Home Run

by Trilby Quillstroker

Rating: teen
Tags: Romance, Comedy, Adventure
Length: 5867

Gibson is a young colt experiencing the pains of puberty and the truth about growing up. But unlike others at his age, he has the additional stress of being part of an intergalactic war.

Things have always been fairly quiet on the outskirts of Manehatten. The most a pony might have to deal with is stale bread and disgruntled neighbors. But for Gibson, things have never been simple. Every grade-schooler goes through puberty, sure, but not everypony has it as bad as he does.

Follow Gibson as he stumbles through the lies and deception to discover the truth about the falling meteors that are striking the planet. Watch as he fights against the machines that are keeping the stars hidden away behind a thick cloud of smoke. Discover why he, of all ponies, has been singled out to battle against beings from beyond the stars. Most of all, experience the pains of puberty all over again as he struggles to choose between the most important mares in his life and learns what it truly means to be an adult.

It's time to step up to the plate.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-12-19 06:20:03 UTC

Pitchout

“Firm grip, steady balance… raise the back hoof. Act like you’re… NH… hitting through the ball.”

The bat swung underneath its target, the ball landing deftly on the grass. With a defeated sigh, he returned to all fours. A gray hoof, belonging to a young pony in his middle-school years, reached down to retrieve it before throwing it back up into the air. It climbed up and up before kissing the underside of the concrete bridge that hung overhead.

The shaded path under the bridge provided ample protection from the heat, and felt somewhat damp given the summer weather. It also provided a great deal of privacy. Mostly due to the fact that nopony seemed especially interested in it aside from the two ponies already there. And there was no worries of meeting strange ponies this far away from the main city. The outlying areas of Manehatten proved to be relatively quiet when compared to the excitement downtown.

“Eyes on the prize… balance… bal- NH!”

The ball landed in the same spot, another sigh escaping the colt’s gritted teeth.

“How long are you gonna keep that up, hunh?” came the voice of his only audience.

A mare nestled comfortably in her late teens was laid out on her stomach, her horn manipulating a set of pen and paper as she filled out math problems with half-hearted effort. Her interest, or lack thereof, seemed to be split between the batter’s failed efforts and her unforgiving algebra homework. Her rose-colored coat made her stand out in the grass like a rose among a garden of weeds.

“… How long are you going to keep hanging around here?” He replied venomously.

A carriage passed overhead, the clacking of hooves filtering through the stone and into the grassy slope they occupied. Their silence allowed the sound to remain with them for several long seconds before fading away. Without another word, the grey pony picked up the ball and threw it up into the air once more.

“I dunno,” the unicorn looked up towards him as he swung late, grazing the top of the ball. “Maybe I’ll always be here. Maybe I’ll build a house.”

“… You’re so weird,” he grunted, picking the ball up.

“Don’t be so shy, Gibby,” she teased, dragging out the last syllable for far too long.

“I told you to stop calling me that. It makes me sound like a kid.” Another swing, another miss. His hoof tightened around the handle so hard that it started to leave red marks. “Besides… you should be with your friends, or at home. Why do you even waste your time here?” he muttered, his brown and beige bangs hanging down to cast shadows over his eyes. He didn’t bother to retrieve the ball.

He let out a surprised mixture of a gasp and a shout as a large amount of weight pressed against him. The wooden bat clattered to the ground and landed next to the ball. His whole body was forced down into the ground as the mare laid on top of him, the curves of her body moving across his back. Her long, silvery strand of hair fell down over his face, and her hooves found their way to his sides while her hot breath pressed against his ear.

“I come here because of you, Gibby,” she cooed, her lips finding his neck.

He looked away from her with an irritated blush. “You smell like dirty hay…”

She just giggled, nibbling at the tip of his ear. “I haven’t been at the barn lately…”

A heavy silence fell on them, Gibby gritting his teeth as the mare did her work. “Why are you always doing this…?”

“I’m not sure. I guess…”

“Ah!” He let out a whimper as she bit on his neck.

“If I don’t… I’ll just keep building up until I explode. Like a big, beautiful firework. It would be… spectacular, wouldn’t it?”

