Celestia's Finest: Drifting off to Dreamland

[Miltonian]

The last thing Rose remembers is her head hitting the pillow. Now, she stands in a quiet, plush lounge overlooking the city of Canterlot. Gentle music plays in the background, soothing her as she gathers her wits. It's evening outside and the sun is just setting over the horizon. A perfect scene. And look, iced drinks sitting on a table off to the side. She's done this song and dance before, however, and quickly concludes that she is dreaming.

"Greetings," a regal voice says behind her. Luna herself. "I welcome thee to my parlor, so to speak."

[DigoDragon]

"Greetings," a regal voice says behind her. Luna herself. "I welcome thee to my parlor, so to speak."

Rose's ears jump up, though the rest of her seems calmer, only twitching a little. "Said the spider to the fly, so to speak?" Rose adds in as she turns around. Rose sits up and gives a head bow to Princess Luna. Maybe she should of stood up? Hmm, too late now.

"If I remember... I think I'm scheduled for a head examination?" she asks.

[Miltonian]

"Indeed," Luna says, sitting beside her. She is dressed in a simple but elegant evening dress, but none of her royal regalia. "At your own request, if I hath understood correctly. And I hope that is the case."

She levitates a glass towards Rose. "To steady thy nerves?" she offers.

[DigoDragon]

Rose accepts the drink with a nod. "Thank you. I... I've not had good dreams since this mission started. Three of them may have ended in my death. Because of that, I wanted expertise to make sure the last one was just a dream and not... something else in my head."

She sips the drink. she hasn't thought about dressing up. Probably just in her sleeveless shirt still, isn't she?

[Miltonian]

Rose is indeed dressed only in her shirt. Scandalous.

Luna listens very seriously to Rose. "Let us be thankful that thou dost not have the gift of prophecy then," she says wryly, "Describe this dream, the one that troubled you."

[DigoDragon]

Rose ignores her terrible wardrobe for now. She sips the drink. "The initial 'vision' I had was from the CPI chip that exploded on me when I was trying to study it. That vision I saw an active galaxy of thousands of alien races, some equine, mining and building and seemingly... like they're at war with some kind of dark entity. Like... the darkness of space itself. It was swallowing worlds and stars, but the galaxy was together as an empire to fight back, led by Polaris. I recorded a statement with Captain Red Tape if you care to hear it."

She sips her drink and adjusts in her seat.

"I agreed to spend the night in a brig just in case that vision left something in my mind, because when it ended... I had my pistol out and pointed at a civilian." Rose visibly shivers at that statement. "Those chips take over your body. For a short moment I was exploded, it apparently tried to take me over."

"Anyway, so the dream that night. I was in that similar galaxy, but everything was dead. Worlds left lifeless, giant star factories cold and unmoving, starships obliterated into dust... everything was dead. ...except, for this one drifting hull of a ship. There were children inside, singing and working to keep the ship's life support running as best they knew. They were the children of the original crew's children. The last living beings of Polaris' empire. I can hear their song. It burned itself into my mind."

Rose clears her throat and sings. The song of the lost children. Tears form in her eyes as she softly sings the lyrics, practically memorized at this point.

[Miltonian]

Rose feels Luna’s warm wing wrap around her shoulders and the princess of the night scoots her closer. When did they sit on a couch? Eh, probably not important. “I can offer thee some comfort immediately,” she says, “Thou must promise that thou wilt not share it too readily or without need, though.”

She continues. “What thou saw in the...orientation is an exaggeration, to put it kindly. There are many stars in the night sky, and many worlds, but I hung many of them there myself. The sky looked barren when I first rose to power and ponies needed something to light their way when my moon could not. Think of them like...small moons. Mini-moons? They are bright and shine, but I can rearrange them at will.”

She blushes. “Twas once thought that all stars were mine, but I cannot claim that much originality. The universe is much wider than our world.”

“But there are...four stars that are our neighbors. And, whether by some cruel twist or clever ruse, our enemies share their names. Polaris, Sirius, Bellatrix, and...Andromeda.”

“So from the outset, if we assume this is the real Polaris and not an imposter, his ‘galaxy spanning-empire’ was only five systems at most: ours, his, and his three allies. That would make ours the rebel system that he is trying to reconquer.”

“If that is so…” She gives Rose a sad look. “...There very well could be a ship drifting through space, as thy dream showed. But thou shouldst have no fear of the rest. There are many stars beyond our reach and that of our neighbors. Many worlds yet to be explored.”

