The five travellers had been shooting over the North Atlantic for nearly five hours. Stellar was scanning the skies ahead a couple of hundred kilometres forward, noting several aircraft within that range, when she felt ponies scream in terror as there was a flash and an explosion in her scanning range, quite close. Something catastrophic was happening to a large group of them, and they were in mid-air. She momentarily looked back at Thunderlane as her armor wrapped around her. "Everypony! I am going to have to go! I'll drop you out of the field. You'll find a small group of ponies on clouds up ahead. Make a large grouping of clouds around them, then stand in a square like I taught you. I shall be back as soon as you're ready!" And Stellar vanished in a flash of energy as she teleported.

Thunderlane felt Rumble get on his back and, as the Twins slid beside him, the field dropped, leaving them shooting forward at just under eight hundred KPH. They decelerated and took stock of the area as Thunderlane saw an aircraft heading down in a death-dive. Then he saw a pony not a pegasus dropping down quickly. "Get that pony!" He said to the Twins as he pointed.

"Aye!" The mares replied, and they raced off and headed on an intercept course.

Thunderlane saw four more ponies, three pegasi and an earth pony, dropping down to do a semi-hard landing on clouds. Then there was a flash from the plunging wreck, just before it hit the ocean. He turned back to see Flitter and CloudChaser had caught the other pony and were heading for the others. Breathing a sigh of relief, he headed towards the four with Rumble jumping from his back into flight as they circled in. As the brothers got close, they could see one of the mares had just finished a huge rant, and they appeared to be getting ready to leave the clouds. He brought himself and Rumble around in front of them before they could take off...

The reaction of the four on the clouds was nothing short of amazement as the brothers touched down on the clouds before them. One of them, a pegasus stallion whom Thunderlane felt was known to him, asked "Where the buck did you come from?"

"Tell you in a minute. Is everypony okay?" Thunderlane asked as his flight visor retracted to reveal his eyes.

"Pretty much." Another mare, who was wearing military fatigues, answered. "How the hay are we just sitting here?"

"And why can't I do this?" Asked the Earth Pony.

"Well, the answers to both questions are: you're a pegasus; you're not." Thunderlane replied as the Twins and their passenger joined them. "Pegasi abilities include cloud-walking. There is a spell, but you need a unicorn who knows it. We have somepony with us who can cast the spell. She had to leave in a hurry, but I think she'll be back soon." He explained as best as he could.

"Uh, okay." Said one of the pegasus mares. "So, it's natural for us to be sitting on clouds, then?"

Thunderlane nodded. "Yep. As natural as having wings." He confirmed. That got a few chuckles. "If one of you can take the other pony we rescued for a little bit, there's something we need to do right now." He told them.

"I'm Daring Doo. I'll take him." She said. and the Twins handed the pony over to her.

"I'm Thunderlane, and this is my brother, Rumble. The mares are Flitter and Cloudchaser." Thunderlane introduced them. "Give us a minute." He added, as the quartet walked off to a clear section.

"I wonder what they're doing?" Firefly asked.

"Dunno." Flash Sentry replied.

Thunderlane reached a good spot. The cloudbank was wide and deep, and should be able to support a large group of ponies easily. He took his place, Rumble facing him, with the Twins taking their places beside them, making a square. Then they lifted their heads to look at a spot in the sky.

Stellar's perception of Space had allowed her to jump into the plunging aircraft, using the lifeforces of the ponies inside to triangulate her position. Her perception of Time allowed her to speed up her thought processes to incredible speeds, allowing her to orientate herself and use her magic to lock onto every soul within the doomed ship of the sky in a second, as it creeped down in its inevitable plunge to the ocean below.

Discord had gifted one of her in the Equestrian Multiverse with a unique gift: the ability to link into a finite number of her other selves and share information across the realities she was present in, giving all of those in the link the same knowledge within their number. One of those others had had contact with another alicorn, whose perception of Time and Space was almost infinite. And while his ability was impossible to fully-reproduce, any alicorn who knew what they knew could reproduce his ability in very small ways. Stellar used her understanding of that ability now, as her mind locked onto four wonderful, incredible ponies she knew extremely well, looking up at her in a square formation that they'd practised before...

...and she and every living soul on that aircraft disappeared instantly...

There was a huge flash, and the skies were filled with ponies floating in magenta magic, as well as several humans. In the middle of them was Stellar, her armor making it easy to recognise her. Her horn was ablaze with her magenta power, and the quartet saw several pulses of magic flow over the group. Stellar then slowly floated down with them all, landing them gently on the clouds.

Once she'd arrived, the quartet broke their formation and headed to help.

Daring Doo's jaw was almost on the clouds, the other four the same way, as they saw the group of ponies and humans appear in mid-air, being held up in a way they'd never contemplated. They started moving towards the descending group.

"What the hell?" Firefly asked, looking around as they moved along.

"I have no idea, save to say, it HAS to be magic... and powerful magic at that." Daring answered.

As they reached the grouping of ponies and humans, Stellar's Royal Canterlot Voice carried up over the group from where she floated in the sky just above them. "OKAY! LISTEN UP! YOU HAVE ALL BEEN THE RECIPIENT OF A MAGIC SPELL THAT ALLOWS YOU TO WALK ON THESE CLOUDS! IT IS SUPPOSED TO LAST FOR THREE DAYS, BUT IF YOU FEEL YOUR LEGS SINK THROUGH THE CLOUDS AND YOU LAND ON YOUR BELLY, TELL ME OR ONE OF THE PONIES WITH A SILVER HELMET! I CANNOT STRESS HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS! IF THE SPELL IS NOT RENEWED, YOU WILL EVENTUALLY SLIP THROUGH THE CLOUDS AND FALL TO YOUR DEATH!"

Stellar took a deep breath, then shook herself all over. She then went on in a slightly-softer voice: "Right! Everypony just relax and stay away from the edges of the clouds. We cannot spend all our time rescuing you if you fall off while we're trying to get us to land again. Just stay where you are and obey orders, and we should have you back on solid ground again with plenty of time to spare." She smiled as her friends reached her. "We good?" She asked.

"All good." Thunderlane replied.

"Great." Stellar sighed as she sat down. "That took more out of me than I thought it would. I guess I'm still not up to full strength yet."

Thunderlane chuckled. "Considering what you did, I'd be awestruck to see you at full power." He replied. "We have a couple of other ponies who could use a cloud-walking spell." He told Stellar.

Stellar nodded. "Lead on." She said, getting to her hoofs. "Thunder, get the Twins and make a list of the personnel we have here: Names, Cutie-marks and professions if they remember." Stellar asked. "I need to know who we have here and what they can offer us in terms of skill sets."

Thunderlane nodded, as Stellar passed him several tablet computers. "Rojer that." He replied, and left with the tablets.

Daring Doo couldn't believe her eyes as she saw a figure in white and gold armor approaching the five of them. She was bigger than any of the other ponies, and had a long horn and huge wings. "It's... it's an alicorn!" She told the others.

"An alicorn? You mean, one of the Princesses?" Flash asked.

"Yes, one of the Princesses. But I may not be one you were expecting." Stellar answered as she reached the group. "My name is Stellar Light Sparkle, and I'm Twilight Sparkle's twin sister." She told them.

The five ponies bowed to Stellar carefully, making sure their non-pegasus companions didn't fall off them yet. Stellar's horn lit up again, and all five were surrounded by the glow. Daring Doo felt something happen in her mind, but it faded without any pain or result, as far as she knew. "Okay, I'm sure our non-pegasus friends can stand on their own four hoofs now."

Redheart looked at Stellar, who nodded to her. She slid carefully off Firefly's back and touched the cloud with her rear hoofs. Satisfied she wasn't going to slide through them to her death, she slid off entirely and stood up, smiling. "This is... just magic!" She told Stellar and the others, which had most of them laughing.

The other pony slid to his hoofs, letting Daring Doo stand up straight again. "Thanks ever so much for showing up." She said. "And thanks way beyond that for saving everyone else."

"It was more than my pleasure, it was my duty to do so." Stellar replied to her. "What happened?" She asked Daring, as Stellar's horn-magic made little spheres of light appear and spread out over the clouds' surface.

"We were being transported Stateside when the Russians blew us out of the air." Daring told Stellar. "Thanks Celestia you came along when you did. How in hell did you manage to save everyone on the aircraft?"

Stellar grinned. "I'm an alicorn. That's how." Stellar answered, then she barely stopped herself breaking up in laughter as Daring just stared at her.

