Sol 479
AMICITAS FLIGHT THREE – MISSION DAY 488
ARES III SOL 479
The Equestrians huddled. They hadn’t done this for quite some time, but Starlight had insisted. She didn’t want Mark to hear- or, at least, to understand- what they were talking about.
“So what are we talking about?” Fireball asked, in Equestrian. Starlight had insisted on that, too, for the same reason. “Is it about how we stopped early?”
“Sixty-three kilometers,” Starlight said. “This morning the batteries were only at eighty-three percent charge.”
“It’s actually darker outside,” Cherry Berry said. “It kind of snuck up on us, but it’s obvious now.”
“And Mark couldn’t find Phobos when it rose,” Starlight added. “The dust is too thick to see anything in the sky but the sun.”
“How big is this storm, anyway?” Dragonfly asked.
“Big, and growing,” Starlight said. “Mark says that about once every four years or so, a dust storm blows up big enough to cover the entire planet in a dust cloud. They last for weeks, sometimes months.”
“We haven’t got months,” Fireball pointed out.
“I know.” Starlight looked at Dragonfly. “You kept talking about hearing voices from this and that. Hearing anything from the planet? The weather? Anything at all?”
Dragonfly turned her gaze away from Starlight’s. “I don’t like to talk about it,” she muttered. “You all laugh. You keep it inside, but I hear it anyway.”
“We’re not laughing now,” Starlight said. “Right now, I’m wondering if Mars has windigoes.”
“Windigoes?” Spitfire’s eyes opened almost fully. “You mean the monsters from the Hearth’s Warming stories?”
“That’s right,” Starlight said, “and I don’t mean the nice one from ‘The Lonely Red Windigo,’ either. Think about it; we’re getting on each other’s nerves, and the weather is changing as if it deliberately wants to freeze us solid.”
“Um,” Cherry Berry said, “we’re not grumpy anymore. We’re worried.”
“Pfft, worried,” Fireball said. “We’re scared. We’re bucking terrified.”
“And I’m not feeling anything like windigoes around us,” Dragonfly said. “Mars isn’t saying anything. All I feel is the six of us, the rover, and the death box. The rover only ever says one thing- ‘Let’s go.’ And the death box just says, ‘Good night, mortals, good work, I’ll probably kill you in the morning.’”
“Does it care if Mars gets us first?” Cherry asked.
“Cherry, commanders don’t say things like that,” Spitfire snapped.
“Not wrong, though,” Fireball grumbled. “It looks like we’re going to die out here.”
“It’s not hopeless!” Spitfire insisted. “Twilight Sparkle might be just about to save us!”
“If she is,” Dragonfly sighed, “now would be a really good time.”
“Well, this is awkward.”
In the middle of the table, lights blinking, sat Angel 16.
On one side of the table sat Princess Twilight Sparkle, head of the Equestrian Space Agency; Queen Chrysalis, head of Changeling Space Program; and Princess Luna, one of the ruling diarchs of Equestria.
On the other side of the table sat Twilight Sparkle, unicorn scientist; Chrysalis, one of the leaders of the Resistance; and Queen Nightmare Moon, tyrant of Equestria.
“I still want to know, counterpart of mine,” Nightmare Moon purred in a most unfriendly tone, “what persuaded you to surrender to our sister.”
“Well, there was the purifying blast of pure harmonic magic direct to the face,” Princess Luna said. “Did you not get that?”
“I destroyed the Elements of Harmony with my own hoof,” Nightmare Moon said.
“So did I,” Luna said. “It didn’t help. The Elements are not just artifacts. They’re avatars of the highest ideals of civilization. And they summoned to them six mares suitable to embody those ideals.”
“Which did not occur in my universe,” Nightmare Moon said. “My initial takeover met with zero resistance, even from my sister.” She glared at the changeling and pony sharing her side of the able and hissed, “Resistance, such as it was, came later.”
“Obviously something happened to prevent Rainbow Dash from achieving a sonic rainboom in your universe,” said Princess Twilight, speaking from experience.
“Rainbow Dash is a lieutenant in my Shadowbolts,” Nightmare Moon said. “None more loyal.”
“Rarity?”
“Chambermaid and dresser,” Nightmare Moon said. “She insists on trying to get me to wear bright, frilly things. ‘Contrast’ this and ‘Lace softens the lines’ that.”
