Voyages of the Lightbringer: Episode 5: Breaking the Mirror

by Admiral Wyatt Stone

Dancing with Ourselves/Fall of the Ragnarok

I stopped at the end of the hallway before pushing myself against the wall and taking a peek around the left corner, the final hallway just ahead of us with one officer guarding the third door down. I then turned to Commander Wiggs and my friends, growing a smirk as I flicked my head in the direction of the hall, all of us then formed a line behind David before we all began walking through the hallway. We had been doing great so far, as we traversed the halls, I was surprised to see most of them barren, save for a few patrols within the first few. Calamity assumed that they must be amassing in an auditorium on the Ragnarok to plan their assault on Equus, and while we didn't have valid evidence, I was quite inclined to believe him. David proposed that my counterpart must've had the deck cleared as to not risk the Black Book being stolen by any traitors or spies that tried to halt her plans.

If that was true, then she made a very, very bad mistake, because we we're not only about to steal and/or destroy that book, but she had left it highly vulnerable. But then I also thought about the book itself, what if it was also made to act as security? To do the job of eliminating targets aboard the ship? As absurd as it might sound, the book was somewhat sentient. When I tried to destroy the book in our universe at Maripony, it seemed afraid of Trixie. And with every step we made through the Rangarok's halls, I felt a dreadful feeling claw at my heart.

But I would have to push that feeling away for the moment. "Halt! State your business on this level."

As I stopped behind David, the TTF agent stood firm as he spoke to the armored guard. "I am here under orders from Captain Littlepip, she wishes for us to use the Black Book to create our own supersoldiers to combat the alicorn threat," He then turned around as he waved an arm to us, revealing his 'prize' from the planet as he continued. "starting with these six slaves here."

The guard raised an eyebrow as he wasn't convinced. "Well, let's see if your claim checks out, sir." He then turned around to the console right next to the door, looking away from us as David walked closer to him. He looked up at him upon taking notice of him. "You're gonna have to wait a second, I need to get her on the comms first."

"Of course, sir." David replied before giving a mischevious grin at the officer. "And also, when she answers, do you mind passing on a recommendation of mine?"

"Sure, what is it?" The officer asked with a hint of sarcasm before David smacked the officer hard on his back, the guard falling to the ground unconscious not a second after.

"Add more, competent security down here." He said to the fallen officer before he crouched down to him, searching through his uniform before pulling out a small data chip. He then turned to us as he got up. "If I'm right, this'll get us inside that room with no trouble." I smiled as he turned to the console and inserted the chip into a slot on it. The console made several low beeps before finally letting out two chirps in confirmation, the door opening as David pulled the chip out.

As my friends and I stepped inside, I looked around the room. No guards, fortunately, and in the center of the large room were five strange-looking consoles around a cylindrical structure, which was connected to a large set of power tanks above it. The structure itself had eight small arms around the edges that generated a greenish-yellow force field, the dangerous Black Book residing within it.

I lifted my Pipbuck as I took a scan of the room, my friends trotting up behind me as I waited for the results. Even if there was no security, we had to be sure there were no booby traps laid by my counterpart. If there was, then we'd best not trigger them.

As my little mechanical pal from Stable 2 beeped thrice in succession, I breathed a sigh of relief as I spoke to the others. "Good, no traps have been planted. We should be good to try and get the book." And speaking of that, I looked to the consoles, tilting my head as I thought about what they were supposed to do

As I stared at the consoles, Steelhooves trotted over to the closest one before examining it. After a moment, he motioned a hoof to me as I trotted over to him, looking to the console's screen as I read the text on it. "REVEAL YOUR VIRTUE, AND YOU SHALL BE GRANTED IT'S POWER:" Under the bar where the passkey was to be entered was an image, it was my cutie mark. I finally realized how these consoles worked.

I turned around to look at my friends, all of them looking back attentively as I spoke. "Alright, we need to work at the console that shows our mark. Calamity, Velvet, Xenith, Steelhooves, find the console and enter the required passkey."

Calamity rubbed his head with his forehoof as he asked, "Uh, Lil'Pip? Ah don't mean t' make ya feel dour, but how the hay are we supposed t' work at consoles like these without knowin' the passwords?"

