The landing motors mounted into the Yamato’s belly opened with a snarl. The brilliant blue cones gently lowered the heavy, ship to a graceful landing on the blackened soil.
Black ash whipped around the two tone colored hull. The jets slowly cooled, then shut off completely, leaving the Yamato to rest quietly on the alien surface.
“Landing sequence, complete. Position locked,” one of the bridge crew chirped.
“So this is the Dark Star, eh?” Dash said, looking out the window from her central position in the bridge.
The landscape was black and gray, as if all the color had been sucked out. The sky was very much the same, with angry black ash clouds circling in the planets jet stream. Lightning flashed and muted thunder sounded. The occasional boulder stuck up obnoxiously out of the ground.
“Doesn’t look like much,” she added.
“Constant volcanic activity I’d say,” the Doctor chimed enthusiastically as he entered the bridge.
“I have to agree with the Doctor there,” Twilight began. “Look over there, right in the distance.” she pointed with a hoof.
Most ponies, Rainbow included, squinted their eyes, looking far into the dim sky. Sure enough, out there far on the horizon was a rise with an orange glow illuminating the dim sky around it.
“A volcano? Twi how did you see that? I can barley make that out!” Dash pointed out.
It was definitely worth noting that pegasi had far better eyesight than most other ponies. Dash knew her vision was perfect (As was everything else on her body as far as she was concerned.) so there was no way she was going blind.
“I can see it just fine,” a unicorn spoke up from the rear.
“Yeah, same here,” another added, also a unicorn.
“Hmm,” the Doctor mused, as the unicorns and non unicorns began to debate about their eyesight.
Waving Celestia over, with a few flicks of his hoof, the captain lowered herself from her chair to speak with him.
“Notice how all the unicorns can see the Volcano?” he asked.
“Yes. Do you have a theory as to why?”
“More like a hunch, but I’d wager it has something to do with those leylines you spoke of.”
“How so?” Celestia questioned.
“I can’t be sure yet, but I’d like to send out a probe, get some data.”
Celestia looked back up, out towards the horizon. Of course she could easily make out the spewing mountain, any alicorn could. But there was no way anypony apart from a few pegasi could see that far, especially in the fog and falling ash.
“All right. Prepare for terrain documentation.”
Ponies were abuzz with activity in the lower reaches of the ship’s belly. A single torpedo-like probe was being loaded into a small airlock on the underside of the craft. Unlike most else on the ship, the probe was actually pony designed.
The original ship lacked any probes. Whether or not it had used them all, or run out, or even had them to begin with, meant the ponies had to design their own. Which is why they were deploying it from an airlock rather than the ships massive torpedo tubes.
This being the case, they were extremely basic, despite being state of the art. The launch body was more or less just a metal tube. When the tube was released, the top would unscrew magically and the actual probe would emerge.
The probe was an even greater oddity. Directly linked to a unicorn waiting back on the ship, the small floating camera could be easily maneuvered remotely. The stronger the unicorn, the longer the range.
The outside airlocks opened, and the probe body dropped into the dirt unceremoniously in a cloud of dust. The top end of the cylinder unwound, and the small glowing ball floating out.
“Parasprite one away,” the unicorn controlling the ball stated.
The shining beacon in the otherwise foreboding landscape quickly began to float away from the Yamato. Its limited flight capabilities allowed it to lazily hover at speed over the blackened earth away from the comforting safety of the mighty ship.
Once the probe had gone out of range of the ships cameras, (Half of which had been obscured by a film of ash) full control was transferred to the unicorn controller.
In this state, she was completely invested in the image, unable to move, speak or even blink. The probe relayed messages straight into the unicorn who at the same moment had a neural transcript running.
A neural transcript was a basic spell, that converts any thoughts the caster had to a nearby paper. With both spells running, an average unicorn could keep the probe running for just under half an hour.
Once the clock had reached that mark however, Parasprite one was still moving.
“Are you sure she’s okay?” Twilight whispered to the Doctor as they watched on.
The Doctor eyed the mare critically. “I’m not sure, I’ve never seen anypony last this long in any of the tests. This mare alone managed a maximum time of twenty-six minutes,” he recalled.
Twilight approached the caster carefully. Of course the mare made no attempt to move. Quickly moving around her, Twilight found the transcript.
“Atmosphere contains high concentrations of hazardous materials. Surface temperature one-hundred and twenty six degrees celcius. Wind Speeds exceeding one hundred and thirty kilometers per hour,” she recited grimly.