“Ana…”

"Nothing spectacular ever happens here.

Manehatten wasn’t a city. It was a prison.

The tall buildings that pierced the heavens were like the wardens of a prison block. They reached up, and up, and up. Never stopping. They say “We are powerful, you are weak. We are mighty, you are nothing”. Looking down on all of us. The grown-ups always got excited when they built another one. "More jobs," they would say. It means the economy’s good. New factories would pop up nearly every week to vomit more smoke into the sky, blocking the sun. At night, the stars were trapped behind the clouds. And no matter how hard they fought, they were powerless to the machines. “More production” the grown-ups would say. Sometimes I would see the sun peeking through a hole in the smoke. It was only for a moment. A brief moment. But the smoke would always close the holes. Like somepony was drawing the curtains of a stage before the act is over.

Nothing spectacular ever happened here.

Until the stars fell."

“Wh-Hey!” The colt known as Gibby protested as his iced coffee was swapped for a chocolate milk. Ana, the mare responsible for the bright, red swell on his neck giggled as she sipped innocently through the straw and enjoyed her newly acquired drink. The barista opted to ignore them in favor of working on the next customer's order of a complex latte to drink during a super serious business meeting.

“That’s… that’s mine!” he complained, getting only more giggles in response.

“You’re just a kid. You don’t need coffee. It’ll mess with your head. And it’s bad for your heart!”

“I’m not a kid! Stop treating me like one!”

“Come on, Gibby. Coffee and Baseball don’t make you a grown-up”

Gibson didn’t seem to have any kind of retort. Instead he threw his gaze down onto his drink. The dull, filtered sunlight made it look grayer than it should have. The chocolate colors were tainted with sickly hues of orange and red, making it look more like old medicine than anything actually digestible. He took an experimental sip that was swiftly followed by another. And another. And another. He allow himself a moment of ecstasy as the chocolate spread itself over his tongue and quenched his thirst. It was a brief, and not entirely unwelcomed moment of joy.

He sighed and looked towards the sky.

It was still there. A huge blanket of smoke that hung above the city, obscuring the view of the sky above. Even as the sun began to set behind the mountains, the evil clouds soaked up its light like some sort of sponge. It was fed by the twisting tendrils of black clouds that streamed out of the factories around town. To him, they looked like unicorn horns sending magic to sustain a barrier. But what were they protecting themselves from? Or perhaps a better question, what were they trying to keep in?

Every day those factories pumped out more and more smoke. How far did it reach? Canterlot? Cloudsdale? Baltimare? Maybe the whole world was covered in smoke

Ana looked up with him. "Hunh? What's up? Are you spacing out again?"

". . ."

Ana went quiet, shrugging as she walked ahead of him towards the bridge that spanned a drying river. It was the same bridge under which the two spent most of their after-school hours. Carriages passed back and forth as the clicking of hooves added to the far off clanking of metal from the factories. The city ambiance sounded like a prison cell: the rattling of chains, the whistles of officers, and the mutters of passing ponyfolk.

He looked towards Ana with a scowl, gripping the plastic cup tight. How could she ignore it? The smoke? It was everywhere, but everypony just ignored it. Like it was a rash nopony wanted to bring up. Was he the only one who saw it? It was literally everywhere.

"Hey!" He called out, his mouth acting faster than his brain could. Ana stopped mid stride and turned her head lazily back towards Gibby.

"...Hm?"

"... ... I..." He tried to speak further, but a number of things stopped him. For one, he hadn't formulated anything to say. Another, the way Ana was looking at him made his head feel dizzy, and his chest felt weird. And lastly, a giant ball of fire was rocketing straight towards him from the sky.

The clouds did their best to hold their ground. They pushed and pulled in several directions before the racing ball of light managed to pierce through the thick layers and curve its trajectory, lining up its sights on Gibson. From where the colt stood it looked like a shooting star. It looked so tiny, yet so painfully bright. He had to raise a hoof to shield his eyes. There was something on top of it. Something vaguely pony-like. It was only then that his brain recognized the fact that it was actually heading towards him. Even then, there wasn't much he could do. His body froze up as his eyes widened, only a trembling step back being his means of escape. Ana spun her head around to watch the falling ball of light and let out a squeal as it rushed over her head. Time seemed to slow down as her hair whipped up into the air, her hooves clasping to her head.

