"Good morning everypony!" Doctor Steady Pulse greeted the princesses, as she entered the recovery room.

After the princesses responded in kind, she continued;

"Now that you've all finished breakfast, I have an invitation from her highness. She's invited you all to the observation room, to witness a technological marvel. Following that, we'll be entering earth space shortly thereafter. Where; you'll get a view of her world, a view that no ponies from Equus have seen before."

Thinking for a moment, she went on;

"I'd say, it's a kind of sight that Nopony from Equus has ever seen" She finished.

"I beg to differ doctor. I had the dubious pleasure of looking down on Equus for a very long time." Luna objected, with a grin.

Realization setting in, the doctor apologized.

"Oh, right. Sorry your highness."

"Another thing; I am compelled to insist you wear one of these while we pass through gateway" She sheepishly pulled out magic nullifier horn rings.
"While it's nearly a moot point for you to need one, it's better safe than sorry. An alicorn inadvertently casting a spell during the jump, well.." she winced "it would make teleporting at light speed look insignificant by comparison."

With a huff, Twilight conjectured;
"I don't see the point. We're all drained so badly, a unicorn foal would outrank us in power right now."

"I talked to the empress about that as well, and she made an interesting supposition; What if your magic is simply suppressed? And then have an alicorn-sized surge while going through the gate?"
"It still gives me a chill thinking about it..."
"She's steadfast in her optimism of your recovery, and taking that into account, plans for the worst" The doctor explained.

"If the gateway is so dangerous, why use it?" Celestia asked.

"The same reason a pegasi uses their wings your highness. No matter how bad the possibility of a falling injury due to a wing cramp may be, they still fly. Any pegasi Could get from 'A' to 'B' by walking or galloping, but they fly instead. It's faster, much much faster."
"Same with these gateways; Without them, a trip that takes only a couple seconds, would take Months traveling at maximum possible speed. The only cost is: wearing one of these silly things for a minute or two as a safety. Even her highness puts one on as a reminder, though she could easily overpower it. She said the feedback tells her she's inadvertently trying to do something wrong in the moment... or, something like that?"

"Fine, hoof it here. I'll put the thing on" Twilight groused.

"Here you go, but you don't have to put it on right now. We wont be at the gateway for another hour. That's what the invitation is for, not only is it really cool, but you all can see why it's so important to go through the trouble" The doctor placated the pouty purple princess.
"I get the feeling she doesn't like them either" the doctor giggled.

"Well, I'm for seeing what all of the fuss is about" Celestia said.

"I as well. But I especially want to see how different this place is than Equus" Luna agreed.

With the younger princess throwing in for the sightseeing trip to the observation room, the doctor excused herself.

"Great! I'll be right back with a few wheel chairs."

Wheeling into the observation room, the princess were greeted by the empress. Behind her was a backdrop of streaming lines of white light, seen through the windows.

"I am glad you all came." she beckoned them closer to the windows.

"What are those streams of light you highness?" Cadance asked.

"They are the light reflected by the stars. We are traveling so quickly, that the ones in front of us, appear very bright, and become dimmer as we pass by them."

"To think we are going that fast.. Its hard to comprehend" Celestia commented.

Nodding in understanding, the empress continued;

"You will be able to see the change immediately when we come to a stop before the gate. Then... We will travel even faster than that, as we pass through."

"How does that work your highness?" Twilight asked.

"It joins two points in space, side by side. In the places where they are relocated, the space around it is compressed, making a void where the other point can coexist next to that location in space. Both sides perform this feat. To say, If one could pass through a mirror, the glass would be the filling of the void made. The air that once took up its place, pushed away in front and behind. Where the glass itself is actually located at the opposite end. All this is done with the fabric of space, and not air of course."
"As one pushes through that 'glass', they come out in the space surrounding its opposite end."

"Impressive" was all Twilight could say.

The empress's ear twitching, she put her hoof to the communicator;

"Thank you captain" she said. Turning to the princesses, she directed them to the windows.

"If you will look to where the lights are originating, and keep watch, you will see our speed drop and the gateway come into view."

As she finished her words, that exact thing happened. The lights became slower and shorter, until they appeared to no longer be moving. A tiny ring appearing in front of them, getting larger as they approached.

"It is time. I ask you all to put the rings Pulse gave you, on." She asked, dawning her own upon her horn.

Looking around, she saw they all had them on, even Steady Pulse. Reaching to her ear again, she spoke to the pony she was before;

"We are prepared captain. Proceed at your discretion" She ordered.

The tiny ring now much larger, began to emit a soft glow around its perimeter.
As the ship got closer, the true size of it became apparent to the ponies in the observation room.

"This thing must be as big as the castle grounds.." Celestia said with wonder.

"It's really close to that, I'd say" Twilight gaped.

With the ring beginning to pass out of the windows view, the princesses held their breath.
Finally needing to breath again, they took another deep breath.

All at once, it looked like the stars had changed places, like they had blinked.

A few moments later, Moon tapping her comm link again, nodded;
"We are through. In those few moments, the whole ship traveled more than a three months journey. Or nine months, at the speed we were previously traveling. You may now remove your rings" She said taking hers off.

"That's it?! It was like a blink! I thought we were going to feel like an arrow flying through the air or something!" Twilight cried.

Suppressing a laugh, Moon told her "Not all powerful things are a flashy spectacle, your highness. Some times, it looks quite benign to the eyes. Though here we are. In a moment however, you will see us accelerate to a speed much faster than we were traveling all this time."

The ship having turned to port, came to a halt. Then, it accelerated greatly; The pinpoints of light, stretching to solid fading lines.

"I never tire of seeing that.. Ahem, we will be Earth side in twenty-two minutes" Moon followed up.

"Why is it called that your highness? Was it named after earth ponies?"

"That is a long historical question, princess. Much longer that twenty minutes. However to put it shortly; no, at least not specifically. When it got that name, ponies were not in the minds of the name-ers." the empress answered Luna's question.

While the empress was answering Cadance's question about the empire's governing autonomy, the light show outside settled down. The streams of light returning back into pinpoints, framing a tiny blue dot at the center of their view.

"Ah, here we are" the empress declared.
As the blue dot became bigger, a small moon could be seen. As they got closer to it, Luna nodded her approval;

"It's good to see you have inherited my good sense of taste."

If the others didn't comprehend what Luna was talking about, the empress didn't notice, nor care. She was swelling with pride in this moment.

Entering orbit of the blue marble, the empress announced;

"Everypony.. Family and friends; I welcome you to Earth. My home, and the heart of the StarLight Empire." Taking a moment to soak in the moment, she continued
"Here, you will find ponies friendly, loving, and very welcoming. Though you may be arriving as refugees, I trust you will find your stay here heartwarming and fulfilling. If and when you desire to return to Equus, we hope that you will remember us fondly. Should you desire to make this world, or any of its many colonies your home.. I, we, welcome you with open arms, and wings."

The empress bowed, then arose with a tearful smile "It is a dream come true to have you here. Thank you, all of you. Thank you for being here, with us, and me."

Author's Note

So ends Part 2, a positive ending to a mission with a dark turn of events.

Part 3 is a tad lighter in theme as the princesses make their return to Equestria, though it will not be easy for them, the Empire included.
It became a story of dubiousness and cost as it went on.
Motivations turned out to be less cut-and-dried as the details were laid out at the end.
Were the bad ponies entirely wrong, or the natural result of their bad life experiences? Do they deserve what they got for their actions?
That is for you to decide.