BARRIER

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter 1: Cooling Energy
Chapter 2: Meeting
Chapter 3: Replacement
Chapter 4: Acclimation
Chapter 5 - Recovery

Prologue

Everypony has a fear of the end of the world. The fear of losing everything.

The fear of no longer being able to live your life.

But that wasn't a fear brewing in anycreature's minds. Why would you worry about civilization being killed off when there was no imminent threat? Of course, if there was such a thing, the princesses would protect us. Celestia and Luna be blessed with our love!

But sometimes, there comes a period where nature turns against us, and the reasons are unknown. Nature is a crazy thing isn't it? One day, it gives you a healthy apple to eat, another day it turns your world into a living hell. And when the latter occurs, it's hard to remember the former. Negativity always seems to outweigh positivity, doesn't it?

And that's exactly what happened to the planet Equestria sat on.

With advancements of technology in the kingdom, Equestria had become able to see past the atmosphere. Reach into the stars, as they said. A vast void filled with other stars and worlds seen with a clarity never thought possible. Space travel wasn't a reality, but nonetheless, ponies were amazed by what magic and science could achieve. It caught the attention of outside nations - with many races coming to Equestria on their own accord to get closer looks, and learn from it.

It brought further harmony. Technological feats were achieved abroad.

Most of that, however, had come to an abrupt halt. One fateful afternoon, a group of Pegasus researchers in Cloudsdale had detected a sort of flying rock - a meteor. At first, nobody thought much of it - they had discovered other bodies such as this one, and there was a near-zero probability of it striking Equus.

Near-zero doesn't mean zero though.

The meteor, codenamed Pegasus-04 for obvious reasons, grew much more alarming as years passed. In short, it wasn't just some random miles-wide rock in space. It was a miles-wide rock in space on a crash course towards Equus.

The princesses were informed, and soon, everycreature knew. Equestria devolved into panic - even the Mane 6, the Elements of Harmony themselves, were worried. Other countries, other species just as deep in trepidation, had sought to survive; some went high into the clouds, others went deep underground, but they knew it'd be a lost cause. Even during attempted international negotiations, it was always known nothing could withstand the impact of a meteor.

As Pegasus-04 edged closer towards the planet, an idea was hatched: What if a shield was put up to protect from the impact? Of course, this would be thought as stupid, but now that Equus was going to be turned to a wasteland, no-one cared about what was 'possible' and 'impossible'. The instinct to survive was in full swing, ponies, griffons, dragons, etc. alike.

Amazingly, through some sort of scientific miracle, the shield was swiftly devised and established - 6 generator facilities placed around the outskirts of the kingdom, with a central HQ in Canterlot. The princesses and Twilight ran the HQ, the others by the rest of the Mane 6. The activation of the barrier commenced just days after the final facility was put in place. Ponies were not the only races to create such a thing: all the other creatures offered to aid development in every way applicable.

Unfortunately, due to techno-magical limitations at the time, the shield had only protected Equestria. After several failed attempts to expand, the princesses traveled to other areas - Griffonstone, Seaquestria, Yakyakistan, even the Dragons Lair. They wished to try and protect as many as they could, Equestria acting as a sanctuary. They promised that as soon as they were able to, they'd bring the shield over to, and rebuild, their homes. The sisters also affirmed they'd help further educate them on the shields and generators, hoping they could utilize them themselves one day.

When the meteor pounded into the surface of the Earth, it brought forth an inexplicable amount of fire and ash, blocking out all sunlight and trapping the planet in a hellish environment. Nearly all life had been wiped out, and the crater of the meteor had become a massive magma pool. It seemed, truly, like the end of the world.

But Equestria survived. The shield worked.

Though not completely unaffected, society had turned into a new chapter. The world outside had stayed uninhabitable over the decades, but everycreature persevered. Slowly, towns expanded, cities evolved, new jobs were created, and the economy grew.

The shield stayed impenetrable, forever safeguarding the kingdom, and every single organism inside it.

Chapter 1: Cooling Energy

What an eventful day!

Just kidding. I'm just making sure the coolant engines for the generator's core are in check. They always are, though, so I'm basically doing filly's work. Either way, the job pays well enough, so maybe I shouldn't complain. My legs wished to collapse and force myself to take a nap, but I knew that was a stupid idea. A solid metal floor wouldn't be very physically healthy to snooze on (and getting caught sleeping on the job isn't great either).

Oh! I never introduced myself. I'm sorry, the name's Flash Powers, a Pegasus stallion. I work here in Cloudsdale's shield generator facility, one of six built around Equestria. Sounds like heavy work, but it usually isn't - most of the major parts that keep the shield alive run by themselves. If you're wondering how, the simplest way to explain it is magic and science. Seriously, if I went into detail we'd be here for hours, and I'd rather not bore you.

I was switching my attention from my clipboard to the vast machinery in front of me - an organized mess of lights, electronic displays of graphs, numeric temperatures, and many other little bits adorned the steel it sat in. Levers and highly-tempting buttons populated the lower half of it. It was sort of beautiful just how science fiction-y this design was, and that it was so readily adapted across each of the generator facilities. Hell, I could hear the little beep noises it made. The papers on my clipboard were laughably basic by comparison: just hourly recordings of temperatures (of which, all of them were in acceptable ranges).

That's not to say my job's without its difficulties, though. Going in line with my cutie mark, a screw layered over an open-end wrench, I do quite a bit of regular internal maintenance on these machines. Let me tell you, it is not easy. The spaghetti of wires in the unit in front of me alone is a headache. Thank Celestia they're color-coded. I'm honestly surprised I'm even able to do it; it's even earned me a bit of a rep in this building due to how fast I apparently am with it. On top of fixing and recording, I also refill the core's coolant canisters. With liquid Nitrogen. Yep, pure atomic number 7 in liquid form. Don't worry, we wear special equipment so we don't freeze our hooves (or claws or hands, depending on the species) off carrying the containers.

I took a dulled-out pencil into my wing and wrote an entry into the paper's chart: -197.9°C at 5:00 PM. I was nearing the bottom of it, just two rows left. Outside, the sun shone through several windows (which were all positioned in a satisfyingly circular pattern around the room), the sky proudly showing off its azure hues, contrasting the dull grey these metal walls had. I suppose in a time of panic focused saving as many lives as possible from a meteor impact, not much care was put into aesthetics.

A co-worker of mine swooped over to me. She donned a pair of goggles and a white lab coat exact to mine. "Hey, Flash. Everything alright over here?" She asked.

I turned to her, taking a glance at my clipboard briefly. "Yep, nothing's changed. So far, anyway." I replied, my tone particularly unenergetic.

"Sounds good to me," She looked at our paper-holding wood boards and then back to me. "Yknow, why can't they just make some device to record this stuff for us?"

I've been subject to hearing about that a couple times. "You mean a computer? I could see that working out. Partially."

My co-worker flopped onto her back while flying, as if she was laying on a cloud. "I mean, this part of our work's so simple. There's, like, nothin' to do! You just stare at a monitor for a few hours and write stuff on a piece of paper. Havin' something like that would be a blessing."

"Yeah..." I shrugged. "You aren't wrong, though. Guess they couldn't bother to put in some computers during the whole 'post-meteor economic boom' thing."

In the those who built the generator's defense(s), computers are still relatively new. Big rectangular boxes of circuits and whatnot. I just assume it's too early on in their development for their implementation. I know Twilight and the princesses in the Canterlot facility have ones of their own, though.

"Speaking of owning them... did you see the computer I got in our apartment this morning?"

"Oh, yeah I did. I didn't think you'd actually buy one, I assumed you were joking last week," A little instinctual chuckle escaped my mouth while I spoke. "They're like, 500 bits minimum, Solar."

Oh, I forgot again; her name's Solar Blaze.

"That's what saving up lets ya do," She replied with a hint of audible self-pride. "I can't wait to start messing with it, I finished setting it up last night."

"I don't think I'm buying one, for now at least," Solar made a face like she expected me to say that (because she did). "I've been trying to get, uh, let's say 'better' with my money."

"Don't worry, I'll let you use it, too," Her expression became playfully mischievous. Oh, Celestia, please don't mention it agai- "Remember when you accidentally wasted, like, one grand last year 'cause you thought you lost your lab coat?" She chortled.

Man, she likes reminding me of that, huh? I know she meant well, but it's getting tiring remembering the one-grand-coat incident so often.

"And I realized I left it in my bedroom closet." We simultaneously said. I'll never forget that damned day, I felt like an idiot for weeks. At least Solar didn't humor me too hard at the time.

"Look, in the end, I returned the coat I ordered and got a refund. Let's just be glad I got some bits back."

Solar leaned forward out of her laying position. "Just enough of a refund," Flying towards me, she gave my mane a ruffle with her hoof (I may or may have not slightly enjoyed it). "Next time, make sure you need what you're buyin'."

"I will, I will, I promise."

Solar finished up her affectionate mane-rubbing. The other pegasi, griffons, and dragons in the room took fleeting ganders at our interactions.

Soon after, the doors behind Solar - large, glass-covered double-doors with white metallic outlines that acted as the entrance and exit - swung open. Because of how the door's knobs always hit the wall, a loud bang reverberated when it fully opened. Me, Solar's, and everyone else's attentions instantly shifted towards them. A trio of higher-ups moved in, all adorned with black suits (with a rainbow collar similar to ours) and earpieces, though the classic sunglasses were missing. They were two pegasi, and one griffon in front, who spoke with a deep, booming voice, showing gentle authority.

"Good evening, everycreature! Rainbow Dash, the head of our facility, wanted us to spread an announcement."

Well, that doesn't happen very often.

"Tomorrow, at 10 AM, report to the main meeting room. Dash'll be discussing future operations, and how we'll go about them. That's all for now."

Then, they promptly left. That was short.

"Future operations?" Solar landed on the ground next to me. "The Tartarus do they mean by that?" I saw her face: genuinely puzzled. Couldn't say I didn't share the same amount of confusion.

"Maybe they're introducing computers." I joked with a smirk.

"Ha, I hope so," She started trotting back to her station. "Anyway, I gotta go. I don't want them seein' me where I shouldn't be." She explained, her voice echoing more as she went. I can't say I didn't want to lose her company, even though I'd likely be talking to her again in just around half an hour. I exchanged goodbyes with her, and was back to watching the machine. Remember the internal maintenance stuff I mentioned earlier? Yeah, I really wanted to do that to break the monotony of it.

I looked over at one of the many windows around me, observing the sky, which began to have oranges of early sunset. While my eyes followed the clouds, my mind wandered freely, focusing on the meeting tomorrow. Of course, I had the same questions everyone else had: Why are we doing this out of nowhere? Why so early? What are these "future operations"?

I chose not to dwell too deep on it.

The sun's light radiated on my coat - making its pastel yellow look even more pale, like the white stripe that ran from my neck along my belly. Trying to distract myself from boredom, my eyes gravitated toward a group photograph I was in a few years ago. I squinted. Sure enough, I could see 4-years-younger Flash with the same dark blue irises. My mane turquoise with three, evenly-spaced darker strips. Same story with my tail. I could make out my wings - seeing the light-blue primaries. My nervous, trying-too-hard smile has since remained identical to how I smile today in photos. I cringed a little.

Moving on, the sounds of the employees chattering with each other were pleasant to listen to. The hummmmm of the machinery was nice as well. I looked at the clock: 5:25 PM.

35 more minutes, then me and Solar are home free.