It struck him right through the chest. It was like being pierced with a really long needle. It left no marks, but he could feel the heat passing through his front all the way through his heart and to his back. The thing that had been riding it had dismounted just before it hit, sporting the image of a lanky unicorn with pearl white coat and a flowing purple mane. With her angle of approach, her hair caught every single color of the dimming sunset. It sparkled majestically as the curls swayed during her descent, her hooves landing on the street with such indescribable grace. Her face slowly turned to Gibson before she batted her eyelashes at him. His chest felt like burning iron.

The ball of light continued through him and landed in the river snaking out from under the bridge. The explosion was so bright and so powerful that the ponies standing on the bridge and surrounding structures were toppled over, save for the strange mare from the sky. Some of the carriages tipped over while others ran completely off the roads and into the embankment. Even the smoke cloud seemed to get knocked around, the lowest layer getting pushed up.

When everything was said and done, a huge smoldering meteor was lodged into the ground a good 50 yards away from the bridge. Steam rose from the ground as the sound of sirens came closer and closer, until the impact site was swarmed with heavy swat armored ponies, sheets of thick metal covering their manes, tails, and horns. They shouted orders to one another in panicked tones, huge armored carriages creating a perimeter around which civilians started to gather. Everyone was so preoccupied that they paid no attention to the mare that had come down with the object.

Gibby looked down over the railing while a free hoof pressed against his still warm chest. His mouth hung slightly agape as he looked at the thing that had pierced his body. Ana had uncurled from her fetal position to peek through the bars of the railing with a silent exclamation of surprise. There was an unnerving silence as the wind blew past them both, and though Gibby could not confirm his suspicion, it felt like the factories were louder now. In fact... he was almost certain.

His eyes went to them, the smoke billowing out in thicker clumps. Something was going on. Something big...

"THUNK!"

Gibby's eyes went cross-eyed and his mouth went misshapen as the space-mare landed a large paddle against the back of his head. The hit sent a shudder through his body as his hair seemed to almost detach from his head with the force of the hit. Gibby's whole body froze up into a pose that made him tip over on his side like a weightless statue.

It took Ana a little longer than it should, but she eventually picked up on the noise and looked over with a gasp. "Gibby!"

"Stay where you are!" ordered the space-mare, the young student stopping mid-reach as she balanced precariously on one hoof. Her body tilted back and forth like a spinning top threatening to keel over, and huge droplets of sweat started to race down every inch of her body.

Her voice was like that of a jazz singer: deep, and soothing."Earth-Girl must not interfere!" she said, flipping her floor-length mane so that it caught the wind and started to flow on its own. Her eyes were nearly as purple as her hair, and the eyeshadow stood out against the stark white like a chicken among cats. Her legs were so long and slender she almost looked like one of the Princesses. Just... alot smaller.

The purple-maned mare pulled out a stethoscope from her pocket and stretched the ear buds as far as they would go before letting them snap back into her ears, placing the metal disc on Gibby's chest. "Hmmm.... mmhmm... I see.... no, no... maybe?" As she spoke, her lips twisted into the corners of her mouth in a way that made her look like a duck. She then shook her head to throw the medical tool off of her and instead produced an oversized machine designed for chopping down trees. It didn't seem to be something a doctor would carry. The teeth of the bladed chain glimmered in the light of the flickering streetlights, each sharp blade thirst for blood.. She clasped the pull-string in her mouth and yanked hard as a terrible noise came from the beast. It was like a hundred savage wolves growling in unison. With a mighty cry, the mare threw her weight up and sent the contraption skyward.

"Whoooaaaaa" Ana's eyes followed the machine up as the spinning blur of metal teeth gleamed in the artificial light. It slowed to reach its apex before falling back down again, the light showing off several strange symbols along the side of the blade that lead to a pony-esque drawing on the plastic base.

