"For that one fraction of a second, you were open to options you had never considered. That is the exploration that awaits you. Not mapping stars and studying nebulae, but charting the unknown possibilities of existence."
Q, Star Trek: The Next Generation - All Good Things.

"The enemy of my enemy is a problem for later - right now they might be useful."
Ciaphas Cain, Warhammer 40,000.

***

New Manehatten colony, February 23rd, 2030 - 'Avatar' Earth (colonised area).

Hard Hat trotted through the open field as Earth's sun shone above him, giving a greeting as he began his long walk to work - it was to be busy day for everypony on Applebloom's payroll to construct the new houses for any coming settlers.

It wasn't that hard for him to adjust, all things considered. He had lived in the upstate countryside back when he was human, and all this was just upstate New York with some more green to it. Sure, it would be hard work to get the place up to the old standards, but nothing was impossible with enough hard work and dedication.

In fact, he could wager a month's paycheck that -

S-so t-terrible… s-so m-much loss…

The Converted stopped in his tracks, his eyes went wide as he tried to find what the source of the voice was.

'Am I just hearing things?' Hard Hat pondered, before turning to resume -

A-All t-this pain… t-too m-much… i-it h-hurts…

That time Hard Hat knew that he wasn't hearing things - he could feel a pull. Somepony must have been hurting badly; it was probably a Unicorn that was blindsided in Earth's naturally occurring magic.

The Converted stallion trotted over to find a nearby tree atop a hill. Under the tree was a Unicorn Stallion in a black vest resting against the base - his eyes were bloodshot and tears were running down his face.

'He must have been the one reaching out,' the Converted thought, eyeing the stallion. 'I better see if he hasn't had a stroke or something.'

Clearing his throat, Hard Hat approached the unicorn. "'Scuse me, sir - you alright?"

The unicorn didn't budge, he just seemed to stare out into space with his mouth hanging out.

Frowning, Hard Hat got closer and put a hoof to him. "Sir, can you hear me?"

The Converted waited for any sign for movement, any response, when one of the Stallion's eyes moved and looked at his general direction - it seemed to scan him from up to bottom.

N-no cutie m-mark.

Hard Hat's eyes brows furrowed, "Could you stop doing that? It's -"

"Converted…" the stallion rasped, both eyes were focused on Hard Hat - the Earth Pony stallion took a step back… this guy was giving him the chills.

"Uh yeah… what does that have to do -" Hard Hat started to speak when suddenly, he felt an intense pain in his head.

Poor victim, I will set you free; no more will you have to be forced to feel… 'happy'.

Somehow, Hard Hat found he couldn't so much as scream as his mind was pulled apart at the seams…

***

"It's okay, don't try to say anything… you're free now," the Unicorn whispered, as both his ears bled and the Newfoal's heart stopped. "That evil Alicorn isn't going to keep you in chains anymore. Don't worry."

Such information he started to grasp from the Newfoal - wait, no… Converted's mind showed some information on this world and its evil Alicorn. What he had seen from the Avatar's mind when he had met him in Boston had fueled his curiosity, and given him a desire to come here.

He didn't know why - maybe he had thought he could fix something, or find allies, or tear something apart with his bare hands…

What was I thinking? he thought to himself. What was I doing?

Something felt strange - wrong even. Like his mind was flickering, and different bits of memory were tapping away at his head like a hammer and chisel, taking bits of him away until there was… nothing. Suddenly, he remembered nothing - and his mind frantically grasped at straws, trying to find something, anything to cling onto.

Who am I, even? he thought softly. Who -

"Suxen Lleps," a memory spoke. He frowned. Did those two words - apart from sounding silly - mean something? He was sure they did - there was something possessive, like…

A name, he thought. That's my name.

To say a flood of memories returned would be an overstatement, but he did remember more. He had been somewhere, and now he was somewhere else. This somewhere else was filled with things like this Converted (Newfoal): enemies to be fought and killed. He knew that it had been a risk coming here, but Discord (the Foreign Discord some part of his mind added) occupying this world's corrupted Alicorn had allowed him to come undetected and remain relatively safe.

Safe... he was safe. He couldn't say the same for the millions and billions more of innocents that had died because of the Barrier, or those that had died from the war… he could hear it, even now, the droning of a million voices, justice, revenge, justice, revenge… like an ever spiralling descent into insanity.

The dead are strong in this place, and they cry out for vengeance against the cause of their pain. the thought was unbidden, but it was real, and absolute, unable to be ignored or denied.

He took a breath, looking around. Another world… but instead of Equestria being destroyed (TyrantSunBagOfTirekMonstersDemonsEnemies), it was the humans' world that was taken hold by a Tyrant, well most of it anyway. He needed to interfere, he needed to stall them, he needed to do… something - that damn bag would wait, this had more pressing matters that needed his attention…

So much we need to do, so much and so little time, so much to accept, so much to absorb… where to start?

"Where indeed…" Suxen muttered out loud, looking out to the buildings far away. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he realised that maybe he should have been more concerned about the fact that his memories were shattered and the pieces scattered, but he felt surprisingly blase about the whole thing.

After all, it was to save Equestria.

***

Hanger 17, John F. Kennedy Airport, New York. November 16th, 2023 - 'Spectrum' Earth.

After a conversation with President Davis, and a brief moment to see the forces heading to the other Equestria off - Stephan Bauer included, which made Elliot feel sort of sad, since the man had become a good comrade, if not exactly a friend - Marcus Renee went off to have a briefing with some officers (namely Cheerilee and Kellman). Elliot found time, about twenty minutes after was left, momentarily at least, on his own in the hanger - well, there were people milling about, but they were focused on moving things about, and maintaining the portal. Discord - still here - was having a conversation with a few ponies about whatever the hell he was having a conversation about.

"Worried?" a familiar voice asked quietly from near him.

Elliot looked, to see the Doctor - his Doctor - looking up at him with a tired smile.

"Always," Elliot replied quietly, looking back up. "This is all well and good for these people, but…"

"But you want to go home," the Doctor said.

"I'd have asked you to take us back already if I didn't feel like I wanted to help these folks somehow," Elliot said with a slight sigh. "But I've fought alongside them, y'know? I can't just say 'well, ride's here, good luck lads and lasses'."

"Well, you could," the Doctor said, shrugging. "I just don't think you would, would you?"

"Couldn't anyway," Elliot said simply, smiling slightly. "And I guarantee they wouldn’t, either." He paused. "Anyway. I've got a job."

"Finding the Avatar of Light for this world," the Doctor said sagely. Elliot looked down at him in surprise and the older pony smirked. "Kraber does not keep secrets well. I believe by now half the complex has heard of 'David Elliot, the man who punched Celestia's face off'."

