Path of The Stars: Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2


Day 32

>The sight in front of you almost took your breath away.
>The large sphere of crystal white landscape was a sight not many others had seen before, but you were the first to set your eyes on this particular planet.
>An alien world, right before you.
>Rainbow Dash had brought you out of the FTL drift a couple of days ago when you almost crashed into another rock farther out in the system.
>She managed to steer you away from its intense gravitational pull, but just barely.
>After scanning the system, Rarity had personally picked out this world as the one that looked the most interesting.
>Of course, nobody objected, as they just wanted to set their feet on something that wasn’t floating in space.
>Klepra 3b.
>It was a barren wasteland covered in ice and snow.
>According to data, it contained materials, which you couldn’t find anywhere else in the local solar system.
>There were also a large number of underground caverns and chasms in it, which could be worth exploring.
>You turned around and started walking back up from the observation deck.
>This could be fun.

>In the hangar, the others were already busy loading the shuttle with necessary equipment.
>Drills, rations, medicine and even weapons.
>There was no telling what you could find down there.
>As you came walking through the hangar doors, the girls stopped what they were doing and stood attention.
>You just chuckled and waved your hand.
“Come on now, I know we’re professionals, but there’s no need for that…”
>The crew slowly relaxed and looked at you in anticipation.
>The shuttle was loaded and ready to go, and the large hangar gate started opening slowly, revealing the bright surface of the planet below.
“What?” you asked. “You want me to hold a speech for you too now?”

>The girls laughed.
“Of course not. Let’s just go already!” they said in an excited tone.
“Dash, you wanna take the honor?” you motioned for the hatch under the shuttle, which lead to the cabin.

>Rainbow Dash turned to face the now open hatch.
>She eyed the black hull with awe.
>The people who designed it had drawn a lot of inspiration from different sci-fi movies, calling it “a bridge to science reality”.
>You had met them, and they were just a big group of nerds, but they knew their stuff.
>The shuttle balanced over ground on four large retractable legs.
>It had four engines mounted on its sides, two large cylindrical in the back for thrust and two smaller ones in the front for balance.
>The hull itself had the shape of a rhombus, with the cockpit in the front shaped like half an oval.
>It towered 20 meters over your head, and measured 40 meters in length.
>An impressive piece of technology indeed, but you had never flown it before.
>Dash takes a step forward and climbs up into the steel walkway leading into the cabin.
>The others followed her.
>You looked out through the air field to the planes below.
>A thick green blanket lay over it, giving the frozen landscape a green hue.
“Are you coming, captain?” you heard rainbow call for you from the cabin.
>You stepped into the cabin where the other girls were.
>The walls were colored white, and lines of blue ran all over the place.
>They all came together in the middle of the cabin, where a large table sat.
>The surface had holographic images of different data collected from its surroundings.
>There were several doors leading to different sections and rooms of the shuttle.
>In front was the bridge, who looked like a miniature version of the bridge on the Excalibur.
>A small control panel to steer the shuttle had replaced the helm, and six seats were placed behind it, three on each side.
>They all had their own little pads to view information and control different functions of the ship.

>The crew had all found their places, and started fiddling with the instruments to prepare for takeoff.>Once you sat down in your seat, right behind Dash to her left, the hatch in the back of the ship closed.
>You fastened your security belt with a click and leaned back into the comfortable seat.>Dash flipped a few switches in the roof and you could feel the shuttle vibrating.
>The engines powered up, making the shuttle hover up in the air.
>You heard the legs pull up into the hull.>The hangar walls started slowly sliding past you as the shuttle slowly made its way out of the hangar over the takeoff pad outside.
>Once outside the thin bubble that kept the oxygen where it should be, Dash increased the power to the engines.
>The shuttle slowly glided away from the safety of the gray chunk of metal, and into unknown territory.
>Even though you had been in undiscovered space for some time, you still couldn’t shake the pioneer feeling you had inside.
>Once a safe distance from the mothership, Rainbow initiated the afterburners and you shot towards the green atmosphere of Klepra 3B.
>Small chatter broke out in the cabin of what they might find down there, among other things.
>You preferred to just sit back and wait.
>It didn’t take more than a couple of minutes to reach the outer perimeter of its atmosphere, and Dash switched on the landing protocols.
“Atmospheric normalization initiated. Prepare for planetfall.” She told the others to get their attention.
>The girls all sat up straight and watched as the shuttle entered the green-ish blanket of smoke that covered the planes.

>Once it did though, the hull heated up almost immediately, and the outside was covered in burning hot fire.
>You could hear everyone scream in shock but Rainbow.
>She gritted her teeth and cursed while attempting to dive straight down.
>It wasn’t long before you reached terminal velocity, even with the thrusters at maximum power, but fire still clouded your sight.

“Dash, watch out for the surface!” Rarity yelled after her.
“FUCK ME!” Dash responded, as panic swallowed her.
>Instinctively, she switched off all power to the engines, and forced the ships nose upwards.
>After a few intense seconds of falling, the shuttle went into an uncontrolled glide.
>As the speed decreased, so did the heat outside.
>Once you could see something, Dash flipped on the engines and attempted to pull the shuttle into a halt.
>Once it stopped completely, the fire outside had stopped, and you could make out the frozen landscape bellow you.
>Dash leaned back into her seat and sighed in relief.
“Well?” She panted, looking back at Rarity. “Where are we landing?”
>Rarity took some time to scan the terrain, but brought up a simulation of the terrain covering the ground below.
>It displayed a grid along the ground, showing where the flattest area was.
“How about here?” She said, making a small square are flash.
>It seemed like it was in a large plane covered in ice.
>Close to it stood two mountains looming over the area.
“Good enough” Rainbow panted, raising her hands to the control panel once again.
>The shuttle slowly fell downwards.
>The green smoke around you became thinner as you approached the surface.
>After becoming completely free of the layer of gas, Dash began a vertical dive towards the point of interest.
>After a slow fall, you were just a few hundred meters above the icy fields.
>You slid over the landscape, looking at the alien world in front of you.
>It wasn’t that different from the North Pole, really, except the green sky above you.
>Rainbow forced the ship into a stop, and descended towards the ground.
>Careful, like a leaf dropping from its tree, the shuttle came to a rest on the terrain with a loud hiss.
>A few buttons and switches later, and all the systems that weren’t needed any longer had been switched off.
>Dash put the ship in a rest and the lights in the cabin dimmed slightly.

“Landing completed, propulsion systems locked, main power directed do life support systems.” Said Rainbow and leaned back in her seat, wiping her brow.>You heard a few clicking noises behind you.
>Your friends took of their security belts and went to initiate the scanning systems.
>Just like in the countless training sessions you had undergone.>You looked out of the window in front of you.
>The frozen field you had landed on was nothing but ice as far as you could see.
>In the background, two purple mountains rose up from the horizon.
>You got up from your seat and went over to the hologram table in the middle of the shuttle cabin.
>Around it stood the rest of your crew looking at you in anticipation.
>You cleared your throat.
“Alright, what’ve we got?” you asked and took turns to look at each one of them.
“The planet we’ve set foot on is covered in ice as far as we know, and there is very little change in the terrain around us except those mountains in the distance.” Rarity was the first one to speak up.
>She put an imagery of the planets local terrain onto the surface of the table.
“Y-yes… And the ice under us very strange. From the scannings it doesn’t look like normal ice.” Fluttershy stuttered.
“What do you mean “not normal ice”?” you asked her.
>She put a small vial into a slot in the table and a small window of information popped up in front of you.
“It’s too early to say anything, but it’s molecular structure is almost surreal. The extractors could have done something wrong though, but I doubt that…” She stated.
>The information you had on screen didn’t match what you knew as “ice”.
>As far as you know it could be anything but.

