High above the wasteland, far above the Enclave, beyond the reach of the megaspells, drifted a forlorn object. The metal hull was full of holes and dents from around two centuries worth of punishment from meteors. It had once been painted white to reflect heat up its glorious reentry, but clouds of dust had sanded most of it away, taking away even the name it once bore. Hope, what was once the world's greatest unknown chance of survival, now drifted through space in silent chorus to the ruined world below.

The interior was no less a scene of demoralization.

The frozen, and slightly melted, remains of a young zebra were fused with the floor. A few lazy meteors had gotten trapped inside the ship, drifting about and bouncing off walls until some of them slipped back out into the great black sea. Panels and small storage compartments were ripped open from the sudden decompression caused by the first hull breach. Miscellaneous electronics and food items drifted amongst the dust and rocks.

Aside from the zebra, the only stationary object in the ship's interior was the mare strapped to the pilot's seat. Her blue fur and supernova pink mane were in pristine condition, compliments of the Ministry of Image. One could argue it was the suit that preserved the body in such perfect condition, keeping it from deforming and rupturing in the explosive decompression. But, if there were sound in space, they would be sure to hear her raucous snoring.

After all these years, Mercy Andromeda was still alive, asleep in some sort of unnatural hibernation. A purple heads-up display on the inside of her helmet flashed the same message over and over again. ---SUBJECT STATUS: DECEASED---CONDITION: STABLE---ADMINISTERING HEALTH ENCHANTMENTS---SUBJECT STATUS: DECEASED---CONDITION: STABLE---CONDITION: STABLE---ADMINISTERING HEALTH ENCHANTMENTS---. This might have carried on for eternity if it had not been for what could only be described as divine intervention.

---SUBJECT STATUS: DECEASED---CONDITION: STABLE---ADMINISTERING HEALTH ENCHANTMENT---ERROR---ERROR---ERROR---ERROR---ACTIVATING ADRENAL REFLEX---

The helmet, which had its own self-contained atmosphere, vibrated when the mare let out a shriek that would have shattered any normal form of crystalline structure. SUBJECT STATUS: DECEASED---CONDITION: STABLE---ADMINISTERING SEDATIVE---ERROR---ADMINISTERING TESTOSTERONE. Shocked, the mare ceased her screaming and pulled at her restraints as a rather pleasant sensation washed over her body. A giddy smile played on her face for a moment before she put a white-shoed hoof to her head, or rather, her helmet, and let out a deep sigh.

"Ooh," she groaned. "What a nightmare. I must have passed out from when the blood rushed to my head. No matter how many simulations you run, nothing can prepare you for the real thing. I-I guess should let them know I'm all right. Oh, my eyes."

Her body remembering months of training, she kept her eyes closed and reached up to push a little button on the dashboard. "Hello, command, this is Space Captain Mercy Andromeda, I'm sorry if I've kept you waiting. Just need a minute to recover from that takeoff. I'll be ready to start Operation Benevolent Omen on your mark."

She waited a moment for them to respond. Moments turned to minutes. Ten minutes later it became clear that they hadn't heard her. She sighed and pressed button again. "This is Space Captain Andromeda, reporting in and ready to begin Operation Benevolent Omen."

A few moments later, she was pounding the button and screaming into the mic. "Command, do you read me? Hello? Anypony there? This is Captain Andromeda. Answer me, please." Her voice raised louder as desperation grew. "This is Mercy Andromeda, respond, say something, anything. Ministry Mares? Dr. Comet? Somepony, please... tell me I can open my eyes, I-I don't want... please tell me that that zebra was all just a bad dream. Please, tell me I'm not too late. Tell me we can still win. Don't make me open my eyes by myself."

Nothing but silence. Unholy silence that chilled her most inner depths, creeping like dark tendrils throughout her body. She leaned back into her chair and did her best to curl up into a ball, breathing hard as she waited for someone to respond. She didn't know how long she waited, but it soon became evident that no pony was responding.

"May-maybe the radio broke," she reasoned with herself. "Yeah, that's it. I'll just have to repair it. But, I'll need to open my eyes, won't I? There'll be nothing, you'll see, it's just a few disconnected wires. They showed you how to repair it. That's it, I'm gonna just look up and..."

She opened her eyes and was too horrified to make any noise at all. All she could do was stare at the darkened, broken dashboard. Holes and cracks perforated the window, debris floated around her, and when she looked behind her seat, she saw the remains of the zebra amongst the giant holes and cracks in the rest of the ship.

