Captain Lyra was sitting down on her piloting seat, legs crossed and laying on the instrument panel, an empty cup of coffee right next to her. She was looking at space, the light of the unmoving stars, and the blue flames from the TARDIS reactors, in front of her, a bit to the left. Equestria was already far behind them, thousands of kilometers away.

The great windshield gave an exceptional view. A shame they had taken off during the middle of the day, flying by the moon would have been even more grandiose.

In her leather captain suit with short sleeves, she was thinking. That inexpressible joy was still present in her, without her knowing why. But it had faded, and she felt like she had missed a step.

The door opened.

"So, Bonbon, everything's alright on our side?" the captain asked without even turning around.

"No fainting in our crew, if that's what you're asking for. Although, Berry is probably going to pass out soon, but that's something different."

Since it was only the two of them in this room, they didn't really have to keep to the ranks, and Bonbon allowed herself to be less formal. The same was true for Vinyl and Octavia.

Lyra pressed the radio button.

"Humanity, no sign of fainting on our side either. I don't know what has gotten into your gunner, but it has nothing to do with what they were served at the cafeteria at least. Check the air mix, just in case."

"Thanks, Humanity," Twilight answered. "We already went to see, nothing abnormal."

"Understood. Good luck either way."

Twilight sighed. The journey wasn't off to a great start. Pinkie, without any reason, had fallen unconscious. Currently, the others were taking care of her in the infirmary.

The pink woman was laying on the only bed in the lab, reserved just for this kind of occasion, with a full set of various instruments, beeping regularly. Fluttershy was reading some kind of notebook. In front of the bed, the three other crew members were awaiting the verdict.

"So, what does she have?" Rainbow asked.

Fluttershy flipped a page, looking like she was comparing some things, before she answered:

"No idea. Normal heart rate, breathing, tension. Blood analysis isn't bringing any results, no presence of tumors or any disease of any kind, nor intoxication or parasites. No sign of overwork, or fatigue, or even heatstroke. In fact, according to her results, she should be in perfect shape. By the way, her state is closer to sleep than faint."

As if to back her claims, a loud snore suddenly arose from Pinkie.

"In short, she's fine," the scientist concluded.

"But people don't faint for no reason!" Applejack replied.

The yellow flying simply shrugged.

"We just have to wait for her to wake up. I don't have anything else to propose. May I remind you that I'm not a nurse by trade."

A silence followed Fluttershy's sentence. The four of them stared at the pink woman with the same interrogation in their eyes. What had happened for her to faint in the middle of laughing?

"And it doesn't come from the fact that she could have suffocated while guffawing," the pseudo-nurse completed. "While we're at it, why was she laughing so much?"

"Err..." Applejack hesitated.

"For nothing," Dash cut. "She likes to make fun of everything."

A beep suddenly echoed in the room, stronger than the others. The glance turned to the device, then to Fluttershy.

"Awakening phase," she simply announced.

Eyes locked on Pinkie. She was indeed opening her eyelids. With difficulty, blinded by the light in the room.

All of the sudden, she abruptly straightened up on her bed, making Rarity jump slightly and the sensors monitoring her flew away. She looked like she just had a revelation. She began to speak at an incredible pace and with an excited tone no one had ever knew her:

"Oh my Celestia, what happened? Where am I? Hey! Who replaced my hooves with those things?! Wait, no, those things, those are my hands, I always had them. Hold on, no I haven't, I was a pony! Hmm, why do I find myself here with those hands? And why do I have memories of my human life, even though I was a pony? Or the opposite? No, no, I remember feeling a weird sensation earlier on in the ship, that must be the explanation, something happened!"

She took on a thoughtful expression, frantically rubbing her chin and frowning, with a strange wince on her face. She finally seemed to notice the presence of the others.

"Hey, what happened to all of you as well?! Why aren't we at Twilight's place anymore? We all became humans or what?!"

The others gazed wide-eyed at her. What was she rambling on about exactly? In addition, she answered her own interrogation.

"Ah yes, it's true, we're in the same crew. Mhh, why is everything so similar between here and Equestria, yet so different? I don't get it!"

She reached her hands to her hair and rubbed them dangerously fast, yelling:

"Aaaaah! I don't understand a thing!"

"Calm down, Pinkie," Applejack tried.

"Calm down?! How do you want me to calm down?! What are we doing here?! We were all in Ponyville, in Twilight's castle then... then... I don't know."

She changed posture again, resting her chin on her fist.

"Now that I'm thinking about it, what happened? Is this the work of a new enemy trying to take over Equestria? Why were we in the castle for exactly?

"What are you talking about?" Rarity asked, intrigued.

"Twilight's castle. You know, her princess thingy with our thrones and all."

Pinkie moved her eyes to the others. Visibly, they didn't have the slightest idea as to what she meant.

"Ah, right, we only just met in this world, and Twilight isn't a princess. But at least, you remember that, don't you?"

"Remember what? Twilight being a princess?" said Dash, arching an eyebrow, mocking the gunner more than anything else.

Applejack exchanged a little glance with Fluttershy. They seemed to agree on one thing: Pinkie had completely lost it. The scientist prepared to give her an injection of sedatives, going for a syringe.

"Mhhh, it's true that I didn't remember Equestria before either. Well, I did, but not our Equestria. How come that I remembered it by the way?"

She didn't feel the sting in her arm, and suddenly found herself very tired.

"Oooh... What's happening to me...?" she said, her body wobbling left to right on her bed.

"I'm going to keep her under examination," Fluttershy followed. "Now, I know that the problem is in her brain. Maybe a trauma of some sort."

Pinkie collapsed on her pillow, going back to the dream realm.

"Right," Applejack said, scratching her head behind her hat. "I'll warn the captain."

She headed out of the infirmary, towards the cockpit.

"Get out too," Fluttershy politely added towards Dash and Rarity. "I'd rather be in the quiet."

The two others didn't need to hear it twice and left Fluttershy with Pinkie. The flying turned her attention back to the pink woman, who had very slightly gained back consciousness, her mind looking cloudy. Of course, seeing her constitution, Fluttershy should have given her a higher dose. But the fact her patient was awake eased the task a bit for her. The scientist put out a pen and note block, taking a seat on a chair next to the bed.

"Fluttershy?" Pinkie slowly asked with her sleepy voice.

"Yes?" she answered, lending her a very attentive ear and beginning her notes, determined to find what was wrong in the gunner's bonce.

"Do you remember Angel?"

