Prologue: A Time for Nightmares

"Harmony! Come in Harmony, are you guys alright over there?"

It was happening again, wasn't it? It took me a moment to blink the acrid smoke from my eyes, as my stricken ship's deck rattled beneath me, the vibration of something horribly violated deep amidships rumbling through the superstructure. Disorientation clutched at me as I looked about; some small remaining rational portion of my brain wondering what had just happened. A pair of rough hooves clutched at me, shoving me back to the center seat, now leaning haphazardly from having been hit by something.

My mind struggled to keep from slipping back into the abyss of unconsciousness as orders called themselves to mind, escaping from me even as I thought of them. "Status report!"

The helmspony seemed to be too busy to respond at first, hanging on to her console as she wrestled with it, trying to keep control. My burning eyes could barely make her out through the haze slowly engulfing the bridge as she jabbed her hooves at the controls with a fiery urgency, not a note of panic at all in her voice. "Helm's sluggish, Sky! That hit blew out our starboard intercoolers, and we're venting plasma everywhere.  We've still got maneuvering power so long as you don't need warp."

Hoof held to my head in an attempt to rub out whatever bruise was growing there, I nodded to the whitish pony, shaking the cobwebs back. A voice from behind me tried to speak through the ringing on the bridge; no, just my ears.  Whomever it belonged to, the meaning of their terse comment lost in the din of the alarms and the screaming of my own head.  I waved an affirmative back to him, hoping it wasn't important as I looked to tactical.  The shadowy figure there curtly gave a formal nod of readiness as I looked, something nagging me about the way he looked.

"Well, Sky, so long as you're not planning on doing anything incredibly... stupid, I'd say the mains are checking out as best they can under the circumstances." Good old Auroris, at least he'd still tell it to me like it really was.  Then again, given that the rusty pegasus was looking at the vitals of a ship that just had the snot bucked out of it, he might have been exaggerating his readiness.

"No promises." Yeah, like the last fifty times it's felt like I'd run through the havoc unfolding on my bridge. "Watcher, this is Harmony.  We're still in the fight, lay it on us."

Empty static crackled on the channel for a moment, and I started to wonder if we were going to get any word back from the space control center when he finally came back on the line. "Harmony, this is Watcher, good to hear that." At least somepony was relieved we were all still alive. At least this time he got back to us within a few seconds. "Stand by, I'm going to ease you back into the fight. I have three Borg Probes on an intercept course for the fleet yards, are you in range to intercept?"

I looked to my whitish helmpony, wondering what she'd say. Took her only a second to make up her mind, nodding fiercely for a moment as she began to play her console like an epic pianist. "Easy Peasy Cheesies."  I couldn't help but feel like I should never, ever ask about that. At least she didn't invoke some elder god, or something.

"Rodger Watcher, three courses of meaty, cybernetic salsa coming up." Fer' Luna's sake, that was a lame line.  When did I loose my touch?  At least the angry hum of the ship's impulse engines firing back up distracted everypony. Now what were we missing? Everypony at their stations, dead meat locked on to, somepony had finally hit the air recycler emergency start button to get that smoke off... tac map?  Tac Map? Ah. No map. "How's the tactical display coming?"

"Back up, and I've got our targets all marked, Sky. They're dead ahead." Of course Auroris would make a joke without even thinking about it. Worth a chuckle either way, though I was fairly disturbed by the dark glower that he shot in my general direction.  When had he become a grouch?

"Right, sorry. Helm, if you would, Death from Above." Pretending to be sheepish, I could do for him, though. Comes with the family after all.  The wonderful holographic map that was the ship's tactical display decided to kick back in at last, interrupting my musings as it shimmered back into view.  Trails spiraled across the representation of space as it reset and zoomed in on the Harmony; the system almost choking on the thousands of ships in what looked like the single largest battle I'd ever heard of, let alone actually seen. I could see the markers for ships of all makes and empires denoted across near and far orbits; whole fleets facing down Cubes, Klingon and Federation and... that couldn't be right. What the hay, that looked almost like a Breen symbol.

My mind started swimming again, from what I couldn't tell. I took no chances, though; shaking my head violently to clear it out, I fumbled for the overrides to do something about the lingering smoke.  Nothing about all this was making any sense to me, though. I wanted to swear up and down until I turned Luna blue that I didn't have a ship, and that the Empire and Federation were at war! Why couldn't I remember, why couldn't I-

"Probetastrophe!"