Daring Doo just sighed and shook her head "Never mind. How are we going to get Stateside, with the aircraft gone?" She asked as Stellar's horn lit up brilliantly white.

"I'm working on it." Stellar said, as she traced a rune in the air before her with her horn, then sent it drifting down to a section of the cloudbank. There was a brilliant gold flash, and a section of the cloud flattened out and turned to gold. As they watched, she concentrated even harder, and bits and pieces of the wrecked transport appeared over the spot, dropping onto it fairly gently, along with a lot of personal luggage and things from the interior. As the other ponies mulled around in groups, Flitter, Cloudchaser and Thunderlane doing as Stellar had assigned them with Rumble just looking at the humans, Stellar gritted her teeth as bigger sections appeared and slammed onto the gold section. The biggest section was the cockpit area which, while the nose was flattened, the interior was somewhat intact. Relaxing as the glow faded from her horn, Stellar shook all over and cast a small array around her horn that glowed softly.

Then one of the humans came stomping up... well, stomping as hard as one could on a cloud. "What's going on?" He said "Sheffield?" He looked at Daring Doo.

"Don't ask me, Wellman." She retorted. "Ask the big lady here. She's the one that pulled your fat out of the fire."

Stellar looked the human up and down. "And you are?" She asked with as much politeness as she could manage through her fatigue.

"My name is Agent Wellman." The human male replied. "I was escorting these... ponies back to the States to assist in a research project about all of you and why you're changing." He explained.

Stellar nodded. He smelled as much like NSA as Durrach had. "No need to do that now." Stellar said. "I know exactly why we're changing. And before you ask," Stellar added as Wellman opened his mouth to say something, "No, you can't 'change us back' to being human, because we weren't truly human to begin with." Stellar stated.

Daring Doo, Firefly, Flash Sentry and Redheart looked at each other, as Wellman frowned. "And would you explain further what that's supposed to mean, Miss...?" Wellman asked.

"My name and title, Agent Wellman, is Princess Stellar Light Sparkle." Stellar introduced herself fully. "You're welcome for me saving your life, by the way. And as for what I mean... the Ponies you see here before you were born Ponies long before they were born human. What you're seeing in their transformations is not a plague or disease. This is the end of a curse, placed upon tens or even hundreds of thousands of Ponies from another reality entirely. We were captured and sent here to be born and live for twenty-five years as humans before we reverted to our original forms on our twenty-fifth birthdays. Since the day we first started being born here corresponds to the First of May, 1995, the first of us to start changing took place on the First of May, 2020, fifteen days ago." Stellar looked at Wellman. "I hope that's comprehensive enough for you." She added.

Wellman's expression was one of confusion as he took in what had been said. "So... we're not humans that turned into ponies..." Firefly started to say.

"...But Ponies that were turned into humans, and now we're reverting?" Redheart asked.

"Exactly." Stellar confirmed.

“And... who is responsible for this? Your Government?” Wellman asked.

“No. A being whom we know as the Lord of Chaos; a person of almost-infinite power; a usurper by the name of Discord.” Stellar revealed... and every Pony in earshot shuddered at memories of being grabbed by Discord and his curse...

“Five Score, Divided by Four...” Said all the ponies around Stellar and Wellman, who looked about, somewhat spooked.

“What the hell was that?” Wellman asked.

“That was the opening phrase of Discord’s Curse, Agent Wellman.” Stellar said. “It was also what set the time of our reversion. Five score is a hundred years. Divide that by four, and you get...”

“Twenty-five years.” Wellman concluded Stellar’s sentence. He frowned in thought at this.

“And there’s one thing you should be very worried about, Agent.” Stellar then said. “If he sent us here to get rid of us, so he could take over Equestria...”

Wellman grasped it immediately. “He knows where Earth is.”

“Yes. You can be sure he’s watching what’s going on here, and playing us all like puppets from behind the scenes.” Stellar told Wellman. She knew he wasn’t being honest about what the Ponies had been headed for, but she hoped if she scared him enough... it might make him re-evaluate his priorities. She led Wellman away from the other ponies to where she could talk with him in more private circumstances.

Wellman walked along with this... Princess pony, but what she had told him was going against everything they'd assumed up until now, and it was making him... tense. “If he is as powerful as you say... what can we do against him?” He asked Stellar.

“I can handle him, if it’s done the right way.” Stellar informed Wellman. “The problem is finding where he is and getting close enough to him without him being suspicious.” She explained. “He’ll try to be in a position of power and control. That’s what he likes the most: having control in order to spread chaos. That’s why he got rid of us from Equestria, because we could stop him. And now I would bet my crown that he is trying to do the same here.”

Stellar looked at Wellman. “Why do you think everything is so tense at the moment? Why are the governments of this world so up-in-arms at our appearance? Who is driving the hysteria? And why is someone trying to get Ponies so mad at humanity that we would do anything to stop you hurting us? I have the power to erase humanity from this world if I so desired. Discord knows that. Any Princess could do it, if pushed hard enough. But he bucked up badly, sending me here.” She turned to stare at Wellman, her face full of righteous determination. “Because I am NOT going to play his little games. I am going to find him and stop him, then find a way to return us to Equestria, then deal with him there!” She stated. “Before he turns your world into the same chaotic mess I am sure ours is in right now... or worse.”

“He’d do that?” Wellman asked, a little incredulous. But at Stellar’s look, he just nodded and added. “Uh-huh, yeah.”

“In Planck Time.” Stellar replied. “Or, in his own good time. He enjoys the process as much as the result, if not more so.”

Wellman nodded, his face now thoughtful. “I have to talk to my superiors.” He told Stellar.

“You do that.” Stellar agreed. “Make them understand how important it is that we calm everyone down, stop attacks on Ponies and free those in captivity within the US and other countries. We need to stop prodding this hornets’ nest and work together to get this crisis cooled down, or we could find ourselves nursing a problem that’s worse than Chernobyl before it melted down... with far worse results.”

Wellman looked at Stellar. “You’re laying it on a bit thick, aren’t you?” He asked.

“Not at all.” Stellar answered. “Because Discord would love to see this world teetering on the brink of a nuclear war. The tension, the fear, the chaos... it all feeds him, makes him stronger.” Stellar emphasized to Wellman. “He’s working behind the scenes at the moment. You have no idea what he could do if he got powerful enough here to work openly.” Stellar looked at Wellman, her face deadly serious. “I have seen it. Just the very sight could drive people crazy over it... and I mean the ‘Wearing a tutu, singing the Halleluyah Chorus, riding a tricycle and shooting assault rifles all-at-the-same-time’ kind-of crazy.” Stellar shuddered.

“God preserve us.” Wellman said instinctively.

“You’d better pray he is real, your god.” Stellar replied. “Because if Discord comes into his full power here, what he has done to Equestria will seem like just a warm-up.” And she walked away from Wellman, heading for the other ponies.

Stellar looked about for Thunderlane and the Twins. She had set them a task to do before she'd started talking with Wellman and the others, and she hoped they'd be done by now, as she retracted her armor and shook herself out again, feeling a lot better.

Thunderlane saw Stellar walking towards him, and he grinned. He trotted up to her, a spring in his step, and as he got close, the couple nuzzled lovingly. "Heya, Thunder." Stellar said softly.

"Heya Stellar." Thunderlane replied. "Got those lists for you." He said, handing her one of the computers. "We compiled everything onto here for you." He added.

Stellar gave him a smile. "So thoughtful." She then kissed him on the cheek, getting a soft nicker from Thunderlane. Then Stellar sat down and started reading. "Oh. I put some of our foodstuffs out on the solid platform there, as well as bowls and such. Try and give everypony here something to eat. And the Humans, too, if they don't mind fish sandwiches." Stellar grinned.

"I don't mind fish sandwiches." Thunderlane said with a grin as he rose and nuzzled Stellar. He trotted away as Stellar went through the list. She nodded as she looked over the cutie-marks and names of the ponies, then her eyes widened as she recognised several of the names and cutie-marks. She chuckled as she got to her hoofs.

