Between Worlds

by Hedgeapple

Rating: teen
Tags: Other, Mystery, Spike, Science Fiction, Adventure, Human, Twilight Sparkle, Drama, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 6446

An alien probe finds its way to Equestria, sparking interest in exploration of the cosmos.

Princess Celestia tasks Princess Twilight, the princess of friendship and her protege, to reach out to the creators of the alien probe in friendship. But, when they arrive to find a world in chaos, would Twilight's compassion for these creatures lead to something far more devastating?

This work is designed to test the waters, so to speak, as far as my writing style is concerned; and to act a a commentary on culture.

Published 2015-12-29 13:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2016-01-22 22:35:14 UTC

Chapter 1

Captains’ personal log: Two Weeks till Summer Solstice.

I am very excited to finally be fulfilling this mission on board the Ferrier, Equestria’s best and fastest starship. I cannot believe it’s been two years already and we are almost to the alleged source of the alien probe which found its way to our world one hundred and eighty years ago. When Luna announced to us all those years ago that a strange object was fast approaching our world, I was asked to help her guide it down safely to the ground so as not to damage it- and what an object it was! I remember distinctly the off white dish on top of the machine, along with a variety of arms and apparatus projecting from its body. Along with these was- of all things- a golden vinyl record with pictograms etched into it. In those days Equestria didn’t have a space program, let alone any real data about the universe outside of our solar system. The arrival of that alien probe brought with it many questions that needed answering, and I was the perfect pony for the job. After years of trial and error, we finally figured out how to build simple machines which when powered by magic, would bend the fabric of space itself, allowing us to travel many times the speed of light without the danger of ever-increasing mass to ourselves and our ships.

While it is true that the Ferrier is currently the only real spacecraft we have been able to develop, many small probes were built to test the designs of our magica engines. In all honesty I was surprised at just how quickly we were able to develop, thanks to the brilliant minds and technical know-how of the earth ponies, and of course the Crystal Empire. Faced with the possibility of intelligent life in existence on another world, Celestia tasked me and Princess Starlight Glimmer- the best diplomats on Equus, to find these beings and make friends with them. The descriptions those beings gave of themselves on the golden disk was of being bipedal, very curious and friendly, so I am excited to get the chance to finally meet them.

One thing continues to puzzle me however, which is the fact that based on the traveling velocity of the alien probe- it must have taken hundreds of thousands of years to reach us. If the probe is so old, I highly doubt that its creators would still be around- assuming that they have normal lifespans like we ponies do. Our two worlds are not actually that far from each other, since they are on the other side of the arm of the galaxy in which we rotate, yet my chemical tests show that the aliens’ probe is much younger than previously thought. Perhaps it encountered some sort of anomaly while in deep space which either increased its velocity, or teleported it much closer to us than if it were traveling at the same speed. I will have to look into the matter further.
~End Recording.

Princess Twilight Sparkle leaned back at her desk in her private quarters onboard the Ferrier with a look of anticipation on her face. Her quarters were elegant, by pony standards, befitting a being of her rank and authority. Much like her old palace in Equestria, her room and most of the Ferrier itself, was made from Imperial crystal; shatterproof and resistant to corrosion and decay. While noble ponies and a select few onboard the ship were used to the stark ambiance of Imperial architecture, it left much to be desired within the realm of comfort. Much of the ship lacked the earthiness and the natural tones that ponies were used to, and such dramatic angles and cold walls were harmful to the psyche.

After its first test run around the Equestrian solar system, a number of the passengers and crew reported feeling sick while living on board for any extended period of time. An investigation into the matter revealed that while the crystal the Ferrier was grown from was not harmful, the total lack of natural earth, grass, and breezes was discomforting and sometimes nauseating to most ponies on board. Several changes to the design of the ship were made after that, which included a very large open chamber in the center of the ship which acted as a natural park or garden.

This open chamber, nicknamed ‘the barrel’, contained large open fields, forests, lakes, and even a small replica of Ponyville- all designed to be a home away from home for the passengers and crew. The barrel ended up being the size of three hoofball fields in length, two in width, and two in height, making it the largest indoor space ever built by pony kind. A literal army of weather ponies and gardeners was hired on to manage the barrel and its occupants, which included several thousand different species of plants and animals from Equestria to create a natural ecosystem. The only artificial aspects of the barrel were the sun and moon, made from small-but-dense balls of magic which provided light and heat to the ponies, plants, and animals below. Such changes were rather expensive to be sure, but the cost was considered minimal compared to the wealth of knowledge to be gained from meeting an alien race- according to Twilight Sparkle, anyway.

