Harmony Among The Stars

by tom117z

First published 27th of July, 2016

The ES Harmony, the pride of Princess Twilight Sparkle and Equestria's first FTL capable starship. It is due to make its maiden voyage to travel further than anypony before it, and yet its first mission... may be its last.

Two thousand years after the return of Princess Luna, Equestria's technology and magic has advanced far enough that the once far off dream of faster than light travel is now a reality.

And that reality is the ES Harmony, the pride of its designer, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and Equestria's first FTL capable starship. It is due to make its maiden voyage to travel further than anypony before it.

And yet when they receive a distress call from origins unknown, this ship's maiden voyage will become one the crew will never forget.

(Featured on 31/7/2016)
(Not a strict crossover with Star Trek, but here Equestria Girls takes place in the Star Trek Universe)

1 - Prologue

Twilight Sparkle gazed up at the stars twinkling gently in the sky. She spotted the various constellations she had studied throughout her life and could even make out the orientation of their galaxy based off the concentration of stars across one particular part of the expansive sky. Luna’s moon shined down onto her, and it lit up the surrounding landscape in its soft glow.

Where once she had spent hours as a filly doing this by herself, that was no longer the case for the young alicorn.

“Oh oh oh! That one looks like a balloon!” Pinkie squeed, laying in the grass one side of Twilight.

“And there is a filly holding the balloon,” Fluttershy also noted, on Twilight’s other side.

These three, along with Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Rarity were formed in a circle, laying in the grass looking up into the sky.

“You’re right Fluttershy! You have really good eyes!” Pinkie complimented, causing the timid Pegasus to blush.

“The joyful filly, that one is called,” Twilight said. Spotted first about three hundred years ago by-“

“Egghead,” Rainbow said amidst a painfully fake cough.

Twilight simply sighed and rolled her eyes.

“Never mind her, Twilight darling,” Rarity said. “This outing was just a marvellous suggestion of yours, and the ideas I’m getting for my next line! Magnificent!”

“Well, I’m glad at least some of you appreciate it.”

“Jus’ Rainbow who don’t,” Applejack said.

“I never said that!” Rainbow protested with a pout.

Applejack chuckled. “Jus’ teasing you sugarcube. But wow, these here stars make me feel as small as an ant in a forest of apple trees.”

“I can get why you feel like that,” Twilight responded.

“Really?” Pinkie questioned. “All they make me feel like is a cameo in the prologue of a science-fiction story.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “I’m not even going to pretend to understand that comment.”

“Okie dokie loki!”

“Do you think they are friendly?” Fluttershy asked.

“Hmm?” Twilight glanced towards the Pegasus.

“Other ponies. Or rather, anything out there,” she pointed towards the sky.

Twilight looked up towards the vastness of space, smiling. “If I have learnt anything about the magic of friendship, it is that it is universal. I will not deny space is dangerous. But the possibilities… the sheer amount of stars and-"

Snoring echoed throughout the hill on which the six were located near Ponyville.

“What is that?” Twilight asked.

“Ah think Dash fell asleep,” Applejack responded.

Twilight rolled her eyes… again.

“Typical.”

Twilight stayed looking up at the stars a while longer, drowning out Rainbow’s snoring and just enjoying the company of all her friends.

“Twilight?” A voice echoed.

Hearing the voice, Twilight took one last look at her friends before looking up at the stars once more.

She then closed her eyes.

When she opened them again, her vision was once again filled with the stars which she loved to observe so much. Only now there were two very crucial differences.

Firstly, her friends were nowhere to be found.

And secondly, she was viewing the stars through a thick pane of reinforced glass.

“Twilight?” Princess Celestia addressed again, coming to a stop next to her fellow princess.

Twilight glanced towards Celestia, who looked as pristine as she always had.

Twilight, however, had changed. She stood eye-to-eye with the Sun Princess, on her body she wore silver and lavender regalia and a crown on her head along with a wondrous ethereal mane blowing in the non-existent breeze aboard the station on which they stood.

She was a little two thousand years old. And Equestria had changed with her.

Their magic and technology had grown too. Along with their understanding of the universe as a whole. The advent of the thaumatic drive had allowed space stations to be constructed in orbit and starships to be built. The ships initially moved throughout the solar system away from Equus. Luna had led the colonisation of her moon, the planet Mares had been magically terraformed and cities built on its surface. While the world’s governments and nations were still separate, peace reigned as the prospect of further travel across the stars trumped everything else, with Equestria at the forefront.

The alliance had allowed quick progress to be made. And even nearby star systems had begun to be colonised thanks to sleeper ships.

The thaumatic drive itself was a feat made possible by one of Twilight’s former students. It was largely magic in nature, though technology was added into the mix and contained the power the engines contained, allowing it to run smoothly.

Twilight wasn’t shy to admit she had always been a bit envious of her student’s discovering of the drive. However, Twilight was glad to say she had now made her own contribution.

“Celestia,” Twilight greeted. “You are well?”

Celestia smiled. “I am. How about you, nervous?”

“Oh yes,” Twilight grinned.

Celestia chuckled lightly, examining the stars with her former student. “How are things here?” Celestia motioned a hoof across the starbase on which they sat, the first starbase to be constructed and one of two in Equus’s orbit; another was under construction above Mares.

“Well. Eleven of our ships are in service, the other two are currently in for maintenance.”

“Thirteen ships, soon to be fourteen. We have certainly come a long way since I took the throne all those centuries ago,” Celestia commented, some pride showing in her eyes.

“Well…” Twilight twirled a hoof. “It’s lucky you had such an amazing student who herself trained equally amazing students.”

Celestia mirthfully swished her tail at Twilight. “Oh hush you.”

Twilight laughed, before turning to Celestia. “I think it’s time, don’t you?”

“Hmm,” Celestia hummed in contemplation. “I wonder what the launch will mean in the long run.”

“It means our current fleet will be obsolete,” Twilight responded.

“True,” the Sun Princess conceded.

The two walked away from the window and down a long stretch of corridor, passing ponies going by doing their duties. Only those without a job to do bowed as the royals passed by.

As they got further within the station, Twilight finally spoke again.

“You could come with us you know. I know you want to.”

“I will admit it is tempting,” Celestia said. “But this is your time, my faithful student.”

Twilight glanced over at Celestia. “You haven’t called me that in a very long time.”

“I know. But… it feels like it does it not? Like when you were a filly having completed some project I had set? Or when you learnt a new spell and couldn’t wait to show it off?”

Twilight smiled. “You’re right, it feels exactly like that. I suppose the filly in me never truly went away.”

“And for that, I am truly glad,” Celestia gave her daughter figure a small nuzzle as they came to a stop outside a door with two guards outside.

Twilight looked up upon the door, and then to the control panel.

“OK. Let’s do this,” she said as she activated the doorway.

The two doors slid open, revealing a large observation platform. On the platform was a variety of ponies and other races, all leader of their nations. The emperor of the Griffon Empire was there, the chancellor of Zebrica and a great many others. The two they approached, however, were none other than Princesses Cadance and Luna.

“Sister, Twilight,” Luna turned to greet the two.

“Luna,” Twilight greeted back. “What do you think?”

“She’s amazing,” Cadance said. “I look forward to seeing her in action.”

“You and me both,” Twilight sat down by the glass window.

Celestia approached the window too, but she had yet to look out of it. “I have seen the blueprints, but not the ship. It’s time to change that.”

Celestia took her place next to the other three Princesses of Equestria, viewing the large structure outside within the dock.

It had a large saucer at the very front which had three large spheres embedded within on both the left-hoof and right-hoof sides, the life support systems and habitation modules. On the very centre top of the saucer, a dome was present. A dome containing the bridge among other command-based rooms. At the very back of the saucer on the top and bottom were two respective stubby pylons which on each sat one large engine, both currently powered down. Lights decorated the vast ship, some came from the windows of the ship as the new crew could be spotted within, and others on top of the hull lighting up the ship's name written out just a little in front of the bridge.

Twilight looked upon her creation with glee. “Princess Celestia, may I introduce our first faster-than-light capable starship. The E.S. Harmony.”

Author's Notes:

And so the voyage begins.

Yes, Mars is a thing, renamed Mares here. In my headcanon Equus is an alternate universe Earth.

The ship itself is inspired by the USS Kelvin from Star Trek (2009).

2 - The Crew

Captain Star Gazer's Log, June 29th, 3382 AD.

This is the day. The day I have been waiting not just since I got my cutie mark, but for all my life. My ship is due to launch later today, and I am keen to get underway. I just hope my previous command of the ES Clover has prepared me for this, though then again the ES Clover does not have an FTL Drive. I shouldn't complain though, the Clover is a good ship, and I wish her new captain all the best.

For now I intend to introduce myself to my new senior officers, we are going to be together for, if all goes well, a very long time after all.

Starbase Alpha, Mess Hall

The mess hall of Starbase Alpha was bustling with activity, excitement for the launch of the Harmony later that day was high.

Among the denizens of the cafeteria two individuals sat at a table by a window offering them an unmatched view of the planet below. They were the weapons officer and helmspony of the Harmony respectively, a griffon and an earth pony.

Helmspony Nimble Star whistled as he looked down upon Equus. “Take it all in, Iynx. We won’t be seeing it for a while.”

Nimble Star was a grey coated earth pony with a black mane. His eyes were green in colour.

The griffon he was talking to was largely similar in complexion to a griffon Princess Twilight had known in her early days, Gilda. However, unlike Gilda she had black coloured patterns surrounding her eyes and beak.

Iynx shrugged. “We will only be gone a few days. To Alpha Centaur and back again.”

“Don’t kill the atmosphere!” Nimble pouted.

“What atmosphere?”

“The atmosphere of anticipation!” Nimble replied. “Normally a trip to our colony on Alpha Centaur would take years under the power of thaumatic drive. We are making history!”

Nimble’s enthusiasm curved a bit. “Though, why are we going to the closest colony? Why not the furthest?”

“This is a test voyage, my friend,” Iynx rolled her eyes. “Princess Twilight just wants to make sure the thing works before undertaking any future missions.”

“That’s no fun,” Nimble sighed.

Iynx smirked. “And that, Nimble, is why you are still an ensign.”

“At least he is enthusiastic,” a male voice said as somepony pulled a char and sat at their table.

“Captain!” both jumped to attention.

“At ease,” Captain Star Gazer said, gesturing for them to sit. “I just wanted to meet my two new additions to the bridge crew.”

Star Gazer was well built Pegasus with a light blue coat and a shortly cut, blonde mane. His eyes were a slightly darker shade of blue than his coat, and his cutie mark was a small gathering of stars.

“Lieutenant Commander Iynx and Ensign Nimble Star, am I correct?” he asked the two.

“Yes sir,” Nimble responded. “That’s us.”

Star nodded. “I’ve read both of your files, but as it were I would rather hear about you from the horse’s mouth. I like to get to know my crew personally.”

“Of course,” Nimble nodded. “I’m Nimble Star, but you already know that of course. I was born in Cloudsdale twenty one years ago and enlisted at the age of sixteen, the moment I was of age. I graduated from the academy one year ago and I took the helm of one of our Celestial Class defence ships.”

“So I heard,” The Captain said. “I also heard you distinguished yourself quite a bit. Enough to be assigned as the helm officer of the first of the brand new Harmony Class of ships, my ship.”

“Yes, well…” Nimble shuffled. “About two months ago the ES Starswirl was hijacked while docked at Starbase Beta by rogue griffons. They had intended to use the ship to commit a terrorist attack against Canterlot, and the griffon flying was quite the pilot. Apparently he had served as a helmspony himself for a few years before resigning.”

Nimble took a quick swig of his glass of water before continuing. “Anyway, three ships gave chase. The ES Celestial, ES Crystal Heart and my ship, the ES Magic of Friendship. The Celestial and Crystal Heart fell behind, but we managed to overtake the Starswirl and come into weapons range. We disabled it, boarded it and took it back. However, the Starswirl was damaged beyond repair and scuttled soon after.”

“Impressive, you were the only helmspony able to keep up,” Star Gazer noted.

“Yes. Princess Twilight Sparkle had me assigned as the Harmony’s helmspony right after.”

“Wait,” Iynx interrupted. “Two months ago? Is that all it takes to learn how to fly an FTL starship?”

“FTL is intended to be largely automated. All I will need to do is place in course adjustments. It is at sub-light my skills are going to shine.”

The Captain turned to Iynx. “And what of you?”

“I’m a griffon, I was born in Griffonstone, I shoot things,” she simply said.

“That’s it?” Nimble deadpanned.

“That is all that needs to be said,” Iynx replied nonchalantly. “Besides, I’m more interested in our dear captain.”

“Me?” Star raised an eyebrow. “Well, I was born and raised in Ponyville. I served in Princess Twilight’s guard for a few years when I was younger before moving over to the space program. I was the weapons officer aboard the ES Defender for a few years. I earned a promotion to captain after working well in a mission organised by Princesses Luna and Twilight. Until recently I was in command of the ES Clover.”

Star Gazer looked towers a clock on the mess hall’s wall, shaking his head on seeing the time. “But I’m afraid that is enough of story time, I’m needed on the Harmony.” He got up to leave, turning back momentarily. “I look forward to serving with you both.”

ES Harmony, Sick Bay

The ES Harmony’s medical bay was a large rectangular shape with beds lining all around the outside. A large table spanned down the centre on which sat all sorts of equipment. At the opposite end of the entrance sat two more doors, one leading to a storage room and the other leading to intensive care. The room itself was an entirely medical white, the only exception was the padding on the beds, which was black in colour.

Right now as the ship prepared for launch few were in the medical bay. Those who were, were taking stock of their medical supplies to ensure they didn’t leave short of anything. The only exception was two at the far end, one sitting on the bed and one desperately trying to get the other to sit his flank down.

“If you will, could you please hold still?!” Chief Medical Officer Geneser, a female zebra, said in frustration to the constantly flinching unicorn as she tried to apply salve to a burn on his right foreleg.

“I’m sorry. It just stings more than a little,” the unicorn explained.

“Then you should have waited your turn, if you didn’t want to get that burn,” Geneser shook her head in disapproval. “For you to even dare, it’s like you don’t give a care.”

“Maintenance is behind schedule as it is. I’m the chief engineer, I needed to speed things along,” responded Chief Engineer Silver Wrench.

The zebra tutted in disapproval. “To fix the FTL Drive, we need you alive.”

Silver rolled his eyes. “Do you ever not speak in rhymes?”

“No,” was the answer she gave.

“That wasn’t a rhyme,” he jabbed.

Geneser simply gave him a deadpan look, and then went to apply the salve again.

Geneser was a zebra with green eyes and a short mane done in the style of a Mohawk. She lacked any traditional zebra jewellery and instead wore a white medical coat. She was in her late twenties and was born to a family of zebra shamans in Zebrica, hence the rhyming.

In contrast, Silver Wrench was a red unicorn stallion with a dark brown mane. His eyes were a light blue and he had a sliver wrench for a cutie mark. Unlike much of the crew, Silver wasn’t born on Equus. Rather, he was born on the planet Mares, his family stemming back to the original colonists.

“Ow!” he shouted as Geneser applied the salve and finished up.

“All done. Now try not to get another one,” Geneser suggested to him as she went to pack away the medical equipment and Silver jumped off the bed.

“I will do best. Burns are not exactly something I particularly enjoy, though they are not something entirely unfamiliar to me I will admit.”

The zebra he was talking with simply elected to roll her eyes.

“I suggest you get back to engineering. That is, unless you find medical so endearing,” she chuckled.

“Silver Wrench, sir?” a voice sounded over the sick bay intercom.

“Hold that thought,” Silver joked to Geneser as he went over to the nearest intercom to answer the call for him. “This is Silver Wrench, what is going on down there?”

“Sir, we have some fluctuations in some of the FTL drive’s mana injectors, we could use your help stabilising them.”

Silver wrench groaned. “I’m on my way.”

Silver turned back to Geneser. “However endearing sick bay may be, duty calls,” he winked, moving towards the exit.

Geneser momentarily raised an eyebrow, before just shaking her head with a small grin on her face.

Silver Wrench exited the sick bay and walked towards the lift at the end of the hallway that would take him to the lower decks where engineering was located. However, as he reached the door to the elevator it opened up to reveal four large forms.

Silver gave a respectful nod to the four princesses as they exited the elevator and he took his place within, the door closing a moment later.

“That was the chief engineer, was it not?” Luna asked.

“It was, his name is Silver Wrench,” Twilight responded. “Anyway, medical is at the end of the hallway, run by a zebra mare name Geneser.”

The four princesses came to the conclusion of their tour of the ship as the final lift moved on upwards to the final destination they had yet to visit. The bridge.

“Will the captain be here?” Cadance asked.

“Captain Star Gazer isn’t one for tardiness,” Twilight replied. “He’ll be there.”

“Star Gazer?” Luna said questioningly. “I recall that name.”

“He was part of the rescue mission to recover the survivors of that crashed freighter on Mares a few years back,” Twilight reminded her. “We promoted him to captain afterwards for his service.”

“Ah yes, I remember him now,” Luna smiled. “You picked the captain of this ship well.”

“I do so pride myself on my organisational skills,” Twilight smirked. “Besides, he practically begged for the chance to explore the cosmos further. Exploring the stars is his passion and special talent after all.”

The lift came to a halt as the two doors slid open.

“Right this way,” Twilight said as she stepped onto the bridge.

Mares and stallions sat at the various consoles in the circular room, some performing diagnostics of the systems with others making a few final adjustments to the new equipment. One engineer had his nose in the open helm as he tweaked with a few wires and circuits.

Viewing the organised chaos around him from the central captain’s chair was Star Gazer.

“Ensign,” he called out. “Put control on the view screen.”

“Yes sir,” the ensign in question said as she did as commanded.

A few moments later the view screen activated and changed the open view of the dock to Starbase Alpha’s command centre.

“Captain, we read you. What do you require?” one of the ponies in the command centre asked.

“My chief engineer informed me that one of the mana injectors was damaged due to a misalignment. It’s easily repairable but will go a lot quicker with some extra parts and hooves. We won’t launch on the deadline otherwise.”

“We will send a repair team over to the Harmony at once.”

“Thank you command, Harmony out,” The Captain thanked as the transmission was cut off.

“Troubles, Captain?” Twilight asked as she and the other approached.

“Princess,” Captain Star got up from his chair and saluted. “Just some teething issues ma’am, nothing we cannot handle or unexpected. The ship is brand new after all.”

Twilight nodded in understanding. “I see.”

“It is a pleasure to see you and Princess Luna again,” he said before turning to the other two princesses. “Princess Celestia, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, it is an honour to make your acquaintance.”

“The honour is ours, Captain,” Celestia greeted in return. “You have quite the ship.”

Star Gazer nodded. “She is something. I’m proud to be captain of such a fine vessel.”

“You’ve earned it,” Twilight assure him. “Will the ship be ready for launch on schedule?”

“Silver Wrench has things in hoof,” Star Gazer assured the lavender princess. “The remaining crew is on standby. I recently had the pleasure of introducing myself to Ensign Nimble Star and Lieutenant Commander Iynx. We will be off to Alpha Centaur and back in record time.”

“We’d better, I designed the ship and its engines after all,” Twilight said. “Should things go well, I will see it you and the crew go on a longer mission of exploration.”

“I greatly look forward to it,” The Captain bowed. “Who knows, we may encounter some other forms of life.”

“Keen to encounter aliens are we, Captain?” Cadance grinned.

“One can only hope,” he responded.

Author's Notes:

I'm using naval ranks for the crew, similar to how I use normal military ranks for the EUP.

If you are wondering about the zebra's name, it is Afrikaans for healer.

There are also colonies in three other systems, each of those colonies having two ships each currently. The remaining eight ships are in their home system: There are five Celestial Class defense vessels which were all named in this chapter and a sixth having been destroyed, one is the Harmony and the final two are freighters shipping things between the various colonies throughout the home system. Fourteen ships in total, as stated in the last chapter.

Also yes, Alpha Centaur is Alpha Centauri

3 - Launch

Captain's Log, Supplemental.

This is it. The launch of the ES Harmony. Tensions are high, as is the excitement. Once the go is given we are due to launch and set course for Alpha Centaur at FTL, records will be broken and the furutre made on this day.

And I am honored to be captain.

Starbase Alpha, Control Room

The control room of Starbase Alpha was filled with reporters and spectators kept at bay by a single roped off area and some guards standing watch. A podium had recently been erected at the very front with the symbol of the Equus Space Program, ESP, displayed proudly on the front. The view screen of the control room was showing a live image of the docking bay where the ES Harmony was undergoing its final countdown. The crew of the control centre worked at their consoles as they always did, communicating with the Harmony as final preparations were concluded.

“This is it,” Twilight uttered in anticipation, standing with the other princesses at one of the control room’s entrances as of yet unnoticed by the spectators. “I’ve been waiting for this day for many years.”

“Be proud then, Twilight,” Celestia said. “Your voyage is about to begin, and I suggest you get yourself to the bridge.”

“We will hold the fort while you are gone,” Cadance assured.

Twilight tapped a hoof on her chin with a small mischievous smile on her face. “Are you sure you can survive without me for a while? If it’s too much trouble I could call the whole thing off.”

Cadance rolled her eyes. “I swear you just get more and more snarky in your old age.”

“Old age?!” Twilight pouted.

“And what does that make you, Cadenza?” Luna asked. “You are a decade older than Twilight Sparkle, after all.”

“Extremely old,” she replied.

The four alicorns shared a light-hearted laugh between them, seeming more like a family than four co-rulers. Of course though, that was exactly the truth.

“I’ll see you in about seven days, if my calculations are correct,” Twilight said to the other three princesses.

“Be safe, Twilight,” Celestia asked of her. “Space is a dangerous frontier.”

“I’ll be fine,” Twilight said. “I’ve survived time travel, demonic centaurs and your mischievous nature. I’m sure I can survive this.”

Celestia gave a nod, and after a few final farewells Twilight took her leave. The three princesses watched the lavender alicorn go, turning towards each other when they lost sight of her.

“I bet she’s squealing like a filly on the inside,” Cadance giggled. “When I visited her castle in Ponyville before coming up here, I may have had a little peak in her room. Books… everywhere. Specifically about space.”

“Why would she need those?” Luna asked. “She knows everything currently known about the universe off by heart by now.”

“It just goes to show how excited she is,” Cadance smiled. “Like I said, a little filly.”

Celestia chuckled “I noticed a similar thing earlier.”

“Yes,” Luna said. “Her eagerness is only rivalled by my sister’s love of baked good.”

Celestia glared daggers at Luna.

That only spurred the blue alicorn on however. “I’m talking about cake of course.”

“Lulu, I love you but… if you call me fat there is a perfectly good airlock for you nearby,” Celestia growled.

Cadance and Luna shared an amused look, before both dramatically rolled their eyes in perfect sync.

“Your highnesses,” a crewmember approached them.

“Yes Commander, what is it?” Celestia turned to the pony.

“All the crew is on board and Captain Star Gazer has given the all clear. We’re ready to begin.”

Celestia nodded. “Very well, as you were.”

The Commander bowed, retreating back into the command centre afterwards.

“Come then, my fellow princesses,” Celestia motioned them in. “Show time.”

ES Harmony

Princess Twilight stepped onto the bridge of the Harmony, the work crews were gone and in their place most of the bridge crew had taken their positions. The only ones missing were Iynx and Nimble Star.

“Captain,” Twilight greeted as she took her place by the captain’s chair. “Are things in order?”

“They are,” he confirmed. “We packed a few extra parts at the behest of our chief engineer. Aside from that everything went exactly as planes, all the crew is aboard and we just need to give the order for all personnel to get to their stations.”

Twilight nodded. “Do it. Though, let’s have all senior officers on the bridge for this.”

“At once, your highness,” Star Gazer pressed down onto his chair’s in-built intercom. “All hooves, this is the captain. The ship is in order and we are preparing to launch, attend your stations at once. All senior officers report to the bridge immediately.”

Captain Star Gazer switched off the intercom, turning to look up at Princess Twilight Sparkle.

“All set. Now all we need to do is wait for the signal to go.

Twilight hummed to herself. “Put the command centre on the view screen. I want to hear Princess Celestia’s speech.”

“At once,” Star Gaze acknowledged, gesturing for the communications officer to carry out the princess’ orders.

The screen flickered to the view of the Starbase’s command centre, the general chatter was still heavy as the Princess prepared a few things by the podium. Luna and Cadance had already taken their places either side of said podium along with the various other rulers of Equus’s many nations.

The elevator doors swished open and the four requested senior officers stepped off.

“Nice of you to join us,” Star Gazer turned his chair to face them. “Lieutenant Commander Iynx, attend tactical. Ensign Nimble Star, take the helm.

“Aye sir,” Nimble saluted as he and Iynx moved to their stations.

The Captain nodded to the two bridge officer, then turning to the other two with them. “Geneser, Silver Wrench, just make yourselves comfortable and enjoy the show.”

They both nodded back, electing to move and stand by Iynx as she checked over her console unit.

“Iynx, greetings,” Geneser greeted the griffon. “I’m sorry our previous meeting was fleeting.”

“You were busy, that fine,” Iynx dismissed. “Glad to have you aboard. Haven’t seen many zebras on the Harmony.”

“The company I find isn’t at all bad, but the lack of my kind is a little sad,” Geneser admitted.

“There are a couple in engineering,” Silver Wrench said. “Damn fine engineers too. I’m happy to have them I can tell you.”

Iynx and Geneser smirked as Silver Wrench realised what he just said.

“Celestia damn it, the rhymes are spreading!”

“Still,” Iynx continued. “It is a shame. There are plenty of griffons aboard. Donkeys too. I even have some minotaurs among my security staff.”

“Oh yeah, I spotted them earlier,” Silver Wrench said. “Big fellas aren’t they?”

“Why do you think they are security?” Iynx grinned.

The group turned to the view screen when they heard the chatter die down, and Celestia move to begin her speech. All became equally quiet on the bridge of the Harmony as they waited patiently for Celestia to start.

“So it begins,” muttered Iynx.

Celestia stood on the podium, examining the gathered crowd, the familiar feeling of expectant eyes laid on her with anticipation.

“Fillies and gentlecolts, I thank you for attending, for today is a momentous occasion. For many years has our combined races looked towards the stars, wondering and dreaming what is out there, and what we will find. The ESP was a project built off of the friendship and cooperation of not one nation, but all of us united. Together we have propelled our planet into a new age among the stars.”

Nods and mutters of agreements spread gently through the crowd, photographers taking this moment to snap a few photographs as reports made notes on their pads.

“Thaumatic drive allowed us to spread our wings and explore our home system. We colonised my sister’s moon, terraformed the long dead planet Mares, and only continued from there. Sleeper ships allowed us to spread to three other nearby systems and go further than any have gone before.”

Celestia paused, glancing up at the image of the Harmony.

“And now, our friendship has produced a new miracle. One that will guarantee our advancement and exploration throughout areas of space many once thought impossible to reach. I present to you the ES Harmony, out first FTL capable starship.”

Applause spread throughout the crowd, Celestia allowed herself a small smile before continuing onwards.

“What would have, only a short while ago, taken years will now only take days. Space travel is no longer the long and treacherous effort it used to be. At about 457 metres in length and carrying a crew of 800, this ship is the largest and most advanced ever built. Built through the sweat and tears of all of us, leading us to this very day. The day where our newest starship will move out and spread friendship and harmony across the stars.”

Celestia gave a nod to one of the operators, who immediately got on the comms and messaged the ES Harmony.

“ES Harmony, this is Starbase Alpha. You are cleared for departure, safe trip Harmony.”

The message came in loud and clear across the bridge, Twilight gave the captain and nod of approval and he leant forwards in his chair.

“Helm, activate thaumatic drive. Take us out, nice and slow.”

The view screen switched from the control centre to what was directly ahead of the ship.

“Thaumatic drive activated,” Nimble reported as he worked his control console. “Engaging engines.”

The docking clamps holding the Harmony in place deactivated and retracted, as did the docking tube. The two engines lit up brightly as power was fed into them, and then the ship began to move. It started off at the pace of a snail, but soon enough it began to speed up a little, but nowhere near to the fullest of the ship’s sub-light capabilities. Many throughout the station watched on through windows and monitors as the Harmony steadily progressed towards the large hangar doors. As the ship approached flashing red lights blinked across the doors as they began to open, offering a breath taking view of the moon and part of the planet on the other side. Two of the five more basically designed Celestial Class defence ships could be seen in the distance performing their patrols; they were long but bulky vessels with the bridge located at the very front and the two engines located either side at the end of their respective pylons, each only had a crew of about nine, and were easily dwarfed by the far larger Harmony Class Starship

As the ES Harmony cleared the hangar the engines flared and the thaumatic drive kicked fully into gear. The ship rapidly performed a right turn and flew directly away from the planet.

“Starbase Alpha, this is ES Harmony,” the communications officer spoke. “We are away.”

Back at Starbase Alpha’s control room cheers erupted from both the spectators and the crew on duty there, images of the Harmony were broadcasted live across all of their colonies and installations.

“Sir, we have just passed by the moon, and have a clear exit from here on out.”

“Align us up for Alpha Centaur,” Star Gazer ordered.

“Aye,” Nimble responded, imputing the coordinates into the navigation computer.

“Princess,” Captain Star Gazer addressed the alicorn to his right. “With your permission.”

“Granted,” Princess Twilight smiled, looking directly forwards towards the view screen.

“We are aligned,” Ensign Nimble Star reported. “Waiting on your order.”

The Captain pressed on his intercom. “Engineering? Status report.”

In engineering the consoles showed everything was normal and the ship’s systems were running within acceptable parameters. When the call from The Captain came over the intercom, a zebra engineer was the closest to it. The zebra trotted over from the panel he was studying to the intercom on the wall.

Engineering itself was a large industrial area of the ship, a large reactor filled out the space in the middle, and the reactor itself was laid out horizontally and ran all the way down engineering. Multi-coloured lights shined through the various ports in the reactor from the large amount of magical energies inside powering the ship.

“The FTL drive is purring like a kitten, we’re all set down here captain,” the zebra engineer reported to the bridge. “The drive is spun up and ready.”

The Captain sat back in his chair, savouring the moment.

“Nimble Star, engage.”

The Ensign pressed forwards on one particular lever on his control panel, lights blinking on and a large rumbling sound spreading all throughout the starship. On the view screen the stars seemed to blur as distortions spread around the ship as the drive activated.

Outside, onlookers witnessed both the engines flare up briefly even brighter than before and then a bright flash as the ES Harmony jolted forwards.

And then the Harmony was gone, having jumped successfully to FTL on route to Alpha Centaur.

Author's Notes:

The ship 457.2 metres in length, or 1500 feet of you prefer.

4 - Distress Call

Captain's Log, July 2nd, 3382 AD.

The ES Harmony is three days into its seven day voyage to Alpha Centaur, and so far no problems have come about with the FTL Drive that my chief engineer couldn’t handle. In all, it has been a peaceful trip.

I anticipate the rest of the trip will be much the same, and the crew are eager to lay eyes on Alpha Centaur for the first time, Princess Twilight Sparkle among them. None of them have ever laid eyes on another world outside our home system before, until now that right has been left to the colonists and the colonists alone.

For now, I am to meet with her royal highness in my personal dining room. And I do so hate to be tardy.

ES Harmony, On Course To Alpha Centaur

The ES Harmony remained on course, distant stars still blurred outside the windows due to the speed of which they were moving. They had been at constant FTL for three days and it had shown no major signs of giving up the ghost, and a contented ship meant a contented crew.

The Captain could see his crew’s high spirits as he made his way through the corridors towards the captain’s mess, which was in the command dome on top of the ship a short ways away from the bridge just like his quarters, all so he was nearby should problems arise.

He nodded to the various crewmembers he passed, and they nodded back as he went by. After a small trip he reached his destination and the doors slid open to allow his entry.

The Princess was already inside, standing by the window looking out into space with a glass of wine held in her magic. The bottle was laid out on the table next to another, currently empty glass.

The Captain stood to attention as the door slid closed behind him, and Princess Twilight took a sip of her drink before turning from the window and looking towards Star Gazer.

“Captain,” she greeted. “You need not stand on ceremony for me.”

“Eh, sorry,” he said sheepishly. “Force of habit.”

The Pegasus approached the table and proceeded to pour himself a glass of wine, moving to joint Twilight by the window.

Silence reigned for several minutes between them, both just looking out into the depths of space as the ship sped by it all.

“You know,” Twilight finally said. “One of my favourite memories is of the stars.”

“Is it now?” The Captain looked up at her. “How so?”

The Princess kept looking out the window as she replied. “A little over two thousand years ago, I was the bearer of the Element of Magic, as I am sure you know.”

Star Gazer nodded. “It’s taught in pretty much all schools. History was never my favourite topic, but I still managed to pay attention.”

Twilight smiled. “Yes, well, I wasn’t the only bearer of course. Five of the greatest ponies I have ever had the pleasure of meeting represented the remaining elements, it is thanks to them I am where I am today.”

Star Gazer racked his brain, thinking back to the old history lessons he had in school as a colt. “Let me see… Fluttershy, Pinkamina Diane Pie, Applejack, Rarity and Rainbow Dash. Am I correct?”

“Full marks for you,” Princes Twilight chuckled. “Of course time claimed them all eventually. But I always held onto the memories of the times we shared, and I still hold them tight to this day. One of those memories is of a time when we went stargazing on a hill just outside Ponyville. Well… it’s all been built over now as Ponyville expanded into a city, but you must remember Ponyville was still just a town at the time.”

Twilight sighed, thinking back on times long past. “We talked about the universe, what could be out here and our hopes. Rainbow Dash quite typically fell asleep and Pinkie Pie was… Pinkie Pie. I never did manage to work that mare out, though perhaps that is for the best.”

“You miss them, don’t you?” Star Gazer softly stated.

“Of course,” Twilight responded. “Before they went I was afraid their deaths would destroy me. But friends come and go, and the times you have will never come again. Though saying that, what is important is how you spend that time, take in and savour every minute of every day. And when that time has passed by, you hold those memoires close, but look to make new ones too. That is what I do, and that is what I know they would want me to do.”

“Wise words, I will keep them in mind,” Star Gazer said.

Twilight chuckled “You don’t get to my age without becoming wise in one area or another. Anyway, dinner should be here soon.”

“You already sent for some?” The Captain asked. “What exactly?”

Twilight only grinned as right on cue the door chimed.

“Come in,” she called out.

The door slid open and some serving staff wheeled in a trolley with their meal on board. They unloaded their meals neatly onto the table, bowed to Princess Twilight and then vacated the room.

“Hay burgers?” The Captain deadpanned. “Seriously?”

“Of course!” Twilight cantered over to the table and sat down. “You have no idea how old all that posh crap gets. Nothing beats a good burger every now and then.”

The Captain raised an amused eyebrow, moving over to the table and sitting down opposite of Twilight. He examined the meal in front of him, remembering that he hadn’t actually had a hay burger since the academy. Smiling to himself, he went and took a bite out as Princess Twilight got to demolishing hers in such a way that would make any noble faint in sheer horror.

“You know, when working as a guard at your castle I only ever saw the ‘princess side’ of you. I never really had the chance to see Twilight Sparkle,” The Captain commented.

Twilight sat up in her chair and raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

He shrugged. “It’s good to see there is a pony beneath that regal mask, Twilight.”

Twilight simply smiled “Being regal comes with the job. But believe me, the things I could tell you about the others behind their own masks.”

“I can only imagine,” Star Gazer chuckled, taking another bite.

Twilight Sparkle and Star Gazer weren’t the only ones enjoying a meal, for Nimble Star and Geneser were sharing a table in the ship’s mess hall.

Nimble Star himself was coincidently having the exact same meal as his superior officer and princess, while the zebra he sat his was contented with some herbal bread.

Nimble looked disapprovingly at what Geneser was eating. “Why are you just having bread? Not really much of a meal is it?”

“What’s your deal?” Geneser glared. “I happen to be quite enjoying my meal.”

Nimble held up his hooves. “OK, I’m sorry! I suppose it’s just a zebra thing.”

“Not zebra, but the shamaness life,” she responded. “I assure you it is quite free from strife.”

“That’s nice,” he muttered. “So, how are things down in sick bay? Any fatalities yet?”

“No,” she said. “There was one nasty burn though.”

“Silver Wrench?” he asked in a deadpan.

Geneser nodded in confirmation.

Nimble Star just rolled his eyes at the information, not at all surprised their chief engineer got himself hurt.

Geneser tilted her head a little. “If I were to surmise, you don’t seem surprised.”

“Not one bit,” Nimble smirked. “Knew him in the academy. One hell of an engineer, though he would always pick up nasty scrapes and burns. That’s what happens when you love big engines as much as that guy.

“Hmm, I see. Perhaps I should talk to him about it when he is free?” she suggested.

“Don’t bother,” was the reply. “Telling him to take it easy is like talking to a brick wall with starship worthy shielding surrounding it.”

The zebra hummed, before she decided to change the subject. “What about you up at the helm? I take it the new systems haven’t been enough to whelm?”

“Nah,” he dismissed. “It’s nothing I can’t handle. FTL is largely automated anyway, and at sub-light it’s not actually all that different from flying a Celestial Class, despite the size difference.”

Nimble would have continued, but he was stopped when the captain’s voice came up over the intercom.

“All senior officers report to the bridge.”

Nimble looked up at the intercom, slightly confused. “Huh? I wonder what that is about.”

He shook his head, moving to get up. “Anyway, that’s us. Come on.”

The Bridge, A Few Minutes Earlier

“How’s the burn healing up?” Iynx asked Silver Wrench as she attended her console on the bridge.

The helm was currently being attended by a backup helmspony who took the controls when Nimble wasn’t there. Though aside from him, Iynx and a few others the bridge was pretty empty at that current time.”

“Fine,” Silver Wrench. “Still itches, but Geneser’s salve did the trick I see why they got a zebra shamaness to be chief medical officer.”

“Yeah,” Iynx agreed. “Apparently Princess Twilight had a zebra shamaness for a friend way back when, she had great respect for their abilities.”

“Oh?” Silver said questioningly. “That never came up in the history texts back in school.”

“Oh, it was there if you read far enough into them,” Iynx stated. “Zecora was her name I believe.”

Silver Wrench smirked. “My my, Iynx I never took you for a historian. I thought you were more of a shooty shooty bang bang type.”

“I’m full of surprises,” Iynx stated. “I studied a great many things before I joined the ESP. I may even have a degree or two.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yup.”

Silver laughed in slight disbelief. “If you have, then why are you here?”

“Why do you think I am here? Me, on the first FTL capable ship venturing into the unknown rather than some other weapons officer?”

“Ah, good point,” Silver Wrench conceded.

“All griffons learn how to fight, it is part of our culture,” Iynx explained. “Learning my way around a starship’s weapons was just an extension of that.”

Iynx sighed, a hopeful smile on her face. “I’m actually up for a promotion to Commander after we get back from this mission”

“Oh really?”

“Yup. I kind of have a little bit of an arrangement with Princess Twilight going on. Should this ship work, and I continue my exemplary service, I am to be promoted to Captain and given command of the next Harmony Class ship to be built and launched in a few years’ time.”

“Captain Iynx, huh?” Silver Wrench smirked. “Nimble Star told me your description of yourself was a little… briefer before we left.”

“Ah, that,” Iynx chuckled. “The Captain already knew it all anyway. Besides, at the time I was more interested in hearing the Captain’s background than telling my own.”

Silver chuckled, looking over to the time displayed on one part of the console. “Well then! I wish you luck with the whole promotion thing, but I’m due back in engineering. Somepony has to make sure the kids don’t break anything.”

Iynx rolled her eyes. “Well, don’t let me keep you, I’m sure… that…”

Silver Wrench gave Iynx a concerned look. “Iynx, what’s wrong?” he asked, only just noticing the beeping coming from her console.

“When no crewmember is managing the communications console all comms get routed through my console instead, as there is always a crewmember on tactical just as there is on the helm,” she said, looking towards the empty communications station on the other side of the bridge.

Iynx performed a quick diagnostic to ensure what she was seeing was real. And of course, it was.

“We’re receiving a distress call.”

After Iynx had informed Captain Star Gazer of the distress call, he had immediately ordered all senior officers to the bridge. When he himself arrived with Princess Twilight they were all already gathered, Nimble Star having retaken his station.

“So, what’s this about a distress call?” The Captain asked.

“We received a distress call from an unknown source, Captain,” Iynx explained. “It’s pretty garbled, I could barely make it out.”

“So it’s not ESP?” Princess Twilight asked.

Iynx hesitated a moment, considering the implications of her answer. “Negative, ma’am.”

Captain Star Gazer and Princess Twilight shared a look of disbelief.

“Are you saying it could be alien in origin?” The Captain asked.

“Perhaps,” Iynx answered.

“Captain,” Twilight addressed. “I don’t need to tell you how major this is. And if this is an alien race and we make first contact by helping a starship in distress, it will look very good for us indeed.”

The Captain nodded, turning towards the pony now on the communications console. “Run the transmission through a few translation spells, they display it on the view screen.”

“As stated, it is pretty garbled,” the pony reminded him.

“Then display what you can.”

The officer nodded, getting to work.

After about two minutes of near silence on the bridge, the communications officer gave a huff as he finished his work on the transmission and moved to display it to the rest of those on the bridge. The screen lit up, static dominating most of it, though a vague equine shape could just be made out amid the static.

“This is ca----- --- of the sharin starship, designati-- --- ----. We are under a----- -- -------! Please… send help!”

The message repeated over again as it reached its end.

“That’s all you could get?” The Captain asked. “No matter. Helm, can you track the signal?”

“Aye,” Nimble confirmed. “It’s only a small course change, I can have us there in a couple of hours.”

Captain Star Gazer looked up at Princess Twilight. “Your highness, permission to deviate course and investigate.”

“Granted,” Twilight nodded.

Star Gazer turned back to Nimble. “All right, do it.”

“Changing course for intercept,” Nimble reported, imputing the new coordinates.

“The sharin… do you think that is the name of the species?” Twilight asked out loud.

“Perhaps,” The Captain stated, sitting down in his chair at the very centre of the bridge. “We will find out when we arrive.

Twilight listened to the message again as it continued to play. A sense of excitement filled her, but at the same time it was being overtaken by a severe sense of foreboding…

Author's Notes:

After Discord = AD

After his initial defeat a new calendar started.

5 - Debris

Captain's Log, Supplemental.

The ES Harmony received a distress signal, and we have made a slight deviation off of our original course to intercept.

The concept of meeting a new, alien species is almost too much to imagine. I have waited for this day ever since my cutie mark appeared. And yet... I am worried. The message was too garbled to assess their situation, and we may be walking into a situation we are ill-equipped to handle. It is incredibly comforting to have an alicorn at my side as we go into this, but still...

May Faust watch over us.

Empty Space, a few hours after the distress signal was received.

The ES Harmony exited FTL with a jolt. Back in normal space once more, The Captain peered on out of the view screen to where the distress signal emanated.

Debris.

That was all they could see.

“What… happened here?” Nimble asked nopony in particular.

“Is that, or rather was that really an alien ship?” Iynx asked in turn.

Twilight examined the dead debris sadly. “I would guess so. I never imagined our first contact with aliens would be witnessing the grave of Celestia knows how many.”

The Captain was also looking towards the debris. “Begins scans, I want to know what destroyed that ship.”

“Yes sir!” Iynx got to work.

Princess Twilight looked down onto Captain Star Gazer. “So, what do you think?”

