Voyages of the Lightbringer: Episode 5: Breaking the Mirror

by Admiral Wyatt Stone

Treachary/Allies in Enemies

The sun slowly lowered over the horizon as we neared the broken, still standing replica of the Apple Family barn, which would lead to the entrance to Stable 2. After a little more walking, we stopped right outside the door, my friends all checking their gear and equipment while I lifted my Pipbuck to begin a scan. After a few seconds, the little device beeped before showing a map of the stable's interior, as well as two green dots that indicated someone was down there.

"Okay, I've got two lifesigns, those must be Knight Strawberry Lemonade annnd…." I trailed off as I wasn't told of the other ranger's name.

"Knight Beachcomber." Kage answered for me, chuckling a little as we continued on into the barn. While we walked, Reggie and Kage explained how Strawberry Lemonade and her companion joined Blackjack's mercenary group. After (Mirror) Steelhooves' betrayal and conflict with the other rangers, Knights Lemonade and Beachcomber abandoned their allies in the Fillydelphia Contingent and tried to find new allies to help out. Shortly after the Terran Empire began their incursion, they both joined Blackjack's Hoofington resistance group and were tasked with taking out any and all devices and groups affiliated with the Imperials.

But for the moment, they we're tasked with gathering data at Stable 2 while the newly recruited children of Gawd were to find and assassinate us. Of course, once we entered the stable, there would be a change of plans.

As we neared the door to Stable 2, I trotted up to the terminal as I began to enter the override code for the door. "So, what's your guys' story?" Kage asked me as Rainbow Dash answered him.

"Some time ago, the Terrans were sending some of their ships to the Badlands in an attempt to acquire data regarding the Mycelial Network. Eventually, Captain Littlepip and her crew here came to investigate, and they were attacked by one of the invading starships." She nickered a bit before continuing. "Fortunately, our starship, the I.S.S. Discovery, a former Terran warship came to save the day. We then escorted them into this universe and..... yeah, that's where we are now."

Gilda and Kage laughed a bit as Regina spoke up with a smirk. "Well, it's good to know that some of those guys can see who the good guys are."

"Ayep." Calamity agreed as the large door to Stable 2 hissed a bit before opening slowly. Once it was fully opened up, we all trotted inside, the sound of our hooves and claws being the only sound that was audible, aside from the electrical humming from the lights.

As we traversed within the abandoned stable, I took occasional peeks within the rooms we passed. Some of them had corpses inside, one of them looked like my Pipbuck Technician mentor.

When we reached the end of the hallway, I saw a familiar face lying in a bloody mess on the ground. I stood frozen as I looked at the corpse. She had a light pink coat and a dark pink mane and tail.... It was my mother.

"Littlepip? Are you alright?" Velvet asked me as I stared at the body. I could hear a hint of fear in her voice as she spoke to me.

I shook my head fiercely for a moment before looking back to my friend. "Uh... Yeah, I just... wasn't ready to see that." I replied with a slight quiver in my voice as I gathered myself back together, my friends looking to me as I took a deep breath. "Let's keep going." They all nodded as we continued trotting through the halls. As we turned a corner, I noticed Cassiopeia's horn glowing as a green barrier formed behind our group. Good thing she was prepared for a fight, we weren't sure if we were being followed yet, and Goddesses know whether or not if the Terrans could detect our transporter signature through the poles.

As we began trotting through the next hall, we all stopped as we heard a sweet, yet fearful voice call out to us from down the hall. "W-who's there?"

Regina raised a claw into the air as she called back to the voice. "It's Regina, Strawberry, and we've brought some friends." She then looked at us for a moment, then back to where the voice had come from before continuing. "You promise not to shoot them?"

"What do you mean, Regina?" Another mare's voice called out, this one was less fragile than Strawberry's voice was.

"Just come out and say hello to them, they're here to help." At Reggie's words, a single pony in Steel Ranger armor trotted out from the second closest room. She had her helmet off, revealing a mare with a blue coat of fur and a yellow, green-striped mane within the armor.

