Chapter Five

Twilight trotted to her favorite restaurant in town and saw the unmistakably styled, violet mane that belonged to her friend, Rarity, sitting at a table. The snowy unicorn looked up from her menu and waved excitedly at Twilight, who returned it and joined the fashionista at the table.

“Oh Twilight, I’m so glad you could make it!” Rarity exclaimed, exchanging hugs with the alicorn princess and they both sat on the cushions placed on the ground around the table. “How is the renovation coming along?”

“It’s going great, actually.” Twilight replied. “Thanks for recommending Floor Plan; I don’t think I could’ve found a better pony for the job!”

“I’m glad to hear it, darling.” Rarity said, and then worry crossed her muzzle as she looked at Twilight. “Oh my, those are some dreadful bags under your eyes. Are you not sleeping well, darling?”

Twilight paused, and then sighed; Rarity had very keen eyes that missed little.

“Not really.” She replied. “I’ve been staying up later than usual with my Astrology, but not because it’s been any more fascinating.” Twilight rubbed the sides of her head. “Nothing’s been the same since Tirek, Rarity. I’ve been seeing a therapist and it’s helped some, but I still have nightmares constantly.”

Rarity smiled and put her hoof on Twilight’s withers.

“It’ll be okay.” She reassured the alicorn. “If you weren’t strong, you would never have been made a princess. I can speak for the rest of the girls when I say that we believe in you; you’ll get past this and be better for it.”

Twilight smiled, reminded once more that she had good friends who were behind her every step of the recovery process. She then turned her attention to the menu to see if they had anything that was new, before ultimately ordering her favorite daisy sandwich. That done, she decided to get to the matter at hoof.

“So, you wanted to talk about the furnishings in the castle?” Twilight asked Rarity, whose eyes immediately began sparkling with excitement.

“Of course, I almost forgot!” She replied, levitating a small binder out of a bag sitting next to her and placing it in front of Twilight. That done, they began to go over everything from furniture to the color and style of curtains.

It had been a few hours since their departure and Samson had relinquished control of the Mischief Maker to one of the onboard Frame that insisted that it be called Wedge. There was another Frame, insisting that it be called Biggs, which handled the supervision of the engines and electrical systems on the ship.

“How much longer until arrival, Wedge?” Samson asked the goggles – wearing automata and once more silently pondering why it had them.

“We have approximately seven hours Earth–time until arrival at designated coordinates, Titan Samson–12.” Wedge replied, not even looking away from the console. “You should get comfortable, maybe catch up on some sleep–mode time.”

“Maybe I will, thanks Wedge.” He replied, and then left the cockpit, heading past the interior antechamber that carried the orb of light, and into the lounge/sleeping quarters/dining area, where he sat down at the table where Gospel was reading a book. A quick glance towards the beds informed him that Aveline was getting some rest. He turned back to Gospel.

“What do you think we’ll find out here, Gospel?” He asked the Warlock, who shrugged.

“Dunno.” Gospel replied, flipping a page. “Could be anything; a gas giant with ancient Golden Age cities floating in the clouds, a garden planet where you could literally get a killer case of allergies, or it could be nothing at all and we wasted valuable time and energy chasing rabbits.”

Samson leaned on the table, staring hard at the Warlock.

“You think those coordinates lead nowhere?” Samson asked and Gospel looked up from his book.

“No, I doubt somebody encrypted coordinates simply to mess with the future’s head.” Gospel replied dryly, putting his book on the table. “More like, whatever was there worth finding centuries ago may not actually be there today; they were too far away from the Traveler to be protected and the Darkness found them and wiped them out.”

“Ah.” Samson said, sitting down. “That makes sense. This trip may have been a bad idea, but even I have to admit that any chance to get a leg up on the Fallen, Hive, Cabal, or even the Vex, is worth the risk.”

“Gotta look on the bright side, I always say.” Gospel replied, and then returned to his book. After a moment, Samson decided to set his servos into sleep mode. An indeterminate time later, he was awoken by the sound of Gauge getting his attention.

“Hey Samson, we’ve dropped out of warp and Wedge is saying we’re about thirty minutes away from orbit distance.” She said matter–of–factly. “What’s the move, Bro-bot?”

“Get anyone who’s not awake on their feet and tell both of them to get suited up and ready for fieldwork.” Samson replied quickly and then went to his locker to don his armor and ready his gun.

That done, he went up to the cockpit to await Gospel and Aveline, who both arrived in short order wearing their own protective armaments. By this point, Wedge had already moved the jumpship into orbit around the blue planet that looked remarkably like...

“What the-” Gospel said, his mouth agape. “Did we get turned around somehow? That looks like Earth.”

“No, we did not.” Aveline replied, walking over to the window and pointing at the landmasses. “Those continents look nothing like the ones back on Earth and there is no debris or artificial satellites cluttering orbit.”

Samson looked at Wedge.

“What do the scanners say?” He asked the automata and it looked back at him.

