The mare put her hoof up in front of her visor to shield her eyes from the sunrise on the horizon. The flash took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust to, no matter how many times she'd orbited the world. Still, it wasn't long before a smile graced her lips as the shuttle pod approached the orbital shipyards.

"It's taken us long enough to get here... Do you think we're ready?" Her companion asked her as the pod started to slow. The shipyards were much more visible now; great spindly legs wrapped around a flat grey saucer.

It was the product of over two hundred years of dedicated research, all for this moment. All of it resting on her shoulders. "I've spent most of my life waitin' for this, if we ain't ready we're at least gonna give it our very best shot," she replied as the pod slowed even further.

The mare flying the pod nodded her head as she pulled the controls to swing the pod around the aft end of the ship in dock. The twin warp nacelles, a sight familiar to any schoolchild in Equestria, shone with a soft blue glow, "Looks like they've already got the plasma injectors opened up. Pinkie must be in a hurry to stretch her legs."

"It's an important mission, Rainbow Dash. I'd be shocked if she wasn't eager to get going. After today... everything changes. All our labors, everything we've worked for, it was for this," she explained as she looked up at her ship, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

"I'm taking us into the docking bay now, I'll signal the ship and let them know we're ready," Dash said finally as she guided the pod under the much larger ship.

"Tell them to prepare to move out, I'd like to be underway within the hour."

"We read you Shuttlepod One, opening bay doors now. See you in a few minutes." The stallion sighed as he leaned back in his chair in the bay control room. Pods had been coming and going all day, and as he was the head of security on the ship, it fell on him to manage the shuttle bay.

It was understandable though: all of the last-minute deliveries, supplies, munitions, spare parts. Half the crew hadn't even boarded yet and they were down to less than four hours till departure. 'So much for getting a nap in before launch...' he thought with another sigh.

A flashing green light on the console in front of him indicated that the shuttle pod had locked onto the grappling arm, though the jolt through the deck plates told him the same thing. He dropped his hoof down on the confirmation panel and grit his teeth against the sharp whine of the hydraulics retracting.

His hoof tapped the communications panel, "Shining Armor to Engineering, can you get somepony up here to fix the number two grappler? It's dragging again." It was only little things that were wrong, but there were enough of them to give the unicorn doubts.

"Roger that Shiny, I'll send a team over as soon as I get the warp field stabilized!' The tinny feminine voice replied.

Shining rubbed his forehead. Sure, the mare was a brilliant engineer but she was not without her eccentricities. Not the least of which was her propensity for pet names. Still, he couldn't help but smile a little as he pressed the button again, "Thank you, and remember it's Lieutenant Commander , Lieutenant Pie."

"Sorry, about that Shiny, I keep forgetting!" the voice replied again.

Shining took his hoof off the panel and let out a quiet laugh, he'd tried but as always, it was a losing battle with that mare. He'd stopped being truly bothered by her antics long ago, but part of him still needed to correct her on the little things, even if he knew she'd never take it to heart.

The deck jolted again under his hooves as the large bay doors closed under the now retracted shuttlepod, and his control panel lit up, indicating a good seal and that the automatic systems had begun re-pressurizing the bay. The bulkheads made a series of popping sounds as the pressure equalized with the rest of the ship and the strain of vacuum subsided.

"I wonder how Cadence's day is going?" he idly mused as he watched the door on the shuttle pod rise.

"No, stop! What are you doing, you can't put parasprites in the same container as poison joke!" Cadence yelled as she snatched the offending containers away from the crewpony. 'Crisis averted.' she thought with a sigh as she hovered the container into a stasis drawer.

"Sorry ma'am, I... wasn't really briefed before this assignment," the cream colored pony explained as she lowered her ears, "I'm just a shipyard worker usually, this isn't really my area of specialization..."

Cadence's face softened, "No, it's alright... Today is just a big day and I want to make sure Sickbay is prepared. It wouldn't do to leave without all of the necessary supplies... You know what? Why don't you take a break for a while and I'll sort out what's left!"

The other pony saluted, "Aye, Ma'am." Sparing a glance over her shoulder at the stack of crates adorning fully half of the Sickbay, she trotted through the sliding doors at the far end. Cadence stared at the doors for a moment until they started to close.

"Now, let's see ah, anaerobic bacterial cultures! Those go--" She started as the door snapped open again. She turned her head and was faced with "Ah, Miss Fluttershy!"