As we flew through the facility's various hallways and the elevator, I was looking forward to two things: Home, and some food. I was HUNGRY. Normally, this is slightly so in the morning, however, reality decided that was the opposite today. I've only had lunch, so I was as ready as ever to fill my stomach with more sustenance. I could hear it growling.

"Good day, you say?" Solar asked, a common question she likes to bring up at the end of the day. I thought it was kinda corny at first when we got the job, but I've grown to appreciate her checking in on me. All the side conversation around me mixed up into an inaudible mess around me, but I was able to hear her fine.

"If anything, it was average. Just glad to be going home, I'm absolutely starving." I replied. Solar tilted her head.

"Oh yeah, you didn't eat breakfast, did ya? That's right, you left earlier than you generally do this morning."

"I just wasn't hungry. I'm definitely cooking a Hay Casserole later."

I heard Solar agree to that idea. "You better gimme some of that, Flash."

"Heh. Will do."

I knew well that my cooking wasn't quality. Solar likes it, though, so I guess I'm just too hard on myself. That's what she tells me, anyhow.

We got to the entrance hall - a semicircular dome that sticks out from the facility itself. Two long, round cherrywood desks with granite tops were at each side, receptionists sitting behind them. Plants stood beside the desks, lush and green with youthful health. Curved paintings of various kinds ornamented the smooth, white walls. Behind me and Solar were three elevators, each of them bustling with exiting critters; some walked, some trotted and ran, some impatiently flew. Long, yellow-white fluorescent lights granted powerful visibility, making the carpet below us a dark grey.

Our way of accessing the outside were two pairs of sliding, rainbow-striped doors (one set behind another). They were already open for us; Solar and I took off to the skies soon as we stepped out. We headed for Cloudsdale - our workplace was about a 10-15 minutes flight from it. From the facility, the city looked like a huge cloud leaking rainbows. The city's gone under some major renovations compared to the one I saw in history books as a colt. Nowadays, the city sports a few skyscrapers, high-rise apartments, a "bigger-and-better" weather factory, and looks more akin to an actual city. Griffons also lived here now, which I think is actually pretty neat. To be blunt, I do kind of wish they kept the old aesthetic from the pre-meteor days, but what can you do.

Everything whizzed by us while we flapped our wings, our hooves outstretched and bodies streamlined. It was unusually trafficky today; the roads (just long sections between buildings) filled with other pegasi and griffons. I switched my height pretty often in order to avoid crashing. Unlike with cars, crashing in Cloudsdale often meant you had a bit of head trauma and were sore, but could continue your day. I've been victim to a couple before.

Solar's lab coat was barely hanging on, being held only by her forehoove sleeves. It exposed more of her coat; a light-ish maroon with darker spots on her legs and back. I sometimes mistake them for genuine burns... it's a running joke between the two of us now. Her mane was strikingly similar to fire - a yellow outline with an increasingly orange center. I suppose that's where the "Blaze" part comes from. A cutie mark consisting of two wrenches crossed with flames at each side helped prove her name.

I suddenly shifted my direction to the left when Solar nearly impacted somepony. I heard them yell a curse at her, she just acted like nothing happened. Not because she didn't care, though.

We reached our destination of the apartment block, which blended in with the others around it. A bright, sky-blue construct topped with darker roofs, the entrance shaded by a platform held up from marble pillars.

Finally, we were back home.

...I mean, it's not the best home, but it suffices. Two bedrooms, one bathroom, and a main area that acts as a living room and a kitchen. The one bathroom thing is kind of annoying, though. A familiar homey scent hit me, giving us some comfort as we readjusted. Solar trotted tiredly to her room to take off her goggles and coat, placing them on a hanger. I did the same.

I went over to the television - a simple CRT TV with cable - and turned it on. I'm a bit of a couch potato, and thankfully so is my roommate. Something of our liking (dubbed Unicorn With No Horn) showed on the screen immediately, which was a neat surprise. Gotta love a crime show with drama and mystery, right?

While I went into the kitchen unit, Solar entered back into the main room and hopped onto the couch. I dug through cabinets to match the ingredients my recipe sheet had. Salt, pepper, chopped hay of course, colored peppers, an onion, seasonings, et cetera et cetera.

"What do you think of that whole 'meeting' thing tomorrow, Flash?" Solar queried, half-watching TV. "I thought it was a little unexpected. We don't have meetings very often anyway, last one was like, 14 months ago or somethin'."

I focused on chopping the onion. "Can't say I'd really know. Maybe she's putting in a new thing to do for our jobs?"

Chhhop. Chhhop. Chhhop.

"Eh, I doubt that, we already do enough to keep the whole thing running. Besides, Dash isn't the type to overwork us." I think she turned her head to the side, judging on how she sounded. "Thankfully."

"For the most-" Oh Celestia, here come the onion eyes. "Ugh- Part." Tears began to well up, I wiped them with my wings. I hate cutting this vegetable. I spun my head around, seeing Solar peeking over at me with a smile akin to holding in a giggle.

"Could be about somethin' with the shield itself." She suggested. I wasn't initially sure how to feel about that. "Like, finally expanding it, or something."

"Yeah, maybe-" Ugh, damn! I was cut off mid-sentence for a second due to the eye burning. "I know that's something we're wanting to do soon, anyway. Yknow, protecting all the other creatures countries' and bringing their native lands back." I explained.

"I hope we do it sometime." Solar continued.

"Me too. We'll have to expand kinda far, though. We're a peninsula, after all."

"What if we went north? Ever since everything happened, we've only gotten messages from the Crystal Empire."

Oh! My ears perked up as I transferred the finally chopped onions to a plate.

The Crystal Empire. That strange place up in the arctic where everypony's living crystal. Literally, I've seen surviving pictures of them in books. We know that it still exists due to its own (pure) magical barrier (and the messages), but we have basically no way of getting there. It reappeared just before the meteor struck Equus, so we didn't have enough time to bring our shield there. Fortunately, from my knowledge, its 'crystal heart' thing was retrieved only a few days after its reappearance. Nowadays, the Empire has relayed to the princesses again and again to only expand the shield when we feel we're ready. We don't exactly know what would go down because of the conditions outside.

Going to the Crystal Empire... I wondered. A unique proposal, but I could see the reasons. "That'd be the first time we tried that in around 4 decades."

"That only makes me more curious, Flash."

The rest of the day aged. I had finished and served dinner - the aforementioned casserole - about 40 minutes later, the bright star of Celestia outside nearly set. I found this particular attempt to be actually good, much to Solar's liking. We sat in her room, surfing about on her computer. I examined it some - a rectangular, thick white box with a screen in the front. We were both in wonderous awe at this whole internet thing. Being able to type a question into a bar and get an answer right away was amazing.

Concerning the food, it brought a cozy satisfaction to myself, accomplishing something I feel I usually don't. Aside from that, I still couldn't shake today's event out of my head. Call it excessive, but I really don't get what to make of it. Solar's ideas were reasonable, and not out of the ordinary among the population either. Why wouldn't we try to expand the generators' area of protection? Especially to somewhere historically important to us, and to other creatures' lands? We could expand the shield, and reinforce it using that crystal heart the Empire has fueling its own barrier.

Either way, we'll find out about all that tomorrow.

The darkness of night now enshrouded Cloudsdale, the busy streets now sparsely dotted with other pegasi. If you looked hard enough, you could see the sparkle of the shield around the kingdom. There were times I'd sit by a window and just look out at it, pondering things. It sounds cliché, I know, but it's a calming thing to do. Think of it as meditation.

I was in my bed, warm, very tired, showered and clean. Solar had fallen fast asleep in the other side of the apartment. In the window, I watched the clouds, illuminated by the moonlight, slowly move along once more. Before I knew it, my vision was black, and my brain began imagining its own images and worlds.

Chapter 2: Meeting

"Alright everyone, come along now."

We all walked along into the meeting hall, following the orders those by the doors gave us. Each facility wasn't exclusively pony workers, many species actually worked with and lived among us around the kingdom. I'd say we all have pretty good harmony. It wasn't easy when it came to dragons, but they warmed up to us as the decades passed. Nowadays, there isn't a town or city in Equestria that doesn't include griffons, dragons, zebras, donkeys, or other species along with ponies.

I turned to face Solar. "Welp, time to find out what the grand reveal's gonna be!" She said, sticking out from the crowd.

I nodded, my mouth shut by nerves considering this seemed to be something paramount. I mean, the whole facility being taken into here isn't something to scoff at. I wondered if the other ones around the kingdom were doing the same.

"I'm stayin' strong hopin' that we're expanding to the other nations. I think it's about time we do." Solar affirmed. I agreed; and I'm sure the other creatures in here would as well if she publicly voiced her opinion, especially after over 40 years of being refugees in Equestria.

The main meeting room was huge, with several long, long rows of cushioned seats built around a stage with a podium. Behind it, a clean projector screen was draped, which I haven't seen used for a hot minute. Rainbow ribbons ran along the walls, fluorescent lights brightening everything. The walls shared the same smooth white the entrance hall had.

My focus on the room broke when Solar tapped me, signaling for me to move on. I did so, eventually being seated next to her in the middle of the third row. I observed the room - among those sitting were pegasi, griffon, dragon... all the creatures with wings. Makes sense with who I've seen during my time here. The light faded, now being centered on the stage. The chatter and side conversations died out, and all I could hear was silence. My heartbeat quickened a little.

The director of our facility swiftly flew into the stage, a rainbow-colored trail following behind her. Make no mistake, that was Rainbow Dash (from what I know, the Element of Loyalty), and we all clapped our hooves, claws, and hands, some cheering (Solar included). She was a middle-aged mare - not too old but not too young either.

Dash stood up happily at the podium, waving at us. "Good morning everycreature! Hope you're havin' an awesome morning," She took the microphone in her hoof. "I know you're probably wondering why you're here, right? Well, I just have some crazy news I gotta tell ya! Don't worry, I won't be long." She put emphasis on the adjectives, which I found pleasantly goofy.

Dash flew over to the side of the stage, hovering in mid-air. The slide projector overhead activated, a presentation coming on. The title slide read in big black words:

WHATS NEXT FOR OUR AWESOME SHIELD
Proudly made by Rainbow Dash!

I let a giggle out reading that, a small smile on my face. I haven't seen much of Dash, but her personality is flamboyantly likable, and it can show in her work.

She took on a more dramatic tone. "Now, for many decades, Equestria has been home to not only ponies, but many cool creatures from other cool countries too!"

The slides continued while she spoke, now changing to a map of the kingdom itself, with labels for surrounding nations as well.

"As we all know and some of us remember, Pegasus-04 slammed into Equus over 40 years ago, and brought with it immense destruction."

The map of Equestria now showed the shield, a sparkly barrier, covering the kingdom, the outside cloudy and barren.

"We created an artifical magical shield, generated by our facilities placed around the kingdom, allowing us to survive nature's fury. The problem, though, was that our technomagical limitations didn't let us extend our shield to other countries. We tried many times, but it just wouldn't work! NOT cool!"

She seemed genuinely disappointed that the shield wasn't able to go farther than Equestria. Of course, I am too, and I'm sure a lot of creatures were too at the time.

The presentation now showed illustrations of various critters in the kingdom. "We resolved by allowing their populations to come here, promising we'd rebuild their homes when our shields were able to expand. Harmony and friendship had done its thing again! Now that's awesome."

My heart calmed down a little, now that everything was moving along fine.

"And today, we are going to do what we failed to. We are..."

My eyes widened, and Solar had the same shock. There's no way she was right-

"...going to expand the shield in ALL directions! In the coming years, Equestria will no longer be the only habitable place left on Equus! Aw yeah!!"