“There does not appear to be any detectable technology above, below, or on, the planet’s surface. Atmospheric and gravitational readings all indicate almost perfect Earth–like conditions; EVA equipment would not be required for sustained survivability planet–side.”

“Gauge?” Samson asked his Ghost and she floated over to the window, her spines expanding outward as a bubble of light surrounded her core.

“Pretty much exactly what Wedge said, though I’m picking up some pretty weird scans.” She replied after a moment.

“Weird how?” Gospel asked and Gauge turned to him.

“Well…” She paused, as if trying to find the right words. “I’m having a hard time detecting it, but there’s some kind of… energy around the planet. There’s nothing active you need to worry about affecting you negatively, it’s all sort of ambient; like it’s not so much on the planet as it is part of the planet in much the same way the Traveler’s Light is a part of us.”

“You do not seem to have a hard time finding our light, how is this different?” Aveline asked and Lance floated in front of her.

“That’s because our scanners are innately programmed to find things like The Traveler’s Light, or a Hive ritual site.” He said in a way that he thought it should have been obvious. “Whatever’s down there? It’s entirely new, something nobody’s ever seen before, so our scanners can tell us it’s there because it’s similar to our Light, but we can’t tell what it is because it’s not the light.”

“Amazing.” Gospel said after a moment. “Even if we were to go back now, we can already say we made a huge discovery; not bad.”

Samson was silent, and then he tapped Wedge on the shoulder and pointed, taking a seat afterwards.

“Take us down, Wedge, we’re not turning back yet; we still have to scout the planet.” He pressed some buttons as Aveline and Gospel took their own seats. “The scanners are picking up a few areas where this energy is thickest, so we’re going to check one of these locations out.”

The Mischief Maker lurched slightly as Wedge wheeled it out of orbit and toward the darkened half of the planet.

Twilight awoke with a gasp, her sheets covered in cold sweat. She looked around for a moment, panicking slightly but calming when she confirmed that the castle was not a burning wreck.

“Another nightmare…” She murmured to herself, and then looked at the softly snoring basket that contained Spike; both relieved his sleep hadn’t been disturbed, and envious at his ability to be able to sleep through just about anything.

Yawning, she rose from her bed and went to the kitchen for a glass of water. She drank half the glass, and then gazed up at the ceiling where the astronomy tower was. She finished the glass of water and teleported up to the tower’s landing, where she gazed out upon the hundreds of twinkling lights in the sky, wondering what their worlds must all be like.

She hadn’t been looking at them long when she noticed something odd; one of the stars was moving much faster than the others. As she watched this aberrant object, she noticed the light grow brighter and begin to glow an angry red, then to bright orange, and she realized that it wasn’t a star but something entering Equus’ atmosphere! She felt excitement course through her body and she teleported to the entrance of the castle, charging out the front door and keeping her eyes on the object as it descended and grew larger, eventually beginning to circle a section of the Everfree Forest.

Samson flew the Mischief Maker high above the ground where the scanners were picking up the first of the large concentrations of the unknown energy, which turned out to be a fog – covered section of what appeared to be a large forest at the base of a mountainside; another concentration was located towards the peak of the mountain. After circling the fogzone, he decided to look around for a clearing large enough for the ship to fly in and drop – off Fireteam Wisp for on – foot reconnaissance. He found one and handed the controls over to Wedge, pointing him at the clearing. Once done, he exited the cockpit and approached his fireteam checking their gear in the antechamber.

“Alright, Wisp; there’s too much fog around the first cluster to be able to safely make touchdown. We’re going to a clearing approximately two – point – five miles from the target destination and then we’ll be walking through uncharted terrain from there.” He told them, readying his shotgun. “We have no idea what the local flora and fauna are like, so I expect you to stay frosty and be ready to respond to hostility at a moment’s notice.”

The other two Guardians nodded their assent and they stood, ready for transmat.

Twilight dashed toward the Everfree Forest, noting the… whatever it was, had stopped circling the forest and headed toward another part. She stopped just outside the treacherous wood, and gazed in, steeling herself, before cautiously entering the most dangerous place in Equestria, determined to find this unidentified flying object.

Author's Note

Grimoire Card acquired: Biggs and Wedge.

The two Frames, W3 - D63 and 816 - 6S, are Amanda Holliday's two best frames, or so she would claim. She always refers to them as "Biggs and Wedge" for unknown reasons and they appear to have adopted the nicknames as their designations.

Biggs is a Frame adapted for vehicle maintenance and is programmed with every available technique for building and repairing parts for just about everything from the simplest household appliances to the most advanced jumpships the Vanguard can present.

Wedge, on the other hand, was programmed to fly just about any vehicle imaginable, supposedly even a Fallen skiff, but that one is unproven. His primary directive, before being assigned to the Mischief Maker, was to test pilot all refurbished jumpships to ensure that they didn't explode with a Guardian at the helm; Biggs has had to repair him many times.

With these two capable Frames on the Mischief Maker, the Guardians can rest assured that their ship will still be around for them should they need it.