I gave a hopeful smile as I spoke to my friend. "Trust me, you'll know them when you see the consoles up close." My friends gave quizzical looks to each other (except Steelhooves) before they all split up, trotting over to each of the consoles several times and examining them before they finally found the ones I assumed was theirs. I then stood in front of my own console, typing the required word into the field shown. I almost jumped when I heard a booming, deep voice speak out within the room, it reverberated as it repeated the word I typed. "SACRIFICE"

The voice continued saying more words as my friends worked at their consoles, their passwords being repeated throughout the room as they were entered. "LOYALTY, KINDNESS, ACCEPTANCE, STRENGTH"

As the last word was repeated, the green force field dropped as I felt a chill pass through me. I felt.... stronger. In physical, mental, and even magical power, I felt better than I had before. As I recovered from the sudden wave of energy, I looked up to my friends, all of them looking around the room as they seemed to recover from whatever hit them. As I looked to the Black Book, I came to the conclusion that it had given us it's power (at least some of it), just as it had promised when we let it out of it's prison.

"Whoa, did y'all feel that?" Calamity asked as he looked to his wife.

"Yes, it was... an interesting feeling. I feel better somehow." Velvet replied to her husband as I spoke up.

"So do I, when I first acquired the book back in Canterlot, it tempted me with unimaginable power, but I resisted it so I could destroy it." I then looked to the book in question before continuing. "And I think it's just given us a sample of that power."

"Is that bad?" Velvet asked with worry in her voice as Xenith replied.

"I would hope not, but we don't have time to find out." I nodded in agreement as I pulled out a small cylindrical device with a button on it before pressing it. If the signal got through, then Captain Chekov and his forces would be here at any minute while we tried to either steal or destroy the book.

As I put away the small device, I grabbed the Black Book in my magic, laying it down on the floor as I spoke to it. "You can offer all the power in the universe for all I care, old friend." I then looked to Homage as she pulled out a Phaser pistol, tossing it to me as I caught it in my magic. "It won't stop me from turning you into nothing but ash." I lifted the weapon over the book before setting it to max, then pulling the trigger as a orange beam struck the book in a continuous stream of energy.

But it didn't melt, not even a scorch mark was left on it as I released the trigger. My friends gasped at the dangerous Zebra relic as Xenith spoke up. "It's as I feared, our weapons will not be strong enough to destroy that accursed book."

"Dammit!" I swore as I lowered the Phaser down, pacing for a moment as I drifted in thought. The book could be destroyed, I was sure of that. When I went to Maripony, the bomb had not only rid the area of life, but had also destroyed the book in the process. Then, it hit me.

"I got an idea! What if we leave the book here and try to destroy the ship? If a balefire bomb could destroy it in our universe, then surely an antimatter explosion should have the same results!"

Xenith gave an approving smile as she replied to me. "That would be our best option, an explosion of that magnitude is so dangerous, it can take any other ships who wander too close with it."

Our planning was interrupted briefly as I heard a klaxon go off within the room, then shaking as the ship was hit by something outside. The battle must've begun by now.

Getting my mind back on the plan, I tapped my combadge before speaking into it. "Littlepip to Rainbow Dash, do you read?"

"Loud and clear, Captain! Whatcha need?" The pegasus on the other end asked before I replied.

"Can you head to the Engineering deck and cause some havoc there? We're gonna need a big explosion in order to destroy the Black Book."

I heard Rainbow Dash laugh with excitement before answering. "You bet, I haven't blown up a ship this big since our mission at the planet Fondor in Universe #3127!"

I laughed as well as I spoke once more to the former Ministry Mare before I cut the transmission. "Thanks, I owe you for this when we get back. Littlepip out."

As I turned to my friends to speak, I stopped myself as I heard the doors at the room's entrance open. We all looked to see five faces we were very familiar with enter the room. The first one to the left was a rust colored pegasus with a crimson red carapace. His flanking ally was Velvet's counterpart, her armored phoenix sitting on her back as she grinned maliciously at us.

On the other side were two other escorts, the first being a pony in Steel Ranger armor, which bore several red and gold markings all over it. The other was a zebra with a set of saddlebags on her back. She also had a visor on her right eye and a brand mark on her forehead in the shape of the Terran emblem.

The leader of the group was a small grey unicorn with a brown mane and tail, along with a red colored stable uniform and barding, not to mention green irises as well as a scar over her left eye. Me.

"Well, well, well, look who decided to steal our key to victory, everyone!" My counterpart said with a victorious laugh as she and her friends surrounded us. "I'm so glad you could come to witness the eradication of my enemies, it's too bad that you won't be alive to see the corpses when today's over!"

