***

"You judge yourselves against the pitiful adversaries you've encountered so far: the Romulans, the Klingons... they're nothing compared to what's waiting. Picard, you are about to move into areas of the galaxy containing wonders more incredible than you can possibly imagine... and terrors to freeze your soul."
Q,Star Trek: The Next Generation: Q-Who.

"Now, look who's a liar. Anyone can plainly see that I'm not big at all."
Discord, Keep Calm and Flutter On.

***

Scottish Archives, February 17th, 2030 - 'Avatar' Earth.

Almost a month after Elliot's disappearance...

"GG3, Iron Clads... we have been busy, haven't we?"

In front of Hell Blazer stood a concerned Giles with a paper in one hand. His other hand was unconsciously fumbling his tie. He gave Hell Blazer a look. He knew what was on that paper.

"I rather think everyone is," continued Giles softly.

Hell Blazer barked a short laugh. He had been in one of the Archive's study rooms, looking over improvements that had been requested for newer models of the Iron Clads. The study rooms of the Archive were lined wall to wall with books of knowledge long since forgotten, for better and for worse. In the centre of the room, with a growing number of marks as the years went by, was a table covered with plans and paperwork. On this paperwork was stored, in no uncertain terms, the future itself. Weapons of all kinds that had been thought of, but the time or the resources to make them a reality hadn't been there. They had been dismissed as futile dreams. Now, with the sudden temporary lull they had been given, thanks to the retreat of Solamina's forces, the Council had finally been able to implement a few of them. This left Hell Blazer to go over the plans and see what he could do to help, mainly in terms of magical augmentations for weapons and other equipment.

There were bags under his eyes, evidence that he had been deprived of sleep for the past few days, and his patience for the Council had been used up a while ago. The stallion growled as Giles approached him. Hell Blazer knew what he was here for.

"I'm running out of ways I can tell them gits 'no'," the pony said. Hell Blazer stepped away from the table and removed a box of cigarettes from his jacket.

Giles sighed. "I don't think 'no' is going to cut it this time."

Hell Blazer paused, one hoof held up in protest.

"Neither is what viciously creative profanity you come up with next," Giles said preemptively, gingerly placing the document on the table and lighting Hell Blazer's cigarette. He watched the former John's eyes scan the page, his face cringing the closer he got to the finish.

"Fuck. You're fucking shitting me," Hell Blazer muttered.

"I wish I was. Sadly it's -"

"You are fucking joking me!" the stallion roared. "I've told them he's not dead so often they could sell bu - fucking t-shirts with it on and the cunts still want me to try again! I have damn near everyone in the know volunteering themselves for the process, and I just have to keep saying 'no, no, no, NO!"

Giles frowned. "Is that actually possible?"

Hell Blazer began to pace the room, muttering so quickly that a now confused Giles could only make out every other word, he was pretty sure those words weren't technical terms for anything pleasant. A steady stream of Liverpudlian profanity issued forth from his mouth, few of which were contained within complete sentences. The most coherent things Giles could get in edgewise were along the lines of:

"Bloody idiots don't understand... all that magic has to go somewhere if he's dead, and we haven't seen a fucking thing like that... it was damn risky before, but nooooo…."

"They have someone ready for you to 'use'," said Giles.

Hell Blazer stopped and glared at Giles. He threw his cigarette on the floor and crushed it under his hoof, grinding it into the ground.

"I don't have any say with this, do I?" Hell Blazer asked.

"You can decide what jacket you want to wear and that's about it," Giles replied, sharing his friend's annoyance. "But even if he's not dead, he's also not here. They need something."

He gestured for Hell Blazer to follow and he did so, letting out his frustration on the door as he bucked it shut. They were on their way to the Council member whose name was both on the document and being cursed at by Hell Blazer.

"What's the point of asking me to advise," the stallion began, "if every goddamn time I say we shouldn't fucking do it, they ignore me?"

"Anderson should be in one of the labs waiting for us," Giles explained.

Hell Blazer grunted, building up to another rant.

"I ran into Lyra on the way here, by the way."

Hell Blazer's annoyance faded for a moment.

"What did she think of the idea?" he asked.

"Same as you. Almost as much swearing, too. It's disrespectful to Elliot - but we can't do anything about it." The anger in Giles' voice was restrained. "The order he gave you is the only reason we have to do it."

"He can take that order and shove it up his -"

"Up my what?" interrupted a new voice.

In front of the two men of magic was a man of order. Glaring at the two, with a technologically enhanced mare by his side, was General Paul Anderson, member of the Council and overseer of the "Albion.2" project. According to the order he gave them, he was giving this project the gift of his personal appearance. Yay.

He loomed over them as they approached.

"If you'd let me finish," Hell Blazer continued, "I was going to say you could shove it up your arse. Sideways."

Anderson glowered at him.

"All due respect sir," Hell Blazer added. He gave Anderson his cheesiest grin before walking up to Lyra. "To what do we owe the pleasure?"

"The Avatar is one of -"

Hell Blazer raised an eyebrow. "One of."

"- our most important factors against Solamina," Anderson continued. "As soon as this new Avatar is created, I want to see if he is ready to work immediately."

"He'll still be human," Giles pointed out.

Anderson turned to Giles. The war was beginning to take its toll on Anderson. His dark hair had a few wild grey ones that Giles could see.

"He'll also have a duty."

Giles fell silent.

"You know as well as I do that Elliot is probably dead. We need to have another Avatar," Anderson said sternly.

"And you know as well as I do what the risks are," Hell Blazer responded. "Elliot could have died at any time. He could have combusted and taken a city with him and doomed us all when we needed him most. It was hard enough to make -"

"I know that, dammit," Anderson said, voice calm. "But in case you haven't noticed, Elliot was our heavy hitter. Elliot was our support. He was so many of our lines of defense that without him, we can't afford to sit on our arses and do nothing. I realize that this might be a terrible idea -"

"More polite than how I would have put it," Hell Blazer interrupted.

"In which case, how many ideas do you have?" Anderson asked.

Hell Blazer couldn't answer.

"Exactly," the general said. "I hate to say it, but I have the only idea. It worked the last time and it worked well, and you have to know that no matter how long you can put this off… we'll do it anyway."

"You bastard," Hell Blazer said.

"Think what you like. This isn't about me," Anderson said. "It's about all of us. This isn't blackmail or what have you. Promise. But if the people find out their Avatar is gone, for good, they'll want another. And if we don't -"

"We'll probably hold together," Giles said. "The lull hasn't abated and we've made excellent progress…"

"I don't want to deal in probabilities," Anderson said with a scowl. "Elliot probably could have saved us. But now? He's gone. I can respect your disagreement, but we need something more."

Giles began to follow Hell Blazer. "Which lab is he in?"

***

Nowhere.

Had you asked Discord if he was having a good week… he might have had trouble giving you an answer. Two fights with two different versions of an insane Celestia in the space of as many days? That was… well, bad for his health, he supposed.

"You're an idiot," the other Discord said sharply. "You do know that, don't you?"

"Yeah, yeah," Discord sat up, rubbing his head and trying to recompose himself.

