> SE-1: Awakening
>  by Metro A-5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> (Chapter 1) Prologue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"General your access code please," asked the Royal guard.
"Oh my apologies," stated the general as she punched in her code to the locked elevator doors. "Its funny to think how one of Equestria's most heavily guarded secrets are locked within the very same mountain that the royal palace rests upon. And the only way to access it is through these doors." Soon the doors opened up and the two stepped inside. The guard looked around nervously.

"Ma'm are you sure this is safe? It has been after all 15 years since this facility has been used by anypony the conditions here might not be.... secure."

The general turned. "Lieutenant. This base has been constructed by Equestria's military i'll be surprised if any work actually needs to be done," The General paused when the lights in the elevator flickered. "Well i'm sure the light bulbs need replacing."

Soon one of the lights popped and shattered glass in the cabin causing the General's escort to jump. "Ma'm how far exactly are we going?" asked the Lt. now slightly shaking.

The General turned back to the doors. "We're going down to the 25th floor."

"Um Ma'm that's the-"

"The embarkation floor. I know Lieutenant. But this time the gate needs to be fully checked."

The Lieutenant. became puzzled. "But we haven't ran a full diagnostic since the gate was first used, are you suggesting that we reopen the program?"

The General lowered her head. "No, we have the go from Princess Celestia. She just wanted to make sure nothing was broken before we start sending our teams through the gate." The elevator started to squeal and vibrate, then it soon stopped. General raised her head. "Well....End of the line, Lieutenant" She motioned her hoof allowing the guard. to pass first.

Most of the base was mostly tunnels and thin hallways. The General looked around. The opening split off into two directions one for the public access like a mess hall and sleeping quarters. The path on the right led to the armory, laboratories, and of course the gate room. She looked up and noticed something. "Lieutenant. is all power restored to the base?"

The Lt. turned around. "No Ma'm only low power settings are currently in effect. Only lights, doors and exit elevators are currently functioning." 

"Lieutenant. Radio up and have them restore full power."

The guard nodded his and moved his head to the radio pinned on his uniform. "Power department, the General requests that full power be restored to the base over. 

A voice soon came back over the radio. "We'll have 100% power activated soon, please stand by over."

The General approached the Lieutenant. "Shall we continue?" The guard shook his head and the two walked off down the corridor. Although the light was dim the guide lines on the floor still reflected the light above it. Green was to the gate room and red was connected to all the bathrooms. No one was ever sure who's idea it was but the builders decided to paint the lines anyway. Along the wall was a yellow and black stripped bar that ran along to every exit in the base, although the only easy exit was the elevator. Essentially every exit was a choke point designed to easily contain and quarantine the floor if something bad happen, and in the General's past with the program bad things usually did happen. 

"Brrrrrr!" commented the Lieutenant. "It's really getting colder Ma'm" 

The General didn't turn to look at the Lt. and continued to walk. "Were heading deeper into the mountain. Not that much heat naturally makes its way here. The heating was provided by the power systems; which are still running at minimal capacity." A buzzing soon approached  the two military personal and continued down the hall. All the lights above buzzed on all at once, hurting the Generals eyes a bit. 

The Lieutenant. Smiled. "Ah ha! The lights are all on!" 

The Lieutenant's radio buzzed. "Sir, power has been restored to all of the base. Please radio back if theirs anything else you need over."

"Will do," responded the guard. now feeling happier that all the lights were on. He was about to make a victory dance when the general spoke out. 

"We're here," noted the General as she punched in another code for a door which looked like a slab of steel. It was only labeled with white paint. In big lettering the only writing were the letters "G.R." The hallway continued forward but the General made a left turn to a staircase with the guard. following close behind. The top of the stairs revealed a conference room with a long table as the center piece. At the opposite end of the room; hung on the wall was an emblem with the letters "SGE" placed at the front in royal blue color. 

The General enter a doorway close to the staircase and into a room full of monitors which were draped by a simple white sheets. The room sat in front of the conference room. The General walked in and began pulling off the sheets of cloth with assistance from the Lieutenant. And with the sheets piled up in a corner the General turned and looked out the windows which were blocked with another slab of steel. She looked back at the corner where the sheets rested and noticed the in-room power switch. She called out to the Lieutenant. "See that lever over there?" The General motioned with her hoof. "Flip it on."

The Lieutenant. compiled and moved the switch. Lights from all over the room started to flash and glow. The monitors began to burn images on their screens; one of which that read "Frontal blast shield removal in progress." A motor activated somewhere above their heads and the metal began to raise itself away from their view. Revealing a large circle draped in a huge blanket. It sat in the back of a room with only a metal ramp to keep it company.

"Lieutenant, go back down stairs and follow the hallway until you reach this room." ordered the General.

The guard galloped out of the room till he was into the room. He gave a quick salute to the General. He walked up the ramp and grabbed the cloth with his teeth and yanked it down. The General stood in awe as she saw the gate for the first time in 15 years. She traced the outline of the circle with her eyes. The points that light up when another gate was establishing a connection remained dark and dormant. Memories flooded back of when she first used to command the original Stargate teams. All those close calls and triumphs of over coming great difficulties. She continued to reminiscent until an all to familiar sound came into play. The incoming portal alarm.

The General scrambled over the computers till she found the loudspeaker. "Lieutenant! Evac the room ASAP!" He didn't need telling twice, and quickly he dashed out of the room and back into the control center with the General.

"Ma'm what the hell is going on!?" Panic was written all over the Lt.'s face. He read the mission reports of all the missions but had never seen the gate been used. 

The gate started to spin and the points along the circle began to light up. The first two were already lit up. "General Ma'm what exactly happens when all the points light up?"

The third light flashed on,

"Lieutenant! Start sweeping off this front desk!" The two began sweeping all the tapes and files on to the floor.

The fourth light came on.

"Ma'm what the hell exactly am I looking for there's too many buttons and what not!"

The General looked up, the fifth light blinked on. The general began to sweat as she grew more and more panicked.

"Just sweep off the damn desk Lieutenant!" yelled the General as she continued to scan for the button to close the gate. The sixth light clicked on.

With a quick glance the General saw she had less than seconds to react. Then she spotted the door controls on the other side of the room. She ran towards it.

The last light at the top of the Stargate moved then lit up with the rest of the lights. 

"GENERAL!" screamed the Lieutenant. who eyes were now fixed on the gate.

"I'M WORKING ON IT!" the General yelled back. 

A flash of white light hit the windows followed by a blue gaze that lit up the gate room. "AH HA!!!" exclaimed the General as she slammed her hoof down on the scanner. The "iris activated" message managed to light up through the layers of dust. She fell to the ground exhausted from what could have been the end Equestria. The brightness in the gate room had dimmed a bit.

"General look!" exclaimed the Lieutenant.

She picked herself and looked out the window. The overlapping blades crossed over and sealed the gate shut. The General smiled "That could have been bad."

The Lieutenant. looked at her. "What do you mean-" The guard was interrupted by more sounds the General was all too familiar with .

THUMP!...........THUMP!..............THUMP!

A whizzing sound filled the air and the blue light that filled the gate room vanished.

"What was that noise?" asked the Lieutenant who by now was a bit calmer.

"It doesn't matter," sighed the General. "Whatever or Whoever it was, they're not coming through." She walked towards the doorway. "Lieutenant. stay here and yell for me if anymore surprises occur."

The guard saluted. "Ma'm might I ask where you will be?"

She walked out and called back. "My old office." In the conference was the entrance to her office. Her desk and chair remained here, but all her personal belongings were removed when she left so many years ago. Still on the desk was the telephone (which was what she was looking for) which still sat covered in dust as most things in the base were. She picked up the phone and dialed out. 

The tone came on the line, and someone picked up the phone. "Hello this Equestrian Royal Guard is there something I can help you with?"

The General cleared her throat. "Yes can you please connect me with Princess Celestia?"

The other end of the line asked. "May I ask who's calling?"

"Wonder-Bolt Head General Princess Luna, and also tell Princess Celestia that we have an emergency."

The other person became much more attentive. "Uh Yes Ma'm, right away Ma'm!"           

	                                 
> (Chapter 2) Something Lost or Something Gained?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	
Two weeks after the reboot of the Stargate and it's base of operations


"Princess Celestia will see you now Princess Luna," announced a guard by the royal hall doors.

Luna stood up and thanked the guard and entered the hall. Personally Luna had never spent much time in the Royal hall, so every time she visited the decorations and stained glass windows were added and changed. The only window she recognized was the one with the elements of harmony. She remember the dark times she spent on the moon. Every day was spent planning on how to overthrow Celestia's rule, but when the day was over all she did was look at the stars and tried to imagine what could lie beyond them. 