“Applejack?”
“Led the first uprising against me. She lives in my dungeons now as a hostage against the future good conduct of the Apple clan.”
“Pinkie Pie?”
“Who?”
“Fluttershy?”
“Never heard of her, either.”
Princess Twilight pointed to her non-alicorn doppelganger. “And you? Did you attend Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns?”
“I… dropped out,” Twilight said sadly. “Once I read all the books and scrolls in the public shelves, I left to seek out knowledge on my own. I was in Hollow Shades investigating the mystery of the disappearance of the Pillars of Harmony when the Night Without Dawn began. I returned to Canterlot and was recruited into the Resistance by Princess Cadance.”
“And when I find her, I shall bring proper order to the kingdom again,” Nightmare Moon growled. “That filly has been a thorn in my flank for far too long.”
“I was studying the moon, trying to find some way to return Nightmare Moon to her prison,” Unicorn Twilight continued. “That’s when we saw her magic reach out and grab this object in space. We thought it might be something we could use to defeat her, so we organized the Resistance to infiltrate her castle and steal the object.” She glared at non-queen Chrysalis. “We were discovered.”
“Not my fault,” non-queen Chrysalis snapped back. “Your ponies betrayed my changelings.”
“What is the matter with you??” definitely-queen Chrysalis shouted. “Changelings don’t get betrayed! They do the betraying!”
“Well, excuse me for trying to survive in a life or death battle against a mad goddess!” not-queen Chrysalis shouted back.
“I am not mad!!” Nightmare Moon shrieked. “How dare you imply that my sanity is not up to scratch-“
“LADIES, PLEASE!” Princess Twilight’s horn lit up, and four muzzles found themselves clamped shut by magical force.
“To get back to your original question,” Luna said quietly, her mouth not being sealed, “it was rather for the best that I surrendered. Our night has been appreciated more than ever, especially since exploration began of the void beyond. And I have since learned to appreciate the talents of our sister, and the trials she undergoes.”
Nightmare Moon’s horn flared, dispelling Princess Twilight’s muzzling spell. “Oh, spare me,” she snarled. “Miss Pretty Perfect Princess? I can do anything she did, and do it better! I protect our ponies from the monsters that roam the waking world, and I am a thousand times more terrible than the beasts that stalk their dreams! What does she do better than you,” she sneered the pronoun at Luna, “do?”
Luna didn’t even blink. “She opens shopping centers and bridges and the like.”
Nightmare Moon’s jaw dropped. “Y-y-you mean,” she stammered, “I don’t have to DO that?”
“And she can send nobles home from open court,” Luna continued, “happy and cheerful- without actually agreeing to any of their foolish proposals.”
“I’m sorry?” Nightmare Moon asked, even more boggled. “This is our sister? Celestia? The shy mare who got tongue-tied every time Princess Platinum berated her about acting her station?”
Unicorn Twilight blinked and looked at Nightmare Moon. “Princess Celestia? Tongue-tied?”
“Yes, except when she babbled uncontrollably,” Nightmare Moon said. “You would not believe how fast she’d go to pieces any time someone asked her to… um…” The tyrant queen blushed under her helmet, finding something interesting on the wall to look at. “We may discuss this another time,” she muttered. “Indeed we have much to discuss when we return home. But now it is time we got to our proper business: an explanation into the cause for this… device,” she said, poking the steel casing of the space probe on the table, “and its intrusion into Our realm.”
Explanations followed.
The dimensional counterparts, curious, accepted the invitation to watch the film collected by the probe, once it was developed. This process was rushed to completion, and two hours later the group of them sat and watched the flickering images of a couple of different versions of Equus, a desolate lifeless rock, empty space, and a blue-white world with different continents that Princess Twilight referred to as “an Earth.”
And then the scene shifted from space to someplace entirely other, a realm flooded with a murky, roiling green mist. An eye floated into view… then another, and another, and another. They flowed around one another, obviously not tethered to anything, yet giving the impression of being under the control of a single mind.
Well, hello. I knew allowing that bit of metal to pass through would be worthwhile. Such a fascinating cluster of worldlets you had here.
The ponies tried to scream, and couldn’t.
They tried to blink, and couldn’t.
All six of them sat rigid, staring at the projector screen, as something extended out of it and into the room.
