> Voyages of the Lightbringer: Episode 4: Variances
>  by Admiral Wyatt Stone
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> A Worse Reality/Giant Crystal Ball
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Captain's Star Log; Equus Date: 3/2/2274: We've been contacted by Daniels about another universal incursion, one that shares several similarities to ours. Because of our experience on the field, along with some intel regarding the invaders courtesy of Admiral Stone, we've agreed to lead the mission and stop the enemy before they can cause harm to their target universe."

I stared at the window as I watched our ship fly through the anomaly, my friends all at their stations and performing their duties. A few days after our Summer Sun Celebration, we had received a transmission from Agent Daniels, who wished for us to help him out on a mission to another reality. He stated that the Na'kuhl wanted to gain a potential asset from a universe similar to our own, so we readied our ship and set a course for our target.

As the white hole at the end of the anomaly came closer, I turned to face Daniels, who was standing next to me. "I hope that intel from Wyatt hasn't become outdated as of yet."

Daniels gave a hopeful smile as he replied. "Thankfully, no. Even though they'll have the distortion technology, they won't have a chance against our ship."

I turned to face the window, the anomaly passing around us as we entered the parallel universe. The system was similar to ours, the moon was still here, and Equus was mostly the same, save for one detail.

As the viewscreen came on to view the system, I noticed a large cloud cover over one area of the planet. I raised an eyebrow at this, Calamity looking at the sight with shock on his face as he spoke to Daniels. "Now wait a minute, how come the cloud cover is still here?"

"Ah, yes. I forgot to mention something." We all looked to Daniels has he explained. "We've entered another version of your universe, in this timeline, the Enclave have won against you and your friends, and have taken control of the surface. Fortunately, there's a resistance group that is standing against them, but if the Na'kuhl succeed in their mission, they could turn the tide of the war in favor of the Enclave."

We all gasped in shock as I heard Velvet's console beep, the charcoal unicorn turning to it before speaking up. "Speaking of the Na'kuhl, I'm detecting one ship in the area, that must be our target."

"Bring it up on the screen." I replied as Velvet tapped her console, the screen shifting to show the Na'kuhl vessel in orbit of the planet. It was an average size vessel, it was a slim crimson colored starship with two fins for wings, a pink engine glowing at it's aft side.



"Good, bring us to Red Alert, ready weapons and shields." I turned to my comms panel on my chair, tapping it as I spoke. "Bridge to Hangar, you all ready for a fight out there, Wonderbolts?"

"Ready to fly, Littlepip. Just give the word!" Skyfire replied as I smiled. Before we left, the Wonderbolts had volunteered to help with the mission, bringing out their starfighters that they used at the Star Forge to the Lightbringer for deployment. 

As we watched the vessel hold position in orbit, I lifted my Pipbuck hoof to me, tapping it as I spoke up. "Let me see if I can get into their comms."

"Smart Idea." Windsheer said as he tapped his console, myself turning to him as he asked, "Mind if Ah put it on our shipwide network?"

I nodded as I found the signal, tapping it as we heard several deep voices speaking from my Pipbuck. "I've detected an enemy ship on sensors, sir. She's targeting us."

"No matter, deploy our disto-... Wait, I know that ship. That ship was a part of J'ula's forces, she was captured!" A male voice replied as the female officer spoke.

"Orders, sir?"

"Take us to the planet's surface and deploy the distortion, we cannot fail this mission!" At his words, I saw the Na'kuhl starship turn and fly towards the surface, a red shield forming around it as a duplicate shifted out from it.

"Wonderbolts, launch as soon as you can, we're heading into battle!" I said to my comms panel as Skyfire replied.

"Understood, we'll be out there shortly!" As Skyfire's transmission cut out, I looked to Calamity, the stallion tapping his console as I spoke to him.

"Calamity, set course for the Na'kuhl ship, full impulse. Also, fire a concentrated Phaser shot at it's duplicate, that should take care of it real quick." My friend nodded as he tapped his console once more, the ship turning to it's left and firing two Orange beams at the large, shifting form of the enemy starship. The beam held for several seconds before the duplicate vanished, the beam having destroyed it.

"The ship's doppelganger's gone, Ah'm flyin' us right at the target!" Calamity said as we came up behind the Na'kuhl vessel, the ship firing dark green beams of energy as both of our ships entered the atmosphere.

I tapped my comms panel again, activating the shipwide comms before speaking. "This is the captain, all hands, brace yourselves." As I said that, the ship shook as it flew through the stratosphere.

"Diverting power to forward shields." Velvet Remedy said as she worked at her console, her husband tapping his as the Lightbringer returned fire at the Na'kuhl vessel.

As the last few clouds above the cover passed us, our ship slowed as the enemy ship turned around, facing towards us as a red glow surrounded us, Calamity tapping his console as the ship turned to it's right. As we circled around the destroyer, we passed the red light before it was replaced by a green energy blast, the shot missing us as we came to a stop behind the ship.

"Catch them in a tractor beam, Xenith!" The zebra tapped her console as the Na'kuhl ship began turning towards us, but stopped as the tractor beam took hold of it seconds later. Five small ships flew out of the Lightbringer's sides and around the

"Shield drain, Velvet. Calamity, when her shields fail, fire a spread of torpedoes and several beams at them!" 

"Got it!" The two said simultaneously as they worked at their stations, a blue beam firing out and hitting the Na'kuhl ship a moment later. After a few seconds, the shields flickered out, Calamity tapping his console before a flurry of torpedoes shot out from the Lightbringer, along with four beams of energy, two Phaser beams and two magic beams.

As the torpedoes hit the ship, it's hull screeched as it was breached, plumes of fire and smoke erupting from it's engine and hull as the beams sliced into other areas of the vessel.

"Their engines are down! Ah think we busted 'em up real bad!" Calamity said with a grin as the ship began drifting towards the cloud cover, getting close to a clear area above the cover as the Wonderbolts flew around it, firing several more shots at it's hull.

"They're losing structural integrity, a few more shots should do it!" Velvet said as the ship continued drifting downward, the five elite fighters continuing their assault before breaking away. 

I lifted my hoof again to listen in on the Na'kuhl transmission. "Our core's about to breach, we must abando-" The signal cut out before the officer could finish, myself looking to the screen as the ship continued falling. The vessel's hull broke open with fire and smoke several more times before it finally exploded, flaming pieces of debris flying out of the fiery blast.

"Enemy vessel destroyed!" Steelhooves said as Calamity cheered aloud.

"Yeehaw! That's whatcha get fer messin' with the Wasteland heroi-" The pegasus was interrupted when his console beeped, my friend checking it before turning to me with a frown. "Uh, 'Pip? Ah'm gettin three Enclave ships headin' towards us."

"Looks like we've got some unwanted attention." I replied as we all faced the screen, Velvet tapping her console before the screen shifted to show the trio of enemy ships nearby. A single thunderhead was taking the lead in between two raptors, the latter were smaller than the large battleship, and had a similar appearance to the thunderhead.



As the Lightbringer turned to face the Enclave, I tapped my Pipbuck again, trying to get into their shipwide channels. I smirked slightly as I finally found it and tapped it. "All ships, target the intruders, Lieutenant Blossom, get me a signal on that ship!"

"Yes, Ma'am!" The lieutenant replied as Calamity's console beeped a second later, the stallion smiling sheepishly as he turned and spoke.

"They're hailin' us." I nodded for him to answer, Calamity turning to work at his console as I looked to Steelhooves.

"Get me a scan of those ships, let's make sure they haven't gotten any advanced tech onboard." The armored stallion nodded as he did his work, a mares voice speaking through the room's speakers as the transmission started.

"This is Commander Star Slasher of the Enclave Thunderhead Steadfast, lower your defenses and prepare for boarding parties or we will be forced to take lethal action!"

I looked back to Steelhooves as he finished his scan, chuckling a little as he gave his results. "It seems fortune favors us today, they're no stronger than the old warships of the Enclave in our universe. With a few shots, they should be taken care of."

I smiled as I turned back to the screen, tapping my comms panel as I spoke to it and Calamity. "Good, Calamity, Skydive, lock weapons on the Enclave ships, fire to disable!"

"Understood!" Skydive said as her team split up, three flying towards the left raptor and the other two going for the right one. Calamity worked at his console as the Lightbringer turned towards the thunderhead, the large ship firing pink energy beams as the Lightbringer fired back.

I watched in surprise as the Phaser beams cut through the ship's armor, fire spilling out as it took damage. Four Balefire torpedoes shot out from us and struck each of the turrets, all of them bursting into flame as they were destroyed.

Calamity laughed excitedly as he tapped his console again. "Woohoo! They wouldn't last a minute against us!" I smiled with him as the Steadfast veered away, the ship circling around the left raptor as I looked to the one on the right. The two Wonderbolts fired twin beams of pink energy at the two remaining turrets on the ship, both of them exploding as the two fighters flew over the small warship.

"That's two down!" I heard Gutshot say excitedly as he and his wingmate flew around the disabled raptor, the Lightbringer circling around as we turned to face the other raptor.

The ship's turrets were on fire, the three other Wonderbolts flying over the vessel as the other two fighters rejoined their squadron.

"Enough of this!" Commander Star Slasher said angrily as the vessels turned away from us, all of them forming up as they retreated. "Get us away from that monstrosity, we don't have a chance against her!"

As the Enclave fleet flew away from us, I looked to Daniels, who looked over to Andromeda and said, "Andromeda, send some basic supplies over to them, they'll need to be fixed up for their next job here." 

The alicorn nodded as she worked at her wall console, the mare smiling as she turned back to face us. "Transport successful." 

Daniels then turned to look at me before speaking. "That takes care of the mission, we should get going as soon as possible, they'll most likely send more in to investigate."

"Right." I then turned to Calamity, who needed no answer as he began his work, myself facing my comms panel as I spoke. "All fighters, return to Hangar. We're heading out."

"Got it, we'll be there shortly!" Skydive replied as her squadron flew towards us, myself looking to Velvet before speaking to her.

