"Ugh, my head," Joshua said as he reached up to rub his forehead. "What hit me?"

"[Want the full story or short version?]" a synthetic voice asked the Pilot.

Joshua cracked an eye open to see a familiar plastic mask that resembled a kitten in shape, its only features being entirely smooth with one glowing blue eye on the left and a red tear mark trailing down the right side. Further inspection revealed that they were in the empty Medical Wing of the ship, bland white with red crosses scattered about.

"Spare the details, Kat, just tell me how bad I fucked up."

"[You tried to rodeo a Scorch Titan before you got clipped by a sniper,]" the synthetic Pilot answered. "[Thankfully KD was there to get you before you could bleed out.]"

"Right, but what about the pain in my head?"

"That's for leaving me with the rest of the job," another voice answered.

Joshua sat up to see a bulky dark-skinned Pilot wearing a thick suit of leaves and a cloaking pack that held a Longbow over the shoulder.

"Don't act like you don't enjoy taking it seven-to-one, Zeke," Joshua smirked.

"Not when we've got to cover your ass to get out of there."

"Then take half my paycheck as compensation, because you clearly don't have enough," Joshua remarked, gesturing to the sniper rifle.

"[Regardless,]" Kat interrupted, "[the mission was successful, and the IMC facility is no longer operable. Our payment has been delivered and we will wait for further missions until we need to refuel.]"

"Another victory for the 6-4!" Joshua and Zeke whooped.

"Unfortunately," another Pilot added as she entered the Medical Wing, "it won't be too long before we need to refuel."

"Don't ruin our moment of celebration, Jessie," Zeke sneered.

"Alright morons, let's recap, shall we?" the Pilot said as she brushed a lock of red hair out of her face. "We nearly got shot out of orbit and Jumped out in the middle of a firefight, we tanked a few hits, and now we're en-route via Jump to a previously unknown area of the Frontier because the IMC may have had some interest in the system a few decades ago, and you're criticizing me for keeping you from celebrating early?"

"[I believe the phrase goes, 'every little victory counts,']" Kat said.

Jessie shook her head.

"Should've stayed with the Marauders," she muttered before exiting the Wing.

A moment passed before Joshua stretched, cracking his neck.

"So, where exactly are we headed to?"

"[Analysis lists the system as Epsilon-Equis XXIII, a phenomenon of a system due to its geocentric structure.]"

"Geocentric? You mean the star revolves around the planet?" Zeke asked.

"[According to recorded images, yes. It also appears to be capable of supporting life, with an atmospheric composition of 77% Nitrogen, 22% Oxygen and trace amounts of various other gases such as Argon and Carbon Dioxide.]"

"Alright, I gotta see this," Joshua said as he got up. "Who's up for pissing off Colton?"

\\\\\\//////

Captain Tiberius Colton watched in awe as the planet before him merely existed at all. The 70 year veteran was perplexed by the drastically different world that they had arrived at, both in shock and in fear.

The bridge crew of the 6-4 Destroyer Charlatan were all captivated by the geocentric system that they were orbiting, more so due to the fact that its surface was a mixture of blue, green and black.

"Scans inconclusive, sir," someone operating a station stated, "we've got no match on what that stuff is made of."

"What about radiation levels?" Colton asked.

"Scans aren't picking up anything harmful, but something down there resembles the phenomenon at Typhon."

"IMC signatures?"

"Negative on all channels, sir," another technician answered. "No stealth tech, no jammers, not even an echo transmission on any frequency."

"What the Hell did we find?" he mumbled.

The sound of doors opening signaled the arrival of three Pilots.

"Captain Colton, sir," Joshua said before saluting.

The Captain turned about and returned the gesture to the Pilots before they relaxed and approached.

"Commander Joshua, Sergeant Zeke, Specialist Kat. What brings you to the bridge? I thought you'd be prepping for the next assignment."

"We would be, but we heard about this planet, and oh boy," Joshua said as he approached the viewing port, "she does not disappoint."

"What's going on down there?" Zeke asked.

"We don't know. Planet didn't look like this in the files we appropriated, and there aren't any recordings of giant black crystals anywhere in any Frontier reports in this nebula."

"Want a ground team to scope it out?" Joshua asked.

"Absolutely not. We cannot risk any kind of disease or God knows what else down there making it to the ship."

"[Perhaps if I were to go down there, it would minimize risk to the rest of the ship. I am incapable of contracting any physical virus or bacteria, and it would be far more plausible to sanitize myself and my Titan should we find anything,]" Kat suggested.

