“For centuries, Alderaan stood as a beacon of hope in the Republic. But the Empire came, and with one savage strike, brought Alderaan to her knees.”
Jace Malcom, Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Well, Luna thought. This is a welcome.

The blasted city, ruined and decrepit, laden with rubble and wreckage, surrounded her almost as oppressively as the soldiers, all of them aiming those metallic weapons at her, all of them looking decidedly unhappy (even with the full-face armour they were wearing).

Maybe it was their aura, or maybe it was just the inevitable impression one always got from having weapons levelled squarely at one’s head.

Not necessarily a warm one, Luna mused, blinking once, but a welcome nonetheless.

The metallic construction staring her down was the real surprise. It reminded her vaguely of the machines of war she had heard rumours of the Kirin wielding: shaped vaguely like a human, but exaggerated in strange places, and with giant… muskets? Possibly repeaters? Whatever they were, they were at the end of its arms. She could also see a number of markings shaped like what she assumed were human skulls painted onto the otherwise bare metal.

All around this machine, she could see figures milling, bringing weapons that also looked like muskets up and aiming them at her, Galatea and Discord. Most were clad in grey, dull armour that covered their entire bodies, with full, featureless helmets that rendered them unnervingly faceless. But here and there she could see hints of personalisation - pink, blue, green designs scrawled on, graffiti here and there…

“Well, this is nice,” Discord said blandly, cutting through the tension of the moment with his trademark sardonic tone. He looked at Galatea. “These friends of yours, Galway Girl?”

Galatea did not reply: indeed, she did not even seem to acknowledge that Discord had spoken. Her expression was serene, almost beatific, as she regarded the humans and their machines with a practiced, analytical gaze. The fact that they were all most likely in danger from these humans did not seem to faze her in the slightest.

“Galatea?” Luna whispered. “If you have some trick up your sleeve, now would be a very good time to use it.”

Galatea still did not reply, at least for a moment. Instead, she gave a soft, knowing smile.

“Greetings, human,” she said, looking up at the machine. “Would it be possible for you to put us in contact with your superiors at your earliest convenience?”

The machine whirred once, the weapon-arm shifting ever so slightly. “And why the fuck should I do that, lady?”

“Because I am an Alicorn who is quite clearly not Queen Celestia,” Galatea replied evenly, spreading her smokey-grey wings out. “Mine name is Galatea. This,” she motioned with her wing to Discord, “is the Draconequus Discord. And this,” she finished, motioning to Luna, “is the Princess Luna of Equestria, who is known as an ally to your people.” She smiled. “Tell your superiors that we have come here. They will know who I am by now, and even if they do not, they will wish to speak with Luna.”

The machine kept whirring threateningly for a long moment, but eventually it lowered its arm, almost reluctantly.

“Alright,” it said, its tone sullen. “I’ll ask.”

Galatea smiled serenely, even as the machine turned and walked off, other troopers moving to take its place. Luna frowned at her.

“Will that work with them?” she asked, speaking under her breath.

“Work?” Galatea replied, with a knowing smirk. “Well, if the humans mine other self contacted are in any way reliable… yes. I believe it will. She and I worked a great deal of this out in our brief connection.”

“Reliable humans,” Discord said with a sniff. “I don’t think I fancy our chances.”

“And what do you know about humans?” Luna asked, scowling at him.

“Did a bit of multiverse-hopping in my younger days,” Discord replied. “Always ended up coming home again.”

“Of course you did, Chimera,” Galatea said calmly. Discord stuck his tongue out at her.

“One wonders why,” Luna added, frowning.

Discord blinked for a moment, as though he had never genuinely considered the question, and then he shrugged.

“Home is where the heart is,” was all he said.

“A pity,” Luna said with a scowl. “We could have all done without you being around to bother us.”

“Ah, ah, ah,” Discord said, waving a claw at her. “You needed me to get here, and you’ll no doubt need me to get back.”

“Back where?” one of the humans asked in a feminine voice.

Discord and Luna looked at the figure: she was wearing a full suit of some sort of hard ceramic armour, painted in khaki colours. She shifted awkwardly under their gaze.

“Just a question,” she said uneasily. “I dunno who the fuck you people… pony… things are.”

Galatea let out a laugh. “Well, human, you will know. Very soon, in fact.”

Elsewhere.

Cold, bloodshot pink eyes opened, flashing with barely contained rage. A low hiss escaped an alabaster-furred mouth, perfect teeth grinding together in fury.

