//------------------------------//
// Stranger In a Strange Land 
// Story: Twilight Sparkle's Anguish 
// by Trailblazer Rocker 
//------------------------------//

     The three ponies made it back to Ponyville. The hole was still visible from where they were, and a bunch of other ponies were looking at it and discussing it. The hole looked out of place against a clear blue sky, but nothing good could come out of it.
The three landed outside of Twilight Sparkle's library. They jumped out and got inside. Twilight immediately looked through her books that she had floating by, trying to find one that had some answers. Trailblazer and AppleJack looked through them too, trying to find the right book.
"'Outer Space Mysteries and Oddities'?" AppleJack said, lifting a book from the shelf.
"Sure, let's take a look." Twilight grabbed it and flipped through the pages. She got under the B's and got to the part relating to black holes. "I think I found the part relating to what we have here..."
The other two looked at the page she was on. There was an inset photo showing a black hole that looked almost identical to the one in the sky right now.
They heard some knocking on the door. AppleJack walked up to it and opened it. On the other side was Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash.
"Who's all here right now?" asked Dash.
"If it's about that there hole in the sky, then we're way ahead of y'all," said AppleJack. "Twilight and Trailblazer are in here tryin' to do some research on it."
The four walked inside and saw the other two looking at the book. They both looked up and saw the other four.
"You'll want to hear this..." said Trailblazer. He looked back at Twilight. "You should read that out loud."
"Will do," answered Twilight flatly. She began to read about that hole to the other six ponies in the room.
"Unlike regular black holes, the Sario Hole is not born from a star in space that has ruptured. Instead, it is a strange hole that is caused by a mythical star-shaped stone known as the Sinister Star. This star is imbued with dark powers that can grant one wish with nothing held back. However, after the wish is made. The Sario Hole will appear, and can destroy matter through the power of the Sario Hole caused by it. It is capable of destroying whole planets, and will appear in the sky of the planet where the wish took place. With time, the corresponding planet will be destroyed..." She paused and looked horrified. "...as if it never existed to begin with..."
"So, somepony must've gotten a hold of it and is using it to, destroy the world?" asked Rarity. "This is absurd! W- What else does it say?"
"I'm looking..." Twilight continued to read out loud. "There are also five other star-shaped stones known as the Sacred Stars. If all are gathered, brought to the Sinister Star's holder, or if the controller of the Sinister Star is stopped, then the Sario Hole will diminish, and nothing will be destroyed. Then, the stars will disappear somewhere else."
"So, we just have to look for these Sacred Stars and we'll be able to stop it," Rarity said.
"Yeah, but... Where ARE these things?"
"I think we'll have to ask Peincess Celestia about them," thought Fluttershy.
"Well, here goes nothing..." Twilight's horn glowed, and the princess landed outside the library. She entered it and found the other six inside as well. "Princess, we have a problem..."
"It's about the Sario Hole, isn't it?"
Twilight just about did a double take, but then she realized that it must've already been brought to her attention. "Yeah."
"Well, what did you summon me for?"
"We were doing some research on it, and it's connected to these rocks called Sacred Stars somehow... But we don't know where they are..."
"Well, you won't find them here, that's for sure. You'll have to go to another faraway land called Inyomaid."
"Inyomaid? Never heard of it..." commented Trailblazer.
"Yes, those Sacred Stars are all hidden in that land. To be honest, I've always thought that that place was a little... Suspicious..."
"Suspicious? How so?"
"In Inyomaid, the ponies that live there are technologically advanced, and they have that technology in abundance, compared to Equestria here."
"Okay, so, how are we supposed to get there?" asked Twilight.
"It's overseas. You'll have to get there by boat."
"All right, but... We don't have one..."
"Fortunetly, I do." Princess Celestia's horn glowed, and the image of a motorized boat appeared before them. There was even a small pony standing in front of it for a size comparison. It was practically a small cruise ship modified into a compact size, able to carry all seven of them across and could accompany all seven with housing and other rooms, making it almost a motorized boat house.
"You have THAT?" Rarity was astonished.
"Why, yes! I shall have it prepared for all of you by tomorrow morning. The trip there should take at least 24 hours, so you'll have to pack some belongings before you head off with it... Actually, pack for your whole trip. I'll still get some supplies for all of you in the boat ahead of time, but bring your own stuff along too."
"Will do," said AppleJack.
"Well, I'm going to go get it ready. Good night, everypony." Princess Celestia flew back to her castle after saying that.
"You heard her," said Trailblazer. "Let's pack up and get ready for this Inyomaid place."
They all split and headed back to their homes, packing everything they needed before heading out. Then, they went to bed.

