The warm and comforting light of the sun peeked through the base's window and straight into Bob's eyes, almost as if it had a laser pointer. Bob got up, rubbing his eyes, and grabbed his helmet. Securing it in his head, he walked outside and looked out from the hangar.

It was only a night and the kerbals were alterady setting up the base.

Jebediah was commanding everyone to prepare the base. An extremely large Extend-o-matic that seemed to be a flagpole was planted within walking distance from the base by Mitkin and Jeblime. Several rovers were parked around the base, and two airplanes were driven from the hangar, with assistance of two rover wheels in the front.

Sighing for no reason in particular, Bob walked towards the bathroom. Turning on the tap, he used one of the last ammount of tap water to wash his eyes and brush his teeth. Contrary to public belief back on Kerbin, even kerbonauts have hygiene. Cleaning his face with a towel, he looked at himself at the mirror.

Funnily, Bob was the only bucktooth blonde with curly hair in the crew. Jebediah always said that this facial design made him look like a cowardly young boy, but in Bob's view, that was exactly what he was. After banishing the memory of a time where he soiled himself after a daring reentry on Kerbin's innermost atmosphere(thanks to Jeb), he walked outside.

"Heya, Bob!" said Hadnard, a good friend of Bob.

"Hia Had. What brings you here? Your chamber is on the deck below," asked Bob as he shook Hadnard's hand.

"Well, I wasn't going to my chamber. Bill said that you and me had to set up the communication antenna," answered him as he pointed towards the antenna. That was going to be a long chore.

"Any signal there, Bill?" shouted Hadnard as he pointed the antenna towards a small speck in the sky.

"Nope," replied Bill, his voice barely loud enough to be heard. Bob moved the antenna a bit upwards.

"Now?"

"Nothing yet."

"And now?"

"No results."

"Backward antenna wins the dance?"

Bill facepalmed.

"Why don't you just put the antenna in autopilot?" Bob and Hadnard looked at each other.

"Autopilot?" The two asked at the same time. True enough, just behind the antenna's dish was a very small button in a hard-to-find place with 'AUTOPILOT' written in a terribly small size, and in Comic Sans. Oh, Lack Luster Labs, you never cease to amuse the Kerbals.

With no further ado, Bob pressed 'autopilot'. The antenna simply pointed fowards and at 15° Y inclination, and before they knew it, the antenna shot a ray of communication at insanely high speeds.

Meanwhile, in Deepish Space...

Sitting squarely between Duna and Dres orbit was a small probe, in a perfect circular orbit and low inclination. The probe itself was a metal box with a probe core in the middle. Two deployed Communotron 88-88 antennas were placed in opposite sides. Alongside that, two deployable solar panels that tracked the position of Kerbol were in either side of the probe, using the star's solar rays to it's advantage and converting to eletric charge, keeping the probe alive.

However, soon afterwards the probe detected a signal comming from outer space. Facing it, it captured the signal, and immediatly transmitted it to Kerbin.

Back on Kerbin, however, things weren't going so pretty. The lack of Kethane meant several fuel-dependent devices such as cars, trains and airplanes became unfunctional. This wasn't a problem when Kerbals' destinations were within walking distance, but when they needed to travel far, from one city to another, it was a disaster.

Riots were common on the streets, demanding substitutes to Kethane, and methods of transport that did not require fuel. (Riding Khorses was not an option.) At first they were mostly peaceful, if not irritating, protests, but the government knew that, sooner or later, the violent vandals would arrive.

In the great capital of the Federation of Kerbin and Laythe, several kerbals in business suits discussed the issue.

"Well, looks like the 'base' you proposed on K-11 is gone, smarty. What now?" spat Mitdrin as he slid a newspaper reporting the disappearance of the K-11 crew to the middle of the table.

"Mitdrin, will you seriousy stop spouting your insults? Doing that won't make Kerbin and Laythe magically get Kethane or something like that," replied Macemone, crossing his arms, and Gregsey nodding.

"I heard that Laythe has been having even more trouble with the situation over there. Several kerbals are completely trashing buildings there. If we don't do anything, the same may happen to us," commented Corfore, trying to get back on the main topic.