It's just my helmspony, I really must relax.  It's just my helmspony, I really must relax.  She's just insane, completely bonkers, missing her self-sealing stembolts. I made a note to ask myself later why I was still keeping her around. Oh, right. She's insane. Flying a Sovereign on it's side between two sections of drydock insane. The really cool and awesome kind that gets the job done.  No worries, then.

Lances of hungry, destructive energy lanced between us and the probe, cracking at the remaining survivor of our assault as it attempted to destroy the shipyards. It was almost like the Borg had finally realized proper tactics worked, which freaked me out more than a little. Twisted, diseased metal ducked and wove it's way through the bays as if chased by the reapers of hell. Or, by a Starfleet battlecruiser with an urge to play Probe kercrackers. I kept sneaking half-glances at the overall battle on the tactical map as our ships burst from the maze of drydocks, our quarry banking hard for cover once more.  Shuddering thumps of a Quantum Torpedo volley rang in the lower hull, the main turret spewing blazing blue-white hate into the twisted construct's flanks; smashing it apart in a titanic blast as our own ship arced off back into the main battle.

"Audacity to Harmony, moving to support. Got a targe-" The oddly familiar voice of the Advanced Escort's captain caught me by surprise, if only for a moment.  Having your ship nearly yank itself out from underneath you under the influence of a Borg Sphere's tractor beam tends to interrupt your train of thought.  

I picked myself back up off the deck from where I had slid while the inertial dampeners had been catching up, wondering how many times I was going to hit myself upside the head before the battle was over. Still fuzzy, heck, fuzzier than ever now.  No time to go to sickbay, the world needs saving again.  Getting all the marbles back in their sac can wait until horrible gribbly death goes away.

Yeah. Right. I could still hear the Audacity's captain shouting something, trying to get our attention over the sounds of the Sphere on our port flank still pounding at our shields with a cutting beam.  The big ugly thing refused to give up, even as it was pounded on again and again by the heavily armed escort.  I could deal with this, this was normal, nice, pleasant even! My favorite button for dealing with pesky personal-space invading Borg.  "Slip' n' buck them!"

The deep thwumps of enough kick to buck Sweet Apple Anchorage out of orbit twanged in the bowels of our ship as we lurched into motion once more. Silly Borg, it works every time! Never learn, okay? I couldn't remember when I had come up with polarizing the hull metals and punting the offender with a tractor beam repulsor powered directly from the warp core.  Worked wonders on making Borg ships find somewhere else to be, like the Sphere still trying to hold onto my ship.  Bright bluish and dark greenish beams of force warred with each other, even as our own hull began to repulse the sphere's grasp, pulling away.

"Hang on, I'm going evasive!" The whitish helmspony went for a big red button on the side of her console as some faint instinct made me grab my chair, warning me that things were about to get 'interesting'.  I wasn't expecting the faint hum of the engines to turn into a shuddering scream, and the slight g-force that slid me back in my seat as we blasted clear of the Sphere's reach. Yes, interesting would be the term for violating every warranty on the just refurbished engines. "-got that?

Got what? I hate fading in and out like this! What did I miss now!?!

My worry seemed misplaced, as the quiet figure at tactical nodded again (And who the hay was he supposed to be, Prince Blueblood the 92nd, back from the future to save the world?), even as the siren call of phaser arrays lighting up echoed in the hull.  We danced with that Sphere, hateful red blazing light crossing paths with the sickly green beams of plasma cutting beams as we traded hammer blows again and again.  Relatively evenly matched, it seemed. I could feel the ship turning into the blasts, preparing to bring our forward torpedoes into the fight, hanging on as the rumble of impacting weapons fire grew stronger by each moment.

And then stopped, as a fireball ripped out the side of the Sphere, followed by the vessel ripping apart under a 5 torpedo barrage from the far side.  Even though I was ticked about her stealing my kill, I had to admit the captain of the Audacity had some serious style, as she kept her fingers on the pulse phaser trigger, blasting a hole through the wreckage big enough to punch her escort through, it's arrowhead bow splitting the explosion with contemptuous ease as it swooped up and out.  The little powerhouse swerved up alongside us as we cleared the outer docks of the shipyard, the unstated suggestion clear to me.