"Looks like I'll have to get a closer look!" she exclaimed as her hooves found the handle mid-air and brought the machine down towards Gibby's chest. The crazed smile on her face was enough to frighten even the hardiest of hardy ponies, and there was no doubt that whatever she had planned, it would not end without some amount of bloodshed. Without thinking, Ana leapt off her hoof and snatched Gibby out from under the path of the chainsaw, the two tumbling against the roof of an upturned taxi cab.

The impact was hard enough for them to crash through and into the smoky-smelling interior. The ponies that occupied it were long gone, but several soda cans and travel brochures occupied the seats instead. A pair of fuzzy dice hung from the rear-view mirror even now that the cart was upside down.

The blade cut right through the concrete like it was wet paper until the base slammed against the ground. The hit shook the stone with such force that a gigantic crack spread from the point of impact to each side of the bridge along its shortest width. At least 5 yards of road in both directions tilted inward and sent carriages careening into the air. Huge chunks fell into the river and a dust cloud rose up like a big sneeze. Ana and Gibby were thrown out of the carriage and found themselves lucky enough to have landed in a dumped pile of hay from yet another disheveled cart..

"Hunh?" The mare blinked, her expression changing to one of surprise. As the cloud of dust settled, she stood up straight and locked her focus onto the pair that had escaped her. She giggled and leaned against the embedded weapon while crossing her hooves. "You must be his girlfriend, hunh?"

Ana said nothing, narrowing her eyes at the seemingly insane and bloodthirsty pony. The mare just waved her hoof in a "whatever" sort of way.

"You should be more careful. It's dangerous to leave ponies like him alone. Who knows what they can do"

Consciousness came quickly and painfully to Gibby as he sat up with a squeal of pain, his hooves holding the back of his head. "AHH! OW! OWOWOWOW! What did you do to me?!"

She smiled innocently, batting her eyelashes. "Nothing~"

"Liar! Who are you?! And why did you hit me?"

"Well, someone had to." She said out of the corner of her mouth, rolling her eyes.

"You're crazy!"

She sighed and closed her eyes. "Yes, and you're useless. Why am I even wasting my time here? I'm off. Toodloo!" She took a running start before diving off the side of the bridge and disappearing out of view with her weapon of mass destruction. The two ponies rushed to look over the railing but found her to have completely vanished.

"Yeah... well stay away from me, you freak!" Gibby yelled, large puffs of steam coming from his snout.

An awkward silence fell on the two as they stared down at nothing in particular. It was Ana that broke the silence.

"... She was very pretty. Don't you think?"

"What? How should I know? I'm just a kid. I don't know stuff like that"

"But you can still have an opinion... ... Do you need a doctor?"

"No. I'm going home."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"I said no!" He shouted, causing Ana to flinch. "Stop being such a little brat! Why don't you go bother your friends instead?!" His words were sharp, cutting the mare deep. She just stood there in silence as Gibby sulked off the bridge, still rubbing the back of his head with his hoof. Ana just watched with a mixture of confusion and depression settling into her heart.

Gibby arrived home just as the sun had snuggled into bed behind the mountains. With the cloud of smoke continuing to stretch overhead, the streetlights illuminated the underbelly and turned the sky a sickly shade of yellow-orange. The lights of the passing cabs cast creepy shadows across the closed shopfronts that sat on either side of the street. Only one place was still open at this time of night. One place filled with sin, vile ponies, and lacked any justification for either. Just as Gibby pushed open the door to the night-club, he was immediately approached by its occupants.

"Yo, Gibson! Welcome home little dude!"

"Oh Gibson, you look so pale, maybe you should go to the doctor."

"Hey man, Gibson, think you can put in a good word for you dad for me? You know I'm an alright guy!"

"Gibson, I heard that you go into a bit of my scuffle with my son in school today. Wanna explain what that's all about."