“We’ll have to investigate this further. What about the atmosphere?” You looked at Twilight, who suddenly became very busy dropping a few papers.
>She blushed slightly as the gathered them and put them on the table.
“W-Well, according to these readings, the atmosphere here is very strange too. Certainly not capable of holding human life.”
>She typed something on a keyboard, and a table of information popped up next to the one showing information about the surface.
“As you can see, this planet’s air consists of almost 72% methane gas! That must be the reason we caught fire during planetfall.”
“Shit.” You cursed.
>The others looked at you with questions in their eyes.
>The least you wanted to do was scare them, but they already caught wind on something.
>You sighed and massaged your temples.
“Alright, ladies. We’re gonna have to go out there and investigate some more. Grab everything we need, but no guns!”
>Your only means of protection and you couldn’t use it.
>The girls looked at you like question marks.
“Why not, Nonnie?” Pinkie asked you.
>You walked around the table and grabbed your air-tight helmet and the connected hydrogen converter.
“Well, we don’t have those particle guns with us, and anything generating heat above a certain level possesses the chance to blow the sky up. If you need heat we're gonna have to think of alternative methods.”
>You turned and took a small bag of supplies from the other wall.
>You checked in it to note everything was there and stuffed it on a cart together with the rest of the things the girls had gathered.
>It wasn’t much, but enough to not get you killed…
>Hopefully.
>You put on your helmet, and the other girls followed your motion.
>As soon as all of them had put them on properly, you pushed a button on the nearby control panel and held it there.
>The hatch behind you hissed and started slowly descending.

>Almost immediately, you heard the howling winds outside, and snow was blowing everywhere.
>The metal plate hit the ground with a loud bang, and you looked out over the endless landscape.
>Something was wrong though.
>Around your shuttle, a darker colored line stretched from side to side, like it surrounded you.
>You squeezed your eyes together, trying to spot what it was when you noticed the line was slowly getting wider.
>It wasn’t just any other line, it was a crack in the ice!
>Just then you heard a loud splintering noise from under it.
>You quickly grabbed on to something close to you as shock filled you.
>It seemed like your crew felt the same way, as you noticed the ship had tipped somewhat to the side.
>You slowly turned towards the girls and motioned for them to remain still.
>You took a few steps forward without losing your grip on the pole you held on to.
>As you stepped onto the hatch, the ice split under you.
>For a brief second, it felt like time slowed down.
>You noticed the shock in your friends face as they realized you were falling.
>You saw the ice block your ship was sitting on letting go of the rest of it and slowly falling downwards.
>Last, you noticed the screams catching up to your ears.
>You didn’t realize your lungs were empty from screaming yourself until you smashed into a solid layer of rock and blacked out.

>The smooth skin under your fingers twitched as you slid them downwards.
>Whispering gasps of pleasure filled your ears as your face buried itself in her neck and kissed her lightly.
>You felt her curves as your fingers moved down her torso.
>She grabbed your wrist as you reached her nether regions.
>It made you look up from the place between her neck and shoulder.
>Hazy purple eyes looked deep into yours, her lips slightly parted.
>Without taking her eyes of you, she guided your hand further down between her legs.
>Your fingers touched her already soaking slit and rubbed against them gently.
>You watched as her face twisted from one of affection to wincing pleasure.
>Her eyes closed and her mouth gaped wider as she clutched your hand harder.
>You stroked a lock of midnight blue hair out of her face and continued to savior the expressions she made.
>She bit her lower lip and squeezed her eyes shut as your finger slid into her without much effort.
>She moaned into your ear and grabbed your shoulders.
>Your finger slid deeper and deeper into her, you could feel her walls cave in and grab hold of you, urging you to go further.
>Her beautiful lips called you to them as you leaned towards her face and planted them onto hers and slowly pulled your finger back again.
>Your face didn’t meet any resistance, however, but kept moving forward into thin air.

>You shut open your eyes and looked around you.
>Bright dots filled the darkness in the distance.
>You didn’t feel any up or down, and floated around aimlessly.
>Confused, you started thrashing around, but to no avail.
>The void wouldn’t let go of you.
>Your ears perked up when you heard an echo far away from you.
>You tried looking for where it had come from, but it was impossible to judge a direction.
>Then the echo came back, stronger and much clearer than the last one.
>The voice sounded familiar too…
“Anon!” you heard.
>Your name, that’s what they’re shouting.
>You tried calling back out to them, but noticed your lungs were out of air.
>You tried breathing, but nothing would fill you.
>In panic, you started coughing.
>Air would escape your lungs, but not enter.
>Your eyes grew wide, and the feeling of weakness washed over you.
>It was almost… relaxing.
>You were about to give into this new feeling when you heard the echo once again.
>“ANON! WAKE UP, PLEASE!”

>You shut your eyes wide open again and stared into a pair of purple eyes.
>You looked at her worrying expression for a few seconds, and a pressing feeling started building up in your lungs.
>Instinctively, you inhaled forcefully and started coughing.
>You curled your body around itself as you kept coughing.
>Even after it had stopped, you lay there on the ground, the memories from your dream still vivid in your mind.
>A cascade of purple hair fell in front of you as Twilight leaned down to shake your shoulder.
>“Anon, talk to me. Are you okay?”
>You forced forth a rusty “Yes” before you broke out coughing again.
>You sat up and received a pat on your shoulder, which helped stop the violent outbreak.
>“You’ll be fine, I’m sure… How do you feel, Anon?” Fluttershy asked you.
>You still felt a little dizzy, but at least you could think straight.
>Getting up on your feet, you waved it off.
“I… I’m fine…”
>The truth behind it was that you were, in fact, not fine at all.
>Your ribs hurt, and you felt a sharp pain in your left arm.
>You could take care of that when you got back to the Excalibur though, so it wasn’t that big of a deal.
>You limped over to the cart and leaned on it, looking around you.

>The walls of ice stretched far above you, trapping you in a large sinkhole.
>You had hit rock bottom though, and purple-ish rock lay sprawled across the floor.
>You looked to your side and noticed the large black chunk of metal laying on the ground.
>Its legs seemed to have broken, but the rest of it looked intact.
>You shook your head to try to clear your dizziness, and noticed only four of your friends were present.
“Where’s RD and Pinkie?” you asked them, who had gathered around the cart.
>“They went down in that ‘ere cave.” Applejack told you, pointing to a dark entrance that seemed to lead further underground.
>You groaned.
>Well, at least they didn’t go alone, you thought. You grabbed a flashlight with the intention of going after them, but Fluttershy took a hold of your arm before you could go anywhere.
>“Anon, you can’t just go down there like this! You’re hurt…” she said, looking at you with pleading eyes.
>You put a hand on hers and slowly opened her grip, holding her hand in yours and smiling.
“I’ll be fine, honestly.” You said.
>She hesitated a bit, but slowly nodded and pulled her hand back.

>The dream was like a movie reel crammed into your head, and you especially remembered the first part all too well.
>It wasn’t before you looked around on your crew members that you realized a vital detail.
>Twilights face.
>As soon as your eyes met hers, your eyes widened and you quickly looked away, back at the entrance to the tunnel.
>Your face was suddenly burning hot.
>She was the one.
>You recognized her eyes sparkling like lightning, her face, the soft frame of it encased in purple hair.
>Why, even her bust size…
>You shook your head and started walking towards the cave in an attempt to give your mind other thoughts.
>“Ya want us to come with ya?” Applejack hollered after you.
>You didn’t as much as turn to face her, only waved your arm.
“F-Fluttershy and Rarity, come with me. You others stay behind.” You stuttered.
>You could almost feel their eyes sting in your back, but you kept walking.