However through the Stargate, Luna was able to learn more about the galaxy and the other beings within it. Being in the position of Head General on the base she herself never used the gate all she ever learned was from the mission reports brought back by other teams. Every time Luna read one of the reports she felt like a child reading a fantasy story, a book about far away places, strange creatures, and hidden treasures that were hidden among the stars. Still would all those feelings return when the project is running again? Luna turned away and continued to the throne room.

Luna reached the doors, took a deep breath, and pushed it  the doors in with her hoof. The doors glided effortlessly towards the wall. Princess Celestia was standing on a balcony which overlooked some of the Equestrian towns. 

Celestia heard Luna's entrance and turned. "Ah you're here, please come and tell me what you wanted to discuss."

Luna approached the balcony and looked around. "Actually sister I was hoping to talk privately and with some confidence."

The Princess nodded her head and closed the balcony doors behind them. She again turned her attention to Luna. "What is so troubling that you wanted to speak in solitary?"

Luna narrowed her eyes. "Its about the Stargate."

Celestia's tone became much more serious. "What? Is their a problem with the gate or has another issue presented itself."

"Actually its something that I didn't mention in my assessment of the gate's condition. You see when we restored power to the command center the gate activated, but what I didn't report was that the iris was open."

"What do you mean!? I ordered the iris to be shut when the base was decommissioned," Princess Celestia started to sound nervous thinking what could happened in the last 15 years. 

"No intruders were reported in the base in the last 15 years, and power records so that no electricity was present at the gate in the years of its decommissioning," 

Celestia sighed with relief while Luna continued. "But what worries me is that as soon as I restored internal power to the control center and the gate, we received an incoming portal. I think someone was waiting for the Equestrian gate to reactivate and come here."

"Luna, do you supposed it was the changelings?"

Luna lowered her head. "I really have no idea. But if the changelings are preparing another attack they will be a lot smarter this time around."

"Well I suppose our need for the Stargate will be stronger than ever if the changelings manage to make it to Equestria," noted Celestia. 

"Sister, we will not be able to find any aide using the Stargate quickly enough to protect ourselves from the changelings if they arrive here either by space or by overtaking our Stargate. If anything we need to know what is going on before making an public announcements."  

"Luna are you suggesting something? Like something along the lines of traveling to their world first and investigating if they still pose a major threat to Equestria?"

"Well the trouble with that is that our recon team has not been formed and nopony from the original Project signed up for the team." Luna looked up to the sky. " I can't blame them, the reconnaissance group often ran into the most trouble."

"Luna, I believe you have the right to look through the Wonder-Bolt files, after all you are the Head General, why not make a new team?" Inquired Celestia.

"It's hard to pick new members that meet the requirements of the Stargate program."

The Princess turned around and open the doors to the balcony and stepped back inside. "Luna I trust that you will make the right decision. I don't want two weeks of careful restoration to go to waste so please have a new team ready as soon as possible."

The two bowed to each other and Luna left the palace and headed off for the Wonder-Bolts Academy.


Later at the Wonder-Bolts Academy.


Luna arrived at the base and was immediately greeted by two officers. "Princess Luna Ma'm we have an insubordination issue we want you to handle."

"Excuse me but I have just arrived from a meeting with Princess Celestia, Please allow me some time alone in my office."

The officers looked at each other, then one spoke out. "We're sorry Ma'm but we've already placed her in your office. We'll remove her right away.

Princess Luna stuck out her hoof. "No sirs that will not be necessary," she sighed and headed down towards her office. 

Luna's office was unfortunately placed near the main training grounds of the new recruits. Often when she was signing papers or meeting with other officers, recruits would find themselves hitting the side of her office on the account of the Dizzatron. As a result her office was used as parts for jokes around the Wonder-Bolt academy. However she was more curious as to whom was waiting in her office. Luna had never had to deal with an insubordination charge, she did however used to scare new recruits that a big enough mess would land them in her office, but when they started hitting her office wall instead of the ground she decided to stop.

She reached her office door and stopped. "Okay Luna," she thought to herself. "This isn't a big deal just go in and carry yourself with professionalism. After all it has been awhile since you've had to handle something yourself. She straighten her posture and open the door. The Wonder-Bolt sitting in her office quickly stood up and saluted so fast that it surprised Luna. She did however get a glance at her rank, the badge read 2nd Lieutenant. "At ease Lieutenant, please sit back down." The Wonder-Bolt obeyed and sat back in the chair. Luna walked over to her desk. There was a file on top of all her paperwork. The file was labeled in red lettering. It read "Lightning Dust". Luna looked at the young flyer who appeared to be very annoyed. "Is this your file?" Luna asked. The Wonder-Bolt nodded her head.

Luna sat down and open the file and began reading some of the information out loud. "2nd Lieutenant Lighting Dust, born in the pegasus city of Cloudsdale. Attended Ponyville-high with a major in flight. And not too long ago you've become a leader of your own flight team. And you've shown the Wonder-Bolt academy high promise and potential, but you seem to have displayed problem with distinguishing the line of overachieving and being hardheaded." Luna closed the file and tossed it to the side and looked at Lighting Dust. "So.....?

Lighting blinked. "What Ma'm?"

"What's your side of the story? You do have one right?"

The Lieutenant locked her eyes with a window off to the side. "What does it matter? You have my file right there." She pointed to the folder with her hoof. 

Luna looked out the window and noticed Spitfire prepping the new recruits for the Dizzatron and got a headache, but she turned back to Lightning Dust. "Yes I have your file, but I don't exactly care whats in here. I want to hear what you have to say about this. Besides if you stay at the academy this incident will haunt and follow you. So please just tell me what happened and maybe this can be handled with minimal damage to your record," suggested Luna. "After all you are one of the top flyers in your class and I don't think that you want to hurt that reputation."

Lighting cleared her throat and recalled the afternoon events. "Ma'm everything happened right after my squad and myself left the mess hall. We were late meeting our commanding officer so we all had to do wing-ups. Everypony was almost finished when I heard yelling off to my side. An instructor was screaming at a recruit who was clearly struggling with the exercises. I flew over and...." Lighting paused. "I interrupted him. He ordered me to leave, but I accused him of pushing the recruit too hard. And from there things escalated and I ended up here." Lighting turned back and faced the General. "And that's my side of the story."

"Well Lighting-Dust...." Luna picked the file back off her desk and read it again, Lightning noticed the General's eyes scanning the report. Luna sighed. "Unfortunately your story matches the one in this folder." She crossed her hooves and placed them on top of the desk. "Well Lieutenant you have two options. Lighting Dust leaned forward in her chair. "Option one: Your rank will be pulled and you will be set back to Wing-Pony first class, and you will continue your service at the academy, but you will lose command of your squad and some other pony will take leadership of it." Luna noticed Lighting started to grind her teeth. She tried to ignore it and continued. "Option two: Pack your bags and head home.

Lighting grew sad and thought for a minute. She then stood up and saluted. "It was a pleasure serving with the Wonder-Bolts Ma'm. I'll have my bags packed within the hour. 

Luna was surprised by Lighting Dust's decision. "Lighting are you sure you want to leave? We'd hate to lose an excellent flyer such as yourself." Luna tried smiling but she knew nothing right now could sway Lighting's decision.

The former Lieutenant saluted again. "Goodbye Ma'm." Lightning Dust turned and exited the General's office. 

Luna stared at the file lying on her desk. A thought echoed in her mind. "Luna, I believe you have the right to look through the Wonder-Bolt files after all you are the Head General, why not make a new team?" She looked at the paper then stared at the door. She ran up to the door and threw it open. Lightning Dust was talking with some other cadets. They looked back at the door when they heard it open. When they recognize the general they straightened up and saluted. Luna approached the group. She motioned Lighting Dust to follow. The two began to walk back to her office. 

"What do you need General?" asked Lightning Dust. 

Luna turned to Lighting and smiled. "Please lets talk in my office." The two were back in the room sitting down although this time Lightning looked pretty confused. 

"Ma'm what did you want to talk about?"

General Luna leaned forward and smiled again. "I would like to discuss your third option. If you are willing to listen."              
	                       
> (Chapter 3) A Science Lesson and a Headache
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Well Lightning Dust you might want to make yourself comfortable this might take awhile."

Lightning Dust shifted in her seat.

General Luna continued. "Before we talk option three you need to hear some background information. 20 years ago Equestrian archaeologists discovered ruins deep inside the Ever-Free forest. Not that much inside was worth investigating except one thing. A giant metal ring. Most of the writing in the ruins was either erased or damaged. The only word that was readable was Stargate. Which is the adopted name of the ring.  At the time Princess Celestia ordered the Wonder-Bolts to extract the ring and move it to a unmarked location."

"General where is this unmarked location?" Lightning Dust asked.

"Unless you pick option three, you will be limited to the information regarding the subject and if you should release this information, myself and the Wonder-Bolts will denied any connections or truths to your story. Do you understand?"

Lightning Dust nodded.

