Path of The Stars: Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3


Day 43

>Streaks of light grazed across your vision, photon particles stretched and distorted by the immense speed you were traveling at.
>The smell of warm metal blended with the roasted odour of the coffee cup you held in your hands, and the only sounds were the low humming of complicated machinery and the creaking of framework resisting the destructive forces.
>It was quite peaceful, something it had been for a while now.
>The research star cruiser ESS Excalibur drifted among the stars once more, determined upon its destination.
>You waved your backhand slowly across the panel in front of you, and with a blip, a hologram appeared before your eyes.
>A lone star in the outskirts of a small cluster.
>It bathed the surrounding worlds in a dim red light.
>Surprisingly, all of the orbiting planets and moons were tidally locked, so even if they were in the habitable zone, the chances for life would be slim.
>It was an interesting find nonetheless, and one your crew would be eager to set their feet upon.
>Especially after the last incident…

>You had sent an extensive report back to your homeworld about the calamity that took place at Klepra 3b.
>You hadn’t heard back from them yet, but you didn’t expect to in the near future anyway.
>Even though your comms were extremely powerful, the signals still had to account for general relativity.
>Your superiors had told you that signals traveled through “hyperspace” to put it simply, but you didn’t think something like that existed.
>You didn’t really bother with it either, since you knew the explanation would be far to complicated for you to understand anyway.
>The bridge door behind you shuttered open with a relieving hiss.
>You turned around to face your crew members, and was pleasantly surprised to find Twilight Sparkle, head of science and archive, and Applejack, your trusted engineer.
>They both beamed at you as they strode over the metal floor to greet you.
>”All systems are nominal, cap!” Applejack said proudly. “She’s sailing smoother than a baby’s bottom after a hard-fought mud wrestling match at her first family get-together, hoo-wee!”
>Infants do wrestling where she came from?
>You decided to shrug it off and nodded.
“Thank you AJ. How’s the rest of the crew doing?” you asked Twilight, who perked up a bit as if she’d drifted off in her own unconsciousness.
>”Oh, uh, seems like they’ve put most of it behind them. It’s nothing they haven’t been through before. Well… I can’t say the same for Fluttershy, but she doesn’t show any signs of stress or discomfort....”
>She paused for a second, before finishing her sentence.
>”...And that worries me a bit.”
>You cocked your head.
“Do you think she’s having some pent-up emotions?”
>”I’m certainly no psychologist, Anon, but everyone else seemed to go through some turbulence after returning to the ship. I didn’t notice that with her…”
>You scratch your neck, a symbolic gesture even though it didn’t itch the slightest.
“I’ll go talk to her, thank you both.”
>You dismissed them, and they returned through the thick reinforced door as it closed shut behind them with a hiss.
>You checked your wrist display.
“Status.” you spoke to it with authority.
>”Optimal Path ETA 1 month and 7 days.” It responded with a feminine robotic voice. “Chief engineer confirms all systems operational. 70% of ship core systems routed to autopilot. Computer workload at 23.4%. Coffee spills in Lounge.”
>Coffee spills?
>”Have a good day.” The screen flickered out and went silent.
>You waved your hand across the control panel again and the hologram disappeared.
>You took the last sips of your now cold dead caffeine drink and set out towards the main living area.

>As you approached the lounge after a long walk through dimly lit corridors, The double doors slid open and revealed a yellow shape hunched over on the floor.
>Beside her you noticed the shattered remains of a white vessel seeped in a watery brown liquid.
>The cascades of pink hair rotated around her own axis, struggling to wipe up her mess with an already soaked piece of cloth.
>As she slowly turned towards you, she looked up at you with a sad smile.
>”Oh, Anon, I’m so sorry, it just slipped out of my hands and…”
>Saying nothing, you walked over to the counter and took a rag from a dispenser.
>Dipping it in water, you sat down next to Fluttershy and began assisting her.
>”T-... Thank you Anon.” Fluttershy humbly bowed her head once the ceramic shards had been taken care of.
“Are you alright?”
>With a sigh, she drooped into a couch and looked at you with worried eyes.
>”I’ve been meaning to talk to you about a problem we have with our greenhouse…”
>You sat down next to her, urging her to go on.
>”W-well, after the incident at Klepra, there have been some… abnormalities.”
>You noticed she stumbled after her words.
>”I think it’s best if you see for yourself.”

>The elevator doors slid open and a foul stench penetrated your nostrils.
>It smelled like rot and death.
>A peek through the doorway revealed a terrible fate.
>Fluttershy hastily assured you that everything had been contained once she saw your expression of disgust.
>The rows upon rows of vegetable plants had all begun to decompose, and unnaturally so.
>Leaves and fruit and all kinds of food items were… melting.
>A slimy turquoise liquid had formed around the leaves, soaking the plant beds and overflowing onto the cold floor.
“What… IS this?!” you exclaimed in horror, covering your mouth.
>”The Calamity Beam hit closer to our hull than we anticipated. I thought they were all safe, and that I could restore them, but they just kept melting, Anon... “ Fluttershy seemed just as shocked as you.
“Well, what do we do?”
>”We have seeds in secure storage on the other side of the ship, but we would be without natural organic foods for quite some time…”
>you put your hands to your sides as you tried to think of something.
>”We’d have to ration our supplies quite sparsely considering what we have now-”
“Well, what other choice do we have, Shy?”
>Your words came out sharper than you anticipated, and you noticed tears started welling up in the scientist's eyes.
>Seeing her like this made you realize the severity the situation might be in, and being angry probably wasn’t the right mindset.
>Grabbing her shoulders, you pulled her into a comforting hug.
>”I’m sorry Anon, I didn’t mean for this to happen…” She sobbed.
“This isn’t your fault” You assured her. “We’ll get through this.”
>After having stood there for a little while, you pulled away from her and looked her in the eyes with a serious expression.
“How fast can you make a ration plan?”
>”I-I’ll need to c-check the storage first, consider our options.”
>She stopped to think for a bit, then, with determination, turned to you.
>”Give me two days.”
>You nodded, turned on your heel and headed into the elevator.
>As you turned towards her and pushed a button, you looked at Fluttershy.
>Her back was straight, a fire was burning in her eyes which you probably hadn’t seen since the high school days.
>She nodded to you and turned on her heel before the doors closed.


Day 45

>The ship speakers screeched to life as you called an emergency meeting on the bridge.
>All six of your crew rushed through the bridge door and lined up in front of you.
>You looked at them all with a serious expression, but you didn’t really know what to tell them.
“As you may have heard, we have a situation at hand.” You started off with.
>They all looked at you with worried faces.
>Even Pinkie Pie, whose normal outgoing nature, had been quelled with a frown.
“The recent… incident, as you will, caused a malfunction in our food storage.”
>A worried gasp went through the six.
“Our organics seems to have… melted. We are still able to grow new items, but it’s going to take a while. Until then, Fluttershy has stepped up to offer a ration plan.”
>”Oh, come on man!” Rainbow Dash expressed. “Does this mean no more Fruit Loops for breakfast?”
“If you wanna stay alive, i suggest you eat something more nourishing, D.”
>You offered Fluttershy to speak up, and she took your place in the front.
>”Uh… s-so this isn’t going to be a walk in the park, guys. I’m uncertain when new items will spring, so until then we have to stay on minimal consumption.”
>You could practically feel the wave of discomfort washing over the group as Fluttershy stammered to deliver the news.
>She had created a recipe for an energy bar with high amounts of calories made from dried food, but the crew would most likely experience dizziness and famine unless they strayed from physical strain.
>Once Fluttershy was done explaining, you took the word again.
“Alright, you heard her. We’ve got no other choice unless we starve to death. It’s unfortunate, yes, but I’ll do what I can to make sure this doesn’t happen again, okay?” You voice changed from one of authority to compassion.
>You wouldn’t wish this upon anyone, but such was life far from home.
“Until then, don’t push yourself too hard. We need all your heads to think as clearly as possible.”

