Worlds Beyond

by FredMSloniker

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Main 6
Length: 15651

Ponies journey to the stars... but the galaxy is a dangerous place.

The alien probe that crash-landed in Fluttershy's yard contained plans for a spacecraft and directions to the sender's home planet. The ponies of Equestria eagerly accepted the invitation. But the galaxy is a dangerous place, and darker than they know...

Published 2012-03-01 14:24:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-03-11 02:04:57 UTC

The Stars Our Destination, Part I

Nighttime at Fluttershy’s cottage was a quiet affair. Much as she enjoyed peace and tranquility, there was always something to do during the day: some animal that needed tending, a meal to prepare, a trip to Ponyville, or any of a dozen distractions. At night, however, most of the animals were snuggled in their nests, and the ones that were awake during the night, out of respect for their caretaker, only bothered her if it was urgent. Everything was clean and mended, and those few pony friends she had were either fast asleep or, in the case of Twilight Sparkle, buried in a project and uninterested in company.

So it was that Fluttershy slept deeply, covers pulled under her chin, a little smile on her face as she dreamt of peaceful things. There was nothing to wake her, no urgent screech or chirp, no pony knocking at her door, only the faint light of the night sky shining through her window.

Dawn broke significantly ahead of schedule and much faster than usual. It was accompanied by a high-pitched whistling sound that fell in pitch even as it increased in volume. Fluttershy fidgeted in her bed, but she didn’t wake.

When the explosion went off, it threw her out of bed, blankets and all.

It took her a moment to recover from the shock, and a moment more to untangle herself from her bedding and gingerly nose her front door open. The regularly scheduled night had resumed service, but the light of the moon was enough for Fluttershy to almost immediately spot the source of the sound: a shallow crater scarring the earth where a significant portion of her front lawn had been, smoke rising slowly from its center. There was something in the smoke, something about the size of a pony, but more she couldn’t tell.

“Hello?” she called, venturing out of her home, the thought of a possibly injured animal overcoming her natural timidity. “Is anypony hurt?” There was no response, and step by step she ventured closer to the crater, trying to make out what had fallen.

As the smoke thinned, she gasped, “Goodness!”—for what lay in the center of the crater was nothing she’d seen before.

It was a star—a five-pointed star, its color close to her own, its outlines plump and cheerful. Streaked with scorch marks and stained with dirt, it nonetheless looked as nonthreatening a thing as Fluttershy could think of, especially for something that had apparently fallen from the sky and punched a hole in her lawn. Still, she hesitated to approach it, moving one hoof first forward to take a step, then backward to fidget, before finally committing to walking into the crater to examine the star more closely.

It looked ceramic on closer inspection, glazed and shiny where the fall and the landing hadn’t blackened it, and appeared to be a solid thing; Fluttershy could see no seams, nothing protruding from its surface. If not for the violence it had visited on the earth, she would have assumed it was some decoration somepony had carelessly dropped.

Fluttershy held up a hoof again, biting her lip as she gingerly reached out for it, her fear of the unknown almost keeping her from making contact.

Almost, but not quite.

As her hoof touched the surprisingly cool surface with no ill effect, Fluttershy let out a little sigh of relief.

Then her mind burst with imagery, her body going rigid.

The night sky glowed, then exploded, the stars rushing at her with impossible speed, only to be replaced by more stars, hundreds, thousands coming into view before they shot past, buzzing like uncounted angry bees. Then, with a sickening suddenness, she swung around, seeing the stars gathering together into a thing, a shape in the darkness, with a solid center and wispy arms curled around it, something like a sleeping starfish.

The thing stopped growing smaller, then abruptly began growing bigger again, rushing at her—or rather, her rushing at it, stars screaming past her as she traveled faster than she could imagine, her friend Rainbow Dash’s speed immeasurably slow compared to this. Even as she began to slow down, even as one of those millions of stars failed to slide past her but instead became a sun in a black sky, even as a ball of blue came out of nowhere and struck her in the face, she couldn’t understand just how fast and how far she’d gone, her mind paralyzed by the assault.

The impact with the shape plunged her into darkness, and yet she still perceived. A diagram appeared before her, golden lines and curves incredibly dense, then swelled until it seemed greater than all the million stars, for it was a greatness she could comprehend. There were loops and swirls and circles, wheels within wheels, carefully printed symbols interlocking with each other, and all of it danced around a central point of light, humming with every instrument of the orchestra, a sound that only grew in intensity with each passing moment.

Helpless, she fell into the light, into the crescendo—

—and started awake cradled in Rainbow Dash’s grasp, still lying on the ground next to the crater, eyes enormously dilated, the light of the stars dancing in them. Looking at Rainbow Dash without seeing her, Fluttershy spoke words of terrible intensity.

“We have to go to him. He’s so lonely.”

Rainbow Dash could only stare, not understanding what had happened to her friend, fearing the unknown.

M Y L I T T L E P O N Y
W O R L D S B E Y O N D

The Stars Our Destination Part I
Written by Fred M. Sloniker

Daytime in Ponyville was a bustling time. Ponies went about their business, as they did every day: walking down the streets, conversing with each other here and there, tending their gardens, going shopping in the open-air market. As a shadow passed overhead, however, the ponies turned their attention skyward, and their thoughts and words turned from the ordinary to murmurs of confusion and rumor, wondering what it meant.

The shadow was cast by three flying carriages, two of them typical carriages of the Royal Guard, each pulled by two pegasi and carrying stern-faced unicorn guards. The third, however, was larger, sturdier, and most significantly fully enclosed, with no windows and a sturdily barred door, as if to confine something—or someone. It was also pulled by two pegasi, but four more flew in formation around it, watching the skies warily.

The carriages flew past Ponyville, descending as they did, and touched down next to Fluttershy’s cottage, where nearly the entirety of Ponyville’s police force—all three of them—watched over the strange yellow object that had fallen from the sky. The four unhitched pegasi flew a guard formation in the sky above; the unicorns disembarked, two moving toward the larger carriage, two examining the shiny star as the police shied away.

The door at the back of the larger carriage glowed, intricately geared locks turning and thick bars sliding, then swung open, revealing a chamber that contained only heavy chains and sturdy padlocks. The unicorns who had opened the door then turned their attention to those chains, lifting them out of the way while the other two unicorns levitated the star out of its crater and, carefully, into the carriage. As soon as it had touched down, it was shackled and locked into place, then the door secured behind it.

Without a word, the unicorns re-boarded their carriages, and the formation took flight once again, their pegasus escort falling in. The police remained, glancing uneasily at each other, looking up at the sky as the guards led the carriage to its ultimate destination: Canterlot.

“It’s a message,” Twilight Sparkle’s enormously magnified eye declared.

Rainbow Dash’s voice protested, “They couldn’t have just sent a letter?” Twilight turned from the magnifying glass to see her friend hovering protectively near Fluttershy; Applejack and Rarity had taken it a step further, bracketing Fluttershy on either side. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna stood watch as well, though at a reserved distance, most of their attention on Twilight. Only Pinkie Pie was absent from the formation, as she took the opportunity to peer into the magnifier almost as soon as Twilight stepped away.

Gesturing violently at Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash continued, “Look what that thing did to Fluttershy!” To the casual observer, not that there were any in one of Canterlot’s most secure magical laboratories, Fluttershy looked unharmed. If the hypothetical observer took a second look, however, she would notice that Fluttershy’s eyes were still extremely dilated, her pupils dancing with the light of the stars.

Fluttershy hastened to reassure her friend, smiling serenely. “I’m all right, Rainbow Dash. It didn’t hurt me. It just wants us to go.”

“So you’ve been saying for the last day or so,” Applejack said, giving Fluttershy a harsh look, then shifting the look to the yellow star that hung suspended in the center of the chamber. Previously invisible seams had been opened, revealing a soft, pulsing light inside a hollow chamber, like an empty medicine capsule. “Seems more like a case of bad mojo to me.”

“It didn’t mean to do that to her,” Twilight said, though she did look concerned on Fluttershy’s behalf. “It tried to give her the entire message all at once, and she wasn’t able to handle it. She should get better once she’s had a chance to absorb it all.”

Spike, who’d been standing at Twilight’s side as she examined the star, wondered, “So what’s the message?” Twilight brightened at the prompt, turning back to the floating capsule. This close to it, she could see that the interior of the star was covered with glowing lines and sigils, all of which seemed to tie into a central crystal that pulsed with light, slowly cycling through the colors of the rainbow.

“I think I can project it for everypony to see,” she replied, her horn beginning to glow. “Hang on …”

The central crystal begin to glow, echoing Twilight’s magic—and then a gigantic image appeared above the star, startling Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Spike, and Applejack. Twilight looked satisfied, Fluttershy just smiled, and Pinkie Pie looked up, saying, “Ooo.”

The princesses, on the other hand, looked shocked. Princess Celestia was the first to speak. “Do you know what this is, my faithful student?” she asked, voice unsteady; Twilight’s smile of satisfaction faded at that sound, and she turned first to Celestia, then to the spiral-armed image as it turned slowly in the air. It took her a moment longer than it had for her mentor, but soon her face turned shocked as well.

“That’s amazing,” she breathed.

“So what is it?” Rainbow Dash, who was significantly less impressed by the image, asked the question the others wanted the answer to.

She wasn’t expecting Princess Luna to provide it.

“It’s a chart of the stars … as seen from outside.”

“Outside?” Rainbow Dash blurted. “Outside of what?”

Princess Luna looked almost giddy as she explained. “Ponies used to think the stars were just dots on the night sky, but that’s just not true.” She reached out with her own magic, touching the star capsule, and the image magnified even further, the lights within it plastering against the walls of the room, the farther ones growing dim or fading entirely. Only one light remained in the center of the room, growing from a single point into a cheerful glowing ball.