"Velvet, bring us back to Green Alert, get me a status report on our damage." The charcoal unicorn nodded as she turned to her console, myself facing the viewscreen as I observed the cloud cover. As I stared at the screen, I became curious about how there were other versions of our reality. I wonder how many there are. The little pony in my head said as I looked to Daniels, the man facing me as I asked, "Daniels, if I may, how are there duplicates of our own universe?"

Daniels gave an apologetic look as he spoke. "Ah, my apologies, I should've explained that earlier. You see, not only are there different universes, but for each one, there are several quantum realities that are connected to them. There was an incident in 2370 involving Lieutenant Worf and the U.S.S. Enterprise-D. After winning a bat'leth tournament on Forcas III, he was shifted into several different quantum realities, each one having several changes in them. Though our analysis on the issue is a little clouded, it's still considered a plausible idea."

"I see." I said as I took in the information. "And I assume that the same goes for our world?"

"Indeed, as well as the other universes. From what we know, there are possibly an infinite number of them to see, but don't go looking through too many of them, we'd probably fry our brains trying to comprehend it all." Daniels replied as I laughed lightly, finding the idea a bit humorous before Calamity spoke up.

"The Wonderbolts are all docked up, we're ready t' go!" 

"Good, take us out of here, Calamity." The stallion turned to his console as he began his work, myself looking back to Daniels again before speaking. "Do you think we could view some of them?"

"Yes, we have a computer library set up within the Main Sphere, the first gateway sphere found by Admiral Stone and Princess Twilight back before the U.A.'s formation. I believe you can use that to satisfy your needs." Daniels said as I replied with a smile.

"Thanks, I hope this won't be much of a detour for you." Daniels shook his head in acknowledgement as I looked to Calamity, the stallion still working on his console as I spoke to him. "Calamity, set a course for the Main Sphere, we're going on a little field trip."

"Gotcha." The pegasus replied as he tapped his console again, a blue beam shooting out of the Lightbringer seconds later. As the portal opened up, Calamity tapped his console once more before the ship accelerated, the blue portal getting closer to us before we entered it.

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As the blue transporter fields faded, we saw ourselves inside a large room, several other people and ponies standing and walking within as they traversed the large library. The room itself had smooth, square walls, along with several open sections that held books inside them. In the center was a circular platform, a large console sitting in the center of it as several people examined and worked on it. Around it, five walkways were holding it in place, four of them leading to doors at the other end while the fifth one held another station with a smaller console. In between the shelves were glowing blue vents.

As my friends and I made our way to the center, I gasped in surprise as I saw a familiar face, she was a ghoul pony that had a light grey coat and strands of white and purple hair. She was even still attached to that wheelchair I saw her in back at Canterlot.

"St-Star Sparkle?!" I said in surprise as the mare smiled happily, Steelhooves gasping as well as I tried to hold myself in place and not hug the mare aggressively.

"Hello again, Littlepip. I did not think I'd see you here." She smiled even more as she continued. "And I see you've brought some friends, and my dear friend Steelhooves is okay."

I could tell Steelhooves was as stunned as any of us as he spoke. "Y-yes, I am. Star... I thought you were at Canterlot. You died there."

"Oh, yes, about that. Your friends up there came and got me out before that whole mess with the Enclave, they said something about needing a new librarian for this here station." I wiped my eyes as Star Sparkle explained her story, Steelhooves trotting up to the elderly ghoul and hugging her lightly. "And as for the others, they've become agents aboard several ships in the Alliance. I hear that those new Gagarin and Shran type ships will be having some help from them."

I smiled at the elderly mare as she finished, so they didn't die in that place. But what about Lionheart? How come he didn't kno- Oh wait, holograms... they had plenty of those to spare, didn't they? "It's good that you're still alive, Star. My friends thought they lost you." As he said that, the Applejack's Ranger looked to me, remembering our talk about getting her out as he continued. "And it seems you didn't need our help, after all."

"You could say that, and I'm quite proud of you and your friends." Star looked to us as she said that, all of us smiling pleasantly as she finished. "If it weren't for you, the Wasteland wouldn't be prospering like it is now."

"Thanks, Star." I said as trotted over, finally steadying myself enough to give her a light hug. After a moment, we broke the embrace, myself looking into the ghoul's eyes as I asked, "So, I hope you don't mind, but may we take a look at some of the other timelines related to our universe?"

"Absolutely, if you don't wanna see it in the books, there's a console over there that'll allow you to watch a recording of events you're looking for. You can get a signal by either giving it a description of a specific event or, if you want to have a random one come up, you can ask it a question and it'll answer for you quite easily. Mighty fancy little thing, if I do say so myself."

"Thanks, once again, it's good to see you here with us, Star." I said as the mother of Twilight Sparkle replied.

"Same to you." As she finished, Steelhooves trotted next to his old friend, the mare smiling as the armored stallion spoke.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to have a little chat with Star here. I'll meet you when I'm done." I nodded as we all began trotting to the console, a blue glow emitting from it as we stepped up to it.

As we stood in front of it, Calamity tapped my shoulder. "Well Ah'll be, Ah didn't expect t' see her here, y'all okay there 'Pip?"

"Yeah." I said as I sniffled slightly, trying not to cry from relief over the fact that Twilight's mother was still alive. "I'm just happy she's okay, that's all."

While we were at Risa, I told them about Star Sparkle along with Steelhooves and Calamity. Xenith and Velvet Remedy were shocked and saddened when we told them about how she was still at Canterlot when the Enclave came. But now she was here, alive and managing a library like her daughter once did. I wonder how many more were "rescued" and recruited as agents?

A question that would have to be answered later, I thought, because we had a load of questions to ask about all those different timelines. 

"Sooooo…. how do we start?" I asked with a sheepish smile, my friends raising an eyebrow as they shared my confusion.

"Well, she said that we could ask it a question to have a random one shown to us, so why don't we try that?" Velvet said as replied, my three friends looking to me as I spoke.

"Good idea, but what would be a good one to start with?" As we stood together in thought, I rumbled through my brain, I wanted to start off lightly, to get a light grasp on how another reality's history would play out. And as I found one, I spoke to the console, my friends watching it with me as we faced it.

"What if the battle at Junction Town played out differently?"
> (V1) Loss of a Hero
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

{VARIANCE START}

The blue transporter fields faded around us as we arrived at our old homeland, several Starfleet officers with weapons in their hands standing around us. The day had went better than I'd expected, I was rescued and reunited with my friend, Littlepip, we had crippled J'ula's flagship, and we had rescued several prisoners from the vessel, not to mention gain some intel as to what that bitch is trying to do.

And now we were heading to our old home, Junction Town. J'ula and her forces were intending to take the planet and make a stronghold here, but we wouldn't let her, especially because this was our home, our friends were here, and we'd be damned if they were going to take this place from us.

As we examined our surroundings, Littlepip turned to face me, pointing a hoof towards a certain direction in front of us. "It's beautiful, isn't it, Steelhooves?" 

I looked to face where she was pointing to, and I saw our old home. It looked better than I expected, the boxcars were still there, and there were some newer buildings around the settlement. I think I could see a medical facility there.

"Yes, it is." I replied to the Stable Dweller, both of us turning back to face our officers, all of them standing at attention as Littlepip spoke to them.

"Alright, that town there's our target. We need to get over there and take out any Klingons that have beamed down here, or they'll kill everyone there, including my friends. They may have set up defenses on our path, so keep your eyes peeled and weapons at the ready. Clear?" The officers all saluted in acknowledgement, my friend smiling as she spoke up. "Good, now let's get to it."

We all turned towards the town and began walking, a low groan sounding above us as we looked up into the sky. A large battleship was flying towards the town, it had a large, bulky main hull with two fins at the sides, on the top was a small bridge.



As the large battleship flew over us, I went into SATS and tried to lock my two cannons onto it, but wasn't given a chance as several green laser bolts struck the ship's hull, which screeched from the impact as it turned away. As it went to it's right, four small fighters were flying towards it, they had a large fuselage with two wings, connected to those were four blue engines.

I turned to face Littlepip as we stopped, the grey unicorn tapping her Pipbuck as she tried to access the device's comms. "We thought we'd give you all a hand up here!" A male voice said through the device as we looked up again, my friend smiling as we watched them harass the large warship.

"Thanks, we'll make our way to the town from here." Littlepip said as we all continued running towards the town, the small group of Klingons also heading towards it as we tried to beat them there. Thanks to the efforts of the Stratus, they managed to take out the last transport before it could get half of the troops down to the surface. Unfortunately, however, J'ula had sent backup to ensure they succeeded, and we had just seen one of her assets try and stop us before the allied fighter squadron above helped us out. Hopefully, the ground units wouldn't be too difficult for us to take out. 

As we reached the edge of the town, we saw several green beams of energy shoot out, several ponies running away from them in fear as the Klingons began their attack. We took cover in between two of the buildings, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. As we watched, I saw a large speeder slide into the area, it's large turret firing red bolts of energy at it's targets. I heard a scream and looked to see one of the ponies fall to the ground, a gaping, cauterized wound in her flank.

"This should do the trick." I said as my right cannon shifted, a grin forming underneath my helmet as I prepared to fire one of my new power bombs at the speeder. Once again, my kill was taken by several bullets coming from what must've been a machine gun. As the speeder was struck several times, the vehicle exploded from the damage, the troops around it being knocked away and falling to the ground, none of them getting back up.

As the fiery blast receded, we broke cover and ran into the fray, my friend firing her pistol at several Klingons to our left while I took out the ones to our right. I brought my left cannon up as it shifted, then holding position as several Phaser bolts fired out and struck seven incoming Klingons. As they all fell to the ground, I examined the area. There was one pony on the ground, no, a zebra, injured and holding her leg as she grit her teeth from the pain. I looked to Littlepip, who was checking her gun after gunning down four more Klingons. "There's injured, Littlepip." I said as we both turned to face the injured zebra, who saw us as gave a hopeful smile as Littlepip gasped in shock.

"Xephyr! Steelhooves, you help the people on the left side, I'll hold off the ones on the right!" I nodded as I looked to the right again, seeing Blackjack and her team galloping over to us as Lacunae took to the air.

"Mind if we lend a hoof?" The white unicorn asked as Littlepip smiled at her.

