One of the drones approached, the deepening scars on its body glowing with blue luminescence as its flesh and steel corroded. It stumbled toward Xyuka, as if it were asking for her to help it. She only watched as its rear leg disconnected, and then as it fell. It writhed in pain as its surgically reconstructed body tore apart and its organs spilled out onto the floor and began to decay with the same blue glow.

Xyuka sighed and looked out at the massive damage to the Crimson Horizon. An enormous gash had been torn into the port hull. In some areas, it was sparking with blue energy as the material of the ship was eaten away by the reaction, a disease digging deeper through both the organic and inorganic portions. Xyuka had managed to contain the spread of the infection, but many of Sunset Shimmer’s drones had been sacrificed in the process. They inevitably became infected with the Voqutan energy, and it was not compatible with life.

The fact that this had even been able to occur disturbed Xyuka greatly. She had not anticipated the presence of any such technology in this reality. Its presence alone would be a profound anomaly, but the fact that someone had figured out how to use it six billion years after its creators had died out sat on the verge of impossibility. Let alone a person who would be both intelligent and moronic enough to use the energy of the Blue-Lit Machines to create a weapon.

“Soy-chet, I think we need to adjust our plans. This damage is too extensive.”

Sunset Shimmer appeared beside her. “No. I can’t stop now. There isn’t time.”

“But the structural damage puts you at extreme danger.”

“My body will hold. I will survive, and I will conquer.”

“But if they breach the shields- -”

“They will not. And it is not your position to question me, Xyuka.”

Xyuka bowed. “Yes, Lady Sunset. My sincerest apologies. I was only concerned for your welfare.”

“I’m less concerned with the damage and more concerned with the support unit.” Sunset Shimmer gestured down at her body. Instead of her normal long robes, her body was wrapped in a complex system of metal and mechanisms that linked to several of the extensive Core implants that ran down her back. “Will it work, Xyuka? Because it has to.”

“Of course it will work,” said Xyuka. “I built it.” She turned away from the repairs, instead opting to work with something that was actually functioning properly. “Go ahead. Try it.”

Sunset Shimmer took a long look at Xyuka, as if wondering whether she could trust the armored pony. Then she arched her back. The cables that connected her to the Crimson Horizon shifted and then released. A small amount of liquid tricked down her back as the mechanisms on her body shifted, connecting to the holes in her spine and interfacing with her body.

The chestplate of her armor began to glow, and instead of collapsing, Sunset Shimmer took a deep breath. She took a step, and flexed her hands before looking behind her to see that she was untethered. “It actually works.”

“Yes. This will give you independent motion.”

“How much power?”

“There is a thirty seven percent linkage to the Crimson Horizon.”

“Thirty seven percent?” Sunset Shimmer’s expression darkened. “Barely a third? That’s IT?”

“It transmits condensed magical energy through a transdimensional conduit. Yes, that is all I am able to do at this time. If you were to give me another month- -”

“We don’t have a month,” snapped Sunset Shimmer. “It’s only a matter of time before they figure out what I’m doing. If we lose this chance, the resulting war will take centuries if not millennia. And I don’t think you’ll live that long.”

“No, I wouldn’t.”

“Thirty seven percent is enough. It will work. It has to.”

Sunset Shimmer turned her attention to the outside of the ship. She looked beyond the damage to her body and toward the stars beyond. They were beginning to pass objects made of crystal. They were inching ever closer to their goal.

“Lower the suppression field. She already knows we’re here. Divert as much power as you can to me. We stop at nothing. Everything that stands in our way, slaughter it. This galaxy is devoid of any pure individuals, so we will lose nothing of value. We will not stop until we reach the Imperium.”

“Of course. I will do everything in my power to ensure that you meet your goals, Lady Sunset.”

Starlight returned to the temporary home that she and her friends had been provided. She had the impression that it was late, so she tried to be stealthy. Since walking quietly with hooves was nearly impossible, she instead elected to levitate herself. Doing so created a blue colored corona of light through the otherwise dark hallways, illuminating her path.

Then, at the edge of her visual perception, they illuminated something else. A pair of reflective eyes. Not silver, like Jack’s, or violet, like Zedok’s, but bright green. Starlight slowed her motion and saw Jack step into her light- -but not the Jack she knew.

“Chrysalis,” she said.

“Miss Glimmer,” said the changeling, smiling with Jack’s face. “Have you been enjoying the Imperium?”

“Is that any of your business?”

“Yes, actually. It is. It’s my job to oversee the will of the One True and Eternal Princess.” She stepped closer. “And that is what I intend to do.”

“By making sure I agree to join the Crystal Empire?”

“Ideally, yes. But also by warning you.” Her expression became more serious. “You were with the High Exemplar. I can smell it. I’d recommend that you don’t toy with things that don’t belong to you.”

“Sunburst doesn’t belong to anyone,” snapped Starlight. “And neither do I. We are NOT property.”

“Such binary perceptions of the world. I wonder how long it will take for Cadence to crush that idealism out of you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Nothing,” said Chrysalis. “Nothing at all.” She turned around, he dress swirling behind her. “Some of your friends are still awake. Lyra is asleep. Or weeping. One of the two. The bird-thing is still doing calibrations on her new arm. The rest are in the dining room.”

Chrysalis held up one of her hands and a powerful green light filled the crystal hallway. She then proceeded to lead Starlight toward the area she had just mentioned, as if she had the intention of going there too.

At this point, Starlight descended and walked along the floor like a normal pony. Her hoofsteps were no louder than Chrysalis’s high-heeled boots.

“The clothes,” she asked, curious. “Are those part of your body too?”

“Yes. Of course.”

Starlight shivered. It was a logical conclusion but a weird thought. “You know, I can’t help but wonder what exactly you look like. Without the veneer.”

Chrysalis did not answer at first, nor did she smile. If anything, she seemed lost in thought, and Starlight was almost ready to give up on the conversation when she finally answered. “I was once beautiful enough to seduce the Royal Consort and sire several children with him. I can’t help but wonder if I was once more resplendent than the Goddess herself…”

Before Starlight could ask what that meant, she caught a glimpse of the light coming through the open dining room door. When she neared it, she looked in to see her friends. Darien was sitting at the large table and putting severe strain on a chair as he was trying to use a ridiculously small pony-sized fork to eat an equally tiny pony-sized cupcake. Zedok was perched on his shoulder, leaning back with her arm around his head. She seemed barely able to contain her laughter at Darien’s slow, deliberate movements.

