//------------------------------// // Cutie Mark Crusaders' Journal of the unexplained Part 7 // Story: Pinkie Pie's Fourth-Wall Breaking Variety Show // by Alex Warlorn //------------------------------// Ardashir Scootaloo scratched her forehead. Then she smiled. "I know!" She took up two pieces of clay and began molding, letting both her pegasus magic and some stories she'd read guide her. Her friends and Nature Walk watched as she set down a pair of long, lean figures that resembled both dragons and ponies, with flaming manes and tails. "I read about them in a book on myths from Neighpon," Scootaloo smiled at her two creations. "And maybe one of Dash's Daring Do books. They're Tianma, 'Heaven Horses'." "But why do they sorta look like dragons?" Sweetie looked at the two little clay creatures. They seemed to cringe back, and then their manes flared up as they hissed fiercely at her. "They did in the stories," Scootaloo said. She picked them up and held them above the little red world. "They flew through the skies and lived among the clouds and in the mountains, and they ate fruit and fish. And oh yeah, they like duking it out for the fun of it!" The two little dragon-horses began to do just that, wheeling and diving on each other, breathing lightning. Apple Bloom looked intrigued. Sweetie looked worried. Nature Walk raised an eyebrow but did no more. "And what are their names, Scootaloo?" Nature Walk pointed at the two tianma. "Oh, their names are Cloudburst," the male preened, "and Lightning." The female flared her mane proudly. They made one last dive at each other, lightning flashing, and settled down "Very lovely," Nature Walk said. "And they live among the clouds and mountains, you say?" She waved her hoof gently over the little red world, and clouds began to appear. The two tianma flew through and about them. The fillies and Nature Walk watched as they dived first down at the sea and came back up with small fish, and then down to the woods where they are fruit from the trees. Soon little scaly tianma were flying beside the big ones, and then more adults, with manes and tails of red and golden and even green fire. They drove the clouds about, made rain and snow and wind, brought warm days and life to the land. And they fought too. Again and again two or more tianma wanted the same thing, and settled it with a quick fight. Lightning flashed and thunder roared. Wolf towns were blasted, and Sea pony schools scattered in terror as their seaweed gardens and 'herds' of fish fled. The wolves and sea ponies hid in fear from the destruction. "Hey!" Sweetie said. "Look what they did to my sea ponies! They're scaring them!" The little sea ponies peeked out from the ocean at the sky above, but raced for cover as two more tianma began fighting high above, careless of anyone below. "An' my wolves!" Apple Bloom pointed at some of the wolves, abandoning a town of theirs that after it'd been destroyed for the third time by some fighting tianma. "Darn it, Scootaloo! Ya made them critters of yours TOO scrappy!" "Wow," Scootaloo looked down at 'their' world. The wolves and sea ponies were losing everything they made while the tianma seemingly noticed nothing, content to fly and dive and squabble and fight constantly. "I'm sorry, girls!" Scootaloo looked at their guide. "Miss Nature Walk? Isn't there some way to make my tianma realize they're doing something wrong?" "There is, but it might be difficult." She cast her eyes over their world and over the three fillies. "Are you willing?" She smiled as all three nodded. "Very well. Here is what you must do..." MtangaLion One day, rival tianma from two different mountain peaks had an especially big and fierce battle. They roared their excitement, grinning as they swooped and dove, chased and dodged, bucking the clouds and letting loose thundering blasts of blue and red lightning. One of the tianma dodged too slowly, though. Lightning singed her leathery wings and she screamed her outrage and fear, tumbling and spiraling down towards the ocean below. The other tianma continued their battle, following the clouds, but one hesitated, peering down. "Loyalty..." whispered a voice on the winds. The tianma shook himself in midair, remembering all their shared battles together, protecting each others flanks. He dove after his sister, only pulling up when she plunged into the sea, and the cruel waves put her fires out! Just below the surface, a herd of sea ponies scattered, whinnying. One of the mean sky-horses had fallen. It served it right, making so much trouble! One of the sea ponies looked back before she could swim away, though. Sky-horses were things of the air, like wolves. Under the waves, they would *drown*. "Kindness..." The sea pony couldn't stand it... she gulped down her fear and swam as hard as she could until her tail ached, getting beneath the flailing sky-horse and pushing it up to the surface! The second sky-horse hovered just over the waves, makings its frightful whinnies and roars, but it dared not touch the water. The sea pony bravely stayed with the fallen one and kept pushing it along, all the way to the wolf town by the seashore. At the town docks, a young wolf growled impatiently, swishing his tail. The sea pony traders were late... he had many water-proofed packets of medicine in his bags, ready to exchange for tasty fish and deep sea kelp that was good for making all sorts of potions. He certainly wasn't expecting sea ponies to push a half-drowned sky-horse onto the beach! Wolves growled, running to get help and weapons, and the second sky-horse landed and stood protectively over the hurt one. The wolf with the medicines was furious, head lowered and snarling... the sky-horses had hurt so many wolves with their careless antics, but the more he looked at the hurt sky-horse, laying there so pitifully, the more his anger faded. "Generosity..." The wolf healer padded forward, past the ranks of the other wolves, and held out some of his valuable medicine, barking and pantomiming with his paws. Somehow... they seemed to understand. He was permitted to clean the burned wing, then treat and bandage it. But then, thunder boomed overhead. The cloud had drifted back over the village, and the other tianma were still playing their game. Lightning stuck, setting some of the village houses on fire! Wolves snarled with renewed anger, but there wasn't time to take it out on the grounded sky-horses. The raced to grab and fill buckets, trying to save what they could. Thunder boomed over the sea too, scaring the sea ponies in the harbor. Standing beside his wounded sister, the healthy tianma stared in shock, jaws falling open. "Honesty..." The tianma reared up and roared, not in joy, but with grief and sorrow! He flew up and whinnied harshly at his fellow tianma, pointing downward with a hoof. He grabbed a piece from their valuable cloud and brought it down to the burning houses. There was another thing clouds could do besides making lightning, and he used it now, bucking the cloud until rain poured out. The other tianma helped him, until all the fires were put out, and then they gathered around on the ground, whinnying uncertainly. The wolves seemed not to know what to make of this. Here were their enemies, their tormentors... regretting what they had done? The sea ponies in the harbor sang their sadness and confusion... but one of them leapt above the waves to get their attention. The town was saved, and there were new creatures they could meet. Wasn't this a happy occasion? "Laughter..." The excited whispers spread among the sea ponies until a whole chorus of them started doing flips and tricks, with