The two of them were in a white, shapeless, empty void, which must have been a pocket dimension of some kind. Discord frowned slightly at his 'counterpart': though they looked exactly the same, they were two entirely different creations, that much Discord could sense.

"So," he said. "To whom am I speaking?"

"Don't you recognise yourself?" the other Discord asked.

"Yup, so I know when I'm not talking to myself," Discord replied. "Especially since I have spent copious amounts of time talking to myself."

The other Discord - more normally known by his true name (or title), Q - sighed, snapping his own claw. A moment later, a human man in a black suit, black shirt and red tie with an arrowhead pin stood in front of Discord.

"Thought it was you," Discord said. "Or a you."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, probably Q-1,097,214 or something."

"215, actually," the man said with a slight smirk.

"Eh, you all look alike." Discord shrugged and snapped his claw, a dunce cap appearing on his head. "You should really find a better way to differentiate yourselves."

"Most of us don't go messing in each other's playgrounds," Q replied snarkily. "Which begs the question of why you, a mere child of Faust, would want to go hopping around - especially if it brings you 'accidentally' here."

"Some playground." Discord muttered, sighing as he sat up.

"It's been less fun recently," Q said heavily.

"I'm sure," Discord said. "So," he asked, taking a deep breath and forcing a slight smile, still feeling shaken from what he had just experienced, "is the Continuum aware of your involvement? Cause I'm pretty sure it's against the rules."

"They won't interfere where it is concerned," Q replied.

"So… they don't know." Discord rolled his shoulders, trying to get some of the ache out of his back. He snapped his fingers a few times, summoning various odds and ends to make sure his chaos magic still functioned properly - he had just taken the mother of all hits (again) after all.

"They know I'm here. They just don't know I just saved you, which is good for both of us," Q clarified, ignoring Discord's exercises. "They have a very strict policy with the children of Him, and that includes getting involved with any fights involving their channels."

"Children? Him?" Discord blink as he look back to himself, sort of.

"You mean... you don't know?" Q asked, raising an eyebrow. "You went up against her, and you don't know what she is?"

"I know she is insane, more so than me, and was apparently 'all seeing', so excuse me if I didn't have the bio sheet with me when I accidently came here," Discord said. He snapped his claw and held an ice pack to his head, frowning as the ice melted immediately.

"You didn't answer my question," Q said. "Why are you here?"

Discord sighed. "Let's just say I found a little lamb who got lost. Human fella, magic burnout, turns into a knight in shining armour when you get him angry."

Q raised an eyebrow. "Him? Could have sworn I sent him to an Equestria free of all this nonsense."

"Wait, you sent him?!" Discord asked. "Why in the name of all that's chaotic, pink, fluffy and chocolatey would you do that?"

"Long story," Q said, sighing. "Thought he'd find help. I take it the world he ended up in wasn't so cheerful."

"Basically landed in the different place with the same problem." Discord waved his claw and another dunce cap fell onto Q's head. "Good job. You get a gold star for effort."

Q scowled, and the dunce cap was suddenly incinerated. Discord raised an eyebrow.

"Overkill?" he asked.

The man ignored him. He snapped his fingers, a small tea-cup with the same arrowhead symbol emblazoned on it appearing in his hands. He drank the cup, sighed, then drank the liquid from nothing and scowled at Discord.

"So," he said, ignoring Discord's look of bemusement, "you came looking for his origin point and ended up in front of the thing."

"Yeah…" Discord said, slightly sheepishly. "I guess I went the wrong way."

"Either that," Q said, raising an eyebrow, "or you followed the residue around him - that spell was the work of some human magician, trying to send him to her so he could take his shot. Following that would just take you to the spell's original destination."

"Hm, I suppose you are right," Discord said thoughtfully. "I may have mixed it up, but I just finished a fight with another crazy Celestia so I am not in 'top form'."

"Even if you were in top form, I doubt it would change the outcome of that fight overmuch," Q chuckled mirthlessly. "I am more impressed that you're still alive. You must be made of sterner stuff than some of the Discords of Faust that happen to be hopping about the multiverse."

"Let's just say this isn't the first time I faced the ever encompassing threat of darkness. Heck, I was born during conflict and that one almost destroyed the planet I was residing in. I have some practice against 'all powerful' beings." Discord muttered, taking note of the confused look on Q's face. "Just try having your brain being torn open and put back together; you tend to focus on trying to avoid that happening again. She was really going at it too. She may have beaten me magically, but my mind has gone through a lot more than she knows. I couldn't keep it up forever though, and I was getting desperate to try and live longer. I was thinking of destroying my brain before she even got that close to it. Huh, wonders of facing a Chaos God."

Q's smile faded. "She is the channel for something far worse than a Chaos God, I promise you that. Still, that conflict gave you some incentive to protect your mind at least. Most couldn't even be in her presence without going insane when she unleashes..." He sighed, trailing off. "Still, if you're going to be involved in this business... tell me - how much do you know about the beginning?"

"Of what?" Discord asked.

"Everything," Q said simply.

Discord raised an eyebrow. "As in the beginning, beginning?"

Q nodded. "That's the one."

Discord frowned. "Uh... in the beginning there was Nothing, and then God said, 'let there be a 30watt light bulb', and it was so?"

Q laughed. "Actually, that's not far wrong." His smile faded. "This… might take a while."

Discord snapped his claw and his ears grew several sizes. "I'm all ears, pal."

Q raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Alright then."

***

Canterlot Palace, November 16th, Year 6 Anno Harmonia (2023 human calendar) - 'Tyrant' Equus.

Queen Celestia was frustrated, and she didn't like being frustrated. She paced the throne room of Canterlot, thinking over recent events. Up until a point, everything had been going well - her clone had arrived, she had engaged the humans, and then...

Her clone had been terminated by the humans, and while she had been expecting them to possibly have developed some method of terminating her, what she hadn't been expecting was the new human - this 'Avatar of Albion', whoever he was. He was powerful with magic - not powerful enough to kill her outright, but powerful enough that she couldn't kill him outright either.

She had attempted to have one of her top agents eliminate him via a remote assault on his mind, but - even more vexingly - the agent had failed her, being repelled from the Avatar's mind by his unknown power. Celestia had order the agent's summary execution for this failure: she couldn't have this human ruining her carefully laid plans, and she could not allow failure to become tolerable, even for her best.

She could feel herself being more frustrated as she paced her throne room.

'Where did he come from? How did he gain access to that power? How dare he strike me? How dare he have the temerity to strike me. I will TEAR HIM APART FROM THE INSIDE OUT -'

She paused, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

She was overreacting. This was not even a setback. It was a minor detail. One human could not do anything against her power. Her attack on Boston would go exactly as planned, and if he was there and dared to stand in her way, she would crush him like the insect he was.

Everything would be perfect.

Nonetheless… there would need to be something done about this "Avatar of Albion". He was an unknown element, and unknown elements needed to be dealt with before they could be… troublesome.

"My Queen?" a voice asked.

Speaking of Elements…

Celestia turned and found Twilight Sparkle waiting for her, the mare bowing as she turned.

"My dear Twilight," the Queen said. "Good of you to come. I need you to do something for me…"

"Yes?" Twilight asked, head inclined. So respectful! So orderly - it was one of the great benefits of what she'd done. This new Twilight was so much more obedient.