An uproar of applause and cheering instantly erupted among all the workers, with me and Solar included. Solar was prideful of her correct predictions, and I let her have the moment.

"I WAS RIGHT! OH MY CELESTIA, WE'RE FINALLY DOING IT!!" She yelled gleefully, and I laughed in response.

As for me, I was really glad to be seeing the barrier get expanded. The level of joy around the meeting hall was a very rare sight, and I welcomed it. Not to say it's bleak and depressing in the facility, it's just that no-one's ever this happy.

"Well, damn. That's a best-case scenario." I replied, raising my voice some over the crowd.

"One more thing," We quieted down a tad in anticipation. "Princess Cadence and Shining Armor up in the Crystal Empire gave us the OK to reach up there too!"

And the crowd goes wild, again. Dear Luna, Solar was right on. Honestly, that type of accuracy is the type of stuff you see in movies and books. I clapped my hooves on the seat more, smiling.

"Holy Tartarus, it really is!" She yelled to me again, though a touch more relaxed. "That's what magical innovation does!"

"Guaranteed we're taking a vacation to Griffonstone when we're able to." I added, Solar 100% agreeing.

Dash continued her speech, the praise of everycreature cooling down. "So, how are we doin' somethin' like this? Well, take a look!"

The presentation switched to the next slide, a diagram of the generator's core. It was pretty complicated, but I understood it. All that studying many years ago in electronics working strong.

"We're gonna be replacing the old core with a brand new one! It's only got double all the fancy tech stuff the old ones have! We can go over to all the new places, and we won't be wont be overloading the generators!"

I figured. Seems pretty difficult to do... having to essentially disconnect it from everything, take it out, then vice versa as Dash described. If we fail to complete it, that'd be catastrophic... we have to really make sure we're doing it right, I don't want this to go awry.

"Once all that's said and done, we'll set up more generators in the newly rebuilt countries. For our farthest reaching goals, we'll go out even further! Who knows what, or even better, who, we could find?!"

At this point, everycreature was probably getting tired. I noticed the room gradually grow more tranquil as Dash kept speaking.

The possibility of discovering new races and species in the great beyond is quite the fascinating idea. I bet there's something, er, someone out there on Equus who survived the meteor, but I have no idea on the specifics. Maybe an undersea colony? Perhaps there was civilization atop the ash-ridden clouds? Boldly speaking, I don't completely doubt it.

The future was exciting to think about in the long-term, yet concerning in the short-term.

4 days from now - next Monday - we begin replacement.

Hey, Cloudsdale's in high spirits.

All around me, conversation regarding the new announcement filled the roads. It was particularly cheerful. The vibe in the city overall is something I haven't felt for a long while. In comparison, yesterday was blandly boring. Even the clouds below had gatherings of ponies and griffons. I liked it.

Solar flew next to me, this time being careful to not have a collision. "We're finally goin' to have a Monday we'll enjoy!" She exclaimed. "Wonder how the whole replacement thing'll go though. I know we got an explanation, but like, I still have some questions, yknow?"

"Yeah. Wonder where we'll be during it, too. Maybe..."

Solar replied while I was thinking. "How about the forefront of it?" I looked at her like she stated for a fact that 2+2 equaled 9. "I know, classic Solar and her crazy predictions, but still. You have the skill with electronics Flash, I feel you could grab a prominent position, huh? You're better with that stuff than you convince yourself."

Oh, come on. I'm good, but not on that level. "...If you say so." I didn't want to make eye contact.

"Hey, don't go lyin' to yourself. You're real smart."

"I know, just," I sighed. "Having such an important role in it would be stressful, to put it lightly. I haven't exactly tinkered with the core of the generator, and all I know for the internals is basic information."

"The whole thing sounds like it'll be takin' it out and puttin' the new one in. I don't think we'll be performing mechanical surgery on it."

She did have a point.

"I guess you're right. Maybe I'm overthinking it or something."

"You've seemed pretty nervous ever since the announcement, anyway. What's goin' on up there?"

I flew a little closer by her side. "This is just risky. We've never attempted to do this before, and I have no idea how well it'll go. I want it to succeed, but if it fails..."

"...the shield's gonna go?"

"Yep."

An uncomfortable pause followed. I knew this talk would come, but it wasn't fun to realize it. Again, if this operation fails on any of the generators, we risk the loss of our barrier. It's not a guarantee, but a very high probability of it. And, if that were to occur, we're fucked. Excuse my language, but that's the most fitting way to put it. It'd be total unadulterated calamity.

I chose to break the lack of speaking. "Being a pessimist is a bitch. Sometimes, it really grabs and tugs at you when things should have a positive outlook."

"It'll be fine, Flash. I promise."

I stared at the lines of flying critters below me, my eyes following one, snapping back, and repeating.

"I really do hope so."

"I mean, you'll have everyone there to work with. And I'm not the only buddy you got, you know Jargon's with us too. I'm sure we'll meet him again on Monday."

Jargon, the dragon I befriended a couple months back. I don't speak to him too often, nor do I see him everyday. He can seem mean, but when you get to know him, he's not so bad.

I tilted my head in consideration. "True. He is good with this kind of stuff, I'll give him that."

"Exactly, just try and keep a good mindset, alright? It'll help tons on the big day."

"I'll do my best, Solar."

We followed along the same path as yesterday, feeling the calm wind breezing onto us. We didn't really speak following Solar's positive affirmations, which I will add were nice to hear. I've never been a stranger to believing the worst possible outcomes. She's used to it, being my closest friend ever since my early school years. How she has the patience to still deal with it when it comes about is something I will never understand.

Been a few days. 3 to be exact.

Instead of working my usual, I'm taking on the task of replenishing the liquid nitrogen I mentioned a while back. This'll be the final time the current core will need this sort of treatment.

The weight was noticeable, the canister being around half my size if set down horizontally. It had a handle on the top for my right hoof to hold, so I wrapped my left around the underside. Both of my forehooves were protected in soft, thick, insulated garments that covered their entire lengths. Even then, I could feel a slight coolness while carrying the thing.

Upon reaching the first set of 3 coolant cylinders, I opened the top hatch, and poured a good third into them each. Their activation via a sequence of button pressing after caused them to glow a pretty white. The work of technomagic, I knew well.

Leaving the cylinders to themselves, I returned the empty canister to the refill conveyor in the other room. As there was no more wire-work to be accomplished today, I moved back to the unit I always stood at with a clipboard in my wing. Time for bores galore to commence.

Wait, hold on.

-194.6°.

That doesn't seem right. The boiling point of liquid nitrogen is -195°, does that mean... no, of course not. I blinked and observed the electronic display again.

-194.6° C.

I must be seeing things. I decided to keep a low profile, informing everycreature about this would probably cause chaos. At least, I thought so. Perhaps the heats increasing temporarily due to the replacement tomorrow? Makes enough sense in my mind.

Curious to how it's looking at the other units...

I was just able to see the readings on those beside me: -195.3° C, -195.7° C, -194.9° C. They were all at or just above the boiling point. I was the warmest, despite it still being unfathomably cold. Nocritter appeared to be concerned, either.

Let's hope tomorrow works out well enough... and that we can give everyone their homes back.

Chapter 3: Replacement

Today's the day.

It's Monday, and everycreature knows what that means; core replacement day. I shouldn't say I've been dreading this day; just hoping it'll fly by well, I suppose. Solar Blaze, as I expected, had a happy-go-lucky attitude, seeming like she would be talking my ears off this morning. I've heard one of her peers call her a "combination of Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie" a year or so ago. Every month that goes by, that statement becomes more true.

Back on topic, though. The royal sisters and Princess Twilight Sparkle were on the TV news last night, situated in Canterlot. They were announcing to the whole kingdom our plans to expand. It had been day-time while they spoke, so it was a rerun of a previous showing.

As I entered into my usual section of the facility with Solar, I noticed quite a few things were different. The most prevalent change was that all of the units were off. The transparent coolant tubes in the back were empty, and the atmosphere was eerily devoid of any machine noise. Everycreature was positioned over at the extension platform, which looks off towards the core itself (the casing's circle window in the front, which showed the core, revealed a plain grey). It would normally boast a large beam of techno-magic being shot up into the barrier, but not today it seems.

I trotted up to my colleagues, overhearing discussion about the whole operation; who's going where, who's doing what, when we're starting, etc. Personally, it fueled my anxiety slightly further.

Solar nudged me with her foreleg. "Woah... I've never seen anythin' like that. The core looks dead." She observed the large, looming mechanism with wonder.

I nodded. "Yeah, it does. I think the shield's running on some sort of auxiliary energy, so we're alright."

"Like backup generators?"

"Something like that."

I walked deeper into the crowd, Solar following behind me. As there wasn't much to be done at the moment, my mind wandered a little, reflecting the curiosities the creatures among me had. Solar disappeared into the critter ocean during my own daydreaming. I figured she saw one of her co-worker friends and went up to say hi.

That was, until my ears caught my name being called by her voice. Looking over, I found her coming back to me, accompanied by a tall, blue-and-green scaled dragon with small, orange spikes protruding all the way down his spine and tail. Looking at me with dark brown eyes, I recognized him instantly: Jargon. I was glad to see him.

"Hey Flash," he greeted, a tinge of boredom showing through his raspy voice. I waved with my wing in response. "How've ya been?"

"Eh, nothing interesting, aside from this anyway. Yesterday was quite a doozy."

He nodded, shifting his tail around. "Oh, yeah, it was. A great one at that, eh? Finally gonna have a chance to get back to my homeland."

"Think it's changed much from before?"

"What, from rock, stone, and lava? Ha! Nah. Only the layout'll change, we'll probably have the simplest recovery too."

Honestly, he wasn't really wrong. Aside from ash and debris falling down, all the dragonlands consisted of are really those three components. And, according to dragons who came here after the strike, it's fact. It's like a (mostly) blank canvas.

Solar chimed in. "I remember readin' you guys were buildin' your capital into a huge city before everything went down."

With a sound of remembrance, Jargon confirmed that. "Yeah, we were tryin'. If that damn meteor didn't plow our planet to Tartarus, we'd have had it completed by now," He explained. "We're gonna have to clean the rubble up and start from scratch."

"Didn't you guys have smaller neighborhoods as well?" I asked.

He sighed, tapping his foot on the floor. "We did. All gone now. I doubt we'll find any leftovers aside from... wood planks. Had we finished the project, we woulda finally had some form of big societal progress."

I felt bad, quietly sympathizing for him. Jargon missed his old home; likely still not fully used to the city life of Cloudsdale, moving from what I imagine to be small towns to a bustling, floating metropolis in comparison. Especially with how weird it was to be able to stand on clouds, too. Techno-magic can really do everything when used properly.

"I... thought you guys were fine by yourselves, though." I added.

"Problem was, we were too busy hoardin' gems and treating outsiders like shit, including you ponies. I don't think being a bad neighbor is great for advancements in civilization, especially when moving away from more... primitive ideals."

My mind simmered on what to say next, a process broken by Solar. "If only we got the damn shield over to everyone else." She said.

"Everything has its limits, and so did the shield. There was nothin' y'all could do at the time. Plus, ponies were really the only ones who could understand that type of magic." Jargon reasoned.

"Yeah..." I looked at the ground.

Jargon ruffled my mane a little with his hand. "Sometimes sacrifices have'ta be made for the greater good, Flash. Not that I ever wanted a situation like this to become reality, but... it's just how it is."

A silence of agreement grew over us.

