Star of despair

   In one of the many universes that form the Multiverse, in a region of space, shines a solitary planet. Unlike other similar celestial bodies, it doesn’t orbit around any star, but a tiny fireball and a rock satellite spin around it, moved by the magic of two physical goddesses that live on its surface. Just like some countries have the same name as their capital cities, this planet is named after the largest kingdom under its atmosphere: Equestria.

   Honestly, you can’t blame their inhabitants for that. The kingdom occupies the 30% of the surface of the planet, and the 60% of that same surface is water. Do the math.

   Sadly, this lonely world is about to die...  

***

   A whole day passed. Celestia had ordered to not tell anypony about the red planet, at least not for the moment. She knew that, sooner or later, all of the inhabitants of Equestria would see it in the sky, but she didn’t want the panic to spread. However, at the second night after the dreadful discovery, a new star appeared: a red one.

   The ponies started to ask questions, and the Princess of the Sun had no other choice but to tell what was really happening. The news flew with the winds of fear, and reached every corner of Equestria. Soon, every pony, every zebra, every buffalo... every creature under the skies was aware that their world was being threatened by something terrible. Fortunately, panic didn’t spread. Most of the inhabitants had total confidence in their Princesses, and if they had said that they had a plan, their subjects would believe them. So, everypony continued with their lives, as if nothing was happening.

   However, they couldn’t avoid it, sometimes they lost their smiles for a second, or they dropped things unwittingly, or they became nervous. Because there was a voice in their heads, a voice that was always there, saying: ‘What if the plan fails?’

   The despair was growing in their hearts.

   Pinkie Pie was looking at the red star from her room, through her window. The Cakes had decide to ignore that ominous crimson dot in the sky, mostly for the little twins. They wanted Pound and Pumpkin to be happy, even in the darkest of hours, and they had never been so grateful of having the pink pony with them. Smiling was a lot easier when Pinkie was around.

   At that moment, she was wondering what would be Francisco doing...

***

   In the royal castle, Celestia was also looking at the red star.

   She had spent the past days trying to think, with her sister, in a backup plan, just in case Francisco couldn’t make it in time, or his training wasn’t enough. However, none of the solutions they devised seemed to be effective.

   They could combine their powers to change the position of Equestria in the cosmos, but that would be useless. After all, the red planet was sentient and could change its trajectory, it would just pursue them through space until they were too exhausted to keep running away.

   They could also evacuate all of the population of the planet to another, but to which one? Equestria was a lonely world, it wasn’t part of a solar system, so it didn’t have near neighbours they could migrate to. The Princesses had scanned the outer space for new planets, but the only candidates were too far away. Transporting all of the population of Equestria to one of them would take, even with the help of the Elements of Harmony, six days at minimum, and, according to Luna’s calculations, they only had four until the arrival of the red planet. And they would have to transport not only sentients beings, but also plants and animals. They would also have to re-establish every ecosystem in the new world, as well as the magic field, or else pegasi wouldn’t be able to walk on clouds, among other things. The entire process would last more than a week, and it would also consume a titanic amount of energy. Not only the Princesses, but Twilight and the others could also end dead. And besides, the red planet would probably follow them to their new home, eventually...

   They could only wait for Francisco.

***

   Imagine an army of creatures made of stone. Made of tiny round stones, to be accurate. Imagine headless golems with arms like columns, wingless dragons, giant insects and spiders, floating geometrical figures, monoliths, and many more.

   Francisco was fighting that army.

   He had chosen a new form to do that: a four-armed knight in golden armor. Actually, it looked more like a highly-evolved insect rather than a knight. Each one of his two upper arms, significantly bigger, had a sharp blade attached. Francisco was jumping between the stone creatures, cutting there and here and shooting energy balls with his two lower arms. The drooling god hadn’t made it easy, the stone monsters were attacking with no mercy, and all at once. The idea behind that training was that Francisco had to learn to focus his energy as much as possible, so he could defeat several enemies with a single blow. ‘If you are able to perform such feat, destroying a planet should not be a problem for you.’, had said the drooling god, who was observing everything from the top of his Hand Tower.

   The stone creatures surrounded Francisco. He transformed into the diamond monster known as Steamroller and made his way out, tearing one of the headless golems apart. The tiny round stones fell and returned to the ground. However, for each enemy he defeated, two rose up.

   Francisco roared and charged again, thinking that two days had already passed, and he still hadn’t progressed anything. He had to hurry.