“This is what they look like from Equestria,” Luna continued, as the assembled ponies, even Princess Celestia, watched in wonder. “But each and every star is actually a sun, just like ours, so far away that we can only see the tiniest bit of their light. Even if you and your children and your children’s children’s children traveled as fast as they could, you’d never reach even the closest one.”

Rainbow Dash looked unimpressed. “Bet I could reach one.”

Luna looked to Rainbow Dash, offering an impish smile. “Maybe. Do you have four million years to find out?”

Rainbow Dash went still.

“Begging yer pardon, ma’am,” Applejack piped up, “but one of them stars is blinking.” She gestured at the wall with a hoof; Luna looked, nodded, then adjusted the image again, the ponies watching as it focused on just one arm of the galaxy. Near the tip was the dot they now knew represented Equestria, blinking brightly—and much farther in the arm, another star flashed.

“That’s where he lives,” Fluttershy said, drawing attention to herself again. She seemed unaware of this. “He’s showing us how to reach him.”

Rarity turned her head to Fluttershy and raised an eyebrow. “He who?”

“The one who sent the message,” Fluttershy replied.

“And do you know anything about him?” Rarity continued.

Fluttershy looked somberly at Rarity. “He wants to meet us... but he can’t leave. He’s so lonely.”

At the non-answer, Rarity looked to Twilight, who shrugged. “There’s nothing in the message about him. Just where he is and that he wants whoever finds the message to come to him.”

Rainbow Dash had gone from awestruck silence to a full-on sulk. “Well, how’re we supposed to do that if he’s so far away?” That was Twilight’s cue to return her attention to the capsule.

“There’s more to the message,” she said, focusing her magic again and causing the map to vanish, replaced by the golden diagram from Fluttershy’s vision.

Rarity gazed at the diagram with awe, her eyes tracing its intricate designs. “What is that? It looks wonderfully rococo.”

Twilight’s eyes fixed hungrily on the diagram as well. “It’s a spell diagram,” she replied. “But I’ve never seen one so complicated!”

“That’s because it contains several spell diagrams within it,” Princess Celestia said, breaking her silence. “Whatever this is meant to do is complex indeed.”

“I’ll say,” Twilight said, beginning to indicate parts of the diagram with a hoof. “That’s a shielding spell. That one’s for moving things … that one is for making fresh air.” She paused, indicating a fourth major section of the diagram. “I’m not sure what that part is. It looks like a way to project energy, but it doesn’t seem to do anything with it.”

Princess Luna’s smile was gone as she spoke.

“It is a weapon.”

For a moment, no one spoke.

“Such spells were not unknown many centuries ago, when Equestria was not as peaceful as it is now,” Luna continued, her voice fallen back into archaic rhythms as she gazed soberly at the diagram. “It is a simple weapon, as they go. A beam of magic that can pierce through all but the strongest of spells.”

This time, the silence was broken by Applejack. “Well, what in the hay’s he doing sending us weapon plans? That just ain’t right!”

“That’s just a part of it,” Twilight replied, turning away from the uncomfortable topic and back to the diagram. “This part here is for seeing things at great distances … here’s a communication spell …” She fell silent, eyes darting across the diagram; the others watched her, waiting for her to finish her thought.

After a long moment, Twilight’s eyes widened in wonder. “It’s a star chariot.”

“A star chariot?” Rainbow Dash blurted, her expression, like most of the ponies, that of confusion. Only Fluttershy and Princess Luna seemed to understand.

“Of course!” Luna said, brightening again. “How else would you follow the message?”

“Are you telling me,” Rainbow Dash continued, gesturing at the diagram, “that this is just a fancy chariot blueprint?”

Twilight turned her attention to Rainbow Dash, speaking rapidly. “No, don’t you understand? Pegasi can only fly so high because the air gets too thin to support their wings, not to mention too cold—”

“Uh, hello?” Rainbow Dash retorted, pointing first at one wing, then the other.

“—but this chariot wouldn’t be limited by that. It could go up … forever! And incredibly quickly! If I’m reading this part right, it could make the entire trip in less than a year!”

The others gaped.

“It’d keep the air clean, protect the ponies inside from anything dangerous … you’d have to bring your own food and water, but the design shows how to scale it up or down. We could make the chariot as big as we wanted!” Twilight flung a foreleg at the diagram.

Rarity looked at the diagram again. “That’s as may be,” she said, “but a spell like that … it looks too powerful for any pony to cast.”

Twilight was a step ahead of her, though. “Oh, you wouldn’t even cast a spell like this! It’s more of an enchanted item. You’d need trained crafters … engraved runes, gems to control the magical flow … probably a whole team to put it all together … but we could do this! We could make a star chariot!”

“I think you may be neglecting a detail, Twilight Sparkle.”

Eyes turned to Princess Celestia, who inclined her head, then tipped her muzzle toward the diagram. “At the center of the diagram. Can you tell me how much power the spell would call upon to be completed?”

Twilight turned back to the diagram, considering the symbols for a moment. Then her jaw dropped. “Oh my gosh.”

“Indeed,” Celestia said. “I can think of only one force in all of Equestria that can unleash that much power.”

“The Elements of Harmony,” Twilight breathed.

Another silence fell over the group, only to be broken by an unexpected source.

“Well, we just have to go!”

Eyes turned back to the star hanging in the center of the room—or rather, to Pinkie Pie, who had her hooves resting on the edge of its open cavity, her head turned to face them. Her pupils seemed to fill her entire face, and stars sparkled inside them.

“Somepony needs us to throw him a party!”

Twilight let out a soft sigh, wondering why she was even surprised Pinkie had touched it.

“This is going to be the single biggest project anypony has ever done,” Twilight said, looking at the other ponies over the planning table. When the scope of the project had become apparent, they, the princesses, and a selection of Canterlot’s best and brightest had come together to decide just how they were going to respond to their summon to the stars.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Pinkie enthused, eyes still star-struck, thumping her forehooves on the table. “Let’s go!”

Then the pink party pony burst into song.

We’ve got a lot of things to do!
Let’s go without delay!
I’ve never thrown a space party,
And our guest needs one today!

Twilight put her hooves up on the table as well.

We’ve got a lot of things to do;
that means we need a plan!
We’ll need blueprints, charts, and timetables
and a master diagram!

She shot a look at Rainbow Dash, who was snoring suspiciously energetically. “You could at least pretend to pay attention.”

Some days later, when Rainbow Dash found herself in charge of the largest team of pegasi she’d seen in one place, she was considerably more enthusiastic.

We’ve got a lot of things to do!
We need to start somehow,
So get your flanks up in the air
And go get some clouds right now!

Pegasi flew hither and yon under Rainbow Dash’s direction, spinning in circles over the sea to suck water into clouds, then pushing them together to form a base that was spreading an ever-greater shadow over the land near Canterlot.

We’ve got a lot of things to do—

“This project’s pretty keen!” she noted, looking up from a blueprint of the cloud to the cloud itself.

We’re gonna make the biggest cloud
That the world has ever seen!

Another large team, this one of unicorns, swept over the cloud in pegasus-drawn chariots, focusing their magic on the surface of the cloud, leveling it and giving it an odd shimmer.

What will we find when we go exploring?
What will our future hold?
We’ll never know unless we go,
So we’ll just have to be bold!

One of the unicorns jumped, with some trepidation, off of her chariot and onto the cloud—and didn’t fall through. The others followed suit in short order, beaming with pride, as the first bounced up and down a few times, giddy with success.

Applejack was put in charge of the next task: organizing the transportation of everything from soil to stone, trees to tile, bunnies to bricks from points all over Equestria to the construction site. The supplies, largely borne by earth ponies, traveled up freshly-built spiral ramps to the top of the cloud itself, where she directed them to their destinations.

We gotta lot of things to do.
We’re off to the frontier!
So pack yer wagons, load yer carts,
And get this train in gear!

Ponies dumped load upon load of soil onto the cloud, smoothing it out into farmland, creating entire orchards and fertile fields from scratch. Applejack, naturally, focused most of her attention there.

We gotta lot of things ta do
To build a flying town!
We’ll need grass and trees and crops and tools
To really settle down!

But there was more than farmland to recreate; elsewhere, ponies laid stone on cloud, then wood on stone, laying out streets and organizing buildings according to the master plan.

Building ourselves a whole new city
Right from the smallest stone!
We have to leave our world behind,
But we’ll bring along a home!

Pinkie Pie, eyes long since having reverted to normal, handed out yet another pie from one of several open-air cafeterias around the building site. “Let’s keep things moving, ponies!” she called as the next pony in line stepped up. She’d been put in charge of morale, an important task with so many ponies busy with such a massive undertaking.

Fluttershy had recovered as well; she’d been given the task of making the difficult decision of who would go and who would stay. She led a team of doctors, nurses, and veterinarians as they examined ponies and animals alike, looking for any sign that they weren’t up to the challenge.

We’ve got a lot of things to do,
So please give us your best!
If you’re sick or weak, you shouldn’t go;
That’s why we have this test!

One of the doctors peered puzzledly at the pegasus in front of him, who was taking a simple vision test. He wasn’t expecting to pass her—

“Property of Ponyville Clinic, please do not remove.”

—but after she’d read the tiny sticker at the bottom of the chart, he’d felt he had to.

Even if it hadn’t been the chart in front of her.

Not far away, Fluttershy looked over the animals that had made the cut, at least so far.

We’ve got a lot of things to do,
And we all must do our share!
Be you bee or dog or bird or hog,
We need you to be there!

Large signs had been posted around the growing cloud city, a rising bar showing the progress of construction so far—and a mark indicating where they should be on a schedule that was surprisingly rapidly reaching its end.

Gotta keep moving, ever faster!
Wanna get done on time!
Everyone wants to see this city
Into the sky climb!