"Definitely, you guys stick with me, the rest of you, take care of the other side of the town!" Our security escorts and I nodded in agreement before our groups split up, Littlepip and her team running towards the front of the town while my team went further in. I stopped as I saw a familiar griffon shooting at two of the Klingons, both of them falling to the ground as a third one aimed his weapon. I didn't permit him even one shot as I fired my left cannon, the Klingon being hit by several orange Phaser bolts before joining his dead colleagues.

As I trotted over to the griffon, she wiped her shoulders with a claw as she looked to me. "Thanks fer the help, friend.... wait, aren't you-"

"Steelhooves? Yeah, it's a lot to explain, but let's take out the enemy forces before talking about that." I replied to the griffon as she nodded in agreement.

"Right!" As she flew to the edge of the town, my guards and I continued trotting onward, but stopped again as I saw two very familiar faces.

"Get yer claws off mah wife!" Calamity yelled angrily in the air at the six surrounding Klingons, his wife crouching behind him in fear as the Klingons held their weapons at them.

I lifted my right cannon as it shifted, both of them firing Phaser bolts at three of the closest soldiers. My escorts lifted their rifles up as they fired, the three other soldiers getting struck down before we began walking over to my old friends.

"S-Steelhooves?!" Velvet shrieked fearfully, Calamity landing himself as he examined me with wide eyes.

"Yes, it's me." I looked to my escorts, all of them standing at attention before I continued. "Scout the rest of the town, make sure there aren't anymore of them." All of them nodded as they began splitting up, myself turning to face my old friends before speaking to them. "I understand that I've been gone, but we need to take care of the enemy forces first."

"Ah think yer friends over there have done quite a bit already." Calamity said as I looked to see the other end of Junction Town, there were no more Klingons around, Littlepip was helping Xephyr up as Blackjack and her team were checking the area.

"I see, then may we-" I was cut off as Velvet Remedy embraced me, Calamity doing the same as the former started crying.

"You're alive! We never thought we'd s-see you after Maripony!" Velvet wailed into my shoulder, Calamity breaking the hug as he spoke to me.

"Ayep, Ah'm happy t' see yer face in these parts! How's it goin' old friend?"

I smiled under my helmet as Velvet broke the embrace. "I had a hell of a day, and Littlepip and I came here to help with these Klingons."

Calamity grinned happily as he spoke to me. "So that's who's tryin' t kill us? Well, Ah'll be happy t' hear the whole story once we find-" I was cut off as I heard a cry of pain from behind us, the three of us turning around to see Littlepip, an energy blade stuck in her chest. The weapon's wielder was an armored Klingon soldier, a helmet obscuring her face.

"LITTLEPIP!!!" Velvet and Calamity screamed, both of them racing over to the grey unicorn as I raced after them.

"NO!" I cried out with them, activating my weapons as we sped towards the Klingon. The warrior ripped the blade out of Littlepip's chest, Calamity firing his battle saddle as the assassin spun her weapon around to deflect his shots. Before I could fire my cannons, however, the Klingon tapped a small panel on her armor, her body vanishing under a green energy field that vanished with her in seconds. The fucker had a personal cloaking device!

As Calamity and Velvet stopped and crouched over Littlepip, I turned to Blackjack, all of them looking on in shock and fear as I yelled, "Get a medic over here, now!" 

Blackjack nodded as she and her team raced to the nearby medical center, myself turning to look down at our injured friend.

"Velvet, can ya fix her up?!" Calamity asked worriedly, the charcoal unicorn checking her saddlebags before I began taking a scan. 

As my scan finished, I looked over to our friends, my hopeless expression hidden by my helmet as I spoke. "The strike went very deep. Unless we can get her to the ship quickly, there's nothing I can do." 

Calamity and Velvet then shared my hopelessness as the latter gripped me angrily, tears falling freely from her eyes as she spoke. "Then do it! We can't lose her now, not after all that's happened!" 

"G-Guys!" Littlepip choked out loudly, all of us turning to look at her before she continued. "There's no t-time... you-ACK-.... you need to... get to the Star Forge as soon as you can, we.... this place won't have a future if.... if you don't."

"We're not goin' anywhere 'till yer fixed up, 'Pip." Calamity replied, I could see him start to join his wife's sorrow as a tear started to fall from his eye.

"You-you have to..... please, you need to finish this.... the whole m-multiverse is counting on you all." The grey unicorn choked out, a little bit of blood dripping out of her mouth as she lifted a hoof. She started to cry as she spoke once more. "I-I'm sorry that.... we didn't get to be together for this-HCK-... one last ride. At least.... you're all the last things I see before I'm done..... I.... I'll miss you all." As she finished, Calamity and Velvet brought their hooves up to hers, myself joining them as we held our dying friend for a good long moment. I felt her hoof weaken as she took her last breath, the light fleeing from her eyes as she let out one last breath, her head resting on the ground as Littlepip passed on.

"*sniff*… Littlepip?" Velvet squeaked sadly, the sight hitting her like a ton of bricks as she began bawling, her husband holding her tight as the two cried over the corpse of their old friend. I let my grip on Littlepip's hoof loosen, the forehoof falling to the ground as I fell to my knees. 

I could hear a few doors around the town open over Velvet and Calamity's crying, in front of us, I saw Xenith trot out with a shocked expression, the injured zebra Xephyr racing over to her to join her as they embraced. I saw Blackjack and her group arrive back with another doctor from the hospital, all of them looking on with wide, sad eyes as they saw their rescuer on the ground lifeless. I saw the green filly Scotch Tape hold P-21 tightly, the stallion holding her with a forearm to comfort her.

Our sorrow was interrupted when we heard a loud roar above us, all of us looking up to see a single Bird of Prey taking position over the town. Several cries and screams of fear sounded through the town as they saw the large starship, Velvet shrieking loudly as Calamity held her in fear.

My sorrow turned to anger as I activated my weapons, both cannons firing a flurry of Phaser beams at a single point on the shields. I screamed in rage as I fired, the ventral shields finally flickering as I gained an opening. I wasted no time as I shifted my weapons, the two cannons firing several missiles at the engine of the Bird of Prey.

As the missiles hit the ship, the engine exploded in a fireball as the warship fell, turning to it's left before hitting a flat area of land, the ship exploding brilliantly as it crashed.

As the shockwave hit us, I stood my ground, holding myself in place as the wave passed us. After the air steadied, Calamity and Velvet Remedy looked to me, their eyes red with tears and manes a mess as I spoke to them. "We need to talk, get everyone we know over here and have a room set up, it's going to be a long meeting."

"R-Right." Velvet said as Calamity helped her up, myself tapping my helmet to activate my comms as I spoke. 

"Steelhooves to Harmony, get some medical teams down here..... we have wounded."

Twilight replied to me with a hint of satisfaction in her voice. "No problem, we've taken care of the ships in orbit and are taking defensive positions around the planet. Is everything alright down there?"

I tried to hold myself together as I replied. "...No. No, it's not alright, we... lost one down here."

I heard a gasp through my speakers before Twilight replied. "I...I see. We'll be down there shortly."

"Thank you. Steelhooves out." As I cut off the comms, I followed my old friends into the bar, the two wiping their eyes as they tried to hold themselves together.

----------

"...And if it wasn't fer her, Ah don't think we'd be here today. Ah *sniff*... Ah'll miss her greatly." Calamity said to the crowd as he finished his speech, sniffles and faint cries from the crowd being the only other noise in the room. Shortly after dealing with the Klingons, the Harmony's crew beamed down to help with the injured. They shared their sorrow at the sight of our fallen friend, and I wished for us to have a funeral for her before we depart. Twilight agreed and we began to clean up the bar and change it to look more appropriate for the situation. Homage had arrived along with Ditzy Doo, both of them horrified by the news, I stayed with Homage as she mourned over her dead lover after she asked to see the body.

As for myself, I stayed with Applejack and sat with her as the funeral took place. Littlepip had done so much to help us all, she nearly got herself killed on countless missions to make the Equestrian Wasteland a better place.... and now she was dead, murdered by the enemy and denied a chance to live in peace with her friends.

As Calamity looked back up to us, he looked around the crowd as he asked, "Would anyone else like t' come up?"

Throughout the whole event, all of my friends had shared their condolences on the stage, Velvet, Homage, Xenith, and everyone else had already gotten theirs out of the way and had left Calamity and I to give ours out. Now that it was my turn, I raised a hoof. Calamity gave a faint smile as he stepped off of the platform, myself standing up as I made my way to the podium, Littlepip's coffin sitting behind it as it held her resting form.

As I stood upon the platform, I began, my helmet having been removed as to not cause any distractions. "My friends, everyone. When I was travelling the Wasteland several years ago, I had never expected to come across such a mare as Littlepip. When I was incapacitated by the alicorns under the control of the Goddess, the Stable Dweller and her friends opted to save my life despite my condition, and I was very grateful for their help." I cleared my throat to continue, Velvet and Calamity sitting together as they listened.

"And, as I stayed with them over the course of their adventure, I would come to appreciate Littlepip even more after an.... incident regarding the old town of Arbu." Some of the crowd gave raised eyebrows and gasped upon my words, but kept on listening as I continued. "She showed me that none of us are perfect, we all make mistakes, do evil once or twice, even if we didn't mean to, and... it helped me regain my faith in life." The crowd calmed as they now understood my mention of the cannibal town. "And despite my passing at Maripony, I would owe her my life once again when she saved me aboard the Lukara, J'ula's flagship."

I noticed Homage wiping her eyes as I kept on with my speech. "And... after today, I felt as if I was broken, like I had failed her. But, she gave us one last request, one that I intend to fulfill no matter the cost."

"W-what is it?" A blue amber mare asked as the others looked to me attentively, though I didn't meet her back in the days of the Wasteland, I heard she was a member of the Wasteland Crusaders, a group that Littlepip would encounter during one of her missions.

"Before she passed, Littlepip and I were asked to help in stopping J'ula from using a powerful structure called the Star Forge. If she succeeds, she'll have an infinite army of warships to conquer the multiverse with, and we won't have a chance." I gulped as I started to say the other part of the story, before putting her body into the casket, I asked to check her Pipbuck for important data, and was surprised when I checked one of her personal logs.

