“Engines spooling up now, Princess.”

“Shields at eighty… ninety… one hundred percent. Deflectors ready, Princess.”

“Life support stable. All power conduits reading full efficiency. Sensors online. The Discovery is ready, Princess.”

A small smile graced Twilight’s muzzle as she stood at the head of the bridge, nodding slightly. Everything was as it should be. The consoles were clean and gleaming with magic. Her crew looked nervous but eager, their uniform barding crisp. With a glance at the captain’s console, she could read green across the board from every department. Applejack’s Engineering and Hydroponics Lab was going at full power, and their precious food supply was well-protected in the bowels of the Discovery. A few feet down the same hall was the Supply and Manufacture Division, run by Rarity. Her well-trained weavers and forge-workers would be tasked with keeping the uniforms, bardings, and weapons in ready to go position, or to create emergency parts when needed. They didn’t have much raw materials to start- they just didn’t have the room for it- but the Disassembler Array at the front of the ship would be used to gather any needed particles from comets and asteroids. Rarity had been more than excited to be able to work with such new materials.

Glancing to her secondary console, Twilight could see that all the allocated power was going into Fluttershy’s expansive Medical and Research division, as planned. None of them had any idea if they would find life among the stars, but Fluttershy had been determined to make sure they had the proper facilities to take care of anything they might find, and the proper research tools. Twilight just hoped what they found was peaceful. She really… really wanted to keep Security Division safe. Stroking a dainty hoof across the board, Twilight let out a small sigh. Security had been Rainbow Dash’s and Luna’s idea. They had no idea if everything they would meet out in the wilds of space would be safe, and needed to plan accordingly. Though Twilight had been reluctant to turn the Discovery into a warship, she had acquiesced to having a pair of mass drivers installed to the wings, and had given in to Dash’s security request. Their daughter, Sky Light, now fifteen, would be apart of the security team, along with Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, and forty well-trained ponies from among the Army, the Royal Guards, and various volunteers. They had the best weapons, armor, and technology Equestria had to offer. Still… at the very least, Sky Light was still far too young to actually fight. She would just run messages, perfectly protected by their technology.

Their technology… Twilight cracked a smile. If she was honest with herself, even Twilight had to admit that Equis’ technology had skyrocketed the past few years. Applejack’s discovery of biodiesel had paved the way for powered flight and increased production among the various nations, which had cut down on their wars. Medical technology and cures pioneered by Fluttershy and Zecora had saved thousands of lives, and stopped the spread of the virulent Feather Flu among the griffon kingdoms, leading to their reunification. Pinkie Pie had almost single-hoofedly brought around the media revolution; newspapers were being replaced by television programs and news reports, and she had even been hinting at something amazing she was working on with the new computers…

Ah, computers, Twilight’s best friend. The whole ship wouldn’t work without the arcano-mechanical wonders, computing everything from their speed, their flight plan, to the amount of oxygen to add to each room. Powered by small, energized quartz crystals, they could think faster than any pony, and it just made things… so much easier. Instead of needing hundreds of ponies to run each department, the Discovery only needed it’s current compliment of one hundred and fifty. Indeed, Twilight’s captain’s computer could control the ship’s scanners, the Disassembler Array, and tap her straight into the Main Spell Matrix Emitter, or MSME. So much glorious, glorious efficiency!

“Canterlot Control, this is Princess Twilight Sparkle of the Discovery. We have finished our pre-flight checklist. We’re ready to launch on your command.”

“Discovery, this is Canterlot Control,” Celestia’s voice was warm and proud over the mic, “The weather is cleared, and you are clear for launch. Good luck, Princess Sparkle.”

Twilight gulped thickly, thankful for years of political classes that allowed her to keep a calm, collected visage and voice.

“Thank you, Control. We’re starting out launch countdown… now.”

Perfectly in synch, the helms-stallion began to press up on the engine controls, a slow grin forming as the ship hummed accordingly. With a soft gleam of her horn, Twilight activated the artificial gravity spell gems, smiling a bit herself at the gleam of so much advanced magic.

“All hands, brace for launch.”

