Carry On

Accelerando

Celestia felt a surge of power course through the veins beneath her flesh. She writhed reflexively, shuddering with sheer force. That was entirely unexpected. After all, she had not drawn any power from the sun above her. The goddess looked over to her sister with newfound vigor and saw Luna cough, then suck in a deep breath of the ragged wind.

Discord had a rather dumbfounded look on his face when Celestia turned her now wiry joints over. Looking down, she saw what he did--blue energy racing around her circulatory system, culminating in a bright spark off her horn with a fizz and a click. This sound,  for some reason, seemed reminiscient of a soda bottle cap breaking from its container, casting carbon dioxide through the air. The magic flowed similarly to the gas, quickly ebbing out and subsiding. Celestia heard a similar pop from behind her. Probably Luna. When a third came, she was reminded of Chrysalis. Was she still there? Her previous mental and vocal silence had signaled a calm and quiet death to the insect queen. Perhaps not...

Then, all of a sudden, the glow evaporated. The sun's unbearable heat returned, washing over Celestia with the force of an angry typhoon. Yet as pain came into her, a sense of hope radiated out. The strange magical release had apparently woken Chrysalis from death or slumber, so whatever it had been was something entirely different that expected.

"What in the Hive's name was that?" the insect queen asked to no one in particular. A holed hoof traveled to her face. "Oh my aching head..."

Luna stood quietly, contemplating or resting Celestia could not know. Her eyes focused on the red, dusty air, longing for some answer in the hazy mist.

"Indeed, Chrysalis. What indeed..." the white alicorn followed her sister's gaze, up and up and up. A flash of light marked the sky, followed by a comet trail of energy. With a thunderous boom and crack, it disappeared. The quartet of not-so-immortal immortals facing death collectively rose to a silent conductor. When your coffin is a planet and your funeral a supernova, things, however minute, become exponentially more interesting.

****************

Eastley popped up with a bright blue blink, leaping up into the air and doing a pirouette around. At this point, he and the crew of the science shuttle all found themselves investigating the diamond of blue light just a few meters out. The guards had hardly expected a threat on the expedition and so were not quite as ready as the captain would have liked.

Not quite so ready for what was coming.

A dome of expanding energy cascaded over the group, and four of five Marines disintegrated, melting into dust, carried away by the wind. The others were thrown forward, away from their position on the starboard side of the shuttle and towards the floating crystal. The  wave had come from behind, obliterating rocks and splitting earth before it reached the shuttle. At that point, it had reached over and simply plucked the Marines away into nothing. All those who survived--Open Sky, the Captain, Wesley, Eastley, and Harrier, the last Marine--had been saved by the shuttle. Unfortunately, the entire port wing had been blackened, burned, and fused together. It still faintly glowed from sheer heat.

Open Sky yelled from inside the cockpit. Apparently, the radios had all died. "You guys better get in here quick! The radiation just went off the charts!" her muffled voice called out through the glass.

Without even waiting for her to finish opening the outer lock, the ponies scrambled inside, practically flying through the small chamber and popping out the inner door. As the latch locked tight, the Captain, Wesley, Eastley, and Harrier all crowded around the console. Holographic symbols floated around, showing damage, ship status, filter quality, defense mechanisms, everything.

"Give me a full report, Lieutenant. What in Tartarus just happened?"

After a moment of scanning the charts, the pilot replied, "I think some sort of EMP came off that light sphere. Except... it's like nothing I've ever seen before. Luckily, it didn't do much but fry a few circuits from the backup generator, so we can't fly, but we can breathe. The port side got toasted; even if we could take off, we wouldn't be up for long. As for the guys..." she sighed regretfully, "they're gone. As soon as that thing showed up and popped that bubble, off they were. Nice fellas, too."

The Captain looked around, saw Harrier fidgeting in place, his trigger hoof shaking. "Steady, soldier," he stated calmly, bringing his gaze to Harrier. "Don't want you popping a hole in this tub."

Open Sky looked over her shoulder with an abused expression. "Tub? She's one of my ships!"

"She's one of my ships..." the Captain let that hang in the air, a sarcastic and angry tone lilting through the stale air.

"...sir." she finished.

"You remember that. And apologize to Harrier."

The pilot looked back to the quiet soldier. "Sorry, kid." She said it without much effort, a rich pony throwing money to the homeless waiting in the cold.

But only the money she had stuffed in the couch.

The Captain set his eyes on the mare, not with any sort of emotion; well, emotion by normal standards. He had a special sort of angry. He became entirely calm. He became the night sky on a cold night, seeming so massive, looking down on  the beings so miniscule below him. He became the wind nipping at the edge of the coat, not quite painful but plenty annoying. He became fear, and he became nothing. That was the horribly scary, terrific, beatiful part about the Captain's anger.

The pilot threw up her hooves in resignation, as if to say, "alright, alright!" With a huff and a puff she turned her chair back around, slouching in her seat, black-and-yellow mane flopping over her eyes.

"Open Sky, attempt to raise the Morning Star," Ares commanded.

She flipped a few switches and sent out an all-frequency distress signal. No reply.

"That's wonderful." she groaned. "Well, they'll probably come pick us up in a day or so anyways. Anyone bring cards?"