The moon glinted off the solid platform Stellar had made in the clouds they were standing on. It caught Stellar's eye as she walked past it. Tapping it, she stood up onto it and tapped at it again. "It's just magic, cloud magic, but..." Stellar frowned thoughtfully as something teased tantalisingly at her thoughts. "Cloudsdale is just clouds, but it stays together and can be moved from place-to-place..." Stellar remembered what she knew of Cloudsdale's construction; thinking about the abilities of the cloud-magic that formed it. "Moving clouds... riding on moving clouds..." Stellar's mind was racing furiously through several threads of magic at once, as she contemplated their biggest problem. "No, a cloud city won't do, it's much too random in it's construction for a proper aerial vessel..." She tapped the solid magic field that held clouds inside it. Then her eyes widened as her thoughts crystallised into a solid concept. "An airship!" She whispered loudly to herself. Stellar shook her head and grinned. A snort of laughter escaped her grin as the idea grew. "By Celestia! It would be perfect... but can I make it work? And do I have anypony here who knows anything about airships?"

Getting to her hoofs again, Stellar remembered the names and cutie-marks of the ponies she was with, and nodded. "Now, to approach the ones I know..." And she walked off across the clouds.

Sunset Blaze was sitting, munching on a fish sandwish and alfalfa pellets when the biggest pony he'd seen yet walked up to him. He then saw her horn and wings and, as his mind made the connection, he scrambled to his hoofs. "Your Highness!" He tried to say, but had to swallow a mouthful of alfalfa before he tried again, this time successfully.

Stellar smiled kindly on him, trying hard not to laugh. "How are you, Sunset Blaze?" She asked.

Blaze kept a frown from crossing his face. The Princess seemed to be being rather familiar with him, as if she knew him. "I'm... doing well, Princess, especially after a meal." He replied.

Stellar nodded."Good." She said. "Now, I need to ask you a few things. Can you remember much about your former life in Equestria?"

Blaze blinked with surprise, but he frowned as he thought back to the few memories he had at that time... although they were confused. "Um... I do remember some things... I think I was married, maybe to two mares. I have two filly-faces that seem to mean a lot to me, but one of them..." He shook his head. "I'm not sure if I'm seeing things properly or not." He explained.

Stellar nodded. "Yes, I know." She agreed with him. "And there's a reason for that."

"Does... that mean you know me, Princess?" Blaze asked.

Stellar grinned. "Indeed I do, Blaze. You and your siblings are god-foals to my sister, Twilight." She revealed.

Suddenly, Blaze's eyes widened as he remembered a younger filly-face, and an even-younger colt-face. Then two older faces, a stallion and a mare, smiling down at her... him... He shook his head in confusion. And then another face appeared: A changeling with blue eyes, smiling softly at her. That broke his reverie.

Stellar was there, her face showing understanding to him. "You remembered, didn't you?" She asked.

Blaze nodded. "Yeah... I think I remembered my... my family." He said. "But... why do I keep feeling like I'm a mare? And why do I see a changeling looking at me, as if I was it's child?"

"There's a very good reason for both of those, Blaze, and they are both related to the same explanation." She told him. Stellar touched his forehead with her horn lit up, and Blaze found himself changing. As he looked at himself, where a stallion had been, a mare now sat, and he remembered another name... "Dandelion Dreams..." Stellar whispered softly, and she gasped as she remembered.

"The changeling... that's my Dad!” She said, aghast.

“Easy, Dandy.” Stellar said to her, wrapping her in her huge wings. “Your father is an independant changeling called Zevan, but you know him far better as your father, Whirring Cogs.”

“Daddy...” And Dandy’s eyes filled with tears as she remembered all the time she spent with her father, how she’d been his apprentice, how he’d helped her with her complicated wedding, and how much she loved him, changeling or not.

Stellar just held Dandy to her as she cried softly. When she’d regained control, Stellar smiled at her. “Hopefully, we’ll find others of your family soon, Dandy. But I do know where one of them is, right now.” Stellar told her.

“You... you do?” Dandy asked.

“Yes.” Stellar grinned. “Come on.” And she led Dandy away, after the young mare had picked up her food.

After leading her through the pack of ponies on the cloud, Stellar spotted the other mare she was looking for: One with three lovely blossoms on her flank in three different colors. She led Dandy to her.

Lavender Dreams sat, trying to think. Her memories were there, she knew, but she couldn’t remember much about herself at all. She’d almost given up for the moment, when the crowd parted and the Princess everypony had been talking about walked towards her. Lavender’s eyes widened as she recognised her... from very close personal experience. As she mouthed ‘Twilight’, a huge crash of memories invaded: showing them having tea together, being her guest at her castle, the Princess actually playing with her foals... and that triggered more memories, and more, and more...

As Stellar and Dandy reached Lavender, Stellar frowned with concern. “Oh dear, she’s having a cascading memory reboot.” Stellar said to Dandy. “Go to her, Dandy. Tell your mother you love her.” Stellar coaxed Dandy on.

Dandy nodded and moved to Lavender and said “Mom?” But nothing happened. Lavender was stuck remembering. “MOM!!” Dandy shouted and shook Lavender, who squeaked and then actually saw Dandy standing there.

“Dan... dy?” Lavender asked in a halting, soft voice.

Dandy grinned, then hugged Lavender. “Mommy!” Dandy said loudly and held Lavender to her. Lavender’s mind then connected fully to who was hugging her, and she cried out and hugged back, laughing with relief.

Stellar smiled at the happy reunion, then she walked away, letting them have time together as she searched for one other pony.

Once they were able to think straight again, Dandy and Lavender sat, discussing their lives and what had happened to them, more memories resurfacing as they were able to fill in the blanks for each other.

"Do you think Dad's here?" Dandy asked her mother.

"Yes. I know he's here, somewhere." Lavender confirmed. "I saw Discord send him here. Do you know what happened to Sky or Forest?" She asked Dandy about her younger siblings.

"I'm not sure." Dandy replied. "I saw Sky Fern disappear. I think she might have teleported." She told her mother. "And Forest was nowhere to be seen when I looked for him. I think he might have been camoflaged. Then Discord grabbed me and that was it, until recently."

Lavender nodded with a sigh. "I guess we'll just have to keep looking for him." She told Dandy. "But at least I found you... or you found me." Lavender grinned. "I thank Celestia that Twilight was here to find us both."

"Uh, Mom... that's not Twilight." Dandy corrected Lavender.

"It's not?" Lavender asked. "But... but she looks just like her." Lavender looked to where Stellar was talking with a stallion.

Dandy nodded. "I know she does, Mom. But the Princess' cutie-mark isn't Twilight's. It's very different... and she said Twilight was her sister."

Lavender looked confused. "But... Twilight doesn't have a sister."

Dandy shrugged. "I guess we'll just have to ask her when we get a chance."

Stellar made her way through the pony pack, when she found the pony she wanted to talk to: A unicorn stallion of subtle browns and golds, with a hot-air balloon cutie-mark. He saw and bowed to Stellar as she approached. “Your Highness.” He said.

Stellar really didn’t like being called that, but she had philosophically resigned herself to it at the present time. “Salient Weather, I presume?” She asked.

Salient nodded. “Indeed, Your Highness." He answered affirmatively. “What brings you into my humble presence?” He asked.

“I know you were the Captain of the airship Northern Wind, Salient.” Stellar reminded Salient. “I need your skills now, to help bring these ponies and many, many others safely to America, and many other parts of Earth’s skies.” She told him.

Salient blinked as memories slowly filtered in... of his time on the Northern Wind; of his wife, Fairweather; of how he’d risen through the ranks; and all the skills he’d learned started coming back as well. He looked at Stellar, who was smiling. "More memories returning, right?" She asked.

"Um, indeed." Salient agreed. "What do you require of me, Your Highness?" He asked.

"We need to find a way of getting every pony here, and a huge number more, to safety." Stellar explained to Salient. "Right now, we're sitting on a large cloudbank over the Atlantic. It's about an hour before midnight. I've been thinking hard on what to do, and I had the craziest thought. I know how to pilot aircraft. I know how to imitate aircraft." She grinned. "But I don't know how to handle an airship. You do." Stellar told Salient. "If I provided an airship for you, even if it's an extremely unusual one... could you command it for me?" Stellar asked Salient.

Salient thought about it. "Well... if it is not too different from any design I am familiar with... I would say, yes." He answered.

Stellar nodded. "I'm still trying to figure out the details in my head, but If this works, it'll be big, as in really big. I'm thinking about a kilometre in length." She detailed for Salient. "But if we can shift Cloudsdale all around Equestria to where it's needed, especially when it's unpowered, then a streamlined structure that's self-propelled shouldn't present as many problems as moving that city around did."