"Anyway the Princess asked the Wonder-Bolts if they would be interested in researching and examining the ring. And of course they eagerly agreed to. Weeks past by and not that much progress was made, only that the interior part of the ring was movable. The science team believe that the spinning was related to the symbols that lined up along the inner circle. We had thought that we had reached a dead end, but one scientist suggested that it was merely missing a power source to function," Luna sighed and turned around in her chair and looked out the window.

"General is something wrong?"

"Well later after the power idea, we confirmed the gate only needed a power source. So we manged to supply power to the gate. It's inner circle began to rotate and what appeared to be lights started lighting up around the outer circle. We assumed the worst and sent in an armed squad of Wonder-Bolts. When every light was lit up around the Stargate something formed in the center of the ring. It looked as if a pool of water was contained in the Stargate. For minutes nothing happened until something came from the wall of water." Luna paused.

Lightning Dust became enveloped in the story and didn't want the General to stop. "What happened!? Please continue!" 

Luna recalled in her mind what happened the day the Stargate activated. The security of Equestria was almost compromised. She knew that Lightning Dust would never really know the dangers of having a hostile swarm aliens in the base. If the changelings had been successful they might have gained power in Equestria, but the real concern would be the safety of it's citizens. 

However if Luna continued to talk to Lightning Dust, eventually she would have to show her the gate herself. But   Lightning Dust was thinking more about the creatures instead of the danger that they presented. But she needed to know at least some possible dangers that exist when working with the Stargate. And with consideration Luna finished the encounter story. "At first it appeared as if nothing but darkness was poured from the gate. However it soon separated into little tiny creatures that immediately made hostile contact. The room was filled with too much fighting, so I ordered a contingency plan to seal off the base and release knock-out gas in hopes of incapacitating the creatures from doing anymore harm. However they escaped back through the Stargate, and we were left to receive a hefty dose of our own medicine."

"What happened next Ma'm?" Lightning Dust asked with a huge amount of curiosity in her voice.

"Ever since the gate's first activation the Wonder-Bolts discovered how to use the Stargate to travel to other planets. So we have organized several operations to several worlds in hopes of finding a way to defend ourselves from any alien intruders that might want to take over or destroy Equestria." 

"So have the Wonder-Bolts discovered anything useful from this "super gate" that you have locked away in some military base?"

A grin spread across Luna's face. "I'm sorry Lieutenant but that's classified information." She had never got to use that phrase on anypony since she started working at the academy. Annoyed, Lightning Dust asked another question.

"So what does that make Equestria?"

The General didn't understand. "What exactly do you mean?"

Lightning Dust placed her hooves around her head. "So what I understand is that we're just some other world that sits among hundreds of others?"

"Technically hundreds of thousands of worlds, but yes we are merely one among others." Luna pointed out.

"So how come no space ships just swing by and take over this world!?" Lightning Dust stood up from her seat getting concerned and overexcited.

The questions already began to annoy Luna. She never had this much trouble getting Stargate teams 20 years ago. Back then everypony was willing to serve Equestria in hopes that new things would help the country.	 "Lieutenant!" said Luna with a raised voice. "Sit down!" Lightning Dust complied and sat back down and cross her hooves in front of her. A quiet sentence left from her mouth.

"Sorry Ma'm"

"Okay Lightning pay close attention, and i'll show you how an alien space ship can't simply take us over." she raised her left hoof. "Okay, here is us," then she raised her right hoof. "And this is planet X, which can sustain life like here in Equestria." She looked at Lightning Dust. "Lieutenant guess how long do you think the space is between these two worlds?"

Lightning Dust shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know um...8,000 miles."

Luna shook her head. "Lightning that is completely incorrect, and might I add really far off."

Lightning waved her hoof. "So how far is planet X?"

The General lowered her hooves. "350 light years exist between Equestria and Planet X."

"Um General, 350 is a lower number than 8,000" Lightning noted.

Luna picked up Lightning Dust's file; which was still on the desk and began flipping through it and stopped on the education page. "I didn't know astronomy was your weakest subject. You nearly failed that class."

Lightning turned her head. "I needed to take that class in order to graduate. But needless to say it wasn't exactly the most interesting subject."

Luna sighed. "Okay let me ask you this. Do you know how long a mile is?"

The Wonder-Bolt shook her head. "That I do know."

Luna continued. "Alright, well we've measured that light can travel 186,282 miles.....a second."

Lightning turned her head back to Luna. This time with eyes wide open. "Really!? That many miles a second!" Lightning  Dust quickly began to think off all the uses of flying at 186,282 miles a second.

"Anyway that's how fast light travels. The definition of a light year is the amount of time light takes to travel a distance in one year. So Lightning," Luna rested her head on her hoof. "Think of all the seconds in a year then multiply that by 186,282. And that's how many miles light travels in one year." 

Lightning Dust started to shake her head in disbelief. "No, no way that's possible!"

"Lieutenant now take that honk of a number and multiply that by 350." 

"General Ma'm! Th-that's...." Luna noticed Lightning Dust trying to do the math in her head. She smiled again, Lightning's math scores weren't that top notch either. Lightning threw her hooves in the air. "A really big number!" Lightning's brain really stared to hurt. "General what was the point of this exactly?"

Luna smiled. "Because the closet aliens that could take over Equestria are 350 million light years away. So we're not exactly worried about any space ships Lieutenant. However they are not to be ignored." 

"Why?"

Luna raised her hoofs again.

Lightning wasn't ready for another space lesson, she barely recovered from the last one. "General do we need to do this again?"

The General chuckled. "Don't worry this is much easier to understand. Now lets say that both of these planets have Stargates. And that alone makes that ability to travel between the two worlds a cinch now th-"

Lightning Dust interrupted. "Uh Ma'm?" Luna lowered her hands and nodded her head for her to continue. "Um.... how does the Stargate work?"

"One second Lieutenant." Luna began looking through the drawers in her desk. Lightning could her looking for something. "Dammit! where did I put- ah! here it is." Luna arose from behind her desk with a slinky. And again Lightning looked confused again. "Now Lieutenant do you know what a worm hole is?" Lightning Dust soon had stress written all over her face. Luna set the slinky on the desk and picked up a piece of paper.

"Planet X?" Lightning Dust asked.

"Not yet," Luna smiled. "Think of this paper as the plane in which all planets and stars exist upon. They can be above the paper, below the paper. Height doesn't height and distance in outer space because space is relative to perspective." Luna placed the paper on the desk and motioned Lightning Dust to come over and look. "Let's say you want to get from one end of the paper to the other. You could just simply travel in that direction. However if a wormhole is created in space," Luna folded the paper and held the two ends together. "The distance is reduced because the wormhole branches the two ends together. Do you understand Lightning?" 

"I.....think I do." Lightning began scratching her head.

"Between you and me Lieutenant I still don't completely understand it so the chances of me being wrong are probable." Shock and confusion ran over Lightning's face. General Luna preceded with the lecture. "Now here is where the Stargate comes into play." Luna threw away the folded paper and grabbed another piece of paper and this time the slinky. Once again she laid the paper on the desk and placed the slinky at one end. "Okay, this end with the slinky is our world and the other end of the paper is planet X. Now we don't know where wormhole naturally occur, but the Stargate is special. It creates them on the spot. For a limited time it can connect to any other Stargate within our galaxy."

"Whoa now! our galaxy?" 

Luna sighed. "Lightning Dust I only have so much time today. She ran her hoof through her mane thinking how much she had already told Lightning Dust and wondered if she would even retain this information. "Anyway when two Stargates connect," Luna dragged the slinky to both ends of the paper. "One must simply walk through one gate and they will appear at the other gate that is connected. Either way, wither wormhole or Stargate the distance between the two points are significantly reduced.  So scientifically a wormhole is created but the Stargates function like portals." Luna took in a long breath. "Sooooo.....what do you think?"      

Lightning Dust closed her eyes and tried to imagine what the General had just told her. None of it seemed possible. She opened her eyes then started to laugh. "Ma'm, I don't want to sound out of line but are you yanking my hoof?" Lighting Dust was smiling but looked way more confused, than she did seven minutes ago.

"Lieutenant I am being completely honest with you, I could never be humorous with something like this." Luna didn't want to have Lightning Dust leave, she wanted her for the Stargate project.

Lightning Dust clapped her hooves together. "Alright let me run through this again because I may have miss understood something," Lightning Dust leaned back in her chair. "So somewhere in the wide world of Equestria there is a base with a device that is capable of traveling to other worlds. Am I correct?" 

Luna made a nervous smile and nodded her head.

"Excellent!" Lightning Dust started pacing around the room. "And that the Wonder-Bolts have organized these operations for multiple years. And the many missions that are carried out on these other planets?"

"You're two for two Lieutenant"

"Okay and one last thing," Lightning sat back down in her chair. "Why did you tell me this, and how is this related to option three?"