Rarity, with Spike acting as her assistant, carefully pulled another engraved crystal from her saddlebags, placed it in the cloud, then looked around at the nearby landmarks. All across the cloud, unicorns did likewise, following Twilight’s master plan.

We have a lot of things to do
That must be done with care!
This crystal must be turned just right—

“I’d adjust it just a hair,” Spike suggested. Rarity made a thoughtful noise, shifting the crystal slightly with her hoof, then nodded.

We have a lot of things to do,
But there’s no call for haste!
A job done right is a lot of work
That hasn’t gone to waste!

Not everyone working on the project shared Rarity’s attitude. As the deadline loomed, ponies worked ever harder and faster, determined not to fall behind.

What do the ponies up there look like?
What if they turn out mean?
Will we make new friends in the stars?
We just won’t know ’till we’ve seen!

The city was not the largest in Equestria, nor was it the smallest. Most of its buildings were no more than a few stories tall, but they were packed close together on streets that had been planned before there was even a surface to put them on, circular streets meeting radial avenues, all of it neat and tidy. Even the farmland was carefully planned, arranged around the exterior of the city to maximize crop yields and minimize harvest labor, and the parks and gardens that broke up the city’s monotony did so by design.

At the center of the city was a golden tower, the tallest building in the city, every inch of its surface covered in runes, sigils, and gems. In front of the tower, a stage had been set up, and a meeting called around it; almost everyone was there, anticipation written on their faces. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were up on stage, and before them, in full regalia, the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Pinkie Pie was the first to speak.

We had a lot of things to do,
But now we’ve got them done!
So laugh and cheer and celebrate
and have a bit of fun!

Twilight stepped forward.

We had a lot of things to do;
Now there’s just one more feat!
We’ll call upon the Elements
To make it all complete!

The crowd sung out as the six concentrated, bringing forth the light of the Elements.

All our hard work is just beginning;
All of this was the start!
Now we are going to the stars
To put them in our heart!

We’ve got a lot—
We’ve got a lot of things to do!

On the last word, a rainbow blasted outward from the Element-bearers, rushing through the crowd with no more impact than a vigorous breeze, passing through stone and wood and cloud effortlessly, causing the many crystals scattered across buildings all over town to light up with an inner fire. As the wave reached the border of the cloud, it stretched both upward and downward, under the cloud and over the tower, enclosing the city in a shell of rainbow colors—which swiftly faded to be no more visible than a soap bubble.

Fireworks went off behind the stage as Twilight Sparkle strode forward to make it official.

“Everypony, Harmony City is ready for takeoff!”

“Now you take good care of Granny Smith, y’hear?” Applejack demanded, jabbing a hoof into Big Macintosh’s chest for emphasis. “Ah don’t wanna come back from this little jaunt to find anything’s gone wrong on the farm.” Each of the Element-bearers had business to attend to before they could set out, and Applejack’s had brought her back to Sweet Apple Acres.

Apple Bloom looked beseechingly up at Applejack from Big Macintosh’s side. “Are ya sure Ah can’t come with ya, big sis?” she pleaded, and at first she thought she’d succeeded, as Applejack’s face softened into a smile.

“You know Ah’d never forgive myself if something happened to you, Apple Bloom, and we’ve got no way of knowing just how dangerous this’ll be.” Applejack reached out, mussing Apple Bloom’s mane with a hoof. “Now don’t you worry none. Twilight’s got some fancy gizmo to let her send letters to the Princess, and Ah’ll be sure to let you know how things are going up there. You just focus on yer chores and yer homework, aright?”

Apple Bloom couldn’t help smiling at the mane-mussing, but the smile faded at the thought of missing out on an exciting adventure. “Yes, Applejack,” she replied in the same sullen tone she used whenever she’d been given a particularly unpleasant chore.

At the Carousel Boutique, Sweetie Belle received a similar disappointment. “You never let me do anything fun.”

“Now, that’s just not true, Sweetie Belle,” Rarity retorted, distracted by packing her equipment and fabrics. “Why, just last week, didn’t I let you help me organize the repeater crystals?”

“You only did that because Spike had to help Twilight,” Sweetie Belle sulked. Which was true, but all the same the accusation rankled Rarity. “You won’t even let Mom and Dad come along!”

Rarity sighed, turning to face Sweetie Belle. “The ponies who are going on this journey are all young, strong ponies who’ll be able to take care of each other if things get dangerous. I love Father and Mother dearly, but they aren’t as young … or as fit … as they used to be. They have to stay here, and you have to stay with them.” Sweetie Belle continued to pout, up until Rarity crouched to pull her into a hug. “I’ll miss you very much, Sweetie Belle,” she murmured. “Now, promise you won’t be any trouble while I’m gone, all right?”

“I promise,” Sweetie Belle sighed.

She was already regretting that promise not an hour later, as Rarity and her luggage where whisked away from the Carousel Boutique on a royal chariot. It didn’t take long for Scootaloo and Apple Bloom to make their appearance.

“No luck, huh?” Scootaloo wondered. Sweetie Belle’s posture, slumped on the steps, was all the answer Scootaloo needed.

“What’re we gonna do?” Apple Bloom whined. “Big sis is gonna go up to the stars without us!”

“What if we’re supposed to get cutie marks for being astronauts?” Scootaloo pointed out. “We can’t do that if we’re stuck here!”

Sweetie Belle said nothing.

“And Ah just know miss Cheerilee’s gonna spend the whole time giving us homework about space,” Apple Bloom griped. “Like she knows anything more about it than we do.”

“Aw, I bet you can do all sorts of cool stunts that high up!” Scootaloo added, pantomiming zooming through the air as she did so. “Rainbow Dash’s probably gonna invent, like … a hundred billion new stunts, and I won’t even be able to see!”

Some of the ponies at school had, rather uncharitably, called Sweetie Belle slow. It was true that, on occasion, she took a moment to understand what occurred instantly to other ponies. That was not, however, an indication that she was stupid … at least, no more so than any other foal.

“Maybe we don’t have to stay here,” she said, smiling cunningly.

“Whaddaya mean?” Apple Bloom wondered, Scootaloo looking curious as well.

Sweetie Belle gestured in the general direction of Sugarcube Corner. “Well,” she said, drawing out the word, “some of the other ponies who’re going haven’t finished packing. Pinkie Pie looks like she’s taking the whole shop!”

“And with so many packages …” Apple Bloom began, brightening as she followed Sweetie Belle’s train of thought.

“… we can stow away with somepony’s luggage …” Scootaloo continued, grinning even brighter than the other two.

As one, the three chorused, “… and get into Harmony City! Cutie Mark Crusader Astronauts! Yay!” They slapped their hooves together in their traditional gesture of triumph.

There was just one fly in the ointment. “But I promised Rarity I wouldn’t get into trouble,” Sweetie Belle realized, face falling.

“You won’t get into trouble,” Apple Bloom reassured her. “With all those ponies right there to watch over us? ’Specially Twilight and all her friends? Why, Ah bet we’d be safer there then here in Ponyville!”

Scootaloo grinned. “Yeah, I bet Rainbow Dash can take on any space ponies that try to give us any trouble.” She shadowboxed a bit, little wings buzzing.

Sweetie Belle brightened. “You’re right,” she proudly proclaimed. “I mean, what could go wrong?”

On the outskirts of town, Fluttershy was giving Amethyst Star instructions on the care and feeding of her animals. Those instructions had been going on for some time, and the pinky-purple pony was beginning to fidget.

“—now you must be careful not to overfeed the gophers. They’re on a diet, and they’ll try anything to get extra food—including raiding the other animals’ food, so watch out for that. Put the skink’s medicine in a cherry tomato, and make sure she eats it and doesn’t just hide it in her mouth. You need to change the hummingbird feeder every week, even if it doesn’t look like it needs it. Oh, I hope I’m not forgetting anything!”

“Fluttershy,” Amethyst said, as gently as she could, “you’ve already told me how to take care of each and every animal here. Three times. I’ll manage. Now, don’t you have a chariot to catch?”

Fluttershy started at that, taking a few steps toward the waiting carriage, then turning back to look at the white rabbit that stood on her doorstep. “Now, you be good for miss Amethyst, okay, Angel bunny?” She smiled hopefully, and the rabbit shrugged, which she seemed satisfied with, at least enough for her to get in the carriage.

Even as it begun to take off, though, she thought of more to say. “I’ll write you every day! You let me know if you get sick or hurt! Don’t let the weasels—” The rest of her advice was inaudible, as even calling to Angel she was too nervous to raise her voice.

Amethyst watched Fluttershy’s carriage depart for a moment, then turned to Angel, offering a cheery smile. “Well, I hope you and I will get along swimmingly while Fluttershy’s gone,” she offered.

Cold black eyes without an ounce of pity locked onto hers. Amethyst began to sweat.

“Oh dear,” she said.

The inside of Harmony City’s central tower was, if anything, more elaborate than the outside. In the center of the floor, the star capsule that had started it all had been seemingly tied down with knots and veins of metal and magic; glowing lines of energy branched like roots out to the walls, then climbed them to reconnect at a large spherical gem in the center of the ceiling. Chairs were attached to rails, allowing them to move both horizontally and vertically, positioning ponies in front of any number of displays and controls, each one displaying a different view or diagram.

At the moment, the only view of interest to Rainbow Dash was one of the stage just outside, where Twilight Sparkle was giving a speech. It wasn’t a particularly interesting speech, in Rainbow Dash’s opinion, but it beat staring at some barely-comprehensible graph of nothing in particular.

“It is both an honor and a privilege to be able to speak to you today,” Twilight said, both to those present in person and to the ‘movie’ cameras made possible by the star capsule’s instructions. “Without all of your hard work, Harmony City wouldn’t even exist. Each and every one of you has made history. Tonight, thanks to you, we plan to make more.”