My friends formed up at my sides as we glared at our counterparts, who merely returned smiles and snarls as I replied to my evil double. "You are a fool if you think you can just take the Wasteland without someone trying to stop you." I then turned my head to see the Black Book, which was still lying on the floor as I turned back to face Mirrorpip once more. "And if you want that book, you'll have to get through us."

The evil doppelganger and her friends let out laughs at us, they almost sounded maniacal as they let themselves be amused at our 'strong words'.

"Such brave words for a little filly who wasted her life letting others ruin her home instead of taking control of it all." Xenith's mirror said as several Terran officers entered the room and stopped behind them.

"Well, y'all haven't got the brains t' ensure ya win this fight!" Calamity retorted to the evil zebra as he pushed a button on his battle saddle, a section of it glowing as his body was enveloped by a flashy Enclave carapace. It was mostly the same as his old armor, but it had orange stripes going along it, along with slivers of red and gold on the hooves and helmet.

Steelhooves spoke back. "Even if you defeat us here and now, you'll still fall to our allies outside."

My counterpart laughed once more before she snorted angrily, her friends getting ready to pounce on us as she spoke once more. "We'll see about that, metalhead!" The five Wasteland conquerors then charged at us, my friends doing the same after I lifted my Pipbuck and tapped a button on it. In mere seconds, five holographic beings appeared near Cassiopeia, Homage and Commander Wiggs, three Starfleet officers and two Steel Rangers. The group then charged alongside us as we closed in with our counterparts, Cassiopeia pulling out a lightsaber blade and activating it as I engaged my counterpart. Strawberry Lemonade broke off from her group and ran next to Steelhooves as they attacked the latter's evil doppelganger. As Velvet Remedy ran at her duplicate, Pyrelight picked off her cloak and took to the air as the two fought with their mirror doubles.

We both rolled beside each other as I pulled out Little Macintosh and took aim, Mirrorpip took a different approach as she picked me up in her magic, throwing me against the left wall as I grunted in pain. As I hit the floor, I fought to hold my eyes open as my counterpart took out her own LM and aimed at me. I retaliated by grabbing her weapon in my magic, fighting her grip as she pulled the trigger. The shot missed and instead hit the ceiling as I rolled over, picking up my gun and taking aim as good as I could before firing.

I smirked victoriously as I scored a shot on my counterpart's flank, which spewed blood all over the floor as the injured mare tried to regain focus. As I charged at my double, she jumped up and over me as she took a shot, striking me clean in the back. I cried out as I tried to regain stability, rolling to my left as another shot came and struck the floor. As I got back up Mirrorpip ran at me again as I pulled out one of the detonators I still had from the trip to Stable 2, activating it before throwing it at her. She was fast enough to put up a defensive shield to protect herself, but was blasted up to the wall as the bomb exploded. I took a breath as she hit the floor, dazed. I then pulled out a hypospray and injected it into myself to numb the pain in my back.

I looked up to see Calamity engaging his counterpart, bullets being exchanged between the two as they circled around each other. Calamity rolled around as his evil double fired at him, a few of them hitting my friend's armor and one striking through his hoof. I could hear a faint grunt from my dashite friend as he did a barrel roll over his counterpart, who merely looked back in bewilderment as he circled around.

I then saw Pyrelight blasting her double with a wave of fire as the bird screeched in agony, flailing about before hitting the ground beneath her. I also saw Kage take to the air and throw one of his knives at Mirror Calamity, striking him in the flank. As his mirror counterpart tried to regain control of his flying, Calamity took the chance and fired a flurry of bullets and Phaser bolts at his double, the evil pegasus crying out in pain as he flailed to the ground.

"Ah told ya y'all didn't have the brains t' stop us!" My friend said as he laughed at his counterpart on the ground, Kage flying over to him as they both moved down to my friend's fallen double. I then turned further to my left to see Velvet dodging several magic blasts fired by her evil doppelganger. The charcoal mare was grunting with each move as she growled to her counterpart.

"You would really harm a soon-to-be mother, wouldn't you?!" Velvet's horn glowed for a moment before a shield formed around her, Mirror Velvet pulling out a shotgun and firing at the shield, which went down as she retorted to my friend.

"Oh? This makes things even better!" Velvet then pulled out her Phaser rifle and took aim, Mirror Velvet following her counterpart's actions before the rifle fired, striking the shotgun and reducing it to nothing but ashes. The charcoal mare's sinister double seemed unfazed as she pulled out a knife from a holster on her hindleg. The mare laughed maniacally before charging at the medical mare. "I'm going to enjoy ripping that foal from your carcass!"