*******************

The Discovery was shaped a lot like a cigar with stubby, triangular wings, pointed up into the sky like a tall, thin hoof. Steam, then flames, began to pour out of the ship’s rear boosters, filling the launch pad with white smoke. Safe behind magical shields and armored glass walls, thousands of Canterlotians eagerly watched the maiden voyage of the first ponied flight into space. This was the crowning achievement of ponykind; indeed, of all the races of Equus, as they too had a hoof in its creation. Griffon steel lined the hulls, while Minotaur-crafted ceramics protected them from the heat of re-entry. Zebra fuels, the most efficient and powerful in all of the planet, flowed through its veins, enchanted by Seapony and Unicorn magic. Dragonfire sparked the heart of the ship, and dragon-treated glass allowed them all to see. This was for them all.

Celestia smiled softly behind her guards as she watched the Discovery begin to take flight, wiping her quickly misting eyes. This was the culmination of a lifetime of work. Of lifetimes, really. Her’s and Luna’s ponies were finally moving into the stars, to take their rightful place. They could spread out, and Celestia could finally shut down the spells holding back pony fertility. They could spread across the new worlds, mingling with the other races of Equus to create a new society. One free of monarchs, one where Celestia could finally feel free to have foals of her own again. She reached out to gently stroke the glass barriers, glistening eyes watching her hopes launch into the heavens.

“Princess?”

Celestia blinked, biting back an irritated dismissal as she turned towards the slightly shaking Guard. She scanned him curiously. White-furred, golden-maned, a shield and sword cutie mark. Golden Blade? Yes, she remembered this one; a new recruit out of Trottingham, who had worked hard to-

“Y-your Highness?” he stammered, holding out a small communicator, “It’s Princess Luna, she says is u-urgent!”

“Oh, thank you, Golden,” Celestia replied, frowning slightly as she took the communicator.

This was certainly odd. Luna know Celestia didn’t want to be disturbed during the launch, in case anything went wrong. She reached out daintily with a hoof, carefully tapping the control tab. Luna looked terrible; her mane was swirling with angry, dark red nebulae, and her eyes had sunken in from intense magical concentration. She started when Celestia opened her mouth, quickly slamming her hooves into the screen.

“TIA!”

Her tone froze any words Celestia was about to say, her heart practically stopping. It had been over a thousand years since she had heard that tone from her younger sister; the same tone she had used to beg Celestia to let her keep the moon up, just one day. Desperate, pleading, nearly mad.

“TIA!” Luna roared again, pawing frantically at the screen to get Celestia’s attention, “Y-you have to raise a shield over Canterlot, now! I tried to stop it, but I can’t! I-I can’t!”

Celestia blinked, frowning deeply as she rushed to a quieter section of the control center, “Stop what, Luna? What’s going on? Explain this to me.”

“I can’t, there’s no time! Raise the shield now, Tia! PLEASE!”

*********************

“We’re in orbit in three… two… one…”

Twilight smiled brightly as the Discovery shuddered faintly from the power of the stabilizing thrusters, the artificial gravity spell keeping them all snugly in place in their seats. The main viewscreen was focused out on the stars, the silver orb of the moon gleaming on the left side of the screen.

“It’s beautiful,” one mare whispered faintly, wiping a hoof across her eyes.

“Luna certainly does her duty in amazing ways,” Twilight replied, her smile never faltering.

The Milky Way greeted the Discovery, it’s wondrous luminance blazing its mark across the brains of every pony onboard. It was one thing to see it from Equus on a clear, dark night. It was something else entirely to see it right on the cusp of space. Her sensors were already ringing with new energies, and Twilight would have an absolute field day decoding it all into an official report. She-

A high-pitched klaxon wailed from the console behind her- the Defense and Security station- and the starry-eyed stallion at the controls leaped up with a yelp. Hooves frantically worked on the glass, and Twilight turned to stare up at him in slight alarm.

“What is-”

“Radiological alarm!” he practically screamed, looking up at the viewscreen.

His hoof had slammed into a button, and the main viewscreen shimmered into a soft green; a brighter spot was quickly approaching, little numbers beside it racing down at a breakneck speed. Twilight’s eyes widened in absolute shock. A weapon? Out here?!