One of the wall panels showed a simplified diagram of the Equestrian solar system: planet here, sun there, moon on the other side. On the planet, a gold dot blinked steadily.

Suddenly, a purple dot appeared, a label next to it filling in with tiny runic symbols. Rainbow Dash didn’t notice.

“We’ll begin by testing the basic functions of the city: the drive, the shield, the sensors, and so on. Once we’ve finished those tests, we’ll use the drive to explore the underside of Equestria, a topic of much debate among leading scholars. We’ll be sending images and sounds as they happen to stations all over Equestria, so you’ll be able to watch with us as we explore the frontier.”

The purple dot spawned a dozen smaller dots, each of which attained a label of its own. These dots began to approach the planet … and, more specifically, the gold dot.

“But much as we’d love to spend years exploring Equestria’s hidden land …” Twilight looked at a crowd that had suddenly adopted rather flat expressions. She smiled awkwardly. “Okay, much as I’d love that … we have a mission. Harmony City wouldn’t be possible without the gift we received from somepony out there, somepony who couldn’t come to us. Tonight, we take the first step in going to him.”

Ponies begun to look up, murmuring to themselves. Twilight didn’t notice right away. “Now, we have some final preparations to be made before tonight’s test, so you all need to …”

She trailed off, noticing and looking up herself. A half-dozen dark specks had appeared in the sky, rapidly getting larger, more appearing behind them. “What are those?” she murmured to herself.

Then a beam of darkness reached from the largest—the nearest—and punched a hole in the stage right next to her.

Inside the tower, Rainbow Dash fell out of her chair as, simultaneously, the purple dots turned red and a strident alarm began to sound.

Ponies screamed, beginning to run in all directions; Twilight, who’d been thrown from the stage by the force of the blast, staggered to her feet, then looked up again—and gaped.

The city was being swarmed by dark objects, similar in size and shape to the star capsule, but with leaner, crueler lines. From their undersides, they were firing beams of dark energy, strafing the city, targeting buildings and ponies alike.

Twilight Sparkle stood frozen at the sight.

Rainbow Dash burst out of the tower, gesturing at the sky even as she approached Twilight. “Twilight! What’s going on out here?” Twilight’s other friends, who’d been listening to her speech from the crowd, approached as well, looking to her for leadership.

Twilight’s thoughts raced. “Applejack, Fluttershy, get everypony somewhere safe. Pinkie Pie, Rarity, I need you in the control tower with me. Rainbow Dash, get whoever you can up there to fight those things off. Use the Personal Protection Modules—”

“The Stormguards,” Rainbow Dash insisted.

Twilight put a hoof to her face. Really? Now? “Fine, the Stormguards. Go!” Rainbow Dash offered a quick salute, then zipped off in a blur, as the others ran off to do what needed to be done.

Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie hurried into the tower, each taking a station. “Pinkie, what’s our status?” Twilight demanded, her own position standing in front of the star capsule. Pinkie pushed a few buttons on her console in reply, examining the screen.

“Eleven meanies attacking the city, and a big fat meanie way up high,” she called.

“Can we power the shield?” Twilight asked, turning to Rarity, who was already examining a diagram showing power flows throughout the city.

“Yes, but the smaller … things … are already inside it,” Rarity replied.

Twilight nodded. “Do it anyway,” she said.

A burst of rainbow light shot out of the top of the tower, some of the city’s stored energy being released, and struck the soap-bubble barrier, which became more and more opaque as a result, blue skies and shining sun being occluded by the shimmer of color.

Rainbow Dash, however, had her eyes on something a lot closer to earth: one of a number of buildings scattered around Harmony City that contained Stormguards—or, as Twilight Sparkle had unimaginatively called them, Personal Protection Modules.

She and her group of brave recruits charged into the building, which was filled with individual fitting stations, and each of them chose one. Rainbow Dash, naturally, chose the closest one, stepping into the individual hoof holes. When all four hooves were in place, the station activated automatically, bringing pieces of golden armor from storage and clamping them to her body: greaves, light barding, and a band around her brow.

It was only a few seconds before she and the others were released and could leave the building—a few seconds too long with those black stars zapping everything in sight. Rainbow Dash rounded on the others, who looked uncertainly at her and at the skies.

“Okay, if you’re not a natural flier—” She looked at the earth ponies and unicorns she’d rounded up. Each Stormguard had a pod-shaped module fixed to a flap over each wing hole; hers were folded out of the way and inactive, but theirs were fitted in place and glowing gently. “—focus on getting ponies away from those things. The rest of you, buck those things out of the sky!” She crouched, then leapt, and the rest followed suit, if not quite as swiftly.

It only took Rainbow Dash a few seconds to reach the nearest of the stars, which on closer inspection was covered in lines of blue energy, giving it a sort of bruised look. Even as she approached, though, it turned its attention to her, lancing out with a ray of darkness—which she dodged almost negligently before spinning in the air and hitting the thing with her back hooves.

Rather than a satisfying crunch, the impact produced only a deep thrum, as a black sphere became briefly visible over the device. It was still thrown away by the impact, but not nearly as far as Rainbow Dash had hoped.

“You’ve got a shield?” she protested, flailing her hooves about. “That is so not fair! Hang on, this thing has a shield too.” She glanced down at the armor, then had to bolt to one side as the dark star fired another beam her way. “Whoa, hey, hold on!” she yelped as it fired again and again, flying after her into the cityscape. “I haven’t turned it on yet!” She weaved through the streets, zipping around buildings and ducking through alleyways, but the star followed her all the way.

Suddenly, as Rainbow Dash turned a corner, she saw a panicked pony standing in the middle of the street and looking around wildly. She easily dodged the pony, then turned back, intending to scoop her up and carry her to safety—only to see the dark star already there, its beam about to fire.

Rainbow Dash threw herself in front of the other pony as the beam lashed out, carving a furrow in the street before fixing on target—

—and splashing over a rainbow-colored shield in front of her. She smirked, eyes narrowing.

“Gotcha,” she said, then reached full speed from a standing start, her shield fading back to translucency as she collided with the star and rammed it into the street. She ground it against the stones until its own shield, raised at the impact, abruptly collapsed, leaving sparks to fly from its surface. After a few seconds, she stopped, looked at the star, then grinned as it failed to do anything.

“Rainbow Dash one, evil space stars zero!” she announced, then launched herself to find another.

As ponies throughout Harmony City began getting things under control, Twilight Sparkle began to relax.

“We’ve got everypony in one of the Emergency Party Shelters!” Pinkie announced. The shelters were, in fact, in case something went wrong with the city’s shield, but Twilight had long since learned to pick her battles with Pinkie Pie.

Spike had shown up and made himself useful by grabbing a console. “I show only three—no, make that two attackers left. Wow, she’s taking ’em down fast,” he said, looking at a map of the city where gold dots struck red ones and caused them to vanish; one dot in particular was moving quite swiftly.

“We’ve had some damage to the power conduits, but nothing we can’t fix in a day or two,” Rarity added, gazing intently at her own diagram of the city, scattered reds and yellows in a sea of green.

Twilight let out a sigh of relief. “All right,” she said. “Pinkie, try to send a message to the big contact. Find out why they’re attacking us and what they—”

Spike interrupted urgently. “Twilight! That big thing just launched more attack thingies!”

“How many?” Twilight asked, eyes widening.

Spike mumbled to himself as he counted the screen. “Another dozen or so. They’re almost here already!”

There was a moment of silence. Then the sound Rainbow Dash had heard when she struck the black star’s shield was heard again, only much louder.

“They’re shooting the shield,” Rarity murmured, adjusting her controls to get an image of the related power levels. “It’s holding for now, but we’ll need to turn part of it off to let Rainbow Dash and the others—”

Then there was an explosion, and part of Rarity’s diagram turned red. The already-white pony blanched.

“… the last attacker inside the shield just … deliberately flew into one of the power conduits. The explosion …” She worked some controls, but more and more of the diagram turned red. “We’re going to lose the shield in less than a minute.”

Twilight turned to Pinkie, expression bleak. “Call them. Ask them what they want. Call them!”

Pinkie turned to her controls. “This is Harmony City calling Big Floaty Space Thingy. What do you want from us? Do you want a party? Because I can totally throw you an awesome party … Hello? Anypony up there? Can you stop shooting at us, at least?”

The thrumming sound continued. If anything it was louder.

“They won’t answer,” Pinkie said, turning to Twilight, looking as helpless as Twilight had ever seen her.

Twilight looked at the diagram on Rarity’s screen, showing the continuing failures in the crystals and symbols that focused the city’s power into its shield, the bar representing the shield’s strength growing shorter and sorter.

Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Spike all looked to her for an answer. There was only one she could think to give.

“Fire …” She paused, choking on the words. “… fire the main beam. Target the largest contact.”

They stared at her in shock.

“Do it!” she barked; they jerked, turning to their consoles.

“Locking on target,” Spike said, touching multiple buttons on his console. A square and two lines appeared on his screen, surrounding the largest vessel and moving toward each other.

“The main beam is charging,” Rarity added, pushing more buttons, the diagram changing to show a bar rapidly filling even as the shield power fell. “Full power in ten seconds.”

Pinkie Pie just looked at her console, saying nothing, as Rarity counted down.

“… seven … six … five …”

The three shapes on Spike’s screen became one, a square with a crosshair inside it. “Target is locked. Standing by to fire.”

“… two … one … main beam charged.”

Twilight hesitated a second more.

“Fire.”

From the outside, Harmony City looked like a giant, flattened bubble of rainbow, its interior only vaguely visible. Small black dots danced around its exterior, lashing out at that bubble with tiny rays, doing nothing to it—but with the sacrifice of one of their number, it was only a matter of time before the bubble vanished and the ponies inside were vulnerable.