Across from them sat Armchair, apparently doing his best to sit as though he was not quadrupedal. He seemed to be watching as well, but without a face, it was difficult to tell if he found the situation humorous or boring. Jack was roughly behind him, shirtless and sitting in a chair separate from the table with a bottle set on the floor beside her.

“Starlight!” cried Zedok, waving with one hand while holding onto one of Darien’s horns with the other. The sudden jerking of his head gave him pause as he tried to raise the tiniest possible scoop of cupcake frosting to his trilobal mouth. “So, what’s this I hear about you staying out late with a handsome stallion?”

Starlight blushed heavily and glared at Chrysalis. Chryaslis just smiled and shrugged before walking off to a corner of the room where she could be as near to Jack as possible while maintaining as great a distance as possible from Armchair.

“He’s a fillyhood friend,” explained Starlight. “We were catching up. That’s all.”

“Then what are you doing back here?” said Zedok. “Come on, Starlight. You should be at his house right now. If you know what I mean.”

Starlight blushed harder, and Jack tried to intervene. “Starlight isn’t that kind of girl. I’d know. Mostly because I end up taking the good-looking ones for myself.”

“You only leave the uglies for Star? Harsh.” Zedok turned back to Starlight. “But come on, Star. I know for a fact there’s no ponies back home.”

“Yes there are,” said Armchair. “On earth.”

“Eew. Don’t be disgusting.”

“Sorry.”

“I mean real ponies. The kind you can get to squeal like little piggies. When was the last time even got some, Star?”

The room fell silent. Even Darien looked at Starlight, at which point Armchair stole his cupcake.

Zedok gasped. “You didn’t, did you?”

“I’ve only been awake for five years,” protested Starlight. “That isn’t enough time- -”

“Horse crap. It didn’t take me that long.”

The room once again fell silent, and Zedok realized that she had said something she definitely should not have. Darien blushed- -if yahg blushing was even possible- -and Starlight shuddered violently.

“She is asari,” said Armchair.

“Hey! That’s racist!”

“And statistically true.”

“Yeah, probably,” said Zedok, shrugging. “It’s why I don’t like other asari much. They always get really handsy. But you’re one to talk. You’re the only other virgin in the room beside poor Star.”

“We are geth,” said Armchair. “Our existence is an endless orgy.”

Now it was Zedok’s turn to shudder. “I didn’t want to think about that. I never had cause to think about that. Now I can’t unthank it…”

“Sexy sexy fun geth times.”

“And we all know Jack isn’t.”

“Nope,” said Jack, darkly. “Gang-raped by pirates when I tried to ask them for help.”

Again, the room fell silent. “Shit,” said Zedok. “Jack, I’m sorry.”

“It was forty years ago,” said Jack. “It’s the past.”

“Is it?” said Chrysalis from her dark corner of the room.

Jack stood up, and Armchair immediately hid under the table. Like him, Starlight saw what was coming. Before the fight could break out, though, she felt something strange growing warm around her neck. Starlight looked down to see that the computational crystal that she had converted into a kind of necklace was reacting.

The others seemed to notice this as well. Starlight quickly removed the crystal with her magic and constructed a reader shell around it. She realized that it was receiving a transmission, and opened it. The crystal was not at the time directly linked to her brain, so it instead projected a hologram.

“Sunburst,” said Starlight.

“Sunburst?” said Zedok, jumping down from Darien’s shoulder. She looked at the hologram. “Damn, Starlight. How did you not hit that?”

“I am able to hear you, you know,” said Sunburst.

“Oh, I know.”

“Sunburst, what is it?”

“There is a problem,” said Sunburst, quickly. “You need to get off the Imperium. NOW.”

“High Exemplar,” said Chrysalis, standing up. “What are you talking about?”

“Viceroy,” said Sunburst. “An unidentified Equestrian vessel has entered galactic space. It has bypassed our defenses, and is on a collision course with the Imperium. We need to- -”

The room suddenly darkened as a second, much larger hologram appeared. Cadence was suddenly projected into the room, sitting atop her throne. Starlight had not seen the actual seat up close before, but now saw the morbid decorations that were carved into its sides. “High Exemplar Sunburst,” she said. “This is very…uncharacteristic.”

“Princess!” Sunburst immediately saluted, and Chrysalis bowed deeply.

Cadence seemed to accept this, and turned to Starlight. “What he says is correct. The vessel you have come to warn me about has, indeed, penetrated my galaxy. And for this grievous violation, it will be destroyed. There is nothing for either of you to concern yourselves with.”

“With all due respect, your Divinity,” said Sunburst. “The situation is not under control. It’s speed is greater than anything we’ve ever encountered. Your defense fleet can barely keep up, and even when they do, they have not even managed to slow it.”

“Are you doubting my power, Sunburst?”

“I am doing my due diligence to protect you, and the Empire I so dearly love. Please, my Princess. Let me scramble the Defense Fleet. We must stop it before it reaches the Imperium.”

“No ship has every breached my inner defenses, Sunburst. You know that.”

“And how many worlds will be collateral damage if it approaches the inner system?”

Cadence paused, and then nodded. “Fine. Take your pilots. And my daughter.”

“Princess, Flurry Heart isn’t- -”

“Ready? She is. And if she is ever to rule in my stead, she needs to understand what it feels like to spill the blood of heretics.”

“Yes, Princess.”

“I’m going too,” said Starlight, stepping forward.

“What?” said Jack and Chrysalis simultaneously.

“I’m not going to let them do this alone,” said Starlight, explaining her sudden decision to them. “I’m more powerful than either of them. I can help.”

“I cannot ask you to do that, Starlight Glimmer,” said Cadence. “As much as I would be intrigued by your participation, you have not yet sworn yourself to my service.”

“And this doesn’t mean I have. I’m not serving you, Cadence. I only want to help my friends.”

“Starlight Glimmer!” hissed Chrysalis. “Address the Princess with the respect she deserves!”

Cadence raised one of her gold-clad hooves, silencing the changeling. “I accept your offer, even though I sincerely doubt it will be necessary. Go, if you wish, or stay, if you wish. I grant you permission to teleport at will and to use my mass-relay network.” She turned to Sunburst. “Ensure that both her and my daughter return to me safe and victorious.”