"Doctor," the pegasus greeted with a nod of her head, "The Commander sent me down to see how you were doing with the medical supplies..." she trailed off as she took in the abundance of crates, "Oh my what a mess... Do you need any help?"

Cadence eyed the communications officer for a moment before her face curled into a sly grin, "Maybe. Do you know the difference in application between Bog Leeches and Maple Leeches?"

"Oh... um... Bog Leeches are used to keep adequate blood flow and prevent clotting in damaged tissues... and Maple Leeches are used to remove dark magics from the victim of a curse," The pegasus stated, "Although the use of Maple Leeches has fallen out of favor as unicorns can cast dispelling magic to achieve the same effect in far less time."

Cadence blinked dumbly for a few moments at Fluttershy, "I... didn't actually expect you to know the answer. Why didn't you take the medical track again? Nevermind, I'm going to talk to the Captain about assigning you a few shifts in Sickbay as my assistant... that is if you don't mind."

Fluttershy's face brightened, "Oh um, no I don't mind at all."

"Wonderful! Now, want to help me store some of this equipment? My last helper tried to put the parasprites in with the poison joke..." She explained as a shudder ran through her.

"But if you do that and the parasprites eat the poison joke--"

"Exactly."

Fluttershy's face became deadly serious as she leaned in towards the doctor, her eyes locked with the taller pony's eyes, "You must never let them help you again. I will help you. This is vitally important."

"Intermix pressures are in the green arc. Core temperatures are stable... Okey dokey, Engineering to the Bridge!" the mare exclaimed as she snapped her hoof down on her comlink.

"Go ahead Lieutenant," the voice responded, refined and feminine.

Pinkie looked over the engineering console again, her eyes drifted over to the warp five engine humming not ten feet away, "Everything is looking good down here, I've got main power up. Can you signal drydock to disconnect shore power?"

"Signalling them now, stand by." The voice replied. There was a brief delay before a soft 'thunk' resounded through the ship and the lights momentarily dimmed as the ship's onboard reactor took over.

Pinkie smiled as her hooves danced across the controls, fine-tuning the power output from the warp engine. "Thanks Rare, tell the cap'n we'll be ready for warp five when she gives the order," She announced as she cut the comlink, cutting off the lecture she knew she'd receive for not utilizing proper protocol when addressing a superior.

Not that it would stop her from doing it again in the future.

"Pumpkin, Pound. Head over to the shuttle bay and fix the grappler. Shiny was complaining about it again," She ordered to the two ponies monitoring the starboard injector manifold, "replace the main bearings if you have to, the dry dock has plenty."

"Ma'am!" they chorused in unison with a snap of their hooves in salute before they stepped onto the turbolift and out of sight.

Pinkie hummed a happy tune as she fiddled with the various controls on the front of the reactor, calibrating the mix ratios down to the fiftieth decimal. "Ah, the primary privilege of rank: Delegation. Alright my little engine, sing for Pinkie Pie!"

The white unicorn suppressed a groan as she rubbed the base of her horn. The headache wouldn't stop and every little thing seemed to just make it worse, not the least of which was Pinkie's... Pinkie-ness. In any other command structure they'd call it insubordination.

In this one... It was still grating on occasion, and today wasn't exactly the best day for it. She stood up from the captain's chair and cracked her neck with a twist of her head. 'Not exactly elegant... but I've been up here for eleven hours already...'

"Report on the launch preparations?" She asked for what felt like the millionth time that day, maybe she'd finally get an answer she wanted to hear. She could hope, anyway.

The voice came from behind her and to the left--the science station, "Cargo bays report supply loading is ninety percent complete. Torpedo bay reports all munition racks full and secured. Engineering reports warp power is available on demand. Crew on-loading report shows eleven crew members still unaccounted for. Shuttle bay reports... the Captain has boarded the ship," The lavender unicorn finished with a slight hesitation.

A smile managed to find its way onto the white mare's face, "Excellent news! Thank you Twilight!" Her face twisted up as the last word left her mouth, "er, Lieutenant Sparkle." 'Pinkie is rubbing off on me... I shall simply blame exhaustion!' she thought with minor agitation.

Twilight's head jerked to the side as the turbolift door slid open with an audible woosh, her eyes immediately locked onto the pony crossing the threshold. "Captain on the Bridge!"