"Yeah... if the K-11 crew at least responded to us, we could have a lead," replied Donming. The conversation, however, was interrupted as Linary peeked her head into the room.

"Excuse me, sirs, but flight director Gene Kerman has asked me to let you know that a conversation link was estabilished with the K-11 crew."

"I'm glad we finally can talk. The crew over here has been pretty worried about the fact that you haven't estabilished a conversation link for a long time, and we thought that you all have been lost forever," said Gene over the conversation computer.

"Heh, when we landed, it was not only nighttime here, but we were pretty much exhausted, so the first thing we did was to sleep," replied Bill. Gene was about to reply, but he was seemingly interrupted.

"Huh? Oh, alright. Uh, the commonwealth of Kerbin countries asked me that they should personally talk to you. I'll be switching channels, so hang on for a minute," he said. With that, the screen blacked out, being replaced by white letters arranged to spell 'NO SIGNAL'.

"Commonwealth of Kerbin countries?" asked Bob as he raised an eyebrow.

"Bob, those guys are behind the entire operation. They're the main cause we were sent here," Hadnard explained. Before Bob could ask other things, however, the black screen was replaced by a live conference room filled with Kerbals in business suits.

"Greetings, sirs. It's a pleasure to talk to you," said Bill.

"The pleasure is ours, Bill. It's a honor to speak with a kerbal in a planet far, far away," replied Gregsey. "Anyway, now that we have contact, we need to sort things out. The planes we sent you have a built-in Kethane scanner, as you can see from the large green object in their 'underbellies'. The first mission is to perform a fly across the surrounding area of the planet to check for kethane deposits," he instructed.

"I got it, I'll dispatch the plane crew right now," said Bill.

"But be careful, Bill. This seems like a trivial exploration mission like the ones you had on Moho's north pole, but it's much more than that. Laythe has alterady broken down from the lack of Kethane, and who knows how much time we got here on Kerbin," warned Macemone.

"We will not disappoint you, gentlekerbs. K-11 signing out," Bill replied, and the connection link was closed. "Alright, guys, get your planes ready as I get the other crew," he commanded.

"Wait...we'll fly?" asked Hadnard. Bill responded with a simple nod, causing Hadnard to get ecstatic and Bob to get worried.

"Can you believe it, Bob? We get to fly....in an alien superplanet out of the Kerbol system...for the first time!" cheered Hadnard, unable to contain his enthusiasm.

"Yeah, but... what if suddently the engines jerk out or something?" asked Bob.

"Don't worry, Bob. Scans of the planet revealed that the planet's atmosphere has oxygen, even more than Laythe," answered Hadnard. "We don't know if it's safe enough to breathe like in Kerbin, though," he added. Laythe had oxygen, but it's atmosphere had nasty chemicals that made breathing it's pure air impossible, thus the inhabitants have to use air helmets. It could be the same in K-11.

"Alright, everyone, you're free to takeoff!" said Bill over the intercom.

With that, the airplanes' engines roared to life. Bob carefully moved his throttle up to 68%, and raised the frontal nose gear to protect the rover wheels. Eventually the airplane gained enough speed to raise from the ground, and before he knew it, he was flying alongside four other kerbals for the first time in his life.

"I'm flying.... I'm actually flying!" shouted Bob as he raised his hands to the air, the SAS keeping the plane stable.

"Yeah! Feels good, doesn't it?" said Hadnard as he slowly approached Bob but retaining a safe distance. "It's like that. First, you begin flying with basic C7 aerospace jets, and before you know it, you're flying a B9 aerospace airplane easily!" he added.

Despite the excitement and fun with Bob and Hadnard over White Tail Woods, things weren't as pretty at Canterlot Castle. Princess Luna couldn't shake the feeling that something - or worse, somebody - from an entirely different world has been breaching into Equestria and taking over it piece by piece.

Princess Celestia calmly - but still with a concerned feeling - entered Luna's room, only to find the night princess laying uncomfortably in her bed, unable to relax.

"Lunie, I know you're feeling stressed up, but you need to relax. Overworking yourself over such things won't help," she said.