“Your Supreme Majesty?” a voice asked from somewhere, but the owner of those pink eyes did not answer.

You are returned, somehow, sisters? No… The eyes widened. No, this is some trick of the Fausticorn’s brood, something new?

“My Queen?” the voice cut in again.

The pink eyes blinked, and then Queen Celestia smiled beatifically at Twilight Sparkle, the mare staring at her with such loving, gentle concern that Celestia might almost have believed what she was looking at if she weren’t already well aware of the truth.

“Twilight Sparkle, oh faithful student,” she said sweetly, “I’ve become aware of an issue that needs addressing.”

“An issue, Your Majesty?” Twilight repeated. “What kind of issue?”

The Fausticorn’s bastard children, Queen Celestia’s mind echoed with the thoughts, and… and one of Kontagion’s lesser spawn. Discord! Oh, this is unexpected. She smiled, baring her teeth in a vicious grin. And yet… how much more fun it will be to lay them both low again...

“Trouble, my dear Twilight,” she said with a low chuckle. “Of the most entertaining kind. Prepare a scout craft and a platoon of our best – we have a visit to pay.”

“A visit, Your Majesty?” Twilight echoed, frowning. “I… don’t believe I understand.”

“A visit, yes,” Celestia said once more, her smile becoming a grin. “After all… that is the word one would use when going to see family, is it not?”

Lieutenant-Colonel Cheerilee’s office, New York City.

Cheerilee was not in a good mood. Having two men in robes barge into a secret meeting (one which she had taken great pains to arrange!) was already making her irritated, but the fact that they had insisted on speaking to her alone after their rather cryptic commentary was…

What even is a more vehement word for ‘irritating’? Cheerilee thought. She felt a wave of aggravation - ooh, that’s a word - at that thought, for she knew she had once known that kind of thing without having to think. Back when she had been a teacher, not an overgrown militiamare turned commanding officer.

Yes, she was definitely aggravated. And that had been before Jim’s explanation for what exactly had happened.

“So what you’re telling me,” Cheerilee said, trying (and failing) to keep the irritation from her voice, “is that Alex ended up… in Equestria. Another Equestria.”

“So Galatea intended,” Hiro Mifune cut in, his arms folded across his chest and his sword sheathed but still conspicuously present. He was, if Cheerilee was being honest, the only reason she was taking these ‘Mystics’ seriously at all. “Whether she succeeded, we cannot say, but we believe she did.”

“Another Alicorn…” came the voice of Dr Bowman. He looked bemused. “Well, that is a turn up for the books.”

“Is it true?” Cheerilee asked him.

He shrugged. “You’re asking the wrong Time Lord, Cheerilee. This…” He let out a sigh. “This iteration of your history is far different than the version I recall.”

Jim’s expression became one of bemusement. “You been cheatin’ with time, Doc?”

Bowman gave him a scowl. “Don’t call me that. And… well, only because I really, really don’t want a version of this timeline that’s finally not a complete steaming pile of rubbish to go down the toilet.” He shuddered. “Seen it happen far too many times. I thought Homestuck had a problem with doomed timelines…”

Cheerilee rolled her eyes. “Well, regardless.” She looked at Jim. “So this other Alicorn intended for Alex to go to some other Equestria and get… what? Reinforcements?”

“That’s a pretty clinical, military way of puttin’ it, but yeah,” Jim replied, putting his hands in his pockets and grinning. “He wanted to go get help, whatever help they could offer and sharpish. Or rather, Galatea wanted him to, and he must’ve agreed if he’s gone.”

Cheerilee scowled. “As opposed to being dead or ponified? You’re awfully optimistic considering that we don’t know what actually happened.”

“If the Colonel was dead or turned, the enemy would have made it clear,” Mifune pointed out.

Cheerilee sighed. The same sentiment had been echoed in the meeting, and she couldn’t deny the logic of it. Still…

There was a sudden knock at the door, and Cheerilee’s head jerked up.

“Come in,” she said.

A soldier entered: he was young, too young, and he was breathless, as though he had been running.

“Ma’am,” he said, taking a deep breath. “We’ve just had a report from Boston. There’s… ma’am, there’s…”

“Calm down, Corporal Boones,” Cheerilee said gently. “What is it?”

“Ma’am,” the soldier - Boones - said, “there’s supposedly an Alicorn claiming to be Princess Luna in Boston -”

To Cheerilee’s surprise, Bowman’s head jerked in the man’s direction at those words, and his eyes widened.

“What did you say?” he asked, jumping to his feet and walking right up to the man.