[DigoDragon]

"I promise to keep this private," Rose says when asked to not share these details freely.


The information Luna gives Rose is received with... mixed emotion. On the one hoof, it is a comfort that Polaris is not a galactic tyrant bent on destroying everything he touches, but at the same time...

Rose takes another sip. Her hooves tremble as she does so, and it highlights an odd detail that might have been missed--Rose isn't using her ponykinesis to hold her class steady. "So, Polaris is an alien. That's... well, I don't know what to think. My entire life only worried about one world, but now I have to consider five... Will we be able to still catch him? Like, what do you know of this guy?"

[Miltonian]

“Could be from another world,” Luna stresses, “nothing is certain yet. Many things will have their answers when thou clear out Ashtown.”

Her face grows strangely distant for a moment, “if it is him, though, we may not catch him in thy lifetime. But we will. “

[DigoDragon]

Rose stares into her drink, watching her reflection. "Well, I suppose I can count my blessings that Polaris isn't as big as he says. So, any tricks he knows that I should watch out for? I suppose I could ask about him, but considering the upcoming assault in Ashtown, maybe some tactical advice would help in case I find myself staring him down a corridor?"

[Miltonian]

"I suggest copious amounts of heavy explosives," Luna says seriously, "And calling for backup. I dropped the moon on him last time. That seemed to work. Anyway, I highly doubt he is there, or I assume Chrysalis would have caught wind of it since she seems to have the place riddled with spies and saboteurs. More worrisome to me is Andromeda. If she is THE Andromeda, then I have but one bit of advice: do not let her speak."

[DigoDragon]

"Wait, dropped the moon? So Thanos stole your shtick in that movie? Huh..." Rose wonders how long ago THAT event was. Must of been centuries past.

She sighs. "Yeah, I've heard to keep Andromeda quiet... though... she said something strange over the radio this past day that was weird. Like, she was penitent over her actions. The weight of all that died was on her shoulders. She mentioned losing two children to some kind of darkness and that she was going to make it all better in two days. The day we're attacking Ashtown. Did you know if Andromeda had children? This sound like the Andromeda you know?"

[Miltonian]

"In truth, I met her once," Luna says, "And that was when we strove to kill each other. I know little of what drives her."

She pulls away a little and rises. "I will say this. I will search the night for thee and look to see if there are children trapped in a drifting ship. I shalt enlist Discord's help, willing or not. And, if we find them, I know a mad stallion in a box that excels at saving ponies."

[DigoDragon]

Rose smiles a little, perhaps for the first time. "Oh, that's... that's really kind of you to take time out of your busy schedule just to look for something that might not... I mean, thank you, princess. Please, if it'll help, you can peer into my memories for the star patterns. Might help you know where to look. I mean, if they're even real. Where would this song even come from if not..."

She frowns again. "Wait, a mad stallion in a box? I'm not sure I understand. Who is that?"

[Miltonian]

"The minds is a wonderful and terrifying thing," Luna says, "If it is nothing, twas a testament to thy creativity." She nods. "I shall peer into thy memories. Twill narrow things down significantly..."

She smiles. "Ah. You did meet him, though. On Tartarus Station."

[DigoDragon]

Rose has to stop and think back a ways. "Met him on Tartarus Station? Met a few ponies there... but not in a box I don't recall. Um... well, there was this one doctor who got trapped in a control booth. Hooves I think was his name. Never knew what became of him. That the one? I think he mentioned something about having a row with Discord over something."

[Miltonian]

"Yes, that is the one," Luna says, "He hath a little..." She outlines a little box with her hooves. "...Thing that he flies around in."

She smiles at Rose. "I must away soon. But know that, tonight, I promise thee a night free of evil dreams."

[DigoDragon]

Rose looks skeptical about a 'flying box' being a thing, but she doesn't press right now.

"Before you go, princess, if I may ask one last question--There's a possibility that Hyper Thought might have vampiric powers. I remember the vampire knight that was loyal to you back on the station, so you may know something helpful. Any tips on restraining a vampire?"

[Miltonian]

"Crow Locke," Luna says, "Who hath much improved of late." She sighs. "What hast thou on hoof? Garlic, salt, and wooden stakes work, though they art primitive and unreliable. Better to have a mirror between thyself and him."

[DigoDragon]

"I'll ask our chef if they have any garlic or salt I can borrow. Mirror though? Hmm, that might be harder to come by but I'll see what I can scrounge up. Thank you, princess."

