Salvation

by voroshilov

Orpheum

“Then where do we go?”

That was the last question Ablazed Glory had asked before she had fallen through the floor. She wasn’t quite sure how the floor had become liquid - then vanished entirely - but was certain that she was hallucinating, dreaming, to put it in more general terms. She hadn’t quite realised that originally.

Where was Penumbra? She thought. Where were the Glow sisters? Where was Astrid?

I am here, Ablazed Glory.

Was that Astrid? It sounded similar to her, but more ghostly, more powerful.

It is me, Ablazed Glory, though I cannot be for too long.

Ablazed Glory spun, attempting to find the source of the voice which seemed to come from all around her.

She found her source in the form of an immense amalgamation of light. Astrid, or what Ablazed Glory assumed to be Astrid, pulsed with energy. Somewhere, deep beneath the strength of the corona her aura created, she seemed to take on a blue and purple hue, shifting and floating on her body. Her overall body shape couldn’t really be seen, the enormous volume of light proceeding from her form masking any specific shape.

What was going on?

A vision, Ablazed Glory, a collective vision shared by each of our friends, aside from Cain of course. It is a wound in reality, allowing us to see through space. Observe and remember all you can, I will see to Penumbra and the rest of our friends.

Astrid vanished, leaving Ablazed Glory again alone, standing on nothingness. Fortunately for her personality of being very quick to boredom, her environment quickly changed.

She was in orbit of a large planet. It was a pleasant looking temperate world, sixty percent ocean from her reckoning. With a sudden flash, she was in the atmosphere, over a massive octagonal Dominion fortress, stretching as far as she could see.

Even from her distant vantage point she could tell something was wrong. The ubiquitous black metal towers were strangely silent. The cannons that covered every available space, which should have been scanning the skies constantly, were either eerily still or packed away completely. The fortress’ central planetary defence guns were all on standby - which protocol dictated was only to be done in case of attack - though none fired or tracked across the sky.

The fortress was empty.

Another sudden flash found her within the fortress’ control centre. The rotunda, about the size of the Retaliator, was completely empty. Several of the terminals were still active and there appeared to be no signs of a struggle. A cup of tea steamed away silently in the corner of her vision.

Another flash brought her right before one of the terminals. Her vision became wreathed in swirling tendrils of shadow. Something ghostly groaned and many voices whispered something in tongues. She felt like she could understand some of the words, though had no idea how.

It was time to leave, immediately.

Fort Hammerfell, the terminal read, Orpheum. That was the last thing Ablazed Glory saw before another flash saw her dragged from that uncomfortable dream world.

“Do not fear, Ablazed Glory,” Astrid said as the flaming alicorn bolted awake, “you are safe, free from the vision.”

Ablazed Glory blinked. “That wasn’t a fun experience,” she sighed, sitting herself up. “How are the others?”

“They woke up just moments ago,” she replied, “Penumbra has tea and the Glow Sisters are speaking to her. Cain has kept the ship functioning.”

“No surprise there,” Ablazed Glory muttered, “I remember what I saw, what I heard - I know where we need to go.”

“Tell me,” Astrid said, guiding her comrade to a chair.

“Orpheum,” Ablazed Glory recounted, “that’s our destination. It’s not far from us, I think that’s where the cult’s leader has headed. Something’s definitely happened there.”

Astrid nodded. “The Luminary will have the coordinates?”

“Yeah, definitely, it’s a Dominion planet. An important one at that.”

“Then we will see it reached.”

Ablazed Glory hummed her agreement. “There was something else though. I think someone was talking.”

“Talking?”

“Yeah. And there was this shadow, or something, that seemed stuck to what I could see. When the shadow appeared the voices started.” Ablazed Glory shot her mind back to the speech she had heard, gathering up what she could understand. “It was talking about fire.”

“You, perhaps?”

Ablazed Glory shook her head. “No, no, no. Not a fire. But, fire in general. Less the thing and more the concept. Something about a star, shining star, I think it said. Then, something about return. Someone’s return, I think.”

Astrid nodded gravely. “To be considered another time,” she said, “first we must head to Orpheum and investigate. From there we can battle the cult.” She turned to head back to the console, before suddenly a thought came to her and she turned back. “The other is a problem for a later time,” she said, with just enough of her crypticness to make Ablazed Glory nervous.

Regardless, the flaming alicorn returned to her piloting position, opening the flight controller and keying in the coordinates for Orpheum that were already in the system.

“Time for more adventure,” she mumbled. Orpheum was nice and close, which was a positive, but it was also a Dominion fortress world - covered in heavy fortifications designed to protect strategic systems from enemy attack - if the cult had someone overrun one of the fortifications, they could be flying right into a death-trap. Ablazed Glory was an excellent pilot, she would readily and tactlessly boast of that, but even she couldn’t outrun an entire planetary defence system for longer than a few minutes. “Should’ve just stayed on New Horizons.”

“Alright,” She called out, getting the attention of all of her comrades, “we’re heading to Orpheum, that’s probably where the leader Penumbra saw is headed - or already is.” She wasted no time hitting the Rift engage - it was possible Hammerfell was still operational, they just had to reach it quickly.

The Rift seemed strangely still, strangely stratified.

“Something isn’t right,” Penumbra said, “it’s all wrong.”

“Something is affecting the Rift from without,” Astrid stated, following up Penumbra’s point, “I cannot ascertain what it is or its location.”

Penumbra lit her horn, reaching out with her magic. “I can’t find anything either,” she said as her horn dimmed again, “but, I think it’s safe.”

To Ablazed Glory, Rift phenomena were no joke. Within seconds of entering the Rift, she had realised the issue and activated the shields, harmonising them to the patterns of the Rift she could see and feel outside the hull. The biggest problem a Rift storm would hold for them was being forced out somewhere dangerous - like the core of a star, she’d read about that happening to an unfortunate Imperial cruiser, that had put her off space travel for a while.

Fortunately, that didn’t happen. The Retaliator excited the Rift over Orpheum just fine, making Ablazed Glory immediately relax. Then, tense up again immediately, remembering what exactly was below them.

Fort Hammerfell, visible as a massive octagon of grey surrounded by fields of green. The city sized fortress beamed out no signals, nor did it make any attempts to identify the Retaliator. It was silent, as silent as a grave, and that made Ablazed Glory momentarily twitch with nerves.

“I think it’s empty,” Ablazed Glory said to her companions, “so we should be clear to land.”

“And if it isn’t?” Penumbra asked.

“Then we’ll be blown out of the sky and won’t have to worry about any of this any more,” was Ablazed Glory’s reply, before she engaged the engines downwards, “buckle up!”

Their entrance to the atmosphere was noticeably free of gunfire,

“It is clear,” Penumbra murmured, “but why?”

Ablazed Glory was reluctant to land, with good reason. It was not every day she visited a city sized fortress, let alone one where all of its inhabitants seemed to have vanished. She very much hoped whatever had made them vanish wasn’t still on the ground.

She released the unconscious pressure in her forelegs and unclenched her jaw. It’ll be fine, she assured herself, if there was anything down there we’d have seen it by now, because it would’ve attacked us.

“I’m gonna set us down on that pad over there. Someone will need to stay on the ship.”

“I shall remain behind with the Glow Sisters,” Cain said, “in the event of an emergency I will do my best to provide assistance.”

The Retaliator cast a thin shadow over the landing pad, suspended between two immense metal towers, cannons pointing into the air atop them. Everything remained silent, only the quiet hum of the Retaliator’s engines and the steps of its crew filling the courtyard.