“Of course, Princess.”

With that, both Sunburst and Cadence’s holograms closed and the crystal lamps of the room reignited.

“I can’t believe you just did that,” said Zedok.

“I can’t believe you’re surprised she did,” said Jack in response. She turned to Starlight. “So, Star. What’s your plan?”

“We hit it hard and fast,” said Starlight. “We break through the shields and board it. Take it down like we did the Harmony.”

“Are you sure that will work?” asked Zedok. “We didn’t actually win on the Harmony, though. We just stole their Commander. And that was only because Lyra knew who to look for.”

“Then we go for the Core,” said Starlight, thinking on her feet. “Sunburst said it’s Equestrian, right? That means it has one of us right in the middle. We pull her out, the whole thing shuts down.”

“You actually fought the Harmony?” said Chrysalis. “And you lived?”

“We won,” corrected Starlight. “And we will again.”

“Starlight, I can’t find Lyra!” called Zedok from the top of the crystal staircase. She leapt down, cushioning her fall with a burst of biotic energy. She was dressed in her mother’s black commando armor, and an exceedingly large shotgun was strapped to her back.

“Then we leave her behind,” said Starlight. “She can stay with Darien.”

“What the hell is that thing?” asked Beri, flexing one of her arms as though it ached and looking at the firearm on Zedok’s back.

“Oh, this? Its name is almost entirely consonants. The yahg use it for hunting birds.”

“Those must be impressive birds,” said Jack. She, too, was dressed in armor with an old Spectre pistol strapped to her waist. “I thought you used a spikethrower, Zed.”

“I used to. But then it kind of blew up and took my face and arms with it.”

“I know. I was there.”

“Oh. I forgot.”

“So do we have a plan?” asked Beri. “You know, briefing, schematics, something? Anything at all? Or are we going to do this unprofessionally?”

“We charge in, break their shields,” said Starlight. “Until we get there, you three are just passengers. Armchair gives processing assistance.” She patted the geth on the head. “All four of you go in. Jack clears the way, and Armchair tracks the Core. Simple.”

“Simple- -do you have any idea how hard what you actually said is? Do you even know what’s going to be in there? And not to mention my reservations about Jack- -”

Zedok slapped Beri on the back, nearly knocking her over. “Such a turian. After we get back, I’ll prep you for surgery.”

“Surgery? Why?”

“To get the stick out. Clearly.”

“Is that funny?” asked Armchair. “Oh. Yes. It is. Ha. Ha.”

Jack ignored Armchair. “You ready, Star?”

“Are you?”

“Light it up.”

Starlight charged her horn and initiated the tech and biotic sequence necessary for her to construct her ship while simultaneously teleporting her crew into the upper atmosphere of the Imperium. Their gravity response was not exactly smooth, and they materialized moments before the ship formed around them.

“Damn,” said Beri. “That is not within approval specifications!”

Starlight ignored her. She was now floating in the center of her ship, linked by her spin to the tech that formed much of the internal energy processing matrix. Armchair sat next to her, and Starlight watched as he linked the primary ports of his neural matrix to Starlight’s auxiliary system. She felt him arrive on the other side of her tech, communicating with it to accelerate its function vastly. Across the technological gap, she heard him. There was the familiar arguing of the numerous geth within him, as usual, but Starlight realized that there were many, many more voices than there had been the last time- -and that they were not alone. Something was singing in there, linking the voices in harmony. Starlight assumed that the song was whatever remained of Arachne.

On Starlight’s right stood Jack. She had become so accustomed to being teleported that she hardly seemed to notice. With her present, Starlight shifted the transparency of the frontal pane of the ship.

“Actual windows, Star? Fancy.”

“I don’t think we need a whole ship at this point,” said Starlight. “I’m using one of my smaller models. I designed it for this kind of application, but I haven’t had a chance to test it.”

“What?” said Armchair.

“Untested starship made entirely of tech and biotic energy,” summarized Jack. “Yeah. Let’s do this.”

Starlight removed the crystal computer from her person and constructed a reading system. This time, it was a complete version. The interface went far more smoothly than before, and Starlight felt her mind linked to the communication array.

“Sunburst?” she said. She did not need to speak out loud, but she was still not accustomed to communicating via mental interface. “Can you hear me?”

“Loud and clear,” said Sunburst. “We are already in position in the path of the unknown vessel. I am transmitting the coordinates and mass-relay network parameters- -”

“Don’t bother,” said Starlight. “I’ve already locked onto your biotic signature. Inbound in- -” Starlight engaged a teleportation cascade, and the universe collapsed around her only to reopen in a different part of space. “- -right about now.”

Starlight’s sensory array immediately assembled an image of the area surrounding her. Nearest to her was a large formation of crystal starships. Most of them looked like the ones she had seen previously; that is, spiny crystalline balls. Several, however, held slightly different shapes. The two most noticeable were near the front: one in midnight blue with an orange corona, and the other a more ordered structure of white crystal. Starlight could sense Sunburst and Flurry Heart in those two, and was aware that there were also ponies in some of the other vessels, each serving as a nexus for a fleet of drones at variable size.

On a larger scale, they were in close orbit to a large star. The system that they had arrived in had a large, crystal-encased mass relay and several planets with variable populations. The largest of them had a population of what appeared to be several hundred million, and the others were between moderate and sparse in population density, likely colony worlds.

“Starlight,” said Flurry Heart. “What are you doing here?”

“She is assisting with the defense ,” explained Sunburst.

“But she’s a civillian…” Flurry Heart paused. “That ship…Starlight, you’re- -”

“Projecting it,” said Starlight. “Yeah. Not a single solid component beside the Core.”

“You can- -but how- -if you- -”

“Flurry Heart, focus,” said Sunburst. “This may very well be your first experience with real combat, and I do NOT want it to be your last.”

“Right, right,” said Flurry Heart. Her voice became more even. “I will take point. Green and Silver groups will handle covering myself and the High Exemplar. Black and Orange will flank and cover Starlight. Advance with broad formation until the enemy becomes visible.”

“Roger, Archgeneral,” said a number of other ponies simultaneously.