"And, if her logs on her Pipbuck are correct, then I think we'll also be dealing with an old enemy of ours from ten years ago." 

"And who w-would that be, Steelhooves?" Velvet asked as she tried to hold herself together.

"Red Eye." Upon saying that, everyone in the room gasped in shock and surprise as they took in the information. Before they could ask, I answered their worrying curiosity. "It seems that J'ula managed to recover him before Littlepip could destroy his cathedral, and he's been given a high position in her fleet."

"Then it seems we must hurry, then. If he can get his fleet here, this place is doomed." Rarity said with a frown as the crowd gave gasps and cries of fear before I spoke up again.

"Yes, and I can't do this alone." I looked to Calamity, Velvet Remedy, and Xenith, the trio all looking back to me as I continued. "I need your help."

They all shared the same surprise for a brief second, but it faded as they smiled approvingly. "Well Ah'll be, ol' friend! Ya didn't even have t' ask, we wouldn't take no fer an answer!" 

I raised an eyebrow at the pegasus' words before Velvet spoke up. "That was our friend back there, she wanted us to have a better life than what we all had."

"If it wasn't for her efforts, I would have most likely died at Fillydelphia when the Enclave attacked, and my daughter would not have survived by herself without her help." Xenith said as Homage stood up, the crowd looking at her as she spoke.

"Littlepip was the mare that brought hope to not only the people of the Wasteland, but myself as well. She was my light in the darkness during all of the chaos." The dark grey unicorn seemed to shed a tear as she finished. "...And now she's been taken away from a life she deserved to live, and I'm not going to stand by while the people who killed her are wreaking havoc up there."

"Ayep." Calamity said as he and the others joined me, Homage following after them as she stood with our group. "Those Klingons need a good kick in the flank, and we'd be damned if we're not gonna spill some blood fer our friend!"

The whole crowd cheered and cried out excitedly, the rest of us standing before them as they supported us. As the crowd calmed, I saw three alicorns stand up, the trio looking to us as the blue one spoke. "Well, if you're going to be wreaking havoc out there, we'll be coming along as well."

"As are we." A mare's voice said from our right before we all turned to the door, five pegasi in blue and gold carapace armor stood inside, the lead one removing her helmet to reveal a white coat and fiery orange hair. "I think it's time the Wonderbolts stopped running from danger and started doing good for once." 

I smiled as I examined the newcomers, the unmasked one smiling back as I replied. "We'd be happy to have you all with us."

As the Wonderbolts joined us, Twilight and her crew all stood, Rainbow Dash giving a cocky smirk as the princess spoke. "We should get going, then. Let's gather ourselves up and head out."

We all nodded as we started to make our way to the door, Life Bloom trotting over to us before speaking. "We'll get Littlepip's body taken care of, be careful on your mission."

"We'll try to." I replied as my friends and I all went out the door, turning to our left as we made our way to a nearby boxcar to gather our supplies before departing to our next destination.

{VARIANCE END}

My friends and I all stared at the console with wide eyes, Velvet holding Calamity's hoof as she tried not to break down at what we just witnessed.

"Well.... that was a bit unpleasant." I said to my friends, the silence broken as Calamity replied.

"Ayep, Ah'm glad that ain't our timeline, we couldn't have stopped J'ula without 'Pip in our team." The pegasus' expression grew fearful as he faced the console, the screen having shut off before we began the conversation.

"Well, at least they won, right?" Velvet asked as I tapped the console several times, the screen reappearing to show data regarding that universe's current status. I smiled at what it said.

"Thankfully, yes, it says here that despite my death at Junction Town, you all managed to succeed in destroying the Star Forge and end J'ula's alliance." I raised an eyebrow as I saw another section of it. "And it says here that thanks to a little hint from Red Eye, you all found some kind of machine that can produce clones before destroying the station, allowing me to be brought back."

My friends raised an eyebrow at that information, Velvet giving a hopeful smile as she replied. "Well, that makes things less worse than I thought they would be."

"Indeed." Steelhooves said as we all turned to face him and Star Sparkle, both of them taking a place around the table as the Applejack's Ranger continued. "We thought we'd join in on this little crusade of yours. You don't mind, do you?"

"Not at all." I answered with a smile, all of us turning to face the console once more as Xenith spoke up.

"This device seems to peak quite an interest when you get a chance to use it. It makes me wonder how things would play out if something had changed."

"Yeah," I replied, thinking of another good question to ask the console before replying. "and after that little scene we saw, I think I've got something else on my mind." My friends all watched as I spoke into the console, the screen returning with another scene after I finished asking the question.

"What if J'ula arrived early?"
> (V2) A Sudden, Apocalyptic Awakening
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

(VARIANCE START)

"What we knew, is gone. Our home, our lives, all that we were.... dust."

Endings.

When you go on a journey, you sometimes think that they could never end, that you'll always go about doing what you're doing. You don't expect or want to have to stop doing the things you love, despite the coming changes and things that'll happen to you.

You wish you could go on with your friends, stay with them forever and keep up the fun nonstop. But, sometimes, you have to change, let go, sacrifice your time with them because there's something more important to do. You have to say good bye and then fulfill your mission, even if it means you never see them again.

I know because it's what I've been through.

Ever since the day I left Stable 2, I had made friends, defeated many villains, and saved the Equestrian Wasteland from destruction. Though, in the process, I gave up the chance to see my friends in flesh and blood for a long time, having to tend to Equestria's weather, make sure that no one tries to take control of it or destroy the rebuilding Wasteland with it. While it's not the happiest fate I'd like, it's better than losing everyone I know and love to the evils of the Enclave.

But it turns out that it wasn't my story that was coming to an end, but rather the story of my home, all that our ancestors fought for, built, and worked so hard to preserve would be for naught... and what I would wake up to would be akin to something from a nightmare.

<<<>>>

I awoke with a gasp as I took my first breath in over ten years, lifting myself out of the pod, my bones weak and aching. As I lifted my head up, I was stopped by a.... paw? No, it couldn't have been a paw, it felt hairless! I looked around to see where the paw had come from, and was stunned to see a calm (and hairless) face near me. "Easy, you've been in there for a while, this hypo should fix you up after a moment's rest."

Before I could speak, I felt something press against my neck, a bit of pressure following after as the device was lifted away. As I steadied myself, I noticed a similar looking being walk over to us, looking to the first one as he spoke. "Sir, we've gotten the Princess' mind downloaded into the chip, we should be ready to head out at your word."

"Excellent, I should only need a moment." As the second being moved away from us, the first one turned back to face me. "My apologies for the abrupt arrival, I should get started quickly. My name is Daniels, I'm from a group known as the Universal Alliance, our duty is to protect the many universes from any and all hostile groups that might want to intervene." The person named Daniels gave a frown as he continued. "And unfortunately, one of them is here, and they intend to attack this planet. I have several ships in orbit as some on the surface working to evacuate the planet before the enemy succeeds. As for you, we're getting you out and taking you aboard the starship Chestnut, she's sent a shuttlecraft to pick up the people at a nearby town that your friends reside at."

I looked at Daniels with wide eyes, stunned at the news. Okay, so there was a group called the "Universal Alliance", and they were fighting a group that wants to kill us. Alright, sounds convincing. But... if we had to leave here, then what about Celestia?

Daniels must've read my mind as he spoke again. "And don't worry, we've gotten everything we can salvage from this place, including your friend and former leader, Princess Celestia. If you'll permit me doing so, I can install her consciousness on your Pipbuck there."

I raised an eyebrow at his words, but nodded in agreement as I held my Pipleg up, the bipedal being inserting a chip into a slot on the device's side. As he stood up again, I felt the room shake, a low boom sounding as I stood up. Something hit the S.P.P., and I could only guess as to who it was.

"We should hurry, Littlepip." Daniels said as his friends gathered their equipment, myself levitating my items into my saddlebags, Orb #8, the Fluttershy Orb, Calamity's hat, the drawing from Silver Bell, the ashes of the filly from Friendship City, the Ministry Mare Statuettes, and of course, Little Macintosh. 

As I put my prized pistol into it's holster, I trotted over to Daniels, who tapped a small badge on his chest before speaking into it. "Daniels to Lompoc, have you finished the rescue operations at Junction Town yet?"

"Affirmative, Sir." A female voice replied back, all of us stepping into the main control room of the S.P.P. as the voice spoke again. "Also, we've got your new friend's buddies onboard, she won't be alone for the trip."

"Good, get over here as soon as possible, we'll need a ride for the trip back." Daniels replied as the room shook again, dust falling from the ceiling as the officer on the other end replied.

"Understood, Lompoc out." As the signal cut out, we walked over to the exit door, which opened for us to get out. I was surprised at that, but after thinking it through, I assumed Celestia must've deactivated the security protocols, allowing us to leave and enter whenever we wished.

As we stepped out the door, we all formed up in a line as we entered one of the walkways outside the main hub, the large shield down and both sections of the building exposed to the outside world. While we all stood on the walkway, I could hear several roars above us, and after looking upward, I saw several small objects flying higher into the sky. Those must have been the evacuation transports Daniels was talking about, I hoped ours would be here soon.

My examination of the area was short-lived when my Pipleg beeped, the voice of Celestia speaking through it. "Littlepip, can you hear me?" 

"Loud and clear, your Highness." I replied with a smile as I lifted my Pipleg, looking at the computerized image of the sun goddess displayed on my screen. She smiled back as she spoke to me.

"Good, before I was copied onto the data chip, I lowered the security fields in order for us to escape. I assume it worked?"

"Perfectly." I replied as I turned my Pipleg to show Celestia the shields, the princess smiling with satisfaction as I pulled her back to me. We were all silenced as a roar sounded above us, all of us looking up to see a large ship, it must've been the size of an Enclave raptor, but it had thick wings and a small head attached to a neck.

As the large ship hovered over us, a growl sounded from the vessel before it was hit by two orange beams of energy. A few seconds later, a flash appeared around the vessel before two red projectiles screamed towards the ship, hitting it's belly hard. As the alien ship flew away from us, a smaller (but still large) ship pulled up in front of us. It was made up of a large fuselage with four pylons on the sides holding two engines of sorts, yellow and brown markings adorning it's hull. I assumed that was our ride.