"We need to reopen our various projects," the Queen said. "I do not care if they were judged to be inefficient. There are more worlds out there, more that need to be brought to order…"

"It'll be a pleasure to show them the joys of becoming ponies," Twilight said.

"There is also a new template for the potion that I need you to research," the Queen said. "The humans have used unfamiliar magic in Boston to repel us. Our newfoals managed to capture data of it, so I need you to find the best possible counter to it."

"I'll do my best," Twilight said with a bow.

"I know you will, Twilight," the Queen said with a grin. "I know you will."

***

The MindScape.

When David Elliot opened his eyes, he was surprised to find himself alive, so much so that it took him a few moments to be surprised by anything else. He sat up, looking at himself, looking at his hands, and finding himself feeling altogether… ok. It was only after a moment of being surprised at this that he noticed he was sat in a cave, and that… was not surprising, oddly enough.

I've dealt with weirder shit over the last few days, he thought to himself.

Still, this cave was odd, and it took him a moment to realise why. The entire place looked as though it were hewn from crystal or... or lodestone. His eyes widened in surprise. Lodestone was rare - it only appeared when there was a massive concentration of magic, almost like...

"W-what?" he murmured, realising where he must be. "H-hello?"

"Now, don't try speaking all that much," a voice called out from the darkness. "You've had a nasty knock to the head, and then you had one of the better agents of the Tyrant trying to root around in your skull to see if she could find what made you tick and break it. You're lucky she failed."

From out of the darkness stepped a figure in long, dark robes that looked like they had seen better days. He was shaven headed and had a short, greying beard, and he had a rather odd smile on his face.

Elliot groaned softly. "W-what happened?"

"You fought against the Tyrant and won," the figure chuckled lightly. "Considering what she is, you're quite lucky. Quite lucky."

"What she is?" Elliot repeated.

"Oh, just a poor, manipulated creature overshadowed and consumed by an entity that controls more power that any entity of its sort has any right to have," the figure shrugged, still smiling. "It has clung to life for… well, a long time."

"What… what is it?" Elliot asked.

"You've met part of it, or part of its power at least," the figure said with a grim smile. "When you entered the mind of the 'Newfoal'."

Elliot blinked. "The… that centaur thing. What was it?"

"The entity I spoke of," the figure said cryptically.

Elliot stood up, pulling himself to his feet and staring this figure in the eye.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"You already know the answer to that question," the figure replied with a smile. "Though I am not the being you are seeking. More his cousin, or his counterpart."

"... Merlin," Elliot breathed, eyes widening. "You're Merlin."

"A Merlin," the man said, looking slightly tired as he smiled. "A Merlin who remembers many things you do not - I have been watching this world for a long time, hoping they might discover something they did not."

"What do you mean?" Elliot asked, frowning slightly. "What didn't they discover?"

"That they had the capacity to fight back more than they thought they did," Merlin replied. "But where your world retained the old knowledge in secret orders and con men like John Constantine… this world forgot what it could do. It took a Zebra, a stranger from another world, to bring Earth's magic to bear, and now this world is tired and much of her old strength was destroyed or taken."

"Earth's magic…" Elliot said, frowning. "You mean the Avatar. This world never summoned an Avatar."

"Correct," Merlin said, nodding. "This world didn't know it could. Had it known, much might have been changed."

Elliot frowned. "If you're Merlin, then…"

"I cannot send you home," Merlin cut him off, waving a hand as if to emphasise his point, "nor to Solamina. Not that I would want to. Alone, you could never fight the Tyrant of your world. You, aided by the creature Discord and the Night Princess - and that Bauer fellow, and obviously Viktor Kraber, who I doubt think any of the old powers quite understand…"

"Get to the point," Elliot said.

The man nodded. "Even with their help, you were only just able to bring your strength against a lesser clone of this world's Tyrant Sun, and there are darker, older powers behind the mask of Astra Solamina Maxima, even I know this."

"But that doesn't mean you can't help at all, does it?" Elliot asked, feeling a tad desperate.

"Of course not," Merlin said brightly. "In many ways, you being here is… fortuitous. Though against their Tyrant, they have located… well, 'help', shall we say, with the involvement of your war as well, this world may require the magic it has forgotten to be brought out, and your world will benefit from the aid of heroes such as these."

"Wait, the involvement of my war?" Elliot repeated. "You mean Solamina?"

"Yes - she and this world's Celestia have… corresponded," Merlin said softly. "This presents a new challenge - much may change in the war that is to follow, and I fear none shall escape unscathed."

"What…" Elliot began, and then he swallowed. "What do you want me to do?"

"Help them remember," Merlin said simply. "Find their Avatar and train them to control their power, in the way you never were."

"...how the hell do I find an Avatar?" Elliot asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The sword you bear will know," Merlin assured him. "It is imperative that you find the Avatar though - the fate of five worlds may depend upon it."

"Five?!"

"Yours, this world, their Equestrias, and the one that the other Luna and Discord are from," Merlin explained. "Maybe more even than that - threads of destiny tie these worlds together."

"Right. No pressure. But even if I do, how can I teach someone to control a power I never learned to control?!" Elliot asked, now worried.

"You will gain that knowledge sooner than you think," Merlin said. "But first you must wake up."

"Wake… up?" Elliot said, frowning. "I'm... still asleep?"

"Indeed," Merlin said. "A quite fitful sleep, if I may say it. But now it is time for you to awaken."

"How?" Elliot asked.

Merlin sighed. "This is a cheat, I fear - you should, by rights, have gained what I am about to give you another way, and had you done so you would have come from the experience stronger and surer. As it is… this will feel…"

He trailed off.

"Feel what?" Elliot asked, frowning - he definitely didn't like the direction this was going.

"Strange," Merlin replied simply. And suddenly there was a flash of light.

***

Canterlot Palace, February 17th, Year 6 of the New Solaminan Calendar (2030) - 'Solaminan' Equestria.

Commander Twilight Sparkle came to attention before the throne of her Empress. Solamina looked none the worse for wear from her battle with the creature Discord a few days ago, and in fact had looked somewhat invigorated by the entire experience. Commander Sparkle didn't quite understand it, but she had no desire to question her Empress. Instead, she thanked whatever power had created them that her beloved mentor had survived the encounter: she well remembered her own battle against Discord, and while he had been aiming to cause childish mayhem over destruction, he had still been a powerful, terrifying foe.

"You sent for me, your Eminence?" she asked, bowing low.

"I did, Commander," Solamina replied with a slight, soft smile. "Our preparations are already well underway, I trust?"

Sparkle nodded. "My last report detailed some of our developments, my lady."

Solamina made an airy gesture. "I was interrupted from reading it by the arrival of the Apostate's Discord. I would prefer you tell me in person, in any case."

"I understand," Sparkle said, bowing her head. "In short, your Eminence, we are proceeding on schedule."

"Indeed?" Solamina said, raising an eyebrow. "The weapons of the faithful?"

"Sol Invictus' foundries are working hard to supply the requisite Idols and Beacons, and he is certain that your quotas shall be met," Sparkle said. She paused, tilting her head thoughtfully. "He is eager to please. Some… some might say too eager."

