Our First Steps

by Mrakoplaz

Planetbound

A flash of light. Distant shouting. A sharp pain in her legs.

Groaning, Zvezda opened her eyes and tried to focus at the scene around. Save for a lot of black blurs, she could see nothing at all.

„....something! Come on, Zvez, please!“

A sudden blur swished past in the depths below, and she got a sudden sense of vertigo. That was one tall drop.

Slowly realizing she was lying on her back, halfway buried in the sand, and staring out not into a bottomless pit, but a darkened sky, a sad smile appeared on her face. Gathering up enough energy, she swung her hooves around to upright herself.

Still lying in the sand, albeit now the correct way up, Zvezda paused for a second to catch her breath, fighting back the urge to throw up. Meanwhile, a bright purple blur wondered into her field of view, and, with a sudden squeal, jumped to hug her tightly:

„Zvez! Thank Celestia you're alright!“

Uncertainly patting her friend's back in response, Zvezda subtly nodded, but didn't say anything.

„Here, have some juice, “ Sara tore away, then offered up a bottle.

Accepting the drink with infinite gratitude, she proceeded to quickly gulp down until not even a drop remained. Throwing the empty bottle away, she shook her head.

„You better now?“

Zvezda wasn't really sure. Her motor control were slowly coming back to her now, and she could even make out her friend's face. But something was still wrong. The swirling sea of black around them refused to disappear. And so did the screams.

Slowly getting up on her hooves, she chuckled at these hallucinations. I mean, I know my subconscious was all kinds of wrong, but this? Wow.

„Come on!“ Sara pushed on her shoulder, trying to steer her around, „We've got to get out of here!“

„Get... out?“ Zvezda dug her hooves down, defying Sara's attempts to commandeer her, „We've got to go watch the rocket! Where's the rocket?“

Sara stopped. After a moment of silence – interrupted only by the subdued shouting constantly going on in the background – Zvezda began turning around, intending to interrogate her friend until she got some answers.

Halfway through, however, she stopped. Staring at the giant unbroken column of light before her, stretching all the way into the sky, her eyes squinted to adjust to its brightness. The tower was in constant flux, tiny tongues of flames constantly erupting from its sides and coiling back in like a million fiery glowing snakes. But where was the-

Oh.

She didn't say anything, but the look on her face must have been revealing enough. Patting her across the shoulders, Sara sadly gestured somewhere into the distance:

„Yeah. Train station's that way.“

Meanwhile, Zvezda remained still, utterly fascinated by the sight. In a way, it was almost beautiful. Upon closer inspection, one could even see the air shimmering and distorting around the edges of the pillar, as if refusing to touch it…

„That doesn't even make sense,“ she began, „That's got to be at least a mile high. None of our fuels hold half as-“

„Who cares?“ Sara yelled desperately, „It's a giant growing tower of fire! We've gotta get to the trains!“

Zvezda scanned the cloudy smoke around them. Off in the fading distance, she could just about make out the vague silhouettes of ponies wondering around, obviously lost. Some loners, others in small groups. A few of those groups even had small foals with them, either galloping on their own or being carried.

„We've got to help-“

„We can't help them, Zvez!“ Sara screamed into her ear, „Especially not if we're dead!“

Zvezda stared at one particularly sorry-looking group; a young mare desperately dragging herself across the sand, wheezing heavily and often stopping to catch her breath. Around her, a tiny filly jumped, trying to pull her onwards. Looking back at her friend, she began again:

„But they-“

„Get it through your thick skull, Zvez! We're not heroes!“ Sara slapped her across the face, „Think of your family! Friends!“

„I am,“ Zvezda gritted her teeth, „And I know they'd rather have me die helping others than get out and save my own skin.“

She tried to set off towards the young mother and her child, but Sara grabbed her tail and made her fall over:

„Can't you smell the air, you stupid mule?“ she screamed as Zvezda got up again, „Unless we get out of here pronto, we'll keel over and die choking! Just like her! You can't save them!“

Zvezda turned around to her friend. She then glanced back at the poor mare, now immobile in the sand, her tiny filly desperately prodding her mane in disbelief.

„I've got to try. Sorry,“ she smiled to her friend, then galloped off into the thick clouds. Craning her neck, she saw Sara's distancing silhouette stand still for a few more seconds, continuing to stare straight forward, then shake her head and gallop off in the opposite direction.

Zvezda rolled her eyes. Despite the unicorn's constant complaining, she had honestly thought that, deep inside, Sara was a proper pony.

It's only in times like this you really find out, isn't it?

Approaching the mare, she quickly began examining her for injuries. She looked dangerously pale, but her chest was still moving up and down. There was still a chance.

Meanwhile, the little filly at her mother's side looked up. Recognizing the staff badge hanging from Zvezda's neck, her eyes brightened up, and a look of exhausted relief spread over her face. She was saying something too, very quickly and in a high-pitched excited voice, but amidst all the distant shouting and the constant hum of the tower, trying to make out individual words was quite impossible, as they all seemed to slur together.

Hang on, wasn't I talking just fine a second ago?

Dismissing the thought, Zvezda spared the filly a momentary reassuring smile – intended as much for the child as for her personally – then, grunting, began trying to throw the unconscious pony over her back. Jumping all around, the little foal tried its best to help.

But it was of no use. No matter how much she tried, she just couldn't get the mare to balance on her back. Suddenly feeling dizzy, Zvezda keeled over into the sand as she fell into a prolonged coughing fit.

The world began growing darker all around her. In the distance, she could hear the little filly crying.

Sorry, kid. Guess I'm not a hero after all.

~~~~~

Rainbow continued walking forward. All around her, thick clouds of smoke hugged the ground, slowly swirling around. Glancing at her hooves, she found her once-azure skin had now been tainted almost entirely grey by the omnipresent choking dust. Behind her, the giant tower of fire continued to blare, its deep roar underlining everything that went on.

It didn't matter. She kept walking.

Steadily breathing in through her nose, she put one hoof before the other, advancing ever onward. Her throat now felt completely dry, and a strange creeping sensation was gradually extending through her chest.

It was all absolutely insane. A year ago, she might have just given up and collapsed onto the sand, letting the clouds engulf her. Nopony had the right to be subjected to something like this.

But today, she kept walking. This entire thing was insane. Going into space? Pushing the final frontier? Rainbow always had known it'd be no easy thing.

This was just another challenge. Another step on the ladder into history.

And she'd climb that ladder, oh yes. She'd become the most famous pony in all of Equestria's history.

Celestia's champion. Destroyer of ancient gods. The founder of a new age.

That's me, alright.

What were a few dumb clouds in comparison? Nothing, that's what.

Pausing briefly as a terrible pain flared up in her chest, she reconsidered the idea.

Right, maybe it wasn't just nothing. Not that it mattered anyway, of course. This particular situation was exactly as impossible as what she'd gone through before, right? Shouldn't be a problem.

She kept walking. Despite her drowsiness, her thoughts seemed to race faster than ever. Then again, there wasn't much to look at with all this smoke around; the only even remotely interesting thing, the giant tower of fire, was directly behind her. Kind of boring when you really got down to it, really.

Yeah, she thought as she almost stumbled on a small rock in her path, That's what this is. Boring.

I wish Pinkie was here.

Unfortunately, there was no sign of that brilliant pink pony. Nor of any of her friends, for that matter. Strange, it's been quite a time now. Briefly wondering whether she had lost her track, she looked back to the tower of fire, then, realigning herself, turned slightly to the left and continued.

After some more time, she paused again, just to catch her breath. Even her slow pace was proving exhausting now. What a bummer.

She grinned to herself, like an utter idiot. That's what she was being, after all, wasn't she? She should have made to the sky when she had the chance. She knew where Applejack's stall was, after all. The tops of the podiums would have stayed above the smoke. She could have used those to find her friends almost immediately.

But no. She just had to find them on the ground, didn't she?

Rainbow turned her head to the sky as another idea crossed her idle head. Her friends probably weren't even there any more. Twilight was smart, she'd have figured something out and gotten everypony out. That's if she wasn't saving the day right now, of course. Her great journey was turning out to be a complete and utter failure, and she had nopony to blame but herself.

Regrets, regrets. Useless now, anyway. What's done is done. The only thing you can do is shrug and keep going.

Keep going.

Just keep going.

She kept walking.

~~~~~

„What about plan… five?“ Redstone hurriedly suggested, quickly fishing out the appropriate paper from the scattered sea of sheets all around them, „Monoxide purge might be bit risky, but otherwise-“

Lyuka spared the suggestion only a few seconds:

„And how do you want to set up a high-pressure pump in this?“ she screamed, gesturing to the smoke all around, „Those ponies are choking to death! They can hardly operate precision machinery!“

„Alright, alright,“ Redstone kicked the paper away and sighed deeply, „Just idea.“

To her other side, the Duchess of Hackney was as furious with Lyuka as she herself was with the professor. Stamping up to her, she opened up into her face:

„Don't you have any feasible emergency plans? Not one that isn't restricted to a ridiculously small subset of situations?“

„Well, I don't even know what the hay just happened!“ Lyuka shouted back, gesturing to to the large column of fire at the centre of the facility, „That thing shouldn't even be physically possible! Excuse us for planning within the confines of laws of physics!“

„Well, it has happened, has it not?“ the Duchess remained adamant, „So it obviously must be possible.“

„Can you all please stop shouting?“ Rarity slowly got out through her gritted teeth, her horn glowing as she strained to keep up her spell, „I'm trying to keep us all alive here.“

Lyuka quickly quietened down, then glanced around the faint blue hemisphere that dimly shimmered around the launch control platform, enclosing all the Chief Directors, Celestia, as well as the gathered members of the assembly. It wasn't exactly big, but it definitely was useful. Whoever had thought that silly mare could actually come in handy?

Smelling the minty fresh air again, she spared the unconscious Wilhelmina a worried glance. The minister of agriculture – the only bureaucrat Lyuka trusted even remotely – was at her side with a bucket of water, trying to nurse her back to her senses.

Yeah, I'm sure she's real proud of you right now, Lyuka, her conscience tugged at her as she looked around their shielded platform again, helplessly observing the black clouds swirl slowly beyond it, The bourgeoisie enjoying nice-smelling air as the commoners choke?

She shook her head. We're the leaders, though, another part of her head opened up, We need to stay at full capacity, to organize the rescue plan and save everypony. We deserve the clean air.

Even if they did, though, they certainly weren't using it very efficiently. Around her, Redstone, Sunny, and Sequine were sorting through the stacks of emergency plans that covered everything from a T-minus sixty abort to an ignition system misfire; all woefully inadequate for what was actually going on.

„This is all useless,“ Sunny suddenly declared, kicking one of thick binders away from herself and outside their protective bubble, then gesturing towards the giant tower of fire, „None of us even have an idea what that thing is! How can we possibly find an emergency plan for dealing with it?“

„That's not what we're trying to do here, is it now?“ Redstone looked up from his papers, „We're trying to find way of clearing smoke away before it kills everypony. Aren't we?“

„And what about that giant pillar of fire towering over everything, then?“

„Is safe to ignore.“

„What?“ Sunny yelled out in disbelief, „How-“

„Is just being fiery. Not actually doing anything,“ Redstone shrugged, „Besides, Princess obviously has it covered.“

Lyuka spared a glance towards their esteemed ruler: She was still straining in her grand feats of magic, her celestial mane still dimmed, but seemed to slowly be overpowering whatever it was that she was fighting. Her movements looked slightly off, though. As if they were being played through a poor film projector that skipped half the frames.

Stupid magic, Lyuka scoffed, There's a reason we don't use it in our rockets.

