Harmony City was a glorious sight - a crown of mismatched towers glistening over a calm ocean. The sunlight was reflected by the waters into the pinnacles of civilization, enhancing the already vibrant colors of the city. Almost every single material and color could be found within the expansive, towering city, bringing a sense of all who came to Harmony.
Gari, pony, dragon, griffon, and many others lived together peacefully in the only swath of 'land' on Garilend that was treated like another planet. Hoverjets flew them between the towers, and citizens constantly walked and flew everywhere. A busy - and happy - picture.
It was even happier on the currently, for it was a very special day - the Fifteenth Anniversary of the crash on Garilend. It was a day to celebrate peace, prosperity, and the understanding of other cultures.
"Take a note," Rarity said, "on this auspicious day, we must choose a fundamental equi-"
"Rarity?" Spike interrupted, "you do know that you already wrote your mayoral speech. I have it right here."
"Oh! Silly me! Oh, what would I do without you Spike?"
"Stress yourself out of the job?"
"Perhaps," Rarity said, looking out form her room in one of the tallest towers, her eyes scanning the crowd below. So much hustle and bustle, it made her feel tired just looking at it all. She let out a breath. "Big day today. Will the princesses be ready?"
Spike smirked. "Twilight assures me they'll be ready hours early. So they'll probably be fashionably late or something."
Rarity shrugged. "I do suppose that is how it works sometimes. I wonder how close they are."
~~~
Luna let out a tremendous sigh. Here she was, up during the morning hours, already dressed and groomed for the festival. And neither Twilight nor Celestia had even come out of their rooms yet. Luna checked the clock. They had just over an hour. She groaned, knocking on Twilight's door. It wasn't even closed, creaking inward with the force of the knock. Inside, Twilight was sitting on her bed, glasses on her face and wings spread wide, enthralled by the book she was reading.
"Twilight? We need to get ready to go."
"Hm?" Twilight said, looking over her glasses. Luna pointed at the clock. "Oh my! I'm so sorry-"
"At least you're awake," Luna noted, "Tia on the other hand..." While Twilight ran around in a mostly blind panic, Luna knocked on the next door. "Celestia!"
There was no response.
Luna groaned, unlocking the door magically and stepping into her sister's room. As she expected, Celestia was sleeping like a dog. To her bafflement, the entire bedroom as covered head to tail in banana peels.
"I'm a banana..." Celestia muttered in her sleep.
"This..." Luna couldn't even finish the thought, instead electing to simply drag Celestia out of her room and shake the white alicorn awake.
"Mmmmbwahuh?" Celestia said, standing to her full height. "...What?"
"I could ask about he bananas, but I want to keep my sanity. It's the Anniversary. We need to get going."
Celestia smiled. "Sister, relax, we can still make it."
"IT IS TIME TO PANIC!" Twilight yelled.
"Why?" Luna asked, dreading the answer.
"The clock is wrong! We didn't think about daylight savings again! We're already late!"
Luna paled. "No..."
"Why is daylight savings even a thing..." Celestia groggily muttered. "All it does is drive people crazy..."
Twi shook her head. "Explaining would take too long. Forget the fancy dress, conjure up something! To the door!" She yelled, rushing out the front door and magically summoning a purple suit onto herself.
Luna and Celestia ran out as well, performing similar spells on themselves, affixing their regalia to their bodies. The three alicorns dashed across the crystal bridge - the sun shining on them, the city rushing by below. Ahead of them was a large onyx building that was almost perfectly cylindrical. They rushed into it, interrupting the dozens of people in the crowded interior.
"Princess Pass Authorization!" Twilight yelled. "Clear the pad!" She rushed towards the center of the room, all the citizens parting to let them through. The three alicorns alighted on the amethyst pad in the ground, the magic of it engulfing them in light. Instantly they were elsewhere in the city - inside the Lobby - though it looked nothing like it had fifteen years ago. The room was more or less an auditorium with hundreds of seats on either side, all constructed with brilliant crystal. Plantlike sculptures draped from the far-above ceiling, reminding Twilight of her old castle. On one side was a gently sloping round stage, at the back of which was the Tree of Harmony.