Fluttershy tilted her head, slightly surprised, staring at the blue tired eyes focused on her.

"The bunny on which I did my experiments during my training?"

How did she know about that? Had Pinkie developed a gift of clairvoyance? But that only happened with the horned, and in such rare occurrences that it was qualified as a miracle. And why would someone as boorish as her be interested in that kind of thing?

Pinkie didn't reply, her gaze getting lost in the void of the metallic ceiling above her. The pen ran against the paper.

"And Discord, do you remember him?"

"Hmm," the flying in a lab coat said, rubbing her chin with the tip of her pen, searching at least a bit in his memory, just to pull the wool over Pinkie's eyes. "No. Who is he?"

Improvising herself a psychologist, Fluttershy listened to what Pinkie Pie had to tell her. Whatever the problem might be, it would transpire in her words at some point or another.

Twilight placed her hand on her face, whispering:

"I can't believe it..."

"Come on," the orange woman tried to reassure. "We don't ever need a gunner anyway, it ain't that bad."

"Yes," the captain said, trying to pull herself back together. "Let's look at the bright side! And at least, a mental disease isn't transmissible! No need for a quarantine."

She had a nervous laugh.

"How much time until the first cape?" asked the second-in-command.

"An hour, if nothing goes wrong. I'm going to warn the other crews that there is no need to worry. In any case, we're supposed to hold a reunion before the first cape."

"Just between us, I still find it quite worrying that she managed to pass the tests with a mental disorder."

The brown face of Captain Whooves looked concerned, as seen from the hologram projected on Twilight's left.

In front, Captain Octavia was the only one sat down, drinking, as usual, her cup of tea. How much of it did she swallow in a day exactly? What were the stocks in her ship?

And on the right, Captain Lyra was yawning.

Captains meeting, where each was in their personal quarters, it was the protocol. They had to take directives for the passing of the cape, and also do an assessment.

"Have you looked at your second-in-command?" Lyra commented with a little laugh, more playful than anything.

"I forbid you to make fun of her!" the man with a curved coiffure suddenly angered. "She had at least as much as yours on her test results, if not more!"

"Hey, easy now, I was just joking," the horned defended herself, surprised by so much aggressiveness.

"Well you just don't do that! You can't imagine how much mocking she had to go through to-"

"Stop!" Twilight intervened, cutting the conflict short. "This is neither the time nor the objective of this conversation. We had to decide on a running order for this cape and the next ones."

Octavia delicately put her cup back in the saucer she was holding, declaring:

"I think it's obvious, we're going to keep the same order for all the capes, it will ease things up. As to the order itself, I suggest the TARDIS should go first.

"Why is that?" the main interested party asked, intrigued.

"Your ship is maneuverable. If an obstacle presents itself, you're the best suited to dodge it despite the short timeframe."

"An obstacle? In a cape?" said Whooves with astonishment.

"Caution before all. It's the procedure," Octavia reminded.

"And I suppose that for second place, you're going to propose your ship?" said Lyra with a hint of contempt in the voice, pulling the rug out from under Twilight.

"Absolutely not. My ship is the fastest, it is more fair to leave it in the back. That way, everyone can follow the rhythm in between the capes."

Despite the accuracy of her words, one could feel an exasperating pretentiousness rearing its head in her sentence.

"Is your pilot really going to be okay with staying behind everyone?" Whooves doubted.

"A little bit of discipline will do some good to her," the gray woman with the long black hair nonchalantly replied, but not without a bit of refinement.

"Well, in that case," Twilight followed. "I suggest the Humanity and the Friendship Cottage should travel side by side."

The reactions to her proposal were varied. Octavia politely raised an eyebrow, Whooves opened surprised eyes and Lyra let out a "Huh?"

"Why the hell would you want this?" the captain of the Symphonia couldn't help herself but to ask. "The capes are wide enough to let three ships like yours go by, but still, it requires some skills."

"For once, I agree," Lyra followed, staring at Twilight on her screen. "We just began, it's not worth the risk. If we ever collide, one of us will end its run here, if not both."

Twilight bit her lip. She knew that it wouldn't be well received because of the danger it represented. But what Shining had said was still preoccupying her. Why give her such a warning, knowing full well it would bother her mind? It had to be something serious! But she couldn't explain it to them, her brother had already crossed a line by telling her. Never mind then, in any case, a problem inside a cape was a rare thing. The system was well-established by now.

She didn't insist any further.

"Mhh, fine. It was more by caution than anything, but since it is our first mission, better not to overdo things. Instead, I suggest Captain Lyra should go first."

"Fine by me," said the woman in question.

"No objections," Whooves added.

"Very well," Octavia concluded. "With that, see you all in half-an-hour for the first cape."

The screens shut off all at once, and Twilight sighed.

"I hope we'll get to the Crystal Constellation without trouble..."

Twenty-five minutes later, a call resounded through the Friendship Cottage and was repeated in every ship, by the speakers.

"First cape in view."

Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Rarity went to the cockpit, joining Twilight. It was an important moment for them. The first time they would see a cape.

The capes, or space's stations as they were called. They were the means, developed by Equestria's greatest physicists and mages, allowing for interstellar travels without the years usually necessary for such trips, even at high speeds. Just to get to the closest system, at light speed, took eight years. And Equestria was far from reaching such a speed, and even further from having the budget and the required technology to equip all its ships with it.

So, instead, there were those apparatus named capes. The principle they used was akin to teleportation, but on a much longer distance.

They were great circles of metals, rings wide enough to let a heavy carrier go through without even scratching the painting. Put in the emptiness more often than not, far enough from any star, planets and asteroid fields, those structures had something mystical, but still commanded respect towards the individuals that had crafted them.

On the right, a little sphere, ridiculously small when compared to the rings, symbolized the living space of the customs officer, as they were called.

The largest cape was the one on the outskirts of Equestria. The same one the four ships were arriving in front of. Five immense rings, leading to the four corners of the galaxy, supposing that galaxies have corners. One could have fitted the whole spaceport through it, since it was designed to accommodate many imposing ships. But the next ones were going to be much narrower.

Whooves, as the front leader of the expedition, spoke:

"Canterlot's Cape, here is Doctor Whooves, captain of the TARDIS. I have with me the ships Humanity, Friendship Cottage and Symphonia, respectively piloted by-"

"We know that already," dryly cut a voice on the radio. "You should have signaled your arrival before. But Equestria warned us. However, think about warning the customs officers of the next capes."