>Soon, you had Rarity and Fluttershy by your side as you descended into the darkness of the cave.
>You had a hard time focusing on the exploring itself.
>The constant images from your blackout kept showing up in your head.
>By now, the choking bit didn’t even bother you anymore, it was the face that you had paid so well attention to that did.
>It perfectly matched Twilights, and you couldn’t help but feel like you did something to her without her consent.
>Rarity and Fluttershy had been exchanging worried looks for some time now, most likely because of your flustered face and heavy breathing.
>Fluttershy’s hand on your shoulder made you scream in shock, and she didn’t react that well either.
>You quickly turned around and noticed her hiding behind Rarity, who looked at you with a determined expression.
>“Anon, what’s going on here?” she asked you.
>You looked from Fluttershy’s frightened face and back to Rarity’s.
>Slowly, you got up from your hunched position by a pair of rocks and dusted of your suits torso.
>You wiped your face, only to find your visor in the way.
>You shook your head and looked ahead, determined to not let this get you down.
>It was only a dream, right?
“I… It’s nothing… Sorry Fluttershy…” You switched your flashlight back on and kept walking down the dark tunnel.
>You heard Rarity’s attempts at getting Fluttershy with her but you decided it was best that you kept your distance from them.
>They had their own lights and if anything were to happen, Rarity could protect her.
>You had seen her in training and she had some surprising abilities.

>It didn’t take a lot of walking in your own thoughts before you spotted bright light around a corner.
>You were about to round it when two figures emerged from it and slammed straight into you.
>It sent you into the ground and you groaned.
>Sitting up, the two dark figures started screaming in shock until you flipped on your flashlight.
>Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie stood there and stared at you like frightened cats.
>When they realized who you were, however, they became increasingly excited.
>“NONNIE, YOU GOTTA SEE THIS!” Pinkie yelled in your face as she pulled you to your feet.
>She almost made you fall again when she placed two firm hands on your back and pushed you towards the exit.
>The bright light blinded you, having walked in darkness for nearly 15 minutes.
>You noticed Dash running back to the shuttle before you were pushed out of the cave and onto a cliff.
>You shielded your eyes from the intense sunlight.
>Pushing a button on the side of your helmet, a darkened visor snapped down over your eyes, blocking out the intense light from your weary eyes.

>Your attention was first drawn upwards, where you noticed the roof of crystallized ice reflecting sunlight in the colors of the rainbow.
>Pillars of ice spiraled down from the top and went down into a fiery orange field.
>The whole area close to you looked like an autumn forest, with large trees growing densely.
>Far in the distance, behind a light mist, midnight black pillars raised out of the ground up to the ice cover above.
>They were adorned with intricate golden patterns.
>None of the buildings loomed the same, but they bore an architectural resemblance.
>Far to the right lay a large silver dome looming over the pillars in the background, and in the middle of the area, you noticed a large crystal like structure stretching far above the constructions surrounding it.

>Your only reaction was to drop your jaw and stare at the sight in front of you.
>You could hardly believe your eyes, and you was sure you had made the discovery of a lifetime.
>Pinkie, however, kept bouncing excitedly beside you, uttering small squeaks now and then.
>You managed to tear yourself away from the view in front of you and looked downwards.
>You sat on a tall cliff high above the ground.
>So high in fact, that there was a small layer of mist between you and the floor of the cavern.
>Below it, you could make out the dense forest covered in bright orange leaves, and a small clearing near the rock wall.
>You got up on your feet and backed slowly away from the edge, not wanting to accidentally fall down there.
>A plan slowly started to form in your head, and you decided it was best if the team regrouped and went through this together.

“Alright guys, I’m not sure what you know but we’ve just made the discovery of the decade. Hell, maybe even the discovery of the millennium! I need all the information you have of this planet pronto!”
>As the team scurried around to gather what they had, all you could do was lean over the table in the shuttle and wait.
>Twilight was the first to present her findings.
>“Okay, so I’ve taken some samples of the surroundings, and I have to say I’m very astonished by them.”
>She said as the laid a stack of papers onto the table.
>Different pieces of information about the molecule structures popped up in front of you and you looked at them carefully before Twilight continued to explain.
>“As you can see, the “ice” as we call it, doesn’t seem like ice at all. It doesn’t contain the same combination of hydrogen and oxygen as water does at home, and it certainly doesn’t have the same attributes as it. It’s much more porous and when it melts it becomes this sticky gooey fluid that just reeks of rotten fish…”
>Twilight scrunches her face and shakes her head in disgust.

>This only left you with more questions than you came with.
“well what is it?” you asked her, even though you were almost sure you weren’t going to get a definite answer.>Twilight looked at you with a disappointed expression.
“I… I don’t know… Most of the substances used in this… concoction isn’t even recognized in the system, and is certainly not a part of our periodic table as we know it. It does seem to be a carbon-based fluid, but I wouldn’t say for sure.”
>You shook your head.
>This would only result in more questions than answers.
>You shoved the diagram in front of you out of the way and looked over to Rarity on the other side of the table.
“Alright, what have you got for us?”
>She proceeded to tap her pad and from its side emerged a small chip.
>She placed it on the table in front of her and it immediately began scanning its information.
>Not long after, a detailed three dimensional map blinked up in front of you, spinning slowly so that you could view it form all directions.
>“Okay, I’m not sure how much there is to explain here, but as you all can see this is where we are currently located…”
>A small circular chasm up in a corner started flashing red.
>It was very small compared to the rest of the scan, but there was a miniature model of the shuttle you arrived in there, so there was no doubt.
>“…And this… this is the area in which… whatever we discovered lies.” She hesitated a bit, and you could understand why.
>The shuttle was just a tiny dot compared to the sheer size of the underground cavern.

>Rarity continued.
>“As you can see, the area is a lot larger than we anticipated, but fret not! Most of the floor is covered in a dense orange forest. These constructions that we spotted in the distance takes up about 55% of the total area inside.”
>The map switched perspective to a top down view and you noticed the cavern was perfectly circular.
>An area in the middle of the map started flashing red to indicate the size of the area of interest.
>A ring of forest surrounded it, and it seemed like walls had been raised around the area.
>“Let’s take a closer look in here, shall we? As you can see, this area closely resembles the systematic appearance of a city, complete with streets, buildings and whatnot. I suggest that we begin exploring and documenting here first before considering anything else.”
>The whole group nodded in agreement.
“Great work Rarity. Applejack, what is the status of the shuttle?” you looked at her as she juggled a wrench almost expertly.
>“She’s ready to fly, anon. The landing gear isn’t workin’ properly, but it should be fine.”
>You stand up from your leant position and cross your arms while looking down to the floor.
>Clearing your throat, you start forming a plan in your head.
“Alright, here’s what I’m thinking.” You say, as you scan the crowd. “This ship will serve as our base of operations. We’re going to place it in the outskirts of this… “city” in a lack of better terms. From there on we will explore the place and see what we can find. We’ll do this in three teams which we will decide later. Sounds good?”
>You look to the crew, which seems to agree with your plan.
“Great. Make whatever preparations you need, we’re leaving in five.”