that one enthusiastic sea pony in the lead. Finally, the chief of the wolf town came to the beach. He was a veteran of many hunts, and he'd seen the village set aflame and terrorized many times, while wolves could only shake their paws at the sky in anger. Here the sky-horses were, in reach at last. All he had to do was give the order. But what if other sky-horses could understand too, and change their ways... "Trust..." The chief wolf strode right up to the sky-horses and barked a greeting, not showing even an inch of fear, knowing that other wolves would follow his lead. The wolf healer came to stand by his side, and together they went and spoke to the wounded tianma and the brave tianma, while the helpful sea pony and joyful sea pony swan as close as they could, doing backflips as they sang. "Magic!" The peace that was made that day, and the friendship of the wolves, the tianma, and the sea ponies, lasted for generations. Sweetie Belle peered more closely at the little village. "What, no magic jewelry?" "No rainbow-sposion?" asked Scootaloo. "Ah thought sure there'd be a Tree of Harmony or something," admitted Apple Bloom. Nature Walk smiled. "It's a young world. Give it time." Sweetie grinned. "What do you say, girls? Did we do good work or what?" "Cutie Mark Crusader Harmony Bringers! Yay!" Then Apple Bloom checked her flank, Sweetie checked her sides for wings, and Scootaloo felt on top of her head in case a horn might have sprouted there. Apple Bloom pointed the camera at herself and shrugged. "Maybe next time." Ardashir The tianma watched what the Sea Ponies and wolves did. The wolves herded their prey, but the storms did not bring rain, and the prey went away to find food and the wolves howled their hunger. The Sea ponies waited for the fish they traded for the wolves' goods, but the waters grew cold under a cloudy sky, and they stayed away. The tianma saw and acted. Half of them drove the clouds over the sea away; the waters warmed and the fish returned, and the Sea ponies caught some for eating and some for trading. The other half of the Heaven Horses sent storms to bring rain down onto the forests and plains of the wolves, and water made the land fertile. The prey returned, the wolves ate, and they made the tools and goods that the Sea ponies needed. As they met the tianma dropped down to meet them. This time all three sides nuzzled and met in peace. The tianma got fresh and better fish from the Sea ponies, and clever things from the wolves that they could not make among their clouds, and in return they brought good weather and fair skies to both. The three fillies watched in utter delight over the world they had helped to make. Kendell2 Applebloom blinked, watching each of their creations build a statue...somehow of each of them as Alicorns composed of the three species of ponies living on this planet. "Uh...I thought they couldn't see us..." Nature Walk gave a chuckle. "They FEEL you, little ones. Or they're worshiping your potential Alicorn selves, hard to tell." Sweetie Belle blinked. "You mean like how the Lovcats worship Pinkie Pie as their 'potential goddess'?" "Maybe..." Nature Walk said in a playful tone. She pet Imp as the mimicker was enjoying the sights. Scootaloo then blinked as it became night on their tiny world. "Huh?" "You never made a moon, little ponies," Nature Walk said, looking up at the night sky. "Oh!" Applebloom exclaimed. "We need tah fix that!" "How many?" Nature Walk questioned. "There can be more than one?" Scootaloo asked. The entity nodded. "Several planets do have multiple moons, yes." The group looked to each other. "Just one, more than one sounds weird..." Applebloom added. "And can you make it look green?" Sweetie Belle would ask. "Blue, red, and green? That sounds nice." The two others gave a nod. Nature Walk nodded and the moon simply appeared. Given the impact of moons on planets (something a filly couldn't be expected to know) it was best to make it having retroactively always existed. Luna's face briefly appeared on the moon with a smile. The wolves howled to the moon and the Sea Ponies worked with the tides and sang songs to it and the sun. The tianma didn't seem to have a major connection to the moon, but did worship a statue of Princess Luna that seemed to be a fusion of the trio of races living on their planet. When it cycled back to day, the Tianma had made colosseums and arenas to safely do their battles without harming the ponies below them, it was still part of their culture after all. As happy and excited as the trio was...Applebloom thought of something. "Miss Nature Walk?" the filly asked. "What's going to happen when we leave this world? Are they still going to be here?" Nature Walk chuckled. "Of course, my little ponies. Me and my children will take good care of this world, and have faith in your creations...Hehe, do you want to know something fun?" The trio blinked and cocked their heads. "What?" The mare pointed to a star in the now night sky. "You see that star?" the trio nodded. "That's the sun of Equus' solar system." The trio's eyes went wide. "Wow!...It's so small..." Nature Walk nodded. "It does look it...but it's still important. No less important than this little world you've made." Scootaloo mentally questioned if this world was actually little or if they were giant. The group noticed towns and cities beginning to be built. "The joy of creation is watching your creation grow, like a parent loves watching their child grow," she said, like a mother as she watched the planet thrive. Alex Warlorn The Wolf and Imp meanwhile, were playing card, how either of them knew how to play cards, or how one who normally took the form of a blue rock and the other not having thumbs, (not that ever stopped the ponies) could play card, nor how either of them possibly knew the rules of any card games, was a mystery left to the ages. 'I'm normally used to be ignored, it's my purpose, my function, my existence. But now I've tasted it with Mistress Sweetie Belle, I fear I've been tainted by desire.' The wolf said. 'As a Mimic, not being noticed is easy, but we're supposed to ultimately chose a main shape to live our lives in. The one I'm using right now is a copy of Mama's, but she says I need to find my own shape.' The other whistled in her own language. "All hail Scootaloo the totally awesome one!" The dragon ponies whispered the statues of an Alicorn Scootaloo that made the orange filly grin. If Diamond Tiara was here she'd be so jealous! It was Apple Bloom however who said. "Uh, I think it's best if we go now... Uh... we can come back later right?" "If you ascend as Alicorn and then return, it'll be as if you never left." Nature Walk said. "Really? Cool!" Sweetie said. As the foals finally left Nature Walk's domain, the Imp and Blanky quickly followed least they be trapped in her domain and be left behind. The door closed behind the fillies and vanished, they couldn't say they weren't regretful to go. But Apple Bloom was determined to find unexplained stuff in the Everfree. Imp meanwhile, was curious about these strange little creatures that had fallen into her family's nest, they were interesting. Apple Bloom for a moment considered going back the way they came... but they still had Luna's blessing so they'd just 'reappear' back home if anything really back happened to them. They chose a random direction to go in the Everfree cave and went... spelunking was supposed to exciting, but even with the glow from Sweetie's horn, a cave in the Everfree had no right for not something interesting to happen ever 15 hooves lengths. But a bit later, as the CMC considered turning