„Wait. So, are you telling me I just wasted the last ten minutes doing nothing useful?“ Sunny slowly continued.

Redstone nodded uncertainly. One angry helpless groan later, the chief designer turned back to sorting through the binders, and the professor followed.

„We're all clear on that, now, right? Right, everypony?“ Lyuka tried to reassure herself, „Get rid of all the smoke. Nevermind the giant tower of fire.“

A tired nodding was her reply. Well, from the chief designers, at least. The Duchess was less pleased:

„You are all just wasting time on utter incompetence! Honestly, I had my doubts about your leadership, but I never knew it was this bad!“

„Well, what did you expect?“ Lyuka suddenly snapped, „We're engineers! Professors! This... this... insanity, it's way beyond any of us!“

„In that case, I'd advise you to get better,“ the Duchess stared, „Fast.“

„This is incredibly complex situation!“ Redstone stepped in at their defence, „Thousands of mutually interacting variables! One bad move, and-“

„Every second spent doing nothing is another bad move, Professor.“

Lyuka was about to ridicule her, then stopped. The Duchess might not have known much about rocketry, but certainly knew her way around leadership. Unlike some ponies, her conscience snapped at her, Who put you in charge anyway?

„What those ponies out there need, right now, is reassurance. At least a vague prospect of a happy ending. The actual plan can wait for later, but right now, we need hope.“

Lyuka quickly nodded, then trotted over to the announcer microphone at the other side of the platform, just at the edges of Rarity's shield. She examined its circuitry, and a feeling of cold dread fell over her. The primary resistive membrane lay torn in half, uselessly fluttering in the wind.

She distinctly remembered tearing it herself, just five minutes earlier; in a desperate attempt to shut up that infernal high-pitched feedback noise filling the entire facility, she kicked one of her thick binders straight through its delicate assembly. Even now, the power switch was staring at her, silently mocking her.

„Not to push you, Director, but what's taking so long?“

~~~~~

Geist had long since given up on everything. Lying in the desert sand, choking profusely as the world gradually dimmed around him, he desperately wished to be back in his quarters in Stable IV. Perhaps enjoying a nice glass of water.

Yeah, some water would be nice.

He fell into another coughing fit.

He never imagined himself going like this. If he was going to die, it'd be rescuing Cherry away from a malfunctioning rocket, sacrificing himself so that she might live. Or perhaps heroically stopping a chemicals leak before it poisoned everypony on the Cosmodrome.

Not like this. Alone and unnoticed, lying uselessly in the dark. Nopony else seemed to be paying any attention to him; the scant few that galloped past seemed to be too busy with saving their own hides, or urgently carrying random pieces of equipment somewhere.

Oh well. You signed up for this. Nopony to blame but yourself.

It wasn't fair. The Director had promised them so much. That, in their lifetimes, they'd see a mare walking on the surface of the Moon. That, if they worked hard enough, they'd get promoted to a design board, free to let their imagination run wild and draft distant dreams that'd soon get turned into reality.

And he had worked hard. Oh, so hard. The endless nights spent finishing up some design document, debugging an annoying circuit. And what did he get in return? Even more work, even less resources. Designing the flight simulators, forced to make do with almost no money and literally no specialist equipment.

He didn't want to go like this. Angry, resentful, full of regrets.

But there seemed to be no other way.

Darkness fell over his face. The air around him grew colder.

This was it.

With a rushing sound, a gust of pure air rushed into his nostrils. The sudden burst sent him into another fit.

A different kind of fit, though, he soon realized. The clean cool air rushed through his lungs, dislodging impurities and forcing them out of his body. Spitting out a ball of black slime, Geist wondered just what the hay was going on.

Feeling returning to his body, he tried looking upwards. Everything was blurry, as if... a thick plate of smudged glass was covering his eyes.

Then, as quick as it had arrived, the clean air was gone, and the scorching heat was again playing all over his face. Instinctively holding in his breath, he looked around, vision suddenly clear as the glass visor was removed.

Before him stood a dusted earth pony. Her mane, full of sand and dust, seemed comically distorted into a strange bubbly shape. So was her tail. Underneath all that grey that seemed to stick to everything, Geist couldn't even make out her original colour, never mind her cutie mark.

Breathing deeply from a strange-looking mask that she was holding over her nose, she grinned at him. Stuffing the mask back into his face, she opened up:

„Surprise!“

What. Geist was hallucinating. His brain was too deprived of oxygen. That was the only possible explanation for this.

„Hi! I can't believe I actually found an actual tech-pony in all this mess!“

A puzzled look fell over Geist's face. He had so many questions. Who the hay are you? Where the hay did you come from? What the hay are you doing here? But the pony continued:

„When I first saw this suit, I just knew I had to take it, you know? I mean, it just looked so cool and creepy and awesome. I never knew you ponies could ever design such an awesome suit! Ideal for pulling pranks in.“

Pausing, she pulled to take another deep breath from the mask, then quickly blocked Geist's face again before he could prepare his question:

„But then the rocket just explodes! Which by the way was so cool, much better than any other fireworks I saw! Anyway, there's the screaming and the running and the smoking! And I'm left holding this giant rescue suit. Then I tell Twilight, but she's just like, 'Quiet, Pinkie! I'm doing magics!' To which I'd normally say 'Okie-dokie-lokie Twilight!', right, but I'm holding this giant thing with millions of buttons and giant twirly knobs and I need somepony smart to understand them.“

The strange pony – Pinkie, was that what she had called herself? – was now quite obviously out of breath, and, nodding in thanks, accepted the mask again. Meanwhile, Geist could feel his strength returning back to his legs. Whatever that device was doing, it must have been far more than just providing clear air; perhaps he'd crash into unconsciousness soon afterwards, but right now, he was feeling better than ever.

Jumping off the floor, he took a quick look at the suit Pinkie was dragging behind herself. Its bright orange was now somewhat tarnished by the omnipresent sticky dust, but there didn't appear to be any holes in it. Even the large glass bowl of the helmet was still intact, attached by a loose string.

Geist strained his memory, trying to remember how these things worked again; a long time ago, he had volunteered for emergency suit courses, though not for a reason the Director would have approved of; That hyperactive pony was right, these things were great for pulling pranks.

Intrigued, he studied the small control board; a compact array of valves on the front of the helmet's inner collar, some operating pressure lines, others activating various enchantments. Though its current configuration was a bit haphazard – the boosters dial was turned way up, for instance, and all the air was being routed to the external rescue-mask, leaving none for the suit itself – it generally appeared to resemble the proper operating set-up. He looked back to the strange pony:

„How did you-“

„Oh, you know,“ Pinkie shrugged between breaths, „I twiddled this, I twiddled that.“

He wasn't satisfied, but she would offer no further explanation. With his memories flooding back, he quickly and methodically got into the suit, then re-configured the controls board to a less wasteful state; they were fine for now, but who knew just how long they'd have to stretch the suit's limited resources for.

Pinkie offered him the rescue mask – connected to the outside of the suit by a thin rubber hose – but Geist shook his head, then scooped up and mounted the helmet.

The air seals clicked, and were promptly followed by a whooshing noise as over-pressure built up inside the suit, forcing the original atmosphere back outside. Geist tried to remember just how much these things had cost – a ridiculous amount, he was sure. Still, right now, it seemed to be worth every last bit.

Making sure the rescue mask – and hence Pinkie – was receiving a sufficient amount of air, he looked around in the thick helmet. Visibility was completely obscured by the thick black clouds, and made even worse by the smudged visor glass, but with the smoke no longer tearing up his eyes, Geist could sit back for a second and carefully examine his surroundings. With a clear head, he managed to identify the vague silhouette of the podium in the background, then, visualising the layout of the Cosmodrome in his head, turned thirty degrees to the left and began galloping towards Stable III. First things first.

~~~~~

Half-landing, half-impacting on the hard sandy surface of the train station, Cherry took a moment to gather her breath. The air was still somewhat itchy, even out here on the opposite side of the Cosmodrome, but it was bearable.

Feeling a mare and her foal jumping off her back, she smiled as the mother first painstakingly examined her child for injuries, then collapsed before Cherry in tears, almost delirious with thankfulness. Cherry nodded in exhaustion, then looked around to see her father hit the ground a few yards away, carrying another pony. She observed with interest as he suddenly outstretched his wings just a second before landing, flaring upwards and slightly softening his impact. Heh. That old stallion still had things to teach her.

Getting up on her hooves again, she readied herself, breathing deeply and preparing for another flight.

Just as she was taking off, somepony grabbed her left wing, sending her spiralling into the ground. Dizzied by the impact, she looked upwards, only to find herself staring directly into the face of the Commissar. The stallion's expression was still as ridiculously steely as ever, but today, it seemed almost... appropriate. Like a fish in water, he seemed almost at home here.

„And just what do you think you're doing, pilot?“

In the distance behind him, two of his subordinates, both wearing black leather coats and tall woollen hats, rotated a strange cart towards her. Cherry wasn't quite sure what to make of it – two large carriage wheels on either side, supporting a small wooden platform that housed an array of six long metal cylinders, each facing Cherry head-on with their open ends. She wasn't quite sure what it was, but it definitely looked foreboding.

Not enough, though:

„I'm saving these poor ponies! Let go, you doof!“ she yelled in disbelief, trying to free herself.

„And have you been given orders for such activity?“

Cherry stopped, at least momentarily. Was that stallion really so heartless?

„Come on!“ she resumed again, „They need us!“

„Exactly, pilot,“ the Commissar remained adamant, „More than ever. That's why you must follow orders!“

Meanwhile, her father stormed up to her side, furious at the sight:

„And just what is this?“ he thundered into the Commissar's face, almost knocking his thick woollen hat off. Cherry smiled. He was being just as over-protective of her as ever. Only this time, she didn't mind.

„By authority of Joint Supreme Command of Equestria,“ the Commissar stood his ground, „You are hereby drafted into 3rd Pegasus Squadron. Report to Stable II for detailed orders.“

„Drafted? I'll let you know, we're of the esteemed Skies family, both of us! I'll not have my daughter treated like some common-“

„Appeal denied,“ he announced promptly before turning away.

„I'll have you-“

„Emergency decrees are in effect! Now get moving, soldiers!“

Cherry and her father exchanged confused looks. Cherry herself wasn't quite sure what to feel; the old stallion, on the other hand, knew exactly. Setting off after the distancing Commissar, he was just about to unleash a tirade of abuse on the officer, when he was suddenly stopped by a loud click coming from the strange cart.

„Not another step,“ the Commissar said coldly, „I don't care if you are noble or rock farmer. Everypony works.“

As if to prove his point, Luna herself landed right in the middle of the group, carrying a map in her mouth. As the surrounding officers immediately saluted, Cherry and her father gave the princess respectful bows. Things were happening so fast today, Cherry couldn't even be bothered to feel surprise or shock any more.

Dropping the map on the ground, Luna looked around the scene, and at the nearby carriage. Her eyes focused.

„Situation report, Ironhoof,“ she demanded. Staring at her, Cherry took back what she had just thought about not being surprised any more. Actually hearing the Commissar's real name for the first time, she definitely was.

„Yes, milady!“ he bellowed in his thick Stalliongrad accent, „We caught these two just here. Nobles, obviously. I've ordered them to report to Stable II, but they've proven resistant.“

„Stable II? 3rd squadron? Evacuation duty?“

„Yes, milady.“

Telekinetically unfurling the map and spreading it out in the sand between them, Luna got out some quills and began noting down positions, occasionally pausing to ask the Commissar a question:

„2nd Logistics?“

„Bureaucrat unicorns. No useful abilities. Stable IV, preparing supply for squadrons five and six.“

„4th Pegasus?“

„Rounding up ponies that panicked and ran out into desert. Sending them back to evacuation point.“

As they worked, a new arrival – a little earth foal, pale olive and wearing the quite-frankly odd combination of an adorable pink ribbon and an old military helmet – galloped up to them, almost collapsing on the ground as she stopped. Upon catching her breath, she promptly saluted:

„3rd Earth reporting,“ she began. Cherry blinked. Hearing such words being spoken by such a cute voice was odd, to say the least.