>You dismissed them, and the group murmured as they strode through the bridge doors and it closed behind them.
>You leaned against the railings preventing you from falling down the stairs to the lower level, dreading the future ahead.


>Captains Log: 2145.07.11 16:34 Local Equestrian Time. Identity: Anon Y. Mous Confirmed.
RECORDING...
> I uhh… It’s been three weeks now without the greenhouse operational.
>The effects seem to be wearing on my crew.
>Most of them seems absent and has a hard time keeping a stable mood.
>The cheery confidence and conversations has stopped, and the halls lie empty most of the time.
>I feel trapped in this metal cage, like this ship doesn’t even give a damn about me.
[Distorted coughing]
[Silence]
[Audible Sigh]
>Our biotech told us she’s made good progress in the greenhouse, but it’s uncertain when we can return to our normal diets.
>The pilot sure misses her precious cereal however…
[Weak laughter]
[Silence]
>I sure miss cereal too…
END OF RECORDING.


Day 79

>The cruiser had dropped out of FTL a few days ago.
>A smooth sailing through a sparse asteroid field had revealed seven tidally locked worlds beyond, rotating around the fiery light reactor in the center of the system.
>You sat slouched in your chair, staring out of the panorama window.
>The augmented reality interface highlighted the worlds with a blue overlay, and rows upon rows of information poured out of them like waterfalls.
>You took another bite of your nauseating food bar, trying not to think of the incredibly dull taste, like cardboard soaked in muddy water.
>You tried to switch positions to get more comfortable, but you felt your hip bones rub against the inside of your suit and quickly gave up.
>This sucks.

>The past week had been a nightmare of headaches and low morale.
>At least you closed in on your destination, maybe that would give the group something to focus on other than the craving for something else to taste.
>Your line of thought was broken by a dull hiss behind you, and through the door came all six of your crew members at once.
>They nodded to you as they walked down the stairs and found their places along the long strip of interfaces below you.
“Closing in on Mjölnir KS6, plot in a geostationary orbit above site F.” you commanded.
>Rarity said nothing, but silently typed in a path above a location of interest discovered a few days earlier.
>”Beginning course correction.” She finally said, and a path appeared on the screen in front of you.
>A line of yellow arrows pointed the way towards your destination.
>”Prepare for slingshot and atmosphere break. Disabling autopilot on all systems. The wheel is yours Dashie.”
>”Yay…” The pilot uttered unenthusiastically.
“Focus now, Dash. Don’t let it get to your head.” You tried to encourage her, but she only scoffed.
>”Atmospheric pressure at roughly 400 kPa, prepare for turbulence.” Fluttershy sent some numbers to the screen as Rainbow Dash cycled down the engines slowly.
>”Coming in hot.” She said, and you could feel the ships framework creak slightly.
>To your right, the yellow and green rock came into view, it’s magnificent storms swirling aggressively on the surface.
>You could see flashes of light ignite in the cloud layer, lightning storms rushing across the sky.
>Then, at the front of the ship, the nose and solar sails started glowing red, signaling the vessels descent into the sea of gas and rage.
>The color built up until you could spot the red flares of air molecules skipping along the sails, and you could feel the massive forces have its way with the ship as your insides wished they could escape your mortality and fly forwards.
>But nothing happened.
>The vessel skipped along the atmosphere like a flat rock on a lake, and the maneuver was textbook and perfectly executed.
>You relaxed in your chair even more than you already did, feeling quite impressed that your crew could handle something like this in your situation.
>At least now you felt more confident in the mission than ever.
>After a few minutes, the moon lost its grip on the cruiser, and the rocky world came into view.
>HQ had called it Mjölnir after the mythical weapon due to the theory that it forged its moons out of its own bedrock eons ago by crashing into the other planets, like a hammer striking an anvil.
>Quite poetic if you cared about that stuff.
>After a few short maneuvers the ship settled into a stable geostationary orbit above one of the points of interest.
>It seemed to be a crater of sorts, so naturally you had to check it out.
>Not many people can say they’ve stepped into an alien crater.
>Rainbow Dash cycled down the engines and locked the controls.
>The bridge fell silent as the crew all stared towards the dim rocky surface.
“Wanna take a look, girls?” You asked.
>None of them answered you, but left their posts in silence to prepare for planetfall.
>You sighed to yourself.
>This sucks.

>The shuttle descended effortlessly through the thin atmosphere.
>A small shape against the seemingly endless sky.
>It was another monumental step for mankind to thread on another alien world, yet the cabin was silent.
>Most were in their own thoughts, though you were certain staying focused couldn’t be easy for them in your situation.
>Still, you had a mission to carry out, and you couldn’t let anything get in the way of it.

>The shuttle touched down on a relatively even piece of land.
>Rocks cracked and pulverized under the weight of the landing gear, and at last she settled into the dust and fell silent.
>As was routine in the simulations, everyone left their seats to prepare the ship's systems for long-term stay, only this time mostly in silence.
>After a short while, you gathered the crew around the central table.
>You cleared your dry throat to get their attention.
“So I know how you’re all doing, you don’t have to tell me… You’re all hungry and tired. This food crisis hasn’t exactly done us well, and I can see that on you all.”
>The group nodded in agreement.
>You waved your hand across a lens on the table and a hologram of the planet appeared in front of them all, illuminating the room in a dim blue glow.
“I know everything kinda sucks as of late, but remember it’s all temporary. For now, let’s try to focus on the task at hand. Hopefully that’ll help you all get your mind of things…”
>You made a circular motion with your wrist and some text poured out of the rocky world rotating peacefully in front of you.
>Meanwhile, the crew didn’t seem to experience a morale boost from your words, but you quickly formed a plan which might just do that
>At least for Rainbow Dash.
“Early scans detect a gravitational anomaly and we were unable to image the planet properly, so this is what Rarity assumes it looks like.”
>You looked at the purple-haired navigations specialist and she perked up and cleared her throat when she noticed everyone was eyeing her.
>”Uhhh y-yes, see, the problem here is that the planet is far too large to have this weak of a gravitational field… There must be a massive cave system underneath the surface here which could hold all manner of interesting things.”
>”Well, we got plenty of experience with caves…” Rainbow Dash pointed out.
>She definitely wasn’t wrong.

>The bright fluorescent light flickered on and slowly revealed a large chamber.
>The roof held a comfortable height above your heads as you exited the elevator.
>Four jagged tracks ran clean across the room, and amidst stacks of crates and supplies were two shapes covered by a protective sheet.
“NESA spent fifteen years designing these babies for us to ride around in.” you told the group following behind you.
>With a snap of your fingers, a crane attached to rails in the ceiling started hoisting the sheets upwards.
>Underneath, sitting on six shiny new wheels, laid an orange and white machine with pitch black windows and what looked like a chain with a metallic hand at the end laying across its roof.
“Six wheeled for all-terrain handling, 1200 horsepowers, a powerful mechanical arm capable of autonomous actions or voice commanded, short range environmental scanner system with direct link back to Excalibur herself, and sporting a pretty advanced suspension system!”
>You turned around and saw Rainbow Dash’s jaw practically drop to the floor.
>The others looked pretty excited as well, a fresh sight after so long.
>You gave them a cocky smile and tried to act suave, bowing down with your left hand raised in the air.
“Ladies, may I present HU81NN and MU81NN, or as I like to call them, Huginn and Muninn.”
>You heard some muffled chuckles from your crowd, but it was mostly deafened by Rainbows cries of excitement.
>”When can I drive them?!” she squealed, jumping up and down on the spot.
>”Easy now, we don’t even know the objective yet…” said Twilight as she tried to stop the pilot from crashing her head into a pole.
“About that team…”
>They all stopped and looked at you curiously.
“There really is no objective this time… I mean it’d be nice to know the source of this gravitational anomaly, but we don’t know anything about this place. Just go out and do… science.”
>A huge grin on Dash’s face made you sigh.
“And try not to crash the car…”
>The pilot enthusiastically nodded and grabbed a pair of keys you reluctantly held up.
You then assigned Twilight and Rarity to her team and gave them a crash course in operating Huginn.
>Of course, Rainbow Dash would rather push buttons at random and see what happened than listen to you, which cost you a lightbulb and a crane servo, but otherwise you felt confident entrusting the massive truck to them.
>You decided to let Pinkie Pie watch over the shuttle, which she seemed more than happy to do, and brought AJ and fluttershy with you in the other vehicle.
>As you drove out of the shuttle onto the endless desert, you watched as the dark monolith slowly disappeared over the horizon.