Then, somewhat ahead of schedule, the colors of the bubble drew back to the point they’d come from at its very top, forming a huge ball of light. As the ball of light grew, leaving only a faint soap-bubble shield behind, it began to hum, the sound growing louder and higher-pitched by the second—only to abruptly cut off as the ball finished soaking up power.

For a second, all was silence.

Then the ball became a line of light, stabbing into the sky with all the violence of a Sonic Rainboom—but where that bloomed with all the colors of the rainbow, this was a terrible white. It lasted only a few seconds, but when it faded, it seemed the sun had gone with it, daylight only a vague gray by comparison.

High over Equestria, the ship that had launched its attack hovered, a flattened disc similar in shape to Harmony City’s shield, though a solid piece of material rather than the ephemeral shield around a flying city. Its surface was covered in seams that glowed dark blue, as did various orbs and projections and cavities of alien design. It was great and strong and ominous, and already it prepared a third wave of fighters.

Then the beam hit it, and it was consumed from the inside out by light and magic, evaporating into nothingness in less than ten seconds.

Over the streets of Harmony City, the fighters exploded as well, their debris showering down as ponies looked out of their shelters, wondering what was happening. Assuming that the lowered shield and the falling debris meant the battle was over, they began to cheer, venturing out into the streets and celebrating victory.

Rainbow Dash, hovering in the air, slowly removed her sunglasses, gaping at the spot where the main beam had fired. After a moment, she found words to describe what she’d seen.

“So … awesome!”

Only three ponies weren’t celebrating, and all of them were in the control tower.

“Target is … completely destroyed,” Spike said, looking at a now-empty screen. “All of the smaller attackers blew up when it did.”

Rarity added, “The shield is holding, but only just. We won’t be able to power it again until repairs are complete.”

Pinkie Pie said nothing.

Twilight Sparkle gazed up at the ceiling. She couldn’t see what had just happened, but she bore its weight nonetheless.

“What have I done?” she murmured.

To be continued …

The Stars Our Destination, Part II

Previously, on My Little Pony …

As the smoke thinned, Fluttershy gasped, “Goodness!”—for what lay in the center of the crater was nothing she’d seen before.

[ … ]

“It’s a message,” Twilight Sparkle’s enormously magnified eye declared.

[ … ]

Princess Luna said, “It’s a chart of the stars … as seen from outside.”

[ … ]

“That’s where he lives,” Fluttershy said, drawing attention to herself again. She seemed unaware of this. “He’s showing us how to reach him.”

[ … ]

Rainbow Dash had gone from awestruck silence to a full-on sulk. “Well, how’re we supposed to do that if he’s so far away?”

[ … ]

Twilight’s eyes widened in wonder. “It’s a star chariot.”

[ … ]

Twilight Sparkle said, “If I’m reading this part right, it could make the entire trip in less than a year!”

[ … ]

Fireworks went off behind the stage as Twilight Sparkle strode forward to make it official.

“Everypony, Harmony City is ready for takeoff!”

[ … ]

Twilight trailed off, noticing and looking up herself. A half-dozen dark specks had appeared in the sky, rapidly getting larger, more appearing behind them. “What are those?” she murmured to herself.

Then a beam of darkness reached from the largest—the nearest—and punched a hole in the stage right next to her.

Inside the tower, Rainbow Dash fell out of her chair as, simultaneously, the purple dots turned red and a strident alarm began to sound.

[ … ]

It only took Rainbow Dash a few seconds to reach the nearest of the stars, which on closer inspection was covered in lines of blue energy, giving it a sort of bruised look. Even as she approached, though, it turned its attention to her, lancing out with a ray of darkness—

[ … ]

Rarity worked some controls, but more and more of the diagram turned red. “We’re going to lose the shield in less than a minute.”

[ … ]

“Fire …” Twilight paused, choking on the words. “… fire the main beam.”

[ … ]

High over Equestria, the ship that had launched its attack hovered, a flattened disc similar in shape to Harmony City’s shield, though a solid piece of material rather than the ephemeral shield around a flying city. Its surface was covered in seams that glowed dark blue, as did various orbs and projections and cavities of alien design. It was great and strong and ominous, and already it prepared a third wave of fighters.

Then the beam hit it, and it was consumed from the inside out by light and magic, evaporating into nothingness in less than ten seconds.

[ … ]

“Target is … completely destroyed,” Spike said, looking at a now-empty screen.

[ … ]

Twilight Sparkle gazed up at the ceiling. She couldn’t see what had just happened, but she bore its weight nonetheless.

“What have I done?” she murmured.

Darkness.

Silence.

An oppressive stillness in the air.

All three were broken as hooves began to shift the pile of stone and wood that had formed when the building partially collapsed. Light began to filter into the basement as the ponies searching for those who might be trapped under rubble pulled the debris away.

“Hang on in there,” Applejack called, coming into view a second later as she widened the hole, light from behind her throwing her face into shadow and forming a halo around her Stetson. She needed a moment for her eyes to adjust before she could be sure anyone was actually in the basement, but kind words to empty space didn’t hurt anyone. “We’ll have you out quicker than three shakes of a—”

Then she gaped, recoiling from the sight she saw.

“Apple Bloom!”

Nestled among various supplies that had been packed for the journey into space, unharmed save for a bit of dust from the collapse, were three fillies Applejack knew all too well. Sweetie Belle looked relieved to be freed from the basement, while Scootaloo scowled, already anticipating the punishment for getting caught. Apple Bloom, for her part, offered a nervous smile to her sister, who was rapidly transitioning from shock to anger.

“Surprise?” Apple Bloom said.

M Y L I T T L E P O N Y
W O R L D S B E Y O N D

The Stars Our Destination Part II
Written by Fred M. Sloniker

“Apple Bloom, what in the hay are you doing here? Ah thought Ah told you to stay on the farm where you’d be safe!” Applejack was filled with the peculiar mix of anger and fear that came of a loved one having put herself in danger, and she used that passion to help widen the hole even faster. Apple Bloom could see other ponies now, ponies who were helping Applejack clear the building.

“Aw, Applejack—” Apple Bloom began.

Applejack would have none of it. “Don’t you ‘aw, Applejack’ me! Don’t you know what happened here today?” The Cutie Mark Crusaders, who’d been hiding in the basement the whole time, shook their heads, looking confused. “Some sorta star critters came down and started shooting up the place! Ponies’ve been hurt, some of ’em bad! Y’all coulda been killed!”

“But, Applejack, we just wanted—” Sweetie Belle tried as Apple Bloom looked away, shamed.

“‘But’ nothing,” Applejack said, glaring at Sweetie Belle as she continued to push rubble aside. “Ah know for a fact you promised Rarity you’d stay outta trouble, and right now yer in it up to yer neck.”

Scootaloo, resigned to her fate, muttered, “Guess we have to go home now.”

She wasn’t prepared for Applejack’s response, which was to stop shifting debris, gaze sadly at the three fillies, and sink heavily onto one of the few bits of stone that remained, closing her eyes.

“Oh, Apple Bloom,” she sighed. Apple Bloom looked up, confused.

“What’s wrong, Applejack?”

Applejack opened her eyes again, weariness on her face that even the heavy work of searching buildings for survivors hadn’t been able to put there. “We don’t know where the star critters came from. And Twilight’s pretty sure they’re gonna come back. If’n they attack somewhere other than here …”

She fell silent, and Apple Bloom gulped. She didn’t know what the attackers were or what they could do, but she knew Applejack wasn’t the sort to worry about nothing. The image of shadowy figures descending on Sweet Apple Acres entered her thoughts.

“Right now, Harmony City’s the safest place for the three of you,” Applejack said. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle brightened at that, though Apple Bloom remained worried. “So Ah want you to getcher selves down to the big hospital quick as you can, make yerselves useful.”

“You can count on us, miss Applejack!” Scootaloo said, offering a sloppy salute in imitation of her hero, Rainbow Dash.

Applejack just sighed. “That’s what Ah’m afraid of.”

Twilight Sparkle and Rarity were already at the hospital, one of the larger buildings in Harmony City and centrally located. One of its largest rooms was filled with injured ponies, some with minor scrapes and cuts, some with more serious ailments like bandaged wings or legs in casts. Fluttershy was there too, moving from one injured pony to the next with soft words of comfort and a little cart of medical supplies.

Twilight was in a melancholy mood, and even Nurse Redheart’s good news wasn’t helping. “Everypony’s present and accounted for; we’ve got a lot of bumps and bruises, but nothing we can’t fix. We’ll all be fit as a fiddle before you know it!” She offered her sunniest smile, but Twilight was unaffected, and the smile faded after a moment.

“Twilight,” Rarity offered, “you did everything you could to keep these ponies safe. You can’t blame yourself for what happened.”

Twilight rounded on Rarity, shifting from sorrow to anger. “Well, who else am I supposed to blame?” she said. “These ponies were counting on me, and I let them down before we even got off the ground!” She turned away, the brief burst of anger fading. “I should have had somepony watching the sensors. If we’d known they were coming—”

“—we’d have done just what we did,” Rarity said, a touch of fire entering her own voice. “We had no way of knowing they were going to attack us. Besides, as I recall, we did have somepony watching the sensors.” She frowned. “In theory.”

Twilight said nothing.

“If it makes you feel any better,” Rarity offered, “the things that attacked us don’t seem to be alive. They look rather like the star capsule, in fact. We have one of the more intact ones if you’d like to take a look.” That brightened Twilight’s mood, or at least got her to stop sulking. The prospect of knowledge tended to do that.

Rarity’s horn began to glow. “Oh, and we’ve finished these,” she added, levitating a small golden ear clip over to Twilight and setting it in place. “We’ll have everypony in the city wearing one by nightfall. I do wish I had time to accessorize them properly, but I have to get back to the repairs; those crystals won’t align themselves!” She offered another smile to Twilight, and this time Twilight at least attempted to return it.