"What's that mark on your neck, Gibson"

As always, Gibson simply drowned out the noise and walked around to the back of the counter, the lights of the club dancing off the glasses that decorated the back wall. Brands of alcohol from far off places stood like trophies and medals. They came from all over the world. Fracia, the Gryphon Kingdom, The Frozen North, you name it. Some were even from small islands in the north. Everypony had always praised the Outfield for having the largest selection of drinks. Gibson couldn't stand it. He hated this place. And everypony in it.

There was a reason he spent so much time out of the house. It wasn't like his parents cared. His father was too busy enjoying himself with the patrons to care. And his uncle just spent all his time in his bedroom working on... something. There was just too much going on for one pony to handle. At least... one sane pony.

He went up the stairs in the back room and trotted across through the hall towards his bedroom. He didn't feel hungry after today's events. Instead he wanted to just lie down. To rest. Things had been stressful enough as they were without-

"So you've been doing naughty things behind my back, HMMMM?!"

"What? GHAAAHK!" Gibson was lifted off the ground as he neck was ensnared in his father's deep-blue hooves. His legs flailed wildly as sweat launched itself off of his forehead. "GHHHCK! L-L-Let me go!"

"Who's the slut you've been hanging around with? Hunh?! HUNH?!?!?!"

"I haven't been with anyone!" He protested, his face going red as oxygen struggled to reach his head. His father threw him to the ground and put a firm hoof on his back, using the others to pull Gibson's forelegs back. "AAAHH! AAAAAAH!" He shouted, sweat rolling down his face like a waterfall.

"You're lying! You've got the mark of the demon on your neck! You've been doing it! Doing the naughty things!"

"A-ANANKE! I WAS WITH ANANKE!" He shouted, his father now sitting on his back as Gibson flailed his hooves out like a turtle trying to flip right-side up.

"Ananke? Hmm... nice girl. She worked for me once. Quit not too long ago. I wonder why. I hope she didn't find a better job. She doesn't seem all that poor, though, so maybe she was working for fun"

With his father busy rambling about Ananke, Gibson was able to roll out from under his father and sneak quietly into his room, shutting the door behind him. He threw himself belly first onto the bed with a long sigh. The soft comforter cushioned his weight and provided him a comfortable place to lie.

His room was not terribly big. Is was large enough to hold a twin-sized bed, a desk with books scattered across it, a dresser, a wall full of baseball paraphernalia, and a basket full of equipment. The walls were all a dull, uninteresting faded blue, and only the occasional picture of family or a famous baseball paper breaking the pattern. On his desk were graded papers from several tests and assignments in school. All of them hovering in the B-, C+ area. Gibson recalled a parent-teacher conference he was forced to attend.

"He's just... different" His father had said.

"Different"

He closed his eyes.

Even there, in his room, he could feel the beat of the music downstairs rumbling through the floorboards. It vibrated through the floor, into the bed, and through to his heart. He put a hoof on his chest. So many questions raced through his head. What was that meteor? Who was that mare? And... why was it happening to him?

He could hear the rambling of his father continue on the other side of the door, talking about sales tax or something. His eyes opened and reluctantly traveled to the full-length mirror that hung on the opposite wall. He was allowed a view of his entire blank flank, the empty spot on his rump looking odd and unnatural to him. It had been like this for as long as he could remember, but he could never get over how... strange... it looked. It was like if somepony was missing an eye. Or a leg. It was just... wrong.

There was a knock at his door. He didn't respond. After a few seconds his father opened the door with a look that let him know he had initiated serious time.

"Gibson. We need to talk"

". . ." He kept his gaze on the mirror.

"You know, I remember being your age." He said, sitting down at the foot of the bed. "It was really... scary. You know? It's as if everything you ever knew was wrong. Sometimes I still feel that today. But I guess being an adult is learning to understand that you don't know everything"

"I know everything I need to." Gibson said into his pillow.

"For now, maybe. Not in a few years. Or in a few months. And what about Ananke, hm? How much do you really know about her?"

"I know she's crazy"

"Hmm..." The blue Earth pony tapped his chin, his eyes falling on the collection of bats in the corner of the room, next to a dresser with clothes hanging over the handles. "Growing up is a lot like baseball."

