After entering the briefing room, all the ponies sat down and chatted. "Good Morning" Trixie said, as soon as the chatter stopped. "For all of you that I invited personally... it's nice to see you again. For the rest of you, I am the 'Great and Powerful Trixie'! It is my job to make sure you do yours" She sneered at some ponies, including Twilight. "Ok then. Princess Celestia told me to show you this." she stepped to the side and a holographic screen appeared, turning into a 3D projection of Celestia.
"Hello mares and gentlecolts! I am Princess Celestia, I am your employer. I am recording this summer, 2091. If you'r watching it, you've reached your destination. Theres a stallion sitting next to you named E.V.A.D. He is a golem i made with magic to watch you on your way, since he will never grow old, and he will never die. Although, he is not able to appreciate these remarkable gifts because it would require the one thing E.V.A.D. will never have. A soul. I have spent my entire Immortal lifetime wondering where do we come from? What is our purpose? What happens when we die? And now finally have two ponies who tell me they are on the verge of answering these questions. Twilight Sparkle and Faint Heart. If you would please stand. As far as your concerned, these two are in charge. The titan, Ponetheus, wanted to give ponykind equal footing with the gods. For that, He was cast from Ponympus. Well my friends the time has finally come, for his return." She waved for Twilight and Faint to stand next to her. "It's all yours now" Celestia finished. Faint had been playing with a cube most of the time. "Okay, wow" He chuckled. "Okay! Let me show you guys why we are here!" He put the cube down on the floor and hit some buttons. A holograph of multiple ancient rock carvings. "These are images." Faint began "Of archaeological dates from all over Equestria." He pointed to the one on left and started to the right. "This ones Equingyption, Mareain, Coltarian, Babyponion, and Thats Mesipifillian" He then pointed to the new one "Now this one here is our newest one, a thirty-five thousand year old carving from the Drackenridge Mountains. These are... ancient civilizations, that were separated by centuries. They shared no contact with one another and yet..." He smashed all the holographic photos together. "This same pictogram, showing ponies worshipping giant beams pointing to the stars, which were discovered on every last one of them. The only match in space, was so far away from Equestria, that theres no way these ancient ponies could've possibly known about them. But it just so happens, That that system has a sun, very different from ares in the way it works, but still has the same effects, and based on our long-range scans, There seems to be a planet. Just one planet with a moon possible of sustaining life... and we arrived there this morning." Rainbow Dash seeming slightly irritated. "So your saying we are here because of a map, you two eggheads found in a cave. Is that right?"
"Ya" Faint responded
"No" Twilight said "Not a map. An invitation."
"From who?" Rainbow asked.
Twilight happily responded "We call them engineers"
"Engineers huh? Would you mind telling us what these engineers engineered?"
"They engineered us"
"Bullshit" Rainbow said face-hoofing. Applejack laughed. Twilight and Faint looked slightly irritated themselves. Faint was the one to respond "Alright well. Do you have anything to back that up?"
Rainbow Dash didn't respond. Instead Applejack asked "How do you know?"
"I dont" Twilight said plainly "But its what I chose to believe"
øøø
The ship was now very close to its destination. The star shined on the moon they were going to land on.
Twilight and Faint were walking to their rooms when E.V.A.D came up to them
"Twilight and Faint. Trixie would like to speak to you before the adventure begins." He opened the door to Trixie's room and motioned for them to follow him inside. "Wow nice place." Faint commented. "It's actually a separate module, with its own self-contained life support. Air, food, Anything Trixie would need to survive a hostile environment. "Ok so she lives on a life boat" Faint remarked. "Yes, I do" Trixie said from behind them. Twilight noticed a man-sized capsule with a touch screen. "Hey Faint look it's a life pod! they only made a dozen of these." She touched a random button to see what would happen.
"Miss Sparkle." Trixie said "Please don't touch that. Its very expensive" Twilight walked back next to Faint. "I think there might be some confusion about our relationship" she started. "Celestia found you impressive enough to fund this mission, but im fairly certain your 'engineers' are nothing but scribblings of savages living in dirty caves. But let's say im wrong, and you do find these beings down there. You wont engage them, you will not talk to them, you will do nothing but report back to me" Faint chuckles "Excuse me, is there an agenda your not telling us about?" Trixie continued "I paid a trillion bits to get you here. If you'd raised it yourself, we'd happily be chasing your 'agenda'. But you didn't. And that makes you an employee." Faint laughed and Twilight looked confused. "If we can't make contact, why did you even bring us here?" she asked
"Celestia wanted the elements of harmony to be present during this mission. That's all."
øøø
"Alright Mr. Redtrot, Mr Cyan. Lets take it down." Spike said to the pilots.
"Yes captain" One of them replied. Twilight walked to Spike and asked "How you doing?" "Great!" He said.
Spike announced through the speakers "All personell this is your captain! Brace for entry!"
"What is the atmosphere?" He asked one of the pilots. "Atmosphere is 71% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, traces of argon gas"
"Just like home" Faint smiled "Only if your breathing through an exhaust pipe" Rarity said. "co2 is over 3%! 3 minutes without a suit. your dead"
Once they got underneath the cloud layer they could see the scenery. mostly mountains. but...
"There!" Twilight yelled pointing to some straight paths. "Planets aren't formed with perfect lines!"
They went around a mountain and saw a massive dome.
"There!" Twilight shouted. "Take us in! There!"
"Alright" Spike said. The turbines shifted into landed position it it pulled the ship slowly downward near the dome.
Dust flew around the propellers as they landed.
"Ponetheus has landed!"