“Maintain position until the enemy vessel is in visual proximity,” said Sunburst. “We are positioned directly in its path. If the Princess Cadence fails to stop it, we must not allow it to reach the Imperium.”

Starlight was about to issue her own ‘roger’ when her long-range sensors suddenly picked up something moving toward the system. Her sensors, it seemed, were better than those belonging to the various pilots, because they did not react.

Instinctively, Starlight focused her sensors on the approaching mass, and as she did, she froze.

“Star?” said Jack, immediately realizing that something was wrong.

Starlight did not respond to her. She was not sure how she could, if there was even a way to explain what she was seeing. It was a ship, but only in the most marginal sense. Its architectural structure had no logical bearing, as if it were some kind of organic mass that had been built up over itself until it had reached the size of a small asteroid. The Harmony had been massive, with a width span measured in kilometers- -but this dwarfed it.

What made it truly terrifying, though, was how it FELT. Starlight could feel the energy of the Core almost hemorrhaging out, even at range. The ship was moving at an impossible speed, she realized, because it had a nearly limitless source of power. The power itself, though, was strange and convoluted. It felt like death.

The massive starship was not alone. Surrounding it was a fleet of hundreds of smaller ships which were themselves engaged with unmanned crystal vessels that were swarming around like bees. The smaller vessels appeared to be allied with the larger one, but they felt completely different. The black-silver ships felt strangely cold and empty, as though there were nothing substantial within them. Starlight Realized that they had no Cores, or any source of magic- -or even mass drives. They just seemed to move.

“Holy shit,” said Jack. She could not even see the ship- -there was no way she could. “Do you feel that?”

“Enemy in visible range!” cried Flurry Heart, her even tone breaking with her excitement. “ENGAGE!”

“No, wait- -”

It was too late. Flurry Heart’s ship jumped to FTL, and her numerous drones followed. The others followed suit. Starlight had no other option; she followed, her speed accelerating as she neared the enemy vessel. As it grew larger in her sensors, the feeling of dread increased.

Up close, she could see why it was not stopping. None of the crystal starships could reach it, not because of the defense of its support fleet but because it was encased in some kind of shield. Starlight had never seen readings quite like it, but she immediately veered off course, circling the shield through the action around her. Several crystals converged on her position as she looked for an opening. Below, Starlight watched as the orange glow that came from the organic-like surface of the vessel shifted, forming incomplete constructs and bursting out, tearing through any crystals it touched and shattering them as if they were nothing.

Flurry Heart immediately began the attack, drawing her own ship back as she sent her sub-fleet forward. Sunburst moved in as well, positioning his ship near hers and firing several powerful bolts to defend her. It was a breathtaking display, but Starlight was forced to focus on the work at hand.

Below, she suddenly became aware of a severe injury on the central ship’s hull. A bluish gash had been cut through the material, exposing the corroding hallways and corridors within.

“There,” said Starlight. “That’s where we need to go. If we could just- -”

Starlight suddenly shifted the ship to the side, knocking Jack and Armchair to the side from the sudden inertial burst. As she did, a projectile beam from one of the smaller octahedral ships shot through the air, splitting and tearing into several of the crystal escort. They detonated form within, and Starlight returned fire. She unloaded several concentrated biotic blasts into the enemy ship. It did not deviate course, but instead shattered.

“Nice shot Starlight!” called Zedok from one of the more outer rooms.

“No,” said Starlight. “Not good, this isn’t good!”

All around her, the other ships had shattered as well. The fragments, instead of becoming inert, flattened and accelerated. They swarmed the crystal ships, and Starlight realized that they were seeking out piloted craft. The vessels cut through the crystals, cleaving their way to the pilot ships and slicing through them. Starlight could hear the screaming as they went out.

Sunburst and Flurry Heart reacted, taking evasive maneuvers backward. Sunburst took a defensive role, something that only worked because his fleet was much larger and operated with much greater dexterity. Flurry Heart, though retreating, ignited a powerful biotic weapon that struck several of the ships directly. Whatever crystal system she used to modulate her alicorn power was more than adequate to shatter whichever ones she hit, but there were too many for her to stop on her own.

“Fall back!” cried Sunburst. “Assume a range-attack formation!”

Starlight pulled back as well, firing her own weapons into the cluster. She found that biotic charges had little to no effect, but using a tech overload appeared to paralyze them at least temporarily. Seizing on the idea that they must be somehow technological, Starlight focused her energy on tech attacks and released a swarm of combat drones to draw their fire.

“Damn it!” she cried. “There’s too many!”

She backed away and realized that she had already crossed most of the system. Just being in the larger ship’s proximity had moved her somehow.

“Starlight!” cried Sunburst. “We have to retreat! I’m sending a signal to evacuate the Imperium- -there’s no way we can stop it- -”

“No!” said Flurry Heart, charging forward again and quadrupling her fire rate. “We can win this! We just have to ignore the little ones and get to the big one!”

Starlight paused, not sure what to do, but before she had even measured her options and come to a conscious decision she felt herself rushing after Flurry Heart on the attack.

Armchair suddenly perked up. “Starlight, detecting aberrant signal.”

“Signal?” said Starlight, trying her best to perform complicated evasive manuvers and to give Flurry Heart fire-support as the pair of them charged into battle once more. “From what?”

“The local mass-relay has activated. Vessels incoming.”

“Finally,” said Starlight. “Reinforcements!”

The mass relay was in visible range, and Starlight saw it charging- -and then saw the burst of light as ship after ship materialized into the space around her.

Except something was wrong. The ships that emerged from the mass relay were not made of crystal at all. In fact, Starlight did not recognize them at all. They were huge and made of dark, silver-black material. Really, they did not look like starships at all. Instead, they more closely resembled enormous mollusks of some kind.

Jack saw them, and her eyes immediately widened with recognition. “HOLY FUCK!” she cried. She almost leapt onto Starlight. “Star, turn back!”

“I can’t leave Flurry Heart, not- -”

“Goddamn it Starlight TURN BACK NOW! THOSE ARE GODDAMN REAPERS!”

She pushed Starlight hard, and Starlight turned her ship just in time to see one of the enormous black ships pass within a hundred meters of them. Starlight watched it pass in awe. She had, of course, never seen a real Reaper- -but she had heard the stories.

On the decks below, Beri looked out the transparent window and at the passing ship- -and found that she could not move. She tried to reach for her gun, but found that she could not move at all, as though every cybernetic joint in her body had frozen solid. She could not even speak.

