A few hours earlier...

It was a bad day to be a guard. Not that there were many good days since the world had ceased to be something that was consistent from day to day. If Amber Sands was grateful for anything, it was that being here among all these humans helped her think almost not at all about the strange desires calling her to distant war and another betrayal to heap upon her first. Would it have been the greater betrayal to turn against the ponies that had sheltered and cared for her during her whole life, if only to return to her true people and race?

Something didn't feel right that morning. There was something in the air, a feeling of tension about to release. Her eyes revealed nothing that suggested anything bad was about to happen. The Federation side of Normandy was already full of activity, soldiers eating breakfast outside on rows of metal tables and others performing their morning exercises. On the Tower side, where soldiers needed neither food nor exercise, she rarely saw anyone except as they transferred from the single barracks to their facility somewhere in the Everfree.

There was little Amber Sands could do about the feeling. She increased the guard slightly, but that was about the only thing she could do. Fundamentally she wasn't here to guard the place. According to what Celestia had explained to her, Normandy was officially Human land until the war was completely over. The guard barracks onsite was as much an embassy as it was the place where the ponies who guarded the gate lived, and when peace returned that was likely to be its new purpose.

Unfortunately the fact that it wasn't actually Equestrian land meant she had nearly no power at all within the gates; she could do nothing to investigate the strange tension burning at the edge of her perception.

But despite how strange she felt, nothing happened until mid-afternoon. She felt it before she saw it; a wave of panic and fear that was unmistakably pony in nature and not human. She was only slightly surprised to see the pony was Lyra as she crossed Normandy in an urgent streak of mint fur. Not very subtle, was she?

Evidently this pony didn't run very often, as she sounded winded by the time she arrived. Amber had stayed just within the gates much of the day, not even bothering with the pretense of eating with her fellow ponies. Of course they interpreted that as her concentration on her duty, and not a sign of her true nature. "Please don't tell me you never went home." Without actually looking at Lyra, Amber began climbing into her armor, setting the lance into its scabbard, and generally preparing herself.

"Not... why I'm here..." She stopped abruptly, spraying mud and dirt and grass from her hooves as she did. Amber gave her wings a flick to clear the dirt off, though of course she was listening. She might not have any ability to gather information from the humans, but she could ask any of the ponies whatever she wanted and expect cooperation. "Pony needs your help... In that building there-" she flicked her tail to indicate the largest of the structures on the Federation side, the one that functioned essentially as their central command.

Amber secured her helmet and looked back toward Lyra. The mare looked to be on the edge of panic. There could be no doubting her sincerity, even if her story didn't quite make sense. "I keep track of every Equestrian citizen on the premises," she answered, matter-of-factly. She took a few steps to the place where the logbook rested against the table, flipping it open with her mouth to the current day. "According to this, you're the only one who hasn't checked out."

Lyra glanced feverishly around them, as though fearing someone were listening in, before closing to an uncomfortable distance and whispering in her ear. "There weren't any until a few minutes ago, but now there is, and if we don't get her out right away, she's dead and the alliance with her."

Amber's mind danced rapidly through the implications of what Lyra had just told her. Of course a human becoming a pony was nothing far-fetched, she remembered the process vividly and knew about the bracelets. It took a little longer to figure out whose death might threaten the alliance. The current admiral had been instrumental in almost every phase of negotiations. Alexi Colven was the voice that had softened Federation opinion enough to accept Celestia's terms. And though she didn't even know Amber existed, Amber thought of her as a sister.

"Should we bring anypony else? I've never been in there before. If we've got to fight our way out..."

"If we've got to fight we'll lose." Lyra kept her voice down, though she pulled back and tried to look casual again. There was no mistaking the stares they were getting, from humans and ponies alike. Her gallop across the grounds hadn't exactly been the exemplar of stealth. "Doesn't matter how many. But the fewer of us there are, the better."

She had a point. Amber gestured for her to step inside, and shut the door to the supply-room behind them. They were alone, and out of sight now. "If you come rushing back in there with a guard, somepony important will realize there was trouble for sure." She poked her head briefly out the door and shouted. "Steadfast!"

A pause, and the junior officer was at the door. Confused, perhaps, at the sight of the two of them in the storage closet, but he was a good enough officer not to ask. Steadfast was Amber's most trusted pony, and also a close friend. He was on the very short list of ponies she had considered telling the truth about her nature, though of course she hadn't. "Yes ma'am?"

"I want a basket of fresh bread and cider; gathered from the officer's mess, left outside this door in five minutes. Then I want a full patrol of the wall, all hooves currently awake. Start with the eastern side. Leave only the minimum complement at the gate, and instruct them to open the gate for Miss Heartstrings here without the formal interview or debriefing. The gates open and she leaves, understand?"

There wasn't a single thing about that order that wasn't completely irregular. But Amber's voice was so forceful, so confident, that she was not questioned. There were plenty of junior officers that might have cited the regulations those instructions violated. Steadfast was not one of those, which was part of why Amber kept him so close. She could count on her instructions being followed.

Lyra, however, had no such restraint. The instant the door clicked closed again she practically shouted. "You're not going in there without me! I'm not going to leave Alexi to die in there!"

Amber winced as Lyra shouted. Not because of the shouting. No, it was because Lyra had used her sister's first name. The envy she felt did not distract her from her purpose, however. It did not weaken her determination to ensure that her sister was rescued. If anything it only strengthened that resolve. The identity of the new pony was confirmed.

