A suicide-mission turns first contact when a skeleton crew and their eager captain land smack dab in the middle of Canterlot. To Princess Celestia, it's an opportunity to make a valuable ally and a new friend, just as long as she can trust them. Enter seven Equestrian ambassadors: the six ponies and one baby dragon hoof-picked by Celestia herself to observe and report their findings on what really is beyond Equestria's skies. After all, Celestia can't be everywhere.

Unfortunately for them, Equestria just so happens to be a bright red target on every star-map in the galaxy, and a peaceful tour led by a veteran of a pseudo-mercenary military known as the Wing quickly becomes a race against time to save Equestria, the worlds beyond, and possibly the entire galaxy.

That's only if they can save themselves first, of course.

Though this is technically a crossover with an existing universe, you won't find it anywhere, so there's no crossover tag for it anymore. It is primarily written for myself and a few friends of mine. Also as a note, it is largely first person and told from the perspective of one of the "human" characters - though technically he's an alien. There are a few exception chapters, but if you don't like that idea, then this was your warning. [EDIT]: There will be more third-person scenes following rewrites to the earlier chapters.

If you have critiques, comments, theories, or anything, please comment, favorite, and like. Etcetera. Note: Homebound takes place between seasons two and three of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, which is owned by Hasbro, and anything pony belongs to them.

HIATUS EDIT: No, it's not dead. It's just hard to write with what I've had going on, though I am still working on both the next chapter and the quality-control rewrites for the earlier chapters. I /will/ provide links to the earlier chapters, but I've gotten a lot of negative and non-constructive comments because of them, and I feel like I should rewrite them anyway. On the bright side, the official Wingverse tabletop is in full swing with my lovely players, Plebeian, Laichonious, SilentBelle, and some other fourth guy.

tl;dr: it is on.

Cancel edit: Unfortunately, real life took over six years ago as I got ready to graduate highschool and go to college. That, and I and my friends drifted away from the fandom at large. While I don't follow MLP anymore, I look on it fondly. I however managed to eek out one extra chapter and a large rebooted chapter with the purpose of making it more Equestria centered. And also better. This story helped me practice and while I certainly wouldn't cite it to my professors, the skills I learned from making what I did helped prepare me for my English degree and current career.

The star system Omega Centauri was just another oddity on a map to scientists in the not too distant future. However when they found the star was orbiting an earth-sized, earth-like planet instead of a black hole as its motion had suggested, a mission was scrambled to investigate this most unusual of celestial behaviors.

Hamstrung by politics, and nearly crippled before it began, the 'Lone Ranger' mission was reduced to just one crew member and left to his own devices.

These are the logs of Arrow 18 and its lone commander. This information is classified TOP SECRET by the Global Space Agency.

Do NOT tell the princess.

After an argument with Luna, Celestia realizes that she is the only creature in Equestria who cannot sleep in. She enlists Twilight to help, and the two of them come up with a spell that will allow her to spend the night on a different world. Unfortunately, all their research failed to reveal that the world they sought was populated. Now, the Princess must decide whether to continue with contact, or destroy the only non-Equestrian witness to their existence.

Cover art is called "Sleeping Celestia" by Briskby