Just then, the double-door entryway all the way in the front flung open. Out of it came Rainbow Dash, accompanied by several other ponies with outfits akin to those who made the inital announcement. All ears were on her as she made her presence known.

"Mornin, everycreature," she began loud and proud, "today's the day all of Equestria's been waitin' for! Replacement day, YEAH!" She jumped into the air in a youthful joy. A rainbow trail followed her when she practically teleported from where she was to the space between us and the core. Seriously, the speed she flies at is terrifyingly fast.

Looking over to my left, Solar had a smile planted on her face, and doing small bounces in place (though, her hooves never left the ground). She really loved Dash. I do too, I'm just... not as great at showing it. I also noted Jargon listening with an indifferent, yet attentive look.

All eyes were on Dash, ears included, as she spoke. "The process'll be super easy! All we gotta do is take out the old core, and put the new fancy one in!"

She flew down onto the viewing platform, pressing a combination of buttons on the control panel in the middle of it. Hisses of steam jetted out of the core's hexagonal casing, and it began to gradually move towards me, towards all of us. A deep, reverberating hum accompanied the structure's movement, genuinely making me feel a little scared. Some of the creatures around me muttered woah's and ooh's, Solar included. A remarkable sight, definitely one I've never seen before. Dear Celestia...

The casing froze for a second upon reaching the platform, now beginning a slow descent to ground level. Some of those among us got a little curious, stepping forward, though Dash gently shoo'ed them away. Eventually, the structure finished its gradual fall, a low, echoing Ka-Chung added to the ominous atmosphere. This close, the casing was about 3 times taller than my own height.

"Feels creepy bein' so close to it, damn..." Solar muttered.

"Luna be damned..." Jargon outwardly said, some workers hearing him and briefly looking back. Reflected my thoughts, that's for sure.

Behind us, out the same entrance that Dash entered from, were two griffons wheeling in a strange device. Sitting on a table, the thing was a pure marvel of techno-magic; a cylindrical object with a shut-off grey center boasting 6 evenly-spaced tubes protruding out of it. There were four large plugs arranged in an X shape around it, and that was basically it.

This was the new core. Sleek, clean, beautifully simplistic.

Everycreature was in simultaneous amusement and wonder. It was fat futuristic battery, and I couldn't anywhere near understand the technology inside of it.

"Now that's somethin' I've only dreamed about. This is what they've been up to in secret?" Jargon openly pondered.

Before me or Solar could respond, Rainbow Dash spoke amongst our noises of curiousity. "And there it is! The brand new core - it may look cute n' small, but it's got a punch of power!"

She pressed another sequence of buttons on the control panel. This time, it unlocked the casing's see-through door, opening it vertically. It also opened the platform's gate, which extended the bridge towards the core. It was a whole chain reaction I've only ever seen done once before, when some of my colleagues had to check on the - now old - core after it began acting up (a spider somehow crawled inside of it).

"There it is, the glue keeping things together, naked and exposed," Solar commentated, a small grin still accenting her snout. "I can tell what we're puttin' in there's superglue."

"Damn well better be." I firmly, though quietly replied. My anxiety was banging at my heart like a greedy pickaxe to pure gold ore. And I wasn't shining or feeling pretty. Thing is, if this process fails, then Equestria's gonna blend in with the outside... sure, there isn't a meteor-induced shockwave to slam us into oblivion, but the climate'll go right out of control. And when that happens, everycreature in this kingdom hoping to see their native homes again will never be able to. Yeah, 'I don't wanna die' of course, but, I don't want everyone else to, either. As well as Solar and Jargon.

Dash initiated the opening of the casing's window-door. It swung vertically, and out slid the old core with a cloud of white steam.

Her expression and cadence switched to a more serious tone as she stepped aside. "It's time, everycreature. We'll only need a few of you up here, alright?"

She pointed at four random workers - two ponies in the front, a dragon in the back, and another-

Oh.

Me.

Well, if that's what fate brings unto me, so be it. I'll do my best (even if I'm just holding the tray the core sits in). I trotted towards the viewing platform along with the three other chosen few, Solar and Jargon wishing me luck. Those wishes better come true.

Dash motioned towards front two ponies in our group, which happened to include me, giving directions. "Alright, both of you hold the tray steady."

Doing so, I found myself holding the stainless-steel half-cylinder tray with my hooves, flying stationary with a fellow mare worker on the other side. I could make out Solar and Jargon in the crowd, watching me attentively. I wasn't gonna say anything, but I felt like their eyes were locking on me. Not the best remedy for my worries.

The creatures then split into two halves as the new core came rolling through, the two griffons standing aside the cart it sat in.

Dash took a deep breath; even she was saving her usually exuberant personality for later. "Okay, now... both of you down here take that core n' place it in the tray." She ordered, the dragon and pegasus taking the object in their grips.

They flew forward, my gaze steady on the duo, and gently fitted the core into its holding space. I let out a breath I didn't know I had held. Simultaneously, the mare and I gingerly slid the tray into the casing, leaving all the work that we needed to do, done. I flew back onto the platform, standing close behind Dash in case of any extra directions being given.

Pressing buttons, she made the tray move back inside the casing with the window door closing. Various clicking and whirring noises emanated from it. The window kept its lifeless grey color.

"It should be glowing green by now... what's going on?" I heard Dash mumble to herself.

The core wasn't doing anything. Dash pressed the activation button once more, and steam stretched out of the casing. Everycreature gasped.

I began to back up.

No...

The core's window glowed red. Right away, Dash desperately tried to shut everything down, but it was no use. Something was wrong, and nobody had any clue why.

A swear quietly escaped my mouth.

NO!

Fire.

A fire had begun to creep out of the cores casing, and the automatic alarms triggered for the whole facility. The crowd fell into a frenzy, my heart racing at paces that could make me faint at any moment. I managed to fish out Solar and Jargon. I tried to talk with them, but the panic had made Solar an incomprehensible mess and Jargon utterly silent, even more so than me.

Through the commotion, I heard Dash scream only one sentence, the core having transitioned into a bonfire. I'd place my bets on the cause being an unprecedented power surge.

"SOMETHINGS WRONG WITH THE CORE, RUN!!"

All three of us instinctually ran for the exit, which was helpessly piled up with workers.

Just then, the inferno that was the core had reached its climax, releasing all of the built up energy in a violent blast. All I could see among the horde was white-orange instantly sliding into my view. My ears filled with piercing explosion. I was flung backwards with a force I couldn't believe wasn't magic.

I... think I slammed into a wall, and then...

Nothing. No sight. No hearing. No feeling.

I blinked a few times, my pupils finally beginning to pick up light again after what felt like... centuries. I slowly stood up, my senses gradually crawling back to me, and took a deep breath. I was knocked out, for sure.

Before I could have a moment to look around, sharp pains stabbed into my head and legs aggressively, spreading to the rest of my body in varying degrees. Looking at my hooves, they were badly bruised; the bright yellow coat now being grossly accented with dark purple blotches. Tapping my head, the pain returned viciously, and my hoof was bloodstained. A highly bruised, injured body and bleeding head... honestly, it's a miracle none of my bones had been broken.

Well, that's me looked at. Now...

O-Oh my Celestia.

All around me, the world looked desolate. The sky was had no blue to speak of, the sun shining a depressing light far away. In the distance, the facility was completely destroyed - a black, broken, bent monolith. Burnt metal debris littered the dead grass and flora around it. Torn units sat bare, their electronic innards spewed like pony guts. Adding to the absolute horror, piles of ponies, griffons, dragons, and other creatures' corpses laid on the ground. Some were mangled out of recognition, some severely burned, others took the worst blunt force I've ever seen.

I just wanted to cry. No- I wanted to find Solar and Jargon.

No- I- I just... I want to go home.

I...

Why...

Why Celestia?

WHY DID THIS FUCKING HAPPEN?!?!

Chapter 4: Acclimation

What a turn of events.

Looks like my worries were right, my anxieties were true. The core replacement would be botched and everything would go to shit. I never in a million moons wanted this to be the case but I just had the sneaking suspicion it would go awry.

Everything was going well, too!

Literally, everything was going just fine, and we were done with our part in the process by the time everything happened. Did the core itself have faulty wiring? Maybe the casing's plugs? What caused it to overheat so fast, anyway? The cooling log yesterday was above the boiling point, but by ever so slight amounts. I doubt that's what caused it... or maybe it was. Either way, I can't fix up a rational explanation. My brain was as grey as the overcast above.

I rested (I guess) my bruised, beaten body on some metal debris - even my own ass was painful to sit on. I panted and faintly groaned from all the pain, my breaths inconsistent and strained. I just stared at the ground, blank and unthinking, the banging ache I had all around my head keeping me from passing out. I looked up and observed some more: piles of creatures losing their lives. A disgusting aroma of death polluted the air. The demolished, exploded facility far away in front of me. Any signs of wildlife were completely dead - I could only hear the grass and trees flowing with the wind. At the very least, it was pleasantly warm out.

If I wanted to kill myself, it'd be now. Even in these conditions, though, I could never bring myself to actually commit the act.

I've just been walking - no, more limping - around the facility ruins. Solar. Jargon. The only goal I had on my mind is to, well, find them, and they better be alive. Considering just how many workers died in the catastrophe, though, I'm betting the worst.

I struggled through the bodies of the dead, and uncovered what rubble I could to find something - anything. I don't know what I was looking for, maybe some bits, a book, a sandwich. I suppose it's my survival instincts kicking in, in oblivion of how useless all of those things would be to me right now.

While trudging through, I dwelled on how long I'd been unconscious - possibly only a few hours, as the sun was still up. I wasn't absolutely starving either, so I settled on that conclusion.

My thought train, however, was interrupted as soon as I spotted a familiar mare within the graveyard. I limp-ran over to her, with the last bits of my hope glowing inside me. I took a closer look at her... she was a pegasus, burned and cut in several areas. Her coat was a faint red, with... are those dark spots?

Holy Celestia!

This was Solar!

With my hopes verified, I put a hoof on her body - not cold. I also tested her pulse, and sure enough, it was there. My own ran with panic on making her wake up. She was alive!

I shook her gently with my hoof. "Solar," I called out. "Solar! Wake up, please!"

She wasn't responding.

"Cmon, please! Please, wake up! It's Flash!"

Then, by a grace of Fate itself, Solar's eyes tiredly opened. A wave of relief I have never felt before washed over me when I saw her look at me.

"H-huh... Flash? wh-" She muttered. "wh-what happened...?"

I lifted her gently back onto her hooves, grunts of pain coming from her too. "Core... uh... it, uh, exploded." I replied. It's really all I could muster for conversation.

"R-really..? What- no, nonono..." Solar took in her surroundings, her head snapping back and forth. I instantly recognized her look; horror. Pure terror and disbelief. She was so damn naive, and I fucking wish she was the right one. "This- this can't be, e-everybody's dead!" She cried out. I could hear the tears welling up in her eyes. "You were right."

I just stood there, totally silent. But I was damn sure to be listening. And by doing that, I knew Solar needed some form of comfort.

"Just come here." I said, sitting down and holding a wing.

Solar did so, her bubbly personality now replaced with a much more somber, depressed side of her that I've never witnessed. She crawled into me, wrapping her hooves around my aching body gently. I inhaled sharply at the discomfort, but that didn't stop the both of us. I managed to hug her back, hoof and wing, and next thing I know she's sobbing all over my shoulder. I've seen her cry before, yeah, but never this much.

