's computer. "Deck 3, please." We all raised an eyebrow at our charcoal unicorn friend for a moment before she defended her action. "I hate to cause a delay, but I think we should bring Pyrelight along with us. She could use the exercise, after all."

I smiled at Velvet before nodding in acknowledgement, the mare rejoining us as the turbolift shifted downwards and took us to Velvet's destination.

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The blue fields of energy shifted once more as the view of a desert plain appeared in front of us, my friends and I replacing the transporter beams as they faded away. As my friends and our security escorts examined the area, I lifted my Pipbuck to eye-level and took a scan of the area. No enemy signatures as far as I could see, but I was sure that there would be someone who had a stealthbuck on them somewhere out here. The idea of stealth only became more plausible as I looked up to see the scorched and damaged Wasteland around us, turning to my right, I noticed several scorched, broken buildings and a set of train tracks a short trot away from us. Upon closer examination, I noticed that the "buildings" were actually several sets of damaged train cars stacked on top of each other, as well as a ring of broken ones surrounding it all.

I put a hoof to my muzzle as I realized what that place was.

"Somethin' wrong, Li-" Calamity started to say but stopped as he saw what I was looking at. The others all joined the two of us as they stared at the broken, ravaged town of New Appleloosa, taking in the horrid sight of the destroyed settlement.

"What.... What happened here?" Velvet said as she looked on at the burnt stacks of train cars, Pyrelight hopping onto her back as she did the same.

"I don't know, but it obviously wasn't good." Steelhooves said to Velvet as he looked to the broken, lifeless town.

My curiosity got the better of me at that moment, I lifted my Pipbuck again as I took another scan, Calamity and Cassiopeia peaking over my shoulders to get a better look at what my little friend was about to show.

As it beeped in finality, the small screen showed no life signs within the town. That would be expected, it looked uninhabited from here. As I dropped my forehoof to the ground again, I turned around to my group, all of my friends and the four security officers looking to me as I began speaking. "Okay, so we're at New Appleloosa, and we're supposed to find a resistance group somewhere on this planet. Where do you think we should start?"

Velvet put a hoof to her chin as she pondered the idea, the others all looking to each other for ideas as they thought. The pondering was broken when Xenith spoke up. "Perhaps we should travel to Tenpony Tower? They might be a part of the Resistance."

I thought on that for a moment, but shook my head as a bad image popped up in my head. "Maybe not. This is the Mirror Universe, and as we know, we're on the enemy side here. We should try to send a signal to anyone who can hear us, and inform them of our presence... and who's side we're on."

"Good idea, we don't want it t' be like when Ah first met ya, 'Pip." Calamity said as he gave a guilty expression, myself returning the look as I remembered that horrid introduction we had.

"And what about our guard? Should we do as little harm as possible or go all out?" Cassiopeia asked me as I replied to her.

"Set weapons to stun, we don't know who we'll meet with during our walk, and if they're willing to talk without shooting us, we should try not to kill them." My friends and the guards all nodded in agreement as they pulled out their weapons, Pyrelight squawking for a moment before taking to the air above us.

As I pulled out Little Macintosh and set the energy barrel on stun setting, I heard another squawk from above and looked up, my friends all doing the same. Pyrelight was looking to our left, indicating that she saw something, we all turned to see a far out into the desert, two griffon-shaped silhouettes flying above it and another pulling it.

Our staring was interrupted when Cassiopeia stepped in front of us and asked, "Should we call out to them?"

I squinted my eyes as I tried to get a better sight of the two griffons, the smaller one appeared to be female, and was holding a single pistol of sorts that I recognized. I heard Calamity gasp next to me as he recognized who it was.

"Is that Reggie? And Kage?!" The rust-colored pegasus said with an excited grin as he looked to me.

"I think so." I replied to my friend before looking to Cassiopeia, the green alicorn waiting for my answer. "I suppose we could give it a shot."

Cassiopeia nodded with a smile before turning to the wagon, waving a hoof up as she called out to the group around it. "HEY!!!"

The two griffons looked towards us as the wagon stopped, both of them facing us before a faint pink glow appeared in front of the smaller one. My eyes grew wide with fear as I saw the glow fade slightly, a pink bolt of magical energy shooting towards us.