"Uh... R-Roger that," the captain's voice hesitated.

The distinctive sound of a radio turning on was then heard. Someone had just joined the conversation. Octavia's voice, without any real surprise, came out of the speakers with her usual self-importance and without hesitation.

"In conformity with the protocol of this very cape, we signaled our arrival. The distance and time are those regulated by the laws of the interstellar empire of Equestria. Furthermore, Canterlot's cape is under a special rule which forces the customs officers to take action. Whether the arrival be signaled or not, it is your duty to engage conversation before the limits imposed by the laws."

A silence settled in. Then, the custom officer resumed, way less harshly:

"Indeed, I overlooked that part. Accept my apologies, I've just been assigned to this cape. I'll prepare the way for you. What is your running order?"

Octavia cut her mic and went back to sit in her chair. She didn't like her knowledge of the rules to be put into doubt, especially since the others didn't look like they had any intention of defending themselves. She reached in her pocket for a little electrical device, looking like a pager, and typed on it while Whooves carried on the discussion.

A small beep came from Twilight's pocket and she took out a similar apparatus, while Rarity was talking with Dash. On the small screen was written: "And I thought you were unbeatable when it comes to regulations... 1 - 0 in that case?"

Twilight clenched her fingers on the small device, fulminating. Yes, she had noticed this mistake, but she hadn't deemed necessary to intervene. As soon as the radio had turned on, she kewn who was going to talk. That voice... That pretentiousness... This...

"Stuck-up girl!" she said out loud in her cockpit, making the three others jump.

"W-What?" Rarity said, offended, thinking she was the target.

"This Octavia! She thinks she's above everyone else! It's infuriating!"

"Calm down, Twilight," Applejack tempered. "They are giving directives here."

The captain let out her discontent in a long breath, but kept quiet to listen to what the custom officer was saying.

"... go fine, you'll have no maneuver to make. That being said, stay cautious. We're opening the portal."

"Copy that," Captain Whooves replied.

The blue rectangular ship approached the third ring, followed by the Humanity. Twilight took the controls back in her hands and aligned herself with the first two. Behind, the Symphonia did the same thing.

The third metallic circle began to crackle. On its outline, electrical and magical blue arcs were forming. A high tension was starting to rise around them, the horned feeling it first. It was a powerful and increasing sensation, which had the particularity of creating a lot of re-evaluations. When faced with such a wave of magic, one could only feel small.

Then, suddenly, the ring filled with a blue compound, halfway between solid and liquid. The TARDIS moved forward.

"Pathway opened. Have a good ride."

No messages were sent back. It was tradition, when crossing a cape. Accidents were rare, especially now. But the habit persisted, to this day, that the ship shouldn't answer the last sentence from the custom officer, to bring luck and avoid that the reply be the last words addressed to the world.

In the cockpit of the TARDIS, the crew was under tension. Captain Whooves was firmly holding on to his control levers. He took in a deep breath and drove the ship into that great pool of mana.

He vanished from the other's sight.

"Full throttle, Bonbon!" Lyra yelled in her cockpit, pointing a finger forward.

The two-color-haired second-in-command arched an eyebrow.

"You're the pilot, captain," she reminded.

"I know! Make me a coffee!"

Bonbon rolled her eyes, letting out a sigh:

"Yes, ma'am."

The turquoise horned abruptly pushed on her two command levers and the ship took a sudden acceleration, sinking into the cape and disappearing as well.

"Rainbow Dash," Twilight immediately ordered. "The engine room!"

The blue flying seemed to suddenly come back to reality, lost as she was in the contemplation of the rings. She straightened in a brief salute, answering "Yes ma'am!" before heading out by the door, trotting around.

"Our turn, now," the captain whispered, pushing on her reactors.

The ship penetrated the blue mass.

On the cockpit's window, they saw some kind of gelatin sticking to it, obstructing any vision. Twilight kept on accelerating. The spacecraft seemed to shiver, followed by a hoarse whirring sound. The metal resonated, purred as the great pilots said, and pulsated with a blue electrical light that only got more intense.

The purple horned looked at her sensors. Just one more meter and the ship would be completely through. She slowed the pace down, as the noise was getting louder, as if the ship was charging itself with mana. Because it was.

Passed! Twilight stopped everything, aside from the artificial gravity. There lay Rainbow's role, the engines didn't stop immediately from the cockpit, the mechanic had to shut them down manually and check that everything was going well.

Applejack suddenly took the mic to call the blue flying, but the latter answered before she even got to say a word:

"Everything's in order."

"Brace yourself!" the second-in-command announced.

The bodywork, which one could have sworn the blue was its original color, suddenly stopped shaking. For a second, it was a complete silence in the emptiness of space. Then, a huge blue flash blinded the passengers.

The sensation was strange, even for those that had already felt it before, sickening. The ship, and the ones aboard it, were teleported a few kilometers from its starting point. Then another flash came, and the spacecraft found itself in another place, further away in space. Then again, this time faster than the previous one.

The flashes succeeded one another, faster and faster, becoming impossible to see at some point, while the sensation, now permanent, wasn't really bothering anyone anymore.

They opened their eyes. The gel on the windshield had gone, and a quite surprising spectacle was unfolding before their eyes.

They were racing, encircled by an azure glimmer, through space. The teleportations were now happening at a crazy speed.

Usually, a teleportation can't bring someone much further than a few kilometers away, even for the best horned. The principle of a cape was to have thousands of teleportations, happening in quick successions, before the previous one was even finished. The ring was charging the ship with energy, and it slowly wore out over the little jumps in space that made the teleportations.

That system, birthed into the mind of an old bearded horned many years ago, had put into question the reality of teleportation. Up until the invention of the capes, everyone thought that teleportation was simply an instantaneous shift in space. The truth was quite different, and the Friendship Cottage's crew now had the proof lying under their eyes.

Teleportation was a form of travel faster than the speed of light, made possible by magic. How much faster? It was hard to tell since the number of teleportations wasn't exactly calculated with each trip. But fast enough for hundreds of years worth of travel to turn into mere hours.

Here is why the interplanetary emptiness was flying by under their eyes. The ship wasn't taking any pause in its teleportations. When one travels through space, the stars never seem to move because of how far away they are. Here, they could clearly be seen sliding against the blackness of space, even if it was only slightly.

"Sweet Celesita..." Rarity whispered when faced with such a spectacle.

Twilight and Applejack too were speechless. Yet someone pulled them out of their daydreaming.

