A Journey Across

Book 3 - Burning Hope

Chapter 5 - Fallen

Everywhen

"You didn't have to push them this far," said a soft voice.

"I didn't. There wasn't much interaction from me. I only brought them necessary technology and a very simple idea. Nothing to fancy," replied Entropy.

The two beings sat across a small table. On top of the table stood two teacups and a teapot, all three filled with steaming tea. They hadn't really sat down as both of them took the form of glowing light. Entropy glowed red, while Order glowed white.

"I know. Still, don't you think we should have warned them atleast?" asked Order.

Entropy sipped at his tea before he said anything, "It has been a long time since I had this good Earl Grey. Regarding your question; no. It had to be done. Machines had already been turning their gears, readying for war. They had been since I destroyed their little castle. The timeline has to be maintained. I'm like a surgeon that finished surgery with only one cut. Precise and efficient. And the patient has to live through the pain."

"Yes. You are an expert in manipulation. Quite fitting, except the medical metaphore. At last you have no medical degree, although you liked to pretend you were a doctor in the past," determined the white figure, "Am I right?"

Entropy laughed, "Doctor... who?"

Crystal Empire

"We are lucky the Titan is mostly undamaged," yelled Jeb from the back of the machine, "The left wing and the engine caught the blast. The hydraulics should be up any minute, can you check, Doc?"

"Wait," came the Doctors voice from the cockpit, "this is not so easy with hooves. Wait... Check. Hydraulics up. The console gives green light for takeoff."

A female voice came from the front of the craft, "I'd rather not let this thing take off so soon. It was hit by a missile. No offence to your engineering Jeb, but any normal plane would have spend weeks in a hanger for repairs." Rose climbed up in the cockpit to help the doctor, "I mean, we just repaired this beast in under 6 hours."

"This is a Kerbal Plane. If both had hit I would worry. I guess they had me inside their sights long before they activated their radar and only the little prank at AJ saved us. Although, now that I think of it, this baby may even survive two hits. Am I right, baby?" asked Jeb and hit the right engine with his wrench. A loud bang was heard and Jeb resumed talking, "She agrees."

"Hey, I had a great idea," exclaimed Rose, "This thing needs a new name. We call it Titan or Clara the whole time" - the doctor winced at the mention of the second name - "We should rename it. It has a far more important mission now."

Unheard for both the doctor mumbled under his breath, "I swear this name is stalking me."

"I think I have a name," claimed Jeb, "I'll call it Tranquillity. Name of the first kerbal lander to land on the mun and return. Safely. I believe it was one of the Kerpollo mission. 11 or 13 maybe." He silently stroked the metal casing of the engine.

Rose reached her head out of the cockpit and had to smile at the sight of the kerbal petting his plane, "It kind of worries me how you describe successful missions. Doctor, anything against the name?"

"He can name this tin can however he likes", cheered the Doctor.

Everywhen

"It took them a long time to notice, didn't it?" asked Order between two nips of her tea, "They seem to have been rather ignorant at obvious problems."

Entropy looked up, surprised by the sudden shift in tone, "why do you insult your subjects now? They have been your part of the war and they served you well."

"I didn't insult them, rather I pointed out a problem."

They stopped talking, the silence only interrupted by the noises of them drinking their tea in patience. Entropy interrupted the silence first, "I think he might be wondering what will happen. Should we tell him?"

Order sighed, "no. It is not time for him, or her, to know. Keep in mind that we don't know who he is."

"Indeed correct, my lady," smiled the god of chaos, "but we should jump ahead a little. Give 'em a littl' action."

"Indeed."

Crystal Empire

"What is the fuss all about?" yelled Celestia over the crowd. A large group of ponies had assembled in front of the runway and the TARDIS.

The former Elements of Harmony, Jeb, the Doctor and Rose stood beside the celestial sisters, staring at the mob of angry ponies. A single stallion stepped forwards, his fur orange and his mane sky blue. Judging by his armor he had been part of the royal guard. He wore a rather unpleased expression.

"We have concluded that all of you are not able to protect us any longer. Thus we have banished our supressors from our land. This morning a court of the people has assembled and all of you have the choice. Either imprisonment or banishment. Furthermore, the people of the crystal empire hereby annex this country under a new flag and government," he declared and waited for an answer from Celestia or Luna.

Both were shocked by this declaration but Celestia put herself together and spoke over the crowd, "What do you want we can't give? We have been protecting you for years now. Were is Princess Cadence, I demand to speak to royal authority."

"We no longer comply with royalty. As already mentioned, 'Princess'" - he almost spat the word out - "Cadence has been banished. Our new leader has opened our eyes and gives us the means to protect our new freedom, as you already experienced. I have to ask you to either leave now or follow the guards silently to prison."

"We will no longer listen to such misguided speeches of hate. You are part of the royal guard and will listen..."

"NO! You had your chance. Men, get them and drag them to prison," the orange stallion commanded.

Before any of the ponies behing him could react, Celestia had already errected a giant shield in front of them, "Hurry, get in the TARDIS and the Tranquility. We must leave NOW!"

"Rainbow Dash, you come with me!" demanded Jeb, "The rest goes in the TARDIS! AJ. I don't want you in my plane if anything goes weird. RD can fly off."

The group hurried around following both Celestia's and Jeb's orders. Jeb hurried towards his craft, closing the cockpit once Rainbow Dash was in, "Fasten your seatbelt, my lady, this will be a bumpy ride."

At the same time he heard the TARDIS departing with Celestia and the rest. The shield slowly decayed and Jeb knew this was a matter of minutes.

"No time for anything. Let's show them what real power means!" he yelled as he prepared a jump start of the engines.

The roaring of the engines filled the cabin when the astronaut finished. The crowd didn't go on the runway, they just stood on the side and looked at the strange object, screaming along it. For a short moment Jeb thougth the orange pony would smile at him.

He pulled up the craft before the runway, amazed that they didn't attack them. He was about to sigh in relief when he heard it.

"What the hell is that beeping?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"THEY ARE HOMING IN ON US. HOLD ON!" screamed Jeb. He reached over to the panel. Normally this wasn't allowed so deep in the atmosphere but he had no choice than to activate the thermic-drive.

The thermic-drive is a rather unique invention. Instead of diverting the incoming air to the combustion chamber it is channeled to the middle of the craft, directly above the forcefield containing the explosion. The forcefield itself is altered to allow heat passing through at certain places. The air is heated up and channeled back to the combustion chamber with the fuel.

This heat expands the air enough to allow the craft to fly faster than normally while still using normal jet fuel and intake air. Thermic-drive has only been used on a few planes including all crafts of the Titan-Mk.II-Series and the Hummingbird-Mk.VII-Series up to model 28. The newest model is the Hummingbird Mk. VII/Model 28-F22, that was able of sustained hypersonic flight up to mach 19.

Back in Ponyville, Bon Bon was about to water her plant we she noticed something unusual in the sky. Far of to the north she could see a small rainbow ring slowly expanding.

'Must have been RD performing some trick in the Empire,' she thought and continued to water her plants.

Not a second later she saw up again. This time another ring expanded, but now consisting of two rainbows, entangled in each other. Her jaw dropped almost to the floor as a third set of rainbows appeared, accompanied by a blinding flash.

Bon Bon looked around and noticed other ponies staring at the singularity in awe. Noone of them was able to express their shock as a fourth and a fifth set appeared in the sky. The 'thing' that made them was now dashing throw the sky at impossible speeds, drawing a small rainbow behind it.

It was headed slightly east of ponyville to the Everfree Forest.