Rose finishes her drink. "If you find the kids, I'd love to meet them. They probably don't know who I am, but I know their song."

[Miltonian]

Luna smiles. "We will have to see. If they do exist, they will be welcome in Equestria."

"I do not mean to rush, but I hath many duties tonight. Wilt thou be alright?"

[DigoDragon]

"Oh, right, right. Yeah, I'll be alright." Rse nods and gets up to bow. "Thank you for visiting me."

[Miltonian]

“Anytime,” Luna says, “With a two-weeks advance notice, that is.”

She steps up to the window, which melts away before her, spreads her wings and takes off into the night. Rose is left alone to enjoy that pleasant dream she was promised.

[DigoDragon]

Pleasant, sure, but somehow... lonely. Rose waves bye, even though Luna is long gone now into some other pony's dream. At least, so Rose assumes.

She sits down on the couch, taking in the deafening silence. Pondering past dreams and what she'll experience tonight.

[Miltonian]

(Scene? Or did you have something else in mind?)

[DigoDragon]

(It can be scene if you want. I'm under the impression that was all you have, so I was being fancy. Unless you want me to write something more?)

[DigoDragon]

Rose felt a tremble in the room. She looked up at the windows around her. Luna said her dreams would be pleasant, but… if so then why was her stomach in a knot suddenly?

“Luna?” Rose asked.

An ear-piercing scream shattered the windows around her. Rose jammed her fore-hooves to her ears. The floor crumbled and Rose fell several feet to the cold consciousness of the floor.

Shots rang out in the room. Rose jumped up and caught the butt-end of a rifle to the face. She dropped onto her backside and kicked outward. Hooves hit legs and her assailant fell to the floor. Rose rolled over and grabbed the rifle with her ponykinesis. She slid it behind herself.

The screaming in the room was distinct—Merry.

The assailant scrambled up to reach for the skittering rifle. Rose grabbed her boot knife and plunged it into the unknown pony’s side. The assailant made no noise as he continued to reach for his parted weapon. Rose stabbed him again, this time in the back.

Another pony dove behind Rose and grabbed the rifle. Her ponykinesis faltered and let go. The rifle barrel jutted past Rose’s head and fired.

Blam!

The assailant stopped his motion and went limp. Rose sat up. Angel stood there with the rifle.

“What… okay, thanks,” was all Rose could muster in her barely awake state. The room shook with a deafening thud. Bits of ceiling came down around them.

Angel pulled Rose up. “We’re under attack. CPI showed up with everything they got.”

“Stars and moon! And our squads?” Rose asked. She looked at her patients. Merry was a quivering mass of hysterics. Emerald and Blank were both motionless. Blood covered their bedsheets. Rose’s ears drooped with the understanding of what happened.

“Come on, Rose!” Angel shouted from beyond the infirmary exit.

Rose grabbed her gear and carbine. Why didn’t the assassin shoot her first? Did Merry’s screams make him panic? She would never know those answers.



The casino floor was a battlefield of smoke and muzzle-flashes. The elevator shaft was little more than a gaping hole to the surface that grew wider with each dropped bomb on the surface.

Rose opened her comm to her team. “Harrier Squad, this is Rose. Someone respond!”

She was answered by static and bits of syllables. “...ice… …pos…” Radio communication was jammed up badly. Rose switched channels to Hornet Squad.

“Come on!” Angel commanded. The pegasus dove through the air towards the kitchen.

Rose moved forward, firing at several CPI soldiers engaged with local security. A grenade bounced off a table and detonated in the air near Rose. Her vision and hearing were assaulted with bright-white lights and ear-screeching sounds.

Two CPI soldiers charged Rose’s position. Her vision was blurry so Rose fired several long bursts in a ‘spray and pray’ move to hit them. Bullets found their mark, but there was no sell on the pain. The soldiers raised rifles to fire back.

Green energy blasts struck the CPI from Rose’s right. The bodies flopped like fish out of water. Rose stumbled away from the attackers. Her eyes focused on an aged stallion in white. He seized her foreleg and yanked her hard in his direction.

“Your reflexes suck,” the stallion chided.

Rose found the voice terse and unfamiliar, though he had a faint stench of whiskey about him. She followed, but resisted when they entered one of the hallways and away from the battle.

“Who are you?” she asked the stranger.