“I… I said that there’s an Alicorn claiming to be Princess Luna in Boston, sir,” Boones repeated. “She… she came with something called ‘Discord’, and what appears to be another Alicorn, not the Tyrant.”

“Galatea,” Mifune said quietly.

Bowman swallowed. “To borrow a phrase from my learned other self… great wickering stallions.”

“Do stallions ‘wicker’?” Jim asked, frowning. “What even is ‘wickering’?”

Cheerilee ignored both men. “Alright, Corporal. Get me on the horn to Major Bauer and Captain Gagnier. This sounds serious.”

Nothing had moved since Galatea’s request to the soldier, and yet the grey mare did not seem in the least bit concerned by the staticness of events. Luna had been surreptitiously observing events - the soldiers had milled somewhat, and some had relaxed incrementally, but she was under no illusions about what this was and how ready these warriors would be to engage them, if it came down to it.

“So I’m curious,” Luna said quietly to Galatea. “Do you know what… all this is?”

“Define ‘this’, sister,” Galatea replied nonchalantly.

Luna motioned to the machines and the soldiers. “The machines. The soldiers. Their weapons.”

“Ah,” Galatea said, shaking her head slowly. “Mine counterpart did not pass that information on to me except in cursory, passing detail.” She sniffed. “I suspect she did not care.”

“Why did she not?” Luna asked, scowling. “All this is pertinent, is it not? It would be most beneficial for us to know what we face, whom we face it alongside.”

Galatea shrugged. “I don’t know. Perhaps? I do not know what she wished to pass on – I sincerely doubt she intended to die, though she did not fear it. Mayhaps in surviving, she intended to pass on more knowledge to us.”

“Or maybe she was just dense,” Discord said blithely.

Galatea did not respond to that, though Luna saw her eyes harden a fraction.

“There is one question I feel the need to ask,” the lunar princess said after another moment. “The two of you communed… how?”

“How?” Galatea repeated. “That seems a rather odd question to ask now, of all times.”

“And yet,” Luna pointed out, “if such power is at your disposal -”

“Such power was at our disposal, mine and hers,” Galatea corrected. Her tone was almost casual, yet there was a swiftness to her reply that gave Luna pause. “I am hardly lacking for magical energy, but I do not have such power as a single mare. Indeed, together we barely achieved connection. It was a… laborious process, and much of it was done from her end using… whatever resources she may have had.”

“I see,” Luna said quietly. She paused, thinking over her next words for a moment. “I am… sorry for your loss.”

Galatea gave Luna a sidelong glance, but then merely smiled. “It is good of you to see it that way. I only fear we may not be able to -”

“Hey,” one of the soldiers said, speaking loudly over Galatea’s murmured words. “What’re you lot muttering about?”

“You,” Galatea retorted, giving him a wicked grin, “and how best to turn you into a toad.”

The soldier raised his weapon, but one of his colleagues pushed the barrel of the weapon down with a derisive snort.

“I don’t know how it works where you come from,” this soldier said easily, “but here, smart-mouthing people who have a gun to you is not a good idea. Especially if you’re an Alicorn and magic is involved.”

“Perhaps so,” Galatea replied, “but I am impatient. There is much work to be done, and the longer we wait here for your officers to decide how to proceed, the less time we have to combat the true enemy.” She smirked. “Besides, one has to amuse oneself somehow.”

“Oh, does one?” the soldier snorted. “How nice for one. Does one also have to use one’s pretentious language whilst one is at it?”

“Of course,” Galatea replied evenly. “It’s part of the appeal.”

The soldier snorted and stepped back, muttering something to his comrades.

“Y’know,” Discord said from near Luna, his arms folded, “I think I see his point about aggravating the people with weapons aimed at us.”

“We’re in no real danger, yet,” Galatea said dismissively, still infuriatingly calm. “These people are… well, twitchy, as well as being terrified and under immense stress. That being said…”

Her eyes drifted up to a nearby building, and she smiled.

“… they also know an opportunity when they see one,” she finished.

Durant Gagnier was having a downright awful day.

That wasn’t, in and of itself, all that meaningful. He had terrible days all the time. It was practically a given. But this was an entirely different kind of awful day.

First off, Alex Reiner was missing. If there was such a thing as the diametric opposite of “good”, that probably came close. Everyone knew Reiner was the force keeping the PHL a force in the war, as opposed to getting folded under shitheads like Gardner or dissolved into the greater UNAC, losing their unique structure (and unique toys, Durant added, his hand unconsciously going to the modded Seegert pistol he’d gotten from R&D).