Elliot clucked his tongue. "I punched into her skull, and then pulled her face off. There's a difference, y'know." He blanched. "Jesus Christ, I say that very casually."

The Doctor sighed. "I believe we have reached the point where little can disgust us anymore."

"I dunno," Elliot said, smirking. "This place has managed to surprise me quite a bit in that regard. And in other ways, too, mind you."

"True," the Doctor said wistfully. "I believe it surprised me as well. For example, apparently this world's Doctor married Ditzy - well, 'Derpy'."

Elliot looked down at him, a little concerned for his friend. Ditzy was… well, something to a sore spot for the Doctor. He never liked discussing it.

"You ok?" he asked

"Moving on," the Doctor said quietly.

Elliot sighed, looking back up. That was about what he had been expecting, but he owed it to his friend to try - both the Doctor and Ditzy, really.

"Is everyone alright?" he asked, changing the subject. "I assume we won?"

"The Solaminan forces fled London for reasons unknown," the Doctor said quietly. "For us, it had already been weeks since you vanished when I left the Archives. It may have been more in relative terms since then."

Elliot frowned, looking back down at him again. "They… just left?"

"They just left," the Doctor repeated quietly. "And no. We don't know why. Resistance operatives in Equestria report buildup, but… it's not aimed at us. You'd think the prospect of not getting attacked would calm people down, but -"

"She's planning something," Elliot said. "That's obvious."

"But what…?" the Doctor mused.

"Well," Elliot said, flexing a fist. "I've killed one Alicorn. Might as well aim for two. Might actually be able to pull it off if my lucky streak of not coughing my lungs out when I use the power keeps up."

"Indeed," the Doctor said. "Let us hope that it is indeed a streak, and not a fluke. The technology here - if you can call it that - could be helpful in that regard."

"Oh?" Elliot asked.

"Excuse me?" a voice cut in before the Doctor could reply.

Elliot and the Doctor turned, to see Marcus Renee standing nearby. He looked faintly confused, but still smiled slightly when he met Elliot's gaze. Elliot knew Cheerilee had briefly talked with him, filling him in on some details, but he still seemed a bit bemused by it all.

"Marcus Renee," he began with, holding out his hand. "Since we haven't introduced ourselves properly. Better without the bullshit."

Elliot blinked as the man stood there, a slight smirk on his face. Elliot took the hand and smiled, a little uncertainly.

"David Elliot," he said quietly. "You'll have to forgive me, you're…"

"Not quite what you were expecting from me," Marcus replied with a knowing grin. "I get that sometimes."

Elliot's smile grew a little more confident as he released the man's hand. He had a strong grip - this was a man who was confident without arrogance. That was good.

"I was hoping we could go chat in private?" Marcus asked, indicating a small room nearby.

"That's fair," Elliot said. He looked down at the Doctor. "I'll talk later."

"Indeed," the Doctor replied. "I shall take the opportunity to… what's the word? Snoop?"

Elliot chuckled. "You do that, Doc."

The Doctor rolled his eyes and trotted off, and Elliot followed Renee into the little office, hoping that this conversation might prove in some way helpful.

***

Canterlot Palace, Year 2 Anno Harmonia - 'Downtime' Equus.

A tyrant with my face, and now a war to destroy her or be destroyed. This has certainly been… an interesting experience.

Princess Celestia was thinking about war. It wasn't a very fun thought, but then again she hadn't expected it to be, given the fact that she hadn't managed to physically fight in a war for decades - no, centuries.

Is Equestria ready for the burden I am about to place upon it? she wondered to herself. I know my little ponies would walk into the fire in a heartbeat, but Equestria is a peaceful land. Can they really do what they must?

Can I?

"Sister," a voice said from behind her.

Celestia turned to see Luna staring at her, the Alicorn of the Moon looking somber, a reflection of the Sun Diarch's own expression no doubt. After everything Luna had apparently seen, after fighting even a clone of the Tyrant, Celestia couldn't blame her.

"Luna," Celestia said quietly. "How are you?"

"As well as these times allow us to be," Luna said quietly. "The human soldiers are already moving in, and setting up their equipment."

"That is something," Celestia said, smiling slightly. Her smile faltered at Luna's expression. "Is there something else?"

Luna took a deep breath. "Sister… Celestia… there is something we must discuss. A matter has arisen in the human world that has made this situation much more complicated."

Celestia frowned. "Go on, Luna."

Luna frowned, as though trying to collate her thoughts. "In the human world, when we met Marcus' colleague, Major Bauer, there was another human with him."

The emphasis over the word 'another' was too prominent to ignore. Whatever Luna had to say… it was important.

"Go on," Celestia said quietly.

Luna took a deep breath. "He was from another world, sister. Another Earth, facing a grave threat all its own. It was similar, sister. But far worse."

"How much worse?" Celestia asked. "Marcus lost nearly half of his world. That is terrible enough already."

"Before the war with the Solar Empire, Earth's population - in both worlds - was 7 billion," Luna said.

Celestia had known this - Marcus was just bitter enough in his visit to Equestria that he hadn't exactly been subtle about just how much had been lost - and yet the figure still staggered her. Almost moreso than the people that had been lost or ponified, or the amounts of newfoals in an Equestria that was, without a doubt, unprepared for those kinds of population figures. I don't have the infrastructure to support that kind of population of my little ponies, she had realized.

"Now? The other world’s human population is close to…" Luna seemed to hesitate.

"Yes?" Celestia asked, curious yet apprehensive.

"Fourteen million," Luna finished. “Sister, I cannot help but see this as a warning.”

Fourteen million… from 7 billion... that is impossible - that sort of scale, that sort of damage… almost 98% of a population, gone...

"What… what did it?" Celestia asked, already terribly afraid that she knew the answer. And as Luna began to speak, Celestia felt the blood drain from her face. This was definitely important…

***

Hanger 17, John F. Kennedy Airport, New York. November 16th, 2023 - 'Spectrum' Earth.

The Doctor looked back, watching Elliot and Marcus leave the hangar, before getting his sonic screwdriver out and taking some quick readings. Getting a fix on the quantum signature of this universe would allow for easier navigation. He frowned slightly as he concentrated on the readings he was getting - they were definitely… erratic.

"Excuse me?" one of the ponies said to him. "Are you alright?"

"Just scanning," he said idly. "Nothing too concerning."

"Scanning for what?" the pony asked, frowning.

The Doctor sighed, turning - only to find himself staring at Ditzy Doo, or rather "Derpy Hooves", this world's Doctor's wife.

Wife. That just seemed wrong to him, as though…

Irrelevant.

"Scanning," he said slowly, "for the quantum signature of this world - everything within a reality has the same quantum signature. It is how one differentiates."