"Besides, they'll expect me back! They won't just let one of the guards walk in on her own!"

Amber was ditching her armor and weapons so fast they piled up at her hooves, wiggling and shrugging out as fast as her body would move. So much for all that careful deliberation to pull on all this ceremonial stuff as she had watched Lyra approach. "You're completely right. They won't; a guard would make it something official. That's a great deal of attention, and from the sound of it we need to get her out quietly and completely unsuspected. But that's just it; two ponies might pass, but three never will. There are only that many during big, official meetings."

Amber's eyes narrowed, her expression intense. "You're not a soldier, Lyra. You aren't trained in stealth and deception."

"I didn't think they trained the guards that way." Her voice was angry, but that didn't make it any easier to hear. It hurt to be reminded of how different she was, never mind that those differences might save her sister's life.

"Only a few. I've got some... special magic. Secret magic, the princesses keep in reserve for situations just like this." Of course it was a lie, but of course Amber was an absolute pro when it came to deception. She wouldn't be alive otherwise. "Look, I've got another job for you. I've sent the guard to patrol the wall; almost nopony will be in the barracks soon. You're going to go straight out of Normandy and over to princess Twilight Sparkle. Tell her Amber sent you; she needs to come straight to the guardhouse and wait for me here... Teleport, you understand? None of the humans can know she's here. Tell her more than you've told me if you have to; just get her here! We'll need her help to get out of Normandy without the humans noticing us."

Lyra seemed to think this over. "I don't know why you sent the guards away."

"Because I don't want them to notice you leaving here twice." Amber focused her concentration intently on Lyra, her magic flaring bright green from a horn that wasn't there. Such a spell normally cost Amber a great deal of her reserve, living as she did on the little sips of love she drew from her inferiors and the ponies of Equestria. But the strange, vanishing Unicorn had filled her reserve so completely that it cost her almost nothing to transform, shifting in just a few seconds into an exact copy of Lyra. Everything was perfect, from the cutie mark right down to the voice.

Of course this meant her current identity was destroyed. Even if Lyra didn't know what the magic meant, somepony who did would eventually hear the story and her present reputation would be destroyed. Had the life of her family not been on the line, there was no way she would have been so reckless. "See? Secret magic." It was strange to hear the shift in her voice, though that wasn't nearly so strange as feeling a new body.

The strangest part was the missing wings. After being Amber Sands for so long she felt a little dizzy to have them suddenly missing. It felt good to have a horn again, though less good to be so thin and weak. Lyra wouldn't have lasted long in the guard without some serious improvements to her personal exercise regimen.

"Woah." Lyra's eyes were wide, though she didn't flee.

"Do you understand the plan? You're going to wait five minutes in this room; long enough for me to get into the human building without galloping there. Then you're going to look nice and calm as you walk out of Normandy. Once you get over the hill, gallop like Cerberus is on your hooves and get to Princess Twilight as quick as those skinny legs can run."

"Yeah." She still looked confused, dazed. "I got it."

"Good." Without looking back, Amber fled from the room, making sure to close the door behind her. She found the basket waiting at the door and lifted it in her magic, taking a moment to get her supernatural grip steady before she started to move. Levitation was simple magic, for which she was fortunate. Nopony stopped her as she cantered back toward the building Lyra had come from.

Perhaps another pony would have to ask for directions, but other ponies couldn't feel the emotions drawing them onward. There was only one pony in the building, and it would not be hard to find her. Even through the walls Amber could sense the fear, the anxiety, with sour twinges of disgust mixed in around the edges.

The doors opened automatically, with the whir of electric motors and magnetic wheels. A male secretary sat at one desk and a guard at another, though Amber barely saw the beautiful holographic model of Earth that floated in the center of the room. "Back so soon?" the secretary asked, sounding amused. "You looked like you were in a real hurry when you left here!"

She nodded, forcing her face into the mask of comfortable deception that was so easy for her. She held the basket up a little higher for him to see. "I've got breakfast for the Admiral! After everything she's shared with me it seems only fair." She hadn't heard Lyra speak all that often, but then she was fairly sure the secretaries here probably hadn't either.

"She's a lucky woman then." His eyes moved over the bread with a level of desire completely inappropriate to a mere meal. "If she doesn't do something with the leftovers, I'd love if you brought them up here for us." He gestured, and the guard relaxed, though the armored soldier didn't say anything, face lost in the mirrored reflection of his helmet.

Amber nodded. "You bet!" She left without delay, moving as briskly as she could without seeming rushed. She did have steaming bread, and the pretense of getting it to the admiral as quickly as possible. She couldn't help as her mind swam with dark thoughts. If Alexi was even half as busy as Amber herself was there was no way nopony had showed up to see her during the time it had taken Lyra to retrieve her. It was her one comfort that she heard no screams and felt no unusual surges of emotion from around her. She would have felt it if Alexi had been discovered, right?

The door seemed not to be guarded, though Amber could see at least three discretely stationed marines watching as she went in. She made sure to carry the bread as high as possible, even opening the cloth a little to be sure they could see there was nothing dangerous inside. None of them stopped her, and the door wasn't locked. The heavy wood took a little more magic than a glance might've suspected, but it was far from out of reach with the phenomenal reserve Amber was running on now.