"He is a faithful and diligent pony," Solamina commented approvingly. "Something we should all do well to emulate in the trying days to come."

"As you say, milady," Sparkle said neutrally. Was there a slight shiver in that? If so, it didn't matter. Sparkle was a loyal mare. "In the meantime, I've spoken with Cadence about the other orders as well."

"Ah yes, the Crystal Empire's weaponry," Solamina grinned. "What news?"

Sparkle smiled slightly as she spoke, clearly proud of herself. "Our shipments from the Crystal Empire are proceeding on schedule: the next consignments of Crystal amplifiers and turrets are well underway. The components for golems, behemoths and leviathans are also being shipped in with them and should be ready for assemblage by the end of the week. I expect we shall have full complements shortly."

"And the fleet?" Solamina asked.

Sparkle frowned slightly, as though recalling a mental list. "I have informed Mr Haughty Frame of his new production orders… while he begs to inform your Eminence that he is not a miracle worker, the additional twenty thousand workers we dispatched have convinced him of your resolve in this matter."

"I am pleased with this progress, most pleased," Solamina said with a smile. "You have done well in this, my faithful student."

"As ever, I remain your loyal servant," Sparkle said reverentially, bowing her head. "I can only hope it is enough."

Solamina smiled. "Tell me honestly, loyal Twilight. Are you afraid?"

Sparkle blanched. "I… I…"

"Do not fear the truth, Twilight," Solamina said. "I will not punish fear without cause."

Sparkle paused, still uncertain, but looking in the soft, warm eyes of her Empress made her feel better.

"I have… doubts," she said softly, carefully. "Not that the Empire will prevail, you understand, more…"

"You are afraid that your resolve will not see you survive?" Solamina finished.

Sparkle hung her head. "There were so many conflicts I thought could be overcome with my friends at my side. Now they're gone… and the Apostate's world may have mockeries of them, as the Apostate is a mockery of you!"

"Ah," Solamina said slowly, nodding. "You miss them."

"More than anything," Sparkle admitted. "With Pinkie gone… and Shining Armour, too… I feel like I have no one left to turn to, except yourself of course."

Solamina paused thoughtfully. "Tell me, loyal Twilight. The special projects - what progress have we made with them?"

Sparkle looked up, a slight frown on her face as she considered the question. It was a jump from what they had been discussing, but if her Empress needed the information then she would provide.

"The EG program is proceeding as fast as we can divine," she said finally. "Even with the requisitioning of all suitable… 'candidates'... we expect we shall have no more than a few thousand once vetting and spell-matrices work is complete." She sighed, clearly dissatisfied with what she was saying. "Nonetheless, we expect they shall be a highly effective fighting force when fully… Conditioned."

"And EG-Alpha?" Solamina asked, raising an eyebrow.

"If I may quote my report in this matter, milady… 'against powerful enemies, we estimate use of EG Alpha to be a one-off before damage makes continued use impossible'," Sparkle explained. "Though I may add that she will no doubt be an exceptionally powerful one off."

"No doubt," Solamina said. She descended from her throne, frowning slightly. "The bodies of Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash - do we have them?"

Sparkle frowned. "We… do, milady, but…"

"But nothing," Solamina said. "You will have Dash exhumed and brought to the labs at the palace."

"My lady," Sparkle said softly, "they… my friends…"

Solamina's eyes hardened for a moment, then softened.

"Do not fear, faithful one," she said quietly. "I do not intend for them to serve as the other volunteers do - I have… special plans, ones you will appreciate, plans that will also make Luna more useful yet."

Sparkle bowed. "I trust your judgement in this, as in all things."

"As you should," Solamina smiled. "Finally, tell me this - project False-God… how does it fare?"

Sparkle looked around, as though expecting the walls to have ears. "We are still developing the revised potion, milady. I should warn you, though, even by the time we get it to a level that works on ponies reliably, when we test it on humans, they…"

"Yes?" Solamina asked.

"Melt," Sparkle admitted sheepishly. "They melt, your eminence. Into…" She looked down, cringing a little. "A ‘slurry of biomass, collapsed and mismatched organs, and alicornal tissue that I really hope is not still conscious’, to quote the report."

"Is it conscious?" Solamina asked with a raised eyebrow.

Twilight winced. "We don't think so. Sometimes we can find brain activity and functioning organs, but they're very much the exception. I… fear I don't have the potion skill you and the late Princess Luna had when creating the original."

"What goes wrong, precisely?" Solamina asked.

"We're not certain, though Gentle Flower has ideas," Sparkle replied. "The working theory is overtaxing of the transformational qualities. Creating a pony from one of the apes is enough, but taking a human and creating alicornal tissue in the quantities found in even a minor alicorn is barely within reach of is capabilities."

"A minor issue, should the potion still work on ponies," Solamina said softly. "Does it work on Converted?"

"It... should, eventually," Sparkle reported with a sheepish smile. "Though… we're looking into redundacy factors to enhance stability of the transformation."

Solamina sighed. "I will look over the potion formulae you have developed. There is an answer, Twilight."

"I apologise for my failure, your eminence," Sparkle said softly.

"It is no trouble," Solamina sighed. "I remember the original potion was… troublesome…"

...monstermurdererhowdareyoucallyourself…

"But these things are not easy," Solamina continued, a little too quickly, shaking her head slightly. Sparkle didn't seem to notice.

"In any case, I am still confident the project will be a success," the purple Unicorn said. "We have yet to even reach the prototype stage but we do have several willing volunteers, as well as several other appropriately selected test subjects who required a bit more... coercion, shall we say. As such, I'm suggesting that we use the revised potion as a strategic resource, instead of using it in a manner similar to our basic potion."

"I heartily agree, Twilight," Solamina said with a smile. "The project was only ever intended to provide shock troops - not a new population. I have seen the terrors of forced ascension before… it is unwise to press too hard, too fast. And we came to liberate humanity from themselves, not to reduce them to puddles on the ground."

"A shock troop force is more than attainable, milady," Sparkle said. "I expect numbers in excess of ten thousand can be achieved within the next six months, and training -"

"And how soon can you have active units prepared?" Solamina asked with narrowed eyes.

"Fighting units?" Sparkle repeated. "So soon?"

Solamina nodded slowly. "I want you to expedite that project's implementation, Commander. Make it your top priority. It is imperative we have that particular edge at our disposal as soon as possible."

"You expect an attack that soon, my Empress?" Sparkle asked, frowning. "We have already doubled the Guard at key strategic points across the country and colonised territories, at the risk of emptying half the forts along the Iron Wall. There is no doubt we are prepared already."

"I do not know when the Apostate will come, my dear student," Solamina replied slowly. "And I am aware of our preparation. But my battle with the other Discord was… interesting, and enlightening. It served as a reminder of something I had long forgotten."

"A reminder of what, your Eminence?" Sparkle repeated with a soft frown of confusion.

"My mother had a saying, Twilight," Solamina said, her eyes misting over as she thought back to the old days. "'In war, she who controls the conflict controls its outcome.'"