“Ugh, this better not be the start of twenty questions,” the stallion responded. “Name’s Rick. Don’t bother asking details, we’re kinda trying not to be brutally murdered right now by those zombie soldiers.”

The sounds of battle grew faint, though the drum of bombs exploding overhead was not deterred by distance. Rose’s vision cleared up and she made out details of an older stallion, perhaps in his sixties. His mane was short and spikey, much like his tail. He wore a stained labcoat and carried a bulky energy weapon.

Around the corner the two were intercepted by a pair of CPI grunts. Rose’s instincts took control of the her carbine and fired at one soldier. Rick fired at the other and the soldiers returned in kind. A bullet grazed off Rose’s armor, but her own shots took down her target. Rick’s target flopped backwards with pained twitches.

“Okay, a little better,” Rick commented. He led Rose to the stairwell and descended.

Rose easily kept up, though this old stallion had some energy in him. “So where are we going?” she asked him.

“Should be a rear exit at the sixth level,” Rick answered.

“The hive?” Was Rose’s response. “Okay, yeah, they were digging one earlier.”

The stairwell shook with intensity. Chunks of concrete above broke off above and crashed against the stairs. Rick stumbled, but Rose grabbed the railing and the old pony to keep them both balanced.



The hive entrance was unguarded for the first time Rose could remember. She kept her senses awake as she and Rick stepped inside. The hive was bare; cocoons and equipment hastily removed or dropped in an apparent evacuation. Cables laid haphazardly everywhere.

“Guess we can follow the path of dropped stuff outside,” Rose commented. “Did the CPI know we were down here in DW or did…”

Rick whistled. Two figured came out of hiding. One was a young changeling. The other was a unicorn mare. Who looked exactly like Rose.

“Uh, that’s a changeling fan of mine, right?” Rose asked, unable to break eye contact with herself.

The other Rose shook her head. “No, this is the part where it gets weird.”

[DigoDragon]

Rose glanced over to Rick and then back to… well, herself. Her double did the same with the little changeling mare beside her. It… she… mostly looked like her, though the face looked slightly off somehow. Rose just stared at her double until her stomach turned over. She followed shortly after and nearly collapsed.

Her double reached over and held her up with cold metal legs. “Let’s take it slow, uh, me.”

“Yeah, no, this isn’t… but… how are there two of me?” Rose asked. She felt physically nauseous. She glanced over to Rick, but the stallion was focused on fixing his little toys. The changeling shrugged, not saying anything.

“I don’t know, I’m just as confused as you,” the other Rose answered. “Last thing I did tonight was go to bed waiting for Princess Luna to come check my head and she never showed up.”

Rose furled her brow. “Huh, well she showed up for me. Short conversation though, you didn’t miss much.”

“Really? That’s disappointing. I was hoping she’d probe my memory about the children on that derelict-”

“She did say she’d scan the stars for it with help from Discord and… a Doctor Hooves?”

The other Rose rolled her eyes. “Oh good, Discord sounds like a great choice for companionship. If he’s half as annoying as his online blog sounds, I’d rather take a hot poker to my cutie mark.”

“Yeah, well I rather be trapped in an elevator with him than find out that there like four other star systems in our neighborhood with aliens and that Polaris is apparently the alicorn prince of one of them!”

Rose’s double suddenly went limp and they both collapsed in a heap. Rose grunt and pushed herself back up in a sitting position. Her double looked sick at the news, curled up in shock. “Oh, yeah… spoiler alert. Sorry about that, me.”

The other Rose pulled herself together into a sitting position. “I… guess I sorta always knew it was true, but refused to accept it.”

“I know what you mean. Guess we really are twins, or something…”

Rick continued to tinker with some kind of strange pistol-like device that looked like a grocery scanner. He pointed it away from the group and pulled the trigger. A green glob of mucus-like energy fired from the device, formed into a swirly vortex for a second, and then collapsed into a puddle of evaporating goop the next second. Rick growled and continued working on it.

The changeling cleared her throat. “So, uh, Roses? Um… which one is the one I came in with?”

Rose pointed to the other self. “Her. I came in with Rick.”

“Yeah…” the other Rose confirmed. “Hmm, you know, we might want to change names so we don’t confuse everyone. Um, okay let’s call me RC. That way we all don’t get confused more so than we are now.”

Rose nodded and sat up. Her stomach still felt queasy. “So… what’s going on? Anyone?”

“Rick and I might have a partial answer,” the changeling interjected. She looked toward Rick, but the stallion waved the bug off, too busy with his device.