“I hear it’s lovely in spring!” the Doctor joked.
Twilight eyes widened when a new influx of data sketched itself onto the parchment.
“Magical energies averaging, nine hundred Swirls per hectare!” she screeched.
“What?” the Doctor questioned, making his way over to her.
“Look!” she cried, hoofing the paper into the Doctors chest.
“Huh, well isn’t that remarkable,” he smiled as he read over the data.
“Remarkable! Doctor, Equus has a mean of one-hundred and eighty Swirls! Three hundred tops in places like the Everfree! This amount of magic could overcharge a unicorn to alicorn levels!”
“Or kill them,” the stallion added bluntly.
“How is this possible! There must be a malfunction in the probe-”
“Remember what Celestia said about Starswirl’s theory on the Dark Star?”
“Huh?”
“Well he theorized that the Darkstar was the source of Equus magical power. That it sat on a Universal Leyline and regulated the energy back into Equestria. Like a dam.”
“So what you’re saying is; Not only do the Leylines exist, but that the Dark Star is actually keeping Equus safe?”
“Precisely! It would explain your heightened eyesight, and why she”- He said pointed to the mare -”Is still going. We’re parked right on top of a giant magic sponge,” The Doctor smiled.
“The probe is linked directly back to her, and it’s out there soaking up all that magic. Theoretically, she could keep going till she starves.”
Twilight's eyes widened. This mare was in extreme danger. Not only did she risk frying her own horn, but if the probe encountered a high concentration of magical energy, the backlash could kill her.
“We have to stop her!” Twilight cried, racing over to the mare.
“I wouldn’t do that!” the Doctor called after her. Forcibly removing a unicorn from a cast where they weren’t in control could do untold mental damage.
Twilight wouldn’t listen however, and frantically began to stop the cast. Knowing there was no way to force the mare to stop, she did the only thing she could think of.
Using a fairly advanced spell, Twilight latched onto the mare’s spell, and forced her own magic into the probe. With two consciousness fighting over the fragile probe, the floating ball easily overloaded.
With a pop, Parasprite one dropped the the surface of the planet. Both mares recoiled out of the spell, with one faring much better than the other.
In the short time Twilight had been inside the probe she felt her head swim, painfully from the influx. The other mare however had been in there for nearly forty minutes.
She collapsed to the floor, breathing heavily and sweating profusely. She was unconscious, that much was clear. Exhaustion had set in and her horn showed clear signs of beginning to burn out.
“Get her to the infirmary!”
Two ponies quickly invaded the room, hoisting the mare up and taking her to be treated. Once Twilight was sure that the mare was in good hooves, she turned her attention back to the scrying paper.
With two unicorns fueling the spell, the transcript spell had become supercharged. Instead of writing down statistics it had achieved enough power to take a ‘snapshot’ of the landscape.
The picture clearly showed buildings.
“So explain to me again...” Applejack started to ask as she struggled into the heavily modified EVA suit, “...just why we’re going down there and why we needed these here suits to be modified?” She glanced up at Twilight who was also getting into a modified suit, “With less science-talk please.”
Twilight smiled, “I’ll try, Applejack. The simplest explanation is that the suits have been modified to act as buffers against the magical saturation. While that high level of magic could give somepony a boost, it’s more likely to cause a pony to explode, especially unicorns since we have a direct link with our horns.”
Applejack nodded, “See how easy that was, sugarcube? So why us? Why not send R.D out? She looked rarin’ to go flying out there last I checked.” She managed to shrug on the shoulders and bite the bit that would cause the suit’s own internal magic to seal it up.
What she said about Rainbow Dash had been true; the pegasus was excited to see if the massive levels of background magic would allow her to manipulate the massive electrical storms created by the ash in the air, or go even faster in a Sonic Rainboom.
It was also for those reasons that Celestia quite firmly denied her repeated requests and now the mare was probably sulking in her quarters.
Applejack shifted in the suit, “Tarnation! Did they really need to make this so bulky? Ah feel like I can barely move in this thing!” She fidgeted in order to shift the weight of the modified suit around so she could maneuver about more easily.
Like Twilight, the already bulky suit had been considerably beefed up.The entire body had been enlarged in order to make room for more advanced life support systems, as well as the several dozen servos in the joints to help the wearer move easier. The visor had also been narrowed in order to make room for the thicker pipes that fed the respirator.