The next morning, all seven of them brought along their backpacks full of supplies and other belongings. They stopped outside of Twilight Sparkle's library and waited. After a few minutes, Princess Celestia flew down at them.
"Follow me," she said.
Celestia guided them to some docks in Ponyville. There, the seven recognized the boat that they would be using just outside of the docks. It was a large one that stood out in size and luxury compared to the majority of fishing boats there.
"Everything will be powered on it's own. It'll guide you to Inyomaid smoothly and surely. I also packed some food for you seven for the trip."
"Thank you, Princess," said Twilight.
"I don't know what lies ahead for you, but you have my honest wishes for a safe trip and a safe time over there. Good luck, everypony." She flew away once she was done saying that.
"Well, what do you say?" Shall we head out?" asked Rarity.
"Yeah!" Trailblazer piped up.
"Let's shove off!" shouted Rainbow Dash.
The seven ponies got on board the ship. When they were all on, it's whistle blew, and it started to run on it's own. It left the docks and headed out to sea. Destination, Inyomaid.

Later that night, Twilight Sparkle was standing out on the ship's deck, in front of the bridge. She gazed upon the seemingly endless sea, mane flowing with the gentle wind blowing around along with the ship's movements, against a starry night sky, along with the Sario Hole. And yet, she looked quite sad. AppleJack noticed her out on the bow from a window, and she walked out to her. Twilight heard a door open and close, and she looked over her shoulder to see AppleJack walking towards her.
"Twilight...?" she wondered. She walked up and stood next to her. "What's wrong? And why are ya out here all alone?"
"I really don't have a choice, do I?" Twilight hung her head. "All this time, the rest of you have a coltfriend to be with, like you and Trailblazer. But no other pony even wants to be around me. The others have their own pony to wait for when we come back, but nopony's going to wish for my safe return... I can't find out why, and I'm afraid that I might be living in a life of rejection and loneliness. If this keeps up, I'll be in despair and could die alone, without anypony around to be with or to care for each other..." A few tears fell from her eyes and into the water below them.
"Well, Ah don't know what to tell ya... Ah truly feel sorry for ya..." AppleJack tried to comfort her.
"Well... Could you tell me how you met Trailblazer?"
"Sure thing. It all started when Ah wasn't feelin' too well. Ah was alone, and Ah felt left out because Ah didn't feel like anypony appreciated me or what Ah did for a livin'. Then, when Trailblazer came along, it turned out that he liked what Ah do and he liked ne too. It just got better from there."
"So, he came from another place, and he liked you and your work, and then you just grew attatched to each other from there..."
"In a nutshell, yeah. But just 'cause my lil' love story ended up that way, don't mean that yers will end up the same way."
"...True..."
"...Do ya want to be alone now...?"
"Yeah, I guess so. I really don't want any of you to see me like this..."
"Understood..." AppleJack walked back into the ship and left her out there. She kept on looking onward, not flinching at anything that came and splashed around. A little bit later, she heard the door open and close again.
"Twilight...?" she heard.
She looked around and saw Trailblazer on the bow with her.
"Hi..." she said meekly.
"Wait, is this that whole, 'I have no coltfriend' thing?"
"Yeah..."
Trailblazer sighed. "I'm sure there's some pony out there that would admire you for any reason, but other than that, I don't know what else to say."
"Trailblazer, please..." Twilight looked at him through tearry eyes, and then ran up and hugged him unexpectedly. He was shocked, and got out of her grip.
"Whoa whoa whoa!" he raised his voice. "What are you doing??"
"Oh, I'm SO sorry! It's just that..." Twilight was finding it hard to talk. "You're the closest friend I have that's a stallion! I... I just..."
"Twilight Sparkle, I know you're better than this!" Trailblazer was becoming stern. "Don't break down in front of me."
"I'm trying not to, but... I JUST want to have a colt to be with that I can call my own..."
"You know full well that I'm with AppleJack."
"I know, but still..." She was still crying a little. "Could you please... Hold me...? At the least...?"
Trailblazer sighed again. "What am I going to do with you..."
"I could really use the comfort..." she wimpered.
Trailblazer looked at her, seeing the emotional pain she was going through. He already felt guilty by thinking of rejecting her request.
"All right... But I'm ONLY doing this as a friend, okay?"
He took both of his forelegs and wrapped them around her shoulders. She reacted by leaning forward on him herself, trying to nuzzle him a little bit around his neck. Her mood gradually got better with him around as he continued to keep themselves attatched to each other. This lasted for a couple minutes until Twilight backed away on her own.
"Feeling better now?" asked Trailblazer.
"Yeah, I am..." Her crying stopped, but she still looked hurt.