Involuntarily, I drooped my head onto her shoulder, and let it out. The despair, the pain, the mental anguish. It hurts. Seeing all of your colleagues, once living, now completely dead... it's horrible. The consequences this could have for Equestria and the world, too. It's just too much.

It's too damn much.

Our eyes were red from our hugging session, cheeks streaked with tear paths. The smell of death had become accustomed to our nostrils.

Dear Luna... It just sticks with you. Not just mentally, but physically. I wanted to puke at times, but I held it in. No, I forced it in. Hunger had started to arrive in my stomach, though I had absolutely no appetite... so many needs, so many contradictions. I'm hungry, I don't want to eat. I'm hurt, I don't have anything to treat myself. I want to sleep, I don't have a bed. Ugh...

Anyway, Jargon was our next goal.

"Where do you think he could be...?" Solar asked weakly.

"I dunno," I replied, staying silent for a minute. "I hope he's alive."

"I mean, he probably survived, right...? He knows his way through hard times." She reasoned. I could tell she was downplaying the situation's severity to cope with it.

"Yeah..." I then said, falling into an awkward silence soon after.

We kept walking through the destruction. It must've been around an hour since I woke up. My legs were screaming in pain with each step I took on them. My wings, as well, were tattered, and I doubt I can fly on them for long. Getting home would probably be the most I could use them for the whole day.

While I had been inspecting a corpse for anything useful (and training my nose to the stench), Solar called my name from afar. She pointed over to somewhere, and I dropped my fruitless scavenging attempt to go up to her. Her tone was a sort of distorted happiness; In my surprise, she claimed to have found Jargon.

Without hesitation, we took to the location of her findings, and sure enough, we found the dragon.

I gasped upon seeing him lay there, appearing half-awake and out of it. His injuries were similar to mine: deep cuts on his body, wings hurt, discolored lesions all over him. Solar and I woke him up with ease, thankfully.

He mumbled incoherently. "Th-the fuck...?" he said when he fully came to. "Did-"

"Yeah... it exploded."

"No, what..." Jargon was completely flabbergasted, standing up observing the desolate world. He opened his mouth, but only half-formed syllables came out.

Solar looked down at the ground. "We failed," she replied weakly, and without eye contact. "And now the shield's going to shrink, not... expand."

She was right. We all knew it.

"And shrink to the point of nothin'," Jargon added. "Well, you two seem just as beat up as I am."

What an observation, Jargon. I sat there for a moment, pondering what to say next as the wind blew into our manes. The howl was faint, but stuck to my ears akin to a tick sucking on my eardrums.

Jargon grimaced, placing his palm on a cut in the back of his neck. "...should we try and see if any others are alive? Go find shelter? Go home... or... find Dash?"

Rainbow Dash! I forgot about her all this time...

Wait.

A horrible feeling built up through my body. For some reason, anxiety had blossomed inside me. I was one of the few creatures putting in the core, and, it exploded. I took part in jeopardizing the survival of Equestria. It took me this long to realize this... I just couldn't bring myself to find Dash all of a sudden. My mind was a mess to begin with, so could that be why?

"Find Dash..." I mumbled to myself, observing the scarred dirt and flattened grass of the ground. My heart began to speed up a little. "She'd hate to see us. I-I was one of the ones who botched the replacement attempt."

Solar chimed in. "Woah, hold on... what if she just wants to see survivors? I think she'd be atleast somewhat happy knowing we're alive... she's the element of loyalty."

She wasn't exactly wrong, yeah, but I was one of the few putting that damned core inside of the case! It wouldn't make sense she'd be happy to see me or otherwise indifferent!

I looked over at her, suddenly nastily coughing quite a few times. I had gulped and some spit went down the wrong tube. "N-no, she wouldn't.. want to see me- us..."

I couldn't articulate sentences properly somehow.

"Hey, cmon. I'm sure it was something with the internal electronics that went wrong. Probably was nothin' to do with you or anyone else there..." Jargon consoled me. "If we can find her, she'd probably know more than anybody about the situation, right?"

"I guess..." I whispered quietly. Jargon appeared to pick it up.

"Don't be scared, Flash, it aint like you. Let's go, okay? We got your back like always."

He and Solar began walking along, and after a second of letting thoughts marinate, I followed. In the distance, Cloudsdale sat high, its glorious rainbows and bright blue hues mockingly contrasting the situation.

...how much time has passed?

A thought that never really crossed any of our minds until just this moment. Considering we all wake up pretty early to get to work, the time it took to replace the core, the explosion, being knocked out... It was definitely sometime in the afternoon. I think it's been... an hour or two since I woke up? Well, I'm going to take a very random guess of 3 PM. 3:35 PM. Yeah.

My stomach growled. I needed some kind of food, even if it was just the grass we were treading on. I don't think I wanted to eat grass tainted with blood and guts, though. On top of that, I was parched. My throat and mouth were dry. Man, if only I had prepared for an apocalyptic scenario last night, eh?

While trudging through the masses, I spotted some movement in the distance. Alerting the others, we advanced towards the figure, who slowly came into clarity. A mare with a light blue coat, wings, mane and tail full of vibrant colors unevenly scurrying around the wastes. Well.

That’s gotta be her. I'm glad she's alive and terrified of the worst talking to I'm ever gonna get...

All of us trotted up to the mare, who was indeed Rainbow Dash, looking over at our injured, bruised, and beaten figures. She gasped and flew straight at us, eyes open wide, stopping just in front of me then worriedly checking me, Solar, and Jargon out. Her eyes were moist and peach-colored... was that even possible? I couldn't believe my sight for just a second. Dash never seemed like the kinda pony to cry or show weakness.

Dash was nearly as injured as we were. Her flank was burned black, her tail scorched along with it - it looked as if half of it was converted to ash earlier. Cuts streaked on her body and back hooves, wings tattered and beat. In terms of physical health, she was the luckiest one.

"Oh my.. Celestia, you three are ALIVE??" She cried out in strained amazement. She...

...hugged me?

"Y-yeah-" I replied, my sentence cutting off at Dash's apparent affection. I returned the gesture, but only briefly as she went to inspect the other two. I looked behind and just watched, mouth shut.

"I can't believe it... how did you three even..."

Solar attempted at finishing Dash's sentence. "...pure-"

"...Luck?" Jargon cut in. "It's gotta be."

Dash stood on her hooves, wiping her eyes. "...Look, I'm, I'm sorry. I never wanted anycreature to get hurt!"

Guess I better say something. "What even happened?" I managed to get out.

"It was... something with the core, okay? I don't exactly know... Just- look, you and everyone else didn't do anything wrong," She walked up to me. "We had the wrong core, I think... there was a shipping issue, I-I think the one we got was supposed to go to Ponyville's facility!"

Huh?? we all gasped.

"Who in the world could've given us the wrong core...?" Solar asked, faintly.

"I got no idea, Solar. Maybe somepony wrote the addresses wrong, or... it was manufactured improperly... or, I just don't know." Rainbow shook her head and looked at the ground.

Jargon stepped - or more, wobbled with a grunt - over. "How do you know it was supposed to go to Ponyville, Dash..?"

"Best I can remember? When the shipping package came, I, y'know, signed papers and all that..." Dash sighed. "...I saw in the fine print that it was Ponyville's core."

We all reacted to that with a not-so-happy sound of shock.

I half-trotted a tad closer to Dash. "What the... you didn't tell them...?"

"I couldn't. First off, they wouldn't listen, and, I just figured i-it was too late. Having to move the delivery parties from Ponyville to Cloudsdale would've taken too much time... the backup power for the generators would've probably run out! That stuff doesn't last long..." she explained with hurry.

"Good ol' classic behind-the-scenes fuckery, eh?" Jargon added on with noticeable anger.

Now that most of my anxiety regarding Dash had been quelled, I thought about some possibilities. I tried to keep a straight line of thought with the searing pain of my injuries. It couldn't have been the princesses doing something, why would it have been? It wouldn't make any sense, their job is to protect Equestria... unless there's a foul player involved. I know there's been many of those in Equestrian history. Who could it be-

Agh!

The aforementioned suffering clamped at my forehooves again. I winced and tensed up.

Deciding to share my thoughts, I limped a bit closer to the group. "You're thinkin' there's someone else messing with things that we don't know?" I added.

Dash looked at me, her eyes clearer from before. "Fits the history of Equestria, huh?" She replied.

Heh. Yeah, it does.

"But... who? Why would there suddenly be a villain? Wouldn't we have, like... known about them?" Solar asked.

"Maybe they just came up in the past few days. Not enough time for everyone to know. Then again, I feel creatin' a panic throughout this whole kingdom wouldn't be best for our productivity, now would it?" Jargon sat down on a piece of rubble that seated him quite well.

"You got a point there, yeah." Dash said.

Well, we can't do much by standing around, can we? Plus we're all probably starving, thirsty, exhausted, we need to go to a damn hospital...

"...think we should go back home before we think more?" I suggested, everyone putting their eyes on me.

Wait, I forgot the most important part about that. Ho-

"How are we goin' to do that, Flash? We can barely fly right now," Jargon reminded me. "Unfortunately, there aren't any trains or magical carriages going to Cloudsdale."

Bruh.

I sat there in silence wincing in pain. The problems with living in a mid-air city.

"But there are the hot air balloons that could carry us there," Solar nodded over behind me and pointed towards a basket with a huge deflated envelope laying next to it. "See?"

Wait, wait, she was right! I completely forgot about those during all of this... that seems like basically the only idea that might work. In our current state, flying to Cloudsdale would be excruciatingly painful, and there aren't any towns nearby for us to take refuge in.

"She's right, if that's the only way out, we're going there," Dash said, moving towards the balloon some. Her wings opened and she looked back. "Cmon!"

She began flying to our exit, with the three of us all following along. Thankfully, Jargon didn't seem too disapproving about the whole idea.

Reaching the basket, it was rather claustrophobic and uncomfortable, but, it’s the best we could do. With aching pains, I watched Dash turn a valve to activate the burner and rise the balloon, and off we went.

Up in the air, the situation looked even more grim and depressing. While the other three conversated on the other side, I just rested my hoof on the rim of the basket and sat my head upon it and observed the carnage. So many burnt bodies, mutilated corpses, destroyed crops, and a discolored environment all mixed up into one. What I couldn’t keep my eyes off of, though, was that giant, spaghetti-like, torn and bent mess of metal that was the facility. A broken monolith of death.

Without one element of harmony, it all falls into discord. That’s what I learned back in that small schoolhouse so many years ago. Without one facility powering the barrier, the rest will follow soon after. We have no idea what’s out there besides unlivable, ash-ridden and freezing cold conditions. A parasite could be waiting to infect us. Maybe some mythical being that we’ve never heard of before. Or, perhaps, it’s dark magic sent from another planet to envelop our world and we are the only survivors. I mean, it came from outer-Celestia-damn-space, so it’s anycreature’s guess. And now, to make the situation even better, there could be a foul player involved that purposefully fucked this whole operation up. But… why? Why would they want to cause all of us, seemingly the only other living species on Equus, to go extinct?

My head’s spinning. I just watched the land of death slowly get covered by clouds in silence.

Later on, I saw a red figure come up to my side. Sure enough, it was Solar. My face met hers, and I wasn’t a very happy sight. A broken, heavily injured, expressionless stallion with a skewered will to live, wearing a grossly bloodied and tattered lab coat. Who knows, maybe I looked hot to somepony.
...was it Solar?

“You okay, Flash?” She asked, her tone a soft and caring voice.

I just looked at her with the most empty face I could muster. “I just want to go home. I just want to go to sleep and let this all be a nightmare.” I mumbled under my breath, and somehow, Solar caught it perfectly.