Salient gave that some thought. "That's... a very interesting idea." He agreed. "But how can we make it?" He asked.

"I have access to some spells that can anchor clouds into a field that can be shaped to any form I desire." Stellar answered, pointing out the golden section of 'fixed' clouds. "Once the field is filled, it becomes even more solid than Cloudsdale's clouds, which means that even ordinary ponies can stand on it like they were pegasi." Stellar laid things out for Salient. "Once the field is in place and everything is shaped properly, we can add decks inside and facilities. And because it's made of magically-charged clouds, it's inherently bouyant, like Cloudsdale is. No need for mucking around with gasbags and all the other problems of normal airships."

Salient chuckled. "Yes, I can see where it would have advantages." He agreed. "How would we power it?" He asked.

"Mana crystals." Stellar answered. "I attended a workshop in the Crystal Empire a year before Discord about how they're made and what uses they have." She told Salient. "The crystals we worked on were the same ones they used in the construction of the new generation of Equestrian airships."

Salient looked surprised. "I remember seeing those powering their engines." He replied. "But those engines were very complicated. Can we reproduce them here, especially where we are now?" He asked.

Stellar shook her head. "No, not here." She agreed. "But I have another idea for what we can do. The humans designed a technology that we can copy in a slightly-varied form for propulsion. Do you remember the Dyson company and their ring fans?" She asked.

Salient's eyes widened as what Stellar said finally clicked. "We could use those for engines?" He asked.

"In a modified form, I think we could." She confirmed. "A large annular housing shaped as an airfoil, with a ring of crystal as an anchor point for a large mana crystal in the center, pulling air past it using a mana field instead of the magnetic field the Dyson fans use. I figure eight 'fans' about fifty feet across would give us the propulsion we need to move a structure as light as this is going to be possibly at speeds up to a hundred knots." She handed Salient a tablet comp with the maths calculated out on it.

Salient checked over Stellar's projections. "Hmm... are you sure your figures here are accurate?" He asked.

"As much as they can be, considering I'm projecting from what we do know about Cloudsdale, what it takes to move a cloud structure, the projected output of the engines and weight projections for the equipment we'll need on-board it, as well as the weights of projected supplies and the ponies I hope to have on-board her." Stellar showed Salient where her figures lay and came from. "I'm putting in a twenty-five percent safety margin as well. Those figures include the weights of small lightning-powered converters for electrical power and equipment weight calculations for things like kitchen equipment and other engineering components, plus water storage that we can use for on-board requirements, like toilets and drinking water, as well as trim requirements."

As Salient perused the design, his composure changed from sceptical to positive. "I remember when your sister brought out the plans for the new airships. I originally thought it was too good to be true, such a fast rigid airship seemed almost impossible. But she made it work, and it's proven itself time and time again." He looked at Stellar. "If you're half the engineer your sister is, then I'd have to say this looks like a possibility... if your frame spell works the way you hope it does, that is." He added.

Stellar nodded. "Yes. I do admit there's a lot riding on that, but the small section I made up of the cloudbank here to take the weight of the aircraft components seems to be stable and holding up quite well, and it's not showing signs of destabilising, either, even with the weight. If it stays the same through the night and in the morning, then I can try projecting and shaping the much-bigger field necessary for the airship frame after Dawn."

Salient nodded. "I would be happy to add my expertise to yours, Princess, when the time is right." He said.

Stellar smiled. "Good. Then we'll get started tomorrow. Right now, we'll get everypony bedded down and warm in the clouds. It's going to get much colder very quickly, and not everypony here's a pegasus. So we're going to have to reassure them and make sure they're tucked in properly."

Salient nodded. "I'll start working with your ponies to that effect."

Stellar gave a bow of her head. "Thank you, Captain." Stellar replied, then moved with him to the center of the group. Once Thunderlane and the others she'd talked to gathered there, Stellar's voice rang out over the Ponies and humans. "Okay everyone! We're going to get you bedded down for the night." She told them. "It's going to get much colder here pretty soon. For those of you who have never curled up in a cloud before, you're going to be very surprised how warm it can get. Just ask any pegasus who's slept in a cloud-bed; they'll regail you with tales of their softness and comfort." She grinned. "So please, listen to the pegasi and take their instructions to heart, and we'll all get through this night." Stellar nodded to Thunderlane and Salient Weather, and the pegasi and one unicorn spread out, helping the ponies to get settled in the clouds.

Stellar, on the other hand, moved to the humans. There was Wellman and the flight crew of the downed Globemaster there, and they looked up at her approach. "Hello, people. Did I manage to retrieve at least something of everyone's belongings?" She asked them.

"Um, pretty much." The Air Force major replied. "Thank you for that... Princess?" He said, a little unsure how to address the alicorn.

"You can call me Knight-Commander or just Commander if it makes you feel better." Stellar told him and the others. "I don't stand on ceremony or titles the way the other princesses do. Now, did you hear what I have said already?" She asked.

The flight crew nodded. "So... the clouds can act as insulation and bedding?" One of them asked, as she looked about. She saw Ponies peeling a cloud into layers, then lying down and tucking themselves in with the lifted piece.

"Just as you see the ponies doing." Stellar confirmed to them. "While the cloud-walking spell is in effect, you have the same ability to use clouds to walk and rest on as any pegasi. So if you stay away from thin spots, you should be fine." She said. "Any questions?" She asked.

"Umm... how are we going to get home from here?" The lieutenant asked.

"Working on it." Stellar said. "But for now, keeping everyone from freezing tonight is more important. " Stellar answered.

"Definitely!" The Major said. "So, we wait until the morning, then?" He asked.

"Well, you might as well wait. I'm going to be starting work pretty much right now. After all, certain things have to be ready for the morning, and I have to get those done now." Stellar explained.

"Understandable." The Major said, as some of the flight crew were already trying out the impromptu 'cloud beds', and really being surprised when they found them so comfortable.

"I'll see you in the morning, then. Have a good night." Stellar said to them, then walked away, the glow globes made of magic following her.

As the Humans settled into the makeshift beds, even Wellman had to agree... this was the most comfortable surface he had ever slept on.

Once Stellar was sure everyone was settled down and warm, she moved off to one side and made several large sections of cloud float down with her to the surface of the ocean below. Sitting just above it, she looked back up at the big cloud bank, noticing more clouds slowly forming as things cooled off even more. Smiling to herself, Stellar began preparing for the most important part of her plans: making Mana Crystals...

Having awoken before dawn, Thunderlane looked about for Stellar as he walked along the clouds. He then saw a flash from below. Fearing lightning, he took off and flew below the cloud layer. To his surprise, he saw a couple of big clouds hovering over the ocean, with objects glowing with soft blue light on several of them. Gliding down towards them, he saw a large glowing object slowly appear before one cloud, and a magenta glow he recognised as coming from Stellar's horn was before it. He came around behind her and touched down on the cloud she was sitting on, and he saw four long, thin rods being created just before Stellar. The other clouds around her were covered with glowing artifacts, ranging from huge thirty-metre-long and ten-metre-wide crystals, to what he swore looked like the tops of commode seats. The four long rods joined a stack of them on one of the clouds.

Stellar saw Thunderlane as she put the rods down. "Heya Thunder Love." She gave him a tired grin.

Thunderlane moved to Stellar and kissed her softly, making her murr. "Good morning, Love." He replied. "Have you gotten any sleep yet?" He asked her. He could see a circular array sitting over her back, feeding her mana.

"When we're heading to America." Stellar told Thunderlane. "Once we have everything going, then I can rest." She started making more rods.

"What are those for?" He asked.

"Lighting." Stellar explained. "These will help light the decks."

"Right." Thunderlane nodded, impressed. "You're good at this." He offered his opinion.

Stellar snorted self-deprecatingly. "I'm nowhere near as good as a true crystallimancer." She replied. "They coax crystals into doing things I don't have a hope in hay of doing. I'm making these with something I have in great quantity: the magical equivalent of brute force."

Thunderlane nodded. "Seems it works." He commented.

"I hope it does." Stellar agreed. "At least they seem stable."

"It seems you listened to the lectures." Thunderlane said with a smile.

Stellar chuckled. "It was absolutely fascinating." She told him as he sat down beside her. "The incredible things they made out of mana and so many other things! The crystals they wove: many with cascading light displays, or ones that sang beautiful music, or could show images placed in them like digital picture frames can here..." Stellar sighed. "These crystals... they are very basic, if very powerful. They're made pretty much out of just plain water, a resource we have no lack of at the moment." She explained.