“Thanks, Rarity,” she said. “I appreciate it.” She paused, then looked distant. “Call Pinkie Pie.”

The ear clip let out a short series of low buzzes. Rarity shrugged. “I haven’t been able to find her to give her one,” she explained.

Twilight’s eyebrows went up. “That’s strange. I wonder where she could be?”

Like Ponyville, Harmony City had a market square, and like Ponyville, that square had a confection-shaped building. There were differences—instead of Sugarcube Corner’s gingerbread house motif, Pinkie’s Pies looked more like a chocolate layer cake with white icing and strawberries on top—but both served as a place where ponies could spend their bits on all manner of sugary sweets.

Another similarity between the two was the upper floor, living space above the store front. Pinkie Pie’s room was here, along with the room of the pony who was currently handling customers downstairs, and it looked much like her room in Sugarcube Corner, even if the fine details had been completely rearranged.

At the moment, the room was almost completely dark.

Tall, thin candles flickered, casting small pools of light in a ring around the center of the room, leaving its inhabitant cast in shadow. Said inhabitant had, with her typical unnatural flexibility, folded herself into the lotus position, hind legs folded into a pretzel shape, forehooves resting on her knees. Her eyes were closed, her expression solemn.

She was also upside down, standing on her head, for reasons known only to her.

Somewhere, a bamboo flute played.

“I must not gloom,” Pinkie Pie pronounced.

“Gloom is the fun-killer.

“Gloom is the little-sad that brings total un-party-cation.

“I will face my gloom.

“I will permit it to pass over me and through me.

“And when it has gone past I will turn the inner smile to it and laugh.

“Where the gloom has gone there will be nothing.

“Only I will remain.”

Seconds passed in silence. Then, in the darkness, two eyes opened.

“I’m ready,” she said, a fierce smile forming on her face.

Night had fallen over Equestria long ago, but Twilight Sparkle was still hard at work in her own personal research facility-cum-house on one of Harmony City’s larger avenues. It, too, bore some resemblance to her home in Ponyville, but where the library was an open, airy structure full of books on every topic under the sun, the circular, squat, sturdy design of this building called to mind the world’s largest mushroom.

At the moment, she was standing next to one of several tables in the basement—furnished with all the latest magical analysis equipment by royal decree—and poring over the interior of one of the dark objects that had attacked the city. Its interior was remarkably, and disturbingly, similar to the star capsule that had started their journey, mostly hollow with engraved lines and sigils connecting to a central crystal (though this one was cracked and dark). There were differences—this capsule had leaner, more predatory lines, and a detached portion of its shell had another crystal set in it, the emitter for its beam weapon—but the likelihood that the two were at the very least related in origin had put a frown on her face.

Intent as she was on studying and documenting the interior of the object, she wasn’t paying much attention to her surroundings. This changed when a foreign object was abruptly dumped into the hollow cavity.

“What’s this?” Rainbow Dash demanded, eyes narrowed, pointing at the object in question, a golden chestplate with a gem set in its center.

Startled, Twilight looked up from her work, then back down, looking confused. “It’s part of one of the Personal Protection Modules.”

“Stormguards,” Rainbow Dash said. Twilight rolled her eyes.

“Stormguards,” she echoed. “It’s the manipulator beam. It’s a variation of the original design’s beam, actually; it can move objects around, make delicate repairs, that sort of thing. It amplifies a unicorn’s powers and gives ponies who aren’t unicorns a way to fix problems with Harmony City without having to touch dangerous conduits. Don’t you know all this already?” She looked to Rainbow Dash, who’d taken a keen interest in the project since its inception.

Rainbow Dash ignored the question, adopting a casual air. “Yeah, that all sounds pretty cool. Patching up broken stuff, moving heavy things around … pret-ty cool. Real useful.” She paused. “You know what would make it even more useful?”

Twilight blinked. “What?”

She wasn’t expecting Rainbow Dash to slam a hoof onto her workbench, suddenly leaning right into her face and glaring at her.

“If it could actually shoot something!” Rainbow Dash yelled. “I’ve got three ponies hurt because they tried to take those things on without having my moves. One of them’s in traction! The Stormguards are supposed to be able to protect us from anything, and that includes crazy space stars!”

Twilight had recoiled at first, but she rallied in the face of Rainbow Dash’s anger, putting her hoof on the workbench and forcing Dash’s head back with her own. “The Personal Protection Module is meant to protect. Not to shoot holes in whatever you feel like shooting!”

“The Stormguards,” Rainbow Dash insisted, pushing Twilight back in turn, “would be a lot better at protecting if they could do more than sit there and take it when space creeps show up!”

“If you weren’t careful, somepony could get seriously hurt!”

“Somepony did get seriously hurt!”

“It’s too dangerous to use the beam against other ponies!”

“These things are just machines, Twilight!”

“Well, I didn’t know that!”

Silence. Rainbow Dash stared at Twilight, who’d banged her hoof on the table with those last words; her eyes were fierce, but she didn’t seem to actually be looking at Dash.

“I didn’t know that,” Twilight echoed, the anger ebbing from her face, replaced with despair. “I still don’t. Maybe these are machines, but that thing … for all I know, there were ponies in it, controlling them. Ponies like us.”

Rainbow Dash looked at her friend for a long moment, then reached out with a hoof, turning Twilight’s chin up and meeting her gaze. “You gave them a chance to talk things over, and they turned it down. You did what you had to do to save all of us. You don’t have to like it, but don’t you dare think we weren’t worth it.”

Twilight looked into Rainbow Dash’s eyes for a moment, then looked away. Dash removed her hoof, edging backward as she did.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you,” she said. “This hasn’t been easy for anypony. I forgot that.”

Twilight didn’t answer, and Rainbow Dash, sighing faintly, headed toward the stairs.

“I’ll send Rarity the plans,” Twilight said; Rainbow Dash paused. “It shouldn’t take long to put beams on the Stormguards.”

Rainbow Dash nodded slightly, then left Twilight to look at the partially disassembled weapon in front of her and the piece of Stormguard armor inside its open cavity.

After a moment, she pulled the armor out of the cavity with her magic … then flung it across the room.

The meeting took place in Harmony City’s control tower, the six gathered around the star capsule at its center. Twilight Sparkle was the first to speak.

“I’ve finished analyzing the things that attacked us.” She used her magic to activate the capsule, projecting a three-dimensional image of one of the attack craft in the center of the room. “They’re simple attackers, with only the bare necessities to fill that role: basic sensors, the ability to fly, a shield, and a powerful beam. They can track targets on their own, but they’re remotely controlled for anything more complicated. If they lose their connection with the controller, they’re designed to destroy themselves; fortunately, we were able to disable some before the launching craft was destroyed.” If she still bore regret over that decision, she hid it well.

“We really must think of some names for these things,” Rarity commented. “I’m tired of calling them ‘things’ and ‘craft’ and ‘stars’.”

Fluttershy suggested, “Maybe we could call the little ones ‘Bees’? They’re kind of like bees.”

“More like hornets if you ask me,” Applejack replied. “Ain’t nothing friendly or cheerful about the lot of ’em.”

“Works for me,” Rainbow Dash said. “And the big ship can be the ‘Hive’.”

Twilight nodded. “I’ll let everypony know when we’re done here. Unfortunately, we know very little about the ‘Hive’. Who they were, why they came here …”

“How come they look just like that,” Spike, who was monitoring the consoles during the meeting, added, gesturing at the star capsule. Twilight nodded again.

“The one thing we do know is where they came from. The tower recorded the direction they came from to get here, and I’ve traced it back to a nearby star.”

Rainbow Dash perked up at that. “Well, what’re we waiting for? Let’s go over there and get some answers!”

“Hold yer horses, Rainbow,” Applejack said. “Ah ain’t going nowhere unless Ah can be sure those star critters aren’t gonna sneak around behind us and start tearing up the joint!”

Rarity added, “Besides, we’re still not finished with repairs. Most of the work is complete, but we need at least another day to be sure we can even power the shield properly, much less finish repairing all the buildings that were damaged in the attack.”

Twilight nodded. “Much as I want to know why this happened, the safety of Equestria has to be our top priority. It’s too big a risk for us to leave right now.”

“Well, when will it not be too big a risk?” Rainbow Dash retorted. “You know they didn’t pop out of nowhere. What happens when whoever sent them notices they’re not back yet?”

Twilight groaned softly, massaging her face with a hoof as she tried to think. “Can we focus on finishing the repairs to Harmony City right now?” She paused, then looked over at Pinkie Pie. “You’ve been awfully quiet.”

“Yup!”

Twilight raised an eyebrow at Pinkie’s cheery, yet minimal response. “Is there anything you’d care to share?”

“Nope!”

Rainbow Dash tilted her head, peering at Pinkie. “Well, how come?”

“It’s a surprise!”

“Of course it is,” Twilight muttered, rubbing her face some more. “Okay. If there’s nothing else, I think we should get back to work on the repairs.”

Applejack looked up. “Ah’ve got one more thing. Ah caught Apple Bloom and her little friends hiding in one of the storage sheds after the attack.” Rarity nodded; she’d already given Sweetie Belle an earful on the topic. “Ah was gonna send them packing, but Ah got to thinking. If those things come back, and we’re still sitting here like a lump on a log... well, ain’t no place but here gonna be safe. We gotta do something to protect Ponyville while we still have the chance.”

Rainbow Dash turned to Applejack. “I thought you didn’t wanna go chasing after those things!”

“Ah’m not talking about leaving Equestria,” Applejack replied. “Ah just think it’d be a good idea to get a little bit closer to where those things’re gonna pop out again.”

Twilight considered this. “Rarity, will the shield hold if we go into space proper?” Rarity looked thoughtful.

“We won’t be able to power it,” she said, “but it should hold air in, even if we’re attacked again.”