The vessel turned around as it's aft door opened, several people and ponies standing inside as the officers at the edge of the opening waved their hands at us. "Hop in, we don't have much time!" One of the officers said before Daniels' escorts jumped off the platform and into the transport, myself lifting me and Daniels as we hovered into the ship. As we both touched the floor of the vessel, the doors shut behind us, the ship lurching forward as it flew away from the S.P.P. facility.

As I began to look around, I noticed several ponies I recognized to my right, Ditzy Doo, her daughter Silver Bell and her husband Lionheart. I also saw Pyrelight perched on an edge on the wall and three alicorns sitting in the room, their eyes closed as they rested. My search ended when I heard several familiar voices from my left calling my name. "Littlepip!" I turned to see my old friends, Calamity, Velvet Remedy, Xenith, her daughter Xephyr, and even Homage. All of them raced to me, giving me no time to prepare as they embraced me tightly.

"Guys, you're all okay!" I cried out joyfully as we hugged, but broke it several seconds later as Calamity spoke to me. 

"What's goin' on here, Pip? Did they tell ya or Velvet anythin'?" I nodded to him as I replied.

"From what my friend over there says," I pointed a hoof to Daniels, who was helping out one of the other officers nearby as I continued. "our home is under attack from a dangerous force, and they feel the need to get us all off planet to protect us."

"Well, that explains the rude awakening we got from our visitors earlier this morning." Xenith said with a hint of annoyance in her voice. 

"From what they told us, the others are all in other ships. They're taking us to their mothership for protection." Velvet said as she held Calamity's hoof. 

Our chat was cut off when the shuttle shook, the female voice I heard earlier speaking throughout the room. "Everyone hold on, the ride's about to get bumpy!" 

As the shaking ceased, I turned to face Daniels, who was just finishing up with his friend as I asked him, "Do you mind if we take a look outside?"

Daniels nodded as Velvet tapped my shoulder. "I know a room that'll provide a good view, follow me!" As my friends and I followed the charcoal unicorn down a small hall, we turned to our left to enter a small, but cozy room. Along with two double beds, there was a window at the side. We all trotted over to it to see the clouds in the sky pass by our ship, several more transports coming into view far away from us. 

As we watched the sight outside, we heard a beep from my Pipleg. I lifted it to see Celestia as she faced me. "I'm getting a signal from an ally in orbit, do you want me to put it on?" We nodded as she did so, another tab appearing with a wavelength within it.

A moment later, we heard a male voice speak out of it. "Sir, I'm detecting another anomaly opening near the planet, something big's coming out!" We all looked to try and find the strange ship, which came into view after a few seconds of looking around. The ship was indeed massive, it was a large, blue starship with a diamond shape to it. There were also several fins boasting off of the top of it, and if my eyes were seeing things right, I thought I saw waves of energy coming off of it's hull.



As the ship exited the large blue vortex above it, another male voice spoke up, fear clearly noticeable in it. "Damn, it's the Drej, Elisa, contact our transports and tell them to break off and get to a safe distance immediately!"

"Aye Sir!" A female voice said before a beep sounded through the transmission, the female speaking again as the Lompoc turned to the right. "Sir, I'm reading a high energy buildup within the mothership, they're preparing to fire at the planet!"

My friends and I all gasped in fear as we looked back to the Drej starship, a long beam striking the surface of the planet as several more ships passed us. A few seconds later, the beam vanished before firing again, this time a shockwave shot out around the planet as it struck the surface. As the shuttle turned some more, we looked to the planet. The blast from the alien vessel had left a fiery wound on our world, most likely killing anyone and anything down there. But the thing that caught my eye was the rotation, I noticed the planet slowly spin faster, several flashes appearing in the oceans as we flew away.

"What are they doing to our home?!" Velvet cried out fearfully as the shuttle stopped turning, the world of Equus becoming fully visible as our transport flew away. We all watched in horror as the planet's rotation continued accelerating, the blue water turning red as several cracks appeared on the surface. The planet spun faster and faster, more cracks appearing on each of the continents as we heard a female voice speak throughout the room.

"All hands, brace yourselves! The rides going to be a bit rocky from here on out!" As we continued watching the sight out the window, the world of Equus spun for a little bit longer before it exploded, a brilliant light blinding us as we all held our hooves to the ground. As the light faded, the remains of Equus flew apart and shot out at us, some pieces hitting the other evac ships as the Lompoc made a hard turn to the left, the moon becoming visible as the debris flew outwards. As our shuttle cleared away from the area at high speed, we all looked out once more to see the moon being hit by several large pieces of debris, the large, rocky ball splitting apart as it was struck by the remnants of it's owner world.

(||||||)

I held Homage as I cried into her shoulders, Calamity and Velvet doing the same as we mourned the loss of our home. After the destruction of Equus, we all gathered at a rendezvous point near the Chestnut and her allied ships, all of our shuttles landing and dropping us off onboard the ship. After getting checked out, we asked to find a room to stay in for a little bit. But in reality, it was so we could cry our hearts out after losing the one place that ponykind and many other species had been nurtured by for centuries.

By now we had been letting out our emotions for hours, Xenith and Xephyr not joining our sorrow and rather heading to another area of the room to relax. As I bawled into my lover's shoulders some more, the grey unicorn held me tight, Velvet wailing aloud as she held her husband. "Monsters! How could they do this?!" 

We all looked to see the two zebras enter the room, their expressions being apologetic as Xenith spoke up. "I apologize for the interruption, but may I say something regarding this whole incident?"

I wiped my eyes with a hoof, my friends doing the same as I answered the zebra politely. "Y-yes, what is it?"

"I understand the pain of losing our motherly cradle, but we should still be on our guard. If they intended to destroy our planet, who's to say they won't send more in to finish us off?"

We all looked to each other as we thought on Xenith's words, before turning to the door as Daniels walked in. "It would seem you are correct on that, Xenith."

"What's the problem, Daniels?" I asked as we looked attentively to him. 

"I'm happy to report that we've gotten over half of the population off the planet before it was destroyed, I've got some of the results on this PADD here, and I thought you might want to see it." Daniels then held up a small tablet in his hand, I grabbed it in my magic and looked at it as I examined the list. There were over sixty names on it, each description ending with the phrase, "View File".

Survivor Count - Page 5: 

Spike - Dragon - Male
Crystal Éclair - Zebra/Android - Female
Tooty Fruity - Pegasus - Male 
Life Bloom - Unicorn - Male
Windsheer - Pegasus - Male 
Murky - Pegasus - Male
Skydive - Pegasus - Female
Jet - Pegasus - Female
Gutshot - Pegasus - Male
Majina - Zebra - Female
Barkin' Saw - Diamond Dog - Male
Fluttershy - Pegasus - Female

As I read the names, I smiled, happy at the fact that at least most of our friends had survived with us. "We have them all on the other ships escorting the Chestnut, for the moment, we're setting a course for New Khitomer to drop them all off while we come up with a battle plan." He walked over to the bed before sitting on it, our eyes still focused on him as he continued. "Unfortunately, we've found out that J'ula and her forces are planning an attack there, so we feel it would be best if we wait here for a little while longer while the planet's defense fleet holds them off." 

I nodded in understanding as I replied. "Daniels, why did they try to kill us?" 

"I was getting to that, you see, J'ula has formed an alliance with several other factions in other universes, and intends to wipe out any possible candidates that could stop her from creating a foothold in various realities. When she found out that we were heading to your world to recruit you, she sent the Drej mothership in to prevent us from succeeding. In their universe, they were responsible for destroying Earth in the year 3028, scattering Humanity across the galaxy. From the intel we got, J'ula seems to have convinced them that you and your people were a threat to them, and had to be wiped out." 

"Well, we are still here. I would say the only thing they've succeeded in doing was stripping us of our home." Xenith asked as he nodded in agreement, all of us looking to our new friend as he spoke again. 

"Indeed, and about that. My buddies at HQ are trying to acquire a device that can bring back your home, something from the same universe that the Drej originate from."

I gave a hopeful smile as he explained to us, my friends smiling along with me as Daniels continued. "They call it the Titan, it can create a new planet by gathering raw materials in a select area of space. If we can get it into your universe along with the required materials, we can restore most of what was lost at Equus."

Velvet seemed to grow ecstatic over the news, a grin building on her face as she held Calamity again. "Well, t-that makes the day much less heart-wrenching!"

"Indeed it does." I replied as I looked to Daniels, all of my friends turning to me as I spoke to the human. "And by the way, you said something about recruitment, right? Well, how about my friends and I lend a hoof? I think after what's happened recently, J'ula needs to know what happens when you screw around with the people of the Wasteland."

"Yer darn tootin' Pip!" Calamity said with a grin, him and his wife separating as they stood together. "After all that, Ah'm already lookin' forward t' smackin' some o' J'ula's buddies upside the head fer all we lost!"

"I'd like to help too." Velvet said as Xenith and Xephyr trotted over to her. "We'll need to provide aid to all that are in J'ula's crosshairs, and they will most certainly need medical assistance as well."

We all stood stunned for a moment as a chorus of voices joined our little conversation. "We believe you'll need our assistance as well." The voices revealed themselves as the three alicorns that helped Velvet into the S.P.P. appeared in front of us. 

My friends all relaxed at their appearance, myself turning back to Daniels before speaking once more. "So, yeah, I think we've got quite the team, and we don't feel like taking no for an answer."

Daniels gave a thankful smile back before he replied. "Thank you, with your help, we can prevent another tragedy like this from happe-" He was cut off as the ship's alarms blared throughout the room, all of us looking out the window to see a green field of energy appear. As it shifted, the field vanished to show another one of those enemy ships we saw at the S.P.P. It hovered near our ship as my Pipleg beeped, Celestia looking at me worriedly as she spoke to me.

"Littlepip, I'm picking up a transmission coming from the warship, they're trying to talk to us." I raised an eyebrow at the princess' words, my friends sharing my confusion before I replied.

"Let's hear it." As Celestia did her work, another tab opened to show another wavelength, a familiar deep voice speaking through as the klaxons around the room ceased.