“What do I think?” Star Gazer asked. “I’m just wondering what a ship was doing out here. Its empty space, no planets, asteroids or anything of interest.”

Twilight looked grimly up at the view screen, examining the debris with her own eyes. “Perhaps not now, but when the distress signal was sent there might have been.”

“What do you mean?”

“I want you to be careful, Captain. Alert me the moment something suspicious happens,” Twilight asked of him.

“I will but… where are you going?”

“Bed,” she answered. “I have been staying up more than I should have been with all the work going on around the ship. And if something happens I would rather be rested for it.”

The Captain nodded. “Alright then, I will wake you if any trouble arises.

“Thank you,” Princess Twilight nodded, taking her leave from the bridge.

Just after The Princess had left, Iynx spoke again. “I’m detecting unknown energy signatures, they could be weapons fire but I’m not detecting any kind of magical signatures among what is currently there.”

“Could we get a better idea if we brought a piece aboard to examine?” The Captain asked.

Iynx nodded. “Yes, we could.”

“Helmspony, take a shuttle with Iynx and collect a piece.”

“At once sir!” Nimble got up from his position, another crewmember moving to take his place while he was vacant.

The shuttle sped away from the ES Harmony and moved towards the debris. The shuttle was a small vessel with a single compartment and an airlock at the back. It wasn’t armed and was equipped with a small thaumatic engine on either side of the hull.

“We are approaching the debris now,” Nimble reported to Iynx as they got close.

The griffon had adorned herself in a spacesuit, holding the helmet under her arm.

“Good, bring us about and then to a full stop. This will be safe, right?”

“It should be,” Nimble Star responded. “Your own scans shows the debris is moving quite slowly around one area, there are nearly no small fast moving bits to tear into your suit.”

“That’s comforting,” Iynx said.

“But… on the off chance you do die, can I have your stuff?” Nimble laughed.

Iynx was half tempted to throw her helmet at the earth pony, but elected not to.

“Jackass,” she muttered as she put on her helmet and moved to the airlock.

Once she was inside, Nimble switched on the intercom connected to Iynx’s helmet.

“You alright in there?” he asked.

“Fine,” was her response to him. “Decompressing the airlock now.”

After all the air was decompressed from the airlock, the outer door opened and Iynx spread her wings.

The spacesuits they had developed either had room for wings, or came with attachable limb actuators resembling wings for those who didn’t naturally have the appendage. The wings on the suit had special magical devices on them that allowed movement through space as if they were moving through the sky back on Equus.

Iynx moved around the shuttle and into the debris field. She visually picked out the piece she would bring back to the shuttle.

Nimble himself was suddenly startled by a yelp over the intercom.

“Iynx, what happened?!”

“A small piece of debris just shot past my face! I thought you said it was clear!”

“I said it was nearly clear! Just grab the piece and come back!”

Nimble chuckled at the growl directed at him over the intercom. He then watched Iynx grab the piece she wanted and quickly make her way back over to the shuttle. Before any more incidents could occur, and once Iynx was safely inside the airlock and it begun to compress gain, Nimble began to move the shuttle off and back towards the ship which loomed in the distance.

Once the airlocks systems deemed there was no dangerous contaminants brought back by Iynx or on the debris, the doors opened up and Iynx re-entered the cabin.

“There is your piece of trash,” she said as she placed the piece of debris down and removed her helmet. “I hope it was worth it.”

“Well, with an examination we should hopefully be able to identify if what you detected was weapons fire or not. I’m hoping not.”

“Oh I don’t know,” Iynx bumped her friend on the shoulder. “I would quite enjoy some action.”

“Be careful what you wish for,” Nimble Star responded.

“Ah, don’t be a baby. Everything will be fine, they probably just had an accident.”

Nimble sighed. “Yeah. I wonder how many were on that ship.”

“Try not to think about it.”

“Aren’t you the least bit curious to who they were?”

“Of course!” Iynx said loudly. “But I would rather not think about the lives lost is all.”

“Ah, right,” Nimble sighed.

The hangar doors beneath them closed up as the shuttle was clamped in place. The hangar bay was filled with air before crewmembers rushed to greet the returned shuttle.

Iynx and Nimble both emerged from the shuttle, meeting the science team waiting for them on the connected catwalk. Iynx briefly examined the other shuttles in the bay before turning to the ponies in front of them.

“Did you get it?” one of them asked.

“Course,” Iynx responded. “It’s all yours.”

The science team nodded as they moved in to retrieve the collected piece, while one stayed behind to speak with the two further.

“The Captain wants you back on the bridge immediately.”

“Got it,” Nimble nodded. “Come on Iynx.”

The two moved up from the hangar bay and though the various corridors and lifts needed to reach the bridge. Eventually they came up on their intended destination.

“Iynx, Nimble,” The Captain greeted. “Everything went smoothly?”

“Aside from one scare, pretty much,” Nimble reported.

“Scare?” Star Gazer asked with a raised eyebrow.

“It’s nothing, sir,” Iynx said as she elbowed a smirking Nimble.

“Good,” The Captain said. “Nimble, take us away from the debris field, but don’t jump to FTL yet. I want some more scans of the area first, just to be safe.”

“Yes sir!” both said as they moved to their stations.

Nimble made a few inputs to his console, the ship turned away from the debris field and began to travel slowly in the general direction of Alpha Centaur, readying for the order to jump to FTL.

As the ship continued to move Iynx did her scans of the area. As expected, nothing interesting came up. She was just about to wrap up her scans and report them ready for FTL, when something odd suddenly lit up in the screen.

“Captain?” Iynx called out.

Star Gazer swivelled his chair so he was facing the griffon officer. “Iynx? What is it?”

“I… don’t know,” she gawped in disbelief at her console. “I’m detecting some sort of fluctuation from behind us, no wait… two fluctuations… Now its four!”

“Put it on the view screen!” The Captain ordered. “And get the Princess up here!”

Twilight was shaken from her sleep by the load bleeping of her personal intercom. She used the back of her right forehoof to wipe the sleep from her eyes as she groggily got up and made her way over.

“This is Twilight,” she said into the intercom as she answered it.

“This is the bridge, Princess you are needed at once. Something is happening.”

“Something?” Twilight said questioningly.

“You might want to see for yourself.

Confused, Twilight switched off the intercom and made her way to the door, levitating on her regalia as she went.

Things seemed normal enough as she went through the ship, personnel went about their duties as they always did. It wasn’t long before she had made it to the elevator leading up to the bridge, and the sliding doors slid open to reveal the circular room.

“Captain, what is going on?”

“See for yourself,” he muttered, pointing a hoof at the view screen.

As Twilight looked on, her eyes widened to see four strange distortions directly behind the Harmony. And they seemed to be getting closer.

“What are they?”

The Captain seemed nervous. “We don’t know. But we believe they are being revealed by the magical trail our thaumatic drive is producing behind us.”

“Revealed? So they aren’t being caused by the trail?” Twilight asked.

“No ma’am.”

“Sensors?”

Iynx spoke up. “They are detecting something there, but that is it. Something. We can’t get any clearer reading than that.”

Twilight moved over to Iynx’s console, looking the readings she had received over.

Twilight though for a moment before she spoke. “Try modulating the sensors and tying them into our engines, perhaps then they-”

“Princess!” Nimble Star shouted out.

Behind the Harmony the four anomalies shifted, the otherwise clear space being suddenly taken up by the appearance of four starships. The starships had long bulging hulls with a wings coming off each side, each wing contained a nacelle and several vicious looking spikes shooting forwards.

“Ships? Were they invisible?” Nimble asked in shock.

“Cloaked, more like. I can’t believe we are looking at intact alien starships,” Twilight said as she walked back up next to the captain’s chair. “Scans?”

Iynx looked over at her console as new reading came in. “I’m detecting no magical properties aboard those ships, your highness.”

“No magic?” Nimble asked in disbelief. “How can they run without magic?”

“A species without magic would find other, purely technological means of producing similar effects I’m sure,” Twilight said. “Our magic may have also disrupted their cloak, creating the anomalies.”

“To create a cloak without magic… Even our devices can’t conceal an entire ship, just one individual at most,” The Captain noted in awe. “Hail them.”

The pony sitting at the communications console moved to carry out his orders, but a frown descended onto his face a moment later.

“No response,” he reported.

“They’re charging weapons!” Iynx suddenly shouted in alarm.

Star Gazer glanced over towards Iynx, and then back to the view screen. “Combat alert! Bring shields online!”

“I think we know why we received a distress call and found only debris,” Twilight noted solemnly. “Do what you must, Captain.”

The Harmony made a sharp left turn as it moved to evade the first shots let off by the enemy vessels. Blue beams raced across the empty space towards the Harmony, and though the first shots were successfully dodged the enemy ships were fast and quickly got the Harmony back in their sights. The next barrage of beams smacked right into the Harmony’s aft shields.

Sparks burst forth from the various consoles as the entire structure shook within the Harmony. Twilight had to grab onto the captain’s chair to stay on her hooves.

“Captain! That barrage downed our shields by twenty percent, their weapons are powerful!” Iynx reported.

“Their systems are more advanced!” Twilight realised with growing horror.

“Helm! Evasive pattern Delta Two! Iynx, fire at will!” The Captain ordered.

The Harmony ducked down under several more beams and one torpedo as their own weapons activated and red beams began to fire back at the attacking vessels. Two of the enemy ships moved to the sides of the Harmony and two stayed at the back. The Harmony’s weapons targeted onto the ship directly to their right as they unloaded onto their shields, forcing the ship to fall back away from the Harmony; however, it simply swapped places with one of the aft vessels which moved up above the ship and unleashed another volley of beams and several torpedoes down onto them.

A panel on the bridge blew off as wires fell out and hung down to the floor, one of the consoles exploded and the poor pony using it was killed instantly.

“We’ve lost shields!” Iynx reported.

The ships began to move off from the Harmony now that its shields were down and began to swarm around it. They began moving in for quick strikes as the Harmony desperately tried to outmanoeuvre them. Red and blue beams flew through the vacuum of space as the combatants fired back and forth. One ship moved directly ahead of the Harmony, the latter proceeding to fire a volley of torpedoes at the incoming target; the torpedoes impacted the direct front of the ship though most of the damage was absorbed by the shield, the vessel responded by swooping down over the Harmony and unleashing several bursts of weapons fire all across its hull.

Fires erupted on the bridge and one particular fireball came from control circuits in the ceiling, the fireball rushing down and consuming Captain Star Gazer.

Twilight lit up her horn and unleashed a torrent of frost which abated the deadly fire. She quickly rushed to the side of Star Gazer, who had fallen from his seat to the floor.

“The Captain?” Iynx called out to Princess Twilight.

Twilight scanned his body, her face falling as she did so. “He’s dead.”

Twilight moved off from Star’s corpse over to his seat, pressing onto his personal intercom as sparks continued to fly and fires ignite.

“Engineering?” Twilight called out over the intercom.

Silver Wrench heard the intercom, and called out for another engineer to take his place at the console he was working at. As he made his way over he barely avoided a beam as it became dislodged from the ceiling and collapsed down next to him in a heap. He leapt over the fallen beam and managed to reach the intercom with his body intact.

“Bridge! What the hay is going on up there!” he shouted.

“The Captain is dead!” Twilight shouted back. “Report!”

Silver swore loudly before doing as asked. “That last shot knocked out our FTL Drive! Our upper engine is damage so we had to shut it down, if we lose the other we’re dead in the water! If we don’t-”

An explosion interrupted him as part of the reactor’s casing flew off and an inferno erupted to life.

“Put that fire out!” Silver Wrench ordered as he used his magic to grab onto a fire extinguisher and moved towards the blaze.

“Engineering?!” Twilight called out, but received no response.

“I’m losing control systems left and right!” Nimble Star shouted. “I’m doing what I can be she’s barely responding to my commands!”

“We have hull breaches on multiple decks!” another pony reported.

In sick bay the wounded were flooding in as the beds began to be filled up faster than the medical staff could handle.

“We need more beds, or else they will be dead!” Geneser shouted as she attended to one patient with burns to much of his body.

She moved to treat her patient, but was interrupted when the ship jolted again, barely holding onto her medical tools.

“What is happening?” the patient painfully asked.

“I know this had been quite a week, but try not to speak,” Geneser softly spoke, getting to work.

Back on the bridge, Princess Twilight moved towards the communications station, her fur was singed heavily and her smouldering regalia had been discarded.

“Were you able to send a message to Starbase Alpha?” Twilight asked.

“Negative, communications are down!”

Part of the roof buckled in, falling down directly down atop of Iynx. She screamed in pain as a piece of debris pierced her left arm and she fell to the ground.

Fire spewed from the upper engine of the Harmony as its movements slowed and it became more difficult to avoid the oncoming torrent of weapons fire. The enemy vessels had taken only minor damage at best and still swarmed all over them. One blue beam lanced straight through the hull, leaving a clean hole all the way through the ship.

Iynx dragged herself up from the floor, and despite her one broken arm managed to reach her console and open fire one more, red beams lancing across towards the ships for what little good it did.

“Our environmental systems have taken a hit! We’re losing breathable air in the lower decks!”

The fires in engineering only grew worse, warning lights were displaying on every console.

“If we continue like this the reactor is going to explode!” one engineer shouted to Silver Wrench.

Silver shouted in frustration as he threw his empty fire extinguisher to one side. “All non-essential personnel leave immediately! Everypony out!” he shouted, moving over to the central console and desperately tried to keep the reactor core stable.

Lights blinked out all over the ship as the chief engineer was forced to divert power to keep the ship together. The ship rolled through space as the enemy ships danced around it like wolves moving in on some wounded prey. One torpedo impacted directly into one of the spherical habitation modules, completely destroying the top of it. Another beam trailed across the name of the ES Harmony that was written onto the hull, taking a chunk out of it and revealing the corridors beneath to space, several ponies and other species of Equus being blown out into the lethal vacuum.

Things seemed to go in slow motion for Twilight as fires roared around her and what was left of the bridge crew fought valiantly in the losing battle to keep their ship together. The bulkheads creaked as the ship was torn apart and another console exploded, taking yet another crewmember with it.

With little time left, Twilight lit up her horn and teleported herself directly to engineering. She appeared in a lavender flash just behind the console where Silver Wrench was working.

“Your highness!” he shouted in surprise at her appearance.

“Get out of the way,” she ordered as she lit up her horn again.

As he dodged to the side a beam of magic erupted from the alicorn’s horn and impacted the console. She strained as her magical energy was completely drained into the FTL Drive and the whole reactor began to glow with a lavender aura.

The enemy vessels moved in to finish off their prey, only at the last moment seeing the single remaining active engine light up as in a flash the ES Harmony jolted forward and jumped to FTL, destination unknown.

Author's Notes:

So... this is the video that inspired this fic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HNQFHmV4ds

I will be releasing a chapter weekly from now on, usually alongside Of Love and Loss. It is now that the true story begins...

6 - Aftermath

Lieutenant Commander Iynx’s Personal Log, July 4th, 3382 AD.

Things are not looking good. It has been two days since our ship was attacked, two days since the death of Captain Star Gazer and much of the crew.

The ship is damaged beyond our current capabilities to repair it, and our chief engineer is barely keeping the reactor from breaching and destroying what is left of the ES Harmony. This is not how I thought this voyage would turn out.

We’re running on minimal power, multiple decks have been breached and whole areas of the ship are just… gone. Without FTL we are stuck for now, and we are running constant scans for any sign of those ships coming to finish the job. Honestly, if they do turn up I don’t think we will be able to do much about it. We only survived the last encounter thanks to Princess Twilight.

Speaking of Princess Twilight, she has yet to wake. Doctor Geneser assures us that she will be fine, and that she simply used up all her magic to get us out of there and is recovering from that endeavour. I sure hope she wakes soon… she will know what to do.

She has to.

Fire.

That is all that surrounded the alicorn.

Things seemed to go in slow motion for Twilight as fires roared around her and what was left of the bridge crew fought valiantly in the losing battle to keep their ship together. The bulkheads creaked as the ship was torn apart and another console exploded, taking yet another crewmember with it.

And still those ships fired upon the Harmony, intent on leaving none of the crew alive to tell the tale.

There was only one thing to do… she had to save her crew.

…

Twilight awoke with a start. Medical white walls greeted her, not helping the pounding headache converging around the base of her horn. Things blurred in and out of focus as Twilight slowly managed to regain her senses and awareness, before things finally began to come into focus.

To say the medical bay was a mess… would be an understatement.

There still seemed to be an abundance of power being fed to the sickbay, likely due to the horrific amount of patients within, but it wasn’t as pristine as Doctor Geneser usually liked to keep it.

Some of the walls were blackened and charred from fires that existed only recently, some wiring hung from points in the ceiling as engineers were actively trying to place them back where they should be and medical equipment as well as emergency rations were spilled out everywhere as the medical staff attended the many patients around.

Twilight tried to sit up, only for a zebra wearing a medical coat to place a gentle hoof on her and guide her back down onto the bed.

“Princess Twilight,” Geneser spoke. “Your doctor knows best, so please get some rest.”

“What? Why am I in sickbay?” Twilight asked. “Last I remember I was in engineering, feeding my magic into the reactor.”

“You saved the ship, and sent us on quite the trip.”

“The FTL worked?” she asked.

Geneser nodded. “Sadly however, we no longer have the drive, though for that we certainly must strive.”

“I’m sure Silver Wrench is already hard at work,” Twilight said, this time successfully managing to sit up, despite Geneser’s protests.

“Overworked, more like,” Iynx said as she entered the medical bay, moving towards Princess Twilight. “I asked Geneser to notify me when you woke, how are you?”

Twilight noted the tired look on Iynx’s face, and the fact her right arm was in a sling. “I’m fine. My magic is recovering, though I’m not quite at my full strength as of yet.”

“I’m glad to hear you’re well, your highness,” Iynx said. “Things have been really tough the past two days.

“I was out for two days?!” Twilight’s eyes widened.

“I’m afraid so,” Iynx sighed. “And things, as I said, are tough right now. The Captain is dead, much of our crew are either deceased or injured and the ship is constantly trying to tear itself apart.”

“Do we know where we are? And do we still have the thaumatic drive?”

Iynx nodded. “We still have our sub-light engines. Though, they are powered down right now to conserve energy. As for where we are, whatever you did to the FTL drive sent us light years off course, right into uncharted space. Now don’t get me wrong, we know where we are in relation to Alpha Centaur and Equus, but without FTL it will take a long time to get to either world.”

“Which one is closer?” Twilight asked in a commanding tone.

“Ma’am?”

“Which planet is closer?”

Iynx thought for a moment. “According to our charts, Equus.”

Twilight nodded. “Gather all remaining senior officers on the bridge, there are some things we need to discuss.”

Iynx saluted. “Yes, you highness! At once!”

“Hold on a moment,” Twilight called out as Iynx went to leave. “One more thing.”

“Alright, what is it?”

“What exactly happened just after the battle?”

Two days earlier

An empty expanse sat quietly, the distant stars twinkling gently around it. Nothing disturbed this specific spot in space, no stars, planets or even an asteroid.

All was silent.

Until a violent flash lit up the area as a starship suddenly decelerated from FTL. The transition was not smooth as the ship began to diverge from its course and roll unsteadily through space, fire spewed from multiple parts of the ship including the large upper engine at the back, debris was thrown off of the vessel as the ship continued to spiral.

The RCS boosters spread around the hull automatically kicked in and slowly began to bring the ship to a halt, they worked until the starship sat completely motionless in the middle of space.

Iynx groaned painfully as she picked herself up off of the floor of the darkened bridge, carefully minding her bruised and bleeding broken arm.

“Report!” she shouted out as the rest of the surviving bridge crew did much the same.

Nimble Star pulled himself into his chair and began to check around his console. “The FTL drive is burnt out, thaumatic drive is also offline though the damage is minor and that shouldn’t take long to bring back. Luckily for us, the RCS boosters are mostly intact and stopped us from drifting too far.”

Nimble suddenly adopted an incredibly perplexed expression. “Hold on, that can’t be right… We’re light years away from our last position!”

“Impossible,” Iynx dismissed. “We were only at FTL for a few minutes at most, even if it was a bit of a bumpy ride; your equipment must be damaged like everything else.”

“Well I’m running a diagnostic as we speak, and yet so far there is nothing wrong.” Nimble frowned as another thought struck him. “How did the FTL activate anyway? It was disabled!”

“The Princess must have done something,” Iynx theorised.

“Well, that would explain why we are suddenly so far from out previous-“

There was a small bang above the helm and sparks fell down onto Nimble, causing him to flinch back.

“Gah! The ship is falling apart!” Nimble fumed. “Iynx, what does your console read?”

With her good arm, Iynx began to scroll through the wave of incoming reports. “Shields are gone, hull integrity is at sixteen percent. The upper engine is still on fire and we have hull breaches all over the ship. The only thing that could make this worse is the ship actually being destroyed.”

“Well don’t talk it up,” Nimble grumbled.

Iynx moved from her station and towards the captain’s chair. On arrival she couldn’t help but glance towards Star Gazer’s burnt body that was slumped just in front of the seat.

“Damn,” Nimble sighed. “The Captain always wanted to make first contact, bet he never imagined it would end like this. He deserved better.”

Iynx stared at the body a few moments more, before placing a talon onto the seat’s intercom and activating it.

“Silver Wrench, are you there?”

“Iynx,” Silver Wrench’s panicked voice came over the intercom. “Thank Celestia I could reach you, I was unable to contact sickbay from here.”

“Sickbay? Silver, what’s going on?”

“It’s Princess Twilight, she’s collapsed and I can’t rouse her!”

The griffon swore under her breath. “I’ll be right there!” Iynx told him, before switching the channel on the intercom. “Iynx to sick bay, we have a priority one medical emergency in engineering, Doctor Geneser report there immediately!”

Iynx switched off the intercom and turned to Nimble. “Nimble, you have the bridge. I want all able crew to begin repairs immediately.”

“Yes ma’am,” Nimble nodded as the griffon made her way to the still functioning elevator.

“You heard her!” Nimble shouted at the other few remaining on the bridge. “Get to work.”

Those few crewmembers scrambled for a moment to get back to their stations, getting on the comms to organise the various repair teams that would no doubt be very busy for the foreseeable future.

Present Day

Princess Twilight and the remaining senior officers were gathered in the captain’s mess, one of the more intact rooms on the ship. They were all gathered around the table, various reports laid down upon it.

“The reactor’s been mostly stabilised,” Silver Wrench reported. “But it’s still being strained, until more repairs are made I suggest we keep power usage to a minimum.”

Twilight hummed as she entered deep thought. “Are we producing enough power to activate the thaumatic drive?”

“The thaumatic drive, ma’am?”

“Well, Lieutenant? Are we?” Twilight asked again.

“N-no, you highness,” Silver stuttered. “Not currently.”

“Alright. What if we evacuate the lower decks? We could then cut power and life support to those areas, would that free up enough power?”

Silver Wrench paused a moment, doing the calculations in his head. After a few moment the unicorn responded.

“I… believe so.”

Princess Twilight nodded. “Then make it so. Once the engines are online, set course for Equus at as high a speed as you can safely manage.”

Nimble Star did a double take. “Set course for Equus?! Ma’am, all due respect but that would take years at sub-light speeds!”

Twilight frowned at Nimble. “Then we better hope our engineer is up to the task of repairing the FTL in that time. Besides, do you have a better idea, Ensign?”

Nimble grimaced. “No… your highness.”

“If on that topic, that is all,” Geneser interrupted. “What about a distress call?”

“We can’t,” Silver Wrench stated. “Exterior communications are out, if they weren’t we’d be telling Equus itself of our situation, we can’t even do ship-to-ship communication right now. All we have is most of our interior communications such as the intercom system.”

“I don’t think it would be a good idea right now anyway,” Iynx noted. “With those ships out there, I still worry that they could follow our trail. A distress call would only add to that little problem.”

“I agree,” Twilight said. “The idea of a distress call can be discussed again at a later date, though for now that isn’t an option.”

“We understand,” Iynx stated. “Is that all, your highness?”

“There is one last thing…” Twilight said. “Though I am taking command of the Harmony from this point onwards and I know the ship and its crew inside and out, and even though I have two thousand years of experience ruling Equestria, when it comes to commanding a starship specifically my expertise is sadly lacking. I may need somepony else with more experience in a command role too.”

Twilight smirked. “That, and I can’t fit in the captain’s chair.”

“Your highness, where are you going with this?” Iynx asked.

“You are up for promotion, are you not?” Twilight rhetorically asked towards Iynx. “Well then, Commander, consider yourself promoted.”

Iynx’s jaw hit the floor. “Princess I… I don’t know what to say.”

“I would say, after what we went through, you have all earned promotions,” Twilight stated to the group. “And I shall see to it when we get home. And we will get home, that I am certain of.”

And with that declaration, the meeting was concluded. Over the next day more systems were repaired and the lower decks evacuated and deactivated. Both luckily, and tragically at the same time there was enough accommodations available for the evacuated from those who didn’t survive the attack, though some did have to bunk with one another instead of having individual rooms of their own as before.

And then on the afternoon of July fifth, with everypony at their stations, they were ready to go. Ensign Nimble Star sat at the helm, the newly promoted Commander Iynx behind tactical and Princess Twilight Sparkle stood vigilantly beside the captain’s chair, which sat sadly empty. There was no room on board the Harmony for the dead, and so Captain Star Gazer and the other casualties had been buried in space, their caskets floating in the void for eternity.

Though, knowing Star Gazer’s love for the stars, resting amongst them was probably what he would have wanted.

“Thaumatic drive is spun up and ready to go,” Nimble Star reported. “The quicker Silver gets the FTL fixed, the better,” he added in a mumble.

“Bulkheads sealing off the breached sections are holding,” Iynx reported. “We still have weapons, and if needed I should be able to raise the shields to about fifty percent, on the bright side that would be a hundred percent the shield strength of a Celestial Class ship.”

“It will do,” Twilight said. “Ensign, set in a course for home.”

“Course is set, your highness.”

“Then get us out of here.”

Outside, the single engine still in use flared to life, its sub-light capabilities activating. The ship performed a left turn, lining it up with the distant system where Equus laid in wait for their return. The distant stars shone some light onto the hull, displaying the horrific scars from its battle, and yet also giving hope as despite it all the ship kept on running.

The ship then began to move forward, starting its journey home and moving into a future that was wholly uncertain and full of both intrigue, and danger.

7 - Contact Lost

Princess Twilight’s Personal Log, July 8th, 3382 AD.

I’ve decided to keep a personal log as we continue our journey home, as suggested by various members of the crew. At least I will have somewhere to vent my thoughts.

We’ve been traveling at sub-light speeds for the past four days, and we are no closer to fixing the FTL drive. However, that has been moved down on the priorities list until some of other systems are fixed. This includes getting us more power to work with, upping the hull integrity and making our living conditions a little bit more bearable.

Some of the crew are struggling to come to terms with our predicament, but I myself have no such trouble. This is the hoof we’ve been dealt, and it is my job to lead my subjects through it.

My thoughts, however, have recently turned to home. When we lost contact with Starbase Alpha some red flags would have been raised in command, but nothing too serious. For all they knew we could have had a malfunction with communications or something of the likes.

But after six days of no contact, not even the slightest blip, Celestia knows what is going on back there.

Speaking of Celestia, I hope she doesn’t blame herself when she is informed of our disappearance. She has an unfortunate habit of that…

She worries, like any mother would I suppose, biological or not. I just hope I can get home to her.

Starbase Alpha, July 9th

To say the starbase was in chaos… would be a tragic understatement.

The starbase crew ran about like maniacs as they tried every desperate measure possible to either open communications with the ES Harmony or at least establish its position.

They had been trying constantly for seven whole days, and yet there was nothing, not even an echo. It was like the ship had just vanished. It had started with the mention of a distress call the Harmony had picked up and moved to intercept, communications being lost hours later.

Imaginations were running rampant with possibilities as to what happened, and as time went on those possibilities were becoming bleaker and bleaker indeed. However, the truth was that nopony had any idea what had befallen the ship, and that was what frustrated and scared them the most.

“Admiral?” a lowly ensign approached Admiral Mythic Wing, a grey Pegasus with a slivery mane, though his wings had a slight shade of blue running down them.

“Yes, Ensign?” Mythic Wing responded, looking intently up at the large view screen within the command centre. “Any progress?”

“No sir,” the Ensign reported regretfully. “The ES Harmony is still missing.”

“What of the comm buoys I ordered set up at all our colonies to boost the signal?”

“The ES Defender deployed the buoys along the edge of our own system as ordered, and the colonies reported they have done the same. Despite it all, all efforts to locate Princess Twilight Sparkle and the ES Harmony have failed.”

The Admiral tore his eyes away from the screen, and he couldn’t supress a sigh. “It’s been a week, has word gotten out?”

The Ensign shook his head. “Negative, not even the princesses are aware yet, as you commanded.”

Admiral Mythic Wing looked wearily at the young unicorn he spoke with, before speaking loud enough for the whole command centre to hear. “I didn’t want to cause an unnecessary panic if this turned out just to be a technical glitch but… it’s been a week. From this point forwards, the ES Harmony is officially declared as missing in action, and I want the princesses informed immediately.

Canterlot

Luna’s moon hung high in the late night’s sky, city lights clearly visible on its surface from Equus. Princess Celestia herself was slumbering peacefully within her own bed, things were quiet and she was at ease.

That is until her little sister all but knocked the bedroom doors off their hinges.

“Sister, awaken immediately!” Luna shouted out in her Royal Canterlot Voice.

Celestia cringed as Luna’s shout penetrated deep into her skull and rattled around within. With her ears still ringing slightly, she opened her eyes and took in her sister’s slightly frazzled form.

“Lulu? Why are you breaking through doors and shouting the castle down?”

“If you were awake you would be aware of what was happening!” Luna fumed. “First there was that announcement from the ESP that’s all over the news and radio and everything; and then there was that priority communication from Starbase Alpha insisting we both head up there immediately!”

“What?” Celestia sat up. “What announcement?”

Luna lit up her horn and a panel opposite Celestia’s bed slid away and a screen moved forwards into view. The screen contrasted with the design and sun motifs of the rest of the bedroom, hence why it was hidden away until put in use.

It was a large television screen, and though Celestia herself seldom used it, all three other princesses had insisted she have one when they first came about nearly two thousand years prior give or take a hundred years.

Now Luna switched it onto Equestria’s Central News’ channel, ECN, where a presenter was sat in front of a backdrop displaying an image of the ES Harmony on its launch. The presenter kept a steady posture as he spoke in a sombre voice.

“-and we tonight have received confirmed reports from the high ups of the Equus Space Program that the ES Harmony and all aboard her, including Princess Twilight Sparkle, have been officially declared missing in action.”

Celestia’s eyes widened in horror as she continued to listen, a picture of Twilight joining the ES Harmony on the backdrop.

“As you all know, ten days ago the ES Harmony launched to the awe and excitement of us all as it demonstrated the first usage of the new FTL drive, which was a complete success. However, according to officials three days into the voyage contact with the vessel was lost, details are still scarce though they promise to release more information in due time…”

The presenter continued on, but Celestia stopped listening. She got up off of her bed and levitated her regalia to herself, placing it on swiftly and regally.

“Luna, Starbase Alpha, now.”

Starbase Alpha, the early morning of July 10th

Admiral Mythic Wing stood in the command centre of Starbase Alpha, and he was in the company of three of Equestria’s rulers, Celestia, Luna and Mi Amore Cadenza. This time however, they were joined by Cadenza’s daughter, Princess Flurry Heart. Though Flurry Heart’s title was, much like the Blueblood line, just a title and little more she still held the same regal aura that the other alicorns gave off in spades; and like the other alicorns her ethereal mane flowed through the artificial air gracefully.

All four had only just arrived, and the moment they did they had all demanded to see the Admiral immediately.

“Admiral Mythic Wing,” Flurry Heart was the first to speak as they approached. “Would you mind explaining why my aunt is missing?!”

“Flurry, please calm down,” Cadance asked.

“No,” Celestia spoke with narrowed eyes. “Because I also would very much like to know.”

“Your highnesses,” The Admiral greeted. “I thank you for coming on such short notice. How much do you already know?”

“Little,” Celestia responded.

The Admiral hummed. “I thought as much, we’ve been careful not to release too much information to the public until it’s been by you all first.

“What of the other world leaders?” Luna asked. “The Harmony was an international effort, as is the ESP itself. And they have citizens aboard that ship.”

“Yes,” Mythic nodded. “But they didn’t have one of their co-rulers aboard now, did they? They will be informed of the details too, but you all were our priority.”

“We can discuss politics later,” Celestia interrupted. “I’m more concerned about Twilight and those serving aboard that ship. Where are they, Admiral?”

Admiral Mythic Wing faltered slightly. “We don’t know. We haven’t just lost communications, we’ve lost ship. We can’t find any trace of it anywhere no matter what we’ve tried.”

“What do you mean you can’t find it?!” Celestia shouted in rage. “You had one job for this mission, and state of the art equipment to do it! How did you lose them?!”

Mythic Wing flinched as the Princess of the Sun stood angrily over him, the other princesses sharing glances of concern.

“Sister?” Luna called out.

“What?” Celestia still stared daggers at the Admiral.

“This isn’t like you, please be calm.”

“Calm?!” Celestia whipped around. “My daughter is lost because they couldn’t do their jobs! Anything could have happened to her!”

“I know you’re worried about Twilight,” Cadance said gently. “But it may not be their fault, let’s hear them out, OK?”

After a few moments of heavy breathing, Celestia gave out a stressed sigh. “My apologies,” Celestia nearly whispered, using her magic to wipe away the smouldering hoof marks on the floor.

“I understand, your highness,” Mythic Wing stated. “I will tell you everything I can.”

“What of your last contact with the ship?” Luna asked. “When was that? And what was included?”

“Ah,” Mythic Wing said slowly. “Yes, I’m glad you asked that because… that is where things get interesting.”

“Interesting?” Flurry Heart said questioningly. “What do you mean by that?”

Hearing this, the crew on station at the command centre had already begun to load up the recordings before their superior had even given the order.

“Bring up the communication logs, the last file on July 2nd,” Admiral Mythic Wing barked out to the crewmembers as they got hard at work.

The view screen shifted as two audio waves appeared, one above the other. One was marked ‘ES Harmony’ and the other ‘Starbase Alpha’. The date and time were displayed as the recording started from the beginning.

A voice echoed throughout the command centre. “Starbase Alpha, this is the ES Harmony, do you read?”

“Loud and clear ES Harmony, what do you need?”

“Erm, Starbase Alpha something strange has occurred up here and we may be deviating from our original course,” ES Harmony’s communications officer reported on the recording.

Celestia’s eyes widened. “They deviated from their course? Why?”

The answers came when the recording continued. “Deviating from your course? Explain. And what do you mean by something strange?”

“We just received a distress call from origins unknown, but it is obviously not from any of our vessels or facilities.”

There was a moment of silent on both the recording and throughout the command centre as they listened in.

“Did I hear you correctly?” the operator at Starbase Alpha asked on the recording. “Are you saying you received communications from extra-terrestrial origins?”

“That is correct,” was the answer. “Princess Twilight has authorised our response and the captain has ordered an intercept course. We will be arriving on scene in about three to four hours. We will contact you again once the situation is resolved and we know more about what we are facing.”

“Understood Harmony, safe journeys.”

With that, the recording halted and silence dominated the command centre as the princesses took in what they had just heard.

“Extra-terrestrial?” Celestia finally stated. “Are you saying they encountered an alien species?”

“You heard for yourself,” Admiral Mythic Wing responded.

The image on the view screen shifted to a diagram of the space between Equus and Alpha Centaur, a green line showing the ES Harmony’s intended course connected the two as a miniature ES Harmony travelled it. At one point in the sped up trip the ship and the spot on the green line it occupied flashed, before the ES Harmony moved off from the green line to the right, creating a red line in its wake to show their new course. A little way from their original course the ship stopped entirely, before disappearing moments later.

“Where the red line ends, is where the ship went missing,” Admiral Mythic Wing explained. “That is obviously where the distress call originated, as they were in that location for over an hour before they vanished. After a total of five hours after our last communications with the ES Harmony ended they disappeared from sensors completely, their beacon either lost connection with our own systems or stopped transmitting entirely and all attempts to contact them failed.”

“What did they encounter out there?” Flurry Heart asked rhetorically. “Something must have happened with that distress signal.”

“Agreed,” Mythic stated with a nod. “But unless we find the ES Harmony, we can’t know for sure.”

“Keep trying,” Celestia ordered. “And inform me of the slightest whisper from them, understood?”

“Yes, your highness,” The Admiral agreed. “What do we tell the public?”

Celestia looked down on the Admiral. “The truth.”

“Understood,” he bowed his head.

“Good, now if you’ll excuse me…” Celestia trailed off, swiftly leaving the room and heading off down the corridor.

She was followed out however, and Celestia didn’t notice her pursuer until she had already travelled multiple decks and found a secluded observation deck looking down on the planet below. The station was currently directly above Equestria’s eastern ocean, the bright blue and swirl of clouds danced in her line of sight as her thoughts wandered erratically.

“Sister?” Luna asked, having followed Celestia all the way to the observation deck. “Talk to me, please.”

Laboured breathing came from Celestia, as in the presence of just her sister she allowed the regal mask she wore to fall away from her face along with the tears.

“She’s out there, Lulu. Lost, and perhaps dead.”

“Do not give up hope so easily,” Luna scolded. “We both know what Twilight is capable of.”

“My daughter is out there,” Celestia said. “And it may be my fault.”

“Don’t say that,” Luna said, draping a wing over her sister. “How could it be your fault?”

“She offered me the chance to come along, if I had accepted I could have-“

“What? Been lost too?” Luna sighed. “Out of all your students you have always held Twilight Sparkle the closest, I understand. Calling her ‘daughter’ is proof of this.”

“I raised her Luna,” Celestia said. “She lived much of her young life in the castle, I read to her stories when she went to sleep and sang to her when nightmares plagued her mind. I watched her grow and was proud of the mare she became. I love her, Luna.”

Celestia leaned into Luna’s embrace.

“And I’m scared.”

Author's Notes:

We won't be spending much time on Equus or with the characters there, but we might check in on them every now and again.

I've also gone and added logs to the beginnings of 'The Crew' and 'Launch'.

8 - Lost in Space

Chief Engineer Silver Wrench’s Personal Log, 20th July, 3382 AD.

We’ve done what we can.

There is no chance we can repair the FTL drive without obtaining parts we don’t currently have in stock. What he have that wasn’t used in our current patch jobs was destroyed in the attack. I still wonder who they were and why they attacked us, but in my own opinion we stumbled across a crime scene of sorts, they having destroyed another ship before our arrival judging by the debris field. They wanted no witnesses. I could be wrong of course, but that’s my guess.

But they definitely destroyed that ship, as an analysis on the hull fragment we recovered has proven. We found traces of weapons fire matching that of the ships which attacked us.

Anyway, I have managed to repair the thaumatic drive well enough, and we are proceeding full speed back towards Equus. Or as fast as we can with only one engine working.

Not like it helps us much, being at sub-light and all.

We did what we could for the communications systems, so we could get out the distress call Geneser suggested. However, we had about as much luck with that as the FTL drive. We managed to bring ship-to-ship communications back online, but long range is a no-go, similar situation with the sensors. We can’t even let home know that we are alive. They’re probably holding memorials right about now.

Never thought I’d actually be late for my own funeral.

ES Harmony

Silver Wrench finished his log, looking up from the console he was working at towards the large reactor beyond it. The casing was cracked and scorched, but all breaches had been sealed up. The components within hummed gently, though too many were still offline for Silver Wrench’s liking.

Not that he could do anything about it by this point.

Silver Wrench sighed. His team had done all they could and now was tasked with simply maintaining the ship, a job that was now a lot harder than when they left Starbase Alpha. Too many decks were still exposed to space and sealed off, too much of the ship had been left uninhabitable.

Still, on the bright side, power levels were now stable and power had been returned to the lower decks. This meant space was freed for the crew, and this no more bunking up. This was a relief to Silver Wrench who had found himself sharing his quarters with a first year ensign with little to no personal hygiene.

Silver Wrench glanced over towards the time being displayed on the console screen, raising from his seat moments later with a stretch. His duty was over and the night’s crew would be taking over. In the meantime he and other senior officers were due in the captain’s mess for dinner.

If there was one thing they didn’t lose much of during the attack, it was thankfully food and water. They still had years’ worth of food left and the water recycling system was still operational, giving them an indefinite supply. However, food was predicted to run out just short of home even with their rationing schemes in place, so it would be the cryogenic pods for them for the final leg of the trip.

Still, that was a ways off. As such there was little use worrying about it, by this point all any of them could do was roll with the punches and keep moving on forward to their destination.

And right now for Silver Wrench, his destination was fulfilling an empty stomach.

He moved away from the main console and down the staircase to the ground floor of engineering, he passed by crew beginning the night shift as he made his way out of the doorway and into the hallways. He passed by the cargo bays and hanger bays as he made his way though the lower decks to the very centre of the ship. Signs of damage were still visible, the odd scorch on panels and sealed off hallway leading out into open space, but in all Silver could almost pretend things were normal again as he passed by a few ponies and other species all either on duty or heading to their rooms to call it a night.

He could almost imagine Luna’s bright moon in the sky, its light and the light of the cities on it shining down to the planet below.

Doors slid open as Silver reached the centre of the ship on the lower decks. Machinery was organised neatly throughout the room and a bridge spanned over a pit in the centre, the pit contained several gravity generators whirling away as they span. On the bridge sat a control panel which Silver knew held the auxiliary controls for both the artificial gravity and oxygen generation. An elevator stood a short way away which quickly carried Silver Wrench up from the bottom of the ship all the way to the top command dome.

When the doors opened and Silver Wrench stepped out onto a dome shaped chamber with a large antennae like device coming down from the ceiling and through several decks, the drop surrounded by railings. Just down a few corridors were the lifts to the bridge, though Silver took a different route as the bridge was not his destination. After walking to the outer edges of the command dome and making his way through the corridors, glancing out the windows into space once or twice as he went, he finally came upon the captain’s mess just in time to bump into Commander Iynx.

“Commander,” he nodded in greeting as they both converged onto the door. “Just come from the bridge?”

“Of course,” she responded.

“How are the repairs?”

“Fine, thank you,” Iynx said. “Nice to have fully functioning shields. Not that it would do us much good if those ships turn up.”

Silver groaned. “Don’t even remind me.”

“Sorry but, those things just cut straight through!”

“You sound almost in awe as you say that,” Silver raised an eyebrow.

“Well, I would love to get my talons on their weapons. They certainly packed quite the punch,” Iynx stated. “Then I could install them on the Harmony and give them a taste of their own medicine.”

“I wish,” Silver chuckled. “Still, they are far behind us and the Princess is waiting so… ladies first.”

Iynx gave him a deadpan look. “Well then, as your superior officer I order you to get your ass inside before I kick it in.”

“Woah okay my lady, my apologies.”

Iynx rolled her eyes, but couldn’t supress a small grin. “Just go in already.”

Princess Twilight Sparkle ate with the Harmony’s senior officers in the captain’s mess. Their portions were quite small due to the rationing of food she had ordered, but it was enough.

The group were talking among themselves, apparently Nimble Star and Iynx were in some kind of debate. However, Twilight wasn’t paying them much mind, being more consumed by her own thoughts.

“What do you think, Princess?” Silver Wrench asked.

“Yes, I would like to hear your report on who it is you support,” Genser said as she ate some of her own herbal bread.