„An earth pony wearing a protection suit just appeared out of nowhere, rescuing Pink- uh, one civilian. Civilian has been dispatched to Stable IV, the other pony is standing by for orders. Says 'is name is Geist.“

„Thank you, soldier!“ Ironhoof patted the small foal on her helmet, „I was starting to worry about missing suit. Tell them to send him to Stable VII and meet up with 2nd Rescue!“

Luna gave him a harsh stare. Gulping, he turned to one of his stallions, still standing at attention nearby:

„You do it, instead. Go!“

„Hey!“ the little foal jumped as the stallion trotted off, „I can help just as well!“

„I'm sure you can,“ Luna smiled as she patted her on the head, to the great fury of the filly, „How about you trot over to Stable IV and ask how the supplies are going?“

The foal scoffed at the patronization, but nevertheless promptly saluted, then galloped off into the distance. Cherry looked on as she disappeared into the smoke. That was one serious pony.

Having finished filling in the map, Luna continued staring at it for a few moments longer, then looked around again:

„We still don't know almost anything. Has the 2nd returned yet?“

„Not yet.“

„What's taking them so long? You two,“ she gestured to Cherry and her father, „You're 5th Pegasus now. Circle the entire facility and see exactly how far that smoke extends. If you find any other ponies, direct them to the HQ here. Dismissed.“

They stood still for a moment, as Luna looked back to the ground. Realizing they were still there, she looked up again, then stomped the ground:

„Come on! Move it! We're organizing a rescue here!“

Her instincts taking over, Cherry immediately took to the skies. Her father followed close behind, grumbling to himself.

~~~~~

Something swirled in the distance before her. Rainbow had no idea what it was, how it had gotten there, or what it was doing. She had very little idea of everything that was going on around her now, actually. Somewhere along the line, most of her brain had just given up and fainted.

But she? She kept going.

There were noises now, too. And fancy lights. Not as impressive as the giant tower fire behind her, obviously, but in the all-encompassing featureless twirling smoke, they seemed interesting enough. Changing her direction slightly, she advanced towards them.

How long had it now been since she had last seen anypony else? Or anything, for that matter?

No idea. Again.

Man, I really am a doof, aren't I? Don't even know the time...

The noises were getting louder now. More urgent, Rainbow guessed. The pattern was peculiar, unlike anything she had ever heard. Starting off faint, building up, going down again, up, down, a little pause, then up-down-up and finishing by trailing off into nothing, before starting up again. There were several of them, each of a slightly different pitch, sometimes overlapping, otherwise isolated. Pretty disorganized, actually.

One of the tight beams of light hit her directly in the eyes. Rainbow just stopped and stared, not even bothering to squint. Compared to everything else, it wasn't even annoying.

More lights converged on her. Yawning, she absent-mindedly examined her hooves. They were completely grey now. She shook her head, and a million tiny grains flew out of her mane.

She watched as the small cloud swirled and floated all around her, glittering in the powerful searchlights. It was actually kind of pretty. Shaking her head again, Rainbow wished those lights had been there sooner, so that she could have started doing this and watching the cool sparkly things much earlier. It would have made the whole journey a lot less boring, that was for sure.

No. Wait.

Is that the real reason?

Eh.

Some greyish shapes were dancing all around her now, twittering excitedly amongst themselves. Now that she had been hearing the noises for a while, she decided they were words. Not that she could make them out, obviously.

Somepony pulled something over her face. She tried in vain to shove him back. She was the almighty Rainbow Dash! She deserved some respect. Not this-

A cold rush of air suddenly forced itself into her lungs. Her eyes widened as something began stirring in her chest. A powerful stinging sensation, then a flash of pain-

Opening her eyes again, she was lying sideways on the warm desert sand, that mask still attached all over her face. Finally realizing what had just happened, her body quickly took in one incredibly long pull of fresh cold air, leaving her feeling slightly sick afterwards.

The other ponies were still speaking excitedly. But the words were understandable now:

„...come on, it can't be her! It's just can't be! It's been a whole hour! Nopony could survive that long in all this mess! It's just not physically-“

„Well, do you know anypony else that looks like that?“

„Just because she looks like Dash-“

„Oi!“ Rainbow jumped to her hooves, cutting the sceptical pony off, „Nopony else's going to steal the credit from me!“

The other ponies, all clad in their large protective suits, stared at her for a while. Then, one of them turned to the leader, from whose backpack Rainbow's rebreather extended:

„I told you not to overdo it with those boosters! Somepony this affected needs a long, careful recovery, not a sudden jolt!“

„I didn't!“ the other pony began defensively, glancing at his instrument panel again, „They're turned all the way down!“

The trio looked at Dash again. She was studying the tower of fire with interest, trying to judge its size and determine just how far away she had walked. Feeling their questioning gazes, she raised her eyebrows:

„What?“

~~~~~

Pulling at the short control rod mounted in the collar of his helmet, Geist exhaled in relief as he heard the main pressure valve at the back of the suit pop open. He felt the suit deflate as the over-pressurized inner atmosphere emptied outwards, steadily becoming replaced with refreshing outside air.

„How did it go? How did it go?“ Pinkie hopped around him, a wide smile across her face. Geist smiled back at her. Ever since finding him near the base of the launch pad, the pink pony seemed to have taken an interest in him, always taking the time to welcome him back from every sortie. She was a bit crazy, true, but seemed to have way more energy than any other pony Geist had ever seen. Plus, she was also very pretty.

Taking the time to catch his breath as Pinkie removed the heavy spherical helmet – for all their advantages, getting out of the suits was quite impossible without a small support team of assistant ponies – Geist mentally compared her with Cherry. They two mares had a lot of differences, but also much in common. If he had to choose, though-

Seeing her smiling face appear before him as she had finally finished removing the helmet, Geist chided himself for even daring to consider such things. She was a champion of Celestia herself; Cherry, the first equenaut. On the other hoof, he was just a common engineer. Just why on Equestria did every mare he ever happened to like have to be impossibly out of his league?

A harsh commanding voice tore him from his thoughts:

„Report!“ demanded the bunker's assigned sergeant; a heavily-built unicorn mare of dark chestnut skin, wearing a long leather cloak and a tall woollen hat. Geist still couldn't get used to the fact that these strange ponies, previously always content to just silently lurk around the background, had just nonchalantly marched in and seized total control of everything.

Looking around, however, he had to admit they were managing the situation rather well. The entire canteen of Stable IV had been efficiently converted to an emergency bunker; rough, but warm cots and blankets were spread out all across the floor, most occupied by groaning ponies. Meanwhile, like islands in an ocean of quiet misery, every table in the room was straining under the weight of bottles of clean water, baskets of bread, tins of dried cookies, and entire boxes of bandages and additional blankets. Everything was very spartan, but also plentiful, and the evacuees seemed to appreciate every last packet.

Snapping to attention and saluting, Geist began:

„Sector seven clear! Nopony found.“

The sergeant silently nodded, levitating a quill over and checking off another column on her checklist.

„Supply status?“ she demanded.

Sighing, Geist looked sadly at the deflated suit he was still wearing. It had served him well, but no resources were infinite. And without any way of replenishing its stocks, the suit was as good as gone now.

„Oxygen tanks depleted. There's still a bit of boosters left, but-“

„Put them here,“ the unicorn indicated at a table bearing baskets of random components next to her, „Nothing goes to waste.“

Geist was about to reach back and remove the small ampoule, but then Pinkie happened:

„Yes, sergeant-commandant-general ma'am!“ she hollered, and suddenly her hind leg impacted Geist's side, knocking the air out of him. He gasped in shock. For such a playful pony, she sure was strong.

„Civilian!“ the sergeant began, „Cease that-“

But it was already too late. The kick had knocked the small glass capsule out of its slot, and sent it spiralling into the air above; both Geist and the sergeant watched in dread as it arced across the room, rapidly spinning about its axis. Seeing the tiny ampoule accelerate as it plummeted towards the ground, Geist was about to dive after it in a desperate attempt to catch it before it shattered, but a stern gaze from Pinkie froze him up.

The capsule hit a discarded suit lying on a nearby chair, slid off, bounced off a damaged rubber boot lying under it, and landed squarely in the basket the sergeant had indicated, impacting slowly enough to survive.

„Whee,“ the pink pony grinned at the unicorn and Geist, „Anything else?“

„N-no,“ the sergeant mare stuttered momentarily before regaining her original stern expression, „D-definitely not, civilian.“

„And what about... cup-cakes!“ she suggested, almost signing the last word.

Ugh, Geist sighed deeply. There's having fun, and then there's acting completely insane.

The sergeant seemed to share his views:

„A-are you out of your mind? We need to conserve every-“

„But, but! Just look at all those sad ponies!“ Pinkie protested, gesturing at the rows of tables and emergency cots behind them.

The sergeant opened her mouth for a sarcastic remark, but the pink pony stuffed it with her hoof before she could speak:

„Look at them! All groaning and weeping and sadding. Are you telling me that's the way it should be?“

Fervently shaking her head, the sergeant pony mumbled something unintelligible, desperately trying to get herself free. But Pinkie refused to just let her go:

„Well, lady I'm-so-important-because-I've-got-a-tall-hat? What will it be?“

„Ummf! Ummf! Ummmf ummmmmmf umf!“

„You'd better,“ Pinkie stared into the mare's eyes for a moment more, then released her grip. Gasping for air, she gestured to Geist:

„Go bake your infernal cupcakes, and take him with you! Just get out of my sight!“

„But I-“ Geist pipped up, but was promptly cut off. „That is order!“

Before he could say anything else, Pinkie was behind at his side, prodding him towards the kitchen:

„You heard the lady! We've got orders! Now, this is a major operation, so we've got to get this organized. You'll be in charge of the 1st supply division…“

~~~~~

Time was passing. It didn't seem like it, with everything covered in a grey fog that blotted out the sky and the sun, and it certainly didn't feel like it, but time was definitely going on; though Cherry only realized this as she passed by the train station's clock on yet another of her sorties, and noticed it claim that three hours had gone by.

Now, obviously, she'd be the first to admit that she kept poor track of time, especially during flight operations. But it couldn't have been that long. To confirm her inkling, she quickly rifled through her memories of after the accident; she flew around, saved a few ponies, found the Commissar, learned his name, flew around some more, saved some more ponies, scouted the area, carried some messages, transported a box of chemicals, reunited that adorable little family together...

OK, she had done quite a lot today. But not that much. Deciding that either the springs and gears of the clock must have gone all wonky with all this magic around, or that she had simply confused the hour and minute hands during her brief glance, she ignored her rumbling stomach and carried on.

~~~~~

„You... stupid... piece... of...“

Lyuka gritted her teeth as she desperately tried to bring the amplifier circuits back to life. She had thought bypassing the broken RC networks would have been easy. Though working circuitry with hooves was deeply infuriating – almost like balancing an egg on your head – she had already managed to replace all the destroyed components with a few jury-rigged replacement parts; some condensers scavenged from the launching console, a new membrane from a piece of cloth Rarity had provided – Celestia praise that mare! – and several resistors Sequine had pulled out of nowhere (when asked why she was carrying random electrical components with her, the only reply was an idle shrug). But, even after all that, something somewhere was still refusing to do its job, and she was running out of ideas

In one last defiant gesture, she kicked the stand. This caused her replacement condensers, hanging in place by nothing but wrapped cloth and hope, to come loose and start plummeting towards the ground, where they would have shattered if not for Sequine's quick reflexes. Hanging her head low, Lyuka nodded to the pale unicorn:

„Okay, okay. Your turn again.“

Collapsing on the wooden platform just a few steps away, she switched places with the engineer for the third time now, then watched as she tried to work her magic; with no more success than before, obviously.