“Won’t have to wait much longer, we’re going home now.” She consoled.

“I know, but, Cloudsdale’s gonna be a complete mess. Imagine how it’s gonna be. I’m sure the news has spread Equestria-wide, why wouldn’t it?”

Solar put a hoof on my back, rubbed it softly, and extended her wing to hug me close to her. Her fluff was soft, contrasting her firm body underneath. At this point, I was getting used to the pain I was feeling.

“It’s gonna be okay. The landing docks for the Balloons are usually pretty inactive, and I don’t see anybody else flying to Cloudsdale. Plus, our apartment isn’t too far from the docks, remember?”

“I guess. Good day, you say, huh?"

Despite my admittedly mocking tone in saying that, Solar didn't budge. "It will be, even if it's a 48 hour day, it will be."

I just laid on Solar's side silently after that. She's being naive... again.

The dazzling oranges of the sunset among the destruction below was a sight I won't forget.

And out of the basket we go. The balloon slowly deflated behind us.

Cloudsdale was, as I expected, a total disaster. There was screaming, yelling, fighting, creatures in anger and despair everywhere. As we squeezed past the crowds, braving the horrible pains of walking, I was lucky to not be pushed around and knocked over. My breathing was heavy, irritated, and I only focused on remembering the path to my apartment.

I looked behind me, and the other three were following. Oh Celestia, I was leading them! I heard their yells of my name in the background, but they were so muddled and incomprehensible, I genuinely thought I was partly going insane.

Better yet, Rainbow Dash was still with us. Reactions to seeing her had mixed up into madness, most of it cries of why this happened, how this could be, and what we are going to possibly do. In my blurred vision, I saw ponies, dragons, and griffons follow Dash, I think some even tried to grab her. I don't know what came over these crowds. I honestly think the vast majority of them were more scared rather than mad at us.

The cloud sidewalks were soft, which allowed me to quickly run and trot across more comfortably.

A left here... turn right... go straight, keep going straight... turn left...

This apartment block seems familiar, wait - we made it, but just barely.

Reaching the double doors, I slammed them open with my good side, turning and bashing into them. No damage done, at least I think. I ran past the reception and reached the elevator, the two mares sitting behind the desk taking a quick and startled look at me.

"Come on!" I yelled at the other three, who swiftly filled the space in the building's elevator. I hit the fourth floor button and up we went. I simply stood still, breathing like hell and trying to collect my thoughts, my brain equivalent to that of static. My hearing was fuzzy. I think that was Dash calling my name, no, that's Jargon... Solar...?

When the elevator finished, I just walked forward and entered the hall, going to my door with the group. Time to rela-

...

DID I LOSE THE KEY.

Yes, yes I did. Of course I did, why wouldn't I? I was blown to high hell earlier via a huge explosion, went unconscious for hours, and barely lived through today. I'm starving, dehydrated, and going to a hospital right now would be a death sentence.

I'm going to end my Celestia-damn lif-

BAM!

All of us stared in mute silence as Dash yeeted through the door, opening the gates to heaven so I could finally get some food and rest. I don't even care that she technically caused a crime and committed property damage by breaking the lock. I know Solar doesn't either.

I just limped right into the entrance of me and Solar's abode, and aimed directly for the couch that sat in front of the TV. I flopped onto it, not able to think or do basically anything anymore.

I was finally home. No, we were finally home.

Chapter 5 - Recovery

Finally, some good food.

It was pitch black outside, about an hour and a half after we all settled back down. The TV was set to the news channel, and I looked at the time scrolling across the bottom of the screen… It was 9:50 PM, and, my stomach was 95% empty.

I chowed down hungrily on a salad Dash had made for all of us, Jargon eating it too even though plants weren’t his biggest dietary choice. Meat in Equestria was generally frowned upon before the meteor came forth, but, once we started bringing everycreature into the kingdom, we had to improvise. Some of the meat that’s sold is in fact real meat, with I’d say the other half being artifical meats made from processed plant products. Jargon’s always said he’s picky and highly prefers the real stuff, but, I suppose in times of starvation he’ll eat anything.

It wasn't the most delicious thing ever, and I'm pretty sure this used a vast majority of the food I had in my apartment, but I couldn't complain. My stomach's ache was (partially) fulfilled for now and I just sat there once I finished the bowl of lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, strawberries, and apples. While my stomach was satisfied, the rest of my body still hurt like hell. I couldn't move much.

"Absolutely heartbreaking and chilling news today coming from Cloudsdale's generator facility, or, what was of the generator facility. After an apparent mix-up in the delivery schedule of the cores, Cloudsdale had received the core meant for Ponyville's facility. This resulted in a cataclysmic explosion that destroyed the entire building, and killing almost all of those who had worked there. While we aren't sure of any survivors, or if the facility's head, Rainbow Dash, survived, this also leaves great uncertainty for the future of the barrier, and for the survival of Equestria and all who live here. As for Ponyville, it has been reported that the core was inserted, but quickly deactivated as soon as it was found to be the wrong one."

Couldn't be more on the dot. At least Ponyville wasn't nuked... that's actually pretty relieving. I hope everybody's there is okay.

The news anchor mare continued on, flipping through papers smoothly. "Our princesses Celestia, Luna, and Twilight Sparkle have all spoke on this terrible incident. Here are their statements now."

The screen faded out to show the said princesses standing solemnly in front of the royal castle's balcony, their faces serious and devoid of happiness. I watched with aches spreading across my side, causing me to twitch irregularly.

Celestia began speaking. "Ponies, Dragons, Griffons, everycreature of Equestria, I must announce with a broken and worried heart that our barrier is in grave danger. The replacements that occurred within our facilities all went well... except for two. Cloudsdale and Ponyville's. The cores were mixed up behind our eyes while they were being shipped, and went into the wrong facility. What resulted was something truly terrible. Ponyville managed to cancel the replacement before anything happened, however, the same can't be said about Cloudsdale. In short, the core erupted in a massive explosion, reducing the facility to bits..." She paused for a brief moment. I wonder if she was quietly holding back tears. "...and killing almost every single poor soul trapped in there. It is a total bloodbath."

I wonder if they know we sur-

"...however..."

Oh. I saw Celestia float a scroll into frame, she must’ve just gotten it.

"...we have just now discovered that there were survivors to this terrible incident, including the facility's president and Element of Loyalty, Rainbow Dash."

…on one end, that’s good, everyone isn’t panicking that she’s dead. On the other end, this is going to make recovering and trying to get some rest much harder. In my pained half-stupor, I heard Dash just let out an ooooh jeez.

“We are infinitely thankful that Dash is alive, even if we are unable to contact her at this moment. Reporters in Cloudsdale have also informed us that three other workers, Solar Blaze and Flash Powers, both Pegasi, and a dragon named Jargon, also survived. How they did so, I can only imagine extreme luck and will to live. We, as the princesses of Equestria, request that you please leave them alone and let them rest. While yes, there are many questions to be answered, those answers will unfortunately have to wait. Forcing them will only cause more issues.”

I could feel myself growing more and more exhausted as the speech went on, with Luna and Twilight now coming on-screen and speaking. They both spoke mostly the same stuff that Celestia had stated, though apparently there was an extensive internal investigation to be launched tomorrow. Hopefully they're able to find some answers as to what happened. There was also a mention of the need for a quickly-developed plan to help get our facility back on its destroyed feet.

I also wonder about the Crystal Empire... have they gotten word of this yet?

Please, Celestia, please help get that fixed. I don't want everyone to die.

...to be honest, I wonder if Dash is going to be asked some questions in the coming days, as well as me, Solar, and Jargon. Probably.

Right now, though, I'm barely able to stay awake... I'm so damn exhausted. I can't be bothered to get into my bed... I just, I just need to rest... with a tired groan and a hoof on my aching head, I weakly flopped onto the couch, trying to get some sleep while everyone else went to do other things. I coudn't muster being awake another second.

My baggy eyes had opened to a disorganized laying position and the dawn sun vibrantly bringing the apartment to light. I felt the presence of a horse laying on top of me (or, at least, was laying on top of me beforehand), and I looked over to see Solar snoozing soundly. I brushed her mane.

I crawled out of my temporary couch-bed and got on my hooves, still aching all over, though, somewhat less. I walked up to the windows sitting on the wall in front of me, and... huh. Cloudsdale didn't seem too crazy. It was 7:57 AM, and the roads weren't as bad compared to whatever the Tartarus happened yesterday (I mean, compared to the average day before all this happened? It was still pretty hectic).

I closed the blinds so nocreature would notice us.

All that was on my exhausted mind was to shower, get myself a little bit cleaner.

I went over to Solar's room, where I saw Jargon and Dash fast asleep, injured. At this point, I didn't mind the heavy cleaning those sheets will have to go under. I sort of wanted to wake them both up, but, I feel that'd just annoy them.

I also saw Solar's computer... can only imagine how the internet must look with all the news stories filling it up. Turning it on crossed my mind, but that would take too much time. Plus, I don't actually know where she puts the floppy disk.

Entering the bathroom, I took off the very dirty and gross half-lab coat that was I was still wearing somehow, threw it out, and turned on the water. Inside, the touch of warm water actually felt... amazing. It stung to clean my injuries, but, I didn't mind. I let out a breath of relief, my first in what felt like forever. Even though I wished I could stay in here for longer, I knew I couldn't as others were going to probably be in here soon, so, I gotta make this quick.

Solar had entered just as I exited the bathroom, dried and not-really-ready-but-ready-enough to start the day. Whatever that's gonna look like. Jargon and Dash were waking up, too, and we exchanged "good morning"'s. Concerning my body, I didn't smell that much like death anymore, which is a plus. I must've gotten used to it over time. My injuries had clotted now, so, bleeding wasn't an issue.

No matter how risky it is, we really need to get treat these wounds somehow. We're also going to have to meet with the princesses soon enough, I bet.

Back in the main room, I went over to the small kitchen to get myself something to eat. Hmm... A bowl of cereal. Sure. Remember, it's cereal first, and then milk. Don't make the same sin again and piss off Solar.

Speak of the devil, somepony just walk- oh, it's just Dash.

"Hey... you sleep okay, Flash? Wait, what did you even sleep on?" She asked.

"The couch over there," I nodded towards it with a spoon in my hoof. "It was better than anything I could've ever dreamed of. Solar slept there too." Sarcasm seared my second sentence.

"Eh, still better than nothing."

I continued to slowly consume my milk-bathed wheat product, finishing it up not much later. I placed the empty bowl and spoon in the sink.

Dash came up next to me, going over to the cabinets for some food. "Yknow, uh, I saw one of those fancy computers last night in the bedroom."

Huh? "Wait, you did? Did you go on it?"

"I... might've..." Dash stretched out her words. Not sure why she seemed shy about using our computer, nothing really interesting's saved on there anyway. "I don't use them very often, so... anyway, I went for a little bit and-"

"Wait, how did you know Solar's login?"

"She had it written down next to the keyboard. It's literally solarblazeiscool23 and the password is... coolpassword. I'm serious."

I breathed in big and let it out slow. "Yep, that sounds like her," I muttered. "What'd you find?"

"It's literally filled with articles about Cloudsdale..."

"About what I expected."

"Uh-huh," Sounds of doors opening and closing behind me filled the space between her words. "Moving on... any plans for today, Flash?"

"For one, we needa get patched up somehow. Letting these wounds sit untreated is not a very good idea. After that, I'm not really sure. You think Celestia's gonna wanna see us soon?"