>You stumbled across the rocky landscape.
>The gravel was tainted in a dim red light from the sun at the end of the world.
>It cast long shadows across the barren wasteland, even though it struggled to pierce the thin layer of dust covering the world like a blanket.
>Your suits atmospheric compensation struggled to find a pressure setting which fitted the planet as you stumbled across stones and dirt.
>As you attempted to move your foot in front of the other, you suddenly discovered it to not set down in the place you anticipated.
>You found it to have gotten stuck between two rocks, and powerless to stop it, your entire lower body flipped the other way.
>With a grunt you closed your eyes while bracing for impact.
>Only your face never met any solid object.
>When you opened your eyes, you saw the ground moving slowly away from you as you were floating uncontrollably forward, rather than down towards safety.
>You tried waving your arms, to see if it would help you get back on the ground, but you kept hovering forward.
>Much to your dismay, you noticed a cliff coming up in your path, one you hadn’t seen before now.
>It was hard to discern distances since everything was the same monotone shade of orange.
“Uhh… guys?” you called out in the comm, but nobody responded.
>Suddenly, you felt something tug at your chestplate, and you came to a crashing halt midair.
>You then realized you had been holding your breath, and let go of the air on your lungs.
>You immediately felt the carbon scrubbers in your suit go to work like they always did.
>Looking behind you, you noticed Fluttershy and Applejack attempting to pin you down to the ground.
>You felt solid stone under your boots once more and sighed with relief.
“With gravity like this i doubt a fall off a cliff would kill me” you jokingly said under your breath. “But thanks for that…”
>The refreshing sound of concerned laughter filled your comms as you turned towards the cliff.
“But this is no ordinary crater…”
>Indeed, as you surveyed the area, the shocking sight before you started to sink in.
>The crater was almost as big as a continent, the other side shrouded and obscured in mist and dust several thousand miles away.
>As you carefully stepped closer to the edge and looked down, you swore you could see straight through the hollowed shell of the planet, a hundred stars twinkling back at you from the other side
>Someone or something had taken a cataclysmic bite out of this planet and left it for dead.
“I’ll be…” you said in a lack of anything else.
>”How in 'tarnation did this even happen?” Applejack mumbled.
>Fluttershy squatted down near the edge and studied it closely.
>”How didn’t we notice this from orbit…” Fluttershy said, sounding a bit disappointed and looking back at her friends.
>All of you were clueless.
>”I need to get down there…” Fluttershy said, her voice shaking, scared of herself for even considering such a thing. “P-please.”

>You and Applejack went back to the vehicle to see if you could get further down without succumbing to the depths.
>It didn’t take long before the crafty engineer came up with a plan.
>”How ‘bout we use this here mechanical arm to hoist you two down there? Take a look at those walls?”
“How would we do that?” you questioned. “There's no platform attached to it, and we don’t have such a component on the ship.”
>From the cargo tray, she pulled a thick steel wire out of a net.
>Immediately she received some concerned looks from Fluttershy, but she waved it off.
>”Pfff… I know how to tie a knot, don’t I?”
>”Fine…” The biotech sighed after a while, and let her tie you and Fluttershy together back to back and fit you onto a secure lock on the arm.
>Even though it was covered in titanium plating, you swear you could feel the softness of her plump bottom press against yours.
>You relished in the fact that there was at least some potential to feel it, and left it at that.
>Before you knew it, you descended through the enormous chasm, with nothing but a steel wire to hold you.
>Looking down, you wondered what would happen if you fell.
>Would you come out the other end, or would you simply be stuck in the middle of the planet in an endless gravity well.
>A violent tug ripped you from your line of thought and you came to a standstill.
“Is everything alright up there, AJ?” you asked.
>”This is as far as you go, sugarcube!” Her voice flared to life amidst static noise in your speakers. “Do science… or whatever…”
>Fluttershy had been studying the walls all the way down in silence, so she had already gotten a head start.
>The expression on her face didn’t signal any good news.
>”This doesn’t seem natural…” She mumbled, as if she read your mind.
“No shit, it’s a huge hole in the middle of the planet.”
>”That’s not what I mean, Anon. Look at these markings.”
>She did have a point.
>As you surveyed the dry rock you noticed a reoccurring pattern in the wall.
“They look like claw marks…”
>”Or drills…”
“You think someone mined the entire world?”
>She looked at you, a concerned look in her eyes.
>”Not multiple. One enormous contraption.”
>You raised an eyebrow at her, and she immediately noticed your disbelief.
>She shook her head and turned to the cliff again.
>”Look.” Fluttershy dragged her fingers across the stone, following the tracks until she couldn’t reach them anymore.
>“The pattern is consistent all the way across. It never breaks.”
“Boy, this just keeps getting weirder.”
>Fluttershy signaled to the engineer and she pulled you up from the void below.
>It wasn’t until you got back on your feet you noticed a vial in Fluttershy’s hands.
>A sample of dirt from the cliffside.
>It could just be an illusion, but you swear that it looked darker than the crimson layer of dust on the surface.
>For now, you and your crew got back in the vehicle and suffered a bumpy ride back to the shuttle.
>Staring out across the ocean of sand, the dim glow of the sun smiled on your face.
>It was clear that it was on its last breath, as it didn’t blind or warm you considerably.
>on a world like this, the days never end.
>All you could do was guess, and with that thought slowly fading, your eyelids slowly came crashing down and you lost your grip on reality.