"I know, sister, but...it's the fact that I've had so many clues that such things would happen, yet I never actually took much notice to them...and now, this." Celestia rose an eyebrow.

"'So many clues'? Care to elaborate? I'm not sure if I follow." Luna inhaled deeply.

"First, all the way until I was recovered from...being that monster, I had seen a star far, far away, but yet, it was so close to me. It had that tint of yellow, unlike the other stars, which appear white from our point of view. He sometimes talked to me, and his name was Kerbol.

"He was often quiet yet friendly, but he warned me that, in the correct time, he'd inadvertently bring a surprise to our kingdom, whether we like it or not. Whenever I asked him what surprise it would be, he always responded with 'Grudge is not the correct way to welcome a neighbor, whether he's from a nearby road or from another kingdom. Abide by this rule'.

"I had no clue about what he was talking about, and I thought that he was being crazy. Eventually he stopped talking to me, even if I try to talk to him. But despite that, I couldn't take his words out of my head, and at the same time, I couldn't shake the feeling that something...purely out of this world was heading to our direction.

"And when I saw the red falling star last night, I knew that it was the thing that was out of our world. When it 'crashed' at White Tail Woods, I continued to feel like it was...still there. And this morning, I felt like it's been calling to something else, likely Kerbol...apparently they're looking to extract something out of our world." Celestia could only frown to see her sister going through so much. Though she was a little confused as to why she never let her know about Kerbol, she knew she needed to help Luna out.

"Don't worry, Luna. I'll send in an exploration team to the crash site. We'll find what is it," said Celestia.

"I found some Kethane over here!" shouted Kurt over the radio.

"Coordinates marked, Kurt," replied Dunlorf.

"Uh...guys, you may want to see this," Bob called out, ahead from the others. The four pilots approached him, and couldn't believe what they were seeing.

"Woah...is that a freaking town?!" asked Dunlorf rhetorically.

"We are colonizing a planet with aliens! That might get us in trouble!" said Kurt, beginning to sweat. Duning, however, had fallen behind the others, and when he heard them talking about an alien town, immediatly throttled up to see. Unfortunately, his plane was directly behind Bob's.

"Slow down, Duning, you're going to crash!" yelled Hadnard. But before either Duning or Bob could react, Duning's Mk1 Cockpit collided with Bob's Jet engine.

"Oh dear..." muttered Duning as Bob's airplane began to fall.

"HELP, I'M FALLING!" screamed Bob, unable to think properly.

"Bob, listen to me!" shouted Kurt over the radio. "Your cockpit has a parachute! Take it and ditch the plane!" he commanded. Panicking, Bob franatically moved the items inside the drawer on the Mk1 Cockpit. Finally finding a portable Mk16 Parachute, Bob equipped it, and lept out of the cockpit. As the parachute semi-deployed, Bob took a look above him, the airplanes continued flying fowards for a moment, and afterwards they did a 180° turn and headed back to the base. Looking below him, he saw that he'd land on the edge of a forest near the aforementioned town.

Back at K-11 Base One, things were a lot quieter than in the morning. Kerbals now were pretty much staying in the habitation chambers or looking around in the decks. However, Mitkin, Endo, Jebediah and Jeblime were sitting outside playing a game of Truth or Dare.

"I told you, Mitkin, I haven't even heard about the new afterburner," replied Jebediah, sweating lightly.

"Don't lie to me, Jeb. I remember seeing you at the runway back at KSC, and you were the only one piloting an aircraft. Afterwards I saw the very same aircraft flying with an afterburner, breaking the speed of sound," said Mitkin. Jebediah, seeing that he was narrowed down by Mitkin, Endo, and Jeblime, decided to give up.

"Fine! I did! And it was awesome! There, happy?" said Jebediah, remembering his test flight. He'd give anything to be able to keep that experimental afterburner airplane.

"Heh, the funniest part was the situation," commented Endo as the trio enjoyed the first three turns before Jebediah's. Jeb often made the cruelest Truths.