Colton shook his head.

"I'm not going to bet anyone on this. I say we just tell the Militia we didn't find shit and move on to the next job."

Before anyone could argue any further, the ship suddenly lurched to the left with a loud groan as everyone was floored.

\\\\\\//////

Celestia furrowed her brow in frustration as she tugged the Moon about its orbit.

"No... I can't be losing this much of my power already, can I?" she said to herself. "I can't let this get to me. Just move the Moon, and get back to the War, Celestia."

The alicorn tugged the celestial body harder, pulling the Moon down to the horizon, along with something else.

\\\\\\//////

"What the fuck is going on!?" Colton shouted as alarms blared across the deck.

"Massive Fold phenomenon! It's coming from a mountain range south of the black crystal formations!" a technician answered.

"No IMC signatures or spikes in power from the planet! Whatever it is, it's natural!"

"Like Hell this is natural!" Zeke said as he grabbed a nearby support.

Captain Colton reached for his wrist-mounted communicator and pressed a key before screaming into it.

"Attention all hands," his voice echoed throughout the ship, "this is Captain Colton issuing emergency scenario FOLD-31! This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill! All hands to emergency stations! We are being pulled towards the planet! All hands, brace, I repeat, all hands brace!"

\\\\\\//////

Applejack huffed as she slammed the sliding door on the train car's side closed. She turned to wave the conductor onward before the train whistled, chugging off down the tracks.

She turned and began her trek back to her family's farm.

A glance towards Ponyville showed what Equestria was like now at sunset, with many homes barring their windows and thoroughly locking their doors at night to prevent anypony unsavory from getting in. It used to be a nice little town with its fair share of disaster every now and again, but now it just cowered in fear of the horrible tyrant that threatened to take over the world.

"Hey, Applejack!"

The earth pony turned to see a familiar Griffon approaching.

"Howdy Gilda. Need somethin'?"

The white-feathered and brown-furred Griffon landed by Applejack with a hard impact, accented by the plated armor rattling about and musket tapping against her side.

"Just wanted to see if you needed help with that shipment of apple rations, but I guess you didn't."

"Nope, just sent 'em off ta Canterlot fer shipment. Princess Celestia's finest need those apples ASAP. Can't stop Sombra on an empty stomach."

"If those apples gave the Guard half of your optimism we'd probably be winning right now," Gilda remarked as she tightened the strap of her musket.

"Optimism don't make a lick of difference. Celestia and the Guard got us through Nightmare Moon and Discord. They'll pull through."

The two started walking down a well worn path through Ponyville, watching their step as ponies rushed home for the night, mares and foals tired and scared while the few stallions that remained closed up their shops and stands. They passed a newspaper vendor and grimaced as they saw the headlines.

Sombra's Armies Take Manehatten, Thousands Dead!

Changeling Army Stomped by Sombra and Golems! Vanhoover Falls to the Crystal Tyrant!

Refugee Surge in South Equestria Leaves Hundreds Homeless!

Griffon Air Force Swatted by Crystal Airships!

"It's gettin' hard on ya'll out there, ain't it?" Applejack asked solemnly.

"Yeah... Gretta and her squad barely made it out from that last battle at Galloping Gorge, and now the Ecclesiarchy is calling out to the Colonies to pull back to fortify their own borders."

"Load a' dung, Ah'll say," Applejack said. "Sombra takes over here, ain't nothin' that'll stop him down the line."

"Well we're not about to sell out Equestria, I can promise you that. Backlash was severe enough to get one of the High Priests thrown out on his wings for saying Equestria's better suited to be a meat shield than an ally. Bastard clearly never left his mom's nest if he didn't notice that Sombra's aiming for everyone, not just Equestrians."

They would have continued to talk about the political storm that boiled across the world were it not for a faint boom echoing across the land.

\\\\\\//////

King Sombra grinned and chuckled darkly as he watched a stallion beat against the inner walls of the Crystal Golem, flailing in vain to try and break free. The crystal encased him entirely before a wave of magic washed over the stallion and dissolved him into a bright spot in the Golem. The mass of crystal groaned and glowed for a moment before it stood up only to bow before its rightful king.

"Excellent," Sombra said. "Soon, Equestria will crumble before my hooves, and I shall convert the corpses of the insolent to further my domain. I can't wait to see the look on that alicorn's face when I-"

A burst of sound interrupted his rant, drawing the crystal tyrant's attention to the skies. For the first time in over a millennium, Sombra wore a face of pure shock as a flaming structure fell from the heavens.