Sparkle nodded slightly. "One of the tenets of Tempest the Half-Breed? She was your mother?"

"It is irrelevant," Solamina said. "But my mother's words remain wise. It was... unwise of me to consider waiting for the Apostate to come to me to be an appropriate tactic - surrendering the initiative to her is not the way." She smiled softly. "Instead… I will take the initiative in this conflict."

Sparkle's eyes widened as she considered what her Empress was telling her. "My Empress, is that wise? We do not know what we may face, a full scale assault -"

"Fear not - I do not intend to commit all our forces yet, faithful student," Solamina said, cutting a Sparkle off with a smile. "But a token force… an expeditionary fleet to test the waters and learn what our enemies can do… well, that should be well within our capabilities."

Sparkle bowed. "I shall begin drawing up a suitable list of units, my lady."

"Choose units that are competent but expendable in the grand scheme," Solamina instructed. "And make certain that a unit of False-Gods is prepared for the expeditionary force: we shall use it as a testing platform for their full capabilities."

"It will be done, my lady," Sparkle said with a bow.

***

Scottish Archives, February 17th, 2030 - 'Avatar' Earth

The lab had already been prepared for the spell. Desks were set to the side to give the figure in the centre more room all the space he needed and supplies for placed on a table near the door as Hell Blazer walked in.

The figure in the middle was on one knee, checking his guns and blade. Watching him was watching a man in a trance, oblivious of the outside world.

If he had said no to the order what would have happened? They probably would have done it anyway just to spite him.

Anderson moved in front of them. "This is Sir Jason sans le Argonauts-"

"Does he know what's going on?" Hell Blazer sneered.

Sir Jason stopped and rose to his feet, sheathing his weapons and saluting Anderson.

"He does," said Anderson bluntly. "I consulted Sir Eric about this choice and he gave me Sir Jason. He's supposedly one of the best Knights of Albion there is. More than worthy of being the next Avatar."

"Thank you," Sir Jason said humbly, bowing slightly. "I can only aspire to be the best I can be."

"He can be the next fucking Jesus," Hell Blazer commented, "he still still won't be Elliot and it might not actually work." He turned to Sir Jason. "No offence, mate."

Sir Jason was unfazed. Not a hair on his head was out of place (then again, he was bald save for his eyebrows).

"We have to try." Anderson growled.

Lyra and Giles took positions at the sides of the room. Waiting for the result of this spell. By the looks on their faces, not too keen on it either.

Hell Blazer took a deep breath. Every bone in his body was screaming at him that this wasn't going to work. There wasn't a damn thing he could do. Unless…

"Aye mate," Hell Blazer addressed Sir Jason. "Don't you think this wrong? What about Elliot?"

"Albion was a valiant soul and he will be remembered by us for as long as we draw breath," he answered sternly. "Having said that, I do not think he would want Earth without a successor. I can assure you, I could never replace him, but if I am worthy of this burden, I will do my best to uphold the values he has taught us."

"Elliot might not actually be dead. That's what Anderson can't get through his head. Or just won't, because even if he's not dead, he's not here. And I don't know if I can blame him for that," Hell Blazer said, trying to stall as best he could. "I don't know what would happen to you if I tried it while he was alive. It ranges from nowt to you becoming a damn human bonfire."

Hell Blazer wished for one response from Sir Jason, for both of their sakes.

Sir Jason smiled kindly. "I understand that there are risks in this endeavour, but that is the price we pay for keeping our world safe in these troubled times. I am not afraid. I face this fate willingly."

The Convie did not get his wish.

Out of the corner of his eye, Hell Blazer could see Anderson beaming with pride. It took restraint for the stallion not to burn off what remained of Anderson's hair.

This was happening. Hell Blazer was going to have to do the ritual again and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. All the arcane knowledge at his hooftips, being the luckiest convie on earth, being one of the best assets to Britain, and for once he was powerless.

"I think that settles that," Anderson chimed in. "I am sorry, Hell Blazer. But we must do what is right for the world."

The former John Constantine edged his way near Lyra, where a bag of chalk awaited him.

"Get ready," he whispered to her. "I don't know what could happen, but be ready for anything."

Lyra nodded tersely, bracing herself. She hardly looked happier about all this than Hell Blazer was - but then, she was one of Elliot's oldest surviving friends. She'd known him longer than even True Grit or Hell Blazer himself had - Anderson, and by extension the Council, giving him up for dead by calling for another Avatar was…

It must have been like saying goodbye - or being forced to.

With every line of chalk he lay down, Hell Blazer remembered the day he changed Elliot more clearly. The day humanity got its best soldier. The day hope was restored in their hearts. The day John Constantine could no longer use his name comfortably.

Sir Jason had gone back to kneeling before everyone else in the room. He kept his gaze focused in front of him. If it wasn't for the fact that he blinked, he could have made a decent statue.

Anderson's gaze however, was following Hell Blazer around the room, taking in every second of the ritual. Maybe this was another reason he had wanted to be there personally. To see how it was done so that he wouldn't have to call upon Hell Blazer again if Sir Jason died in combat. That's if this worked.

No matter how he pictured it, Hell Blazer could not see another figure as Albion. But an order was an order. He was going to do this regardless of what he wanted to do.

When the chalk lines were complete Hell Blazer took his place in front of Sir Jason.

"God be with you mate," he muttered.

The words to summon the Avatar flowed out of Hell Blazers mouth. He had played back that fateful day so much in his mind by that point that he could have done a one pony play of it.

Sir Jason rose to his feet once more, a divine glow surrounding him. The grip he had on his weapons in his belt tightened with every second the glow caressed his skin.

"Powers of Albion, come to me, Powers of Albion, come to me," Hell Blazer chanted.

Just as a smile crept its way onto Sir Jason's stern features, he took a gasp of breath. The divine light that covered him rippled and grew thicker and thicker. Sir Jason's expression contorted in agony. He was a disciplined warrior even now, under what was probably pain like no man had ever felt. Not a single scream echoed in the room.

Hell Blazer wished he was wrong.

Sir Jason's veins and capillaries were glowing underneath the skin, and they were so bright it was as if they would burn through him. They flashed blue, red, all the colors of the rainbow, and his eyes darted crazily.

Hell Blazer stopped chanting but the light continued to grow. He sometimes hated being their magic expert, right, now more than ever.

If only there'd been somepony else to say this was a bad idea.

If only there'd been someone else to get Elliot out before this senseless loss.

If only…

If only he didn't have to see this.

The veins and capillaries kept glowing, the color growing bright, a terrible sickly bright.

Anderson expression dropped. The sight of the now diseased glow caused him to freeze in place.

Sir Jason gave a jittery final salute before his entire body burst into flames. For a moment, they could see him, something like a sculpture made from fire, and then it collapsed onto the floor. The room crackled and burned, and Lyra recoiled.

Lyra, Giles and Hell Blazer rushed to try and help the Knight but the flames vanished before they had gotten two feet in front of him.

Sir Jason was no more. In his place was a pile of ash that was mixing with the chalk.

Anderson dropped to his knees, eyes wide in shock and horror.

Hell Blazer stood beside him. The two shared a silence, predicting what the other would say. Hell Blazer didn't want to tell him. He knew what this meant but Anderson had a different thought run through his head.