"Water..." Thunderlane could hardly believe it. "And... you say these are 'basic' mana crystals?"

"Yes." Stellar said. "They have... no true finesse about them, to be honest. All they're designed to do is one function each. The engine crystals will create a mana field flow through the cylinder rings; the lights will light, the power crystals will provide electrical power until we can get some lightning field accumulators set up; and the other parts will do what they're designed to do." She shook her head. "I've even made toilet seats here for a waste disposal idea I had." She chuckled sadly. "Most crystallimancers would shudder at the very idea of what I'm going to be using them for... but we have little choice in how we are going to do some things." She told Thunderlane.

Stellar looked really sad at the moment. "It's... I'm trying to put together a ship, a place where we can work from, with no shipyard, no facilities for construction, no resources... it's going to bleed my accounts dry to set this up, Thunder. But I don't have a choice. Out there are tens of thousands of ponies who need our help, and while there are other groups finding the huge concentrations of them in main countries, as we've seen... it's the scattered ponies, the ones and twos and small groups that will slip through the cracks if I can't get to them and help them." She looked at Thunderlane with tears in her eyes. "I... I can feel their pain, their lack of hope. I know I can help them... but it's not just pulling them out of areas. We need to feed, house and reassure them they are not alone, until we get them to a refuge. And all I can offer them is a makeshift base that will be cobbled together out of radical ideas and second-hand parts... not the shining display that I dreamed of..." And Stellar broke down into tears.

Thunderlane quickly moved to her and hugged her as she cried on his shoulder. "Easy, Love." He said. He looked into her eyes and could almost feel her pain... something was wrong, he could tell. Stellar's confidence was at its lowest ebb, far more than he'd ever seen it before. "What's wrong, Love?" He asked. Stellar looked down, trying to avoid his gaze. Thunderlane kissed her horn softly, then lifted her face to his. "You can tell me anything, Love. Strictest confidence, I promise."

Stellar nodded, as she took a deep, shuddering breath. "I love doing things like this, Love. Creating, making things... you remember how I used to be with my cars and things." She smiled.

Thunderlane chuckled. "Oh yeah." He agreed.

But Stellar's face turned down again. "My grandfather would be so disappointed in me, if he saw me like this." She sniffled. "But he'd do what you're doing: trying to encourage me to accept what I've done is the best I can do, with what I have..."

Thunderlane frowned. "I sense a BIG 'but' in there..."

Stellar snorted, a flash of anger racing across her face. "I never realised until recently how much the two families I had were so much alike." She told Thunderlane. "Twilight suffers from OCD. She gets obsessed with things, and if things don't go as planned, she can worry herself into a tizzy the likes of which were legendary." Stellar snorted again, but smiled. "Remember when she took her entire library apart and spent three days just resorting the books because she wanted to?" Stellar reminded Thunderlane.

Thunderlane chuckled as well. "I do remember hearing about that, yes." He replied. "And you?" He asked gently.

Stellar looked ashamed. "With me... it's perfectionism." She revealed. "I can't leave things alone. If I can see they can be improved or enhanced, I have to figure out how. If things aren't as perfect as I want them to be... it frustrates me so much it drives me to tears." She told Thunderlane. "With Mother, though..." She shuddered. "BOTH my mothers, Velvet and Hannah, were both raving perfectionists. With Velvet, Grandfather shielded me from her for most of my young life and taught me how to convert my perfectionism into a drive to strive that aided me instead of dragging me down." She explained. "But I had no such figure there to shield me from Hannah, who was much worse than Velvet ever was. Nothing I ever did was good enough for her. She beat me over the head with my two older siblings' accomplishments for most of my childhood, saying that I could never live up to them, but that I had to, because nothing less was acceptable." Stellar went on. "It almost undid everything Canopus Star did to aid me in my former life, and because I couldn't remember the lessons he taught me, I couldn't apply them... until recently. But it's going to take a long time before I can sit down and look at something I've made and say 'It's good enough'."

Thunderlane nuzzled Stellar lovingly, making her nicker and snuggle into him. "Maybe this is the big project you need, Love. Make this ship work. It doesn't matter if it isn't perfect, as long as it works." He moved back and looked into her eyes. "Nothing like this has ever been made before, probably in Equestria as well as here. YOU are defining this, right here and now, so why try to compare it to anything else? Because there is nothing to compare it to. Every step you do will define its perfection, because there is no limit that's been set." Her smiled at her. "Believe in yourself, Beloved. Because I do." And he put his nose to hers and nuzzled softly.

Stellar sniffled as they rubbed noses, a smile coming back on her face again. "Thank you, Beloved. You don't know how much I needed to hear that." She said softly.

"And no more moping." Thunderlane told Stellar. "If I catch you moping again, I am going to tickle you until you lose it." He threatened Stellar.

That broke Stellar up into giggles. "No fair!" She cried out.

"Yes fair." Thunderlane replied and ran his wings up under hers, making her squeak and floof her wings out.

"Oh, I am so going to get you for that... later." She promised Thunderlane. "And remember, alicorns have very long memories. One day, I am going to corner you and get my revenge. You will be living from this moment on in constant fear of my carefully-planned and executed attack." She almost growled at him

"And... loving it." Thunderlane replied as he gave Stellar a kiss on the nose.

Stellar burst out into laughter as she got the reference, Thunderlane joining her as they sat together in the pre-dawn twilight. Looking about her, she sighed. "I think I've got almost everything ready for the next stage." She told Thunderlane. "Making the windows for the three main decks can wait for tomorrow. It's time I really started this project off for true."

"Then do it, Beloved. Make History today." Thunderlane encouraged her.

Stellar nodded and, drawing the clouds with the mana crystals with her, she flew with Thunderlane up to where the others were still sleeping. As he watched, she took two of the most massive crystals he'd ever seen, both bigger than Stellar herself was, and headed off into the near distance. "Do it, Beloved. Show the world what we're capable of." He said softly as he settled the cloud-pallets down where Stellar had indicated.

As the dawn approached, Stellar was in position above the group, incanting, one of the biggest mana crystals she'd created floating there with her. A kilometer away from her, another identical one floated in a direct horizontal line from her position. As the sun breached the horizon, a pair of enormous arrays appeared, one around each crystal, and a golden line shot from one to the other, expanding out into a cylinder three hundred meters in diameter. It encompassed the cloud formation the ponies and humans were on, linking up to the golden panel she'd created the night before as well. Once it was done, Stellar streamlined the cylinder, sharpening the west-facing end into a pointed dome a hundred-and-fifty-metres in length. Once it was set, she flew to the other end of the cylinder and made a cone two-hundred-metres long, completing the cloudship's basic shape. Four massive fins were then exuded from the cone-end, two vertical and two horizontal, making it look like the older type of zeppelin airships. Stellar landed on the top spine of the enormous shape, and flattened the top of the cylinder to form a landing platform and external deck. Down on the bottom, the cylinder swelled downwards to provide a flat 'gondola'-type deck, for landing on the ground; as well as positions for landing ramps and extensions for the placement of the engine discs and their mounts just above the deck on the hull.

Stellar rested for the moment, as she perused her work. Making a few small adjustments to the outside of the shape for equipment placings and such as she walked the length of the top deck, she sat down at the foremost point of the flat section, looking out to the west. Shaking her head and remembering what Thunderlane had told her, she said to herself. "I guess this will have to do... now, for the internal arrangements." And she created the start of two rampways heading down into the interior.

As sleepy ponies turned, yawned and stretched, Stellar made massive open decks in the golden structure, five internal decks in all, as well as other closed sections in the interior for storage and water tanks. Sections of the decks became facilities and sleeping areas, and two smaller rooms, one just below the nosecone of the shape, with it's mana crystal, and one on the front of the lowest deck became the new flight control bridges. Ten big rooms connected to open areas would become kitchens once outfitted, and the open areas dining rooms. The area where most of the ponies were settled for the moment would become part of a multi-deck loading area at the back of the ship, covering the middle three decks in that section at the rear. By the time most of the ponies and the humans were rising, Stellar was walking into the Flight Bridge area, shaping the sections in more minute details. Her horn hadn't stopped glowing since she'd started, but eventually she sat down in what would be the Captain's position, and allowed herself to fully rest and recoup her mana reserves.

It was there Thunderlane found Stellar a little later on. "So, here you are." He said, as he trotted to her, then softly kissed her. Stellar murred into the kiss as they hugged. "You have been busy." He commented as he looked around.