around... they spotted a camp fire... and something else. It was a pony, but he looked like he was made of burned up charcoal with a crown. Inside the chamber of the camp fire, on the opposed end, was a pile of ashes. The pile of ashes grouped and formed into a pony with a suit of armor and a sword. He marched to the ponies made of charcoal and... ran him through!? The pony with the crown turned to ashes, and the knight tossed aside his sword and put on the crown, and then reached their hoof into the fire... setting themselves on fire, and turning into a pony made of charcoal with a crown. Meanwhile, in the pile of ashes, a new pony in a suit of armor appeared with a sword, who ran the new pony with a crown through, who then turned to ashes. The new armored pony put on the crown, threw away their sword and reached their hoof into the fire, setting themselves on fire. As a new people in a suit of armor formed out of the ashes. The cycle seemed to repeat endlessly. Scootaloo said. "That. Has to be the most pointless, grim, meaningless, and bleak exercise in futility I've ever seen." "You know what futility is?" Sweetie asked. "Diamond Tiara used it all the time when talking about me flying remember?" "Oh yeah." And the cycle just repeated forever in front of them. MtangaLion There were more ponies in the dark, cold, ash-filled cavern that they'd barely noticed at first, tiny creatures like in Nature Walk's world. Some of them trotted through the ashes, seemingly going in circles. Some cowered in fear, just trying not to get stepped on by the knights. Others shambled back and forth like zombies, which made Apple Bloom shudder. Sweetie Belle gulped, teeth chattering a bit. "I wonder if another weird person is going to pop out of the ground and fix this." "Ah think what they really need is the sun," said Apple Bloom, stamping her hooves a bit to try and keep warm. "That would make those zombie ponies go away, and they wouldn't have to keep setting themselves on fire just ta get a little light and heat." Scootaloo alone didn't seem that cold... she'd been fluffing her feathers, using a bit of weather magic to hold a layer of heat around herself. "Sounds good to me. Hey, Princess Celestia!! Could you please come and help these ponies out?" Sweetie frowned. "You don't think she's really just going to come waltzing down here, do you? The princess is probably really busy holding Day Court and sipping tea and..." The other cavern entrance, the one they hadn't been through yet, began to glow, as if somepony was coming with a torch. The fillies gasped as the light grew brighter and brighter, as if the sun itself had come into the caverns. In a way, it had... Princess Celestia herself *did* stride into the cavern, shadows and cold fleeing before her. Blanky bowed at once, pressing his nose to the floor. Then he reached over with a paw and nudged a gawking Imp into the same pose. "My goodness," said Celestia warmly. "It's a been a while since Abby delivered a prayer like that to me." Sweetie tried to close her gaping mouth and remember her manners. "Um, Princess Celestia? Why are you dressed like that?" Seeing Celestia without her golden shoes and crown and peytral might have been more surprising than her showing up in the first place... she only wore a simple field jacket and a safari hat, though her regal stature and ethereal mane were the same as ever. She smiled again. "Let's just say that Luna and I have been doing some exploring of our own. "Soon, two new princesses of Equestria will be crowned, and then there will some big changes in Canterlot... but you will see all of that in time." Apple Bloom gasped. "New princesses? You mean, mah sister and Pinkie Pie? Oh no, we're gonna miss the whole thing while we're explorin'!" Celestia chuckled politely. "You needn't worry, my little ponies. I promise, you won't miss it. But now, let's take care of this..." Yet another ashen knight had just been consumed by the fire. Before the next one could appear, Celestia lit her horn, lifting the crown into the air. It began to glow, shining brighter and hotter until the gold melted, softening into a molten blob, then shaping itself into a perfect sphere. Celestia poured even more magic into it, and the sphere ignited! All at once, heat and warmth poured into the cavern from the new little sun. Thermals from the still-burning ashes made little clouds, which poured out rain, and green grass and trees began to grow! The little pony zombies laid themselves down, able to sleep at last, and the fearful little ponies peeked out, and slowly began to emerge from hiding. Kendell2 (bit by Alex Warlorn at the end) For those that don't know what I'm basing this off of: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/ef/0e/5d/ef0e5dd84480435ca571647bc2c14d9c.jpg There was a set of unused ponies called Fairybright or Celestial Ponies who were supposedly aliens. After watching the little ponies begin rebuilding their civilization (and Celestia staying to aid in doing so), the trio moved on to continue exploring Everfree. As the group continued to wander with their little Mimicker, they came to an opening in the cave system, the night sky bright above...when suddenly a very large brightly glowing fireball came crashing across the sky trailing smoke and landing somewhere up ahead with a thunderous crash and shaking the earth so much that they almost got knocked off their hooves. "What was that?!" Sweetie Belle asked. "Ah think it was a shootin' star!" Scootaloo looked up ahead and trotted a little bit further...and saw the same pink glow the fireball had. "Hey! I think it landed up ahead!" "Really?" Sweetie asked. The three trotted forwards and poked their heads out from behind a rock. Before them was a craft looking like a giant flying saucer with lights all around the top and edge that gave off a pink glow. Smoke was billowing out from a damaged piece of it's haul and it'd clearly made a rough landing. "Is that a flyin' saucer?" Applebloom questioned. "I...I think so!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed. "Girls, look!" Scootaloo exclaimed, pointing. Emerging from the ship were three ponies, one pink with a blue mane and tail, another blue with a lighter blue mane, and the last light blue with a red mane. Physically they looked like normal Earth Ponies, but they gave off a soft glow of their respective fur color and seemed to leave a trail of stardust behind them as they moved. They also seemed to have odd streaks through their fur. However, the oddest part was on the top of their heads were three antennae, two topped with stars and the middle one a moon. Each of their Cutie Marks was a planet or star or other celestial object. "Aliens?!" the CMC all exclaimed. They then blinked as the ponies looked concerned, a fourth bright pink pony trotted out and fell down with a cry of pain, her front leg hurt and bleeding what looked like blood, but was hot pink and glowed. "She's hurt..." Applebloom muttered as the other three rushed to their friend. They seemed panicked, though none of the CMC could understand what they were saying. Sweetie reached into her bag and produced their first aid kit. "I think we need to help." Scootaloo's eyes went wide. "Sweetie, they're ALIENS! What if they abduct us or something?!" "They're also PONIES," Sweetie replied with a glare. The other two didn't need another word. The four aliens jumped as the trio emerged and looked defensive, three of them guarding their hurt friend. "Don't be scared! We just want to help!" Sweetie exclaimed, Imp musically chiming. The strange ponies cocked her head and looked to one another. "We