"I ordered this," the General muttered.

"You thought that -"

"I ordered a man to his death for nothing!" Anderson spat out. "You can't say anything to change that." He paused. "I'm… no goddamn better than the fucking General who ordered men to stand and fight the Barrier in the fall of Australia. No. Goddamn. Better."

Lyra trotted over to the other side of Anderson.

"He can't," Lyra agreed grimly, "but neither can Sir Jason's death change the fact that he knew the risks and was happy to try for you."

They looked over to the pile of ash. Giles was knelt beside it, saying a few words on behalf of them.

Anderson glared at Lyra. "I accept full responsibility for this Miss Heartstrings. I will tell the Council just that when they ask for the report."

Without looking back, Anderson got up, wiped his eyes and walked towards the door.

"You can also tell them the good news that came with Sir Jason's sacrifice," Lyra added, her tone odd.

"Which would be?" Anderson asked, not meeting Lyra's gaze.

"That this means Elliot isn't fucking dead," Hell Blazer responded. "Sir Jason didn't die for nothing - we've proved that wherever Elliot is, he's alive."

As Anderson left the room, Hell Blazer wondered if he himself actually believed his own final words about the Knight.

This was a bittersweet victory for the stallion. On the one hand, his faith in his friend had been confirmed and out there, God only knew where, David Elliot was alive and probably fighting the good fight. On the other hand, a good man died because the faith in his friend wasn't shared with the higher ups.

"I've never felt so guilty," Hell Blazer sighed, as Lyra looked on at the tragedy that had unfolded before them, "for wishing I was right."

Lyra looked up at him, and his eyes met hers. To his surprise, she had a soft smile.

"He's alive, John," she said quietly. "He's bucking alive!"

Hell Blazer frowned slightly. "Yeah, he is."

Lyra closed her eyes, letting out a quick sigh. "That… you know, that's the best news I think I could have had all week."

"It would have been better if it hadn't come with a bloke dying," Hell Blazer said softly. He looked at the small pile of ashes. "But… I suppose it is good."

"Yeah," Lyra said, smiling. "It is. Oh, Pony God, it is."

"You alright, Lyra?" Hell Blazer asked, frowning.

"I…" Lyra began, and then she smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. Just… lost a lot of friends in this war. After Bon Bon, David and Grit were my only friends, and now they're both…" She paused again. "Except David isn't gone. He isn't."

Hell Blazer couldn't help but smile, sour as it felt over the ashes of a brave man. Her happiness was almost infectious.

"Now I guess there's just the question of where he is," the yellow Convie commented.

***

Nowhere.

Q frowned as he tried to figure out how to begin. This was, after all, a somewhat long story.

"What you have to understand is that the Q don't know everything about this," he began. "A lot - and I mean a lot - of it is just guesswork. He... It... doesn't talk to us, and it never has. We tried. It mostly ignores us, though that's preferable to some things we think it probably could do. It's known - if we have to use something as trite as verbal designation - as the POWER."

Discord raised an eyebrow. "All caps and all?"

"Hey, it's either that or some word that has no meaning in any language spoken by mortal, immortal, semi-mortal or chaos entity tongues," Q said. "It was the kickstarter of creation - all creation. And its first creation was light - light everlasting, eternal and blinding, brighter than any star, than any fire, than anything." He paused. "And from that light was cast the darkest, deepest shadow ever known."

"This is all metaphysical, right?" Discord asked, raising an eyebrow. "Because you are literally putting the image of some old guy with a beard messing with giant light bulbs in my head."

"Do try to take this all at least a little seriously," Q snapped. I know it's hard, if not painful, for you to even hear the words 'take this seriously', but I would very much appreciate it if you could try."

"Alright," Discord said, nodding. "I'll try. No promises though."

As he spoke, his claws, toes, and horns all crossed themselves: the universal sign for "not really". Q sighed.

"Well, I suppose that's all I can ask for," he muttered, frowning at his counterpart. "From what we can tell, the shadow was accidental."

"'Accidental'?" Discord repeated, raising an eyebrow so far that it left his face. "How is that supposed to work? I thought we were talking about an all powerful creator being?"

"All-knowing and all-seeing is a misnomer," Q replied. "There are always things, by-products not part of any plan, even for one such as Him. We suspected it was the same with the shadow - that Darkness was an accidental by-product of the Light."

"I... don't get where this is going," Discord said. "This Light and Darkness stuff - was it... alive?"

"Somehow, yes," Q replied. "They're called the first Children. The POWER, for reasons we don't quite understand, let both entities, absolute Light and absolute Darkness, live, despite the fact that they, being diametrically opposed to one another in morality and purpose, were always going to come to blows. The two children spread - becoming part of the cosmos. Every iteration of every reality has them to one extent or another, pervasive ideas behind magic, behind morality." Q sighed. "Solamina... is the channel of the Darkness. Its Avatar."

"How'd that happen?" Discord asked.

"I wish I knew," Q said. "I was a statue, in my Draconequus shape, when it came. Celestia locked me away. Then chaos began to reign beyond the walls of my prison, and I was released... and I sensed her. The Darkness and her have bonded. It preyed on her insecurities, twisted her into... well, what she is now. And she can channel its power - almost all of its power."

"So… let me get this straight. This all encompassing 'Darkness', decides to inhabit a magical Alicorn… that her one job is to move the sun by the way, you know that bright ball in the sky… for… reasons." Discord said slowly, making sure to get the point across, "And… what? Bring about the end of the cosmos or something? 'I am darkness so everything shall die'?"

"We don't know what it truly wants," Q said, frowning slightly. "Its motivations as Solamina are tied up with hers. Hers appear to be conquest and control of her Equestria, then Earth, then Equus - possibly beyond that. Its own... well, I don't know. Absolute domination over its brother maybe, who knows with that thing?"

"Great, today just keeps getting better. What is it with Evil Celestias and some sort of dark entities anyway? Is it like a special offer or something?” Discord asked with a grumble. “Still, she must have something wrong with her if an island is giving her trouble. That or she’s not as powerful as she seemed.”

Q raised an eyebrow. "That's a big assumption on your part."

"How powerful can it be if it needs to use an 'Avatar' to get things done?" Discord scowled.

"Powerful enough that the entire Q continuum would never dare stand up to even Solamina," Q replied gravely. "Let alone the Darkness itself."

"So your continuum, an entire race of reality warpers, won't dare go near this thing?" Discord said with a smirk. "Sheesh, come on - you lot are one step away from gods themselves, you could easily be away with her. But, that is not in the cards, I know, before you say anything. 'Non interference', etc, that kind of thing."

"I think you're failing to grasp the simple facts of the matter, bucko - we couldn't do away with her, nothing to do with not wanting to interfere," Q said, scowling at his alternative self. "The Q tried a long time ago to challenge the Darkness on its own turf - it... didn't go so well. There were several wars. I didn't fight in them, but I know they happened. After that...well, they're one reason we try to stay out of mortal business in big ways. Sooner or later, mortal business becomes the business of Light and Dark, and we don't like getting involved in that."