“And you are?” Rose asked in a weak voice.

The changeling held out a hoof and shook Rose’s. She then was consumed in a flash of green flame, revealing the soft blue carapace of a reformed changeling male. “I’m Entrapta. You might remember me by my online name, DungeonTrap86?”

“Oh, the one I was talking to online about breaking Chryssi out of jail?” Rose asked with interest.

“Wait, you were gonna do what?” RC questioned.

Rose winced. “Yeah, I guess we… um…”

Rick let out a frustrated groan. “Ugh, here, let me explain it in a language that makes sense to you morons. First, the multiverse theory is fact. There’s an infinite number of realities paralleling yours on the space-time curve, and luckily for me, you two aren’t the fattest horses out there. I’m Rick Sanchez of Equestria Dimension C-137. Second, our problem is that some a-hole has been messing with this dimension’s timeline and caused a partial split into two dimensions that are still anchored together in overlap. This means that one—my portal gun is now useless because I can’t get a fix on which half I’m standing in to open a portal out and two—this dimension is now unstable and will soon collapse to wipe us all into non-existence. The one anomaly that might be key is that for whatever reason the split created two Rose Croixs. So, if we all want to live, I suggest you both get with the program quickly and help figure out why there's two of you so that we can undo the anchoring effect.”

The info dump left both Roses rubbing their head.

“Alright, and Entrapta is here because…?” RC asked.

“I, uh, wanted to see Chrysalis for myself,” the changeling answered. “She’s got this hive-mind power I’ve never seen before and I suspect it’s related to the experiments they did to her on Tartarus station.”

“I remember that part,” RC said.

“Same here,” Rose added. “At least we’re both on the same page there.”

Entrapta nodded. “Yes, well, I’ve had to let my mental guard down a bit in order to join the hive and study Chrysalis without drawing her suspicions that I’m a reformed changeling, but… I’m pretty sure she knows that and only tolerates me because I'm one of the most competent mechanics around and have kept my secret safe from the others. That and I’m pretty sure those distractions Sniper and Love have done helped keep her, ah, distracted.”

“Stars and moon, don’t remind me,” both Roses said simultaneously.

Rick growled. “Fantastic, so can we leave now before that ship above bombs us into oblivion?”

[DigoDragon]

A deep rumble shook dust from the ceiling above them. Entrapta transforms back into her female changeling disguise. “Right. Chrysalis left me behind to lead any EDF members out the back way. Though, with being disconnected from the hivemind right now I think maybe she just wanted to be rid of me.”

“Brilliant work, Holmes,” Rick remarked.

The changeling frowned, but said nothing in reply. She walked down a corridor that soon gave way to a recently dug tunnel. Chunks of ceiling were missing from an early section. Rose assumed that may have been the collapse responsible for the changelings she treated earlier in the afternoon.

“So, I have a relevant question,” RC asked the group. “What happens when we… uh, fix this dimensional split problem? Like, does that mean Rose and I get merged or does one of us vanish in a puff of logic?”

Rick shrugged. “I don’t know and we’ll deal with it when it happens.”

This answer was the opposite of reassuring.



After they climbed several minutes up a rough-cut steep staircase the group reached a hatch to the surface. Entrapta opened it and peered outside. They were in the nearby valley outside DW. A column of smoke marked what remained of the bunker’s main entrance.

The sun had not yet risen above the horizon. The group climbed out and Entrapta lowered the hatch back into place. From the outside it looked no different than the other rocks in the valley. They carefully made their way up the valley and watched the CPI soldiers march back and forth into the crater of the DW facility.

Rose and RC used their cybereye magnification to get a closer look. Rick and Entrapta shared a pair of binoculars. Masses of bloody bodies were pulled out of the crater, too mangled to identify as CPI, EDF, or a DW resident. It left a heavy lump in the pit of Rose’s stomach.

“Dear Luna, I hope the squads are alive.”

RC nodded. “They have to be. It’s a huge bunker, plenty of choke points and hiding spaces to keep the CPI busy.”

Rick pulled out that portal gun and adjusted some dials. The lightbulb on top began to flicker when he pointed it at the CPI airship. “Hmm, there’s a big energy signature coming from up there. It’s definitely temporal. If I can get to it, maybe I can draw enough power to get us off this doomed dimension.”

Rose turned to face Rick with a look of abject horror. “We can’t just abandon everyone and everything here!”