Why they still called this place the Lobby was a mystery.
Rarity was onstage, wrapping up her speech. "...and I wish you all a fabulous day." She saw the princesses arriving. "And now, our triarchs, Celestia, Luna, and Twilight!"
Rarity stepped off the stage to allow the princesses on. She hissed at them as they passed. "What took you so long?"
"Daylight savings," Twilight answered.
"Lazy butts," Luna countered.
"Yellow things," Celestia finalized.
Rarity sighed. "Just get up there and be inspirational already," she chuckled. "Good luck!"
Celestia stepped up to centerstage and took a breath. "My Equi!" She shouted to thunderous applause. "And my gari!" More applause rang out. "Fifteen years ago to this day, there was a disaster. A disaster that could have easily turned into a worldwide catastrophe. We crashed into this wondrous planet and brought a crisis unlike anything any of us had ever experienced. However, due to the bravery and determination of our peoples, we did it. Through diplomacy, war was avoided and we learned to share this planet - and we are all the better for it."
Luna continued for her. "We have accomplished much together. Dangerous weather is a thing of the past. Hunger has been all but completely wiped out. Wars have lessened, crime is down worldwide. We have a small but active force of ships that explore the grandiose stars. All of this would have been impossible without the cooperation between our two peoples, and I personally thank everyone for it."
Twilight went next. "What I see here warms my heart, for when I was still on Equis, there wasn't this much harmony. The world was divided. There were threats and evil forces from all sides. Our home did not have the level of peace and friendship we have here - like many people seem to think we had. I am proud of this world, and grateful that I had a chance to see this day." She looked out at everyone, a tear in her eye. "It was worth all those centuries of loneliness."
She bowed, and there was applause. The princesses smiled and waved, taking it all in. Even though they had felt it all before, this day felt... special for some reason. They didn't know why.
Rarity signaled to them.
"Oh!" Celestia said, "and now a word from Sage Orgis." The three princesses stepped off the stage, making room for the pink gari who hadn't aged a day in fifteen years. She was wearing a robe shimmering with the colors of the Tree of Harmony, and her hands were enveloped in glowing pink energy.
"My fellow citizens, there was one thing we have gained that our enlightened leaders forgot to mention. And that is the gift of the Tree of Harmony to us all. I am not talking of the magic that has been bestowed to many of the gari of this world - no, I am talking to the virtue of forgiveness. Many actions were taken that day of which we all regret in hindsight. Deaths. Harsh words. Despicable actions. But the Tree of Harmony saw us - and gave us forgiveness. And the Equi have given us a second chance. It is because of this we are here today." She spread her arms wide. "All of us."
There was silence for a moment - and then applause.
Twilight looked at Orgis closely, her frown deepening.
~~~
"Hey Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie Pie yelled.
"Huh?"
"Happy Crashaversary!" She yelled, producing a cake from nowhere.
"Oh yeah. That's today." She put a hoof to her chin. "Huh."
Pinkie gasped. "You forgot? How could you forget?"
Rainbow Dash chuckled. "Been too busy stopping giant monsoons from destroying cities. Lot on my mind."
"Wings sore?"
"Nah. My patience is."
Pinkie frowned. "Dashie, that doesn't make much sense..."
"Wasn't supposed to. Been taking lessons from you."
Pinkie grinned. "Awesomesauce! ...What is making your patience sore?"
Rainbow Dash pointed out, away from the ever-swirling and shifting clouds of New Cloudsdale, towards a small white and pink blob flying through a large storm. It touched the storm cloud, making it explode, blowing tremendous gusts of wind everywhere. It forced New Cloudsdale's position to shift, upsetting all the ponies on it.