"So we have different quantum signatures?" Derpy asked, looking at him with both eyes (an effort for her, he knew).

"Yes," the Doctor replied. He scanned her, before looking at his screwdriver. "Your quantum signature is also different from most of the surrounding matter - you're from Equestria, not Earth."

Derpy nodded slowly. "I think my Doctor has mentioned this stuff, but it's never been that important."

"No doubt because he already had the necessary information," the Doctor replied softly. "For me, it is a little more complicated. I spent some time searching parallel worlds for Elliot's time trace."

"His what?" Derpy asked, frowning slightly.

The Doctor sighed. "Every individual has a time trace - perhaps your Doctor has not mentioned those, either. No doubt he has yet to need to resort to such an unreliable method of searching for someone."

"Why is it unreliable?" Derpy asked.

"Because - in David Elliot's case - there are many time traces," the Doctor said simply. "The same could rightly be said of all of us, but his tend to follow similar paths, especially close - in dimensional terms - to where we were. There are David Elliots who end up hopping the multiverses, David Elliots who ended up in peaceful Equestrias, David Elliots who succeeded in reaching Solamina's palace. Sometimes there are David Elliots who never left, and they stayed to die instead, and other choices lay before those who were left. There are many variables."

"I see," Derpy said quietly.

There was a long moment's pause as the Doctor continued scanning.

"You don't like me," Derpy said after a while. "Do you?"

"I don't know you," the Doctor replied, throwing her a glance. "I am certain that you are a worthy individual if my alternate self has married you."

"That's not what I meant," Derpy said. "You don't like me because I look like your friend."

The Doctor closed his eyes. "That is not strictly accurate."

"Then why don't you -"

"She had a coat roughly nought point five shades lighter than yours." the Doctor began, his voice cold and yet cracking with some sort of emotion. "Her cutie mark had one more bubble, positioned in the top left of the arrangement. Her eyes were a lighter shade of amber, closer to true yellow. She had a cap on her upper right incisor from an incident as a foal." The Doctor looked at her, his eyes wet with unshed tears, yet cold. "To me, you and she look nothing alike."

Derpy blinked. "Oh."

"I have no problem with you," the Doctor said, speaking more softly now. "I do not know you. My counterpart clearly finds you worthy company, but your presence here is clearly a transparent attempt to make me 'feel better'. You cannot."

Derby looked at him for a long moment. "She mattered a lot to you."

"I watched her die and I could do nothing," he replied, his voice becoming uncharacteristically cold and harsh. "I went back, and tried, but I. Could. Do. Nothing."

"Why?" she asked.

"There are many rules," the Doctor said. "Bending them is unwise. Breaking them is unthinkable. I… made alterations, slight ones. More than I should have. But those changes were minor, and they will not change the one thing I wish I could."

"That's why you changed, isn't it?" Derpy asked, frowning sadly.

"It is," the Doctor said quietly. He returned to his scanning. "I appreciate your concern, Miss Doo -"

"Mrs Whooves," Derpy corrected absently.

"Mrs Whooves," the Doctor repeated. "But I would like to be left to my work."

Derpy stared sadly at him for a moment longer, then left him be. He continued scanning, trying not to think too much about the familiar-but-different mare who had just left.

***

Just above an improvised hospital in Boston…

"Are you alright?" Kraber asked, cell phone set to speakerphone on a coffee table. Aegis was lying on a couch nearby. "I heard Montreal got pretty bad."

"You don't know the half of it," Yael sighed from the other end. "Damn. Everything hurts."

"I know that feel," Kraber said. "I fell three stories on my back! It… it hurt."

"Says the man that got his… potentiometers…" Yael gave up midsentence. "I have no idea what that means."

"I thought you studied medicine too?" Aegis asked.

"I studied podiatry in college so I could go into that after dance," Yael said. "A friend of Cousin Nny said it was a good idea, so…" she sighed. "But, well, you know how that goes."

Aegis and Kraber nodded, then abruptly realized that it wasn't a video call and added their assent.

"We should be asking if you two are alright, though," Heliotrope said. "You were at ground zero! The Queen Bitch was there herself, and that…"

"You're responsible for the rumors we've been hearing, aren't you," Yael said. It wasn't a question.

"I saw a man rip Queen Celestia's clone's head apart!" Kraber said. "It's really hard to keep that under wraps."

"He does have a point," Heliotrope said. "I mean, with Gestalt… my mind was buckin' racing. One question, though, Viktor. Did you actually get to piss in her skull?"

"No, Elliot wouldn't let me," Kraber sighed.

"You were actually planning on that?!" Yael yelled.

"...Does this actually surprise you by now?" Aegis asked.

"I was tuning you kak, alright?" Kraber asked. "...Mostly. The pieces weren't big enough for me to try that."

"Gross," Yael said.

"By the way," Heliotrope said. "What's that about Elliot? That guy we met back in Fairport?"

"The one I told not to bother with the Mod-3, yeah," Aegis said.

"You did, yes. That thing's like the Baksha ASP of rocket launchers… and a cheap copy of my favorite rifle," Yael said. "Oh, great, Kraber's rubbing off on you."

"I've always liked big guns," Aegis said.

"Fair enough," Yael said. "Though… well, Heliotrope and I have been wondering. What happened? I was real worried about you and Aegis."

"You're starting to care, are ya, Yael?" Kraber asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes," Yael said bluntly, throwing Kraber for a loop. "For a long time now, but God help us if you end up in command of a mission with me aboard."

"Yeah, I wouldn't like that either," Kraber agreed. "Fair point."

"It's just… you said you saw a man rip Celestia's head apart. And there's rumors of a glowing god-knight thing -"

"There's already rumors about it being part of a secret PHL army, aren't there," Aegis sighed.

"Well -" Heliotrope started.

"Yes," Yael said bluntly.

"Fok! I never even… the fokking… where the fok’d they get that from?" Kraber sighed. "Well. Can't be helped. But long story short, remember those weird dreams I used to have? Back when I was telling that story to Verity, or when we were camped out searching for her? Apparently, they weren't just dreams."

"I thought you talked about that with Elliot?" Heliotrope asked. "When we all got back to New York?"

"Funny thing about that," Aegis said. "Turns out? Those worlds Kraber would dream of? There's another Elliot from one of them."

"He's the Tyrantslayer," Yael guessed. "But… how? How'd he get here?"

"We have no idea," Kraber said. "Personally? I think whatever it was that sent Marcus off to…" he paused. "Okay, that's too classified. Do you know where he went?"

Yael and Heliotrope confirmed that they had.

"Anyway, I think whatever it was that sent Marcus there, accidentally swept another Elliot up here. The person that sent Elliot? According to him, they had the same idea in mind. Send the best into the belly of the beast -"

"Whatever sent Marcus?" Heliotrope asked.