"Watcher, this is Harmony. All hostile vessels in the shipyards are either running scared, or have developed a sudden case of Inexplicable Explosion Syndrome.  We've got a wing-ship, and we're looking for further action, please advise."  I did my best to keep the smugness out of my voice, though I couldn't help but feel ready to take on the galaxy again.  Heck, there was even a little furball just off our course to get involved with, three Jupiter class dreadnoughts entangled with a Vo'quv class carrier.

After all, it looked like the engineering teams had things getting back to normal, the lights weren't flickering, the hull wasn't rattling, the phasers hadn't sounded sickly on the last few shots against that Sphere.  And, with the Audacity at our side, it wasn't like the thing would stand all that much of a chance against us, three Jupiters, and another Vo'Quv.  Wait, WHAT? Where did that thing come from? Why am I missing stuff like that? The Klingon Empire in civil war? Who forgot to pass me that freaking memo?  

A black hulled, red trimmed counterpart to the now beleaguered vessel had decloaked on the tac map, unloading it's fearsome main guns into the now pinned first one.  Icons flashed, as the first began to rip apart from the inside, spitting debris in all directions before the engineering complex blew, 400 tons of anti-hydrogen detonating in an explosion best described as 'tail-poppingly huge'. Crewmen all around me grabbed onto the nearest nailed down object as the blast hit, ringing sounding through the hull as parts and pieces bounced off of our shields. Any particular reason why you feel the need to taunt me, Celestia? Is it because you're bored again, or have I just been that naughty of a pony lately, and you're just happy to see me? The biggest fight in the galaxy, for our homeworld no less, and twice now I've been upstaged by some other ship swooping in and blowing things away! Is it too much to ask for a decent shot at something without a convenient distraction?

"Harmony, be advised, I have priority targets en route to low orbit, they appear to be carrying bombardment weapons. I make two Legion Raptors and a Borg Sphere. The Specter is engaging, provide any assistance you can." The traffic controller sounded rather frazzled, and I had to wonder about where exactly he had been when our apparent friend had decided to level that attacking carrier.  Looking towards the low orbital spaces, I could make out the small battle taking place, the markers for an Excelsior and it's prey visible and highlighted for us handily.  The sweet thrill of being the hammer to the anvil brought a rush to my nerves; the ship easing around with predatory grace.

"Rodger that, Watcher. Audacity, you have our flank on this?"

"Audacity is two steps behind you, Harmony. All guns online, shields are holding.  You go right, we'll take the left?" Audacity's captain seemed hot to trot against them, and I was more than happy to oblige. The slight rumble of the impulse drive kicked up to an angry roar as we sped across the skies.

"Already on it." Not like I had a better plan, anyway.  A glance around showed grim, but determined smiles, the look of those who knew things were looking up. We could do this, turn the tide and kick flank from here to Quo'nos; all we needed was a bit of time.  A resource barely used as our small group ran down the brightly painted Excelsior holding the line mid-orbit, blazing fire blowing our targets apart as we whipped by her at nearly maximum permitted velocity. Nothing to see, just death on a stick and all that.

"I totally had that, but thanks! I owe you.  Again." Sheepish indignation turned to gratitude in short order, as the Excelsior turned to try and match our course. Besides, it's not like the captain of the Specter doesn't already owe me a whole planet full of bars already. And that bar hopping tour on 15 planets.  No, wait. Alchohol bad. Baaaad. Do not want, that's why. I shook the visions of bloodwine and blue ales out of my head as I watched the marker for the Specter fall behind as we headed for the next breakthrough, unable to keep up with ships already at speed. "Harmony, slow down so we can catch up!"

"Negative, Specter. We're in a hurry, and we're on intercept for a Neg'var, keep this sector clear." I winced as I said it, I couldn't help it.  A true equal and opposite to my ship was about to deliver more pain than the time I managed to fall off of Canterlot. Nothing like getting bucked out of your chair by more disruptor banks  to clear your head, after all.  I could hear the splutters of the Specter's captain over the link before I cut the channel.  And why did my science officer over there find my exchange amusing? Her pointing hoof to a screen next to her, the looming sensor readouts of the ship intercepting us spiking.