“I heard somepony’s watching a film!” The door to the conference room banged open, and this world’s native Pinkie Pie barged in, wobbling on her hind legs as her forelegs carried a gigantic tub of popcorn. “And you can’t have a film-watching party without the po-“ Her eyes locked onto the screen, and her body froze. The tub of popcorn fell to the floor, its contents spilling everywhere.
At the same moment, the tentacle of otherness recoiled back into the screen.
PINKIE!
No, wait… you are not MY Pinkie.
Whew.
You are just a pony… an extraordinary pony, but still only a pony.
Very well. You at least shall be no obstacle to-
Hey, Gnarly, watcha doin’?
The tentacle, which had begun to extend itself back into the room, froze. On the screen behind it a portion of the roiling green was pushed aside by a mass of rigid cotton-candy cloud which seemed to extend into non-Euclidian geometric shapes.
Gnarly! I’m ashamed of you! What did I tell you about this?
The not-voice had a mixture of cringe and whine in it: It’s mean to conquer and defile the realms of puny insignificant mortals.
Now say you’re sorry! Or no (untranslatable concept) with your (different untranslatable concept) tonight!
I apologize for my intrusion into your lower dimension. It won’t happen again.
Okay! Now let’s clean up the mess you made…
The ponies blinked.
A tinny fanfare rang from the film projector’s built-in speaker. The title appeared on the screen: Bunny-Wunny Adventures on Carrotcake Mountain!
“What did we just see?” Princess Twilight asked.
“Nightmares beyond the dream realm,” Princess Luna gasped.
“Things mares were not meant to know,” Nightmare Moon added.
“Aw, ponies always complain about the Bunny-Wunny Adventures,” Pinkie Pie said between mouthfuls of popcorn. “They just can’t appreciate a simple, sweet, fun story.”
“Wait a moment,” Queen Chrysalis said. “If this is a children’s film, what happened to the film from the probe?”
“Oh, that’s obvious,” Pinkie said. “They couldn’t close the door while the film existed, so they made the film not exist anymore.”
“So… they destroyed it,” Resistance Chrysalis said cautiously.
“Nah,” Pinkie said. “It never existed. Duh!”
“But… if it never existed…” Unicorn Twilight began.
“… then how do we remember seeing it?” Princess Twilight finished.
“You don’t,” Pinkie said. “You remember the fact of seeing it, but if you remembered what you saw, that would be a door too. Really, am I the only one who sees all this obvious stuff that’s totally obvious?”
“But they had a Pinkie!”
“Lots of places have a Pinkie!” The local Pinkie giggled and added, “Sometimes more than one!”
“I vote,” Resistance Chrysalis said, “we all just relax, forget everything, and watch the movie. And pass me that popcorn.”
“Since when do we eat food?” Queen Chrysalis asked.
“Fine. Pass me some of that love of popcorn, please.”
“One moment,” Princess Luna said. “The seven of us saw that film… but didn’t the ponies who developed it see it as well?”
“The eldritch beings are powerful,” Nightmare Moon said, “but neither all-knowing nor infallible.”
“To the developers! Post-haste!” Luna cried. “The nightmares such visions can spawn would be just as deadly as the original invaders!”
The two moon princesses galloped out the door.
Princess Twilight and Queen Chrysalis looked at each other. “No Angel 17?” Chrysalis asked.
“No Angel 17,” Twilight agreed.
“Sssh!” Resistance Chrysalis hissed. “We’re trying to watch a movie!”
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What.
Okay. So.
That was unexpected.
Hrm. Alrighty, I guess I'll analyze this.
So, a world where Celestia is probably not entirely Princess material, and has thus subsequently been taken over by Nightmare Moon. The Elements of Harmony apparently work slightly differently in this universe, or just failed to accomplish their mission. Either way, Nightmare Moon is successful in her goals.
Nightmare is, apparently, not a complete monster, though it's probably safe to say that she is still morally ambiguous (see: Applejack being hostage in the dungeons and the existence of a resistance). All in all, a tyrant bent on control, but not an amoral monster. Probably.
Twilight, naturally, did not eventually ascend because of the preceding events in this timeline. She's not close friends with the other Mane 5, and is instead a part of the Resistance.
The Resistance is apparently led by Cadance, and Chrysalis and her changelings are also a part of this Resistance. Evidently that did not work out spectacularly, however. This Chrysalis is apparently most definitely not a Queen. Wonder what that implies.