„I do hope you ponies get that thing working soon.“

Lyuka turned her head. Rarity's voice was weak, but surprisingly calm. Lying on a red leather pillow – originally a part of Celestia's seat – a few strides away, the white mare was now getting visibly tired. Yet, the subtle blue glow around her horn remained as bright as ever, and the protective bubble around the launch control platform remained firmly in place. Breathing in again, Lyuka did however notice the air was a lot less minty than before.

She smiled at Rarity, then gestured at the bureaucrat ponies around. A small group was surrounding the Duchess of Hackney, trying to compose an encouraging speech to the ponies of the Cosmodrome; the others were standing in a small ring around Celestia, whose motions remained as slow and jerky as ever. Only the minister of agriculture was still with Wilhelmina, watching her every breath for signs of awakening again.

„Don't worry,“ she began, „Thanks to you, we're still alive. The others must have gotten organized already anyway. They'll be here soon.“

Rarity slowly chuckled, „Anything for a customer.“

Lyuka paused at these words. From what little she had overheard from Wilhelmina, there was absolutely no way Rarity would ever be getting that space suit order; it was definitely going to either Konik Industries or Equestrian Dynamics AG, real industrial concerns with actual experience in high-tensile enchanted fabrics, who had already provided the Cosmodrome's full-protection firefighting suits. In comparison to such giants, Rarity was nothing.

She looked again at the nervous smile on her face. That's what Will had said, at least. Looking at her now, though…

Come on, her conscience whispered to her, Give the little mare a chance. Not everything has to come from giant nameless corporations.

Oh yeah? the more cynical part of her head intervened, I'd like to see her run a vacuum pressure chamber in her tiny straw cottage. Or achieve grade-six precision on the neck seals.

The contract's fifty percent up-front. If you just let her-

That's going to take ages to set up. Besides, you don't even know what kind of experience she has with hermetic-

If you don't know, then just ask her!

No, you – Wait. That's a good point, actually. Ask her!

Snapping out of her brief spell, she apologetically smiled at Rarity, who was still waiting for a reply:

„Space suits are much more than just clothes. We'd need concrete proof you can actually design vacuum-capable seals. Until then-“

„Of course, Director,“ she quickly nodded, „But if those were to be delivered...?“

„We'd definitely consider your offer,“ Lyuka emptily stated. But, looking around their protective bubble again, she simply couldn't help but add, „And, maybe, more than just consider it.“

That seemed to be enough for the aspiring industrialist. With a smile on her face, she lowered her head back to the ground, conserving all her energy to keep the magic going.

Lyuka looked at with considerable respect. If she was willing to devote a similar amount of energy to her work as she was demonstrating here…

Hmm.

~~~~~

„What do you mean, I can't go?“ Dash tried again to free herself from the group of eight nurses and several doctors that were pulling at her wings, legs, and tail in a desperate attempt to keep her on the ground, „I'm feeling just fine!“

„No... you're... not!“ the chief physician got out, hanging off Rainbow's hind leg and putting all her weight into keeping her patient anchored, „You're just high on the boosters! You need rest, or you'll crash again!“

As if, Rainbow scoffed at the doctor's protests. Her friends were out there, and she'd find them.

Alarmed by the commotion, one of the Commissar's stallions entered the room, then, seeing the entire medical team hanging off Dash as she hovered near the ceiling, blinked repeatedly.

„I demand situation report!“ he boomed after realizing his eyes weren't actually lying, „What is this foolish inefficiency? Queue of patients is waiting!“

„They're stopping me from doing my job!“ Rainbow quickly pre-empted the doctors, „All I had was a scratch, and they want to keep me down here until everything's over!“

„That's not-“ the chief medic began, but Dash cut him off again:

„They're wasting resources! Acting against orders!“ she scrambled to hit as many of the sergeant's buttons as possible, straining her memory to remember all those strange phrases she had heard the Commissar use, „Inefficiently... err... distributing workload!“

That seemed to do it, she smiled to herself as she saw the stallion's face turn purple in righteous anger. Marching up to the chief physician, he grabbed her by the neck:

„Just what is going on in here, doctor?“

But before the poor mare had even managed to respond, Rainbow was already gone. The weight lifted off her legs, she quickly shook off the rest of the medical team and rocketed through the door. Banking left and right through the labyrinthine corridors of the bunker, she soon arrived at the intersection leading up to the bunker's small emergency entrance. The main doors were often busy, even on a normal day, so Rainbow guessed they'd be utterly useless today; not to mention, also heavily guarded, by some stuck-up bureaucrats who'd just send her back to the hospital.

Stopping just before the corner, Dash carefully peeked over its edge; even here, at the unimportant side entrance, six more of the Commissar's ponies were standing before the small metal hatch, ticking off checklists and managing a small group of twelve, thirteen ponies queuing in the short corridor. One of them was distributing strange pieces of equipment to the others. Obviously another part of their big plan; things would start happening soon.

Rainbow had no time to wait for that, though. Her friends were still out there, and she'd find them, before it was too late.

Spotting the small metal hatch was beginning to swing open, probably in preparation for somepony arriving from the outside, Dash seized her chance. A swish of the wings, a blur of colour, and she was soaring free through the overcast skies, with a smug grin spread over her face; the Commissar's ponies never even knew what hit them.

It felt good to be flying free again. Dash quickly picked up altitude to avoid the dense smoke that hugged the ground, then began circling the facility, scanning the ground below.

I really should have done this from the start, she realized, then shrugged, Oh well, now I know for next time this happens.

Which it almost certainly would; she was pretty sure of that. The Space Programme might have had vast amounts of resources and engineers at its disposal, plus links to a dozen of Equestria's largest manufacturing companies, but, in the end, it was all being administered by five crazy ponies, working on utterly mad plans without any regard for health & safety.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, Dash smiled, Without them, I'd just be getting bored now.

Seriously. Who would have thought being an equenaut would be so darn BORING?

~~~~~

„Incoming!“ Cherry yelled at the top of her lungs as she folded her wings, quickly losing altitude and descending through the thick fog, carefully managing her descent slope with reference to the two powerful searchlights beaming down from the ground.

Startled by the sudden shout, the limp unicorn she was holding in her forelegs jerked sideways. Taking her eyes off the approaching lights for a second, she gave her a scornful look:

„You're supposed to be unconscious! Start acting like it!“

There was no reply. Praying she had been fast enough, Cherry hastened her descent, and soon she was hovering just a few hooves above the desert surface. The entrance to the bunker was coming up quickly now, but fortunately the hat-wearing ponies positioned outside had heard her urgent shouting, and were already hard at work unsealing the heavy blastdoor.

Slowing down slightly, so that she wouldn't spread herself and her companion all across the thick steel hatch, Cherry looked back down to the mare. Hold on just a second! You're almost there.

Clutching her unconscious passenger closer in, she lowered her head as she whizzed through the circular doorframe; she felt a brief flash of pain as few of her hairs snagged against the metal and were torn from her mane, but paid them no attention. There was a medical emergency to resolve.

Extending her wings and rotating them vertically, she flared slightly into the air, almost hitting the ceiling as she bled off excess airspeed. Behind her, she could hear the heavy door closing again, sirens spinning and illuminating the corridor in crazy colours. The second heavy hatch, at the other end of the corridor, however, still remained silent.

Slowing down just outside the door, Cherry gently lowered the unconscious unicorn to the floor, then banged on the thick metal bulkhead as she glanced back towards the outer hatch. The ponies outside were evidently having some problems or something, because the heavy door had now stopped closing, hanging uncertainly in a midway state, being absolutely useless for all the purposes it was supposed to serve; neither letting ponies in, nor keeping the sand out.

„Open up!“ she yelled across to the ponies on the other side, only to be met with silence.

She glanced urgently at the poor unicorn. She was still breathing, but only barely. When Cherry had found her, she was halfway through a choking fit, and fainted soon afterwards. Without the proper care, she might not last long. Turning around, she stared at the immobile outer door:

„By Celestia's-“ she stopped midway through her curse, realizing the goddess was still somewhere close around. And, given their luck recently, probably even in hearing range. Shaking her head, she hollered towards the door:

„What's taking so long?“

Again, no reply. Ponies didn't seem to be in the mood for replies today.

And now the outer door was opening again. Just great. What's so hoofing hard about understanding a door? Push one direction, it closes, pull the other, it opens. Are you ponies utter morons?

„The other way! The other way!“ she tried to help the apparently-challenged guards outside. They didn't seem to respond, however, and soon the door was wide open once again, letting all the sand and dust outside blow freely into the corridor.

Just as Cherry was about to fly over there and close the stupid thing herself, a group of four ponies emerged from the thick smoke outside and galloped into the bunker.

Oh, she now felt slightly stupid, That actually makes sense.

Before the group had even passed the threshold, the hatch was already quickly closing again. Now lit by the orange bulbs hanging from the ceiling, and approaching fast, Cherry was able to see the little group consisted of three tall earth stallions – each carrying an unconscious pony on their back – thundering on ahead as their thick leather coats flapped in the wind, with an exhausted violet unicorn trying to keep up a short distance behind; all four were wearing thick rags wrapped around their mouths and noses, as some sort of rudimentary gasmask. Or something. Who cared, that wasn't the important part.

The important part was the identity of the grey mare powerlessly lying on the lead pony's back, feebly bobbing up and down as he galloped. Cherry gasped as she recognized her bestest friend, Zvezda.

The stallions had already covered the length of the corridor, and were now stopping a short way before Cherry. Meanwhile, the outer door was just finishing closing, and a series of metallic clangs convinced Cherry to snap to attention and pick her unconscious patient up again. Even then, she couldn't take her eyes off Zvezda.

The inner door slowly opened, and a burst of cold air rushed outside, making their tails and manes flutter in the wind. Cherry yawned, popping her ears. As the slight pressure gradient equalised, Sara – That was her name, right? – caught up with them, and, not even pausing to catch her breath, began jumping all around Zvezda.

„Please, Zvez, please! I'm so sorry!“ she was in tears, pleadingly grabbing her friend's hoof, „I'll never do something like that again! Just come back! Please, Zvez, just come back!“

The door was open now, and the small group surged inside. While one of the stallions waved a team of nurses over, Cherry took some time to look around the large inner chamber; long rows of cots and stretchers had been spread out all over the floor of the lunchroom, and most were occupied by recovering evacuees. Surprisingly to Cherry, however, the atmosphere here wasn't one of grim determination, as was the case with the teams outside; instead, the ponies here were almost... happy?

Taking a closer look, she realized that was indeed the case. A few foals were running between the rows of cots, laughing as they raced each other; One of them even had a slight limp, and she seemed happy enough as well. The adults watched them quietly from their beds, smiling because their children were. A few of them were eating cupcakes, too, and Cherry suddenly realized the game was being incited by a hyperactive pink pony, carrying a basket of baked goodies and hopping around happily; every so often, she'd slow down on purpose to allow one of the foals to catch her – even the limping one – and they'd all have a laugh.

Awww.

„Over here! Four medevacs, quick!“

She was torn from the endearing scene by the arrival of a small medical team bearing stretchers on their backs. Scanning their ranks, Cherry hoped to see the Cosmodrome's chief physician; she certainly wasn't going to let anypony of lesser skill examine her dearest friend.