"Friendship Cottage, y'all in one piece?"

Twilight immediately pressed on the radio, now linked to the others by a magical frequency.

"Yes, yes, Humanity," she hurried to answer. "Everything is going fine on our side."

"Impressive, isn't it?" Lyra let out in a breath.

She too must have been with her gaze lost into space.

"It's beyond that..." Whooves added.

"It's true that it's breathtaking," Twilight admitted.

"That's why I became a pilot," Lyra added. "To see that, at least once."

The two other ships weren't in view. They were thousands of kilometers away, gaps grew quickly under those speeds.

"Look," said Whooves. "We can already see the Dale cloud getting closer."

Indeed, the white structure of accumulated gas in suspension over millions of kilometers was slowly appearing, getting bigger at an incredibly sluggish pace.

"We'll be there in three hours, normally."

"I suggest we all wait before taking the next cape, just so we can get dinner," Lyra proposed.

"It's true that it's preferable to eat out of capes," Twilight approved.

"Fine by me," Whooves concluded.

"And what does the Symphonia think?" Lyra asked.

No answers. It's true that they hadn't thought about asking if everything was going alright for them. Lyra immediately made up for that mistake.

"Symphonia, are you alright?"

No answers either. A worrying silence floated in the cockpits for a second, before Lyra tried again:

"Symphonia, here is the Humanity, did you go through the cape, reply?!"

Still nothing. A shiver went down the three captain's spines. Could it be that...

The sound of a cello suddenly went on the radio, accompanied by Vinyl's voice filled with energy:

"Yeah, sorry for that, I didn't hear you. That thing is just pumping Tavi with inspiration, she's composing right now. What were you saying?"

"Do you mind waiting a bit before getting through the next cape so that we may all eat at a normal speed?" a Lyra at her wits' end repeated.

Did Octavia at least realize that they all got scared because of her?! Maybe, but it was most likely that she didn't care one bit.

"Okay, I'll see with her, I don't want to bother her."

"Copy that," Whooves sighed to avoid Lyra getting carried away when faced with such negligence, which would have been ironic coming from her. "With that, I suggest we stop the talk here. Check your gears, capes are bad for machinery."

"You got it!" Vinyl threw, before hanging up.

"I think it's for the better, indeed," Lyra mumbled, before shutting off her own mic.

"In that case, have a nice trip. Over."

Twilight put an end to the communication and let out a sigh.

"At least we have peace for a while," Applejack said, trying to be positive.

"Do you want something special for this evening's meal?" suddenly asked the cook.

An hour went by in the teleportation. Each had gone back to their post, Rarity was preparing dinner, while Rainbow Dash was throwing herself at a machine that seemed to present a minor defect on the lateral propulsion. It wasn't really that serious, since during teleportation the ship is turned off.

Twilight had to stay in the cockpit, to react to even the slightest alert. If a lone asteroid crossed their path, she had to act quickly, in just a few seconds.

Usually, an obstacle isn't dangerous during teleportation, since magic separates the matter being transported from the rest of space during the travel. However, being a succession of teleportations, it was possible that bad luck would make the landing space of one of them to be in the obstacle, creating a collision barely longer than a blink, yet potentially fatal.

In that case, she would have to move the ship as much as necessary. A game of reflexes among other things, which is why the TARDIS was in the front, it was by far the most maneuverable for this type of movement.

And in the laboratory, Fluttershy, still sitting on her chair, was listening to what Pinkie had to say on this so-called Equestria filled with multicolored ponies.

The gunner had just ended her story. The scientist checked her notes with a circumspect look on her face. Her patient had told her an incredible amount of things, and had managed to stay coherent all the way through, which was rare enough for a mentally ill person holding a speech that long. Normally, it always ended with contradictions. But here, nothing. Everything was logical, if she was to admit some points, like those Elements of Harmony. It would almost make for a good children show, Fluttershy thought to herself.

Was it, in fact, a universe the gunner had imagined during her childhood, which had just resurged following some shock? Fluttershy had never heard about that, but, after all, why not?

"And so, in this universe, you're saying we're all present?" the flying in a lab coat summed up. "And we represent the Elements of Harmony?"

"Do you really not remember?" Pinkie saddened, looking at her.

"I do," she lied. "Of course I do, it's just still blurry in my head. I represent kindness, is that right? And you laughter?"

Pinkie nodded and straightened on her bed to sit. She seemed upset.

"What's wrong?" Fluttershy asked.

"Why am I the only one remembering?" the gunner said with a sigh, not fooled by her friend's lie.

"You remembered after fainting, right?"

"It's because I laughed. I'm sure it has something to do with that."

"Care to explain?" Fluttershy wondered, intrigued.

"I embodied my element again. Before that, I wasn't particularly cheerful, more mocking, a little bit mean and lazy. It's the opposite of what I am in Equestria. When I laughed again, my memory came back."

"So, if I'm following correctly, we would all have to embody our element once more for us to remember everything?"

"That's what I thought," Pinkie let out in a breath. "But you've already embodied yours, and nothing happened."

"I did?" Fluttershy said, surprised.

The pink woman looked at her in the eyes.

"You've been listening to me for a while now, without even believing me, just because you're trying to make me feel better. And that's very kind of you."

The flying had a little embarrassed smile, which the gunner returned.

"It's true that I didn't see it that way," Fluttershy admitted. "For me, I was just doing my job. But I think it's also because I want to help you, first and foremost."

The two of them looked each other in the eyes, with a little smile. But not for long, since Fluttershy suddenly tipped forward, falling heavily from her seat and onto the floor in a loud noise, unconscious.

At the same time, the lab door opened on an Applejack asking:

"So, is she feeling al-"

She stopped on the spot, staring at Pinkie jumping from her bed to rush to Fluttershy and get her up again.

"W-What did you do to her?!" asked the second-in-command, running to them.

"Nothing!" said the gunner, as distraught as her. "I just talked to her!"

"Get away from her!" Applejack ordered, taking Fluttershy in her arms to lay her on the bed.

Immediately, she took her pulse, while Pinkie stayed close and worried. The second-in-command let out a sigh of relief.

"It's alright, she just fainted like you did."

Applejack turned a suspicious gaze towards Pinkie.

"What did you tell her?"

"I just said that she was kind and..."

The gunner suddenly froze, seemingly understanding something. She gently slammed her fist into her hand.

"It's not enough to embody the element! You need to be conscious of it while doing it!"

"Beg yer pardon?" asked the second-in-command without getting it.