Discord frowned thoughtfully, processing that information. Away from the shadow... it suddenly didn't feel real, what he had seen, what he had felt. At the time, had you asked him (assuming Solamina didn't obliterate the hypothetical asker), he might have told you that what he had felt was more powerful than almost anything else he had met - maybe even among the most powerful. Now, though... the power he had faced felt like a dream, fading from memory, and he was already rationalising his defeat away.

"From what you've told me," he said, "this darkness can't affect anything in the world beyond using a single being to use as an Avatar. Only through them can they do anything. And so far, I've seen this Solamina, stupid name by the way, can bleed, thus she can die."

Q said nothing, simply raising an eyebrow.

"Well?" Discord asked.

"The possibility exists," Q said shortly. "Though there is a long jump between 'bleeding' and 'dying'."

Discord rolled his eyes, walking away from Q in annoyance. "If it came down to it, she isn’t all that. So let me be a dear friend and get my own enemies out of the way so I can help him do his job before he croaks from magical burnout."

"'Not all that'," Q repeated scornfully, shaking his head, looking altogether unamused. "Really."

"Really," Discord said.

Unbidden, a memory came to mind. 'There is nothing... no power, no force, no light... that can defeat darkness!'

He shook his head and ignored it. Posturing. That was all it had been. This Darkness had been posturing. There was no way it had been that powerful. Couldn't have been.

Discord said shook his head. He held up his claw, a large caliber round held between his digits, tipped with a gently glowing crystal. "I don't suppose I would be lucky enough to have this work?"

"The Darkness isn't going to be stopped by a bullet," Q pointed out, scowling.

"We’re not talking about the whole darkness though, are we?” Discord pointed out. “We’re just talking about Solamina. So - could this kill her body?"

“I wouldn’t count on it,” Q said with a frown. He studied the bullet. “Looks like it runs on thauma - it might work on magia, but the real question is whether it would work on powers a little further up the scales.”

“Meaning, ‘will it work on Gods’,” Discord guessed.

“That is the question,” Q said with a sigh.

Discord smirked. “Ok, so you need a God to kill a God, yeah? Or an Avatar of one to kill an Avatar. I wonder where we could get one of those…”

"Elliot…" Q said, frowning slightly. "The Avatar of light..."

"Precisely,” Discord said. “I mean, that is why you sent him, yeah?”

“I hoped,” Q said quietly. “That’s still a long way from certainty.”

“He didn’t do too badly against Queen Celly’s clone, and Solamina would probably go for his ‘face me in honourable single combat, ye scurvy knave!’ schtick anyway,” Discord said with a chuckle. “Add myself, along with anyone else that feels like going two for two on 'crazy Celestia's' - and trust me, there's a lot," he continued with a flourish, "and I think we can give her a good run, at least."

Q snorted. "A 'good run', huh? Would that be the same 'good run' you gave her when she finally stopped messing around?"

"I didn’t do so badly,” Discord retorted. “I made her bleed, I annoyed her, I made her pull out the big guns." Discord snapped his claw as a portal appeared. "And all those little bumps and cuts aren't going away anytime soon, and I don't mean the physical ones either. That is a mark on her that the darkness will not be able to forget. A lowly creature like me got her, and it's not going to forget anytime soon."

"You seem to assume it cares," Q said with a scowl.

"You seem to assume I care if it cares," Discord retorted snappishly, feeling surprisingly angry. "Then again, as you said it yourself, it doesn't know what it wants."

"I said I don't know what it wants," Q corrected him, folding his arms again. "I'm sure it knows..."

"Tomato, tomahto," Discord cut him off with a shrug, perhaps a little too quickly. He didn't need to hear how powerful the thing was. He'd faced it. He'd survived it. That was all that mattered. Never mind that it had him on the ropes - he'd have found a way out. Never mind that feeling as the shadow touched him…

'No light…'

No. None of that. Don't think about it. If you don't think about it, it doesn't count. I survived, therefore it isn't that bad. No takesy backsies.

"Cares or not," he continued, "I know I did it. I could probably do it again, and if I bring my real A-game - and a few other people and their A-games..."

"You're very sure of yourself for someone who didn't know what he was facing five minutes ago," Q pointed out. "And someone who nearly died five minutes before that."

'No light...'

"What am I supposed to do then? Wail and whine that that...thing is so much more powerful than me? What would that accomplish?" Discord replied, half talking to himself. “Between you and me, I’d rather be a bit more… proactive.”

He chuckled half heartedly, almost as though he were trying to cheer himself up, as he took a step forward towards his portal.

"Wait!" Q said, holding up a hand. "Hold on there, just a moment."

Discord turned, an eyebrow raised.

"Strikes me that you and I have similar problems," Q said. "Humans vs evil Celestias. That about right?"

"Not so much as evil Celestia," Discord said thoughtfully, "just completely brainwashed by an overlord of darkness..." He trailed off, then grinned. "Oh hey, I guess we do have the same problem."

"Somehow, I doubt it's quite that simple," Q said with a mirthless smile. "In any case - the humans in your world, or at least the one you found yourself helping. Fairly desperate lot?"

"I am not so sure, desperate but not as bad as what I've heard about Elliot's world," Discord replied. "Still, desperate enough."

"Might I suggest, then," Q said, grinning slightly, "that we might expedite some sort of... exchange?"

***

PHL headquarters, New York, deep under the subway

Cheerilee was back in her office, trying to work on the inevitable emails across secure PHL channels to any remaining governments in the world. Which was to say, she was trying to start. The magenta earth pony was well and truly confused by it all.

'Don't worry, Marcus is alive. He's just in Equestria -'

No. No no no. Cheerilee focused her TK on the keyboard below, pressing down on the delete key. Well done there, Cher.

'I know some of you are wondering what the silver-armoured magic knight that we summoned was. Honestly, I'm still in the dark, but -'

No.

Her head fell on the keyboard.

"Confused?" asked Shepard.

"Very," Cheerilee said. "I mean, what am I supposed to say when this all comes crashing down on my head?"

"Everything that happened?" Shepard suggested.

"Well. True," Cheerilee said. "But I've been trying that, and nothing seems to work. It's all so… far fetched." She paused. "Well - more far fetched than usual."

"Yeah," Shepard said, grinning slightly. "Guy with giant sword, the Tyrant sending a clone, Colonel Renee being in some parallel world…"

Cheerilee frowned, something tingling in the back of her skull, though she wasn't entirely certain what. It was like a nagging thought…

It was difficult to focus on this thought when considering the news on the TV up above, and the mail she'd been getting from Blount Island. Apparently the HLF had resorted to attacking it, firing on Marines. There were reinforcements on their way, but it didn't look good for them…

This is bad." Cheerilee whispered to herself.

"What is?" A voice asked from behind her, startling Cheerilee by how close it was to her, causing the mare to react and buck with all her worth. "Argh!?!"

There was a crash and a thud, and Cheerilee turned around to see a familiar tail laying limply outside a hole she created. Several humans and ponies standing outside, looking down at the dazed draconequus. Discord weakly got up, smiling as several of his teeth drop from his mouth as he spoke. "Anyone got the number to that chariot..."