Her heart sank, however, as she realized most of the team were simply drafted nurses, no doubt also commissioned on Ironhoof's orders. Of all the eleven ponies there, she only recognized one as belonging to the Cape's medical corps.

As the others spread the unconscious ponies out on the stretchers, the single doctor wondered up to them in sequence, sparing each only a momentary glance before voicing her verdict:

„She's fine, just needs some water.“

„Same.“

„Her too.“

As the doctor wondered over to Zvezda, Cherry noticed the deep rings underneath her eyes. Just how much overtime were they pulling here, anyway? Nopony really had any idea of just how much time was passing, simply living task-to-task. And all the clocks in here seemed to be utter liars, as they claimed more than five hours, which was obviously not the case.

Arriving at the grey mare's side, the doctor almost pronounced her usual diagnosis, then, stopping herself mid-breath, suddenly leant in closer. Pressing her hoof firmly against Zvezda's neck, she felt around for a few seconds, then urgently looked back up:

„We've got another AAO here! Send her to Verdure, she's the only one experienced with this.“

Cherry's face lit up at mention of the chief physician's name. If she was operating, then everything might just-

„The- the Commissar just o-ordered Verdure away,“ one of the nurses cautiously spoke up, obviously terrified to be the bearer of such news, „Apparently, t-the Chief Designer is in critical-“

„Just get her to a surgeon, then! Any surgeon! She needs an operation, stat!“

The pace of the nurses quickened as they hurriedly secured the stretcher on their backs, then set off down a nondescript corridor, into the depths of the bunker. Cherry tried to approach the diagnostician, hoping to find out exactly what was wrong; but she was already galloping off into the distance again, rushing towards the far entrance where a new group of medical emergencies was being ferried in. Stopping in her tracks, Cherry realized that for all the checklists and 'Squadrons' the Commissar had set up, this was still an emergency, with all the chaos that entailed.

Forgoing the diagnostician, she set off after the rapidly-disappearing team of nurses again. These ponies were going to make Zvezda better, or there'd be hell to pay.

She'd make sure of that.

~~~~~

„Lyuka, Lyuka! Come over here, quick!“

„Not now, Red!“ she snapped towards the professor as she connected two thick cables together, „I almost got this thing working! For real, this time!“

„This might be somewhat more important.“

Beginning to turn around, Lyuka sighed, „And what's that supposed to mean? How can anything be more-“

Oh.

At the centre of the wooden platform, all the other ponies – with the exception of Rarity, still lying in the corner, and Sequine, who was now trying to help the poor exhausted thing – were standing in a semicircle, watching in fascination the dazzling display of light that ebbed and flowed around the towering figure of their princess. Looking beyond just the pretty sparkles, Lyuka noticed that not only was the outline of their goddess steadily becoming more and more lifelike, her movements were also gradually unfreezing, as if finally breaking loose from whatever confinement they had been trapped under all this time.

Suddenly, all of her pent-up stress and worrying disappeared. Celestia was coming back. She'd put on that subtle smile of hers, maybe chide the Chief Designers a little, then cast an epic spell and everything would go back to normal.

About time, really.

Noticing the princess' mane had already returned to its brilliant starry aura, she quickly followed suit of the others and bowed deeply, almost kissing the floor.

„Your highness,“ the Duchess of Hackney barely gasped out, undoubtedly still quite shocked by this sudden turn of events.

„My little ponies,“ the princess smiled widely. Her voice was still quite faint and slow, but when cast against this backdrop of utter chaos, it was a shining beacon of hope and stability; a calm reassurance that everything would be just fine.

„Apologies if I skip through all of certainly-merited praise, my princess,“ Redstone resolutely cut short the uncertain silence that followed, „But this isn't quite over yet.“

„Of course,“ Celestia nodded, folding her wings back and walking over to the edge of the platform, then proceeding to intently examine the giant pillar of fire towering in the distance, „I trust everypony has been safely evacuated from the facility by now?“

With a nervous smile, the assembled Chief Designers looked at each other, very hesitant to speak up first. Thoughts began racing through Lyuka's head. She wished to say they were attempts at composing a reply, but in reality, most of them consisted of nothing more than crude panicky swearing.

Turning around, Celestia gave them a Look.

„Well?“

Subjected to the Princess' steely gaze, Lyuka felt distinctly exposed; as if every fibre of her existence was gradually beginning to turn see-through, allowing everypony to see all the lies inside.

„Bunkers,“ Sequine finally pipped up, safe in her distant corner.

You stupid stupid mule why did you have to-

„Bunkers?“ Celestia repeated, her voice growing quite cold. Slowly approaching Lyuka, she stared down at her, towering head-and-shoulders above the little pegasus; Lyuka stepped back, glancing around nervously, trying her best to avoid her gaze:

„Well, what could we do? We try and start some serious wind for the balloons, all those particulates here get picked up and carried over half of Equestria. We-“

Celestia paid no heed to the excuses, „What about the train station?“

„We have one train, princess, one! And it got commandeered pretty soon after the accident. Even if we wanted, we really couldn't-“

„Commandeered,“ the goddess repeated, „You mean you lost it.“

„Well-“

„You let two thousand ponies – of my royal subjects, whose safety I guarantee – get stranded in the middle of the desert, with no way out, right next to an exploding firework.“

„Exploding?“ Redstone repeated in befuddlement, „Present tense?“

He began quickly alternating his head between the roaring tower of fire and Celestia. After a few seconds of this comical motion, his face lit up:

„Time dilation! Of course, that explains everything! Why didn't I-“

„Yes, 'time dilation',“ Celestia sighed in a tone that suggested it should have been obvious. Turning back to Lyuka, she stared questioningly at her, „So, do you have any plans? Whatsoever?“

„Of course they don't!“ the Duchess yelled out from behind her, „They're completely useless! They didn't even manage to stuff the ponies into the bunkers in the first place! Your royal sister did all that!“

Celestia's steely gaze was now drilling a hole into Lyuka:

„Is this true?“

„Uhhh, heh,“ she quickly lowered her eyes to the ground, unable to look at the barely-contained solar fury overlooking her, „We...“

„Yes?“

„We...“

Buck buck buck. How you're gonna get out this one, I wonder?

Suddenly, completely out of nowhere, a new thought popped into existence at the back of her head, neatly packed away and ready for immediate use. Deeply thanking her subconscious, she wasted no time in employing it:

„... it's just, your esteemed sister just kind of sprang into action. Right after the explosion. She... she just took over, immediately, giving out orders and organizing everything. Everything was going on so quickly – and so well – that we just followed.“

It wasn't even a lie. Well, sort of.

But the princess seemed to be buying it, so the emboldened Lyuka carried on:

„After all, we're just engineers. Scientists. We know our place. When a true leader steps in...“

She trailed off. Meanwhile, Celestia stood back, looking around contemplatively. Lyuka noticed her ears snapping to attention.

Around them, a complete silence fell. Nopony dared breathe. Even the deep roar of the burning rocket subsided, probably by some act of royal magic. Nothing was getting through.

A smile appeared on Celestia's face. Straining her own ears, Lyuka picked it up too; almost inaudible in the far distance, a booming voice barking out orders. Though she had some trouble conflating this harsh sound with the quiet, soft-spoken intellectual she had met earlier, there was no question about it.

It was Luna.

Quickly scrambling to action, Celestia looked around at the staring ponies:

„I need paper! Quill!“

Nopony moved.

„Now!“

~~~~~

Dash continued scanning the seas of turbulent black smoke swirling underneath her; even though most of the heavy stuff was closely hugging the terrain, the rest was still floating high up in the air, acting like a thick fog that hindered visibility even from this high up. If she were to ascend any further than she already was – which wasn't all that high, actually – she'd lose sight of the ground completely.

The large white tower of fire seemed to be visible through just about anything, however. Idly wondering if it could be seen from space, Dash searched the ground below once more, trying to find at least one identifiable building poking out from under the smoke. Twilight was a smart pony, and moreover, she knew her friends; she'd be counting on the fact Dash's loyalty would draw her back. So, logically, she'd be waiting somewhere high up, waving a flag or something. Made sense.

Seeing nothing but black, she scowled. Why were all these stupid bunkers built so low? And why did ponies need blast-proof concrete bunkers in the first place?

Hmm. The podiums weren't exactly low. Sure, they were pretty close to the rocket, and the smoke would probably be even thicker there... but the top rows should be high enough to clear even that. Plus, they were pretty close to the pad, quick and easy to reach when things went haywire. Add a little magic, and it'd be the perfect hiding place.

A confident smile on her face, Dash turned towards the tower of fire. At the back of her mind, she wondered whether it was now looking slightly shorter than before, but quickly tossed the thought aside. That was somepony else's problem.

Tracing out a wide loop around where the launch site once had been, her smile grew wider as she soon spotted a wide translucent hemisphere, dimly pulsing with a dark reddish hue, nestled safely between the two observation towers at the very back of the western podium, entirely covering the top rows. It seemed a little too large for just her friends, but then again, Twi always liked to make her spells extra-flashy; probably just envious of the sonic rainboom.

With an almost imperceptible twitch of her trailing feathers, she adjusted her course for a landing; the bubble was completely opaque, but Dash still remembered the layout of the spectator podiums quite well. Her memory was proven correct as she passed through the arcane barrier and saw a row of seats stretching out directly below her, like a runway.

Realizing something peculiar, Dash suddenly stopped in mid-air, then took another look around.

She had seen correctly; for all its massive size, the interior of the bubble was incredibly crowded. Ponies of every colour and age were gathered below, lying in the seats and the walkways, being peaceful and generally trying to whittle away the time.

Or at least, they had been, until one of them pointed up to Dash and yelled something; now, everypony was looking up at her, some gasping, others merely lowering their heads again. She paused for a while, letting the crowd watch her with fascination, then shook her head. Her mission wasn't over yet.

There was still no sign of Twilight, though. She wasn't in the middle, where you'd expect her to be, commanding and organizing everything; instead, that place was occupied by a large tower of half-empty bottles of applejuice, arranged in peculiar winding patterns.

What's that crazy mare up to, this time? Dash wondered as she carefully approached the large array of glass; she knew her friend was a genius, and trusted the contraption served some sort of vital purpose, but that didn't change the simple fact it just looked weird. Piles of bottles stacked high up, with bottlecaps on the ground around them.

The entire thing was also glowing with a subtle glow, but even that seemed strange; unlike the constant steady glow of unicorn magic, this was variable, gradually building up to a powerful flash, which then suddenly dissipated. Dash looked back at the magical hemisphere enclosing the ponies, and realized it was pulsing in tandem with the bottles.

Landing on a seat just next to one of the towers, she leant in to examine it more closely. Her mane started feeling odd, and-

„Rainbow! There ya are!“ Applejack suddenly tackled her from the side, knocking her over on the ground and away from the tower, „I was wonderin' when you'd get here!“

Dash stared up at her friend in a confusing mixture of emotions; on the one hoof, relief that she was safe and well. On the other, however, AJ's blonde hair had transformed itself into a wild frizzy nest, that was almost impossible to not laugh at.

Her relief was greater, though. She hugged Applejack passionately.

„Rainbow, Rainbow, Rainbow!“ Twilight's voice came over from behind them. Managing to tear away from her friend, Dash looked around.

Alright. This time, she did burst into laughter.

„Rainbow?“

Applejack's mane was merely a frizzy mess, but what Twilight had on her head was a complete abomination against nature; had Rarity seen it, she'd probably faint on the spot. And the worst thing was, it fit her, especially with that crazy contraption in the background. She looked exactly like a mad scientist.