"Because we think the creatures from Planet X are trying to take Equestria and we need to check and make sure that's not the case."

Lightning started to overreact. "So you want me to go to Planet X and perform a reconnaissance and scouting mission that nopony has ever ventured to, which basically means that i'm walking blind and unaware of whats out there?" Lightning laughed. Ma'm I don't know how you could not joke with this!"

"Lightning don't be ridiculous," Luna paused to think of the right words to use. "....you won't be going in alone."

"And that's supposed to make me feel better!?"

"Getting back to the point Lieutenant this is your option three. I want you to be apart of the Stargate program. The new team I'm forming needs ponies capable of performing scouting missions in unknown territory. I believe that you would do a good job," Luna leaned towards Lightning Dust and narrowed her eyes. "Let me point this out though. You ether take this job now or you leave this office and act as if this conversation never happened." Luna rested back against her chair. "So what do you chose?"

Lightning Dust weighed her options. If the General was telling the truth then she would visit other planets and get to experience them first hand. However if she says no, then her rank and her squad will be pulled, unless she leaves the academy; like she originally intended. She also thought of the General's story on how aliens over ran the base. Their might be other aliens that react like the ones in the story. Their might come a time where she might not make it back to Equestria, but this was an opportunity that she did not want to waste. Lightning Dust quickly stood out from her seat and saluted.
"General! Permission to join Equestria's Stargate program!"

Luna looked at Lightning Dust and smiled.      
> (Chapter 3.5) Deleted section:Luna's Flashback
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	WARNING!!!! This has not been pre-read by anybody so it may not make sense and/or jump around. What happened was that the flashback became too complicated to write into this chapter and I didn't exactly know how to work it in.  So some things may not match up with the 3rd chapter. As I said in my author notes, chapter 3 went through some big cuts and idea, this one of the bigger ones...well whats left of it anyway.    

The memory refreshed itself in the General's mind. The day the Stargate worked. She was up in the control center overlooking all the activity and signing papers off a clipboard using magic. While she was working a guard approached from behind.


Luna's flashback of the Stargate


"Excuse me General Ma'm?" Luna turned around and the guard saluted. 

Luna placed her clipboard down. "Is there something wrong?"

The guard shook his head. "No Ma'm Princess Celestia is on the phone and wishes to speak with you on your office phone."

Luna nodded her head and thank the guard. She walked in her office and closed the door. The "call waiting" light was flashing on the phone. Luna composed herself and picked up the phone. "Hello?"

Celestia's voice came through the phone. "Oh good I see they were able to get a hold of you. I just wanted to check on how things are going."

"I don't understand. I've already sent the progress report to you."

"Its just that I want to know what you think, these reports only show the progress, not the personal opinions of head staff. I want to know where you think this project is going."

"Ummm.......Well...." Luna had never been asked a question like this when she was involved in secret Equestrian projects. A minute nearly passed by before Luna thought of an answer. "Well if you want my opinion, We've spent months looking at this ring and nothing has come out of this. I don't think we can learn anything more from this."

"Well if you like I could send someone to help you study the ring." Luna heard the eagerness in her voice.

"Celestia, I don't want that prized pupil of yours involved with any of this."

"Why not Luna? Twilight is an excellent student and a scientist at that. She could be valuable to this.....what was they scientists called it?"

"It's called the Stargate."

"She might be able to figure out if the device is workable or not."

The General sighed. "Celestia I don't want to take any chances that she might get her hurt."

"Luna its been several months since you found the Stargate and nothing has happened, and also you mentiioned that the project looked like its going to go nowhere."

"Alright, I'll see if I can arrange a trip for Twili-," 

ERRRRR!.......ERRRRR!.......ERRRRR!

"Luna what's that noise?" Celestia quickly asked.

"I will have to call you back sister, good-bye." Luna's heart began to race. She slammed the phone down and ran to the control center. A few Techntions were sitting at the controls, pushing buttons and flipping switches. Luna looked over to see what the rush was all about. "What's going on and why is that inner circle on the ring, spinning on its own." 

The techntions didn't look up to talk to the General. But one spoke out. "We were about to scan the ring with x-rays when the computers began to pick up high energy fluctuations. Then the gate started to spin afterwards." The noise reached to control center. The lights on the ring began to light up and everypony cleared the gate room. 

Luna approached the loudspeaker and announced. "All science personal Evacuate the Stargate room. All armed personal report to the gate room immeditetly!" Soon the gate room was filled with ponies, all eyes fixed on the Stargate. They all aimed their weapons at the ring. Luna came back on the speaker. "Attention! Everypony in the gate room, be prepared for anything! We don't know whats going to happen!"

Soon all the lights around the Stargate filled up. The center filled with the water-looking substance and sprung out then retreated to the center. Then silence filled the room. A voice boomed through the wall of water inside the ring. "Ponies of Equestria!" Everypony in the room looked at each other. The voice continued to talk. "We have your Stargate address! Surrender your land and your rule, and the lives of all who live here will be spared!"

A pony at one of the computers looked at Luna. "General are you going to respond?"

Luna thought who could have power to challenge Equestria? And who had the right to claim someone else's home? She stared at the loudspeaker microphone and tried thinking of a reply. She pushed the talk button and announced to the voice in the gate. "We do not wish to go against you, but you have no right to say what goes on around here!'

The voice responded in softer tone. "Oh. Are you their leader?"

"I am," said Luna with as much authority as possible.

"As I said before surrender Equestria and nopony shall be hurt."

"I refuse to do such a thing!"

The voice began to yell again. "Then so be it! May the power of the changelings be the end of all Equestria!"

Luna announced to the troops in the gate room."Whatever comes out of that wall, blow it to hell!" 

A sound began to come from the gate. All the soldiers readied their weapons. The noise shifted into a low gurgling rumble. Soon a big moving force of darkness squeezed through the gate. The darkness broke of into tiny creatures. Luna tried to get a close view but all she saw was that they had fangs and wings. Her thought process was broken by the consisting firing in the gate room.

"Ma'm we need to close the shield doors!" One of the ponies called out from by a computer. 

Luna looked out the window. It was nothing but flashes of light and flying patches of darkness. However she knew that she had to keep the security of Equestria intact. She stomped on the ground and ordered that all the gate room exits be sealed off.            

A voice over the intercom came on. "General the creatures are in the halls! I repeat they are in the halls!"

Something had to happen, these creatures could not leave the base at the risk of possibly losing Equestria. "Activate contingency plan!" A thick smoke soon filled the room. Everything became fuzzy to Luna. She started to lose focus and collapsed on the floor.

Hours later when everypony awoke from the knock-out gas. They began to search for the creatures, but nothing was found. Even the shield doors covering the exit were still sealed shut. Everypony kept looking, but Luna took a scientist back to the control center. 

"Dr. Hooves, do the computers show anything?" Luna asked, still puzzled about where the creatures could have gone.

The doctor began looking a records of the past hour until he notice something strange. "General Ma'm, look at this." Luna looked at the screen. The doctor began explaining. "You see these waves? These came up when the gate activated and the creatures came through. However when you look 30 minutes after you ordered the gas to be dispersed throughout the base, the same energy readings are back on the screen."

Luna's head was still dizzy and didn't completely understand it. "Doctor what exactly are you getting at?"

Dr. Hooves got excited. "What I'm saying is the creatures used the gate to get back, so this device must be a portal between here and wherever these creatures live," He raised his hooves in disbelief. "Ma'm we have a portal sitting in the room right in front of us!"

Luna ran her hoof through her mane. "I'll inform Princess Celestia after the lock down is lifted.


End of Flashback
   

"Um General, are you okay?" asked Lightning Dust.

Luna was lost in her mind she forgot that Lightning was in her office. "Oh I'm sorry where was I?"

"The creatures that came out of the gate."

"Thank you lightning, but that day we realized that a powerful force threatened Equestria. We eventually figured many things out since then, but to you that information is classified. Unless you decide to join this project." 
	 
> (Chapter 3) A Flightless Pegasus 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	
 Formally addressed to 2nd Lieutenant Lightning Dust.

By the time you receive this letter I will have left the base, therefor I will not be able to explain everything in this letter. But today this afternoon you are to leave the base and return to home. [Do not worry, this does not mean you have been replace] Some things at the academy need to be worked out and it would be best if you would not be here for any of it. I have arranged for your leave. You will be personally contacted by me at your home when we are ready to have business underway.
Head-General Luna 

Luna reviewed the letter and deposited it at the Post office and returned to her office. "Good." she thought. "This should keep her from any conflict regarding her new job, however small the trouble may be. Besides I still have to find somepony else to also be on this changeling mission. After all I did say she wasn't going in alone, I can't just send her in all by herself." She looked around her office trying to think of who to partner Lightning Dust with. Nopony from the list of current members of the Wonder-Bolts seemed like a good fit and in this kind of work its more than just teamwork that will lead to a successful operation. "Oh come on!" Luna yelled to herself. 