***

"I'm so sorry!" Cheerilee said again, gently putting an ice pack on Discord's jaw, who only grimaced at the pressure.

"No, I deserved that. Just surprised Marcus hasn't done it yet... wonder what that'd feel li - actually, maybe I don't want to find out," Discord mumbled as he looked down to the mare. "Marcus must love your legs, because they blew my mind... along with most of my skull with it."

Cheerilee blushed a bit at that. "He said he likes my flank, says he's a butt man," she muttered, before her eyes widened in shock at what she said, covering her mouth with one hoof. Discord only laughed, smiling at her as he rubbed her head.

"Ha! A good reason as any."

"I didn't know you were back, anyway - I thought you'd gone… wherever you went."

"Just some genealogy research on Marcus, and visiting family. Sort of - long story, bit annoying, though on the plus side, I should be getting used to getting smacked up," Discord said. "Explain in a bit. So tell me, what's the bad news?"

Cheerilee looked at her computer screen, then the TV. It was playing up the clone of Celestia's defeat and the Barrier's delay for all it was worth, and then some. Not hard to see why - humanity so deserved some good news. There were stories of survivors all over the eastern seaboard. A steam locomotive, pulling a train of refugees from all over New Hampshire and guarded by Kraber before he'd gotten to Boston had come to a stop in upstate New York, the Montreal catastrophe was averted, and everything was, for a moment, safe.

Safe as anything could be in a world like this. Years of war hadn't left much optimism in Cheerilee, and she would have been surprised if bad news didn't return to TV with a vengeance later.

"We're all gonna die soon, for one," she said.

"Why don't you enjoy this moment?" Discord asked. "It's still a big victory, Marcus is alive…"

"I know that, and I'd like to," Cheerilee explained, "But… there's so much more to do." She sighed. "Especially with that letter Celestia left. The one that says in two weeks-"

When the Elements had been found cornered, they'd left an infuriatingly smug letter behind them.

Dear Humanity,

Your attempts to delay me have been mildly amusing. I have enjoyed myself as I watched your misguided, deluded attempts to overthrow me, your stubborn insistence to destroy yourselves, but I find myself growing tired of your delusions of confidence and competence. As a result, I am ending this game, and will personally arrive to greet you as you line up to join in my glorious empire, becoming perfect ponies like all of my subjects. In celebration, I will personally wipe this city from existence. I expect that you will make the right decision and embrace perfection under my grace. After all, you barely survived a mere Avatar of my power. To face me and my Elements at once, in all of our glory, that would be a level of suicidal stupidity that I'm sure we can all agree is something best eradicated when you all become newfoals.

I await to meet my new subjects,

Queen Celestia

"Don't think about it," Discord said.

"How can I not?" Cheerilee asked. "With Marcus coming back, with Elliot here and whatever consequences that's gonna have, there's so much to do in two w-"

Cheerilee stopped. Saying that she stopped talking, or stopped thinking would be understating it. It was as if time had stopped around her. She didn't seem to move or breathe. The only thing you could moving on her was her eyes.

"That's it…" she said, voice barely above a whisper. "Hold on. Marcus was in Equestria for a week, right?"

"Yes…" Discord said. Luna must have explained that.

"While he's been gone here just fourteen hours…" Cheerilee tapped on hoof against the ground. She rushed over to her desk and picked up the phone, the phone just adhering to her hoof. "Hello? Is this Lieutenant Rossiter?"

There was a buzz of barely-audible noise.

"Uh-huh. Listen. Don't take down the portal station at Logan airport."

Discord looked at her with interest.

"It's half-finished. We should be fine… Okay, load it onto a truck. Make sure it gets here. We'll just need to recalibrate it a little…" Cheerilee raised an eyebrow. "What? Okay, maybe. It might have something to do with that knight…"

She paused again.

"I'll make sure to call Gestalt to help, if Ae's not too busy in Montreal. Ae probably knows a lot of helpful stuff,." Another pause. "Well, Gestalt's non-binary. Ae said that having a gender was too much work."

"What are you…" Discord started, only for Cheerilee to put one hoof to her mouth.

"I know, Lieutenant," she sighed. "Gonna be a long day. Maybe longer than we know…" The edges of her mouth curled into a smile. "Alright. Thanks. Be seeing you."

"What kind of devious plan do you have?" Discord asked.

"It would seem," Cheerilee said, rubbing both hooves together, "That since we don't have enough time, we might as well just borrow from someone else. Fortunately, we have a few experts on precisely that."

***

Sickbay, John F. Kennedy Airport emergency medical facility, New York, November 16th, 2023 - 'Spectrum' Earth.

Consciousness didn't come easy to Elliot. It came slowly, sleep grudgingly reducing its hold on him until he found himself lying in a bed, a big plasma TV hanging above.

He felt like shit. His head was groggy as all hell, and he hurt all over.

'I feel like shit' he thought, trying to sit up…. and wincing as something cracked, as his limbs ached like each and every one of them had been trampled by Convies that had somehow gotten too close to him - clearly, his body had not agreed with fighting the clone all that much. 'Ow ow ow ow ow. Probably for the best not to move.'

He looked around the improvised hospital room. It looked to have been a hotel room at some point, but it had been overtaken by medical equipment. It didn't escape his knowledge that most of it was near-priceless back home.

'Shit,' he thought. 'I don't even think we'd mind that they've got bigger guns than us.' He thought back to Kraber's huge light machinegun, vaguely reminiscent of something from some video game a while back. 'Get us something from the old world, and we'd be happy. We're barely a step above getting reduced to steam power...'

Speaking of Kraber, he was lying in a nearby hospital bed, a small stuffed horse under the covers next to him, along with a stuffed dog.

"Mrm?" Kraber asked, yawning. "You're awake."

"A stuffed horse," Elliot said. "Why do you have -?"

"It was his son's," Aegis explained.

"Ah," Elliot said, nodding in comprehension.

"I lent the other one to a filly from a train," Kraber said. "She needed Ambassador Nikai the Second more than me."

Elliot abruptly stopped comprehending it. "Huh?"

"He was named after a wolf puppy from back in 2014," Kraber explained.

There was a long pause as the two of them lay in their respective beds.

"How long was I out?" Elliot asked after a moment.

"Few hours," Kraber replied. "Your Doctor - the John Hurt one - was here a few minutes back, but he left."

"Damn," Elliot said. "Would've been good to talk to him." He sighed. "So… another world?"

Aegis nodded.

"Well, you might as well tell me about it," Elliot said. "I'm not planning on doin' anything else for a while… actually, I think I'm planning on a long rest. And then…"

He felt something twinge, a flash of memory, like something he'd forgotten for the moment. He shook his head.

"... and then, stuff," he finished.

"What do you want to know?" Aegis asked.

"Pfft, I dunno," Elliot said with a chuckle. "Something… fun."

"Fun?" Aegis repeated.

"Ok, fun is not a good idea - how about 'informative'?" Elliot asked.

"I can think of one thing," Kraber said. "It's a long story, though."

"Well… you didn't really give me much more than a short summary from the back of a paperback," Elliot said. "So, start from the beginning."

***

Author's Notes:

Things are getting exciiiiiiiiiiiiiiiting...