„What's wrong?“ she asked innocently as Dash slowly regained control and quietened down.

„Oh, nothing,“ she giggled, wiping a tear from her face. Hugging both of them closely, she smiled, „Just happy to see you guys again. Where's Fluttershy?“

„Umm... behind you, if that's alright?“

Immediately turning around, Dash added her to the group hug before she had a chance to escape.

„Anyway,“ Twilight tried to quickly change the topic, somehow slipping from Dash's grasp, „I've got something to show you! Come on, it's exciting!“

Oh dear. Dash thought back to all those times her friend had used those exact words, then spent half an hour staring at a flower. Or, worse yet, a rock.

Levitating a thick dusty book from a nearby bench, Twilight proceeded to shove it in her face, „Look! Look at it!“

She tried to, but the words on the page weren't telling her much; uncertainly glancing at her friend, she noticed she was rapidly gesticulating between the tall stacks of bottles and the ancient tome.

„It's Greybeard's power jars!“ she twittered excitedly, no doubt awaiting an astonished reply. One which Dash failed to deliver:

„What?“

„He wrote of 'power jars' as a helpful spellcasting aid in some of his writings, but no magic historian was ever able to figure out what he meant!“ she explained rapidly, with almost a childish glee in her voice, „And now I solved it, and it's all thanks to you!“

„Huh?“

„Condenser circuits! Even though he didn't know what to call it, Greybeard managed to stumble upon the original capacitor design!“ she was almost dancing with excitement now, „Sure, he used it for magic instead of electricity, but it was the same idea. Oh, this is going to make such a stir when the Royal Academy of Sciences hears of this...“

„Alright,“ Dash nodded, cautiously smiling and accepting her hug.

„Twilight managed to set all this up here and make the air-field 'bout ten times as big,“ Applejack explained, gesturing to the hundreds of ponies huddling under the magic barrier all around them, silently staring at the little group, „They all owe her their lives.“

OK, now that was something. Encouragingly patting her on the back, she looked back to the scene around them. Many of the ponies looked exhausted from today's ordeals, but they were all safe and sound underneath the giant glowing shield.

„You're great, Twilight.“

„Thanks,“ she whispered softly, suddenly very tired after that brief flash of commotion.

The grin disappeared off Dash's face. It became painfully obvious that, despite all these technological aids, the massive protective field was still proving to be an incredible drain at Twilight's powers. Again admiring her utter commitment to everypony on this Cosmodrome, Dash hoped to Celestia that this would all be over soon.

~~~~~

Looking on as her friend was lifted off the stretcher and onto the operating table, her head powerlessly hanging backwards, Cherry's mind was full of worry and regret. Why did the most terrible things always have to happen to the ponies who never did anything wrong? Cherry was the one who had signed up for risking her life on the frontiers of science, after all, and she was perfectly fine. But all Zvezda wanted a well-paid secure job, and yet here she was, struggling to survive amidst unstoppable forces toying with her. Where was the fairness in that?

But that wasn't everything. Oh no. After her training accident, Cherry had been given all the care and support she wanted, personally looked after by the Cosmodrome's chief physician and visited by almost everypony working here. Instead, Zvezda had to make do with a clumsy backyard operation, being conducted in a hastily converted office; Cherry eyed the depressingly happy pink walls with deep suspicion. A white cloth – already stained in places, she noted – lay over the desk, while a large pile of papers, quills, and assorted miscellany stood in the corner, rapidly pushed away to make space on the table. The air itself was heavy with the dirtied pang of wounds and antiseptic. A small metal table on wheels was the only piece of equipment even remotely reminiscent of a properly-equipped hospital.

Standing in the corner and quickly gulping down a cup of coffee, the surgery unicorn resembled the room, her white skin dirtied in places and deep rings underneath her tired eyes. Making a final readthrough of the rapidly-sketched sheet of medical information Cherry had provided her with, she mumbled some of the details under her breath, as if trying to remember them, then levitated the paper to her feet and approached Zvezda. Examining her neck again, she glanced around at her assistant, who was attaching a breathing mask over the comatose pony's face:

„How much do we have left?“

The chestnut unicorn quickly checked the pressure gauge on the heavy cylinder lying just below the table, „On this one? Half. Verdure requisitioned the rest of the C.E. for an urgent operation, so we're back to just good ol' sweet-air now.“

The surgeon sighed deeply, „Will have to do. For her sake, I do hope she's unconscious already.“

Cherry almost cried out in protest upon hearing these words. Such a brilliant pony like Zvezda deserved better, much better. The celestial wing of the Royal Hospital in Canterlot, perhaps, or at the very least, the intensive care unit of the Lunar Ward in Stalliongrad. Not this dirty office.

But right here, right now, this dirty office was all they had.

~~~~~

„Wait, we're doing what?“ Geist tried in vain to overshout the stampeding of hooves and shouting of orders that seemed to be going on everywhere around him, all the while trying to keep his tempo exactly matched to the galloping formation in front and behind, „You can't possibly be serious!“

„Oh, I'm very serious!“ Pinkie grinned in a manner suggesting she wasn't serious at all.

Shaking his head, Geist turned away and concentrated on following the formation leader in the distance before them. Asides from the pounding of hooves and encouraging slogans being yelled from far above, and far behind them – coming from the almighty Princess and the imposing Commissar respectively – the only other thing that filled Geist's ears was the rhythmic clanging of metal; coming from the large pieces of assorted construction equipment and industrial components that the ponies of his squadron were all carrying

He looked around the slowly thickening fog; both behind and before them, he could see the glowing magical hemispheres that shielded the other squadrons, each sustained by that group's dedicated magician. Some of them were carrying food and medical supplies, but the vast majority seemed to be bearing more of this strange equipment. Geist recognized some of it – welding torches, magic-fuelled emergency generators, pump assemblies – but most of them, he had never seen before.

Over the last hour, the Commissar had been handing these strange things out like candy, slowly equipping every single pony who was able to stand. Such was the urgency, even Pinkie got entrusted with a few boxes. Whatever rescue operation their two leaders were organizing had obviously been meticulously planned, and was now in full swing, unfolding perfectly.

Which made that pink pony's suggestion all the less sensible. Given that everything was going so well, just why on Equestria should they throw down their no-doubt critical equipment, split away from the main group, and run off on a wild goose chase? It made no sense.

Turning his head around again, ready to voice his complaints to his new comrade of these past few hours, he discovered she was nowhere to be seen, and her position in the tightly-organized formation was now being filled by a big empty hole.

Briefly glancing back, he indeed noticed her gear lying uselessly on the desert sand, quickly shrinking into the distance far behind them. Pinkie herself was already far gone, probably to get more cupcakes or something. Silly filly.

„Onwards! Ever onwards!“ came the amplified voice of the Commissar from a nearby loudspeaker-pole, „All your friends are depending on you, brave ponies! Don't let your comrades down!“

Realizing he was starting to slow down relative to the rest of his squadron, Geist steadied himself and, seeing the massive tower of fire still towering in the distance before him, pushed forwards. They were organized, but the task ahead was massive. In order for it to work, every single pony would have to follow orders and do precisely as they were told, even if they didn't personally understand just what good it would do. Geist knew that very well, and he'd follow orders until the end.

„Charge!“ the Princess bellowed in the skies above, „For the ponies of Equestria!“

Glancing upwards, Geist caught a brief glimpse of Luna as she soared overhead, directing her troops. It was a picture like out of some ancient legend; her long blue mane fluttered in the wind, almost glowing against the dark-cast sky as her black tiara and necklace glittered with fiery reflections of the giant tower of fire. The pair of scavenged military saddlebags on her sides, stocked full of maps and gear, almost resembled some great suit of armour, as if she were a great field marshal in the midst of a fairy-tale battle for the good of Equestria. Her commanding voice was the most powerful of all, piercing through the steady background roar of the fire and inspiring everypony to do their greatest.

Geist chortled to himself. Compared to other moments in Equestria's long and proud history, this was nothing; just a small industrial accident in some backyard desert. The only reason Luna was here, kicking up all this grandeur and over-organization, was to make the unqualified visiting ponies less panicky, force them from their safe underground shelters, and make them lug a hundred tonnes of bulky gear over the entire length of the facility. Nothing more, and nothing less.

But he also had to admit that it worked. He genuinely felt like a soldier fighting against some great evil. It was like being in the middle of a legend, and he loved it. Now, all they needed was a-

A sudden passing shockwave knocked him off his hooves, sending him flying into the pony in front of him, who crashed into the next pony, bringing the entire formation down within seconds. As he lay on the ground, he could distinctly hear a massive roar slowly begin to build up, coming from the direction of the launch pad.

You're kidding me.

~~~~~

A million conflicting thoughts running through her head, Cherry watched as the surgeon's assistant opened the appropriate valve, then checked the anaesthetic was flowing into Zvezda's mask. Still standing in the doorway, she watched their every move with baited breath, making sure they were doing everything as they should. She knew they were professionals, but she also knew they were stressed and overworked. And overworked ponies, no matter how pure their hearts, could make mistakes.

„Light,“ the surgeon demanded as she levitated a scalpel off a nearby tray and positioned it above Zvezda's neck. Her assistant closed his eyes, and a small ball of light popped into existence just above the targeted incision, lightly bobbing as it hovered in the air.

„Field.“

A small sphere of brilliant blue light materialized above Zvezda's neck, then slowly grew to cover her entire upper torso. Compared to the sterilization spells Cherry had seen in other hospitals, the assistant's was flickery and pathetic. Worthless.

The surgeon seemed to pay no heed to it, though, and Cherry flinched as the scalpel cut into friend's skin. She managed to keep her eyes on it for a whole second, then quickly turned them to the floor. Wounds and scrapes, she had no trouble with, no matter how severe. But only when they were on her own body. Seeing her friend-

Cherry shook her head. She then proceeded to carefully arrange her eyes so they'd view the surgeon, standing off to the side of the table and concentrating intently, but would keep the operating table itself firmly out of sight.

For once in her life, she was glad of that constant subdued hum that resonated from inside the Stable's walls, coming from the many pipes and electrical cables hidden away there. Usually, it was incredibly annoying, but today it was just loud enough to block out the occasional moist sounds coming from the direction of the table. Almost.

She kept staring at the surgeon; sometimes, she'd request her assistant to move the light, or perhaps pause briefly to levitate another instrument from the metal table at her side. But most of the time, she remained utterly immobile, standing in silent concentration as she worked on Zvezda.

Cherry's stomach churned from the scene, but she didn't dare to make a squeak. She didn't dare move her eyes to Zvezda either, because she'd probably completely lose it then. All this time, her imagination was conjuring up ghastly images of just what was happening on that operating table there. But even though those thoughts were sickening enough, seeing the reality would probably be even worse. And so, whenever Cherry felt her eyes were about to budge, she sealed her eyelids shut.

Amidst all this, time somehow still went on.

And on.

And-

Suddenly, the entire room shook slightly, knocking off the surgeon's concentration and forcing her to pause. The operating table, the door, the tools tray all rumbled on the floor as the lightbulb at the top of the ceiling briefly flickered. Accompanying this vibration was a deep distant roar, almost as if something had exploded. Again.

Exhaling deeply, Cherry rolled her eyes, unsure whether to laugh or cry. What was going wrong this time?

~~~~~

„Stand fast! Ponies of Equestria, by the direct order of your Princess, you will stand fast!“

Despite their great volume, the Commissar's orders seemed to be having little effect. Standing at the edge of the launch control platform, Lyuka watched in idle fascination as the dozen carefully-arranged columns and formations dissipated into sheer utter chaos below them. That would be the second time today.