"I thought you were going to get help, Lyra." There was a short hallway leading into a wider space beyond, and Amber couldn't see the speaker until she had exited the hallway. The office itself was large and tastefully furnished, with photographs of Earth on the walls and mementos on the desk. "Breakfast isn't going to stop Samil from killing me." There was no strange accent to the Equestrian now, but that did not stop Amber from recognizing the speaker's voice immediately.

Soon she had come into the room proper and could put a face to the voice. It was an earth pony, her mane and tail as bright as Second Chance's had ever been, her coat the gray of a shadow cast on lunar soil. Her mane was a little shorter than the current fashion among mares, her tail poorly kept, but there could be no mistaking her. It was strange to see an adult pony with no cutie mark like this, though not so strange that Amber wasted much time staring at her.

There was no overcoming how absolutely bizarre it felt to look into those eyes, unchanged except perhaps in size after all these years. She stood on shaky hooves, leaning against a wall for support. Amber couldn't help but be a little impressed to see her standing so soon after her transformation that her uniform was still crumpled on the floor near to where she stood. She imagined Alexi had spent every moment since she had woken up trying to figure out how to move again.

Amber's eyes took in the windows with curtains drawn, the strange device strapped to one of Alexi's hooves, and the contents of the closet scattered in a disordered mess. Whatever had happened, it had been done with enough forethought that some preparations had evidently been made first. She burned with curiosity to know why, but didn't dare ask. There was no time to waste with stupid questions.

"She did get help." Amber normally couldn't afford to waste magic like this, but with as much as she had stocked away it was only a small sacrafice to force her form back to normal for a moment, black chitin glinting and transparent wings sparkling against her back. Before Alexi could get a good look, she returned to her Lyra disguise, keeping her expression as honest-looking as possible as she said, "I'm here on special assignment from Princess Celestia. I'm going to get you out."

Ponies had discovered Amber's true nature before. Always it was fear she felt from them, often mixed with disgust or revulsion. She felt nothing of the sort from Alexi, though. From Alexi, who apparently did not connect her with the changelings attacking Equestria or simply did not care, Amber felt only a wave of relief and trust, complete trust as only ponies knew how to give. The surge of emotion was more than enough to replenish what energy Amber had used to briefly reveal herself. It was love, focused directly on her and not on the mere idea of a guard.

"I wish I was as far-seeing as Celestia," Alexi said, taking a tentative step away from the wall. Her legs shook a little, but held her weight. How much help would she need to move? "Maybe I would've built an escape tunnel. Or better yet, shot the bastard Samil while he slept." She looked down at herself, and there was the disgust again. She sighed. "What's your plan?"

Amber did not pause to think, did not show even a sign she hadn't been completely sure from the start. That didn't mean she actually was sure her plan would work. This was going to be much harder than impersonating Lyra. "Magic." She sighed. "Lots of magic." She glanced around the room, eyes scanning quickly over the photographs. "Do you have any pictures of the ordinary soldiers, the ones in armor with their faces covered?"

"I, uh... Sure." She lifted a hoof and pointed at a little photo on the desk. Amber darted over to it, studying it carefully. It was much harder to copy something she hadn't ever seen before; nevermind that she had to copy an alien creature wearing complicated clothing. She had all the power in the world just now, but power did not equate to the skill to use it competently.

She concentrated with all her might on the strange bipedal form, the armor, the hairless body beneath. The room glowed and burned with greenish fire as she struggled. Her body cracked and stretched on the verge of a successful transformation, straining towards her goal, Then the magic collapsed, came crashing down around her and dissolved, sending little green tendrils everywhere as her body snapped painfully back into shape, like a rubber band stretched just a little too far. She winced, sucking in a breath of air in a pained hiss.

"I take it that wasn't what you were going for," Alexi observed from nearby, not entirely without compassion. "I don't mean to press, but we only have another fifteen minutes or so before things get difficult." She held up her hoof, the one with the strange device strapped to the side.

It was made of two distinct components, an intricately-worked piece of metal and plastic on the back that looked human in design, and a front section connected with a number of contacts with crystals and runes like something made in some unicorn's workshop. The rear section lit up as she held up her hoof. "Is that right, Truth?"

A voice spoke from the roughly rectangular machine, like the squawking of a gramophone but without any of the distortion. At least, she would've thought that if she didn't have all of Chance's memories, which included technologies far more sophisticated."Thirteen minutes eleven seconds. Say the word and I can extend the duration, if you need more time."

"Absolutely not." There was no delay for her, no indecision. This might not be a woman anymore, but this new mare's personality seemed to have changed very little. "It would be problematic if I died, but worse if we act after Samil does. I would rather not survive than be the only survivor."

The emotion of the voice on the other end seemed completely unchanged. "Very well. You have Twelve minutes forty-eight seconds."

Alexi set her hoof back down, looking up to Amber. "If we can't get out before then, we're dead."

"I know we don't have time to talk, but could you at least tell me what we're up against? It would be much easier to get you out safely if I knew what I had to hide you from, even if the why would take too long to explain."

Alexi seemed to consider, though only for a second. "An important human in this facility is about to betray all of us. He's going to try to take control of people's minds, all at once. We don't know what he's going to do once he succeeds; maybe just kill everyone, maybe worse. In twelve minutes, I'm going to release a pre-recorded message warning everyone of the plot and showing how to resist his influence." She gestured at her body, and the disgust briefly flared again. "If he somehow discovers what I've done, he'll know immediately why and might set his plan in motion before my warning can be sent. If I'm not gone by the time it is sent though, he will certainly kill me, and my people won't have the leadership they need."