***

   Two more days went away. The red star was bigger, and could be seen even during the day, almost like a sinister, smaller and less bright second sun.

   Applejack was bucking the apple trees, under the increasing red light. Rainbow Dash landed near her.

   “Morning, AJ,” said the blue pegasus. “How are you doing?”

   “Fine,” answered the orange pony, kicking a tree.

   Fine... Dash wished she could say the same. She wasn’t fine, she was sick of flying in that red light, she was tired of seeing the planet in the sky. She, who had always been the bravest of the group, was starting to feel despair, and she needed help. But asking for support was something that Dash wasn’t used to, after all, she was always the independent one. But she couldn’t take it anymore. The blue pegasus needed the strength of the only pony in maybe all Equestria that she could see as her equal.

   “So... applebucking?” she asked, trying to break the ice with something trivial.

   “It helps me to not think about that,” Applejack pointed at the red planet with a hoof. Then, she looked directly at Dash, and the pegasus gasped.

   Applejack was crying.

   “Hey!” said Dash, nervous. She wasn’t expecting that. “Hey... Hey, AJ, calm down. What happens?”

   “Ah’ve never been a smart pony,” said Applejack, weeping tears. “Ah mean... like Twilight, Ah’ve never been a brainiac. Ah... Ah like all of this: the apple trees, the farm... This is the world Ah like, simple and peaceful. Ah like to be simple, because I know that there are scary things out there, beyond the Everfree Forest, beyond the mountains... beyond the stars! Ah’ve always had mah farm and mah trees, mah little place to hide from those things, but now...” she looked at the red planet. “Now... everythin’s going to end... Mah little place... and Ah can’t do anything...”

   And she kept crying. Rainbow Dash was astonished, she had never seen Applejack so broken, not even when she hadn’t won the Equestrian Rodeo. What to do now? What could she do? Dash had gone to see Applejack because she needed a friendly shoulder, but it had turned out that the orange pony was also needing one, and maybe even more than her.

   What do do now? Well, she was the Element of Loyalty...

   “Hey, hey...” said Dash. “Don’t worry, it’s not so bad as it seems.”

   The blue pegasus hugged her friend, letting her cry over her shoulder.

   “That’s it, cry as much as you want,” Rainbow Dash patted on Applejack’s back. “Look... I know things seem bad right now, but don’t worry, I’m sure that everything would be fine!”

   “Really?”

   “Of course! You’ll see, Francisco will come in time and he will send that horrible planet back to space! And if he can’t, I’m sure that Celestia has a Plan B.”

   “And... And if she doesn’t have one?”

   Rainbow Dash thought it for a second, and then she said:

   “Do you know what? We don’t need any Plan B, I’ll do it myself! Yes, I’ll kick that planet in one of its eyes so hard, that it will run away like a mouse!”

   Applejack sniffed and laughed. Then, she used her own mane to wipe her tears. Rainbow Dash kept hugging her friend, giving strength to her. But she also received strength, Applejack had helped her to find, inside her pegasus heart, a power she didn’t know she had.

   Rainbow Dash looked at the red planet. That star of despair was trying to suck their will and happiness before devouring them, but that was not going to work, not while the Element of Loyalty was there. ‘You may eat our bodies, but never our spirits.’, she thought.

   “Hey, Dash,” said Applejack.

   “Yes?”

   “If ya’re not too busy... could ya help me with the applebucking?”

   And they spent the rest of the morning kicking trees, talking and laughing. Eventually, the orange pony returned to be the same as always, as if there was no red planet.

   “Thanks, Dash,” smiled Applejack, once they had finished.

   “Hey, Element of Loyalty, remember?,” the pegasus smiled back. “Actually, it doesn’t have anything to do with that. Simply, you’re my friend. I just couldn’t left you like that, what would we do without our brave and strong Applejack?”

   “Aw, shucks...” the earth pony blushed. “I’m not that important...”

   “Oh, yes you are. You have no idea.”

   The blue pegasus took off. Suddenly, that red light wasn’t that sickening anymore.

   Dash flew at highspeed over Ponyville, leaving a rainbow trace that vanished after a few seconds. However, although short, that vision of seven colour was more than enough to stop the despair caused by the red star. Every pony and every mare looked up, at that rainbow, and felt better.

   Because even in that dark hour, even under that bloody light, there was still hope.

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