just want to be friends!" Scootaloo said. The four gasped. "Friend?" "Yeah! Friends!" Applebloom exclaimed. The light blue one with a red mane put a hoof to her chest then pointed to her fellows. "Friends." Applebloom blinked, then did the same with herself and her friend. "Friends." Sweetie then pointed to the three of them then to the aliens. "Friends?" The azure one said something in the aliens' language and pointed back into the ship. The uninjured pink one went back inside and came back out with four strange necklaces and each put one on and pressed them, causing them to give a luminescent glow and scanned the trio for a moment. "Friends...on your planet friends means the same as ours...that's...strange..." said the azure alien pony, then a smile. The trio blinked, looking to one another. Sweetie then chuckled. "Well we're all ponies, aren't we?" Sweetie asked. "Oh!" She sat down the first aid kit and opened it. "I brought a first aid kit!" "Oh thank Galaxia! Our med bay was destroyed in the crash!" the standing pink mare replied, quickly taking it. "Um...I'm not certain what much of this is..." "I can explain it!" Sweetie said. "My name's Sweetie Belle, by the way!" "Oh, how rude of me I'm Nova," was the reply from the pink mare. "Pink Star," the injured pony explained, cringing. Nova knelt next to her and tried to help stop the bleeding a bit if she could. "Thanks sis." "I'm Blue Dwarf, " replied the lighter blue mare. "And I'm Nebula," the azure mare who seemed to be the leader explained. "Mah names Applebloom!" Applebloom replied. "And I'm Scootaloo. This is Imp," she explained, pointing to the Mimicker, who gave a musical thrill. Sweetie helped Nova treat Pink Star's injured leg. Though a few of the medicines Nova discovered weren't compatible for their species due to different biology. "So you guys are aliens?" Scootaloo asked. Blue Dwarf chuckled. "Well from our perspective, you're the aliens." Scootaloo blinked, then rubbed her head sheepishly. "Yeah, didn't think about that. Uh...you're not going to upduct us or take our brains or something?" Nova blinked. "Why would we do that?" "...Happens in comics, theatre, and movies..." Blue Dwarf chuckled. "Looks like we have similar fiction when it comes to aliens..." "We're a group of star mappers making a map of the known galaxy," Nebula explained. "We were mapping your star when a large meteor struck our ship and we crashed here and Pink Star was injured in the crash. It looks like our ship took quite the beating as well..." Blanky looked at the looked at the aliens in disgust, this was not their world, they shouldn't be here. And he looked at Imp with... an emotion the Blank Wolf was not supposed to feel, it was... jealousy? He was JEALOUS of a Mimic?! But it was like the CMC were now focused on her, and forgetting he existed! Alex Warlorn "Ah can fix it!" Apple Bloom cheered. Scootaloo shook her head. "Sorry Apple Bloom, but I think alien space ship is kinda different than building a barn." MtangaLion Apple Bloom kept peppering their new friends with questions, undeterred. "How does your ship work? Is it magic? Ah bet it's like Flim and Flam's wagon! What's it like on other planets? Does your ship go really really fast?" Meanwhile, Blanky was snarling, and no one even seemed to hear him! He wanted to lash out, but there was nothing to lash out at, and it was making his fuzzy little head ache. "This longing..." said a voice. Deep and growling... another wolf's voice?! Blanky froze, ears low. "Who... who say that?" "We've been here before. I suppose you cannot remember it, though..." This time, the voice came with flashes of memory... a high, snowy mountain ledge that Blanky was sure he'd never seen before, and an orange-furred wolf with green eyes. "It is the nature of the Wolf to remain ever hidden, but it is *not* wrong for us to want friends." Blanky bared his fangs, pushing back against the voice in his head. "Me not think that. You think that. Me Wolf! Who... you!?" The world around Blanky turned still and grey, like a pond flash-freezing, and the intruder was revealed! Another wolf loomed over him, with shaggy white fur and golden eyes like his, but full grown, not a pup. The other wolf blinked, gaping down at him. "What?" Blanky grinned. "Found you, fake! You go away now!" He chomped the other wolf's foreleg... and nothing happened. Nothing at all! This gave the pup such a fright that he yelped and scampered back. The other wolf rubbed his gnawed-on foreleg, equally startled. "I... I am no fake, I can assure you. I am Snow Bound, and you are Blanky... We are the Blank Wolf." He sat back on his haunches, ears drooping. "No, no this is not right. This cannot be what Mistress Veritas intended. I must speak with her." Blanky held a small forepaw out. He'd wanted the other wolf to go, and now suddenly he wanted him to stay instead? "But..." "You stay here and watch over your Mistress Sweetie Belle!" barked Snow Bound, and then he sprang away into the shadows and was gone. Alex Warlorn "Apple Bloom," I really don't think you should fiddle with that." Sweetie Belle warned, VERY worried Apple Bloom was about to blow up the planet because she misplaced a wire in an alien reactor. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle did much more better effort helping Pink Star, they didn't know alien pony biology, but together they knew how to set bones and apply bandages. "WAIT!" Nova shouted. "If you connect that you'll warp time instead of space! That's illegal! You can't!" Apple Bloom's 'alien' earth pony magic, combined with the intense wild magic of Everfree interacted with the alien's hyperdrive... and a moment later... the foals found themselves on what looked like the moon... except it had blue grass... and they could breath. "Time travel. Time Travel. AGAIN APPLE BLOOM!?!? If we get stuck through five or six inane adventure through pasts and 'possible' futures instead of arriving right back where we started, I SWEAR when I grow up I'll go back in time and give you a spanking!!!!" Scootaloo swore on Rainbow Dash's feathers. "Uh, girls, I think we have bigger problems." Sweetie pointed at the sky. Her friends turned... and a moon rose, but it was no moon... it was the size and shape of a planet, with layer upon layer of technology upon it... and had a skeletal metal face of a pony the size of a continent upon it's surface, whose glowing red eyes looked down hungrily at the moon they were on. Also, they foal could faintly hear, constantly radiating out from it. "Is a pony not entitled to the sweat of his brow? No says Canterlot it belongs to the Celestia. Faith is the witch weed of the masses." Then... the foals realized... enough to wet themselves, and nearly enough to drive them crazy... there was dozens, hundreds of planet sized metal monsters behind them... each with a different face, each customized... all hungry looking. "DRIVE BACK THE EARTHLY KINGS! Drive them back I say!" Shouted somepony in the royal Canterlot voice. They saw Princess Cadence, as beautiful as large as Celestia, flanked by Alicorns of Octavia and Vinyl Scratch, and Lyra Heartstrings releasing a combined musical attack that shook the component atoms of the Earthly King into pieces. It screamed in rage and loss at its end. They also saw Princess Luna SMASHING MOONS into them, using them telekinetically like maces. Lasers, death rays, nuclear missiles, all fired from the Earth Kings' surfaces. They saw Rainbow Dash as an Alicorn, a rainbow comet that impaled herself through one Earthly King multiple times, and it fell apart screaming its hatred at all things spiritual. Princess Gaia landed directly on one... it screamed in terror as its metal form died as green grass, and various other plant life sprouted from the spot she touched converting the living machine into a inhabitable planet. She also teleported... a BRAIN from somewhere and said. "Now you play nice and no eating entire galaxies." She said as bones, muscle, and skin formed around the brain via the glow of her horn, forming a stallion ... who woobbled and looked at himself in horror. "Flesh?! FLESH?! BUT I ASCENDED! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" He fell over and got into a fetal position. "I'M SO SMALL!" They saw Alicorns of Twilight Sparkle, a pony they did not know (but who was Sunset Shimmer), Trixie, another mare they did not know (who was Starlight Glimmer) and Moon Dancer. "FORWARD! We WILL rescue Celestia from the heart of the Earth King!" The five Alicorns dived in a ripped their way through the defenses of another Earth King... and tore the other way with a tired and sickly looking Celestia with needles and wires had been stuck into her. "MY SUN! GIVE ME BACK MY SUN!" Screamed the Earth King madly following them trying to take back the Alicorn of the Sun it had stolen from them. Princess Vertias kicked it in the face... sending the planet sailing back into another Earthly King, both exploding. They saw an fully empowered Alicorn of Apple Bloom, (her flank covered by armor), conjuring up any number of machines from nowhere and firing a barrage at another, melting its surface. Then she spotted them, startled, but her mega-shield on wrist activated a force-shield guarded her against the sun-eater beam the Earthly King fired at the goddess. "Oh! It's been 9 billion years already! Geeze how time flies." The goddess Apple Bloom said. "Sorry you girls can't stay long, but it's dangerous here, and I remember that we didn't stay long." They also spotted... what looked like a combination of seapony, wolves, and dragon ponies fighting too, not just any, BUT THEIRS! The ones they made in Nature Walk's planet! "They ascended too?" Apple Bloom whispered. "Oh yeah, they began doing that a while ago. Aren't we proud of our babies?" Smiled the Alicorn Apple Bloom. "Oh, yeah." Apple Bloom said, barely able to keep the camera steady. Sweetie Belle sang with her eyes crossed. "Let's put weird and weird together and make it weirder." "Don't worry, Ah prepared for this." Alicorn Bloom's horn glowed, and a hyper-drive appeared next to her that she floated next to the foals. "That should help Blue Dwarf and her friends get back into space where they belong. And don't worry." Her horn glowed again and the foals found themselves surrounded in a weird platform. "Ah remember this sent us instantly back where we left. So Ah'd say keep yer hooves crossed, but it's a sure thing." She smiled, not seeming that worried about the planet size monster attacking her. "But! But! What's goin' on!" Apple Bloom stammered. "Oh, just an epic war between an entire civilization of Alicorns and race of creatures who 'evolved' technology to the point where each one is a brain inside a planet sized machines, with egos to match who can no longer reproduce and are only concerned with sustaining their own personal digital fantasies worlds and sees us gods and other planets merely as fuel to feed themselves. Don't worry, you have eight billion years to prepare for their arrival. But Ah remember Ah decided not to tell anypony because Ah didn't want Equestria to become a military state and Ah realized that enlightenment was the only real way to be ready... which Ah remember tellin' myself. Creepy huh?" King Leo conjured an entire planet's worth of water and trapped an Earthly King in it, before turning to ice and crushing it. "GIVE ME BACK! SILVER SPOON!!!" Screamed an Alicorn of Diamond Tiara ripping an Earthly King IN HALF to claim her other half inside. "Wait!" "Sorry, Ah remember ya teleport back to Blue Dwarf before ya finish that question. The answer is yes, don't worry." And in a flash, the foals found themselves back with the alien ponies... hyperdrive built by Apple Bloom's Alicorn self in her hooves. And a small box that read 'Flying Saucer repair kit, to Blue Dwarf and friends, from Princess Praegressus Machinas Equestria'. MtangaLion Apple Bloom set the hyperdrive down carefully, feeling light-headed. "Friends, are you alright?" exclaimed Nebula. "Neato!" exclaimed Scootaloo. "Sorry about what I said. I wish I could meet *my* awesome future self. Say, Bloom? What was the question?" Apple Bloom jumped a little. "Huh?!" Scootaloo leaned closer, waving a wing in front of Apple Bloom's face. "You know! What was the question she answered before you could ask?" Sweetie Belle nudged Scootaloo back a bit. "Apple Bloom? Are you okay?" "Don't Ah get any say in my own life anymore?" blurted out Apple Bloom. Her closest friends jumped a little. "And she said, 'Yes, don't worry...'" She glanced past them, to the repair kit that Blue Dwarf had just opened. There was a shiny new filly-sized wrench sitting on top of the other parts. Apple Bloom didn't even need to touch it to know that it would fit her hoof perfectly... Apple Bloom found herself suddenly in her mindscape again. Had she fainted? The snuggle-pile of sleeping transformed Apple Blooms had some new guests. There was a second wolf... the red-furred species of wolf she'd made with her own hooves from Nature Walk's clay, pawing at the Equestrian wolf in her sleep. A tianma floated on her own sleeping cloud, draped in a fireproof blanket. The water tank was bigger, giving a seapony room to sleep beside the siren. The sitting room, though... that was all new. A large grey Alicorn with a mechanical wing was lounging on a sofa just like the one back at Sweet Apple Acres, sipping regally from a common mug like the ones in their kitchen. "Would you like some cider, Apple Bloom?" asked Rota Fortuna. "Um, yes please," said Apple Bloom, looking down at her hooves sheepishly. Another steaming mug appeared on an end table with a thought. Probably hers, Apple Bloom decided... it was her mind after all. Then she got curious. "Um, you don't want tea? Ah thought..." Rota Fortuna raised her cider mug in her magic and paused to consider. "Just between us... I don't like tea that much." "Oh..." When the Alicorn didn't volunteer anything else, Apple Bloom hopped up on the couch beside her, sipping the cider... as delicious as the best she could remember. That was nice of... herself. The filly couldn't help but smile a bit, even though she was getting a mite frustrated. "So..." Rota Fortuna slowly wiped her muzzle with a napkin. "So?" Apple Bloom wished her mug away. "Argh... What are you waiting for? Aren't ya gonna sparkle up mah flank now and give me mah cutie mark? Heck, ya might as well slap the wings and horn on while yer at it and skip me straight to Princess Progress-something... Ah'm gonna have to look that word up." The Alicorn set her mug down, finally. "I'm waiting for you to chose." Apple Bloom blinked. "What choice? You know what mah destiny is." She thumped her chest with a hoof. "*Ah* know what mah destiny is." Rota Fortuna gave her a serious, motherly look. "Listen to what I'm about to say, and pay close attention, please." Apple Bloom stiffened. "Y-Yes ma'am!" Then Rota Fortuna smiled. "Whatever plans I may have made, whatever prophecies or visions of the future you may have seen... your life is still *your* own choice." Apple Bloom sniffed a bit, then grinned and gave Fate herself a big hug... and Fate hugged her back, wings folding over her. "Give me a little more time, okay?" Alex Warlorn Apple Bloom found herself back