“Hmm? What?” Twilight was shaken from her musings. “Apologies, I was in my own thoughts. Who am I supporting?”

“Iynx and Nimble Star were just debating alternate realities,” Silver Wrench explained.

“I said there is probably a universe where we won the fight against our attackers, and another where we were the evil attackers instead,” Nimble Star said.

“A mirror universe,” Silver noted.

“Exactly!”

Iynx rolled her eyes. “The Harmony is science. What you describe is Science Fiction. There are no such things like alternate realities! Tell him, Princess!”

Twilight just sat there somewhat awkwardly. “Um, about that…”

Iynx’s jaw dropped. “You’ve to be kidding me. You are kidding? Right?”

Princess Twilight shook her head. “No, I’m afraid I am not, Iynx. I myself have visited another world.”

All eyes turned to Twilight, widening at her words.

“What?” Nimble Star mumbled. “How? When? Where? Why?”

“It was a long time ago,” Twilight began to explain, looking out the window. “A long time before even I was born, Starswirl the Bearded created a magical mirror which he used to cast the Sirens out of Equestria to a place where magic would not exist. Princess Celestia had asked Princess Cadance to hold onto this mirror for her at the Crystal Empire, a mirror that was in reality a portal to another world. The mirror is now in my possession.”

“So you went in?” Nimble asked.

“Yes,” Twilight nodded. “Several times for varied reasons. It leads to an alternate version of Equus, named Earth by its inhabitants. Said inhabitants are hairless apes called humans who, when I visited, seemed to have a higher level of technology than us at the time. I had friends in that world. However, after a while we fell out of contact and I stopped visiting, I haven’t seen what they made of themselves since then.”

“Were these humans the only inhabitants?” Iynx asked.

“I thought you didn’t believe in alternate realities,” Nimble jabbed.

Iynx glared at him. “I changed my mind.”

“To answer your question,” Twilight interrupted them. “Yes, they were. And they were far more divided than us, being split into dozens of countries covering the globe. The country my friends inhabited was called the United States of America. That was two thousand years ago from our perspective, though our two time streams were out of sync as long as the portal was inactive, theirs being slower than ours I believe.

“So time on Earth was not as fast?” Geneser asked. “Then who can say how much time for them has passed?”

Twilight hummed. “Perhaps I should have a look through on our return, see how they are doing. Not all humans were exactly… friendly. But with humans like the friends I knew I think they found a future for themselves.”

“Space travel like us?” Nimble suggested.

Twilight nodded. “Perhaps. Who knows, they may have met other races and created alliances with them.”

Iynx raised an eyebrow. “What, like a Federation of sorts?”

“Perhaps,” Twilight said. “They did seem like the enterprising type.”

“Well I think-“

Iynx was interrupted when the intercom started beeping.

“And who might that be?” Silver asked to nopony in particular.

Iynx got up from her seat and went over to the device, and as she activated it the voice of the individual in charge of the night shift on the bridge came over the intercom.

“This is Commander Iynx, what is it?” the griffon asked.

“Commander, your presence and that of the other officers and the Princess is requested immediately.”

Iynx sighed. “On our way.”

The Bridge

Princess Twilight stepped off the bridge with the senior officers just behind her.

“Report,” she ordered as the night’s crew was relieved.

“Ma’am,” one of them reported in. “Our sensors have picked up some reading we were unable to understand.”

“What do you mean ‘weren’t able to understand’?” Twilight asked sternly.

“Princess, the sensors aren’t working properly,” Silver Wrench reminded her. “We were no able to fully repair them much like communications.”

“Ah, I see,” Twilight conceded. “Continue.”

“Well,” the pony shifed nervously, intimidated by the large alicorn. “The lieutenant is correct, but we were able to make out that it is an object. Metallic in nature.”

“Metalic?” Twilight said questioningly. “Like a ship?”

“Or perhaps a station,” the pony said. “Or something else of the type, or none of the above. We won’t know unless we get closer.”

“How far is it?” Commander Iynx asked.

“At FTL we could be there in a few hours,” the pony stated. “But at current speeds, it will take approximately a month.”

“A month? We can’t afford to deviate that far from our course,” Twilight said solemnly.

“It’s actually directly in our path, more or less,” the pony explained. “Only a small adjustment is needed to the helm.

“If I may speak, your highness?” Iynx spoke up. “We should be cautious, but I recommend at least investigating. Whatever it is could help us.”

“Even wreckage could potentially provide us with components we desperately need,” Silver Wrench added.”

“I understand what the Commander is trying to infer, and I very much concur”, Geneser too agreed.

Twilight closed her eyes in thought, before nodding. “Very well, set course for your mysterious object, but be cautious; I don’t want a repeat of recent events, understood?”

“Yes, your highness!”

Deep Space, a month from the Harmony’s current position

A small green coloured ship floated lifelessly through space. The ship was quite bulbous in appearance with two engines protruding closely either side of the hull. Very little power seemed to be flowing through the ship, only the odd flicker danced across its darkened frame.

Inside was not much better. Objects floated freely due to the lack of gravity and few lights lit the interior. However, at the very back of the vessel what little power was left was being channelled into one particular system.

And it is here that the single survivor slept in ice, waiting to be found.

Author's Notes:

For all of those who own Space Engineers, I am doing a thing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugd2uNPehxw&feature=youtu.be

I'm not exactly a master builder so the ship isn't 100% accurate, though it is the biggest I have built by far (It took me two days to build!).

9 - The Ship

Commander Iynx’s Personal Log, August 19th 3382 AD.

It has very nearly been a month since we first detected the mysterious object, and as predicted we are closing in on it rapidly. I am told that it should soon be mysterious no longer, as it will come fully into range of our damaged sensors. Once that happens we should be able to identify it; will it be a ship? A station? Some ancient piece of technology left behind by some ancient precursor race? That last one was Nimble Star’s theory, but it’s just as likely to be a sensor ghost or anything equally underwhelming.

Oh well, at least it has given something for the crew to focus on other than… everything else. For a while it may feel like we are actually exploring and seeking as we were supposed to do rather than simply surviving out here. There are actually a few quotes from griffon philosophers that could be given to this situation, too bad I’m not overly into that crap.

If whatever is out there is a ship, I hope it's friendly, we could all use a morale boost.

Then again, however damaged our sensors are they have shown the object has moved very little. Wouldn’t a ship have used FTL to leave by now? There is very little else of interest here, hay, even a sleeper ship running on thaumatic drive would have moved further. I think we are proof of that by this point.

I suppose only time will tell.

ES Harmony, Mess Hall

“I suppose only time will tell,” Iynx finished with a sigh.

The Commander was sitting in one of the ship's two mess halls, though it was the only one with a sealed environment, the other missing a few windows and part of the roof. This mess hall was located on the left hand side of the ship and was situated towards the bottom of the saucer at the very edges, and the window Iynx sat at offered a vast view of outer space.

Iynx pressed on the pad she held in her talons and ended the recording, a copy being saved to the pad and another being uploaded into the ship’s computer automatically along with all the other logs. Iynx placed the pad down onto the table and leaned back in her seat, her gaze turning towards and piercing out the window as if it could cause a micro fracture in the glass.

“If you’re trying to break the window, you might want to try a torpedo. It’s designed to withstand a lot,” Princess Twilight remarked, still without her regalia as Iynx noted, the only set she brought aboard being little more than a smouldering mess.

“Princess,” Iynx arose from her chair at her approach. “What do I owe the pleasure?”

“No need to stand on ceremony, I was just touring the ship seeing how my little ponies are coping,” Twilight explained.

“Not just ponies here, ma’am,” Iynx smirked, sitting back down.

“It’s a turn a phrase,” Twilight rolled her eyes in a very non-regal manner, sitting on her haunches the other side of the table. “You look tired, how are you holding up?”

“Tired?” Iynx blinked. “I suppose I am a little. Rough night, that’s all.”

“Nightmare?”

Iynx shrugged. “Perhaps, don’t remember it though. Doubt I’m the only one anyway.”

Twilight hummed. “It didn’t happen to involve singing sunflowers, did it?”

Iynx looked rather confused. “Um, excuse me?”

Twilight chuckled. “Never mind, just… reminiscing.”

“Alright…” Iynx said slowly. “It’s just a shame Princess Luna can’t reach our dreams all the way out here. Anyway, I was just adding to my personal log.”

“So I overheard. I must thank you for the suggestion to begin my own, it’s kind of like keeping a diary.”

“I find it hard to imagine you having a diary,” Iynx stated curiously.

“I did once,” Twilight responded. “A very long time ago, and it wasn’t just for me either. Still though, I imagine these logs are going to become an important part of history when we get home.”

“I can already feel the reporters stalking me,” Iynx shuddered. “I mean, launching the first FTL starship was already a big deal, but when this story breaks… Most won’t believe what they’re hearing.”

“It’s a once in a lifetime even to experience,” Twilight said. “Though for me it’s more like a Saturday, a very long Saturday albeit but still a Saturday.”

Iynx raised an eyebrow, though with a slight smirk. “What’s so great about Saturday?”

“Everything happens on a Saturday!” Princess Twilight laughed. “It gets rather… episodic at times.”

Iynx chuckled with Twilight for a few moments, before it died down. The Commander’s eyes moved over the mess hall as she looked towards the other inhabitants. There were very few at that time, just a few off duty ensigns and two other officers.

Silver Wrench and Geneser.

“Have you ever noticed those two spend quite a bit of time together?” Iynx asked.

“What, like you and Nimble Star?” Twilight smirked.

Iynx looked a little bemused. “And? He’s been a good friend since the academy, what of it?”

There was no deception from her, as Twilight noted. “Fair enough, so why is it odd they do?”

“Nimble and I talk regularly, making small talk or working on something ship related, occasionally over a meal in here when necessary. But those two always eat together, when off duty they are very rarely apart.”

Twilight gave a knowing smile. “So you noticed too? Cadance would have a field day with them.”

“So they…?” Iynx’s eyes widened. “Seriously? Silver Wrench and Geneser? He’s an engineer who seriously loves his job and she’s a zebra shamaness for crying out loud! What do they have in common?”

“Opposites attract, as some would say,” Twilight pointed out. “Besides, I don’t thinks its official or anything… yet.”

Iynx groaned. “Well as long as we don’t have a mini Silver Wrench who can only speak in rhymes running about I’ll leave them be…”

“I’m sure you will live, but if you are feeling left out I am sure Nimble Star will-“

“I’m going to stop you there,” Iynx deadpanned. “Where did you get your teasing streak from? Your mother or father?”

“Neither,” Twilight grinned. “I learnt a lot from my mentor.”

“I’ve heard the rumors,” Iynx grimaced, before glancing back to Geneser and Silver Wrench. “I wonder what they are talking about…”

Over at the other table, the unicorn and zebra were unaware of their onlookers, Silver Wrench had a childlike grin on his face while Geneser herself looked rather annoyed.

“Come on,” Silver Wrench pleaded. “Just one sentence, that is all I ask.”

“To not speak in rhyme, you ask of me,” Geneser glared at him. “I’m sorry, but it’s just not to be.”

“Come on,” Silver Wrench repeated. “You know you want to, I see the rebellious look in your eyes.”

“It is not a look of rebellion you witness, but disapproval to this childish business,” she dismissed.

“Please?”

“Stop this silliness, before I fall into a fit of dizziness.”

“Just one-“

“No matter how much you are maddening, it is simply not happening.”

“-sentence is all I-”

“Stop this, and allow me a state of bliss.”

“-ask for,” Silver Wrench finished.

“You have to be the most maddening stallion on this ship and I will not listen to this any longer,” Geneser decreed.

Silver Wrench sighed in defeat. “Very well, I’m sorry I… wait a second?”

“Yes?” Geneser asked casually.

“You didn’t rhyme then…” he realised.

“Didn’t I?” Geneser took a sip of her glass of water, a small smirk on her face.

“You did it again! You’re not rhyming!”

“You must be imagining things, Silver my dear,” Geneser stated. “Perhaps a result of your jeer?”

Silver stared at her for a few moments, before snorting in amusement. “Huh, I wanted this, but somehow you made me feel like the one being made fun of…”

Geneser gave a light hearted chuckle, with a small wink added in.

Silver smiled at her, leaning back in his chair slightly as he entered thought.

“Say, Geneser? Would you like to-“

He was interrupted as the intercom on the wall began to beep, and Silver Wrench and Geneser looked over towards the device as Princess Twilight answered it.

“Princess Twilight here,” she spoke into the intercom.

“Your highness, this is the bridge,” Nimble Star’s voice spoke out from the device. “Our sensors are finally beginning to pick the object up in greater detail, you may want to get up here.”

“On my way,” Twilight turned off the intercom, motioning towards Iynx to follow.

Twilight exited the mess hall, and as Iynx went to follow she passed on by Silver Wrench and Geneser’s table.

“If you two lovebirds are finished, we may be plenty busy soon,” Iynx smirked as she passed.

The unicorn and zebra both blushed as the griffon exited shortly behind the Princess.

“Nimble, report!” Iynx ordered as both she and Princess Twilight stepped onto the bridge.

“We’ve entered sensor range, we’re getting data in, more than enough to put it up on the view screen,” Nimble Star reported. “Orders?”

“Any sign of activity?” Twilight asked.

“None so far, but we are still receiving data so that may change,” Nimble responded.

Twilight nodded, looking towards the view screen.

“Alright then, put it up.”

The view screen shifted to an image of a small green coloured ship floated lifelessly through space. The ship was quite bulbous in appearance with two engines protruding closely either side of the hull. As the image panned it could be the ship had engines at the back of the ship as well as the two nacelles, though none were alight. They could also tell from the windows the ship was very, very small indeed. Around five to eight rooms maximum.

“A ship?” Nimble snorted. "What were the chances of running into a ship out here at sub-light?"

“Low,” Iynx muttered. “And look how small it is, could that thing really have FTL?”

“Technology does sometimes tend to get smaller the more advanced it gets,” Twilight noted. “It is possible it could have FTL capabilities.”

“Well I haven’t a clue,” Nimble sighed. “The ship, according to these readings, is running on minimal power. However, just like the ships that attacked us it isn’t magical in any way, none of the systems I can see are.”

“It certainly doesn’t look like the ships that attacked us,” Iynx observed.

“We could learn so much from a ship like this,” Twilight said in slight awe. “A ship able to run without magical assistance… Any life signs?”

Nimble pressed a few buttons and narrowed his eyes in concentration.

“There is still some interference so I can’t get an exactly accurate reading, though if this is correct I am reading a single life sign, maybe more but it seems to be only one right now.”

“One?” Twilight said in surprise. “Even with a ship that small I imagine there would be at least a few others on boards.”

“There is something else, Princess,” Nimble spun his seat to face her. “According to these scans, the hull matches up with the fragment we recovered from that debris field.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “The Sharin?”

“Potentially,” Nimble responded.

Twilight focused all her attention to the ship and statistics appearing on the view screen, taking in every detail.

“How long until we arrive?”

“A day,” Nimble stated.

Twilight nodded. “Prepare a boarding party in the meantime, I want to get on that thing.”

“Are you sure that is wise?” Iynx asked.

“They are on low power, drifting through space. They may be in trouble and I intend to help them if possible. Making at least one friend out here would be a victory in my book.”

Iynx nodded. “Understood, we’ll be ready on arrival.”

One year ago

A Sharin Scout Ship flew through space at warp six, on route to their homeworld many light-years away. The scout ship was a small vessel capable of warp six cruising speed and warp nine for short burst when necessary. Currently six crewmembers were aboard, all located on the bridge at the front of the ship.

The Sharin themselves were equine in nature, though lacked fur and had rather bony facial features with sharp looking points at the end of their ears. The crew wore black coloured uniforms with some dark blue highlighting.

“Status?” The Captain asked his tactical officer, who was at his station.

“Ship is running smoothly, deflector is at a hundred percent and everything is well.”

“Very good,” The Captain nodded. “We’ll be back home in no time.”

The helm officer shook his head. “The quicker, the better. Next time I better be assigned to a cruiser, this ship is far too cramped for my liking.”

“I don’t know, I think this ship is rather… charming,” the tactical officer remarked. “Besides, most of it was spent in cryo.”

“That’s the worst part,” he rebuked. “Give me a bed any day.”

“Come on, what’s a few weeks? You’d complain even more if we only could travel at warp one.”

The other four crew remained focused on their stations as the helm officer turned to the tactical officer.

“You would think that, you-”

A small alarm from the helm caught all their attentions, and the helm officer spun himself back around to see why it had sounded.

“There is a small destabilisation in the warp bubble, adjusting antimatter flow to compensate.”

More alarms began to sound as the while ship began to shake.

“No effect!” the helms officer reported with increasing alarm. “We’re going to shake ourselves apart!”

The Captain leapt from his chair and over to the help, looking over the readings.

“We need a solution, now!”

The chief engineer quickly left the bridge, heading towards the core towards the back of the ship.

“Captain!” the tactical officer shouted. “There has been a malfunction the warps core’s antimatter containment, adjusting the flow has only increased the issue! If we don’t fix this we risk a warp core breach!”

“Shut it down!” The Captain ordered.

“Attempting an emergency core shut down,” the tactical officer reported, face scrunching in concentration.

“We’re slowing. The core is beginning its shut down sequence,” the helms officer reported with a relieved tone.

The warp effect out the view screen began to dissipate as normal space came into view.

But then more alarms began to blare out loud.

“Captain!” the tactical officer reported. “There’s a power surge throughout the ship, I don’t think I can-”

Sparks burst from the bridge’s various panels, quickly followed by explosions rocketing throughout the vessel.

The ship jumped out of warp in the middle of space, starting to drift as its engines cut out.

…

The tactical officer awoke slowly, his vision fading in and out. Finally he came fully to consciousness, and a quick examination of himself revealed little injuries but a nasty bruise on his head from a piece of debris that had knocked him out.

Slowly and painfully he got to his hooves, and a loom around the bridge revealed the devastation. Everything was dark with little light to allow him vision, most of it coming from a few small fires. Most of the consoles were burnt out and wires hung from the ceiling, most notable was the smell of death in the increasingly stale air.

“Computer,” he croaked out. “Status report.”

A monotone voice spoke, albeit among static. “Hull integrity at twelve percent, life support is failing, engines are offline, communications are offline. Eighty three point three percent crew fatalities.”

“Eighty... that’s all but me,” the officer realised.

A quick search confirmed this, he found the bodies of the other four inhabitants of the bridge, and he could guess the final was in engineering.

“Warning, life support failing,” the computer warned.

The tactical officer had little time to mourn, he made his way out of the bridge and down the corridor, passing by two doors and going through the one straight at the end. Just as predicted he found the chief engineers body in there, the warp core itself was heavily damaged, though thankfully inert. He moved past here too, right to the room at the very back of the ship. Two large windows either side gave a view of empty space, and at the end a cluster of cryogenic pods waited.

“Computer, divert all power to cryogenic pod one, and save power so it will last for as long as possible.”

“Acknowledged.”

There was a chance he would never be found, but his people would search when the vessel failed to return home. So there was a chance, and he would take it.

As the ship began to darken further, the tactical officer stepped into the cryogenic pod and breathed steadily in and out as it closed down onto him. The air chilled as ice began to grip onto his skin, soon his eyes closed and consciousness left him.

Author's Notes:

Here is the Sharin Scout Ship:

I've made the decision that while Equus will have thaumatic drive and FTL, all other non-magical more traditional races have warp drive and impulse full Star Trek style. The Sharin are loosely based on Vulcans after all... just without the hardcore logic.

10 - Xal

Princess Twilight’s Personal Log, August 20th, 3382 AD

Well, this is the moment of truth. In a few minutes we will rendezvous with the starship we discovered, there is still no sign of movement from the vessel and it remains at minimal power. If the hull analysis is to be believed, this ship belongs to the same species as the one whose ship was destroyed by the same aliens that damaged our own vessel.

The Sharin.

They appeared vaguely equine in the distress call that dragged us into this mess, and I am eager to meet them face-to-face. We could learn so much from one-another! They don’t appear to use magic, but if their systems are anything like those hostile ships then they are far more advanced than us! Imagine, what could their technology mixed with our own magic bring about? How advanced would both our worlds become? The sheer possibilities make me squeal as if I’m a filly again, or want to at least.

That is, if we find more than mere corpses. We still detect what appears to be a single life sign, but that still could turn out to be false given our state and the state of their own ship.

I hope that isn’t the case.

The ES Harmony slowed as it approached the small drifting starship just ahead. Little light was coming from the green coloured vessel, and those viewing it had to wonder if anything could truly be alive within. The ship seemed so lifeless, and on closer viewing signs of damage were obvious, charring along the hull where fires had burned were visible. However, there didn’t appear to be any hull breaches, and despite there being no breathable atmosphere within, there was still some power being directed to something in the very back of the ship.

The ES Harmony came to a complete halt a short distance from the ship, looming over the vastly smaller vessel.

“Any changes?” Twilight asked, standing in front of the captain’s chair.

“None,” Iynx reported. “It’s as dead as it was when we first came across it.

Twilight hummed, studying the ship being displayed on the viewscreen. “It shows signs of damage, any weapons signatures?”

Iynx shook her head. “Not from our scans, however limited they are we should have been able to pick up some trace if there were any.”

“Then what happened to it?” Nimble Star asked. “An accident maybe?”

“Perhaps,” Iynx shrugged. “But we won’t find out standing around here.”

“I agree,” Twilight stated. “Iynx, Silver Wrench, Geneser and I will head over to the vessel and see what we can find; Nimble Star, you have the bridge in our absence.”

“Aye, Ma’am,” Nimble Star nodded.

“We taking the transporter or a shuttle?” Iynx asked.

“Transporter,” Twilight responded. “We want to be in and out quickly if something goes wrong, we’ll keep a constant lock on us just in case.”

“Understood,” Iynx nodded. “I’ll grab the others, we’ll also retrieve some E.V. Suits for us, you did pack an alicorn sized E.V. Suit aboard the ship, right?”

Twilight smirked. “I do like to be prepared.”

Transporter Room

The transporter room was made up of two parts, first was the control where a crewmember stood on station behind a console, secondly a door led into a circular chamber which held a large crystal in the centre, metallic panels lining the walls enchanted to increase the power of the spell held within the crystal. The crystals themselves were unique in that they could only be produced in the Crystal Empire, and were capable of being designed to contain a powerful spell for one’s usage.

In this case, the spell was teleportation, the magic donated to the crystal by one Princess of Friendship.

“Are you sure it’s safe right now?” Iynx asked silver wrench cautiously as she placed on her E.V. Suit.

“It’s fine,” Silver Wrench assured. “I made sure the systems were repaired nicely, besides even without those systems the spell would still work, the only problem would be if the crystal itself was damaged. Which it wasn’t.”

“I know that,” Iynx rolled her eyes. “But we may need to be out in a hurry, those systems increase the spells range, effectiveness and decreases the time taken to charge. It’s useful to have.”

“You worry too much,” Silver stated, passing the griffon her helmet. “Nopony else is complaining.”

“I’m expressing a concern, not complaining,” she deadpanned.

“Are you two finished?” Geneser asked. “I don’t believe Silver would leave the transported diminished.”

“See,” Silver smirked. “Geneser agrees with me.”

Iynx’s smirk was far more predatory than Silver Wrench’s. “Well… she has a reason to be.”

“I…” Silver Wrench blushed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Uh huh…” Iynx was unconvinced, to say the least.

The sound of somepony clearing their throat caught their attention, the alicorn responsible was in a larger E.V. Suit covering over her entire body with her helmet held in her magical aura; the only thing that wouldn’t be covered while in the suit was her horn, just as was with Silver Wrench’s suit while the others would be covered completely.

“Is everything ready?” Princess Twilight asked the transported chief.

“Yes, your highness,” she responded. “Ready on your order.”

Twilight nodded to the mare, turning to her companions next.

“And you?”

“We’re all ready, Twilight,” Iynx confirmed.

“Right,” Twilight said. “Helmets on, when we’re on the pad we’ll be teleported right over to what appears to be the bridge. Understood.”

Confirmations came from the group, and Twilight placed on her helmet and led the others into the transported pad as her HUD booted up. Her HUD showed that oxygen levels were stable and the suit was sealed, her vitals were stable and the IFF tracker displayed her three companions.

The doors shut behind them, and as they got into position around the crystal it began to light up with a familiar lavender aura which spread throughout the chamber and over all four of its occupants. After a few seconds of charging, the four disappeared in a flash of lavender light, only to reappear in a pitch black room aboard the alien vessel.

“Bring lights and magnetic hooves online,” Twilight ordered.

Twilight felt herself be dragged down to the floor by her magnetic hooves on the suit, allowing her to walk around despite the lack of gravity. The others had done the same, and one by one they brought their bright helmet lights online, allowing them to see around the darkened room.

As they surveyed the bridge, burnt out consoles could be spotted as some debris floated freely through the vacuum consuming the ship. Twilight’s gaze briefly focused on to what seemed to be the captain’s chair in the centre of the bridge, before moving on. She looked directly behind the captain’s chair, where an open doorway led into a corridor beyond.

“There seems to be a way to the rest of the ship over here,” Twilight informed the others.

Twilight examined the hallway, Iynx joining her as Geneser and Silver Wrench continued to examine the bridge.

“This ship is damaged heavily,” Geneser spoke out. “I can only imagine the crew suffocated helplessly.”

“Then where are the crew?” Iynx asked.

Twilight looked at The Commander. “Asking question like that are just asking for tr-”

A shout cut her off, and all of them span to see Silver Wrench scramble away from something floating across the centre of the bridge.

A mummified body.

“I just turned around and its face was right in mine!” Silver Wrench shouted. “I mean, what the hay?!”

Geneser approached the corpse, which was wearing a black uniform with blue highlighting. It was recognisably equine, and was largely intact due to the lack of an atmosphere. Geneser brought up her right foreleg, where her suit had an added medical scanner. She passed it up and down the corpse, moving to check the results when it finished.

“He appears to be male,” Geneser stated. “A strong bone structure, not at all frail.”

The zebra moved on through some more of the results before speaking up again.

“Cause of death was electrocution most likely from a damaged console, which, when it exploded, burnt him like a piece of charcoal,” she stated, gesturing to the burns along the front of his barrel up to his sunken face.

“Lovely,” Iynx deadpanned.

After a search of the room, and further down into the corridor and two side rooms it led to, they counted a total of four bodies that all died the same way.

After the search was completed and they made a log of all they had found thus far, before meeting back in the corridor.

“So, that’s this corridor, the environmental systems and shield systems explored along with this corridor and the bridge,” Iynx recapped. “What’s through door number three I wonder?”

“Only one way to find out,” Twilight said, examining the third door which, like the previous two in the corridor, was closed.

The Princess’ horn lit up brightly as she grabbed hold of the door and forced it open, allowing the group access further into the ship.

“Alright, I know an engine room when I see one,” Silver whistled, looking up and the strange looking engine.

The engine in question was a large cylinder which seemed lifeless and dead much like the rest of the ship. However, some other machinery in there seemed to glow softly, indicating they were either receiving or producing power.

“That’s their main core?” Iynx asked. “It’s a lot smaller than ours.”

“It’s completely deactivated,” Silver noted, moving to the online machinery while passing a fifth corpse.

The light seemed to be coming from a dim display, the language displayed wasn’t in any form that Silver Wrench could read. Thus, he had his suit scan the sentences and run them through several translation spells, allowing the suit to then display what it could successfully translate on his helmet’s HUD.

“They call the main reactor in the middle a ‘warp core’. Logs indicate it was shut down after a power surge, one that likely caused the death of the crew. However, auxiliary generators are giving off minimal power and sending said power to a cryogenic pod in the room beyond this one.”

“Cryogenic pod?” Twilight’s eyes widened. “Somepony is still alive in here?”

“It would seem that way,” Silver Wrench nodded, before humming in contemplation. “To be honest, even without magic their life support systems don’t seem to be all that different from ours. I think I may be able to bring them online. Air will be a bit stale though.”

“Do it,” Twilight agreed. “In the meantime, Iynx and Geneser follow me. Let’s go see about this survivor.”

As they left Silver Wrench to get to work, Twilight opened up one of the next doors and a short walk later they found themselves in the very back room of the ship. Two large windows sat either side, out of one they could see a great view of the nearby ES Harmony.

Or at least it would have been a great view, had the ship not been as roughed up as it had been then. It certainly didn’t currently look like a brand new starship.

Across the front wall sat various control systems, and opposite lining all across the back wall were several cryogenic pods. Most were open, dark and silent, but one was still lit up. The one in question was the only one closed and with frost obscuring the occupant within from view.

“Silver Wrench, we’ve located the survivor,” Twilight informed the engineer over the suits radio, moving towards the pod and examining the console. “If my translation spell is correct, he has been inside for one year. However, his vitals seem to be stable.”

“Roger that,” Silver responded. “I’m bringing life support online in just a couple minutes, wait for me.”

Twilight confirmed, and soon after the estimated time had elapsed the sound of air flowing into the ship made itself known. A small amount of gravity also took hold, floating debris falling to the floor with a clang. The three in the cryogenic chamber looked between one another, and then Twilight clasped her magic around her helmet, preparing a spell just in case there wasn’t another air outside to protect herself.

She lifted off her helmet, and was able to take a deep breath of, admittedly stale, air afterwards. The Princess breathed a sigh of relief as the other two followed suit, though they continued to use their helmets to light up the place.

“Alright, stand ready. I’m opening it,” Twilight stated, pressing some commands on the console by the pod.

The pod made several mechanical noises as it deactivated, and the thawing process began. The ice melted away, revealing a sleeping alien within. He wore the same uniform as the others, though similar to a pony he lacked fur and had rather bony facial features with sharp looking points at the end of their ears.

After the thawing process finished, the pod slowly opened up and the alien within wearily opened his eyes.

His eyes passed over his three rescuers, and he groggily said something in his native language.

“Hold on, I need to translate,” Twilight assured, knowing he didn’t understand but hoping her tone would place him at ease.

Her horn glowed brightly and enveloped all of those present.

“There, can you understand me?” Twilight asked.

“Yes,” he answered. “I can, thank you for releasing me. But… how did you do that with the translation?”

Twilight chuckled. “It’s a long story. Who are you?”

The alien slowly, with the assistance of Geneser, arose from the pod and got to his hooves. He studied his rescuers momentarily, cautiously.

“In a dire situation you were thrust,” Geneser noted. “Do not worry, in us you can trust.”

“My name is Xal, I was the tactical officer aboard this Scout Ship, the Sharin Starship Serenity. Now, who are you? And how long was I out?”

Twilight gave him a welcoming smile. “It’s a pleasure, Xal. I am Princess Twilight Sparkle. And this is Commander Iynx and Chief Medical Officer Geneser.”

“Greetings,” he nodded to them, though eying them with some suspicion. Then, however, one thing she said registered in his mind.

“Princess?!” he blurted. “You’re royalty?”

Twilight chuckled. “I am. Now, what happened here, Xal?”

“I…” Xal sighed. “We were on route home when our warp drive malfunctioned, I attempted to shut it down and bring us to impulse power, but an overload killed my crew. I’m all that’s left. How long was I out?”

“One year,” Twilight said. “If the translation spell was correct.”

“A year?” Xal asked. “I knew being found was a slim hope, I’m just glad… wait. Spell?”

“As the Princess said, it’s a long story,” Iynx spoke up. “Look, our ship is pretty beat up and we’re stuck at sub-light.”

“You are?” Xal asked, getting nods in return. “Well then, since you’re my only hope of leaving this place, feel free to scavenge what parts you need to repair your warp drive.”

“Thank you, Xal,” Twilight bowed her head to him. “However, we don’t have a warp drive, we have an FTL drive.”

“FTL?” he asked. “Does it use matter and antimatter?”

“Yes,” Twilight stated. “But it uses something else I know you don’t have, another form of energy.”

“Another form?”

“It’s a-”

“Long story?” Xal finished. “I gathered that. Anyway, our ship uses warp drive, which runs through the nacelles, and impulse, which runs through the impulse engines, to move; as do all the races we’ve come across.”

“We use thaumatic drive and FTL, which both run through the nacelles,” Iynx explained. “You would have to ask our engineer if you’re interested in the specifics.”

“I see…” he stated. “Well, I have a lot of questions, and I assume you have many for me too?”

“I must admit, I do,” Twilight said as she tried not to grin like a filly. “You’re the first alien life we’ve met face-to-face. This is quite an exciting moment for us!”

“The only one?” Xal asked in disbelief. “But… you are all of three different species?”

“Yes,” Twilight nodded. “But we evolved on the same planet, along with many other species.”

“I… OK, many more questions just sprang to mind. But I believe we should stick to with our species names here, and discuss the rest back on your vessel.”

“Agreed,” Twilight stated. “Well, I’m a pony of the alicorn subspecies. Commander Iynx here is a griffon, and Geneser is a zebra.”

“I see. Well, I myself am a sharin.”

“We know, we have heard of your species before, rather recently actually…”

“You have?” Xal blinked. “Where?”

“I…” Twilight grinned sheepishly. “It’s a long story.”

“I’m going to be hearing that a lot, I feel,” Xal deadpanned.

Author's Notes:

I've decided to change the specifications of the Celestial Class, as a defence ship as well as Equus' first it doesn't make sense to have a crew of 100, so I've slimmed it down to just nine crew. The ship generally goes on patrols and then returns to base where the crew sleep, but if for whatever reason the ship is out for longer there is a cryo bay near the bridge. Aside from that the ship contains a shield control room, two escape pod bays, two airlocks and a main engineering; it is very small, barley larger than the Sharin Scout. I've also made it less rocket shaped so it is less sleek and more... primitive, bulky and basic. The Harmony is really their first decent starship.

The Celestial Class:

Out of all the ships I've made in Space Engineers based on this fic, only the Sharin Scout Ship and the Celestial are to scale. The Harmony and Raider will be smaller than they should be simply so my computer doesn't melt.

After the raider ship is done I will release all the ships on steam workshop both separately and together as a world save.

11 - Close Encounters

Xal’s Personal Log, Equus Year 3382 AD, August 27th.

This is my first log aboard the ship of my rescuers, and I thought it prudent to use their time keeping system since it will be logged in their computer and likely be of keen interest to those back on their world seeking to study this voyage.

Their first interstellar voyage with faster-than-light travel, I might add.

Their lack of experience in the depths of space shows, but I can’t help but be amazed at what I have thus far seen.

Magic.

Or at least, that’s what the translation stated when we first discussed that particular topic. And I had to believe it. The things I’ve seen them do certainly bring back memories of sorcerers within our own fiction, but never anything real. And yet here I am, with an alien species with abilities I can only really describe as ‘magic’. That even seems to be the actual name outside the translation, now that I am endeavouring to learn their language to no longer have to rely on any translations.

Telekinesis would be one thing, but their abilities spread far beyond.

They described controlling the elements of their world, natural elements as well as… other elements I am not so clear on. Either way, the wide range of abilities of the unicorn, the ability to control the weather and interact with simple clouds as if they were solid objects with the pegasi…

And the earth ponies…

I have experienced that for myself.

Their magic, it is doing something to me. At first I simply began feeling an alien sensation within myself, and an examination by the good doctor revealed that I myself may be developing magical abilities, specifically that of earth ponies. It’s very small right now, a slight connection to natural ground like dirt, and the ability to pick things up with my hooves.

Some sort of low level levitation spell, as I am told. This would have made our species’ development far easier for previous generations.

With the advances we could bring to them, and their magic potentially being exposed to the rest of our species, I sense a time of great change coming ahead for both of our worlds.

But that is a discussion for tomorrow, for now repairs are almost complete. With Mr Wrench’s assistance I have been able to convert some of my ship’s warp core components to be compatible with their FTL drive, the engines are similar in design but have notable differences that provided a hurdle, namely the magic. Their magic would interfere with my technology’s systems and eventually burn out those we integrated, before they were modified to accept the energy.

The patch job is not ideal, and we won’t be able to achieve high speeds the ship would usually be capable of, but it will turn the journey from decades, to around six months.

If it works, that is.

ES Harmony

Xal held the pad he was writing on with his hooves, and once the log was finished and uploaded, he couldn’t help but hold out one hoof and just let the pad hang there. He watched it intently, impossibly clinging to his hoof as if by magnets, and yet of you really squinted you could see a small glow where the pad contacted the hoof.

“I could get used to this,” he commented.

A chime came from his assigned quarter’s entrance, and with a call of admittance it opened to reveal a red coated unicorn.

“Morning Xal,” Silver Wrench greeted. “I just wanted to let you know that the repairs are complete, and the core is powered up. Now we simply need to pray for the best.”

“Pray? Does your kind have gods?” Xal enquired out of curiosity.

“Some,” Silver stated. “The old gods from Queen Platinum’s era are still worshipped by some, and other smaller groups worship the alicorns, much to their chagrin I hear. But most have stopped believing in such things, myself included. I think it’s likely because of the princesses not believing, which in itself is because they themselves have been worshipped as such.”

Xal nodded in understanding. “I see. So none of the crew believes in such things?”

“Oh no,” Silver shook his head. “Geneser believes in the zebrican gods, I was mostly referring to ponies. Zebras still are quite religious, as are griffons with their gods of war. What about you?”

“We have our gods,” Xal stated. “I’m more on the fence.”

“Right… why are you asking about this again?”

“Ah,” Xal said, placing the pad onto the table. “I’m simply interested in your world’s culture, which is unusually diverse with the amount of species living on it.”

“We are a pretty ragtag group,” Silver Wrench smirked.

“Honestly, it’s amazing you made it this far with such a chaotic amount of races on one world,” Xal commented.

“We had some close calls,” Silver replied. “But one thing we are good at is making harmony from chaos, as Princess Twilight would be happy to explain in more depth I’m sure.”

“So ‘Harmony’ is the ship’s name for a reason, then?”

“Of course,” Silver Wrench stated with a nod.

“I must say, I find your culture rather fascinating,” Xal commented. “There is much to learn about you.”

“We could say the same for you,” Silver responded. “Don’t be surprised if the Princess gives you an unintentional interrogation in her eagerness to learn more about you.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Xal stated. “On another note, I’ve noticed that magic interferes with non-magical systems that aren’t designed to deal with the energy, like my ship’s own systems for example….”

“And?”

“Well, I also noticed your weapons don’t appear particularly magical in nature. Surprising, given the advantage it would give.”

“We tried,” Silver Wrench stated. “We have ways of containing large scale destruction spells like we do with teleportation spells for the transporters, but it was far too unstable. The beam would last a little while, but then degenerate and the crystal would be destroyed. We tried other avenues with similar results, so in the end we had to go a different route.”

“Phaser technology,” Xal noted. “We prefer plasma beams ourselves.”

“Yeah, I saw when I poked around that ship of yours, the Serenity,” Silver stated, just as an alarm blared and red lights flashed throughout the ship.

“All hooves, this is Princess Twilight,” Twilight’s voice came over the intercom. “Battle stations.”

“Battle stations?!” Silver exclaimed.

Xal jumped to his hooves, and quickly made his way towards the door before turning back to the engineer.

“You best get to engineering, I will check on the bridge.”

Silver Wrench nodded, and the two parted ways.

Silver Wrench entered a nearby elevator, heading down to engineering as Xal headed in the opposite direction.

Xal ran through the corridors, passing by the various and colourful variety of species Equus was home to, all rushing to their stations. A few decks up, he drew close to the bridge where all the action was rapidly unfolding.

“How far are they?” Twilight demanded to know as Commander Iynx worked her console.

“Two minutes, tops,” she responded. “Orders?”

Twilight was about to respond, when Xal stepped onto the bridge, all eyes drawing towards him.

“Princess,” Xal urgently greeted. “What’s the situation?”

“It’s the ships that attacked us,” Twilight stated. “They’re back.”

“Tracking us all this way,” Nimble Star grumbled. “They’re persistent, I’ll give them that.”

“Time?” Xal asked.

“Two minutes,” Twilight informed him. “Less now.”

“Ma’am, we aren’t in any state for a fight. We wouldn’t last long against those four ships!” Iynx reported urgently. “Our ship isn’t up to it, never mind the damage when we consider we were outmatched in the first place at full strength!”

“Then we flee,” Twilight stated.

“FTL is already charging,” Nimble reported. “But with the recent repairs things are going slow, they will be on us before we can jump!”

“I may be able to help,” Xal stated to the Princess directly. “Give me tactical.”

Iynx looked towards Princess Twilight, and when the latter nodded, Iynx gave her station over to Xal.

Xal began rapidly working on the console, the panel showing that they had mere moments left.

“I’m connecting to my ship, and with my command codes I can manually redirect power from life support towards the weapons, setting them to auto fire on anything but the Harmony,” he explained, pressing the least button and looking toward the view screen.

The Serenity went slightly darker in places, but the ship’s weapons blinked online just as four vessels warped in just a short distance away.

“These are the ships that attacked you?” Xal examined them intently. “That explains a lot.”

He didn’t get time to explain further as Iynx quickly took back her station when the starships began to approach, charging weapons.

The ES Harmony turned away from the approaching ships, and under the power of its thaumatic drive began to flee in the opposite direction. The ship’s weapons charged and red beams began to fire from the aft, including a couple of torpedoes that rushed towards the enemy ships.

The four vessels directed power to their forward shields to absorb the incoming volley, which they did effortlessly. They returned fire, blue beams arching back towards the Harmony.

They passed by the derelict Serenity, uninterested in the seemingly dead hulk.

That was until green beams of energy shot forwards from the ship and pierced right through one vessel’s hull and out the other end, it having neglected its side shielding for its forwards emitters.

Fire erupted from the damaged vessel, and as it tried to compensate several shots from the ES Harmony met their mark and damaged the vessel further, weapons fire making gouges into the hull and exposing corridors to space.

“One of the vessels has taken severe damage!” Iynx reported in elation. “The plan worked!”

“Focus fire on the damaged ship,” Twilight ordered.

Several more shots fired towards the troubled starship, but its buddies moved into position to take up shots from both the Harmony and the Serenity.

“Ma’am, the other vessels are moving to intercept incoming fire from the damaged ship,” Iynx reported. “We’ve lost our opening.”

Twilight looked towards the helm. “Status, Nimble Star?”

“A few more seconds!”

Outside, the four vessels focused away from the Harmony for a moment, moving their sights towards the Sharin Scout Ship turned heavy plasma turret. The Serenity continued to fire on the incoming ships, doing more damage to their shields than the Harmony had done.

As such, one of the vessels locked onto the Serenity and unleashed a volley of weapons fire, including torpedoes towards the Scout Ship.

The beams hit first, trailing along the vessel and causing fire to erupt across the hull as the few remaining vestiges of power began to flicker out.

Then the torpedoes hit.

Without any shields to protect it, the torpedoes ripped into the Serenity and tore it to pieces, debris flying in all direction amidst a gigantic explosion as the remaining unused antimatter held in the storage tanks and not yet transferred to the Harmony ignited.

“The Serenity has been destroyed!” Iynx reported. “The vessels are targeting us again!”

“Nimble!” Twilight shouted desperately.

“FTL drive charged and ready!” he shouted back.

“Engage!”

The Harmony’s engines flared up as the FTL activated; there was a slight imbalance in the field as it formed around them and space shimmered, but despite this, just as more weapons fire narrowly missed the hull, the ship jolted forwards and jumped to FTL.

“FTL achieved!” Nimble reported. “We’re under way!”

Clapping and cheers rippled through the group on the bridge, relief flowing through them all.

