"Leaving aside the political repercussions of the great schism, the social crisis that was experienced at that time was a point and apart in the history of all races of Equus" - said Mandarin kang, his face, although tough, had an aura that transmitted tranquility and respect, since he is one of the oldest in the station, he was one of the few kirins that were still alive, his color contrasted his attitude, with brown fur and red mane with black, but slight white locks could be seen.

"From the fragmentation of the central colonies and the great war, were they born?" - asked the professor cryptically.

"I, professor! First came the Pegasus empire, followed by the Terrestrial Conglomerate, The Silver Planetary Systems, and more small factions of other species" - replied Smile Pink, her bubbly attitude contagious even the largest, her pink color and Fluffy mane was classified as a symbol of beauty for some, since its resemblance to one of the elements of harmony stole occasional glances, but its cutie mark of an open gift helped not to confuse it with the legendary mare, in addition to being a unicorn.

"Very well, at that time many factions were born, they were very chaotic times and several were destroyed by the weight of the others, although the UEG managed to prevail, it lost a lot of power outside the Equus and Eridan system, although it is still a power, its influence is only limited to its territory "

"And what are we linked to?" - asked Green Amat, a member of one of the few remaining Griffin families, sometimes he was confused with an adult due to his height.

"We are not linked to anything, we are an independent colony, initially our ancestors were a group of colonizers from the UEG, our space station, Selene V, was part of the exploration fleet, a resting and refueling point"

"Why are we no longer linked to the UEG?" - asked Rain Sparkle, her tricolor and tousled mane, added to her spirit of adventure, helped her to repeat the same course of world history several times, the professor being the only one who endured that same question every time she could ask it.

"We were one of the few who survived the great schism, but the lack of preparation of the UEG, left us abandoned for decades, a provisional government was established and over time it stayed that way, at first we thought that the UEG could to be mad with that, but they let us live like that, we even received some recognition from other factions, such as the SPS and the UEG, that gave us some freedom, since our station is the only one in this sector "

The professor said while using a hologram to show the commercial and transport routes, showing the Selene V station as the only refueling site, since it was right on the borders of the exclusion zone

"If someone wants to travel from unknown areas to the outer colonies, especially the SPS merchants and the conglomerate, the fastest area is through this place, and that is the reason why they left us alone, even though we are a strategic point importantly, no one wants this place to be controlled by any faction, so they leave us alone. "

"And why not use the exclusion zone ?, with that route they could save a lot of time and fuel" - said Rain, gaining deathly glances by opening that topic again, since it was something of common knowledge.

"Well, that place contains a very rare strong gravitational pull. About 70 years ago, a large group of ships from the empire came to the station to prepare to explore that area, many of yours may remember it as the incursion, it was terrifying, ships with several kilometers, cruise carriers, thunderous Class V, a whole fleet, for a moment we even thought that another war was coming, but days after they left, confirmation came from the empire, as well as from the UEG and the other factions, the first pact signed by all the powers, to name that place a prohibited zone. "

"But what about the legend of Selene?" - Rain asked, with a hopeful look and her voice full of emotion, but her companions did not share her, even Smile was already sleeping in her place.

"That is a legend, it is true that within the exclusion zone there is a solar system called Selene, our home is named after her, but a ghost ship from colonial times that destroys anyone it encounters is unlikely, many Universities blame gravitational irregularities at that location and for the destruction of the ships, the instruments do not work and the wreckage of the destroyed ships, the instruments and engines is also useless by magical radiation. Those who enter cannot leave unless they want to travel a few hundred years using normal engines "- said Mandarin as he turned off the screens.

"Remember to do your homework, I want a 5 page essay on the farm crisis on my desk first thing on Monday, enjoy your weekend" - he said as he left the room.

"You know, if you weren't my friend, I'd make a lot of fun of you, do you still think that story is true?" - asked Amat, leaning back in Rain's chair and taking out his lunch, a juicy steak of synthetic meat.

"And if you weren't my friend, I would take that thing from you and throw it in the waste processor" - Rain said as her face wrinkled in disgust.

"Unlike you, I need this to live, knowing about ancient legends is nothing more than a pretext and you know it" - Amat said as he ate, sitting next to Rain.

"It is part of our story, not just a legend, damn chicken, I just want to know if the stories are true, look at this" - Rain said while projecting a very blurred image.

"I took this from an exploration satellite a few months ago, it was abandoned and I managed to get it out of the junkyard"

"Do you have an illegal satellite ?!" - Amad shouted while choking on the meat.

"Firstly, it is not illegal, it is still in service, they just did not claim it and according to the rules of international space, I can claim it, it is private property, and second, I have it in orbit about 2 years-light from the exclusion area "- Rain said while smiling smugly.