Captain Twilight rose from her velvet cushion and walked slowly to the window through which hung the inky blackness of the universe. Despite their speed, the stars without did not move, like sentinels of light forever guiding wary travelers across the cosmos. If only her friends could be here today to see what she had accomplished in the centuries since their deaths. Pony kind had advanced so much since those early days, as did Twilight herself. The young princess they once knew had become something so much more since those bright and happy days. It was ironic, Twilight considered as she gazed at her reflection in the crystal lunette; her celestial beauty and grace, ever present in her ethereal flowing mane and tail, did not come without a great cost.

At a young age, Twilight remembered, she had been crowned the Princess of Friendship- an aspect of herself in which she once took great pride; but the immortality of alicorns has a way of humbling even the most proud beings. It was only through the deaths of her dearest friends, all those centuries ago, that Twilight Sparkle came to understand the true- cyclical nature of friendship, in all its bliss and torment. On that day- Twilight would always remember, she came into a universal understanding of love and loss; and it was only then that she became a true alicorn, capable of bearing the onus of a true leader. In time, the elements of harmony passed on to other ponies who took up the mantle of defending Equestria, and Twilight considered all of them her friends; however, her heart would always bear the scars and the pain of losing those whom she called her very first friends.

Twilight Sparkle was eternally youthful: from her sleek, long legs and neck, to her stellar cutie mark and her soft face. In all outward ways Twilight shone with an inner light that ebbed poise, grace, and elegance. Her dark blue mane and tail flowed softly from her body, and billowed constantly, as though suspended in the currents of a calm sea. The streaks of pink and purple that adorned her hair were hazy, as if submerged in the depths of a deep pool, and they swayed back and forth in a constant auroral dance. Yet despite all this, her eyes were the only true sign of her age. Those deep amaranthine pools of light held many memories: joy and sorrow- peace and wrath.
Twilight bore no insignia or uniform befitting her office of captain, for every pony on board knew what her position was, and respected her for it. Instead of a captains’ uniform, Twilight wore the regalia of all Equestrian princesses: a silver crown, a jewel studded silver collar, and two pairs of silver horseshoes; all of which were inset with semiprecious amethysts and bands of ground carnelian dust.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door to her quarters. With practiced speed Twilight changed her facial expression to one of serenity and authority- a mask she was expected to wear as one of the supreme authorities of Equestria.

“Enter.” Her voice carried authority, and sounded like tinkling bells.

The door to Twilights' chambers opened inwards, and the visitor stepped into view. She wore a tight fitting white uniform reminiscent of the old wonder-bolts’ uniforms, with solid blue bands around the pastern, down the length of the back, and around the mandarin collar. The six-pointed star insignia pinned to her collar displayed her rank as commander, and she stood at attention while Twilight still stood facing the window. The commanders' purple hair hung over one wither, and the mint colored stripe running through it added a nice highlight. Her coat was a pale pink, as was her horn- and wings.

As Twilight turned to look at her visitor, her mask momentarily fell off, and she smiled the deep smile one gives when greeting a dear friend. As the two usually did, they greeted each other in a very formal manner, yet the crinkling of their eyes suggested that it was all done in jest.

“Commander Glimmer,” Twilight said with a straight face, “you are looking well.”

“Thank you, Captain.” Starlight returned the greeting. “I have those data sheets you requested this morning. Engineering was the only department to actually have their inspection logs completed on time- again.”

“We will need to look into why the other divisions are tardy; this is starting to become a habit.”

“Yes Ma’am.”

They both giggled. Twilight walked over to embrace her old friend, and she smiled. Starlight returned the smile and handed Twilight the data tablet after they broke the embrace. Twilight perused the information listed on the screen of her small tablet as she held it in the purple clutches of her magic. She mumbled to herself as her agile mind contemplated every detail that was brought before her, and organized it into a usable list.

“It looks like one of the gravitational generator plates in Section C8 has a cracked collet- plate number 6214.” Twilight looked up at Starlight. “This sort of damage is to be expected. Section C8 bears more mass than many of the others considering its central location.” She laid the data tablet on her desk nearby. “When is engineering planning on addressing the problem?”