Amber nodded. She had another plan; though she didn't like it as much since it depended more on Alexi's acting ability than her own. "Okay, hold still a sec. I'm going to use a few spells on you. Don't worry, they're just illusions. Nothing painful or permanent." She concentrated a moment, but these spells were hardly complicated. One brief surge of magical energy and Alexi's coat was the exact double of Amber's own. Another brief flash and the mane too changed. Of course such basic color-changing spells couldn't create a horn where there hadn't been any, or make her look less like the strong earth pony that she really was and more like the delicate artist. Still, she guessed humans might be able to miss such simple differences easily. It was a third spell to copy Lyra's cutie mark onto to Alexi's flank, made easier by the fact she didn't have one yet.

"There. You're going to be the second Lyra impersonator of the day. And me..." She extended a hoof. "Give me your machine a second. I wasn't wearing that in, they might notice." Alexi looked about to object, but Amber hardened her gaze. "I'll return it as soon as we're out, honest."

"Lyra helped me put it on." Alexi's voice was bitter. "Not sure if I could work the straps. The manipulator won't target itself, and I don't have one of those horn things."

"To be honest, I expected you'd be a pegasus. Not that flying out the window would've been a subtle getaway..." Amber's own magic made quick work of the straps, and she was soon tightening the device on her own right foreleg. There was a slight tingle as it made contact with her skin, two metal plates on the back like electrical contacts. "Thaumic force-manipulator interface complete." said a cool voice, different than the first. This sounded mechanical, artificial.

"Why?" Alexi was fumbling with something on the ground, kicking her uniform awkwardly into the closet and pulling the door shut with her mouth. There was still a piece of it at her hooves, though.

Amber opened her mouth to speak, then shut it again when she realized her answer would involve a great deal she didn't want to say. Of course the reason was Alexi's personality; her sense of command and love of flight. But as a guard Amber Sands did not know any of those things. "Nevermind."

Of course this next spell took more of her concentration, but it was easier than changing into a bipedal alien in complex mechanical armor. A little bending of the light around her, and she disappeared from the room, far more completely invisible than any active camouflage. There was no shimmer in the air, or distortion around her curved edges as the active systems failed to compensate completely. She spoke though, in order to show Alexi that she hadn't teleported. If only she had known how to do that. "I'm going to follow you as closely as possible. Walk calmly out and over to the pony guard building. There should be rescue waiting."

"Sure." Alexi's confidence was returning. She kicked the thing at her hooves, and it slid over to Amber. It was the hat. "But if you're going to be invisible, you might as well bring this. I'm going to want it later."

Beneath the net, the dragon's body spasmed and twitched. Applejack's HUD lit up with electrical warnings as she looked toward it, lightning crackling along the metal fibers. Behind her the rest of the unit was emerging from concealment, raising their rifles into the air and cheering over the radio. Applejack cheered right along with them, though she never took her eyes and aim from the monster. Her own faith in the strength of this net hadn't yet passed a practical test.

Cigaal stood directly in front of the dragon's mouth, completely unmoved as the creature tried repeatedly to claw its way out or raise its mouth to blast him with fire. His helmet retracted and he didn't even blink as the huge creature tore massive holes in the earth, or as huge limbs strained toward him. His dark features looked on with contempt. "You waste your energy," he growled, his Equestrian almost as deep as the dragon's voice. White teeth flashed from dark skin as he did, darker by far than the olive scales on the dragon. "The net responds to motion. Move and it will shock you. Twitch and it will shock you. Try to use magic and it will shock you. I promise your brain will liquify before the batteries are drained."

The dragon ignored him, roaring in frustration and anger and struggling on. At least for another few seconds. As Applejack watched, its motions became more sluggish, and it eventually collapsed, breathing heavily. Only when it ceased to struggle did the net relent, though the tightly constricted fibers didn't just vanish. It was still trapped. Slowly, the beast cast its eyes around. Eventually it found Applejack, and turned its attention on her. There was more hatred in that expression than Applejack had ever seen in one place, not since King Sombra's return. "Release me!" bellowed the monster, its voice so loud it shook Applejack even within her helmet. "And I will grant you a swift death!"

Applejack was not a fearful pony, but even so it took her a moment to collect her courage enough to speak. "I reckon you're asking the wrong pony," she called, her voice nervous. "I ain't the one in charge here." She gestured at Cigaal. "Ask the captain if you wanna' get out."

The huge body laughed, though not so vigorously that he triggered the net. "Slaves and less than slaves do not fool us, pony of Equestria! We have no dealings with lesser creatures. Do not think because you treat your livestock as though it could think that we will do likewise."

Applejack didn't reply, just looked to the captain with something like surprise and awe on her face. Was this dragon blind? Did it really not know who had built these weapons? Did it really not know who had designed this armor? Who had got them here this quickly? Applejack was glad that most humans seemed to share the Equestrian idea that there were no "inferior" races. If they didn’t, she wasn't so sure they would have thought too favorably about her people.

"You have made your offer, dragon." Cigaal made no sign he had even heard the monster's words, no sign that he cared. "Unfortunately I hold the gun." He rested his hands on the rear of the net-gun's control. "So I tell you my offer. Tell me everything you know about dragon troop movements. Tell me how many of you there are and where they are. Do this, and my men will release you. We will permit you to fly out from this land and leave this war. We are not equipped to transport prisoners, so if you do not cooperate I will order my men to shoot you."