“Your highness,” Xal addressed Twilight, who still seemed a little tenser than the rest. “I recommend we stay on alert for the time being.”

“I agree,” Twilight stated. “Their damaged friend will not delay them long, and of course they followed us this far…”

“They will continue,” Xal nodded in agreement. “They are a tenacious group.”

“You know of them, don’t you?” Twilight asked with an arched eyebrow.

“I… yes,” Xal stated. “I do. They are a rather infamous group of raiders that prey on ships from time to time, and also take up mercenary work for the highest bidder when they decide to do so. Once they pick a target, it’s unlikely for them to give it up.”

“That makes things complicated,” Twilight noted with a sigh. “We have a long six months ahead of us. I could really use more information about them.”

“In time,” Xal stated. “Let us just focus on surviving the next few hours for now, yes?”

Twilight paused for a moment, before reluctantly nodding.

“Very well, but I want explanations the moment we are clear, understood?”

“Perfectly,” Xal agreed with a bow of his head.

The Harmony continued on at FTL, their journey home that much shorter, and yet all of a sudden far more perilous.

Author's Notes:

Since people have had trouble with the images the past two chapters, I have re-uploaded them to DeviantArt:

Celestial Class (E.S. Defender):

Sharin Scout Ship:

Happy 50th, Star Trek!

12 - YD-136

Princess Twilight Sparkle’s Personal Log, August 27th, 3382 AD

The ES Harmony is underway once more, our FTL drive quickening our trip home thanks to the efforts of the alien known as Xal and my chief engineer, Silver Wrench.

But all is not well, the Serenity has been destroyed and we now know we are being hunted by the same four vessels who attacked us initially. The Serenity damaged one heavily before she was destroyed, and another stayed behind to assist their ally, but now two of the vessels are on an intercept course and closing fast.

We couldn’t outrun them even with a fully operational FTL, which is something we most certainly don’t have. They won’t stay behind us for long.

The ES Harmony sped through space at faster-than-light velocities, the distant stars being mere blurs as they sped by and debris and other particles whirling on past them. The bubble around the ship as produced by the FTL drive, a warp field as Xal would call it, also created an almost transparent blue tunnel around the ship as it traveled.

Atop the ship the upper nacelle was still quiet and dark, having no power fed to it and neither could it use any if it had. The engine was still heavily damaged, and would likely remain so for the duration of the trip. Below the ship, the second nacelle was very much alive with the bussard collector on the front working overdrive in the absence of its twin, working hard to keep the field around the ship active so not to drop back to sub-light speeds.

And but a short distance behind, not yet in visual range, but very much gaining on them were two vessels speeding along at a much faster rate than that of the Harmony. Their warp fields were stable and undamaged, giving them a distinct advantage over the crippled starship that was to be their prey.

“Time?” Twilight asked towards Iynx.

“Ten minutes, twelve tops. Then they will be in weapons range.”

“They won’t be able to get too close to us,” Nimble Star noted. “Magic affects their systems, and our engines rely on the stuff. The wake we leave behind must be a nightmare for them.”

“They can still get close enough to use weapons without serious issues,” Iynx reminded him.

“What if we slowed as they approached, got them caught right in the magic?”

“It might buy us some time, allow us a few good hits on them,” Iynx admitted. “But not enough, they’d compensate and evade quickly enough and then we’d be in serious trouble.”

“Your tactical officer is correct,” Xal stated. “My calculations suggest such actions would give us a window of around ten-point-six seconds at most. Our phasers may be able to do some damage in that time, but not enough to destroy or disable either.”

“What if we targeted their engines specifically?” Iynx suggested. “Knock out their warp drives.”

Xal shook his head. “Doing that, we could likely do so to one of the ships in that time, but it’s highly unlikely we would get both.”

“And one is more than enough to end us,” Twilight noted solemnly. “We’d increase our chances, but not by enough. We need another option.”

“If I may,” Nimble spoke up. “Sensors are picking up a nebula nearby, if we change course we could be there in five minutes, just ahead of those raider ships.”

“Let me see,” Xal said as he moved up to the helm. “I recognise this sector, we surveyed it aboard the Serenity. It is designated YD-136, a sizable proto-nebula nearing full maturation, it is full of ion storms that causes havoc for traditional power systems and shielding.”

“Could we use it to our advantage?” Twilight asked.

“Perhaps,” Xal said, in a state of though. “The raiders would be reluctant to enter, but I do not know how magical systems and shields will compare to our own, it may protect us but it may make no difference at all.”

Twilight sighed, looking towards the viewscreen. “What other choice do we have, set course for YD-136.”

“Aye ma’am, setting course,” Nimble reported. “Course set, maximum speed.”

“Six minutes until intercept,” Iynx warned. “We don’t have much time!”

After its turn, the Harmony sped towards its new destination, the alien ships changing course to follow them. The two starships kept getting closer and closer, charging weapons and raising shields in preparation for the coming assault. For the next several tense minutes they approached as a predator does their prey.

“One minute to intercept!” Iynx shouted in alarm. “They’re in visual range!”

“On screen!” Twilight ordered.

The screen shifted, and the vicious looking vessels coming clearly into view.

Nimble turned to the alicorn. “Your highness, we’re coming on the nebula now!”

Twilight nodded. “Not a moment too soon, bring the thaumatic drive back online and bring us out of FTL.”

The ship decelerated and came to a halt just outside a large growing blue cloud, white flashes indicating the storm within.

“Those ships are right behind us!”

“Take us in!” Twilight urgently commanded. “Shields to full.”

The ES Harmony started moving forwards and into the cloud, the gases dancing over the hull as they passed over the new object entering its territory. Not far behind, two vessels suddenly decelerated with a flash and exited warp. Their impulse engines glowed brightly as they moved to follow, training their weapons on the Harmony.

Only for the ship to disappear from their sensors as they were submerged in the nebula.

On the bridge of the Harmony, the lights flickered and the structure gave the odd jolt when bolts of ionically charged particles struck against the ship’s shields. But, aside from the bumpy ride, they seemed to be holding.

“Incredible,” Xal muttered. “Your shields seem to be holding the ion storm at bay. The Serenity would be going through hell around about now.”

“It seems our friends are of a similar situation,” Iynx stated. “They’ve stopped just at the nebula’s border.”

The whole ship gave a sudden, violent shake as flashes of light not of the nebula streamed by, before dissipating.

“They’re firing into the nebula,” Xal realised. “We should go further in, their weapons will be quickly destabilised by the nebula’s interference.”

“Nimble, make it so,” Twilight agreed.

The Harmony began to go further in, the alien ships continuing to fire torpedoes into the nebula itself; ultimately, this was to very little effect as they destabilised on being struck by the ion storm.

“It’s working…” Twilight allowed herself a small, smug smile. “They can’t hit us, and they cannot follow.”

“Well, our shields are effective, but they won’t last,” Iynx reported. “The drain this storm is placing on them is quite substantial.”

“We might not have to stay,” Xal stated. “As I said, this proto-nebula is near maturation and thus is quite vast. We could simply move on out the other side, and it would take them a while to realise it and then even longer to navigate around to play catch up.”

“Admittedly,” he continued. “We ourselves moving from the other side of the nebula might add a few days to your trip home, but…”

“What’s a few more days, right?” Twilight finished for him.

“Quite so,” Xal agreed.

“I’ll lay in a course,” Nimble Star stated.

“Good. Stand down combat alert,” Twilight commanded.

“Standing down alert,” Iynx responded to the command. “All sections confirm that the alert has ceased.”

The next hour or two was spent checking over systems and readouts, making sure the ship continued to handle the stress of the ion storm within the nebula. After a while, the torpedo fire outside stopped, and with interference from the nebula they couldn’t actually tell whether they were still there, but it was likely. Silver Wrench gave the all clear on the engines, and Geneser only reported in a few light injuries, nothing at all serious. Twilight Sparkle, Commander Iynx, Ensign Nimble Star and Xal all remained on the bridge during that time as the previous tense atmosphere began to call. This eventually allowed more casual conversational paths to emerge as they continued to work. But there was one conversation that had remained on Princess Twilight’s mind since it had first been brought up.

Now, Xal,” Princess Twilight turned to their alien guest. “What about that explanation you owe us?”

“Right…” Xal took a breath in. “These raiders, they’re from a reptilian species called the Gaecha. They’re quadrupeds, generally that is, they’re capable of bipedal movement. Their front limbs contain claws, and they are around about the size of the average sharin or you ponies, if a little taller.”

Twilight hummed. “They sound not dissimilar from dragons, do they breathe fire or have wings per chance?”

“Um, no and no…” Xal responded in slight confusion, he had yet to learn about the dragon species. “Not as far as I am aware anyway. They do have quite sharp teeth though.”

“Why did they attack us?” Nimble asked. “Why the whole raider thing?”

“Most gaecha are reclusive, violent, and quite territorial,” Xal stated. “Though we have had the odd few leave their space to live more peaceful lives among other species.”

“You can’t judge a book by its cover, or a person by their race,” Twilight noted, remembering a changeling named Thorax she met a very long time ago. “Continue.”

“We’ve tried to make official first contact with their government, but most of our ships have only received weapons fire in response, so we just leave them alone and they leave everyone else alone,” Xal explained. “Only, a few of their rank go rogue every now and then, taking their ships and going out into the galaxy looking for a fight. Plunder, rape and murder… they do it all. Even their own government has disowned them, and that’s saying something.”

“Have they done anything to actually stop these rogue elements?” Twilight asked with concern.

“Oh, they hunt them down when they can. A skirmish a few months… no, over a year ago now actually,” Xal sighed, recalling his long nap. “A skirmish with them led to the first and only time a sharin and gaecha starship fought side-by-side. But despite our efforts, there are still a few of the rogues out there, as you have found out.”

“So were facing a group of sociopathic murderers coming from a civilisation with a history of being brutal militaristic warriors… great,” Nimble Star deadpanned.

“Could be worse,” Iynx shrugged.

“Don’t jinx it,” Nimble begged. “Or it will become worse.”

Iynx smirked, shaking her head at Nimble’s dramatics. “We’ll be fine, just have a little faith.”

“Iynx is right,” Twilight said to everypony as much as to Nimble himself. “Together, we will get through this and will get home. None of us saw this as being what this mission would be like, but life rarely goes as we initially planned it,” she stated, taking a brief glance at her own wings.

“No, things didn’t go to plan. But this mission wasn’t exactly a failure either. The ship works, and look at our new friend,” she motioned to Xal. “Our true first contact with an alien species, and a potential ally on the horizon. Getting Equus to where it was today wasn’t easy, believe me, I was there. This is no different, we will continue to rise from here, and you have all already earned your place in the history books.”

“Our place?” Commander Iynx asked with a smile. “What about you?”

Twilight smirked. “Been there, done that. Besides, who do you think is going to be writing that book?”

“Point taken,” Iynx chuckled, ignoring another rumble as the storm wailed against the shields. “You’ve done it all, huh?”

“Excuse me, Princess,” Xal interrupted. “You’ve ‘been there, done that’? What do you mean?”

“Didn’t we mention it?” Iynx laughed. “The Princess is immortal, and currently over two thousand years old.”

Xal did a double take. “Wait… what?”

“It’s true,” Twilight confirmed. “Immortality is a staple of being an alicorn, it’s the reason why my kind is so rarely produced among the pony species, whether though natural birth or ascension.”

Xal felt a headache coming on at the information overload. “So, you literally cannot die?”

“Not exactly,” Twilight said with a shake of her head. “I don’t age, and thus will never get old. But I’m hardly invulnerable.”

“Tough as nails though,” Iynx stated. “You should have seen her fight Tirek.”

“You say that as if you were there,” Nimble rolled his eyes.

“I saw the movie!” Iynx objected. “It counts.”

“The movie tended to exaggerate it, along with a lot of things,” Twilight grumbled, preferring historical accuracy. “That mountain didn’t explode, I was simply knocked through it from one end to another.”

Xal raised an eyebrow. “I have the feeling I am going to be spending a lot of time going through your historical archives, with your permission.”

“You may feel free to use them,” Twilight stated. “I think you would much of it... enlightening.”

“Thank you, your highness,” Xal bowed his head in respect.

“Please, when we’re not in the middle of any serious operation you can just call me Twilight.”

“Very well then, Twilight. I must say, you’re quite relaxed for a royal. The only time you meet with my perceptions of how a royal should act is, so far, in battle.”

“As I said, any serious operation,” Twilight responded. “I’m the Princess of Friendship, I’ve never been fond of royal protocol.”

“Friendship?” Xal raised that eyebrow again. “How did you earn that title?”

“Read those records,” Twilight grinned. “You’re in for one heck of a story.”

Author's Notes:

Sorry for missing last weeks update, I'm back at college now and I was beyond tired. I should hopefully be able to get that last ship done in Space Engineers soon and release them for you guys.

For the Harmony's warp effect, I was imagining a mix between the effects seen in TNG and the likes and the one seen in Into Darkness.

13 - Meanwhile

Admiral Mythic Wing’s Personal Log, September 26th, 3382 AD

This has got to have been the worst day in my whole damned career.

It’s been over two months since Princess Twilight went missing along with the ES Harmony on its maiden voyage. And we have found no sign of it in that time.

It’s been a disaster.

The media have been basically knocking down my door, and the populace of Equestria is restless. Confusion has quickly given way to anger and fear, and I fear that the giving them the details may have only made things worse. They want answers to why their Princess is missing, but I cannot give them any. And now… things may soon get out of hoof. The Princesses that remain and doing what they can, but with what I am forced to do now their jobs may get a little harder.

It’s been over two months with no contact, and no signs of the Harmony at all. She will continue to be officially MIA, but we must come to the worst possible conclusion by this point, and I am about to give that conclusion before a press conference in just fifteen minutes.

The ES Harmony was lost with all hooves aboard. Including Princess Twilight Sparkle.

May Faust watch over us all…

Mythic Wing finished his log, leaning back in his chair and letting out a long sigh. Still, he couldn’t remain there long. The conference would already be packed and it was almost time to face the music.

He didn’t want to declare the ship lost, he didn’t want to believe it either. He was in charge of all fleet operations, and a Princess had disappeared on his watch. The fact that this could happen at all was inconceivable.

But protocol was clear. The ship had vanished with no contact of any kind for over two months. Without any proof of what actually happened the ship was to be declared lost, but remain MIA in the official documents. That was something he would have to make clear, but he doubted it would help much.

The intercom beeped, and Mythic Wing was forced to remove himself from his chair and answer it.

“Admiral,” a voice came over the intercom. “We are approaching Starbase Alpha and preparing to dock. Your escort is waiting to take you to the conference on arrival.”

“Understood,” the Admiral responded. “I’ll be up on the bridge to oversee the docking procedures.

“Yes sir,” the voice confirmed. “We await your arrival.”

The intercom switched off, and the Pegasus sighed.

He was currently aboard the ES Defender, he had taken command of the ship for a mission to the colony on Mares, though he had spent most of the time on the colony itself while the ship had been docked at Starbase Beta, the second of the two Starbases in their home system. The room he was in was… snug, and was usually a small storage compartment that he had temporarily had refitted into an office. It was nowhere near as grand or functional as his office back at the Starbase, but it was good enough for his short time on the ship.

Still, that time was over, and he had places to be.

He exited his office, and it was only a short trip from there to the bridge. On his way there he passed one of the nine other ponies aboard, who saluted as the Admiral passed by. The other nine aboard was the ship’s normal crew, even as the commanding officer due to his rank he felt more like a guest than anything.

The doors to the bridge opened up, and he saw all ponies at their stations. The tactical and communications consoles were being operated along with the helm and two other stations, the Captain was in her seat observing the station of the viewscreen.

“Admiral,” the Captain greeted. “We are on approach now.”

“Very good,” Admiral Mythic Wing stated with a nod. “Clear with control with priority alpha clearance, and then bring us in.

“Aye sir,” the Captain acknowledged, nodding to her communications officers to put control on the viewscreen.

As the screen switched from the station to the control room of said station, the Captain spoke.

“Starbase Alpha, this is the ES Defender. We have Admiral Mythic Wing here for the conference, requesting priority clearance to the docking bay.”

“Roger that, ES Defender,” control responded. “Rerouting ES Clover, you have priority clearance.”

“Thank you control,” the Captain said, watching as the two massive hangar doors of the Starbase opened up as if to swallow them whole. “We are entering the hanger now.”

Mythic Wing somewhat tuned out the further communication between control and the Captain, his eyes being drawn to the dock where the ship would come to a halt.

“Time to face the music,” he muttered.

Canterlot Castle, two days later

Princess Celestia stared down at the ancient, but lovingly preserved photograph in her hooves. It showed Celestia with her sister and niece standing alongside a brightly smiling, and very young alicorn on the day of her coronation. Twilight looked up from the paper up at Celestia, her young eyes so bright and optimistic. Eyes she feared she would never truly look upon again.

Mythic Wing had declared the Harmony lost, but the Solar Princess refused to believe for a second that was the case.

She couldn’t.

“Sister?” Luna called out after knocking on the door.

“I’m here,” she called back.

She was standing in the old observatory where Twilight had lived as Celestia’s student. She needed some time to think, and this was the first place that came to mind.

The doorway opened up and the alicorn of the night strolled on in.

“I had a feeling I might find you here,” she stated. “It is peaceful. And of great sentimental value to you.”

“Am I that predictable?” Celestia gave her sister a small smile.

“To me you are,” she responded, giving her elder sister a light nuzzle. “I can read you like a book.”

Celestia didn’t respond, instead glancing down at the photograph again, before placing it down onto a nearby table.

Luna adopted a look of sisterly concern.

“Tia, are you well?”

“I’m fine,” she lied, and sought to quickly change the subject. “Why were you seeking me out?”

Luna sighed. “There is another demonstration by Equus First ongoing. Their numbers have grown again.”

Celestia gave an audible groan she didn’t bother hiding behind her regal mask, she was alone with her sister after all.

“Again? Where this time?”

“Restaurant Row,” Luna responded. “They seem to be targeting all big cultural sites in Canterlot on a weekly basis. And at this rate they will spread their movement to other locations. I know Ponyville was particularly upset about Twilight’s disappearance, that city is her place of residence after all.”

“I know,” Celestia sighed. “And after today’s announcement things will get worse.”

“Agreed.”

Celestia moved over to a table with a steaming kettle sitting on top of it, she and her sister sitting on the cushions around it as she poured them both some tea.

“I had hoped our ponies would not jump to conclusions,” Celestia continued. “We do not know what happened to Twilight, let alone that aliens destroyed her ship.”

“And yet there are demonstrations reminiscent of the anti-thestral groups that sprung up in the years before my… incident,” Luna noted solemnly. “The last thing we need is the next generation of starship crews being xenophobic, especially with the next Harmony Class Starship already in production, with two more on the drawing board. Not to mention the next wave of Celestials getting refitted to have FTL drives themselves.”

“It will not come to that,” Celestia assured her sister. “We will make sure of it. I assume you already sent guards to break up the demonstration?”

“I did,” she confirmed. “Though it might be a few hours before things calm down again. But then we inevitably have the next one to deal with next week. And then the week after.”

Celestia turned her head away from her sister, looking out the window.

“Twilight wouldn’t want this if she were here now, perhaps we should remind them of that.”

“It is true that their actions go against her memory,” Luna stated, catching her sister tense up at the word ‘memory’. “It should quell some, but not all.”

“If only we could find the ship, ascertain their status. Then we could put this to rest.”

“There is little we can do to search until the next ship launches. I imagine that the ES Shining Armor will be escorted by some Celestials next time, so it’s not alone as the ES Harmony was,” Luna noted. “How suitable it is that the ship to carry out the search is named after her brother. Maybe after its launch and a thorough search has been conducted, we can locate the ship’s debris.”

“She’s not dead!” Celestia shouted as she slammed her hoof onto the table, leaving behind a long and slightly burnt crack running down it.

“Sister…” Luna sighed.

“Present me with a body, then I’ll be forced to believe it,” Celestia said in a half-whisper. “Until that day, I refuse to even consider the possibility, understood?”

“Crystal,” Luna said, deciding now was not the best time to pursue it further, it being best to let Celestia cool off first. Literally, her mane had briefly caught fire.

“Anyway, what happened with that stallion?” Luna asked. “Stupidly Rich, was it? I heard his request at your court yesterday caused a bit of an uproar.”

Celestia took a moment before answering to calm herself, taking a sip of her tea to help that process along. After she was finished, she went to answer.

“That… lovely stallion did indeed cause a bit of a ruckus. The ‘stupid’ in his name was certainly descriptive of his personality.”

“Why…? What did he ask for?”

“With The Harmony being declared lost, he decided that Twilight didn’t need her castle anymore.”

And thus, Luna had inadvertently brought the subject back to Twilight. Knowing this, the Lunar Princess only just managed to stop herself from facehoofing.

“Didn’t need her castle?” Luna dared to ask. “What did he mean by that?”

“He meant that he wanted to purchase it and turn it into some tourist trap,” Celestia growled.

Luna raised an eyebrow. “What, like a museum?”

“Does a museum have gambling?” Celestia deadpanned.

“He wanted to turn it into some sort of casino?” Luna sounded a little unimpressed with the idea. “How in our mother’s name did he believe he was going to get away with that?”

“He claimed it would be the ‘best way to honour Princess Twilight by turning the castle into something productive’, or something along those lines.”

“Productive?" Luna scoffed. "I imagine you said no?”

“I didn’t need to,” Celestia smirked. “He was booed out by the others in the court that day. He is now one of the most unpopular stallions in Equestria.”

“Barely a day after the ship is declared lost and he tries to profit on it,” Luna stated in disgust. “I’m not surprised he is unpopular. It’s still a royal castle of the Equestrian royal family, even if Twilight isn’t, well… currently here to live in it, that is simply no excuse.”

“As he has now learnt,” Celestia said. "I intend for her to have a home to come back to..."

Celestia met Luna's gaze with a fiery expression.

"Because she will come back."

Deep Space, ES Harmony

Silver Wrench was just finishing up his shift in engineering, his team getting ready to make way for the night crew.

“Injector assemblies are stable,” one engineer reported. “Crystals are also stable, the matter and antimatter flow is good and the arcane energies still at capacity.”

“Alright,” Silver Wrench said as he examined his own console. “I think we are good. I don’t know about you ensign, but I’m looking forward to a good night’s sleep.”

“You mean with Geneser?” the ensign smirked. “Sir,” he added on the end for good measure.

Silver Wrench gave him a deadpan look. “Does everypony on this ship know about us?”

“Almost,” the ensign responded. “I think just about the only one who doesn't is that alien we picked up, Xal. We don’t see that guy around much.”

“Yeah, well…” Silver shrugged. “He’s been too busy assimilating pretty much the entirety of the computer core. I’ve never seen a pony read so much.”

“Well, he isn’t a pony,” the other engineer pointed out.

“Point taken!” Silver grinned. “At least the Princess has had somepony to talk to… Anyway, it’s time we departed. Hoof things over to the night crew and then go get some rest.”

“Aye sir,” the ensign acknowledged before departing.

As they departed their consoles, they didn’t notice the power levels fluctuate in the core. However, by the time the night crew had taken over, it had seemingly returned to normal.

Author's Notes:

Here are the links to all the Space Engineers ships! The Celestial Class (ES Defender) and the Sharin Scout Ship are to scale, but the Harmony and the Raider are not.

ES Harmony:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=772854874

ES Defender:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=772830955

Sharin Scout Ship:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=772832007

Gaecha Raider:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=772831670

ES Harmony Shuttle Pod:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=772831230

World Save:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=772873808

Also, while we are at it...

This is what is left of a Gaecha Raider I was flying in survival, I'm not very good at fighting in the game. The hole in the back is engineering, I had to create a temporary source of power to get the jump drive online to escape two ships that were chasing me. On the bright side, three of their ships didn't survive.

It started in a fight against one big ship, then four smaller ships joined it and my shields quickly fell and the bridge decimated. I survived by taking cover behind my ship, which is when engineering got vaporised. I then boarded the damaged but active capital ship I was fighting and destroyed it from the inside, then retreated back to my ship where the two remaining hostile ships continued to fire at me. I rigged up a power source quickly to get the few remaining engines online and sped away with them in hot pursuit. They were gaining quickly, but as they were nearing weapons range again my jump drive charged and I jumped back to my base.

14 - Fuel Shortage

Xal’s Personal Log, Equus Year 3382 AD, September 28th.

My newfound abilities are progressing smoothly.

I am able to pick things up with my hooves with no issues, and my newfound capabilities in manipulating plants and the very soil in which they sit is… fascinating to say the least. Since our biology is most similar to the earth ponies, it is likely that should any others of my species come into contact with magic that they would gain the same abilities, the strength of said abilities varying from person to person.

My research into this magic, and into Equus’ history, has been most illuminating. And in that matter I have found a pleasant companion in Princess Twilight, who has been more than happy to assist in my studies. I detect an almost childlike glee when the subject of studying comes about, something I wouldn’t have expected from an apparently immortal pseudo goddess, but she is certainly full of surprises. It is comforting to know she and, if her stories are correct, the other Princesses remember that despite their abilities they are just people, not deities like some rulers in my species ancient past. God Kings and Queens who believed themselves untouchable, only to find out the contrary. Some of the closest examples I can find in their own history would be this ‘King Sombra’ and ‘Queen Chrysalis’. One was killed when Princess Twilight’s sister activated something called a ‘Crystal Heart’, and the beginning of the end for the second came when some of her people switched sides and aligned with somebody called ‘Thorax’.

Isn’t that part of an insect’s body?

Then again, who am I to judge an alien culture’s naming conventions?

Anyway, moving on. As for more recent matters, we have seen no signs of the Gaecha ships ever since we left the proto-nebula. Still, that doesn’t mean they aren’t out there. We are remaining at warp and- ugh, I mean FTL. They are similar, but not identical, it is best I get used to the differing naming while I serve aboard the ES Harmony. They both produce the warp bubble, but FTL has magical components that warp drive does not, though both also use dilithium crystals. Though, they call them ‘stabilisation crystals’. Apparently their world is quite rich with it in various places, perhaps the magic on their world helped the deposits develop? Magic certainly seems to react well with the substance.

Anyway, as I was saying before the tangent, we remain at FTL to hopefully keep ahead of any pursuers. We have yet to-

GAH! What the hell was that?

Xal ended his log abruptly as the structure shook, things scattered along the table he sat at in his quarters rattles and fell from the table as he held on.

The field around the Harmony began to fluctuate, the single working nacelle seemed to almost sputter like an old automobile as the ship suddenly dropped out of FTL. The thaumatic drive came online and slowed the ship to a perfect stop in the middle of space.

“Senior officers report to the bridge, now!” Princess Twilight’s voice ordered over every intercom on every deck. “Repair teams to engineering!”

Xal rushed up from his seat and made his way over to the doorway, making sure his uniform was tidy and presentable as he went. While most of the crew didn’t wear uniforms, or clothes at all for that matter, he was still a part of the Sharin Navy, he wanted to make a good impression throughout their trip.

His superiors would chew him out if they found out otherwise.

As he exited his quarters and moved off down the corridor, he quickly came up on an intersection where he stumbled into Iynx and Nimble Star.

“Xal? What’s going on?” Nimble groggily asked, obviously having only just woken up.

“I’m afraid I know about as much as you do,” Xal stated. “Though we appear to have dropped out of FTL.”

Nimble groaned. “Nothing good then.”

“Come on you two!” Iynx gestured for them to keep moving. “The quicker we get to the bridge, the quicker we find the answers to our questions.”

Xal and Nimble both gave nods of agreement, and the three continued their way through the corridors. As they went, a repair team came bolting past heading directly for engineering in a hurry. Other members of the crew rushed to their stations, some having just awoken.

“Do you know where Silver Wrench and Geneser are?” Nimble asked.

“Well, Silver’s quarters are just ahead,” Iynx stated. “If he’s not there he will likely be already on the bridge. Geneser is likely on her way too.”

“Guy is a heavy sleeper, we may quickly want to check in,” Nimble suggested. “It will only take a few moments.”

“We’ll quickly knock as we pass by,” Iynx said. “But we can’t really delay, something big happened.”

“Well, here’s his room on the left,” Nimble stated, pointing to one doorway as the three came to a halt just beyond it.

Xal, being the closest, went to press the door’s chime, only for it to open up as he was doing so.

The three flinched backwards as both Silver Wrench and Geneser quickly bundled out of the room, but all of them froze up a little on seeing one another. Both had clearly just woken up, but as for why they were exiting the same quarters…

“Well then…” Xal raised an eyebrow. “I was unaware you two were mated.”

Iynx and Nimble Star snickered in amusement, caused the blushing Silver Wrench to glare at them in annoyance.

Xal looked at Iynx and Nimble Star in confusion. “I don’t see why this calls for snickering, it’s only natural for two people attracted to one another to do as they have done. I myself have mated around about twenty six times in my life, though I have yet to produce offspring.”

Iynx and Nimble Star’s snickers evolved into full blown laughter at the alien’s confusion, while Silver Wrench and Geneser only blushed deeper.

“Something is amiss, we don’t have time for this!” Geneser shouted, trying to get things back on track and away from the previous awkwardness.

Under the zebra’s wrathful gaze, Iynx and Nimble managed to get their laughter under control, the former wiping a tear from her eye.

“Sorry, sorry. But that was just precious!”

Xal shuffled awkwardly. “Perhaps I should do more research into your peoples' attitudes to such things in general conversation…”

“You do that,” Iynx said with a smirk. “But the Doc is right, we need to get moving.”

“Glad you agree,” Silver Wrench muttered, still a little peeved. “Come on.”

Shaking off the awkwardness from a moment earlier, despite Iynx and Nimble retaining their smirks, they set off again. Soon enough they were all packed into the turbolift heading up towards the dome atop the hull holding the bridge. When the doors opened, they found Princess Twilight already waiting for them, examine a console with a look of worry on her face.

“Princess?” Commander Iynx called out. “What happened?”

Twilight turned to meet the newcomer, though her expression remained unchanged.

“Nothing good, we’re in trouble to put it simply,” the Princess stated. “Silver Wrench, you may be interested in these reports from the engineering teams I sent.”

Silver Wrench replaced Princess Twilight at the console, the latter moving up next to the others a short distance behind the Chief Engineer.

Silver Wrench narrowed his eyes as he examined the reports for himself, his mood decreasing even further as he pressed onwards.

“Oh bucking Tartarus,” Silver Wrench muttered under his breath. “This is bad.”

“I thought you might agree,” Twilight commented. “We need a solution, soon.”

“Well don’t keep the rest of us in suspense,” Nimble Star stated. “What’s going on?”

Silver Wrench sighed, quickly skimming a few of the other parts of the report sent from engineering team. Once he had a full grasp of the situation, he turned to the others to explain.

“As we were changing shifts, it seems the computer logged an oscillating FTL disturbance running through the power systems, specifically in the photonic particle couplings. However, it dissipated after that so it wasn’t noticed due to the shift change.”

Silver pressed a button on the console and brought a diagnostic of the reactor core onto the screen.

“The disturbance was detected again just before we dropped out of FTL, this time it didn’t go however and caused a microscopic subspace variance in the matter-antimatter reaction. Our magical wards around the core tried to compensate, and succeeded, but the cost was a lot of our stabilisation crystals being drained and dumped.”

Only Xal and Twilight seemed to understand all of the Chief Engineer’s technobabble, the other three giving him blank looks.

“So… I didn’t get most of that,” Iynx commented. “But I know that stabilisation crystals is essentially the fuel for the reactor, we lost a bunch?”

“Pretty much,” Silver confirmed.

“How much, exactly?” Xal was the next to ask a question. “Exactly how bad was the loss?”

“Well…” Silver Wrench sighed. “Before we had enough crystals in the core to last months, more than enough to get us home. Now we have a few days at best.”

“In other words, we’re about to be stuck without FTL once more,” Princess Twilight finished. “And our trip home becomes a little longer.”

The momentary silence that followed said it all, this was one situation that none of them wanted to find themselves in.

“Well who needs FTL?” Nimble sarcastically commented. “We could make a potato farm for extra food, do some real survival stuff! You know, science the shit out of it!”

“We can do something about it, right?” Iynx asked, ignoring he friend’s comment. “Xal, you know more about this area of space than any of us. Is there nothing nearby at all?”

“If there was a spacefaring settlement nearby with sapient life, we could get the ship repaired and be home far faster,” Xal deadpanned. “I think I would have mentioned such a settlement. I may know this space better than you, but this is still right on our borders, your world is just outside of that in the cusp of uncharted space. Thus why we have only just met.”

Iynx sighed. “I know, but I had to ask.”

Xal hummed, but then entered deep though as something in the back of his mind began digging to the surface.

“Without these crystals, we’re just going to have to accept a longer trip,” Twilight stated solemnly. “It’s not ideal, but we cannot lose hope.”

“The crew we will have to tell,” Geneser reminded the Princess. “And they may not take it well.”

“Actually!” Xal suddenly shouted as the memory finally came to light in his mind. “There might be something!”

“I thought there weren’t any spacefaring settlements nearby?” Iynx frowned.

“There aren’t,” he responded, quickly making his way over to the helm and imputing some specific coordinates. “However, there is a sapient species I know of.”

“You do?” Twilight gave him an intrigued glance. “Who are they?”

“I only know of them, but not intimate details,” he explained. “They are a primitive species, bipedal I heard. As primitive as they are they have been left alone, and cannot help us. However, we did have a research station in orbit observing them for a time, but it was abandoned a few years ago. It’s a longshot, but there might be some crystals left aboard the station, along with some other equipment we may be able to salvage.”

“Wouldn’t something like that have already been salvaged by somepony?” Silver Wrench asked. “Salvagers, if not your navy.”

“Perhaps,” Xal admitted. “But as I said, this is right on the border far from our core worlds, and it isn’t overly well known. I only knew about it because the Serenity helped clear the station on its abandonment. Something may have been left behind, and by this point what do we have to lose?”

“I agree,” Twilight voiced her opinion. “How far is it from here?”

“A day or two at FTL off our present course,” Xal said. “We can make that, right?”

“We should be able to, just,” Silver stated.

Twilight nodded. “Then it is decided. We set course for this station and scavenge what we can. Also, I am curious about this primitive species that lives on the planet’s surface. We came out here to explore, so why don’t we do a bit of exploring while we’re at it?”

“It might even boost morale to do so,” Xal agreed. “Though we shouldn’t hang around for too long, lest they catch up to us.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Twilight promised. “For now, get us to that station, and keep an eye on our situation in engineering. I’d rather it didn’t get any worse than it already is.”

“Aye ma’am,” Silver Wrench stated. “I’ll see it done.”

“Very well, dismissed.”

After the coordinates were plotted, and the command given, the Harmony’s engines came to life once more. The ship performed a turn away from the direction of Equus and began to head towards its new destination. The nacelle glowed with mana energies just before the ship jolted forwards back to FTL, heading towards the station in which the crew had laid their hopes.

Author's Notes:

Somebody asked for a 'The Martian' joke, they got it...

My Sharin Scout (named the Serenity II) and Jerico's hydrolite wrecked a small fleet of pirates trying to raid us. The gun we added to the top of the Serentiy is ridiculous, even the hydrolite itself or the Harmony get blown away by it, shields be damned

15 - The Station

Princess Twilight Sparkle’s Personal Log, September 30th, 3382 AD.

We are on final approach to the system containing the abandoned sharin space station, and the species the station’s former inhabitants were observing.

I must admit, the scholar inside me is squealing like a filly right now! A species in early development of their own civilisation! The possibilities for their future, and the progress they have already made… I cannot wait to see for myself!

Then again, the Princess in me is keeping the scholar in check. At the end of the day, however much I would like it to be, we are not here to view the locals. We’re barely sputtering onwards as our last few crystals are ready to give up the ghost at any moment. This station hopefully… no, NEEDS to have some crystals aboard. Xal says we’re looking for any containers marked as ‘Dilithium Storage’, or anywhere else they would be found… I’m sure Xal will know where we can find them if there are any to be found. If it doesn’t have any and is just a dead weight hanging around in orbit of the planet, then we’re sunk, simply put.

At that point we would be forced to continue on at sub-light speeds towards home, but with our enemy, those rogue gaecha, likely not far behind us the crew may not be so keen on that idea. I have already heard whispers… Most believe we will find what we need at the station, that I will lead them through.

They sometimes place too much faith in me, I feel. The curse of being a pseudo ‘goddess’, I suppose.

But some others are not so optimistic. To some, the idea of a perfectly habitable planet is seeming quite enticing right now. Should we fail to find what we need, some may choose to stay behind.

And I don’t know if I’d be willing to stop them.

If too many were to leave the ship would struggle to function, and there is also the current inhabitants we really should not be interfering with… But can I ask them to make such a trip with no FTL? While we are still be hunted?

Celestia… that station better have what we need…

ES Harmony

The field keeping the ES Harmony at FTL would fluctuate wildly at random intervals, shaking the ship in a way akin to a low-yield earthquake would shake somepony’s family home. Each time it occurred the crew would fear it would be the last, and that the ship would finally lost its faster-than-light capabilities. But, somehow, thus far the remaining few crystals had held in there as if clinging on to life for the sake of those living aboard the vessel they were a part of. Engineering was being manned by all available engineers, many having obtained little sleep the past two days as they worked to keep the field stable, trying every trick in the book and a few new ones to prolong the FTL for as long as possible.

Desperation was on-set. But it also filled them with determination.

They were not going to let the crystal finally give out without putting up a fight first. However, their fighting seemed to have paid off.

“We’re approaching the station,” Nimble Star reported to the Princess. “Dropping from FTL in five… four… three… two… one!”

The ship jolted lightly as they came to a halt, a planet easily becoming visible on the viewscreen. It was Class M, bright green and blues were pleasantly rolled out beneath the swirling clouds high up in the sky. The planet had two moons, and none of them showed any signs of mass population centres. There were no city lights showing on the side of the planet currently at night, not a single shred of industry could be spotted anywhere. This planet was still shiny and new, along with the single sapient species on the surface they still had a long future ahead of them.

Princess Twilight has never seen a planet from above like she was seeing this one with her own eyes, so fresh and without the cities easily seen from Equus’ orbit. But the moon… It had been a long time since she had seen a moon like that too, not since her early days before space travel and starships.

Twilight couldn’t prevent a small smile forming at the sight. “Life signs?”

“Various types of fauna and flora, but I think I see the species Xal told us about,” Iynx stated. “About an overall population of little over a million, spread throughout various villages across a continent or two. They’re barely out of the Stone Age, probably only just discovering bronze for tools.”

“Imagine it,” Twilight muttered in awe. “When we were this young, the planet still orbited the sun naturally, and the moon around the planet. Long before the three tribes, long before Celestia and Luna, their mother Faust or even beings like Discord. Not even the ancient temples discovered by Daring Do would have been created. The beginning of a new story in our wide universe.”

“All due respect, your highness,” Iynx interrupted. “But… the station?”

Princess Twilight chuckled. “You're right, forgive an old mare’s fascination. Is the station on scanners?”

“It is,” she confirmed. “Though… I’m not getting any power reading from it. As far as I can tell, it’s dead. Hanging in orbit with the power of momentum and gravity alone.”

“That hardly means there aren’t any stabilisation crystals aboard!” Nimble protested. “Besides, they weren’t exactly going to leave the lights on when they left, were they? I’m sure all we have to do is find the right switch and find the cargo bay,”

“We won’t know until we go over there,” Twilight stated. “You all stay here, but have Xal meet me in the teleportation room. We will go over and find out if there is anything to be found or not.”

But first, there was something else she had to do.

“Engineering?” Twilight called out into the intercom on the captain’s chair she was standing beside. “We are about to head over to the station, how is the situation down there?”

“Bad,” Silver Wrench responded. “If we try to jump again, there is a good chance the crystals will give out then and there. Even if we did get to FTL, we’re going to have hours at most before we run out of luck.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll get those crystals,” Twilight assured.

Xal stepped into the teleportation room, where a device akin to a transporter his own kind used was located. It appeared to be powered by some kind of crystal containing a ‘teleportation spell’ donated by the very alicorn waiting for him inside, rather than using the various complicated systems transporters used aside from some systems to boost the range and allow for targeted coordinates. It also, according to his research, was more instantaneous than the traditional transporters he was used to. The spell also made materialising in a wall from being inherently fatal; rather than your atoms becoming one with it you would replace the mass already there. Bad if it’s deep in a wall with no air, but simply embarrassing if you were half in and half out.

He really hoped the operator knew what they were doing.

Either way, Princess Twilight was already putting the final touches on her suit as he went to collect his own, which had already been brought to the room.

“We’ll be placed directly in the middle of engineering,” Twilight explained as Xal readied himself. “First thing we need to do is find out if the reactors still work, and if so turn the station online.”

“Should be simple if there is anything in them,” Xal responded. “I can lead us to the command centre from there where we can get the cargo roster and see if there is anything left.”

Xal finished putting on his suit, which was designed for an earth pony but was able to fit him nicely.

“I’m ready to go when you are.”

Twilight nodded, turning to the operator. “Chief, prepare to teleport us.”

“Aye ma’am,” the Chief responded.

The door to the teleporter slid opened, Xal and Twilight placed on their helmets as they took their places around the crystal. Their HUDs activated and oxygen filled up the suit.

Once all was set and ready, Twilight nodded towards the operator and they began imputing the various control. The crystal in the centre flared up with Twilight’s own lavender magic as its mana reached out towards the two within the chamber. After a moment, a lavender flash consumed them both,

And they were immediately plunged into complete darkness.

“Xal, can you hear me?” Twilight called out.

“I can, Princess,” he responded. “My suit is holding up well, though the lack of light or gravity is disorientating.”

“Activate lights and magnetic hooves,” the Princess ordered.

Their helmet light activated, which Twilight added to by casting a spell creating several small lavender lights which she spread throughout the room. Both of them were pulled to the ground, able to stand properly at last.

The room they were in was large and industrial, pipes and large devices were spread about intermingling with the station’s generators.

“This is the place,” Xal stated, moving towards an inert console.

He read the writing which Twilight still didn’t understand without a spell, making a mental note to learn the language when they got back to the ship as Xal had learnt theirs.

“This isn’t what we need,” he commented, moving towards another console at the other end of the room. “Ah, this is it. From here we should be able to turn on power, if anything remains in the reactors at least.”

Xal adjusted a few dials as Twilight watched on. Once he was satisfied everything was how it should be, he pressed against a giant lever on one side of the console and moved it forwards.

The moment he did, the screen on the console lit up and touchscreen control systems activated as the main computer booted up. The room remained dark for a few moments as the duo examined their surroundings, until a large bang heralded the reactors activated fully and all the lights suddenly snapping on in an instant. The sound also indicated the atmospheric systems were coming online.

“So, there is something left in these reactors after all,” Twilight noted. “How are the oxygen generators going?”

“Unfortunately,” Xal began as he looked at the readout of all the systems coming online. “Oxygen levels don’t seem to be rising that much, it’s mainly carbon dioxide being pumped. They must be damaged somewhat.”

“We had better keep out helmets on then,” the Princess said. “What about other systems?”

“We have enough power to last us a few hours, but that is all,” Xal explained. “We had better work quickly.”

“Princess?” Iynx’s voice came in over the communications systems in Xal and Twilight’s helmets. “The whole station just lit up, was that you?”

“It was,” Twilight responded. “No need to worry.”

“Just asking, because the station scanned us.”

Twilight frowned. “Scanned the Harmony?”

“Automated systems,” Xal stated. “As long as you don’t prove a threat, the automated defences should leave you alone.”