"Look out!" One of the security officers cried out as Cassiopeia deployed her magic shield, which was struck by the magic bolt the moment it came up. My friends and I all gathered inside the large shield as the two griffons came flying towards us, Pyrelight flying inside and onto Velvet Remedy's back as we all pulled out our weapons. More bolts came flying at us and hit the shield as the two wagon escorts continued their assault.

Two members of our security group, one blue alicorn and a pegasus, threw out small devices in between us. They both glowed for a moment before two shield barriers formed in between us, our group splitting into two and taking positions behind them a moment later.

As the two griffon siblings passed around us, I aimed Little Macintosh and fired, the shot passing by Kage as he flew over it. The large griffon took the advantage and threw one of his knives at the pegasus officer, hitting him in the wing. He cried out in pain as he fell to the ground, the alicorn guard taking cover as she examined his bleeding wound.

I looked to Velvet as another flurry of pink magic bolts shot at us, striking the defensive shield as I spoke to her. "Velvet, do you think you could hit them with an anesthetic spell?"

The charcoal unicorn nodded as she replied. "I could try, but we'd have to hit them when they aren't moving. Perhaps if we could grab or restrain them..."

"I can grab them in my magic and hold them there for as long as you need." Cassiopeia offered as we looked to her. Velvet looked at her friend worriedly before replying.

"Assuming they don't shoot you first, that is."

I raised a hoof up as I spoke to the two mares, Calamity looking to me as I began. "Calamity and I will distract them, once they lock their focus on us, then you can use the spell."

They both looked at me worriedly for a moment, but then nodded as Velvet smiled at her husband. "Alright, just try not to get shot this time, please?"

"Trust me, hun, we'll be fine." The stallion replied before we both dashed out, Calamity flying beside me as we ran to the right.

Regina took the bait as they sped towards us, the griffon aiming her two pistols at us as we raced away from our friends. I looked back to see Kage engaging my friends inside the shield, Xenith jumping up and charging at him as they began to fight. I forced myself to look forward again as Regina fired a few more shots, all of them missing me as the daughter of Gawd cried out angrily, "I'm going to enjoy tearin' you apart, you little bitch!"

As I kept running, I aimed Little Macintosh at Regina once again before firing, the small griffon dodging the bullet as I'd expected. Calamity spun around me and flew at Regina, dodging the two incoming magic bolts and knocking the griffon onto the ground. As he pinned her down. I stopped and watched anxiously as the two fought, the young griffon tried to point her pistols at my friend's chest, but Calamity was faster as he smacked the two guns out of her claws. Regina retaliated by kicking him into the air, the pegasus hitting the ground as I aimed my pistol at the griffon. Before she could react, I fired a single stun bolt at her, striking her right wing as she fell to the ground.

I took a breath as I put my weapon into it's holster, my friend jumping back up and flying up next to me as I trotted over to the incapacitated griffon. She grunted in pain as she glared at me. "G-go ahead.... ngh, shoot me! Just like ya did t' mom!"

I stood over her with a stunned expression, my mouth agape at Regina's revelation. "What? You don't mean-"

The daughter of Gawd returned the surprised look as she continued. "Ya don't remember? Ditzy was there! She saw ya blow her head off! She told me an' Kage that when we met 'er!"

"Perhaps these are not the targets you're looking for." A sweet, yet intelligent voice said behind us, Calamity and I turned to see... Ditzy Doo, the wagon sitting nearby as she had detached herself from it during the fight.

I stared at her in shock as the ghoul stopped in between the three of us, looking at me analytically as she continued speaking. "I notice some key differences in appearance when compared to your target, for one thing, she's wearing a blue stable uniform."

"D-Ditzy Doo! You can talk!" I said ecstatically to her as she turned to Calamity, examining him before replying to me.

"Yes, I was not so foolish to talk back to the slavers during one of my incidents with them." Ditzy then turned to Regina before speaking to her downed escort. "And from what I can see, you weren't trying to hurt us."

Regina looked me over again as she took in the news, her eyes wide as she realized what Ditzy was saying was true. "So... you're not that crazy mare that wiped out my mom and her buddies over there?"

"No, we're not." I said as I trotted over to the griffon, levitating her pistols up to her and helping her up as I continued. "In fact, we're here to help."

Regina looked to me again as she stared at me, taking in my appearance once more as she spoke to me. "Well, after what's just happened, I can believe that."