>As your friends are about to leave you lean as close to twilight as you dare and whisper to her.
“C-can I speak to you for a moment?” you ask her, swallowing a lump in your throat.
>She looks at you confused, but complies and you take her to the back of the shuttle where, hopefully, nobody would hear you.
>You could feel your heart racing as she looked at you, waiting.
>You take a deep breath.
“L-look, when I was out… I saw something…” You shook your head, unable to continue. “What happened in the bridge… a while ago…”
>“…was a mistake.” She continued for you, like she knew exactly what you were talking about. “I wasn’t thinking clearly and I had a lot of… pent up… inside…”
>You sighed, glad to finally have that out of the way.
“I’m sorry, Twi. I just… It didn’t really cross my mind until recently.”
>“It’s fine, really.” She said, a smile spreading across her face.
>She put a hand on your shoulder and pulled you in for a hug.
>"I was a bit worried by what you thought of me.” She said in the crook of your neck. “What did you see when you were out, anyway?”
>You felt the blood fade from your head and you tensed up.
>You had hoped she wouldn’t ask.
>Twilight pulled away, looking at your face.
>She then chuckled and waved an arm as she walked away.
>“Never mind, “Captain”” Twilight mocked you.
>You stood there for a while, feeling the nerves slowly return to you.
>At least she dropped it.

>Slamming the hatchet down into the thick layer of ice, the thundering sound of the ground under you reached your ears.
>You grabbed your security rope tighter and rammed the tool back into the crack you had made.
>It went straight through the ice like it was nothing.
>A large white circle of ice collapsed under you and went flying down into the depth below.
>As the rope was reeled back up to the shuttle, you could hear the large shards of ice shattering.
>You managed to climb back into the cabin of the shuttle before Rainbow Dash closed the hatch.
>Fluttershy came to check on you, but you turned her down again as there was no need for medical attention yet.
>You told Dash that it was clear once everyone had been seated in the cockpit, and she disengaged standby mode.
>The shuttle responded by igniting its combustors and slowly descending towards the large hole you had made.
>You watched the thick layer of ice glide past you on your way down and the impressive spirals of frozen mass came into view.
>Once you had fallen past the pillar in your way, you had a clearer of the ceiling in the cavern.
>The roof itself looked like a massive, twisted vortex of ice, which matched the tall pillars in a bizarre way.
>The bared patterns met in the middle, where the crystal tower you had seen before stood taller than all the other constructions in the vicinity.
>You heard a couple of gasps at the stunning view; not every member of your crew had seen it, and it was indeed an impressive sight.
>The shuttle slowly descended through the colorful beams of light reflected in the frozen structures coming to a halt over a small clearing in the bright orange forest.
>Not wanting to ruin the ships hull, Rainbow slowly inched it closer to the ground, careful not to go to fast.

>Even though the touchdown was as gentle as a leaf falling from a tree in an autumn morning, the force from the impact made loose parts lying around the cabin fly forward.>You managed to grab a hold of the panel in front of you to stop yourself from banging your head against it.
>As you looked out of the window in front of you saw the humongous trees crowned with bright orange tops.
>Massive bushes and flowers in all sorts of alien shapes and sizes both towered and dwarfed the shuttle.
>It was a strange sight, but it was almost expected in a place like this.
>You unbuckled your security belt and got up from your seat to see the cabin crawling with activity.
>The crew had gotten up without you noticing and were making every preparations necessary for the expedition.
>It didn't take long before all the supplies were gathered, and you all stood facing the descending doorway once again.
>As it came to a halt, you looked back at your friends.
>They all stared at you with anticipation.
>You took a deep breath and slowly stepped forward.
>The metal under your plated boots clinked with every footstep you made.
>As you found yourself on a small field of what you assumed to be grass, the group immediately went to work with what they had been tasked with.
>Twilight started taking different samples while Rainbow Dash and Applejack scouted the area ahead of you.
>You helped Rarity map the area properly, and once you were done, the five of you followed the safe path Dash and AJ had made.
>The forest was dense and hard to navigate, and little sunlight slipped through the thick crowns of the trees.

>It didn't take long before you stood before a humongous wall, stretching far above the tree line.
>In contrast to the towering buildings behind it, this wall was a perfect white color, only degraded by the growth clinging to its surface.
>Behind a large bush, Applejack had discovered a gate that seemed to lead inside the walls.
>It's hinges was rusty and she easily broke them off and placed it to the side.
>As the protocol had stated so clearly, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were the first to enter through, weapons drawn.
>Or at least what primitive tools you had available.
>You followed shortly behind, not wanting to miss anything.
>As you walked through the white arch, the streets in front of you was a remarkable sight.
>They were completely empty with a vast array of unidentifiable items sprawled across them.
>Plants of all sorts were spread beautifully around in small areas, and the giant black blocks stood tall all around you.
>Some of them had collided with the massive ice ceiling and the tops were completely frozen in them.
>You had a closer view on the golden patterns in the walls, and they reminded you of circuitry, if nothing else.
>Applejack turned to you in anticipation, and so did Rainbow Dash and the rest of the team once they were done staring at the constructions with awe.
“Alright” you said, clearing your throat. “We’re gonna split up in three teams. Rarity, you’ll load the map onto our PDAs so that none of you get lost around here.”
>You turned away from the empty streets and waited as the digital maps were distributed.

>Once she was done, you looked down at the map and noted your position.
“Rarity, Twilight, you’ll come with me. We’re going to investigate the tower in the middle and it’s surrounding areas. AJ and Fluttershy, you’ll take to the dome in the outskirts and find out what it is. Pinkie and rainbow Dash, I want you to scout the walls and the streets close to it. You’ll follow Applejack and Fluttershy to the dome and work your way around back to where you started. You’ll then meet up where you split and make your way back here. Sounds good?”
>They all agreed and made their way to their destined points.
>Rarity and Twilight stayed behind.
>You still had difficulty looking at Twilight the same way you used to, but you needed her for this mission, so you had no choice in the matter.
>As you made your way through the empty streets, the blocks loomed higher and higher above you.
>The shadows became increasingly darker the farther in you went, and you soon found yourself face to face with the gigantic tower.
>The tower stretched farther up than any of the buildings around you.
>The tower itself looked like a perfectly symmetric sky blue tulip.
>Its walls had layers upon layers of flawlessly cut crystals.
>They had the shape of flower petals, looming far above your heads.
>In the middle of the tower, the crystal petals curled outwards, giving way for another large pink crystal.
>This one was nothing like the petals, however, as it looked like raw material, uncut and unrefined.
>The color was dazzling, and at the very top, it curled outward as well.
>The ice ceiling seemed to warp into a vortex, all coming together at the top of the tower.

>“Wow, this is amazing!” Twilight exclaimed, clapping her hands together. “I wish we had architecture like this at home…”
“Yeah, well it isn’t in par with the rest of the buildings here.” You say, putting your fist as close to your chin as possible, only separated by the glass visor on your helmet.
>“What do you mean?” She said, looking around at the buildings around her.
“This tower doesn’t seem to follow the rules of architecture as much as the other buildings around here. It’s really out of place…”
>“Well, the buildings at home doesn’t exactly look the same either.” Rarity said, walking up to the tower and touching the walls.
“Yeah, sure, but this place seems to follow a strict pattern.” You walk up to the base as well with Twilight following close behind you.
>You were too busy looking up at the looming building to notice the small pedestal in front of you.
>As you took a step forward, you slammed into it and fell toppling over it.
“OOF!” you said as your breath was knocked out of you.
>This caught the attention of your friends and they helped you back up on your feet.
>Twilight took a closer look on the pedestal.
>“Wow, look! Inscriptions!” She said excitedly as you and Rarity made your way over to her.
>On top of the rectangular stone sat a golden plate.
>Inscribed in it were a series of strange symbols, presumably some kind of writing.
“Oh great…” you sighed. “Our first clue and we can’t even find out what it means…”
>“Hang on.” Twilight interrupted you. “I think I can decipher this somehow.”
“And just how are you going to do that?” You looked at her in disbelief.
>“Well, there has to be some kind of logical algorithm to this I’m sure it’s like cracking a code.” She crossed her arms and looked at the plate, deep in thought.
>You rubbed your sore elbow as you eyed the tower again, not that it helped that much behind your titanium-plated suit.