Velvet's horn glowed once more as she fired a blast of magic at the evil mare, who attempted to dodge the shot, but the effort proved to be futile as she was struck by the bolt of magic, yelping and falling to the ground hard with a thud as Velvet huffed at her counterpart. "Perhaps don't charge at your enemies next time, that was laughable."

I turned my focus back to my counterpart as she picked up the Black Book in her magic, laughing maniacally as she yelled at me. "You are such a fool to try and fight me! With this book, I've become a GODDESS!!!" She then grabbed me in her magic, grabbing at my head before I saw a ring of green magic envelop her neck. Mirrorpip gasped for air as she was strangled by the magic ring, myself becoming free of the madmare's influence as I grabbed the book and ripped it away from her. I then charged at her, the mare recovering as I turned and bucked her hard, kicking her against the wall once more.

As I took a breath I tried to hold back for a good long moment, I looked over my shoulder once again to see Cassiopeia looking down to me with a smirk, I smiled back as the mare turned back to fight the Terran soldiers below. The alicorn spun her lightsaber around in the air, deflecting the many red Phaser bolts from the Terrans before flinging the spinning laser sword at them, cutting them into several, messy pieces in seconds.

I then looked back down to see Xenith engaging her counterpart. The zebra blocked an incoming strike with her left forehoof, then another with her right hindleg. Mirror Xenith then swung around and kicked my zebra friend into the wall. Xenith got up swiftly and pulled out a brew from her saddlebags, drinking it greedily before charging at her counterpart. The evil zebra did the same before two bat-like wings sprouted from Xenith's back, she then jumped over her counterpart, taking flight and performing a loop as her double watched in awe. Xenith then dived down, both forehooves stretching out as she made a hard turn upward, crashing into Mirror Xenith and sending her flying. My zebra friend smirked confidently as her counterpart struck the wall hard, the evil zebra looking dazed as she slowly peeled off the wall and hit the floor comically.

I heard a missile fly past me and turned to see Steelhooves clashing with his double. The Applejack's Ranger fired two missiles of his own at his evil double before a hatch opened on his armor, a grapple hook shooting out and grabbing Steelhoove's helmet in the blink of an eye. My armored friend cried out from the shock as the grapple emitted electrical beams onto his suit, electrocuting him for a good moment before another missile came at Mirror Steelhooves, the armored stallion being too late to move as he was struck by the weapon. The grapple hook was ripped from Steelhoove's helmet as his counterpart slammed into the wall with a resonating thud, the armored doppelganger crashing to the floor a moment later.

As Steelhooves recovered from the attack, he looked to where the missile had come from, Strawberry Lemonade saluting proudly as her fellow soldier nodded in gratitude for her assistance.

I then turned my head away from the sight as I tried to look for the Black Book, finding it on the floor after a moment of searching. I ran to it, picking it up in my magic as I heard a growl from behind me. Turning, I saw my counterpart charging at me, a knife held in her magic as she tried to strike me down. "You're not taking that book from my hooves for as long as I'm still breathing!"

I held the book tightly in my magic, pulling it away from Mirrorpip as Homage galloped over to where I was before stopping in front of me. I then heard a fleshy crunch and an agonizing grunt from the DJ as my counterpart stabbed her.

"Homage!" I cried aloud as my friend stood in front of me, my evil double staring at my savior in surprise for a moment.... then she began laughing, as if she had already won the battle with what she just did.

"Oh, Homage, I never thought you would go this far to ensure my failure against your little 'Resistance'!" As I tried to recover from the shocking scene in front of me, I took a peek around my lover's double, looking over my counterpart as I put Little Macintosh away. I thanked the Goddesses that my evil self had another knife in her hindleg holster.

"Do you feel satisfied? That you've given your life for these worthless mules?" Mirrorpip taunted her rival as I grabbed the blade in my magic, ripping it out of the holster as I raised it up at the evil mare. I growled in anger as my counterpart looked up to the weapon in shock, I brought it down on her neck, puncturing her on the right side. She whimpered from the pain before coughing continuously, her body falling to the ground as her wound spilled crimson liquid onto the floor.

I caught Homage in my hooves as she fell, lowering her to the ground as my friends all gathered around the two of us. Seeing my injured counterpart, I looked to Velvet. "Velvet, make sure she doesn't get up." The charcoal mare nodded as her horn glowed, a magic bolt striking Mirrorpip as her body went limp from the anesthetic spell.