"Sure," Kraber said. "It's all a bit convenient, isn't it? You could say it's a miracle."

"Sounds about right," Yael said. "It does make you wonder what might be looking out for us…"

"I'm tempted to register a complaint with them," Aegis said.

"Yeah, me t-” Yael’s voice cut out so abruptly that for a second, Aegis and Kraber thought the phone service had gone out…

...Right up to the moment that they heard Heliotrope asking Yael if everything was okay. The two of them breathed identical sighs of relief.

“Wait a second," Yael said, something strange in her voice. She sounded as if she was coming from very far away, as if she'd retreated into the back of her mind. "If your dreams are coming true… what about that Eldritch Abomination thing that has an army that could take out the Solar Empire and the PHL like squat? Is that real, too?"

"God, I hope not," Kraber said. "I didn't want to think about it too hard."

"Why not?" Yael asked.

"Hey, not thinking about the future is how I haven't shot myself in the face," Kraber said. "It's… I've got enough to worry about at the moment."

"But if that thing could be real…" Yael said, "don't you - don't we have a responsibility to do something? Warn somebody?"

"What would we do?" Kraber asked. "I figured we have enough to deal with. Besides, what if we accidentally contact it? I… don't want to think about that."

Yael clucked her tongue on the other end of the line. "Sticking our heads in the sand will just end with the rest of us getting crushed by the sandstorm."

"Fair enough," Kraber said. "Sandstorms are fokking kak. But… alright. I guess we should."

"I'll get on it," Yael said grimly. "There's gotta be somebody left up here who'll listen."

"Good luck," Kraber said. "It…. it said it would come. That it always would."

"We'll need it," Yael replied with a tone laced with gallows humour. "By the way. Do you… did you ever have a plan for that?"

"Oh, I thought up a contingency for at least one thing," Kraber said, a smile on his face.

"And…?" Heliotrope asked.

"Let's not talk about it over the phone," Kraber said. "Just… just in case. Besides, you'll probably laugh. It's… kind of full of more holes than my wife's old fishnets -"

"TMI!" Heliotrope yelled.

"Hey, I couldn't think of much else," Kraber shrugged.

***

Private office, John F. Kennedy Airport, New York. November 16th, 2023 - 'Spectrum' Earth.

This was going to be interesting, that much Elliot knew. This was his chance to speak with Marcus Renee, the man who was supposedly the best hope this new Earth had.

"So," Marcus said with a sigh, "I hear you pulled a couple of stunts that confused our guys."

"Possibly," Elliot replied with a shrug. "To be fair though, I reckon I win on the 'being confused' stakes."

"So I hear," Marcus said, his smile fading. "Hard to think that there's a whole 'nother world with another Tyrant in it. I thought having one of her was bad enough."

"Yeah," Elliot said with a smirk. "Tell me about it. Hey, at least you've got more troops, and better guns to boot."

"Yeah," Marcus said, his smile returning, though tinged with a bit of melancholy. "We never had some guy with a giant magical sword though. Coulda maybe done with knowing magic worked like that on people."

"I think having guns that can kill Alicorns probably makes up for it," Elliot chuckled.

"Maybe," Marcus said, smiling slightly stil. There was a pause before he spoke again. "From what Discord's said, he's going to go try to find your world after we're all through the portal."

"He never said anything about having found it on his last sojourn," Elliot noted with a shrug. "'Maybe he'll have better luck this time."

"Well, I hope he finds your world as quick as he did mine," Marcus said sincerely. "It sounds to me like your people really need you."

"Yeah," Elliot frowned. "I hope he finds it quickly too - I hated leaving, but…"

Marcus held up a hand. "From what I hear, you left thinking you'd end up on your Tyrant's front door, with the intent of giving her the same treatment you gave the Tyrant's clone. Now me? I'd call that pretty rash, but hearing what I've heard, you left for a good reason."

"Where did you hear that?" Elliot asked.

"Well, I had to go for a quick debriefing with some of the top brass about the other Equestria," Marcus said. "Are they our allies, am I sure I'm not being played, questions like that. But you were all everyone was talking about, besides me. I… asked."

Elliot shrugged. "Fair play. Can't disagree with the 'rash' part. Not like we have a choice - some of us don't have Alicorn-killer bullets to hand."

Marcus smirked at that. "No, I guess you don't ." He paused. "Well done, by the way. Don't imagine many folks have had chance to say that to you."

"Ha," Elliot snorted. "Well done for smacking a clone around and nearly killing myself doing it, you mean."

"No, I mean 'well done for killing the clone' - the clone who, all reports indicated, was pretty fucking scary," Marcus said, emphasising every word. "Sure, it wasn't the real deal - but it was still fucking big."

Elliot shook his head. "I still should have known."

"Magic doesn't make you infallible," Marcus pointed out. "Short of her telling you - which, according to what I read of the reports, she only did after you'd smacked her around and everybody from Discord to Kraber got a shot in - there's no way you were supposed to know she wasn't the real deal." He paused. "Though... you realise, the real thing is probably more powerful…"

"I was afraid you'd say something like that," Elliot said heavily. He sighed. "I don't know what the hell your Tyrant is, but..."

He trailed off.

"It's not ours. But what?" Marcus asked, looking curious.

"There's something behind her," Elliot frowned, folding his arms and resisting the urge to shiver. "It's… not very good at hiding itself. That or it doesn't care to."

"From what I've heard, I'd say the latter," Marcus said with a sour smile. "Ask Discord - he'll fill you in on what she is. It's... pretty disturbing, all things considered."

There was a pause.

"Still," the Marine added, "you didn't do so bad. I mean come on - punching her face off? Pretty impressive stuff."

"I think Kraber and the others were more annoyed that they didn't get to kill her themselves," Elliot shrugged. "Reckon I owe them an Alicorn for this one."

"They'll all get their chance. There's still the real deal to consider," Marcus pointed out, smirking, "and she'll need more than one guy with fancy armour."

"Ha," Elliot smirked. "Or one guy with fancy tattoos."

"You're telling me," Marcus said with a slight laugh. "Thought I did ok against Princess Celestia in the other Equestria, only for her to end up reshaping a good chunk of a lake and a mountain - she must've been going easy on me. I think it might take more than you and me - and probably more than Stephan, Kraber, and half the artillery in North America, magic or not."

"At least you have half the artillery of North America," Elliot said with a shrug. "I'd be lucky if I could get my people to summon up the equivalent of half the artillery of North bloody Korea."

"Huh," Renee said. "You've got magic though."

"What little we can use," Elliot said with a sardonic smirk. "I'm about the best you'll get."