"Alliance vessels, do not fire on us! This is Steelhooves, I've hijacked this ship with the assistance of several prisoners and we're requesting permission to beam aboard, do you read us?" We all gasped as Steelhooves spoke up, myself sputtering in confusion as I replied to my old friend.

"S-Steelhooves?! You're on t-that ship?!"

"Littlepip? Is that you I'm hearing over there?" The Applejack's Ranger shared my confusion as Velvet spoke up.

"How did you get over there?! We thought we lost you at Maripony!" We all stood with shock as Steelhooves replied.

"Yeah, about that. May we come aboard? There's a lot we need to talk about."

{VARIANCE END}

We all sat back on our haunches as the screen vanished, shock and surprise holding us in place as Velvet broke the silence.

"That one was worse than the last!" The charcoal unicorn said in bewilderment as she looked to Calamity, the pegasus sharing her shock as she spoke.

"Well, at least it wasn't all doom an' gloom, right?" I nodded in agreement as I tapped the console, the screen showing text that described the current status of the universe we just took a glimpse at.

"You're right on that one, Calamity. From what this log shows, we managed to cripple J'ula's forces and destroy the Drej mothership, and, before taking out the Star Forge, we used it to create the Titan and bring it into our universe." As I sat back on my flank, I let out a chuckle. "Doesn't look like they had to negotiate for that ship now, does it?"

My friends laughed along with me, Steelhooves raising a hoof as he asked us. "Indeed, but about that last part, something just doesn't fit right."

I nodded to the armored stallion as I replied to him. "Yeah, how did your duplicate in that universe take that ship if you had that device on your head?"

"Who's t' say someone didn't help him remove it?" Calamity asked as we all became stuck in thought, myself raising a hoof as my friends suggestion gave me another idea. We all scooted over to the console as I asked my next question.

"What if Red Eye helped us?"
> (V3) A New Ally
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

{VARIANCE START}

"He ignites it, and KILLS his true enemy!"

Assistance.

When dealing with difficult tasks, you will need assistance. It may come in the form of a device or a tool to help you fix something, or in some cases, it can be an army of people willing to make sure you succeed.

I needed Gawd's help in stopping Mister Topaz from killing her forces and taking control of her home, I needed to have Xenith's help if we were going to get out of Fillydelphia alive, I needed to have Steelhooves' help if we were going to stop the Steel Rangers from destroying my home of Stable 2, and I would need the help of all of my friends if we were going to stop the Enclave.

But for what my friends and I were about to head into, the ones whom we expected to rescue us would not be anyone who I would consider a friend...

---------->

I turned to my right as I entered another hallway within the Star Forge, my friends following behind me as we kept our guard up. After our home of Equus was hit by a protomatter torpedo courtesy of J'ula, we had started getting coded messages from a disguised source. The contact said that they wished to assist us in stopping J'ula from using the Star Forge to create her infinite armada, and had sent us an immense amount of data to use in getting inside. Thanks to some of Daniel's agents, we had acquired a captured ship to use to sneak aboard the Star Forge, and thankfully, we'd encountered no resistance whatsoever.

As we neared the door to the next room, I lifted my Pipbuck to check my map. I could see several red dots within the next room, we'd have to fight our way through them before continuing on. I looked to my friends, all of them facing me as I spoke. "Alright, we're gonna have company in the next room, so get yourselves all set up." 

Our green alicorn raised a hoof as she spoke to me. "Littlepip, I'm sensing a familiar presence within that room. I'm assuming that we will be fighting some of our sisters when we enter." I raised an eyebrow at her words, my friends growing worried expressions as I replied.

"Well, when we take the offensive, let's try and incapacitate them." My friends and the trio of alicorns all nodded as the latter surrounded us, all of them deploying shields as I pulled out Little Macintosh.

After looking back to my friends, they all gave a single nod as we trotted to the door in front of us. As it opened, we entered the room to be greeted by several disruptor shots, all of them hitting the shields of the alicorn sisters as we waited for the right moment. As the shooting ceased, I looked down to the floor for a moment, unlike the majority of it, the section we were standing on had several tiny holes on it, the edges boasting yellow and black lines.

We'd been led into a trap.

Before we could react, we all let out cries of pain as we were electrocuted by the floor panel, all of us falling to the floor as the zapping ceased seconds later.

As I forced my head up, I finally got a good look around the room, it was a bluish-grey color, at the sides were six glass cases that held at least three metal sticks inside. In the room with us were four alicorns, two soldiers in white armor, around ten or so Klingons.... and a face I had not wanted to see after the incident at Taloraan.

"Well done, my friends! T'gath, your efforts on that booby trap deserve a fine reward after today is over." Red Eye said with a smirk as he trotted over to me, the Klingon in question smacking his fist to his chest and bowing while we all scowled at the red pony.

"You clever son of a bitch! You were the one sending those transmissions?!"

The cyberpony chuckled slightly as another voice spoke up. "And he has performed exceptionally well in our fleet." We all looked past Red Eye to see the bitch herself, J'ula, smiling victoriously as she walked over to join the stallion. "Thanks to his efforts, I can finally end this futile effort of yours and create my fleet. With it, no one will be able to stop us!"

"You underestimate the Alliance, J'ula. Our allies have fought worse foes than you. When they hear of this, they'll send every agent they have to take you out!" Our blue alicorn said as she glared at the Klingon, all of us looking away from J'ula as we heard a laugh behind her.

"How funny, my dear sister. I hate that it had to end like this, you could've made quite an ally in our ranks." I gasped as I saw the dark green alicorn trot over to us. She had black eyes with green irises and a band that held two sticks like the ones in the cases on one side and a single saddlebag on the other. Unlike when we first met at Canterlot, she didn't have bones for armor.

"N-Nightseer?" I said with wide eyes as the dark mare pulled out several rings from her now open saddlebag, placing them all onto the three alicorns' horns along with mine and Velvets before closing the bag again.

My friends all looked to me in surprise as my old enemy replied with a grin. "Oh, I'm pleased you remember my name, little one." Nightseer then turned away from us as she returned to her original spot, Red Eye lifting my head up with a hoof as he spoke to me.

"I had hoped it wouldn't turn out this way, but I suppose this is how it must play out." I could see a saddened frown play across his face before he removed his hoof, the red stallion trotting over to a small section of the room where the two armored soldiers stood between.

"Bring them to the center, it is time that we make an example of them!" J'ula said before the two Klingons standing in between the door pulled all of us up, Steelhooves and Xenith being picked up in the magic fields of the two alicorns at the sides of the room as we were pulled to the room's center.

As we were all dropped onto the floor, the Klingons returned to their spots as the two armored soldiers lifted their weapons up into the air. They were a strange staff that had four black claws on them, the two pairs generating beams of electricity as they were activated.



Red Eye also pulled out his own weapon of a similar design and put it into his mouth as the weapons activated, but his own staff had metal blades. As he and the two soldiers in black and white armor lifted their weapons, I looked to my friends, all of them giving looks of fear and worry as I spoke to them. "I'm sorry."

"'eH!" J'ula said in her native tongue as my friends nodded to me in understanding, myself then turning to face the green alicorn to our right. She looked to Nightseer, nodding at her as she did the same before looking to her sister at our left. As I watched the dark mare, I saw her horn glow as she pulled out one of her two metal sticks.

"muH!" J'ula said once more as we all closed our eyes, waiting for the energy blades to strike us.

But they didn't come down.

I heard a surge of energy before looking up to see J'ula standing in place, a single energy blade piercing her chest as she slowly looked down at her wound. As I looked to our executioners, the two armored ones' heads twisted around as they grunted, a magic field releasing their weapons and necks as their bodies fell to the ground. Red Eye grabbed his staff in his hooves as J'ula's body fell to the ground, Nightseer and her two sisters trotting closer to us as one of the other Klingon guards cried out. "magh! HoH chaH Hoch!"

Nightseer pulled out her other energy sword as she spoke to her two sisters. "Protect our captives!!" As she pulled out the first blade from J'ula's back, the other Klingons pulled out their own energy bladed weapons, Red Eye raising his to his mouth again as he charged around us and at the flanking Klingons.

I watched as Nightseer spun her two blades around like fans at the four incoming Klingons at her sides, both pairs raising their weapons to deflect the attack. Their efforts were futile as they lost grip of their weapons and were cut into several pieces by the energy swords.

As she pulled her blades to her, the dark mare was struck by a disruptor blast from one of the Klingons behind us. Nightseer merely gave a laugh as she wiped some of the blood from her wound with her magic, forming it into three blood daggers as she spoke. "I can do this all day, Klingon!" The dark mare then shot her daggers at the attacker, who could only take out two of them before the third struck him square in the head.

As I got up and turned my head, I saw Red Eye stab one of the Klingons in the chest, bucking another as I heard another surge of energy. My friends all got up as we saw one of the Klingons pull out two metal swords from his back. 

"I'll handle T'gath!" Red Eye said to us as he turned and charged at the Klingon, the two clashing their weapons as we turned to see the rest of the battle.

The two other alicorns were cutting their shoulders open as four more Klingons came at them. The warriors would be too late as the two green sisters created at least eight of their own blood daggers before flinging them at their attackers, who only stopped three of them as the rest finished them all off.

We all then turned back to Red Eye and T'gath, the former spinning around as he struck the Klingon's blade twice in a double swing. T'gath took the advantage and took a swing, slicing the cyberpony's staff in half before grabbing him in an arm choke. He then pulled out a small knife as he tried to slit Red Eye's throat, but was stopped when another blood dagger flew at T'gath's head, impaling him before his body fell to the ground seconds later.

As Nightseer pulled the magic inhibitors from our horns and back into her saddlebags, Velvet spoke up in shock. "Would you mind explaining what this is about?!"

Red Eye gave a proud smirk as he answered the charcoal unicorn. "I wouldn't have sent that data to you if I didn't want to help you."

I raised an eyebrow in surprise as I spoke to my old nemesis, Nightseer trotting up beside him. "Wait, you want to assist us in destroying this place?!"