"Well...sister! Truth or Dare?" asked Jebediah as he faced Jeblime with a mischievous expression. Jeblime began to sweat profusely.

"Uh...dare!" she answered as she began to think about all the embarassing things she'd have to say if she answered 'Truth'.

However, she immediatly realized that 'Dare' could be an even worse option. Everyone at the space center knows that Jebediah is a daredevil, and he was very likely to dare her to circumnavigate K-11 with one of the airplanes at the upper atmosphere. However, this time Jeb was even more crueler, and she had a hint as his mischievous face turned into one of pure malice.

"I dare you to take your helmet off."

That phrase alone was enough to reduce Jeblime's heartbeats to 5 BPM. Endo and Mitkin just sat there with their jaws dropped.

"Wow, Jebediah. Your dare is too... harsh," said Mitkin. "I mean, taking the helmet off? That could cause death!" he added.

"It won't. I did the same thing to Billy-Bobfrey on Laythe. He didn't die, rather he just coughed and gasped until he secured his helmet again," replied Jebediah, before turning his gaze to his sister again.

Jeblime gulped loudly before placing her hands on her helmet's lock. Slowly, she unlocked it, and slid it off her head. She closed her eyes as she prepared for the incomming suffocation...

...which never came.

Slowly opening her eyes, she was surprised to find herself still alive. Curiously, she decided to inhale some air... and it felt pratically the same as back in Kerbin. It even felt better to breathe the pure oxygen in the atmosphere rather than having to rely on oxygen tanks.

"I... can breathe..." she muttered as she noticed Endo's, Mitkin's and her brother's expective gazes.

"Wait, the atmosphere is safe to breathe?" asked Jebediah rethorically. Quickly, he took his helmet off and inhaled deeply. True enough, he was met with pure oxygen. "I....can!" he said. Immediatly, Endo and Mitkin took their helmets off as well.

"Hey, guys!" shouted Jebediah to the K-11 base(who were a bit shocked to see the four kerbals without helmets). "The atmosphere is safe and just like Kerbin's! We can breathe!"

Every kerbal's pupils shrank after that. Immediatly, each and every kerbal ran for their chambers and took off their bulky EVA suits and helmets, instead replacing it with the much more comfortable IVA clothing. Airlock systems were also deactivated, thus having all rooms rely on only one door. Immediatly after that, the several kerbals ran outside, now bearing their IVA attires, and acted just like Rapunzel after finally leaving the tower. It looked childish, but it's pratically what any astronaut would do after several years of being in space relying on heavy EVA suits and oxygen tanks.

Despite all the fun the kerbals were having, two school fillies would not say the same. Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had been marching from Ponyville all the way to White Tail Woods for quite a while, and their legs were aching in pain. Despite that, Scootaloo marched fowards, though her two friends weren't as persistent as her.

"Ugh...my hooves feel like they will explode," said Sweetie Belle as she looked at her aching hooves.

"Can we at least stop for a li'l rest?" asked Apple Bloom, feeling even worse as she was also carrying a camera.

"No, we walked so far alterady, we aren't going to give up just now!" answered Scootaloo. "And besides, we just arrived at the forest," she added. However, with all their pain on their hooves, the two fillies couldn't even notice the forest nearby. They could only whimper as they entered the forest.

Fortunately, unlike the Everfree Forest, White Tail Woods had no dangerous beasts or enviorment. However, the only thing that the three ponies could notice was a faint ruckus going deeper in the forest.

"What's that?"

"Shhh!"

Quietly, the three fillies ventured into the forest. The remnants of the previous race from last week around the woods was still vibrant. The noise got louder and clearer as they went deeper, and it seemingly changed from a faint ruckus to a sound of cheering.

At what seemed to be point-blank range of the sound, the three fillies poked their heads through a bush, and saw it.

A large, alien base with several aliens running around, and some alien machines.

"Girls, we may have found the first alien species in Equestria!" whispered Sweetie Belle.

"And a pretty foalish one, too," Scootaloo added.

Apple Bloom was about to take a photo, but one of the aliens stopped doing the 'alien dance', and looked in their direction.

"Oh no," the trio said in unison. Something problematic this way comes!