"Killed an Alicorn?" Renee pointed out.

"I somehow doubt Astra Solamina will ever bother stepping beyond the borders of her Empire when she can just throw billions of Convies at us," Elliot said, chuckling slightly at the sudden mental image he had of her sat on her throne, throwing Convies at a map of Britain.

"Hey, your Barrier's stopped - properly stopped," Marcus pointed out, sitting himself down on one of the chairs. "That's something. Ours is gonna start moving again soon, and we don't have a way to stop it."

"Yeah," Elliot said, "there is that. Still, you guys have guns, tech, resources, runic magics that you can use… we don't have much to compare with that. World War II stuff, World War I stuff, a whole other bunch of things from across twenty years worth of tech, but nothing matching here for numbers and advances."

"All our tech means jack shit if we die to the Barrier anyway," Renee pointed out, looking somewhat sour.

"Maybe," Elliot sighed. "I wish I could offer more help."

"Killed an Alicorn?" Renee said again.

"Hey, I'm one bloke, and you yourself said you think the real deal will be tougher," Elliot rejoined. "Apart from me, we don't have much spare to even defend our own borders with, and certainly not much we can offer you lot - sure, we've got men with guns, but 'standard issue' isn't as standard as we'd like - a lot of troops are working with a bunch of knackered WWII antiques. I mean, there's a few things - Watcher's Council stuff, couple of prototype designs… maybe the Knights of Albion…"

"The say what now?" Marcus asked, raising an eyebrow. "What the hell are they?"

"Not as grandiose as they sound," Elliot said with a slight chuckle. "Though give 'em credit, they're immune to the potion and their blessing makes them…"

"Immune to the potion?" Marcus repeated, cutting him off. "You kidding me?"

"No," Elliot said, frowning slightly. "It's a… well, an Albion thing… the stuff sort of boils off whenever it hits them..."

He trailed off at Marcus' expression, somewhere between confused and amazed.

"Is it a hard thing to do?" Marcus asked.

"Um, well you'd need to be 'knighted'," Elliot replied, "and it isn't some permanent thing - only lasts so long until the blessing wears off temporarily, but…"

"But, that is still something," Marcus said, grinning. He pointed at his tattoos. "These things just protect, they don't boil it off, and I get maybe five minutes to get that crap off me before - well, 'boom'."

"Boom?"

"Boom."

Elliot raised an eyebrow. "I can see why you might want something less… volatile."

"Yeah," Marcus said, his smile fading. "But it was the best idea on hand. Better than what happened to my little bro. Look… I might as well be straight up with you, I don't know if we can help you." At Elliot's confused expression he sighed. "Your world. I know you might be expecting us to be able to help you, but…"

Elliot held up a hand. "You have a lot of shit on. I get that. We can help each other however we can, and maybe…" He sighed. "Maybe that'll be enough to save our respective worlds, maybe it won't, but it's better than nothing."

"Maybe," Marcus said with a slight nod. "What are you going to do?"

Elliot sighed. "Until I get a chance to get home, I have a… job." He frowned. "Actually, while we're at it…"

Kraber had already suggested Marcus Renee, and now he was here, and Elliot could try to judge him for himself. Elliot considered the man before him - brave, determined, strong. From what he's heard, Marcus Renee was the last hope of his people - their hero, their idol, as much a figurehead as Elliot was considered back home. It was entirely likely…

He held out a hand, and suddenly Excalibur materialised. Marcus started, but then Elliot slammed the blade into the ground, blade first. Embedded, it stood on its own as Elliot removed his hand.

"...what?" Marcus said, eyeing the blade with a slight frown. "The hell is this?"

"This is a test," Elliot said, stepping back from the sword. "You know about Excalibur, right? 'Whoso pulleth out this sword from this stone…'"

"'...is right wise King born of all England'," Marcus finished with a nod. "Except…"

"In this case, it's less 'King of England', and more 'Avatar of Light'," Elliot said with a wry grin. "But that's the basic gist."

"Why me?" Marcus asked.

Elliot chuckled. "To start with, because you have to ask. You're not up your own arse about the whole thing. But on a more practical note - you're the big damn hero, mate. People look up to you. You've got strength of will, determination… you'd be my first choice for the job. Not," he added, throwing a glance at the sword, "that it's really my place to choose."

"I'm no hero," Marcus said. "I've done terrible things. I… didn't react all that well when I was sent to Equestria."

"Who would?" Elliot asked. "I know I wouldn't."

"Still… from what I heard in the debrief, that's a lot of punch you're packing," Marcus said. "I'm not sure I'm the guy."

"Like I said," Elliot said, gesturing at Excalibur. "Not my call. Besides, who was I gonna ask? Kraber?"

The change on Marcus' face from stoicism and inquisitiveness to panic was almost instantaneous.

"He unvolunteered himself," Elliot explained quickly. "Something about… feeding PER to wolves?"

"Twice was enough… wait, the sword's gonna decide?" Marcus asked with a slight raised eyebrow.

"Yeah," Elliot said, smirking. "Come on - don't tell me you don't believe this, after all the stuff you've seen?"

Marcus thought about that for a moment, and then sighed, before laughing out loud.

"You know what?" he said, stepping up to the sword. "Fuck it."

He grabbed the hilt of the blade.

There was a flash of light.

***

Nowhere.

Marcus blinked, looking around at his surroundings. He was in a white void that seemed to expand ever outward, with no end in sight.

"Hello?" he called out, frowning and tensing slightly. This was... not somewhere he had expected to be, and frankly he'd had his fill of 'unexpected shit' these last few days.

"Sorry about this," a familiar voice said from behind him. Marcus turned back, and found himself facing... he couldn't believe this... Elliot, wearing his military coat and looking somewhat sheepish.

"Elliot, what the hell is this?" the Marine asked somewhat antagonistically (understandably really). "Where the hell are we?"

"We're technically nowhere," Elliot replied. "And I'm not Elliot."

Marcus raised an eyebrow. "All evidence otherwise."

The man-who-looked-like-Elliot sighed. "When Elliot took this mantle on, he was judged by... shall we say, an 'impression' of the previous Avatar of Albion, Arthur, King of the Britons. Now, he is the last bearer, and I am the one who judges."

"So you're... a mental impression of Elliot?" Marcus guessed.

"Correct," the impression said. "You don't seem surprised."

"I have some experience with mental impressions of folks," Marcus said dryly.

"Huh," the impression said, peering off into the distance. "Is that… is that Celestia waving at me? With a pink mane?"

"It is," Marcus said. "It'd take too long to explain. So what's your deal?"

The impression smiled wanly. "I'm here to judge whether you are the Avatar of your world, and whether you're worthy to bear Excalibur, and if you are, I can facilitate that happening..."

