Ungula

Clunk.

Rainbow Dash winced as another chunk of Umbre-rock banged against the Fire of Friendship.

"Behind you darling, five and level."

At Rarity's word, Dash glanced at the rear cameras and juked the Fire "down" to evade. Rainbow Dash was nearly as good behind the controls of a starship as she was with her own wings, but in a dense asteroid field like this? It was no wonder they'd taken some hits, leading to the previously mentioned and now just-repaired air leak.

That's why she had a copilot - to spot and warn her of anything she missed. Normally that was either Pinkie or Rarity, and as Pinkie was currently busy, it fell to Rarity. Her detail-oriented nature and experience at holding dozens of objects in her magic at a time made her perfect for keeping track of the myriad bodies assailing them.

"Two below, sixty degrees at three and eight."

Rainbow pulled up, angling left to pass between a trio of umbroids. It was times like these that her thoughts turned to Luna - the goddess, not the moon. Her job, as any spacefarer would argue, was by far the hardest of the three. Keeping a star from exploding took a lot of raw power, but it was one star. Luna had to keep thousands of bodies from crashing into anything important, as they all stubbornly deviated if left unattended, Neighton's first law be damned.

So, Rainbow couldn't really fault her for leaving a big clump of asteroids close together like this. She could, however, wish she'd left them somewhere else.

"On your left, there's a fast–" Clunk. "–Oops, sorry darling."

Unfortunately, she hadn't, and so Rainbow was jolted out of her musing by another big rock glancing against the Fire of Friendship. She gritted her teeth, refocused, and–

There was something standing on an umbroid. (Nine and level, some part of her noted absently.)

It was smooth and white and shaped like a pony. (It wasn't a pony.)

It didn't have a–

"–TWELVE! TWELVE!"

Her stare was abruptly wrenched away from the thing as Rarity yanked back the copilot's yoke, turning a head-on collision into another glancing clunk.

She barely heard Rarity berating her as her eyes searched the asteroid field for the figure. She found the umbroid upon which it had stood. Nothing there.

Then the lights went out.