“The damaged collet will be replaced at the start of the next shift- but all decks above that section will need to be made aware that the gravity will be disabled for at least an hour, maybe two tops.” Commander Glimmer smirked. “I don’t see why you don’t just fix it- you designed almost every aspect of this ship anyway. You probably know more about its systems than anypony.”

“That may be true,” Twilight retorted, “but how much use would I actually be if I had to run around fixing things all the time? I have enough on my plate as it is.”

“Of course, Captain.” Starlight winked.

“Is there anything else you need, Starlight?”

“Well, if you have some free time, would you care to accompany me to the café? Perhaps we could even take a spa day!”

“I don’t know, Starlight.” Twilight looked apologetic. “I still have a lot of things to work on this afternoon. There is a lot of responsibility to being both Princess and Captain.”

“There is of course a lot of responsibility, Twilight- and you do your job very well. Still, how long has it been since you have even set hoof in the barrel for some fresh air? You need a little time to unwind before we reach this alien planet. As citizens of Equestria, we are counting on you to be well prepared for diplomatic relations with these beings- and if I may add, you will need to be well fed and relaxed so that you are in optimum condition for this historic event.”

Twilight smiled warmly. “Oh, alright Starlight; let’s go enjoy ourselves for the afternoon. After that though, I will need to get back to work- as should you.”

“Perfect.”

***

The two princesses walked side by side as they passed the threshold into the barrel, entering from the aft section of the Ferrier. What greeted the two was the sudden warmth of the artificial sun, and for a moment they smelled the strong scent of ozone near the doorway. Twilight blinked to let her eyes adjust to the bright light above. The sun was high in the sky, indicating the approximate time of day, which was synchronized to the ship’s time down to the millisecond. On a whim, Twilight stepped off of the path into town and approached the wall of the barrel; habitually checking for imperfections or weaknesses. She designed the innermost layer of the barrel -the one which everypony saw, to be a single fused sheet of aquamarine to add a blue tint to the ‘sky’. Behind this was a layer of small gravitational generator plates which attracted a thick layer of oxygen to act as a buffer against impacts and as an optical illusion; one which made it appear as though they really were back in Ponyville. The upper plates in the higher zones of the barrel could work in tandem to push and pull the atmosphere above, creating anything from cool summer breezes to howling winter winds. There was even a small weather factory which produced whatever weather was needed according to the ships’ schedule, produced by a mare named Rainbow Skies.

“Twilight, I know you feel the need to obsess over details, but there are other ponies here whose jobs it is to check up on the condition of the ship.”

Twilight jerked upright, “Oops! Sorry, it’s a well-rooted habit.” She soon joined her friend back on the path. A few yards in from the doorway, the crystal pathway gave way to a simple dirt road, and in the distance was the small town of New Ponyville. Twilight could have chosen any town or village for the barrel, but decided on Ponyville because of its calm rural setting and quaint earthiness. She decided to construct the town as it was when she first visited it in her youth, before she became a princess and before the destruction of the town library by Tirek.

It was always odd, seeing the town as it was back then; it made her feel young again- well, younger than she already was. She half expected to see all of the ponies that she remembered there from her youth, and would catch herself talking or thinking about them as if they were still there with her. When a blue pegasus streaked through the sky above her head, she once caught herself calling out to Rainbow Dash, only to realize it was not her. Perhaps that was why Twilight always found an excuse to not go to the barrel- it was hard to accept the new reality of things. She could deal with change; she had to deal with it her whole life- but being in an environment where things were supposed to be one way, only to realize that they were not quite right, was much harder to accept.

Starlight noticed her friend frowning and nudged her. When Twilight looked up, she saw the smiling face of her friend, and smiled back. Twilight lifted her head high, and decided that she was not going to let melancholy take hold in her heart. After all, what was the point of dwelling on the past if it only hindered the here and now?

“Thank you, Starlight. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“You’re welcome, Twilight.”

As the two got closer to town, they could smell freshly cut grass, hay, and the scent of earth in the wind. Starlight tried to get out here as much as possible, schedule permitting, yet every time she got here she was still put in awe by the beauty of her mentors’ creation. It took her breath away every time she saw a sunrise here, or a gentle rain, or even watched the clouds drift by overhead- that this, all of this, was conceived in the brilliant mind of the being who called her friend. It was true that they were nearly equals in magical potential, but having power is nothing compared to having a mind that can not only uncover the workings of the universe, but also be artistic enough to create stunning beauty based only on a memory.