The dragon turned its fierce eyes on the captain, and suddenly lunged at him. Applejack reared back in surprise, but Cigaal did not flinch. The human had apples of steel. His trust in the net was not misplaced, however. The dragon only got itself further entangled, twitching all over with electrical spasms. Instead of retreating, Cigaal took one calm step forward and reared back, then struck with a kick as swift as the power-assisted armor could manage. Applejack had seen such kicks fracture stone and shatter heavy wooden doors. Dragons were tough, but evidently not tough enough. There was a harsh cracking sound from the creature's right leg, and bits of broken scale crumbled away like powder. The dragon howled, moaned, then lay still.

"The slave... will be... roasted alive for laying claw on the firstborn... Stripped of meat and left to die in the sun." The pride was all gone from the voice now, though. It was fear instead, defensive.

"Does this look like the face of a slave?" Cigaal's voice was deep, his arms folded across his chest.

"Weaker even than a slave," the dragon answered. "You are degenerate, soft. Our slaves have hard scales and tough hides. Our slaves know their place. Take away pony armor and pony weapons and you are nothing!"

"Troops," Cigaal repeated, his voice cold. "Where? How many? What are your plans for the next offensive? We know every dragon is privileged to some of this information. Speak what you know or die."

The huge reptile laughed again, though it sounded forced and a little raspy. "Father was right, he promised this war would be short and easily won. The Equestrian's pets would crumble to ash before our flames. The slaves before the slaves, primitive and feeble."

Cigaal smiled, and it wasn't the friendly smile she sometimes saw around the camp. It was a harsh and predatory expression, bright teeth glinting. "This war was lost for you the moment human hands lifted a weapon. You think we are slaves? You think we are weak? You know nothing of this enemy, dragon-creature. You think this war is with ponies? Not so. Ponies have fought wars with you before, and they let you live."

"Humans have never let their enemy live, dragon-creature. Our planet once had a competing species, also moving towards intelligence. We killed every single one of them. Dangerous animals like you once hunted us, and carried away our young. We killed every single one, except for those we put into protected areas to study. There was not enough food, so we took the plants and unraveled their genetic code, until we had enough that hunger was dead. Diseases attacked to weaken and kill, until one by one we made them all extinct."

"This war is lost for you, dragon-creature. Your kind are ruthless. Ponies are intelligent. Humans are both. The only enemy we have left unslain is ourselves. It doesn't matter if you hold Equestrian cities now. It doesn't matter if you think you have enslaved them." He gestured at the net. "I give you this last chance to surrender. Tell me the truth that will save your life, or die." He looked over his shoulder towards Makoto's lean form. "If the next words out of his mouth aren't the strength and location of their troops, shoot him." Makoto had been holding careful aim on the creature's head during this entire conversation, so the command didn't provoke anything more than a nod from her. She was ready.

Applejack willed the dragon to be wise and listen, to give them the information they needed. Not only would it save the lives of many ponies, but it would save the dragon's life as well.

The dragon did not see it that way. "We are gods!" It cackled, voice low and confident again. "A slave cannot kill me!"

"May your soul fly quickly to God," Cigaal said, his voice suddenly quiet. Then he turned his back.

There was a harsh crack from over Applejack's shoulder, and a split-second later the dragon's head exploded. The dragon spasmed and fell over sideways, twisting for several seconds as the net triggered its various muscles. Eventually it lay still, missing most of its head.

As it turned out, a slave could kill a god.

Chance swam through the database like a fish in an unfamiliar sea. The sheer volume of data here was enormous. It was hard to say for certain, but from the number of records and publications here, Chance would not have been surprised if this computer had been in use for thousands of years. The more she looked at the machines around her, the more she saw the evidence of patchwork repairs and part replacements, so much so that she wondered just how much of the original components had survived. It was true her people had built their machines to last, but it was frightening to imagine just how long they had.

Of course, she wasn't here as a historian. As much as she would have loved to know how this massive science vessel had come to be buried beneath the soil of an Equestrian jungle, that was not what she was here to investigate.

She found what she was looking for in the "rebridging" experiments, which had taken place after something called "the fall." There was little time to spare to learn what those things might mean, not when she had discovered what they were looking for.

From what she could gather, these humans had understood magic as a form of radiation, the way light and gravity were understood. Through careful study, these humans had learned how to produce and tune it using compounds native to Equestria that had never formed on Earth; crystals that did for magic what magnets did for electricity. If one could get far enough from Equus to escape its natural magical field, it would be possible to open a gateway back to Earth large enough for a capital ship. Apparently it had been done, but the ship that had traveled there discovered they were actually some time in Earth's ancient past. The ship had returned to Equestria, unwilling to risk whatever temporal consequences might come if they tried to interact in any way with ancient humanity.

That seemed to suggest that the technique wasn't as temporally unstable as the other gating methods humans had developed. If they found this equipment in storage somewhere and loaded it onto the Fury, they could open a doorway and the Aegis would be waiting on the other side. She wondered if any were in storage here, and began searching the inventory when she heard Scootaloo's voice from down the hall. "Chance... Pip!" she was calling as she ran.

Pip could evidently see what Chance could not, because as Chance neared the doorway Pip got out of the way. Chance had enough good sense to not move into the space he had just vacated, and good thing too. Scootaloo came hurtling to a stop in that exact spot, her wings still blurring with their motion and hooves pounding. She had been flying, which for her usually meant bouncing along the surface of the ground like a stone skipping on a pond.