"You know, I don't know whether to feel intimidated or grateful, you are the perfect image of a waste of talent" - Amad said as he took out a drink to help him with his food.

"As I was saying, take a good look at the image" - Rain said while pointing to a specific point and ignoring his comment.

Among all the static in the image, you could see it was an asteroid cloud, but by enlarging a specific part, there was clearly something very strange.

"You recycled a surveillance satellite, worked a lot of don't know how long, to take a photo of an asteroid in the shape of an ice cream cone?" - Amad said, just before receiving a hit from Rain, sending him flying a few meters.

"I don't know why I bother, but I'll explain it to you, that ice cream cone, according to my calculations, is almost forty times the size of the station, and it moves cyclically around the edges of the Selene system, I can't get the satellite any closer without being destroyed by the influence of magical radiation "- said Rain as she sat down and took out a few papers with calculations.

"And how the hell did you do it? I thought it was not possible to send signals there" - Amad asked as he got up to finish eating.

"It is possible to send the signals, the problem is what can receive it, lots, if not all the teams use magic as a power source, some parts like the communication matrix are also magic, I only replaced the magic part in the satellite "- Rain said while he showed Amad his diagrams, which for him were only very elaborate drawings.

"It took all my money and pieces from the ship's junkyard, as well as hours without sleep, but each piece on that satellite doesn't have a speck of magic, emits almost no radiation whatsoever and is undetectable thanks to an optical camouflage system what I developed to prevent it from being stolen, unless they are within 4 meters, they will not be able to detect it "- she said happily.

"Ok, and the huge space ice cream cone?, It must be an asteroid with a strange shape, no spacecraft or space station is that size" - he said as he continued eating and looking at Rain's drawings.

"true, but do you remember the stories ?, the legend says of a ship as old as the colonial era of the UEG, the first and last of its kind, abandoned in the times of the great schism, its crew went crazy and now they travel by the entire Selene system, capturing delusions, but I don't believe in that story "- said Rain, managing to surprise Amad.

"Don't you believe that? Then why do you keep teasing the teachers about that story?"- he asked with genuine curiosity.

"Because I think something is in that place, maybe a research center, or something like that, maybe even the cause of the madness of the great schism!" - Rain shouted with emotion.

"Ok, but for now, you can only look, I do not think the commander will lend you a ship, especially if it is to go to that area" - Amad said, as he gathered his things, helping Rain as well.

"In that, I hate to give that you're right" - she said with disappointment in her voice.

"In addition, things are quite gloomy at the station, the water generator is damaged and many crops have died, if this continues, they may have to cut the city's supply to compensate" - he said as they left the room, walking by the bright hallways.

"Another water rationing, with this is now 7 times in 6 months, how much would they do it?" - asked Rain.

"Two weeks, at least, or so my uncle said, by the way, he thanks you for helping him with the new generator model, if they manage to get all the parts, we would no longer have to ration the water"

"I'm glad, now we're going home, I'll see you on Monday" - Rain said as she said goodbye and ran home.

The enormous corridors of the station were quite long, although each part has a function, from the power port to the communication antennas.

Some parts had exterior windows, and one, in particular, was a favorite of many, giving a complete view of the central part of the station.

(The Selene V)

Thanks to contingency plans and the abandonment of quite a few personnel in the first years of the station, there were only just over 3,000 left in that moment, 5 kilometers long and two kilometers wide, the station had become the first self-sustaining station from across the galaxy, that and being the sole survivor of Selene-class stations.

Similar to a colonial class ship, Selene stations were designed to be a city in space, with a capacity of 6,000 crew.

Thanks to the abandonment of half the crew, several sections were adapted as farms, transferring the necessary organic matter from nearby planets, a work that they say lasted decades.

But the result was beautiful and satisfying.

But there was a very serious problem, and it was the age of the station, more and more life support systems were breaking down, since they did not have a complete infrastructure, and the loss of technology to replace certain components, the station was in the risk of become scrap metal in a few more decades.

Even Princess Flurry, who come once a few years ago, helped with a problem on the farms, saving a season's crop and avoiding a famine.

In addition, they did not have enough personnel to maintain the entire station, it simply broke down faster than they could repair it, and that left them with only one option, and that was to hire independent engineers.

"Today the first ones arrive" - Rain whispered as she went to her home, near the engineering headquarters, she was the youngest in the station with that position, and one of the few more than 200 that were in the station.

Entering the barracks, she went to her house, site E-101, where her family was waiting for her, the only thing that was most important to her.

"I'm at home mom, dad, ball of feathers!" he whirled as he tossed his backpack aside.

Each family was placed in a place according to how many members they had, and their home was relatively comfortable, three bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen and living room.

