Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle's library
Twilight wasn't crazy, she was just acting crazy. Spike had to tell himself that now and then in the service of his purple unicorn caretaker, especially when she was driven to do something. He watched from across the room of Twilight's study as Twilight teleported about, calibrating telescopes and writing formulas on her noteboard and desk. She'd been doing this all day and it was now getting into the late hours of the evening. Still, she continued. Spike stood quietly; he knew it was better than to try to intervene. She'd burn herself out eventually... he hoped.
"You, uh, making any progress Twilight?", Spike asked, trying to be supportive. Twilight didn't respond but muttered something to herself, completely absorbed as she darted about the room.
"It has to be there! It has to be there!", Twilight shouted as she eyed through a telescope.
"You're still looking for whatever it was you saw the other night?", Spike asked.
"Of course! I don't know what it was, what it could've been; it's not in any of the books on biology, mythology, native and non-native species!", Twilight trailed off as she flipped through the entire pages of a text book in a single motion. She was the only one who'd seen... whatever it was she saw the other night while they were out stargazing. What had at first been just a nice evening of enjoying the starry night sky had turned into a trip into insanity when Twilight caught sight of something through her telescope while they were out in the field that night. She was convinced she saw something but unforutnately, nopony else had.
"Well, what did it look like? Maybe it wasn't an animal.", Spike suggested.
"Hmmm. Wait! That crystal we got from the Crystal Empire!", Twilight ran over to a small pink crystal suspended in a glass case. She removed the cover and examined the crystal with her magic.
"No...", Twilight said, disappointed. "It was something like this but... but it was flying. And it was on fire...", she said, remembering. She levitated the crystal into Spike's claw and turned back to her noteboard. Spike walked over to the fireplace and tried to imagine the crystal burning.
"Some kind of... a phoenix maybe?", Spike said.
"It wasn't a phoenix... you might be right, it might not have been an animal at all."
Spike looked through the crystal at the flames. "Maybe it was a balloon or a-", Spike accidentally gripped the crystal too hard and it slipped from his claw into the fire. "Uh oh!", Spike shouted to Twilight.
"Spike! What are you doing!?", Twilight ran over to her assitant. The flames engulfed the crystal but it didn't burn. Neither of them saw it but the center of the crystal began to glow.
Refitted UNSC Relay-class cruiserSeason's Change, Engineering Deck
Chase's heart was racing as the ship's fusion reactor got closer and closer. He could feel the heat from the reactor in the air around him. As he was carried by the mob, the crystal in his pocket jostled and fell to the floor. It let out a flash and the mob stopped, some recoiled in fear. He was dropped to the floor quickly by those who were carrying him. Chase stood up as the 'crew' cowered behind him.
"What is going on down here?", a loud voice boomed. Chase looked up to see a figure slowly descending. A man floated down from the cieling using a jetpack. He landed only a few feet away from Chase and the mob. Chase was suprised to see the man was actually dressed in a normal uniform, minus the jetpack. The man's rank insignia identified him as the chief engineer. He was slightly overweight and his skin was pale. His hair was a messy dark brown and his face was covered in stubble.
"Okay, who are you and what the hell are you doing on this ship?", the man asked.
"I... I'm Chase, Captain Christopher Chase. I'm supposed to be taking command of this vessel.", Chase said, panting. He was happy to see someone that at least seemed sane. As Chase explained, the chief engineer pulled a cigar out of his shirt pocket and lit it with one of the jetpack's jets. He then casually stuck the end of the cigar in the corner of his mouth.
"New Captain huh? Now that's funny because I got word about a week ago saying we were supposed to be decommisioned. Crew was really looking forward to it. We had a pizza party planned and everything, didn't we boys?", the engineer asked. The crewmen behind Chase and around them echoed a single "Yeah!".
"My flight orders have been endorsed by Admiral Daniels... I'm telling you the truth.", Chase said in exhausted huffs.
"Admiral Daniels? Well, I'll have to confirm this but if what you're saying is true than you're the new captain. Welcome aboard Season's Change.", the engineer said to Chase.
"Thank you... please, could you tell me, who are you and why are these men acting like... like savages?", Chase asked as he retrieved the crystal from the floor.
"Chief Engineer Commander Richard Timmons Shaw and these are my boys. They like to mess around sometimes. I'm sure they didn't scare you did they?", Shaw asked. Shaw walked over and helped Chase get to his feet.
Did he just ask that? "They like to mess around sometimes"?! "They nearly threw me into the ship's fusion reactor.", Chase complained.
"Well, I'm sure they didn't mean it. Did you really mean it boys?", Shaw asked the crowd behind him. They responded with a single, sorrowful 'no'. "What do we say now?" the question was followed by a chorus of "sorry's". One or two patted Chase on the shoulder. Chase was somehow slightly less afraid of the mob that had only moments ago tried to throw him into a firey radioactive death.
"Since you're here, you might as well see the rest of the ship while we get things sorted out with your admiral. Let me give you the tour capp'n.", Shaw said as he began leading Chase outside of the engineering deck. Chase looked around at the 'engineers'. Some waved at him, some even saluted. They went back to their 'tribal' business as Shaw and Chase walked out. Chase shook his head. How long exactly had this ship been in service?