Other ponies had started noticing them by now, and while the Commander was a common sight in New Ponyville, the Captain herself, no -the Princess Twilight Sparkle herself- was not. Word spread quickly as gossips and eager fillies ran around town telling everypony they could. Before long a throng of awestruck ponies, young and old, filled the streets to get a sight of the elusive Princess of Friendship.

“She’s just like I imagined!”

“She’s so pretty!”

“Why is she here?”

“Eh- I’ve seen better.”

That last comment almost made Twilight laugh. A lesser pony might have been insulted, but beauty was in the eye of the beholder, after all. If there was one thing Twilight had learned in her life, it was that one could never please everypony, no matter how hard one tried.
As she approached the crowd, they parted for the princesses, and knelt in respect for their monarchs. Many of the guards and ranking ponies on board suddenly stood at attention, ever wary of Twilights' attention to detail. While Twilight was in no way considered harsh or cruel, she expected 110 percent from everypony under her influence. If one speck of dirt was out of place, she would surely know about it. One security guard in particular remembered the time he forgot to bathe before an inspection. His commanding officer was forgiving about it, but Twilight heard about it, and gave him a stern talking to. “Cleanliness is an important aspect of any ships’ crew, and you are looked up to by many,” she told him that evening, “so do not let this happen again, understand?” He had never been more embarrassed in his entire life, although he was grateful that the reproach had not been in front of his peers- that would have shamed him.

Twilight smiled and waved politely at her subjects and crew, and the two turned down Stirrup Street towards the café. Before they had traveled ten yards, a light blue flash landed nearby and approached the two. Rainbow Skies was the division manager of the barrel, and was in charge of overseeing everything that went on during the day.

“Captain, it is an honor to have you here, Ma’am.” She stood at attention as Twilight turned to her.

“Why thank you, Rainbow D- Skies.” Twilight caught herself again. “Don’t worry, this is not an inspection; I’m just here to relax for the afternoon.”

Rainbow Skies visibly relaxed a bit. In truth, she had been caught unprepared, like usual. She could only imagine what would happen to her if the Captain found out about that crack in the aft wall.

Author's Note

Grammatically edited by one of my English Major friends. Thanks, Amber!

Chapter 2

Princess Twilight Sparkle, captain of the Ferrier, and her protégé, Princess Starlight Glimmer, reclined back in two large round mud baths, cucumbers and facial masks easing the tension from their pores. After a rather crowded lunch, the two had settled in at the New Ponyville spa for an afternoon of relaxation, all the while trying to ignore the curious looks from passersby and adoring fans.

“You know Commander,” said Twilight, using her official title in public, “I am actually glad I came out here today. I would’ve never realized how tense I was from work if I hadn’t given myself some time to relax.”

“I’m glad I could be of help, Captain,” Starlight replied, her head turned ever so slightly towards her friend. “I think we should try to do this again before planet fall. There’s no telling when we will be able to do this again.”

Twilight smirked. “That’s a good-” she was interrupted by a three toned beep coming from her collar nearby. Sigh. “This is the Captain,” she said in the direction of no pony in particular.

“Captain, this is the Bridge,” a voice emanated from the large amethyst centered in the collar. “We are approaching the outer edge of the electromagnetic influence of the alien star to which we are traveling. In less than one hour, we will be within the destined solar system.”

“Thank you, ensign.”

“And, Captain, there is something out here you might want to take a look at.” Twilight magically levitated the cucumbers from her eyes and set them aside. “Is it some sort of stellar phenomenon?” The bridge was silent for a moment.

“I believe so, Ma’am. Sensors indicate a large body of gas intersecting our trajectory.”

“I’m on my way. Captain out.” Twilight wished she could have had more time to relax, but duty called, and she never shirked on her duty. With a bit of effort, she rose from her mud bath, and two of the attending spa ponies rushed forward to assist her in any way they could.

“Commander, I believe your presence will be needed on the bridge as well.” Twilight said in an authoritative tone. Starlight nodded and gave her friend a smile. One of Twilights’ first lessons for her had been on the subject of punctuality.

“I’ll be right up, Captain.”