After a moment’s silence, Twilight spoke again. “All right. Call all ponies.” Her ear clip offered a two-tone confirmation chirp, and a tiny light lit up on the ear clips of everyone else in the room, accompanied by soft warning beeps. “This is Twilight Sparkle,” she continued, now addressing the entirety of the city. “We’re going to be taking Harmony City into space. If you notice any problems, contact Pinkie Pie immediately. Thank you.” After a few seconds of silence, the lights went out.

“All right,” Rainbow Dash grinned, flying to one of the chairs on the walls; the other ponies, save for Twilight, moved to chairs of their own, taking their positions. “It’s about time this big bird flew.”

All over Harmony City, ponies who’d been busy clearing the streets, repairing houses, shopping in the marketplace, or just relaxing in the park looked around them, anxiously awaiting what was about to happen. They didn’t have to wait long.

A specific sigil, repeated over and over again across Harmony City, began to glow, gently at first, then more and more brightly, then beginning to pulse like a heartbeat. As it did, the city began to rise … inch by inch, foot by foot, yard by yard, rising away from the spiral ramps left over from its construction.

The ponies of Ponyville went about their daily routine, unaware of what was happening until one of them, a pale yellow pegasus with a silvery mane, pointed and cried, “Look!” Heads turned at her cry, first a few, then a dozen, then hundreds, as the murmuring began.

Harmony City was rising ever faster, its motion ever more obvious. The shadow it cast slid up the nearby mountain, passing over Canterlot. Ponies paused in the street, looked up, and began to marvel.

In the royal chambers, a shadow passed over the sun. The guards were too well-trained to react, but Princess Celestia looked up, and a tiny smile snuck onto her face.

Higher and higher the city flew, faster and faster. The city was beginning to vibrate now, and ponies stumbled, bracing themselves against the vibration. Dishes rattled in their cabinets, but nothing fell, save a few bits of rubble that hadn’t quite detached from their structures.

Then the ponies of Harmony City saw something no pony had ever seen before.

The stars came out during the day.

The sky faded, its blue draining away, replaced by the black of night. As it faded, so too did the vibration, and ponies who’d left their homes out of fear now gazed up in wonder as the sun held court over thousands of stars—stars that, if Princess Luna was right, were suns just like their own, so distant that only the star city would ever get them there.

Then the sky turned … the sun sliding slowly and gracefully out of sight, replaced in their view by Equestria, rising above them like a jewel, green and blue and tan and white all swirled together, hanging high in the sky like the moon, big as a dozen moons and yet so very small.

One pony, a pearl-colored unicorn with a golden mane, summed it up for everyone with a single word.

“Whoa.”

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna stood in front of a remote communicator, a device resembling a vanity mirror with gold trim and silver tracings, that had been set up in Luna’s private chambers. In the mirror, they could see the interior of Harmony City’s control tower, with Twilight Sparkle front and center and the rest of the Element-bearers arranged behind her.

“Is everything all right, my little ponies?” Celestia asked, head tilted ever so slightly. Twilight smiled.

“We’re just fine, Princess Celestia. Everypony’s a little shaken up, but the shield is holding. It’s a wonderful view up here. I wish you could be here to see it.”

Princess Celestia inclined her head graciously. Princess Luna, on the other hand, grinned giddily. “You must take as many photographs and measurements as possible. Your princess commands it!” The tone of her voice suggested she was joking, but nonetheless Twilight nodded eagerly.

“Equestria looks amazing from this high up,” she said. “It’s just … we can see everything. All of it, all at once. I …” She groped for words. “I never knew. We’ve saved Equestria, but I never thought about just what that meant. I don’t think I could have understood it before. I’m not sure I understand it now.”

Princess Celestia nodded slightly. “All of you have taken your first step where no pony has been before. I commend you for your bravery, and I look forward to the lessons of friendship you will—”

An alarm went off in the control tower, and Celestia fell silent.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Spike called from somewhere out of view, “but if I’m reading this right, something’s headed this way, and it’s gonna be here any second!”

The ponies immediately dove for their controls, talking over each other as they hurried to make the city ready. Only Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle stood their ground, and Rainbow Dash only for a moment.

“Twilight—!”

Twilight nodded, knowing Rainbow Dash needed to be in the air. “Go,” she said, and Dash was gone.

“This is Pinkie Pie to everypony. We’ve got big meanies coming in fast. Get to your posts or to an Emergency Party Shelter. This is not a drill! This is a drill …”

Rarity tried to ignore the sound effects Pinkie began to provide. “Power conduits are stable, but we haven’t finished repairs to the shield. All other systems are ready.”

“Only work left on my end’s prettying up,” Applejack said. “Work crews’re getting ready.”

“I’m ready to move the city when you need me to,” Fluttershy murmured, scared but refusing to let the fear master her.

Twilight turned her attention to Spike. “What can you tell me about what’s coming?”

Spike studied his screen, reading the symbols next to the purple shape near the gold dot of Harmony City. “It’s maybe … three times the size of the last one. Five seconds to arrival.”

Twilight took a deep breath, closing her eyes, her body going tense. “This is it!”

The space near Harmony City was much the same as space anywhere: empty and dark.

Then, suddenly, it wasn’t.

A single strand of material shot out of infinity and fixed one end in the black sky. Like water being poured into an invisible bowl,the material continued to flow incredibly quickly, filling in the shape of a great, threatening-looking starship, larger than the one that had appeared before, glossy black and glowing blue. The flow of material was so fast that any detail of the ship appeared as an infinitely long stripe of color before pouring into place, and yet the process was taking real time, seconds passing as the ship slowed from impossible speed to a dead stop.

A few seconds into the process, two more lines lashed out, beginning to form into ships identical in design to the previous attacker. Being smaller than the lead ship, their arrival finished sooner as well, the last line of material from the back of the ship snapping instantly into place. A few seconds after that, the lead ship’s materialization was complete.

Almost immediately, the ‘Hive’ ships launched a dozen ‘Hornets’ each … but they did not attack. Not yet.

“Princess,” Twilight said, “I’m gonna have to call you back—”

The display that showed Princess Luna’s private chamber went black, save for a white, lidless, almond-shaped eye.

“We are the Nirasha Empire.” A deep, male voice filled the control tower. “Surrender or die.”

Twilight Sparkle turned to Pinkie Pie. “Can I talk to them?” Pinkie turned to her controls and pushed a few buttons, looked at the resulting display, then nodded to Twilight. “My name is Twilight Sparkle,” she said, feeling the weight of responsibility on her shoulders once again. “We mean you no harm. Why did you attack us?”

The faceless voice replied immediately. “You have the ability to travel among the stars. You have attacked ships of the Nirasha Empire. Both are sins against our rule.”

“Your ‘ships’ attacked us first!” Twilight protested. “If we hadn’t defended ourselves—”

“This does not matter,” the voice replied. “Space belongs to the Nirasha Empire. Surrender or die.”

Spike turned from his console, gesturing urgently at Twilight. “The ‘Hornets’ are headed this way, and I think the other ships are getting ready to fight too!” The dots on his display were already red, the tower’s systems learning from experience.

Twilight turned to Pinkie. “Get rid of that,” she said, gesturing at the display of the lidless eye; Pinkie pushed a few buttons, and the display went blank. “Call Rainbow Dash.” Her earpiece chirped. “Dash, the Hornets are coming after us. Keep them away from the city.”

“Got it,” Dash’s voice replied in her ear.

On his display, Spike could see the dots representing Rainbow Dash and the other pegasi trained in the use of the Stormguards rising into the air over Harmony City. “It’s no good, Twilight,” he said. “They’re too fast!”

“They’re inside the shield,” Rarity added, seeing the brief disruptions in power flow on her display.

“Rainbow Dash and the others are attacking the—” Spike began.

Rarity, however, wasn’t quite finished. “What in Celestia’s name?” All eyes moved to look at Rarity, but she peered instead at her diagram of power flow through the city … a diagram that was suddenly lighting up with pink dots everywhere. “Where is all this power going?”

Pinkie Pie was the next to speak, a single word that dragged attention back to her.

“Surpriiiiise!”

As the star-shaped Hornets punched through Harmony City’s shields, they left only the faintest ripples in their wake, the shield sealing itself behind them, keeping the city’s precious atmosphere intact. Not that this mattered to them. Already they were selecting targets based on maximum threat, preparing to engage the incoming Stormguard armor, flying into attack runs.

They weren’t expecting every rooftop in the city to erupt in the most colorful point defense ever.

Fireworks and streamers and puffs of confetti went off, blinding and disorienting the Hornets. A few of them, the fastest and foremost of the attackers, found themselves slamming into streets or buildings. Those that had been more cautious in their approach still found themselves briefly confounded, tangled in streamers or blinded by sprays of punch. By the time they recovered, the Stormguards were among them, and the battle began in earnest.

Rainbow Dash grinned as she swept past one of the Hornets, her wake, combined with the effects of Pinkie’s distractions, leaving it to wobble as it tried to swing around. “Shoulda known you’d find a way to prank these suckers,” she said, coming around in a tight turn—only to have to jink as the Hornet fired its beam blindly in her direction, burning the streamers away. “Looks like it’s up to me to finish the job!”

She flew past the Hornet again, but this time she turned as sharply as she was able, spinning around it again and again. It tried to hit her with its beam several times, but each time she simply wasn’t where it had expected her to be, and after a few seconds, she’d wrapped it in a miniature tornado, leaving it to spin helplessly, unable to aim its beam.

Flying a short distance away, Rainbow Dash turned to face the Hornet, concentrating on the band around her brow. As she did, the Stormguard responded, her shield flickering into view, then draining of color as the rainbow light flowed to a point just in front of her chest. It took just a second to gather a ball of light like that which had vaporized the first Hive, then fire a beam of its own—but where Harmony City’s beam had been pure, blinding white, hers was all the colors of the rainbow.