“Comforting,” Iynx said with no effort to hide the sarcasm. “We’ll keep you posted if things change.”

“Roger that, Commander,” Twilight concluded. “Come on Xal, we need to move.”

The two turned off their magnetic hooves as the station’s gravity systems were now somewhat online, and move on from engineering into the corridors beyond.

Neither could deny it was quite eerie how quiet everything was, aside from the occasional hum of machinery in the engineering section. Even that died away as they moved towards the command centre.

Xal kept checking displays every now and then to make sure they were heading the right way, and under his guidance they both eventually ended up at the command centre.

As the doors opened up they were met with a large room with a large window at the other end giving a breathtakingly stunning view of the planet. Stations lined the space in neat rows, all facing the massive window.

“The window allows this room to double as an observation deck,” Xal said as they entered. “Though if we were to input the right commands you would see it also acts as a large display and view screen too.”

“Seems structurally unsound to have such a large window here,” Twilight observed.

“It’s heavily reinforced,” Xal explained. “That, and this is the most heavily shielded section with extra generators allowing this rooms shielding to keep up even if the rest of the station’s fail. It is how most research stations are designed, but not military ones.”

“Well I suppose research stations aren’t meant to see combat,” Twilight conceded. “And you cannot argue with that view.”

“Indeed,” Xal said with a nod as he moved to one console in particular.

After a minute of browsing, he gave a huff of frustration.

“Damn it,” he muttered. “There are no crystals in the cargo bays!”

“What?!” Twilight went to double check the display while casting a translation spell, seeing he was correct. “This can’t be! Are there any other places the crystals could be located?”

Xal shook his head regretfully. “No.”

Twilight bit her lip as she closed her eyes in thought. For all of this only to come back empty hooved, this was bad…

“Well, are there at least other materials we can use?” she asked, looking back towards the console. “How about…”

Xal noticed the Princess trail off. “What is it?”

“According to this, the last of the crystals were offloaded only a few weeks ago…”

“Wait, what?” Xal urgently went to check the logs, seeing that was indeed the case.

As he examined the log further, and he was able to identify the vessel that had offloaded them.

“A Sharin Scout Ship has been here recently, named the ‘Interceptor’. What’s more is that the starship apparently never left the system, but is currently landed on the planet below.”

“So more of you species are here?” Twilight asked. “Well, that’s great isn’t it? We can enlist their help, come to an agreement.”

“Maybe…” Xal sounded uneasy.

“Xal? What’s wrong?”

“It doesn’t make sense… Why come back here?” he asked rhetorically. “And what’s more, why land on the surface? There are a great many rules forbidding landing on the surface of a primitive world with early stage civilisations emerging. It’s illogical for any in our navy to do so, and then go on to stay for several weeks at that!”

All of a sudden, Princess Twilight felt herself sharing his concerns.

“That is strange…” she said cautiously. “What do you make of it?”

“I can’t say at this time,” he stated. “However, they do have the crystals we desire. And if they are up to no good, we cannot let them continue. I cannot let them continue…”

“You have a duty,” Twilight noted. “Don’t worry, we’ll get to the bottom of this. For now, let’s return to the Harmony. I suspect we’ll need a larger away team for this...”

Author's Notes:

Next time, we meet the locals!

16 - Aliens

Princess Twilight Sparkle’s Personal Log Supplemental, September 30th, 3382 AD.

The stations did not have what we needed. All the crystals aboard had already been taken, but the logs in the command centre have told us exactly who took them. Another sharin starship has been in the area, recently. What’s more is that the ‘Interceptor’ is currently landed on the planet’s surface.

Initially, I was happy with the news. We could get those crystals after all, and even make a new friend or two. But then Xal told me something worrying.

They shouldn’t be there.

There is a directive among their people forbidding interaction with largely undeveloped species, breaking this directive could have you court martialled. The fact they are there at all, and given the amount of time they have spent on the surface… it has certainly caused some alarm bells to ring.

Xal is as calm and collected as he usually is, but I can tell he is angry. He takes his duty as an officer very seriously, and the thought of one of his peers breaking one of their most prime directives hasn’t gone over well with him. He is determined to confront the crew of the Interceptor, and agree with him. Besides, we still need those crystals.

And I too am curious to hear the excuse for what they have done.

Anyway, it has been a few hours and the station lost power not too long ago, and for now I am needed in the shuttle bay.

We are heading down to the planet below.

ES Harmony, shuttle bay

Princess Twilight had gathered those she wanted to take with her to the surface, deciding to take two shuttles down to the surface and created a landing site that would double as a camp. They would have to be careful however, the landing site was a small distance from the Interceptor but it was also far too close to a native village for their liking.

Still, the fact that the ship landed so close to a native village did nothing to quell Xal’s unease.

“Is everyone prepared?” Xal asked, eager to get underway.

“We are,” Iynx confirmed. “Senior officers will go down in Pod One, the security team will go down in Pod Two.”

Iynx nodded towards the group of ponies readying to board the second shuttle pod, all of them were armoured up and had phasers attached to their foreleg of choice.

The senior officer were also geared up. Each one of them, except Princess Twilight who had enough power to move the system’s sun anyway, were equipped with phasers much like the security team. Differences were apparent however; Silver Wrench and Geneser wore an engineering kit and medical kit respectively instead of armour, and Iynx’s phaser wasn’t attached to her wrist but rather had a grip allowing her to hold it in her talons.

Unlike the senior officers, the security team’s armour was red in colour, while the senior officers who wore armour had theirs coloured black with blue detailing.

“Is the night’s crew on the bridge?” Twilight asked, making final checks.

“They are,” Iynx answered. “Admittedly, they were a little annoyed at having to start their shifts early, but I’m sure they’ll get over it.”

“We’re ready to board on your order!” one of the security officers gave a salute to the group.

“Good, then get your asses aboard, double time!” Iynx ordered the team who, as chief tactical officer, was normally in charge of all security aboard the Harmony.

“Yes ma’am!” the officer confirmed. “You heard the Commander, move it fillies!”

As Iynx watched them board, Nimble Star opened up the doorway to their own pod and got inside, sitting down at the pilot’s seat. The others followed in after them, Twilight having to duck slightly so her horn didn’t go through the roof.

“All right, we’re all set back here,” Silver Wrench shouted up to Nimble Star as he closed up the hatch and sealed is tight.

Princess Twilight, Iynx, Xal, Silver Wrench and Geneser all took their seats as Nimble Star got on the intercom.

“Control, Pod One is secure and ready for undocking,” he informed those on duty in the hangar’s control room.

“Roger that ensign,” control reported back. “Pod Two is also secured, hold tight as we evacuate the hangar bays.”

An alarm sounded outside informing the engineering crew performing the checks on the shuttles pre-launch it was time to evacuate. All personnel quickly vacated the room as the airlocks sealed up tightly behind them. Once everypony was gone, air began to be sucked out from the room and back into the tanks, creating a vacuum inside the hangar. Once all the air was gone, the hangar doors beneath the shuttles began to slide open revealing the stars beyond and a partial view of the planet they were orbiting.

“Ensign, you may start the engines and prepare for undocking.”

“Roger that,” Nimble responded as he flicked a few switches and pressed some controls.

All within the shuttle could hear the sound of the two engines coming online, and moments later a sudden jolt indicated that the clamps holding the shuttle in place had been released.

“Shuttle Pod One you are undocked and have the green light to proceed. Safe trip, keep our Princess safe.”

“Will do control,” Nimble stated. “Shuttle Pod One over and out.”

The shuttle slowly moved downwards as it exited the Harmony, the second pod not far behind them.

Nimble switched the comm channel. “Shuttle Pod Two, what is your status?”

“Green, sir,” was the response from the other pilot.

“Roger that, follow our lead.”

The shuttle turned away from the Harmony and began to head down towards the planet below, the second pod following closely. As they began to enter the atmosphere, a red glow visible outside the cockpit window as flames whipped around the hull due to the entry into said atmosphere.

“Everypony alright?” Nimble called back to his passengers.

“Fine, since we cannot feel the outside heat,” Geneser responded. “For you to worry is truly quite sweet.”

“S-sweet?” Nimble stuttered back.

Silver Wrench laughed. “She only added that for the rhyme, don’t think too hard on it.”

He only laughed harder when the zebra elbowed him in the ribs, giving him an irritated glare.

“Is the pod holding alright?” Princess Twilight asked.

“Just fine, your highness,” the pilot answered. “The flames are already dying away, we are in!”

Twilight couldn’t help but give an excited, gleeful smile. “Despite the circumstances, this is our first time on an alien planet! Isn’t this exciting?”

“I’ve been on an alien planet,” Xal raised a hoof.

“You don’t count,” Iynx snarked. “You kinda cheated, being an alien yourself and all.”

Xal rolled his eyes. “I would think you’d find that you are the aliens in my eyes.”

“Hey, you’re on our ship dude,” Iynx pointed out.

“And you’re in sharin space,” Xal rebutted.

“The edge of it!” Iynx protested.

The sharin shook his head. “It still counts,” he calmly stated.

“Shut it back there!” Nimble Star shouted to the two. “I’m need to hear this!”

Nimble Star turned back to his console, having been speaking to the second pod’s pilot.

“Are you certain?” Nimble asked.

“Well, what do your scans say?” the other pilot responded.

Nimble looked over towards the completed scan, beginning to feel uneasy. Outside the cockpit he could see nothing, being within a thick layer of cloud. He was relying solely on his equipment at that point.

“It’s as you reported, the Interceptor is gone.”

“Wait, what?” Twilight called up to the pilot’s seat. “Did you just say the ship is gone?!”

“Apparently, we’ll try increasing the scans.”

A few silent moments passed by as both shuttles scanned the area to try and locate the Interceptor as they continued towards the edge of the cloud.

The other pilot came back over the comms. “Wait, I think I… OH SHIT!”

That last message was transmitted the moment that both pods broke though the cloud layer together.

When they did exit however, they were just in time to see a small green starship heading right in their direction.

“Damn! Evade evade!” Nimble Star shouted in panic as he pushed the controls to their limits.

The first shuttle evaded to the right while the second pod evaded to the left, both narrowly avoiding the Interceptor as it blasted on past them. Both small ships were forced off course by the manoeuvre, and scrambled to get back together.

The Interceptor quickly decelerated and turned one hundred and eighty degrees, heading directly back towards them.

“Nimble!” the second shuttle’s pilot shouted out. “We’re reading that their weapons are charging, prepare for-”

The pilot was cut off when a green beam of plasma shot out from the Interceptor and tore into Shuttle Pod Two’s hull, completely annihilating the shuttle and everypony aboard it.

“Princess! Shuttle Two is down, the Interceptor is coming right for us!”

Princess Twilight growled as she got up from her seat and headed towards the shuttle’s airlock.

“Nimble, get this shuttle to the ground!” she ordered. “I’ll head outside and deal with that ship.”

“Princess, wait,” Xal interrupted. “Let me contact the ship, I might be able to get them to stop without sacrificing more lives.”

Twilight only had a moment to consider as the shuttle veered hard to the right to avoid a plasma beam as the Interceptor tore past them yet again.

“Do it!” the Princess shouted. “But quickly!”

Xal nodded, scrambling to the cockpit where Nimble Star opened up a channel to the alien starship.

Xal began speaking in his own language, the others couldn’t quite tell whether he was pleading with the Interceptor’s captain or ordering them to stand down. Maybe a bit of both.

Several tense moments passed them by, the ground getting closer and closer. For a moment it seemed Xal had been listened to, until another beam scrapped the side of the shuttle’s hull and caused one of the engines to burst into flames.

Nimble gave a shout as the shuttle veered on out of control, fighting with the controls desperately.

“I can’t hold it!”

Princess Twilight stood steadfast at the centre of the shuttle, her horn glowing with her powerful magic.

“Hold on and brace for impact!” she shouted, the shuttle being enveloped in a large levitation spell as she slowed their descent.

Shuttle Pod One fell from the sky, scrapping along the treetops briefly before slamming down into a clearing surrounded by the trees of a small forest. The shuttle skidded from one end of the clearing to another leaving a large gash in its wake, the pod finally coming to a rest just before the treeline.

Smoke piled up high into the sky from the burning engine as the shuttle's airlock was blown open by a lavender bolt of magic, all of its bruised occupants piling on out as the flames began to enter the cabin. Once they were all out, Princess Twilight grabbed hold of the flames with her magic and starved them of oxygen, causing them to flicker out while leaving behind the charred hulk that was once their shuttle.

The Princess examined the group, Geneser already giving everypony check-ups with her tricorder. Aside from a bit of bruising and singed hairs they were all perfectly fine, though they had all been left in a stunned silence by what had just transpired.

As the check-up continued, the first actual word among the group said was by Xal, saying something in his language that sounded suspiciously like a swearword.

“Xal, are you alright?” Twilight asked the enraged sharin.

“I told them who we were!” he shouted. “I even gave them clearance codes that they acknowledged! And still they shot us down?! Whoever these people are, they are not part of our navy! At least, not anymore.”

“Then who are they?” Iynx asked.

“Rogues, terrorists, criminals… who knows? But whatever they are doing on this planet is not for the good of the galaxy I can tell you that much.”

“You think?” Nimble Star sarcastically stated. “They killed several of our people in a single shot without any rhyme or reason aside from us being here.”

“Us being here is likely why they did it,” Silver Wrench stated. “They don’t want what they’re up to being found out.”

“We need to contact the Harmony,” Twilight stated. “Silver, can you repair the communications systems?”

“It depends on how much damage the impact and flames did,” the unicorn engineer said. “But I’ll have a look at it.”

Princess Twilight went to say something else, until a buzzing sound caught all of their ears. They looked over in the direction where they had come from, seeing several metallic spheres heading their way, a bolt of plasma shooting forwards and landing a few metres from them.

Geneser, who was closest to where it hit, jumped back in surprise. “On seeing that hit… all I can say is, oh shit!”

Several of them dived out of the way as the spheres made a pass firing plasma bolts down onto the group as Twilight placed a shield around herself and the ones standing immediately next to her.

Iynx unholstered her phaser and shot one of them as they made for another pass, the orange beam striking the sphere and destroying it.

“Xal, what are they?” Twilight questioned urgently.

“No idea!” he shouted his response. “Some kind of drone, definitely not standard issue!”

As they made another pass several plasma bolts and phaser beams were exchanged, though Twilight had had enough.

The Princess released the shield and, as they came back for a fourth pass, reached out with her magic and grabbed the spheres where they flew. Her eyes glowed white with pure primal fury as she crushed down onto the dozen spheres, crushing them all down until nothing remained but atoms. Once her magic was released, those atoms scattered to the wind.

“I think you got them,” Nimble stated, before adding, “Your highness.”

Iynx marched over to the one she had managed to shoot out of the sky, kneeling beside the wreckage. “Is there anything on this planet that doesn’t want to kill us?”

Geneser backed off a little as the others crowded around the drone, taking a moment to catch her breath. She was right next to the treeline, her back facing it as she looked on at the others as they discussed the things that had just attacked them.

That was when a shadow fell upon Geneser, causing her to swing around.

Only to be slugged in the jaw.

“Geneser!” Silver Wrench shouted in a panic, seeing his other half be knocked to the ground.

Geneser looked up at the thing that had attacked her, which was mechanically similar to the drones that had attacked them but was equine shaped and stood on its four legs, a plasma pistol attached to its forearm.

Geneser attempted to bring up her phaser the moment she hit the ground, but a metallic hoof pressed down on it as she suddenly found herself facing down the barrel of a plasma pistol.

Then, quite suddenly, a spear emerged through the front of the drone’s chest. The robot powered down, and slumped down to the side off of the zebra.

The group, who had been rushing to Geneser’s aid, all stopped dead at the sight of one who had made the killing blow.

Most stopped to stare simply because of how alien Geneser’s rescuer seemed, but Princess Twilight stopped for an entirely different reason.

The alien looked almost human.

There were some differences with the denizens from beyond the mirror portal, however. The alien had three fingers on each hand, along with a thumb on each, and had holes on the sides of their head which Twilight assumed were their ears along with some ridges running along down their cheeks. The alien was wearing some basic clothing, shoulder pads and a loincloth to be specific.

He extracted the spear from the fallen drone, looking towards the newcomers with uncertainty.

“You are not like them,” a male voice said in their minds.

“You’re telepathic…” Twilight muttered. “No, we are not like them.”

“They attacked you,” the alien stated. “These things are soulless, creatures from the beyond out of our very nightmares.”

“Should we really be talking to him, Princess?” Iynx asked cautiously. “Wasn’t there some sharin directive for this?”

“The crew of the interceptor have already done the damage,” Xal grimly noted. “Our presence will change little in regards to contact with them.”

The alien looked directly towards Xal, fear and curiosity on his face.

“You are like him, the one who controls the soulless ones.”

“Him? As in just one of them?” Xal asked.

“Yes. He came here not too long ago, the soulless ones at his beck and call,” he stated. “He introduced himself in fire and blood, what of the new outsiders I must wonder…”

Twilight nodded, stepping forwards. “I am Princess Twilight Sparkle. This is Iynx, Nimble Star, Geneser, Silver Wrench and Xal.”

He nodded respectfully. “Greetings, I am Teneer, of Sha’Du people. My village is under threat from the same soulless ones that attacked you.”

“We are sorry to hear of your strife,” Geneser said. “But I must thank you for saving my life.”

“You are welcome,” Teneer said, seeing the zebra and unicorn standing closely together as the latter calmed himself down from almost losing his marefriend.

“Not to interrupt but…” Iynx motioned back to the destroyed drone. “I feel a little exposed here, perhaps we can talk elsewhere?”

“The Commander is right,” Princess Twilight stated with a nod. “Teneer, is there anywhere safe you can lead us.”

“My home,” he responded. “I know a safe way back, if you would trust me.”

“And you’re willing to trust us?” Xal questioned.

“You are enemies of the soulless ones and the man who controls them,” Teneer stated. “An enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

“Very well,” Twilight said with approval. “Lead the way, and we can discuss these ‘soulless ones’ in more detail.”

Author's Notes:

Christ this chapter ended up longer and with more stuff going on than I originally planned, about a thousand words more stuff to be precise.

Also, who knew the security team was going to die on seeing their armor was red?

17 - The Village

???

It would appear I have guests.

The ship in orbit is of a configuration of which I have no recognition, but it is heavily damaged. Long range scans from the Interceptor indicate it was taken damage from gaecha weapons fire, unlucky for them. What’s even more unfortunate is that they decided to come here. Whoever they are, I cannot have them interfere with what I have here.

So I engaged them, took my ship and destroyed two pods that descended down from their vessel.

One was completely destroyed, while the other crashed a little bit away from the village. I dispatched some of my drones to take care of them, and yet they did not return. The video feed revealed a… fascinating group.

Equine. Covered in fur of various colouration. One had a horn on his head. There was one who seemed a mix between some kind of mammal and an avian lifeform, that one was the first to down one of my drones. And that’s not even mentioning the big one, the one with wings and a horn, hair that seems to defy gravity itself and has… abilities. This one took hold of my entire force like nothing within some kind of energy field coming from the horn, crushed them into atoms. I have never seen anything like it in my entire life. I would imagine that one is the leader, and I shall have to keep a close eye on her.

Finally, there was him. A sharin like myself, in full naval uniform.

If he is here, then others might know of this too. I need to get my hooves on this officer and… acquire the answers to my many, many questions…

The officers of the Harmony followed closely behind the Sha’Du male, Teneer. The forest was thick, and without their guide getting lost would be all too easy. Thankfully, Teneer knew the area like the back of his hand.

Twilight still couldn’t get over how much like a human he appeared to be.

“How much further?” Xal asked. “It’s likely those drones are still searching for us.”

“Not much further,” he responded telepathically. “My home is safe. I hope.”

“You hope?” Nimble Star deadpanned.

Teneer shook his head regretfully. “We’ve had encounters with the person who controls the soulless ones.”

“Encounters?” the Princess questioned. “Have you been attacked?”

“Yes,” he answered, pain evident in his voice.

There was silence after that. Only the rustling of leaves and the odd animal scurrying about offered any audio for the group as they continued forth. The sun was already getting low in the sky, the first embers of twilight beginning to move across the sky.

“Your telepathic abilities are… well, incredible. I’ve seen hive minds and individual connections created between people using our… abilities. But nothing like yours,” Twilight stated, breaking the silence. “Have your species always had it?”

“As far as the stories of our forefather extend back,” he confirmed. “Seeing other use their mouths for talking is… disturbing.”

The Princess’ eyebrow raised up high. “Disturbing?”

“The mouth is for food,” he explained. “For us, that’s all it has ever been.”

“But you can understand us?” Iynx spoke up. “How is that, we’re not telepathic.”

“As you speak with your mouths, as do you in your mind.”

Suddenly, the group was rather on edge.

“Wait,” Silver Wrench interrupted. “You can read our minds.”

“Yes,” he admitted. “But my people only use it for communication and sensing emotion, any further without consent is a crime worthy of death.”

“Such a violation is also looked down among our people, even if it contain a lesser consequence for the caster,” Princess Twilight stated. “I’m glad to see your people share that morality.”

Teneer looked back briefly, nodding his head.

“If it eases your concerns further, you would know if I went deeper than what is plainly seen,” he stated.

“An evolved countermeasure, I have an inkling,” Geneser noted. “To stop others from secretly seeing what one is thinking.”

“The rhyming one is correct,” Teneer said. “We have a presence in the minds of others, alerting them if we were to go too deep.”

“But you can feel emotion, right?” Iynx asked for clarification.

“Passively, only what is not hidden, but kept to the surface,” he explained.

“So then, what am I feeling?”

“Bemusement,” he responded. “All of you I can sense, except your princess.”

“You cannot feel my emotions?” Twilight questioned.

“Only what you speak,” he confirmed. “Your mind is… old. Advanced. A forced entry would be… unwise for any Sha’Du, we would only ever know what you actively and consciously share.”

“Can’t say I, for one, am surprised,” Iynx stated with a smirk. “The Princess has been around for a while.”

“And she’s an alicorn,” Nimble Star added.

“I do not know the significance of ‘alicorn’,” Teneer stated. “But her strong mind is testament to her power.”

Teneer sighed, looking a little nervous.

“You could help us,” he said.

The group threw him a questioning glance.

“Against the soulless ones,” he continued. “You came from the sky, like them. Many of us are brave enough to resist, but bravery alone will not win against them. They are too strong and too many, our spears can only do so much.”

“It’s possible,” Twilight said diplomatically. “It’s certainly something we can discuss with your leader.”

“Our elder,” Teneer stated.

Twilight nodded. “Yes, when we meet your elder, we can discuss it.”

“You’re looking at him.”

Twilight did a double take. “You? But… ‘elder’, you seem so young.”

“Barely in my third decade,” he admitted. “Our previous elder was old and wise, she had seen much of the world’s offerings in her years. But the soulless ones ended her time here.”

“Elder Teneer,” Princess Twilight addressed sympathetically. “In the final leg of our journey, could you please tell us when this all started?”

Teneer paused for a moment, but then nodded.

A Few Weeks Prior

The moons shone down onto the planet, a controlled fire crackled in the centre of a small village on the edge of a forest. Huts were arranged in a circular pattern around the central fire, one hut had heat coming from within as several newly made spears with bronze tips rested our front. A few Sha’Du sat around the fire, and another few talked outside the elder’s hut, but everyone else was asleep for the night. There were no rival villages nearby, and the fire along with their numbers kept any of the forest’s predators fearful and at bay.

The night was as quiet as any others, children slept in their mothers’ embrace while the hunters recovered from a hard day’s work.

None of them were prepared for the fire in the sky.

The people still outside noticed it first, a flame high in the sky. None of them questioned it at first, such phenomenon happened every now and then, something any advanced species would recognise as a meteorite burning up in the atmosphere.

But this one didn’t go away, but instead seemed to get bigger as the flames died away and a green shape illuminated by the dying flames emerged.

And it was heading right towards them

Before a shout of alarm could be made, a loud whooshing and high winds swept through the village as the object swerved upwards and over their village. It moved on a short ways into a clearing just outside the village, opposite the forest, before setting down.

Teneer came rushing out of his home, his fellow hunters grabbing their weapons as they rushed to get into some kind of defensive position around the village against the possible threat. Teneer too grabbed a spear, heading towards the Elder’s hut as the old woman was helped out of her home by one of the villagers.

“Elder!” he communicated towards her. “An object from the sky, born in fire! It has come to a rest just outside the village.”

The Elder looked towards where Teneer was pointing, her face emotionless.

“We do not know its nature,” she stated. “Stay your blades until we know.”

That was when metal spheres began to crowd over the village, eliciting several screams from scared children as they cowered behind their parents. The hunters all gathered around the centre with the rest of the villagers as other metal being on legs began their approach, at their centre an equine lifeform with bony facial features and wearing a padded brown coat with the faded remains of a sharin naval uniform underneath.

The Elder, with Teneer at her side, stood bravely in front of her home as the outsiders rounded the fire and came to a halt a few feet away from them.

The sharin examined the Elder and her guard, a smirk plastered on his face.

“Hello,” he greeted simply and cheerfully. “I know you can understand me, telepath.”

“You speak with your mouth, but I can hear your mind all the same,” the Elder stated. “You are an unknown, you are unfamiliar to us.”

“Oh, well… let us change that. I’m J’poc, and you are the Elder of this village, correct?”

“I guide my people, true,” she confirmed. “Why are you here in you object born of fire?”

“Object born of fire?” he laughed. “That, my dear, is a starship. And these fellows…” He knocked on the chassis of one of the drones. “Are my friends, my servants.”

“You didn’t answer the question,” Teneer stated.

J’Poc glanced towards Teneer, his predatory eyes tearing into him.

“I want what everybody want,” he stated. “A place to call my home, to settle down. My people will be looking for me, and what better than a mostly forgotten primitive world of savages in the middle of nowhere?”

“Savages?” Teneer’s grip around his spear tightened.

“Teneer.” The Elder gave him a reproving look, before addressing J’Poc again. “So why do you address us now, outsider. I can feel your emotions, they are dark.”

“You noticed? Good for you,” he said patronisingly. “It’s really rather simple. I have a big bloody army, and I’m in need of servants with a bit more soul in them than these ones.”

“Is that a threat?” Teneer asked, bringing his spear up a little.

The answer was blunt and to the point. “Yes.”

“You are an aberration, aren’t you?” the Elder stated.

“What did you say?”

“You are on the run from your people, and the emotions I sense from you… you are not like the others.”

“The others?” His smirk widened. “While hardly emotionless they are a bit too logical for my tastes. All these rules and regulations, even sex is made boring when it’s just seen as for reproduction while other species go wild! My time with them is done.”

“If you believe we would serve a disturbed criminal, outsider, you are misinformed,” the Elder said in warning.

J’Poc snorted, glancing between the drones either side of him.

“Who said I was asking you?”

The drone to his right lifted a foreleg and a flash of green struck the Elder, killing her immediately.

All the drone in the sky began firing down at the huts so they would have nowhere to run as the ones on the ground moved to subdue the rest of the village, only killing where necessary.

Teneer watched with wide eyes as this began, glancing over to the Elder’s corpse before bringing his spear up in a rage.

He struck forwards towards J’Poc, who barely flinched as he sidestepped, brought up his rear hooves and bucked hard into Teneer’s side. Teneer crumped down, his spear discarded as pain shot through his torso. The sharin stood to his side along with one of the drones as his looked down at the man with sick amusement.

“Brave. But stupid. Don’t get up, be a good pet.”

Teneer shouted in rage as he grabbed his fallen spears and pierced it upwards. The blind jab hit the drone and pierce into its core, causing it to crumple with the spear still stuck inside.

J'Poc sighed. "You couldn't resist, could you? Maybe it's my fault, if only the armoured variants weren't so damned expensive."

J’Poc glanced down at the fallen drone, and then back to the now sitting, and stunned Teneer.

“Not even a shout, I can’t even hear any emotions or voices from them… They truly are soulless.”

“Yes,” J’Poc responded. “And you got up. Now I’m going to have to kill somebody as an example.”

Teneer’s eyes darted towards the one who had attacked them. Fires raged from their homes as the last of the villagers were subdued and held hostage.

“Goodnight,” J’Poc said as he collided his hoof with Teneer’s face.

Present Day

The entire group was left stunned by Teneer’s tale, they had no idea things were that bad.

“When I woke up, J’Poc made me elder,” Teneer explained. “He was mocking me, he sees himself as our ruler.”

“What then?” Princess Twilight asked, Teneer didn’t need his telepathy to see she was seething.

“He made terms for us to follow,” he stated. “We to provide food and slaves that would alternate every now and then, and it fell to me to organise who would and would not go. If we resist, he threatened to kill another, and then another should we continue until it was only me left.”

“I’m truly sorry,” Twilight gave her condolences. “What do the slaves do?”

“The men, he has taught them to do repairs on his drones and ship, but not how to operate them. Sabotage is seen as resisting, so none dare.”

“And the women?” Twilight dared to ask.

Teneer winced. “Remember what I said about what J’Poc told us, specifically about sex and how other species ‘go wild’.”

“Oh that fucker,” Iynx angrily muttered under her breath. “Princess…”

“I know,” Twilight stated. “You want our help, Teneer? You have it.”

Relief filled Teneer’s being. “Thank you, Princess.”

Xal hurried up to Twilight’s side.

“Princess, while I would prefer to take this J’Poc alive to face court martial…” he began. “If he resists, the logical thing to do may be ending his life and his threat to the villagers.”

“We’ll have to see how things go,” she responded.

“We’re here,” Teneer stated, moving some foliage to reveal his home.

The houses had been rebuilt, the fire in the centre was being prepared for the night. But there was an undeniable sense of dread and sadness around the village. However, all the villagers stopped and turned as they saw the group approaching, fear evident on their faces.

They all knew why, the last alien they met hadn’t exactly been friendly. What he had done, in Twilight’s opinion, was beyond unacceptable. Not just as a former officer of the sharin navy, but as a living sapient being.

Princess Twilight had a few things to say to J’Poc.

Author's Notes:

While writing this, I started to imagine J'Poc with Ramsey Snow's voice...

The sharin aren't all emotionless like the vulcans (as Xal has shown), but they are still a largely logical society. This guy though, he is not logical at all (think of a deranged romulan, or that one time Tuvok from ST:VOY mind melded with a serial killer and it went wrong).

18 - A Quiet Night

ES Harmony Telemetry Report, September 30th, 3382 AD, 2100 Hours Local Time.

At 1716 hours local time the ES Harmony detected weapons fire in the planet’s lower atmosphere, all contact with shuttles one and two were lost at the same time. Weapons signature bear resemblance to the weapons fire from the Serenity, as such it must be concluded that the shots were fired by the starship designated Interceptor, which is of the same class as the Serenity.

The ship was brought to Combat Alert status, but the Interceptor never arose from the planet. All efforts to contact the shuttles have failed. At 1830 hours Combat Alert was ceased, but a watch for the Interceptor emerging from the planet has begun full time. Should the Interceptor leave the planet orders are to engage and disable, boarding the ship thereafter.

Efforts to contact the Princess and the away team is ongoing, and the option of sending a search and rescue team is being discussed.

If we hear nothing, we’ll have to go looking.

Planet’s Surface, Sha’Du Village

The villagers looked up with fear and suspicion as the away team stepped into the Sha’Du village. The only thing that kept them from fleeing at the sight of new outsiders was the presence of their Elder, Teneer.

The group was led by the Elder slowly and carefully towards the centre, everypony’s weapons holstered and trying to act as respectful as possible to the petrified natives. The young night sky twinkled above, and as they reached the centre Teneer gave a couple of hunters a nod, and the great central fire was brought to life as they rushed up into the air and smoke began to pile high into the sky. The crackling of the embers were the only audible sound as Teneer brought the group in front of the Elder’s hut, every single villager now crowding around the fire, both to keep away the cold of the night and looking for an explanation as to why these outsiders were present.

Twilight plastered on her best diplomatic smile, thinking back to her early days when she brokered an historic deal with the buffalo tribes, using the memories of her actions then for guidance to the current situation she found herself in.

“Teneer?” one of the oldest looking hunters spoke. “Why have you brought more outsiders to our home? Do you not remember the first?”

“How can I not, when we deal with him every day?” Teneer shot back. “J’Poc is exactly why these outsiders are here.”

The hunter snarled. “Are they his people? Come to bring us further into his destructive web?”

“We don’t weave webs,” Xal muttered under his breath.

The hunter’s eyes shot towards Xal. “It appears I was correct, that one is near identical to the monster that plagues us still.”

Silver Wrench looked like he was about to speak up in Xal’s defence, but a look from both the sharin and Princess Twilight warned him against it. It was best to just let Teneer handle it until he said otherwise.

Teneer shook his head. “You are not correct, I assure you. Reach out with your senses, all of you. Their emotions speak for themselves.”

“They do not feel like he does, true,” the hunter conceded, before his gaze shifted to Twilight. “But I cannot even breach that one’s mind! It is like a shroud hiding the contents within from the world, why is she hiding from us?”

Teneer turned to Twilight, giving her a nod.

“I am not hiding anything, I am afraid that is just a product of my age,” the Princess spoke, the natives being taken aback by her regality. “I am Princess Twilight Sparkle, I mean none of you harm, I promise you.”

“You are the leader?” the hunter asked. “Why have you come to our home? Haven’t we had enough trouble?!”

“Enough,” Teneer said calmly, but threateningly.

Twilight shot Teneer a look that made him wilt as if he were a child being scolded by his mother, the Princess then gave the hunter her signature smile.

“What’s your name?”

“Ronaar, hunter for this village.”

“It’s a pleasure, Ronaar,” Twilight nodded her head in greeting. “Yes, I am the leader of my people. But I assure you that we have not come to cause any harm or grief to your village, quite the opposite in fact.”

“She speaks the truth,” Teneer stated.

Ronaar wore a sceptical look that was shared by his peers.

“Then why would they come, Tenner? What is their purpose for intruding?”

“They never intended to intrude, they were attacked,” Teneer stated. “You do not have to be old and wise to understand who by.”

Muttering arose from the villagers, lightly spreading throughout their ranks.

“If you claim J’Poc attacked his own kind, why?”

“We are not of his kind,” Twilight stated. “He is as alien to us as he is to you.”

Ronaar pointed the tip of his weapon accusingly in Xal’s direction. “And what of him? Do you claim he is not the same?”

Teneer stood between the hunter and the group. “Ronaar…”

“Let the creature speak!” Ronaar shouted. “Answer my question.”

“I am of his kind, true,” Xal stated, ignoring the glares he was receiving from the hunter. “But I am not a creature as you describe, and we most certainly are not the same.”

The villagers simply waited for the explanation to continue, and Xal provided.

“These people here, three ponies along with a zebra and griffon, saved me. I was trapped, lost, and they allowed me among their people and invited me into their home. As for J’Poc, he is a criminal.”

“A criminal?”

“Yes, surely you’ve had some of your villages do bad things before?” Xal questioned.

Ronaar slowly began to lower his weapon. “Some moons ago, one hunter killed another over a petty squabble. He was exiled for his actions.”

Xal nodded. “J’Poc is like that, only worse. As that hunter was a criminal among your people he is a criminal among mine, and I intend to stop him at all costs.”

Ronaar considered the sharin’s words, searching for deception in both his physical features and his emotions.

“You appear to speak the truth, and these others are going to help you?”

“They, Ronaar,” Teneer assured him. “They wish to end his threat.”

“And what must we give in return?”

“Nothing,” Princess Twilight said. “He may have something we want, he may not. Either way, we cannot leave him here to torment you so.”

Previously anxious mutters turned excited, hope actually returning to the local villagers for the first time since J’Poc first arrived on their doorstep.

Ronaar himself dared look hopeful, but he turned to the Elder with a desperate look on his face.

“Teneer, assure me on your ancestors AND your honour as Elder that these people are to be trusted, please.”

Teneer placed a hand on the hunter’s shoulder. “I swear, my friend. They can be trusted.”

Finally, Ronaar relented. “Very well, Elder. I trust you.”

Teneer nodded, and turned to address the rest of the villagers.

“I know you’re all scared, I know J’Poc has taken much. He holds several of our people still as his slaves, but that is at an end. Tomorrow, with our friends, we shall drive him from our lands and take back our home!”

Cheers erupted among the villagers as the away team looked on.

“They have a flair for the dramatic, don’t they?” Iynx snarked.

Princess Twilight shook her head, albeit with a small smirk. She turned to the rest of her group to talk to them directly.

“Xal, Iynx, you are with me. The rest of you, relax for the night. We’ve got a long day ahead tomorrow.”

A round of affirmatives came back, and as three of them moved off to find a cosy place near the fire the others were met by Teneer and Ronaar, who had just been talking.

“Princess, I must apologise for the suspicion,” Ronaar bowed his head respectfully. “Teneer has just been informing me of what transpired, I’m sorry for the loss of some of your people.”

Twilight held up a hoof. “There is no need to apologise, your suspicions were only natural after recent events. Now, myself along with Xal and Commander Iynx here would like to discuss our plans for tomorrow.”

“Of course,” Teneer confirmed. “Ronaar will be joining as since he is chief hunter, follow me.”

As Tenner led the group away into the Elder’s hut to discuss their plans, the two ponies and one zebra had settled down to one side of the fire. The natives were still giving them a wide berth, but they couldn’t really blame them.

“I came out here to test drive a starship, now we’re saving a group of primitives,” Nimble Star stated to the other two, her were leaning against one another to his left. “I mean, does this not sound like a plot from one of those old science fiction shows?”

Silver Wrench chuckled. “I must admit, everything that has happened to us does sound like a television series, doesn’t it?”

“Ah, fiction and reality aren’t always so different,” Geneser stated. “The similarities aren’t so insignificant.”

“What’s that meant to mean?” Nimble asked.

“Probably something along the lines of the fiction of the past potentially being our future or something,” Silver Wrench shrugged, earning him an annoyed look from his marefriend.

She sighed with a role of her eyes. “His explanation does fit… despite his way of saying it.”

“You know you love me really,” he said with a smirk.

Geneser hummed. “Sometimes, perhaps. Though your worlds earn you some slaps.”

“She added that last bit for the rhyme, didn’t she?” Nimble deadpanned.

“Yup,” Silver responded.

“Does she ever not rhyme, I mean without tricking her into not rhyming?”

“Not usually,” he shrugged, but a mischievous smirk formed on his muzzle. “With one exception, the other night I discovered that her bedroom vocabulary only seems to consist of ‘f-”

A hoof colliding with the side of his head stopped him mid-sentence, but did send him into a storm of laughter at the beetroot red mare in his hooves.

Nimble held up both his hooves, though couldn’t hide his own smirk. “Whatever you two get up to in your spare time is none of my business.”

Despite Silver’s continued laughter, however, now it was Geneser’s turn to smirk.

“Silver now may act all confident and dismissive,” she said. “But when I think back to those nights, I realise he was quite submissive.”

Silver’s laughter halted as a blush replaced it, trying to ignore Nimble’s raised eyebrow.

“So… who’s leading this relationship between you two exactly?”

Geneser only gave a smug look as Silver’s eye twitched slightly.

“Her… Definitely her,” he muttered, but Nimble heard it.

Nimble Star snorted in amusement, but nothing else was said. The three just continued to look towards the fire until the others were all finished, Geneser and Silver snuggled against one another.

Meanwhile, in the Elder’s hut the others were deep in discussion. Much to Ronaar and Teneer’s amazement, Twilight had used her magic to produce a lavender holographic map of the area.

“This is where we are due to meet,” Teneer pointed at a section of the map not too far from the village.

“Will J’Poc be there?” Iynx asked.

“No,” Teneer responded. “Only the soulless ones, returning the old batch of slaves and receiving the next group.”

“So he moves the slaves around in shifts?” Xal inquired.

“The labourers mostly,” Ronaar stated. “And the women he has grown bored of, which is rare.”

“So we spring the slaves during the transfer?” Iynx asked.

“That’s the idea,” the Princess confirmed. “But we will have to act fast and make for J’Poc right after, once he finds out about our alliance the slaves at the Interceptor will be in the firing line. We need to take him out fast while surprise is still on our side.”

“I’m glad we’ve got you with us, Princess,” Iynx stated. “Against that many drones and with so few phasers compared to spears… I’m happy to have an alicorn about.”

“You’ve seen war, Princess Twilight Sparkle?” Ronaar questioned.

“Like you wouldn’t believe,” Twilight grimly responded. “We’ll get your people back, and stop J’Poc. I promise.”

Author's Notes:

Next, we make our move against J'Poc.

Harmony Among the Stars has been moved back to Thursdays now that Change: Queen of the Hive has started.

19 - Drones

Princess Twilight Sparkle’s Personal Log, October 1st, 3382 AD.

This log shall be recorded through magical spell, considering I have no access to the Harmony’s computer. It shall be uploaded into the ship’s database on our return to the vessel. Luckily this planet’s time appears to be only a few hours off our own day-night cycle, so there is no confusion to be had with the date.

Midday is approaching fast, and that is when the slave transfer is due to occur. Teneer and Ronaar will go on ahead with their people, we shall follow behind under the cover of spell of my casting. One that should shield us from the sight of both organic and technological beings alike. Then, while the transfer takes place, we shall ambush them. With the Sha’Du’s assistance we shall overrun the drones overseeing the transfer and free the slaves they hold; then it’s a straight run for J’Poc’s ship.

I’ve seen people like him during my long life. People who force their will onto others, using them to fulfil whatever sick fantasies plague their minds. He shall not be allowed to continue.

He believes he is the biggest and baddest thing on this planet? Well…

He’s never met an alicorn when she’s angry.

Princess Twilight Sparkle and the rest of the bridge crew watch from under the cover of the alicorn’s spell as Teneer, Ronaar and a handful of villagers they were escorting made their way into a clearing among the forest’s treeline. The villagers were the slaves they were swapping out, there were six in total. Two were bulky men built for labour, the rest were young women. Twilight dared not consider their role in J’Poc’s twisted ‘empire’.

The villagers stopped in the middle of the clearing, the two men leading them throwing down their spears into the dirt.

Then, they all waited.

Under Twilight’s direction, the crew began to skirt the edges of the clearing, gaining a good flanking position for when the trouble began. Twilight’s steely gaze remained focused as the others checked and rechecked their phasers, the tension filling the air.

Finally, a rumbling sound replaced that tension’s space in said air. A few stones were displaced as a few trees were visibly moved aside by something coming from the opposite end of the clearing to the villagers. A large, metallic grey truck moving along treads almost like an old fashioned tank came crashing out of the trees, several of the smaller flying drones escorting it.

“Treads? What, couldn’t afford a hover car?” Nimble Star quietly remarked.

“He couldn’t afford drones with full armour,” Silver Wrench pointed out, shrugging.

“More likely its custom built,” Xal interjected. “That’s not a model I recognise. Besides, it has to have been built on this planet, there is no way he drove that vehicle through a scout ship’s airlock.”

The transport slowed rapidly and came to a halt a little ways from the gathered villagers, all of whom were terrified, even if Teneer and Ronaar tried to hide it.

The back of the transport made a sudden bang, and then the ramp began to lower. A contingent of about three dozen drones came robotically marching out and around the sides towards Teneer and his people. Among them were the six slaves that had been released back to their people, all of them looking shaken and worse for wear.

“I count thirty eight in total,” Xal stated. “Not counting the eight smaller drones providing air support.”

“Forty six in total, how many of these things does J’Poc have?” Iynx groaned. “He’s been busy.”