Secondly, and rather more pertinently, was the arrival of three figures

Major Stephan Bauer of the Bundeswehr, blonde haired and clad in a suit of modified HB-X armour, was certainly taking no chances. He had sent his troops to various covering positions around the area, presumably so they could open fire on the two figures on command. They were currently a few storeys up, looking at their targets from the window. Durant had left his mech downstairs, under guard.

Luna looked exactly like he had heard her described by ponies before: blue, regal, smaller than Celestia, yet possessed of her own, quiet, dignity. He had only seen her on television a couple of times. Discord… well, he couldn't help but think ‘what the fuck is that thing’ when he saw him, but he restrained himself.

And then there was the third one. The mare who was clearly an Alicorn, yet neither of the established ones. Her grey/black colour scheme was subtler than Luna’s, almost as though it were meant to be imperceptible. Either Queen Celestia had undergone a serious dye-job… or something else was at play.

Durant took a cigarette from his belt pocket. It was a battered, bent thing, but it still had nicotine in it. He lit it and took a drag, ignoring the glares from some of the snipers around him.

“Right,” Bauer said, walking up to him, arms folded over his chest. He looked thoughtful.

“So what’s the plan, Stephan?” Durant asked.

“I’ve been on the horn to command,” Bauer replied gravely. “We’re going to meet them.”

“You think that's wise?” Durant asked.

“Cheerilee does,” Bauer said. “And she’s acting on advice from Hiro.”

“Merde,” Durant swore, scowling. “He’s still running about?! I’d have thought he’d get himself killed messing with that mystic shit he keeps fucking about with.”

“Apparently not,” Bauer said evenly.

“Sir?” a very (unpleasantly) familiar voice crackled in Durant’s earpiece on the UNAC frequency. “Permission to speak freely?”

Bauer rolled his eyes. “Permission granted, Kraber.”

“Speaking to them is a terrible fokking idea.”

“There’s far more to this than meets the eye,” Bauer said tiredly. “I’m pretty sure they’d have already attacked if they were going to.”

“Uh huh,” Durant said, unconvinced. “You sure about that, mon ami?”

“Think about it, Durant,” Bauer said. “Everything we know about Alicorns says they could level this place in the time it takes to say ‘level this place’. Double for Discord. Between the three of them, we’d be fucked eight ways from Sunday.”

“If you say so,” Durant murmured. “But don’t forget, they’re also intelligent. We’re not dealing with a Newfoal officer here. They’ll know there's more than one way to skin a cat.”

“He’s right, sir,” Kraber added. “This could be a trap.”

“If they want to skin me, then good luck to them,” Bauer said with a tired smile. “Command's ready to drop missiles on our transponders the minute they need to.”

Durant sighed. “How the fuck did I know you were going to say that, Stephan?”

Bauer smirked. “Come on, old friend, if you can keep up.”

And with that, he put on his helmet and leapt out of the window. Durant raised an eyebrow.

“Merde,” he swore again. “I fucking hate it when he does that.”

He paused only a moment, before turning and heading down the stairs, dropping his cigarette as he did so.

This is going to be all sorts of shit, he thought.

“Movement,” Discord whispered.

It was true. Two figures were approaching their position: one, a human in sturdy-looking armour far more reminiscent of plate armour than anything the other humans had worn. At his side was girt a longsword of some sort, and he had a weapon - a pistol? - strapped to his hip.

The other figure was the machine from earlier - Luna could recognise the skull-markings that adorned its chassis. The human held up a hand, and the construct stopped, bringing its weapons up to bear on Luna and the others. The human lowered his hand.

“Hello,” the human said, his voice tinged with a metallic timbre. “I am Major Stephan Bauer of the UNAC Knights.”

Knights? Luna thought.

Bauer motioned to the machine, continuing his introductions. “That there is Captain Durant Gagnier, mecha specialist.”

The machine didn’t reply, except to slightly raise its weapons, focusing them right at Luna’s head. She blinked at it.

“My name is Princess Luna, Diarch of Equestria, Caretaker of the Moon and Night skies,” she said slowly. She moved a hoof to Discord. “This is Discord. You may know him as a spirit of chaos.”

“I’ve heard the reputation,” Bauer said evenly. “Quite different seeing it in the flesh, of course.”

“Always is, Major Malfunction,” Discord said with a small, cocky smirk.

Bauer didn’t respond to that. He looked at Galatea. “And you must be Galatea.”