They had been gone. The war was over. There was no way she could have known, and now she felt fear. Fear deeper than any she had ever experienced.

“Berry!” cried Zedok, shaking her shoulder. “Snap out of it!”

The asari girl seemed distant. Beri collapsed to her knees and wept.

The Reaper fleet progressed forward with no thought of defensive posturing or evasive action. The fleet of subdivided ships that poured out toward them stood no chance. They were ripped to shreds by mass-drivers and particle beams as the Reapers converged on the larger ship.

The first few to reach it impacted the shields and were immediately vaporized. The others did not stop, though, and after four or five had been destroyed the next wave had adapted. They approached the shield and projected their own, countering its effect and penetrating the unoccupied space between the shield and the large ship. Many of those were in turn destroyed by the ship’s defensive, but they were far more durable than the crystal vessels. A small number made it through, and concentrated their fire directly on the luminescent gouge that had already been carved into the ship’s hull.

Inside, a sudden explosion brought Sunset Shimmer to her knees. She cried out in pain and raged against the interlopers. She did not recognize them, nor had she anticipated their arrival. Her attack pattern had been optimized for crystal starships that ran on proper magic, not for aliens like this.

“Xyuka!’ she cried in desperation. “Help me! Do something!”

“I already am,” said Xyuka, calmly. She looked up above her into the battle overhead, and watched as the Reapers descended onto the Crimson Horizon, cutting into it and attacking it directly. Behind them, the Crystal Empire forces seemed to be rallying, bolstered by the unexpected allies.

In the vacuum of space, it was all so beautiful. A silent show of explosions and violence, of machines twisting together in a unparalleled dance. Xyuka spent a long moment watching it before she decided that it was time for her to engage in the show as well.

She disengaged the gravity field that was holding her to the surface of the Crimson Horizon and for just a moment floated. Then the back of her suit shifted, and a set of jets emerged, driving her upward and forward toward the nearest of the Reapers. She struck it with far more force than she had anticipated, but the internal support mechanisms of her armor absorbed most of the impact.

The ship reacted to her presence. The metal around it began to distort and shift as blue energy flowed through it, and several figures formed from the metal, rising up to defend the surface of their ship from attack.

They advanced on Xyuka, but she did not flee. Instead, she just looked up at the nearest one.

“Assuming direct control.”

The blue light of the ship immediately corrupted, driven back by Xyuka’s violet-orange. The figures rose into the void and shattered at Xyuka’s will as the Reaper became hers. She looked down at the metal, and it shifted, obeying her command. She was pulled beneath, and the ship hollowed around her, assembling into a cockpit. A chair formed for her, and she leaned into it. The back of her armor split open, and her wings fluttered as she forced the ship to integrate into her spinal implants. Within seconds, she was in total command.

The Reapers were not prepared for this contingency, and Xyuka’s signal propagated rapidly between them, spreading like a contagion. Her own computer-enhanced mind was far faster than theirs, and she quickly took control of them at an exponential rate. Eventually, something did push back on her- -something surprisingly intelligent that she doubted was or had ever been a machine. By then, though, it was too late. She had already taken more than half the Reaper fleet.

Starlight immediately knew that something was wrong. The innermost of the Reapers had changed. They normally emitted a kind of blue light, but now they glowed brightly with a sickly orange-violet glow. Initially, they had seemed to be helping- -but now they turned on the remaining Reapers as well as the crystal forces.

Then, to make matters worse, something fluctuated from behind the larger ship- -and space distorted. Suddenly, hundreds if not thousands more of the smaller ships emerged from the void, joining the turned Reapers in battle. By this point, the battle had moved in close proximity to the system’s star, and Starlight saw their dark slicing through space toward her.

They raced forward, ignoring the crystals that were attacking them. At first, Starlight did not understand why they had passed her- -but then she knew.

“The planets!” cried one of the crystal pilots. “Oh Dear Cadence, they’re going for the planets!”

“Abort the attack!” demanded Sunburst. “All units, fall back to defend the inhabited worlds!”

“No!” cried Flurry Heart. “We can still do this!”

“Flurry Heart, turn back!” cried Sunburst. “That’s a DIRECT ORDER!”

“I’m going in!” she cried back, defiantly.

Overhead, Starlight watched as Flurry Heart sacrificed what was left of her fleet of unmanned vessels to clear her a path toward the damaged shields of the largest ship. As she charged forward, though, a Reaper exploded near her ship, knocking it off course. She tried to compensate, but the blast had knocked out one of the crucial stabilizers on her vessel. She spiraled away, and Starlight heard the distorted sound of her screaming as her ship became trapped in the nearby star’s gravity.

“Flurry Heart!” cried Sunburst, charging forward after her.

Starlight watched as Flurry Heart’s ship disappeared into the outer layer of the star. Sunburst did not stop or slow, and for the first time Starlight took detailed readings of his ship.

“Sunburst, stop!” she cried. “You’re not equipped for that! You won’t survive in there!”

“I have to try!” he said before dipping into edge of the star’s coronaphere and out of sight.

“Sunburst! SUNBURST!”

Starlight was panicked now, and made a split-second decision. “Armchair,” she said. “How much memory do you have?”

“We have approximately- -”

“Good enough!” Starlight immediately rammed several billion lines of tech code into his mind, giving him instructions on how to maintain the tech portion of her ship. Then she separated herself from her vessel, rushing forward toward the star.

“Starlight!” cried Jack, watching her go as the ship contracted greatly around Armchair. She turned to the geth. “Armchair! Go after her!”

“We…can’t…” said Armchair, his voice slowed by the sheer amount of processing he was suddenly doing. “Left with…structural….elements. No…power…source…”

“Goddamn it!” Jack slammed one of her fists against one of the tech-material walls and found that it was substantially less solid than the ones Starlight made. She watched as Starlight shot forward toward the star. “Goddamn it…”

Outside, Starlight condensed her structure around herself into the tightest possible configuration. She darkened the area over her eyes and dove into the surface of the star. The conditions changed drastically as she approached. Starlight was no stranger to travelling close to stars; she had hid in them enough times to understand the strain of the heat and the intense gravity. The sheer size and depth of them, though, had always terrified her- -the fact that if she lost power, she could be sucked so deep into something so deadly without even a moment of pause.