"You are correct, my old friend." The two alicorns trotted over to us as the red stallion continued. "J'ula was the one pulling the strings when it came to the assault on our home. While I tried to convince her to do otherwise, she believed your friends would pose a great danger to her efforts." The stallion frowned as he continued. "So, after Equus fell, I conspired with Nightseer and her sisters to assassinate J'ula, as well as send the data for the Star Forge to you all." He smiled a bit as he spoke once more. "I know the way around this area, and if you will accept it, I can lead you to the control room."

As I raised my hoof to answer, Nightseer put a hoof up to my muzzle to shush me. "But like your griffon friends back home, we work on a contract."

I gasped slightly at the dark mare's words. So, Red Eye would help us, but he wanted something else in return? I just wanted to cuff him right then and there, but if it meant that my friends and the people of the Wasteland would be safe...

"Okay, what do you want from us, Red Eye?" I said as my friends and I faced the red pony, who gave a smile as he answered.

"We desire exile." We all gasped in surprise at his words, Nightseer smiling at us as Red Eye continued. "After what has happened to our home, we want to start our lives over on a new world. We'll permit you to place security forces and orbital defenses if that makes you all sleep well at night, but we'll be out of your manes after that." He walked up in front of me, looking at me eye to eye as he finished. "No matter what, we're allies from here on out. That is, if you agree." Before I could reply, he looked to Velvet as he spoke to her. "And Miss Remedy, if you wouldn't mind, we'd like to acquire one of those gender-swapping brews for her." He pointed to one of the two green alicorns standing next to us.

Velvet raised a hoof as she asked, "Perhaps, but what about you? How will you start a family without another mare at your side?"

Red Eye laughed as he held Nightseer's hoof. "Well, as you can see, I've already found a mate."

My eyes went wide as I looked at the two villainous ponies standing in front of us. I never thought Red Eye would have a thing for a mare with such cruelty as Nightseer, but after thinking it through, they must've formed some kind of bond during their time here.

"An' if we don't?" Calamity asked with a raised eyebrow, Nightseer chuckling sinisterly as she answered my friend. 

"Well, lucky for you, we won't finish what J'ula had started, but rather hold you as prisoners while we all escape. When we leave, we will demand a ransom for your release. After all, you are all too important for the Alliance to lose." I sighed in relief at the dark mare's words, at least they weren't going to kill us for denying them a second chance.

I took a deep breath as I stood firm, my friends looking to me as I spoke to Red Eye. "Well, despite what you've done to the ponies of the Wasteland so many years ago, not to mention us... I think we can all agree that for helping us out back there," I held my hoof out to Red Eye, the stallion gripping it with his own as I finished. "we agree to your terms."

Red Eye smiled at my words, Nightseer and her sisters doing the same as the cyberpony spoke. "Thank you, Littlepip. I knew a mare such as yourself would be willing to understand the truth to my words." As we released our hooves from each other, Red Eye turned and trotted over to the door at the other side of the room, Nightseer and her alicorns following suite as he spoke once more. Now, if you will follow us, please."

We all nodded as we joined the four rogue villains, the door opening as we all continued on towards the center of the Star Forge.

{VARIANCE END}

As the holographic screen vanished, we all looked at each other in surprise, Steelhooves being the one to speak first. "Well, that was a bit unexpected."

Calamity nodded as he replied to the comment. "Ayep, Ah especially didn't expect Red Eye there to be wantin' a gal like Nightseer as a lover."

"A match made in hell, it seems." Velvet Remedy said as she looked to her husband, myself looking between my friends before speaking.

"Yeah... but, these seem to have something bad happen in them, something that makes them worse than our history, like, our home being destroyed or something."

My friends all nodded in agreement before Xenith spoke up. "Perhaps there might be a timeline where we have a bright and peaceful future? One similar to Princess Twilight and her friends?"

"Not counting ourselves, right?" I asked my zebra friend as she nodded, my friends all turning to face the console once more as I spoke into it again.

"What if the great war between Equestria and the Zebras never happened?"

> (V4) To Boldly Trot/Departure
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

{VARIANCE START}

"Captain's Log, Equus Date: 2/29/2274: We've departed from Alpha Coltari alongside the E.S.V. Somber and are setting course for the Argonus System, one of the many colonies at the edge of Hydra territory. My crew have been tasked with dropping off supplies to the area, but we've been told to keep an eye out for any intruders, especially those belonging to the Sphinx Imperium. With the war going on, we can't afford to let our goods go to waste."

I took a sip of my Cretacian juice as I stared out the window of my private quarters, our sister ship, the E.S.V. Somber, flying beside my vessel, the E.S.V. Macintosh as we flew at warp to our destination. Despite our alliance with other galactic powers, the war against the Sphinx Imperium was not going well for the United Equus Star League. We had lost over 20 ships at the battle of Geesar IV, and it resulted in the deaths of over 3 million of the world's inhabitants. The Sphinx were believed to be from our world of Equus, but from what we've discovered, the one who encountered the mare Somnambula over a millennia ago was an agent seeking to make our people a servitor race. Now that they had begun expanding their space in a bloody conquest for the galaxy, they want to take control of our home and wipe the Coalition off the map. Of course, my crew and I weren't going to let that happen without a fight.

As I turned away from the window, a chime sounded near the door before I spoke up. "Come in."

The doors swooshed open to reveal my friend and the ship's chief medical officer, Lieutenant Commander Velvet Remedy. She and I had went to the Equestrian Star Academy together, and while I had pursued an engineering class for my new job, Velvet wanted to study for the duty of helping other creatures who were in need of medical assistance. Despite being older than me, though, I had outranked her thanks to my efforts at the planet of Gorgonus VI, where I prevented a rebellion amongst the population with some surprising diplomatic skill.

The charcoal mare smiled as she spoke to me. "We're nearing the Argonus System, Calamity thought I should tell you."

"Thanks, Velvet." I replied as we began trotting to the door, Velvet stopping me as she spoke to me again.

"But, I thought I should talk to you about something."

I raised an eyebrow at her before replying. "What's wrong?"

"It's just.... About the war, the Sphinx are one of the most powerful entities in the galaxy. Even with our allies back home, they're still taking swaths of space from us every day." She frowned sadly as she continued. "I don't know if the Star League can win by itself, we may have to ask our neighbors to help us out."

I put a hoof on my friend's shoulder, who gave a thankful smile as I brought her hope back. "Trust me, we may lose a lot of our people in this, but I know for sure we'll pull through."

Velvet nodded in agreement as we walked out the door to enter the bridge. The room was large and shiny, the walls adorning several consoles and control panels with chairs for the officers who worked on them. There was also a large window at the front of the room, which also served as a holoscreen when we wanted to communicate with other ships and planets. In the center of the room was my chair, a set of railings built around it to allow officers to brace themselves for rough rides. In front of my seat were two more consoles, the one on the left was Calamity's station, he was our helmsman onboard the Macintosh. The right one was the comms station, and was also where my girlfriend Homage sat as she worked at her station.

As I walked around the railings surrounding my chair, Calamity turned in his seat as he spoke up. "Cap'n on the bridge!"

"As you were." I replied as he stood up, Velvet heading to another door to return to sickbay.

"We're gettin' close t' our target, and the Somber's reportin' no issues over the course o' the trip." I smiled as I looked to Homage before speaking.

"Good. Homage, hail them, I want to talk to Captain Rummy about something." The pegasus and unicorn both nodded as they sat back down in his seat, myself lowering into my own as I looked out the window. The stars still zapped past us, the ripple that was the front of the warp bubble still shifting and expanding as we continued on course. A few seconds later, a holoscreen appeared to show Captain Gin Rummy in her seat, her daughter and First Officer Blackjack standing next to her as she spoke.

"Well, it's about time to drop off our loads, isn't it?" I nodded as I replied to the unicorn with purple and red hair.

"Yep, and hopefully, we won't encounter any enemy ships while we drop this off." I raised a hoof as I continued, Gin raising an eyebrow at me. "Also, when we arrive, might I suggest going to Yellow Alert? We might have a better chance of surviving if we keep our guard raised."

Captain Rummy nodded as she replied. "Good idea, and also, keep your shields up while we send down our load, we can't afford to get both of our ships crippled in one strike."

I nodded as I turned around to face Lieutenant Murky, the pegasus looking to me as I spoke. "Murky, set us to Yellow Alert, prepare to lower shields on my order."

"Aye Captain." Murky replied as he turned back to his station, myself turning to face my fellow captain as Calamity spoke up.

"Droppin' out o' warp in three, two, one." As he said that, the ship vibrated slightly as it dropped out of warp, the window behind the holoscreen showing a large planet zooming towards us before stopping, allowing a good view of the large, beautiful world of Argonus as the Somber dropped out of warp with us.

"Well, it seems we're here. Remember, wait for us to drop off the cargo, then lower your shields while we return the favor." I nodded at her words as the screen shut off, providing a full view of the Argonus System, there were about three moons circling the planet at varying distances, the closest one being visible and nearby the planet ahead of us.

I looked to Calamity as he worked at his console, Velvet standing beside me as the stallion spoke. "The Somber's lowerin' her shields, sensors show all cle-" He stopped as his console beeped. Speak of the minotaur, we were heading into trouble and they chose to hit us at the right moment. As we looked to the screen, we saw a large Sphinx pyramid dreadnought appear from a pink field of energy that passed over it's hull. As the ship became fully visible, Calamity turned to us before speaking. "Cap'n, the Sphinx warship's targetin' the Somber!" 

"Red Alert, ready the crystal turrets and warheads!" I said as the klaxon blared loudly, some of the room's lights glowing a threatening red as I sat sternly in my chair. As I faced the window, I saw one of the energy spheres on the Sphinx warship's hull glow for a moment before firing a dark blue lightning-like beam of energy at the Somber, the shot hitting one of the pylons that held the bridge.

The pylon exploded in an orange blaze as Calamity cried out in fear. "Their impulse engine's are offline!"

"Fire at the dreadnought, let's see if we can get their shields down!" The pegasus nodded as he did his work, myself looking to Homage as I spoke to her. "Homage, get Captain Rummy on the comms!"

"You got it!" The grey unicorn replied before she began tapping her console, one of the armrests of my chair beeping as I spoke to whoever could hear me on the Somber.

"Macintosh to Somber, can you hear us?!"