She leaned back in her chair and looked up at the ceiling. "What if I can't get a team together? What will Celestia do? And will we bury the Stargate if everything goes wrong like last time?" All the questions ran through her head as she tried to think of her next move. Suddenly an idea came to her head. ....Like last time!" Luna sat up and grabbed her phone and dialed an old number. The tone came on the line. "Come on Flash I know you're there! Pick up the damn phone!" A click came through the ear piece. A moment of silence followed. Then a voice came on the line.

"Who is this and why are you calling from the Wonder-Bolts academy?"

"Flash I just wanna talk with you."

The voice recognized Luna's and relaxed a little. "Oh yeah?" he laughed. "What could you want to possibly want to talk about now?"

"I would actually like to meet in private, if that's all right with you."

"Is this about the Star-"

Luna cut him off. "As I said I would like to talk with you. Is there a place where you would like to meet?

The voice on the other end sighed. "Fine. But if you want to talk then you can come to my place. You know where it is." Than a click ended the conversation.

"He never did like talking with me over the phone." remarked Luna as she hung up. "How long has it been? I guess 15 years more or less. I hope I can change his mind."

Luna remembered looking at the original Stargate teams list after being asked by Princess Celestia to form teams to re-enter the program. Almost everypony from last time signed up from the last time, everypony except those from SE-1. But out of all those ponies who quickly declined the opportunity to return to the Stargate program one name didn't decline until after a week the invitation was sent. The pony's name was Flash Flyer. And although he was never an actual Wonder-Bolt many ponies at the academy gave him high recommendations, so as a result he was placed in many of SE-1's scouting missions.

However, for some reason he backed out when the changeling mission was announced. And after the operation failed many ponies believed that the failure was due to him not showing up and lending his expertise. But because Flash was not under the authority of the Wonder-Bolts no action could be held against him;besides every leader wanted the changeling mission to go underway, except General Luna and Princess Celestia who thought the mission was too big and lots of risk factors were ignored. And when the operation failed Celestia ordered the gate to be decommissioned. Then 15 years later..... 


Later at the center of town in Ponyville


Luna arrived at Flash's house and tapped the front door. *Knock *Knock. She looked around. " I never did take Flash as a outgoing person, he hated loud places. Why doesn't he move from here?" The handle moved down and the door opened. It wasn't Flash who answered, but a women. She was shocked to see Luna at the door.

"Princess Luna! I didn't know you would be stopping by today!" she looked behind herself. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"Oh i'm sorry, I must have the wrong house. I was looking for a pegasus by the name of Flash Flyer I was suppose-"

The lady shook her head. "No no he's here I'll go and let him know that you're here to see him." The door closed and Luna could hear her calling out for Flash. 

The General wondered. "Is she?...... No," she let out half a smile. "That's impossible." 

The door opened again and this time it was Flash. "I didn't think you would really show up. I was expecting an armed escort to take me to a certain unmarked location and that none of my questions would be answered. He stepped outside and closed the door. Flash looked around and grabbed a stool and offered it to Luna. She took it then Flash sat down where he was standing. Luna gave him a weird look. "What?" Flash asked as he shrugged his shoulders.

"I guess I'll break the ice," Luna started. "You know why i'm here so what is your decision?"

"I sent in my decline letter with that request to rejoin a Stargate team. I thought I made my decision clear."

The General looked out on the street viewing the public going about its business. "Yes you did send in the letter saying no thanks, but theirs one thing you didn't mention."

"What?"

"Everypony from SE-1 sent their letters within days. You on the other hoof didn't respond until well over a week."

Flash looked at the General who was still looking at the street. "So what's your point?"

"You miss it. Don't you?" Luna tried hiding the smirk on her face.

"Miss what?" Flash started to raise his voice. "Risking my life for what could be a pointless mission or dealing with the Stargate when ever it decided to act up. Or how 'bout getting paralyzed and losing permanent function of your wings!" His breathing was getting heavier and he flared his nose. 

"Is that why you left Flash? Because you lost nerves in your wings?" Luna looked back at Flash who was looking over his shoulder glancing at his wings.

"I lost more than just the nerves in my wings. I lost the ability to fly, visiting my familly in Cloudsdale, or just simply taking a joy flight when I feel stressed. That damn blast took everything I ever enjoyed, but that's not why I left."

"Excuse me? Go back a second." Flash turned back to Luna. "Everything you enjoyed? Who the hell was the women at the door?"

"Shes....a....shes just somepony i'm friends with."

"A huh. Alright then," Luna stood up and opened the door and called out. "Excuse me miss?" 

The lady came to the door. "Yes Princess?"

Luna pointed a hoof at Flash. "What's your connection with him?"

The pony at the looked at Flash then to Luna then back to Flash. She then spoke out. "Me and Flash are...in a relationship..." she soon became confused. "Is their something wrong?"

"No, I was just curious but thank you." The door closed and Luna put her attention back to Flash. "So what's her name?"

"What do you care?"

Luna rolled her eyes. "Because I don't have a social life."

Flash sighed. "Glad to see that your humor hasn't changed."

"Just tell me Flash."

".....Her name is Athena."

*Cough Luna held her hoof up to try and hide her laughter.

Flash grinned his teeth. "Something funny?"

*Cough *Cough! "Oh no! So where did you meet her?"

The flightless pony took his turn to look at the street. "It was the day of the changeling mission and I was furious that Equestria's council authorized the mission. I decided that if the wanting of greater technology was more important than keeping Equestria safe, then I don't want to work here anymore. So I packed up and left. On the way home I bumped into Athena and from there the rest his history."

"Well Flash I'm glad you found somepony who can put up with you. But does that mean you're going to stay here?"

"I love her but she wouldn't be the reason if I decide not to go back."

"Then what is the deciding factor?"

"It's that damn council. They absolutely have no clue as to what happens in that base. They just think they want something and if they ask us then we'll just will just ship it to them in the morning mail! And every time we said no to a mission they would just hold a meeting and make us do it, without regards to us or the safety of Equestria! If they want something for themselves we should have just sent them through the gate ourselves and see how long they would've lasted!"

Luna got off the stool and joined Flash on the ground. "Look Princess Celestia pulled the royalty card and forbid the council to make the Stargate Program perform any missions that it's teams felt that were too dangerous or unnecessary. The suits upstairs don't have power anymore."

"When did this happen?" Flash asked a little stunned by the news.

"Shortly before we shut down the program," Luna got off the ground and clapped her hooves together. "Well if there's nothing else holding you back, I guess your good to go"

"Whoa! Excuse me General but I didn't agree to anything just yet!"

"But you were going to. Weren't you?" Flash looked back at the ground and didn't respond. "I'll return when we are ready for you." And with a wave of her wings she walked away.

"General!" Luna turned around. "How much am I allowed to tell her?" 

"Be as limited as possible but if you want to tell her more that will be on you." Soon Luna was out of sight.

Flash stood up and walked back inside. Part of him did miss traveling from planet to planet and being in a completely new environment. Although he didn't miss the mishaps of the Stargate. One time they connected to planet being swallowed by a black hole and the gate allowed the gravitational pull to effect everything in the base. And there was another time when the Stargate automated a self-destruct sequence. He tried balancing the pros and cons of his old job as he sat down on a couch. Athena walked out from another room. 

"Flash, what is going on? Why did Princess Luna herself stop by just to talk to you?"

Flash remembered being told to be limited. "I used to work with the princess at my last job."

"You don't think I wouldn't have liked to have hear this? What did you do?" she seemed to be extremely curious as to why her boyfriend hid the fact that he worked with Princess Luna. 

"I....uh...went on these um....." he tried thinking of all the right words to use. "I was....exploring the lands outside of Equestria, you know beyond the Ever-Free forest...." Athena leaned closer to Flash. "Please buy this. I mean I'm not lying after all!"

"So what did you find?" Athena was well on Flash's secret trail.

"We've explor-" 

"Oh! So it's we've now is it?" Athena let out a little smile thinking that Flash would slip up.

"No, see it's because we didn't know what was outside of Equestria so an exploration team was formed. We were taking precautions that's all!"

"So is that how you paralyzed your wings? Did you slip and fall off some cliff?"

"No it was actually from a explosion. You see I was..." Flash stopped talking when he saw Athena's face. He realized he just made a big mistake.

"JUST WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING OVER THERE!!!!!" 

"Well I wasn't starting a war if that's what your getting at!" He had never heard her yell like that in all the years they knew each other."

"And you...want to go back to this.....JOB!?"

"If it makes you feel better....I still have my health." Flash let out a cheesy grin trying to calm the situation.

Athena gave him a hard shove. "For all I know you should be dead! I don't want you doing some crazy mercenary job!"