Gibson turned his head a bit, moving his mouth away from the pillow.

"You see... the hard part isn't stepping up to bat. No, not really. Anypony can stand and hold a bat. Hitting the ball's the hard part. What if you miss and it hits you? What if it doesn't go far enough? What if you hit someone? What if you hit yourself? All these... illusions make you feel uncertain, and you miss."

Gibson seemed to be listening now, his ear twitching a bit as he, too, kept his eyes on the bats.

"But when you hit it, you can feel it. It feels great. Like you've finally done something grand. And you just want to stand there to admire your hit, but there's no time. You need to make it to the first base. See... even after you hit the ball, you're still not there yet. Not by a long shot. You have to pull yourself into first base. Then second, third, and back to the home plate. The entire time ponies will try to stop you. They'll chase you down. Tackle you. Hit you. Bite you. But you have to keep going or all that work will be for nothing. You know?"

Gibson looked at himself in the mirror, thinking of Ananke. He swung the bat.

"And there are other times..."

He swung again.

"When it finally gets to you. Like you truly understand"

And again.

"And you put your heart and soul into that bat."

And again.

"And then you swing. And you feel that ball slam against your bat."

"THWACK"

"And it's a Home Run."

Gibson was already out the door.

There was a chill in the night air. It nipped at Ananke's face as she leaned against the railing, her chin resting on her hooves. The carriages went past her in an orchestra of clopping hooves and groaning wood. In her mouth was a stand of hay that shifted from one side of her mouth to the other. Her half-closed eyes looked out across the river and to the city beyond. It looked so big. So terrifying. But so brittle. It was almost as if somepony could knock it over by pushing it too hard.

She sighed, levitating up the iced coffee to her mouth as she drank the watered-down caffeine. It tasted terrible in her mouth, like cold dishwater. But she drank it anyways. It made her feel grown up. The piece of the hay strand in her mouth had gotten soggy mid-drink, and she spat it out. Her eyes followed the weightless thing slowly float down to the surface of the water, creating small ripples.

It was there, in the reflection of the bridge, that something caught her eyes. She turned her head only slightly to catch a glimpse at the approaching pony. Her eyes opened further as she saw who it was. Her chin lifted up from her hooves as she repositioned all four legs back on the ground. A small smile broke out on her lips as she saw the small pony racing across and over the wreckage from earlier that day.

The two looked at each other, not knowing what to say. Gibson just drew in large breaths as his chest heaved each time his lungs filled with air. Tears were rolling down his face as he looked at the tired-looking mare. Finally, without a word, her embraced her around the neck, Ananke's eyes widening in surprise. But she, too, found her hooves wrapping themselves around him.

Nothing could ruin that moment.

"N... Nhhh... G-GHAH!"  Gibson yelled, breaking away from the hug. His chest was starting to glow a bright red, his heart pumping faster as he started to panic, pain tearing through his body. "A-AHHH! H-HAH... AAAAAAH!" He let out one final shout before a spiraling tower of pure light erupted from his chest and rose into the air. It was like a tornado of pure energy, spouting out random colors and shapes as it snaked further and further into the sky. It whipped left, right, over and under. It rolled in and out of itself like a snake struggling to break free from a hunter's grip. Finally it started to come back down, speeding towards the meteor.

Eventually the light detached completely from the colt's chest and entered the crashed object. Cracks started to form along the crust as light seeped out every single nook and cranny. It creaked an groaned, the plates of rock shifting as whatever was inside tried to get out. The two ponies on the bridge stepped back in surprise as the huge space-rock finally burst open and let loose a huge creature that was easily 5 stories tall. It looked like a humongous bull with a thick, dark hide. Strange tattoos stretched up and down its body from which celestial light poured out. Even its eyes were like headlights. It looked like it was made out of stars.

It let out a mighty roar, shaking the earth and sending ponies not already on the ground onto their flanks before scraping its enormous hoof against the ground. It kicked up dirt that fell back into the crater with a heavy THUD. The police officers that had been maintaining a perimeter were now aiming their guns up at it, even the metal carriages locking their cannons onto it. But even as gunfire erupted, it seemed the beast took no damage. In fact, it looked dead set on something far more important than the ponies below. Gibson and Ananke followed the bull's gaze to the large factory stationed across town, a good mile from the bridge.