"Brace!" Alarms sounded once more as our newest foe ploughed himself into our flank. Statticos of rapid fire disruptors rattled the hull as the helmspony twisted us in space, bringing us around to face it head on as our velocity bled off faster than the displays could track the changes. Celestia, give me the strength to buck this guy clean into Buckingdom, since you and dearly missing Luna don't want to give me safety!

Our phasers screeching back in anger cut swaths in the Klingon battleship's shields, each smashing blow interrupting our own personal reenactment of the anvil chorus for a moment as our ships continued to level into each other broadside to broadside. I could feel the ship bucking beneath my hooves as it swayed under the onslaught, the helmspony clinging to her controls and punching in commands as fast as she possibly could, turning for a moment to warn us of her next trick with a slight squeak to her voice. "Hang on everypony, I'm swinging us around!"

The thumps of cannon fire ripping into our shields grew louder as the lights flickered, menacing green emerging in the side of the viewscreen as our adversary turned into our arc to cut us off. Impulse drives roared as the helmspony twisted us to one side as our adversary squeezed in in front of us at point blank range; the deck rattling once more as we angled back across his path, trying to swoop in behind him to cut into his flank. Was it wrong of me that all I could think of was how badly a point blank death exchange was going to hurt? It couldn't be any worse than getting launched across your own bridge and smearing your face on the viewscreen, right?

I didn't get my answer, considering the candy apple red Exploration Cruiser that reared up on the far side of the battleship unleashing every phaser array it had into the other flank of the massive warship. The rather shockingly painted Galaxy actually bounced off the navigational shields of the Neg'var, seemingly trying to shove it away from my own ship.  Well, it sort of looked like a Galaxy, what with the proportions looking rather strange to my slightly abused head.  Easily as much a question as the pressing matter of figuring out where a 650 meter long battleship of the line came from since I hadn't seen it coming, and the Neg'var certainly hadn't seen it sneaking up.  But, between the metaphorical rock and sharp pointy painful place, the sinister green warship made it's choice and continued on in it's turn to arc past the massive hunk of starfleet steel.  Old rivalries came to mind as the two tore into each other with a renewed hatred, filling the space between them with a deadly web of energy broadside to broadside as they fought.

I couldn't help the twitching in my eye as the two drove each other away from our course, the feel of my tactical officer planting a few torpedoes into the fray as we sailed back out of combat only adding to my indignation. Again? What is it with everypony thinking we need help? The Harmony can stand without them! ArrGGGHHHBLLE! Okay... Okay. Calm down.  Fine, had that thing wrapped up in a pretty pink bow anyway. Have it, take the stupid thing, then! With my thoughts heading quickly to a near boil in my head, I bounced to my hooves to stalk down the length of my bridge to my helmspony.  I had to do something, anything to get the tension out.

"Harmony, get clear, we've got this varmit.  We need somepony more mobile to hit the raiders engaging the defenses around Sweet Apple Anchorage before they can knock it out of orbit!"

I turned my glare onto the back of my helmspony's head, doing my best to studiously ignore whoever was on that decidedly non-regulation Galaxy. "You heard her, get a move on and don't spare the Impulse manifolds." My half-snarled words caused the helmspony to flatten her ears against her head in shock, even as I could feel the rest of the bridge crew looking our way from the tingles on the back of my neck.

"But we should-"

"DO IT!" What was once mere indignation was rapidly descending into a towering rage as I snarled at her, prepared to reach for the controls and take the helm my damned self if she didn't. She took the hint, though, and hastily punched in a course to the anchorage as I leaned in closer.  I was almost tempted to go back to help the strange galaxy, having trouble resisting the stupid impulse until traffic control handily distracted me.

"All ships, all ships, the Maw has been spotted! I say again, Watcher to all ships, the Maw has been spotted!"

All I could think about was asking what the hay Watcher was talking about, and where I could get a taste of whatever he was drinking.  At least until I looked back for answers, realizing that my entire bridge crew had turned whiter than Celestia caught in the back with a box of donuts, 42 rubber duckiers, Aunt Trixie and three motorized scrub brushes. Seriously, I couldn't make the story behind that one up if I tried, nopony would ever believe me. Not that it mattered, whoever it was that had become a dangerous enough foe to earn a nickname, they were still just target practice once I found them.  