>The massive rock formation looming ahead was enough to keep Twilight interested enough to not fall asleep.
>It covered the valley in darkness, and she could only see the weak sunrays skipping over the edge far above them.
>The only thing illuminating their surroundings were a pair of powerful floodlights mounted on Muninn's roof.
>The interior of the vehicle was quite roomy for a land vessel.
>It was about as big as an oversized camper, but with four seats in the cockpit and a bunch of field research equipment on an island running down the middle of the vehicle.
>At the very back stood a reinforced door leading to a storage room, with only a small circular window to peek through.
>Not much to see in there though, except for a bunch of gear and empty space.
>Muninn made its way onto a tall sand dune which lifted it above the landscape.
>From this vantage point, Twilight could scout across the sea of dirt, far away to the edge of the world where dust storms swallowed the horizon.
>The clouds of pulverized stone swirled aggressively around, quickly making its way through the endless landscape.
>Twilight squinted her eyes, trying to make out the phenomenon more clearly.
>It was hard to make out anything, as it was blurry and quick across the vision.
>Like a cold wave of water washing over her, Twilight finally realized.
>This planet had no atmosphere.
>”Rainbow, stop!” Twilight shouted, and obviously startled by the sudden change of events, the pilot stepped on the brakes in panic.
>Muninn’s wheels stopped dead, and the sands let go.
>For a few moments the vehicle went veering off its path, sliding forwards until the wheels came into contact with solid rock.
>With a scream of discomfort from its tires, Muninn came to a crashing halt on top of the stone cliff they had been overshadowed by for the last hour.
>The cabin fell silent, the only sound being the lashing of arc streams battling in the sandstorm below them, and the frustrated hiss of the trucks engine winding down.
>Twilight sat still for a moment, forcing herself to breathe calmly.
>”What the fuck was that?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, slamming her fist into the steering wheel and turning towards Twilight.
>”There's no atmosphere here…” The scientist said, deep in thought.
>”Yeah, no shit, you just figured that out now, genius? Is that why you nearly got us killed?”
>”Twilight, dear, what’s wrong?” Rarity chimed in, putting a soft hand on her shoulder.
>Twilight managed to look away from the ominous cloud and surveyed the rustled state of her friends.
>Dash was now facing away from her, but the pilots knuckles were white as she tried to contain her frustration.
>Rarity didn’t look nearly as affected, but Twilight knew her well enough to spot when she acted strong.
>The scientist sighed and shook her head.
>”I’m sorry guys…”
>She got up from her chair and leaned over the dashboard and closer to the windshield.
>”But this is really important. Look.”
>The storm below moved enticingly around, but it didn’t seem to shift location.
>Instead, it just sat there with the occasional lightning strike igniting somewhere inside it.
>”Wait, what the…” Rainbow Dash whispered next to her.
>Twilight noticed both of them were staring at the anomaly with wide eyes.
>”How is that even possible in this environment?” Rarity said, baffled by the sight.
>She immediately pulled up her tablet and started typing some numbers in.
>It didn’t take long before the slate flared to life with a bunch of data.
>Rarity looked up at Twilight, a big figurative question mark hanging over her.
>”There has been no recorded changes in atmosphere, not even in that specific area. This shouldn’t exist!”
>Twilight was well aware of their understanding of the laws of this universe.
>With no air or gas surrounding the planet, there couldn’t be any atmospheric movement and wind.
>However, if the previous months had taught her anything, it was that laws were meant to be broken, as demonstrated by both the FTL drive and the Calamity Beam.
>”Uh… Should we…?” Rainbow Dash started, but her sentence faded quickly.
>”Yes, go!” Twilight interrupted her, impatiently tapping on her seat with her hand.
>Almost immediately, Dash stepped on the gas pedal, and Muninn’s monstrous engines flared to life.
>The vehicle jumped in excitement, sending Twilight reeling into the safety of her seat.
>She grabbed onto it as the pilot crammed the gear stick into place and slammed the clutch down.
>The machine roared and its wheels spun until all the dust had been ground away underneath them and all that remained was smooth stone.
>As the tires touched it, the vehicle burst forward, speeding off towards the gentle slope leading down into the valley on the opposite side of where they came from.
>This time the area was soaked in the weak light from the sun, its rays scattering across the gravel which flew by quickly beneath the hurtling truck.
>Twilight had little time to admire the contrast of the two valleys, as the rapid descent put butterflies in her stomach.
>The cloud showed no intention of moving, but it was best to be safe than to sit there and watch a great scientific discovery elude one's grasp.

>Like razors, the sand ripped and tore at Muninns paint, and the strong gusts of ethereal wind threatened to rip the powerful vehicle off its wheels and send it flying into oblivion.
>After speeding across the even landscape for half an hour, Twilight and her friends passed the storms threshold and quickly found themselves braving the hazardous environment.
>Despite being pummeled by microscopic rock, Muninn seemed to tackle the task pretty well.
>With just a few scratches on the windshield, the machine rode on into the depths of the anomaly.
>It made twilight wonder what they actually built the vehicle for in the first place.
>It felt like they drove for ages, every mile they put behind them being the same monotone brown color.
>Yet, Twilight couldn’t help feeling suspenseful all the way.
>The raging storm was nothing short of a miracle, and she could only dream of the scientific discoveries within.
>Suddenly, the monotonous sight was ripped to shreds as a lightning strike tore through the skies and slammed into the desert.
>Sand and rock flew everywhere, and once again Rainbow Dash hit the brakes
>The thunderous explosion sent ripples through their bodies as Muninn once again came to a screeching halt.
>Once the dust had settled, Twilight noticed blue crackles in the distance, flashing through the ever-shifting clouds.
>They were erratic for the most part, flinging themselves everywhere, but there was a pattern in the chaos.
>”You guys see that?” Twilight asked and pointed towards an area straight ahead.
>Some of the lightning rods seemed to strike down in roughly the same area, and as they did, something on the ground lit up briefly.
>It was hard to see properly, but it was clearly a small rectangular object stuck in the sands ahead.
>Rainbow Dash roused Muninn back to life and encouraged it to slowly make its way across the electric field.
>Carefully they inched their way across, as if trying to hide from a lethal predator hiding far above.
>Lightning poured down all around them, sand and bedrock sprawling out across the plane.
>Muninns suspension made sure the trip was comfortable, as the ground was littered with all kinds of unknown materials.
>Why this place hadn’t been turned into one big crater yet was a mystery.

>Twilight didn’t know if it was luck or a blessing, but the arc streams seemed wholly uninterested in them, and at last they strode through the clouds and came out into a clearing.
>The sight that met them was breathtaking.
>Around them, everything was calm, save for the lightning rods curving out from the mile-high walls surrounding the area on all sides and striking a strange object in the middle.
>What attracted all this chaos seemed to be a dark stone of a crystalline manner, reflecting the light from the lightning like cracked glass.
>Surrounding it were perfectly cut rectangular stones, just a hair darker than the desert bed underneath them.
>In contrast to the ground inside the hurricane, this one seemed untouched and fine like flour.
>Logic would conclude that the area were steeped in darkness, as they were now just above the horizon of the sun.
>But somehow everything was perfectly visible, an ethereal light emitting from somewhere unknown ensuring visibility.
>Twilight and her friends were dumbfounded, and sat there a few seconds admiring the view.
>Eventually, Dash put the vehicle in gear and rolled up to the ruins.
>She stopped just outside of a crevice big enough for them to fit through, and in shelter of anything that might drop from the sky and damage their only way back home.
>Granted they get back through the electric barrier of course.

>Twilight was the first one out the airlock.
>She took a careful step off the ladder and watched as her feet sank into the shallow sand.
>It was a bizarre sight, every step she took the powder enveloped her sole like she was stepping in water.
>A few steps towards the monolithic ruins and Twilight noticed something even more strange.
>The shade of the ground changed dramatically, a border clearly visible in the calm desert floor.
>Underneath her feet, everything grew pitch black, only glittering like diamonds when reflecting the light of the violent lightning strikes.
>The scientist stopped for a second, but kept pressing on towards a crack in the rocks looming above them.
>Rarity and Rainbow Dash said nothing, assuming nothing really needed to be said.
>The sight before them told them everything they needed to know, and that wasn’t very much ironically.
>As they stepped up in front of the crevice, Twilight didn’t spare a moment to slide her slender body through the gap.
>It wasn’t hard to squeeze through, and once they got the all clear, Rainbow Dash and Rarity followed suit.

>A few moments passed of wandering in darkness, only guided by the light of their torches shaking about the smooth walls around them.
>The stone blocks encasing them seemed to have been placed at random, and they only found a path through them by climbing and crouching through the wreckage.
>Twilight had already thought of several theories for this place, but none made any sense considering the circumstances.
>Her brain worked hard even as she lifted the athletic pilot onto her shoulders to give her leverage onto a block above them.
>As she turned around to help her friends, a bright flash of light briefly lit up her face somewhere behind her.
>She stopped halfway bent over and flicked her sight towards the source.
>”Seems like there’s something up here!” she shouted after a short moment. “Come on!”
>Rainbow Dash laid flat across the rock and held her hand out, which Rarity grabbed quickly.
>With Rainbow Dash’s strength, the navigator flew up the rock and grabbed the ledge.
>The pilot then diverted her attention to Twilight, who followed suit.
>After struggling up the block and onto her feet, Twilight lifted her head to reveal the sight in front of her.
>In front of her was a giant chasm, encircled by the monoliths blanketing the area around it.
>It seemed to go on forever, the other end being shrouded in some type of mist.
>It had no roof, and above loomed the raging storm trapping them inside the ionized hurricane.
>The ground was covered in the same black sand as the rest of the area, simmering brightly whenever lightning struck in the room.
>The elusive lightning rod was what really caught her eye though, and it sat in the exact center of the ruins.
>Floating in the middle of a vast sinkhole was an island, seemingly defying gravity and staying suspended mid-air.
>On a round podium of stone buried in the islands sands sat a gleaming crystal, perfectly square and untouched by time.
>It was continuously pummeled by lightning, and whenever they hit, it dispersed of the electricity in the dust around it.
>The black sands seemed to absorb the electricity without complaining.