***

The two most powerful ponies on board the Ferrier stood side by side, gazing out the port view screen at a large ribbon of gas, highlighted in the glow of the ship itself. Under normal conditions, the ribbon could not have been seen in the inky blackness of space, but the port cameras picked up infrared spectrum radiation and a number of other frequencies and composited them together to create a visual image on screen. The effect of this digital compositing created an image that blew the bridge crews’ breaths away. The band of gas, composed of mainly hydrogen and helium, was very long- at least several hundred light years, and curved in a crescent moon shape around its’ host stars’ electromagnetic field. The cloud seemed to glow a faint red, and looked almost tangible from the deck, but Twilight knew such an idea was absurd.

“Alright everypony, this is the moment we’ve been waiting for, for many years now. Once we pass through that cloud, we will be within the territorial space of the aliens that launched the probe.” She brushed aside a stray lock of ethereal hair, and sat down at the captains’ chair. Commander Glimmer sat at her right, whilst a unicorn mare, named Sapphire Song, sat at her left.

“I want to take a moment to remind each of you that we will spend some time observing and assessing the situations that arise before we decide to make contact.” Twilight spoke with a calm tone, but a hint of the excitement within her seeped out into her voice. “We are to maintain radio silence until I deem the time to be right, and in the meantime the Ferrier will remain cloaked for her own protection, and so as to not cause unnecessary alarm to any of the indigenous beings within this system.”

Every crewmember aboard the bridge had their eyes glued to the port screen in rapt attention. Their faces were tense, with the exception of Commander Starlight, who wore a smug smile, like all of this was routine to her. Sapphire Song, the chief executive officer onboard the Ferrier, glanced over at her commanding officer with a look of annoyance.

“Ensign,” Twilight spoke up, “engage cloaking device and advance at a heading of zero degrees, impulse power.”

The young stallion at the helm sat up straight at his post. “Engaging cloaking device- advancing at heading mark zero degrees, impulse power.” With a hum of the magica engines, the Ferrier slowly lurched forward towards its destination. As the Ferrier moved forward, its surface began to waver and ripples of color spread across its outer shell. In mere moments, the ship had vanished, and as it passed through the hydrogen cloud, it left a small cavity in its wake.

Some hours later, after passing through a several large spherical fields of debris, the Ferrier approached a large azure blue gas giant with thin rock rings. A probe was dispatched to quickly scan the planet and its surrounding moons for things of interest, and all the while the on board computer was analyzing the data that was collected. Everypony on board the Ferrier was waiting apprehensively as the time ticked by, each passing second bringing them closer to the object of all their hard work and dedication. Several large and interesting planets later, Twilight Sparkle sat nervously in the captain’s chair, and tiny beads of sweat started forming on her forehead.

As the minutes ticked by, and the apprehension of meeting the alien beings grew, Twilight could not help but remember all of the interesting information that was provided on the golden disk they found: voices in many languages that were both intriguing and soothing to the ear, music from instruments she had never heard before, and even digital images encoded into the very surface of the disk. The images were especially interesting to her, since they provided a window into the lives on the strange beings living on the planet- Earth. One such picture was deciphered as being the chemical and gaseous composition of the Earth’s atmosphere.

The last thing that Twilight remembered being on the disk was an hour long recording of what were interpreted as brain waves. These in particular were a challenge to decipher, especially considering that no pony believed that the brain wave recording actually held any significance. But lo and behold, after ten long years of trial and error, she was able to create a magical machine that could interpret the brain wave transmission. It was a long message, meant to convey the long history of the human race, along with social structures of the different people groups on the planet. The last part of the massage had to be Twilight’s favorite part on the whole disk: a mental and emotional memory of what it was like to fall in love.

She tried to focus on these thoughts as a way of coping with her growing nervousness. Twilight had taken part in many negotiations in her time, but this was perhaps the most important thing she would ever do. She sighed quietly to herself, and got up from her chair. With little else to do, Twilight walked over to her ready room- a captain’s personal office near the bridge. Once inside the adjacent room, she began to pace back and forth, quietly thinking about all the different scenarios which could occur in the near future. She hoped that -if there were such things as gods- they’d give her the strength and wisdom to get through this assignment.

***

“Captain, I believe we have found the planet we’ve been looking for. It matches the descriptions given in the golden record,” Ensign Stables at the communications panel said. He pulled up a small digital image of the blue and white world, and placed it on display next to the live image on the port screen. “Sensors indicate that the atmospheric composition is the same, albeit with more carbon dioxide than expected, and the land masses appear to match up.”

