Chapter 2: Anomaly

In High Charity's engine room, various Unggoy and Sangheili worked at consoles, inputting the coordinates in the slipspace drive that they had just received from the Hierarchs. 2 Unggoy stood over near a console, playing Hunting Rock together.

There was a squishing sound as a rock thrown by one of the Unggoy crushed a scrub grub.

"Ha! Thats 4 points against your 2!"

"No fair, your rock is bigger!"

"Cry me a river Zapaw, you just making up excuse for losing!"

"Fine, give me your rock!"

"No!"

The 2 grunts began to scuffle, before the rock was suddenly launched across the room, hitting a console button right as the Sangheili initiated the slipspace jump.

"YOU FOOLS!" The Sangheili shouted "YOU'VE MESSED UP THE INPUT COORDINATES!"

Suddenly the sound of various alarms filled the room, and warnings flashed across the screens in covenant languages reading

"ALERT: SLIPSPACE ANOMALY/ERROR DETECTED"

The Sangheili growled and grabbed both Unggoy by their small necks and held them in the air

"YOU IDIOTS! YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS!"

The grunts choked and gagged, unable to breathe.

"I'm… sorry" the one coughed, before the Sangheili threw them against the wall and growled.

There was a sudden rumble as High Charity exited slipspace, along with various explosions and sparks, and all of the rooms inhabitants were thrown across the room.

All throughout High Charity, various things shook and

collapsed. Within the Prophet Hierarchs private quarters, the Honor Guards tumbled over, and Truth fell from his Gravity Throne as various alarms sounded and the lights flickered.

"What in the name of the Forerunners is going on!?" Mercy exclaimed.

Truth picked himself up, his thin frail legs struggling in the higher gravity as he climbed back in his chair.

Truth slammed his fist against a button and the display changed to show a diagram of High Charity. The entire lower shaft of the city which contained various shipyards and docking areas had been utterly crushed and torn beyond recognition, and various cracks were visible across High Charity's upper dome, with some of the plating missing entirely. The shielding systems were down, along with various power and engine systems. Several areas of the stations structural base were compromised, and various collapses within the city had occurred, and some flooding had occured.

"By the gods!" Truth exclaimed "our holy city is ruined!"

"How did his happen?!" Mercy shouted "have we crashed into the sacred ring?!"

Truth pressed various other buttons and the display revealed that the station had encountered a major slipspace anomaly, and had emerged partially embedded in an unknown planet's crust.

Truth hovered over to his guards angrily

"Bring me the slipspace drive overseer and those responsible Immediately!"

It was another busy day in Equestria for Twilight Sparkle and the Apple family. The Sisterhooves Social was in a few days, and the Apple family had enlisted Twilight and Spike to help make sure that everything was in order for the obstacle course race finale. The 2 were over at Sweet Apple Acres overseeing the race.

Twilight read off the list of things Applejack had needed, while Spike stood nearby with a checklist.

"Is the… mud trench ready?"

Spike poked it

"Yep"

She checked it off

"Basket Hurdles?"

"Yep"

She checked that off as well.

"Crate climb?"

"Uh huh"

She checked that off.

"Pie eating station?"

"Looks all set… they're still making the 50+ apple pies we need."

"I'll just take that as a yes, how about the hay bale pushing section?"

"Yes…"

The 2 continued in, marking off the various items and events.

"Looks like that's all she wrote, let's get this list to Applejack."

The 2 walked over to the farmhouse and stepped inside. The kitchen smelled of Apple Pies and other Apple-based products, which Granny Smith and Applejack were preparing for the event.

"Looks like everything is all set Applejack." Twilight said

"Thanks Twi, sorry to bother yah today, yah probably have a buncha other stuff to do."

"Oh, it's no problem Applejack, I always enjoy helping a friend."

"Oh, well, thanks anyways. Yah just helped save us a lot a time by doing that. Here, have a pie for your troubles"

Applejack handed the pie to Spike for him to carry, and licked his chops.

"Thank you, we'll be heading home now."

"Alright, see you around, take care!"

The 2 stepped out and began the walk back to Ponyville as the day neared a close.

Not much was said on the way back, and the 2 stepped inside the Castle of Friendship. Spike sighed and slipped into a chair, grabbing a comic book, and Twilight grabbing a novel, both beginning to read by candlelight as the sun set.

The 2 remained there reading for hours, before a clock's sounding of 10 o'clock got their attention.

"Ah! I've lost track of time again! Come on Spike, we need to eat dinner at get to bed!"

The 2 dropped their books and sprinted downstairs and began making dinner.

They were in the middle of deciding what they should have when a massive earthquake suddenly shook all of Ponyville.

"GET DOWN!" Twilight yelled as the teleported herself, Spike and Owlowiscious outside.

The rumbling stopped after a few moments, but no major damage occured. Various lights in the surrounding houses came on as ponies were awoken in their sleep, and began to walk outside, many fillies and colts clutching their parents in fear, as they gathered outfront of the Castle of Friendship.

"What happened?" One pony asked

"I'm scared mommy!"

"What was with the shaking?

Twilight raised her hand, signalling for all of them to be silent.

"Everypony remain calm, it was just a simple earthquake, I'm sure we are safe. You may return to your homes." She reassured them as best as she could.

Most of Ponyville's residents were pleased with this answer and returned home.

Twilight, Spike and Owlowiscious headed back inside, their minds no longer on dinner, with the Owl flying off to his previous perch.

"What do you think that was?"

"I have no idea Spike, but whatever it was, it was caused by something big. We need to write a letter to Princess Celestia immediately!"

They darted upstair, Spike grabbing a quill and piece of parchment.

"Alright, shoot." He said

"Dear Princess Celestia,

Ponyville just experienced a massive Earthquake, and I felt that it was important to notify you. There doesn't seem to be any major damage or injuries, but I will keep you updated.

You Faithful Student

Princess Twilight Sparkle"

Spike began to scribble down the letter, as Twilight began rubbing her chin with her hoof.

"What could have possibly caused such a large earthquake? There hasn't been a natural Earthquake in Ponyville for decades!" She said, pulling down various books from their shelves and scanning through them.

"I don't know Twilight, maybe something from space crashed! Like a meteor!"

"No, that can't be, Luna would have seen it and prevented it from landing. You've been reading those alien comics again haven't you?"

"No! ...yes…" he said showing her the cover of the comic he'd been reading, 'The Aliens from the Horsehead Nebula'.

"Spike I need you to be serious. Is the letter ready yet?"

"Okay okay…" he said, slipping the seal on it "yeah it's ready"

"Send it, then we can do something about our dinner situation."

Spike breathed in and shot fire from his mouth, sending the letter…