I smiled to her as we all trotted back over to the group, Kage's unconscious body lying on the ground as Velvet sat next to him. Reggie gasped at first, but she became calm once again when I said, "He's alive, just knocked out. We had our weapons on stun."

"I can wake him if you'd like." Velvet asked the daughter of Gawd, who nodded to her as she pulled out a hypospray. A few seconds after she injected it into Kage's neck, the griffon stirred slightly before jumping up in surprise. At first, he tried to reach for his knives, but Regina put a claw on his shoulder as she spoke to him.

"It's okay, Kage, they're not tryin' t' kill us." Kage looked at us in surprise as he took in his sister's words, all of us giving friendly smiles as he spoke up.

"Well it seems yer right, sis. If they wanted t' roast us alive, they would've."

"We're from the Alliance," I said as the children of Gawd looked at me attentively, listening to every word I said as I explained our presence here. "We're here to take care of the Terran incursion that is happening here, and we need to find some friends before we can take them out."

Regina smiled as she replied to my explanation. "Well, if you're lookin' fer allies around these parts, we've got some buddies over at the ruins of Stable 2. Former Knight Lemonade and her friend are there watchin' the place while we're out."

I gave a surprised look at her as she mentioned my old home, but shook my head as I gave my answer to the two griffons. "Then that's where we'll head first. Meet up with your friends there, then we'll try and meet up with the Terran Task Force and put an end to this mess."

"Terran Task Force?" Kage asked with a raised eyebrow.

"They're a part of the Alliance, they're rounding up all the allies that they can get here so they can perform a final offensive." Cassiopeia explained to the two siblings, both of them staring at the tall mare with shock as she looked down at them. When she noticed their expressions, she cocked her head. "Is there something wrong?"

Regina shook her head as she came to her senses. "Uh, no. Just haven't got a close-up look at one of your kind before."

Cassiopeia raised an eyebrow at that. "Oh?"

Yeah, the Enclave and the Goddess have formed an alliance recently in order to fight against Littlepip and her Terran friends." Regina looked at me apologetically, I gave a thankful smile to her as she continued. "While they aren't trying to kill us, we haven't made friends with any of them so far. The only allies we've made is Blackjack and her fellow mercenaries at Hoofington. They said that they wanted us to help them in taking you all out so we could take the Wasteland back, even though we we're fighting her and her forces earlier on." My friends all looked to the two griffons as they listened to Regina, the griffon giving a dour expression as she finished her story.

"Of course, we agreed, since, you know, Littlepip's evil double went nuts over our mother's base and slaughtered everyone there."

I frowned sadly at Reggie's words, so, Gawdyna Grimfeathers was dead, as were her allies. That hurt me to know that, she could've really put up a fight against those Imperials with our help.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Regina." I said to the daughter of Gawd, who returned my expression as she replied.

"It's alright, as far as I know, she'd want us to help you all out, and that's what we're gonna do."

I smiled at Regina as the alicorn security officer deactivated the shield generators on the ground, putting the devices back into her saddlebags before standing at attention. "Alright, to Stable 2 it is then. If you'd like, my security officers can take care of the cargo run if you wouldn't mind."

"Thanks, she was heading out to Neighvarro to drop off some supplies there. It's a dangerous trip, but I think she'll pull through."

I then turned to the two uninjured security officers, both of them saluting to me as the alicorn spoke. "We will not fail our duties, Captain."

I nodded to them as I replied. "Thanks, good luck out there, you two." As they both trotted over to Ditzy Doo's wagon, the ghoul looked to me before speaking once more. "Thanks for the help, you all should be careful as well. The Terrans might show up to try and attack us soon."

I gave a hopeful smirk as I replied. "If they do, we'll be ready for them. Don't worry."

Ditzy Doo nodded once more before she turned back to her wagon, our two escorts taking positions in between it as Ditzy strapped herself to the harness. As they began trotting off to their destination, Velvet helped the injured stallion to his hooves as he spoke. "I'll be alright, just a little dazed."

I nodded to him before I looked to Regina and Kage, both of them looking back to me as I spoke. "Now that that's been settled, lead the way, Regina."

The griffon nodded as she began walking off to our left, all of us following behind her as Kage flew behind us. "The stable's this way, once were there, we should be good to go."