"Hey Scoots!" Chance grinned. "This place has everything we need. We'll need to find a rootkey somewhere, but once we do we just have to put a few new machines onto the Fury-"

Her friend acted like she couldn't even hear her. "We found someone. He's still alive."

"What?" Pip and Chance asked in unison, voices disbelieving. Only Chance continued, though. "No way someone could live down here all these years." Scootaloo hadn't said "somepony" either, which suggested Luna's remark hadn't been formality or futility. Maybe she had already known what they would find. Luna had seen her dreams before she even had a body, hadn't she?

"There was..." Scootaloo was panting, but after another moment she managed to squeak, "one of those containers, cryogenics. Only there were all these machines, and they wouldn't let us in! But there was someone they were trying to revive. It looked human!"

"Show us the way, then."

She did, through the hallways and passages of this strange complex. At least their guide had a great sense of direction; never once did she show any sign of getting lost or any doubt about where she was taking them. This part of the facility was not large, and before too long they had reached Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, both of whom were waiting outside a little arched doorway and looking nervous. "In there," Scootaloo whispered.

Chance didn't stop; she walked straight past her friends and through the open doorway. She recognized it at once as some sort of medical bay, not at all unlike those found on ships of her own day. Of course there were no living doctors. Her own people vastly preferred the company of real, living humans, though of course most surgeries were robotically controlled. There were three pods set into the wall on the back of the room, two empty and drained of fluid and a third that was still dripping wet.

There was a single operating table, and several medical machines zoomed around it, attempting a fairly serious bit of medical work. It was hard to get a clear look at the subject, but it was clearly a human male. It seemed he was the victim of severe injuries, far worse than anything that could be survived without such modern medical technology. Flesh was burned and necrotic across much of his body. She could see exposed bones and thick fluids seeping. The air was thick with the taste of dark magic, and it was almost harder to stomach than merely seeing the terrible injuries.

Chance didn't get much closer, fully conscious of the security robots also waiting in the room. Any closer, and she might be seen as interfering. No doubt they had politely shown her other friends out of the room when they had tried. Machines whirred and scalpels cut. Foam and liquid cell medium poured down transparent tubes. So this was Avalon... or what had become of him, anyway. Had these injuries been inflicted when he had confronted Luna? But if that was the case, why had he waited to treat them until now?

"What are you doing?" She heard the whisper from behind and turned, unsurprised to see Pip was standing in the doorway.

"Watching," she replied. "I think this is Avalon. I want to be here when he wakes up."

He nodded, though he didn't actually follow her inside. She couldn't blame him for that. Whatever else these robots might be, they were not restricted to the tools used by Federation doctors. Even as she watched, they installed at least three cybernetic implants. Not that limb replacement would have worked in this situation regardless; it took days to grow complex organs and whole limbs, and that equipment was delicate indeed.

Hours passed, and the others eventually moved back to their exploring. Chance gave instruction on where they were likely to find the components they were looking for, though that wouldn't get them admin access and thus access to the software that it required. Somehow she doubted Truth could just play around with magic circuits until he figured out how it worked.

But Chance didn't leave, though she did doze a little, slipping into a state just enough like sleep that she felt drowsy afterwords but not nearly enough to practice Oneiromancy. Not that she had practiced at all since the war started...

It was irrational to think anyone would be conscious after such a complicated surgery. Perhaps she had simply slept longer than she first suspected, because the next thing she knew there was a voice coming from deeper in the room, a coughing, raspy croak. "Pony... unicorn. I didn't sit through that just to die alone."

Chance stirred, shaking off the grogginess and getting to her hooves. The surgeon robots were gone, stored inert in their cubbies on the walls. The protective androids were still here, though like Chance had been until a moment ago they seemed to be in some sort of power-conservation state.

"I didn't think it would be a pony," came the voice from across the room. "All this time, and I thought I would see the face of my own kind before I died."

Chance closed the distance slowly. Though the cameras on the defense drones pivoted to watch her, none moved, and she was able to stand before the speaker.

He was not a diamond dog, not even close. His hair was gray and white with only traces of brown, his face lined and his body feeble. The worst thing to see was the way some of his veins seemed almost to glow with sickly light beneath his skin, closest to the implants. Somehow she doubted it was the implants making him glow that way. His right arm and leg had both been replaced with rudimentary implants, more skeletal imitations of limbs than the nearly-human models with synthetic skin and too-perfect proportions. He wasn't naked anymore, but had been dressed in a plain-looking jumpsuit, probably a standard model uniform from the ship. He wore glasses, though one of the lenses was missing and the frames looked like something straight out of a museum. The aura of dark magic was still upon him, though it didn't fill the room as it had. No doubt that flesh had been cut away.

This was unmistakably the owner of the voice that they had heard earlier in that trap. The accent was the same. "You should've seen me a decade ago, then. I looked way more human when everyone called me Dr. Colven in Luna-7's gating department." She forced a smile. "But I am a pony now. If my sister was here you could- wait. Maybe not her either anymore." She shrugged. "I can take a look at that spell for you- the one that's rotting your body away, I mean."