He trailed off, frowning at Marcus.

"That doesn't look like a good frown," Marcus said slowly.

"Hm?" the impression said. "Oh, no, it's nothing bad. You've got a lot of things going on, is all."

Marcus gave a short, sharp bark of a laugh. "You can say that again, pal."

The impression frowned slightly. "Also, much as Elliot would want to understand what you've had to do… some of it wouldn't slide with him."

"Huh?" Marcus asked. "He's… well, he's a soldier, isn't he?"

"He would describe himself as such, but you and he are very different men," the impression said. "Would you believe, he wants to run a bookshop?"

"Seriously?" Marcus asked.

"Seriously," the impression said with a grin. "Like I said. You're different men. He… would rather not be what he is."

It said nothing more despite Marcus giving it a questioning look, and so he ignored that comment.

The impression kept looking at Marcus as though analysing him, before slowly shaking his head.

"No," he said carefully. "There's a lot of potential here, but I think not."

Marcus folded his arms and raised his eyebrows, waiting for an explanation.

"You're strong and determined, and there's a whole chunk of willpower here," the impression said by way of explanation, "but... ultimately, your destiny lies elsewhere, changed somewhat as it is by this turn of events."

"My 'destiny'?" Marcus repeated. "I have one of those?"

"Half yes. Half no," the impression said, waving a hand airily. "Fate isn't immutable, but this you is not the destined Avatar of Light here. That role belongs to another - one you know, I think, though I couldn't quite tell you who. Even if it did belong to you, though, well… I'll be honest. Colonel, you are incredibly overworked."

Marcus shrugged and nodded. He couldn't very well argue with that.

"So dumping this on me isn't on the cards?" he asked.

"Even if it were," the impression said, "I'd argue that your destiny is enough work already."

"Don't suppose you can tell me what this brilliant destiny is, then?" Marcus asked, irritated by this.

"Afraid not," the impression said, winking as it faded away. "You'll have to see for yourself..."

***

Private office, John F. Kennedy Airport, New York. November 16th, 2023 - 'Spectrum' Earth.

And just like that, Marcus was back in the room. Elliot was frowning at him, scrutinising him almost like he expected him to sprout a horn and wings.

Marcus laughed.

He laughed long and hard and heartily. It was a laugh that let go of the absurdity of his life, of the stupidity of some of the things he had seen, of the unexpected pain some of those ridiculous things had caused him. Marcus laughed so hard and so infectiously that Elliot couldn't help but laugh with him.

"Damn, Dave," Marcus said after a moment, still laughing. He clapped a hand on the other man's shoulder. "I'll tell you somethin' - this… all of this… is way outta my experience."

"Welcome to my world, Colonel," Elliot grinned, a few sniggers still escaping his mouth. "Hope you like the wallpaper."

***

Scottish Archives, February 24th, 2030 - 'Avatar' Earth

Adagio stared up at the white ceiling of her cell. Their last training session had ended with countless scratches and several bruises, the latter provided by their handler. He had left them with the usual stream of abuse, punctuating it with the occasional warning that everything he was doing to them paled in comparison to what the Solaminan Empire they would be fighting could do.

At first they had ignored him, merely preferring to resent him for his raw hatred towards them. Now, however, after repeating his warning so many times, his words were finally starting to affect them.

All three girls were now silent, every one of them pondering the future with no small amount of dread. They were going to war. True they had seen conflict, caused plenty of them as well, and they were no strangers to death… but they had never actually fought before. After they had been returned to their cell they had all gone off to find their own little area to think and worry over the future.

"Dagi," Sonata said quietly. Adagio turned to look at the younger Siren. The blue haired girl was sat on the bed, her knees curled up to her chest.

"Yeah?" Adagio replied.

"We're going to fight," the younger girl said meekly, "right?"

"Yeah," Adagio repeated, her tone indicating a dreadful finality.

"It'll be like Capricopia won't it?" Sonata then squeaked, burying her face in her knees.

"Shut up!" Aria shouted from the other end of the room. "Just shut up! Never say that name again!"

Adagio was stunned by what Sonata had brought up. The three of them had promised to never bring up their home or their lives before they had left the seas and taken to the skies. Unpleasant memories of cities crumbling and blood staining the water came unbidden to her mind. She remembered sharks feeding on the outskirts of the dying settlements whilst blooddrunk Hippocampus butchered their neighbours and fed off the fear and despair that surrounded them. Back then their whole world had gone mad and they had been forced to live through it.

"Yeah," Adagio said simply, her head in her hands. She was doing her best not to break down at the thought of seeing war, real war, again.

"I don't want to see that again," Sonata cried, sobbing into her legs as she curled up even tighter.

"I said shut up," Aria growled again.

"Quiet both of you," Adagio snapped, earning a sad hiccup from Sonata and a violent glare from Aria. The yellow and orange haired girl stood up and scowled down at her sisters. "Like it or not we're stuck here and this bastards are going to throw us into some kind of meat grinder until we either win or get chewed up."

Sonata looked close to tears now and even Aria was shaken by the inevitability that had been forced on her.

Adagio took several deep breathes, her heart racing as she tried to repress more terrible memories.

"I swear we're going to live through this. I don't care what this Solamina throws at us. We survived Cacophony the Bloody Noise," Sonata flinched at the mention of the name, "and Concerta the Deep Dweller. If we can live through that then we can live through anything."

"Yeah," Aria said, "but we can't run away this time. They'll come after us. Like Saltarello."

Adagio's face fell as Aria's words sunk in. In an instant her determined expression melted away and was replaced by one of barely hidden terror and pain. Her eye twitched and her stomach churned as even more horrible thoughts of blood, violence, violation and fear bubbled up from deep within her memory. Her thunder stolen, she fell back down to the ground, her legs giving out. She pulled her legs up to her chest and buried her face in her knees.

"Dagi?" Sonata asked, close to tears as she saw her confident leader collapse to the floor.

"Shut up," Adagio whispered, her body shaking, "just shut up."

"That's what I thought," Aria sneered, her own fear barely concealed by a look of contempt.

Silence fell over the room once again as all three sirens thoughts turned to the coming carnage. War was coming for them once again and this time there was no way they could run from it, no way they could hide from it and no way they could ignore it.

***

Hanger 17, John F. Kennedy Airport, New York. November 16th, 2023 - 'Spectrum' Earth.

"So," Marcus said quietly, standing in front of Elliot again. As Elliot watched, the last troops were ferried through the portal. Cheerilee was standing near them, looking as

"So," Elliot responded, the BDF Major smiling slightly. He found that he liked Renee - the two of them had definitely seen some similar things, and Elliot couldn't help but feel some kinship with the man.