By the time they turn around, it was too late. They let out a scream as the bull tore through the bridge, sending rubble up into the air as bits and pieces of smashed carts rained back down onto the shattered road. Gibson wrapped his hooves around the bull's right horn with as he let out a terrified yell. "ANANKE! ANAAAAANKEEEEE!" His body was whipped up and down as the bull galloped towards the huge factory, the world becoming an indistinguishable blur around him. Only one thing could be made out through the chaos: a comet riding next to them.

Upon closer inspection, Gibson saw that the comet was actually the space-mare from before speeding alongside them. His eyes seemed to gape to incredible width as he watched her gallop on nothing but air before producing her chainsaw again, the loud revving of the motor outmatched by the grunts of the bull. Once the blade was spinning, she leapt off the sky and charged into the bull, running down the side of its belly while she cut through the surface. It let out an enraged howl as it ran faster and faster, time slowing down as it bounded over the marina protruding out from the island city. The ponies below looked up at them as if a miracle were taking place. The ground looked so far away from that height, and adrenaline started to pump through his veins as he felt his stomach twist from vertigo. In a desperate attempt to calm himself, he snapped his attention back to the purple-maned mare who was now racing towards the beast's head. She was swiftly running out of time as the celestial bull was starting to close the last remaining distance to the factory. Sirens blared from every corner of the city and spotlights filled the sky. All of downtown was lit with red and blue lights.

"GIBSOOOOOOON!" Came Ananke's voice over the noise and confusion. Clutching to the other horn for dear life was the terrified-looking mare with rose fur. They caught sight of one another and let out a scream as the Bull came to a hard stop. The whiplash was so hard that Gibson almost lost his grip. But before long the creature was moving again. This time, upward. The colt's mouth hung open as they raced skyward towards the smoke clouds. He started to feel his heart giving out as the wall of black death came closer and closer. Gibson shut his eyes as he felt the toxic tufts surround him.

And then the sirens stopped.

Gibson opened his eyes and drew in a deep breath.

All around him were stars. Actual stars. Shining stars. Hundreds. Thousands. Hundreds of thousands of them. All shapes, all sizes. It was like a sea of tiny lights that sparkled like glitter. And the Moon. It was huge. So big and beautiful. Like a big, white cookie in the sky. His eyes tried to take in as much of it as he could. How long had it been since he had seen the sky? Months? Years? Had he ever seen it at all? It didn't matter now. The beauty of the moment made his heart ache, and a single tear rolled down his cheek.

But the moment was swiftly ended as gravity reasserted its rightful place. The bull started to come down again while the white mare raced up to it's head, raising the chainsaw high in the air before screaming out a battlecry.

He closed his eyes as they went back through the smoke cloud, the only sound being the chainsaw through the starry skin of the bull. It let out a death cry before its body went limp. When Gibson re-opened his eyes, he saw that the ground was rapidly approaching them. And without any time to think further on this, the Bull's body crashed down into the factory with a thunderous "BOOM!"

The explosion threw Gibson and Ananke from the horns and out to sea, the youngest of the two skipping across the surface a few times before falling in. The clouds of smoke that once rose towards the sky were now gone, swallowed up by the massive spectacle of fire and light that resulted in the star-creature's demise. The lowest layer of smoke in the sky was blasted away, letting a ray of moonlight beam down through the hole and spotlight the scene.

After much paddling, gasping, water-spitting, and panting, the two ponies managed to pull themselves to shore. When their senses were returned to them, their attention was swiftly stolen by light show in front of them, neither being bothered to worry about the ambulances that rushed to their sides, medical ponies pulling at them in an effort to get them into the carts. But for that moment, Gibson and Ananke sat alongside one another as the factory crumbled into nothing but rubble. The corpse of the bull was now nothing but stardust, and what remained was a beautiful sight.