Twelve ground drones formed a line down each side of the truck respectively, the final dozen taking the slaves and presenting them before the elder.

“You have arrived, the transfer may proceed,” the monotone robotic man stated to the Elder.

“You were a few minutes late,” Teneer dared comment.

The drone didn’t shift a single gear. “There were complications with hostile wildlife, hostiles were terminated.”

As they spoke, Twilight spoke in hushed tones to her people.

“Iynx, can you take out the flying ones?” she asked.

The griffon only smirked, priming her phaser.

Twilight nodded. “Good. The rest of you, take the ones on the truck’s left and then secure it. I will deal with the rest and make sure the villagers come out of this alive. Once all is said and done, I want Geneser to check on the slaves that have just returned.”

The Princess received nods all around, confirming their roles in what was about to happen.

They were ready.

“You will begin the transfer,” the drone commanded.

Teneer didn’t answer, only nervously waiting where he stood.

The drone stepped forwards. “I repeat the directive, you will begin the trans-”

A blast of lavender magic reduced the drone to spare parts, even those melting into slag a few moments later.

“Move!” Teneer shouted to the villager, him and Ronaar grabbing their spears and proceeding to move their people back.

Within a moment all of the drones swivelled around and began firing plasma bolts in the direction of the lavender beam, orange phaser beams being returned as the crew were unveiled and quickly began to spread out.

The eleven remaining drones at the front turned their sight away from the group and towards the slaves they had just delivered, who were trying to break away and flee with the help of Teneer and Ronaar. As the Sha’Du scampered away Teneer and Ronaar jointly took out one directly in their path before escorting their people towards the forest. Ten drones raised their weapons at the villagers and unleashed a scorching torrent of plasma to the undefended group, the Sha’Du being helpless against the weapons fire.

Luckily, a shield formed around the group and effortlessly absorbed each and every single bolt. The alicorn who cast it strode forwards, eyes a pure glowing white.

Ten weapons trained in on her, twelve more joining the others as the drones from the transport’s right side came running around to reinforce their brethren. It was twenty two of them versus a single pony.

As the Princess rushed to help the villagers, the crew ducked away and returned fire towards the twelve ground drone and eight flying ones that had opened fire on them. Iynx extended her wings and shot into the air, nailing two of the drones on the way upwards. With the griffon now up there with them, they all turned to face her.

“Come on you tin cans, let’s see if you can take a griffon warrior!” she shouted.

They fired on her, the griffon diving the left to avoid the incoming torrent.

On the ground, three drones fell under phaser fire. As his allies continued to fight, Xal managed to make his way to the back of the transport and hop onto the ramp. Carefully moving up to the interior, he saw a large cargo area within with more than enough room to hold the drones and villagers it had been carrying. A small door sat at the other end leading into the cabin. It being clear, Xal quickly made his way towards it, coming to a stop once he reached the doorway.

He quickly located the control to open the door, pressing onto it immediately. As the door opened a metal figure lunged outwards, the drone who had been driving the transport.

He tackled Xal, bringing the sharin to the floor with an audible grunt. The drone kept one metallic hoof on Xal’s phaser, preventing him from utilising it. On the plus side, the drone wasn’t armed itself.

Xal grappled with the drone, slowly prying the thing off of his body, when he had enough breathing room he bucked out and sent the thing sprawling back into the cabin. The drone smashed into the console, trying to get up a moment later. However, Xal greeted that attempt with a phaser blast to the chest, disabling the bot.

Outside, Iynx shot out of the sky one of the final two aerial drones, glancing at it as the bot crashed to the ground. She turned to face the last one, bringing up the phaser she held in her talons.

Then it got a lucky shot.

A bolt of plasma skimmed her claw, eliciting a shout of pain as Iynx dropped her weapon which fell from the sky to the ground below.

The drone adjusted its aim, hoping to make the killing blow. However, a griffon isn’t defeated so easily, and they don’t need phasers to kill. Iynx darted forwards and grabbed onto the thing with her talons, the claws digging into gaps in its chassis and into the inner workings below. In a few short moments the enraged griffon tore the drone into several sparking chunks, before chucking them nonchalantly away.

The bridge crew brought down the final drone opposing them, Silver Wrench’s phaser beam striking through it and destroying the automaton.

“That’s them gone!” Silver Wrench shouted. “You alright, Commander?”

“Fine!” Iynx shouted back, landing to retrieve her phaser. “Just a slight burn.”

“Well, we can’t sit about,” Nimble reminded them. “We still got two more groups to deal with.”

“I must look at Iynx’s claw when I can, but he is right,” Geneser stated. “Come, we don’t have all night.”

The two ponies, zebra and one griffon nodded, quickly rushing around the transport to assist the Princess.

Their bravado quickly vanished at the sight that awaited them.

A small lake of molten slag made out of twenty two former robotic drones sizzled and popped just a few metres from the transport, at its edges Princess Twilight Sparkle examined the remains with not a hair out of place on her entire body. The Sha’Du stood a little ways behind her, staring at the alicorn with a mix of shock, awe and even a little bit of fear.

“P-Princess?” Iynx called out. “Did you do that?”

Twilight looked up, her face regal and composed. “I did. They shall not be harming another Sha’Du ever again.”

Princess Twilight turned towards the villagers, looking towards Teneer specifically.

“Are your people alright?”

Teneer nodded. “We are fine. I’ve never seen such a display of power.”

“I don’t like to show off often.”

“And yet I suspect that’s not the full extent,” Teneer replied. “Nevertheless, you have our thanks.”

Twilight nodded, before gesturing a lavender hoof towards the other villagers. “What happens now? Shall you escort them back?”

“I shall wait with you while Ronaar takes them back and gathers our hunters for the attack on that monster.”

“You do not need to place your people in harm’s way,” Twilight stated. “We can handle this.”

“I don’t doubt it,” he said in return. “But you have done so much already, time for us to contribute. Besides, this is our home and we will fight for it.”

“Very well. Ronaar?”

“I’m on it,” Ronaar stated, turning to his fellow villagers. “Come, follow me to safety.”

As the villagers began to follow Ronaar away from the clearing, receiving a quick onceover by Geneser on the way out, the group noticed Xal exit the transport and canter up to them.

“Xal, have some trouble?” Silver asked.

“Only light resistance,” the sharin replied. “The transport is working, and we could probably use it in the upcoming fight.”

Twilight nodded. “A bit of armour never hurts, and he’s bound to have defences set up. What do you think?”

Xal though for a moment. “If he has drones, turrets are likely. Shields too. We shall need to proceed with care.”

Before Princess Twilight could continue on the conversation, Xal held up a hoof to stop her.

“But, there is something else. The transport has a transmitter installed, it can contact the Harmony.”

“A transmitter?” Twilight enquired. “Well then; Iynx, Xal, you two contact the Harmony while the rest of us sort things out here”

“Yes ma’am,” Iynx saluted. “Come on Xal.”

The griffon and sharin quickly moved away from the others, only briefly seeing Twilight begin to quickly clean up the molten lake she had created. They moved into the transport and past the dead drone that had now been unceremoniously chucked out of the cabin and into the cargo area.

“Friend of yours?” Iynx asked with a smirk.

Xal elected not to answer, instead taking his place in the cabin and sitting in the driver’s seat. Iynx stood to his side, examining the controls.

“Here’s the transmitter.” Xal pointed at a blue glowing display just to his right and directly in front of Iynx. “Connecting now.”

A few minutes went by as they attempted to connect to the Harmony’s damaged, albeit more repaired than it was, communications system. Finally, they had success.

“ES Harmony, do you read?” Iynx asked into the console.

“Commander?” a voice returned. “Commander, is that you?”

The Harmony’s First Officer grinned in victory. “Affirmative, it’s good to hear your voice.”

“Likewise, we were getting worried ma’am. What’s your status?”

“Shuttle Two is gone, all occupants KIA. Our shuttle crashed but we’re all fine. A lot has happened since…”

Iynx went on to explain to the crew currently manning Harmony’s bridge what had transpired, from the crash to the recent fight that had occurred.

“We copy that, Commander,” the voice stated. “What are your orders? We are holding standard orbit, but can have security teams coming towards your location stat.”

“Negative Harmony,” Iynx denied. “A shuttle could suffer the same fate as the first two, and a transport could be detected. We want to keep the element of surprise. We can handle this with the Sha’Du.”

“Then, what are your orders for us ma’am?”

“Just sit tight and-” Iynx began, before rethinking. “Actually, keep an eye out for if J’Poc attempts an escape. Should the Interceptor come into range you are ordered to attempt to disable, or in a dire case, destroy her if you can.”

“Aye ma’am,” the voice acknowledged. “We are on standby, anything else?”

“Negative, no more orders.”

“Yes ma’am. Harmony out.”

Author's Notes:

Sorry I missed last week, a lot happened. Still, we're back and next time we get to say hi to J'Poc!

20 - J'Poc

Journal Entry #2077, J’Poc Signed In.

They are coming…

The transport parted trees from the ground as it rumbled through the forest towards the landing site of the Interceptor. Princess Twilight Sparkle flew a short distance above with her watchful ancient eyes looking out for any trouble ahead. All of her companions were loaded into the transport itself, Xal driving while all the others were loaded into the back compartment. As well as the away team, a dozen of the village’s hunters had also accompanied them, led by Teneer and Ronaar. They were fighting for their freedom and they would be damned if they let the crew of the Harmony do all the work.

Still, no resistance had been encountered as they traversed the trees, something that only made the Princess that little bit more uneasy. If they had yet to run into any resistance then that indicated they were walking straight into a trap. But while that may be the case, J’Poc still had very little idea as to what they were capable of, what she was capable of. He had no experience fighting their kind, and no specific counter to their magic.

If J’Poc was setting a trap for them, so be it. They were more than happy to spring it.

And yet Twilight kept all her senses focused on locating anything suspicious, any potential danger. As they went on forwards the landing site of the Interceptor got closer and closer, soon they would be upon it.

Inside the cabin, Xal was in constant contact with the Harmony, giving the crew periodic updates. In the back the others all sat in mostly silence; that silence was only occasionally being interrupted by the occasional chatter.

“Your people up for this?” Iynx asked Teneer. “I know you’re doing this to protect your home, but this fight won’t be pretty.”

“I’m counting on it,” Ronaar commented, much to Taneer’s chagrin.

Iynx gave Ronaar a raised eyebrow. “A little eager, aren’t we?”

“You’re one to talk,” Ronaar shot back. “I see that look in your eyes. Your relish battle, live for it.”

“I wouldn’t go that far…” Iynx shook her head. “My people were built around war. In our earliest days that nearly destroyed us, before we began to accept the friendship of others. Still, our warrior culture remains to this day. Almost all griffons learn how to fight.”

“A requirement?” he asked.

“Not at all,” Iynx stated. “Once, perhaps. But not for a couple millennia. If a griffon doesn’t have the stomach for it, that’s their own prerogative. Most simply choose to do so because it’s a part of who we are.”

“And yet you deny your warrior’s spirit?”

Iynx rolled her eyes. “I never said that. I’m a griffon, but I’m also an officer of the ESP. I won’t shy away from a fight, I am a tactical officer after all, but I don’t relish fighting or killing. Quite the opposite.”

“Admirable,” Teneer stated. “One should never let death become normal to them, lest it destroys all that is good within that person.”

Ronaar rolled his eyes. “And that is why he is the Elder.”

“Not by choice,” Teneer pointed out.

Ronaar smirked. “Still, Iynx, let us see how that griffon warrior spirit holds up in the fight to come.”

Iynx smirked back. “And what of the Sha’Du? I have yet to see you do more than take down a couple, while we slagged an entire group of them.”

“That sounds like a challenge.”

“I suppose it does.”

“You finished measuring dicks?” Nimble Star asked, more than a little bemused. “It gets a little boring after a while.”

Iynx gave him an amused, and slightly mischievous glace. “You’re just annoyed that the griffons would have kicked Equestria’s ass several times over without the princesses.”

Nimble gave them a glare. “Excuse me? I think you would find the EUP is perfectly capable today, and has been perfectly capable since its founding.”

“Capable, just not up to griffon standards.”

“Oh? Have you forgotten about the battle of Baltimare, a couple months after the attempted coup by Nightmare Moon? If I recall, the griffons decided that was the perfect time to perform an attack of their own, and failed miserably.”

Iynx scoffed. “Yes, and only because Princess Celestia led the EUP personally.”

Nimble’s glare hardened, his comeback prepared as the others looked on.

“This… could go on a while,” Silver Wrench deadpanned, Geneser just giving a chuckle along with her nod of agreement.

The argument did not go on a while, however, as the helmspony and First Officer were stopped when the transport jolted to a halt.

A loud bang drew their attention to the roof of the transport, where it sounded like Princess Twilight had just landed. Not a moment later, Xal emerged from the cockpit and examined the others with a grim expression.

“We’re here.”

Princess Twilight stood atop the transport, looking steel faced towards a large boulder in front of the transport, the boulder itself stood at the head of a large rocky outcropping. The boulder also had a couple dozen drones all lined in formation with weapons raised towards them, but that didn’t hold the Princess’ interest; rather, her eyes were locked with the one who stood on top of the boulder smirking arrogantly at her, a sharin, J’Poc himself.

“So, you’re the little trouble makers who just couldn’t die in their shuttle like good boys and girls.”

“J’Poc, I presume?”

The sharin gave a mocking bow. “In the flesh. Though I must say, I’ve never seen a creature such as you before.”

“You could say we’re new on the block,” Twilight responded. “But it matters not, your little ‘kingdom’ ends here. You torture of these people shall not continue.”

“And why do you care? They’re just savages.”

“There is only one savage here. Surrender, we’ve already beaten many of your drones. And whatever else you can throw at us will too be destroyed.”

“Oh, I know.”

Twilight blinked. “You do?”

“Of course, what do you take me for?” J’Poc responded with fake offense showing on his face. “I’m not a moron. You have abilities that are very, very alien. I was not prepared for somebody like you, I know when I am outmatched.”

He formed a grin on his face, no seeming like someone admitting defeat. “It’s also true anything I throw at you would likely be destroyed. Even if I killed those pretty little companions of yours and all those damned primitives, I would still have you to deal with. I mean, wow! Just look at that hair! Screw gravity, right?”

“Are you done?” Twilight deadpanned.

J’Poc chuckled. “Done? My dear, are you honestly asking me that? I cannot beat you, but one thing they can do, is slow you down!”

Just then, the air around them shimmered, and four large turrets seemed to appear out of thin air.

“They were cloaked!” Twilight bellowed in her Royal Canterlot Voice. “Out of the transport, now!”

“And they weren’t cheap, it was these things or better armour for the drones I’m afraid” J’Poc stated, drawing a plasma pistol as he began backing away. “Now I would love to have his dance with you, but I must depart.”

Twilight couldn’t pursue him as the four turrets homed in on the transport and four green beams erupted toward it, forcing Twilight to place up a large shield to protect them as the crew and hunters all clamoured out of the vehicle.

The drones also opened fire, downing two hunters as the rest charged into the enemy full of both bravado and rage. Xal spotted J’Poc fleeing, and fired a phaser beam in his direction, it only missing by a few metres.

“Damn!” he shouted. “Princess, logically he must heading for his ship!”

The Princess leapt from the transport to the ground as the turrets fired again, pacing up another shield around them as the transport exploded into a large scorching fireball.

“Iynx, get after him!” Twilight ordered. “The rest of us will aid the Sha’Du and then join you after this lot have gone.”

“Aye, ma’am!” Iynx confirmed, priming her phaser and using her wings to propel herself after J’Poc.

“Not alone you’re not!” Ronaar declared after spearing a drone, running after the griffon as fast as his two legs would carry him.

“Ronaar!” Teneer shouted after the hunter, but went unheard. “What is he doing?!”

“They can both look after themselves,” Nimble stated as he shot dead one of the machines. “Let’s focus on the immediate problem.

A beam of lavender shot past, reducing one of the armoured turrets to dust within moments as Twilight turned her attention to the remaining three. Despite dividing her attention between attacking and defending her allies, J’Poc was correct, they would ultimately only slow her down temporarily.

As the alicorn and those fighting with her dealt with the automatons, Iynx and Ronaar were in hot pursuit of J’Poc. Several individual drones met them along the way, but were quickly despatched by phaser, spear and talon. The path they followed led around the large outcropping of rocks and towards a large clearing with several Sha’Du slaves slinking back in fear. At the centre of the clearing the Interceptor was perched, one of the airlocks open with a boarding ramp extended.

However, there was no sign of J’Poc.

“Where is he?” Ronaar asked as the two came to a stop at the entrance of the clearing. “That is the thing he arrived in, is he already aboard?”

“If that was the case, then why hasn’t he-” She was cut off as a hoof connected with the back of her head, knocking the griffon to the ground.

“Iynx!” Ronaar shouted, spinning and darting his spear forwards.

J’Poc rolled to the side, firing a blind shot at Ronaar. The shot missed the man, but disintegrated his primitive weapon.

Ronaar darted forwards and grappled J’Poc before he could react, but the equine was easily able to buck him off and to the ground. Despite this, before J’Poc could take any other action he was forced to avoid a phaser beam fired by a recovered Iynx, firing back as he took cover behind a tree at the edge of the clearing.

As the sharin prepared himself from behind the cover, his predatory eyes locked onto something. Ronaar was only just recovered and attempting to rise to his feet, and he was out of cover in the space between Iynx and J’Poc.

Iynx also spotted this.

“Ronaar, move!” Iynx shouted as she darted forwards to the man’s aid.

Ronaar was only able to glance towards her as a plasma beam impacted his side, vaporising the hunter where he stood.

Iynx gave a shout of rage as she kept moving forwards, taking to the air as she holstered has pistol. J’Poc fired shots at her but she nimbly avoided them all as she bared down onto him. Her talons reached for his neck, but he stopped them with his right leg barring the way. However, Iynx’s claws buried deep into his plasma pistol, rendering it inoperable.

In response, he ripped off Iynx’s holster attached to her armour, throwing it to one side. With both combatants now unarmed, they each threw punched and kicks and one another. Iynx was able to score a few good hits with her claws, cutting deep into his flesh, something that would likely scar. Instead of waning, however, J’Poc’s rage grew. He ducked under one of Iynx’s swipes, his hoof meeting her face a moment later, knocking her to the ground.

J’Poc was running out of time, and he knew it. The Princess would be coming any moment, and thus he had to leave.

J’Poc kicked Iynx in the stomach, before bolting for his ship. Seeing this, Iynx forced herself upwards as she lunged for her discarded phaser, turning to fire a shot.

She hesitated, however. J’Poc, knowing her next likely action, had grabbed one of the slaves as he ran and was now using them as a meat shield; to make matters all the worse, the slave in question was a mere child. He was also attaching something to the back of the distraught crying child’s neck.

“Catch the ‘bad guy’, or save the kid, your choice!” he exclaimed, pushing the child forwards before bolting off towards his ship again.

Iynx made her choice in under a second.

The griffon rushed forwards to the child’s side, turning him over to examine the device. A red light was blinking, and it was beeping. She tugged at it, only causing the child to bawl harder as the device had been fused to his skin.

Iynx groaned, taking her phaser and adjusting the setting to an extremely low but precise yield.

“This might hurt, kid.”

Iynx aimed her weapon at where the device attached to the kids neck, the beeping increasing in intensity. With extreme care she fired the phaser, taking off the skin the device was attached to as the child screamed in excruciating pain, though bravely tried to remain as still as possible.

With it detached she took the device in one claw and threw it as far into the air as she could, and it was there it exploded mere moments later.

Several of the adult Sha’Du rushed forwards to the child’s aid, and with who Iynx assumed to be his mother whispering comforts into his ear as he held onto her for dear life, the mother looking at Iynx gratefully.

Iynx nodded, turning to pursue J’Poc, only to witness the Interceptor rising into the air as its impulse engines then propelled it high up into the sky.

“Commander!”

Iynx glance behind her, seeing Princess Twilight land just next to her. The alicorn’s eyes were trained on the fleeing starship, before her gaze moved to First Officer.

“What happened?”

“And where is Ronaar?” Teneer asked, he and the others rushing to catch up with the Princess.

Iynx simply shook her head, and Teneer got the meaning with a great sadness at the loss of his friend.

“Princess, can you go after him?” Ensign Nimble Star asked.

“If I was as fast a flyer as Rainbow Dash,” she responded in annoyance. “I wouldn’t catch up in time before they jump, it’s up to the Harmony now.”

The atmosphere grew thinner and thinner as the Interceptor continue to rush upwards through the sky. The blue sky beginning to fall away to the blackness of outer space.

J’Poc allowed himself to relax a little as he sat at his ship’s helm. He was alone, none of the other stations were manned. Stars could be seen out of his viewscreen as he left the planet and headed into space, making his timely escape.

But this was not a victory for him by any stretch. His kingdom, his subjects… All had been taken from him by those aliens. He could have lived out the rest of his life as a king, a god. Instead, he was alone with a single lowly scout ship. His drone forces were all scrap metal, all of his toys had been used up delaying his enemies as they converged onto him. But he was always resourceful, he would find a way to repay them in kind for the humiliation they had dealt him. Ideas were already pouring into his twisted mind, tortures that he could inflict. He would kill that entire crew and all those they cared about, but three in particular deserved his attention. That sharin among them, it was likely his fault they came to the planet at all. That alien who had fought with him on the surface, the one with the features of both a feline and an avian. And finally there was their leader, he was very interested in her.

His musings continued as his escape drew closer, only a little further and he would be able to safely jump to warp speed and finally be rid of his pursuers.

It was then a beeping caught his attention, the instruments in front of him showing a ship incoming. He switched the viewscreen to view aft, and sure enough a starship consisting of a saucer and two nacelles was veering down towards him.

On the Harmony’s bridge, the acting command crew studied the ship displayed on the viewscreen. Combat alert had already been sounded, and the crew were all at battle stations.

“Sir?” the tactical officer called out to the acting captain.

The pony studied the enemy vessel a moment longer, and then gave the order.

“Fire.”

The Harmony fired its phasers at the fleeing scout ship, scoring a direct hit on the aft shield and heavily damaging them. The Interceptor initiated evasive manoeuvres, not even bothering to fire back at the much larger starship. That, and focusing on a fight and flying at the same time would put J’Poc at a distinct disadvantage.

The Harmony moved to adjust itself to the smaller ship’s evasive pattern, though its phasers missed the next few shots. The Harmony rounded the Interceptor as it tried to slink away again, but this time their targeting was on point. Phasers slammed into the ship’s back shields, and a torpedo finally evaporated them completely.

Sparks flew across the Interceptor’s bridge, J’Poc seeing his foe targeting his ship’s warp core.

“You’ve pushed me to my limits,” he growled. “But I have one last trick just for you.”

The Interceptor shot upwards and did a barrel role as it went, speeding forwards in the opposite direction towards the Harmony as it dodged three torpedoes sent its way. A phaser skimmed the hull, taking out a chunk which was quickly sealed with an emergency forcefield. The Interceptor danced its way over the Harmony’s hull, flying over the saucer as the phasers moved to train back in on J’Poc.

“A gift for you.”

A hatch on the back of the Interceptor blew open, revealing a custom made compartment out of which a device not dissimilar to the one Commander Iynx extracted from the Sha’Du child’s neck was ejected into space above the ES Harmony.

“Sir!” the Harmony’s helmspony shouted. “He just dropped something!”

“Something? What something?”

The tactical officer looked at his instruments, alarm building quickly. “It’s a mine!”

The acting captain’s eyes widened. “Evade!”

The mine armed, its detonation imminent.

The Interceptor was temporarily forgotten, and as the scout ship again fled the ES Harmony dived out of the way. It rushed away from the incoming explosion as fast as it could possibly go, the mine erupting into a gigantic explosion of epic proportions that the Harmony was just barely able to outrun. However, the ship was knocked off course by the shockwave.

The much faster Interceptor sped away from the scene, J’Poc looking back at the Harmony in both satisfaction and relief.

Then, the Interceptor jumped to warp. He was gone.

Author's Notes:

J'Poc wants revenge, but the question really is...

Will he ever get the chance?

Chapter 22: Karma

21 - Departure

Princess Twilight Sparkle’s Personal Log, October 2nd, 3382 AD.

It is done. The Sha’Du have been saved.

And yet I feel uneasy.

More shuttles from the Harmony have landed, and some supplies and equipment were teleported directly to us. J’Poc, in his hurry to evacuate, has left behind the Stabilisation Crystals from the station; more than enough to replenish our lost supply. But as I just stated, he evacuated He’s gone.

Reports from the Harmony indicate they almost destroyed his ship, but they were forced to break off their attack when he dropped a mine right in their path. I do not blame the crew, I would have been more disappointed had they recklessly carried on despite the mine, which would have likely damaged the ship heavily and cause massive loss of life. They did the right thing, even if it mean J’Poc’s escape, just as Commander Iynx did in saving the child he had threatened.

He is sick and twisted, using a child’s life and endangering it to save his own. I fear we may see him again, or perhaps he’ll just slink away to some bar in the galaxy’s backwater. I suppose only time will tell which will be the case. Either way, our resident Chief Engineer is overseeing the crystal implantation in our ship’s core, and we should be able to get underway soon. Before that however, Teneer wishes to speak with me.

He and his people are quite grateful towards us.

Sha’Du Village

“I take it you have everything you need?” Teneer enquired to the alicorn princess with him inside the Elder’s hut.

Twilight nodded in confirmation. “Luckily we didn’t give him enough time to pack his things.”

“Well I’m not even going to bother asking how any of it works,” he commented. “We have pointed sticks and you can shoot light from your head.”

The Princess chuckled lightly. “It’s probably for the best.”

“You know, we’re not going to forget this. We’ll be telling this story for generations.”

At this declaration the Princess couldn’t help but grimace at the thought, causing the Elder to raise his eyebrow in slight confusion as to the alicorn’s behaviour.

“Princess? Is something wrong?”

“All of this is wrong,” she replied grimly. “No offence but you and your people are primitive. Your civilisation is still in its early stages and yet you encountered starships and robotic drones that fire plasma! And as you said, you won’t forget it.”

“And you’re worried it will affect us in a bad way?”

“Yes,” she confirmed. “In the thousands of years to come, the details of this event will become lost. The last thing I want is to be worshiped as a goddess… again.”

“Again?”

“Even on my world there are those that see alicorns as divine ultimate beings due to our power and longevity. Meeting us could affect your cultural development in the years to come.”

“We’re just one village.”

“Stories spread fast,” she retorted. “And it changes from person to person too.”

“I see your point,” he admitted. “I will do my best to see the truth of the matter known, but unlike you I won’t live forever.”

“Nothing lives forever,” Twilight stated with a shake of her head. “Even me.”

“Nevertheless, in some thousands of years when we reach out to the stars, I trust you will be there to greet us again?”

Twilight turned and looked towards the bipedal alien, developing a warm smile as she nodded her head. The thought had already crossed her mind previously, and she couldn’t deny the scholar in her was eager to see how the species would continue to develop over the millennia.

“I look forward to the day, should I still exist,” Twilight said. “And hopefully then I’ll be able to clear up any misconceptions that may have arisen about this very day. I imagine there will be a few.”

“As you’ve said,” he commented. “Still, until that day comes I bid you both my farewell and my profound thanks. I don’t know what we would have done if you and your people hadn’t come along when you did.”

The Elder gave the Princess a respectful bow to convey his gratitude, a gesture by which the Princess was touched.

“Thank you, Elder Teneer. But we were not alone.”

He smirked. “You didn’t really need our help.”

“But you did have the courage, in the end, to stand up for yourselves,” she insisted. “People like yourself, and the late Ronaar. Never lose your spirit, Teneer.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, I know Ronaar would appreciate the praise,” Teneer said. “It’s still hard to believe he’s gone. I had known him for almost my entire life.”

“Victory seldom comes without a price,” Twilight grimly reminded him. “Even after we get home, there are still those who didn’t make it that far. Star Gazer, and too many others will never see home again.”

“Then fight,” Teneer stated. “Fight to keep them safe, fight not to lose a single other soul.”

“Of that, we can agree,” the Princess replied.

ES Harmony, Engineering

“Hoof that over, would you?” Silver Wrench asked to Xal, who quickly passed the scanner over, going to use it but getting annoyed at two nearby engineers who he quickly moved over to.

“No, stop!” he ordered, taking a few cables they were connecting away from them. “This one goes there, that one goes there! Understand?”

Shaking his head, he moved away from them and back to where he was working. “I swear, you take your eyes off the kids for a few moments…”

Silver Wrench proceeded to run the scanner over the core, or more specifically one of the injector assemblies, checking to see if the readings were stable. He and Xal had been leading the engineering staff in loading up the recovered crystals into the core, and thus far all had proceeded without a hitch. The core seemed to accept the alien grown ‘dilithium’ crystals as Xal’s people called them, and the Chief Engineer was confident they would soon be back on course for home.

“All seems stable,” Silver noted. “Who knows, maybe these crystals of yours will make out trip home that bit faster.”

“I wouldn’t think so, sadly,” Xal stated. “These crystal are no different to the ones found on your own world, and unless we find somewhere to replace the broken warp nacelle, it will make no difference to speed.”

“Warp nacelle?”

Xal sighed. “Another term my people and other veterans of the galactic stage use. You just use nacelle or ‘the engine’ don’t you?”

The pony nodded. “Pretty much. Though, since meeting you I’ve heard the Princess saying they might rename them to fit in with the norm of the other races out in there in the quadrant.”

“A logical choice.”

“Thought you might see it that way,” Silver remarked. “FTL and Warp are near identical, even with magic added into the mix it’s arguable just a variation. But looking over the data you gave on your impulse drive, it works completely differently to our thaumatic drive.”

“That’s because your thaumatic drive is entirely magical in nature, while your FTL drive is not. Not to mention it runs through the nacelles along with the warp field while the impulse drive tends to have their one individual placements on the hull of our ships.”

“Two completely different devices with the same roles,” the pony agreed.

“If the Princess is going to propose renaming the FTL drive to Warp Drive, I suggest she does not do the same with the thaumatic drive.”

“She’s way ahead of you on that, she does her research.”

“As I’ve noted,” Xal said. “Either way, the injector assembly seems to be processing the antimatter stream very well, core temperatures are green across the board and the reaction flow is occurring as expected.”

“Good,” Silver replied, cantering over across engineering towards the main engineering console.

Stopping there, he ran some checks over all the key systems of the core as all eyes turned to him nervously. Everything on the console came back positive, and he was able to release a sigh of relief as the core itself hummed happily away in the background.

“She’s ready.”

Cheers and the stamps of hooves erupted around engineering as the engineer celebrated the achievement, Xal just standing awkwardly among them, unsure whether he should cheer too with the others. In the end, he simply decided to stand there and wait for the ponies to quiet down. With a few final levers switched and buttons pressed Silver Wrench was satisfied, making his way past the exuberant engineers and back towards Xal.

“We’re all good here. Is the Princess still on the surface?”

“All the rest of the senior staff are,” Xal informed him. “We should inform the Princess immediately.”

“My thoughts exactly, come on.”

Down in the Sha’Du village things were coming to a close. With all equipment packed away all of the Harmony’s remaining shuttles were boarded and quickly took off into the air and quickly became hidden by the sun’s blinding rays of light. The shuttlecraft then sped off up into the sky, leaving orbit for docking with the ES Harmony. As this was going on, Princess Twilight and the others in the senior staff with her remained behind for final farewells, preparing for teleportation up to the ship. The group were stood together outside Elder Teneer’s hut, the villagers all circled around them as best they could.

“I wish you a safe trip,” Teneer said. “You will forever be welcome in our village.”

“Thank you, Elder Teneer,” she replied with a respectful bow of her head. “But I doubt we shall ever return.”

“I understand. But nevertheless, the offer remains open.”

“What will you do now?” Commander Iynx enquired.

“Rebuild, continue on. What we have always done.”

The griffon shook her head. “I doubt normality is going to return overnight.”

“No, this will stick with us for some time to come. But things will get better, they are already better thanks to all of you.”

“You flatter us,” Nimble Star commented.

“It is much for you to dwell,” Geneser also said. “But for now, I wish you well.”

“I too wish you well,” the Elder replied to the zebra doctor. “All of you, give my regards to Silver Wrench and Xal. Especially the latter, it’s good to know not all of his kind are like the invader known as J’Poc.”

“I think you would find the majority aren’t,” Princess Twilight Sparkle stated. “But there will always be subversions to what we see as the normality, whether that subversion is for better or worse.”

“True enough. But enough talk, I cannot keep you from your home for too long after you went to so much trouble saving ours.”

Twilight nodded. “Then until we meet again. Farewell, Teneer.”

The Princess looked down at Iynx, giving her a brief nod. The griffon in question nodded back, bringing up a small device in her talons. She pressed onto the centre button, activating the beacon signalling the crew of the ES Harmony that they were ready to beam up. A lavender aura then began to surround all of the Harmony’s senior staff, and after a few moments of charging a blinding flash of light consumed them as the vanished from the Sha’Du’s village in but a moment. When the light dissipated they were nowhere to be seen, only a few embers of lavender magic remained, disintegrating on touching the ground.

The villagers examined the spot where the alien visitors had been a few moments earlier, in awe at the sight. Then, the crowd began to disperse, either chatting or moving on with their lives. Teneer was the last one left looking at where the crew had departed, finally moving his gaze towards the sky. It was there that, despite the day, he swore he could just faintly see a shooting star begin to move across the heavens.

And then, high above the planet, the ES Harmony was moving away. They broke orbit, the single working nacelle alight as the thaumatic drive did its work. The vast starship quickly moved away from the gravity well, the planet quickly getting smaller and smaller as it drifted off into the distance. They passed by one of the two moons orbiting the planet, the shadow of the starship casting darkness briefly onto the surface as they went on by. They quickly left that behind too, and once they were far away from the gravity wells of both the moon and planet the ship slowed down, the nacelle lighting up and an aura building around it.

On the bridge all the officers had taken their stations. Silver Wrench was in engineering while his other half worked on in medical. Nimble was ready at the helm, Iynx at tactical and Xal took over one of the other station on the bridge. Princess Twilight Sparkle herself stood tall and proudly next to the captain’s chair, her gaze briefly resting on the empty chair.

“FTL is charged and ready,” Nimble Star reported. “Waiting your command, your highness.”

Twilight nodded at the helmspony, her vision shifting from the seat to the sight of stars plastered into the viewscreen. Meeting another alien species had been a treat, but she was eager to get underway. The planet they were just on may have been beautiful, but there was no place like home.

“Resume previous heading,” she ordered. “Engage.”

The nacelle gave a pulse as the field formed around the hull, the ship jolting forwards and out of the system, leaving the Sha’Du, their world and the long abandoned station far behind.

Author's Notes:

It lives!

If you've not noticed, each story arc transitions to the next with a flash back to Equestria (7 - Contact lost, 13 - Meanwhile). We get to the next one of these transitions in a few chapters time, and then we move onto the final arc of the story.

22 - Karma

Journal Entry #2078, J’Poc Signed In.

I failed, it would seem. My little paradise, destroyed by aliens and… that officer. I never even got close to that one, that damned bird thing chased and fought me. I killed her native friend, but she was… tougher than he was.

I know not what to do now, but I have much to think on.

The alien leader held off everything I threw at them during my retreat. Destroyed them all while simultaneously protecting all those beneath her giant wings. Her abilities are extraordinary, if only I could have performed some tests. Abilities like that, if there was a way to replicate them, would sell well I feel.

Perhaps that is something else the officer might know more about. I must wonder, how much contact have my race had with these aliens?

Either way, I’m on my last legs. I need time to figure things out, perhaps I should look up some of my old contacts? If any still live anyway, I’ve killed my fair share. Perhaps I should return to that pitiful savage planet one day, if I can’t have it then why should they? One starship would be more than enough to eliminate all their villages, efficient sensors would prevent any from escaping my grasp and plasma fire.

Never committed genocide before. Perhaps today is a day for new horizons, trying new things. I should also learn more about the aliens, the possibilities are-

…Well then. Seems I have a ship on sensors, at the edge and yet unidentified. But it is there. And… they are on an intercept course. Interesting.

This is most curious, they appeared to be on a heading following that alien ship before spotting me. Friend of their perhaps?

Deep Space, The Interceptor

The Interceptor continued on at full impulse, the full extent of the scout ship’s sensor array monitoring the incoming starships. The lone soul on board the scout was eagerly awaiting for his ship’s systems to identify them, and even more eager to know if they had had any contact with the aliens who just had to go and ruin his perfectly acceptable day.

He was a little aggravated by that particular turn of events.

He made sure his shields were raised, just in case. A scout ship wasn’t ideal in a fight, so he was ready to jump top warp at a moment’s notice if things went pear shaped.

In the meantime, all he had was the absolute and deafening silence of the void known as outer space. Oh how his species had breached the stars and formed such a gem, not that he cared much. He just wanted a small slice of that gem to himself, and to do with it as he pleased. The rest of the sharin could be damned for all he cared. The navy had always been a pain in his flank, chasing him away from what would have been profitable endeavours; their actions had ultimately forced him out of local space and into unknown territories. An abandoned space station was all that remained of his kind in that sector, until that alien starship turned up out of the blue.

Yes, he was a definitely still irritated by that.

J’Poc sighed. He really needed to stop looping his thoughts, what was done was done and there was no use going over it again and again. Not until he could do something about it anyway.

A beeping from his console indicated that the unknown vessels had finally entered a suitable range for identification. Clapping his hooves momentarily, J’Poc sat forward in his seat and examined the readings, his smirk faltering slightly at the results.

“Oh dear.”

The reading were undeniable. Four gaecha warships were on an intercept course. He was more than ready to warp away with that information, but curiosity stayed his hoof for the moment. He waited a while longer, making sure the ships were still a safe distance, but close enough for communications. When that moment had finally arrived, he wasted no time in hailing the ship.

The viewscreen lit up, a scaly elongated face appearing on screen. The gaecha really were repulsive in J’Poc’s eyes, equine shaped but largely reptilian in nature, it was almost as if someone had taken one of his own kind and slapped a bunch of makeup and prosthetics on them.

“Ah, fancy meeting you out here. Whoever you are,” J’Poc opened up the conversation. “Is there anything I can help you fine lizards with?”

“Sharin, this is the warship Hunter. We detect traces of phaser fire on you hull matching a ship we have been hunting.”

“Oh?” J’Poc’s interest was caught. “Round main hull, two big nacelle’s strapped to the back?”

The gaecha’s head tilted. “That description matches.”

J’Poc stood up gleefully. “Then I think we might be able to help each other!”

“Explain.”

“I too have had a run in with these aliens. A bad run in. I assume you wish bodily harm upon them.”

The gaecha captain didn’t answer, but his glare answered the question for J’Poc. J’Poc was practically giddy and this brand new turn of events, here was fate effectively placing a chance at revenge in his hooves. He wasn’t wasting it.

“I’ve got some information on them, and would quite enjoy assisting in their destruction. I’m one sharin in a small scout and no threat to you, or worth killing. But I can be of assistance. You bring your four ships over here, and I can provide that assistance.”

“An acceptable trade, but know we are watching.”

“You are my new best friend, I have no reason to back-stab you.”

The gaecha seemed unconvinced when he disconnected the communications channel, but J’Poc was optimistic.

The sharin sat back in his chair, sighing in contentment. A few button presses brought up a scene on the display, a scene showcasing the large lavender alien he had encountered, her wings and horn displayed proudly. The horn was glowing with power, something J’Poc would have even if it killed him.

It had taken around thirty more minutes, but the four gaecha warships led by the Hunter and J’Poc in the Infiltrator did eventually rendezvous. What followed that was several minutes of more silence, even after J’Poc hailed the lead vessel. He had no doubt the crew were discussing the situation among themselves, and he was nothing if not patient.

Which was why he was pacing around the bridge the entire time. Perfect patience.

Eventually, the viewscreen did return to life as the gaecha answered his calls. With no small sigh of relief, the sharin turned to face them confidently.

“Gentlemen, glad you could join me.”

“You claim to provide assistance in hunting our prey. Prove this.”

“Gladly,” J’Poc answered, moving to one of the consoles on the bridge. “What I am now sending to you is a sneak peek at the data this ship gathered during my encounter with them.”

“We have data of our own.”

“Have you ever met one face to face?”

The silence was telling.

“No?” J’Poc’s smirk grew. “Didn’t think so. And their abilities, you won’t believe it until you see it. These aliens are unlike anything from your empire, or my people’s territory, or any of the other surrounding species.”

“And why do we care? We almost destroyed on our first encounter.”

“But did you?”

The gaecha glared. “Their escape was unexpected.”

“Because of their abilities. It gives them an edge,” J’Poc claimed. “You know too little. As do I. But I still know more than you. And I’ve met them, talked to them. I’m very good at getting others to do what I want, you need me.”

“Is that so?”

“It is,” J’Poc assured. “Destroy them, and let me help you do it.”

The Captain hummed. “That is an agreeable arrangement. We send us your assistance, and we will use that to further goal to destroy that ship.”

“Excellent! In that case, I’ll be coming aboard your vessel for the time being. Make final arrangement, you know how it is.”

“I don’t think so.”

J’Poc blinked, his smirk immediately fading at the gaecha’s mocking tone. “I’m sorry?”

“We’ll be taking your information. And then we will kill you and destroy your ship.”

“W-what? No… NO! Our deal!”

“Our deal was that you provide assistance and we destroy the alien vessel. Your information will provide assistance, and we will use that to destroy the ship.”

“You can’t! You NEED me!”

“Incorrect.”

And like that, communications were cut off.

Panic immediately overcame the sharin, his ship’s sensors instantly registering that the four gaecha ships were charging weapons. Quickly, he jumped over to the help console and had the ship perform a sharp turn before speeding off in the opposite direction.

“Alright, fine. Deal’s off,” J’Poc muttered to himself as he went to activate the warp drive.

“Warning, malfunction in the antimatter injector assembly. Warp core safeguard in effect, warp drive is unavailable at this time.”

J’Poc’s mouth gaped at the words of the ship’s computer. Now of all times, the ship had to break.

The entire structure shook as blue beams of energy began striking against the shields. He set speed to full impulse, initiating automatic evasive manoeuvres as he left the helm. Without warp drive there was nowhere to go, nowhere to run or hide. There was no asteroid field in range of sub-light speeds, no convenient nebula to hide in. If he couldn’t get warp back online he was as good as dead. He could have fired back, but a scout against four warships wasn’t even worth the effort to charge the plasma relays.

He stormed out of the bridge in a hurry, his ship continuing to take fire from the gaecha. Down the hallway he ran before bursting into engineering and facing the warp core. He stood before the main console connected to the core, looking at the readout. Many of those readout were flashing red with warning symbols plastered all over them. He began bypassing systems and rerouting power in an attempt to at least temporarily fix whatever was wrong with the injector assemblies, sparks flying overhead as the ship took a bad hit.

For what seemed like an eternity he slaved away in desperation against a bettered warp core, and finally his efforts were rewarded. Red lights were replaced by green and those warning symbols lessened, albeit a few remained. With a quick cheer he saw that the injector assemblies were at last functioning again to some degree, and warp power was available.

That was when the shields failed.

Sparks flew over all of engineering as the automated warning filled his ears.

“Warning, shields have failed. Hull integrity at 80%”

J’Poc grunted as a fire erupted from one of the nearby consoles, and he couldn’t help but be a little thankful the gaecha needed his ship at least somewhat intact for the time being. Turning from the main console, he began to head back to the doorway that would lead back in the direction of the bridge. Unfortunately, he never made it.

