Spike tapped quickly at the keyboard, tail swaying in time with his progress. "Let's see who's hiding in here," he got out mostly to himself as he worked.

Twilight watched from the door leading to the hallway, body tense. She jumped as a hoof landed on her shoulder.

Applejack tipped her hat. "Figured. Yer lookin' even more wound up than normal. Anythin' ah can help with?"

"Yes." Twilight glanced at Spike. "Not with the download, but myself. This mission has me really rattled."

Applejack threw her foreleg around her friend. "We're already doin' pretty good, fetchin' ponies that woulda been lost. What has ya worryin'?"

Twilight waved a hoof towards Spike. "We're only finding failed missions and dead ponies. That isn't exactly encouraging. I understand we're giving each another chance at life, but I'd like to find a breathing pony at one of these stops."

"Yeah," Applejack admitted with a gruff note entering her voice. "That'd be nice, wouldn't it?" She brightened again with a smile. "Think we'd get some sweet stories in exchange, too." She pulled Twilight away from Spike's work. "Starin' at him won't help though. We just gotta keep our eyes set straight ahead. We'll find what we find, ya know?"

"Yes," Twilight replied softly, "but I'm responsible for what happens next. I want this to be a success." She let herself relax in the comfort of AJ. "Thanks. I needed that reminder." She returned the hug in a mutual little sound of comfort before she drew back. "I'll get back to the bridge."

She started to move towards the hall, but halted to glance back. Spike was working, as well as the others in engineering. Some of them glanced at Twilight expectantly. Twilight walked towards the lift instead and summoned it. As the lift took her, Twilight breathed deeply and tried to calm her frazzled nerves.

Stepping out onto the deck, she nodded to her crew. "Everything is moving ahead. What's the next seed? If you can, let's focus on one with a high chance of success."

Harriet tossed a few switches, nodding back to Twilight. "You got it, Captain Sparkle." The Sparkle Gate warmed to life, emitting a gentle hum throughout the ship. She brought up a map of the known universe on the main screen and quickly zoomed into something usable. "Three points tie for maximum success of the seed project. Two are verdant grass worlds, one has a creature race."

Twilight blinked. "A creature?! Do we already have diplomatic relations with them? If so, simply asking them to speak to any ponies they have would be sufficient, I imagine?"

"That's the interesting bit, it's a neutral race, with a single observation report logged." She turned, gesturing widely towards the screen. "These guys are apparently giant bugs, hence their name 'The Buzgar'. They stick to themselves and refuse to have much to do with the universal neighborhood. Another science vessel orbited their world for a while, gathering what information they could without landing."

"Well, I don't suppose they have reason to harm us." Twilight frowned at that screen. "Still, if they didn't react to a ship in orbit, that speaks well for our chances to get that close. Do they accept hails?"

"Just once. Science ship didn't want to offend or annoy them further." Harriet tapped rapidly at a keyboard. "I got logs if you wanna listen."

"Go for it." Twilight looked towards her personal monitor. "Put it directly to me."

Harriet nodded and made a few motions with her hands. The console nearby made a small chime to indicate readiness.

Twilight hit play and listened closely as she leaned into her seat.

The video showed that science captain trying to get permission to land. The Buzgar were polite, but firm. Landing was not permitted. The Buzgar wanted to do things on their own, neither influencing nor being influenced by other species.

Twilight rubbed at her cheek. "If a seed arrived, they had no choice but to land, or die in orbit eventually." She huffed gently. "The odds of success are lowering the more we look into this. Is there an exact arrival time for the seed? Could it have come after the report?"

Harriet checked her screen for a moment before shaking her head. "No. It predates all of this, ma'am."

Twilight took a slow breath, practicing the technique Cadance had shown her long ago. "Let's give them a friendly visit. There's a possibility here. The last visitor was a human." She pointed at herself. "Which we are not. Perhaps they'll have a friendlier reaction if they've interacted with other ponies before now."

"The worst case scenario—" Harriet tapped busily without looking back at Twilight. "—is the bugs demand we leave. They've shown no inclination towards launching attacks on ships. Just politely telling them to get out of their space." She grinned and spread her hands. "Of course, that was only one interaction, but the bugs don't seem like they would be warlike. They appear to respect boundaries, at the very least."

Their destination decided, the ship jumped, the Sparkle Drive carrying them in its curious way that skipped space entirely and deposited them within easy distance of their target world.

Twilight gestured up at the picture of that world. "Step one, scan the orbit of that world. If the seed never landed, it'll be there, and that will answer our questions swiftly, if sadly."

Cadance appeared next to Harriet and looked over her shoulder as she worked. "Scans show nothing in orbit, Twiley." She turned to face Twilight, wings fidgeting. "They landed. We can only hope they made a peaceful contact. Your seed ship had to work with the warring humans. If you succeeded there, perhaps they did as well?"

Harriet shrugged as best she could from her station. "They told everyone to keep out, but they're also kinda isolated out here, on a galactic scale. It would be hard for them to go anywhere else, much less make trouble for anyone."

Twilight frowned faintly. "We're not going to find out until we look, or ask. Looking has high risks, as we'd be intruding, and a violent reaction would not only be expected, but entirely justified. We're not a military ship." She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "So we'd better hail them first and ask permission instead of trying to sneak behind their collective backs."

Cadance bowed gently to Twilight. "May I?" Twilight nodded in confirmation, and Cadance turned to the world. She didn't approach any controls, technically being all the controls. "This is the USS Resolute. We are on a rescue mission in pursuit of lost members of our species." She pointed at herself. "They look like me, some with wings, some with horns, and some with neither. Have you seen any members of this species?"

She fell quiet. Everyone waited, checking the systems and their readings while listening. Several long minutes dragged on before Harriet perked up. "Audio coming through!"

The main screen flickered to life and showed an immense bug, its body covered in carapace, mandibles clicking and working with each word it spoke. "Hooves!"

Twilight blinked at that being the first word.

"We did not expect to see Hooves in the black sky." The Buzgar seemed quite excited in its clicks. "How did you get there? Hooves, it is dangerous there."

Cadance's mouth twisted. "Hooves? Hooves! Oh dear, um, who is speaking please?"

The Buzgar bobbed their front in and out with each click. "I am High Claw Gartra. Hooves, you are in terrible danger. Come out of the black sky. Join your brothers and sisters."

Twilight raised a hoof. "Pardon us a moment, kindly." With a swipe, she ended the call. She hopped to the ground with a clop. "Unbelievable! Maybe they did succeed. They clearly know what we are, even if they have a curious name for us. Hooves, really." She snickered softly at that silly name. "They sounded more concerned for our safety than anything else. I think we can land without counterattack, at least ponies can."

Harriet shrugged gently. "Guess I won't be visiting the bug homeworld. What a drag." Her sarcasm was sharp enough to cut.

Twilight rolled her eyes at that. "Get Rainbow—" She turned only to bump into Rainbow right there. "Oh, there you are."

Rainbow saluted with a wing. "Time to fly?"

"In a sense." Twilight gestured towards the screen. "There's another population of ponies down there, it sounds like. Can you do a little scouting mission? See if the situation matches expectations. If you do encounter another pony, talk. Don't assume. They may be comfortable where they are. They may, or may not, have working backup technology."

Rainbow snapped another salute. "Understood, Captain Sparkle." She jogged towards the lift. "Be right back!" she called out before vanishing.

The world below was blue and brown. Clouds drifted slowly. Rainbow soared towards it, and the whole thing quickly loomed closer and closer. The place reminded her a lot of Equestria, which in turn meant Earth. A soft ocean surrounded green and tan masses of land, dotted by tiny patches of white and dark splotches indicating mountain ranges and seas.

Deciding she didn't want to make a big impact on a friendly but still mysterious world, she took time slowing down. She had to go in a carefully crafted decaying orbit to hit the ground gently, instead of making a crater. Looking around, she could see insects. Big ones, small ones, and all colors. One about her size scuttled right up to her, clicking softly. "Hoof! Why are you here? Wing Hoof, you should not land here. Silly Hoof."

Rainbow narrowed her eyes at the alien bug. "You keep saying that. What's a hoof?"

The bug clicked, waving their many appendages towards the planet. "Hoof walks the earth." They reached to tap Rainbow's hoof. "Hoof. You." They tapped her on the chest. "You are Hoof. Follow me. I shall lead you."

"You keep using that word. Are you talking about my feet?" She gestured with her hoof. "Because I'm not always on the ground. Look, I even have wings." She spread them wide with a cocky smile.

"No fly." The bug pointed at its back, where no wings were. Other insects did have wings, and were using them without concern. "Follow."

Rainbow shrugged and followed along. "Is it like some sort of caste system? Workers? Soldiers?" She lowered her head in thought. "Then why call me that? I'm not a Buzgar."

"Not Buzgar, no. Silly Hoof. You are Hoof." They sounded like they were explaining something to a child, patiently accepting their somewhat silly questions as one might expect from a child.

"What does Hoof mean to you?" Rainbow trotted casually, smiling back at the insect when they paused to consider her words. "Are Hooves friends?"

"Hoof. Yes. Yes. Hooves are friends." He led her to an even larger bug and right onto that one's back. "We ride to other Hooves. Friends, family. You will be happy there."

The ride was surprisingly smooth. "Is Hoof special to your culture? How do you know who Hoof is?"

They did not respond. Instead, the Buzgar kept clicking. Other nearby bugs seemed to pay attention, so that group of bugs shifted slightly. They opened a path for the two of them to get off the transport insect, having arrived at what appeared to be an open bit of land, like a ranch, but with ponies inside.

It struck Rainbow immediately how similar to the original Equestria this looked. There were even apple trees. She dashed past her guide to investigate. "What's up?" she asked one of the ponies, not knowing what to say.

The pony blinked rapidly. "What are you doing on that side of the fence?!" They waved towards the gate. "Get over here before they get upset."

"Not upset." The buzgar that had been leading Rainbow went on to the gate and opened it. "Inside. Join friends. Join family. Silly Hoof. Bad things out here." They pointed with several legs at once towards the wilderness beyond. "Bite. Chew. Hurt."

"Sorry. You just startled me." The pony waved Rainbow Dash over.

Rainbow trotted inside with an uncertain expression. Behind her, the gate clicked shut with a metal latching.

Author's Note

Hey, look, a world that isn't immediate nightmare fuel. Unless you're bother by insects, of course. They seem nice?

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