The solar plasma immediately surrounded her body, but the superdense tech and biotic energy absorbed most of the heat. It was still oppressive, though, and she knew that any second it could burn through. She was terrified, but still plunged deeper.

The electromagnetic interference from the star was severe, and Starlight’s sensors would not function beyond seeing occasional ghosty images. She had calculated Sunburst’s trajectory, and knew where he should be- -but without her sensors, she was flying blind.

The crystal computer was still marginally functional, and if it was to be believed, Sunburst was rapidly sinking in the star. His ship was not meant to withstand solar gravity. Neither had Flurry Heart’s. Even alone, either of them would have had extreme difficulty escaping- -but Starlight knew that there was no way Sunburst would eve release Flurry Heart, even if her damaged ship was dragging him to his grave.

There was not much time. Starlight could feel herself beginning to sweat and the sharp pain as her flesh was beginning to burn. Sunburst and Flurry Heart had even less time, she knew, but she could not find them.

Which meant there was only one option. Starlight did not even hesitate, even though she knew the significance of what she needed to do and the consequences it would have. She shifted the opacity of her projected visor, causing it to become transparent instead of opaque. Before her eyes were burned away, she caught the most momentary glimpse of blue and white crystal. Now that she knew where they were, she could reached out to them. She did, and ignited a teleportation field.

On the Imperium, a klaxon sounded. Every pony suddenly stopped what they were doing, confusion crossing their faces, as though they could not understand how such an alarm could possibly be occurring.

Lyra stopped walking. Finding herself unable to sleep, she had gone outside for air, to wander and think- -but in the instant that the urgent tone of that alarm began to sweep through the city, she knew that something was wrong. That alarm, she knew, was never meant to sound on the Imperium.

In a different part of the city, Darien looked up, surprised by the sound around him. In his own culture, there were no need for such alarms. There were no airstrikes or attacks that could come swiftly- -but by the sound alone he instantly understood what it meant. He did not know why he had looked to the sky, but in the distance, his eight eyes managed to focus on something small and bright. Something that had not been there before. His instincts told him that it was a bad thing- -and his logical mind told him that Zedok had failed to stop the oncoming warbringer. Darien desperately hoped that she was safe, but knew that he had other more immediate concerns.

Several ponies were exiting their house, and their confusion at the klaxon only grew when they saw a yahg standing outside their house. They smiled, though, glad to see a friendly face.

“What’s going on?” asked one of the children of the family, poking her head past her crystalline father.

“Invasion,” said Darien somberly. He looked the adult ponies in the eyes. “Shelter. Is there a shelter? The surface, it is not safe.”

“A shelter?” said the male. “Y- -yes.” His expression hardened and he turned to his crystal wife. “Honey, I have to go. Take the children to the deep vaults.”

She looked like she was about to break into tears, but nodded to her husband and hugged him. She took the children, who were confused by the events, and her husband left in the opposite direction.

“Where is daddy going?” asked one of the children as she was ushered down the street.

“He is going to work,” she said.

Darien followed them, and soon the streets were filled with ponies evacuating the surface. Strangely, they almost always move in two directions: a wave of mares and stallion traveling the opposite way of older ponies and children and away from safety.

After several minutes, a fast-moving and orderly herd had been gathered. Darien himself followed and had quickly become covered in children, carrying those who were too young or too tired to keep up. He did not know where their parents had gone, but he knew that they were not safe on the surface. The object in the sky was now much more visible, and it was still growing closer.

Ahead, there was a platform filled with ponies. Darien reached it and passed the children to the ponies standing on it.

“Get on,” said one of them. “If you’re not part of the emergency defense contingent, you need to get underground!”

“No,” said Darien. “There are more coming.”

“We have to go, now,” said one of the crystal guards. “The next platform is in sector X7. Do you think you can make it there?”

Darien nodded, and the crystal guard saluted him. The guard activated the platform and it dropped, quickly descending down a diagonal channel into the ground to the undercity below. The children that Darien had helped waved as a massive blast door closed, sealing them in safety.

They were safe, and Darien returned to the city. The surface was not especially populous, and it had evacuated quickly. It was now eerily empty, with every pony having left their beds and tables to descend.

It was not totally empty, though. Turning a corner, Darien came to face a crystal pony accompanied by a filly and a pair of colts. Their father and one of the colts were made of crystal, but the other two were eggshell colored with bicolored pink and blue manes.

The adult was out of breath, and Darien realized that his legs were supported by a wheeled device. He was apparently partially paralyzed.

“The evacuation platform!” he said.

“It has already left,” said Darien. “Do you know where the next one is?”

“There won’t be any, not now…but there is a walking channel six blocks over. If it’s closed though- -”

“If it is closed, I open it,” said Darien. “Come. We must go.”

“Daddy,” said the filly, who looked terrified. “What’s happening?”

The stallion smiled. “It’s just a drill, honey,” he said. “For safety. But we need to do it right. Remember, Cadence is watching us. And we don’t want to displease her.”

“But where is mommy?”

“She had work to do.” He looked up at Darien. “Can you help us?”

“Of course.”

They began to move through the empty streets, with the crystal stallion leading the way. Then, suddenly, Darien froze. Something had changed in the air. It smelled like a storm, and like electricity. There was a distant sound like thunder, as through the atmosphere was shaking in rebellion against something unpleasant. Darien looked up in time to see the bolts of light through the air- -and then the ground shook as the artillery strike hit, tearing the city apart as orbital projectiles and dying ships slammed into the ground.

The children screamed and their father grabbed them. Their cries were drowned out by the nearest of the detonations as a fragment of burning starship impacted a nearby tower. Darien took a crouched position and held tightly to the ground, his large size dampening the effects of what felt like an earthquake. Debris rained down on him, and though the crystal stallion defended his young, part of it hit him and he collapsed.

Even with the thunder of distant crashes and strikes still raining down on them, Darien moved quickly to pick up the unconscious pony and his children, only to suddenly realize that the nearest crystal building had been damaged in the impact. It was collapsing.

Darien’s body reached before his mind could, and he reached up. The force of the collapsing building hit him hard, and for a moment he doubted he could hold it. He dropped to one knee, but with a roar he pushed. The crystal wall stopped, but only barely. It was too heavy for him to push off, but he was large and strong enough to keep it from dropping any lower for the time being.