"Flurry Heart!" Rainbow Dash boomed, "Learn some control! You can't just blow up entire storms!"
"Screw that!" She called back in a nasally voice.
"I can bench you!"
"You wouldn't dare!"
"I have enough dirt on file to do so without a problem! Don't forget it miss entitled!"
Flurry Heart just teleported somewhere else. Rainbow Dash bristled. "I hate her. There's nothing else I can say about my feelings. She's an immature, overconfident, entitled brat."
"But..."
Rainbow Dash sighed. "I could bench her. But she's my best flier. I need a way to teach her a lesson..."
On another cloud, Cadence sighed. "Where did we go wrong with her?"
Shining frowned. "...I think we doted on her too much."
"But... But..." Cadence twitched, "I made her... I... Uh.." She stopped short. "I don't remember. Why don't I remember?"
"Shh... Shh..." Shining put his hoof around his wife. "We still have each other. And Flurry Heart isn't a failure at life. She's still growing. Just... Without our guidance."
Cadence started to cry.
"Now..."
"It's all wrong," Cadence blurted. "This was not how it was supposed to be." She gestured at the swirling clouds of New Cloudsdale. "We live in the sky, blocked off from the world! They... They don't want to look at me."
Shining hugged her tighter. "It'll be okay..."
Cadence didn't believe him.
~~~
"Conssarnit Starlight! You're not supposed to pick everything!" Applejack shouted, "you need to let others help!"
"Oh," Starlight said sheepishly, "sorry. Just saw the apples and-"
"Get back to manufacturing!" Applejack yelled, a smile on her face despite her tone. "Move it miss!"
"All right, all right, I'm going!" she grunted, marching past Fluttershy and the 'pig' pens, waving as she did so. Starlight smiled brightly as she walked along the dirt path to the plant - looking at the various fields of all different kinds. Fruits of all colors could be seen, and people of all kinds were harvesting them.
She breathed in the sweet country air - it was a nice simple life here, away from prying eyes. Not to mention the lack of religious fanatics... Sure, she missed the Tree of Harmony, but she was happy here. She had friends, and a job that helped feed the world. She didn't have to be the immortal voice of the Tree here - she could just be Starlight Glimmer, unicorn.
She looked at the plant - the only industrial building in sight. A place for the manufacturing of processed goods - including cider, jam, meat, and even power for Succulent Valley. It was tall, metallic, but not all that imposing. Its form melted into the mountain behind it, attempting to look as natural as possible.
Starlight never got her hoof in the plant, for a group of three suddenly appeared beside her in a flash of white light.
"Next on our tour of the world... Succulent Valley!" Lem announced to the audience watching through his headcam.
Starlight raised an eyebrow at them. "You know, you could call ahead, tell us you're coming," Starlight said.
"Oh please, it's best to surprise people. I know Big Mac is going to love the next segment on him!"
"He means not." Discord said in Equi.
"Discord has just said that I mean 'not.' which is true."
"Wow," Starlight said, "the constant translating has to be confusing."
"It is. It can be but it's how things are," Sunset said, smirking. She tipped her hat - the now ancient safari hat of A K Yearling.
Starlight smirked. "I suppose so. You want the tour?"
"Oh do we ever!" Lem said, grinning. "time to show off your farm, or should I say 'feeding machine?'"
Sunset rolled her eyes. "With any luck something dramatic will happen that we have to solve. As usually happens."
Starlight giggled. "You could help me learn not to pick all the apples at once."
"Hey!" Lem grunted, indignant, "I can't translate that fast!"
"That's the point."
Lem raised a hand, pulling water out of a nearby puddle and dousing Starlight. Starlight sighed. "Why, oh why, did you have to be given magic."
"I'm a riot. Lead on!"
Starlight reminded herself to thank Lem later for not calling her identity into focus - she didn't want the spotlight to fall on her again.
"Well, this is the plant..."