Avalon made no sign he had heard that last part. His expression grew intense, the only part of him that showed no sign of age. "You are from the other colony? The Federation facility? Your name is Colven, and you are a doctor." He shook his head. "My mind must be going already. No pony would know of such things." He was still sitting on the surgical table, though the back was raised high enough to make it almost seem like a chair. His hands never strayed from a large object resting in his lap; Chance could see now what it was; a revolver.

"Well, everypony just calls me Second Chance these days." She shrugged. "Don't be sure about what I can't do, though. Not only is my English way better than yours, but I think I can save your life." She gestured with her head at the robots against the wall. "Can you let them know I'm not attacking you?"

"I wasn't supposed to survive... Just bought time... Must have dragged me back here when she left... Hope they made it." Was it old age speaking in confusion to her now, or the spell? Dark magic could do awful things; rarely did those slain by it remain dead for long. For someone so old and so weak, it was possible his mind was already slipping into the void. Of course, this spell didn't seem like an active curse, or else she wouldn't have stood a chance. Maybe Twilight Sparkle could unweave an Alicorn's curse, but Chance was only her faithful student. Also, she wasn't an Alicorn.

"Can you tell your robots not to attack me?" she asked again, louder. "I'm going to try and dispel what's left of the magic killing you."

"W-what?" Again his eyes focused on her, seemed to see her. He gestured to the robots in a way that made it seem like reflex. "Sure. Anything, sure. I'm glad not to die alone, Colven-doctor. Even if you only say what I want to hear because my imagination conjured you here."

Chance smiled faintly. "Princess Luna says she's sorry." Of course that got his attention, though she didn't hear what he might've said next. She closed her eyes and concentrated intently on the magic that was at this exact moment tearing his flesh apart. Cryogenics had apparently slowed the spell and severing all the affected limbs had certainly helped, but the magic would reassert itself within a few hours and finish its work. He had only so many limbs left to sever.

She knew very little about dark magic, and what little she did know was all theory and no practice. Reanimating the dead, compacts with the Outside, mastering the minds of others. By its symptoms, this appeared to be some sort of potent unmaking spell, intense enough that it had outlasted a thousand years in ice and surgical removal and perhaps the Nanophage actively fighting it at this moment. But then, Chance couldn't be sure this man actually had the Nanophage, not with how old and weak he seemed. But why would anyone choose not to have it?

But she didn't need to know the specifics of this spell to undo it, not really. In many ways magic of all kinds acted just like electricity. A spell might impart a "charge" to a given subject at a specific time, but that spell was really just a pattern of energy that could be disrupted or ground out. The running spell was not the natural state of the universe, and a little entropy correctly applied could turn even a stable spell to nothing. The only trouble was that dark magic drew its power not from the physical world, but the fathomless Abyss. That was what made dark sorcerers like Sombra so potent; they didn't have to rely on the energy-channeling properties of their own bodies when they didn't have to be the ones to supply the fuel for their own spells.

She couldn't ground out the spell like she would with any other, using her body alone. If the Outside continued to pour energy into the spell, it could pour into her own body quickly enough to do some pretty horrible things. She had to find the thread binding this spell to the Abyss and tear it apart with a spell of her own, and then the spell could be dissolved.

It took little probing to locate the thread, not when she already had so much personal experience with the Outside. Even after all these centuries, she found the cord tying poor Avalon to the Abyss was strong indeed, woven blacker than night and every bit as strong as Nightmare Moon's fiercest hatred. "This might hurt," she mumbled, her horn beginning to glow as she focused the energy it would take to sever the thread. This was probably about to be the most difficult spell she had ever attempted. Too bad Twilight wasn't here to do it for her.

"You don't want to do that."

The voice was so quiet, so much like her own, that Chance mistook it for her own thoughts and stopped at once. She was, after all, in the habit of listening to herself. It would have been somewhat insane to act any other way. Yet, she couldn't think of any reason why this might not be a good idea. Other than the fact the spell might backlash and kill her, or the robots might think she was attacking their master and put her down. But neither thought slowed her down. Chance hadn't worried about her own life since coming to Equestria. Every moment was more than she had expected. This was already her second chance.

The voice tried something else. "You don't want to cut yourself off from the only source of real information you've ever had on the Outside, do you? Think of what you could do if you knew what was going to happen in the war."

As much as the voice seemed adept at pretending to be her own thoughts, it couldn't say such things without provoking an immediate reaction. Chance was many things, but warlock was not one of them. Never, never, never, would she think about trucking with the Abyss no matter what was at stake. She had been there. Instead of pacifying her, the words of the unknown voice pushed her into a sudden rage. Her horn began to glow visibly, flickering with the cleansing light of the moon. This was one of Luna's spells.

She did not respond to the voice. Did not give it even the dignity of her attention as best she could. That didn't mean she could stop hearing it, though. By scrutinizing the spell in preparation for dispelling it, she had made contact enough for such ephemeral things as demons to travel. "I won't lie to you! I never lied to Luna; all the words I spoke to her were true. Was it wrong of her to want justice? It isn't wrong of me to want Order."

That did it. Chance released the spell. It was not a hot flame, not like sunlight. But sunlight was ill-suited to such work, since it was as likely to kill the patient as it was to cleanse the infection. Luna's magic was more compassionate; after all, was the moon not rightly considered the source and judge of sanity and lunacy? What was less sane and more sickly than a spirit of the endless night?

The results were not as Chance had expected. Instead of banishing the spirit, instead of even weakening the connection, she felt herself lifted bodily into the air and thrown against the wall. The concrete and steel didn't break or bend when she struck, for which she was grateful since her bones probably would've broken first, but she still twitched and spasmed as she collapsed.