The blonde pony stepped into the room and surveyed the assembled crew. It wasn't the full bridge crew, but she recognized most of the faces anyway. "At ease," she ordered as she walked the rest of the way to the captain's chair, her companion trailing close behind.

"Well good to see nothin's caught fire yet. Anything important that might set back the launch, Commander Rarity?" She asked as she stepped next to the unicorn.

"All good news actually, Captain. Miss Sparkle has just informed me that Engineering reports warp power is available at your order, and that our supply loading is nearly complete," Rarity explained with a smile.

"That's great news. You've been up here for a while haven't ya? Go try to catch a few minutes rest, we'll be fine up here till launch," The captain said. "Dash, take the conn. And uhh..." she trailed off as her eyes locked onto the back of the head of the pony at the operations station. She realized she didn't recognize her.

She knew who everyone on her crew was. "Ensign..."

The pony stood from the station and turned around. Her coat was slightly off white, and she was a unicorn. The most striking feature was, in the captain's mind, a toss-up between the electric blue mane and the decidedly non-regulation tinted eyewear.

The unicorn saluted, "Ensign Vinyl Scratch, Ma'am. I was called in to replace Ensign Melody. She had... a family crisis," she explained. "I trained with Octavia, I know everything she knows about this ship, and I won't let you down. Cappleja-- Captain Applejack, Ma'am," she finished in an almost frantic shrill as she dropped her salute.

'Little high strung isn't she?' Applejack thought to herself with a smirk. "Welcome to the Trailblazer Ensign. I'm sure we'll get along just fine. Now," she said, as she sat down into her chair, "Let's see what we can do to get this ship ready to go ahead of schedule so we can all take a break before the launch ceremony."

Applejack settled into her chair and closed her eyes for a moment, she couldn't help but entertain the thought that this was the calmest things would be for a long time to come. Her eyes popped open again as a thought returned to her, "Ensign Scratch..."

"Yes, Ma'am?" the unicorn asked as she rotated in her chair to face the captain. Applejack could see her own reflection in those purple lenses.

"Is there a reason you're wearing non-regulation eyewear on duty?" she asked with a slight smile. 'We've already got Pinkie... what's another eccentric? We're on a mission of exploration... may as well bring a good cross-section of equestrian culture.'

"Extreme photosensitivity Ma'am. The lenses filter out a few wavelengths that give me headaches. My night vision, however, is superb," the ensign replied with a smirk.

"Alright, then, I'll keep that in mind, as you were Ensign," Applejack said with a laugh. She leaned back in her chair again when another thought struck her: a very important pony who was missing from the Bridge, "Has anyone seen Fluttershy?"

"The Commander sent her to Sickbay to check in with Doctor Cadence about forty five minutes ago, Ma'am." Twilight said from the science station, "Should I call her back to the Bridge?"

Applejack shook her head, "No, give her a few more minutes, I'm sure there's a reason she isn't back yet."

Celestia paced back and forth across the castle terrace where she’d chosen to await word of the Trailblazer’s launch.

“Tia, you’re going to wear a path into the marble…” Luna sat nearby, her gaze alternating between the darkening sky and her agitated sister.

"Luna, you know how I feel about this, how I've always felt about this. It’s too soon.” She waved her hoof angrily, “They're not ready!"

Luna drew back a bit from her sister, ears pinned down. "Tia... You've been pushing back against this progress for over two hundred years!” She raised her voice a measure, “Those bright-eyed ponies so long ago didn't even get to see the fruits of their labor!"

Celestia flinched like she'd been struck, and then sat down, brooding. "Still..." she continued, more calmly, "if something happens to them out there, we can't help them."

"Sister…” Luna sighed. “We have to let them grow. We won't always be here for them, I know that better than most..." Luna trailed off as she stepped closer to her sister, and sat beside her, curling a wing over Celestia’s back. “Even the colonies are already out of our grasp. Their world is now a lot bigger than ours is."

Celestia leaned into her sister’s embrace for a moment. “They’ll be all alone out there, in a darker night than we ever know.”

“Fie!” Luna nosed at her. “They are not alone. They have each other, and a whole galaxy of other sapients, some of whom we know to be kindred spirits.”

Looking askance at her, Celestia replied, “Some, yes.”

Luna just snorted, then fixed her with a hard look. “This is about Twilight, isn’t it?”

Celestia didn’t voice a response, but her pupils shrank, and her ears pinned.