I grew a little worried as I heard the voice of Blackjack, who sounded like she was in a panic as she spoke. "Blackjack here, Captain Rummy's been knocked out, I'm taking the conn and we're trying to get our shields up over here! Can you cover us, Macintosh?!"

"You'll have it, just do what you can while we hold off the Sphinx vessel!" The ship shook from one of the enemy dreadnought's beams hitting the hull as my friend replied.

"Understood, Somber out!" As the signal cut out, I looked back to the window, three pink beams of energy firing out from our front turrets and striking the shields of the Sphinx warship as Murky spoke up behind me.

"Their shields are weakened, but still holding!" I nodded to him as I replied.

"Good, keep ours held together. Calamity, ring us around the Somber and continue firing weapons at the dreadnought, we can't let them through!" The two pegasi nodded before they turned back to their stations, the Sphinx vessel in front of us firing two more beams at our ship as they struck our shields.

I held onto my chair as the Macintosh turned to the right, passing around our damaged sister ship for a long moment before the ship shook once more, a section of the ceiling exploding with sparks as we were hit again.

I growled angrily at Calamity's next words. "They've punctured our aft shields!"

"Fire our aft beams, keep hitting them until they break!" I replied to my friend before turning to Murky again and saying, "Divert power from starboard shields to aft!" The dark green stallion nodded as he tapped his console several times before I turned back to the window.

Calamity grinned excitedly as his console beeped, the room shaking again as he turned to me. "Cap'n, Ah'm pickin' up three starships comin' at us from the planet's surface! It's the Hydras!"

I smirked back at him as I looked to the screen, three small blue escorts speeding towards the Sphinx dreadnought before firing a flurry of red energy bolts at them.

Murky joined our excitement as he turned to us before speaking. "The Sphinx's shields down to 40%, if we can hit them a few more times, we may be able to take them down!"

I nodded as I faced the window again, the Hydra ships passing by us as the Macintosh turned to face the Sphinx dreadnought. The enemy vessel fired three more beams at us before our front shield facing flickered, making us vulnerable.

"Fore shields failing!" Murky said fearfully as I watched the battle, the three Hydra starships firing bright yellow beams at the Sphinx warship, the shields flickering for a moment before the beams ceased, the enemy vessel's shields still active.

"They're about to buckle!" Murky said as I spoke to Calamity.

"Fire a few more beams at 'em! The moment those shields fall, hit them with a flurry of torpedoes on their beam generators, empty the whole inventory if you have to!" Calamity nodded as he did his work, the three turrets at our front side hitting the enemy ship's shields with pink beams of magical energy. After a few seconds, the front shields of the dreadnought flickered out as the Sphinx vessel fired two more energy beams at the turrets, two of them exploding while the third was merely burned by the heat, but still standing. The Macintosh retaliated with a wave of twelve pink crystal torpedoes, all of them splitting into four groups. The first two pairs of three struck the front beam generators as their energy balls dissipated, the bars that held them breaking off of the pyramid's hull as they were hit. The last few shards of death struck the large hangar bay on the upper layer of the pyramid, it's force field flickering out as several fighters and pieces of debris shot out from inside it.

Calamity cheered victoriously as the large pyramid ship drifted away from us. "There goes their weapons!"

As he said that, he looked at his console as the Sphinx warship turned upward, a bright pink glow coming from the large crystal on the top of the ship before it spun. The dreadnought continued to spin faster and faster until it sped away from us, vanishing into the stars as a pink flash signified it's retreat.

I sat back in my chair as Calamity turned to face me. "They're retreatin', it seems."

"Well done, everyone. Bring us back to Yellow Alert, prepare to transport our supplies to the planet." Calamity nodded as he began his work, Homage's console beeping before she turned to me.

"The Somber's hailing us."

"Onscreen." I replied as my lover turned back to her console, the holoscreen appearing again to show Blackjack in her mother's seat.

"That was too close, Littlepip." I nodded as I spoke to the Somber's first officer.

"Yeah, they almost had us. We'll send repair teams to your ship before we drop off the supplies."

Blackjack held her hoof as she replied. "No, get that cargo to Argonus first, then take care of us."

"Alright, how's Gin?"

Blackjack smiled as she gave her answer. "She'll be alright, and miraculously, we only have a few injured over here."

"Thank Celestia." I replied before the three Hydra starships flew past us, all of them coming to a stop in front of the Somber as my friend on the screen spoke.

"Also, I owe you a good ol' glass of whiskey when we get home."

I laughed as I replied. "Don't worry, it's our pleasure."

Blackjack nodded with a smile as the screen vanished, myself tapping my chair's comms panel before speaking into it. "Bridge to Sickbay, Velvet, are your teams ready?"

"All set, Littlepip. Just give the word and Dr. Xenith will have her team over in no time." The charcoal medical pony replied as I spoke back.

"Good, we're gonna drop off the supplies first, then we'll help out the Somber, Blackjack says they don't have too many injured."

"...Alright, we'll be waiting." Velvet replied with a hint of disappointment in her voice. I could tell she was wanting to smack some sense into Blackjack for keeping her patients waiting while we helped out the colony below.

"Thanks, Littlepip out." I said as I cut the signal, looking out to the window as the Macintosh joined the three Hydra starships in front of us. After today, I had some hope for this war. If we could get the other powers to join us in the fighting, the Star League may have a chance of securing peace.

{VARIANCE END}

As the screen flickered away, we all sat on our haunches, Calamity making us jump as he spoke with excitement.

"That. Was. AWESOME!"

As I recovered from the shock, I looked to him as I grunted. "Yeah, that was quite a fight there."

"It's a shame Steelhooves and our three alicorns aren't there, though." Velvet said as she frowned, Calamity and I sharing our disappointment as the stallion in question spoke up.

"Well, the war didn't happen, so I would be dead by that point in time, especially since I'm not a ghoul." We all nodded in understanding as I tapped the console with a hoof, data regarding the universe's history appearing on a holographic screen.

"Speaking of history," I said as I read the text on the screen, my friends joining in with me as I continued. "It says that after about twenty years of spreading friendship and harmony across Equestria and it's neighbors, the planet came together under one banner: the United Equus Star League. After building the first long-distance starship, Captain Sweetie Belle and her crew made first contact with several alien species, including the Gorgon Syndicate, the Geese Trade Collective, and the Nocturne Star Empire, a race that has several similarities to Equus' bat ponies."

My friends all gasped as they listened, Xenith raising a hoof as she asked, "And what of us? What is our place in this timeline?"

I looked back to the holoscreen as I answered my zebra friend. "Well, as for us, Calamity, Velvet, Xenith and I are all serving aboard the starship Macintosh, which is one of the many ships helping out in the war against the Sphinx Imperium." I tapped the data again as the screen split into three, the faces of my friends appearing on them as I continued. "I was the inventor of the modern communicator of that era, Velvet was not only the daughter of the renowned Captain Sweetie Belle, but also made several achievements in her career as a medical officer, including creating a cure for a dangerous illness called Dumbthitis, which causes the infected individual's brain to rot at an accelerated rate."

Velvet put a hoof to her mouth as she read with me, her eyes moving to me as she asked, "And what of my husband and Xenith?"

"Well, according to this data, Calamity was once a member of the Wonderbolts during his time on Equus before being asked to join the Star League due to his skill in piloting many different ships. And Xenith was another medical officer who worked with Velvet Remedy at the Equus Star Academy. After graduating, the two joined the crew of the Macintosh and Xenith has helped in creating several vaccines and brews for the staff to use, including one that relieves magic implosion almost instantly."

"That is... impressive." Xenith said as her eyes went wide at the information, myself sitting back as Steelhooves looked to me.

"And what of the war? Did we win?"

I sat back up as I took one more look at the screen, tapping the console as it shifted back to the original data file. I smiled with satisfaction as I read it. "Yep, after a united effort against the Sphinx defense fleet in orbit of their homeworld, we returned the bones of the now deceased agent from Equus. After doing so and forging a treaty, the Sphinx called all of their ships back home as we returned to Equus for a celebration."

My friends smiled with me as they listened to me, all of us looking to Star Sparkle as she spoke. "Well, that some fun universe-hopping we did there."

I nodded as I replied to the elderly mare, who smiled at my words. "Indeed, and as much as I'd like to stay and look at some more realities, we should probably get going. The Alliance probably needs us for something." As I said that, my combadge chirped, Calamity and Steelhooves stifling chuckles as I finished. "Speak of the minotaur." 

As I tapped the small device on my chest, I heard Andromeda speak through it. "Lightbringer to Littlepip, we've gotten a hail from Daniels, he says he needs us to head into another reality to stop a group of Orion marauders from intervening in it's history. Also, he says that we'll be having some assistance on this mission. He claims that they'll be... connected to something you've been examining down at that sphere."

I raised an eyebrow as I looked to my friends, but smiled as I replied. "Got it, we'll be there shortly. Littlepip out." As I tapped the device again, I stood up, my friends doing the same as I spoke to Star Sparkle. "I guess this is good-bye, isn't it?"

The mother of Twilight Sparkle gave a pleasant smile as she replied to me. "Now don't fret, you all can stop by anytime you'd like, just be careful out there." She then looked to Steelhooves, the armored stallion looking back to her as she continued. "And Applesnack, dear, don't forget to say hello once in a while, you hear?"

"I will, and we'll have those marauders done in before the day's over." As Steelhooves finished, we heard a chime sound in the room, Star Sparkle raising an eyebrow as she spoke again.

"Oh, it seems I need to catch my break. Once again, stop by anytime you want, I'll either be here or in the lobby for you all." We nodded as she tapped one of the buttons on her wheelchair, which turned and moved past us as we stood out of the way. As Star Sparkle reached the door, we all gave one last wave before she exited the room, myself then tapping my combadge as we all stood together.

"Littlepip to Lightbringer, five to beam up." As I finished, we were all surrounded by blue transporter fields, which circled around us as the room vanished from sight. We had found quite some surprises here today, and there would only be more to discover as we ventured across the multiverse. I also wondered about how many more there could be to see, as well as the chance of coming across some of those realities during our adventures in the stars. Well, there's always possibilities. The little pony in my head said with glee as we transported back to the ship.