I moved back on over to the couch while I waited for her to reply. "Well, we're able to walk and move without moaning in agony, so that's a good thing. And... well, she's almost definitely going to have us come to Canterlot soon. Knowing the princess, they're gonna be interested in all four of us."

"Yeah..."

Jargon walked in amidst our conversation, giving a small greeting.

"Y'all talkin' about the scars on our body, huh?" He asked. Jargon took a seat on of the stools in front of the table that separated the small kitchen and main room. "To be honest, we're gonna have to go back outside sometime soon. We can do some small patchin' up now, but, I think eventually these are gonna need professional care. For one, Flash and Solar can barely fly. Oh, not to mention infections too."

Shit. I never thought about those.

Dash had stuck some bread slices in the toaster. "Well, after resting and all that fun stuff, we're at least feeling a little bit better... you, uh, aren't wrong though about that last part."

"It's not like society's dead just yet, Dash. Let's use it while we can."

I peeked out the window while they were speaking. Still pretty chaotic, but, manageable compared to yesterday. The pain in my wounds had lessened a bit, the cuts on my head and body scarring over, and the pounding headache softer. I fluttered my wings to see how much they hurt, and... it wasn't so bad. I could probably fly on them for a little while.

I didn't want to turn on the TV. Watching more news about the world ending wasn't a particularly enjoyable subject.

Soon enough, Solar came into the main room and sat next to me on the couch.

"How ya feelin', Solar?" Jargon asked.

She sighed, flopping back onto the cushions. "Well, not in excruciating pain anymore. I can actually move around without wincing. Mostly."

Jargon nodded. "That about fits everyone here."

Some silenced followed, broken by the sudden pop of the toaster finishing. I jumped a little at that.

"Uhh... you think we're good to start flying again?" Solar brought up.

"Depends on how far and how long, but, probably," I answered. "I mean, I don't hurt as bad as yesterday either, so we're getting somewhere atleast. Jargon? How are you doing?"

"Same, feelin' better. I can stand without feelin' like my legs are gettin' sliced in half, so, things looking straight forward rather than down. Shit still, uh, kinda hurts a damn lot though."

We all just quietly agreed to that. We probably weren't going to be moving normally for a while. Oh great, once Jargon said that my body began aching a bit again.

...

All I could hear was the crunching and finishing of Dash's breakfast. I think Solar leaned on m- yeah, she did.

Dash walked up to the window, only slightly cracking the blinds and looking through the glass, all of us watching her.

"I mean... if this is what we're dealing with, I guess we should go today if we have any plans," she explained, looking back now. "I imagine this is only gonna get way worse as the days come. That barrier is gonna last only... 2 weeks at max, after that, everything's gonna collapse."

"Time to get goin', you say?" Jargon asked one final time.

"...yeah. Yeah, let's go."

And off we went out the door (It seems the lock wasn't very broken at all, just, erm, greatly weakened).

The great outdoors! I think. Depends. If your definition of the great outdoors is "a place full of uneasy feelings and imminent panic", then this is perfect for you.

Being able to walk around somewhat normally was a blessing, despite the slight limp I had. Taking a rest and showering was a huge help, even if I slept in not the most optimal fashion. Still beats having to trudge through the cemetery that was the generator facility.

I looked up for the first time in a while, and, the barrier was genuinely a shocking sight. Normally, it'd be near impossible to make it out as it would blend in with sky seamlessly. This time, though, it distorted the blues of the sky and made it a slow-moving disorganized pile of super-bright blobs in one area, and darkened streaks between them. I always heard about what would happen if the barrier began losing energy, and it was described exactly like what I'm seeing.

We're all witnessing a dying barrier.

It even messed with the visible light of day, making it look a teeny bit more akin to caustics in water... have I been smoking weed? I mean, I don't smoke, but this all makes me feel like I hit a joint this morning and I don't remember.

As for how everycreature reacted to seeing us going outside, we got looks and stares from many. I could hear chatter about us, I just ignored as best I could. I absolutely hated when others talked about me, but, I couldn't let my anxieties mess with me any further. I stuck close to Solar as we went, which helped calm me a little bit while I kept my head low. Thankfully, nobody went out of their way to grab any of us like yesterday.

The roads above were filled to the brim. No way we were flying in those in our condition, I'd rather just walk on the sidewalks (cloudwalks?). Speaking of that, our current destination was a hospital; the one I told Dash about on the way downstairs, named Winged Care Central Hospital. I've lived by this place ever since me and Solar moved into the apartment years ago. It's got a good reputation, and it was only around 15 minutes away.

By wing.

None of us chose to speak on our way there, it was agreed to be a bit too risky and I especially didn't want people listening in on our conversations.

"Oop, here we are, guys." Solar whispered with a pointing hoof.

We made it. The hospital building, situated on its own area in the city. The building stood tall and proud, the entrance doors shaded from the distorted sun. The building's material reflected that of the rest of modern Cloudsdale - blue/gray colors and pillars, lack of wood, etc. This was one of the older establishments around here, one of the few to keep the older aesthetic. The logo, two blue wings outstretched with the name in the center behind a white plus sign, was fixed on the tallest building. The path leading to the entrance was not too populated, actually.

Entering inside, I felt a comfortable coolness of the AC hit me; quite a relief because I was actually pretty sweaty, I guess if the sun is a jumbled mess the heat surely isn’t. The reception desk was wide and large, with several species sitting at it, most of them doing computer stuff. Once they caught sight of us, they all gasped, and were in disbelief at seeing Dash among all of us.

We tried to greet them, but-

A griffon at the counter hastily finished up what he was doing. “U-uh hello there! Um- Is there anything we can help you with, Rainbow Dash? You, well, you all look awfully beat up…”

Dash spoke in a bit of a rushed pace as well. “Look, we’re just gonna need to get bandaged and have all our injuries healed, even if just a bit."

"W-why of course! The doctor's will be ready in - uh - just a sec. For now, everybody just get some rest and take a seat over there, alright?"

"Got it, thanks."

I watched the bird quickly type and click away on his machine while we all sat down in the row of cushioned chairs that lined the entrance hall's walls. I let out a sigh.

"So... this is going better than I thought it would." Solar commented.

"Hey, 'least nobody's been on our ass the entire time. I'm actually kinda surprised we were allowed to get here smoothly." Jargon replied, leaning back on his seat with his arms crossed.

"I think the main reason walking here was easy enough was because of the clouds.. if we had to do all that on a flat sidewalk it would've been way worse on our legs."

"Imagine having to fly there, too? Jeez..." I noted, observing my right wing while I spoke, exposing the various bruises and cuts that marked the poor limb.

Before anyone could respond, a nurse pony had come up to us. "Um, Miss Dash and everyone else? The doctors are ready for you," She announced. "Do you need any help with getting ther-"

"Nah, we're fine with that. We literally walked over here." Dash cut her off with in response.

"A-are you sure-?"

"Yep."

"...well, if you so insist, please, follow me."

We began trot-limping through the hallways of the hospital. I sort of expected that type of response from Dash, so, I'm not too miffed about having to use my legs more. We passed through several corridors before reaching our ward - designated B3. Once inside, the aforementioned doctors (two of them) sat at their desks looking through papers on a clipboard, appearing to write something down.

Me too buddy. Me too.

Perking their eyes up, their attention snapped to us.

"Oh, Miss Rainbow Dash! It is an honor to see you alive and well, and the same to the rest of you three," One said, a male stallion with a brown slicked-back mane and glasses. "Speaking of, may I ask what your names may be?"

We introduced ourselves promptly, and we were guided to our beds, which were actually quite comfortable and soft. To be frank, I always kind of imagined these beds to feel like rocks based on how they looked.

I took a breath and laid back onto the pillows, staring with a tired face at a point between the tiled floor and the light-blue walls. In front of me sat Solar, with Jargon visible to her right. There weren't any drapes separating the beds this time around, so we all had full access to communicate.

We were also given gowns to put on and wear, and just like that, we were now hospitalized.

I've never been inside of a health center before, I've always imagined it to be nightmarish with how many times i've seen them in horror stories. But this really wasn't that bad at all (probably because I'm not in horrific condition), and I was even given a nice little meal to eat. It wasn't the highest quality of course, but it definitely sufficed.

Through what felt like an hour at most, all my wounds had been bandaged or treated in some way with ointments. It still hurt to move my wings around and any pressure put on my bruised areas wasn't pleasant, though that was the least of my worries. My head still thumped badly though from the long cut around my forehead, even after patching up.

The TV sat situated over in the corner of the room, yet again showing the news channel. The princesses were there, and right now it looked to be a repeat of what I had saw yesterday, so, not much of importance right now anyway. Beforehand, the news anchor mare had announced the investigation was launched and it may be a while before we know anything.

I wonder how the other facilities are doing. Twilight's probably exhausted with how much she's gotta be running around. The other ponies, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy I remember, are probably the same way. Wonder if I'll meet them if we go to meet the princesses... shouldn't get my hopes up. I'd have no idea what to say or how to act around them, despite how cool it would be to see them.

"Hey-"

Huh-
Oh, it's Dash. Again.

"How ya doin', Flash?" Dash asked, looking over at me with her hooves behind her head. I don't exactly think that's the best position to be in, but whatever.

"Definitely feeling more alive than ever before. One more night and I should be okay to fly some amount again, you?"

"Oh, I'm fine," She was doing small taps on the hospital bed with her hindhooves. "Though, uh, I gotta be honest, I can't stop thinking about everything. I mean, like anybody can, but it's heavy..."

I took a nice look at the railing of the hospital bed. "The fear of, um, the world ending is not... fun, no."

"I've never dealt with anything this crazy before- well, being the leader of a huge team that works to keep Equestria alive, yeah, that's huge and awesome. Now, all that work's been reversed." Dash flopped her hooves down to her side.

"It's all up to us now, it looks like."

"How are we even gonna do it...?"

I shrugged and shook my head, and we both fell back into an awkward silence. I looked over to Jargon, who was just watching TV with the most bored expression I could imagine. Solar was reading a magazine had been sitting on the small table next to her. I looked back up at the TV, and I read the time. 2:55 PM.

At least the news was there to help me (kind of). Rainbow Dash grabbed a magazine and began reading it. Interesting, as Dash never struck me as the reading type.

The sun has almost gone down, but the water-like rippling of the barrier was still as alive as ever, twisting the orange light into hypnotic patterns that danced on the hospitals walls. I rested on my side, looking out the two large windows on the far end of the room. It was oddly calming to watch the dance of lights, even though they symbolized something much more sinister.

I wonder what caused all of this. Who did this? Who in the galaxy would want to destroy our civilization, the last living remnants that we know of? This sounds like a reach, but what if it's something from space, some hostile alien life? Was it on the asteroid and it just waited for the right moment to strike? How would it have gotten through our barrier?

Maybe it's not extraterrestrial life, maybe it's just an insanely malicious creature, someone sick in their mind who wants to watch us all die. Dear Celestia, that is hard to think about...

Everycreature in here was conversing, but, I didn't have much social meter left in me. I needed to take some time to myself in the form of staring out into the window.

That was, until I heard the sound of oddly metallic hoofsteps behind me, and everyone gasping.

Huh? What the f-

W-who's tapping my shoulder??

I looked back, startled, only to find... a royal guardspony? THREE of them?
Why am I not surprised?

I stammered on my words, propping myself up. "Uh- um- h-hello there-"

The guardspony, a pegasus (all three of them were, in fact), put a hoof out to stop me. "Don't worry, none of are you in any trouble," he said, his voice deep but oddly soothing. "We hope our arrival didn't come at a bad time. We have been sent by the royal sisters to come deliver a message."