There were many different responses a mare in her position could have. She could have screamed until her throat bled. Cried until she was a quivering blob of flesh. She could have shouted curses to the heavens for her fate. Maybe even just gone into shock and watched the rest of eternity go by. However, she managed to choose either the absolute worst thing, or the absolute best thing, and panicked.

She shrieked loudly, tore off the restraints and scrambled her legs madly in the air as she began to float. She managed to grip the headrest of the chair in her forehooves and launched herself forward, plowing through the floating garbage. She hit the back wall, right through the zebra's remains, hard. The frozen, brittle corpse cracked and shattered in a silent explosion, making her give a dry heave in disgust and horror. She had just desecrated the remains of a another creature, even if he was a zebra. She screamed again and pushed herself away, writhing about and heaving wretchedly.

There was nothing on this ship, everything was gone. Her mission was a failure, and all because the Ministries hadn't kept out one zebra. She wasn't mad at the young stripy, she was mad at those mares. They were supposed to be Celestia and Luna's favored. Yet, for all that talk, a zebra, probably too young to have finished high school, wandered into the most secure facility in Equestria, and detonated a gas bomb inside the most important project in the world. It was all their fault. All their, bucking, trumped up, stricken fault.

Wasn't it?

She looked down at her hooves as she drifted amongst the junk. Were they the only ones at fault? She had heard something. A single word from her could have stopped the entire launch. At worst, it would have only been delayed a few more days, and she would have still fulfilled her dream and saved Equestria. But, no. She was too eager. Too excited.

They had warned her multiple times, that if anything sounded or appeared wrong, that she was supposed to tell them to stop and it would be taken care of. She had heard the tapping of the zebra's hooves on the metal, and yet she hadn't fulfilled her duty. Six months of intense training, studying, all the while away from her friends and family. All for nothing now, all lost in a pink cloud and a moment of utter stupidity. They would have gotten a more competent pilot from a brain-damaged monkey in diapers.

She looked out one of the larger holes in the hull, and saw the world. Strangely, a large part of the sky was covered in thick clouds. Not like hurricane storms or anything, just a blanket of clouds. But his wasn't her most pressing concern. She may have been stuck in space, but she wasn't just going to sit around in shame. At the speed the rocketship was traveling, anything that fell from it and into the atmosphere would be burned up. It seemed like it would be a quick enough death.

She lit up her horn, generated a amethyst field of magic, and created a minor foal's trick: a lasso. It was a simple strand of magic of limited length that could then be shortened to yank the caster across the ground. Depending on the strength and skill of the caster, it could be used for some pretty spectacular parkour stunts. In space, strength and weight meant nothing. She threw out the strand, looped it around a little knob, and then yanked herself forward at an astonishing speed.

A bittersweet smile played upon her face as she shot towards the world below. Spreading her legs out wide to catch as much friction as possible, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Which was promptly knocked out of her when she came to dead stop.

"What?" she asked, cocking her eyes and twisting her face in confusion. Looking back, she saw a tether of digital magic cubes, glowing the same color as her own magic, hooked onto the side of the ship. her HUD lit up with the words: ---EMERGENCY GRAPPLE ACTIVATED---HULL BREACH DETECTED---SENDING DISTRESS SIGNAL TO COMMAND---ERROR---LINK NO LONGER EXISTS---

"What?"

This brought a whole new flag to the field. "What do mean doesn't exist? I know Hope took some damage that destroyed the radio. But, no longer exists? Wait, I can use my pipbuck to send radio messages?"

---LINK NO LONGER EXISTS---MORE INPUT REQUIRED---EMERGENCY BROADCASTER WAS PUT IN PLACE IN CASE OF EMERGENCY---REDUNDANT---

Thoughts of suicide momentarily put aside, Andromeda smiled as the tether began to reel her back up the ship. "Then contact somepony, anypony."

---INADVISABLE---

"Why not?" Andromeda demanded sourly.

---NO KNOWING WHO MAY LISTEN---

"Doesn't matter," Andromeda said as she reach a hoof inside the hole and pulled herself inside. "If the zebras hear we ponies have got up to space, they'll panic. In fact, try and hit zebra public broadcasts. That'll slap their pompous plots. No wait... I hear zebras like that. What would be a proper insult?"

She cringed at the bits of zebra floating about. "No offense, kid. Sorry."

---CANNOT COMPLY---

She growled angrily. The pipbuck seemed to take that as a question.

---TRANSMITTER BANDWIDTH TOO SMALL---SUGGEST ERECTING A BIGGER ARRAY---

"And just how do I do that?"