>The ceiling of the cavern had begun to give away to darkness, indicating that the sun was about set.
>After you had conducted a series of tests on the tower and explored the surrounding areas, you decided to return to back to the starting point to meet up with the rest.
>Nightfall was potentially dangerous, and unless you found out what the moons could bring forth, there was no way you could let your crew wander around on their own.

>“You know, the days here are significantly longer than the ones at home.” Rarity said as you made your way through the thick jungle outside the walls. >“I’m not sure our circadian rhythm can keep up with 32 hour daylight.”
You shoved some leaves out of your way and spotted the shuttle in the distance.
“We’ll keep at it for as long as we can. If we experience trouble with it we’ll just have to return to the Excalibur to rest up and get back here as soon as possible.”
>The pictures spread up on the wall would shock an entire nation for sure.
>You had documented everything you saw, and so had the other teams.
>Every writing that had been found, all the strange and alien things that you could find out there.
>It seemed like something ripped straight out of modern science fiction movies.
>The only difference were that you had seen it with your own eyes.
>“Time to get to work I guess…” Twilight said, taking down all the pictures containing signs of inscriptions.
>You nodded and left her to her own mind as you decided to rest for a bit.

>You made your way to the main room and sat down in a chair in front of the table.>Placing your feet up on it, you took a sip of your coffee while looking at the map hovering in front of you.
>It was now much more detailed, as the constant wandering had helped scan the place further.
>Hopefully, tomorrow would bring about better results instead of mindless scavenging for something, anything that could help you understand this place.
>Your eyes became droopy, and you soon nodded off in your chair while listening to the quiet whooshing of the oxygen fan in the ventilation shafts.

>The white streets were as empty as always.
>An object you couldn’t understand what could be possibly used for blew past you, rolling into a wall and continuing in in it’s path another way.
>They were as light as a piece of paper and crumbled to dust if you tried picking them up, so you decided it was best to leave them alone.
>You went over to a dark wall and put your palm against it.
>The cold element was flawlessly smooth all the way across.
>Looking up, the black tower over you loomed far above.
>This one collided with the ice ceiling, covering the top in frozen mass.
>It had several overhangs that circled around the building, giving it a futuristic look.
>On closer inspection, the wall was covered in small golden lines in intricate, incomprehensible patterns.
>It reminded you of a circuitry card, only none of the individual lines connected.
>You backed up from the wall and kept walking down the street.
>You jumped as the intercom suddenly gave off static.
>“A-Anon?” Twilights voice tuned in.
>You felt something sink slightly in your stomach, but you tried to shake the feeling.
“Yes, I’m here?” You said with a shaky voice.
>“Anon, I think you need to see this…” Her voice sounded worried.
>Without replying, you started running towards her position.
>The blocks flew past your vision, and you soon found yourself in front of the awe striking crystal tower.
>You walked around it and saw Twilight on the other side.
>As you walked towards her, you noticed that she was looking at something at the base of the tower.
>You followed her gaze and saw a holographic image of a series of symbols being projected in front of you.
>You looked back to Twilight in confusion, but her face was struck by fear.
“What’s wrong?”
>She looked at you, her lips moving slowly as if she was trying to form words.
“Are you okay, Twi-”
>“We have to go.” She interrupted you.

>You cocked your eyebrow and looked back at the shifting symbols.
>The intercom tuned in again, this time it was Rarity who spoke up.
>“Anon? I think we found something!”
“What is it?” you answered them, never taking your eyes of Twilights face.
>“We think it’s an archive of sorts… Hard to tell, we can’t read anything.”
“I’ll be there soon.” You said and closed the channel.
>You slid your hand in Twilights, trying to pull her with you, but she wouldn’t move.
>“Anon, wait!”
“Twilight, we don’t have time for this now! Come on!”
>With a heavy pull you managed to drag her with you, and you ran down a narrow alleyway and out into the outer streets near the wall.
>It didn’t take long before you found a building larger than any of the surrounding ones.
>It took up the space four normal towers would, and those themselves were pretty large.
>The side of the building that faced the walls had to gigantic double doors that had both been opened, and you assumed Rarity had gone in already.
>You wasted no time and started climbing the stairs that lead to the entrance.
>You think you heard Twilight say something about waiting, but you needed to have a look at this archive and gather information.
>When you entered through the arch, darkness swallowed you.
>You scrambled for your torch and switched it on quickly.
>Illuminated in front of you was a large wall covered with the strange symbols.
>As you aimed the flashlight around, you noticed two stairs on each of your side leading up to an elevated floor.
>As you took a step towards the steps on your right, you heard Twilight wander in the door behind you.
>You turned to her and saw that she had a slightly worried look on her face.
>You gave her an assuring smile and continued upstairs.

>“Rarity?” you yelled, announcing your presence.
>Nobody answered.
>You tried tuning in on your intercom, but the thick stone-like walls jammed your signals.
>The torch in your hand only illuminated parts of your surroundings, so you started fumbling around the walls looking for something, anything really.
>Your knuckle hit something hard, and suddenly the whole tower lit up in one flash.
>Covering your eyes, you saw strands of purple hair in between your fingers.
>“ANON, OVER HERE!”
>As you removed your arm, you saw Rarity and Rainbow Dash waving behind a railing far up the tower.
>You also noticed the absurd size of the interior in the building.
>In the middle of the tall building was a beam of light that shot straight up.
>Dotting the beam were several large blue crystals.
>As the beam hit each of them, it spread the light to other smaller crystals floating around it.
>The crystals were formed like a chaotic chandelier, but without anything holding it up.
>Seeing something float without support like this dumbfounded you, but you shook your head, determined to keep going.
“Come on, let’s hurry!” You said to Twilight with an impatient voice.
>She was still making her way up the stairs from the entrance, and you pointed to a wall on the other end of the room.
>You grabbed her arm and dragged her along, and you walked past a pyramid where the beam of light seemed to originate from.
>You looked upwards, but a layer of mist kept you from seeing the top of the tower.
>In the other end of the room was another wall, and two stairs leading away from each other.
>You took the one to your left and almost ran up the stairs, Twilight in tow.
>As you came up the stairs and around the railing, a sight unlike any other met you.
>In front of you, under an overhanging roof several hundred meters above you, stood several rows of shelves.
>Dotted inside them in a hexagonal pattern were lines upon lines of strange bars.