Jargon sat in his bed, attentively watching the guardspony with a hand holding up his snout. "Well... what is it- sir?”

“The princesses would like you to meet them when you're able to. Of course, we are on strict time unfortunately, so the wait mustn't be too long. When you all get to the Canterlot castle, you’ll be free to rest once more.”

I looked over at Dash, I’m pretty sure everybody else did.

“Nah, we’re good to go. We can meet them, yeah.” She agreed.

“Good, thank you, Miss Rainbow Dash. All of you may follow us, though take your time. Rushing could reverse your healing, and nobody wants that,” The guardsponies left out the door in a beautifully coordinated single-file line.

“If you’re wondering, the doctors and nurses know you’ll be leaving, so, no need to worry.” The last one added before exiting.

“Time to get going.” Solar commented.

All four of us got out of our beds, standing on our legs (and hooves) for the first time in a while. First impressions? Not too painful, not too bad. Putting pressure on the bandaged areas didn’t burn as it used to.

We all moved out into the hallway, seeing the guardsponies at the tail end, disappearing turning the corner. We followed suit, reaching the reception desk for the last time, and waved goodbye, thanking them.

Wondering how we were gonna get to Canterlot, we were introduced to a beautiful white-and-gold colored chariot, sporting soft red cushioned seats. I've always seen these things on TV, in books, magazines... but I've never looked at one in person. They've barely changed the design and technology of the royal castle and their transportation, as well.

Solar gasped. "Oh- my Celestia... there's no way, we're gonna be riding on that?!" She smiled and gave small squeak of excitement; the first I've heard from her in about... 2 days?

"Now that is awesome." Dash was the first to hop inside, then Jargon, Solar, and me. The seats were way higher quality than what I was laying on before, and were exquisitely clean. This is some expensive fabric they got in here.

The guardsponies came up to the front, forming a triangle, placing the golden straps on top of their backs. "For now, all of you just sit back and enjoy the ride," One simply stated. "When we reach Canterlot, it is - simply put - a mess. We will land inside of the Royal Castle; stick close to us and you’ll all be safe, understood?"

We all said yes in unison, then I felt a strong push of the guards' collective weight moving the chariot along.

Taking off into the sky, this ride in the air was strangely much less melancholic than the hot balloon ride. I'm going to guess that's because our injuries got patched up (this damn headache won't go away though), we actually sort of know what to do, and well, we're meeting the princess. If I had to sprinkle some positivity in here, that's something I've wanted to do forever, so, nice to check that off the bucket list.

"So... uh, how you doing?" I decided to ask Solar.

"Yknow, not too bad. Yesterday was the worst day I've ever had in my life, but, today's not that horrible. You okay? I know yesterday there were probably a million thoughts running around in your head."

I silently nodded, looking out into the sky, the clouds blazing pass us. "Yeah... I'm better. I'm just happy to see you're not as depressed. Seeing you like that was not fun, no. It's scary, you're usually so bubbly."

She took a second to respond. I just kept watching the sky. "I know, Flash. It scares me, too. I bet things will become a little more clear once we talk to the princesses, though. They always know how to fix even the worst things, right?"

There we go. That's the Solar I've wanted to hear. A little grin grew on my mouth. "Let's hope so."

I took a deep breath and stretched a little bit.

Some time later, the capital of Equestria peeked out from the distance. A huge, sprawling white-gold-and-purple themed city, it was magnificent to see. My eyes fixated on the central skyscraper - named The Tower Of The Sun And Moon (or just 'The Tower' for short) - it was so tall... too much even for me. As far as I know, it's where the headquarters of many big companies are located. Aside from that, there's apartment buildings, a suburb with beautiful houses, restaurants, fast food places, museums, a huge central park; you name it, it was there in the city somewhere. Looking at the castle as well, it's remained practically untouched. It's so strange to see that old-time design amongst all the modern architecture.

...and yes, I could see a mass of creatures on ground and in air looking like a locust swarm.

"I don't think I've ever actually been here before," I heard Jargon mutter, peeking to see him in awe of the growing metropolis in front of him. "Yeah no, I haven't. I've known about it, of course, but damn they weren't lying about how it grand it is in person."

To avoid being seen by the many, many inhabitants of the city, the guards took us high above, to an altitude I don’t think I’ve reached before. I felt a bit dizzy… that didn’t help the headache.

I gripped onto the railing once the guards told us to hold on tight; and they weren’t lying. The sudden drop caused the air to blow into my face, and the Canterlot castle suddenly came into view within just a few seconds. We swooped over into an entrance from a balcony on the side, landing on shining-white brick floors. A red carpet lined with shining silver sides covered the center, with various drapes, stained glass designs, pillars... all decorating the hallway beautifully.

This place dwarfed me with how high the ceilings reached, the jewel-studded chandeliers looking down upon me.

The four of us stuck together closely once we were out, following the guards towards what I was going to guess was the throne room. My heart pounded in anticipation of meeting the Princesses. I had no idea how they were going to react - on one hoof, I feel they'd be quite relieved to now we were alive and doing okay. On the other, thinking back to the brief anxiety attack I had before meeting Dash again... I couldn't let it get to me this time, no.

Being led down a set of spiral stairs led us to a room with two enourmous doors on the end, which the guards stopped us at, one holding their hoof out. My eyes looked around nervously for a second, sweat dampening my brow.

"Here we are; the throne room. Our destination," One guard began, his tone more calm to help ease us into the environment. "You will be meeting Princess Celestia and her younger sister, Princess Luna, in just a few moments. We understand this may sound like a daunting task at first, but we can assure you, it will all go fine."

I nodded.

The other guard spoke up. "Just stay calm and everything will be alright. When the meeting concludes, you will all be given rooms and amenities to rest for the day. We would also like to thank you for your cooperation today, we understand how confusing and sudden this is for all of you."

"O-Of course, sir." I stuttered. The two didn't seem to notice.

They turned and proceeded to open the doors, the creaks of their hinges echoing greatly around the huge area I was met with. Walking inside, my eyes focused on all the stained glass mosaics depicting the Elements of Harmony prophecies, as well as the various villains the sisters have defeated so many eons ago. In the middle of the room sat two thrones stood atop adorned platforms, one being a vibrant yellow and the other a shiny silver. A small river of water ran along the sides of the thrones, which I thought was a cute touch.

Soon, I - no, we all had come face to face with the rulers of Equestria.

Princess Celestia, the sun, and Princess Luna, the moon, right in front of the four of us. We all bowed.

Celestia looked down on us with a warm, welcoming smile, her eyes on me. "Welcome, to all of you. We are so glad you all could arrive safely, especially after all that has happened." She spoke with a regal, yet almost motherly tone. She looked over at Dash, raising her head. "It is also great to see you are well, Rainbow Dash."

She nodded happily.

I took a breath and walked up, readying myself. "Greetings, your Majesty. It is an honor to be meeting you today. My name is Flash Powers. I'm accompanied by my long-time friend Solar Blaze, another friend of mine, Jargon, and yes, we were also lucky enough to have Rainbow Dash with us too," I explained. "I have to be honest, your Highness, I am really worried about what might happen..."

Celestia nodded. "Of course, it is a problem that worries us all. The only way that this can be reversed, from our knowledge, is if the power lost from the Cloudsdale explosion is restored..." She paused. "That is, restored in time."

"It's not going to be an easy task to accomplish... and another issue that strikes us is, we don't know who - or what - caused the initial delivery disruption, as well. Our investigation team has not yet returned with any useful information on the matter." Luna added.

"So, we're still stuck in the dark, huh..." Solar trotted up from behind me. "How are we even going to bring all that power back? Only way I know is to build a whole new generator, which just ain't feasible with the time we have."

Celestia nodded solemnly. "Yes, that is correct. To build even one of these facilities, it took many days of ingenuity from the brightest minds of Equestria."

"Thing is..." Solar tapped her chin with a hoof. "That was over 40 years ago. We can definitely build a generator faster in some way, right? It isn't an entire facility. With all our minds in the right place..."

Celestia thought about such an idea. “Well, yes, I’m sure it could be done. But, we don’t have much time. It would have to be a swift gathering of materials, and even faster to build it. Are you sure you’d all be up for such a task?”

“…do we even have enough general materials left to build one?” Jargon added, a good question since without what we need, we’re truly lost for ideas here.

“I believe so, yes, but only just enough. All of our supplies is kept in a secret warehouse underneath this castle; within the mountain Canterlot stands upon. It’s where the generators and their cores were manufactured. If anything gets lost… that could greatly jeopardize this journey.” Luna turned over to Celestia. “And, Sister, we do require another one of those powering crystals, do we not? I’m… not so sure if we have another in our posession.”

Powering crystals…? I’ve barely heard anything about those. I only remember learning that they’re the central power source of cores themselves. They activate, give the core energy, which is then distributed through the core evenly. I don’t even know where they come from.

"Hmmm..." Celestia thought, her mane flowing through space majestically. "Yes... yes, we should have one more. I believe it is stored within the warehouse Luna mentioned, tightly locked away."

"I mean, it shouldn't be too bad of a journey to go and get it," Solar let out a nervous chuckle. "Uh, right?"

"It will not be so simple, unfortunately, it is a vast complex that is easy to get to lost in. You all will be going down there with our guards for protection. Tomorrow, we'll discuss more on this matter, but for now please get rest, all of you. Today has been quite an eventful day, and we do not wish to tire you out any longer. Our guards will show you to your rooms, and you will be free for the day."

I decided to bow once more. "Thank you, your majestey."

The princesses lowered and raised their heads in unison and acknowledgement.

Damn, this room is huge.

This place has got everything: ornately decorated furniture, beautiful decor, super comfy bed, a window that overlooks the whole city, etc. I... actually kind of love it. I also really needed it, I am so damn exhausted. For one, I'm glad we have a sort of clearer ultimate goal in our hooves and hands: build another generator and get it working to boost the barrier back to life and finally expand it. I just don’t know if it’s feasible to get it finished or if it was another one of Solar’s silly ideas. If the princesses are on board, then there’s gotta be a chance…

Solar's in her room and Jargon is as well. As far as I know, Dash is with the princesses discussing other things (how she manages to stay so alert all the time is insane). So, for the first time in a while, I'm gonna have a night all completely to myself. Not sleeping on a couch half-dead, too! That's always a plus.

I sat on my bed, and I tried turning on the TV...

buzzzz-buzz-buz-

Huh? What's going on with the signal...

With a groan, I got up from my heavenly bed, forsaking divine comfort, and went over to the TV. I messed with the antennas, and saw some kind of strange figure appear within the static... I couldn't quite make it out. What the Tartarus? Is this TV haunted?

I fiddled some more, and the figure came a little clearer into view. Some kind of fleshy, super tall, horriffic abomination stared at me, watching me through the screen, tentacle-like 'arms' protruding out from the sides and moving towards me. Some kind of muffled roar grew in the background, before the static flooded back in.

Wh...What the fuck was that...?

I'm actually kind of scared.

Soon enough, the TV shot back to the regular everyday news program, which I changed to another channel soon after. What was that... being, though? That thing? It looked so… alien, I have no idea what species that thing could’ve possibly been. It had to be a prank, right? Maybe some idiot hijacked the broadcast during all the panic just to be funny... yeah, that's gotta be what it is.

I laid back on the soft mattress of the bed, pulling the covers over me as the sunset slowly passed by.

I think I'll just... forget that happened for now.