"Your brother went out with your father to see the arrival of the engineers, only I am dear" - said his mother as she sat in her chair watching a broadcast of the arrival of the engineers.

"You could have gone with them if you wanted to see their arrival" - she said, as she sat next to her.

"no, I wanted to wait for you, besides I don't like going out to those places, it's suffocating"

"I think you had a nickname, the motor mouse, since you spent it in the engine room all day, and that place hardly fits an adult stud, and that is suffocating for you?" - Rain said with a smile.

"Right, but thanks to that I met your father on motors, you know even you two owe their existence to days full of ..."

"I don't want to hear that, mom, we better see the arrival" - Rain said while looking at the screen.

There were not many in the reception, many had work to do, but there were a few guards, the station, although it was not prepared for battle, had a defense corps, never suffered attacks more than some bandits, who managed to be repelled by the escort ships.

"Look, that ship is very rare, I thought they would arrive in a gargantia-class transport ship, but that ship is a loader type" - Rain said, receiving confirmation from her mother.

Her brother and father still didn't see each other, maybe they still hadn't arrived.

The ship 10 meters long and 5 wide, quite ugly but with a reliable structure, landed in the cargo bay, they would be the first new settlers in more than 250 years, it was something very rare and expected.

"Look, he's a kirin, now that old man will have someone to talk to" - she said.

It seemed to be going well, but something was moving at the bottom of the ship, just when the others hardly noticed it, the kirin transformed into fire and burned the guards, and more soldiers with weapons emerged from the ship, finishing off the remaining.

"Shit, it's a bandit attack!" - just as Rain got up, the alarm went off throughout the station, they didn't have many guards, maybe 300, and more than half of them were on patrol in the ships.

"This is not a drill, the station is under attack, everyone, leave the station"

"Mama !!, we have to go!" - Rain shouted as he pushed her to the door, they still had time, since the entire station was prepared to leave her in case of an emergency, in addition to the loading bay being quite far from them .

"I'm coming, I just want one thing!" - she yelled as she grabbed a photo where the whole family was.

"The escape pods are at the end of the corridor, if we can get to it, the evacuation ship should pick us up at the back of the farms!" - Rain said as they both ran.

Everyone already knew what to do in the event of an invasion, although they never expected something like this to happen, they could withstand an attack with the escort fleet, but if they boarded they did not have many defenses, so they would abandon the station and request support from the station's control to retake the station in case of invasion.

They still had a chance, but something didn't add up

"How the hell did they manage to get in?!" - shouted her mother.

The engineers they hired were verified and approved by the commander, and several were land ponies, with the exception of the kirin who came out first.

"The invaders are heading to the residential areas, they have passed the cargo blocks, every creature, evacuate now!"

"How the hell are they doing it so fast ?! Aren't they supposed that place has been seal?!" -Rain yelled.

Arriving at the evacuation capsules, several had already been boarded, only another 50 were missing in this section.

They started to fasten in the small capsule as fast as they can.

"Your father and brother should have already left, their evacuation signal is already registered on the ship"

"Thanks to Luna who they agreed to implement this thing or we would not know who already left" - said Rain while pressing the launch button.

Shooting into space, they watched with fear as various parts of the station were on fire, many escape pods were already a few hundred meters on the way to the evacuation ship, a huge cargo ship hidden under the armor plates. from the farm, quite large, several kilometers long and a few hundred meters wide.

"Attention, a total of 80% of the crew on board, the escort ships have arrived and are giving us coverage, we just have to wait for the others" - said the voice of the commander.

From their capsule, they could see how various parts of the station exploded, Rain wondered if they would return to their home, so she saw how several hundred more capsules reached the freighter.

"Honey ?, are you there?" - rang on the communicator of the capsule, lifting a huge weight from the shoulders of Rain and her mother

"Yes darling, we are on board, are you alright?" - Green asked.

"We are fine, we managed to climb almost immediately into the capsules when they attacked."

"Prepared to depart, all personnel is on board" - said the commander, cutting off the communication.

Then, the plates that concealed the freighter exploded, freeing the ship.

Then, several more ships emerged from slipspace, right in the cargo bay, the escort ships began fighting the ships to give the freighter time to escape.

But just before the jump-started, a shadow missile hit the side of the freighter, causing several capsules to explode cus the corrupted magic, ripping the capsule of Rain and her mother.

The last thing they saw was the tunnel of blue light that swallowed them, and a feeling of fear of never seeing again their family again.

Author's Note

If you like the story, I invite you to leave a like, so I will know if continuing this story is worth it, also this little whim is to fill more lore to the "harmony multiverse", where I invite everyone to participate XD, yep, I made this a multiverse, in the link you can see what my attempt to do something in this world.