"I guess... I really don't want to hurt any other pony's feelings. I think that's just because of what I don't want to be anymore. That's why I decided to say 'yes' back there."
"Well, thank you anyways..."
"You'll make it. It's not the end of the world if you can't find the right unicorn right away." Trailblazer paused and looked at the Sario Hole in the sky. At the sight of it, he would have to eat his words, but he decided not to. "Could I see a smile?"
Twilight looked up at him, cracking a very small one.
"There, that's better."
"I just needed some physical comfort, really..."
"Here, how about we go back inside?"
Twilight Sparkle nodded. Trailblazer led the way back inside and down one floor to the little living room area of the ship, where they saw the rest of the ponies discussing something with each other.
"...And another thing: we don't know if they're going to be hostile towards us," said Rarity.
"But how will we know for a fact?" Rainbow Dash questioned.
"I'm afraid that I can't answer that. It might be too late once we find out."
"Boy, this journey is getting fishier by the minute..." AppleJack said. "And we haven't even BEEN there yet!"
"Hey, you never know!" Pinkie Pie chimed in. "They could welcome visitors, like us!"
A loud boom was heard from outside, and the boat rocked. All of them yelped and stumbled with the swaying floor, and a couple of them fell completely.
"What was THAT??" Rainbow Dash looked up.
"Here, let's get outside and see for ourselves," Twilight instructed.
All of them ran towards the ship's deck that Twilight and Trailblazer were just on. In the distance, a ship made out of iron was floating towards them. It was directly between them and their intended path.
"Look!" Rainbow Dash got airborne. "It looks like they're coming straight from Inyomaid!"
"Looks like somepony doesn't want us here!" thought Trailblazer.
The ship fired a cannon ball at them. It landed just inches from the bow and into the water, rocking it a little bit more.
"Looks like we won't be able to get around unless we take them out!" Trailblazer ran up to the railing. "Dash! Fly me over there so we can fight them!"
"What?? Do you have a deathwish?" she cried out.
"Trailblazer, what are you THINKIN'!?" AppleJack cried out. "You shouldn't go out there to fight, you'll get slaughtered!"
"You've heard about how pirates go off and kill others!"
"I know they appear in fairy tales too, but this is the real deal!" he reasoned. "It's either us, or them!"
Another cannon ball nearly struck the boat again. It landed in the water on the port side and rocked them again. Dash thought for a moment about the situation they got in.
"All right, fine." She got above Trailblazer and cradled him underneath her. "Let's go!"
With her forelegs around his body right behind his own forelegs, she took off and headed for the iron ship. A fourth cannon ball was fired right at them. She easily dodged it and saw the ship up close. The ponies on that ship didn't bear any typical buccaneer or pirate dress, or anything that made them stand out at all. Instead, they looked like typical ponies, although they were hostile. Just exactly why was unknown. Rainbow Dash got within landing distance and hovered a few feet above the ship's deck away from the enemies. She dropped Trailblazer and landed onto the deck herself next to him. They ran towards the hostiles and got ready to fight. There were only three of them. A bulky yet chubby red earth pony, an average green one, and a unicorn with a purple coat and orange mane with green stripes.
"You know the drill! We can take them on!" yelled Trailblazer.
"Let's go!" Rainbow Dash shouted back.
Trailblazer and the big red one charged at each other, with Trailblazer closing in on him faster than the other one was. Rainbow Dash zipped around at a low altitude at the green pony and unicorn, trying to ram both of them. The unicorn disappeared into thin air, leaving the green one to take the blow. He was rammed into the ship's bridge. Trailblazer and the red one rammed into each other, with neither one of them getting knocked away from each other's inertia. They tried to get the other to back off, but were at a standoff. The red pony started to inch Trailblazer backwards, with him struggling to resist his force. The unicorn fired a ball of energy that had all of the secondary colors he carried, but Rainbow Dash avoided the attack. She got up to the unicorn that fired at her and rammed her into the bridge along with the other green pony. Trailblazer continued to struggle against the red pony he was up against, but then he stopped resisting and ducked. The red pony ran right above him, losing his footing. Trailblazer bucked and knocked him back, charging again with the red pony at his mercy. He kept on trying to regain his footing, but Trailblazer kept his head beneath him, with his forelegs in midair, which were trying to get back on the floor. He kept running forward and to the boat's edge up against the railing. He bucked again, throwing the red pony overboard.
"He's down!" yelled Trailblazer. He turned to face Rainbow Dash, who was taking on both the green pony and unicorn with ease. "Rainbow, I'm going to go sink this ship!"
"Gotcha!" I'll hold these two off for you!"