I then felt the ship shake hard as I heard a muffled boom from somewhere on the ship. Either that was a weapon striking the ship, or this place was about to blow. I tapped my combadge as Commander David and the others came over to us. "Littlepip to Rainbow, what's going on?"

"Gilda and I have just sprung a coolant leak down in Engineering, and we've got five minutes to get off this ship before we're blown to bits! I've already contacted Windsheer for pickup, so you should get to the shuttlebay immediately!"

I looked to my friends with a worried frown before replying to the cyan pegasus. "Got it, we'll meet you down there shortly. Littlepip out!" As I cut the signal, I noticed Homage's horn glowing as she picked up the book in her magic, holding it in her hooves as she looked up to me.

"You a-all should go, I'll make sure no one gets ahold of this b-ook while you escape." I tried to argue with her, but she was right. We didn't have time to screw around, and even if we got Homage back onboard the ship, we'd probably lose her before we could treat her on the Lightbringer.

Taking a deep breath, I replied to the grey unicorn with a somber expression. "Okay, we'll make it there in time." I crouched down to her before finishing. "And thanks for saving me back there."

"My pleasure." Homage said before grabbing my hoof, myself staring at her intently as she gave her final request to me. "..Tell Red Eye I'm sorry I d-didn't come back." I nodded to the unicorn as I stood up, looking to Commander Wiggs as he placed a small device onto my counterpart's head. I also saw Cassiopeia's horn glowing as she put more of the devices onto Mirrorpip's allies as they were all surrounded in fields of blue energy, their bodies fading away with the transporter beams in seconds.

David then looked to us as he jogged over to the door. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get out of here!"

"Right!" I replied as my friends and I all galloped after him, Pyrelight hopping onto Velvet's back as we made our way into the hall and back to the hangar of the Ragnarok.

(||\_/|||)

The turbolift shook violently as the doors in front of us opened, revealing the smoky, flame-ravaged hangar of the Ragnarok. As we galloped out of the lift with my friends, I took a look around the room, several officers were running to the nearby shuttles within the hangar, a few of them taking off as they attempted to flee. I didn't spot the Tortoise, though, Windsheer must be having trouble getting inside with all those shuttles coming out. With the time we took to make it back to the hangar, I guessed that we had no more than two minutes on the clock before we were all turned to space dust.

As I lifted my Pipbuck to access the Lightbringer's comms, I heard another door open over the ruckus. My friends and I all turned to see Agents Rainbow Dash and Gilda flying out of the second turbolift and straight towards us. As they stopped and hovered over us, the rainbow-maned pegasus spoke up with a smirk. "Looks like our ride's being stalled by our friends out there."

I nodded at the flying mare as I asked, "How's the fleet?"

"The Terrans sent all of their troop transports and some of their frigates to the surface shortly after the battle started. Fortunately for us, our allies are holding their ground." Gilda answered for me as I breathed a sigh of relief.

We all turned around as we heard a roar from the edge of the shuttlebay, the Tortoise flying in and circling around in front of us before lowering to the ground. We raced over to the ship as the aft doors opened, Commander Pride raising a hoof to us as he shouted, "Hop in! This place'll blow in any minute!"

We didn't waste a second as we ran into the shuttle, passing by the armored pegasi manning the turrets as the door shut behind us.

"Punch it!" I said to Windsheer as another boom sounded outside the Tortoise, the pegasus complying swiftly as he thrusted the control sticks forward. I held onto the floor with my hooves as the shuttle sped out of the fiery hangar bay, spinning in a barrel roll as we flew past the nearby shuttles.

As I took a seat behind Calamity's brother at the helm, I raised my Pipbuck hoof again as I tried once more to access the Lightbringer's comms frequency. I then put my earbloom in as I heard Andromeda speak over the transmission. "Jokeblue, damage report!"

"Hull is at 43%, major damage to decks 4 and 7! I'm sendin' repair teams to fix us up!" Homage's old friend replied as I heard Io speak over the chatter.

"I've detected Captain Littlepip's shuttle leaving the Ragnarok, shall we head to their position?"

I could hear a blast of electrical sparks burst out of someplace on the bridge as Io's sister replied. "That's very risky for the ship in this current state, but we must not let them be destroyed. Take us in closer, prepare to open the starboard shuttlebay doors!"

I pulled out the earbloom as I heard an alarming beep from the control console, Windsheer looking over it before turning his head to me. "Ah'm detectin' a huge energy signature comin from the Ragnarok, she's targetin' us!"