"Sure I can't convince you to come back through with me?" Marcus asked. "I'm sure Celestia would be more than happy to hear it from you in person."

"The question is, would I want to meet Celestia?" Elliot asked, shaking his head.

"She's actually ok," Marcus said.

"I don't doubt it - doesn't mean I want to meet her," Elliot said. "Big deal, after all. That's another version of 'the Tyrant'." He paused, smirking. "Even if I wanted to, I don't speak for anyone at the moment. Without a way back to my home, I'd be pissing in the wind. In fact, I'm not sure you should tell her about Solamina at all."

"Why not?" Marcus asked.

"I dunno, dumping another war on her shoulders seems… excessive," Elliot said with a shrug. "'Specially since we've no way of getting back to my world yet."

"Special emphasis on the 'yet'," Discord put in, appearing next to the group. "Don't worry 'bout it. I've got 'a plan'." He tapped his nose with a grin.

"Speaking as somepony who uses that line a lot," the Doctor commented, the older pony trotting up to the little congregation with an odd grin, "you should perhaps attempt to be more convincing."

Discord shrugged.

"You're sure you have to go with them?" Elliot asked the Doctor. The older pony had resolved to go to this other Equestria to learn what he could. His TARDIS had already been taken with the departing troops.

The older stallion shrugged. "Not necessarily 'sure' - I do not know what useful information I may uncover from my research. What I do know is that I will be able to research the differences between Equestrias, and more importantly contact my other self."

"Is that wise?" Cheerilee asked quietly.

"We are parallels of one another, not the same stallion at different points in our respective timelines," the older Doctor said with a smile. "There is no risk - save the risk that he will be hostile to me, but I can tolerate that."

"And having him on side and up to speed is gonna be a good idea," Elliot finished.

"Indeed," the older Doctor said. "It is a more productive use of my time than attempting to return to our world. The TARDIS is not guaranteed to be reliable in such a matter."

"And Discord is?" Cheerilee asked, raising an eyebrow.

"His previous reputation aside," the old stallion said with a wry grin, "he is the one who brought Colonel Renee here back to this world."

Cheerilee nodded. "Good point."

"Trust issues are an issue in and of themselves, Lieutenant Colonel," Discord said sagely. "Trust me - we're gonna come up with something that'll be… pretty darn awesome."

"It'll be good to see Equus' armies kick the Tyrant's ass," Marcus said with a grim smile. He glanced at Elliot. "And I hope we'll be able to let 'em kick your Tyrant's ass too."

Discord's grin twitched slightly, but no one noticed. Elliot nodded, a grateful smile on his face.

"Ok," he said. "Good luck, Colonel."

"You too, Major," Marcus said with a smirk.

And with that, he walked through the portal. Discord gave Elliot a look, one the man wasn't sure how to read, and then he too walked through the portal. Finally, Doctor Hooves looked up at Elliot, who smiled at him, and then the old pony headed out through the portal too. And then, with a sound like scissors through paper, the portal vanished.

Elliot exhaled. "Right. Don't suppose you've got a bedroom and decent wifi, have you?"

"Why?" Cheerilee asked.

"Because it's been six years since I had the chance to watch YouTube," Elliot said, smirking. "I wanna see if Markiplier's still going."

***

Canterlot Palace, Year 2 Anno Harmonia - 'Downtime' Equus.

It was so much like the old Equestria that he felt the need to double-take, but at the same time he recognised the fundamental aesthetic changes. This place was different, in the same way that Derpy was different from Ditzy.

He looked around a bit at the various troops being moved into position. There was no sign of anything he would have considered 'untoward', and so he made his way to a nearby door discreetly.

"Excuse me sir," a soldier said to him, holding up a hand. "If you could remain on the premises for the moment…"

The Doctor was about to give him a look and keep walking, but then he noticed that they had left his TARDIS nearby.

"Very well," he said, smiling slightly. "If you will excuse me for a moment, I should check my TARDIS survived the transit relatively undamaged."

He walked past the soldier and into the TARDIS, the soldier barely able to hold a hand up in protest. Once inside, he checked the doors were locked, and then he flicked a few switches, before pulling the dematerialisation lever.

"Sometimes, it's too easy," he said idly.

***

Discord watched the TARDIS dematerialise and chuckled, while Marcus just sighed and shook his head.

"Should have anticipated that," he muttered.

"That's a security breach," someone said, a young-looking soldier with a shaven head.

"It's alright, trooper," Marcus said, holding up a hand. "That's just the Doctor. A Doctor, anyway. I think it's safe to say 'he does that'."

"But he doesn't look anything like Doctor Whooves," the young soldier said with a frown. "I mean -"

"It's alright, trooper," Marcus repeated. "Don't worry about it."

The soldier, apparently still uneasy but satisfied by his superior's placating words, went off to see to something else.

"Dammit," Marcus said. "I hope the Doctor doesn't cause too many problems."

"He's a Time Lord," Discord said with a shrug. "Far as I know, problems tend to follow him."

Marcus laughed. "Can say that again." He paused. "Christ, I just realised there's gonna be like three of them now."

"Maybe more before the end," Discord said with a shrug.

"That's just wonderful," Marcus said sarcastically. He sobered up. "I have no idea how I'm supposed to explain an entirely new world to Celestia - another Earth being attacked by another version of her gone mad."

"Reassure her that whatever the Celestia who became Solamina was before, chances are they were very different mares," Discord said with a shrug, his expression softening. "If I learned one thing… you should never assume you know what you're up against, just because it's wearing a familiar face."

Marcus nodded slowly, looking Discord in the eyes. "Hard won experience?"

"Is there another kind?" Discord asked quietly, looking troubled. "Anyway - tell Celly I said 'wibble' and give Luna a wedgie for me. I'm going."

"Going to find Elliot's world?" Marcus asked.

"Hopefully," Discord replied with a small grin, "I'll find more than that."

And then he disappeared.

***

Nowhere.

Q was waiting for Discord when he arrived, looking at a watch he had conjured for his human form impatiently. The watch had no hands, and it seemed to tick very irregularly, but it was a watch nonetheless. Maybe it represented something weird, like interdimensionality or something. Or maybe it was just a joke.

Q glanced up at his counterpart as he arrived, throwing him a slightly annoyed glance.

"Good," he said quickly. "You're here."

"What, did you expect me to bail?" Discord asked with a raised eyebrow. "Do you think so little of me?"

"No, but I did expect you to get lost on the way," Q snarked at his counterpart, with a wink of joviality. "I'll need to sync the timelines together to make this work properly - currently they're running about a month ahead, but we should be able to fix that easily enough."

"Lay on, oh fearless Q," Discord said with a grin, making an airy hand gesture.