Galatea did not seem surprised to hear her name come from the human. Luna wished she could share that disaffectedness.

“You know her?” Discord asked. He looked offended.

“Some friends of mine spoke of her,” Bauer replied. “They said something about you knowing where Colonel Andrew Reiner is.”

“Alexander Reiner,” Galatea corrected with a snort. “And a childish effort to catch us out is precisely that - childish. Do your superiors wish you to waste our time, human, or is that your discretion?”

Bauer didn’t respond for a moment. Suddenly, his hand went to the hilt of his sword and he drew it, pointing it right at Galatea. The edges of the blade lit up with glowing blue energy, and Luna could feel the magic radiating from it. She stepped back, and Discord - a set of plate armour materialising around his body and a shield appearing out of thin air in his hand - teleported himself a good three metres from the Major, crouching defensively.

Galatea only cocked her head. “Ah, the classic response to anger, frustration and an attitude you disagree with.”

“We've been fighting this war for a long time, ma’am,” Bauer replied, not lowering his sword. “We’re not exactly in a trusting mood here. The superior tone doesn’t help.”

“Nor does delaying me when I came here to help your kind defeat the aberration that is mine alternate sister,” Galatea replied. Her tone remained studiously neutral, yet Luna thought she could detect a hint of irritation. “I have information for your leaders. This distraction from mine task is intolerable.”

“Information, huh?” Bauer said, apparently ignoring her words. “Okay, how about you start by telling me everything about Alex. Where he is, what happened to him. And I mean all of it.” He raised the sword a fraction higher. “Don't leave out any details, or I get a lot less patient and understanding.”

Galatea tilted her head further. “And this is a conversation you wish to hold here?”

“We’re surrounded by my men, with enough guns and experimental anti-thaumic ammo trained on you to obliterate you where you stand,” Bauer replied. “Much safer than any of our bases. At least, from my perspective.”

Galatea paused as if to reply, but then closed her mouth, her eyes widening almost incrementally.

“Galatea, perhaps we should…” Luna began, but she suddenly trailed off, her eyes slowly widening, a frown slowly deepening in her face.

Something was coming. Something powerful. Something… familiar.

Even as she realised it, Discord’s ears flattened to the sides of his head, his eyes widening.

Finally, Galatea spoke.

“Oh no.”

She suddenly stared to the south, eyes focused on something only she could see. Discord was looking in the same direction, his face angry, but his eyes full of what could only be called fear. Luna followed their gazes, already knowing what she would see.

“What?” Bauer asked, but none of them could reply. How could these humans possibly understand, thaumically stunted as they obviously were?

“Major, Captain Gagnier, you need to leave,” Luna said, her wings flaring open and her horn glowing. “Get your men out of here, now.”

“The fuck, Stephan?” Gagnier said from behind Bauer. “What are they -?!”

Bauer held up a hand. “Durant, pull out! Everyone, do the same! Now!”

“Why? What in the hell is going on?” Gagnier yelled from his machine.

“Her,” Galatea whispered, speaking before Luna could. She had a look of cold resignation on his face. “She's coming.”

Bauer's eyes shot wide open. “You mean -“

Before he could finish his sentence, an explosive force of air rippled the atmosphere. The surviving glass windows of the various buildings around them shattered instantly, and the shockwave weakened several buildings’ walls.

Luna flared her wings, her horn glowing, but Galatea beat her to it, her horn flashing with light as a pale, semi-transparent dome appeared, surrounding her, Luna, Discord and the two human officers. The warriors further away from them were not so lucky, the concussive force blasting many of them away, smashing their frail forms into buildings and rubble like so many toy soldiers. Vehicles closest to the central point of the magical disturbance were lifted and thrown into the buildings like discarded rubbish.

And then, there she was.

Tall, regal, resplendent. White wings flared out in challenge, bloodshot eyes the only sign of anything amiss with her as they flared at the assembled group. In every way, she was a dark mirror of Luna’s beloved sister.

“Hello Luna, Discord,” Queen Celestia said. “And you.” She narrowed her eyes at Galatea, who snorted. “Have you come to join my Perfection? Or do I have to destroy you all over again?”

Oh, would you look at that. I’m back.

So, this is obviously different from the work the “crew” did. I don’t think it really needs explaining much, except that I always liked the appearance by Queen Celestia in the original Spectrum, and thought it was a moment worth preserving and reworking for this version (and for 2.0, but that wasn’t really my call by the time they got there, so 🤷🏻‍♂️). I also really, really wanted Galatea at this scene...

... for reasons that will become quite clear.