“Listen, Rose. I’ve traveled a lot of dimensions and if there’s one constant, it’s that they all suck. There’s enough of them close to yours that you won’t even notice the difference.”

“Uh, what about the Rose and Entrapta in that dimension?” RC asked.

“What about them?” Rick retorted. “Look, just relocate to Prance or something. Settle down and do whatever it is you want. New leash on life. Now come on, I see a way on board.”

Rose wrinkled her nose. “Isn’t it lease on life?”

“We’re all dogs chained to an abusive owner somewhere,” Rick answered as he walked away.

“Well, isn’t he a bucking ray of sunshine?” RC commented.

“Yeah,” Rose agreed.

Entrapta shook her head. “He showed up out of nowhere and asked for my help finding you two. Can’t imagine someone that smart yet that nihilistic.”

“Don’t have to imagine,” Rose stated. She got up and followed Rick. The others came along in step.



The group hid behind a large boulder, not far from a parked hover cargo-car similar to Love’s vehicles. They watched soldiers unload supplies from the car’s hold like the automatons they are.

Rick rubbed his chin. “Okay, Entrapta, you impersonate an officer and keep them busy. Rose and RC can take them out from behind and I’ll rig the car controls so we can get onto that airship.”

“Seems like we’ll be quickly found out,” RC commented.

“Got a better idea?” Rick asked.

“No, sir,” RC replied.

Entrapta transformed herself to appear as one of the CPI officers she saw elsewhere. The changeling looked her uniform over to make sure she got the details right and then walked over to the soldiers. She attempted to look important while she quickly thought up some orders.

“You there! We need able bodies to move weapons to the fire squads below!” Entrapta barked.

The soldiers ignored her.

She stepped in their way. “Attention soldiers! I am ordering you to-”

The soldiers walked around her with the supplies.

Entrapta seized one soldier by the shoulder. “Ponish! Do you speak it?!”

Shots rang out and riddled the soldiers in the legs. They collapsed under their injuries, but crawled toward their assailants, Rose and RC.

Rick galloped past Entrapta and into the flying vehicle. “Let’s go!”

“Okay, didn’t want to have this conversation anyway,” Entrapta said. She changed back to her black-carapace disguise and ran inside behind Rose and RC.

Several shots pinged the side of the car. CPI soldiers advanced on the vehicle’s position without fear. The vehicle’s armor began to dent and puncture in places.

Rose leaned out the back door and fired several bursts into the assailants, cutting three down. “Hmm, it’s a lot easier when Love’s not asking me to use non-lethal rounds.”

“Geez, you know they’re controlled by chips,” RC remarked. “Don’t have to be so ruthless about it.”

The cargo-car lurched and then took off into the air. Rick steered in over towards the imposing CPI airship above. “I suggest everyone grab onto something other than their butt!”

Larger caliber gunfire from the airship tore into the cargo-car’s hull. Rick weaved the ship back and forth on the approach. A bullet pierced into Entrapta. The changeling yelped and grabbed his side. Another bullet bounced off Rose’s helmet and cut into her right shoulder.

The car skidded onto a platform, sparks all over the undercarriage of the vehicle.

“Everypony out!” Rick shouted.

They abandoned the still-moving vehicle and tumbled onto the platform. The car skidded off the platform and into the air. Gunfire from the airship shredded it on the way down.

The pain in Rose’s shoulder dug into her as she rolled to a standing position. She saw a hatch above open. Without waiting to confirm who it was, Rose opened fire and killed the soldier on the other side with a burst to the center-chest. Then hit the next soldier behind that one in the face.

Rick unlocked the electronic door and waved everyone inside. Rose went in last, but RC grabbed the door with her ponykinesis first and slammed it shut.

She checked her carbine’s ammo count. Down to a dozen rounds of standard bullets. Rose sighed. Seems she’ll be testing Love’s new ammo in a live fire situation.

RC tended to Entrapta’s wound with her healing magic. “I don’t think you have to worry about your disguise now,” she told the changeling.

“I know, but…” She bit her lip. “It just isn’t who I identify as.”

“I suppose that’s fair. Just don’t overexert yourself. You’re hurt.”

Rose cast a minor healing spell on her shoulder. The pain coldly dulled. She looked over to Rick. “Did you get hurt?”

“Just bruised. Come on, the signature should be this way,” Rick said in response. He led the way down the twisting corridors.