Twilight stood near the captain’s chair looking at the screen. “Thank you, Ensign Stables. Take us within 300,000 kilometers and establish a geostationary orbit.” She sniffed, and added: “Keep us cloaked, and maintain radio silence.”

“Yes Ma’am.”

Within moments, the Ferrier changed its’ yaw by a few degrees, and slowly moved within the allotted distance. In moments, Ensign Stables called out their distance from the planet, and ordered the all stop. “Show the planets’ surface, at ten times magnification.” Twilight ordered. Immediately the large blue planet filled the screen in front of them- but something did not match up.

While she was certain that this planet called -Earth- was what she saw before her, there were a few major differences between the live image and the digital image she was used to seeing. Much of the landmass consisted of various shades of brown and in some areas green, while large patches of web-like grey covered other areas like polka dots. In many areas, Twilight thought she saw what looked like smoke, but she was not sure. She ordered that fifty times magnification be displayed on one such area, and when the close up appeared on screen, everypony in the room gasped.

What Twilight saw was horrifying, as nothing ever seen in Equestria before. A great metal city, much like Manehattan, was obscured by the black smoke of a thousand fires; tongues of flame ravaged many of the buildings in clusters, and the streets below these were cluttered with massive throngs of alien beings, either fleeing, or looting- she was not certain. Wingless aircraft of strange design were encircling the city, highlighting different areas or even firing something upon the crowds. Different camera views from other cities were put up on the main viewer as thumbnails, and each live feed brought with it new and horrifying atrocities. Burning vehicles lay in the streets, and crowds of people armed with crude instruments attacked what looked like armed soldiers with shields. Ensign Stables enlarged that one particular thumbnail to full view in order to get a better look. Everypony in the room knew what Equestrian soldiers looked like, yet the soldiers with shields looked nothing like any military they had seen before. Underneath black body armor, glowing green eyes shone with cold determination.

“Ensign, see if you can get a better view of those soldiers.” Twilight ordered. As much as the carnage bothered her, she wanted to know to what extent these alien soldiers were willing to go to stop the violence. After a minute or so, the camera view switched to something more angled, and it zoomed in on the soldiers from the perspective of the crowd. Underneath the black body armor glowed the eyes of a machine made to look like a human. When a thermal imaging filter was added to the live feed, the crowd could clearly be seen as living things; yet despite the field of view being filled with the bright white glow of the fires nearby, the metal soldiers were quite cold by comparison.
Twilight was unsure of what to think of the situation before her. After having the thermal filter removed, she sat back down in the captain’s chair.

“Can we pick up any sounds from this distance using our magic?” Twilight turned to the pony standing at the external sensors station.

The mare at that station started looking over her readings. “Perhaps we could Captain, although without a medium through which the sound or magic to travel, it would seem rather difficult. I’ll try though.” She lit her horn and pointed it at the instrument panel before her. The readings flickered momentarily and the young officer struggled to keep her horn lit. After a moment, she stopped and leaned back at her seat.
“I’m sorry Captain,” she said with an exhausted tone. “I’m having trouble getting a magical lock on the air molecules around that area.” After a moment of thought she added, “Perhaps if we used the Heart of Twilight we could-”

“The Heart of Twilight must only be used in emergencies.” Sapphire Song interrupted the young officer, who looked away at her instruments with a hurt expression.

“Now Sapphire,” Twilight looked over at her chief executive officer, “may I remind you that every officer is free to speak her mind regarding potential solutions to problems at hoof. I’m sure our young friend here simply wanted to think of a good way to solve the problem.”

Sapphire Song turned to look at the port screen and steeled her gaze. “Yes Ma’am.”

A movement drew Twilights’ eyes back to the screen against the far wall. Some of the soldiers in the front row moved their shields aside and extended what looked like barrels in the direction of the crowd. The crowd reacted by momentarily pausing with looks of fear on their faces, before turning and fleeing the armed soldiers. Before Twilight could wonder what they were so scared of, she noticed large numbers of people collapsing as they ran from the now offensive military force. Some of the humans closest to the soldiers burst into flame before collapsing to the ground in agony.