“Alert, unauthorised transports detected. Intruder alert.”

J’Poc spun around in time to see several gaecha materialise in engineering. He went to pull his pistol, but the boarders already had them drawn and thus beat him to the punch. Four blue bolts of energy his him directly in the chest, the energy crackling all over his body as the sharin was quickly vaporised.

The boarders began to move throughout the ship, the outside weapons fire ceasing to be. Quickly and efficiently they accessed the computer mainframe and began downloading everything, even J’Poc’s personal logs. In their search for anything else of use they practically tore the ship apart, no bulkhead was safe from their search. That search lasted several before the gaecha were satisfied that they had everything they wanted from the stricken vessel, proceeding to take it all and transport back to their own ships.

Then, they once more turned their weapons on the Interceptor and fired directly at the warp core. The ship fizzled slightly and then exploded in a fantastic fireball as all the antimatter ignited. Then, without even a glance at the new debris field, the four ships turned around and jumped to warp. Leaving J’Poc a distant and soon to be forgotten memory.

Author's Notes:

The viewscreen lit up, a scaly elongated face appearing on screen. The gaecha really were repulsive in J’poc’s eyes, equine shaped but largely reptilian in nature, it was almost as if someone had taken one of his own kind and slapped a bunch of makeup and prosthetics on them.

That wasn't a reference to actors playing aliens in Star Trek. Not at all. Shut up.

But yeah, the gaecha are kinda like MLP Gorn.

Oh, and... it's not dead! I think, let me check... yup, there's a pulse. Definitely not dead.

23 - Laughter and Movies

Princess Twilight Sparkle’s Personal Log, October 6th, 3382 AD.

It has been four days since we departed the company of Elder Teneer and the planet on which he and his people live. I wish them all the best in their long future. Perhaps, one day in the far off future we will meet again among the stars.

I look forward to it.

Thankfully, we haven’t seen signs of either the gaecha pursuing us or of the criminal J’Poc. While I fully expect to see those four raiders again, J’Poc…

I just have the strangest feeling we’re never going to see him again. Nopony for that matter. I don’t know why, but I hope I’m right. To be honest it’s probably just wishful thinking on my part, it’s about time something went right on this voyage.

Either way, it still feels good to be back at FTL speeds. Five more months and we will be home. I hope Celestia kept my throne warm.

Honestly, it will just be good to see them again. I just hope that they didn’t give up on us, with so long a time going by with no contact. If they have, won’t they be surprised when the Harmony pulls into the dock of Starbase One.

If there was ever a time for Pinkie Pie to throw a party from beyond the grave, now was the time.

Sorry, I’ve just been thinking about her a lot today. It is the anniversary after all, the date of her death all those years ago. Applejack’s is next month. I wonder what they would think of me now, out here where nopony has gone before.

The final frontier is only just beginning for us, and I do it all in their honour.

“Don’t you think the Princess has been quiet today?” Nimble Star asked from his position on the bridge, the princess in question silently staring out the viewscreen into space.

“One of her original five friends, the element bearers, died on this date,” Iynx explained, who was stood next to him by the helm. “You not noticed the previous two times she has been like this so far?”

“Well, yeah I did. I never really thought about it until now.”

“Well, she’ll have three more of these days before the year is out, one next months and two the month after in December. Each anniversary of their deaths is like a day of mourning for her.”

“Three?” Nimble questioned curiously. “Two before this one, adding this one, and three more makes six. I though there were only five other element bearers other than herself?”

“You’re forgetting about her dragon, Spike I believe,” Iynx reminded the pony.

“Don’t tell me she has a day of mourning for everypony she’s lost,” Nimble deadpanned, earning him a flick around the ear. “Ouch!”

“You deserved that,” Iynx scolded. “And no. That would be a long list of days, her brother for instance. No, it’s just those six. But I’m sure she remembers the others in different ways.”

“I can hear you,” Twilight commented. “I haven’t lived for this long with bad hearing.”

“Er…” Nimble Star rubbed the back of his head. “Sorry, Princess. No offence intended.”

“None taken,” Twilight assured with a motherly smile. “I can take things in good humour, it is the day of laughter after all.”

“The day that laughter died, more like.” Nimble Star received another talon painfully flicking his ear.

Twilight, on her part, just gave a genuine laugh. “If you knew that mare, you would know that her laughter transcends death itself.”

“Cryptic,” Nimble deadpanned. “Mind telling me what that means?”

“I would if I could,” Twilight replied. “I never figured her out myself.”

“Well, you joining us in the mess tomorrow night?” Iynx enquired, changing the subject away from long dead friends. “It’s movie night.”

“Alien Alicorns VS Space Pirates - The Movie,” Nimble recited the title with eagerness. “It’s the original adaption, bloody old but bloody brilliant.”

“I was hoping for ‘A Griffon’s Plight’,” Iynx remarked with disappointment. “It’s about a hundred years newer than ‘Alien Alicorns’, but still old enough to be an ancient classic.

“I was there for the premieres of both,” Twilight pointed out somewhat smugly. “Spike particularly liked the former, if I recall.”

“What’s your film even about?” Nimble Star asked. “Griffon warriors and great honour duels if I’d hazard a guess. Honestly, you griffons are all about that crap.”

Iynx blushed a little. “It’s… a romance.”

Nimble Star have her a surprised look, one that quickly morphed into amusement. “Well, we learnt something about our first officer today…”

“Though it does have one honour duel in it.”

“Of course it does. Griffons, can’t even have a romance without a death…”

“You never saw Romeo and Juliet.”

Iynx and Nimble Star both gave the Princess a curious gaze. “I… don’t think we ever saw that one, no. Or ever heard of it for that matter.”

“Made by one William Shakespeare,” Twilight commented. “A world away.”

“William? What kind of a name is that?” Nimble asked.

“It does sound a little alien to me,” Iynx agreed.

“In a way I suppose,” Twilight Sparkle responded. “It doesn’t matter. You were on about movie night?”

“Ah, right,” Nimble said, moving back on topic. “We were just wondering if the great and almighty alicorn would grace us with her noble presence.”

“Don’t be a jackass to the pseudo goddess,” Iynx mutter under her breath, bemused.

At that moment, an alien walked onto the bridge while just catching the last word of the Commander’s sentence. He took a moment to decide whether to join the conversation or just wait until it was done to talk with the Princess, but decided on the former.

“I do hope I’m not interrupting?” Xal asked.

“No, nothing too important,” Twilight stated. “What do you wish of, Xal?”

“I just have those reports you wanted,” Xal dutifully stated. “Antimatter streams, data reconfiguration and computer stabilisation matrices.”

“Thanks Xal,” Twilight said, taking the reports from the sharin with her magic. “You even ordered them in such an efficient manner. I couldn’t have done it better myself.”

“I highly doubt that,” Xal remarked. “But thank you anyway.”

“Well, we were just talking about movie night,” Nimble stated, turning his seat to face the sharin. “You going to be there?”

“I am always eager to explore more of your culture,” Xal assured. “I will be there. Though, in the future I must introduce you to some of our own work of literature and entertainment.”

“Book?” Twilight asked, a slight glint in her ancient eyes.

“Books. Vids. You name it, your highness. You’ve given me so much to study it’s only fair I do the same when I can.”

“Oh dear Celestia I just had an amazing thought,” Nimble stated as if he had discovered the meaning of life itself. “In Xal’s eyes you’re an alien alicorn. And we have fought against space pirates… We are living the story of Alien Alicorns VS Space Pirates!”

The other three just stared at him, one pair with confusion, one with amusement at her little pony’s antics and the other with complete and utter bemusement.

The latter punished him with another talon flicking his ear.

“Hey! Quit it!”

The Next Day

The holographic display slowly faded out of existence, the display having given away to pure data after the conclusion of the credits and subsequent after credits scene. The mess hall itself had been converted into a makeshift movie theatre, a pony by the name of Film Reel had attempted to model it after some of the earliest iterations of such establishments. Given the scarcity of resources he wasn’t exactly successful, but the crew applauded him nonetheless.

This makeshift theatre had ended up being host to a quarter of the Harmony’s crew, which was around two hundred individuals basically shoulder to shoulder. Even with the mess hall’s relatively large scale, it was a tight squeeze. That wasn’t helped by the extra-large alicorn towards the front, some of the crew finding it rather awkward to see their immortal princess casual watching a film among the lowly mortals.

Still, once the film was done the various species of Equus were able to funnel out of the doors and into the ship’s corridors, able to finally release the breaths they had kept in to make more room. Only a few stayed behind, those few intent on cleaning up the mess that the movie goers had left behind in their wake. Princess Twilight and the entire senior staff were among them, it was their jobs to take responsibility after all.

Ensign Nimble Star, on his part, was smiling like a foal the whole time.

“That was awesome!” he exclaimed as he rearranged some discarded chairs. “Wait until you see the sequels!”

“No!” Iynx shouted. “Not again! Ever!”

“What? Oh come on! You’re just mad you didn’t get to watch your romance.”

The griffon glared murderously at the earth pony.

“Come on Nimble, is that how you talk to your superior officer?” Silver Wrench snarked, all the while helping Geneser pick up left over snack bags. “And to be honest, it was a lame film.”

“What? Why?”

“If you wanted plot, there simply was none,” Geneser stated. “After the thousandth explosion, I was simply done.”

“What’s wrong with explosions?”

“Seen enough real ones to last a lifetime,” Silver Wrench deadpanned. “Seriously, have you seen these consoles? They should not spark and catch fire as much as they do I swear.”

“I always found it to be a silly premise,” Princess Twilight added into the conversation. “Even in book form, which I might add is superior anyway.”

“All due respect, your highness, but you’re biased,” Nimble Star pointed out.

“Very,” she admitted. “I will always prefer books to their movie adaptions. You can’t beat the source material.”

“What if it’s a movie novelisation?”

“That works too, my little pony.”

“I found it fascinating,” Xal stated.

“Fascinating?” Silver Wrench parroted questioningly. “Really?”

“It shows how early Equus civilisations imagined space travel,” Xal explained. “You got the extreme danger about right, but the execution was a bit off. And, there’s no sound in space.”

“Movies today still get that wrong,” Iynx dryly commented. “It’s either full of sound, or it sounds like you’re underwater.”

“I’ve been underwater as a seapony once, space is nothing alike,” Twilight remarked.

Xal glanced at the large alicorn. “A seapony? I don’t believe I have yet read that in the database.”

“Versions of our own kind that evolved to live under the ocean,” Twilight explained. “Remind me to tell you about the ‘Storm King Incident’ one day.”

“I’ll add it to the list.”

The last of the mess was cleaned up, and the crew could looked around and enjoy the feeling of a job well done.

“You know, this is more how I thought it’d be,” Nimble commented. “Exploring space, making friends and having a good time. Difficult and dangerous sure, but worth it.”

“And it hasn’t been worth it?” Twilight enquired.

“We have lost a lot of people.”

“If we are to go by those movies and space is like an ocean, then it is the largest ocean there is. We’ve barely scratched the surface, Nimble Star. The ESP as a whole is still teething, we’ll learn. Once we get back, repaired up, you can continue on and explore the way it should have been done in the first place.”

“So, no getting lost in space?”

Princess Twilight tittered. “No, Nimble Star. No getting lost in space.”

“What about you?” Xal enquired. “What are your plans after all this is done?”

“You mean aside from overseeing the refits of the Harmony and diplomatic relation with your race?” Twilight rhetorically asked. “I might spend a week in the Crystal Empire. Go to a spa. Then, back to work as usual.”

Iynx chuckled. “A princess’ work is never done, huh?”

“You don’t know the half of it. But I think that’s enough fun for one day,” the Princess stated. “Go get some rest, and be ready to take your station tomorrow morning. We’ve still got a long trip ahead of us.”

“Aye ma’am!”

Author's Notes:

And this light hearted chapter ends the J'Poc story arch, next chapter we check in on Celestia and company before heading into the final stretch.

Also, new cover art! A view from a planet with the Harmony flying amidst a starry sky, I'm quite proud of that one.

Here's the old one, preserved for posterity:

24 - Elsewhere

Admiral Mythic Wing’s Personal Log, November 7th, 3382 AD.

It’s been well over a month since I had the ‘honour’ of declaring Princess Twilight Sparkle and the ES Harmony lost with all hooves. To say the least, Equestria is still feeling the effects, even beyond Equestria really…

The castle in Ponyville has remained as empty as that throne, Princess Celestia has all but sealed the place off. Well, except for the guards and staff working there, they still roam the halls as dutifully as ever. I am glad to report that the anti-alien protests have died down, the princesses didn’t take too kindly to them. Glad to know possible first contact won’t be spoiled by some fanatic bombing a diplomatic shuttle and starting an intergalactic war. That’s the last thing I need.

In brighter news, we’ve launched two new Celestial Class starships, both fitted with FTL drives. Three of the other five Celestials in our home system have also received the upgrade, the other two soon to follow. After that, I expect the freighters will get the same treatment. Once out home fleet is finished upgrading, I’m going to have one of the freighter under escort from one of the Celestials make a trip to our three colonies. They can deposit crew and supplies needed to upgrade their own Celestials. The advent of FTL will make things easier, freighters can travel between colonies and we can better support said colonies in their development. The ESP is expanding, taking some real strides into the black void.

Too bad it cost us so much.

The ES Shining Armor is also coming along nicely, it should be finished in another few months or so. The second of the Harmony Class, and the one that shall hopefully discover the ES Harmony’s final fate.

Canterlot

“The injectors are being installed now, some of the aft hull plating is being reinforced and the computer matrix will be installed next week,” a pony in a labcoat reported to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. "Admiral Mythic Wing is satisfied with the progression of construction."

The three were in what would normally serve as the war room, but today the holographic display atop the table was showing the image of the incomplete ES Shining Armor. The bridge module was in place, though there were gaps in the surrounding hull that exposed the incomplete corridors to space. One of the unlit nacelles was in place while the second had several small tugs latched onto it until they were ready to attach the massive engine to the strut it would eventually sit on.

“What about weapons?” Luna enquired.

“Some basic power relays have been installed,” the scientist stated. “Though we’ve delayed any further work until the new design is tested. They should have an extra power output of 4.56%.”

“Let’s hope we don’t have to use them for more than to be rid of a stray asteroid,” Celestia commented.

Luna shook her head. “It’s good to be prepared. Especially after…”

Celestia didn’t even spare her sister a glance. “You need not remind me.”

The scientist awkwardly coughed into a hoof. “Well, we’ll continue to keep you updated on the ship’s progress. We should also begin work on the third ship just before this one’s launch.”

“And what have you decided to name her?” Celestia asked. “Or have you yet to decide on one?”

“We were thinking the ES Griffonstone. Since, you know, we have so many Equestria themed names.”

“I’m sure the griffons would appreciate it,” Luna mused. “If there is nothing else?”

The scientist bowed, picked up his equipment and notes and then left the room. He left the flickering hologram activated, which the princesses continued to study.

“It looks just like the Harmony,” Celestia noted.

“It is of the same class,” Luna pointed out to her elder sister. “But it does have a few non-cosmetic improvement, remember?”

“I know,” she replied. “I wonder what Shining Armor would think of having a ship named after him.”

“He’d be flattered,” Luna stated. “And then the ES Griffonstone, I still remember the dump it was on my return from the moon.”

“Time changes many thing. I wonder what other names they had, and what they will name the other ship on the drawing board.”

“Only time will tell, sister,” Luna said, before sighing. “You know, they were initially going to call the fourth ship Griffinstone.”

Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Oh? So you already knew the name? And why did they change it?”

“Yes, I knew the name. I checked up on their progress at one point. And they changed it because I suggested they change it.”

The alabaster alicorn tilted her head slightly. “Luna? Why would you make them do that, pray tell?”

“They wanted to call it the ES Twilight Sparkle.”

Celestia’s smile suddenly seemed very forced.

“I told them it was too soon,” Luna continued. “Maybe in a decade or two, but not mere months after the fact. The timing seemed in poor taste.”

“You seldom name ships after the living,” Celestia stated factually.

Luna gave her sister a concerned look, but didn’t dispute her words, knowing it would be an uphill battle in the middle of a gigantic hurricane. She’d had that discussion with her older sister many times, but she was still as stubborn as she remembered from back when they were foals. Combined with serious emotional baggage, she was worried her sister simply didn’t know how to let go.

“But anyway,” Luna moved to change the subject. “They also had names like the ‘ES Tree of Harmony’, the ‘ES Canterlot’, the ‘ES Enterprise’ and the ‘ES Fluffle Puff’.

Celestia snorted. “Fluffle Puff?”

“No idea,” Luna responded with a bemused shake of her head.

“Well, they’re certainly getting creative,” Princess Celestia remarked. “We should have them name one after our mother, she’d like that.”

“I’ll make sure they add it to the list,” Luna stated. “But alas I must leave your presence, I have something I need to take care of.”

“Oh? Might you tell your nosy elder sister what that might be?”

Luna rolled her eyes. “If you must know, I need to speak to Princess Flurry Heart. I believe she is with her mother right now in the dining hall, if they haven’t left.”

“Ah. Well, I won’t pry further, I cannot delay the opening of court,” Celestia said. “Good day to you, Lulu.”

“And you sister,” Luna stated, turning off the holographic display and then exiting the war room with her sister. They parted a little ways down the corridor, heading to different locations.

Luna sighed as she continued to walk, she knew her sister would not approve about what she was to discuss with Flurry Heart, but only because Celestia had become too emotional. Luna couldn’t blame her, and was confident time would heal her, but she couldn’t wait until then. The Equestrain Tetrarchy had an opening since Twilight’s death, and Flurry Heart had proven herself over the past two millennia. She could do far better than being a princess in little more than name, not just because of her nature as an alicorn but also for her diplomatic skills and overall kindness when dealing with what the nobility would describe as ‘lesser ponies’. Maybe the nobility could see reality in the next millennia or so, or die out. Either would suffice for the lunar alicorn.

Putting her personal musing aside for a moment, Princess Luna arrived at the vast double doors leading into the dining room. Grabbing them with her magic she cast them open and strode confidently inside. Indeed, Flurry Heart and Mi Amore Cadenza were lightly chatting over a recently finished lunch.

“The audacity of some ponies,” Flurry Heart moaned. “I still have to practice that diplomatic smile in front of a mirror every morning and night. How does Auntie Celestia do it?”

“Probably the same way you do,” Cadance stated with a smirk. “Or maybe deeply buried imaginations of burning them on the surface of the sun. It’s what I do.”

Flurry Heart snorted. “Seriously? For one thing mother, you don’t control the sun.”

“I can be very determined when provoked,” Cadance jokingly retorted, only then noticing the new arrival. “Luna! Have a seat, we just finished lunch but we can afford to stick around to keep you company.”

“Thank you for the offer Cadance, but I’m not hungry,” Luna politely declined. “I’m actually here to speak with your daughter, in private.”

“Oh?” Cadance plastered a mischievous smirk onto her face that Flurry Heart was sadly all too familiar with. “If you want to date my daughter surely you must ask the parent for permission?”

Flurry Heart’s eye twitched, being the daughter of the Princess of Love could be hell at times. Luna, on her part, just gave Cadance a deadpan glare.

“Familial relations aside, not interested.”

“Oh the relation isn’t biological,” Cadance dismissed, her smirk only widening. “You have to fall for somepony sometime.”

“And I won’t tell you if I do,” Luna assured. “Lest I go insane. You know that isn’t a pretty sight.”

“Your future lover might like Nightmare Moon for a bit of roleplay…”

“This conversation is done,” Luna commanded sternly.

Cadance rolled her eyes. “You know I’m kidding. Light teasing never hurt anypony.”

“You’re the worst,” Flurry Heart deadpanned.

“Just because you’re two thousand doesn’t mean I can’t ground you,” Cadance teased once again.

Flurry Heart rolled her eyes, and turned her attention towards Princess Luna. “So, you wish to talk to me about something?”

“In private, yes.”

“I’ll make myself scarce then,” Cadance stated, getting up and looking toward her daughter. “I’ll see you in a little while sweetie, alright?”

“I’m sure I’ll live,” Flurry Heart responded snarkily.

Cadance shook her head in amusement, and then left the dining room and its remaining two alicorn occupants behind. Luna couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the pink love fanatic, before casting Cadance from her mind and turning to face Flurry Heart. She closed the dining room doors as she did and cast a sound suppressing charm.

“Sound suppressing?” Flurry Heart noted the spell coming into effect. “OK, what’s this about?”

“You aunt,” Luna stated. “Your biological aunt.”

“Aunt Twilight? Is there news.”

“Nothing new. And I doubt there will be until the ES Shining Armor’s launch.”

“Leaving it to Dad to find her, huh?”

“In a manner of speaking,” Luna confirmed. “But it doesn’t change the fact that the Equestrian throne has an empty chair.”

Flurry Heart’s smile faded, and her eyes narrowed. “Luna, what exactly are you asking me?”

“You are more than capable,” Luna continued. “Capable of taking Twilight’s place among us.”

“You’re kidding right?” Flurry Heart scoffed. “No way am I doing that!”

“You’re more than capable of fulfilling the role,” Luna stated. “You’ve been ready for a long time.”

“It’s not whether I’m capable or not that’s in question!” Flurry Heart snapped. “That throne belongs to my aunt, not me.”

“She’s dead, Flurry Heart,” Luna sternly responded. “We don’t need somepony to take the fourth throne, but I’d prefer to have it filled again.”

“You have so little faith in her, don’t you?”

“It’s not matter of faith,” Luna rebutted. “Space is the most dangerous frontier any of us has ever faced and it is very easy to be lost out there, especially with our early steps. No communications, no signs of any kind for months, not here or at any of the other colonies? Flurry Heart, we have to face facts. They’re gone. She, and eight hundred other souls are lost to us.”

“No.”

“No?”

“Celestia still has faith. And so do I.”

“And what of your mother?”

“She wants to.”

“AND YOU THINK THAT I DON'T!?” Luna shouted out in her Royal Canterlot Voice, outraged. Good thing that she cast the sound suppressing charm. “She was my friend, and more than that she was my saviour! But I’m practical if nothing else, and I see little chance of her survival.”

“Little chance is still a chance,” Flurry retorted. “Let the ES Shining Armor search. If they find a corpse, or some other irrefutable proof of her death then, and ONLY then, will I consider your offer. And even then only after I have mourned, because I refuse to until I know in my heart she is gone.”

“And there’s nothing I can do to change your mind?”

“No.”

Luna sighed. “Very well, I knew it was a long shot. Twilight has been your role model since you were but a filly, after all.”

“Yeah.”

“Right, well then…” Luna turned to leave, preparing to disengage the sound suppressing spell.

“Luna?”

The Princess turned around. “Yes?”

“Why do you have so little faith in her?”

“As I said, I’m practical,” Luna replied. “No matter how much my heart rebels.”

“You should listen to your heart a little more,” Flurry Heart gently stated. “It knows what you want.”

“What I want, may not be what I get,” Luna retorted.

“Maybe,” Flurry conceded. “But hope is always worth it.”

Luna sighed again. “Perhaps… Perhaps you are right.”

“Oh, and Luna?”

“Hm?”

“I won’t tell Aunt Celestia about this ‘chat’ of ours, I promise.”

Princess Luna smiled.

Author's Notes:

Moving on now to the final arc. Let's see if Luna's new found hope is in vain or not...

25 - Cornered

Princess Twilight Sparkle’s Personal Log, December 24th, 3382 AD.

Well, happy Hearthswarming Eve. It’s not quite what any of us imagined it would be as the year began, but it is what it is. Silver Wrench even managed to conjure up a hearthswarming tree, even though it’s made of metal. There isn’t much wood in space.

Still, to celebrate the occasion we took a few days off of our voyage, and in those few days we diverted course to chart a newly formed proto star. It’s yet unnamed, but its new glow was certainly reminiscing of the Fire of Friendship that is described in the story. A new life, and unlimited possibilities. Will planets come to form around the star? Will any of them sprout life? Will they have their own princesses, heroes and villains? Castles, great kingdoms and eventually a civilisation to span the stars? I might live to see it, I might not. Who knows? Life is a great river, the currents ever changing, leading you to an unknowable destiny.

Sorry, I’m in a philosophical mood. Not the first time, Spike used to chastise me for it. Said it annoyed him and made his head hurt.

I miss that dragon.

The ES Harmony continued its journey through space, several days behind due to the detour but the crew were in relatively good spirits. Planning was readily underway for a part in the mess hall on Hearthswarming Day, though that would probably mean they’d have to come to a dead stop for the day. Also, since it’s never a good idea to run a ship intoxicated, the entire command staff and some others would be taking care not to go too overboard in case anything came up needing their attention.

Not that the ship had a huge supply of cider anyway, just a few that they were initially taking to Alpha Centaur, yet unopened.

But either way, as far as the Princess was concerned all of her subjects deserved one day of true celebration, they wouldn’t let their circumstances ruin such a deeply held tradition. But that was still hours away, and for now the ship was running as well as it could in its condition. Princess Twilight was in her personal quarters since the day was new and she had only recently awakened, having only just recorded her morning log. She almost instinctively went for her regalia, only to remember that it had burnt to a crisp months ago. Shrugging, she then went into the bathroom and studied herself in the mirror, noting her ethereal mane was completely messed up, more than enough that it would have given Rarity a heart attack.

Twilight spared a light chuckled at the image of the fashionista’s horrified expression, and then got to bringing her image back to at least some level of regality. However, as she began with that task a chime let her know that there was a visitor at her door.

“Come in,” she loudly called out, more than enough for the sound to be carried out from the bathroom and through the door to her quarters.

The doors slid open with an audible whoosh, the single extraterrestrial lifeform among the crew trotting in with the door closing automatically behind him. He looked briefly around before spotting the Princess still battling with her mane, Xal raising an eyebrow at just how much trouble it was seemingly giving her.

“Is this a bad time, Twilight?”

“No, not at all,” she responded. “Just a bit of morning routine.”

“I must be honest, I’m not too surprised at your difficulties,” he stated. “Your mane does seem to have a life of its own.”

“It is stubborn at times,” she agreed. “Is there something you needed?”

“I just wanted to report that the barrels of ‘cider’ are being readied for tomorrow’s festivities.”

Twilight smiled. “Ah. I see the crew is wasting no time.”

“They are most eager,” Xal stated, seemingly a little confused. “I must admit, it is most perplexing at how eager they are. All to celebrate some old legend.”

“It’s more than some old legend,” Twilight responded knowingly. “You can’t tell me that your people have nothing similar?”

“Our people like to celebrate days of our births with family, but no big events such as this,” he explained. “Nothing like what I’ve read up about, these pageants and trees and presents. It is most peculiar.”

Twilight finally managed to coax her mane back into place, exiting the bathroom and approaching Xal. “So how do your people celebrate birthdays if that’s all you celebrate?”

“No gifts, such things are only usually done between lovers,” he stated. “It’s more of a social gathering, a time to give congratulations and relive old memories.”

“Some back home would agree that is the best approach,” Twilight replied. “Others I’ve known, like an old pink friend of mine, would call that boring.”

“What about you?”

Twilight considered for a moment. “It depends on the year, and my mood. Though, normally it’s something a little more exciting, I have enough of the ‘quieter’ events in the Grand Galloping Gala alone.”

“It surely can’t be as bad as you make it sound.”

“Try repeating the exact same night yearly for two thousand years. Well, it can be a little more fun when Discord decides to show.”

Xal hummed. “I still find you, among all of your kind, to be the most curious. I’ve said it before, but you’re not at all what you would expect from royalty of any kind.”

“I can be when I’m needed to be,” Twilight stated.

“Yes, that is true. I saw how you faced off against J’Poc, you are a terrifying sight for your enemies I’m sure.”

“I’m sure there are many who would agree,” Twilight said almost regretfully, walking away from Xal and staring out the window into the depths of space. “I’ve killed. I’ve fought in wars. I can’t always be the town librarian and scholar on the side, I can’t always be the mare I’d like. But I do try when I can. I can’t ever forget the lessons taught to me so long ago.”

“In my personal opinion, I would say you succeed on the whole,” Xal assured. “But I agree that you can’t always be that mare. Sometimes a Princess is needed more than a friend. It is only logical.”

“I know,” she responded with a sigh. “But sometimes, on special days, I can be both.”

“Like when you’re commanding this ship?”

Twilight looked back at Xal, and she smiled. “Yes. These are my people, I must do everything my power allows to get them home. But still, nopony else has seen what we have. I’m a scholar, and explorer, I always have been. It may not be what we wanted, but I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. After all, we did meet you.”

Xal went to reply, but a shockwave throughout the entire ship threw him from his hooves and towards the floor. Rivets threatened to buckle, a glass on the table fell and smashed and the stars outside the window stopped streaking past and came to a dead stop along with the ship.

When Xal opened his eyes he found that he still hadn’t impacted with the floor, rather he was caught in a light lavender magical hue, one that gently righted him and deposited him back on his hooves.

“Are you alright?” Twilight asked, having stayed on her hooves during the shockwave. “Are you hurt?”

“No, thanks to you,” Xal responded. “What was that?”

The Princess almost ran onto the bridge, all those within rushing from one station to the next as they barked out orders and read damage reports. Iynx and Nimble were both at their station, both of them acknowledged Twilight and Xal as they entered.

“Princess!” Iynx spoke up urgently. “We’ve just… fallen out of FTL, the system won’t reboot!”

“What do you mean it won’t reboot?”

It was Nimble Star who responded. “Silver Wrench said that the reactor is fine, but we just can’t get the field to form around the ship.”

“We can’t get a stable warp field…” Xal muttered. “Commander, your console.”

The griffon stepped back. “Go right ahead.”

Xal took her place at tactical, doing a quick scan on a system they had just been passing. Sure enough, he found just what he suspected.

“There,” Xal stated, showing Iynx and the Princess a specific spot on the display. “That planet, there’s a subspace dampener on this planet that’s covering the whole system. It’s disrupting your FTL, disallowing the formation of what my people refer to as a warp field.”

“Yes, that is the problem we’ve been having,” Iynx replied, peering over at the readout. “That design, I recognise it.”

“You would. It’s gaecha.”

The Princess closed her eyes for a moment, suppressed a growl of frustration, took in a deep breath and then opened her eyes again. “Are you saying that the gaecha set a trap for us?”

“They knew our course,” Xal stated. “They must have gotten ahead when we were studying that proto star.”

“I can’t believe they’re still following us,” Iynx remarked. “Talk about a grudge.”

“We need to take that dampener out,” Twilight declared. “Can you detect where exactly on the planet it is?”

“It is hard to pinpoint,” Xal reported. “We would need to get into orbit in order to get the exact location of the device. After that, a simple phaser burst should do it.”

“Assuming it’s on the surface,” Iynx pointed out.

“Any signs of life on that planet?” the Princess enquired.

Xal shook his head. “No, it’s a dead rock, atmosphere is almost entirely carbon dioxide. Not enough oxygen to support life such as ours.”

“And life not like us?”

“There are no readings. I assure you, it’s dead.”

“Then we can fire a torpedo if necessary,” the Princess stated. “Just so long as that device is destroyed. Nimble Star! How far is the planet?”

“If we put the thaumatic drive to full, about twelve hours.”

“It’s going to be hard to miss, a dampener that size must be huge,” Iynx remarked.

“The gaecha were busy,” Twilight agreed. “But I’m worried as to where they are. What else is in that system?”

“Two other planets at the outer edges of the system, both are balls of ice,” Xal responded, looking through the sensor data. “One of the planets has a three moons, and at the very edge of the system is a sizable asteroid field. There’s… something odd about the asteroid field, the sensor data for it is still being analysed.”

“Normally I’d be eager to discover a new anomaly, but we need to focus on the task at hoof,” Princess Twilight Sparkle commanded. “Set a course to the planet, we have very little time to waste.”

“Aye ma’am,” Nimble dutifully responded, preparing to set course.

The Princess sighed, looking up and out of the viewscreen. “We might be having company soon. I’m afraid Hearthswarming Day is cancelled.”

“I’ll have the cider returned to the cargo bay,” Xal stated apologetically. “In the meantime-”

“Hold on for just a moment,” Iynx interrupted. “Xal, could I have my station back for a moment?”

The sharin complied, moving to the side and allowing Iynx to take over once again. She looked through each of the sensor reports several times, humming as her sharp eyes spotted something out of place.

“Princess, I’m not sure but… does this seem right to you?”

Twilight looked to where Iynx was gesturing on the readout, and her eyes widened. “No, not at all. That’s a blank spot, four blank spots to be exact where we’re not getting any sensor data. Almost as if nothing existed there at all, just a void.”

“And there should be something, at least radiation from the star,” Iynx finished. “I’m going to run a diagnostic, one moment.”

It took a few minutes of checking and double checking, but Xal and Princess Twilight were nothing but patient during that time. Both were both curious and worried as to why those four gaps were there, and what might be hidden behind them.

With the gaecha dampener, and that specific number, the Princess already had a sinking feeling that she knew what it was.

“There, there’s another signal underlying the dampener, one concealing those four spaces,” Iynx reported. “It’s causing our sensors to overlook them.”

“Can you compensate for the interference?” Twilight asked.

“Just watch me.”

It only took a few button presses and power redirects, but Iynx was able to counteract the interference.

And then Twilight’s fears were confirmed.

Four gaecha warships were waiting in orbit around the planet, just waiting for the Harmony to try and take the dampener out.

“Well, great,” Iynx muttered. “Not what I wanted to see.”

“Why aren’t they just cloaked?” Twilight asked. “Why bother blocking the sensors?”

“The dampener won’t affect their own warp engines, but might be affecting their cloak in some way,” Xal theorised. “But it matters little, they’re there.”

“Shall I reverse course?” Nimble asked up from the helm. “Plot a course out of the area of effect?”

“They’re undoubtedly watching us,” Twilight noted. “They would see if we changed course, and would warp to our location. As long as they think they are hidden, they will want to retain the element of surprise and wait for us to come to them.”

“Take us out before we can even raise shield or fire back,” Iynx commented. “Clever bastards.”

“Luckily, we’re even cleverer,” Nimble remarked.

“But what now?” Xal asked. “We can’t flee and going to them is suicide. We’re cornered.”

26 - Plans

Princess Twilight Sparkle’s Personal Log Supplemental, December 24th, 3382 AD.

It would appear that we have found ourselves in the middle of a dire emergency. The gaecha, who have stalked us for so long, have finally taken action. On this day, Hearthswarming Eve, of all times…

They have blocked out our ability to go to FTL, the ‘bubble’ can’t form around the ship successfully. Something that isn’t affecting the gaecha we’d have to assume, the device specifically targeting us. My little ponies are in great danger, and I fear there is no running this time. The moment we run, the gaecha will know they’ve been detected and be on us in an instant. If we continue forwards, we run right into their ambush. Either way, combat is inevitable.

We are one ship, one badly damaged ship against four advance warships beyond our own technology. I still remember as clear as day how our previous encounter ended, the fire and the corpses of the crew littering the hallways. Too many never found, but rather vented into outer space to forever wander the void.

So we cannot run, and must fight. But is this a fight we can ever hope to win? Is there even a chance? I have faced unspeakable odds before, many times spanning all the way back to the return of Princess Luna, then known as Nightmare Moon.

But this… this is new. We are infants in a larger galaxy, we are playing the gaecha’s game.

But, there is one thing… One little aspect that they have already displayed a weakness to. Another game, one where they are in our home turf rather than the other way around. I do wonder, if magic might be the key to our salvation?

I am an alicorn princess, their lives are all in my hooves. And I shall not fail.

ES Harmony, conference room

Barely two hours had passed since the crisis had arisen, and the ship was still heading directly into the jaws of the beast. There were no secrets, the entire crew was fully aware of their predicament and possible impending doom. Nerves were high, morale was strained, but they continued on with their duties with the dedication expected of ESP Officers. As always, they made the Princess of Friendship very proud indeed.

All of the senior staff were gathered. Iynx, Nimble Star, Geneser, Silver Wrench and Xal were looking up at the Princess expectantly, the alicorn in question standing before a monitor displaying an outline of the system and the four hostile starships within.

“This is what we’re up against,” Twilight stated. “Four ships, the same four that attacked us all those months ago. They attempted to conceal themselves from our sensors, the same device that is affecting our FTL capability has also affected their cloaking devices, even if their own faster than light capabilities are intact.”

“They’re devious, I’ll give them that,” Iynx stated. “Respectable warriors, too.”

“Says the griffon,” Nimble Star jabbed. “But what about the probe idea?”

“I say we go ahead with it,” Twilight stated. They planned to release a probe with all of the ship's data, including personal logs, to set course to Equus just in case they didn’t survive.

“They don’t yet know we’ve spotted them?” Silver Wrench enquired.

“As long as we don’t give any indication, they will remain docile for now,” the Princess answered. “But if we attempt to flee, they will surely know. Our only option is to continue on course.”

“And what then?” Nimble Star asked. “Princess, we barely scratched them last time. We’ll do even less now, I’m sure.”

“He’s right,” Commander Iynx added in, the griffon looking solemn. “I’ve run simulation after simulation, and all lead to the same resolution if it comes to direct conflict.”

Iynx held up a small portable display in her talon, drawing attention to it before throwing it haphazardly onto the table. It was a series of statistics and diagrams, far too many showing the smouldering wreckage of the Harmony for the crew’s liking.

The griffon huffed. “Direct assault leads to immediate disintegration via a volley of torpedoes. Flying into the atmosphere of the planet leads to us crashing landing and becoming stranded on a world we can’t breathe on. A strafing run to destroy the source of the disturbance to our FTL works, we could jump out before we are too badly damaged. However, we wouldn’t get far before they catch up and destroy us mid-FTL.”

“To be trapped by those so full of sin…” Geneser shook her head. “Quite the conundrum we’ve found ourselves in.”

While the talk continued, Xal remained silent throughout. He was intently studying some reading he had taken of the asteroid belt on the edge of the system, a quizzical expression on the sharin’s muzzle.

“I could leave the ship, draw some of the fire,” the Princess noted. “With my magic I could maybe do something, but against a target that size and FOUR of them… On top of that, while their technology may be inefficient against magic and their shields may not stop a teleport inside, I don’t know if my teleport will be disrupted in any way in turn. I could emerge inside out for all I know.”

“I can only see them sending one ship after you, the other three would still be on us,” Iynx pointed out. “If they send any ship after you at all. They might ignore you until the Harmony is gone.”

“I’m not all powerful, I can’t fight four fully functional starships by myself,” Twilight stated factually, though a slightly devious, and quite dark smirk formed a moment later. “Though, I could do something with the sun.”

“The sun?”

“I’ve moved the sun back home in Celestia’s stead a few times, I know how to control a star,” Twilight stated. “But forming a bond with one takes time, and when Celestia took over as its caretaker the natural orbit of our world had already been disrupted. I doubt I could take over the orbits so quickly, it’d take a long time and lot of work to take control of the gravitational forces.”

“Then what could you do?”

“A nudge. A massive solar flare that would consume the system perhaps.”

“That would destroy us all with it!” Silver Wrench objected.

“I know,” Twilight said with a sigh. “I’m considering it a last resort, if it comes down to only myself being left alive.”

“Princess, I ask we do not think of such things,” Geneser nervously asked. “That is quite the shadow casted by your vast wings.”

Twilight bit her lip. She had to admit the ‘solar flare’ idea was a dark one, but she had no intention of letting the gaecha escape to harm others. Of course, the flare could also catch the probe they were soon to launch and destroy that too. Even if the system was largely barren, it was not an idea she relished.

“I have a better idea,” Nimble Star stated, though his tone seemed more deadpan that anything. “Lob a torpedo or two past their ships with Want-It Need-It spell casted on them. They'll murder each other fighting over a bomb."

“I don’t think that spell differentiates between gaecha and otherwise,” Twilight rebuffed. “If I managed one large enough to cover the vast distances of space, we run the risk that you all would possibly be caught in it too.”

“I’m not an expert at magic, but doesn’t it depend on line of sight?”

“Line of sight or area of affect, I created a variation,” Twilight stated, earning concerned looks. “I was bored one night! But still, a line of sight spell holds a lot of room for error. The gaecha could easily figure out what’s happened and replace those affected. Or perhaps not, but the plan is still hardly a sound one.”

“I agree that in a normal case a spell like that would be a bad idea,” Iynx said. “But this isn’t a normal case, perhaps extreme and risky plans should be considered.”

“That may not be necessary,” Xal finally spoke up, causing all eyes to glance in his direction.

“Xal, something you wish to share?” Twilight asked.

“We’ve been so focused on what awaits us at the planet of the gaecha’s choosing, that we’ve failed to look beyond,” he stated. “It occurred to me that some odd reading from the asteroid belt deserved a looking into. And it seems I’ve found something most curious.”

“Oh?” the Princess asked with a raised eyebrow. “Then by all means, continue. Any information can help by this point.”

Xal nodded, putting the device he was holding back onto the table before speaking again. “Thank you. Now, we are beyond the space charted by my people and getting closer and closer to your homeworld.”

“Correct.”

“Am I correct in assuming that magic has been already present on both of your colonies outside the home system?”

Twilight creased her brow. “Yes. We have found magic in both location, though not in as great quantities as back on Equus. Why?”

“You haven’t charted that many systems, even surrounding your own limited space. This is one of them?”

“Once again, yes.”

“Well then,” Xal stated, sitting upright and confidently in his seat. “It appears the region of space around your world is the birthplace of magic in the known galaxy, with Equus being the centre of it all. The systems around have it too, but less and less the further out you get. This system would appear to be one of those at the edges.”

The Princess blinked. “Wait, are you saying you detected magic in this system?”

“It was faint, but there,” Xal confirmed. “A single asteroid within the belt, buried deep among the others. There is indeed a magical signature there.”

“Let me see.” Twilight took the pad and examined the sharin’s findings. If she were Pinkie Pie, a very real lightbulb would be appearing over her head at that very moment.

“Princess?” Iynx gently called out.

“Oh you have to love the universe’s twists of fate!” the Princess happily explained. “The magic within the asteroid appears… unstable. It would take a large output of magic, but one could theoretically cause a chain reaction with the spell matrices that would cause a cascade effect. The asteroid would be destroyed, but the unleashed magical force would claim a wide area of effect. Harmless aside from a bit of turbulence, for us anyway.”

The Commander’s eyes widened. “But the gaecha’s technology are quite susceptible to magic! Their systems could be severely compromised by such a large magical pulse!”

“And I think we know where to get the large output of magic required,” Silver Wrench stated, him and all the others looking towards the Princess of Friendship.

“You’ve caught on,” Twilight complimented. “Aside from a bump or two, the Harmony will ride out the pulse with little trouble. The gaecha however, should they be caught in the blast, would be far worse off than us.”

“Shields, maybe some of their weapons, and who knows how many subsystems,” Iynx eagerly remarked. “They would be vulnerable, we could actually fight back! Doubly so if, as suggested earlier, the Princess is out there fighting alongside the ship.”

“It’s still dangerous, we don’t know how much the effect would be or how long it might last,” Twilight pointed out. “But short of eagerly following a bomb to our own doom or giant world ending solar flares, this is easily our best plan. I say we go for it.”

Nimble Star shrugged. “Well then, who are we to argue with the Princess?”

All of a sudden, the mood around the table had risen immensely. For the first time since the situation arose, there was a sense of hope returning. Perhaps, just perhaps, the probe would not be needed. Perhaps, they could tell their story themselves.

“It is the most logical pursuit,” Xal agreed. “But as Princess Twilight stated, still dangerous. “Navigating the asteroid field is one thing. Then we must lure out the gaecha.”