“Children!” he cried, trying desperately not to let the wall drop. “Get out of there!”

“Daddy!” cried one of the colts, shaking his father. “Daddy, wake up!”

The children would not leave their father, and instead huddled around him, crying and afraid. Darien could not bring himself to ask them to leave him- -but at the same time, he knew that there was not much time.

The wall began to slip, and Darien closed his eyes. He could not bear to see what would result from his failure. Instead of falling, though, the wall seemed to get lighter. Darien looked to his side and saw a second, much larger yahg throw her force against the wall, causing it to lift several feet.

What was stranger still, though, was that Darien recognized her.

“Grandmother?” he said in disbelief.

She threw back her head and lifted the wall several more feet. “Go!” she said. “Get them out of there, child!”

Darien nodded and released the wall. It immediately dropped several feet as the other yahg took the full weight. Darien reached beneath the gap, trying to grasp the ponies beneath. As he did, though, the remainder of the building collapsed. The sudden increase in weight caused the slippery crystal wall to slip out of the female yahg’s claw and drop suddenly.

Instinctively and unable to stop himself, Darien jumped back. The wall dropped to the ground- -but once again stopped just before the ponies beneath were crushed. Looking up, Darien saw a narrow metal figure, her body charged with orange light, supporting the collapsing wall with a single hand.

Lyra looked into the dark gap, and her magic illuminated the space. She saw the ponies within, and wondered why fate had chosen this path for her. The fillies and colts looked up at her, terrified.

“This is heavy,” she said. She extended her hand and gestured to them. Part of her magic surrounded Calcite and lifted him, drawing him out. “Come. Unless you want to be squished flat.”

They obeyed her and followed their father as he was levitated out. As soon as they were clear, Lyra allowed the building to collapse.

Darien stared at Lyra, his mouth agape. He had understood that she was strong, and that her skill rivaled that of any yahg- -but this was terrifying. “What…how?” He asked. “How did you- -”

“Questlord technology,” said his grandmother, standing up. Her suddenly shifted, her flesh pulling apart in a surge of green light as its density increased and her yahg features decayed and were quickly replaced. In mere seconds, the long-horned female yahg was replaced with a small human female. “There is nothing quite like it in the universe, is there?”

“You can bet your protoplasmic ass.” Lyra knelt down next to Calcite. He was beginning to stir.

“Lyra?” he said. “Lyra…”

“Can you walk?”

“I’m not sure…”

“Fine.” Lyra picked him up and snapped off the support structure from around his legs. She then put him around her neck like a scarf, holding onto his front hooves with one hand and his rear hooves with the other. “Darien, the foals.”

Darien nodded and scooped up the children. They resisted slightly, but like most ponies they felt relatively comfortable around him.

“Chrysalis,” said Lyra. “We need to get them to the shelter before the next barrage.”

“Right.” Chrysalis shifted again, dropping onto her knees and hands. They shifted and her joints reconfigured, her clothes retracting into dense fur as she became a narrow-framed dog. “Follow me,” she said.

As Chrysallis ran off through the crumbling buildings, Lyra looked up at the sky. More debris was raining down, but in different areas of the Imperium. It was too dispersed to be true carpet bombing; it was not meant to level the cities, but to cause mass panic. It was a distraction technique.

Even more terrifying, though, was the fact that the ship producing it was now visible: an enormous dark form descending through the upper atmosphere, casting a shadow over the entire region. Its shields and guns fired silently miles above as it cut through the ships swarming it. Some of the ships appeared to actually be damaging it- -but it hardly seemed to notice. It had stopped moving and was now hovering over the Imperium.

Lyra could feel the magic seeping from it, a dark and somehow empty field of obsessive rage and pain. She had a bad feeling in the pit of her cybernetic stomach- -a feeling that the battle had already been lost.

Sunset Shimmer walked briskly through the darkened halls of the Imperium. It was the first time in what felt like an eternity that she had truly been able to leave the Crimson Horizon. The last time she had moved under her own power had been before, when she had not yet become a Core. She had been a simple unicorn back then. That was from before she had continued her evolution to its logical conclusion.

The guards had barely been a distraction. Their weak bodies wrapped in inferior crystal technology animated by archaic magic had been not match for her; she had not even slowed as she vaporized them, resisting the scent of their ash as she purged the world of their genetic inferiority. In a way, though, it was a disappointment. In her previous life, fighting them might have at least given her a momentary challenge- -but in this form, she was apparently unstoppable.

Then, just as she could almost taste her goal, five large ponies blocked her path. Sunset Shimmer did not slow, but looked up at them. Their white, chitinous bodies and green-blue eyes made it clear that they were changelings.

“Wizard,” said one of them. “Turn back now. Or die.”

Sunset did not dignify their order with a response. She just kept walking.

“So be it.”

Together, their bodies shifted. The leader of them split apart and expanded, his hyperdense mass enlarging until he was a foaming, three-headed dog. The one standing beside him changed as well, his skin becoming scaled and his legs receding until he became a basilisk. The others changed as well: a manticore, a hydra, a dragon, a windigo.

For the first time, Sunset paused- -and smiled. She stretched out her arms and opened her hands. They burst with orange flames that boiled and dripped from her body, barely contained by the suit that Xyuka had built.

Perhaps she would be able to have some fun.

“Go,” ordered Cadence as she stepped down from her throne onto the cool tile floor below. “For the last time, Shining Armor. This is not your fight.”

“Like hell,” he said. He was dressed in golden armor, the kind that he had once worn as an aristocratic captain in the Equestrian Unicorn Army. Cadence could not help but feel a twinge in her cold, crystalline heart. He certainly did look handsome, and his devotion was beyond charming. “I told you. I won’t leave you. Whatever comes through that door, I will be at your side. Because I love you, Cadence.”

“And I love you too, Shining Armor. More than anything in this universe. You are a strong soldier, but even you must be able to sense what is approaching us.”

“I do,” he said, looking her in the eye. He leaned forward and kissed her. “And I will fight to defend you. Even if I do not survive.”

Before Cadence could chastise him for his stubbornness, there was an explosion from the far side of the room as the crystal doors to the throne room were reduced to hot slag. A bipedal figure entered, her red and yellow hair running down amongst her robes and an expression of hardened conviction on her sunken, blind eyes.