Upon seeing us, the mare's eyes went wide, myself putting a hoof behind my team as Knight Beachcomber spoke. "Y-you brought those butchers into this place?!"

"We're their counterparts." I said simply, Beachcomber still didn't look convinced.

"We're from another universe," Rainbow Dash said as she explained to the rogue Steel Ranger. "We're here to deal with the Terrans and their allies here. This is Littlepip's counterpart from our universe."

I could see Knight Beachcomber's expression soften as Strawberry Lemonade trotted out of the room, her helmet was also off too. I smiled as I saw her face, still as pleasant as ever. Strawberry almost jumped with panic when she saw us, but Beachcomber looked to her before she could run off. "It's alright, Lemonade, they're friendlies."

The pink mare with a yellow mane steadied as she examined us, then smiling slightly as she spoke. "..Oh, I'm sorry, it's just..."

Kage tapped my shoulder as he whispered, "She's a bit shy to killing."

I raised an eyebrow at his words before turning back to the two rogue rangers, both of them returning our gaze as Beachcomber broke the silence. "Well, I don't see how I can argue with that. You look... different, somewhat."

"Yeah, I noticed. I have a blue stable uniform instead of a red one, Steelhooves has red markings on his armor and...." I trailed off again as I tried to explain all the differences we had in comparison to our counterparts.

"And your other unicorn friend there's wearing a uniform as well." Beachcomber added as I chuckled lightly.

"Haha, yeah, forgot that." I said to the two armored mares in front of me, both of them looking to me as I continued. "Anyway, we're here to gather up some allies to fight the Imperial incursion force, and your friends here told us you could help."

"Ah, yes. We can, but first, we should get the supplies we've stolen from the various Terran control posts in the past few weeks." Beachcomber said as she pointed a hoof behind her. "We've got it all down in the deeper parts of the stable, so if you'll follow us, then we can get this whole mess here taken care of."

I smiled thankfully as I replied. "That sounds good, and maybe while we head down there I can explain our side of the story."

The rogue Steel Ranger nodded before she turned around and began trotting to a door in the middle of the hall. As she stopped in front of it, she spoke once more. "This way."

Strawberry then began trotting over to her friend as we followed suite. Beachcomber tapped a button on the wall as the door opened, the two armored mares stepping inside before us. As my friends all passed through the door, I took one last look at the hallway, visually scanning the room before I saw a small device on the ceiling ahead of us. As I squinted my eyes at it, I noticed it was some kind of camera... and it was looking directly at me, a small red light blinking on it's side as it faced me.

"Littlepip, are you coming?" Steelhooves asked me as he trotted up to me, then turning his head to see the camera I was staring at.

I shook my head as I snapped out of my thoughts. "Yeah, I just.... I have a bad feeling about this place."

"So do I." Steelhooves replied as he looked to me once more, the both of us looking at each other for a moment before trotting through the door to catch up with our friends.

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As Knight Lemonade tapped the wall panel next to the tall, grey door, it opened to reveal several crates inside, some of them open and revealing their contents. My friends all stepped inside to examine the room, Steelhooves and I entering last before splitting off to take a peek inside one of the boxes to my right. Inside it were several small, hexagon shaped objects, at least six of them.

"What are these?" I asked aloud as Knight Lemonade trotted over to me.

"Some kind of explosive we found at a nearby outpost, they had a whole surplus of them there." The former Steel Ranger answered as I stared at the small devices. These would definitely come in handy in our mission.

"You know, I think we could put these to use when we begin our mission on the Ragnarok." I replied with a hopeful smile to Lemonade as she opened her mouth to speak, but stopped as we both heard a grunt from our left. Growing worried, I looked to Knight Beachcomber, who was gritting her teeth as she grunted. My friends also turned around to look at the mare, who was putting a hoof to her head as I trotted over to her. "Are you okay, Beachcomber?"