Not that I can blame them, she realized, looking at the tower of fire herself. It had been intimidating enough back when it was 'just' a calm confined pillar, but now, it was getting angry.

Its edges were slowly beginning to lose their definition as the thing – Lyuka could find no more precise word for it – gradually grew fatter, multicoloured tongues of fire creeping out from underneath the surface and painting the surroundings in flickery lights. Some of them almost looked like the arms of some ancient angry god, awakened by the explosion and now coming to devour all the ponies of Equestria in a horrible feast.

The sounds emanating forth seemed to support that fantasy; the once-steady rumble was now descending into a chaotic jumble of crackling and creaking, almost like some twisted parody of a musical symphony. Every so often, an especially harsh chord would strike, and a large jet of fire would spurt forth, falling away from the tower and darkening the sand where it landed.

And, all the while, the giant tower continued growing shorter, as if falling into the ground. Or as if the forces that had previously bound it were now beginning to play out in reverse.

The sight frightened even Lyuka, and she prided herself on being a mare of science, of reason. Those common superstitious ponies below must have been absolutely terrified.

On the platform beside her, the others stood, equally taken aback. The experience even seemed to be bringing a little emotion to Sequine's face.

„How can something like that even exist?“ the Duchess spoke, more voicing her thoughts than seeking a reply.

„I... I...“ Redstone attempted one anyway, his scientific mind quite obviously straining to somehow interpret the sight, make some sense out of it, and provide a comforting fact-based reply. „Perhaps runaway interaction of chrono-magic and unstable propellants? No, no, can't be. Too energetic. Or perhaps chain reaction...“

„I have no clue,“ he finally announced, shielding his eyes.

„My princess?“ Lyuka uttered uncertainly to Celestia, „You can fix this, right?“

The silence that followed was even worse than a 'no' could ever have been.

A pause means that she's thinking it over. That she isn't sure.

That she doesn't-

Lyuka cut herself off just before finishing that thought. Bad idea to be thinking blasphemy when the goddess in question is standing five paces away from you. Besides, she's the immortal princess of the sun, right? A magician with millennia of experience? She must have a plan.

Yeah, that's it, Lyuka reassured herself, It's just taking a little bit to get started.

On the other hoof, her royal sister certainly seemed to have had one ready; except the panicky nature of Equestria's ponies seemed to have derailed it somewhat. Lyuka looked upwards: The princess was hovering high up in the sky, glancing about rapidly, obviously considering and dismissing a thousand scenarios per second.

But meanwhile, the situation below was descending further and further into an irreversible rout. While a precious few still remained in their small confined groups, most of the ponies were already beginning to scatter, running in all the physical directions that led away from the launch pad. A few minutes more, and there'd be nopony left to carry out a plan, no matter how brilliant it was.

Seeing the Commissar's words were doing nothing, Luna decided to try herself. Folding in her wings, she began swooping low above the running ponies:

„Your princess needs you, my royal subjects!“ her voice boomed, eyes glowing white as she continued, „For the good of Equestria, do not be afraid of a few simple fireworks!“

Lyuka observed this made the ponies run even faster.

~~~~~

Straining her ears, Cherry was trying desperately to hear just what the two surgeons were talking about. Ever since their hurried arrival a few minutes ago, they hadn't done anything except talk, muttering amongst themselves in their secretive hushed overtones, leaving the unconscious Zvezda lying still behind them. Every so often, the assistant unicorn would bring in another additional surgeon, and she'd also join the small closed circle, adding her own hushed voice to the mix.

Cherry hated not knowing what was going on; and something obviously was, otherwise they wouldn't need all these extra specialists. She had every urge to just march up to them and demand an explanation. This protectionism reminded her too much of her dad's.

But, no matter how hard it was, she stopped herself. Every second wasted explaining things to her could be the one second too much for her dear friend.

And so, she waited in the corner of the room, standing still, praying to Celestia. After all, the princess was right here on this Cosmodrome. She should be able to hear, right?

The thought reminded Cherry of one of Redstone's lessons; her first time in that chalky old classroom she had actually understood something. It was a pretty strange day, really, because the old professor was in a really good mood for some reason. He just wondered over to the board and gave the most sensible explanation of his life, using the sensible analogy of two spheres, one twice as big as the other, to explain the theory.

He had said it applied to almost every force in the universe. So, hopefully, prayers would obey the inverse-square law too.

~~~~~

„Your comrades need you! Running away means betraying their friendship!“

Ouch, Lyuka winced, still motionlessly watching from the platform, Now that's harsh.

As Luna continued in her never-ending attempts to rally the crowds, something popped into existence just inches away. Stealing a glance at it just before Celestia had whisked it away, Lyuka realized it was a fragment of a strategic map, about hoof-sized and obviously torn away in a great hurry. On it, in hastily-sketched letters, stood the words „Tia, help me out here.“

The message seemed so uncharacteristic of the great battlefield commander flying below, it made Lyuka pause. She remembered the rather soft-spoken, if dignified, intellectual who had expressed so much interest in Will's computeronic technology just a scant few hours ago.

Then again, soft-spoken intellectuals don't become ultimate rulers. And if they do, they don't stay that way.

„You dare disobey your princess?“ Luna tried to invoke an even greater fear in the scattering ponies.

But it didn't work. Watching from the sidelines – and hence having enough time to judge – it was fairly obvious to Lyuka that this plan had been doomed from start. The peaceful ponies of Equestria were used to kicking up a panicked stampede at an unexpected swarm of rabbits; a giant burning tower of fire was just too much.

„Bring it up, bring it up!“

Turning her gaze away from the princess, Lyuka noticed the Commissar standing to attention, overseeing a few of his stallions as they attempted to work away on a peculiar metallic contraption housed on a shaky wooden draw-cart; the machination consisted of six long cylinders, arranged in a hexagon and facing forwards, with small apertures at their far ends, and small doors on the other. On a steel plate hanging from its side stood, in large blocky letters, the inscription „ULTIMA RATIO REGINAE“. The entire thing, though it seemed made from finely-cast metal, appeared quite rusted and worn; it must have been centuries old, perhaps even more.

Lyuka remembered seeing it a couple of times at the back of the storage bays of Stable III, but never was quite sure exactly what it was. Seeing the utterly committed look on the Commissar's face, however, filled her with with dread anyway. She tried a quick glance at Celestia, but it told her nothing; a blank expression covered the princess' face as she dimly stared at the cart, as if lost in memories.

Whatever the purpose of the device was, the stallions seemed to be experiencing big trouble getting it to an operational state. The eldest amongst them was slowly browsing through ancient and delicate parchments – ones that looked like they had been carefully passed down for entire generations – and silently mouthing the words as he read on. After spending a long time on one particular paragraph, he looked back at the Commissar:

„Chief, you know what 'munition' means?“

„What?“ the Commissar snapped, marching over to look at the parchment in question himself. After spending a long time parsing through its contents, he closed his eyes:

„Munition, munition... I remember Father mentioning something like that once...“

„Do we have it in Armamentarium?“ a younger aide – wearing a slightly shorter woollen hat than the others, something Lyuka had never noticed before – suggested, only to be immediately shouted down by his elders:

„And just how are we supposed to check that? Do you know what 'munition' looks like?“

„Sorry, elder. Only suggestion.“

As the hat-wearers carried on with their conversation, Luna hit the platform next to Celestia, making a particularly hard landing that shook the entire platform.

„Tia!“ she pleaded, completely exasperated from her efforts, „Come on! We have to do something!“

„Honestly, Luna. I'm gone for a few hours and you already start taking over everything,“ Celestia chided her sister with a giggle, „Have you learnt nothing?“

„This isn't the time for stupid jokes, Tia! We must act now!“

„You can't rush things like this,“ Celestia answered quietly, speaking with the measured voice of a mentor as she turned her eyes towards the distance.

„But-“

„Just wait and see, little sister.“

„Come on, I've got a plan! I know how to fix this! All we need is a few dozen ponies to set up a Calendula ring, then use it to amplify a confinement-“

„I know,“ she calmly nodded, „Just wait.“

„If we wait, that thing's going to explode, Tia,“ Luna gesticulated intently towards the still-collapsing tower of fire before them, „I can fix this, I know I can, but not with all the ponies running away in a panicked riot!“

„Exactly,“ a mysterious smile occupied Celestia's face as she looked off into the distance.

„Tia!“ Luna tugged wildly at her sister's shoulder, without much effect.

Lyuka wasn't quite sure what to make of all this. On the one hoof, Luna's hurried argumentation was certainly proving rather persuasive. On the other, that infernal tender smile on Celestia's face was...

Suddenly, Lyuka realized the princess had been looking at something in specific this entire time, as opposed to just staring out into the distance. Tracing her gaze, she noticed a dusted earth pony sneaking across towards the microphone stand on the other side of the platform; the Commissar's stallions, still too busy with their study of the ancient manuals, never noticed her.

She was getting quite close to the microphone now. Should I stop her? Lyuka wondered, glancing upwards at Celestia. After all, that pony was quite obviously an unauthorized civilian.

However, it was equally obvious from Celestia's gradually widening grin that she also was a vital part of the goddess' plan. Shrugging, Lyuka sat back to enjoy the fireworks that would undoubtedly follow.

The pony had completely skirted past their security consignment now, and was galloping the final stretch towards her destination. As she approached, Lyuka noticed that, underneath all that grey dust, the pony's skin was a powerful shade of pink.

„Good morning, everypony!“ she hollered into the microphone, „And say hello to your new Field Marshal, Pinkie Pie!“

„What on Equestria-“ the Commissar sprang to attention, but a stern gaze from Celestia silenced him. This was her game.

Meanwhile, the pink pony carried on:

„You know, there seems to be an awful lot of grimdark happening here today,“ she happily twittered away, her saccharine voice echoing all around the facility and reaching the ears of everypony for miles around, „Explosions, screaming, double explosions!“

This can't be real.

„A lot of ponies are kind of on the edge from all this stress. I'd prescribe them a party, but they're too boring for that. Well, no they aren't, but they think they are, and there lies half the-“

Please say you're kidding, Lyuka prayed as she glanced back towards Celestia, This is a joke, right? You've got to have a better plan than this.

„-anyway, I'm getting sort of away from what I wanted to say. The point is, stressed ponies aren't smart ponies. Stressed ponies are silly ponies. And silly ponies do silly things!“

Lyuka sighed in relief as she noticed the wide grin on the princess' face. Thank heavens. She's just having fun. The real rescue will come any minute now...

„Like all these Ironhoof and Panzerhengst fellas. Now, don't get me wrong, they've got all the right ideas: Hide everypony in a nice cosy shelter. Serve them all delicious cookies. Save Equestria from a giant explosion!“

Any minute now...

„But that doesn't mean they're doing anything right! In fact, those sillies are the worst thing ever! You start following them because you hear them talking about cookies for everypony, but when you get there, all those cookies end up being bread and water in a smelly underground stable! Just because you talk about doing something, and even think you're doing it, doesn't actually mean you're doing it right! “

OK, thanks for the nice life lesson, but can we rush over to that part where we stop the unstoppable explosion now? Hint hint?

„And that's why we don't trust politicians!“ the pink pony victoriously finished off her grand speech, turning away from the microphone and haughtily marching off the platform.

For once, Lyuka wished really really hard the princess could actually hear her thoughts.

Who says she can't? And that sounds really uncomfortable, by the way.

Her cheeks flushing, Lyuka immediately petrified to absolute stillness, trying very hard not to think about anything. Especially that.