I stood up from my seat in a swift motion before trotting over to the door at the back of the Tortoise, getting a good view of the Imperial behemoth as the large, sun-like ball of energy glowed brightly before discharging over seven fiery projectiles from itself. They all spaced themselves out away from the ship before flying at us.

"Everyone hold on!" I heard Windsheer yell to us before I felt the ship jerk forward, accelerating as it tried to outrun the energy missiles coming at us. I gasped in surprise as I saw four blue beams of energy fire at the incoming fireballs of death, all of them striking four of the missiles as they glowed brilliantly for a short moment before dissipating. As I tried to get a better view of where the beams came from, I saw the I.S.S. Enterprise and her escort, the Excelsior, pass us before firing a volley of red photon torpedoes at the three remaining missiles, erasing them from existence.

As I watched the two ships fly in formation, I put my earbloom back on to hear Captain Chekov's voice. "Good work, Lieutenant, now that our allies are safe in the shuttle, take us back around to cover the Lightbringer, we can't let any enemy wessels reach her!" I could see the Enterprise turn to her right as she changed course, the Excelsior following after her as I heard her captain speak.

"Excelsior maneuvering to assist Enterprise!" As the two ships made a U-turn towards us, I saw two fighters come down to us as they followed behind. The ships looked like shuttles, they had a small fuselage with two pylons, both of them holding two long nacelles in between the ship.

As the Tortoise flew away from the burning Imperial dreadnought, I trotted back over to my friends and sat down before looking to the window. The Lightbringer was flying towards us fast, I could see several scorch marks and holes along the hull as it turned to the left slightly before stopping in our path. I lifted my head up to see my ship's hangar doors open, Windsheer moving the control sticks as the Tortoise flew towards the hangar bay. "Brace yerselves!" Calamity's brother said to us as the ship flew into the hangar, jerking hard as we slowed to hover over the landing pads before lowering to the ground.

As the Tortoise's exit door opened, my friends and I all stood up and trotted out of the shuttle, going around the right side of the ship as we got a good look at the Ragnarok. Several flames and explosions blew parts of the giant ship's hull apart for several seconds before the ship was engulfed in a brilliant ball of light. I covered my eyes for a moment as the light dimmed, revealing broken chunks of the I.S.S. Ragnarok drifting away from the blast before the Lightbringer shook from the shockwave. Next to the fiery ball of debris were several other explosions, indicating that some of the Ragnarok's escorts didn't get out of range in time to survive the blast.

After a few moments, the shaking stopped. My friends and I let out cheers and cries of victory as we watched the old Imperial warship burn, the remaining Terran ships turning around as they tried to retreat. As the room died down, I turned to my friends before lifting my Pipbuck, tapping it before speaking into it. "Littlepip to Bridge, report!"

I heard Andromeda breath a sigh of relief before replying. "Andromeda here, good to see you're all back with us, Captain. The Terran fleet is trying to retreat, but we've called in some reinforcements to stop them in case they have the stolen data aboard."

I grew a smile as I heard the news, my friends sharing the sentiment as I replied. "Excellent, what about the ground forces?"

"We're getting reports that the Terrans are falling back and heading back into space. Fortunately, we've only lost a few airships and a few dozen soldiers down there." The blue alicorn cleared her throat before continuing. "All in all, we've won the day, Littlepip. Is there anything I can do to help you out?"

I felt a hoof on my back as I cringed from the stinging pain, turning my head to see Velvet Remedy examining my wound. I let out an embarrassed chortle before answering. "Agh, yeah, get some medical officers down here, we've got some injuries to fix up."

"Understood, they'll be down there shortly. Andromeda out." As the signal cut out, I sat down to rest as I watched the sight beyond the shuttlebay, my friends following my actions as Pride and Windsheer trotted over to us. They were both laughing over the results of the battle before looking to us.

"That was one o' the best flights Ah've ever been a part o'!" Pride said with a smirk as Calamity replied.

"Yer damn right 'bout that, brotha. An' Ah've got quite the story t' tell ya when we're all fixed up!" As the three brothers all laughed in an embrace, I looked behind me to see the door leading to the hallway open, several medical ponies racing out to greet us. I joined in the laughing as one of the medics pulled out a tricorder to take a scan, the rest of my friends laughing with us as we celebrated the defeat of the Terran Empire and the liberation of Mirror Equus.

Author's Note:

I noticed that the image that was supposed to show the fighter during the escape sequence won't work, so here's the link to the image if anyone's curious: https://assets1.ignimgs.com/2003/12/05/shattereduniverse_120403_006-652236.jpg