Flash thought of a way to lean the conversation in his favor. "But Princess Luna personally wants me back on the job, I can't let her down." "But if I did it wouldn't be the first time..."

Athena started to calm down. "How long will you be gone?"

"Three to four days, tops. By then I'll be back home," But Flash remembered some missions that took as long as two weeks to pull off. "But no promises..." He put his arms around Athena. "I will try and send a letter if I take too long alight?"


She nodded her head. "Alright Flash when do you leave?"

"Whenever the Princess returns," said Flash.

"So did you get lots of these...expeditions when you used to work for the princess?"

"Don't worry about that. They used to be pretty placed far apart so that should leave time for me to come back home." 

"I might very well regret letting you go just like this but if Princess Luna really wants you for this job then I respect her and your decisions." Athena stared for a moment than hugged Flash as if there were no tomorrow. After all for all she knew and what she imagined, Flash might not come back if he left.  

	

	         

	

	

	             
> (Chapter 4) A Meeting with the Chairman.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


A few days later a the royal palace.....


"Celestia why do we have to have this meeting at the castle?" said Luna while trying to loosen her collar.

"This is merely a formality Luna, and would you please stop undoing your tie!" Celestia's magic grabbed Luna's tie and straighten it out. "Also I was asked to be present at the meeting so I asked them if they would like to have it at the castle instead."

Luna grumbled. "So it's your fault that I have to wear this fancy attire." Celestia gave Luna a smile then looked at the door.

"He's here." she said with a low voice. "Now Luna if you're going to cut a deal like last time make absolutely sure you know what you're getting at. I can only help out so many times."

"Don't worry sister. Theirs not going to be a deal, We're only here to discuss and that's it." Once she finished her sentence the doors to the room opened and a pony wearing a suit carried himself to the table where Luna and Celestia were waiting. 

The stallion pulled out his briefcase and rested it on the table. When he sat down he sounded very annoyed. "I'm very sorry your majesties, but we are going to have to make this meeting short. I have an business emergency to attended to."

"We understand chairman." Celestia sympathized. 

"Now most of this meeting will be directed to princess Luna but as you recall I wanted you to be present as well," he nodded his head toward Celestia. "The matter at hoof I wish to discuss are the whereabouts of the Stargate team SE-1."

Luna gulped. "I knew this wasn't going to be a normal board meeting." 

The suited pony continued. "Now princess Luna we understand that you have been reconstructing the SE-1 team, how is that progressing?"

Luna spoke with confidence. "I believe that so far SE-1 has very capable ponies, but however I'm still looking for a few more members to fill the last two spots. I already have some ponies in mind actually."

"That's actually specifically what I wanted to talk about; SE-1's members." The chairman pulled out from his briefcase a couple of files, one of which Luna recognized. "2nd Lieutenant Lightning Dust." The chairman read off the folder. "I understand that she was your first choice for SE-1."

"Yes she was." Luna responded.

"Then why princess," The chairman pulled out a list and slid it across the table. "-did you not select any of these Wonder-Bolts?" Luna looked over the list. She knew the names, they were some of the top Wonder-Bolts of multiple classes. She even remembered awarding some of them honor medals herself. "Is their a reason for this General?

Luna looked at Celestia, who looked back at her. "Don't look at me, this is your meeting General."

Luna looked at the list and then to the chairman "You see the Lieutenant.....shes....got it."

The chairman looked confused. "Shes got it?" he opened up her file. "As far as I can tell based on her record she should be kicked out of the academy, and never be allowed to join any Wonder-Bolt association, especially the Stargate program!"

"Isn't that a little too harsh?" Celestia inquired.

"We're talking about sending in her to other worlds; where she will be representing Equestria. If she can't be respectable here then we can't send her off-world!"

"Why do you assume that she is the exactly the same as when she started at the academy?" Luna asked. "And as far as the council is concerned," Luna crumpled up the list of Wonder-Bolts and threw it at the chairman. "You have no say about Lightning Dust. She is my first choice, so whether she goes or not is up to me and not you." "I think I already went too far!" Luna thought.

"I know General I was merely expressing the councils concerns with your choice." he looked angry as he picked up the crumpled list and finished his sentence.

"What a lair!" Luna thought. "I bet it's just him who doesn't want Lightning Dust leaving! What is his issue?"

"On the other hoof," he picked up the other file. "Lets discuss this second choice." Luna tried to look at the file but their was no name on it. " So you've asked the infamous Flash Flyer to return to the Stargate program? Is that the wisest choice you're making now?"

"What do you mean.....?" Luna leaned over the table.

"I mean a mission to destroy what could be Equestria's greatest enemy and Flash just suddenly disappears. I would think that would make him untrustworthy, wouldn't you agree?"

"Flash left because he was a tad pissed off at you and the council, but we all knew his time at the program was on his terms and we've compromised from there. There was nothing to stop him from leaving. And besides what could possibly be wrong with him that you would bring his past up?"

"An excellent question Head-General. What could be wrong with him?" he held up the unnamed file. "This is a civilian file. It keeps track of things any normal citizen of Equestria would have, bills, records, flight permits. But here.." he pulled out a sheet of paper that was covered in black lines. "Here are some of the things that doctors believe could very well effect him and the immediate public, and they all relate to the Stargate."

Celestia commented. "Chairman that was well around 15 years ago. Flash has had no medical conditions as a result and has had a well adjusted normal life since leaving from the program." She started to think the chairman was trying to push a certain agenda that her and Luna might not agree to.

The chairman waved the blackened paper. "So you think he'll be fine if he were to gate travel again?"

"Absolutely." said Celestia with a cool voice. "And might I add that I have decided to make him my first choice as well."

The chairman paused and looked at the papers. He sat up with an idea and began looking through his briefcase until he pulled out a book. He flipped through a few pages few until he stopped on a particular one and cleared his throat. "In regarding to the formation of Stargate teams. The princesses may place one pony of their choosing on any team they please, however if they should be on the same team. Those hoof-picked by the princesses will ether be separated into different teams or formed into a sole partnership squad." He closed the book. "Well your highnesses what do intend to do?"

Luna completely forgot about the manual. It was all the rules and regulations suited for the Stargate program. She was put into a corner, on one hoof she could send the two in together, or risk getting them sent back to their previous jobs. She had to give an answer or nopony was going to use the Stargate. "I'll decide to ta-"

"We'll send them as a partners." Celestia said while looking at Luna.

The chairman looked at the two and started to pack his things. "Very well if that's what you want to do, then carry on." He stood up. "Have a nice day princesses," he then turned to Luna. "-and good luck to you General." And with that chairman left the room. 

"Celestia what are doing!?" Luna spoke out to Celestia. "I was gonna handle him myself!" 

"Luna if Flash can prove that he can handle himself out there then the council can't keep him off the program and I won't have to make him my first choice, understand?" Luna nodded. "Our planet hasn't changed that much over the past 15 years so the same could go for the Changelings. This mission should be easy and we'll have nothing to worry about."

"Well if that's the case, then excuse me." Luna pushed herself away from the table and left the room.

"Where are going?" Celestia asked. 

"To make two phone calls." Luna called back.  

	      

	
> (Chapter 5) Chevron One Encoded.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	KNOCK* KNOCK* KNOCK*

"Who in the world could be at the door?" Flash thought as he rubbed his eyes and looked at his alarm clock. It read three in the morning. "This better be damn important." grumbled Flash as he slipped out of bed while trying not to wake Athena. She moved around a bit but didn't wake up. He tip toed to the door and opened it. A Wonder-Bolt officer wearing a heavy coat and hat greeted him. 


"Mr. Flyer?" the officer asked. 

"That's me, now what in the world do you want?"

The officer took his hat off. "We understand that General Luna contacted you yesterday, is that true?"

"So what? You're my ride?" Flash inquired.

"Partially. I'm actually here to escort you to the train station. And from there you will make contact with the General."

Flash looked around his porch then back at the officer. "Do any of you Wonder-Bolt guys know that regular ponies sleep during the night, right?" The Wonder-Bolt moved a hoof toward a black car.

"If you please, Mr. Flyer."

Flash approached the car door and let himself in and was accompanied by the officer. "Would be so kind as to tell me why we need to get to the train station?"

The officer knocked on the window towards the driver seat and the car began to move. He sat down and looked at Flash. "We've added a train line to the Stargate command center. It's mainly used for moving supplies of heavy loads, but the General specifically wanted you and a 2nd Lieutenant Lightning Dust to meet her there."

"Who's this Lightning Dust?"

"Think of her as Colonel Sandburn." the officer replied with a smile.

"Alright." Flash chuckled. "Who are you?"

"Sergeant Haze. I work in the control center for the Stargate. You may not remember me but I dial the Stargate and call out the chevron order."

Flash, who was still a little groggy smiled. "You're that pony!? Well then it's honor to finally meet you in person." He stuck out his hoof to shake the Sergeant's, but the officer shook his head.

"No please don't, I'm not that important." Haze shook his head trying to avoid the topic. 

"Its just that I thought I would never see you. I mean I always heard your voice but I've never really seen you in person. I just think that this is interesting."

"Are you half asleep Mr. Flyer?" Haze asked.

"Yeah! Can I sleep till we get there?"

The Sergeant looked around the car. "I....guess...so..."

But Flash was already asleep with the side of his face smothering the back of the seat in front of him.


Minutes later at a station on the outskirts of Ponyville
    

"Um General?" asked Lightning Dust as she paced around the station knocking around a stone she found on the ground. 

The General responded without looking up from the book she was reading. "What is it Lightning?"

"Why did we have to do this briefing so early in the morning?" Lightning Dust gave the stone she was moving one good kicked it and knocked it on the tracks. She was used to waking up early from all the training at the Academy and never once had a problem with it. But here she had to wait instead of doing her daily exorcises and it started to bug her. "And just who is this Flash Flyer person? I've never seen him at the Academy."

"Well Lightning its just that time is of the essence and we would like to have things rolling." Luna then tried thinking about how to describe Flash. "As far as records go," Luna replied. "Mr. Flyer is a regular citizen from Ponyville that has three 20 year old outstanding  flying-speeding tickets. Owns a house in the center of town. And pays his taxes on time. He also has a medical disability in his wings."

"Okay so what are me and Mr. Flyer exactly doing then?"

"I will give you a brief explanation when the train arrives, and when Flash is dropped off." 

A train whistle rang off in the distance.


Some time later back at sleep central....


"Mr. Flyer please wake up!" Sergeant Haze begged Flash as he moved him back and forth trying to wake him up. "We're at the station and the train is already here. Please wake up!"

Flash shifted in his seat and started talking in a dazed tone. "Not.....now Athena.....I'll get you a muffin later...." 

Haze rolled his eyes. "Alright Mr. Flyer that's enough the General is waiting." 

A quick smile dashed across Flash's face. "Alright you got me. I'll get a move on." Flash stepped out of the car expecting to be in the middle of a forest, but to his surprise he was in one Ponyville's station. Although it was a tad distant from the main part of town. The Wonder-Bolts on occasion used the station to send supplies for expeditions into the Ever-Free Forest with out having to hold up the town's main train station. Flash soon connected the pieces together. "I bet that this station has a track that leads to the Stargate command center."

"Flash if you're done thinking over there we'd like to get things started." Luna was all by herself on the platform next to a train, to which Flash noted that it was unmarked.

The engine let off a whoosh of steam and Flash ran over to the train and boarded with Luna. The cars jerked as the train began to move forward. Luna opened a door and let Flash enter first. His first impressions were rather unimpressed. It was just a plain passenger car. Nothing but booths up and down the isles. The General pointed her hoof at a booth with a table. Flash moved in, sat down and folded his hooves on top the table. 

"One second Flash." said Luna as she went down to the end of the car. She quickly came back with a Wonder-Bolt Flash had never met before. "Flash let me introduce you to 2nd Lieutenant Lightning Dust."

Lightning-Dust came to attention and saluted. "Pleasure to meet you sir." 

Flash was a little taken back. Nopony ever saluted him before and with an unsure look he wrapped his hoof around the Lieutenant's and lowered it slowly. "You don't have to really do that."

"Um anyway..." the General interrupted. "Lets get right down to business. Lieutenant please take a seat next to Mr. Flyer." They all sat down and shifted a little as the train accelerated. Luna reached behind the booth and pulled out a briefcase. She opened it up and handed files to Flash and Lightning-Dust. Flash shrugged his shoulders and began flipping through pages. Most of the information he was already familiar with. Lightning-Dust on the other hand did not believe what she was reading. It mentioned explicit details about first hostile encounters, Pegasus space flight protocol, and how to identify changelings posing as allies or other Wonder-Bolts. Lightning wanted to believe this was still all a joke but somehow she'd gone too far for this to be a complicated prank. And on another note. What were changelings? 

"Uh General?" Flash began to ask. "Has this document been updated since the Stargate was reactivated? Because all of this seems extremely familiar" 

"What do you mean?" Lightning asked.

"I practically wrote this file.....although some things about the Changelings I mentioned aren't in here."

Luna rolled her eyes. "Sorry Flash you can't assume all Changelings are trained in the art of seduction."

"You weren't locked up in one of their interrogation rooms!" exclaimed Flash as he closed his file and slid it across the table. "They do stuff to you, practically anything in hopes of getting information!" Flash slammed his hooves on the table getting in the moment. He looked around and was embarrassed when Lightning-Dust looked like she just hit a deer with a car. He dropped his head. "Sorry for interruption General please continue."

The General's mouth hung open. It was always a blue moon night whenever Flash raised his voice for anything. She didn't know what to say until the train hit a bump in the tracks and shook the car. ".....Anyway this will be a standard recon mission on the changeling home world. You are to only determine if the changelings still posses a threat, but if possible try to find out if they tried to contact us-"

Flash interrupted. "What a minute! The changelings tried to contact Equestria!?"

"When I made an inspection around the base the Stargate activated. And the computers calculated the dialer's location came from the changeling's Stargate." the General leaned in her seat. "Remember that's not the priority objective. We just want you two to get a solid analysis on wither we should be concerned or not." 

Lightning-Dust raised a hoof. "Ma'am? Just the two of us? I don't understand. Is that a safe number for a foreign recon mission?"

"Well....you see Lieutenant....it's just....politics."

Flash slapped the table again. "You gotta be bucking kidding me! Are you serious!?"

"Look Flash I didn't want to send in only two of you, but for at least this mission it's just gonna have to be like that. So in regards to leadership," Luna turned toward Lightning-Dust. "It doesn't matter that you're a Wonder-Bolt and that Flash is a civilian. Both of you are to work as partners. Do you understand Lieutenant?" 

Lightning gave a quick nod. Then Luna looked at Flash. "You can fill in Lightning-Dust along the way in regards to any questions she asks." Luna then closed her file and continued with details about the mission. "Anyway the two of you will have 24 hours to observe and note anything in regards to the main objective. If you do not return or make contact via the Stargate within that time limit the computer will not recognize you gate codes and will keep the iris shut." 

"Excuse me Ma'am?" asked Lightning-Dust as she raised her hoof. "What are our defense options?"

"Due to the sensitivity of this mission you will only be allowed a jaw knife. We don't want you walking around the enemy home-world with Equestrian weapons, it might anger them. So we also encourage you to avoid all possible contact."

"So was that good news or the bad news?" Flash ran a hoof through his mane. He never was good with a jaw knife. Several tiny scars were slashed across the edges of his mouth from all the failed attempts to quickly draw the knife from his belt. ".....Actually never mind when do we start?"

A loud screeching noise came from ahead the train and their speed decreased. The General stood up from the table. "The mission starts in 40 minutes. I'll have someone escort the both of you to a place where we can get you suited up. But for now welcome to Equestria's Stargate Command Center."        

	   
	

	    


	         

	 
> (Chapter 6) Which Metro did Alice Take to Wonderland?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Stargate team deporting in ten minutes. All critical and essential personal please stand by!"

"Alright Miss Lieutenant I'd say it's time we head out." said Flash as he grabbed his knife from his locker, and walked over to a mirror and admired himself. 	The new black uniforms looked intimidating but not practical. "At least the shoulder patches are still here." said Flash to himself. He looked over and saw Lightning-Dust holding the knife in her hoof. She looked withdrawn but startled Flash with a question.

"Why did you do it?"

Flash turned around. "What do you mean?"

"Why did you decide to return to all of this? The Stargate program and everything."

"Well..." Flash pondered. "It's like this. When the Wonder-Bolts first approached me I thought that this would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, which was absolutely true, I saw things I knew ponies would never see ever in their life. It was a pretty fun ride. Then the snobs came along a.k.a. the board. And they gave us a lot of grief and eventually pushed a mission that ultimately lead me to quit my position at the base. But when they offered me the job again I realized that I was pretty much the only person independent from the military, so I decided I should come back so I could keep a view of what was going on and make sure nopony pulls a fast one."

Lightning-Dust interrupted. "So you don't serve under Wonder-Bolt command?"

Flash buckled his knife on. "Nope. But I will say I had to go through a lot to earn the trust and privacy of the Wonder-Bolts. But I do follow most orders when off on a mission. However when on base I tend to mind my own business. And as long as I don't stick my muzzle into places it doesn't belong I should be fine." Flash closed his locker but turned back around. "What about you?" he asked.

"I made a choice and its consequences caught up to me. My options were to essentially start my military career over, or join this project..... I'm still wondering If I made the right call."