While not explicitly stated, I would assume that Eternal Night is in effect. If this is the case, it is unclear why the world has not frozen over, or why everyone hasn't starved due to all the plantlife dying from a lack of sunlight. Assuming we aren't talking about a world in apocalypse, surviving in vault-like shelters.
Status of Discord: Unknown.
Status of Pinkie: Unknown.
Status of the Crystal Empire: Unknown.
So yeah, fun world.
No more Equus? Aww.
Does that include progress on the next CSP chapter?
Well, that's ominous.
I have no idea what actually happened.
Best chapter yet. ^^
...Well. That happened.
...Whelp, guess it is up to Starlight now.
So the next time we see Twiggy and Chrys will be when the Concordia pops into existance on a collision course with Hermes just as Fireball leaves the MAV for a desperate EVA rendezvous with Beck?
9146172
Isn't it obvious? Pinky does not like her party guests leaving, so she had to close the door.
I was just thinking it was past time we saw what was happening with Twilight's efforts.
Shame. But not entirely unexpected.
So no chance of an Equestrian rescue then? Our castaways list of possible outs is dwindling.
You know, it occurs to me now that if Starlight gets to Earth and starts generating a massive mana beacon, our friends in Equus might not be the only ones to take notice and follow it.
That could be VERY interesting indeed.
So the RTG is channeling the dread pirate Roberts now?
9146223
>starts generating a massive mana beacon
Like, say, the entire biosphere suddenly magicking up after the crew's magic field catalyses it?
Well, that was one of the more intresting explanation of what the effect of an M-Brane reality folded up in N dimentional space along with all possible variations as well. Where the 4th wall and L space are subsets of realities.
No Angel 17 means no Angel 18 undergoing a renaming through the D jump either.
Accross Mars, the lights are going out.
Wow! A new chapter and it's still daylight! You're slipping, Kris.
An entertaining read.
im so confused
9146240
Maybe. I was more thinking of a very specific and powerful active spellcast though. The entire biosphere magicking itself up would probably be a pretty big deal though, yeah.
Well frak. Awkward indeed.
9146240
Like, say, rainbow beam targeting on Mars.
I like it. But if they're stopping probes, then that means that Mark and the gang won't get any help at all from Equestria. This kind of sucks. Also, kind of wanted more wanton multiverse adventures.
That was a nice breather chapter, and always fun to see what's going on back home.
9146300 I had to be at the con way early this morning to sign up for 2019 booths, so I had some time on my hands before we opened this morning. I used it well, and I took advantage of gaps between customers to finish the work.
Don't worry, you'll only be "mostly dead".
I have nothing to say about that ending bit except [untranslatable expression of disbelief] -- I mean, WUT.
9146430 I thought it was both obvious and inevitable, if you're mucking about with dimensions.
9146443
Oh, it was obvious and enjoyable enough. I'm just not entirely accustomed to dealing with eldritch abominations on an empty stomach. Also, was Gnarly supposed to be Eldritch!Pinkie's offspring? Is everything eldritch in that dimension, or did Pinkie somehow ascend beyond the realm of mortals? ...I'm thinking about this too hard, aren't I?
9146162
Note: They forgot to ask about Pinkamena instead of Pinkie. No rainboom, no Pinkie.
9146456 Signs point to yes.
Elder signs.
Please, we need to see Equus on occasion. Life does happen in places beyond Mars and Earth. Plus I need my fix until you start work on the Changeling Space Program again!
i.imgur.com/d6rBEOj.jpg
9146485
So long as they don't cross paths with the King in Yellow, they can count themselves as fortunate.
9146235
I was wondering if "The Princess Bride" made it in a NASA upload from that bit. Though it would be a good opening further down the line that Mark understands Equestrian a bit better than he speaks it.
Oh, and the RTG's real name is Ryan.
9146197
Sounds more like no more blind universe jumping to find the Friendship's crew. OTOH that doesn't leave out Starlight sending up a magic flare, say their repulsor launcher ringing Mars like a gong as it flings them off world?
A bit early for an April 1st chapter. As far as I'm concerned, this chapter never existed.
This. This is what happens when you name a space probe after the Demon Bunny... quite frankly, I'm surprised they made it through 15 whole missions without ever encountering an eldritch horror in the first place...
The first half of the chapter was fine, the second half felt like it was a tacked on April Fools chapter, like you were trying a bit too hard for a joke.