---PULLING UP BLUEPRINTS---

"Thank you technology," Andromeda said, feeling very much put in her place now. The fact that it was a soulless piece of technology forcing her to read made it all the more humiliating. "Is it possible for you to speak?"

---NEGATIVE---MINISTER OF MAGIC DESIGNATED TEXT FOR BRAIN STIMULATION---

"She would," Andromeda sighed as she watched the blueprints come up. All it would take would be some copper wiring, aluminum tubing, a small amount of iron, and metal paneling. All of which was aplenty aboard the ship. Plus, with the emergency spells she'd been taught to use with the digital magic, it would be like a making book fort.

Using her lasso to hold herself in one place this time, she activated the digital magic herself this time and began shaping it properly. Digital magic wasn't fluid like natural magic, it was rigid and blunt, and as such, the sharp edges of the cubes could be put to good use as, say, a rotary saw. In no time, she'd began cutting a shallow square out of the dashboard. When this was done, she made a pair of clamps and pulled out bundles of the wires. She noticed some gold down there as well, and made sure to skirt around it, as those were most likely vital parts of the ship. Putting the wire where it wouldn't drift off, she began her search for the aluminum tubing, which was in the vacuum toilet. That thing was always scary to her, using space to suck out the sewage. Dismantling it felt good. All the while, she was collecting metal panels that were just floating about and holding them in her forehooves; not having to walk made things pretty easy. As for the iron, there was limited supply for weight purposes, she found that inside her chair, since it needed to be both heavy and stable for launch and reentry. Just one rod was enough.

Now that she had all the pieces, she started on the iron, using the digital magic to pound it thinner and longer. Once at the desired length, she started on the wire, unraveling it and winding the ends together before wrapping it tightly around iron rod enough. Then came the aluminum tube. That part was simple. All she had to do was stick the copper and iron inside of it. Then the panels came into play. She gave a bubbly squeal as she began this part. No matter how many times she did it, it was so much fun.

The cubes could be made small, almost microscopic, allowing finer tuning and intricate details. There was a tradeoff, of course. When they were in this finer resolution, she couldn't cover a very large area, and though they could cut through metal like a hot knife through butter, they were worthless as a shield as anything striking them would cause them to vanish. Along with this, she could use both the big and the small ones together at the same time. She began cutting at the edges of the panels.

She patiently begun cutting tiny strands, about an inch deep across the edges of the panels, which didn't take as long as one would think, considering she could make about ten miniature saws at once. Still, her cutting took over an hour, but she wasn't watching the clock. Andromeda was certain her pipbuck had one, but couldn't be bothered to check. When she was done, she began weaving the strands from the side of one panel to the strands of another until she had crafted a crude bowl. She drilled a few holes to wrap the ends of the copper wires through to hold it down atop the aluminum tube. The wires would push the transmitter pulse through the makeshift antennae, and, boosted by her magic, would allow her to reach some form of radio tower. All that was needed was to attach the other end of the pole to her pipbuck and point it down.

Zero-gravity, again, was useful. She didn't need to attach the antennae to anything. Just level it out, let go, and she was good. She cleared her throat and spoke in as clear and commanding a voice a mare drifting in space with a ship full of super-weapons could manage.

"Hello, zebras, this is Space Captain Andromeda, calling to you from... where else, but right over your sorry heads. Listen up and listen good. I've got a payload of Equestria's best weapons ready to rain down in the blink of an eye if you do not lay your guns right this instant and surrender. I've got more than enough high-powered hens aboard to drop balefire eggs on you for a week, with a side of eldritch lightning bolt fries, extra crispy. Remember whose side raises the sun? Equestria's. Remember who has all the jewels? Equestria. Remember who's gonna kick your sorry plots? Eeequeeeestriiiaaa. I'm flying too high for your pitiful little missiles and bullets to reach, and an armored body that takes celestial rocks traveling at high speeds to just dent. So, if any zebra out there wants to be a hero, just remember what I said, and then... and then, do the smart thing... let somepony else go first."

She smiled to herself and crossed her hooves in front of her chest in pride. She'd always wanted to say that. After a prolonged silence, she began to wonder if she had been taken seriously.

"Why is no pony responding?" she asked anxiously. She yanked herself with her lasso so she could look down at the world.

---BROADCASTER NEEDS TO BE TURNED ON BEFORE A MESSAGE CAN BE SENT---

Facehoofing with fishbowl helmet on just didn't feel the same.