>”Holy shit…” Twilight whispered after catching her breath.
>Her friends didn’t say anything, but they were also breathing heavily after scaling blocks for about half an hour.
>Twilight wandered towards the island, sliding down a hill leading to the edge of the sinkhole.
>As she peaked over the edge, she looked straight into the depths of nothingness.
>The bottom was nowhere to be seen, and she stumbled back from the edge before she had a chance to accidentally fall down.
>Her friends came sliding down next to her, looking around the impossibly large encirclement.
>However, Twilight was too busy studying everything around her to notice.
>She took a second look at the crystal and its relation to the ground around it.
>She noticed how the lightning seemed to be absorbed by it.
>Leaning down towards the powder, she picked up a fistfull of it and noticed how it clinged to her gloves like immobilized ants.
>”See that?” She finally said, quickly getting back up on her feet and pointing at the island.
>Rarity and Rainbow Dash both followed her hand, and shielded their eyes against the blinding flashes.
>”This stuff isn’t sand.” Twilight made her way towards them and held up a mound of sand.
>Upon closer inspection, it was more like microscopic needles, too small to damage the suits fabric.
>”Metal shavings.” The scientist explained. “This place is covered in it, and I think it’s magnetized.”
>”So why isn’t it clinging to our suits?” Rarity wondered, looking down at her legs.
>”Titanium isn’t really that magnetic, but with all the electrons pumped into this stuff, it wouldn’t surprise me that’s the reason that island over there defies the laws of physics.”
>Twilight started walking along the edge of the chasm, looking for some way to cross the gap.
>”Haven’t you guys noticed the change in gravity since we got here?” She asked them.
>None of them answered, but they all knew.
>The climb up here had been increasingly difficult.
>It hadn’t crossed their mind, but something was definitely amiss in this region.
>”This doesn’t make any sense…” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, kicking up a cloud of swarf, watching it rain down into the depths below.
>As her sight tracked it, she noticed something strange underneath the layer.
>”Hey guys!” She yelled.
>Twilight and Rarity turned around to see the pilot furiously swiping away at the ground.
>”Dash, what are you…”
>Twilight stopped dead when the crouching girl swiped away the last layer, revealing a stone floor beneath it.
>She didn’t notice anything remarkable until Rainbow started tracing lines with her index finger.
>Twilight ran over in a hurry and crouched down next to her, taking a closer look at the floor.
>Just as she suspected, the area was filled to the brim with intricate symbols and lines.
>”This has to be intentional, all of it.” the scientist said. “No amount of randomness and natural causes can create this.”
>The pressing silence made Twilight peek up at her friends, who were both giving each other concerned looks.
>”What?” Twilight asked them, raising her eyebrow.
>”You do realize what you’re saying here, right?” Rarity asked Twilight, who quickly stood up.
>”I know what this means damn it!”
>Twilight turned around and put her hand to her visor.
>An audible sigh could be heard from her.
>”Second planet with signs of extraterrestrial life… those chances are astronomically low.” Rarity mused to herself.
>”It’s a hundred percent hit/miss ratio right now, it’s practically impossibl...woah!”

>In her bewildered state, Twilight had wandered too close to the chasm's edge.
>Her foot had gotten caught in a crack in the floor, and she toppled over, losing her balance.
>Flailing her arms wildly, she tried to prevent herself from falling, but to no avail.
>As she crashed towards the depths, both Rarity and Rainbow Dash sprinted towards her.
>As Twilight was about to cross the event horizon and Rainbow Dash lept to grab any part of her she could secure, none of them noticed the black dust had begun shifting.
>The descending scientist approached the same height of the ground when the magnetic sands shot out underneath her in a blinding speed, flying across the chasm to meet Twilight's back.
>Instead of falling to her doom, she instead smashed her back into something solid and soft, abruptly ending the slideshow of her life as she heaved for her breath in terror when the air left her lungs.
>Twilight laid there for a little while, absorbing the situation and heaving for her breath.
>When her breathing had stabilized, Twilight slowly turned her head around.
>Over her shoulder, the swallowing darkness almost lashed out in anger over its missed meal.
>Looking down her torso, her friends shocked expressions were all she needed, and her heart immediately felt relief.
>She turned around and grabbed the ground beneath her to set herself back on her feet, but she stopped halfway through when the realization hit her.
>What had caught her was neither Rainbow Dash nor the actual ground.
>A platform entirely made of metal shavings had formed under her in the blink of an eye, creating a platform which saved her from whatever laid at the bottom of the seemingly endless pit.
>Her heart started beating faster.
>Twilight was now frozen, too scared to move in case she would fall again.
>She could feel a lightheadedness creep in on her, but she tried to shake it away.
>”Are you alright, Dear?”
>Rarity’s calming voice was a relief on her ears, curing her of the temporary paralysis.
>Twilight slowly rolled around and attempted to get on her feet, but whenever she moved, so did the magnets.
>They seemed to cover only what they needed to, and nothing more.
>”Well…” she finally said, her voice shaking violently. “At least now we know how to get across…”

>Twilight fell limp across the dust, attempting to catch her breath as best she could.
>The trip across the chasm had been more than weird.
>Like magic, the microscopic metal particles seemed to follow under their feet as they walked across the endless pit.
>No matter where they put their hands or feet, the shavings would always be underneath them on ground level.
>Such a phenomenon Twilight had never seen before, nor did she believe she could see it again.
>While the three were busy witnessing Twilight nearly tumble to her death, the lightning seemed to have stopped, and she had deemed it safe to access the island.
>Sitting up, she saw her crewmates stumble their way across thin air, Rainbow Dash resorting to crawl across, very, very slowly.
>When they both got over to the island, they dragged the scientist to her feet, struggling to keep her standing.
>”Twilight, you look pale, are you quite alright?” the navigator looked closely at her friends half-closed eyes.
>She smirked as she used Rarity’s shoulder as a crutch.
>”I guess the famine is finally getting to me…”
>They then diverted their attention towards the crystal, and the team started making their way up the steps.
>As they treaded on the crusted rock emerging from an ocean of metal, more symbols became apparent.
>They seemed randomly placed at first, but looking at it long enough and Twilight's brain started seeing patterns.
>Like repeating tiles in an ancient video game, the symbols revealed themselves slowly.
>Figuring out what they meant was another task, however.
>The team quickly reached the top of the stairs, and Rarity set down Twilight next to her to rest.
>The scientist was breathing heavily now, and had gotten a lot paler.
>Rarity wondered how long they could keep this up, as she felt fatigue creep up on her as well.
>”We’ve done this long enough today…” she said sluggishly. “We should call it a day and head back, don’t you think?”
>As the navigator gazed down at Twilight, she only saw the black dust covering the area.
>As she lifted her head, her heart skipped a beat.
>”Twilight, no!”
>The scientist had made her way over to the emerald-colored mineral in the middle of the platform.
>With an outstretched arm, she stared at it, a sheepish smile on her face, and her eyes hazy and drooping.
>”Twilight!” Rarity and Rainbow Dash both shouted, but it was too late.
>Her palm made contact with the mineral, and it immediately reacted by glowing and vibrating.
>Far above her, somewhere in the swirling winds, an energy started humming.
>It clashed and fought for dominance, violently pushing each other around.
>The ripple of this energy flew off in every direction, from electron to electron.
>In the blink of an eye, the sky exploded in a flash of light, a spear of light searing through the empty void above the three travelers.
>Mercilessly cutting through anything in its path, its journey ended as it struck the crystal, the force traveling down the island and back up again, into Twilight's hand.
>The crystal then blew up, splintering shards glowing with electricity everywhere.
>The team was sent flying in every direction, flingin far beyond the chasm and onto solid ground.
>A shard struck twilight in her chest as she bumped her head into something hard, and the world went black.