"This fight isn't over everypony! I don't care if Q himself shows up to stop us, we are WINNING THIS!" I summoned up what I hoped would be an encouraging shout, and wasn't too disappointed with the results. While the crew didn't cheer, they did perk up, color returning to their faces as they began to determinedly man their stations once more.  

Feeling 600,000 tons of angry starship underhoof was almost as wonderous a sensation as any I had ever felt as we bore down on the Anchorage, the lot of us ready to blow away anything that wasn't marked as part of the Apple Syndicate's forces.  The flock of BoP's rising from their strafing runs to engage us certainly didn't disappoint the thrill running in my blood in the least.  Space was already littered with the burning hulks of defense satalites and unfortunate souls who had the ill luck to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, a cloud of the dead and dying.  It brought a slight grin of satisfaction to my face to add a Hegh'ta BoP to the ghastly mix with our alpha strike ripping through it like an avenging spirit's wrath.

"Keep it up, I still see another four coming our way. Fire at will, full power to the phaser arrays." Calming myself was easy now, my voice commanding and clear as I headed across the bridge, looking at the tac map for unpleasant surprises.  This? This the Harmony could handle all day, especially after the last time...  when had the Harmony engaged a Bird of Prey, anyway? I couldn't remember ever going after one.  The urge to go see a doctor about my memory grew on me, even as the deck felt like it dropped for a moment as the ship dropped under the four klingon ships, sliding into what was nearly a power slide to bring her broadside to bear.

Even if I was having a hard time recognizing my tactical officer, whoever he was, I had to at least give him credit for being completely and totally insane and damned good at what he could do.  Beam hell knocked the small flock off course concussively, a small part of me wondering how it felt to have the concussive favor returned for once. The raiders at least had far more than their deserved share of crazy considering they were brave enough to swing around to face my beast once again, torpedo tubes blazing with locked and loaded torpedoes.  

"Ah hay, not ag-" My curse died stillborn mid-breath as a massive photonic shockwave slammed into their flanks; the Destiny smoothly sailing into the melee to add her own firepower and telekinetics into the fray. The sleek and massive science vessel almost didn't care that it was being fired upon as it kept up the pressure against our foes, sliding towards my own ship. I watched in more than a slight bit of shock as a magenta aura of telekinetic might grabbed one of the klingon raiders wings, wrenching it off with contemptuous ease. I actually saw red for a moment, either from sheer utter horror that the Destiny of all ships was putting herself willingly in danger; or from the fact that her captain had to be an idiot in their method of engagement. To my shock, it took me a moment to realize that I had somehow bounded across the compartment to lean on the comms button on my chair to scream at her captain as my crew stared on in shock at me. I couldn't even remember the impulse, just the feeling of my throat aching from my screaming at her.

"Destiny, I say again, get clear! You are carrying precious cargo, get your sorry flanks clear of the battlezone before we have to drag it clear! Do you hear me? DO YOU?" My ears were ringing from the amplified sound of my own voice, every inch of my body tingling in that horrible mixed sense of rage and utter heart stopping terror.  Nothing I had at-hoof would likely get the Destiny out of the danger zone before-

"Sky! I can see him, he's coming right at us! We've got to move now!" Auroris was trying to get my attention past my shouting match with the Destiny's captain, frantically. Who about, though? I could see him pointing at the symbol for a BoP, which was rapidly closing towards our two ships.

"Harmony, Destiny cannot and will not comply. We are not leaving friends and family alone while the Ha'DIbaH is on the loose. You've got the guns, we've got the magic to provide the cover! He has to be stopped, no matter the cost!" The Destiny's captain was all but screaming back at me, the cold rational part of my mind that still remained noting how similar her voice was to my own in tone.  The rest of it was swearing to kick that crazy mare's sorry no-good flank as soon as I had the time, royalty or not.

"You'll get your chance now! Bearing 216 high, he's right on top of us!" My science officer grabbed onto her console even as she spoke, her name still eluding me as I realized with a dawning horror where I was and what was happening.  