Suddenly everyone's phone's rang. Even Discord's, and he had forgotten he had a phone. The message was simple.
-MEET AT HARMONY CITY-
-PONITON HIGH DISTRICT-
-HALL OF THE MOONS-
-A METEOR HAS BEEN DETECTED-
-COLLISION COURSE-
Lem cut the feed before the daly caught up, terminating the livestream. The world did not need to see that.
Sunset looked up at the sky with worry. "That is not what I meant by something dramatic..."
~~~
The Tree of Harmony felt it coming.
Hurtling.
Deadly.
This would not stand.
Critical Suspension Failure : That's not how asteroids work (its not a meteor until it hits the atmosphere)! Any space faring civilization would have noticed it years before it became a problem and sent their starships to divert it.
unless it is magical ofc
8054089 Maybe this has something to do with whatever happened at the very end of the last chapter? If it's something they think is an asteroid that redirected itself, they might not have picked it up until recently.
I mean, they still should've detected it, unless they've all given up on exploring space (like the Kryptonians in the last Superman movie) but it suddenly changing course helps their case a little.
8054156
...Welp, I messed that one up. Critical math failure. I'll go fix that.
-GM, master of mafs.
8054102
They have a small space fleet, it was mentioned in the speeches.
I will remain silent about the 'meteor' (or, yes, asteroid, but that message wasn't sent by a scientist.)
-GM, master of formalhaut.
8054089 eh, not quite. It's not exactly easy finding a spec in the enormity of space. Also, magic
The Tee of Harmony? Does it invoke Rainbow Power golf balls?
i have read this chapter.
8054276
ACKPTH today must be ERROR MONDAY! XD will fix.
8054272
Nope, they are very right, they should have seen it from many months away, if not more. Current technology can make a complete scan of the sky in a few hours, and in the future devices will be even more sensitive and quick at locating these things. There is something else going on.
-GM, master of snowflakes.
8054183
You make it obvious that's not a meteor.
Obviously, it's a Klingon warship
Plus since we're changing the plot focus, make it book 2 or something
8054339
Well, if I was going to change this into multiple books, I would have done it once already. The story was split into three arcs - chapters 1-9, the story of being lost in space. Chapters 10-18, the story of making a new world home. And chapters 19-27 will be the last arc, more about solving cosmic mysteries. It could have been made into three books, I suppose, but they all seem kinda short on their own to me.
-GM, master of the focus.
Have you ever heard of Fred Saberhagen's "Berzerker" book series? The main theme is that long long ago there was a war between two space faring species. One of them made self-aware war machines that got out of hand and decided to kill all life in the galaxy. They could self-replicate and they came in all sizes from small moons to cat size. They were very sure of themselves and their goals, and they were very very hard to fight. Throwing asteroids at life bearing planets would be exactly what a Berzerker would do.
You tempted fate, Sunset. You tempted fate, and fate responded.
The pacing of this story is at the Michael Bay end of the scale.
So are we going to solve this with a Gari Bruce Willis?
8054508
Haven't heard of it, but those are some nice thoughts. Not saying if any of them are right or not.
8054701
Not sure if I should feel proud or ashamed I'm being compared to Michael Bay... Such a paradox.
-GM, master of EIGHT.
Fifteen years, huh. Quite a jump.
So now we've got Random Meteor coming. Though I suspect there'll be more to this meteor than meets the eye. Maybe even something to do with our map-making alien friends?
Aww, poor Cadance. She's having a rough time of it.
That's no asteroid.
Wow talk about time-skip.
Is that its actual name? Or just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie?
IS this the same kind of 'meteor' that destroyed Equis sun?
8059917
Hey, people predicted the time-skip would happen, so it was probably called for.
Yes, that is Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie.
...Maaaaaaybe.
-GM, master of commentus.
Another one? I am really starting to suspect another conspiracy...
8946934
yeeaaaah....pics.me.me/suspicion-increase-28896048.png