„No, wait!“ Pinkie squealed, then quickly hopped over to the microphone again, „That's not what I was going to say at all!“

„The point is, those silly ponies in charge did a lot of silly things. They promised a lot of things, as long as you would just listen and do what they said. So, you did, and things turned out pretty bad.“

„But that doesn't mean the ideas were wrong! It just means that the ponies were silly! And now that there's a new Field Marshal in charge, things are gonna change in this town! First of all, there's going to be a lot more parties! Not on Fridays, that'll be rocket time, but every other day-“

Unable to bear any more, Lyuka turned her eyes away from the jabbering Pinkie. Looking at anything else was better than at that so-called 'Champion of Celestia' that was standing there, making an utter joke of everything. Everypony was going to die, and it was all because of her.

Scanning the sands below, however, she slowly realized something; the ponies weren't running away any more. There was no more screaming.

Instead, everypony in the Cosmodrome was staring at the nearest loudspeaker pole, a mixture of utter confusion and lost befuddlement on their faces. They were all thinking the same thing as Lyuka, apparently. What the-

Glancing up again, she noticed Celestia was standing near the microphone stand now, just behind Pinkie. The pink pony apparently noticed as well, as she hurriedly cut short her long list of promises:

„Anyway, here's my- uhhh, assistant – princess Celestia!“

„Thank you, Pinkie,“ the princess smoothly took over, „Now, my little ponies, listen up. There's a lot of work do to; my stopgap enchantments can't be sustained forever, not without constant oversight. But there's a permanent solution which awaits us, just as long as we all work together. Trust me now as I say this: Follow orders, and not one pony will die today.“

„Also, there'll be cake!“ Pinkie pipped up from behind her.

Lyuka didn't want to laugh. She sternly refused. This is the single, most stupid, waste of-

She didn't manage, though. Tears began streaming from her eyes as she descended into bouts of laughter. Her brain, having run on on pure adrenaline and stress for the past few hours, was more than thankful for this excuse to laugh.

Pinkie was right; ponies just weren't built for grimdark.

~~~~~

„Somepony turn that stupid noise off!“ the surgeon yelled as Pinkie's words flooded the bunker, echoes bouncing off the metal walls and resulting in a great cacophony of chaos, „I'm trying to concentrate here!“

„With pleasure,“ Cherry grinned. One swift kick of her hind legs later, and there was peace.

„Clamp,“ another surgeon demanded.

A nurse quickly brought up a whole basketful.

„Another number twenty three.“

„Forceps.“

„Number four.“

The three specialists steadily whittled on, standing in a semicircle around the unconscious Zvezda as they levitated entire groups of various instruments all around. Every so often, they'd bark another order, and a new nurse would come up to dispense a new device, or take away an old one.

„Just where did all of you ponies appear from, anyway?“ Cherry whispered to one of the new arrivals, a nurse who was preparing another batch of bandages.

„Main yard,“ the stallion whispered back, „The Chief Designer got brought in, and there were two dozen of us, all trying to fix what turned out to be a simple case of insomnia. You should have seen the look on her face when she woke up and heard her best comrade-engineer was in surgery here, while all of us were with her.“

„Huh,“ Cherry raised her eyebrows, remembering all the Director's grandiose speeches about unity and equality. Not just fluff, eh?

„Will she be fine?“ she resumed, gesturing discretely towards Zvezda.

The nurse chortled: „Miss Skies, you've got Doc Verdure herself standing right there. I'm telling you, when your friend comes out from underneath that scalpel, she's going to be better than new.“

„Another canister of C.E. here! And make it snappy!“ one of the unicorns bellowed from Zvezda's side.

Cherry smiled as she saw the massive team work together in perfect unison, levitating instruments and carrying additional supplies. A bright magical field filled the entire room, and the doors of the office never closed as more trays of equipment were continuously ferried in.

Now this was the attention Zvezda deserved.

~~~~~

„A little to the left! Come on, bring it up!“

Once again, the Commissar was doing what he was best at: Yelling loudly at incompetent ponies. Except now, he was under the firm oversight of Celestia. Noticing her stern gaze was upon him, he quickly added, „Good work, everypony. We are almost there!“

Geist grinned as he snapped the final metal rod into place, finishing what looked like a giant antenna. Fifty paces on either side of him, other teams were working on their own copies.

„Squadron six, finished!“ he yelled in the direction of the launch control platform; from there, Luna promptly nodded in response, crossing another item off her checklist.

„Squadron, retreat!“ his commander yelled, and Geist gladly followed. For all the fervour and efficiency of their operation, there was still a giant tower of fire just a few paces away from them, and he was quite glad to put as much distance between it and himself as physically possible.

Upon arriving under the protective umbrella of Celestia's protective field, he turned around in eager anticipation of the upcoming fireworks.

And he certainly wasn't disappointed; already, things were starting to happen. What had once been a giant tower of fire was now squat and bulbous, webs of deep orange hues and brilliant white splotches playing across its surface, distinctly resembling a slow-motion explosion; which is probably what it was. Redstone certainly would have plenty of fun analysing all this later.

„Popcorn?“ Pinkie suddenly appeared on his side, carrying two full buckets. After many hours of choking, sweat, and back-breaking labours, it was a welcome reprieve.

He accepted. Munching on the delicious white things, he watched as Luna lifted off the control platform and majestically swept down towards the ball of fire, wings royally outstretched, horn glowing brilliantly.

Geist, discretely comparing Cherry and Pinkie with Luna, grinned to himself. As long as he was dreaming, that right there was another mare he'd never have a chance with.

A brilliant flash of light tore him from his thoughts.

Okay, I'll stop now, promise!

His vision slowly returning, Geist cheered to see the show wasn't over yet; instead, each of the antennas was glowing brightly, a billion shades of a colour playing across their surface, different for each tower. Together, the seven of them made up the entire rainbow.

At the epicentre of it all hovered the dark outline of Luna, diligently directing the titanic energies under her with all the careful patience of a master artisan. From the control platform, Celestia watched intently; once again with that subtle smile on her face.

Beams of colour fired upwards from each antenna, creating seven pillars that stretched out into the sky. Geist watched in utter wonder. Once, he had been deeply impressed by their work here; but now, he could see technology and science were only a part of the picture. And the same went for magic.

For far too long, ponies had to make do with just one of the two. But now that the Cosmodrome's work was slowly pushing back the boundaries of the technological, who knew what kind of greatness the pony race might achieve when using both magic and science in unison?

Or are they just two sides of the same coin?

He scoffed to himself. Such thoughts were better left to Redstone.

The seven towers of colour slowly bent inwards, folding in an elaborate dance with Luna at its centre; as they did so, little branches of light flared out from their master trunks, reaching for and entwining with the others. Soon, they had formed a round cage around the glacially-advancing explosion.

All that was left now was the master touch. Ever so graciously, Luna gradually lowered her hoof, positioning it precisely above the master node where all seven of the original trunks met up, exactly above the epicentre of the explosion.

There was another flash of light, and the colours stopped playing across its surface; they froze in space and time, not budging a hoof further. The entire contraption stood entirely still, balancing on the edge of reality.

After a few breathless moments, the glow began to fade, both the cage and the explosion gradually turning black.

A silence befell the Cosmodrome; one interrupted only by the steady munching of popcorn.

The colours faded to grey, then to black, then slowly began losing their consistency altogether. Several more seconds later, it had faded entirely out of existence.

The ponies around began celebrating, fervently hitting the ground in a stampede of hooves. Looking at each other, Geist and Pinkie joined in. It might not have been what they had hoped for, but it was still a victory.

~~~~~

Watching the brilliant display of magical prowess from her hospital bed – Cherry and Sara tearfully standing at her sides – Zvezda produced a sad smile. Yes, on the one hoof, it certainly was nice to finally see everything resolve and come together nicely, without a single pony losing their life.

On the other... watching the bright magic going on in the distance, she sighed. That's how it got fixed, with a simple spell from an immortal goddess. A Deus Ex Machina. Had this been a work of fiction, Zvezda would have demanded her money back.

None of the Cosmodrome ponies had managed anything. She herself had been knocked unconscious in the first few minutes, and spent the entire remainder lying uselessly in the sand, before being rescued by somepony else. From what she had heard, Wilhelmina, Redstone, and the rest of the Chief Designers hadn't really done much either, and nor had the armies of other qualified scientists and engineers of the Cape. All the credit belonged to the two royal sisters, Celestia's six Champions, and the Commissar. Not exactly what one would call fulfilling.

Then again, Zvezda realized as the dazzling spectacle gradually wound down, This isn't a story. In the real world, engineers aren't heroes. When there's a disaster, they don't leap in and save the day; they leave that to the real Goddesses and Champions instead.

You're an ordinary pony, Zvez, just trying to get by. Myths and legends don't belong to you.

It was the truth, she knew it was; never for a moment would she have ever claimed she was was special in some way, or that she held a special place in the history of Equestria.

Working in such a crazy place, though, it was sometimes hard to remember that.

~~~~~

By the time the first emergency trains had begun arriving at the Cape's railway station, night had arrived. Watching the multicoloured masses murmur excitedly amongst each other as they boarded the motley assortment of various wagons and carriages that had come from all corners of the kingdom, Wilhelmina smiled. Double-checking with a brief glance at a report from the Commissar, she looked up to Celestia:

„Everypony to the last, my Princess, all safe, healthy, and accounted for. Rather unexpectedly, I must say; The doctors claim that nothing could have survived as long as some of these ponies had inside that smoke. And the stadium miraculously collapsed just just as the last pony managed to leave. The heavens certainly smiled upon us today.“

Celestia replied with a subtle grin, and nothing else. Looking towards the train station again, Will produced a smile of her own.

The annoying part of her brain soon spoke up, however, and wiped it right off her face. Glancing worriedly at Celestia again, Wilhelmina began:

„Is... is this how it ends, Princess? Without even a single success?“

There was a grim silence.

„I can only do so much, my dear Wilhelmina,“ she replied after an eternity, „I can guarantee I won't cancel the Programme myself; however, it is up to the Assembly to determine just how much money they send you. And while I am certain you have some allies, I am afraid they are not very common.“

„We need half a year,“ Wilhelmina remained adamant, „Give us that, Princess, and we will launch. You have my word.“

„For Equestria's sake, I hope you will,“ Celestia replied silently.

Luna suddenly landed between them, upsetting their quiet conversation. Prodding her playfully on her shoulder, the princess of the sun grinned. Her little sister prodded her back, and the two laughed.

„So, Luna,“ Celestia began after the two had finished, „I trust today has been educational?“

The smile disappeared off her sister's face. And off Wilhelmina's.

„Are you telling me-“ Luna haughtily began, but was cut short:

„Of course not! But I'd never waste such an opportunity either. Anything to make you stop using that 'traditional Canterlot voice' as soon as possible. We got rid of that tradition for a very good reason, and I don't want to see it return ever again.“

„Sowwy, Tia,“ Luna whispered softly, hanging her head low towards the ground; just a little too cutely to actually be sincere.

The two immortal sisters burst into another bout of laughter. By the time they had finished, the royal carriage was up and running, ready to go.

„Well, then, Director,“ Celestia nodded, standing in the massive doorway of the vehicle as it began to climb into the air, „Until your next launch.“

Comments

[groo567]

Holy crap this is long.. Gonna have to stop halfway through for tonight and finish this chapter tomorrow.

[Blaster M]

2656058
I powered through Austraeoh's 8 books.... this is a short story by comparison

[calm melody]

8134354
Took me over a year to get caught up with those, and don't forget that it's still going and the author is currently on the ninth, with 3 more after in his epic tale.

[Haley Scribe]

It was the truth, she knew it was; never for a moment would she have ever claimed she was was special in some way, or that she held a special place in the history of Equestria.

Somepony get Zvezda a copy of these.