Entrapta shook her head as she followed. “Just us four on a ship full of CPI soldiers?”

“Most of them would be on the surface assaulting DW,” Rose pointed out. “So we’d only be facing minimum security and the maintenance crew.”

RC drew her pistol, the only weapon she seized when Entrapta picked her up. She got into lockstep with Rose. “You must be Wildcat’s favorite.”

“Not really. I’m on notice after banging Chrysalis in a dream and being an accessory to her escape. Plus side, I did well keeping the alliance with the hive intact after the team nearly broke it, so it evens out.”

“You got to… with Chrysalis?!” Entrapta remarked. “I am both horrified and jealous.”

“Trust me, not worth it,” Rose countered.

RC made a sour face. “Still. Eww.”

“Hey, who are you kissing right now, hmm?” Rose questioned her.

“Um, well I flirted a little with Red Tape,” RC confessed, “But I’m not really attached to anyone right now.”

Rick let out an exasperated sigh. “I swear, you mares ship worse than the post office. This way.”

[DigoDragon]

The marching beat of boots down the corridor behind them lead to a very energetic group race in the other direction. Racing down the maze of corridors, the party followed the blinking light on Rick’s portal gun toward their goal.

They made a hard right at the intersection. Rose and RC turned around and fired several shots into the closest soldiers. Two dropped dead on the floor and a third unconscious from the non-lethal rounds. Return fire ricocheted off the walls. The two mares raced to pick up the tail-end of the party.

“How much further?” Entrapta asked.

Rick pointed to a large blast door on the left. “Through here—oh for crying out loud!” The control panel was missing from the door. Rick reached in and pulled on some wires. “Keep them busy!”

Entrapta trotted up to Rick. “Here, I can help you.”

Rose and RC took firing positions on either side of the hall. As soldiers turned the corner, the mares opened fire. The first wave was cut down quickly, but before the bodies hit the floor the next rounded the corner.

“I need a reload,” RC stated. Bullets whizzed by their heads. One hit her in the chest, but her armor took the blow.

“Got you covered,” Rose replied. A bullet grazed her leg, but she was not deterred in pulling out a frag grenade. She pulled the pin and threw it.

RC ejected her magazine clip and loaded the last one she had. “Down to my last-”

The grenade explosion cut off her statement. CPI bodies flew in all directions. Rose fired several bursts into the haze until her carbine magazine ran empty.

The blast door lifted halfway up with a hard grinding screech.

“Good enough, little bug,” Rick stated. He slid under the door with the others right behind. On the other side Rick hit the door close button and Entrapts disconnected the power to the wiring on the other side.


The room was a launch bay, repurposed to house a large plasma generator more advanced than anything Rose had ever seen. A torus of raw energy circulated inside the central body, with magnetic coils holding a field over it as a containment measure.

“Well, guess that seals the alien thing?” Rose asked.

“I dunno,” RC answered, “Rick there has a freakin’ portal gun and he’s Equestrian. Could just be mad science.”

Rick was at the nearby computer. He grunted at the screen’s output. “This is not good. Apparently this is teleport technology done all wrong. Whoever designed this thing is a hack.”

“Huh, didn’t think that was a… thing,” Rose said.

RC shrugged. “Dunno. The CPI seems to steal all of Equestria’s old military junk. Maybe they found this in storage.”

Entrapta trotted over to the mares. “I think they’re cutting through the door. Whatever Rick is gonna do needs to be done quick.”

“Calm down, bug-brain,” Rick assured. “You can’t rush genius.” He typed several things into the computer. The generator’s power fluctuated and then began to increase.

“This generator’s teleportation tech apparently creates a duplicate of the ship at the destination and then converts the source into energy,” Rick explained as he looked at the mares, “I’m not gonna explain how many laws of physics that violates. Point is, it needs more energy than one Equestria can provide, so when they used it to get here, it punched a hole into reality itself and created the partial dimension we’re also occupying to draw energy from.”

RC groaned. “That is Star Trot levels of stupid technobabble,” she said as she rubbed her forehead.

The hissing sound of the blast door was evident now. A thin glowing line of hot metal appeared and crept upwards.

“Okay, so that explains how they just showed up without warning. Rick, can you fix it?” Rose asked expediently.

Rick snorted. “Sure, we’ll call it a fix. If I overload the generator, the shockwave will sever and destroy the duplicate portion of the dimension. That’ll snap time back to the point the ship first teleported here and stabilize your reality so you can continue living your pointless lives. There’s a catch-”

“Of course there is,” RC commented.