The other two pirates tried to chase after them, but Rainbow Dash kept on getting between the two, alternating with whoever got a little bit farther than her. Trailblazer found some oil drums and gasoline at the back end of the ship. He ran back at the cannon he saw before they landed on the ship. In one of the containers, he found an incendiary grenade. He aimed the cannon at the canisters and fired it at the liquids. The tanks ruptured and caught on fire. The sound of scraping metal was heard, and then the ignited oil leaked towards the engine.
"It's about to blow!" Trailblazer ran back towards where he last saw Dash and the other two pirates. But they were nowhere to be seen. He looked around frantically to try to spot her, but saw nothing. Unknown to him, they were on the other side of the bridge, where he couldn't see them.
The sound of loud scraping and bending metal caught everypony's attention. They looked up and saw the back end of the ship on fire, growing a little bit.
"Oh, crap! Trailblazer!" she got airborne and looked around for him, but saw nothing. She saw the two pirates disappear with the help of the unicorn's powers. She got a bit higher to find him, but without any luck.
Then, the ship blew.
An eruption of flames rose from the back end of the ship, sending scrapped and burning chunks of metal of various shapes ans sizes in the sky. The explosion sent Rainbow Dash tumbling higher up into the sky. Trailblazer was also blown off the ship, sent skyward, and then rained down into the water along with a bunch of metal chunks. The explosion could be seen from the small cruise ship that the other five were left on. AppleJack looked on at the sinking ship, afraid.
"Oh, no... Trailblazer...!" she squeaked. She covered her eyes with one of her hooves and bared her teeth, upset at the thought of Trailblazer being on that ship.
At the site, Rainbow Dash flew frantically around the sinking ship, which had it's bow sticking up in the air, and was getting swallowed by the surrounding water. All she could see from the wreck was floating pieces of metal that were blown apart by the explosion. Some parts of the water was burning, along with a few scrapped metal pieces.
"Trailblazer!" she called out. Trailblazer!! Traiilblaaaazerrrr!"
No response came.
"Oh, this is bad..." she flew around the site some more, calling out for him. He still didn't respond. Rainbow Dash hovered around, still looking for him, then gave up. She flew back to the boat that the other five ponies were on. It wasn't until after she flew away that Trailblazer resurfaced. He took in a deep inhale and coughed profusely. He looked around at the scene to see oil burning on the water, along with a bunch of floating metal debris around him. He continued to cough hard as she swam onto the biggest piece he could find. The metal chunk dipped a little bit as he climbed onto it. Trailblazer got his whole self onto the broad scrapped piece of metal and laid down on it on his stomach. He laid down with his legs sprawled out and breathed heavily, trying to recover from staying underwater for so long.
"Rainbow Dash...?" AppleJack was afraid. "Where's Trailblazer...?"
"I- I looked around the site where we fought the pirates and tried looking for him. I called out for him and everything..."
AppleJack's pupils shrank. "No... No...! He HAS to be alive! He still has to be there!"
"I... I'm sorry..."
"I don't think we'll be able to find him now in the dark..." said Fluttershy. "Maybe when we reach this Inyomaid place, we can get a rescue squad to look for him..."
"Yeah, sure, PLEASE! Anythin' will work!"
"C'mon, AppleJack..." said Twilight. "Let's take it easy now. I'm sure that he's still out there, but we can't find him like this in the dark..."
"Okay, fine, Ah will..." AppleJack bared a small smile. "Hey, we all know he's tough. Maybe he did make it after all."
"Well, we can summon a rescue once we reach Inyomaid tomorrow morning."
"Yeah..." AppleJack yawned.
"Well, it's pretty late. We should go to sleep."
"Yeah, okay."
The mane six walked back in the boat and into their cabins. Rainbow Dash fell asleep quickly, the other five followed suit.
Trailblazer finally caught his breath. He looked up at the ship passing by. It was completely dark.
"Hey, HEEEY!" he yelled. "Down here! Help me out over here!"
No reaction. The boat continued to float by in the direction it had been going the whole time. No lights turned back on, and it didn't stop.
"Didn't you hear me?!" screamed Trailblazer. "I need some help over here! HELLLLP!"
The boat leisurely floated by.
"Dammit all!" Trailblazer got to the side of the floating metal chunk he was on and began to paddle to try to reach it. The boat continued to drive on the water faster than he could paddle, making him unable to keep up. "Ugghhhh, s---... Now what..." Trailblazer was exhausted. "Well, it looks like I'm going to have to save myself tomorrow..." He laid his head down on the metal slab he was floating on and fell asleep. When he would wake up the next morning, he would try to go after them and reach them in Inyomaid as best as he can.