“Shields to full! Power to-”

The object screamed past the Discovery, trails of smoke and flame licking past it as it hit the atmosphere.

“Turn us around!” Twilight ordered sharply, though the ship was already spinning about, the thrusters vibrating the hull, “Send a warning to Canterlot Control! We-”

“Princess!”

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. The object, the weapon, broke up as it cleared the upper atmosphere; the viewscreen split as it tracked each major radiological signature. The first detonated above Cloudsdale, striking a Cloud Cruiser before exploding with the force of thousands of pounds of TNT. Flames and smoke roared out, washing over the cloud city and obscuring it utterly from view. Twilight’s rear legs went numb, her rump crashing to the metal floor as she stared at the screen. A second explosion lit up the the side of the Crystal Empire Mountains; rocks and melted snow roared down both sides of the mountains in colossal mudslides, crashing through numerous Crystal Pony and Equestrian villages. Caught directly in the trade winds, clouds of debris and smoke were carried along into the heartland of Equestria.

To the north and east, explosions rocked the mountainous homeland of the Griffins, dust and smoke obscuring the earth and sea from view. Members of the bridge crew sobbed and whispered denials, many of them staring in mute horror as death rushed over their homelands. In her analytical mind, Twilight noted explosions all across the western hemisphere of Equus; no doubt radiation and debris would contaminate the rest of the planet unless quick action could be taken. But with Cloudsdale hit as well… Tears fell in slow, burning trails down Twilight’s cheeks as she watched the main body of weapon continue its trail of death.

The last explosion was directly over Canterlot itself. Fire swept over the pristine mountain top and the gleaming spires of Canterlot. Rocks, some easily the size of homes, swept down into the city, breaking off entire chunks of the hanging city and sending them careening down the mountain. Thousands of ponies were dying, and Twilight and her crew had a front-row seat for it all. A golden shield gleamed in the center of the madness, joined quickly by a smaller, silver shield, but it was hardly enough to protect all the city, not with so little time to charge up. The work of generations of ponies, cast down like a sand castle at high tide. And even with the shields protecting the structural heart of the city, the sheer loss of life… there, and all across Equus…

“Where did that come from?” Twilight hissed; those ponies closest to her shuddered at the deadly tone of her voice, frantically turning to their console, “WHERE!?”

“I-I have it!” A young navigator squeaked, tapping a hoof to bring up the viewscreen into a star map, “A-according to our t-trajectory program, the o-object… i-it originated from Sector IV, Quadrant 2.”

“Log it,” Twilight commanded coldly, eyes gleaming as she stared at the tiny snippet of light on the map.

‘Object.’ It was no mere asteroid. No comet. A random rock did not explode with atomic fire; a mere ball of ice could not kill thousands across such a wide area without some kind of interference from the Princesses. No. Twilight knew that it was no mere object. It was a weapon. And the builders of such a weapon… would pay. They would pay dearly.

*********************

Down in the chaos that was Canterlot, hundreds of survivors were rushing about the blackened, fire-ravaged city, desperate to save what they could and return to the teleport pads the Guard had set up. Celestia had passed into a coma from the sheer force of the blast against her shield, and Luna was weak from the strain of holding it all up herself. Shock had set in amongst them all, sending many ponies blindly stumbling out or just sitting in place, staring at the death all around them.

A shudder ran through the dying city, and a single stallion raced by a slim ledge. On the ledge, a single panel sat, precariously perched, marked with the stenciled name Pioneer. Beside it, a tarnished bronzed panel, stylized humanoids waving hello. The stallion was a Guardspony, sworn to uphold the peace, and investigate all avenues in a situation such as this. Peace, war… He saw the panel. The name, the panel… He was a unicorn. His magic could reach the plate. He could grab it, bring it back to his superiors, possibly solve what had happened to his home!

Another shudder made up his reluctant mind, and the stallion ran for it, just making it across the shield threshold as the ledge gave out. His mind went curiously to the panel, but only for a moment. His people needed him more than some panel. And thus, he turned his mind from the mysterious panel and its bronzed outlines, now burning, warping, and blackening in the atomic fires and muds beneath the remains of Canterlot.