Two ponies sat staring into the sky. It was choked with thick black smog and blotted out by a steel monster but was a sight worthy to look upon. The ponies leaned against each other, one having shrunk down to the other's size.
"Oh, I never thought I'd see it, Beta. Its amazing..."
"Yeah. That ships one hell of a space machine, isn't it. They managed to build three of those in seven years! Remember that?"
"Huh, yeah." Delta leaned on Beta's shoulder. "That was ages ago." Her flowing blue and green mane fell about her shoulders and onto the ground. It shimmered with ethereal power, showing in it tranquil green water. By contrast, Beta's short, brown mane hung stiffly yet softly on his neck. Their tails intertwined behind them.
"Look! The sun's setting." Delta pointed with a hoof. Through the columns of smoke, one could see a majestic sunset, dying the sky a blend of red and yellow and purple. Beta was, however, looking at something else. Not a far ways away stood Celestia and the scouting team. One of the scientists was setting up an air quality sensor while the leading officer was speaking to the princess. Luna sat off a little ways, watching the whole ordeal with her jaw on the ground. Bay laughed at this.
"Look, Del. Luna cant take it." Delta looked where Beta gestured and covered her mouth in a dainty giggle. Beta rubbed his chin. "I feel as if I've forgotten something." After a moment of contemplation, he clapped his hooves together.
"Oh yeah! I gotta go get the kid and Rainbow Head." He got to his hooves, sauntering over to a seemingly random patch of dirt. Upon his arrival, he stamped his hoof on the ground a couple of times. A hatch opened, and Beta stuck his head inside.
"Oh! Good! You're up. Hey, you might wanna come up here, you two!" Some garbled yelling wafted out of the hole. "Oh, and don't yell. I kind of had to prop your lungs open with some metal bits because I completely crushed them. Now get up here!" Beta pulled his head out of the hatch, and not much later two ponies clamored out of it. They looked around, bewildered.
"Yeah. It's a lot. Don't try to take it in all at once." Dash looked at him, saying nothing. Then she was latched on to by a pink ballistic missile.
"Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie Pie cried. "I've been looking all over for you!" Beta chuckled, and led Delta off. Behind them, the group reunited, and the pair watched as the ponies hugged and cried. There was a moment of silence between Beta and Delta. Delta broke the silence first.
"It's my fault. It's all my fault." She mumbled this without emotion, staring straight ahead. Beta sensed the coming storm and immediately hugged Delta.
"Its not, sis. You know it is." Delta said nothing.
"Sis. C'mon. Don't do this." Without any further warning, Delta burst into tears.
"I'm sorry!" She cried, "It wasn't my fault! It was Her! It was Her!" She curled up into a ball, hugging her tail and covering her face at the same time. Bay frantically tried to calm her.
"Shhh, shhh. Its okay!"
"No It's not! I did it! She did it! We're monsters! We're the reason her farm is burning! I ruined her life!" She cried into her tail. Beta realized there was nothing that he could do, and just stroked her back to help her let it all out. This was likely centuries of mental trauma. She was going to be her a while. As Delta cried on the ground, Bay realized just how long she had been awake.
Bay's drone slept every fifty years, waking up for only a year at a time. During most of those periods there was no sign of Delta, and once he finished his report of the Equestrians' progress he would go straight to sleep. He often didn't use his whole one year period of conscious time and only last found Delta once some fifteen hundred years ago, Earth Time.
Delta was awake the whole time, awake for every day of those three thousand years. She must be out of her mind, just barely clinging together. Alicorns usually developed a split personality by the time they were two thousand years old, how many did Delta have? Beta made a mental note to sign Delta into a mental recovery ward as soon as they got back to the Tireless Endeavor. He noticed that Delta had stopped shaking, and slowly helped her sit on her stomach again.
"Better?" Beta said, smiling at Delta.
"Better." She smiled and wiped her snotty snout on her foreleg. Beta grinned.
"If Cee were here she'd freak. You remember she's something of a germophobe, right?" Delta scoffed.
"Are you kidding? I'd never forget that! She'd always make me wash my hooves whenever she had the chance!" Beta laughed.
"Remember when Eiy gave her the mud pie! She got so angry her glare could have shattered a mirror!" Delta and Beta rolled onto their sides, laughing at their childhood antics. After a while, the pair stood up.
"We should go back to Ponyville and get something to eat and some sleep. I told her to meet us there tomorrow." Bay began to walk towards the group of the Elements, Princesses, and Crusaders. Delta followed. Everyone was tired, hungry, and barely functioning. Well, all except Beta. He wasn't hungry.
They rejoined the group, getting more than a few stares. Delta laughed tentatively.
"S-sorry about that. I really am." She smiled. To her utmost surprise, the orange one smiled back first.
"It's alright, sugarcube. Your magic metal put out all the fires, and Ah can tell that you really are sorry." She grinned and extended a hoof. Delta shook it. Everyone smiled. Pinkie giggled. Applejack spoke.
"Ahm sure we'll be the best of friends."