>You hurried in between them and down the narrow paths.
>At the end of the row you saw Rainbow Dash wave at you before disappearing behind a wall.
>You quickly made your way over to the end of the path, where your three other crew members had begun examining the strange bars stuck in the walls.
>“Hey, Anon, check this out!” Rainbow came walking over to you with one of the items.
>As you took it, the weight of them almost overwhelmed you.
>You struggled to keep your balance, as the heavy thing landed in your palms.
>You noticed Fluttershy looking at you with a worried expression.
>She got halfway up to a standing position, but quickly sat down again when you regained balance.
>Taking a closer look at the object, it had the same strange intricate patterns as the walls of the towers around you, but it had a sky blue color instead.
>It was round in one end and had something that looked like a socket in the other.
>The input was unrecognizable, but you figured your team could whip something up.
“What is it?” you asked them, not really expecting any answers.
>“We’re not sure…” Rarity told you as she got up from the floor, reading something on her tablet. “…But they do contain a ridiculous amount of electricity. They could be power cells.”
>Looking back through the narrow shelves you came from, you could see all the way to the fourth floor.
>You noticed that all of the floors had the same layout with narrow shelves, and concluded that all the floors had the same ridiculous amounts of cells.
“Why would this place need so much power?”
>You turned to Twilight, who were shifting slightly in her place.
>She looked impatient and uncomfortable, and you suddenly remembered the instance at the crystal tower.
“Something the matter, Twi?” You asked her, and she looked at you straight in the eyes.

>“Anon, something’s terribly wrong here. I’m not sure I want to stay here any longer than we have to…”
>You looked back at the two others who were busy analyzing the other cells, and turned to face Twilight.
“I know.” You said in a quiet voice. “If this is a city, then where is everyone?”
>“Exactly! The symbols over at the tower. I managed to figure out what they mean, and they’re not letters, they’re numbers!” She whispered to you.
>Buildings with no entrances, a library stuffed with power cells, a tower which was completely out of place…
“Twilight, do you know what they mean?”
>She shook her head.
>“They could be anything. Judging by how the numbers descended, I’d recon it’s a timer.”
>You looked down the path of shelves and noticed the cells were emitting a weak blue glow.
>Had they always been like this?
“But what is it counting?”
>You stood up straight, calling out to the other two.
“Bring with you whatever you need. We’re heading back to base.”
>Rarity, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash looked at you with cocked eyebrows, but quickly gathered a few heavy cells and put them in a satchel.
>With hurried steps, you made it out of the library and out the main gates of the wall.


Day 33

>You stood before the towering crystal construction.
>The holographic symbols slowly shifting in front of you made you slightly nervous.
“Are you sure that’s what it says?” you asked.
>“Yes, I’m positive. I’ve double checked and then triple checked my double checking!”
>You looked back at the hologram.
>“Cycles left until Judgment” it said.
>Whatever that meant, you didn’t want to stick around to find out.
>You reach for your intercom and tune in to the global channel.
“Found anything yet?”
>After a little while, Rainbow Dash answered you, albeit the signals were awfully scrambled.
>“No, we… -seeking... Nothing… Po-…Cells.”
>You had sent them to the building with the power cells, which you had chosen to call the Power Block.
>The signals had a hard time reaching through the thick material that made up the walls.
>After a short while, Pinkie Pie latched on to the channel.
>“We’ve found a bunch of boring paper rolls here, I wonder if I can make a tent out of them? Maybe we could all go camping!”
>You looked at twilight, who was staring back at you with wide eyes.
>Paper rolls could mean anything, but it might contain scriptures from the past.
>You nodded and tuned back into the channel.
“We’re heading your way, Pinkie. Rarity, Rainbow Dash, keep looking!”
>An answer was returned, but it was too jammed to make out any of it, so you decided not to worry too much about it and started sprinting down an alleyway to your left.

>After a short while of running, you found yourself in front of another block.
>It didn’t look out of the ordinary compared to the rest of the buildings around you.
>The only difference was a huge hole in the wall.
>As you walked inside you were once again shocked by the interior of these strange constructions.
>It didn’t look anything like the Power Block, as this building contained a large crystal inside.
>The blue shard looked to be about seven stories tall and was lighting up the surroundings with an eerie blue glow.
>Under it was a complex platform with pipes and gauges swirling around in incomprehensible patterns before ultimately going down into the floor.
>In the middle was a beam of light directed into the bottom of the floating giant as it slowly turned around its own axis.
>You walked up to the platform, but couldn’t wrap your mind around the little information it gave you.
>As you looked behind the platform, your eyes widened.
>Even though this crystal was humongous, it was nothing compared to what you saw.
>In a grid-like pattern behind it were rows upon rows of the same machines reaching all the way to the other side of the building.
>All of the crystals had a unique shape, and were all spinning around its own axis in the same speed.
“What the hell is this place?” You mumbled to yourself before looking around the large room.

>One crystal in particular caught your attention.
>It didn’t look different from the other ones, but there was something about it that just seemed so… attractive.
>As you approached it, the light emitting from it seemed to draw you in.
>“Anon?” Twilight called your name as she followed you across the room.
>You both stopped in front of the giant.
>As you reached out a hand towards the mineral, a cloud of sparkling dust fell from its surface and encased your hand.
>The touch felt wonderful, and you wanted more of it.
>You didn’t really care anymore how or why.
>“Anon, what’s wrong?” Twilight asked behind you.
>You turned to face her, a smile of content spread across your face.
>You noticed her face twisted in horror, and you found it a bit humorous.
>As you started giggling for yourself, a sudden sharp pain in your face sent you rolling in the air and crashing into the floor below you.

>The wonderful feeling you had disappeared as the contact with the dust was broken and gave way to a nagging despair, like someone just killed your pet puppy.
>As you sat up, you noticed an orange and red plated suit standing in front of you.
>“Don’t look at’em Anon. They draw you in like flies to a candle light.”
>Applejack extended a hand to help you up, but you kept looking at her with a confused expression.
>Draw you in?
>No, you wanted that, you were sure of it.
>After sitting there without reacting for a few seconds, she grabbed your hand herself and dragged you up on your feet.
>You stroked your cheek, as the persistent pain wouldn’t leave.
>The glow from the crystals made you slowly turn to them, but Pinkie Pie was behind you in an instant, pushing you away from the lustrous glow and farther into the room.
“Wh… what happened?” you asked with a shaking voice.
>Your feelings were a total wreck, and you couldn’t tell the difference between happiness and depression.
>“We don’t really know what them ‘ere crystals are, except that we should keep a distance fer sure.”
>“Yeah, imagine if your soul had been trapped in there!” Pinkie said in an attempt to sound spooky.
>“They aint gonna trap yer soul, Pinkie. They imprint a desire for them deep in yer bones, slowly feeding of your energy until yer nothin’ but an empty shell.” Applejack shuddered.
>“That sounds… horrible. But how did you discover that?” Twilight asked.
>“We found some research papers up in the fifty sixth level. And I kinda stole your scripture formula…” The engineer admitted.
>Twilight looked at her in surprise, but shook her head.
>“Don’t worry about it. I should’ve given it to everyone when I had the chance.”
>“GUYS, WE’RE HERE!” Pinkie yelled behind you.

>You quickly directed your vision in front of you, and noticed a giant silver pillar in the middle of the hall.
>It was covered in a complex pattern of plates with even more pipes strutting out everywhere.
>Thin strips of transparent panes were systematically put into the surface horizontally, giving you a small view of a platform on its way down the hatch inside.
>As the platform came to a halt on your level, four panels in front of you slid away with a hiss, opening up for you to enter.
>Pinkie abruptly pushed you inside with great force.
>You didn’t have any time to protest as the plates slid back into their place after the two others had entered, locking you inside the giant cylindrical tube.
>You turned to Applejack with a confused look, but all she did was clear her throat.
>Immediately after, the gray, circular platform shot straight up the shaft with incredible speed.
>Through the transparent panels on the wall, you could see the ominous crystals become smaller as you flew upwards.
>As the view outside gave way to complete darkness, you turned to Applejack for answers.
>The look of utter confusion on your face gave her all the information she needed.
>“This shaft reaches all the way to the top of the tower. Or at least the parts of it not frozen solid… Our research indicate an anti grav field and response ta guttural noises.”
“How long have you been here exactly?” you said in disbelief.
>“About four hours.” Pinkie said without hesitation. “Local time of course!”