'What do you think?" Stellar asked him.

"It's... well, it's big, that's for sure." He said with a grin.

Stellar chuckled with a sigh. "Yeah... The basics are laid out." She said. "I'm going to need all the pegasi gathered together after they've had something to eat. This structure is just the layout for the skin. We need to start filling it with clouds until it's packed as solid as we can make it."

Thunderlane nodded with a soft smile. "Sure. I'll get them ready... oh. There were a few ponies asking about..."

"Facilities?" Stellar asked.

Thunderlane nodded. "Yeah. I think some of them have a real need pretty soon."

Stellar got to her feet. "Already covered. I'll give everyone a briefing once I finish the next stage, which should take all of ten minutes... with a little help?"

"Of course." Thunderlane agreed, and kissed Stellar again. They walked out together down through the ship until they reached a section that Stellar had left walled off. She brought out from the loading area, where all the mana crystals were parked, a cloud with a series of commode tops on it. "There are stalls laid out on either side, ready to have these implanted in them." She told Thunderlane. She took one and took him inside the portside enclosure, where obvious stalls were laid out. She put the seat down on the floor in one and locked it in place, then activated it.

"Right." Thunderlane said.

"Just add these to all the stalls in this block. Once it's set up, I'll brief everypony on how they work." She told him.

"How many of them are there?" Thundelane asked.

"The main five decks will have three major bathrooms on each of them, fore, middle and aft. This is Deck Three Aft we're out-fitting at the moment." Stellar said. "Once we have the plumbing all fitted, we'll have showers in all of them as well, in the section behind the wall here." She tapped the dividing wall. "I know the walls are mostly translucent at the moment, but as the ship gets filled with clouds, they'll turn opaque." She explained.

Thunderlane nodded. "So, we're going to get plumbing as well?" He asked.

Stellar chuckled. "Every ship has plumbing." She reminded him. "There's going to be a number of main and secondary tanks fitted out for each deck and for trim tanks. Once the ship is filled with clouds, we can fit the piping and fixtures, then gather up rainclouds and fill the tanks. There's two stations on the Top Landing deck fore and aft; they're designed to transfer the water down into the tanks as we make the clouds drop their loads."

"Wow. You're really thinking this through, aren't you?" He asked as they moved across to the second restroom area.

"I have to." Stellar said. "This is going to be a big community once it's done. I figure if we set it up properly, we can manage to have about two thousand ponies at a time here, plus the ship's crew and ancilliaries."

Thunderlane nodded, impressed. "You don't do things by half-measures, do you?" He asked.

"Well, with the way this ship is going to be built, it can't be small." Stellar explained. "This design magic was really meant to build cloud cities. I've shrunk it down to the smallest size that it'll work at, reinforced the magic to be far stronger than the way it is used in Cloudsdale, and it should still be capable of being routinely mobile. That's why I call it a cloudship instead of an airship. It's more a cloud city that's designed to be mobile, rather than a large airship vessel." Stellar sighed. "I just hope it works once we get things finished.

Thunderlane patted Stellar's shoulder. "I'm sure it will, Stellar. You seem to have a habit of making things work when they really need to."

Stellar gave Thunderlane a loving smile. "And you have a very good habit of reassuring me when I need it most." She told him, kissing him again. "Keep it up."

Thunderlane chuckled. "Anytime." He told her.

Eventually, Stellar called everyone on the makeshift airship together. "Good morning." She said to them all, and grinned as they responded. "Okay. As you can see, we're in the process of making this more than just temporary shelter. For those of you with a pressing problem, the two restroom blocks behind me are now open for business... but first, you might find they're a little different than what you've used before." She explained. Bringing out one of the commode seats, Stellar took time to explain how the new toilets worked. "There's forty stalls each side. Portside is for colts, starboard side is for fillies. For those of you who are directionally-challenged, when you face the bow or front of the ship, Port is to your left; so Left, Port and Colt all have four letters. Is that clear?" She asked, to a good number of chuckling ponies. "Okay then. It'll take us a bit longer to get showers and other things going, but for now, food is where it was yesterday, and water is available for drinking from bottles, the same as yesterday again. Once we get the plumbing completed, we'll make another announcement. Thank you for your continued cooperation."

Stellar stepped down and, as ponies moved to get to the restrooms, she found the Major and Wellman walking up to her. "So, you've managed to get all this done already? Whatever this is?" The Major asked.

"It's a little Equestrian spell-tech." Stellar replied. "As I said, we're working on getting everyone... well, back to the US for the moment. After that, we'll see."

"And you made toilets for us as well?" Wellman asked.

"You'll find the middle block, in front of this area, has had four toilets for each sex installed in a section just before us." Stellar said, leading them forward. "Same as for Ponies, men to port, ladies to starboard."

"Cool!" the lieutenant piped up, and she headed inside the block.

Wellman watched as others did the same. "So, where does the waste go? There are regulations for the disposal of biological waste from air vehicles." He reminded Stellar.

"And the services here work with that in mind, Agent Wellman." Stellar said. "You'll find that, as I said, the commodes themselves have no plumbing: instead, they have a one-way portal that opens when somepony sits on them. The portal transfers all waste material from wherever we are in the world to one place: A little town called Port Pirie in South Australia. Last year, they upgraded their sewerage treatment plant to a brand new facility that's ten times what the city needs at this point in time. I anchored the other end of the collective portals over the beginning area of the plant, and where it is, no-one's going to find it, ever." Stellar grinned. "And all the waste we generate here goes for safe disposal right there."

Wellman had been nodding as he listened, then shook his head. "You really do have a flair for doing things differently, don't you?" He asked. "Well... I don't think any officials could quibble about your disposal methods, considering."

"That's what I'm hoping for." Stellar said as they walked towards where the food was being served. "Now, all I have to do is get this collection of improvised spell-work to work together properly, and we'll be heading for the U.S. pretty soon."

"Should I be worried, if you're not sure this will work?" He asked.

Stellar shrugged. "The technology for using clouds as building material has been in-use at Cloudsdale for centuries. Mana crystals have been made in the Crystal Empire for millenia. The spell-technology is proven, but I'm putting it together in ways that haven't quite been done this way before, so there's always a hint of uncertainty. The best reassurance I can give you that I know for certain is that the one thing that's not going to happen is us dropping out of the sky in a sudden fall."

Wellman actually laughed at that. "Well! That's one reassurance that's good to know!" He replied.

Stellar laughed with him, and they headed for breakfast.

Stellar gathered all the pegasi around her that they had. "Okay, Ponies, the next part of this is up to you." She told them. "I want you to grab all the clouds you can and bring them to the ship. Shove them through the gold skin and keep pushing them in until the frame can't take any more. You'll know this is right when the skin either won't admit any clouds into it or they get stuck half-way in. If that happens, then simply slide the potruding piece of cloud off at the skin and push it in somewhere else. We need to pack this frame as solidly with clouds as is possible." She instructed them. "From time to time, I'll use my magic to contract the clouds in the frame deeper in and fill in the holes inside the walls, to make sure every cavity is full. Just keep shoving clouds in until you can't get any more inside."

They all nodded. "Aye, Commander!" They all replied.

"Lieutenant-Commander Thunderlane will be in charge of you as you work, but don't hesitate to come to me if there's something very wrong occuring. Otherwise, he's in charge." Stellar reinforced.

They all nodded, then saluted.

"Right. Get them out there, Thunderlane, and let's get this ship constructed." Stellar told him.

"Aye, Commander." Thunderlane replied. "Okay, Ponies, let's get cloud-pushing!" And he led them out the side of one of the open decks, where they flew off and started shoving the cloud mass around them to the ship.

Stellar got the unicorns installing the lights and upper fixings, and earth ponies fitting the lower ones, including the other restroom facilities and such. Some earth ponies she had push clouds into the eight fifty-foot-diameter rings in the cargo area, especially the few foals they had, since the Pegasi simply delivered the clouds and let others handle them while the cloud-walking spell on the others lasted. Stellar took time to install the huge crystal rings in the engine housings, as well as the control rings in the mounting points. These would allow the engines to swivel on their mounts, the same way the annular fan housings did on modern blimps. The crystal mounts would also be able to be controlled from the two bridges, as would the crystal bladeless engines. Even the humans helped by disassembling the instruments from the panels of the damaged cockpit of the Globemaster, as unicorns installed the mana power crystals in places they were needed.