A terrible lucidity swallowed me up, everything sliding into a hyperfocused state as I looked to the screen in horror.  It was that dream again, that horrible ship.  I could see it clearly now, time almost slowing down for me as the monstrous construct twisted and distorted by eldritch magic bore down on our ships. Fire erupted from it's wings and bow like a balefire megaspell, clenching down on our vessels and crushing them even as it's weapons fire ripped through failing shields and tore through armor.  The deck beneath my feet reared up, the disorientation returning for a moment as I spun through the air to slam into the ceiling supports like an arrow from a crossbow.

Blinding pain shot through my form as I dropped to the deck, now terrified beyond belief since pain in a dream was supposed to wake somepony up. It all had to be real, all too horrifyingly real. The thought ran around in a corner of my mind, a mantra of madness trying to drag the rest of me down to it's level. The saner, more collected parts of my mind (what few there were remaining) were too busy wondering why my back felt funny, why I couldn't stand up anymore.  And wondering where the smoke filling the compartment was coming from once more.  The fog of unconsciousness was starting to collapse upon my mind once more as I desperately squirmed to get clear of whatever was pinning me.

"Anypony, please help me!"

'Now you want help, huh? You didn't want any earlier, why should the universe help those who have rejected it's envoys?'

My mind, my whole body felt like it was burning, the lights above dimming on the terrible tableau. Bodies littered the deck, mortally wounded and dead alike.  Auroris laid to one side, neck bent at a deadly angle.  To the fore, a white forehoof poked desperately out from under a structural strut, it's frantic shivers dying off. Oh Celestia, not this.  Please not this. Not them!

'This is the way you have shaped with your actions, Applesky. Your choices have made this path, and you must face it until the end.'

What.

My mind blanked out for a moment, realizing something was addressing me directly in my head, nervous giggles breaking out as I considered the possibility that I was loosing my mind.  Below me, the heat was growing in the deck, starting to get painful.  A fire was raging belowdecks and burning towards the bridge.  I couldn't make out the master systems display from where I was pinned, and given the state of the bridge I didn't expect to find the voice command system working either.

Groaning metal creaked overhead, my helpless form twisting on the deck in an attempt to get out from under whatever jagged piece of metal that was pinning me down.  My heart raced in panic, trying to escape my chest as flames began to flicker in the darkness in the corners of the bridge.  Not long now before I went down with my ship.

"No, please no! Not like this!"

'There is yet a chance to change your fate, Shaper of Ways. Your true path yet lies ahead.  But, you must see the consequences of your current course first.  You must learn in order to live.'

The unholy sound of Borg transporters began to drown out the sounds of my dying ship, a dozen shadowy figures moving from corpse to corpse in the gathering pall. The thickening smoke obscured what they were doing, though it was clear as to their exact intentions.  They were searching for life, for some unfortunate soul to assimilate.  And they turned as one to face me.

I wanted to scream, to run, or hide or anything I could do to stop the horror coming at me, but the paralysis that had gripped my legs seemed to have spread to my whole body.  The mangled, desecrated form before me stopped, the analysis laser grafted and fused to it's head flickering over my form.  Almost as if wondering if I was still salvageable for assimilation. More gathered before me, a gathering of the damned.

'You have allies, Applesky.  Those who will join in friendship, those who wish no more than to use you, those whom you shall forge a bond with against a common foe.  Trust them, fight alongside them instead of pushing them aside when no longer useful.'

I was almost insane with fear and revulsion as the cybernetics encrusted creature before me began to crouch.  Diseased looking pale fingers reached for my neck as my body jerked away in terror.  I knew what that meant, and I would rather leap joyfully into hell than to go willingly into that.  Not that, anything but that.  Luna, Celestia, Discord, any of you, damnit all help me, please not that!  

'This will be your way, Sky.  Unless...'

Pain became my world.  An icy cold filled my veins as my body began to burn up with a fever as it desperately fought the monstrous transformation beginning to corrupt it, beginning to consume me mind, body and soul. My skin ripped, blood dripping from implants bursting from my form. What little struggling I could still perform was stripped away from me inch by inch, control of my body ripped from me as the weight of 10 trillion minds moving as one began to squeeze at my mind, crushing it down beyond anything I could imagine as my world began to turn a dim and virulent green.

'Make yourself some friends, Sky.  Trust them, protect them.  Without them, you are nothing.  With them? Even the Borg will fear even the mere mention of your name. You must shape your ways to include them, Applesky.'

Wake up.

Wake Up.

WAKE UP!