Pinkie suddenly grabbed Applejack by the shoulders, looking panicked all of the sudden.

"Applejack! Say something true! Something you would usually hide!"

"W-What?" said the orange woman, even more lost, fearing that her crew member had truly lost her mind. "Like what?"

"I don't know, find something!" Pinkie replied, talking fast, shaking her superior because of her lack of reactivity. "Here, tell me what you and Dashie were doing earlier on in the hallway! Tell me what you were doing!"

Applejack grabbed the gunner's arms and stopped her immediately, suddenly angry.

"You know darn well what you saw! And I advise you to not talk about it to anyone! Understood?!"

"What were you doing?!" the gunner kept on asking. "Tell me!"

"We're dating! There! Happy?!"

The pink woman stopped with a large smile, happy that she had said it. She couldn't help but to snort when thinking about the fact that, indeed, in this universe, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were dating.

Pinkie burst out laughing, an uncontrollable laugh. Applejack frowned, thinking she had forced her to say that just to mock her again.

"So what?! What does it change if I told you?!" she said, losing her temper.

Pinkie tried to calm down her laugh, whipping a few tears she just had. Still giggling, she answered:

"It changes that you've been honest, Applejack."

"Yeah, so what?!" the second-in-command replied, still hoping mad.

"So you should get back your memory too," Pinkie smiled.

"What are you o-"

Applejack didn't get the time to finish her sentence. She fainted and collapsed on Pinkie, who caught her before laying her delicately by Fluttershy's side.

She had guessed right! She wasn't crazy. For some unknown reason, they were all here, in this world strangely similar to the Equestria they knew, and their memories had been altered to make them think they had always lived here.

It was something extremely bizarre to recover the memory of a past, when she thought to have one already. Pinkie remembered everything that had happened in Ponyville, but also in her human life. But the latter, when she thought about it, seemed blurrier, as if it hadn't been truly lived, that those were implanted memories.

The first issue was to make everyone remember. They had to fulfill their respective element's functions, and be aware of it.

For Rarity, that would be simple, without much doubt. Twilight too, probably. For Rainbow Dash... Pinkie was still wondering how she would manifest her element.

Oh well, she simply had to wait for Fluttershy and Applejack to wake up. They would have an idea, most likely.

But what were they doing here? Was it truly the work of a new villain, trying to take control of Equestria, like she had thought earlier?

Pinkie ended up ruffling her hair by scratching her head so much.

"Aaaaaah! I don't get it!"

As the ex-party pony was tearing her human mane out, the captains of the ships were discussing through the radio.

"So we take on a different appearance in this constellation?" Lyra was asking, surprised.

"It comes from the suns in that part of the universe," Twilight explained. "The light emitted is charged in magic, a magic specific to the constellation."

"And it's the only place where a civilization almost identical to ours was discovered," Whooves completed.

"We all know that," Octavia replied.

"And what would the goal of our exploration be, in your opinion?" Lyra asked without paying attention to her. "Why this place in particular?"

"This system is quite recent," the ignored woman immediately replied, slightly irritated. "And its configuration, its mysterious formation, and the fact that life was able to appear there makes it interesting. Since it's a new place, there are most likely resources extremely characteristic. The first one being the abundance of pure crystals, very useful to canalize magic, like what they're used for in the capes. It will be up to us to find out what this system holds."

Octavia regained her composure and finished her cup of tea.

"I would be surprised if it was that simple..." Twilight whispered.

"Hm?" said Whooves who had heard that as a static noise in the radio.

"What?" asked Lyra, who hadn't listened.

"Twilight?" Whooves called.

A little moment of silence settled in, as the captains awaited an answer from the horned. She bit her lip. Should she tell them? She sighed in silence before at least confessing her doubts.

"To me, Equestria wants to make sure the area is safe. A civilization has been discovered here, it is possible that another one, more advanced and dangerous, could be nearby. I doubt we will be told clearly, but our objective will be to unveil potential menaces for Equestria, and maybe establish contact."

Another silence, this time longer and heavier, took place. Even Lyra, who would have been first to react and said those speculations were rubbish, thought seriously about that possibility Twilight had just revealed to everyone's eyes.

"What made you think of that?" Octavia finally asked with a grave tone. "Not that I doubt you would come up with such a reflection on your own, but you're almost affirming that your version is the right one. Why?"

Twilight hesitated on answering, and Lyra did it for her:

"It's your brother, isn't it? That's what you've talked about after the reunion."

"Yes," Twilight confessed. "He did not tell me that exactly. He just advised me to stay careful and that strange things had happened in the Crystal Constellation recently."

"Things like?" Octavia pressured, frowning eyebrows that could not be more focused, next to her second-in-command.

"He didn't say anything else, just that Cadance would know more."

"Well that's perfect!" Lyra suddenly said with joy.

"W-What do you mean?" Whooves replied, not finding anything reassuring in all that.

"At least we won't be bored shitless," Vinyl approved, thinking about the same thing.

"Vinyl! Language!" her captain scolded.

"Sorry Tavi!"

The captain of the Symphonia cut her radio to reprimand her second-in-command in peace. The three others stayed silent for a little bit, waiting for her to be done.

Hating to keep someone waiting, Octavia turned her mic back on just a few seconds later, strangely calm.

"Well, in any case, I think we'll just have to ask Princess Cadance. Which won't be before tomorrow. With that being said, I'll leave you."

And the radio switched off, leaving the others quite perplexed by her attitude.

"Well..." said Lyra. "Just like she said. We'll see. We meet again at the next cape, after dinner."

"Roger that," Twilight and Whooves replied.

The radios went off and silence reigned once again in the cockpit of the Friendship Cottage.

The voice of Rainbow Dash could be heard in the hallway.

"Applejack? Where are you?"

Pinkie jumped.

"Oh no, if Dashie sees them, what is she going to say? She'll think I did something to them! Well, actually, she would be right since I did make them find their memories back, but she's going to think it's worse than that! She won't believe me when I tell her they simply fainted! Ohyoyo, what do I do?!"

Applejack and Fluttershy were still laying on the bed, eyes closed. The mechanic's steps got dangerously close to the laboratory. Pinkie hurried to lock the door and, barely a few seconds later, Rainbow Dash knocked on the metal partition.

"Fluttershy, did you see Applejack?"

Pinkie subtly cleared her throat and pulled on her best impression of Fluttershy, trying to hide the panic in her voice.

"N-No Dash, I haven't seen her. I'm still examining Pinkie."

