Intentions
The Spatial Anxiety, 5 Million Years Prior
A giant, texture-less, silver, sphere almost finished floated around a small ship. It covered almost 2 light years making it the largest sentient-made object ever created. The sphere was meant to protect the system inside which had a strange property to it. The worlds themselves weren't spheres or odd roundish rocks of rock and dirt. These were giant discs, defying logic, as their satellites orbited them. The sphere was a creation of some of the original residents. Hundreds of years prior they had begun construction but had only just returned from a war. That meant many parts of the sphere were in disrepair.
The creatures were nearly done and this meant that for several millennia the sphere would endure. It would protect their original world from its end. The last piece was lowered into place and cheers rang through the comms until something exploded on the surface. They leapt into action and soon the enemy over-powered the already weakened creatures. The sphere remained unharmed.
And so it came to pass that all of the original inhabitants lived on. Their creations lived, and their helping influence continued to affect the creatures. The sphere lay unaffected by time. Nothing got inside or out. Not that anything inside could even try. Ages passed, species and empires came and went. The sphere endured. Supernova waves hit it. The sphere endured.
And so it came that a young species ruled the galaxy peacefully. Mostly. This species grew and populated. This is where we reach the heroes.
"Damn it rookie!" yelled a grim-faced man. His face curled in anger. "Fight! Don't swing the damn think like a club. It's expensive!"
"Yes sir!" saluted a slightly taller man.
Their enemies poured past the asteroids like they were nothing, which they were. These creatures cared not who lived or died. In a sense it was their oath. Each one of their species joined the military for a year for basic education. The humans on the other hand had no definite time-frame.
Sounds of electricity and gun shots sounded through the area. The other creatures had boarded quickly. The element of surprise lay on their side and they quickly killed a third of the crew. The two men guarded the entrance and the grim faced one dropped, reloaded, and spun firing as he went. Enemy after enemy dropped to the ground, dead. Finally they entered a hallway and the grim-faced man shoved the taller one into a small craft. Small being smaller than the ship they had been on. The soldier jumped to the front seat and the ship whirred to life.
Good Afternoon sirs. What seems to be the trouble?
"Ambush. We need to get back to Sol-3 also known as Earth," he said.
That's all fine and well sir but my nav systems aren't working.
"Last known location?" He asked clacking the keys.
Quadrant: 1 Arm: Orion Arm Wave: 3
"Meaning?" The soldier gestured in a questioning manner.
"We're in the Spatial Anxiety..." The taller man spoke.
"Shit."
Twilight Sparkle, protégé of Celestia herself, studied the star formations she had documented. Something was off. One star was increasing in brightness rapidly and every town recorded different increases. Ponyville's was increasing the fastest. Canterlot's was nearly the same. Appleosa saw no changes. This was infuriating to her. She asked Luna herself and only got a "Never heard of that star before." In just the past week alone it had become the brightest object aside from the moon and it was visible in the daylight. Her observations calculated that the object was either very small and moving very fast or quite large and getting ready to explode. On the sixth day of these occurrences something changed.
Twilight looked through her favorite telescope, a gift from Celestia, and gasped. The object was indeed smaller than anticipated but it rivaled one of the known asteroids in size. It was metallic and clearly sentiently made. Her main focus was that the ship had writing on it. Legible writing. She could read it so it must have been Equis in origin. On the side was a picture of a blue and green sphere.
"SPIKE! SPIKE!" she yelled sprinting down the stairs, sliding as she did.
"What Twilight?" came the purple dragon's question from the kitchen. She raced into the room and dragged him out by magic.
"Take a letter," she said. He grabbed a nearby quill and paper. He dabbed the quill into the ink and looked up to the unicorn.
"Dear Princess Celestia, Last night I was up studying the star I mentioned to you and Luna last week and discovered something interesting. I estimate the objet itself to rival Mannum in size, being about the size of three houses. It is metallic in color and on the side, in perfect Equis, it says 'Sol-Gaea Empire' which asks the question as to what that could be. Another anomaly is the image I barely made out. On the side near the words is the image of a sphere of blue, white, and green. I'd love it if we could meet about this. Your Student, Twilight Sparkle." She stated. The dragon's claws moved in a blur and finally he finished it.
"Send it," the unicorn said. A burst of green fire and the letter was gone.
The two men sat alone in a cold vessel. The AI had been connected to the main ship so when it cut out they knew the ship was either gone or destroyed. They had been drifting for some time when the lights came to life and the ship warmed up instantly.
Welcome gentlemen. I am the Artificial Computer Mainframe. Call me Art for short. I have detected no hostility towards any of the creatures I protect so I will allow you entrance to refuel and supply. Call for me if I am needed, I'll hear you.
The two men gaped at the screen and rest of the ship. Whatever Art was, was very amazing and advanced. They looked out the windows of the ship and were greeted by pair of massive doors opening in the side of a super massive sphere.
"What, in hell, is that?"
That, gentlemen, is the system known as Lestus in my data banks.
The doors opened to reveal multiple strange worldlets. Each one was a massive floating disc surrounded by a strange glass type substance.
Welcome to Equestria.