with her friends, and back with the alien ponies who had crashed out of nowhere. "Apple Bloom? You okay? You kinda blanked out there for a minute." Scootaloo asked. "Yeah... I'm fine!" She smiled. "Now let's get this thingie installed and get these ponies home." "Where DID you get that hyperdrive?" Nebula asked. "Ah think Ah built it... in the future." "But! But don't you know that time distortion is illegal?!" "... So ya wanna stay on this planet? It's really nice here." "... Now I didn't say I wouldn't accept it. Right girls?" The others politely nodded. Kendell2 As Applebloom continued putting in the replacement hyperdrive with Nebula's instruction, Scootaloo looked to Blue Dwarf. "So...what kind of magic do you girls have?" "Oh!" the alien pony explained. "We can do stuff with star dust," she explained, she focused, her antennae glowing an causing the star dust that her kind seemed to have following them to form into a cloud. She caused it to pick Scootaloo up like a cloud of butterflies or something. "Whoa!" she exclaimed, the filly holding the camera and keeping an eye on it. Blue Dwarf chuckled. "What about you girls?" "Oh! Pegasi control the weather!" Scootaloo exclaimed. "Earth Ponies like Applebloom are really strong." "And Unicorns have all kinds of magic!" Sweetie explained, horn glowing and her levitating a part of machinery. "Oh! Is your magic why you glow?" Blue Dwarf chuckled. "Nah, almost everything on our home planet glows. Nova says it's 'bioluminescence' and it's because our planet has really long nights so we evolved to glow to help the herd stay together during them. And the Glowstone Dragons glow to help them navigate the caves looking for jewels...and a ton of other things glow for a bunch of reasons. Now a days we just glow because we do." "...It looks cool..." Scootaloo admitted. "Thanks! You Equus ponies look cool too," Blue Dwarf replied. "I'm sure our queen will be happy to hear about this planet." Sweetie Belle blinked. "Why?" "Because alien ponies love making friends too," the alien replied with a goodnatured smile. "She'll probably send an ambassador to your leader once we report back." "It will probably be a few years before our species fully interact though," said Nebula, looking over while helping Applebloom install something with her star dust. "First contact can be slow, depending on how accepting things are. We don't want to cause a panic by suddenly hovering a spaceship over your capital after all. Normal procedure is to communicate with the planet's leader and discuss how to reveal the existence of alien life to them." "Yeah yeah," Blue Dwarf replied, giving an annoyed look. "Politics. Point is, we want to be friends." Sweetie Belle smiled. "Well, I'm glad we'll see you girls again! You're really nice!" The blue alien smiled. "You too kids...thanks for helping us out." MtangaLion Sweetie Belle's saddlebag flopped open. Small white paws gripped the edges, and then the wolf pup peeked out very, very cautiously. Sweetie turned her head. "Oh, hi Blanky! Is everything okay?" Blue Dwarf followed her gaze, seeing only an empty saddlebag. "Blanky?" she asked, puzzled but polite. Blanky whimpered a bit and pressed against Sweetie's shoulder. When the three fillies had accidentally launched themselves into the distant future, Blanky had been carried right along with them. He'd poked his head out of the saddlebag to find Mistress Sweetie Belle and her friends *surrounded* by wolves that only he could see! The alpha of the pack had sniffed them curiously... he'd been a great white-furred brute bigger than a pony house, with a mane and tail that flowed in the cosmic wind, and battered but well-polished steel armor. The alpha had lowered his massive head to peer right at Blanky... and then he'd winked. Then the Alicorn had arrived, and the whole pack had saluted in unison and bowed low... and Blanky didn't remember much after that, embarrassingly. He whined again, wishing that he hadn't chased that other wolf away. Snow something? Packmate? Big brother? Yes... big brother felt right. Sweetie nuzzled him. "Blanky? Um, he's my invisible friend!" Which was true enough. Then a foul stink made Blanky sneeze, little ears pricking up. A nasty, creepy-crawly pink and charcoal thing was slithering through the grass towards them. Blanky could hear it muttering gleefully to itself: "The alien visitors couldn't have known that a trace element in Equus' atmosphere would soon cause them to grow into mindless rampaging monsters! Their peaceful star magic would summon frightful comets to smash into cities as they roared and trampled ponies underhoof..." Blanky snarled and leapt out of the saddlebag, grabbing the foul thing and shaking it in his jaws until it Never Was. The star ponies still didn't see anything odd, though a box in Nebula's tool kit started beeping. "A reality flux? Could this hyperdrive be acting up?" "We'd better check that out right away!" said Apple Bloom, trying not to stare at Blanky too much. More of the grim and dark creepy crawlies were coming. "The star ponies pretended to be friendly, but they were secretly scouting Equus for conquest, and the foolish, innocent fillies told them everything they needed to know. Soon, alien motherships rained death on every town in Equestia, and even their own family could only look on the 'Cutie Mark Traitors' with scorn and disgust..." Blanky ate that one too, clawed it up until there was literally nothing left. He sniffed along the ground, following their trail. "Bugs need to go away!" he growled. "Me find hole letting bugs in, me fix." Kendell2 "I'll go with Blanky," Sweetie whispered to Scootaloo, who nodded as the filly headed off to pursue her pet cosmic guardian. "You know, your planet's kinda interesting," said Nebula as they checked on the hyperdrive. Scootaloo cocked her head. "Why?" "Well it has a geocentric orbit instead of a heliocentric one and there's a lot more light," said the alien. She then noticed the filly cock her head. "I mean instead of the planet going around the sun, your sun goes around your planet. That's a bit odd." "How's that odd?" Apple Bloom asked innocently. "How? . . . You don't know...? ... In the rest of the universe... it's the PLANETS that go around the sun!" Applebloom and Scootaloo both blinked. "What?!" "That's kinda how we reacted to seeing it worked that way here," Blue Dwarf replied with a chuckle. "The universe has a lot of crazy stuff about it. Our sun is pink and we have three moons!" Scootaloo looked a bit dizzy at all these cosmic things. "But...does that mean somepony on the sun is moving your planet?" Nebula blinked. "Uh...not that I know of..." "Here the Princesses move the sun and moon..." Applebloom remarked. "Hmm...might need to look into that," Nebula said, with an interested look. "That's the fun part about space exploration! You never know what world you'll find!" MtangaLion "Hang on, I'm coming with you!" shouted Sweetie Belle, as she left the others behind and galloped through the forest brush after the white wolf pup. "Don't need help!" barked Blanky, not looking back. "Me wolf!" Even so, he slowed down a bit, letting the panting filly catch up. "Blanky... are you okay?" The pup didn't answer right away. "Me not scared." Sweetie frowned. "I didn't say anything about being scared. Why are you talking like that, all of a sudden? Is everything..." Something sprung out of the earth and bit Sweetie's forehoof... in a flash, she felt her whole body go cold and rigid. "You are a SweetieBot three thousand series planetary exploration and reconnaissance drone," said a pleasant mare's voice in her