DAY 4694TR##%*@67

>An orb of fire stretched out across her vision.
>Its magnificent light made her eyes tear up, both in happiness and pain.
>The heat seared through her face, and she could feel her cheeks burn and her eye sockets boil.
>Soon, she could see no more, but she didn’t need to.
>The feelings was all she needed

THE SCREAMING. IT WOULDN’T STOP.

>Around her, it was all pitch black.
>She tried to move, but discovered her body and mind was disconnected.
>She couldn’t see herself, and direction had no longer any purpose.
>In the distance, a small spark could be seen.
>She tried to get a closer look, but instead she shot forward, field of view increasing rapidly until it expanded farther than infinite.
>Everything was in her sight, and sight was in everything.
>A pattern emerged, one she instantly recognized.
>She wasn’t yet far enough gone that she couldn’t recognize a map of the stars.
>As soon as this notion hit her, field of view started rapidly decreasing until everything succumbed to darkness once again.

I SAW THE WORLDS BURN IN GREEN FIRE. HARD RESET. CLEAN WIPE.

>Dark spheres slowly rotating against a navy blue background.
>A grid of lines trapped them in stasis.
>Only a single light source illuminated them all.

>Everything in darkness, everything from darkness.
>Sight was not necessary to understand.
>The continents, the oceans, the mountains and deserts and cities.
>It all goes in repeat.
>It all happens over again.
>A cycle in an endless machine.

>Bright lights.
>It was no mistaking it.
>Earth.
>Thousands of them, all identical.
>Then there was fire, and they burned more brightly than any star in the universe.
>And everything was gone, a charred crust of ash and dust with no memories.

THEY WILL COME BACK. THE CYCLE MUST NOT BE BROKEN.


Day 80

>A sharp pain rocketing up her spine woke Twilight up from the depths of her slumber.
>She gasped for air and felt her entire body resist any attempt at movement, pinning her down to whatever soft surface she found herself on.
>After coming to terms with the aching in her torso, Twilight slowly opened her eyes, adjusting to the bright lights above her.
>She struggled to focus, but soon found a few worried faces staring back at her.
>“Twilight?” The light flickered off, and Rarity lowered a small flashlight she held.
>On the flipside stood Fluttershy, her eyes darting between a screen and Twilight’s face.
>Her concerned look made her worry, as she tried her best to assess the situation in her head.
>She may be drowsy, but her mind still worked just fine.
>The last thing she remembered was the giant chamber and the floating island.
>Her memory was clear until she looked at the strange mineral contained there.
>Then everything went hazy, like if she had gotten intoxicated.
>No matter how hard she tried to recall, her mind stayed blank.
>”What happened?” Twilight sighed, realizing she couldn’t possibly solve this alone.
>Besides, a stinging pain in her chest distracted her from thinking straight.

>Fluttershy and Rarity looked at each other, as if trying to decide telepathically how they should convey the message.
>But the scientist didn’t have time for contemplation.
>She had been living her life thinking rationally, and couldn’t imagine not being able to comprehend the situation.
>”Just tell me!” She said after a short moment, staring Fluttershy right in the eyes. “I’d be a lot happier just knowing what’s going on.”
>”W-well…” the pink-haired biotech said after a few seconds of fidgeting with her hands. “There's r-really no easy way of telling you this… It seems you were the victim of a natural phenomena, though that doesn’t even begin to describe your condition. This crystal you found in the ruins shattered and you were struck by one of its shards.”
>Twilight looked around after gaining some control over her neck, and just now noticed you and Rainbow Dash leaning against the wall in the far side of the room.
>But her gaze quickly trailed off as something closer caught her eye.
>”W-we tried all we could, but any attempt at getting near it sets off strange energy spikes.”
>Twilight's eyes focused on a glowing green crystal, humming with a strange light.
>It had an edge which felt like it could cut you just by looking at it.
>”It’s honestly a miracle that you’re still alive.”
>The words coming out of Fluttershy’s mouth seemed to fly right past the scientist once the realization set in.
>Her eyes reached the base of the shard, and the sight of a jumbled mess of flesh, skin and stone made her blood freeze.
>From her perspective, it almost seemed like the shard had fused together with her, sticking straight out of her chest, impaling it where her heart was supposed to be.
>She uttered a groan as she prepared for the pain to set in, but she quickly realized there was no discomfort at all, probably thanks to some anesthetics she was given, she thought to herself.
>No blood was showing either, so it most likely cauterized the wound immediately, but just the sight of it made Twilight’s heart skip a beat.
>And two.
>In fact, she couldn’t feel her heart moving at all.
>Twilight swallowed in an attempt to calm herself, but noticed her throat was as dry as a spoonful of cinnamon.
>”Uhh… I don’t… Think it’s supposed to be like this.” She finally said, her voice shaky and cracking.
>”Your vitals seem fine, and your breathing is normal. However we’re unable to monitor a pulse, and your heart has stopped entirely.” Fluttershy’s voice was calming and reassuring on Twilight's ears, but it was clear she hid just as much distress as everyone else.
>”But I’m still here.” Twilight asserted, earning a nod from the biotech.
>”Right you are, I just don’t understand how. Your blood circulation is fine, but it’s not being pumped around. Instead It’s like a continuous flow…”
>She picked up Twilight's arm and lightly squeezed her wrist.
>She could feel the pressure building up like normal, her blood attempting to flow through a tighter space than usual.
>You stepped up from your position in the back of the room and made your way to the foot of the bed.
“I just need to know of she’s going to be okay.” you said, giving Fluttershy a concerned but stern look.
>The pink-haired woman turned to you and seemed conflicted at first.
>”Everything seems to be fine, and she appears conscious and clear-headed. I think we should let her rest for now though.” Fluttershy put Twilight's arm down carefully before turning towards you.
>”Sure, everything is fine except this freaking rock sticking out of me!” Twilight said dejectedly.

>You stared at the bedridden scientist, trying to soak in the situation.
>Despite being worried for her, the tone she spoke in and her absolutely dumbfounded expression made your mouth twitch a bit until you cracked a short laugh unwillingly.
>It seemed to be contagious, as the others in the room tried to hide their funny expressions.
>”Oh sure.” Twilight threw her arms out in disappointment. “I’m the only one who doesn’t find the humor in this?”
“I’m sorry Twilight.” You said, trying your best to recover and keeping a straight face. “I’m worried, truly, but I just think all this is pretty bizarre. You stay here and let Rarity take care of you until we figure out a way to get that thing out of you.”
>You turned towards Rainbow Dash, who immediately stood up straight, And Pinkie Pie who sat at a table in the corner of the room in silence.
“I’ll have Pinkie fill in their spots on your team, alright?”
>Before Rainbow Dash had time to reply, the eccentric girl bounced up from her chair and stood ready.
>”Yessir!” she shouted, giving you a salute and marching out of the chamber.
>It had been a while since you saw her with this much energy, but you hoped it would raise her mood getting out of this metal box.
“You’ll just have to bring her up to speed, Dash. I trust you’ll handle this?”
>”Of course, Anon, I think I know what I’m doing here.” Rainbow scoffed as she quickly left the room, probably to avoid comments about her snarky tone.
>You decided to ignore it for now and headed towards the exit as well shortly after, but turned around in the doorway to take another look at Twilight.
>It looked painful with the green mineral protruding from her chest, but the warm smile Twilight gave you when she noticed you staring back at her was all you needed to reassure yourself everything was going to be okay.
>Pleasantly surprised your team had  the ability to flip such a dire situation into a good-spirited one, it was time to get back to work again.