It was still a far cry from the power armour in popular sci-fi comics, but it didn’t make it any less awesome.
Even with two small mares as the pilots, they still managed to pull off the ‘Big Mac’ look quite well. Another reason Rainbow wanted to go. The pegasus would have been elated to wear a suit that screamed awesome as much as this one did.
“I know it’s a little difficult to move in, but with the environment outside the science teams have reported that we would have needed to modify them simply to deal with all the corrosives in the air.” Twilight said as she picked up her helmet, “Ready to go?”
Applejack picked up her own helmet and clipped it to her side with a smile, “Ready, sugarcube. Dash may have been the first Element to step on the moon, so it’s high time we got an achievement under our belts as well.”
“Then let’s get out there.” Twilight said with a nod as they left the locker room, passing crew ponies who all stopped to wish them luck, shake their hooves, and generally send them off with a smile.
As they approached the elevator, they saw their friends and Princess Celestia standing in front of it. Rainbow was the first to approach and speak, “Good luck out there, you two.”
“Aw shucks, thanks R.D.” Applejack replied, “Don’t worry, we’ll try to do this in a way that’s twenty percent cooler than anypony else could do it.”
Rainbow’s smile completely faded. “Not cool.”
Before things had a chance to escalate further between the brash pegasus and the armoured apple farmer, Celestia quickly approached Twilight, “Good luck Twilight. Don’t take any unnecessary risks out there, head straight back here if things get too dangerous.”
Twilight nodded, “I’ll be careful, Admiral.”
With that said and after the goodbyes from the others, the pair entered the elevator, and as the door closed and they began their descent to the third bridge and the surface, Applejack blushed, “Ah didn’t think she was still that torn up about not being able to go.”
Twilight shook her head, “She’ll be fine. Besides, there’s plenty for her to do here, and the work on the ship’s fighters is nearly complete as well.”
Applejack turned her head to look at Twilight, “Yeah? Ah heard that they already did all of them.”
Twilight shook her head with a smile, “They found two larger fighters that have their own hangar space and apparently a separate launch system as well. One of the ponies I spoke with who works down in the hangar section thinks that one of them is reserved for the Tactical Officer and one for perhaps an elite pilot.”
She indicated her suit, “But no, the work isn’t done yet. Like these suits, all of them have to be modified for ponies to use. None of the buttons, levers and the control sticks are made for us to use, so a new cockpit has to be designed and the fighters refitted with the new systems.”
Applejack nodded, “Makes sense. Ah assume that’ll be done back home?”
The elevator chimed as it reached the bottom of the shaft as Twilight nodded, “There’s talk of a crash-advancement of technology in order to get it done. Kind of like making the forge to make the hammer to make the plough sort of sequence, we need to massively increase our industry just to support the Yamato.”
The doors opened as Applejack hummed thoughtfully, the pair exiting to approach the airlock that separated the landing ramp from the rest of the ships, “Makes sense. Ah just hope we do this right then, a lot of folks is watching us real careful after all.”
Twilight nodded, “I know. The Yamato is a powerful vessel even without a means to support it, and that can make others nervous.” She grabbed her helmet, “Okay Applejack, helmets on.”
As one they slipped the helmets on over their heads, Applejack already having left her hat behind at the locker room, and locked them into place with a series of loud clicks. At that moment electrical connections were finished and the suits began to feel lighter as servos came online with loud hums and whines, joint locks secured them into place with clicks that were both audible and felt even through the thick suits, vacuum seals engaging with a hiss as the hum of the ship became more muffled.
Applejack checked the watch and gauges on her left forehoof like she was trained, and pressed the red button to synchronise the internal systems, watching the dials shift and the timer set itself to two hours and thirty minutes.
“Applejack, radio check please.”
The farmpony nodded, “Applejack, loud and clear Twilight. You read me all right?”
Twilight’s head moved in an exaggerated nod, “Read you loud and clear.” She turned her head away slightly and Applejack watched her check her timer.
“We only have two and a half hours of air available. We have to reach the ruins and get a clear picture of where we can safely enter them in at least one hour so we have enough time to get back safely.” She stepped forward, “Twilight to Yamato, excursion party is ready to depart, open airlock.”