She shook her head as she tried to ignore what was happening to her. "Ugh... It's nothing, just a minor headache."

"Minor?" Velvet said with a raised eyebrow. "I've had a minor headache myself, and what you were doing was no indication of a 'minor' one."

"Don't worry about me, let's just get this stuff unpacked and get out of this place." Beachcomber said with a hint of annoyance as she began trotting over to one of the other crates, Strawberry Lemonade doing the same as we looked watched them.

"Ah-ah-ah... I don't think so." I heard Blackjack's voice say through a speaker inside the room, it reverberated around us as I saw Strawberry Lemonade gulp fearfully as she put a hoof on her right hindleg.... as if she was trying to grab something. "You didn't think my agents would take your old home and not make use of it's equipment, did you?"

"Yeah, about that headache...." Knight Beachcomber said as she held out a phaser pistol, aiming it right at us as Strawberry followed suite. My friends and I all stood back slightly as we stared at the two rogue rangers, Regina and Kage joining our huddled bunch as their former friends kept their eyes locked on us. "That was a stall."

"Lemonade?" Steelhooves said in surprise as he stared at his fellow ranger's counterpart, the mare's legs shaking slightly as she held the weapon.

"I'm... I'm so sorry, Steelhooves... please, forgive us for this." Strawberry replied with a shiver, Kage growling as he stared at the two armored mares.

"I knew I shouldn't have trusted you two bird-brains, at least you won't have to worry about being cooked and served up by the Terran butchers. I hear they really love those Risian bird eggs a lot." Blackjack said with a sinister laugh as Kage started to charge at the Beachcomber and Strawberry, but Calamity flew at him, knocking him to the ground.

"Are you crazy?!" Calamity said as he and the son of Gawd hit the ground, Beachcomber then lifted her phaser before firing, striking Regina clean in the chest. The griffon screamed in pain as her body disintegrated, turned into a fine pile of ash.

"REGGIE!!!" Calamity and I screamed in horror, the two rogue mares aiming at us once more as we turned to face them.

"N-nobody move!" Beachcomber said shakily as she stood her ground, Strawberry was shaking from the horrific sight she saw as she tried to keep a grip on her weapon. My friends all stared at the pile of ash with fearful expressions before looking back to Beachcomber, Kage was glaring daggers at the two mares now, both of them standing anxiously as Blackjack spoke once more.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Shoot them!" The two mares looked at each other for a moment as they held their pistols at us, then turned back to us as Beachcomber spoke up.

"Uh... Ma'am, I understand our mission, but these aren't the on-" The armored mare clutched her eyes shut as a faint whine sounded in the air, she screamed in agony as she fell to the ground. Velvet and I began trotting over to help her, but we stopped as soon as she brought her arm back up in a swift motion, aiming the phaser at us once more.

"You heard me, Kill. Littlepip... NOW!!!" I raised my forehoof slightly as Beachcomber shook from the trauma inflicted by whatever was hurting her. The mare looked at us with apologetic eyes, then to Strawberry before pointing the weapon at her chest and firing. She let out a scream as her body turned to vapor, the pile of ash reminiscent of Regina.

I heard another whine from my right and turned to see Knight Lemonade hold her head as she grunted in pain, then let out a shrill scream as she fell to the ground, her armor clacking as it hit the floor. Velvet rushed over to her, pulling out a tricorder as she took a scan of the fallen ranger.

"She's alive, but she'll need some rest from the trauma." I breathed a sigh of relief as I looked at Strawberry's unconscious form, then turned to my friends, all of them looking to me as I heard Blackjack speak up again.

"Oh? You want to help other ponies? Ha! Good one, pipsqueak. Like you would ever care."

I glared at the walls around us, growling furiously before speaking back to her. "Do you realize what you've done?! We were trying to help deal with the Terrans! We're their counterparts, you dimwit!"

I felt like I'd shot some sense into Blackjack as she was silent for a moment, then finally replied. "Wait.... you mean you weren't going to try and take my stuff and attack our home?"