Day 81

>Another long day of geological survey boringness had come to a close.
>As of now, you had mapped all kinds of different minerals close to the crater together with Fluttershy.
>Her interest in rocks really surprised you.
>Rumors told of her talking to animals, but this was almost just as obsessive.
>At least it was some entertainment and distraction in listening to her silky voice talk while you scavenged and tagged hundreds of stones.
>It kept your mind off worrying about Twilight if nothing else.
>However, the strangest part about all this was comparing your data to the things Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie had discovered.
>The crater held a wider variety of minerals than the rest of the area, like they came from someplace else or had been combined from other sources.
>Fluttershy did point out that there hadn’t been mapped enough material elsewhere to draw conclusions, nor had you had time to research the strange green crystal, but it was enough to raise a few eyebrows.

>You sat at the central table with your feet relaxing on the counter, forcing down a veggie bar and looking over some reports hovering in front of you in a blue ethereal fashion.
>At the corner of your eye you noticed Fluttershy enter the room and silently making her way towards you in a way only she could manage.
>You saw her all the way, but still feigned surprise when she called your name.
>You turned around with a smile, but quickly noticed a concerned look on her face, a glint of excitement shining in her eyes.
“What’s up?” You asked her, and she poked her fingers together.
>”I t-think you should come see this, Anon…”

>The blue hologram flickered in front of you, but you still didn’t really understand.
“I don’t understand…”
>Yeah…
>”I told you…” She waved off the holographic report and revealed the dimly lit chamber containing a mound of mud in the middle of a petri dish.
>”A-according to the scans, this sample contains every known ingredients of an earthly fertilizer, and a potent one at that…”
>This was the sample Fluttershy collected at the Maw, which you had dubbed the enormous hole going straight through the world.
>The implications she was suggesting was huge, however.
“What about foreign materials?”
>”Scans and testing only reveals known elements…
“Alien bacteria?”
>”It’s gone through sterilization seven times now, it doesn’t seem to affect anything in the sample…
>You sighed and pinched your bridge.
“I dunno, Shy…”
>”Come on, Anon…” she pleaded. “W-we have to try!”
>You looked at her with a concerned expression, but was met with determined eyes.
>”I graduated at the top of my class in bioengineering, experimental science and geology! I t-think I can make it work… no, I know it!”
>She certainly did have all the PhDs to prove it, but eating food grown with alien soil did introduce a number of risks…
>You took a bite of your food bar and let the taste of cardboard and muddy water sink in.
>Having eaten these for a month straight to conserve rations, nothing really needed to sink in.
>You were tired as shit of those stupid bars.
>As you turned towards Fluttershy, you picked up the nearest bucked and spat out the dry oatmeal and threw the rest of your dinner in with it.
“When can you get to work?” You asked her, and she beamed at you.
>Fluttershy wrapped her arms around your torso, and you could feel her cushiony chest squeeze against your own.
>”Oh thank you Anon! You won’t regret this, and I know of five other hungry tummies that won’t either!”

>As you exited the field lab you wondered if you had made the right decision.
>Your growling stomach corrected that thought to ‘you made the right choice… maybe.’
>On second thought, maybe throwing away your dinner was a mistake…


Day 82

>The seven moons of Mjölnir KS6 almost lined up perfectly like a spire of bad omens above the Maw.
>Huninn’s mechanical arm graced past your vision, dirt scattering from its newly acquired steel jaw.
>You had decided to arm the truck with a digger claw to gather enough soil  from the depths of the chasm after the biotechs instructions.
>Fluttershy shifted on her legs next to you, seemingly in deep thought.
>Applejack had insisted on manning the arm, so you really didn’t have anything better to do.
>”I’ve been thinking…” Fluttershy said suddenly. “How come this planet still has moons?”
>You turned your head, confused by her statement.
>She noticed this, as she began motioning her arms nervously in front of her, attempting to find words.
>”I-I mean… Unless the moons were captured after the world was hollowed, they would have been gone a long time ago due to the considerable change in mass.”
>You pondered the suggestion for a minute.
>Orbits and celestial bodies are delicate, so it all made sense.
>Unless…
“...Every object changed mass proportionally the same…” you thought out loud.
>Fluttershy seemed startled by this.
>Surely it's a ridiculous claim, but it was the only thing that made sense to you
>Unless there was some magical apparatus keeping it all together, everything would have crashed into the sun by now.
>”Anon, you don’t think…”
>You cut her off by summoning the display on your wrist and Rarity's voice appeared on the other end.
“Can you apply a long range scan to the system using the data we’ve collected here?” You asked her.
>A few moments of silence went by before the navigator's voice flared life into the comms
>”Uhhh… Okay, Anon, but I’m not sure what you hope to accomplish dear.”
>”Anon.” Fluttershy said, stepping up in front of you. “You realize this is i-insane, right?”
“I dunno, we’ve seen some weird stuff already…”
>”Why harvest one tree when you got a whole acre o’ them!” Applejack contributed, who had been listening through the vehicle's open window. “Anyway, we got as much dirt as you instructed, Shy. We ought to be headin’ back to base by now.”
>You and Fluttershy stood there looking at eachother for a little while, soaking in the situation.
>The moons above had aligned perfectly, and everything went silent.
>It had been this way ever since you landed, but at this moment it was even more apparent how pressing the absence of wind and motion felt.

>A dark spot appeared on the pink haired biotechs chin and started creeping across her chiseled and feminine jawline, then her small button nose and at last covered her deep blue eyes.
>Fluttershy seemed startled and had completely frozen.
>You could see her breath strike the visor of her helmet and stain it with vapour.
>”Anon.” she nearly whispered to you. “There are no clouds on this planet… W-what's blocking the light?”
>Soon the shadow had absorbed all sunlight in the vicinity, and you slowly turned towards the dying sun to find a small dark spot gliding across it, casting  long shadows across the surface.
>You touched a plate on the side of your visor and a small section on the glass became framed in a thin blue circle.
>You swiped across the surface and the image in the sphere enlarged dramatically, until your vision was covered in the visage of the star and a strange shape ominously placed in front of it, just sitting there quietly.
>”Anon, I think I’ve found something…” Rarity finally said on the other side of your speaker. “Every object in this system has the same gravitational anomaly… and they contain traces of the materials found near the Maw.”
>The navigator seemed nervous, nearly whispering the last part.
“And I think we just found our culprit.” you mumbled back at her.

>As you applied the UV filter, the sight which appeared on your helmet scope made your heart skip a few beats.
>The silhouette could only remind you of a giant fish, with eight sharp, pointy fins protruding from its mechanical body.
>Plates of some metal substance, charred by molten rock and tainted with dirt, covered its entire cylindrical body and reflected the sunlight in a spectacular manner.
>And the most terrifying sight, on its head, sat a massive complex of churning wheels and jagged drills meant only for chaos and destruction.
>At this distance it was hard to make out its size, but the few sunspots which floated by behind it suggested it was utterly enormous and could probably swallow the Excalibur whole.
>You started breathing heavily, sweat running down your forehead and getting caught in your eyebrows.
>A hand landed on your shoulder, and Fluttershy's touch calmed you down slightly.
>”W-what do you see, Anon?”
>You didn’t answer her.
>You didn't really know what to say.
>You tried opening your mouth to form words, but just as you thought you had something, the chassis of the unfathomable machine started humming with a blue glow, tendrils of light seared off its surface like smoke from an ashtray.
>With a blinding flash and a streak of resonating energy, the machine disappeared into the void.
>You were left speechless, standing amongst the pile of rock.
>It was one thing to witness ancient civilizations with dormant superweapons.
>This was the first sign of something humanity had been searching for for thousands of years, the first sign of active alien life.