“Roger excursion party, opening inner door now.” With a hiss the thick bulkheads that separated the airlock chamber slid apart and the pair moved with considerably more ease into the chamber, and Applejack was now a bit more thankful for the pony who had added the servo-gears onto the suit.
“Excursion party is in the airlock chamber.” Twilight reported.
“Roger that. Sealing inner door. Captain sends you her blessings.” With that said, the doors sealed behind them and Applejack heard the muffled clunk of heavy locks being shifted as the the crew of the lower bridge went to work, “Excursion party, we are opening the outer doors and lowering the boarding ramp. Standby.”
With a loud thud the locks on the outer doors were released and the doors hissed open to reveal the boarding ramp and the blackened wasteland beyond.
The first thing Applejack noticed was that it was loud. Even with the suits muffling all sound, she could hear the screaming of what had to be tornado or hurricane-force winds out there as ash was blown into the airlock chamber, and from their position she could see the crack of lightning in great sheets before thunder rumbled through her bones.
Ignoring that, the pair quickly pressed the button that would engage their internal oxygen tanks and the timer began to tick. As they trotted down the ramp, Twilight could feel the force of the wind, and she looked up at an ominous-sounding groan.
The ship was being shifted in place, rocked by the wind buffeting it, and each time it shifted a loud groan sounded through the air that was felt more than heard. Twilight was about to say something to Celestia when she heard Applejack’s cry, “Woah nelly!”
She whipped her head around to see Applejack on the ground and the farmpony had sunk slightly into the soil, or rather the thick layer of volcanic ash that acted as soil, from the weight of her suit, “Applejack, are you okay?”
Applejack waved a hoof, “Ah’m fine Twilight, just got a surprise is all. You oughta be careful, this stuff is more like snow than dirt, and that could mean drifts we could sink into.”
Twilight nodded, “Understood. We’ll take turns making a path through the ash.”
With the possibility of stepping into a sinkhole in mind, the two ponies set off, and though the suits were clearly working, the pair didn’t miss that they were not getting as tired as they would have back on Equus, something that Twilight was privately thankful for.
While she was no physical slouch for a librarian, she knew that if she had to break a path through something like this back at Ponyville she’d have collapsed from exhaustion long before Applejack. In fact, the farmpony was clearly taking the advantage the massive amounts of background magic was offering, and likely hadn’t broken a sweat yet.
“At least all this magic in the air is good for something, Twilight, we’re making good time.” Applejack commented over the radio.
Twilight checked her timer and blinked in surprise, they had managed to nearly reach the halfway point in only twenty-five minutes, “Wow, we really are. We should be able to take a bit more time, no more than an additional ten minutes I believe, to survey the perimeter of the ruins for safe entry points.”
“If you say so Twilight. Look, we’re coming up to the hill marked as the halfway point.” Twilight looked up and saw the geographical location in question straight ahead.
“Okay Applejack, remember to stick to the plan. Survey from the hill, and if it looks safe to approach, head to the perimeter marked by the wall to begin finding safe entry points. Do not go past the wall, understood?”
Applejack laughed, “Loud and clear, sugarcube. Don’t you worry none, I’ll stick close. Place like this is probably a lot more dangerous than a ruin in a Daring Do novel.”
They began cresting the hill and upon reaching the top, paused to regard the ruins.
The buildings were nothing like either of them had ever seen; sharp angles mated to gentle curves, covered in ash and pitted by the corrosive atmosphere, but...
“Dang. This place looks more like it’s been here a few decades, not...however long its been here actually.” Applejack commented.
“It only goes to show how much more advanced the builders were.” Twilight replied, “But did you notice something about the architecture? How the buildings are placed?”
“Not to my eye.” Applejack looked over the ruins again, “Something you noticed?”
Twilight nodded, “I think these ruins are from a military base. The layout is too ordered, too structured to be some form of town or city, at least as far as I can guess. But it makes sense to me, I’ve seen a few forts whenever we visited Shining on deployment, before I became Captain Celestia’s personal student. This place just screams that it’s a military base of some kind.”
Applejack managed to pull off a shrug in the suit, “If you say so Twi. Think this place is safe enough to approach?”
“Yes, I believe so. I’ll take the lead this time.” With that Twilight began carefully trotting down the hill with Applejack following in her wake as the pair approached the high wall surrounding the ruins, ash forming a single unbroken dune as it was blown against it.
Applejack whistled lowly as she gave the wall another look. Whoever these beings were, they built big, and likely had weapons that made Pony weapons look like toys.