>Before you could ask any more questions, the elevator came to a sudden stop and the walls opened up to reveal more darkness.
>Applejack cleared her throat again, and lights flashed from the ceiling illuminating the room outside.
>The first thing you noticed was all the paper sprawled across the floor.
>Most of it looked empty and abandoned in a hurry.
>Applejack and Pinkie Pie lead you into the room and in between tall shelves filled to the brim with all kinds of writing.
>Some of the shelves had been toppled over; the materials broken and even charred some places.
>You came to a stop in front of a table which was a bit to tall for you.
>It could remind one of an upside down pyramid stuck down into the floor, and it reached up to your chest.
>Sheets of paper with scripts written all over it was spread across the surface.
>Beside you, Twilight was beside herself with excitement; her eyes sparkling ecstatically as she eyed the hours of work in front of her.
“Have you looked over this?” you asked the two others, who stood beside you patiently.
>“No, these were a bit to complicated fer us, y'see...” Applejack admitted.
>“I’m pretty sure we could still make a good tent out of these…” Pinkie mumbled to herself.
>“Anon, there's so many of these here… I’m not sure we could bring them all back with us.”
>Twilight had a point.
>The sheer amount of scrolls and scriptures in this room was overwhelming, but there was no way you could document it all in time.
>There had to be another solution.

“Why didn’t they record this digitally?” you asked yourself.
>Seeing as how technologically advanced this place seemed, it felt strange that they didn’t have digital storage space or devices anywhere around.
>“There could be a number of reasons for that, but we shouldn’t dwell on it. We need to get this decoded as soon as we can!” Twilight stated.
>“Well, yer sure in a hurry…” said applejack, cocking her eyebrow.
>The only one who knew about this “Judgment” were you and Twilight, nor were you sure it was smart to tell the others in case they got stressed or scared.
“Are you sure we should keep them in the shadow like this?” You whispered.
>“We don’t know what it means yet, or if it even means anything. It’s best to leave it until we’re certain.” Twilight whispered back.
>“It’s just exciting, that’s all!” she finally said, plastering a convincing grin on her face.
>She quickly turned back to the table, avoiding the engineers questioning looks as much as she could.
>Twilight started gathering the scripts in a pile and put them in an airtight plastic bag to keep it from harm.
>You kept wandering the “Archive”, as you chose to call it, for some hours, gathering tons of material which would seem useful.
>You were only interrupted by Rarity on the other end of the intercom, telling you that darkness was falling outside.
>Putting the gathered materials into another bag, the four of you carried it outside, met up with the rest of the crew, and returned to base.

>By the time you had gotten back, the evening sun had begun to set, leaving the little part of the sky in a breathtaking cascade of green and yellow.
>You turned away from the window and saw Twilight looming over the scriptures spread across the table.
>The rest of the team were busy putting away the things that you no longer needed, as you prepared to head back to The Excalibur to resupply.
“Found anything interesting yet?” you said as you wandered over to the table, across from the scientist.
>“Oh yes, Anon, there’s a bunch of things here!” she said enthusiastically and looked up at you.
>“Research papers, history, children’s books… There’s no telling what I might find here! Look here…”
>She grabbed a small sheet and held it up in front of you.
>It showed an image of the crystal tower in profile together with a long text which you didn’t understand.
>“It’s a user manual.” She told you behind the paper.
“User manual? For a tower?” you said in disbelief.
>She lowered the paper just enough that you could see her eyes.
>“There’s more to this tower than meets the eye, anon. I just need to figure out what it does…”
>She flipped the page and started reading the symbols.
>She mumbled some of the words to herself as you sat down in a chair across from her.
>You started fiddling with the different hooks on your suit when you heard a gasp from Twilight.

>You quickly looked over to her and noticed her eyes had gone wide and she held a hand in front of her mouth.
“What’s the matter?” You asked her as you bounced up from your chair and sprinted over to her.
>“No, no, no, no, NO, this has to be wrong!” She slammed the sheet into the table and ripped out the formula for the scripture from under a stack of material.
>The tower toppled over and sent papers flying everywhere.
>She put the two sheets next to each other and started feverishly taking notes on a third one.
“Twilight, are you alright?” Your attempts at communications were futile.
>Twilights angry scribbling didn’t make it any better.
>“I need more time…” She mumbled without turning around. “Something’s very, very wrong.”
>Without any warning, she got up from her chair and walked quickly out of the main cabin.
>You watched her until she was out of sight.
>You had never seen her this upset before.
>You turned around and picked up the paper sheet she had been scribbling on and started reading.
>It contained translations of some parts of this “user manual”.
>It was oddly symbolic, speaking of a combined soul of the earth, the beam of judgment and even the end of the world.
“Wait, what?” you thought aloud.
>Squinting your eyes, you looked at the scripture closer.
>There was indeed something wrong here, like you suspected, but none of these instructions made any sense.
>You put the sheet away and started to poke around in the other material you found but you couldn’t find anything worth your attention.
>You slowly got up and looked at the majestic crystal tower in the distance.
>Suddenly, it didn’t look as shimmering and beautiful anymore.
>It felt like it was surrounded by a dark aura, clouding it’s beauty in darkness and mystery.
>Whatever the hell it was, there was no way you would stay to find out.


Day 35

>The smell of warm coffee reached your nose as a cup was placed in your hands.
>Twilight smiled at you as she took a sip of her own caffeine bomb and turned to look out over the bright disc below you.
>Sunrays reflected from the vast icy planes gave the darkened bridge of the star cruiser an ominous glow.
>Hadn’t it been for the presence of your trusted scientist and best friend, it would seem lonely, but now it felt almost idyllic.
>You heard a faint growl, and you turned to see your friend scrapping another note and tossing it down below the observatory floor.
“You know, we’re gonna have to swim in paper if you keep that up.” You pointed out and took a sip of your scalding drink.
>“Argh, I just can’t seem to make sense in this!” said Twilight as she turned her chair towards you.
>“Like, what is this ‘World’s Soul’ or ‘Prophet’ they keep mentioning? It’s like reading the bible all over again…”
“You’ve read the bible?”
>“It was for research.” She said dismissively.
>“Well, speaking of religion, do you think it might have something to do with Gaia or Nirvana?” you suggested after a short pause.
>“What do you mean? Those are elements from our culture, there’s no way they could have made it all the way out here.”
>“It still doesn’t mean they could have developed the same ideas…”
>Your suggestion seemed to spur something in her mind as she turned around and started scribbling on her note sheets again.

>Familiar hissing noises from the bridge door made you turn your attention behind you as Fluttershy made an entrance.
>“Oh… good morning Anon. How’s your arm doing?” she asked as she made her way over to you.
“It’s better now after you took care of it.” You said, moving your arm a bit to show her.
>“I-it was nothing. It’s my job after all…” she blushed.
>“Rainbow Dash wanted me to tell you that she’s finished with the preparations and the shuttle’s ready to leave at your command.”
“Oh great!” you jumped up from your chair and chugged the remains of your coffee.
>“You coming, Twi?”
>When you didn’t get any response, you turned around and noticed she had stuffed her face in a bunch of papers containing alien scripture.
“Ahh, forget it. Take care of the ship while we’re gone, okay?”
>You interpreted the following grunt as a yes and headed towards the hangar bay.
>Fluttershy followed close behind you, but didn’t say much as you made your way through the dimly lit corridors.

