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Prologue: Tarkhan... You may wish to see this...1,112 words
Chapter 1: Shining Sun1,299 words
Chapter 2: Gaze to the North1,012 words
Chapter 3: Skybound We Roam1,111 words

Chapter 1: Shining Sun

Sunlight.

A thing the Tarkhan had not seen for so long...

The last time the Tarkhan saw the dunes of Gerat illuminated in true sunlight was several weeks ago, as the nuclear ash had slowly blotted out the sun in the sky, leaving only traces to fall through the dark clouds in the air, barely lighting the sands and cities. Seeing the light flood into the bridge was almost overwhelming, with the Tarkhan and his compatriots raising their hands and shielding their eyes from the sudden light. As their eyes slowly adjusted, they slowly stepped forward, as the rest of the crew on the bridge looked on, with mixes of amazement, excitement, and horror on their faces.

The first thing they noticed, was that the ground was... Green... There was grass, and flowers, entire plains of greenery. No sand to be seen for miles. Off in the distance, a small river of water could be seen, actual water. The Tarkhan's jaw had sufficiently hit the deck at this point, totally amazed by the sight before him. His compatriots had similar looks of awe on their faces, with even Prince Fazil visibly astonished, even if his expression was hidden by his mask.

Then they looked up, as they saw a blue sky, with white clouds. Not a single cloud of dark ask in sight, the full beauty of the daytime sky on full display. It made the Tarkhan want to cry, but he remained firm. The next thing they noticed was... It was warm. Originally, they could easily see their own breath, as the hulls of the fleet's ships were chilled to the core, their crews suffering from hypothermia even in the hottest of engine bays. Now, they actually felt heat flowing around them, the ice that had formed on the bridge's outer window quickly melting off. The first to speak up, was General Pyotr, as he built up the courage necessary.

"It's... Beautiful..." The Grand Duke could swear he saw a tear roll down the general's face, as he quickly wiped it off, and straightened himself. "I mean, It is quite a unique sight."

Prince Fazil nodded, speaking through his visor with a somewhat shaky voice. "Indeed... I have not seen something like this in all my life... It is quite amazing." Admiral Daud quickly cleared his throat, grunting heavily as he spoke up.

"One thing is for certain, we are definitely no longer within the dunes of Gerat." The Admiral stated, sounding a bit more well composed than his compatriots. Grand Duke Mark Sayadi finally spoke up as well.

"Indeed... I doubt we may even be on Elaat anymore." Everyone nodded in agreement, before the ship's radio system began flooding in with messages from the other ships in the fleet.

"This is Lightning-2, crew is currently freaking the hell out, require plan of action!"

"Varyag-3 calling in, anyone know where in the hell we are!?!"

"Novorossiysk-1, deck crews currently disoriented and in a state of panic, require situation report and new orders immediately."

"Typhon-1 reporting, nuclear payload is currently stabilized, however landing is required to complete further checks."

"Archangel-3 radioing in, current heading and location unknown, we need orders Admiral!"

Quickly, the Grand Duke marched over to the radio, grasping the phone as he spoke into it. "All fleet crews, calm down and evaluate yourselves. We are currently attempting to determine our location. For now... Commence landing procedure, the ground seems flat enough to support the fleet until we determine a proper course of action." A series of collective acknowledgements sounded out over the radio, as the Duke looked out the window to see all the ships of the fleet slowly descending to the ground, slowly powering down their engines, making touch down on the grass plain below, as Daud spoke to the helm operators of the bridge.

"You heard the Tarkhan, take us down to the ground." The helm operators nodded, quickly working as they tuned frequencies, relayed orders to sections of the ship, adjusted thruster power, diverted fuel, tuned power output, and set heater values to compensate for a lack of cold air within the ship, no longer requiring heating up the cold frosty interior it was reduced to on Elaat. Slowly, the massive ship shook as it descended from the sky, an operator reading their current height in the air.

"Five hundred meters. Four hundred meters. Three hundred meters. Two hundred meters. One hundred meters, everyone get ready." And as the massive vessel touched the ground, a final cheer was heard from several of the operators. "Landing confirmed, good work everyone."

As the massive Sevastopol slowly touched down onto the ground with it's landing gear, the engines began cooling as some of the ships crew leaped from the outer exits onto the ground, simply burying their faces in the grass, basking in the sunlight, and rejoicing. Others were skeptical, some outright refusing to exit the ship. It was similar across the whole fleet, with some greeting this new world with enthusiasm, others with skepticism and fear. The main ramp of the Sevastopol lowered, as Mark Sayadi and his compatriots slowly marched onto the grass. While controlling their excitement and joy, it felt good to simply feel the grass beneath their boots. Prince Fazil then commented on the Tarkhan's decision.

"The call to land was a solid idea, Tarkhan. The crew have not seen something like this... Possibly ever, so this could do wonders for our morale, even if it is foreign land."

Admiral Daud nodded in agreement. "Indeed, even I have to admit, it is quite an experience finally touching true grassland once again..." Daud said as he reached down slowly, and began to touch some grass, a surprisingly exhilarating feeling.

General Pyotr considered partaking in the touching of grass himself, but hesitated, stopping himself and turning to the Duke. "Well, I can sufficiently say this is the strangest occurrence I have ever personally witnessed. And no, my extreme cigar smoke inhalation induced hallucinations do not count." The general said, earning a slight chuckle from Admiral Daud, who was promptly shoved by the Tarkhan's shoulder.

"It is safe to assume that we are indeed on an alien world. As such, our first objective, is to establish our current directions, location, and any potential landmarks." The duke says pulling out a compass. Surprisingly, the compass functioned well, pointing in the directions it was supposed to, with West and East facing the exact ways. Knowing this, the Tarkhan and his compatriots felt slightly relieved. At last the tried and true compass method could guide them in this unknown world.

"Well, gentlemen, let us prepare to fly through these uncharted skies." The Tarkhan said to his comrades, as they turned back to the ship and slowly walked up the ramp and back inside, heading for the navigation room.

Meanwhile, In the skies above Ponyville...

Rainbow Dash was currently snoozing upon her favorite snoozing cloud, happily snoring, along with Twilight Sparkle, who was sitting beside her friend, reading a book, having recently discovered that clouds are good places to read.

Twilight then suddenly felt something. A tingle in her mane, a twinging in her wings, an itch in her horn. It felt like a massive pulse of some unknown energy had just washed over her, her fur standing on end. She felt slightly unnerved, her acute sense of magic meant she would know if it was magic or not, and yet, it felt nowhere near what magic would feel like. Whatever caused it was big. Twilight slowly looked over to her still snoozing friend, clearly unphased by this burst of energy. Feeling it was not worth waking her friend over, she just nervously went back to reading. However, the thought of the unknown source of energy continued to linger...

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