****************

The Morning Star drifted through space, continuing a slow orbit around Equus. The directional jets flared every few seconds, or minutes, or hours -- to the endless openness that was space, arbitrary pony times meant nothing. Distant suns twinkled with wondrous light, photons millions of years old blasting through emptiness and dark, into the eyes of gazing crewponies, who stood in awe and fear. The blinding majesty of the final frontier would bring many to tears on the first visit.

Following a planned yet chaotic flight path, the ship knew nothing of the cries of the Captain below, shouting up. The wind plucked the call away like a dog pulling its pups. Radio was distorted and made static by solar wind, electronic signals disrupted.

Then, out beyond the sparkling of the stars, a pinprick of energy (or lack thereof) split reality on the edge of the Equus system. Something dark, something sinister crept through that short rift in time, which stretched taut once again, as if a knot had been loosened and again pulled tight.

This faintest of marks on the tapestry of time appeared on a crewpony's scanner screen. He looked at it, confused, and was unsure why any sort of ship would be entering the system.

Just as quickly as it appeared, however, the notification winked out.

"Lieutenant Foucalt, sir?" the young ensign called out, flustered and with horn slightly aglow.

"Yes, P?" Lieutenant Foucalt Circuit replied, using the unicorn's nickname.

"Uh, it's just... the scanner system had a glitch, I think. Might want to run a diagnostic check."  Ensign Pylon Tower looked over the system again.

Foucalt got up and trotted over. "Let's see here... yep, probably just a glitch. Barely know why we're even out here anyways."

"Tourists, maybe?" a crewpony commented sarcastically.

The silent ship that descended on the Morning Star  suggested otherwise.

**************

"We could go outside." the pilot said, throwing the words out to the stale, recycled air.

"Whatever killed my Marines might still be out there. IS still out there," Captain Ares replied promptly.

The mare shrugged. "So, what, then? We just wait here for another shuttle from the Morning Star to show up, watch it get blasted out of the sky by... whatever it was, while we sit here, hoping we don't starve or dehydrate?"

The Captain almost said yes, but he looked over to Harrier and saw the foal frightened out of his wits. "No," he replied, still looking at the green-behind-the-ears Marine, "no one is going to die. No one else."

Open Sky blew a strand of hair out of her face and swiveled her chair to face the Captain. "What is it, exactly, that you propose that will change that?"

He looked her over again.

"You're going to go outside."

"Oh, thanks..." she grumbled, and popped her helmet on. Open Sky grabbed her sidearm and slid the targeting chip over her eye. A glance and a thought, and most enemies would be nothing but dust. The laser pistol floated in a stasis field beside her head, grip folded in and with a short stock protruding out.

The airlock opened, and she stepped through.

**************

"AH!" Luna yelped as she slipped down the sharp embankment. Dust and rocks followed her, and her trio of companions as they dove to her rescue.

Celestia leapt forth, and quickly teleported at the foot of the steep hill. Such a feat cost her what strength she had, but the white alicorn managed to slow her sister from a tumbling death into the nearby ravine.

It was more like a split in the land where some giant had struck a thin knife. It was, however, large enough for a pony to fall through. The drop may not have killed Luna, but being stuck and alive might have been a worse fate.

"That was close. Be more careful, little one," Celestia advised, concern in her eyes.

"I'm not so little any more," Luna looked up, a tough adult demanding respect... but beyond that skin was a child. Despite all her responsibility, anger, sadness, joy, life, Luna had never lost that. Celestia almost envied it.

"I know. I just... I love you. Don't go dying before the hour is here," the bigger horse replied. Solemnly, they carried on, crossing the small crack with relative ease.

The huge star above them glared in their eyes whenever they looked up. Nothing was free from the red gaze. It was a massive eye, staring down and judging. It was the hand of God, taking the worthy and leaving those not fit. It had taken so many already.

Chrysalis walked behind Luna as they pursued the mysterious falling object. By now, they were following the sight and sound of the apparent explosion that had occurred. Discord and Celestia walked together, nearer than they had been but still far apart.

"It has been quite a while, hasn't it, Luna? Whatever happened to Cadence? Or her husband?" the insect queen asked. She was a tad intrusive, but Luna found her voice... gentle. Warm, even.

With a hard exhale, Luna flared her nostrils. "Shining Armor died. He took a long time of it, but he was mortal. And he was a soldier," she rocked her head, seeming to consider this. "I think he was killed in battle... not by you or your kin, I think, but some foreign power or in some odd rebellion or something. A shame... As for Cadence, she left with the Crystal Heart. She wasn't exactly bound here. I mean, we--Celestia and I--aren't really either, but I guess we were compelled to stay. Cadence probably rose to power, or maybe she left and lived a quiet life. I don't really know." The moon goddess looked down. "I wish I did."

Chrysalis took a breath before replying. "Did you convince her to leave, or did she just go?"

Luna pondered for a moment as they walked. "As I recall, we weren't really sure what would happen if she tried to take the Heart. It seemed like the easiest thing to move, so she seemed the most capable of leaving. I didn't really want her to go... she was my friend, and family. But... oh... I can barely remember her face..." Small tears welled in her eyes. One hit the ground, and it sizzled away.

Chrysalis reached an arm around her. "It's alright. She's safe now. At least you have that, right?"

Luna nodded. "Yes, there is that... I just feel like I need to see her. Just one more time."

Chrysalis nodded and held her a little tighter.

**************