>The flight out of the hangar was as smooth as ever.
>Rainbow Dash was more focused than she had been the last time you had flown, and the atmosphere in the cockpit was different this time.
>You couldn't put your finger on it, but you had a feeling the discoveries you had made had something to do with it.
>The chunk of rock and ice below awaited your return, but dash seemed to have noticed something.
>“What’s that down there?” Rainbow asked as she squinted.
>Something was glowing on the surface.
>It looked like someone was pointing a mirror at the shuttle.
“It’s probably just a reflection from the surface; don’t worry too much about it.” Rarity assured her and tapped some information in on her tablet.
>“Yeah, but…”
>“Dash, Divert your course!” Twilight yelled through the com-link.

>“Twi, what…”
>A thunderous slam echoed throughout the shuttle.
>From the surface of the planet, you could see a blinding beam of light crashing through the ice, directed straight at your spacecraft.
>With a scream of pure fear, Dash managed to force the ship away from the enormous column of destructive force that flew past you, followed by and immense force, which knocked the shuttle off course.
>You shielded your eyes from the blazing light to protect yourself from going blind.
>The spinning didn't make it any better, but Rainbow managed to get a hold of the spacecraft and stabilized it.
>Once the light had faded, you looked out of the front window.
>The sight that met you was as gruesome as the force from the beam of light.
>From the crater where the city had been, a flaming wall was spreading throughout the planet's surface.
>The flammable atmosphere had been ignited by the blast, and all of what was left down there became scorched by the inferno.
>The ice melted and gave way for a sea of thick, green liquid, which quickly vaporized and drifted off into space.
>Bare rock was all that was left, charred by the intense flames.
>Your arms fell limp, and you felt all hope leave you as days of work had been torched and erased from existence.
>You sat there for a while, watching the wall of fire spread across the frozen planes, thawing the ice and burning everything, which was not yet encased in the frozen mix of carbon-based substances.

>You felt empty inside, because of both the sheer destructive power you had witnessed and the evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence, which was no more.
>Of course there was still the sheets and pictures which was still safely aboard the Excalibur, but nothing could compare to physical evidence.
>"Are you all right in there?" Twilight asked calmly over the com-link.
>Without taking her eyes of the burning disc, Dash confirmed that her and the rest still existed, but said no more.
>"FUCK!" Exclaimed Fluttershy from the back row, splitting the bonds between you and your sub-conscious thoughts.
>When everyone turned to look at her, however, she covered her mouth and tried to hide her face in embarrassment.
>"I think you should return to the ship. There’s nothing more for us here..." Twilight assured the crew.
>Deciding she had dwelled long enough, Dash forced the engines out of standby mode and flew back to the hangar.

“You wanted to see me, Twi?” You asked as you closed the heavy door leading to the living room in the middle of the ship.
>The scientist was sitting in the couch in the middle of the room, but quickly got up once you entered.
>Her face was troubled, and you could understand why.
>“Are you and the rest okay?” she asked with concern.
“We’re a bit shaken, but we’re good. The others are gonna demand an explanation though…”
>“I know… There are just some details I don’t think we should share with them. Actually, they shouldn’t be shared with anyone, but they’re too… gruesome to keep to myself…”
>Twilight covered her mouth and turned towards the windows looking out into the nothingness outside.
>Far below you could see the charred remains of a great civilization, destroyed by the raging inferno now long gone.
>“I thought we had more time, but these creatures has a different perspective on time apparently… “
“Is something wrong?” you asked her, walking up next to her.
>“Once there was this creature. He called himself ‘The Prophet’ and seemed to represent a figure in a Prophecy these creatures believed in. He appeared to be a supreme ruler, and built this city we found to serve as his and his loyal followers’ home. His name was Sombra..."

>She paused for a second, her gaze finding its way deeper into emptiness.
>"Something drove him mad, Anon. Something so horrible that he decided to send him and his entire people into oblivion."
>You were unsure of what to say.
>Twilight was clearly shaken by what she had discovered.
"What happened?" you asked her, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.
>"Oh it's just so horrible, Anon. This tower wasn't just a decorative object, but a superweapon capable of the most horrendous of things..." she trailed off.
>Putting a hand to her head, she sat down in the soft couch, most likely getting dizzy.
>You followed suit and sat down next to her, eager for her to continue.
>"This tower is supposedly a contraption designed by Sombra himself, powered by a network of components found in the buildings of this 'city' or whatever it is. Once activated it strikes down all organic life... melts it all into this primordial ooze..." she explained in a shaky voice.
"Wait, so you're meaning to say..."
>"All of these poor creatures... all the animals, plants, it was all vaporized into a sea of liquid organic material..."
>Twilight covered her mouth and you saw a tear run down her cheek.
>You know understood why you couldn't tell anyone.
>The truth had a lot more to it than it would seem like.

"T-Twilight, are you sure that's right?" You asked as you could hardly believe it yourself.
>"The samples I've gathered from the ice all supports this. The blast from the tower is enough to shove the entire planet out of orbit... Who knows how long it has drifted through space like this, frozen and forgotten." She rubbed her eyes as you comforted her, stroking her shoulders.
>She looked up at you with a serious expression.
>"But what about the jungle we found below the surface?" You asked her, sparking even more questions.
>I-I don't know Anon, it could he anything... a protective energy field, errors in the canon mainframe..."
>Twilight sighed.
>"It might be best if we forget about it too. No one else than those necessary has to know the truth. We just can't bother them with this."
"Don't worry. I'll think of an explanation for them. They won't have to bear the burden." You assured her, bringing forth a smile on her face.
>"Thanks Anon. For putting up with this."
"Ah, don't worry about it. Can't let you do it all by yourself, can I?"
>She just smiled and leaned her head on your shoulder.
>There was something oddly satisfying about having her in your arms like this, but you had duties and couldn't be distracted for too long.
>After making sure she was alright, you returned to the bridge and had a chat with the rest of your crew, assuring them of their safety.
>It had been a couple of hours since the dramatic event.
>Everything had been going better than expected, and the energy storage had been fully charged with solar energy.
>Having wanted to get as far away from the desolate planet as possible, you didn't think too much about where you wanted to go and told Dash to fly wherever she wanted.

>Later that evening, if you could use those terms in deep space, you found yourself in your dark room.
>The large bed was calling for you as sleep weighed down your eyelids.
>You quickly got out of your protection suit and put it in its chamber.
>Crawling under the comforting blankets, you sank deep into the soft mattress.
>You were just about to doze off when a pair of hands wrapped around your chest and something warm snuggled into your back.
"Twilight, can I ask you why you keep sneaking into my room?" You asked without turning around.
>"I don't want to sleep alone..." you heard behind you, her voice muffled from being buried in the sheets.
"I figured as much, but..." as you turned around, you could see her bright purple eyes looking at you.
>"You're not gonna tell me to go, are you?" She asked, giving you puppy eyes.
"Is something wrong?" You asked, sitting up with your blanket around you.
>"I just... can't help but imagine how it all happened. What drove Sombra so mad that he decided to eradicate an entire planet?" She sighed.
"This has really gotten to you, hasn't it?"
>"I think this is gonna take time to work out for all of us. But that's exactly what we have now, right? Time..."
You fell down on your pillow, rubbing your forehead.
>Time was probably one of the things you had most of aboard the ship, as you wouldn't arrive at the next destination for a while.