Q raised an eyebrow, and then snapped his fingers.

***

Scottish Archives, February 25th, 2030 - 'Avatar' Earth

Alarms were blaring, lights were flashing, and Hell Blazer didn't like any of it. He had been going over some of his notes about the spell he had used to send Elliot to Equestria - so far, less of it made sense than he strictly liked: too many variables, too many possibilities.

He hadn't exactly taken a lot of photographs of his ritual site to be able to recall every single detail, but there had been, to his knowledge, nothing wrong with the process - he would never have put his friend into a portal if he didn't think that he had a hell of a chance of getting to wherever the hell he was going. So the fact that they had heard nothing of Elliot - except the grim proof in Sir Jason's death that he was alive - and that Solamina was also alive (if the reported buildup in her Empire was anything to go by) was nothing short of entirely disconcerting.

Still - this alarm might well come with proof of the latter. It could have been anything from an attack, to an invasion, to the alert that evacuees from the outside were entering. There was no way to know until he consulted with Rupert...

And then there he was. Giles looked like he had aged twenty years in a month, his hair grey and thinning, his eyes tired, his face lined with worry. He was clutching a pistol in one hand and a book of spells in the other, and frankly Hell Blazer figured he was likely deadly with both.

"What's the call?" the yellow Convie asked as he marched by Rupert's side.

"I don't know, John," Giles said quietly in return, throwing the pony a look. "All we know is that we had an alarm go off at the primary archive hall. We have Lyra, the Undead and a contingent of Dead Men and the entire Iron Clad contingent present inbound."

"Christ, how many is that?" Hell Blazer asked, eyes wide.

"About one hundred Paladin I, ten or eleven Paladin II," Giles said. "All of them armed to the teeth. We have Lance rifles, Hellfire coilguns, and the biggest man-portable MGs we could get on hand - they'll have to do until we've gotten the Javelin rifles are finished. There's some kinks to work out. Production's gone into overdrive since the edict from the Council came in, but it's still slower than I'd like it to be."

"Still," Hell Blazer smirked. "I'd like to see any bloody Equestrian stuff stand up to that much firepower."

"I wouldn't," Giles muttered. "I'd rather the buggers all stayed at home."

"Well since that isn't the case - what about our special cases?" Hell Blazer asked.

Giles sighed. "We haven't bothered with the GG3 - they're probably useless in this kind of situation - but Operative Gleeson is in and - she says - prepared."

"Well, we've rolled out the mat," Hell Blazer muttered. "Time to see if anypony wants to pop in."

A moment later, the two of them stepped out into the primary archive hall, a large room with a dozen or more doors leading off into different parts of the complex, each more labyrinthine than the last. Hell Blazer's eyes widened as he saw the cause of the alarm.

In the centre of the room was a large white portal, glowing and swirling with unknown energies. The Iron Clads, Knights of Albion and others, were stood around it, though none of them had brought their weapons up yet, waiting for the call from Giles and his men.

"Readings?!" Giles called to one nearby scientist.

"Through the bloody roof, mate!" the man replied in a New Zealand accent. "I don't think I ever saw anything that big on the scale before!"

"Fuck," Hell Blazer said. "Could be anything powerful - Alicorns included."

Sir Eric, standing nearby in his Paladin II armour, noted that and raised his Lance rifle, aiming it at the portal.

"Knights of Albion, Iron Clads!" he called. "The enemy is at our door! To arms!"

The Undead, the tall, pale leader of the Dead Men order, also stood nearby, his men dressed in standard battle-dress and he himself in a long trenchcoat, gas-mask and helmet. He raised a hand, and the Dead Men around him aimed their own weapons at the portal as well, each one moving swiftly and efficiently.

"The Dead walk!" the Undead called, the inbuilt transceiver and speaker allowing him to speak clearly despite the mask covering his face.

"And we have purpose!" his men called in response.

Hell Blazer sighed, and prepared to throw a fireball at the portal at the first sign of unfortunate things. Nearby, he saw Lyra - she was wearing armour of her own, though it was simple kevlar. Since Iron Clad Paladin armour had primarily been designed for human forces, there were no pony Clads yet, but if there had been, they might have been a lot like Lyra. He wondered if they'd manage to work on the driver armour for her like she'd been requesting - assuming of course that they didn't all die here in the next few minutes, but Hell Blazer tried to think optimistically.

Tried.

Nearby stood the sullen figure of Dawn Gleeson: for her, Driver armour had been easy. The thin suit - made up of nanotechnology brought by the Doctor - was covered by a series of thin plates. It was light, survivable and sturdy; everything you'd want. Gleeson herself didn't look thrilled to be wearing it, but she looked… prepared. Ish.

"What do you think?" Giles asked Blazer, bringing him out of his thoughts.

"I think you and the other non-coms should shift," Hell Blazer replied grimly. "And get Idle and the GG3 down here. We'll need everything."

"I… I see," Giles said quietly, frowning. "Right."

He motioned to the New Zealander and the other scientists, and a moment later they exited the chamber, leaving only the military personnel. Hell Blazer turned to Lyra.

"You're in charge," he called out. "What's our play?"

Lyra threw him a look, then scowled. "First thing that comes out of there gets everything we have."

"That's a plan," the Undead commented drily.

"Agreed!" Eric shouted. "We'll give them hell!"

"And if they give us hell back?" Gleeson asked drily.

"We hold the line as best we can," Lyra said grimly. "David wouldn't expect any less from us, and I'm not letting him down."

Hell Blazer nodded grimly, agreeing with that sentiment. The Undead nodded once, and Sir Eric let out a whoop as he held his Lance ready.

A moment later, the portal flickered slightly. Everyone tensed, expecting a horde of Convies to charge out and attack any moment…

… and then a man stepped out, dressed in a black suit with a red tie, looking for all the world like he was on a business trip from before the War. The only remarkable thing about him was the odd pin on his lapel, an arrowhead set atop an oval.

Almost on instinct, a few guns went off before the Undead or Eric could yell to hold fire, but though the bullets must have hit their mark, the man seemed remarkably unaffected.

"Oh," he said, smiling slightly. "Hello. I was expecting something of a welcoming committee, but I wasn't expecting quite this much, I must say."

"Who the hell are you?" Hell Blazer asked, scowling at this intruder.

"Me? I go by 'Q'," the man said idly, almost as though everything going on around him was only slightly diverting. "I believe someponies in the room might know my illustrious colleague."

A moment later, a creature stepped out of the portal and stood next to the man. It was tall, with the head of a pony, a snaggle-toothed mouth, a lion paw, dragon tail, eagle claw and a whole host of other oddities. The creature looked around, before smiling.

"Hello," he said. "My name is Discord. I've come with news about your little lost sheep."

***