Look when the Elder Sign translates as "Do Not Disturb"...
9146456
>or did Pinkie somehow ascend beyond the realm of mortals?
derpicdn.net/img/view/2015/11/1/1014212__safe_artist-colon-hakar-dash-kerarmor_pinkie+pie_asura%27s+wrath_balloon_chakravartin_multiple+limbs_pinkie+pie+is+god_solo_xk-dash-class+end-.png
I'm a bit disappointed that there won't be more from Equus. I like those bits, and kind of feel like NASA has been the only ones providing much help to the castaways for quite some time now.
Well the Amicitas crew are now investigating if Dragonfly is hearing anything as Mars is now overtly trying to kill them.
Nice to see what's happening at Equus. Eldritch incursion! And two Lunas to prevent any further incursions
9146223
That will be a nightmare for Earth who would just have access to magic. Probably either FF Spirits Within, Doom Eternal or Hellgate.
9145066
Just imagine the news coverage that would spawn... hell, I can see one thing that would most certainly appear in the lower third on any live media broadcasts:
BTW, just finished tomorrow's chapter, so I don't have to worry about writing it during sales, packing up, or driving home tomorrow.
Combined with today's chapter, it's 4000 words of writing... not at all a bad day.
I
AM
LAUGHING
SO
HARD!!!!!!
FAVORITE CHAPTER OF ENTIRE STORY RIGHT HERE
What I REALLY want to know now is how they managed to bring those three particular alternate-Equestrians through with the probe, although I'm guessing it had to do with all of them getting to the probe at the same time and touching it when it winked back to its home universe. The next question that deserves its own offshoot fanfiction is how they get BACK, and what shenanigans happen in the meantime. Because seriously everything about this crossover is KILLING ME IT IS SO GREAT
Favorite lines:
Well, either you mean "before the epilogue" or "and the equestrians never go home and die without children on earth". Because not doing said epilogue and just saying they go back would be mean as fuck to your readers
9146850 Filling in the gaps; Nightmare Moon managed to disable the probe before it could normally return. When the Resistance got into the palace, there was a struggle over the probe, and its return system got reactivated. Nightmare Moon, Twilight and Chrysalis were all in contact with the probe when it teleported, and they came back out in the Everfree Forest. At that point the probe's beacon led Twilight right to them, where they were divided between wondering what had suddenly gone wrong with the world and bickering over whose fault it was.
9146334
The problem with the Angel program is that using it to find the castaways isn't really feasible without narrowing down the search parameters. And by just taking pot shots in the darkness of an infinite number of dimensions, it was almost inevitable that some… thing… would succeed in backtracking the "muzzle flashes."
9146868
Which begs the inevitable question: how do these ponies get home? Have Twilight, et al, ever tried sending an Angel back to a dimension it has previously visited? Have they gained that much control over the process of dimension jumping? Or are alt!Nightmare, alt!Chrysalis, and alt!Twilight stuck for the duration like Cherry Berry & Co.?
9146876 Each Angel probe records the specific coordinates of each world it visits. In theory, any Angel can go back any time. It hasn't been tried yet, but there's no significant obstacle to doing so.
That said, the attempt would be well out of the scope of this story, and not particularly interesting anyway. What happens to Moonie, Twilight Notaprincess, and Demoted Chryssy would be much more interesting, but again outside the scope of this story.
9146868
Thanks so much for the explanation, I love it! :D
“What is the matter with you??” definitely-queen Chrysalis shouted. “Changelings don’t get betrayed! They do the betraying!”
Huh, what a coincidence. Last chapter, having thought that perhaps Mars has a spirit similar to Windigoes, I thought about cleansing Mars with the Fire of Friendship after reading the comments about Rainbow broadsides.
...
Geniuses do truly think alike!
So it wasn't a complete coincidence.
But, but... I want more Purple Smart Book Horse and Dark Horse,and Big Edgy Greeny Buggy Thing! Also, more insights into what's happening back on Equus!
And doesn't this also mean that the Cherry Berry and co. won't get to back to Equus in this story?
...
Which means a sequel! Yay!?
i love it when things go Gainax...
anypony see Darling in the Franxx? heh...
So, Nightmare Moon timeline from the season 5 finale.
...
Great (and not great, I suppose)! Now I want the Crystal War!