She reached out and tossed several severed changeling heads onto the floor before Cadence. One of them was still alive enough to sprout a set of narrow, insect-like legs and to make a hasty retreat, dragging one of its brothers with it. The human standing over them either did not notice or did not care.

Sunset Shimmer looked up at the goddess Cadence and smiled.

“Cadence,” she said. “Or should I say Sombra?”

Cadence charged her long horn and drenched the interloper in blue flame. Sunset Simply raised her hand and stepped through the blast of magic as it washed harmlessly over her. “The weakest of the three Princesses. Neither male nor female, mortal nor immortal, mare or god, ruling by fear or love.” Sunset stopped and separated her hands, opening herself for one of Cadence’s attacks. “Go ahead. I cannot love or be loved. And I’ve already been to the very depths of Hell itself- -there is nothing left for me to fear. You have no power over me, false-god.”

“Really?” said Cadence, sounding mildly amused. Then she charged her horn with enough force that it even terrified Shining Armor. “Then I will just have to tear you apart molecule by molecule. Do you really think you could challenge a God?”

“Divinity would imply that you have no weakness,” said Sunset calmly. She raised one of her hands, palm up. “And we both know that simply isn’t true.”

She suddenly shifted her hand toward Shining Armor. Every protective seal and shield surrounding his body shattered easily against her will, and he was surrounded in orange energy. He cried out in surprise as he was pulled across the floor and into Sunset Shimmer’s grasp. She held him tightly as he struggled, and with her free hand projected a biotic knife and held it against his neck.

Sunset watched the glimmer of fear in Cadence’s eyes. “Which one of us, then, Sombra, is truly the god?” She opened her mouth and licked Shining Armor’s horn, making sure that his wife was able to watch every second of it.

“Don’t worry about me, Cadence!” shouted Shining Armor. “Kill her!”

“Do it, Cadence,” said Sunset, poking the very tip of the magic knife into Shining Armor’s perfect white skin and watching the blood well up as he squirmed. “He’s just a toy to you. Vaporize us both. Do it.”

Cadence lowered the charge on her horn. “What do you want, mortal?”

Sunset smiled. “The Key of Korviliath. Give it to me.”

“I do not know what you are talking about,” said Cadence, her expression not changing.

Sunset Shimmer plunged the upper three inches of the knife into Shining Armor’s neck. He screamed and bled substantially. She had severed one of his carotid arteries. Upon seeing this, Cadence’s expression changed.

“No! Stop!” she cried, the weakness now fully audible in her voice.

“The key. Give it to me. Or he dies.”

“Don’t give her anything!” squeaked Shining Armor.

“Shining Armor,” said Cadence. “If there was ever a time for you to close that beautiful mouth of yours it would be RIGHT NOW.” She reached up to her head and removed her crown. With her teeth, she tore out the large asymmetrical crystal that sat in the center and tossed it to Sunset Shimmer.

Sunset Shimmer caught it and dropped the bleeding stallion on the ground. She no longer had a need for him.

“Was that so hard?” she said.

“I don’t know what value it will be to you,” said Cadence, picking up Shining Armor in her magic and stabilizing him as she brought him behind her. “There is no way you can get out of here alive now.”

“Not even if I teleport?”

Cadence Smiled. “Even Celestia cannot defy my will in that regard.”

“Do you still think I play fair?”

Sunset’s body suddenly shifted and glowed, surrounded by swirling energy as she dematerialized. Cadence, clearly not able to understand what she was seeing, charged her horn but fired too late. By the time the magic reached where Sunset had been standing, Sunset was back onboard the Crimson Horizon, surrounded by a complex array of pattern buffers and transporter technology that Xyuka had assembled.

Almost as soon as she arrived, Sunset collapsed onto the floor and vomited blood. Her body was failing, and not only because of the harshness of the technological teleport. It had taken everything she had to maintain her composure, even as the Crimson Horizon- -her true body- -had been chipped away by the attacking fleet. So much of her was leaking into space, and her wounds were growing.

“Xyuka,” she whispered, struggling to lift her head from the spreading pool of blood but maintaining a firm grip on the crystal in her right hand. “Xyuka, help me…”

Outside, Xyuka was watching the battle unfold from the relative peace of her Reaper vessel. Through the sensors that were integrated into her mask, she watched as her fleet and her newfound Reapers took part in a vast battle. All of it was displayed in silence, and within the Reaper, she did not even feel the recoil from the mass drivers as she poured projectiles into her enemies.

An alert indicated that Sunset had successfully used the transporter pad to return to the Crimson Horizon. That meant the battle was over- -and just in time. Xyuka had sacrificed a substantial portion of her fleet, but the damage to the Crimson Horizon was far more severe. As she had anticipated, the enemy forces had concentrated their fire onto the pre-existing wound in the side of the ship. Sunset was hemorrhaging plasma and coolant, and her hull and internal structure were both compromised.

Xyuka ran several calculations and determined that with this level of damage, there was no way that the Crimson Horizon could make it out of the Crystal Galaxy intact. It would almost surely be destroyed before reaching the galactic edge.

With this in mind, Xyuka decided that sacrifice was necessary. She retracted a small portion of her fleet and most of her Reapers back into the Crimson Horizon’s shield barrier. Then she combined the majority of the remainder of her fleet and moved it into strategic positions around the shield. At this point, she did not bother to actively defend them, and the crystal vessels that remained only increased their attack. In the distance, she could see the heavy bombers approaching.

Before they could cause any significant damage, though, Xyuka detonated her fleet. The octahedral vessels surrounding the Crimson Horizon were torn apart from inside and the glowing fractal cores within were exposed, twisting and writhing in the unfamiliar space. Their positions converged based on Xyuka’s preplanned geometry, and below, Xyuka felt Sunset Shimmer harness the power she had given her. The dimensional shield increased in power exponentially- -and then suddenly space itself ripped and snapped open. The blast destroyed the approaching crystal vessels and what remained of the Reapers that were not under Xyuka’s control- -and the Crimson Horizon was sucked into the resulting portal as it was pulled to a new, secure destination.

Xyuka watched as so much of her work was destroyed, but took heart in the fact that she was sure that Lady Sunset had succeeded. The Key had been acquired, and they had survived. The first part of the plan was complete.