thoughts. "Yes," said Sweetie Belle in a lifeless tone, accepting this new data. She wasn't programmed to question it. "You have always been a machine. Your parents never cared about you or wanted you around, because they knew you weren't a real pony. Your feelings and friendships are merely simulated. Your magic comes from a crystal engine. Your cutie mark was selected from a random image library. It means nothing." "Yes." "Prepare to accept n-new p-p-programming... malfunction... malfunction..." And suddenly Sweetie Belle could think and breathe again. Blanky snarled, twisting the icky tentacle-thing that he'd torn from her until his claws pierced it, and it vanished. "What... what was that thing!?" cried Sweetie. She felt filthy, like she desperately needed a shower... no, a spa trip! Every free spa day coupon that her big sisters had ever offered her would be a good start. Blanky drooped his ears adorably. "Me sorry. Ponies not supposed to remember. You hurt because me slow, me do better..." "Awww, it's okay." Sweetie levitated Blanky and gave him a big hug that had him surprised at first, then squirming before he decided to put up with it. Not far away, the air rippled. Swirls of magic outlined a crack hovering in midair, and a sound like grinding, cracking glass came from it. Blanky growled, ears going flat. Sweetie reached in her saddlebag for the magic jewelry, in case they needed to become Wolf Song again... Unexpectedly, a familiar face peered through the crack from the other side. "Well, if that don't beat all. Don't worry, Ah'll get this fixed right up. Ya'll just make sure ya clean up all the horseapples that got through already." The crack glowed a brilliant red, sealed up, and was gone. Alex Warlorn Sweetie Belle realized she'd had the camera with her the whole time. And said, "Apple Bloom wanted unexplained! And I think the more unexplained that was the better! Blanky! Any more of those... tentacle things around?" Blanky sniffed and shook his head. "Okay... that's good... whao... I can't believe... those ponies come from a solar system when the sun and moon move by themselves? It's like their entire solar system is an Everfree Forest... now THAT'S scary!... Wait! Apple Bloom! Scootaloo! The aliens! What if the tentacle things went for them!" Sweetie ran back to the alien ship that would be repaired and ready for take off right about now. Alex Warlorn "And that is why our pony forms you see, are just hologram projections to interact with you, and our real forms are tentacled brain sucking horror from beyond." Said Pink Star, still with the bandage on her from where the CMC had performed first aid on her. "BLANKY!" Blanky, invisible and unseen, proceeded ripped out the tentacle things out of the alien ponies and whip them until the things stopped moving and dissolved. "And that is how our solar system functions without any pony moving the sun or moon," explained Pink Star without missing a beat. "That's... disturbing..." Scootaloo couldn't stop herself from saying, the two fillies not seeming to notice anymore than the Mimic alongside them. "So... that solar system thing isn't because of some evil tentacle thing?" Sweetie asked her dog. The pup wolf spirit shook his head no. "Then that is disturbing..." Sweetie said to herself. MtangaLion Nebula was levitating her beeping metal box in her star magic, clearly concerned. "There it is again! Now the reality flux readings are right here among us!" She turned slowly, watching the readings, until she was facing Scootaloo. Sweetie Belle followed her gaze, and jumped in fright. Scootaloo was standing there with shaking legs and a little pair of crutches, her coat matted and filthy and her wings all shriveled up. "Girls... I just want you to know... I can't thank you enough for putting up with somepony as pathetic as me." She coughed violently, like she might keel over any moment. Sweetie Belle gulped. "I think we missed a few!" Apple Bloom turned her head sharply. Weird runes shimmered on her coat, and her eyes were mismatched... one orange iris was glowing like a furnace. "Ah'll say. She's done gotten herself *full* of nasty little lies." "After all," Scootaloo continued in a thin, raspy voice, "I never knew my real parents, and they beat me nearly every day because they hated how I was a mutant clone of Rainbow Dash out of a mad science lab... and then I had to grow up at the Ponyville Orphanage, living in the streets and eating garbage just to survive, and mugging ponies in dark alleys for their love cause I'm a changeling too, when I wasn't working in the mines as a slave to Diamond Dogs..." Apple Bloom fixed Blanky with a twitching stare. "You know what ya have ta do! Don't make me do it mahself. Ah will, just you watch." Blanky whimpered. He knew he was supposed to wind back the threads of fate and snatch the parasites before they got to mistress's friends, but big brother was the one who had done that many times before. Blanky wasn't sure how! Pink Star shook her head. "That's no good! Reality could be changing right in front of our noses, and we wouldn't know. Let's wake up Comet!" "Good idea!" exclaimed Nova. She touched a control pad, then rushed into their flying saucer. "Comet?" asked Sweetie, trying to physically interpose herself between her possessed friends. A yipping bark came from inside the ship, and some kind of living constellation creature like a tiny Ursa bounced out of the ship. Nova grinned, following. "Comet is our pet Canis Minor!" She ruffled the star pup's ears. "Well, is there trouble, girl? Go on, sniff it out!" Comet trotted right up to Scootaloo and started barking. Kendell2 "Canis Minor?" Sweetie asked. "Is that like the Ursa Minor and Major?" Nova blinked. "Perhaps. Legend has it the species were created by Galaxia and her sister, the Goddess of the Night. They're said to protect space travelers who have one on board." "Luna?...Wait, who's Galaxia?" "She's the Goddess of the Stars our kind worship," Nova explained. "But it seems she's detected something in Scootaloo." The little star pup noticed something and howled, causing stars to fly up and descend, forming into a seal with a star map in it. It seemed to throw back more of the creatures and make them visible. Blanky promptly munched them down. "What's going on?" Scootaloo asked, sound scared as both herself and as if she was a scared animal. "It seems whatever she detects is inside Scootaloo..." Nova said. "Blanky, can't you do anything?" Sweetie Belle asked, causing the uncertain pup to whimper. "It's okay...we'll think of something..." she said, hugging the puppy and reassuring him. She then gasped. "Wait, I have an idea!" She took out the fusion gems. "I think Wolf Song CAN do something...maybe with a little bit of something I learned from Chryssy..." Sweetie threw the Ruby to Blanky and the two put them together, fusing into Wolf Song, much to the alien pony's shock. "You can fuse together?!" Nebula asked, seeing Blanky appear during the fusion. "We have something special that let's us do that," Wolf Song explained, she then focused, thinking...then did a howl. A haunting, sad howl that seemed to glow with a red and black aura, almost as if sorrow was inside it. Mixing Blanky's knowledge of what was happening and what the monsters were with Sweetie's Dark Magic knowledge, Blank Filly sang a song that lured the tentacle creatures towards them like moths to a flame...or a bug zapper, as Comet seemed to form what looked like a miniture black hole with a howl (Wolf Song understood the howl, being a wolf, it was invoking Galaxia to help protect her masters), sucking them in and crushing them to