Extermination

Based off of War Of the Worlds, a classic best seller written by H.G. Wells

Beyond The Stars

An elder and fragile Twilight Sparkle sat quietly at the diner table patiently awaiting for the waitress to arrive with her sandwich and morning coffee.  The diner was quiet as usual, with few ponies inside reading newspapers, eating, and drinking.  Usually, Ponyville would be thriving, full of culture and life.  Sadly, ever since the events that had happened so long ago, much of Ponyville, or Equestria for that matter lie in ruins.

Twilight expected her usual day.  Go out and have breakfast by herself, go back to the library, and work the rest of the day until dinner.  Every day has been like this for quite a while now...day after day of the same routine, eating, working, and sleeping.  It was as if someone continuously played the same episode of a TV show on a VHS player, rewinding it every time it finished.

As her waitress came to her with her order, an unfamiliar young couple walked into the diner.  A orange furred stallion with a yellow mane, and a green furred mare with a light pink mane.  It was easy to know who was new, due to Equestria still rebuilding, and repopulating after what had happened.  They scanned the diner from one side to the other, and stopped to gaze at Twilight, who calmly ate her breakfast.  The couple walked over, grabbing two chairs as they approached her.  Twilight stopped eating, and looked at the two as they sat themselves across the table from her.

"Are you Twilight Sparkle?"The mare asked politely.

"Maybe...what have you come to throw me into a retirement home like some doll?"Twilight replied in immediate irritation, remembering the young ponies that have come to her countless times trying to persuade her to come into retirement.

"No-no-no nothing like that Miss Twilight."The Stallion now spoke.  "My wife and I have travelled a long distance to find you."

"Find me?  Not sure what you'd want from an old mare like myself."Twilight replied, taking another bite into her sandwich.

"Well, I thought you'd like to know, my name is Applejack...I was named after a relative, who was apparently very close friends with you."The stallion spoke.  Twilight immediately stopped, and looked at the stallion.  His appearance immediately brought the image of her old friend into mind.

"Applejack...oh how long it's been since I've seen her."Twilight felt a tear roll down her cheek as she thought about the old mare on her deathbed in the hospital.  For such a strong mare, she didn't last very long once she became ill.

"Listen Twilight...we've come in pure curiosity.  We want to hear what happened."The mare spoke.

"...Hear about what?"Twilight asked.

"We want to know your stories, from when you a young mare.  You know, when the outsiders came."

"...You both travelled this far just to hear from me personally...about them?"Twilight asked in disbelief.

"Yes.  We want to know what it was like...to learn about the invasion."

Twilight sat quietly, thinking of a place to start.  All those years ago, a young mare, fighting to survive.

"You want to hear my stories...well get comfortable, and let me start from the beginning, as always."Twilight sat back in her seat, putting her hooves together.

Approximately 53 years earlier

At the time, nopony in Equestria would even begin to think about life on a planet other than our own.  They always looked up and admired only the light the millions of stars gave off.  Not much were known about the stars either.  We used to think they were there because of Celestia herself, but Starswirl proved that wrong some time ago...but still, we can only gaze upon them, like I am now.

I stared, wondering about the amount vast life that lied beyond the planet that I lived on.  It's recently come to my mind that in all the things I've studied, biology, chemistry, physics, ecology, geology, you know it.  Of all the thing's that I've read in a book, I've never looked into astronomy.  The study of the stars and the universe around it.

With my new, and sudden passion, I looked through my recently bought telescope, which allowed me to see the celestial bodies in higher definition.  I scanned the sky for a target, and soon found a planet.  Manes (Mars) was it's name, named after an ancient Equestrian leader, who died in a ferocious war.

No other planet was like Manes.  It's color is what separates it from the rest of the planets.  The planet appears red to the naked eye when you look at it from the ground, but look through a telescope and it appears more dull and brown with a red tint to it.  It's also our neighboring planet, and the last planet before you cross the asteroid belt.  Beyond the massive field of floating rocks, are the gas planets.

Just thinking about the fact that I was one small specimen, on one small planet, in one small system, in a decent sized galaxy, in the entire universe filled with bigger and smaller galaxies was mind boggling...and yet some ponies think that we're the only ones out here.  What ever is in Equestria, is the only living thing in the universe.

In my mind I know there's no possibility that Earth is the only planet with life on it.  Not in a universe this big.  There has to be more race's with minds equally, or even greater intelligence than our own.

As a stared at the neighboring planet, I suddenly witnessed an odd event...a sudden flash blinded my eye, forcing me to back away from the telescope.  I looked up toward the sky, and there it was, completely visible with the naked eye.  A green star, flickering as it sat still in the sky

I quickly went inside, and grabbed a notebook and quill.  As I returned back outside, another flash illuminated the sky.  A second green star was now appearing from Mars.  As I stared, I wrote down what I was witnessing before my very eyes...I was frightened and chilled by this unnatural sight, but somehow, I was enlightened and drawn towards its light.

I couldn't believe what I just witnessed...in my mind I'm believing I just watch not one, but two stars form from barely anything in the matter of seconds.  In my heart however, I knew it wasn't that simple.  The only star we've really known about is our own, and it's believed to be hundreds, maybe even thousands of years old.  An object that old couldn't just form in seconds...so I assume.

Still, I watch, and wonder...And that's how it was for the next two weeks.  Two green stars growing farther apart every night, growing slightly larger, and much brighter than before.  By this time I knew the two green lights weren't stars...they weren't planets either.  They were moving intensely fast through space, and whatever they were, they were coming for Earth.