The blue flying arched an unconvinced eyebrow.

"Are you sure everything is alright? Your voice sounds different."

"Oh shoo," Pinkie thought. "In this world, Fluttershy isn't shy! I need to change my tone!"

Silently clearing her throat again, she resumed with a much more assertive tone:

"Yes, everything is alright Rainbow, I assure you. Could you leave me? I still have to take care of our gunner."

"Alright..." said Dash, shrugging. "I'll ask Rarity then."

The mechanic was going away, when came to her ears a "Oooh, my head..." from a voice she recognized.

"Applejack?" Rainbow called, turning around towards the door.

"Rain-"

Pinkie immediately put her hand on Applejack's mouth, gesturing her to stay quiet, before adding with Fluttershy's voice:

"Oh, Pinkie, you're finally awake!"

The second-in-command, still disoriented, moved the gunner's hand away from her mouth, glaring at her, asking in a low voice:

"What?!"

"Oh yes, Fluttershy. I thought I heard Rainbow?" the pink one continued with her normal voice, quickly shaking her hand to request Applejack to stop talking.

"Is that you Pinkie?" the mechanic asked behind the door. "You sounded like Applejack."

"Applejack? No, she's not there."

Meanwhile, the one being talked about had just crossed her arms, thinking and understanding. Her memory from her pony life had come back, but she had just remembered it while realizing it wasn't simply the leftovers from a dream. And that this world too wasn't a dream.

"Okay," a visibly disappointed Rainbow answered. "Tell me if you see her. I don't want to bother Twilight and use the internal mic."

"She can't be really far," Pinkie reasoned. "The ship isn't that big."

"Yeah," Dash replied, going away to question the cook.

Pinkie waited for a few seconds, then let out a deep breath, wiping off the sweat on her forehead.

"That was close!"

Applejack looked at the gunner turning to her, and asked the dreaded question:

"What in tarnation is goin' on?"

"It's a little bit complicated, and I don't really know more than you do," Pinkie saddened. "We'll wait for Fluttershy to wake up to talk about it, okie dokie?"

The ex-farmer nodded. Pinkie was a bit reassured to not be the only one remembering Equestria.

The gray woman with the long black hair slowly removed her lips from her second-in-command's, breathing her passion out slightly, her face still close to hers. Vinyl had a little knowing smile, whispering:

"Captain, it's not right to disturb me while I'm piloting."

"That will teach you. Stopping me like that while I'm getting angry at you, you had it coming," Octavia replied with the same smile. "Thankfully, I cut the radio. Calling me Tavi in front of everyone, what were you thinking?"

The captain slowly reached her arms around her second-in-command's shoulders, who was holding she ship's controls a little less firmly than she usually did. A delicate classical tune was floating in the carefully locked cockpit.

"You quickly abandoned the conversation with the other captains," Vinyl noted. "Should I understand that I am more important than our mission?"

"You're still questioning my actions," the captain gently scolded. "Looks like you didn't learn anything."

Octavia tilted her head to kiss her partner's neck, as the latter was rising hers and turned it slightly to leave the captain all the space she needed to smell her perfume, Vinyl exhaling with a shiver of arousal running along her back.

Arousal that quickly faded when Vinyl frowned, taking on an extremely and unusual serious face.

"Captain."

"Hmm?" she answered, lifting her head back up.

Captain Whooves' voice suddenly came out of the radio, panicked:

"Alert! Planet on the trajectory! Planet on the trajectory!"

Octavia immediately ceased what she was doing and turned on the radio, while Vinyl was starting the engines.

The same commotion happened in the other ships. The reactors were turning on.

"Rose, are the machines ready?!" Whooves pressured in the internal radio.

"Ready for the maneuver!" replied the TARDIS' mechanic.

The TARDIS' sensor was pulsating more and more, pointing at the obstacle that was getting closer way too fast for it to be visible right now.

Whooves suddenly thrust his commands to the right and the ship began to spin widely. The planet was dangerously closing in while Derpy, piloting assistant, was doing her best to help her captain. The TARDIS was maneuverable, but needed two people for it. On the radar, the immense celestial body was slowly drifting away from the trajectory, but still posed a threat. The captain was clenched on his controls.

"Come on...!"

The gray dot appeared for just an instant in his field of view, in the distance. A fraction of a second later, they were already brushing past the shadowy planet drifting in the void. The spaceship suddenly grated and an alarm echoed, a red light turning on in the cockpit. The captain's ears were suddenly blocked, as Derpy shouted, while the planet was already long gone behind them:

"Entry into atmosphere! We've suffered damage to the hull!"

"Rose!" Whooves called.

"I'm on it!" said Rose's voice on the radio. "We got overcharged with magic!"

"Humanity, are you okay on your end?!"

No answers.

"Lyra!" Whooves reprimanded. "Now isn't the time for jokes! Answer!"

Once again, the silence stayed on the radio for many long seconds. Thinking it was a technical failure from his own equipment, Whooves called:

"Friendship Cottage! Do you receive me?!"

"Friendship Cottage, evasion maneuver successful. No damage taken."

Whooves' blood turned to ice.

"Humanity?"

"Symphonia, evading maneuver done without damages as well," Octavia's voice informed after a few seconds of leeway.

"Humanity!" Whooves yelled. "Lyra! Bonbon! Answer!"

"Calm down!" Twilight tempered, even if she was shaking in her seat as well. "It's... It's maybe just a technical difficulty."

"A technical difficulty which damages magical radio communication?" Octavia replied, unconvinced.

Twilight clenched her teeth and tensed up. She knew it was practically impossible. There was only one likely explanation for this sudden radio silence. Only one.

"She couldn't dodge it," Octavia let out in a breath, saying out loud what they were all thinking. "She was following the TARDIS closely, and her ship was way less maneuverable tha-"

"Stop talking about her as if she was dead!" Twilight dryly cut, yelling in her radio.

She felt a knot forming in her heart. She didn't want to hear that. Not for their first expedition. Not right from her first cape. It was impossible, the travels were safe now, and the accidents were rare, weren't they?

Octavia's sigh was heard in the mic. It seemed like even she felt quite affected by it. After all, it was their promotion that had just taken a severe blow. That group of four captains had known each other for a while, and Lyra was, unquestionably, the center of attention when it came to having a less serious ambiance. An eccentric joker.

"We will see once out of the cape," Captain Octavia concluded. "If their ship is there, it was only a technical malfunction."

Twilight was biting her lip. Not Lyra, please. Worst of all, she was the one that had suggested for the Humanity to go in second.

Far behind the group of ships flying through space, the gray planet was continuing its drift through the interstellar emptiness. There were planets like this one, freely wandering outside of any system. They were unpredictable, impossible to locate precisely due to their low light and loneliness. The captains had been the victim of bad luck for one of them to cross their path. A direct collision often meant a certain death. There was no debating it.

A heavy silence reigned on the radio. In his cockpit, Captain Whooves was trying to stay focused on what was happening, looking to chase away his dark thoughts.

A gray hand landed on his shoulder, accompanied by a voice that wanted to be reassuring.

"Lyra may be a bit airheaded, but she's a fighter. And Bonbon has a pretty strong personality. I'm sure they are fine, captain."

The brown man didn't answer. Internally, he prayed for Derpy to be right. This is all there was to do now, wait until the end of the cape, in a few tens of minutes.

Twilight turned on a private canal with the Symphonia.

"Octavia, answer me honestly."

"I hope it's just a technical malfunction, if that's what you want to know."

"Did you see something on the surface of the planet when we passed by?"

"At such speed, you do realize that-"

"Just answer me!" Twilight cut coldly. "Did you see the same thing as me?!"

Octavia stared at the speaker for a few moments, before sadly sighing, and replied, sorry:

"I thought I saw a small red-orange spot on the surface of the planet. It only lasted a fraction of a second, but Vinyl says she saw it too."

There were no answers and Captain Melody easily pictured what Twilight was thinking, which is why she added:

"Twilight. At this distance, at this speed, we don't even know the size of that thing. It could be a lake of lava, a rock formation, or even a magnetic reflection caused by a lone solar radiation. Do not draw hasty conclusions, even if I know it's your specialty."

The only response was the distinctive sound of a radio being turned off. Octavia displayed a worried pout. Even if she was acting tough and pretentious in front of the other captains, and it was in her nature, Octavia was still attached, in some way, to that old Lyra. And that story concerned her as much as the others.

Sweet Celestia, were those hours going to feel long.

Applejack crossed her arms and legs, thinking, while Pinkie was holding her own feet, sitting cross-legged on the bed, visibly trying to understand. Fluttershy, sitting down as well, was completely shocked.

"Maybe it's a post-takeoff syndrome doing this to me," she thought out loud, before suddenly adding, even more panicked. "What did I just say...?"

Among the crew, they had all changed personalities while changing lives. Once the memories back, both pasts were colliding. For Applejack, it wasn't that different, her way of being was similar in both universes. Pinkie possessed a few nuances, being more mocking in this human world, with less light humor, less nonsense. But her old personality had become the dominant one once again with the return of her memory.

On the other hand, Fluttershy was the one for whom the change was the roughest. Her shyness was, in this world, pure loneliness. An interest towards other species only motivated by the gain of knowledge. Pinkie found she resembled Twilight a bit, at her beginnings in Ponyville. That's why the flying was now torn between her shy pony version and the even-tempered scientist.

"Oh my goodness," she lamented. "I can't believe I've done experiments on animals! The poor little babies!"

"Think well, Fluttershy," Pinkie advised. "If you look closely, you'll see the memories from this world are blurry, because they are fake."

"I think she's right on that," Applejack approved.

"But that's normal!" the yellow woman said, losing her temper. "It's a cerebral reflex to condition the brain! To distort reality to better adapt to it!"

The gunner and the second-in-command exchanged a gaze. The transition wasn't going to be easy, but it would occur, Pinkie was sure of it.

"You'll see, Fluttershy," she said. "We're going to make everyone recover their memory, that way you'll be convinced it's not just a reflex or whatever."

The scientist took on a thoughtful expression, muttering:

"Hmm, it's true that if our recollections stay coherent in-between them, then there's a chance for them to be the truth... I've never seen collective hallucination on that scale. Even if my mind might have been influenced by what Pinkie said, Applejack's brain didn't endure that exposition, and yet she's telling the same thing."

"Eyup," the second-in-command confirmed.

"To me," Pinkie added. "The best is to try and make everyone find their memories back after dinner. First with Rarity."

"That way, Twilight won't ask questions," Applejack approved. "And Ah think I have a plan for our captain to remember everythin'"

"And I have one for Rarity!" Pinkie exclaimed, happy. "That's perfect!"

"But we shouldn't do that while in the cape," the one with a hat pointed out, before standing up. "I'll go in the cockpit."

"Don't forget that Rainbow was looking for you," Pinkie reminded, before snorting.

Applejack froze in her movement towards the exit of the lab. She had forgotten about that. Her cheeks became red as she remembered the relationship she had with the mechanic in this world. What she had done with Rainbow.

"What's so funny?" Fluttershy asked, unaware.

"You see-" Pinkie started with a great smile.

"That world is a lot of rubbish!" Applejack cut before unlocking the door and heading out.

Turning right immediately, she went with an energetic step towards the piloting cabin. It was strange to be in that ship, which she both knew and was discovering at the same time. Her memories were mixing and putting themselves back in place. The Applejack from Sweet Apple Acres was gathering the memories from the Applejack of the spaceport of Canterlot. The reflexes of life in space were coming back to her, her role, her actions. For sure, this was quite the change from her farm. But, at the same time, she had been living here since her childhood so it didn't seem that foreign, and even familiar. A little time of adaptation would probably be necessary. But the most important was the remaining question, the one they could all think about once their memories would be back: What in tarnation were they doing here?!

The door opened and Applejack said to her captain:

"So? Is everythin' alright?"

Walking up to Twilight, she noticed that something was wrong. The purple woman had her hands clenched on her levers, her back slightly hunched on her seat. The second-in-command softly laid a hand on her shoulder.

"What's wrong, sugarcube?"

"The Humanity..." Twilight said with a lump in her throat. "There was a planet on our trajectory and we lost contact..."

Applejack's heart sank.

"Maybe it's just a malfunction, right?" she tried.

"It's... unlikely... very much so... We'll only get an answer when we're out of the cape."

"Here is the TARDIS," said on the radio the deeply stressed voice of Captain Whooves. "Exiting the cape in one minute. The deceleration has begun."

Applejack stayed behind Twilight and put both hands on her shoulders to try and show support. The minute went by slowly and, as it did, the concern and anxiety of the captains and second-in-commands only increased. The trickling down of seconds got to its end, as the ship was coming to a stop, the blue light encircling them now gone.

From the Friendship Cottage, they could see the dusts around spreading, planets and stars in formation. On the left, the TARDIS was floating in the void, drifting, yet to start its engine again.

"Symphonia," Octavia announced with a tone way less rough than ordinary. "No visual or radar traces of the spaceship Humanity..."

The purple fist slammed down on the instrument panel, Applejack's hands tightened around her captain's shoulders. Twilight stayed stooped, her head laying right next to her fist, trying to hold back her tears, in vain.

In the TARDIS, it was in his hands that the saddened face of the captain had found refuge. His second-in-command was holding him with her modest strengths.

With the back of her thumb, Octavia whipped away the drop that beaded from her eyes and went to the music player of the ship.

"Vinyl, activate the radio please," the gray woman breathed out. "And plug in the internal speaker."

The second-in-command with the smoked glasses, affected by that news, let the mic on.

Octavia pressed a button, and a slow, powerful, profound music rose in the three remaining ships of the expedition. Twilight and Whooves turned on their internal radio as well, so that the words may echo through their whole group.

With a solemn voice filled with respect, Octavia pronounced:

"Today, Equestria laments the loss of six of its children. For the conquest of space and the good of their nation, the following crew members lost their lives: Captain Lyra Heartstrings. Lieutenant Bonbon. Maintenance officer Berry Punch. Researcher Nurse Redheart. Supply manager Mrs Cakes. Gunner Thunderlane.

The spacecraft Humanity crashed on a dwarf rock planet when crossing a cape, at the following approximate coordinates: 78.45, 12.58, 17.21."

A minute of silence followed Octavia's speech, during which only the sound of music could be heard. The space conquest hymn, an age-old music, with a deep meaning embedded in it for all the drivers of space, inspiring respect, passion, hope and regret.

The crews were now aware of this terrible news, and the shared feeling was one of emptiness, caught by the brutality of this disappearance, weighing on the hearts as much as the loss itself.

"Message received," then said the voice of the custom officer in the arriving cape, after waiting in silence. "We will transmit it to Canterlot and the families. Do you have a personal message you want to add?"

Octavia took in a deep breath and followed, this time talking with her feelings:

"I didn't get the chance to know the members of her crew, but I knew Lyra. She was a bon vivant, maybe not the best captain there ever was, but an exemplary pilot and someone really pleasant."

"Bonbon too!" Vinyl added.

"She was caring and smiling," Derpy sobbed.

Whooves, who had been the closest to Lyra because of their common birth town, removed his hands from his face and sniffed along with every words he spoke:

"I could give you an unending speech about each of them... I knew them well... They were all special, but deep down, they were good people. Endearing people. A word for Lyra. I am... relieved she was able to accomplish her dream of witnessing the crossing of a cape. I had just hoped that we would cross more than one, together..."

The captain's voice drowned in his own tears.

It was Twilight's turn. For several moments already, her pager had kept on emitting little beeps, indicating messages that the purple horned wasn't reading. She had only looked at the first one, who simply said "It's not our fault.". Octavia hadn't got any answers, and she was sending this message to Twilight on loop.

It was her fault! She had suggested for Lyra's ship to go in front! She had exposed her to danger! It should have been her in second place, not Lyra!"

She turned on her radio, tears running down her cheeks and the voice completely deformed by her cries.

"Sorry..." she begged.

"Twilight!" Octavia intervened, but she was cut.

"THEY HAVE TO KNOW!... All their families... Their close ones... They have the right to know who... who's to blame..."

"It's not your fault, for goodness' sake!" Octavia thundered.

"It is!" Twilight desperately yelled. "I was the one... that proposed for her to go first..."

"It was just that: a proposition!" the gray women retorted. "Lyra accepted it! No one could have foreseen what happened, it was a one in a billion!"

"Then I should have taken that into account!"

The tears wouldn't stop running on Twilight's face. In addition to sorrow, a huge guilt was eating her. She was angry at herself, to such a degree that nothing was rational in her behavior anymore.

"It's my ship that should have been in second and-"

"You would have crashed the same way!" Octavia coldly cut. "Are you even thinking about what you're saying?! We're not just talking about your life, but your whole crew! Is this the way a captain should talk?! Is this really you, Twilight?!"

The purple woman couldn't find anything to reply. Her breath was getting quicker.

"That'll do for the message!" Octavia said, ending the conversation.

From the radio came a long empathetic sigh, pushed by the custom officer.

"Listen, Captain Sparkle. Accidents happen, sometimes. This is how things are. It's not your fault. You took a decision that even the greatest pilots would have never contested. Nothing could have prepared you for this. There are no people at fault here, everyone fulfilled its role."

Twilight's mouth slowly closed, as her breathing calmed down. Applejack, still holding her shoulders, had not said any words since earlier. The custom officer added, evidently sorry:

"It's harsh, even more so for young pilots like you. I can assure you that space is not like that. Take the time to forget about that unpleasant moment, and after that, you can fully live your lives as astronauts. I'll cut the things you've said, Captain Twilight, it is not something the families need to hear along such news."

Twilight didn't reply. The custom officer sighed again.

"You're going to the cape for the Crystal Constellation, is that right? Stop next to it for half-an-hour, and look at space. In that part, you can see the whole cloud. It's a magnificent spectacle. Worth a look."

"Thank you for your advice," Octavia answered. "We'll free the exit of the cape."

"Roger that. Good luck."

The custom officer's radio cut, leaving the three crews now alone.

"Twilight," Applejack said, gently tapping her captain's shoulder. "Go take some rest, I'll pilot for you. It won't be too hard."

With neither a word nor a gaze, the horned stood up from her seat and went out of the cockpit. Applejack sat down and informed:

"Lieutenant Applejack, at the controls of the Friendship Cottage."

"Yo AJ," Vinyl replied somewhat feebly. "Pretty harsh story, huh? Tavi too just went to bed."

"You said it..."

Even if that world wasn't her original universe, the ones that had died remained people she knew, in both life nonetheless. Of course she was as affected as the others, being from another world changed nothing to those feelings.

"TARDIS, you lead the way?"

Without even a reply on the radio, the rectangular blue ship began to move in the void, getting away from the exiting ring of the cape. Applejack went after it, then the Symphonia. Even if she wasn't endowed with a horn, it was easy for the second-in-command to pilot the ship in space and quiet. It was for takeoff and the great maneuvers that possession of a horn was useful.

Author's Note

Ah yes, drama, my favorite.