The beam struck true; the Hornet’s shields held up for a second, but then they fell, and the beam punched through it, causing it to explode, debris scattered by the miniature tornado.

“Yes!” Rainbow Dash cried, pumping a hoof. Then she squawked as another dark beam nearly hit her, forcing her to sidestep in mid-air. Scowling at the Hornet that had so rudely interrupted her moment of triumph, she launched herself into the fray again.

All across Harmony City, brave ponies clashed with the Hornets, beams of darkness splashing over shields of rainbow, beams of light cutting into dark cores. Not all of the Stormguards were being worn by pegasi, and though the earth ponies and unicorns kept to the ground, letting those more comfortable in the air guard it, they still used their armor to effect. Earth ponies used their shields to block the attacks of the Hornets that decided to attack Harmony City directly, then lashed out with beams of their own; unicorns used the armor’s power to magnify their magical might, throwing rubble created either in this fight or the last one at the Hornets or simply grabbing them and slamming them into the nearest hard surface.

Spike’s tactical display confirmed it: bit by bit, the Hornets were being taken out. Which was why Twilight was looking increasingly nervous.

When a new light appeared on his display, she almost felt relieved.

“The main ship is … I think it’s powering its main beam!” he cried.

Twilight spun to face Rarity. “Rarity, we need to power the shield now!”

Rarity gaped at her. “We haven’t finished the repairs! If something goes wrong, the shield could fail completely!”

“That won’t matter if they hit us with that shot!” Twilight retorted; Rarity hesitated, nodded, then turned back to her controls, pushing buttons rapidly.

Spike watched his own display, the meter going up and up and up—until it stopped rising, and a warning light blinked. “They’re firing!”

Twilight closed her eyes and braced herself for death.

A lance of darkness that was somehow visible even in the blackness of space reached out from the lead ship, striking the shield around Harmony City—

—and stopping as the shield suddenly flared into full, rainbow-swirled life. It pressed against the shield for a few seconds, causing the air in the city to thrum, then faded, spent without effect.

“The shield is holding!” Rarity announced, radiant in her triumph. The others in the control room cheered.

Spike had more good news. “We’ve taken out the last of the Hornets inside the shield! The Hives are launching more, but they aren’t coming at us yet.”

“Call Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said. “Dash, I need you and the others to stand by. Pinkie, let’s try talking to them again. Maybe they’ll listen now that they know we can defend ourselves.”

“They’re powering the main beam again,” Spike warned.

Twilight looked to Rarity. “Will the shield hold against another blast?”

“I don’t see why not, as long as Pinkie Pie hasn’t made any more unauthorized alterations,” Rarity replied haughtily.

Spike frowned, looking at the display. “Something’s different this time. I don’t …” He trailed off, tapped a few of his controls … then went pale. “Twilight!”

Twilight turned to look at Spike, her eyes going wide at his next words.

“They’re not shooting at us!”

A ray of darkness reached down from the sky, washing the world in gray and aimed unerringly at a single point: the city of Canterlot.

Fortunately for all concerned, it didn’t make it all the way.

Just as it was about to strike the royal palace, a magical bubble flared into view, holding the darkness back. The dark beam hissed and sizzled, biting at the bubble, spilling off around it, causing the very foundations of Canterlot to tremble from the force being exerted. All across the city, ponies looked into the sky and panicked, running into homes and businesses as if that would help them if the bubble failed.

In Luna’s private chambers, the source of the bubble became apparent. Luna and Celestia stood stock still, their horns flaring with powerful magic, their bodies rigid with the strain. They were powerful beings, and they were fighting to defend not only themselves but their people, but they were not the Elements of Harmony, and the effort was telling.

At last, the dark beam faded … just as Princess Luna collapsed, spent from the effort of holding the bubble in place. Princess Celestia didn’t look much better.

“Get us between them and Equestria!” Twilight yelled, horrified at what she’d just seen. Fluttershy hurried to comply, jabbing at her controls. “Rarity, can we power the main beam?”

Rarity looked worriedly at her display. “Yes, but we can’t maintain the shield and charge the main beam. If they shoot at us while we’re charging up—”

“They’re getting ready to fire again!” Spike called.

“I … I can’t get under them!” Fluttershy gasped, staring at her display with eyes wide as saucers. “They’re faster than we are!”

“Can we shoot them down?” Twilight demanded. It was a measure of the urgency of the situation that she didn’t even hesitate to ask.

“Not before they fire,” Spike said grimly.

Twilight stared at a vision of Equestria burning and said nothing.

Pinkie Pie suddenly spoke up. “They’re talking again.” Twilight turned to Pinkie, looking like she didn’t understand the words, but Pinkie reacted anyway, touching a few buttons and causing a screen to light up with the lidless eye once more.

“This is your final warning,” the voice said. “Surrender or die.”

Twilight Sparkle found herself unable to speak.

Then another screen lit up.

“On behalf of all the people of Equestria,” a startlingly weary Princess Celestia said, “we surrender.”

Silence hung heavily inside the control tower.

“Your planet is now under the protection of the Nirasha Empire,” the voice replied. “You will lower all planetary defenses and prepare for occupation by our forces. We will control all military, government, and religious facilities. Any acts of resistance will be met with retribution. Your starship will—”

The voice continued, but the ponies in the control room were distracted by a belch of green flame that curled into a scroll, dropping into Spike’s startled hands. Before he could say anything, Twilight snatched the scroll away with her magic, unrolled it, and began to read.

“‘To my beloved Twilight Sparkle:

“‘I have done and will do what I must to save Equestria. Now you must do the same.

“‘Take Harmony City and run. Run, and do not stop no matter how they threaten us. If they believe that they cannot control you with threats, it is my hope that they will not carry them out.

“‘There must be more out there than darkness. People who will stand with you against the Empire. Answers to the questions that we ask now more urgently than ever. Find them.

“‘I hope that one day you can return, but I would rather you spend the rest of your life among the stars than return to Equestria only to die. Do as I say, no matter how it hurts you.

“‘You will always be in my heart.

“‘Princess Celestia.’”

Twilight looked at the scroll a moment more, then let it drop onto the floor. The others in the control room watched her, waiting for the word.

“Fluttershy.”

“Yes, Twilight?”

“Activate the linear drive. Set a course for …” She turned to the star capsule, concentrated, and made the map of the galaxy’s spiral arm appear. Three stars were marked now, the third being the direction the Nirasha Empire had attacked from.

Twilight highlighted a fourth star with her magic. “… here. Do it now.” Suddenly, she sounded very tired.

Fluttershy nodded silently, turning to her controls.

Harmony City hung in space, its shield swirling around it like oil on water, lazy waves of rainbow hiding the city within. Above it in one direction, two Hives sat with Hornets at the ready; below it in the other, the lead ship held its fire, a ball of dark energy swirling beneath it.

The city’s shield suddenly faded, becoming invisible in the darkness of space. Then a tiny bit of Harmony City leapt into infinity, stretching into a spaghetti noodle of color.

The lead ship sensed this immediately, beginning to turn to aim the main beam its way, but the star city was being consumed by the power of the linear drive, thin slice after thin slice being stretched to seemingly infinite length and hurled out of sight faster than the ship could complete its turn. By the time it reached out with its lance of darkness, the last bit of Harmony City was already stretching away.

Far away from Equestria, an infinite line came to a sudden halt, the rest of Harmony City fetching up behind it in short order.

The ride hadn’t been a pleasant one; the ponies in the control tower found themselves distracted from anxiety by nausea, and Pinkie Pie, in particular, looked ready to puke. Only Twilight Sparkle, who had some experience with teleportation magic, looked anything like normal, and she was too busy staring at the map in the center of the room to pay much mind to anyone else.

“The linear drive is … ooh … shutting down,” Fluttershy reported. “We made it to our destination.”

“Uh, I don’t see anything on my screen,” Spike added, looking at his tactical display.

Rarity said, “Power flows are stable. I’ll need a moment to be sure we didn’t break anything, though.”

“Less’n ya need me,” Applejack said, looking a touch frustrated by how little she’d been able to contribute to the fight, “I’m gonna go help the repair teams out.”

Twilight said nothing.

Rainbow Dash burst into the control tower just as Applejack was about to leave it; if she was affected by the nausea at all, she didn’t show it.

“Guys, you have to see this!” She flung both forelegs to point out the door behind her. Curious, the ponies left their stations and began heading toward the door—all but Twilight, who was still staring at the map.

Rainbow Dash wouldn’t have any of that; she flew over to Twilight’s other side and began pushing her bodily out of the tower. “C’mon, seriously, you gotta see this!” she said, with even more intensity than she usually displayed. Twilight, for her part, said and did nothing, even as Rainbow Dash pushed her completely out of the tower, even as Rainbow Dash physically turned her in place.

It was only when Rainbow Dash forced her to look up that she understood.

It was a planet like none of them had ever seen: a huge ball of gas, dark except for a fat crescent of light along one edge, the curve of a ring hanging in space beside it. Though it was visible largely by the way it hid the stars behind it, it was not dark the way the Empire’s ships had been, but a great and solemn thing, something no pony had ever seen before.

Far in the distance, off to one side, a blue-white star shone.

Twilight Sparkle continued to say nothing, but her body began to relax, a tiny smile forming, as the others cheered and made awestruck comments and just stood there looking. In her mind, she heard the letter that, some day soon, she hoped to be able to write.

Dear Princess Celestia:

It’s easy to hope when your life is going well, but it’s when everything has gone wrong that hope is most important. I don’t know if we’ll be able to find somepony out there that can help us, or if we’ll even be able to survive with ponies like the Empire out here. But with my friends by my side, I’m going to do my best. I’m holding on to the hope that, someday soon, we’ll be able to save Equestria once more.

Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle