The Meaning of Eternity

Chapters

Chapter 1 Upon a Shooting Star
Chapter 2 Travelers
Chapter 3 Dreaming On a Midnight Clear

Chapter 1 Upon a Shooting Star

Chapter 1

Upon A Shooting Star

Princess Luna let out a sigh. As usual, she stood watch during the hours of the night, more commonly skipping from dream to dream among the loving subjects. But tonight something has kept her rooted in reality, even until the wee hours of the morning. She felt a pensive apprehension that she can’t seem to shake. A bright flash snapped her out of her reverie, and she glanced to its source. There seemed to be an incongruity in the sky, where the stars were... different. After a few more seconds of observation, she realized that the incongruity is widening slowly. It stopped after a few more seconds. From the center of the discrepancy rocketed a meteor in a fiery haze. Luna gasped, and desperately tried to divert its course, to send it back towards the heavens, but to no avail. A force coming from the object itself prevented any interference on her part.

Next she tried probing the object for any inclination of what it is, but she was blocked by a presence. There seemed to be an "awareness" inside of the object. As to its nature, she only learned one thing; It reminded her of a half remembered melody, a hazy memory, or mostly forgotten dream.

The object crashed to the surface, deep within the Everfree forest, and produced a boom heard faintly even in Canterlot. In moments, Celestia arrived at Luna’s side, and Luna told her everything. Celestia reaches out to probe the object herself, but the way she snaps back to herself indicates she met the same resistance. She wears a funny look on her face, but Luna is unsure if it is fear… or something else. Luna glanced back to the sky, and noticed the hole had vanished. Celestia began rapidly scribbling a note, before sending it off as a wisp of flame.

“When I return in a few moments, we will go to Ponyville, get the girls and arm them with the Elements. For now, I’m going to rouse Discord. Once we’re prepared, we go to investigate.”

________________________________________________________________________________________________

An explosion rocked Ponyville. In the library, Twilight Sparkle snapped awake, almost falling out of bed as the ground shuddered in response to the celestial impact. She rushed to the window, followed closely by Spike. A smoky trail hung in the starry sky: evidence of a meteor. Torn between an eagerness to find the bolide and the instinct to make sure her friends were okay, Twilight stood motionless for a moment before deciding on the best course of action.

“Spike, take a letter.”

As Spike reached for a quill and paper, his body convulsed slightly before belching out a hastily written note.

“Twilight, calm Ponyville if need be, and collect your friends in the library. Will be there soon. –PC.”

Tucking the letter away, she made for the door, followed closely by Spike. When she opened it, she grimaced at what she saw, despite being unsurprised.

“The horror! The horror!”

Ponies rushed screaming in every direction. Several had even passed out in the street. Parents snatched their foals in fear, running around the town square before pelting to their homes and slamming the doors shut. After disdainfully viewing the spectacle for a few moments she unfurled her wings, rose into the air and inhaled deeply.

“EVERYPONY CALM DOWN!”

All eyes snapped to the mare as she lowered herself to the ground.

“Seriously! I understand that the noise was startling, I mean I almost fell off my bed, but what could possibly warrant this mayhem?”

“Pinkie Pie said it was a good idea” blurted a pony.

Twilight rolled her eyes. Of course it would be Pinkie instigating this.

“Is anyone hurt or in danger?” Twilight asked.

“…No.” answered another.

“Well, then running and screaming isn’t a good idea. It’s just a shooting star, and there is nothing to worry about. The other princesses will be here soon, and we will study the meteor. I promise, it’ll be nothing more than a rock. So if you could simply go home, calmly, I assure you nothing more will happen and nothing will go wrong.”

There were grumbles from the crowd and they began to disperse, but Twilight hardly noticed. Her next task was to corral her friends for the coming royalty, and was dead-set on making sure everything was in order.

“I might as well get Pinkie first,” Twilight thought aloud. “After all, it’s best for everyone if I can get my eye on her as soon as possible.”

She angled her way towards Sugarcube Corner, Spike bobbing slightly on her back as she slipped into a trot. In a mere five minutes, the bakery came into view. The pair could hear the twins bawling all the way to the corner, and as they got closer Twilight began to empathize with the couple. Spike’s sympathies, however, lay elsewhere.

“That’s pretty much how I feel after being practically blown out of bed at this hour.” He grumbled.

Twilight, already somewhat exasperated with the others, merely rolled her eyes in response. When she reached the door, she was forced to knock loudly several times before she was answered. Mr. Cake came to the door, but only opened it wide enough to allow his head through.

“Is there something I can do for you, Princess?” He asked tentatively.

“Yes, please. Is Pinkie here? I need her to come with me.”

“Of course! She’s upstairs sleeping. I’ll get her up and out for you.”

Twilight’s eye twitched slightly as the door was closed in front of her.

“Sleeping!?” She seethed. “You mean she woke up long enough to throw the town into chaos, then just returned to bed?”

After a minor wait, the door swung wide, revealing the eye assaulting burst of a pink pony. Twilight immediately found herself in a rib-crushing hug, which lasted just a little longer than it should have.

“Good… urk… morning, oof.. Pinkie.” Twilight managed to squeeze out.

When Pinkie finally let go, Twilight gasped for breath just as Pinkie began speaking at a mile a minute.

“OhmygoshTwilightdidyouhearthatboomIdidandIgotoutofbedandrantothetowncenterand…”

“Pinkie,” Twilight said, cutting her off. “I am in need of your help. But you have to keep it between us and the other girls.”

Pinkie made her trademark promise in the blink of an eye.

“Okay. I need you to get Rarity and Fluttershy, and bring them to the library. If they ask any questions tell them I have the answers. I’ll meet you there as soon as I can.”

“Gosh, Twilight. What’s the matter? You’re acting like the shooting star was more than just a shooting star but you don’t want anypony to know.”

Again Twilight’s eye twitched.

“Exactly, Pinkie. That’s why you promised to keep it between our friends.”

“….Oh”

Twilight closed her eyes for a moment before continuing.

“Now if we could get sta…”

When Twilight opened her eyes, Pinkie was already trotting towards Carousel Boutique. Twilight let loose yet another sigh, and chalked it up to Pinkie being Pinkie. However, her mind soon returned to more important matters. She glanced up to the sky and cast her eyes about for a moment until she alighted upon Rainbow Dash’s house. She nudged Spike to make sure he was ready, before taking flight towards her friend’s place. When she arrived, she was relieved to find a much quieter atmosphere. A couple knocks are all it takes to get Rainbow’s attention.

“What is it, Twi?” She asks sleepily, wearing a tan nightcap with a pattern of golden compass
roses. “I was just getting back to bed when you knocked.”

“The princess needs us to meet up in the library. She sent me a note, and even though she didn’t mention it, I’d bet a year’s worth of bits that her visit will be about the meteor.”

Rainbow mumbled something unintelligible as she turned inside and tossed the cap onto her couch.

“Alright then. To the library?”

“Not yet,” Twilight responded. “We have to get Applejack.”

“Wait, you didn’t come and get me last? That farmpony is more of a morning pony than any of us!”

“I got you first for two reasons. Firstly, AJ can’t fly. Secondly, even if I came to get you last, you’d still be irritated about being up this early.”

Dash let out an irritated snort before conceding that Twilight’s logic was spot-on. Again. As the pair made their way over to the Apple family’s land, Rainbow seem to make it her personal mission to weasel every bit of information she could out of Twilight. Unfortunately, she learned that Twilight wasn’t much for theorizing, and in an unprecedented situation like this, she was just as lost as Rainbow was. Soon, the interrogation came to an abrupt end as they descended towards the farm, and they were both surprised to see the family awake and outside, busying themselves with the trees. The circled for a minute before locating Applejack, and quickly landed by her. Dash was the first to speak.

“How, and why, are you all up so early?”

“We’re up ‘cause we gotta collect all these ‘fore they rot. Least the ones that ain’t bruised, anyway” answered Applejack indicating the apples on the ground. “When that rock hit, luckily durin’ applebuckin’ season, it shook a lotta apples outta the trees, and the farm cain’t handle losin’ all that produce. On the bright side, we ain’t gotta buck as many trees this year ‘round.”

By the end of her statement, the rest of the Apple family had stopped collecting and made their way over. Twilight chose then to mention the reason for the visit.

“I hate to take you away from your work, but it’s at the urgent request of Princess Celestia that you meet with us in the library. She needs us, and hasn’t said why, but I’m almost positive it has to do with the impact.”

Applejack was hesitant to go along, for understandable reasons.

“It’s alright, child,” Granny Smith assured her. “If’n the princesses need ya, it must be fer a good reason. We’ll be fine.”

“You sure, Granny?” AJ asked, trying to conceal the worry in her voice but failing miserably.

“I’m sure. Go on now, don’t keep them princesses waitin’!”

Applejack then reluctantly turned and headed towards town with her friends, and the farther she got from the farm, the faster she was willing to go. However, she did remain silent for the entirety of the trip to the library.

When they finally made it back to the library, the light of the sun was brushing the low eastern horizon, and the world seemed to slow slightly, as dawn approached. Twilight pushed open the door, and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that Pinkie had managed to get both Rarity and Fluttershy on time. Twilight’s relaxed demeanor lasted a mere second however, before she noticed that the princesses, along with Discord were in attendance as well.

“Thank goodness,” exclaimed Celestia. “We are now nearly ready go.”

Twilight thought it strange that Celestia seemed so driven to get a move on that she had skipped the small talk she so often indulged in. This realization only served to increase Twilight’s apprehension rather than eagerness towards the investigation of the bolide. Not wanting to disappoint, Twilight spoke up.

“What more do we need?”

“Why, the Elements of course,” Celestia answered, indicating the glass case to her right.

Twilight was growing more and more reluctant to journey to the crater by the moment, but still she acquiesced, and distributed each talisman to its respective bearer. Once that process was complete, Celestia waited no longer.

“Spike, please remain here. The rest of you, follow me.”

The command was not harsh, but nor was it particularly friendly. The six friends glanced among each other, their curiosity piqued. They followed, but Twilight was last, offering what she hoped was a reassuring smile to Spike as she closed the door.

The walk to the forest edge went silently, as they did not wish to awaken Ponyville. The sunrise had been postponed slightly by Celestia, just to afford the party time to slip through town unnoticed. Once they were successfully concealed by the trees of the Everfree forest, the sun began its ascent once more. The only talking, during the trip to the site were quick whispered exchanges, usually just apologies for clumsiness.

After what was probably three hours of brisk walking, the group came upon the site where the object had so obviously struck. The crater itself was roughly sixty feet in diameter, and possibly twenty feet deep. The every tree within a quarter mile radius had been either uprooted or blown clean of its foliage. In the center of the crater, however, lied a rock possibly ten feet in diameter. As they approached, the Elements began to hum and vibrate slightly, and the closer they pressed the more the Elements hummed. By the time they stood at the edge of the crater, the tiara was practically shaking Twilight’s whole body, and a quick glance around told her that she wasn’t the only on in discomfort.

“Can we take these off?” Pinkie questioned. “It feels weird, but not in a good way, more like in a this-is-shaking-my-whole-body-and-I-don’t-like-it-kinda-way.”

“Unfortunately not,” Celestia answered sternly. “Look.”

Everyone pulled their attention back to the meteor, which was humming at an identical frequency while slowly rising. It stopped its ascent when its base was level with the ground the ponies stood upon. At that point, the humming of the meteor and Elements intensified. The vibrating intensified to the point the rock began to fracture. The stone fell to the bottom of the crater, revealing a strange box.

The box was the source of the noise and vibrating, and once it was fully exposed, it and the Elements ceased humming. The box itself was about nine feet long and four feet wide. It was made out of a strange metal that was beautiful and hypnotizing. It appeared to be flowing slightly, even though it couldn’t have possibly been a liquid. There were breaks in the metal, and these breaks were patterns of lines that followed each other, perfectly straight with perfect angles at their turns. They were giving off a whitish-blue aura that was absolutely entrancing, and after a moment of admiration and pure awe, almost everyone began chattering.

“…Amazing.”

“Absolutely magnificent!”

“It’s really nice.”

“Gol-ly.”

“Awesome!”

“Shine-tastic!!!”

The girls glanced over to the three elders. Celestia remained silent, apparently deep in thought. Discord wore a very worried expression, as if he knew what was going on, and was genuinely afraid. Luna, however, glanced up to the sky.

“It makes me ponder… What other mysteries do the heavens hold?”

High above, unbeknownst to them, a starship slid out of a hole in space, emblazoned E.T.I.S.C. Road To The Rising Sun, and overlooked a seemingly barren, rocky and lifeless planet.

Chapter 2 Travelers

Chapter 2

Travelers

The ship slid into orbit about the planet. The captain strode to the viewscreens and eyed the massive rock before him.

“Can I get a tracking signature on the target?” he asked.

“Yes sir.”

A few moments passed as a lieutenant did a trace scan, searching for the trail of radioactivity left by the objective.

“Sir, it would seem the bolide’s energy trail ends here. All signatures indicate it collided with the planet, but when I ran a surface scan, I couldn’t find it.”

“Nothing can ever be easy,” the captain replied with a sigh as returned to his chair. Pressing a button on the arm, he addressed the ship. “All decks! This is the captain speaking! It would seem our target has chosen this time to vanish completely. I want science teams and scouting teams planet-side yesterday! Teams assemble in the hangar!”

The captain then made his way down to the hangar to brief the teams. As he walked, he couldn’t help but worry that they had lost it. The other vessels tasked by the Imperator had encountered some measure of difficulty in completing their objective, and possibility that the meteor was destroyed on impact, or worse, slipped through a space-bridge was an all too unsettling prospect. After about ten minutes he found himself in the hangar, looking at fifty of the best specialists on board, all donned in full exploratory combat gear.

“Alright! Your duty is to either locate a traceable signature for the objective, or find the objective itself! You all know the protocols! As soon as you find something worth reporting, report it directly to the bridge and await orders! Is there anything I should know before you go?”

A single individual stepped out of line.

“There is, sir. We ran some initial planet scans from the engine room, and cross-referenced them with data collected by Eurisko. We hypothesize that the planet is hollow.”

“Based on what?”

“Well, the planet is simply too large in diameter for the gravitational pull it is applying to the ship. This probably means nothing, but it was an interesting find.”

“Thanks for the report, son. Dismissed!”

It was nearly three days before the captain received more than a status report from the ground teams.

“Ground teams to bridge.”

“This is the bridge. Report.”

“We discovered a cavern about sixty five degrees west of the ship’s shadow point. Inside is.. what looks like a command center, but the technology follows no known configurations. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the most advanced technology ever created.”

“Ok, continue.”

“Captain, it would seem we were right about the planet being hollow. However, we expected a thick crust, and a hollow core. The world you see is only about eight miles thick, and heavily reinforced.”

“Heavily reinforced?”

“It’s a construct, sir. A shield, serving the same purpose as the ones we have constructed around our critical holdings. However, this one seems to have been designed as a camouflage, which explains why the planet is undiscovered. On the inside of the shield is the actual planet, which seems to be harboring several tier seven… sorry, pre-industrial civilizations. Whoever built the shield was trying to protect the life forms inside from discovery, and barring that, attack.”

“That’s all well and good, but have you found the object?”

“Scans from within the deeper reaches of the cavern picked up traces on the inside of the construct. It entered the construct and collided with the actual planet.”

“Good, anything else?”

“Yes. We found an operable passage to the inner world, but it’s too small for any vehicles.”

The captain reflected for a moment upon these revelations. It was highly unlikely that the denizens of this sub planet could have missed a meteor impacting their home, and if they were intelligent at all, they would already be studying it. At least, that’s what he’d be doing.

“Ground teams, stand by.”

“Yes sir.”

“Eurisko?”

The AI answered the captain’s call, his holographic representation projected from the chair’s arm.

“Any ideas?”

“Thousands, captain. Foremost among them, however, is that we establish contact. It’d be best if we don’t go in with a tremendous display of military power.”

“How then?”

“Send a H.E.R.M.E.S. unit with a cloaking module. Since it is astronomically unlikely that these beings speak anything close to Standard, I can keep the module hidden close by to gather enough vernacular data to establish a translator algorithm. Once that is done, I can relay to them any message you wish to deliver.”

The captain retreated to his thoughts once more, but was unable to produce an idea better.

“Ground team?”

“Yes captain?”

“We’re sending a herald bot. Open the gate and let it through when it reaches you. I’ll contact you with further instructions. Bridge out.”

The captain watched, deep in thought, as the small orb sped off to the ground team’s location.
______________________________________________________________________________

The object had remained in its hovering position for almost five days now, and the princesses had ordered a veritable army of people to come study it, commanded the girls to remain and required them to keep their elements on at all times. There was now a small village of tents erected in the Everfree forest, as the multitude of magicians and scientists probed the object and royal guardsmen patrolled the area. Needless to say everyone was at their wit’s end for some reason.

“If that thing don’t do somethin’ real interestin’ real soon, Ah’m leavin,’” Applejack declared, punctuating the statement with a hoof stomp. “Ah know Ah ain’t usually the impatient one, but fer pony’s sake, this is ridiculous!”

“Come on Applejack, this is exciting!” Twilight responded. “An entirely unknown object has presented itself to us! Imagine what we could learn!”

“Yeah!” chirped Pinkie. “There might even be aliens!”

“I’m with Applejack,” Rainbow spouted predictably. “Call me when aliens show up, but watching a floating rock all the time is boring to the max!”

“And besides, we ain’t even sure there are aliens. Ah’m inclined to doubt that some green, bug-eyed ponies are gonna come outta that box. In the meantime, Ah want some answers”

Applejack left the group and walked over to a group of scholars, in the hope of coaxing information from them, or at least a reason why she shouldn’t leave.

“Excuse me fellas, but would you mind tellin’ me what yah’ve learned from that thing?”

They looked at each other before turning away and looking over to their superior and beckoned him over. AJ’s patient wore slightly thinner. He trotted over and exchanged hushed words with the group. Then he turned his attention to the irritable mare.

“Luckily ma’am, you are among the few ponies Celestia has deemed to keep ‘in the loop’ as it were. Unfortunately, the knowledge we have been able to glean from it has been little, and the only certainty that we have is we have no previous knowledge of anything like it.”

“Ya said ya had a little more knowledge than me. Ah already know that there hasn’t been anythin’ like it before,” AJ retorted flatly, not caring about the looks of indignation the younger scientists were giving her.

“Well, uhm.. The metal it is made of is completely unique, as its resilience and ‘flowing’ appearance aren’t like any terrestrial metals.”

“Terrestrial?”

“It roughly means ‘of this planet.’ Also, all of the magic using ponies here, including the three princesses and Discord, even though he’s been really uncooperative, have admitted to sensing a presence within the object. With luck there may be an extraterr.. uh.. alien inside! But, that is all we know as of yet.”

Applejack let out an annoyed sigh. That wasn’t anywhere near what she wanted hear, but she had to admit she hadn’t expected any more details. As she made her way back to her tent, a thought occurred to her. She had noticed that the scientists had barely interacted with the box aside from building a small scaffold up to it, only dropping a chemical or two onto it or tapping it for some reaction. Though their caution was warranted, she felt it was time to push the boundaries. She angled towards the crater, and crossed the planks up to the object. When she reached it, she did the one thing that could vent her frustration. She bucked it.

When no sound came from the object as she hit it, she glanced over her withers to assess the damage. Her hooves met solid… air? Even as she watched, small, glowing blue-white particles drifted from the cracks in the metal. They moved like water through the air, as if a stream of water was separated into droplets. The specks of light wrapped themselves around her body and gently lifted her into the air. At this point, everyone had noticed her situation and was galloping to the scaffolding in the hopes of aiding her. The object emitted a gentle, deep pulse, and erected a barrier around itself that even the princesses couldn’t breach. Strangely, she felt no fear as her body was turned to face the box, and yet another tendril of the bizarre specks drifted toward her. As it grew close, it split in two, with one branch reaching for her necklace, the other for her forehead. They made contact. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she passed out.

Sometime later, she felt, her eyes fluttered open. But she was not in the Everfree forest anymore. She was looking down upon a multitude of… beings, ones that defied description. They were formless, but flickered through a million forms all at once. She knew she couldn’t have counted their number, but she also somehow knew that a thousand and one specters were before her.
Just as she came to this realization, a voice spoke, the voice of someone she couldn't see. She did not understand the Command given, but the group did, and without ado, they passed through a hole, and she followed. She found herself in an infinite void, which contained only a black murk.

The beings now had definite form, and a strange one at that. They were tall, monkeyish and had no fur and little hair, which came as flowing manes atop their heads and small patches above the eyes. Their eyes were small, similar to their pointed ears. Most notably, however, were the giant wings each creature had as well as the tails. It would seem the taller, more muscular beings had tails like panthers, but the smaller, slighter ones had tails like ponies. After gauging their new appearance the beings dispersed, and for a great while explored the darkness, only to find nothing beyond the tangible darkness.

Eventually, the beings reconvened, and among them the largest and brightest stepped forth. In his hand, he produced a sliver of light, which he drew across his arm, creating a cut in his flesh. Though the wound healed quickly, he was able to pull from it a drop of blood, which floated in the nothingness before his eyes. All around him, his brothers and sisters did the same.

At his gesture, all of the blood coalesced into a single orb of fluid. He then pulled a similarly sized sphere of the ever-present black dust up next to the slowly rotating blood. The beings then stared intently at the two masses, silently pondering their significance.

After a time the second largest and brightest being approached them and waved his hand at the masses, separating them further into several spheres. The blood became four spheres, one red, one white, one grey and one yellow, while the dust became hundreds of small orbs. This intrigued the beings, so the second waved his hand again. And again the orbs separated into many smaller components. They repeated this process many times and at one point, there were tens of thousands of spheres, but then the spheres began to merge as they separated, with similarities appearing among seemingly unrelated groups. The number of separate spheres dwindled until only two hundred were before them.

At this time, the beings took small pieces of each group and again separated them, causing an explosion which they quickly contained. Before them were three new spheres, that existed in all of the others. Again, with great effort they separated, revealing thirty new distinct forms. When they broke the thirty, what came was an expulsion of heat and light, identical to the blades the beings had cut themselves with, and nothing remained. The beings paused to glance among each other, before they initiated a series of experiments on the previous two hundred piles.

They soon learned that the materials that comprised the two hundred were strongly pulled to each other, and that with enough heat and light, an infinitely replenishing source of heat and light could be made. They also learned that all things tended to drift together, in an effort to become one, but this could be affected so that a large mass may have smaller masses drifting around it in circles.

With this knowledge, they dispersed once more, and pulled the blackness together into small balls, lit them and created flaming spheres so vast that to be near them would make them appear flat. Then, they pulled the tangible shadow into different balls, and drew great bands of star-fire to lash across their surfaces without igniting them. They turned to stone, and to Applejack, they seemed to be gigantic moons. After they had made many stars with several moons each, they assembled together again.

This time, they all looked at her, and she snapped awake, to the world of her friends. She was completely surrounded by ponies on the scaffolding, all bearing looks of fear.

“Oh my gosh, Applejack, are you okay!?!?” Twilight cried, helping her to her hooves.

“Ah’m fine, Ah’m okay,” reassured Applejack. “How long was Ah out?”

“Only about twenty seconds,” said Fluttershy. “When those lights touched your head and you fell asleep, the barrier disappeared and it laid you down.”

“However, they were probably the longest twenty seconds of our lives, darling,” added a worried Rarity.

Applejack looked around at her friends, each one of them worried, and felt ashamed for her brash action against the box. When its light touched her, she was helpless, as was everyone else. What if it hadn’t been so benevolent? She dared not to entertain the thought. She blinked several times and breathed deeply in an attempt to bring her mind back completely to the Everfree forest, but her thoughts still wandered across the void given light by the power of those strange creatures. Her face must have betrayed her absence, because a hoof found its way to her shoulder.

“Applejack, are you really alright?” Twilight asked quietly

“Well, Ah ain’t any worse… or better really,” Applejack admitted with trepidation. “Just different.”

“What do you mean?”

“When that thing touched my head, Ah saw somethin’, like a dream, or a vision.”

Her surroundings seemed to explode as everyone around her began shooting off questions at a mile-a-minute pace.

“Be silent.”

Applejack’s verbal assailants stopped, some looking as though they had literally choked on their words. Everyone turned to see who had spoken so calmly, yet with great underlying urgency. Discord stood tall, eyeing Applejack intently.

“What did you see, my dear?”

Applejack hesitated briefly, before diving into a full recount of everything she had seen. True to her Element, she kept nothing to herself. As she spoke she, couldn’t help but notice the expressions everyone bore. Her friends, and the majority of the researchers looked awed yet skeptical, the two Princess appeared lost in thought and Discord wore a look of silent triumph.

“Ah swear, Ah’ve never seen anything so small as the bits in those balls, and Ah ain’t never seen anything so enormous as those giant flames. Ya oughta’ve seen when they made those moons! They pulled long rivers of fire and light from the big fires, like hydra heads, that they whipped the rocks with. It was amazin’!”

“That’s all well and good,” a researcher interjected. “But what could her vision mean?”

“It wasn’t a vision.” Discord uttered flatly.

“Whaddaya mean?” Applejack countered defiantly. “What was it then? Or are ya implyin’ Ah didn’t see anythin’?”

“I am not implying anything, Applejack,” Discord reassured her. “I am merely correcting any misunderstandings. This was not some lowly fortuneteller’s self-induced hallucination.”

“Then what?” the researcher blurted.

“It was a memory,” Discord stated. “What she saw was an accurate recording of distant history. She saw the making of all that we know, or at least the earlier bit of that undertaking. Come my ponies. There is much I have not told even Celestia, and it is time we talked.”
______________________________________________________________________________

Two days after deploying the H.E.R.M.E.S. unit was deployed, the captain received a notification.

“Yes, Eurisko?”

“It took longer than I expected, captain, but I have located the crash site. The natives, which seem to be small equines, have established a rudimentary quarantine around the objective, and are attempting to understand it.”

“Anything of particular interest happen?”

“One creature caused the object, a large box, to react and it gave ‘her’ a vision. This caused a great stir, before a particularly bizarre looking creature claimed knowledge of the box’s origins. On another note, I have written a downloadable translation algorithm for the species. Due to the technical source of my data, my algorithm offers a relatively broad vocabulary.”

The captain sat back in his chair, contemplating this new information. These objects were extremely old, according to the Guardians, so whatever knowledge the ‘bizarre creature’ has must be old folk tales, or something similarly inconclusive.

“Captain, do you still wish to establish contact?”

“Yes, Eurisko, give them my message.”

Chapter 3 Dreaming On a Midnight Clear

Chapter Three
Dreaming On a Midnight Clear

Discord walked from the crater with a purposeful stride, not waiting for stragglers. The mass of curious ponies followed him at a distance, both intrigued and alarmed at his outburst. A short walk away, he settled himself down humbly upon a simple rock. Still at a loss for words the ponies settled themselves in a great semicircle around him, with the princesses and the Elements at the front. Once everyone had made themselves remotely comfortable, he spoke.

“To begin, I have not always looked like this.”

The statement stood for a long while. Then, with a deep breath, he was consumed by light. When the eyes of the spectators cleared, a gasp rushed through the crowd. Standing where the draconequus sat was a tall and handsome storm-gray alicorn, with a flowing black mane, golden eyes, and an eight-spoked wheel for a cutie mark.

“My name was Phyrum, the Spirit of Order and Equestria’s first Spirit of the World, and I ruled this world with a benevolent hoof for nearly an aeon.”

The alicorn looked around the crowd, and his gaze was met with a unanimously rapt attention.

“At the beginning of this universe, a race of old ones, whom I have known as The Binding, came forth and made this massive realm, full of light and land in the forms of stars and planets. They filled the planets with life, and raised these species as their own children. For a time, there was peace, but then one among them grew disenchanted by the insolence that the fledgling races offered them. There was great strife, and the old ones fell into two factions; the gods who so loved and defended the mortals, and the titans who sought to reduce the mortals to slaves with broken minds. The gods won a great victory, and a new universe was made, built as a prison of great torment and the first enemy was sealed within. The titans were believed to have been fooled by the fallen one, and were merely hid away in the Ark, where the gods dwell.”

“Again, for a great many aeons, each of which was a bill- I mean a thousand thousand thousand years long, peace pervaded the universe and mortals flourished under the gods’ benevolent rule. But, like before, conflict shattered the tranquility, and the titans broke free from their bonds and made to topple the gods. Again, they failed. This time, the gods built planets and placed a single titan in the core of each one, and upon it, placed either a race of peace and love, or one of great potential to guard it. Equestria is one of these worlds, and to this day, The Prisoner slumbers at its core.”
The surrounding ponies gasped, and Phyrum raised a hoof to prevent interruption.

“Peace returned to the stars once more and lasted up until roughly an aeon ago. But this time, tension came in a new form. The gods had long regarded the many species as their children, and in a way, had parented them along throughout the countless years. But, as all children will, the races began to feel that they no longer needed the gods’ interference. They requested that the gods leave them be. For a year, the gods sequestered themselves in debate over whether or not mortals were ready to be self-governing. Some were opposed, and others felt they were ready. They made no progress until, near the end of the year, the king of the gods spoke his opinion.”

“‘I do not believe mortals are worthy of self governance. However, we have not offered chance for them to demonstrate their worth. So I offer compromise: We will grant them gifts and guardians for their safeguard and seal ourselves away, only to reawaken in their hour of need.’”

“The belligerent races accepted his proposal, and all worlds received at least three gifts, though some received four. The first gifts were the Spirits of the World. Worthy candidates from each planet were granted relative immortality and a minute fraction of the gods’ power. They were to rule the races with benevolence, offering species specific wisdom that would come with great age.”

“The second gifts were powerful relics that could only be wielded by mortals, should the race be dissatisfied with its Spirit, or if an evil came that was stronger than the Spirit. To Equestria was given a six-piece suit of armor, which reformed at my fall to be five necklaces and a tiara. The last time I remember them being used in their elder form was by a brave warrior who defeated a powerful, yet now inconsequential, evil doer.”

“The third gift was given for the event that mortal strife reached such a level that the titans stirred. This gift was the placement of massive machines hidden within each world, under seas, in mountains, or buried under great swaths of forest. If the titans awoke, the Colossi would as well, and engage the titans in combat. They were designed only to hold titans at bay until the gods could awaken and banish the aggressors to where they couldn’t break free.”

“The fourth was a gift we received as well. A massive sphere was constructed around Equestria, to both protect us and camouflage us from other, more aggressive mortal races. I apologize dearly to you, Princesses, when I say that the sun and moon you control are not real astronomical bodies, but far smaller ones placed to give a day and night to an enclosed planet. Sadly, beyond scattered knowledge of distant worlds and foreign races, that is all I know of the universe.”
Luna and Celestia glanced downward, trying their best to absorb this fantastic tale. Silence pervaded the camp, until Rainbow Dash piped up.

“So, let me get this straight. These god things put a titan, which is supposed to be like some super strong, super evil bad guy, inside of Equestria, but they still thought that we would need protection from other races? Sounds kinda dumb, if you ask me.”

Phyrum grinned knowingly before responding.

“Ponies, the most prevalent race on this planet, are peaceable and loving at heart, and I would be lying to you if I said that few other races stood a chance against us. The truth is that most other races possess the drive, physical ability and technological power to enslave our planet in a matter of weeks, and some with only fifty soldiers. We are not a strong race, unfortunately. But since titans draw power from hate and conflict, a planet inhabited by us is a nigh inescapable prison.”

“..Oh,” was all Dash could muster, looking slightly put out.

“Why did you stop being a kind ruler?” came a second question.

All heads swiveled to the asker, and Fluttershy shrank back from the attention.

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to…”

“No Fluttershy, it’s okay. I want to. I need to get this off of my chest.”

“O-okay.”

“It started when I heard a whisper in the dark. A faint, pleading call. I searched for its source, and when I could not find it, I tried to block it out. I could not. It spoke of many things, of its plight, and I began to sympathize with it. As it continued to speak, I identified more and more, and it began to ask things of me. Small things at first, but their significance grew. Before long, I was indirectly inciting conflict among ponies. My influence soon became direct, and my permanent form twisted into that of a draconequus. The brave hero, great in age, confronted me, and I grew angry. In my rage, I struck him dead. I thought I was safe, but his daughters, two very brave young mares, came to my throne wearing the Elements as necklaces and bangles and turned me to stone. Apparently, the gods favored them from afar, and granted them the status of the new Spirits of the World and your princesses, Luna and Celestia. From that day they could only wield the Elements in the most dire of circumstances, and the Elements lay in wait for the next heroes to come along. And come they did.”
Silence again blanketed the crater site as Phyrum locked eyes with each of the Elements. It was short lived, though. The group exploded into a cacophony of questions and theories, and nearby birds flew away, aerially stumbling in their haste. But, the monumental day was not yet over. A whirring came from behind the ponies, and it was quiet enough that it went unnoticed for the better part of a minute. Discord returned to a normal one creature zoo and stared at the small orb with incredulity. Slowly, other ponies began to notice it as well. When silence had finally returned to the crowd, the orb shined a light blue luminescence upon the ground.

Inside of that luminescence formed…

“A ghost! No, an alien! An alien-ghost?”

Pinkie Pie screamed at the top of her lungs, stirring other ponies into a panic. Most of the crater camp population began to run wildly about.

“I should have expected this,” The apparition muttered, before raising its voice. “Please remain calm. While I do have a spectral appearance, I can assure you that I am not a departed soul.”

“What are you then?” a pony responded, and the sudden change in mood momentarily perplexed the ghost.

“It would take time that we do not have to explain what I am, and just telling you would be pointless.”

“Tell us!” Pinkie chirped.

“I am a holographic representation of an artificial intelligence,” the specter responded, complete with a flat stare, met with blank ones in return. “I am also here to deliver a message to your leaders.”

“We are the leaders of this land,” spoke Celestia as she rose from her seat, and Luna followed. “And we would be glad to hear your message.”

The “holographic representation” straightened itself into a more formal stance.

“I am Eurisko, and I bring greetings from the empire of Humanity. Even now, an emissary ship drifts in orbit above your world,
brought here by the trace left by the meteor you study. The captain of this ship wishes to formally meet you. If you accept, he will come down tomorrow, and I will remain here to help you prepare for his greeting.”

The messenger finished his delivery with a bow, as Celestia responded.

“Tomorrow seems so very soon, yet neither I nor my sister could contain our anticipation much longer. It would be an honor to meet this captain.”

The messenger froze and flickered momentarily before responding.

“He extends his thanks.”

Celestia took this pause to scribble a note and blow it to the wind. Once she had assured it was safely on its way, she responded to the apparition.

“Please come with us to our command tent. We have much to discuss.”

The two ponies strode off purposefully, followed by the floating orb.
______________________________________________________________________________________________

“The message was taken well, captain. They’ll be ready and waiting.”

“Extend my thanks, Eurisko, and thank you.”

The captain leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. He knew what had to come next. If he wanted to communicate with the natives, he’d have to put himself under the Digital-Neural Data Transfer. The boys called it the Bitch Librarian. After steeling himself, he made his way down to the medical bay. As the machine came into view, he shuddered slightly.

“Its bark is worse than its bite,” he reassured himself. Waving over a nearby physician, he said “Doctor, can you upload the Eurisko’s translating algorithm into the uploading dock?”

“Yes sir.”

The captain slid himself into the machine, aligning his eyes with the yellow dots given for reference.

“Are you ready, sir?”

Now or never.

“Yes.”

A metal band clamped tight about his head, and small rods were inserted into his ear. Twin, microscopically thin needles lowered from the top of the machine and pierced the lenses of his eyes painlessly. A rush of characters and phrases shot through his head, causing him to grit his teeth. The download was over in a few short moments, and the machine retracted its apparatus. The captain slid out of the end of the machine, and shook himself. Strangely, the worst part of the machine was not the needles, but rather the electrical pulse of the transfer.

“Doctor, begin uploading this to the crew, but start with Del-Kadeth Squad. They’ll be accompanying me to the planet on the initial journey.”

“Yes sir.”
____________________________________________________________________________________________

After discussions of Discord’s revelations and the presence of a new race of mysterious beings looming high above ran late into the night, ponies began to gravitate towards their tents and their beds under the weight of weariness. Noticing this, and realizing her own fatigue, Rarity, politely excused herself and made her way to the comfort of the princess sized mattress she had been allotted. The bed sheets were comfortably welcoming, gently coaxing her form towards them as she slid delicately between them. As soon as her head pressed against the down pillow, she left the world as she knew it. The world of dreams took her for ransom, and she had no desire return.

Her dreams followed their usual pattern. Some made no sense, while others were full of spending time with her beloved Sweetie Belle, or hitting it big on the Canterlot fashion scene. She was at peace in her sleep. At least, until a new dream came across her vision, one as real as consciousness itself.

She found herself in the Boutique, working on her latest order for a nameless Fillydelphian client. The air in the room was slightly stale, and the mood… off. She carried on with her daily tasks for a time, before stepping out into Ponyville for some errands. However, no matter where she went, the cordiality and happiness that so defined the small town was noticeably absent. Ponies were short, bordering on rude when they talked to her, and a general air of emptiness and depression pervaded the town.

She eventually returned to her home, and was greeted by a stoic Sweetie Belle. Rarity looked at her sister, and sighed before addressing her.

“Really, darling, where did all of this misery and anger come from? It’s as if everypony has suddenly forgotten the value of cheeriness and politeness. It’s only been a day of this and I am already losing hope and patience with these ponies.”

Sweetie looked at her, and gave what would have been a comforting smile, save for coldness in her eyes. Then she spoke.

“But you don’t understand. There is no hope.”

Her voice was unnaturally deep and gravelly, giving Rarity pause enough to turn and glance at her sister. She screamed like she had never screamed before.

Sweetie still held the smile, but her pupils had expanded to cover the entirety of her eyes, and from within those bottomless pits, tendrils of shadow leaked forth. The sockets seemed to expand, and soon Rarity found herself falling into the darkness. After the fall, her hooves found solid ground. Around her, she saw her family and friends, all smiling as if nothing was wrong.
But as she watched, they were slaughtered by an unseen force, and their essence splattered across the room, and her. Before her very eyes, the majority of the corpses awakened and twisted horrifically. She could hear the cracking of bone and the tearing of flesh, as well as the sound of popping pustules as the bodies reformed into disgusting abominations of what they once were. Some had their limbs fuse, and their entrails would form extra ones, and others had grown entirely new appendages using their vital organs. They reached for her, grasped her body. She felt her own skin peel apart as their claws pulled at her legs, and she tried to lose consciousness in the pain, but she could not. With a heave, she felt herself split entirely.

She snapped awake, feeling no residual pain from her previous ordeal. She was in Ponyville. A dead, burning Ponyville. She was reduced to gibbering nonsense at this point, and only faintly cried out for help. She wandered for a great while, and found nothing but desolation. The absence of all ponies gnawed at her last straws of sanity, for she knew that there was something on the horizon. Soon, she began to feel weary, and collapsed upon the burning sand that lay beneath her.
She was prodded awake this time, and found herself surrounded by maddeningly horrific creatures of a different kind. Thousands of mouths, tentacles and eyes existed in every direction. The creatures tormented her by their mere visages and made her long for the vicious corpses of her friends and family rather than be faced with these new loathsome beasts. After a lifetime, they released her, and she fell yet again.

She slapped upon a surface of icy water and sunk a distance before coming to. When she did, it was so black she could see nothing. The water filled her lungs, and though she felt herself drowning, she wouldn’t die. Then, she felt something move in the abyss. It was colossal, disturbing the water around and causing her to float about in its wake. She was screaming as loud as she could, but the beast didn’t seem to notice as it continued its tormenting cycle, occasionally brushing up against her shaking frame, tormenting her psyche in ways she could never have imagined. She begged for release. Death would be a paradise for her now.

Then, a warming, calming light like brightest day cleaved the absolute darkness, and revealed the beast. The gigantic serpent turned and squinted at the light, before bellowing through the water at it. A massive thunderbolt burst from the light and smote the monster, causing it to burn to ash. Rarity looked toward the light, and a silhouette formed inside of it. Somehow, she knew deep in her heart that this was her salvation. The silhouette resolved into a large, winged biped with a legendary aura of power and benevolent authority. Rarity closed her eyes and looked away, sobbing uncontrollably. The being gently pulled Rarity in and cradled her, calming her tremors. After what may have been an eternity, Rarity calmed and looked up. His face, though undeniably alien, was inexplicably familiar, and he wore a look of fatherly concern. His eyes were a dark crimson, but they weren’t fueled by the hate that so usually defined that color. He brushed a tear from her eye and caressed her cheek, and she wrapped him in a tight hug. He spoke to her, his voice carrying the authority of a king of kings and the tenderness of a father with a newborn child.

“Fear not what lies in darkness, daughter mine. You have seen much evil that exists in our realm, but even though you may not see me, I shall always be at your side.”
He looked to the sky, and with one thunderous flap of his gigantic wings, they rocketed from the abyss. Before tearing from the depths, she chanced a glance back, and saw a creature in the darker depths built like her savior, but larger in size with pallid skin stretched taut across a grossly engorged musculature. It gazed at her cruelly with dead, reflective eyes. She looked back to her noble guardian, as they began to breach into the previous tier of her nightmare. The horrors of her fourth vision fled in his presence, the fires of her third vanished, her loved ones healed in her second, and as they burst from Sweetie Belle, she too returned to normalcy. Hope once again pervaded her dream, and he pulled her to the sky. At their collision, she awoke in bed, clutching her pillow tight, and surrounded by her concerned friends.
____________________________________________________________________________________________

A scream tore Rainbow Dash from sleep. She leapt out of her bed, and joined the rest of the Elements as they sprinted towards the source of the constant, blood-curdling shriek. They soon reached Rarity’s tent and ducked inside without ado, only to see her thrashing against the covers of her bed while screaming, her face pulled into an expression of extreme agony and utter terror.

“Wake up, Rarity!” Rainbow shouted, prodding her forcefully with a hoof.

“Come on!”

The girls all attempted to force her awake, but to no avail. She had reduced to frightened, yet slightly manic whimpers, but was still tossing on her bed. The flap of the tent then flew open with the sound of tearing cloth, and the two Princesses strode through. Luna made her way to the front, and released a burst of magic, closing her eyes. Rarity resumed screaming at the top of her lungs, trying to flee from an inescapable terror.

It wasn’t long before Luna too was screaming. She ripped herself out of Rarity’s dream, shaking with fear.

“Those nightmares… I’ve never…. I can’t…” she stammered.

“It’ll all be-“ Celestia attempted to interject.

“I can’t, Celestia… I can’t even reach Rarity!” she shouted. “Those nightmares….. weren’t hers. They were coming from
elsewhere…”

A deep thrum came from the object outside, unnoticed by the occupants of Rarity’s tent. Again it released the strange
droplets of energy, which drifted towards Rarity’s tent. As it reached her bedside, the group was unsure of the strange power, yet it slowly moved to caress her forehead. As soon as it touched, she calmed down significantly and clamped down on her pillow. It continued to brush her head, and soon, she awoke.

“Huh….hwah….Why is everyone here?”

“You were screaming in your sleep!” said Rainbow. “Things are seriously getting weird around here.”

“Oh… I suppose you wish to know why,” Rarity stated with trepidation.

“Of- of course!”

After pushing herself out of bed with a sigh, Rarity began to divulge the horrors she had witnessed. As she progressed down through each level of the nightmare she had endured, her voice broke, until she reached the intervention of her mysterious savior.

“Though the light that shined on me should have been blinding, it was soft and calming. He was so gentle, but my tormentors feared him just as I had feared them. He seemed to be…” Raity paused as she searched for the right phrase. “He was the worst nightmare of the very worst nightmares.”

“What did he look like, sugarcube?”

“He was tall, with two legs and two arms, a tail, and a giant pair of wings. He also had deep red eyes and smaller pointy ears.”

“Sounds awful familiar, don’t ya think?”

“Did he give you an explanation as to why you couldn’t wake up, or why I couldn’t help you?” Luna interjected.

“No Princess, he didn’t. I was too far gone to have understood anything more than his words of comfort,” Rarity replied with a forced chuckle. “I just didn’t know what to do… how to react…”

The princess looked down in consternation and a pause lingered for a short while until it was broken by Applejack.

“Well, y’all best get to bed, if you wanna be at your best for the visitors tomorrow. Rarity, since Ah know you probably can’t sleep, Ah’ll sleep in here.”

Rarity wordlessly stepped over to put a hoof around her friend.

“Applejack is right,” Celestia said. “We have an important day tomorrow, and we want to represent Equestria well to the newcomers.”

The ponies dispersed, and Applejack departed long enough to fetch her cot and bring it to Rarity’s tent. When she returned, she plopped down onto it, cooing softly as her body relaxed.

“G’night, sugarcube.”

“Sweet dreams, darling.”
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

The morning came almost immediately by the reckoning of sleeping ponies. The girls yawned exaggeratedly as they pushed themselves out of bed and made their way outside. The day started slowly, but there was a growing bustle in preparation for the arrival of the alien visitation. They were so immersed in their work that they had utterly failed to notice the group of badge bearing ponies that had arrived in the night.

One of these ponies, a blue pegasus with a white mane was conversing urgently with Celestia, while Luna looked on with disapproval. Celestia suddenly stomped the ground after a statement, and the conversation ended. The pegasus made his way off to a command tent, while Celestia and Luna reconvened and strolled through the encampment.

“I still don’t see why you had to hide them from me,” Luna pouted. “I don’t need anything from them, but must you keep such secrets from a co-ruler of Equestria, not to mention your sister?”

“I apologize, but I have my reasons,” Celestia retorted.

“I suppose those shall remain secret as well,” Luna huffed.

Celestia merely rolled her eyes as the two continued to walk aimlessly through the site, as everyone around them continued to look busy. Eventually, the monotony was broken by the messenger orb.

“Are you ready, princesses?” the orb asked.

“Yes,” came their reply.

“Then may I have the access codes for the shield that we discussed?”

Without a sound, Discord pulled a particularly worn piece of parchment out of thin air, and offered it to the orb.

“I always forget the most important things, so I wrote them down,” he said, winking at the group.

The orb shined a fine blue light on the parchment, and paused. A few minutes passed before there was any noise.

“Look!” Rainbow cried out.

The crowd held its breath. Up in the sky, a hole was spiraling open, revealing night on the other side. Another few minutes passed until a massive piece of metal moved inside of the shield. A collective gasp ran through the crowd as the new object came fully into view. The sun’s light spilled across the hull of shining steel, producing a glare that burned bright in the eyes of the ponies on the ground. Eurisko took this moment of awe to introduce the craft.

“At two miles long, a quarter mile in diameter and nearly one and a half million tons, I present to you the Erde-Tyrrenian Imperial Star Craft: Road to the Rising Sun.”