"Wither the decision was bad or good," Flash sat down on a bench facing Lightning-Dust. "You will see and do things that will never happen in Equestria. The things you see and do here will be a part of you for the rest of your life. But I won't sugar-coat it. Not everything is gonna be fun and amazing so you will need to keep your guard up."

"Is that what happened to your wings?" Lightning asked in a low tone. "You let your guard down?" 

The Flightless Pegasus sighed. "I'd rather not talk about that. It's one story I'll keep to myself."

"Stargate team deploying in five minutes! Stand by for departure!"

"Well down the rabbit hole we go." said Flash with a wide grin as he stood up and tapped his locker with his hoof. "The metro leaves in five minutes."

"What metro?"

"You know. The Stargate. It's like a metro ride."

"What?" Lightning-Dust chuckled.

"Would you like the paper and two holes explanation or my metro idea?"

"NO!...I uh...mean that...I'd like hear the metro idea." replied Lightning-Dust holding her head like she just caught a headache.

"Well," Flash began to explain. "While the paper and holes are a scientific way of thinking about the Stargate. The Metro explains it in a simpler way like this. When you're waiting for the metro train, you know where it's going, and how it gets there, but you never actually see where you're going. However once you make it through to your destination and you look back it's the same dark tunnel from before; just from a different point of view. And if you want to go back just hop on the next train that's going in your direction." Flash clapped his hooves and smiled. "Understand now?"

Lightning stood up and checked her knife. "I think I might have to figure out my own way of thinking about it. But till then the metro is leaving soon so let's go."


Stargate control room....


"Sergeant what's the status on the gate?" asked Luna as she gazed into the gate room.

"We're all ready to go. Waiting on SE-1 Ma'am."

"And solar flares?" 

The Sergeant laughed. "None reported so far Ma'am. I don't think we'll have to worry about those this time around."

"I just want to make sure everything is in place. And make sure everything runs smoothly."

"Permission speak freely General?"

"Go ahead."

The Sergeant tapped the edge of the control panel. "Has anything at this base ever gone smoothly? Sometimes it like theirs moments where the end of Equestria is at the front door, and we seem to get lucky every time and keep it locked out."

The General smiled. "It's not luck. It's the effort that everypony puts forth into making sure that we keep extreme dangers away from the ponies of Equestria." A door in the gate room opened and Flash and Lightning-Dust walked in. "Well Sergeant.....dial her up."

"Yes Ma'am!"

The gate began to whine and soon started to spin. Luna approached the intercom and began talking to the newly formed team.

Chevron one encoded...

"Remember you two I want this operation to be performed as discrete as possible."

Chevron two encoded...

"This is a scout and recon mission do not engage in enemy contact."

Chevron three encoded...

"And I want to remind you that you have 24 hours to come back or make contact with the Stargate."

Chevron four encoded...

"And Lightning-Dust," The Wonder-Bolt turned her head to the control booth. "We're sending you as partners. I don't want that lone wolf stuff with you."

Chevron five encoded...

"Mr. Flyer," Flash turned back around. "Please mind yourself and be sure to be there for the Lieutenant."

Chevron six encoded...

"And finally..."

Chevron seven LOCKED!

The gate room quickly filled with blue light. And everypony in the control room tensed up.

"Please come back safely.....Both of you." 

The team of two walked up the ramp to the ring. Luna noticed Flash stopping Lightning-Dust with his hoof to say something. She couldn't make out what he said but saw Lightning-Dust nod her head. Flash took a look back and waved to the control room. The General smiled and gave a salute. Flash then patted Lightning-Dust on the back and walked through the portal. 

Lightning-Dust stared at the gate. The matter that filled the gate looked like a pool of water. She tried moving her hooves, but they didn't want to leave. Everything she heard and imagined came down to this. "I may not see how it works, but I know i'm gonna get there." She closed her eyes and took a step forward.   

	                    
> (Chapter 7) Abrupt Arrival
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"I find it rather interesting that we travel light-years across our own galaxy only to realize that no one has it better than the other."
-Col. Sandburn [Stargate: We Hail from Equestria!]

Out of all the things Lightning-Dust faced at the academy, nothing ever quite felt like this. She felt her body vibrate as if it was drifting apart piece by piece. And it wasn't long before a deep chill came over and her body temperature began to drop. But suddenly it all stopped and she felt her hoof meet the outside air. Lightning soon realized that there wasn't any ground to meet her, she quickly squealed and hit the ground with a solid thud. 

"Ah! My muzzle." grunted Lighting-Dust through her locked teeth. She rolled around and looked back up. The Stargate was held up above the ground and tilted towards the floor. "Well that explains it." she said and stood up and looked around. Other than the area around the Stargate everything else was sand. Black sand. And of the edge of the platform was Flash; sitting down, holding his head, and rocking slowly. 

"This isn't right," he murmured. "This was definitely not in the mission report."

Lightning-Dust came up and hopped on to the black sand. She jumped a little when the sand gave her a small shock. "So what exactly is the problem? Let's go."

"Don't you get it?" said Flash as he stood up on the platform. "Something's wrong here!"

"You mean this?" Lightning-Dust scoped up the sand and let it pour from her hoof.

"Exactly! Nothing here matches up with the report. Or even the descriptions of the soldiers who managed to come back from the last mission here... that is if here really is here."

"Are you saying that the Stargate messed up?"

"Well when the gate messes up, generally it's easy to spot what went wrong, but nothing weird happened so i'm thrown off here."

Lightning-Dust rolled her eyes. "Can we please just get a move on?"

Flash looked out at the horizon. "Fine, but I wanna dial back to Equestria. Just so I can make sure, alright?"

"Go ahead, but you might be just wasting our time."

Flash walked back to the gate and started walking around. At first he looked annoyed, but that soon turned to panic. He called out to Lightning-Dust from behind one pillars that was holding up the Stargate. "Please tell me you see a big round thing made of metal over there with purple gem inside it."

Lightning looked around where she was standing. But there was only the black desert. She called back. "We're out metal stuff, but if you want some sand, I think I might know where to find some."

"I'm talking about the dialing device Lieutenant!" called Flash; who was still frantically searching. "If we can't find it, then we might be stuck here. And on top of that it's never a good sign when a planet loses its Dialer. It could mean their expecting company or the planet has been overrun by some force. And for all we know this could be a gate destination that was designed to be a one way trip!" 

"Mr. Flyer I believe what you're describing is a worse case scenario, and even if we don't have this metal gem thing, then shouldn't we at least attempt the job we were assigned to do?"

Something made Flash snap an angry look at Lightning Dust. "First off don't call me by my last name, and secondly if we---"
The Stargate began to spin up again.

Flash's face quickly went from angry to urgent. He waved over to the Lieutenant and she ran to the pillar next to his. The chevrons began to lock in and the ground began to shake. The pieces of the pillars began to shake and fall off. Flash pointed to his mouth with the tip of his hoof and moved it across, telling Lightning-Dust to keep quiet. The Stargate turned to its final chevron and a familiar warping noise came around. 

Lightning-Dust held her breath as she heard a thud come from the other side of her pillar. She looked over at Flash and noticed that he looked different. His eyes were narrowed and she could see him breathing very deeply as he tried to look what was coming through the Stargate. Flash moved his head and bit the handle to his knife and slowly unsheathed the blade as he leaned harder against the pillar.

The Stargate wormhole started to fade and Flash retreated his head back behind the pillar. And soon an eerie silence filled the desert air. Then footsteps began to pace around. 

Lightning-Dust held her breath as she imagined what could be on the other side. She instantly remembered all the scary stories she'd heard at the academy. Some were of unfortunate pegasus that were captured by timber wolves and that they were tortured and mutilated to the point where they no longer resembled ponies. She didn't want to be her first day on the job to be her last. And with long slow inhale, she too grabbed her knife and waited for Flash to see if he would make a move.         

The footsteps stopped and Lightning-Dust bit her knife harder. "Oh Celestia! Please end this tension!" she thought. Then silence ended as the Stargate spun up again. The ground shook again as the gate connected to another portal. Something walked through the gate and the portal vanished.

Flash edged his head out into the open. "I think we're good Lieutenant." he called out. "Whatever was here is gone now."

"Just what exactly happened?" asked Lightning-Dust as she sheathed her knife. 

Flash shrugged. "How would I know? All I know is that if we didn't plan for a contact, then we can't assume that whatever comes out of that wormhole is going to be friendly." He turned his attention to the black desert. "I guess we better head off and try and find the dialing device."

"Well where do we head off to then?" asked Lightning-Dust.

"Seeing as we have no point of reference other then the Stargate. I don't think it really matters. The best direction to travel would be straight in front of the gate." Flash stepped down off the pad and into the sand. The desert shocked his hoof too, but he hardly reacted. Lightning-Dust hopped on the sand again and followed Flash into what could be a very long walk.