I heard Kage growl angrily before he joined the conversation. "If she wanted to kill us, Boss, she would've. We got into a fight with her back out there."

There was once again a moment of silence as we all waited for a reply, Kage and Calamity getting up as Blackjack finally responded. "I...I'm such an idiot."

I had to force myself not to chuckle as I heard the silly response in such a morbid situation as this. I took another deep breath as Blackjack spoke one more time. "Uh, Commander Dawn? Could you take over the comms for now? I need a moment in my chambers."

"Sure thing, BJ. I'll take care of this." The familiar (and not insane) voice of Morning Glory's mother replied over the speakers as we heard a faint shuffle in the background. I looked around the room for a moment before finding a single camera at the end of it. I trotted over to it so it could see me perfectly, all of my friends and Kage joining me as the voice of Dawn spoke to us.

"I see that we've picked on the wrong target. Our most sincere apologies to you all."

"I wouldn't blame you, our counterparts are cooking up something big up there, and unless we work together, we're all doomed to fall to the Terran Empire." I replied as Dawn spoke again, my friends looking up to the camera with me as they listened.

"So... Captain?" Dawn said quizzically as I nodded to the camera, the mare letting out a chuckle before she continued. "What do we need to do to help put an end to this invasion?"

I looked to my friends for a moment before turning back to the camera. "You don't have hostile relations with the Enclave, do you?"

"Sort of, unfortunately." I could hear Dawn gasp faintly as she realized what I was getting at. "....You want us to meet up with them, don't you?"

I nodded to the camera as I spoke to it. "Tell them the Alliance sent you, my friends and I will be heading there ASAP. We're going to need you and anyone else we can get if we're going to win this fight."

Dawn was silent for a moment before she finally replied to me. "...Alright, we'll get everyone together and make our way there shortly."

"Good, we've got our own ride for us to use." I blinked for a moment as I thought about the idea, the radiation could block transporter signatures, but what about detecting shuttles?

"...Maybe." I said before tapping my combadge. "Littlepip to Lightbringer, do you read?"

"We hear ya, Lil'Pip. Y'all okay down there?" Windsheer asked through the small badge as I spoke into it.

"Yeah, we're planning to make a trip to the Enclave base, and we'll need a ride, do you think you could send down the Tortoise to us?"

I thanked the Goddesses as I heard Windsheer's reply. "Yer in luck, Cap'n. She's all set an' we'll have 'er down shortly."

"Thanks, Littlepip out." As the signal cut out, I looked up to the camera one last time. I could feel Dawn looking at me through it as I spoke once more. "Good luck."

"Same to you." I then heard a descending whine from the camera, the darkening light on it indicating it had powered down. I turned to my friends, Kage looking down at his sister's ashes as Calamity trotted over to him.

"...Sis." The orphaned griffon mumbled sadly as Calamity put a hoof on his back, his voice sharing Kage's sorrow as he spoke to him.

"Ah'm so sorry, Kage... she's gone."

I grew a hopeful smile as I trotted over to the two. "Maybe not."

The two turned to look at me in confusion for a moment. "What d' ya mean, 'Pip?"

"Your sister is still alive in our universe, Kage. She could use another brother there." I offered to the son of Gawd, who contemplated for a moment before reflecting my smile.

"..Thanks, I don't think I have a future here, but I might there." Kage then turned to join our group, Calamity doing the same as all of them looked to me.

"Alright, while our ride tries to get here, we should grab everything we can and bring it with us. Calamity, Kage, you get the weapons. Velvet, Xenith, medical supplies. And Steelhooves, you help me grab any advanced tech we find." My friends all nodded in agreement as they began trotting over to the crates, Cassiopeia trotting over to the door.

"I'll watch for our shuttle." The tall mare said as the door opened in front of her, trotting through it before it closed. Steelhooves and I then trotted along with me to the crate of Terran bombs, picking them up in my magic as I began storing them into my saddlebags.