Like those giant cannons lining the top, especially that one turning to point...right...at...
“Twilight!” Applejack’s scream saved the mare’s life as she paused and turn just in time for Applejack to tackle her behind a large formation of rocks, seconds before a crackling purple bolt of energy struck the ground where she had been standing, creating an explosion that sent a cloud of ash into the air.
The pair hit the ash and rolled apart, Twilight shooting to her feet as she stared at the smoke and ash being blown away by the screaming winds, “Wha...?” She blinked, “Applejack!”
She turned to see Applejack rising to her feet, “Ah’m okay, sugarcube. Just glad I got to you in time!”
“What happened? What caused that explosion?” Twilight asked, panting slightly from the adrenaline, before screaming as another bolt of energy lanced down near the rock formation, “What is that?”
“It’s one of them big cannons on the wall!” Applejack shouted over the crackling bellow of the giant guns, “It turned towards you as you were heading to the wall! Ah think it’s some kind of defense!”
“How?” Twilight screamed, “This place is in ruins! It’s impossible for anypony to be alive here!” She flinched as another bolt struck one of the larger rocks at the front of the formation, pelting them with falling stones.
“Ah don’t know!” Applejack shouted back over the noise, “Might be some fancy computer like back on the Yamato. We can talk about this later! We need to get out of here!” She pointed to several other rock formations behind theirs, “We’ll use the rocks for cover, put as much distance between us and that gun as possible!”
“Okay!” Twilight replied with a shout, then looked up and gasped, “Applejack! We need to go! Now!”
Applejack didn’t question or argue, she just ran with Twilight, and above them another cannon turned and fired, before another turned and fired as well. They didn’t stop, just weaved between the rocks as gun after gun turned and fired in a barrage of crackling purple energy.
Finally, as they rounded the ash hill and found their trail, already being covered up by ash on the wind, they were both panting heavily as Applejack collapsed onto the ground, “Whoo! Ah don’t know about you Twilight, but Ah’d call that dangerous in anypony’s books.” She looked up and back at the wall, “Ah think we’re safe here.”
Twilight was about to reply when the air was filled with explosions and the large hill shuddered violently as crackling bolts rained around the hill and on the hill, shaking the ground violently, and she started screaming.
“Tartarus dang it!” Applejack shouted as she checked her timer and quickly galloped over to the cowering Twilight to check her timer. They only had an hour and twelve minutes left. She began twisting the radio frequency dial on her suit, “Applejack to Yamato! Come in Yamato!”
On the bridge, Celestia had decided to take a nap, and others had left to find something to do while waiting for Twilight and Applejack to returned. Rainbow Dash was sitting at her console, busy figuring out if what she had seen during the Warp test was real or some kind of boredom-induced hallucination, when the communications console crackled, “Applejack to Yamato! Come in Yamato!”
Rainbow immediately flapped over to the console and began manipulating it like she had been trained for emergencies, “This is Rainbow Dash! Applejack, what’s going on out there?”
“Oh thank Celestia and Luna! Rainbow, listen! The ruins are some kinda military base and the defences are still working! We’re stuck behind a hill with at least...” There was an audible explosion and Rainbow heard Applejack swear something vile before she started talking again, “Sixteen! Sixteen motherbucking cannons set up in four giant turrets like the Yamato’s! We can’t move from here and they’re blasting the hill to pieces! We need help!”
“But what can I do?” Rainbow asked, fearful for her friend’s lives.
“Ah don’t know! Just think of something! And hurry!”
“Applejack? Applejack!” Rainbow desperately tried to raise her friend but the console was silent as she dropped to all four hooves and paced, “Oh geez, oh geez, what the buck do I do?”
She headed back to her console, maybe she could get someone to pilot the Yamato over to pick up Twilight and Applejack? But they were under fire and if those guns were blasting through a hill, what would they do to a ship full of ponies?
She looked at her console as if it had the answer.
-ERROR. NO CHARGE. WEAPONS-
“I know that you bucking ass!” Rainbow hissed to it, “I know you don’t have any charge.” She was about to say something further when the message changed.
-RAINBOW. CHARGE. WEAPONS.-
Rainbow blinked and the message was gone, “No! Wait!” She desperately tried to find it, but it was gone in the flood of error messages, as if it had never been there.
She blinked, scrubbing tears from her eyes, she couldn’t do a bucking thing! Fine thing being Tactical Officer when she couldn’t have the weapons...activated.