“What are they doing?!” Twilight shouted aloud. She stood from her seat and ordered that the magnification be increased. What sort of weapon could cause the enemy to burst into flame? After an initial scan of the space between the soldiers and the crowd turned up no projectiles being fired, the thermal filter revealed that thin streams of intense heat radiation were being emitted from the soldiers’ weapons.

“Can anypony please tell me what those streams are?” Twilight sounded tense.

“Captain, I think I have something.” The mare at the external sensor station spoke up, and Twilight turned to look at her. “Sensors indicate that the soldiers’ weapons are emitting thin beams of intense microwave radiation. They’re literally burning those humans to death!”

Twilight looked back at the screen in front of her. She could see the faces of some of the individuals fleeing the soldiers and their weapons. One male in particular looked especially frightened and was running down a side alley when he was hit by one of the radiation beams. His face gave a look of intense fear and pain for a moment, before his clothing, hair and skin burst into flames. Twilight’s eyes teared up as she watched him collapse, then in a particularly bright flash of light, nothing was left of him but a pile of ash, smoldering on the black ground.

“That’s enough.” Twilight spoke up. “I don’t want to see anymore.” The image on the view screen was replaced by the blackness of space in front of them, and the planet below seemed calm after what had just transpired. Twilight turned away from the screen and began to walk toward her ready room.

“I’ll be in my ready room.” Her head hung slightly, as though she was suddenly burdened with a great weight. “Keep monitoring the planet below for any useful information. Commander- you have the bridge.” The personnel on the bridge watched her leave in silence, and no pony spoke a word for some minutes afterwards.

***

Several hours had passed since Twilight entered her ready room, and Commander Glimmer was getting worried that something might be wrong. She downloaded all the information they had gathered in the past few hours to her data pad, and got up from her seat. Things onboard the Ferrier had gone quiet since it would be less than an hour till the start of the next shift. After walking across the room, she tapped the button near the door the Captain’s ready room, and she could faintly hear the two toned chime that signaled the occupant of the room inside that she had a visitor.

“Enter.” She heard the familiar voice say from within.

Starlight opened the door and walked into the small office. The lights along the edge of the ceiling were dimmed, and Twilight sat at her crystal desk, made from polished purple lepidolite. Her head rested on her hoof as she read from a book in front of her. “Close the door, please.” Twilight said without looking away from the tome in front of her.

Starlight turned and closed the door, and looked back at her mentor. Something about Twilight’s body language bothered her, and it was not very difficult to see from her slumped posture that something was amiss. As Starlight stood there in silence, she noticed that the captains’ hair seemed a little less radiant- a little more subdued than what was normal.

“What’s wrong, Twilight?” Starlight spoke up, only to be interrupted by a hoof gesture from the Captain. After a moment, Twilight turned the page she was reading and sat up in her chair.

“How can I help you, Commander?” Twilight said with a neutral tone. Sensing that Twilight wanted to keep this interaction professional, Starlight placed the data tablet on Twilights’ desk and spoke up.

“We have intercepted what seems to be a planetary communication grid, from which we have been able to ascertain a large amount of information regarding the situation at hoof.”

“What have you found out?”

“Most of the countries on this planet are suffering from a severe financial destabilization, and the resulting poverty and famine are driving the citizens to revolt since their governments don’t appear to be handling the problem very well. That’s all I could figure from the public information.”

“I see.” Twilight said after a moment of thought. “There must be some other reason that such violence is allowed to take place in the streets.”

“Perhaps.” Starlight looked concerned.

“Thank you for the information, Commander.” Twilights’ voice was cold, and she turned back to her book.

“Twilight, what’s wrong?” Starlight approached the desk. “I’ve known you long enough to tell that something’s wrong. Are you upset about what you saw earlier?”

Twilight looked away, and from the look of it, she had been deeply hurt by what she saw. “I- They-” Twilight choked on her words. In a few moments, she began sobbing quietly, and Starlight teared up at seeing her like that. She moved around the desk toward Twilight and embraced her. The two sat together for a long time, each supported by the other as they let the tears flow freely. Twilight soon reached a point where her sobs were silent and no more tears were shed; instead, her graceful form simply shook in silence, and Starlight simply sat there- letting her old friend rest her head on her shoulders. After a long moment of silence, Twilight sat up and looked into her friends’ eyes- with a smile of gratitude on her lips.

“I'm alright Starlight,” She spoke softly, “I’m alright.”