Day 85

>”...So what I’m trying to say is that every celestial body is missing a great part of itself, like it was blown or dug away.”
>Rarity showed the new and updated imagery of the solar system's planets.
>Every one of them had a large hole burrowed in them, thousands of megatons of minerals gone in the solar winds.
>Most of the crew had a hard time tearing their eyes away from the shaky footage taken from your visor however.
“The World Eater…” Twilight rolled the word on her tongue next to you.
>She had gotten significantly better since you returned to orbit.
>The emerald spike still rose from her chest like a thorn on a rose, but the scientist had adapted remarkably well to it.
>She even went as far as to cut holes in her t-shirts to fit it through.
>Fluttershy had, remarkably, deemed her fit for duty after she no longer showed any physical distress from it.
>Personally you could never imagine having a stone through your heart, but it didn’t seem to bother her the slightest.
>She told you, that until you found a way to safely remove it, she would rather keep it there than doing anything reckless.
>”That’s what we decided to call it in the reports.” Fluttershy responded, clutching her tablet close to her chest. “I-it’s not too c-cheesy it it?”
>No one answered.
>”So ANY idea what that thing could be?” Rainbow Dash said after a few moments had passed. “It’s pretty freaky-looking…”
“Well, it eats planets.” You said sarcastically, evoking some nervous laughter among the group.
>”I think it’s kinda cool!” Pinkie said enthusiastically.
>However, a few suspicious looks made her perk down.
>”Okay maybe not THAT cool…” she whispered.


Day 88

>Once again you found yourself staring down a bar of compressed and dried food.
>A few days had passed since you left Mjölnir behind which had given you some time to get over what you saw and come to terms with it, especially with the help of Fluttershy.
>She was an excellent emotional support, and knew just what to say.
>One thing you never could come to terms with, however, were these bleak meals you had been chewing on for too long.
>Looking down the table you could see the rest of your friends thought the same.
>Strangely, Pinkie Pie seemed like the one who had the least problem chowing down on them, yet she was the one mostly affected by them both emotionally and physically.
>You had noticed certain features of hers had been drastically… diminished during this period.
>And by that you meant the constant jiggle of fluff whenever she walked around enticingly of course.
>The lounge door hydraulics broke your comfortable train of thought and through the arch from the corridor came a pink blur clad in a lab coat.
>”Good news everyone!” Fluttershy said as enthusiastically as she could manage.
>Without another word, she pulled up a net filled to the brim with all sorts of freshly grown foods ranging from fruit to vegetables to even synthetic meat.
>”This World Eater seems to turn anything into a perfect replica of earthly fertilizer, and the newest crop has grown up healthier than ever!”
>A synonymous roar of excitement filled the lounge as everyone drooled over the possible meals you now could make.
>Fluttershy put the net down on the large oval table and all sorts of colorful stuff rolled out.
>Five pairs of hands eagerly reached out and grabbed whatever they could get a hold of.
>It didn’t matter what it was as long as it didn’t taste cardboard and muddy water.
>As the captain you decided to restrain yourself a bit, and instead stood up to congratulate the biotech who relished in the crews happiness.
“Great job, but there's more than this, right?”
>”Oh, yes Anon!” she nodded with a gentle smile. “The samples we gathered taught me enough to keep the greenhouse going practically indefinitely. I don’t believe we’ll have any shortages in the near future!”
>You smiled back at her in relief.
>Anything but those awful bars would satisfy you for now.
>it seemed like your crew agreed as well, as they chowed down on anything they could get their hands on.

>Captains Log: 2145.24.11 18:04 Local Equestrian Time. Identity: Anon Y. Mous Confirmed.
RECORDING…
[Audible belch]
>Pardon me, whoever’s listening. I haven’t eaten that well in about a month now.
>I was sceptical using alien soil to grow our food, but our biotech assured me it was no different from Equestrian soil.
>Either way it seems to work out for us for now, until someone starts laying eggs or having other symptoms like aliens breaching their stomach…
[Laughter]
[Silence]
>This World Eater worries me still…
>It turns anything into earthly dirt, but why?
>And why did it only burrow through the center and not just eat the entire planet?
>And last but not least, can it eat stars?
>That would explain why the red dwarf was so close to its death…
[Silence]
>Yeah, I won’t get any answers by talking to myself.
END OF RECORDING…

>The elevator doors slid open and revealed the dimly lit laboratory.
>It was bigger than the one aboard the shuttle, but it surprised you how much space was reserved for the greenhouse farm.
>Standing in front of the windows overlooking the crops stood the woman of the hour, Dr. Fluttershy, busy taking notes on her tablet.
>As you walked towards her, she turned around and looked over the edge of her glasses.
>The lenses and thick obsidian frame accentuated her eyes well, and made them seem a bit larger than they actually were.
“You’re all alone down here?” you asked her, looking around the room a bit closer.
>”Twilight took the day off, said she had some reports to write. How are you doing Anon?”
>She put down her tool and approached you.
>Almost immediately she started studying you from top to bottom, looking for signs of wear or injuries.
>You chuckled at her concern but dismissed her.
“I’m fine, really.”
>The doctor blushed and took a step back.
>”Oh, right… please excuse me.”
>A few moments of silence passed before you decided to speak up again.
“But how about you?”
>She looked at you with curiosity and cocked her head.
>”W-what about me?”
“I’d say most people would lose their shit over being shot at by a giant beam which melted their livestock, not to mention seeing something capable of eating planets… I wanted to talk to you about it when I found you on the floor cleaning up your coffee puddle.”
>”It just slipped, Anon, it happens. There's nothing to worry about!”
>You looked at her suspiciously, but couldn’t find anything about her which wasn’t sincere.
>The biotech sighed with a weak smile and turned to towards her greenhouse, staring longingly at something far beyond the dimly lit grey walls.
>”I may not be as brave as the others,” she continued, still watching over the garden. “...but I’m not as easily affected by things like that anymore. I’ve changed a lot since we were kids, Anon.”
>You didn’t say anything.
>You didn’t feel like it was necessary.
>Fluttershy practically radiated confidence, something you didn’t really expect from her person.
>”But I do appreciate the concern, at least!” she turned back to you with a gentle and kind smile, like she used to do back then.
>Her long hair flowing in the breeze from the ventilation was hypnotizing to look at, but her voice kept you tethered.
>”If anything, I think it’s Applejack you should be concerned about.”
“Applejack?” you echoed, bewildered by her statement. “Since when was she affected by anything like this?”
>”Maybe not what we’ve experienced, but she’s showing signs of depression and have denied my offers for counseling.”
>You scratched your stubble.
>Applejack didn’t seem like she had any issues being on this ship at all.
>The last month had everyone feeling down though, but you had every reason to believe Fluttershy due to her medical expertise.
>It was the reason she was brought onto the program in the first place.
>”Thanks Flutters, I’ll talk to her when I get the chance.”
>A bright light shone in the corner of your eye, and you winced at the sudden change in luminosity.
>You turned towards the glass plates separating you from a jungle of nourishment, and on the other side of the green fields you could spot the virtual sun rising above the flora.
>It was surprisingly lifelike, reflecting colorful rays off of the synthetic clouds and scattering them in reds and pinks across the room.
>You felt soft fingers caress your hand as Fluttershy took it in her own.
>It was impossible to know what tomorrow would bring for you and your crew, but judging by the recent events you were sure it would be more than interesting.

>Blue lights illuminated the hull of the Excalibur as the impressive ship slowly made her way through the void.
>The distant stars twinkled welcomingly, inviting curious minds to ponder their existence.
>Strangely enough, were you anything but human, the universe would be humming with an ominous energy.
>You did not tread the stars unnoticed.