“I know you’ve never agreed with her choices, but out there…” She looked upward, to a sky kept deliberately moonless for the time being, “she could do more for us--and for others--than she ever could if she’d stayed the path you lay before her. As with all of them, you must find it within yourself to let go.”

Celestia followed her sisters gaze towards the stars, ears rising, and then gave a rough sigh. "This... this is what parents feel like when their foals move out on their own isn't it?"

"Captain, space dock reports that all gantries and umbilicals have been retracted--we're clear for departure," Fluttershy announced with a hoof pressed to the bud in her ear.

The captain nodded and turned to the helm, "Miss Dash, take us out, thrusters ahead one half."

"Aye, Ma'am," Rainbow Dash answered as she pushed a lever on her console forward. The deck shuddered slightly as the thrusters engaged. The view on the main screen shifted as the long arms of the space dock started to pass by the edges.

"Miss Fluttershy, open a channel to Canterlot Castle, tell them that we're about--" Applejack started to order when the normally soft spoken pegasus interrupted her with a yell.

"Captain, traffic on the emergency band! Stand by, cleaning it up..." Fluttershy yelled as she manipulated her console, "Distress call from Little Roc colony, they’re reporting attack by unknown assailants, Hammerhead has responded and is preparing to go to warp."

"Open a channel to Hammerhead," Applejack ordered as she stood from her chair, "Miss Dash go to full impulse, lay in a course for Little Roc and prepare to engage at warp five." Her eyes dilated--an emergency and they weren't even out of space dock yet. 'Shouldn't have even got out of bed this morning.'

"Course laid in, Captain," Dash answered as she throttled the ship up, the deck vibrated for a moment as the ship accelerated sharply out of the space dock. The tension on the bridge was palpable.

"Channel open, on screen," Fluttershy announced as the main viewer switched over to the face of an older unicorn stallion.

"This is Captain Applejack of the starship Trailblazer, we've received the distress call from Little Roc colony, and we’re taking the lead. At maximum warp it'll take you six days to get there; It'll take us four hours," Applejack explained as she leaned towards the view screen.

The stallion at the other end looked like he was going to protest for a moment, his mouth worked up and down a few times before he nodded, "Alright Trailblazer, it's in your hooves. Good luck, Hammerhead out."

The viewscreen switched back to the external view with a click as the channel closed. Applejack tapped a key on her armrest, "Applejack to Engineering. Pinkie, prepare for sustained high warp--we're answering a distress call from Little Roc. What's the best you can give me?"

There was a moment of silence on the connection before Pinkie's voice came through, "I can give you warp five point one, but it's gonna do a number on the engines, Cap'n."

"That'll have to be good enough, thank you," the captain said as she closed the connection. She turned and sat back in her chair and stares at the viewscreen for a moment before she turned her eyes to the rest of the crew on the bridge.

"I don't know what we're gonna find there, but this is our first mission. I'll give you my best and I expect your best in return. I've got every confidence in all of you, so make me proud. Miss Dash?" She asked with a look of determination on her face.

"Ma'am?"

"Punch it."

"Yes Ma'am!" The pegasus responded with a grin as she pushed the controls forward. A loud whine pierced the ship as the engines wound up, and then with a sound like a whip crack the stars turned to lines as the ship accelerated to warp speed and out of the Equestrian star system.

By sheer luck, the sisters were looking upwards when the Trailblazer warped out unexpectedly. They each sighed, but with differing tones.

“So, that’s it then.” Celestia sounded tired. “I thought they would forewarn us...say farewell…”

Before Luna could respond, a page entered through the terrace archway. “Ah, miladies?”

“Yes?”

“There is news, from the Hammerhead.. The Trailblazer has warped out to Little Roc, answering a distress call. They want to know if they should follow as support.”

Luna glanced at her sister, but saw her frozen. “Check with the fleet coordinators, but I believe they are spread thin enough as it is.” She nodded and, unseen, tightened her wing around her sister. “Whatever it is, I am sure the Trailblazer can handle it.”

The page nodded, and left.

After a moment, Celestia swallowed audibly. “So this is how it begins? Already on their way to help.”

With a nod, Luna said, “Yes. And soon enough they will be going where nopony has gone before.”

“They do it...so boldly.” Celestia smiled.

Author's Notes:

So here's a new thing, pretty cool amirite?

Make sure to review, or else I won't love you anymore.

Much thanks to Alamais and Arcshod.

They are my A-Team, if you will.