Her eyes hardened, she was going to get in trouble for this, but her friends needed her. She picked up the intercom unit and fixed it to her hoof brace. Taking a deep breath, she took action.
“All Crew! This is Tactical Officer Rainbow Dash! Battlestations! Battlestations! Begin charging the Shock Cannons for immediate discharge!” Her other hoof slammed down on a button at her console and immediately the interior of the ship was plunged into red lighting as a siren began to shriek, “This is not a drill! I repeat! This is not a drill! Charge all Shock Cannons for immediate discharge!”
Chaos filled the ship as the shrieking alarm woke sleeping gunnery crews who immediately heard the order and leaped into action as Rainbow Dash sat down at her console, removing the intercom unit, and began manipulating the controls.
In the Engine Room, the Doctor blinked, “Well, this is unexpected, but I suppose we had to test them at some point!” He turned to his subordinates, “Let’s give the mare what she wants! Allons-y! Direct power to the Shock Cannons!”
The gunnery crew filled their seats. The monitors in front of them lighting up. The Wave Motion Engine kicked up a gear, flooding the weapons systems with power.
“Guns One and Two! Rotate and lock on to the Excursion team’s position! Adjust upwards by two degrees!” Rainbow Dash commanded.
The previously dormant cannons, that had been dead weight up until this point finally coughed into life. With an almighty groan, the house sized gun batteries swung their long barrels over the side of this ship.
A powerful blue glow began to charge, deep within the barrels. Rainbow’s console, locked onto something behind the hill that Applejack and Twilight had crested.
‘-WEAPONS- CHARGED- STANDING BY-’ the screen blinked.
‘Awesome.’
“Open fire!” she screamed.
The menacing blue glow within the barrels, unsatisfied, grew until the point where it was blinding. A rumble was heard all throughout the ship, sounding like the gale force winds outside.
Both batteries unleashed their fury. Six brilliant blue beams, three from each cannon, exploded violently from their muzzles. The recoil was so powerful, even the Yamato’s impressive bulk was nearly pushed over.
The beams shot across the desolate wasteland. The sheer power that bled off them was enough to carve huge trenches in the ground far below them. Dust kicked up in huge clouds, making it look like a sandstorm had arrived.
Even the small hill between the ship and the ruins stood no chance. With an bone jangling explosion that was probably heard all the way in Ponyville, the mound of ash and stone was no more.
The entire hill was utterly annihilated. Hundreds of tons of earth were thrown carelessly into the air, much like they had been when the Yamato launched. But even a mountain did little to stop the Yamato’s unmatchable might.
The beams continued, having lost little of their power. The black sky was suddenly turned to a blinding white as what looked like pure energy rocketed over the heads of two very surprised, armoured ponies.
The shots raced into the compound. The cannons mounted on the walls paled in comparison to the utter destruction the ancient ship wrought.
The ruins were utterly decimated its destruction lit up the black sky, brighter than any volcano could hope. The beams had struck so hard that everything in a twenty metre radius has literally melted. The cannons were no longer a threat.
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash sat dumbfounded on the bridge. Her jaw hung agape and her ears were splayed flat against her head.
“I think you overcooked it there, Dash,” the Doctors voice called up from the intercom at her.
“Uh huh...,” she blubbered.
Back at the hill, Applejack carefully helped Twilight to her hooves and they both stared at the destruction behind them. The hill had six neat trenches on top where the central beams in the barrage had struck it, and behind the hill...
Applejack shook her head, “It really is a warship. Nothing peaceful could make this kind of a mess.” She turned to the silent Twilight, “Come on, Twilight, I think we’ve had enough excitement for one day.”
“Applejack...” The farm pony paused in her walking as Twilight spoke in a quiet voice, “Did we do the right thing? Reactivating the Yamato, I mean. Was turning it back on worth all this danger?”
“I don’t know, Twilight.” Applejack replied, “All I know is that we have to be responsible ponies with that ship. She was made for war after all, something like this...” She waved a hoof at the destroyed wall, still glowing white-hot from the power of the beams, “Something like this probably shouldn’t be a surprise. All I know is...”
She resumed walking, “All I know is that now, we can’t deny it to ourselves.”
After a few seconds continuing to stare at the ruined wall, Twilight followed after Applejack back to the Yamato in silence.
They remained silent during the walk back.