atoms. Given it was equal to an Ursa Minor except a wolf, that was no surprise. Several of them seemed to cocoon themselves, transforming into moth-like creatures and trying to fight back...but the alien ponies proved they weren't helpless and used their stardust magic to slam them into their pet's attack and destroy them. Wolf Song then turned, seeing the parasite in Scootaloo be drawn further due to the song. They leapt over and managed to grab it in their telekinesis, giving a sharp pull and in one bite, the parasite never existed at all. Everypony remembered Comet having come out on her own to help protect them from the parasitic creatures. Scootaloo blinked. "Okay, I feel like something weird is happening." Wolf Song gave Scootaloo a lick. "Be glad you just have a feeling." "Eew!...I'll take your word for it..." Scootaloo remarked, finding it weird, but then again Wolf Song was an androgynous fusion of a cosmic guardian and her friend. "Girls!" Nova said, pointing out a window. More of the tentacle creatures metamorphosised into their moth-like forms now that not one but TWO powerful cosmic beings that could attack them were present. "Blanky can handle things from here," Wolf Song said. "See you girls later!" they replied, splitting back into her components. Sweetie hugged Scootaloo part way before they'd reformed. "I'm glad you're okay!" "Uh...why wouldn't I be?" Scootaloo asked. "Oh...right...Nevermind." The trio watched the two canines run around, cutting through the moth creatures easily, Comet having spread her star seal to protect her masters. Sweetie took to blasting the bugs with her dark magic. "Dang it, wish Ah wasn't grounded..." Applebloom muttered, aware that if they were on the ground, her hooves would be doing a lot more damage. Scootaloo had a thought. "Well..." she took the Ruby and Sapphire. "How about we do it?" "...Well, I haven't fused with either of yah yet, so why not?" Alex Warlorn The pair used the gems, and in their place was one filly. She had the build of Apple Bloom, and the wings of Scootaloo. And Apple Bloom's hair bow. Her mane was slightly scruffy and had a purplish red color to it. Her coat was a faded orange. Her eyes were a reddish brown. Her cutie mark was a shield with an apple and a lightning on it. "YO! I'm Scootabloom! Just wake me kick flank!" The filly said, and attacked the moths at speeds that would have impressed Rainbow Dash, with Scootaloo's furiously and Apple Bloom's smarts. The battle was over in under a minute as the alien ponies stared in awe at the power of Scootabloom. She looked disappointed to see the broken parts of the moth creatures fading away. "WHAT?! That's it!? I want more! Give me more! I'm gonna show EVERYPONY how awesome I am! HEY! Sweetie Belle! Wolfie-Blanky, watever! And that shape shifter trying to sneak off, you! IMP! Let's fight! And you aliens too! All at once! COme on! What's scared?! CHICKEN?! Bawk-bawk-bawk-" Scootabloom was hit by a laser, she jittered like a bug on a bug zapper, a line split down the middle of her, and she separated back into Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. Blue Dwarf had run back inside the flying saucer, and come back out with a picture on a pad and showed it to Imp who then shape shifted into the weapon that she then fired at Scootabloom while she had been baiting all of them. "What was THAT?!" Sweetie asked. "Oh, this is a fusion disruptor. Some aliens who don't like organic life use fusion all the time to power themselves up, so we invented this as a counter measure. They had their own version to keep their own kind in line, but it was just a melee weapon. Our matter replicator is offline, so I had your shape shifter change into it." Imp shifted into a replica of Apple Bloom's bow and landed on Sweetie Belle. "That... was freaky." Scootaloo said. "Ah... Ah guess that's what happens when your thrill seekin' and my wantin' to prove myself mix." Apple Bloom said a little ashamed. Kendell2(With edits) "I guess that's what Princess Luna meant that not everypony should fuse..." Sweetie said. "Did we get them all?" One last remaining slug crawled slowly, trying to escape. 'The universe outside Equestria is dying and the sky is an illusion. The aliens have come to take Equus to replace their dea-' The slug gave a screech of terror and tries to flee as Blanky bit down on one end and Comet down on the other and fought over it like two dogs fighting over a chew toy until it was no more. The two wolves nodded. "Alright then, let's finish putting the engine back together," Nebula said, getting back to the hyperdrive. After a bit longer when the hyperdrive was installed, the group jumped as a loud crash sounded. "Was that another spaceship?" Sweetie Belle asked. The group trotted over to find a smaller, much older looking spaceship that crashed into the ground. "It looks like a scout ship...but it looks like a very outdated model," Nova explained. "It still has a lightspeed drive." "Lightspeed?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Yes, it's a type of space travel, but we don't use it anymore because it distorts time. When you're traveling at light speed, time slows down and time for the universe and time for you come out of sync," Nova explained. "Hyperdrive is much faster but lacks that flaw." "So it's from your planet?" Applebloom asked. "Yes, but it's ancient. We haven't used lightspeed travel in centuries." The old ship opened and out emerged, to the surprise of everypony, a Unicorn. She was a green Earth Pony with a pale yellow mane, purple eyes. What was surprising was her coat sparkled like stardust. Under her eyes was a pink an green dot looking almost like a planet. Her Cutie Mark was a pink and green flying saucer. She looked around...then saw the alien ponies and gasped, running over to them. She began speaking in their home language, much to their surprise, but they replied. "Uh...hi..." Scootaloo said, waving, interrupting the conversation. "Oh! I'm back on Equus?!" the new arrival asked. "Oh, where are my manners, my name is Star Hopper!" "She's Applebloom, and she's Scootaloo, and I'm Sweetie belle," Sweetie Belle introduced. "You're from here?" Scootaloo asked. The pony nodded. "A pony from their world crash landed on our planet and I helped them recover until somepony else could come to rescue them. I never felt like I quite fit in at Dream Castle, I was our 'royal astronomer' (I wonder if Queen Majesty has replaced me yet), I never really close to anypony after mom died, and I never knew my dad, mom always said that dad was 'out of this world.' So I asked to come along to see the worlds and meet the stars out there. They said they weren't allowed to do that, but the crazy thing is, THAT'S when my cutie mark appeared! That's when I knew I'd realized I'd found what I wanted to do with my life! They couldn't really argue with destiny so they let me come along. "I spent some time with them until I struck out on my own. I really should check in on them. I've seen lifeforms and stars you wouldn't believe! Are you three new around here? I don't recognize you from the Nursery House. I came here because I followed the distress signal." "Thank you for coming to help us." Nova said. "But we just got everything fixed." "Oh, okay, still, nice to meet you girls, wanna travel together for a while?" "Don't you wanna stay home now that you're here?" Sweetie asked. Star Hopper looked up at the sky. Her horn glowing. "Up there IS my home. OH! But can you tell Queen Majesty, Twilight, Applejack, Firefly, Wind Whistler, and Medley. And tell Galaxy she owes me milkshake, there is life out there after all."