“Catch is, anything within this explosion ceases to exist. If you want your reality to exist with a Rose Croix in it, you need to clear the ship pronto. I don’t think I have to explain the part about there being a two-Rose problem.”

The blast door buckled as the hole was halfway cut. Rick typed several commands into the computer. The generator’s output rapidly climbed. He entered another set of commands and one of the launch bay’s floors opened up to the sky below.

“As for me,” Rick stated, “Now that I have the right special coordinates, I’m bailing. See ya loosers later. Except I probably won’t, nor do I care.” Rick fired his portal gun and this time the green swirly vortex held. He stepped through and the vortex vanished behind him, leaving just the slight scent of a fart.

RC swallowed. “Okay, well obviously Entrapta goes with you since she-”

Rose slammed the carbine’s butt-end into RC’s face. The mare crumpled on the floor with a groan.

“What are you doing?” Entrapta asked.

“You know what I’m doing!” Rose shouted. She grabbed both mares and pushed them to the open bay door exit. “Hold onto her, the EDF is gonna need their medic!”

“But what about-”

“We can’t have TWO Roses, okay? Just go, I’ll keep them busy so you don’t become clay pigeons.”

Rose shoved them both over the edge. She heard Entrapta scream as the changeling clung to RC’s unconscious body. Her own heart raced with fear. Would she feel anything in the explosion? Or… after she ceased to exist?

The blast door broke open and CPI soldiers poured into the room with guns blazing. Rose cast her missile shield spell and stood her ground. She felt bullets fly by her head. Her head spun with fear, regrets, terror.

“Treat her right, RT,” Rose whispered.

Soldiers advanced on her position. The generator’s computer sounded a klaxon just before the explosion seared Rose in a brilliant flash of white-hot heat. It was eternity and then nothing.



Rose awoke on the cold concrete floor, face first. It was dark, but she felt a warm trickle of dark liquid run down her snout. She pinched her nose and fumbled for a tissue, a rag, something. She muttered a minor healing spell and… it failed. Rose flinched. She felt her magic was still with her, but... was it just a fluke? But if not...

Did that mean…?

She got up and looked around. The infirmary. Three sleeping patients.

Her hoof trembled slightly. Rose reached for her medical kit and stopped the bleeding with her mundane supplies. The bag is as she remembered it. Her name, the little snags and patches she remembered… but something felt off. These scuff marks. Were they always there? She got up and left the infirmary.


Look on down from the bridge
There's still fountains down there
Look on down from the bridge
It's still raining, up here

The casino floor was silent and dimly lit. Off in the corner a stallion was slumped over the table, drunkenly asleep. A mare behind the bar quietly flipped through an old book. She slowly walked around. Was this stain always here on the ground? Or that crack in the ceiling. Rose didn’t have intimate knowledge of the room. She could be home. Or in a foreign world altogether. Seemed the same right now.


Everybody seems so far away from me
Everybody just wants to be free
Look away from the sky
It's no different when you're leaving home

Rose returned to the infirmary and sat down on the chair by the desk. A dream? Or did it happen? Was she Rose or RC? Her memories of the event had faded. Her identity soon followed. Rose pulled out her phone, the new one that Love bought her. Rose opened the image gallery and flipped through the photos; Sniper, Love, Brazen, RT, Star… Blank…


I can't be the same thing to you now
I'm just gone, just gone

How could I say goodbye
How could I say goodbye, goodbye

She opened her digital logbook and flipped through all the mission reports that Sniper and Love gave her. Much of it was familiar, but other parts… she couldn’t remember. Not because those details didn’t exist in her memory, but because… she never read the reports like she should have. There was some familiarity to passages she didn’t remember and other missing moments she swore should be located in the spaces between paragraphs.

Rose turned off the computer. At this point, all familiarity was in question.


Maybe I'll just place my hands over you
And close my eyes real tight
There's a light in your own eyes
And you know, yeah, you know

She took in a deep breath. Everything was familiar enough to her. She couldn’t just question it. No, just… keep going. Accept that she is Rose and this is her reality. She slunk down off the chair and unrolled her blankets. Rose laid down, curled up. She stared at the door until her eyelids grew heavy.

She could… almost feel it… a fleeting memory? Entrapta crying… she was falling… they were all falling… into the sky...


Look on down from the bridge
I'm still waiting for you


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You're Gonna Carry That Weight...