"I hope the Air Force doesn't mind me reusing their instruments, Major." Stellar asked as she carried the big instrument panels to the flight bridge.

The Major chuckled. "Considering the Air Force will probably consider this aircraft lost, I don't think they'd make a salvage claim against it." He told her. "As long as we can show how the aircraft was destroyed."

"I can show them footage if they need to." Stellar told him. "I saw what happened to it from a good distance away, so I think it should show that you were shot down." She said.

"Good." He replied. "With your testimony and Sheffield/Daring-Doo's testimony, it's going to be pretty obvious the Russians shot us down." He sighed. "What the hell were they thinking?" He asked as they moved past Ponies installing light-rods.

"I think they thought you'd found a number of powerful Ponies, and were trying to stop you getting them home." Stellar said. "After all, why else would an Air Force transport be asked to carry home a bunch of Ponies?" She suggested.

The Major chuckled. "That sounds about right." He agreed. They entered the flight bridge, and Stellar spent some time putting the few relevant instruments in their places. Fortunately, the water landing had done less to shake up the instruments, so Stellar had little trouble repairing the few damaged ones they needed, as well as the air-speed indication system from the damaged nose. Others simply weren't needed, such as the engineering units. But the throttles and flap controls were altered and duplicated to serve their new engines. The Major nodded as he looked about as the bridge lit up, then he chuckled and shook his head. "If someone had told me that I'd be up here, floating above the Atlantic, making an airship out of clouds... I'd have said they were crazy, honestly. But... you do this all so easily."

"Making it look easy is the real magic." Stellar agreed. “I am macgyvering so much with this ship, it’s probably going to have to be redone before it passes FAA certification in the most basic ways.”

“Well, so far, so good.” The major replied. He looked around at the bridge and chuckled. “So much space...”

“A good airship’s bridge is more like a ship’s bridge than an aircraft cockpit.” Stellar stated. “And as what is probably the first cloudship ever constructed, I’m using a LOT of cues from other airships and ship designs I know.”

The Major nodded. “Yep. Keep doing just that.” He told Stellar. “Use what you know. “ To Stellar’s surprise, he patted her withers. “You’re doing just fine, Commander.” He told her. “Your people look up to you, and you have their trust. You kept them safe and warm last night; you have kept them fed and active. And now, you have given them hope: hope that they will get through this, and in style.” He grinned.

Stellar smiled a small blush on her face. ”Thank you, Major.” She said to him.

“So, what rank is Knight-Commander in your Guard, Commander?” He asked as he sat and watched Stellar install the controls for the engines.

“In The Royal Guard, the Knight-Commander’s rank is a historical one. It puts me above a normal Commander, but below the Captain of the Guard.” Stellar detailed for the Major. “I’m basically his Exo. I speak with the authority of the Captain’s rank, unless he’s there as well, then he takes precedence over me. It means there can be two Captains there for big emergencies, which means we can be at both ends of Canterlot at once, or I can take command of the Flying Squad, since I have wings and Captain Gallant Heart didn’t, and he can be on the ground, controlling the ground forces. Other than that, I go where the Senior Princesses detail for me and do whatever missions require my expertise.”

“Makes sense.” The Major agreed. “Then again, there’s not much you Ponies seem to do that doesn’t make sense, eventually.”

“Eventually.” Stellar chuckled as she agreed with him. She rose up and stretched. “Okay, that’s done. Now for the Landing bridge.”

Thunderlane watched as masses and masses of clouds had been pushed through the golden glowing skin of the airship for half-a-day now. He and the others had watched as, at mid-morning, Stellar’s magic had encompassed the interior and pulled all the clouds deep into the interior of the cloudship, crushing them almost solid inside the airframe. Once she’d done that, they’d continued filling it until it was almost full again. “Okay everypony! Lunchtime!” Thunderlane called out, his voice carrying across the clouds to all the pegasi, and it was passed onto the others. Forming a constellation, they swirled through the air and landed on the upper deck, now called the Top Flight deck, trotting down the ramps as they furled their wings, looking very happy after a half-day of solid work.

Below, as they reached the middle deck, they could smell the smell of fresh fish being cooked, some of the unicorns having gone ‘Fishing’ before, using their magic to haul in and clean fresh fish from the ocean below. The pegasi thanked their brothers and sisters profusely as they chowed down on the freshly-grilled fish, the makeshift electric grills doing their duty well. Stellar sat as well, beside Thunderlane and Rumble as they enjoyed the delicious repast. “So what’s for after Lunch?” Thunderlane asked Stellar.

“Going shopping.” Stellar said. “I’m going to go and bring back things we need, like fittings and pipework for the water tanks and showers, as well as maybe some water coolers for installation around the ship.” She told Thunderlane. “And kitchen gear. We need something better than just these grills, although they can be part of the kitchens, too.” She told Thunderlane.

Thunderlane nodded. “So, a lot of teleporting, I’m thinking?” He asked.

Stellar chuckled. “Yeah, a lot. But it’s necessary.” She told him. “And I can do it quietly as well, so hardly anyone will see me coming and going.” She told Thunderlane.

“Yeah. Good idea, that.” He agreed.

“Many of them might ask me to teleport them to the U.S., and I can’t do that. Since I’ve never been there, I can’t teleport there.” Stellar explained.

Thunderlane nuzzled Stellar lovingly. “I know, Love. But we need those fittings.”

“I know, Thunder. I just hope this doesn’t backfire on us.” She said. “I’m also going to pull some more ponies in here, especially pegasi. We need crew and hopefully some ponies that can cook. I’m also going to grab some fresh supplies. It’ll be Sunday morning in Australia once it gets dark here, and some of the best produce stores are open then, as well as the supermarkets. I’ll grab us some stuff then.”

Thunderlane nodded. “And tonight?”

“After I get back here, I’ll make the crystal blocks for the windows and transparencies. The unicorns can cut them up and install them tomorrow. Salient Weather is doing well commanding them, so they should be able to handle it okay without me having to supervise.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Thunderlane agreed.

"Now, what I want you to do is build a cloud bank right around the form. Something that we can use to fill the form with clouds and keep us hidden as we work." Stellar said to Thunderlane. "Make it look as natural as you can. It'll be easier doing this without any watchful eyes seeing us."

"As you command, my Beloved." Thunderlane replied, and his smile made Stellar's heart leap in her chest. Stellar grinned him and kissed him tenderly.

As soon as she was ready, Stellar went to the cargo deck at the back of the hull-shape and inscribed a massive winged Sparkle Star on the deck there. "There. Now I can home in on this from anywhere on Earth." She said to herself, before she concentrated and teleported out, landing back in Brisbane, Australia. Knowing the town intimately, she visited some building supplies stores, big ones, and ordered a mass of plumbing fixtures and piping, mostly in plastic. Once she had everything lined up on pallets in one of their yards, she cast a distraction field around them and teleported them one at a time to the ship. Once they appeared, waiting unicorns carried them aside, so that the crew could begin installing the plumbing.

While she was flying to a place she knew carried second-hand shop and kitchen fittings, Stellar's ears started to twitch as she sensed Ponies nearby. She landed next to a University of Queensland agricultural school area, one she used to pass by every day. She carefully followed her feelings as she scanned, to find a group of ponies inside yards within one of the buildings. She moved inside the building they were in and said "Hey! Everypony okay?"

The reaction was immediate They had all been lying about, somewhat listless, but as they saw Stellar, their demeanours changed from dull to excited. She smiled as she opened the gate and walked into the yards. It was obvious to Stellar that many of them had at least some memories back, as they addressed her as "Princess!" as she came amongst them.

"Easy! Easy, everypony. Relax." She said to them. She noticed there was an unusually high number of foals there, at least thirty; ranging from a five-year-old to some in their early teens. "Is everypony okay? No-pony hurt?"

"This little one's hurt." Answered a mare, nudging a little unicorn colt to her, who looked about seven. He had a cast on one hind leg. Stellar looked the cast over, scanning it as the colt giggled. It was a simple break, nothing more.

Stellar put her glowing horn to the leg, invoking a healing spell, and after a few minutes she removed the cast, to the colt jumping up and down in delight then moving to an older filly, who looked about twelve. "Thank you, Princess." The filly said, as she nuzzled what obviously was her little brother.

"You're welcome." Stellar replied. "Do either of you know your pony names yet?" She asked.

The filly nodded. "I'm Sky Fern, and this is Forest Breeze, my brother."