“That should be easy,” Iynx stated. “We get to the asteroid and set up, and then we just wait. Eventually the gaecha will grow tired of waiting and come to us. Alternatively, we could make it clear we know they’re there to draw them out, whether by making it look like we’re about to reverse course out of the system or by hailing them with a quick ‘hello’.”

“In the meantime, I can rally the engineering team and see if we can’t put a little extra into weapons and shields,” Silver Wrench agreed, before smiling and lovingly placing his hoof atop Geneser’s. “But whatever happens, we do it together.”

“I’m proud to do so,” Xal spoke up. “I know I’m an outsider, but I do not regret for a moment the decision to join your crew and immerse within your culture. Together we saved an entire species, and should we live we might have set the foundation of a great alliance between our worlds.”

“As the Princess of Friendship, I couldn’t agree more,” Princess Twilight Sparkle said with her motherly smile beaming at the gathered officers. “Captain Star Gazer would be proud, just as I am. And I cannot help but feel things are coming to a close. Either way, the plan is set. Now, it must be enacted.”

Author's Notes:

"Lob a torpedo past their ships with Want-It Need-It cast on it. They'll murder each other fighting over a bomb."
-Cross Lament.

I couldn't resist adding that in after he mentioned it.

27 - Battle Among the Stars

Princess Twilight Sparkle’s Personal Log Supplemental, December 24th, 3382 AD.

This might be my final log. The pieces are set on the board, and now we prepare for the first move. Just in case, we are planning to release a probe in the direction of Equestria that the gaecha will hopefully overlook during our fight. Should we perish, one day our people will receive all the data we have collected combined with the logs of the entire crew. They will know our story, and that the crew of the ES Harmony fought valiant until the very end.

They will know that we explored those strange new worlds; that we sought out those new lifeforms and civilisations.

They will know that we went where no one had gone before.

And if this is to be my final log, I have some things to say. I don’t regret a moment, Celestia. Not one second of one day. We all came out here with a combined dream, and we saw it through to the bitter end. And I am sorry, but never blame yourself.

This is Princess Twilight Sparkle and the crew of the ES Harmony, signing off.

ES Harmony

Twilight checked over her suit one last time to make sure it was all sealed up as it should, that oxygen systems were working along with all other miscellanies functions. Confident that everything was in order, she picked up her helmet in her own magical aura and examined that too. The entire suit had been specially made for her, the helmet both having a small crown like feature to it just behind the hold in which her horn would pass through. The suit was also coloured after her own natural coat colours, and the flank had her cutie mark emblazoned proudly upon it. The horn was the only part of her that was to be exposed to space, even her wings were covered in a special material that would allow their full functionality. The helmet included a full heads-up-display and on top of that the gauntlets on her two forelegs each held an inbuilt phaser each, though magic remained the Princess’ preferred weapon of choice.

The Princess was standing with Xal and Iynx at one of the ship’s airlocks, the ES Harmony itself having just arrived within the pinpointed asteroid field. Now all they had to do was wait and prepare for the gaecha’s next move.

“Are you sure about this?” Xal asked. “Any number of the crew could accompany you, we still have plenty of suits to go around.”

“I’ll be fine,” Princess Twilight Sparkle assured. “The Harmony needs all of you at your stations. I need to be out there, I’m the only one who stands a fighting chance outside of a starship.”

“We’ll try to draw as much fire as we can away from you,” Commander Iynx assured. “Not that we won’t be their main target anyway. And that’s if they have any weapons after our surprise.”

“Don’t tempt fate,” Twilight warned. “I’ll move into position by the asteroid, and you move the Harmony into a dense area of the asteroid field, safely if you can. It might be able to hide you briefly, give you more of an advantage to start with.”

“We’ll take everything we can get,” the griffon responded. “Hey Princess, we can handle ourselves back here. Don’t go getting yourself killed for us.”

“I have no intention of dying,” Twilight retorted with a light chuckle. “And I know you can all handle yourselves without me. You’re a fine crew, and I think you’ll make a fine captain of this ship, Iynx.”

“Thanks for the confidence, though I won’t lie and say it’s not daunting. Not how I thought my first time in the chair would go.”

“You’ll do fine,” the Princess encouraged. “How many griffons would kill to command such a vessel?”

“I know,” she responded. “Never prepares you for the real thing. I mean, this was Captain Star Gazer’s job. His ship.”

“And he would tell you the same thing I am, you know that.”

Iynx took a deep breath in, and then nodded. “Yeah. But you really need to go, I don’t think the gaecha will wait for our heart-to-heart to finish.”

Twilight smiled. “No, I suppose not.”

The alicorn expertly placed the helmet upon her head, it slide down her horn and clicked into place seamlessly. The heads-up-display lit up and the systems activated, showing oxygen was at full capacity and all systems were green across the board. A push of a button allowed the inner airlock door to open up, revealing the decompression chamber within. Then, she entered.

“I wish you peace and long life, Twilight Sparkle,” Xal stated, bidding farewell to the alicorn.

“And to you, my friend,” Twilight said back, nodding to both Xal and Iynx as she closed the airlock up again.

Iynx nudged the sharin beside her. “Peace and long life? Xal, I think you just summed her up.”

Within the airlock, Twilight looked out the small window into the empty space outside. Floating brown rocks could be seen a short distance away, and within those laid her objective. With that, she began the cycle of decompression and all oxygen was quickly sucked out of the airlock and into the tanks. All Twilight could now hear was her own breathing inside her helmet, there being no sound within a vacuum. With the cycle completed, the outside airlock door was ready to be opened, and swiftly the Princess of Friendship emerged from the ship and let herself drift into space. She brought the suit’s thrusters online for back-up, but didn’t need to rely on them. She cast a spell around her body, and then with an experimental flap of her wings was able to move around as swiftly as she could within a planet’s atmosphere, the magical output in her wings now far beyond their normality.

With another flap, she moved herself further away from the ship. She moved above the upper hull, the bridge dome being clearly visible and the upper nacelle sitting lifelessly behind it at the back of the saucer. The ship still looked beaten, and yet the name of the ship remained displayed as proudly as ever atop the hull in front of the bridge.

Smiling to herself, she turned away from the starship she designed and launched further into the asteroid field. Dodging and weaving through the desolate rocks, she didn’t have to look long to find what she was looking for. One gigantic asteroid among the rest, many blue pulsating crystals sticking haphazardly out all along its surface. A light blue aura twinkled magnificently around the asteroid, its magic potential being staggering. Such a fantastic phenomenon like that, Twilight would have loved nothing more than to stay a while and research it to her scholarly heart’s content. Unfortunately, for them to live it had to be destroyed.

That said, as she began interfacing with the asteroid’s magic and prepared the spell necessary, it didn‘t stop her making more than a few scientific observations in her suit’s recorder.

Meanwhile, back on the ES Harmony, Xal and Iynx had just returned to the bridge. All eyes turned to meet them, and a nod from Iynx told them that the plan was in motion. Xal took his place at the tactical console, and Nimble Star turned from his place at the helm and motioned Iynx towards the central chair.

The griffon looked towards that seat, approaching it gingerly. She placed her talons on the backrest as she considered it, running that claw down to the armrest and finally to the seat itself. Then, perking herself up, she finally took her place within the captain’s chair.

“Your order, Captain?” Nimble enquired, if only a little playfully.

Iynx raised an eyebrow at him, but responded professionally. “Battle Stations.”

The Asteroid Field

Four gaecha warships cautiously approached the asteroid field at the edge of the system. Their prey had failed to show up where they had expected, rather heading into that very asteroid field. At some point their sensors began to experience difficulties detecting them among the space debris, and so they began to move in. They had grown tired of waiting for hours on end, and now it was time to destroy the ones who had insulted them by denying the gaecha a kill that was rightfully theirs. Something they would now rectify.

It was four pristine warships against one primitive vessel, a vessel already damaged to the brink of destruction from their first encounter. The gaecha had no doubt it would be an easy battle. If anything, they only thing they had to worry about was being boarded, but they were prepared to fight should it come to it. And if nothing else, there was little chance any boarders would have a ship to return to.

The captain of the lead warship looked over the asteroid field on the viewscreen. The bridge had no command chair, but was split into two levels. The upper lever was where many of the command consoles were located, and where the Captain was leaning against the railing. The lower level was where the helm was located.

“Captain,” one of the reptilian aliens spoke up. “We are on final approach to their last known position.”

“Very good,” the Captain said with a fang filled grin. “Bring weapons online. Find them.”

In formation, the four ships began moving into the field, destroying any stray rock in their way. It was then their sensors spotted something most interesting.

“Captain, we’re reading a single lifesign,” one of the bridge officers reported. “It’s coming from a large asteroid, and it’s giving off readings not dissimilar from the abilities the aliens have shown utilising.”

“What? Order all ships to come to a full stop!” the Captain ordered. “Bring that one onto the viewscreen, now!”

The image of an asteroid pulsating with energies a mix between light blue and a foreign lavender came onto the screen. Standing on top of the asteroid was the individual the gaecha recognised as the alien’s leader, and as if she knew they were looking at her she… winked at them.

“What…?”

Then with a flap of her mighty wings, the Princess launched above the asteroid with her horn ablaze, launching a thunderous beam of raw magic down onto the asteroid. The blue hue turned completely lavender, and large glowing fissures began to rapidly form and consume the asteroid.

Sensing danger, the Captain’s eye widened in alarm. “Full reverse!”

Too late.

The asteroid completely shattered, a blinding pulse of magic erupting out like the flames of an enraged dragon unleashed upon some unsuspecting victim. All the gaecha could do was brace as the pulse of magic began consuming the entire asteroid field. The blinding and heavily rampant energies soon began their assault on the four unprepared starships, completely overwhelming their shields and causing untold chaos to emerge throughout all the ships. Fires erupted, consoles exploded and gaecha died as systems all around their ships began to completely overload on contact with the sheer power of the magical force, the magic heavily amplified by that of an alicorn princess who finally avenged her many fallen subjects. Just from the feel of the magic every single gaecha could feel the unleashed pain and rage, the pain and rage they themselves had inflicted. And for a moment, just for a moment, the Captain swore he caught a glimpse of a dark purple mare with an even darker shadowy mane mixed in lighter shades of purple and pink, her eyes bright blue with dark purple slits staring angrily on as her jagged horn’s glow moved to bring their deaths.

It was just for a moment, but the image would be burned into the Captain’s mind for what remained of his life.

But finally, the pulse began to fade as the magic burnt itself out. But their trouble was not yet done. The asteroid had been mostly vaporised, but scattered remains were sent flying in every possible direction. Dozens of pieces of rock rained down on the four now unshielded vessels, creating multiple hull breaches across all four ships as gaecha were vented into space. One particularly large remnant crashed into the rear ship’s left nacelle, creating a remarkable explosion that ripped the nacelle completely from its pylon.

And finally, calm.

“S-status!?” the shaken Captain barked out to the remaining bridge crew.

“The rear vessel has been crippled, they’ve lost a nacelle,” one of them reported back. “We have multiple hull breaches. Shields and multiple other systems are gone, including warp.”

“What about weapons and impulse power!?”

“Re-routing auxiliary power now, weapons are at fifty two percent capability while I can get us one quarter impulse power at best. The others are reporting the same thing.”

The Captain gave a loud, albeit still fearful, shout of rage. “Target that female! KILL HER! KILL HER NOW!”

The command spread, and all four vessels began giving as much power into weapons as they can, all of them targeted towards the alicorn opposing them.

“Sir!” a gaecha reported. “We’re detecting a ship! It's the Harmony!"

Asteroids began to part and shatter against fully operational shields as a large round object began to emerge out of them. A nacelle appeared first, and then slowly the large hulking figure of the ESP starship ES Harmony arose from the rock and dust to the right of the four gaecha warships. All available phasers had risen from their ports, and all photon torpedo tubes were primed and ready. The ship seemed to almost glow with power, the magic pulse having had the complete opposite effect on the Harmony than it had the enemy warships. The girl had never looked more alive.

On the bridge, the griffon sitting proudly in the captain’s chair looked on at their hunters with a victorious smirk on her face.

“Mr Xal,” the griffon spoke up. “Fire.”

The forwards phasers charged up and then unleashed devastating red beams streaming towards the rear gaecha starship. The ship had gauges ripped through the hull, and it began to bank as power began to go out all across the ship. The Harmony then charged forwards, continuing to fire weapons at that ship. A couple of rear phasers turned and fired at the other three as they scattered to avoid the incoming fire. They were mostly successful, but the fourth wasn’t going anywhere. The Harmony passed over it, and then unleashed a volley of four torpedoes out of the aft launchers towards the ship. All four impacted from stem to stern, and more explosions cascaded throughout the ships as all systems overloaded and the warp core finally breached. In moment, the ships was reduced to nothing more than scraps of hull fragments.

The two ships that had been flanking the lead vessel turned and fired weapons at the Harmony, the blue beams striking off the Harmony’s shields with much less force than they had during their first battle. The lead ship however began heading directly towards Princess Twilight Sparkle herself.

As the ship-to-ship battle continued, Twilight saw her adversary approaching. Where once she had written off boarding as she had no idea how shields would affect teleportation, she no longer had that issue.

But then again, she had a better idea.

Twilight charged straight at the starship, avoiding gigantic beams of energy as they shot forwards towards her, but she was a very small target. She danced majestically around until she grew close, enough to just see in through some of the larger windows.

It was then one lucky beam found its mark.

The weapon’s energy fired towards the Princess, and instinctively she channelled all her magic into one powerful shield that covered her whole body. The beam impacted violently, Twilight grunted in severe concentration with sweat running down her brow as blue energies ate away at her lavender shield. Finally, the beam subsided and Twilight was left panting with a heavily cracked but still functional shield around her. Had their weapons been at full power, rather than in the sorry state they were currently in, that may have been her death. But alas, it was not to be.

Twilight released the shield, and before they could fire again she made a quick long range teleport to bridge the final gap between herself and the ship. Quickly scanning the power conduits with her horn, she tracked where the flow of power led to, and that were quickly located where their warp core was hidden away.

Charging her horn again, Twilight shot directly downwards and formed a barrier of energy around herself. She then rammed into the hull, the metal giving way around her as she barged directly down into the ship’s main engineering. About half a dozen gaecha were vented from engineering and out of the hole Twilight had just made before emergency forcefields came online. The remaining gaecha present gave a shout of alarm as they drew their weapons and opened fire on the Princess, their weapons set to maximum setting.

The Princess dodged the first few and then had her shield absorb the rest. Then, channelling the experience of the wars fought in days one past, she formed two swords made up of pure magic. One by one, the Princess cut through every single gaecha present. They tried to stop her, a security team led by one who seemed to be the captain of the ship even entering engineering to combat the intruder, but all quickly found out just how outmatched they were compared to the alicorn. They could have looked over J’Poc’s logs as many times as they wanted, but nothing could have prepared them for the reality.

She left the Captain for last, and the last thing he saw was the Princess’ eyes looking furiously into his own.

Soon, all the gaecha laid dead at the Princess’ hooves. Then, she disengaged her two blades and channelled their magic into her horn once more. She stood before the pulsating warp core, and unleashed the gathered energy in one single bolt of energy. Alarms blared out as the warp core sparked, its containment cracking as countermeasures attempted to compensate. Twilight reignited one of her swords and swiped it through consoles, tubes and anything important to the core’s function. Very quickly the countermeasures failed, and the core began an unstoppable breach. The ship began to lose power, including the emergency forcefield above.

With no desire to go down with the ship, Twilight bolted upwards and shot out of the starship. She flew as fast as she could possibly manage, teleporting one last sizable distance as the core finally detonated. Not completely out of range, Twilight turned and ignited her shield as the shockwave rushed towards her, ready to ride out the very edge of the trail of destruction she had wrought.

As this occurred, the Harmony’s starboard shields began to buckle. The gaecha concentrated their fire on this singular section, attempting to punch a hole through. Within the ship, Silver Wrench was attempting to reroute remaining power to reinforce those shields while Geneser remained in sick bay, dealing with the incoming casualties. On the bridge things were getting rather manic.

“Starboard shielding is at twenty percent!” Xal reported to Iynx. “They are collapsing.”

“Ensign!” Iynx shouted as Nimble. “Initiate evasive pattern delta!”

“Aye ma’am!”

The Harmony banked to the side, moving under a cluster of asteroid before rising out of it, doing the same to another cluster between them and the gaecha. The gaecha followed, but were split up as they each took a different direction around the cluster. While one of the ships remained on the Harmony’s tail, one of suddenly found the Harmony swinging round one cluster of asteroid to meet them face-to-face.

The Harmony fired several photon torpedoes directly into the front of the gaecha ship, taking a sizable chunk out and likely obliterating their bridge. Xal then targeted the ship with phasers and a few barrages and an asteroid collision finished the vessel off.

With only one vessel left, they resorted to desperate measures.

“Commander, the last remaining vessel has set a collision course!” Xal reported in alarm. “It’s ramming speed!”

Iynx’s stomach clenched in slight panic. “Nimble, evade them!”

“I’m trying!” Nimble shouted back, giving the controls everything he had.

The gaecha ship was closing the gap fast, intending their final act to be taking their hated enemy with them to whatever afterlife may or may not await them. Try as Nimble Star might, the gaecha were very determined.

Only for a destructive beam of lavender magic to trail across their impulse engines and almost completely tear them from the ship.

The gaecha ship veered off course with fire trailing behind it, Commander Iynx looking on from the viewscreen where a lavender alicorn emerged victoriously.

“That you, Princess?” Iynx enquired as they opened a channel.

“It is,” Twilight confirmed. “How’s the ship?”

“As good as she can be,” Iynx responded.

“Good to hear,” the Princess stated in relief. “Ready to finish this, Captain?”

“You got it,” Iynx confirmed, ready to put all their strife to a final end. “Xal, fire everything we got!”

“Yes sir!”

All weapons trained in on the remaining warship, phasers and torpedoes alike bursting forth towards the starship. Even Princess Twilight joined in, charging the biggest beam of magic she could muster and launching alongside the Harmony’s phasers. Each one found their mark, and the warship was completely ripped apart. Panels exploded, decks vented, and the structure of the starship shattered like glass. Fire spread throughout the wreckage, and by the end there was little left remaining of the vaporised vessel.

With that, the Harmony turned away from the scene and headed directly for one of the inner planets in the system. On the way, Twilight rendezvoused with the ship and entered into an airlock. They headed towards that planet, located the gaecha’s device on sensors and fired a full barrage of phaser fire directly down onto it. With the device neutralised, the Harmony turned away from the planet as the working nacelle glowed with power. The warp field formed, and the ship jumped out of the system.

They left behind the smouldering wreckage of four warships. Four warships who had thought themselves untouchable, who had destroyed many ships and many lives over many long years. Their demise showed the galaxy that while the people of Equus pursued peace, harmony and friendship above all else, they would fight to the last if they had no other choice. And that they were anything but defenceless. It is the same thing the monsters of Equestria’s past had learnt, and the monsters of the wide universe would come to learn.

But none of that mattered then and there to the crew of the ES Harmony. Their hunters were no more, nothing else stood between them and their destination.

Home. Even if it had been the long way round.

Author's Notes:

And so our journey is soon to come to its conclusion, only one more chapter and the reunion shall at long last occur. And you know what?

The gaecha were never even close to prepared for her...

Twilight never actually turned into Midnight, but all of her anger at the gaecha was fed into the explosion, and the gaecha saw images of Midnight in their minds.

And as a wise person once said, it's at the moment they knew they'd done fucked up...

28 - Harmony Among the Stars

Princess Twilight Sparkle’s Personal, February 18th, 3383 AD.

We are so close.

It’s a new year, and by our estimates our journey is barely a month to its end. I suppose we’ll all have to get used to natural gravity again, I look forward to it.

I wonder what we have missed in the meantime, the good and the bad. I can only imagine how our disappearance affected everypony, but do we have a story to tell them all on our return. No one imagined things would go as they did, ranging from the gaecha to the criminal J’Poc. I think we’re all due a little rest, the crew would appreciate shore leave I’m sure.

But I must wonder, what next? We do have an alien member of the crew now, and Xal is ever curious about Equestria and the rest of our little planet. It’s been theorised that all magic directly comes from Equus, infesting other words as it spread out. That asteroid I destroyed was only one example.

I wonder… The Tree of Harmony, is that the source? It would make sense for it to be the foundation, the beginning of all that we are. One little crystal sapling, all leading to a universe of opportunities. Even this ship is a product of its work.

This ship, she held up well. I must admit to feeling a sense of pride as a designer of the vessel. Even if she’s a little roughed up. I intend to see her get priority one clearance in the dock, and I have a few ideas for upgrades. Xal has elected to help with that, the phasers being at the top of that list. We may very well run into more gaecha in the future after all.

Time will tell, the final frontier has only just begun.

The ES Harmony

The ES Harmony was at FTL through familiar space, the placement of the stars becoming increasingly familiar. Having been initially thrown into the fringes of sharin space by Twilight’s overcharge of the core, it was good to be back in familiar territory. If they had their drive at full, it would have taken a few days to reach their destination from where they were. Had they had their full core, it would have taken potentially weeks instead of the overall six months needed to reach home. But here they were, very nearly back to the same distance from Equus from when the whole incident began. Excitement was most certainly tangible among the crew, many looking forward to seeing then green landscapes and vast oceans of their homeworld.

But they weren’t there yet, no matter how close they were. Thus, the crew remained hard at work keeping the ship afloat for that final leg before the finish line. The previous battle had caused some more scarring, but none even remotely comparable to the initial encounter with the gaecha. All that damage was easily repaired with a bit of time and ingenuity. But within the ship at that present time some were simply going about some morning routines.

The bridge crew, along with Princess Twilight Sparkle, had the mess hall all to themselves. They sat around a sizable table with gathered seats, each of them had either tea or coffee held in hoof. It was the early morning after all, they needed a little pick-me-up.

“So, how’s our ship this morning?” Twilight asked the group.

“Purring like a kitten,” Silver Wrench stated in assurance. “The core was stable last I checked, the antimatter flow running at maximum efficiency. Helps that we’re not being shot at anymore.”

“You had to bring that up, didn’t you?” Iynx deadpanned.

“I was retrofitting the engine for a week!” Silver Wrench stressed. “There was a feedback loop from our shields into the core, if I wasn’t such a miracle worker we could have had a breach in progress.”

“Blame our pilot, he should of dodged incoming fire better,” Iynx teased.

“I blame the one giving the orders, Captain,” Nimble snarked back.

“What caused the feedback anyway?” Twilight asked. “You never said.”

“A small design flaw in the shield matrix, impacts with the shield caused a strain on the energy flow from the core. But it’s fixed now, so don’t worry about it,” Silver Wrench explained. “We’d better give the update to the fleet back home too.”

“There will be a lot of design updates, I assure you,” Xal said. “I’ve already calculated that sharin designs incorporated with your own could increase phaser output by fifty six point eight nine percent.”

“You’re not touching any part of my ship without my help, just so you know,” Silver Wrench remarked.

Xal nodded. “That is acceptable.”

“It’s worrying though, while our peoples may prove the perfect blendship,” Geneser added in. “Aside from you, we have made no new friendships.”

“You’re forgetting the Sha’Du, Doctor,” Twilight reminded the zebra. “They seemed fond of us by the end.”

“But in regards to space faring worlds…” Nimble Star stated in agreement with Geneser.

“It is a bit dismaying,” Silver Wrench also agreed. “We had such high hopes, too.”

“I still do,” Iynx stated. “We’ve barely begun.”

“The Commander is right,” Twilight stated with a smile, recalling something she said to Princess Celestia what seemed like so long ago. “If I have learnt anything about the magic of friendship, it is that it is universal. I will not deny space is dangerous. But the possibilities… the sheer amount of stars and planets... We only need look hard enough. New friendships will be forged, I promise you."

Twilight then glanced towards Geneser and Silver Wrench, a coy smile tugging at her lips.

“And some… other forms of friendship added into the mix,” the Princess concluded.

Geneser smiled, shifting closer to Silver Wrench. “I suppose this trip wasn’t a complete waste, and it was just a taste.”

“Always with the rhymes huh, honey?” Silver Wrench quipped, placing a hoof around his girlfriend.

“You would have liked Zecora,” Twilight jokingly added in. “But enough of that. We are very nearly home, let’s not falter now.”

Starbase Alpha, March 16th 3383 AD

“Sir, we’ve got a vessel on approach to the system!” one of the ponies manning the command centre reported to Admiral Mythic Wing.

“A vessel? Identify!”

“We can’t sir,” the pony stated with concern. “Either the ship’s computer is damaged and can’t respond correctly to the IFF, or it’s simply not a ship encountered before.”

“Do we have any vessel out that way?”

Another pony brought up a list of deployments on their display, before responding in the negative. “No sir, all ships are currently within the system.”

“Have all Celestial Class ships converge on where the ship will exit FTL!” Mythic Wing reported. “I want to be prepared for anything. What’s the status of the ES Shining Armor?”

“Undergoing final system testing before the launch next week,” one of the crew reported back.

“And the crew?”

“There’s a skeleton crew on board now, the future bridge crew are all currently aboard this very starbase.”

“Good. We’re accelerating the launch.”

“Sir?”

“You have your orders, go!” Mythic Wing barked out. “And inform the princesses, and the other governments of Equus, that we have a possible extraterrestrial contact.”

And it didn’t take long with things to roll into motion. The moment Admiral Mythic Wing had pronounced his command the entirety of the Equus Space Program lit up with activity, all ships being released from dock and other moving from their previous assignments towards where the unknown contact was due to emerge.

And among them was the new jewel of the adolescent fleet, the ES Shining Armor. The brand new Harmony Class starship ceased all testing and had the skeleton crew attend to all essential stations as the bridge crew boarded and took their places on the bridge. The lights flickered on, lighting up the proud nameplate on the ship’s upper hull. The two large and majestic came to life as the bussard collectors lit a magnificent blue, the thaumatic engines teeming with power for the first time as the ship released all docking clamps within the juggernaut of a starbase. The hangar doors were already opened up due to the departing Celestial Class ships, and the Shining Armor soon departed as well.

With the projected course of the incoming ship placing it terrifyingly close to Starbase Alpha, all ships with the ES Shining Armor at the head swiftly moved into formation with shields already raised. Weapons were not powered, but they were on alert nevertheless. After the apparent destruction of the ES Harmony, they were not taking any chances.

All this was done within the hour, and so were the Princesses of Equestria joining the Admiral in the command centre of Starbase Alpha.

“Where’s your daughter?” Luna asked Cadance as they walked into the vast room.

“In Equestria, one of us need to keep the population from panicking,” Cadance explained. “What exactly is happening, anyway?”

“A ship, that’s all I know,” Celestia responded, briskly approaching the Admiral. “Perhaps you can explain, Admiral Mythic Wing?”

“Of course, your highness,” Mythic Wing replied with a low bow. “Sensors picked up a vessel quickly approaching the system, it isn’t responding to the IFF and all vessels are accounted for. We don’t think it’s one of ours.”

“Then who is it, Admiral?” Luna enquired impatiently.

“We’ll soon find out,” the Admiral responded with a tinge of nervousness. “But if they’re hostile we have the fleet at the ready.”

“You’re not putting on a display of aggression, are you?” Celestia asked with a raised eyebrow. “We don’t want to be the ones starting any wars, Admiral.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it, weapons are to be powered down until aggression is confirmed,” the Admiral explained. “But shields are up, we don’t want any nasty surprises.”

“Seems like a prudent course of action,” Princess Luna agreed. “I approve.”

“It’s only one ship?” Cadance asked.

“As far as we can tell,” Mythic Wing confirmed. “But we’ll see. They’ll arrive any moment now.”

Celestia nodded, and stood centred to the giant viewscreen. She examined it thoroughly, it showing a direct feed from the viewscreen of the ES Shining Armor at the head of the fleet. Her fellow alicorns stood by her side.

“I wonder how the other governments are dealing with the news,” Cadance wondered aloud.

“It matters not, we are here and ready to face what comes through,” Luna stated. “Let us hope whatever it is has peaceful intent nevertheless.”

“Indeed,” Celestia agreed.

"Princess, the ship is exiting FTL!"

All eyes turned to the viewscreen, a flash heralding a starship’s sudden deceleration back into sublight speeds.

Celestia’s eyes widened as jaws around the whole of the ESP simultaneously dropped.

The ship was of the Harmony class of starship, though extremely battle scarred and with one of the nacelles obviously receiving no power. Of course, there was only one other ship of that class in existence. It was one many never thought they would see again.

“Princess Celestia,” Admiral Mythic Wing began in awe, a beeping from a nearby console being very audible. “The ES Harmony is hailing us…”

Celestia blinked. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. She looked towards her sister, expecting this to be an elaborate dream she would wake up from any second. Luna seemed to see what her sister was thinking when she shook her head, this was no dream but simple reality. The ES Harmony was home.

“What happened to it?” Cadance asked, also in sheer disbelief. “It’s so badly damaged…”

“A mystery for later,” Celestia announced. “Answer them for goodness sake!”

If they were in awe, it paled in comparison to those on the Harmony’s bridge.

They couldn’t stop staring at the fleet on the viewscreen, not from the moment they exited FTL. No one had said a word, the planet beyond the station staring back at them. It stared at them, and it said ‘welcome home’.

“Is that another Harmony class ship?” Nimble finally asked, breaking the silence.

“Really, that’s all you have to say…?” Iynx deadpanned.

“It’s a valid observation!” Nimble Star defended. “But just… damn, I never thought I’d see any of it again.”

“Ye of o’ little faith,” Twilight jokingly scolded, moving from behind the captain’s chair to in front of it. “Have they answered our hails?”

“Not yet, they probably all fainted.”

“It must be quite the shock,” Xal remarked. “But I must admit, it is quite honouring to lay eyes on your homeworld.”

“Well get used to it, you’re going to be seeing a whole lot more,” Princess Twilight remarked, just a moment later a beeping sound indicated that their hails were being answered.

“It’s about time,” Iynx said with a sigh of relief.

Twilight scoffed, and then smiled. “On screen.”

The viewscreen switched views, displaying the interior of the starbase. On top of that, for the first time in since June of the previous year, she met the eyes of Princess Celestia.

“Hey Celestia!” Twilight said almost casually, though the choke in her voice made it extremely obvious she was holding back some tears. “We’re home.”

Celestia couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “Twilight? How…?”

“It’s a very long story,” Twilight stated. “We’re transferring our logs now, I’m sure the scientists will be thrilled with what we’ve seen. Other worlds, aliens. We, er, have one on our crew now by the way.”

“You have an alien among your crew?” Luna asked with a raised eyebrow, but her smile told the whole story.

“My name’s Xal, your highness,” Xal spoke up, making his presence known.

“Sorry to interrupt, but where is Captain Star Gazer?” Admiral Mythic Wing asked.

Twilight’s smile fell away. “I’m afraid he’s dead. We lost a lot of good people in the past months. We were attacked, and we got lost. But we never gave up, and made a friend or two along the way.”

“Of course she did…” Luna muttered.

“Well I don’t see why we’re still waiting any longer!” Cadance remarked suddenly. “I for one have a lot of questions, Twily.”

Twilight smiled again. “I’m sure you do. The ES Harmony is requesting permission to dock, Admiral Mythic Wing.”

With relief washing over him, the Admiral was all too happy to provide that permission. “Granted. Welcome home, Harmony.”

Twilight’s Castle, Ponyville

“All that really happened?” Celestia asked, sipping her tea.

All the alicorn, including Flurry Heart, were sat in the main sitting room in Twilight’s castle. The Princess of Friendship had told them everything that occurred, sparing no detail. She had started from their encounter of the debris field, and the subsequent attack from the gaecha that killed Captain Star Gazer and very nearly destroyed the ship. She told them about how they met Xal, and how he used parts of the starship known as the Serenity to fix their damaged engines. She told them of how they escaped the gaecha again using the Serenity and a nebula to evade them, and how it led them to ultimately stop J’Poc and his tyrannical reign of terror. All it culminated with the gaecha’s destruction, after which their journey home soon came to an end.

History had been made, and they all knew it.

“To the letter,” Twilight confirmed. “The gaecha, J’Poc… It’s all true.”

“Our subjects are going to love this…” Luna remarked. “It confirms that an alien attack was behind your disappearance.”

“But we lived,” Twilight pointed out. “And we may not have made it home without Xal. He did fix our warp drive.”

“Warp drive?” Celestia asked.

“Apparently it’s the galactic name for the engine,” Twilight explained. “Our sublight engines are a completely different configuration, but the ‘FTL Drive’ is almost identical in components to the sharin warp drive, just with a bit of magic to stability. So, I think we should rename it.”

“We’ll add it to the to-do list,” Luna deadpanned. “I know how much you love those.”

Twilight chuckled, but then her mood fell. “I’m sorry for any worry I must have cause you. I can’t imagine what it must have been like.”

“None of us gave up hope,” Flurry Heart assured, perhaps covering for Luna just a little bit. “We knew you would find your way back eventually, Aunt Twilight.”

“You did scare us though,” Cadance admitted. “So long with no answers.”

Twilight looked forlorn. “I know, I’m so sorry…”

Celestia got up from her seat, gently approached the lavender mare and draped a wing around her. She also nuzzled the top of her head affectionately, remembering briefly the little filly she used to be so very long ago.

“You’re home now, that’s all that matters,” Celestia stated, happiness flooding her voice. “Though, there is still the question of what happens to the ES Harmony and her crew.”

“They have proven their capabilities,” Twilight stated. “Even if I’m not there with them anymore, Iynx is going to make a fine captain. I firmly believe they will all continue to serve aboard the Harmony once they’ve had a little well deserved shore leave! But…”

“But?”

“Yes… Speaking of the crew, we should talk about Xal.”

“Ah, your ‘sharin’ friend…”

“Yes, now that we made it home I think I know what the Harmony’s first assignment should be,” Twilight stated. “Xal is ready to reveal the coordinates of his home system, and is proposing we go there and make ‘official’ first contact.”

“I see, it seems like a wonderful occasion. I’m sure our diplomats will welcome the opportunity to be part of such a historical occasion. I take it you will be going too?”

Twilight shook her head. “No. At least, not yet. The crew doesn’t need me to be there all the time, and I’m sure Xal can put in a good word. Once the initial set up is done, I’m sure their leadership will want to meet us anyway.”

“Most likely. It’s been a very long time since I’ve conducted diplomacy with a new civilisation. Not since the earliest days of Equestria, before the world was fully mapped out,” Celestia noted, a bright motherly smile on her face as she looked at the younger alicorn. “I’m proud of you, Twilight. Thanks to your efforts, friendship may be yet achieved among the stars.”

Author's Notes:

And they made it! Home, even if it took longer than they originally expected. You might as well head right onto the Epilogue, then I'll give some parting words of wisdom (just without the wisdom part).

29 - Epilogue

Twilight’s Castle, Ponyville

It had been almost another month since the Harmony returned, and the refit was complete. The ES Harmony was due to leave later that day, continuing its voyages. The official meeting with the sharin was soon to come. However, the concept of new life and civilisations had sparked a long dormant curiosity within the Princess.

And so here she was, standing in the library.

The mirror portal was still. The machine surrounding it had been activated, and Twilight had been pleasantly surprised to find the book still allowed it to open after over two thousand years of inactivity.

She was debating to herself whether or not to enter, a curiosity invaded her mind she could not chase away. Her conversation with the ES Harmony’s senior officers kept playing in her head.

Twilight hummed. “Perhaps I should have a look through on our return, see how they are doing. Not all humans were exactly… friendly. But with humans like the friends I knew I think they found a future for themselves.”

“Space travel like us?” Nimble suggested.

Twilight nodded. “Perhaps. Who knows, they may have met other races and created alliances with them.”

Iynx raised an eyebrow. “What, like a Federation of sorts?”

Her thoughts were banished from her mind as a flash of white light heralded the appearance of a certain Spirit of Chaos.

“Discord,” she said in greeting.

“Sparkle-butt, whatcha doing?” Discord said with childlike glee.

Twilight silently glared at him.

“Oh don’t be like that,” he rolled his eyes. “I just wanted to come see you after that terrible ordeal you went through, quite the trip you had, hmm?”

“You could say that,” Twilight responded. “But we made it through.”

“Yes, like a true captain you led them through it all,” Discord complimented. “Reminds me of some others I know through that portal. Let’s hope Miss Griffon can live up to you.”

“Through the portal? You’ve been?” Twilight’s eyes widened in surprise.

“But of course, several times. Some of the people there are quite entertaining, when they don’t punch you in the face that is.”

“You got punched?” Twilight suppressed a grin. “How did somepony manage that?”

“Well someone did, it is a rather long story.”

“I can only imagine,” Twilight said mirthfully. “I wonder what is happening on Earth right now…”

“You’re thinking of visiting, are you not?” Discord asked.

“I am.”

“You should go,” Discord said in encouragement. “Your friends are long gone but aren’t you curious to what humanity has done with themselves?”

“What’s with that knowing look?” Twilight asked cautiously. “What have you done?”

“Me? Nothing. Mostly.”

“Mostly?” Twilight raised an eyebrow.

“I’m sure you’ll find out sooner or later, so go on already! New horizons await and all that.” Discord encouraged further.

Twilight sighed. “I must admit ever since Nimble Star started that conversation back aboard the Harmony, I have been curious. Alright, one quick look at Canterlot High and then home again.”

“If you so insist,” Discord said as he crossed his arms. “Though, I suppose we shall see.”

“If something happens I’m holding you personally responsible,” Twilight warned, though with a slight grin.

“Get in line,” Discord smirked.

Twilight rolled her eyes, and then walked through the mirror before anything could distract her. The mystical object's surface shimmered as the portal was travelled through, and then was still again.

Discord grinned wider, and in a flash his usual appearance was replaced with another he had fondness for. A smug looking human male in a black and red uniform, a combadge pinned onto it with four pips lining his collar.

“Oh, I do so love to watch fireworks,” Discord said as he sighed in bliss.

As Princess Twilight Sparkle immersed herself in another world, the ES Harmony was back at its full capabilities and then some. Weapons, shields and all manner of systems had been upgraded. Twilight’s prediction had also come true, and almost all the crew and gathered once more to continue their voyage together. Together, as a family.

“Contact control, tell them we’re ready to depart,” Captain Iynx stated, sitting comfortably in the brand new chair that sat in the centre of the bridge.

“All sections are on standby,” Xal reported, sitting at the tactical console. “Geneser reports that all medical supplies are accounted for, and Silver Wrench says the engines are running steadily and healthily.”

“Well that makes a change,” Nimble Star remarked from the helm. “Oh, and did you see that the Princess arranged Geneser and Silver Wrench had some of the largest quarters on the ship. Their own little love nest…”

“We don’t get paid to tease our crewmates, Ensign,” the Captain teasingly scolded.

“It’s fun though. And it’s ‘Lieutenant’ now, remember?”

“You’re always an ensign to me, Nimble.”

“Yeah whatever, ma’am.”

“If you are quite finished, we have been cleared for departure,” Xal interrupted.

“Understood, release clamps and move us out of the starbase.”

As the undocking procedure commenced, the brand new turbolift opened up and the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Engineer both walked onto the bridge.

“Oh, wanted to see the show did we?” Nimble called back at them.

“Permission to step onto the bridge?” Silver Wrench asked, ignoring the pony at the helm.

“Granted,” Iynx responded. “I take it your engineers have it all in check?”

“The veterans are making sure the new blood doesn’t screw anything up. We’re fine.”

Outside the viewscreen, the view of the starbase interior gave way to the planet of Equus, and then to empty space. The ship moved on forwards, completely renewed and full of life. She then stopped, just waiting on the word. The warp coils were charged, and all they had to do was activate the warp field.

"We're ready, Captain," Nimble informed Iynx, a grin on his face.

"Very good," Iynx responded. "You know what? I just thought of something quite suitable to mark the occasions."

All eyes on the bridge turned on the Captain.

"Something suitable?" Xal enquired. "How so?"

"It's something Princess Twilight said the day our first colony ship was launched," Iynx stated. "It's become pretty iconic."

"Oh, I know this one," Silver Wrench stated.

"I know of this too," Geneser added. "So please Captain, do."

"I think I shall," Iynx confirmed. "I might even have a little spin on it just for this occasion."

"Well I have no idea as to what you speak," Xal said. "So I am eager to hear it."

Iynx grinned, examining her crew from the vantage of the captain's chair. She turned back to look out the viewscreen, and then with a deep breath she began to speak.

"Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the ES Harmony, its continuing mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilisations..."

Iynx sat back, watching as Nimble pressured forwards on one specific lever, doing so with great satisfaction as the engines of the Harmony glowed, before jumping to warp.

"To boldly go where nopony, and nobody, has gone before.”

Author's Notes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF_NFA61RqE

And so here we are, the end! (For now, who wants a teaser for what comes next?)

It took some time, and a rather long hiatus, but we got here. Now I just have to think of what else I should do before the sequel.

The ES Harmony will return...

Bonus - A Teaser Of Things To Come

"Well well, I see everypony is enjoying themselves thus far," Discord stated smugly. "I'm so glad, watching the adventures of the ES Harmony in almost perfect parallel to the USS Enterprise in that other gem of a universe is so much fun, as both Q and Discord."

Discord clicked his talons, and a bag of popcorn came into existence. He floated in an empty domain, two screen sat before him. One showed a view of the ES Harmony at warp, and another of the USS Enterprise orbiting Earth.

Discord took a bite of his popcorn, before stroking his goatee in contemplation. "Hmm, though I do wonder where Iynx and Picard are heading... Predicting the future is not always accurate but... perhaps a small sneak peak into the former is in order..."

Discord clicked his talons again, and a third screen popped into existance.

"This goes without saying," Discord winked. "Potential spoilers ahead. You have been warned."

Date Unknown, Location Unknown

“Two vessels destroyed, the final is damaged and breaking off pursuit,” Xal reported as the Harmony exited the ring and moved back towards the planet.

“Nice flying,” Iynx complimented Nimble. “What of the larger ship?”

“Still in its original position, and still not responding to hails,” Xal stated.

“Assessment?”

Xal studied what scans he did manage to obtain of the vessel. “It appears to be a carrier of some kind, though what it contains in the hangar is unknown to me. It’s heavily armoured and shielded, but its weapons are minimal, the ship alone is no major threat to us.

Iynx nodded. “Understood. What casualties did we take?”

“No fatalities,” Xal reported. “Geneser has reported in a few injuries, but they are all minor.”

Iynx hummed in contemplation. “They wanted to keep us away from the planet, that much is painfully obvious,” she stated. “But why, what are they doing down there?”

“Well, that is what Princess Twilight ordered us to find out,” Nimble said as he shrugged. “The signal we got is definitely related, and definitely nothing good.”

A beeping sound from Xal’s console got all of their attention, and the sharin tactical officer moved over to investigate.

“Captain, the carrier is on an intercept course, with five more of those smaller ships joining it.”

“I knew that was too easy,” Iynx grumbled. “Our odds?”

“Adequate,” Xal stated simply. “The smaller ships seem to be light defence ships, no match for the Harmony, and I’ve already given my assessment on the carrier so-”

Iynx adopted an expression of concern when Xal stopped talking, instead looking down on his console with wide eyes.

“Xal, what is it?” Iynx asked cautiously.

“Ma’am, about two dozen ships just launched from the carrier… fighter craft."

Author's Notes:

Star Trek does have fighter craft, as I do recall...

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Federation_attack_fighter