The room seemed to fill with the sound of booming laughter, as her eyes danced with the flashes of light inflicted by the painful impact to her head. In the flashes she saw a figure standing in the empty space in front of her, as though formed of the energy of her own spell in flickering moonlight. Long legs, a wickedly pointed horn, and flaring wings. In those eyes was a hatred without boundary; a night that would never end. "Mortal how is it you think to wield my own magic against me? Did you come to me for a swift death?"

"You have no power." Chance coughed, forcing herself to unsteady hooves. "You aren't here; nopony summoned you."

The alien figure, Alicorn without feature beyond its darkness, only laughed down at her. "You think not, Kimberly?" She gestured, and Avalon raised his arm and pointed it at her. The revolver was bulky and old-fashioned, but looked deadly nonetheless. "I have power over my own." The laugh was cold and cruel. "Doesn't matter where you grow; our favored sons and daughters all. We had no real need to interfere in the affairs of your world; you would have destroyed yourselves in time."

Chance did not know how this creature had managed to connect her present form with the mind that had traveled briefly through the Abyss that stretched endlessly between worlds. This spirit was goading her, she knew that. She ought to try another spell, ought to strike out again, but she didn't. "That isn't true!" she roared. "There was peace for half a century before Outsiders interfered! All the world's nuclear weapons had been changed to fuel for our reactors. Another few decades and we would've had an interstellar starship!"

"There wasn't anything you couldn't turn into a weapon. Every chemical, every atomic bond." Another laugh, just as harsh and cruel. "Fear not, filly! The races of this world will serve us for nothing in the days Order comes at last, but humanity will not be erased. You really are excellent warriors. The best there have ever been. Even now you help us bring Order at last to this world. You are so easy to control! So easy to manipulate! You thought to threaten the inevitability of our arrival; you cannot. No world escapes. This is how it has always been. This is how it must always be."

Chance was so angry, so afraid, she had almost forgotten she wasn't alone. Could Avalon see and hear the other half of this exchange? Had he been watching, or had he thought Chance completely insane for shouting such strange things towards him. There was no trace of weakness or senility in his voice now though, and he didn't seem to be talking to Chance. "You think we're weak?"

Slowly, as though he were something completely beneath her notice, the demon turned to look at him. "You made no pact or bargain. You stood against my servant and yet I own you, heart and soul."

Sweat poured down Avalon's face. His hands shook, and when he spoke it was with great effort. As though each word was a fresh battle. "You are wrong... Always have been wrong." He pulled back the hand with the revolver. "Let Equestria judge my contributions and say they are not good."

The figure of starless night and magic unmade seemed to grow taller, flickering like a flame made from shadow. Was that anger? Fear? Did such beings even have emotions as Chance understood them? Whatever else might be true, it had no power to compel Avalon anymore. Though his mind and will seemed to be completely engaged, he was not forced to point the gun at Chance. Evidently fighting great resistance, he pushed it until it rested against his temple. "You fear death!" raged the voice. "You would not damn yourself to oblivion when you could live forever in our service! All mortal creatures fear death!"

With shaking hands dripping with sweat Avalon pulled back the hammer. His eyes seemed to see through the creature now, looking directly at Chance. "The ponies... Do they remember me kindly?"

She nodded, her eyes suddenly burning hot. She looked away, knowing as sure as she knew anything what would come next. Avalon knew enough about magic to know what would happen when he died. Knew he really would belong to this creature if he passed with this magic on him. If that happened, it was unlikely Chance could have done anything to fight him. Such powerful creatures needed stronger magic than she wielded.

She waited for the scream as the demon's binding to the physical world was shattered, waited for the sound of a shot and the thump of a life extinguished as a limp body struck the ground.

It never came. There was a brief warmth, as of a powerfully intense spell, a flash of light that briefly overwhelmed the artificial illumination on the ceiling. The voice was soft and loving and familiar, for it was the same voice that spoke in all her dreams. "My sins will cause no more deaths." Chance turned and saw Princess Luna standing in the room, resplendent in her regalia and armor of adamant. She had one hoof raised, and with it she pushed the gun away. "Be still." She drew the gun from his grasp with gentle magic, and he did not resist. With a snap of force, Luna shattered the gun into its constituent pieces and let them fall. Bolts and springs and bits of pipe clattered to the ground at her hooves.

It was over.

Author's Notes:

So, as we wind up towards this adventure's conclusion (5-10 chapters from now anyway), I've started to think about the next story. One idea that's been burning in my mind would be a short story about Avalon (no more novels for me for awhile I think), from his perspective a thousand years ago, being raised in a middle-ages Equestria as a "diamond dog," the friends he made, and how he ended up becoming an inventor and trying (obviously without success) to stop Nightmare Moon.

Would that be something people would be interested in reading? It wouldn't be a direct prequel or sequel, since aside from what we've already seen in this story there probably wouldn't be much overlap between the stories. A thousand years and all that. Just curious to get people's input.

The other idea I had was to write a little midquel, developing more of Chance's childhood with the CMC. It would probably be called "Science Fair" or somesuch, and focus on a single week-long period with a chapter for each day leading up to a science fair. Very slice-of-life, nothing like the danger and intrigue and adventure we can expect from the one about Avalon. Preferences? I might very well write them both, but the order in which I write them is presently quite plastic.