Stellar's face lit up in a brilliant grin. "Well, well! I know a few Ponies that are going to be very glad to see you two." She told them.

Sky Fern looked confused, but Forest Breeze picked the implications up instantly. "You found our mama?" He asked.

Stellar chuckled as she hugged them both. "And your older sister, too." She confirmed to them. "I'm going to take you to them shortly."

That got two foals very happy. As she went around to the others, Stellar found a good cross-section of a lot of the students and teachers of Celestia's school for gifted unicorns in the group, plus some of the other residents. She was especially glad to find "Coriander! Saffron!" Stellar said as she trotted up to the two Canterlot residents she recognised instantly. "How are you doing?" She asked them.

"Uh... we are doing well, I guess, Princess." Saffron replied. "I take it, you know us?"

"Indeed I do." Stellar answered. "You two own one of the better, if smaller, restaurants in Canterlot... or did." She said.

"Yes..." Coriander then said "Yes, I remember now." He looked at his daughter.

She nodded back. "So do I... but it seems a little vague..." Saffron frowned. "But I do remember cooking... and loving to cook."

"Then come with me." Stellar said. "I have need of ponies with your skills."

"Of course, Princess. Lead on." Coriander said.

Stellar led the Ponies into a circle around her, then her horn lit up, they all were surrounded by her magenta magic and vanished. Once they were safe, she made her way out of the school and kept on shopping.

The unicorns waiting for more parcels were surprised when a group of Ponies showed up instead, but welcomed them and escorted them out to where the others sat, talking and watching others work.

Sky Fern and Forest Breeze were a little nervous, but their faces lit up when somepony called out "Sky! Forest!" And Dandy came racing up to them. There were squeals of delight from the foals as their big sister hugged them close. "Oh, I am so happy to see you're all right! Did Stellar find you?"

"Uh-huh." Sky answered, as Forest nodded. "We were being kept in a big barn with others in Brisbane, until the Princess came and found us." She explained.

Dandy grinned. "She found myself and Mama, too. Come on, she's over here." And Dandy led her siblings to another happy reunion.

More equipment found its way to the construction site, as Stellar made the best use of her money. Electrical equipment for the kitchens was also obtained, as well as some information for Stellar on how to assemble it. The man who 'donated' the information was unaware that Stellar had downloaded what she needed to know from him, but she certainly thanked him well. She also managed to put together two big metallic containers, well insulated, as the traps and accumulators for the lightning clouds they would use for electricity. Big capacitors would help moderate the flow from the accumulators to the power runs and inverters for the ship.

Stellar was flying back up to another place she was planning to look through, when her senses picked up a pony in pain... great pain. She raced forward, out over the mountains that circled Brisbane, to find a farm in the rich lands beyond. She landed, her face showing fury, as she headed for a large shed where the pain was coming from. She rapped on the door to the shed, taking a step back and lighting up her horn, and when a gruff-looking young man emerged, she grabbed him in her magic and hauled him into the air, as he yelled "What the fuck?"

Stellar ignored the man's ribald shouts and went inside. In the dark, she saw a figure lying on the floor. There were a couple of more huddled together in one corner, but as Stellar's horn cast a light-ball spell, she saw one stallion lying on the floor, badly beaten; the others were mares. When they realised who it was, they shuffled forth to greet Stellar. Stellar was shocked. They all showed signs of being badly beaten, none more so than the stallion, who was a youngster, barely an adult. She looked up at the human, who was still trying to hit her and hadn't stopped swearing at the top of his lungs. Then he felt a very sharp edge press into his throat, making him come to a shuddering halt. "If you do not cease that infernal cursing, I shall make sure you never say a word again!" Stellar yelled at him with a menacing tone. The man took the hint and stayed silent.

"Th... thank you..." The oldest of the mares said.

"What happened?" Stellar asked.

"We... this started happening to us... eight days ago." She began to tell Stellar. "He... my husband went insane. He... he locked us all up in here... and started beating us... as if it would make us change back. My poor cousin..." She looked at the prone stallion.

Stellar went to the stallion and scanned him carefully. She sighed with relief. "He's got no major internal injuries, thank Celestia." She told the mare. "Do you have a name in your mind yet?" Stellar asked.

"Um... I think I was called Tangerine Treats." The mare said. "All these were my relatives here, but none of them are my relatives in Equestria. Only Salacious Curves was my Equestrian-born son." She revealed.

Stellar nodded. "You." She looked at the human. "Hang about for a while." And she raised him to the ceiling and left him hanging there from a huge bolt. Once she'd done so, she began repairing Curves' broken ribs and a few other fractures. "You all need medical help." She told Tangerine.

Tangerine nodded. "Thank you for helping us." She replied. "But where can we get looked at by others who know what we are?"

"I have just the place." Stellar said, as she sealed Curves' bleeding wounds and reset his bones. She then gently nuzzled the stallion, who twiched and groaned. "Come on, Youngster! I can't send you to be treated when you're just lying there." Stellar said, gently helping him to his hoofs.

"Ow... uh, thanks." Curves said in reply. He peered at Stellar. "Do I know you?" He asked.

"Possibly." Stellar answered. "Now, I'm going to send you to a special place." She said. "There are ponies there who will take care of you. Tell them you need Redheart's attention, and that Stellar said it was a priority, okay?" Stellar told them.

Tangerine nodded and braced Curves against her. "Okay, here you go." And they vanished in a flash of Stellar's magic. There was a scream from above, and Stellar turned just in time to catch the human and save him from plummeting into the floor of the shed, which could have been fatal. "You idiot!" Stellar said as she walked over to him where he was floating just centimetres above the floor. "I was going to get you down from there before I left, you know."

"How was I to know that?" He asked in a violent tone. "You could have just left me up there to starve to death!"

"Sure, I could have... but I don't roll that way." Stellar replied. "If I'm going to kill someone, it is always quick, clean and painless... as much as it can be, anyway." She informed the human.

"And how many people have you killed, then?" He asked.

"How many humans?" Stellar asked. At his nod, she answered. "None, so far. I've been careful not to get into situations where I'd have need to do so. And before you ask, I used to be a cop right here in Brisbane before I changed. Used to be a very high-ranking officer back in Equestria as well. So I don't take life wantonly or unnecessarily." She explained. "You may have come the closest so far, so don't push your luck." Stellar warned him, though.

"They were my family!" He yelled out. "They were... everything to me..." And Stellar saw his eyes begin to water. "Why them? What did I do to deserve having them become... whatever they are now?"

"Why were you beating them?" Stellar asked.

He looked at Stellar with sad eyes, but she also saw the hate in them. "I'd hoped... I hoped that, if I beat them, they might revert and drive out whatever did this from them." He said. "Christ only knows, I'm not a godly man... but some things are not of this world and were never meant to be." He told Stellar.

"Yes, you're right there." Stellar actually agreed with him, which made him look at her with surprise on his face.

"Why... why do you say that?" He asked.

Stellar sat and let him down gently. "It's true, we're not from Earth." She told him. "We're from another reality entirely. We were sent here against our will by a monster... a god of Chaos called Discord." She explained. "All of those he sent were reborn as Humans, but for a limited time. Twenty-five years he cursed us all, and when those twenty-five years were up, we started to revert to our natural forms, as you see us now." Stellar looked at his face, as he started to realise what she was saying. "So it's not our fault; it's not your fault. The only person to blame for this is elsewhere, beyond all of our reach... and we who are Ponies have to try and find a way home again."

The human hung his head. "Go." was all he said... Then he added. "Tell them.... I am sorry."

Stellar nodded and headed for the door. It closed behind her and she took to the sky again. "Discord, you bastard. When I get my hoofs on you, I am going to shove my swords so deep in you, you'll think I was cutting my way out of you from the ninth level of Hell!" She swore...

Author's Notes:

Well, here's where things start to get really interesting for our intrepid team, and Stellar starts making bigger plans, as well as gathering more ponies around her.

This chapter also intersects with another of the Five Score stories: Earning Wings Of A Different Nature. Go and read it (if you haven't already) to find out how Daring and the others got to that cloud bank.

Oh, and certain ponies from some of Goldfur's stories are also going to be making cameos as well, so read that Sunset Blaze A.K.A. Dandelion Dreams, Lavender Dreams, Whirring Cogs/Zevan, Sky Fern and Forest Breeze, as well as Peach Delight and others who will appear in later chapters are all copyright to Goldfur and used with hir gracious permission.