//------------------------------// // Space: The Final Frontier // Story: The Conquest of Space // by Marcus Centurian //------------------------------// The Conquest of Space: The Saga of Dawn Sparkle Chapter 1: Space: the Final Frontier Have you ever been on a starship? I can tell you it is the most terrifying and amazing feeling I have ever experienced. There are but a meter or two of thick steel, bulkheads, wires and magical shielding between you and the vacuum of space. A rogue meteor or asteroid could end you, your friends and your ship in one fail swoop. But there also is a great awe and power to be felt here, like nowhere else. This amazing machine was built by pony, griffin and dragon teamwork to travel the stars. Nopony would have thought that Equestrians would one day be able to leave their planet and go to another. Nopony would have thought that Equestrians would be able to meet other races, alien races, and spread the magic that is friendship well beyond the borders of my beloved planet. The stars beckon; let us explore them, anon! I am Dawn Sparkle, daughter of Twilight Sparkle, soon-to-be captain of Her Majesties’ Ship, the Magic, the newest and fastest ship in the Equestrian Space Command’s fleet. The ESC may have built this great craft, but the Magic is my baby. I am her captain and it and the forty-three other souls aboard are under my care. With my best friends and fellow officers I could ask for at my side, the Magic is in the best and most capable hooves and claws possible. Tomorrow is the day we teach my baby to walk; tomorrow is her maiden voyage. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My first mate and good friend, Joe Rich and I stare out the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook the space port with the Magic in her berth. The view is so captivating that we barely exchange a word for several minutes… not that Joe is the talkative type. As long as I’ve known him, he’s been the quiet type, although once he comes out of his shell, it takes a princess’s intervention to stop him. I finally catch my breath long enough to voice my feelings, “So we get underway tomorrow.” “Yep.” “Are you excited?” “Yep.” “Are you nervous?” “A little. And you?” “Yeah, a little.” I paused for a sec before adding, “Did you say your goodbyes and all that?” His demeanor took a turn toward the sour as his face contorted into a scowl. “My folks won’t give me the time of day, and most certainly not their blessing.” The frown softened a bit, “Diamond Tiara did wish me well, though, and asked me to come back in one piece.” Another moment of silence passed before he asked me, “What about your mom?” It was my turn to frown. “Well…” I said wistfully, “She said she would be here before launch and see me off. She said she’d be here by lunch time… and we just had dinner an hour ago.” I let out a loud audible sigh. Joe tried to comfort me and put a hoof on my shoulder, “I’m sure she got tied up.” I scowled and said louder than I intended, “But she always gets tied up! It’s always business with the princess or trouble at the university or saving Equestria, again. I mean… all of those things are worthwhile and important, but ever since I enrolled in the ESC academy she made herself scarce and we seem to have drifted apart.” I sniffled and fought back tears, “When is there time for her to just be my mother, not savior of Equestria?” As if on cue, a second hoof found its way to my shoulder and a purple mare with a purple mane with a pinkish-white stripe embraced me in a tight hug. “Mom?” I blubbered. “It’s OK. I’m here now,” my mother whispered to me. I held her for a few minutes but it felt like hours and never wanted it to end, but all good things come to their end and we released the hug. I looked into my mother’s teary purple eyes and smiled. I embraced her in another quick hug then regained my composure. Joe wisely decided to step out during our embrace and returned with a tray bearing some cups of coffee and donuts. “Um… how much of that tirade did you hear?” “I heard pretty much all of it. I’m sorry for being busy…. but you are right. I kept myself artificially busy so I wouldn’t have to think about you going off where I cannot be there for you.” “I’m sure you can patch though a call to me and we do have to return to Equestria to restock and refuel and I can see you then.” “It’s not quite the same as having my sweet Dawn there by my side.” Joe piped in, “We could stand for another hand on the Magic. We could sneak you aboard and nopony will be the wiser!” I concurred, “That is a fantastic idea! You have always wanted to travel about the stars and now is your chance! What do you say Mom?” “Dawn…. As much as I’d love to go to the stars and go on a grand adventure with you, my place is here.” The smile I wore turned into a pleading look of patheticness. “Dawn, no amount of cute pleading you can provide will sway me. There comes a time when I have to let you grow up. This is the time. I cannot keep fawning over you and treating you like a child. Now is the time to spread your own wings and go live your own life.” I just sat there for a minute, staring at my mother, Twilight Sparkle, with a look of shock on my face as the words she spoke sunk in. My mother, the overprotective, worrisome, and sometimes paranoid pony who raised me. The same mother who wouldn’t let me perform in a play that I had a lead role in when I was seven due to one sick classmate, a pegasus by the way, who had the feather flu; unicorns cannot even catch the feather flu! The same mother who personally got Celestia and Luna to reprimand a bully after he teased me, just once. The same mother who pulled an all-nighter with me, just to make sure I wouldn’t fail my magical aptitude test I put off studying for till the last minute. My mom just said I needed to grow up and live my own life. She spoke again, pulling me out of my reverie, “Just remember that a little piece of Equestria resides right here,” as she placed her hoof on my locket I always wear about my neck. “Home is where the heart is and if you follow you heart, it’ll lead you home.” Although the statement was one of cyclic logic, it was one of the most touching statements I have ever heard, especially from my mother who often had trouble voicing her emotions. I replied the only way I could with tears in my eyes, “I love you, Mom.” “I love you too, Dawn.” We hugged again and heard a sniffle next to us. Joe wiped away a tear from his eye and tried to pass it off. “Come over here, you big softie,” I beckoned. He sheepishly obeyed and joined us in a group hug. “Mom?” I asked. “Yes?” “Would you bunk with me tonight….for old times’ sake?” “I’d like that a lot.” “And Joe?” “Yes, ma’am?” “The events you just witnessed don’t leave this room. The last thing I need is the crew thinking I’m a pushover and that I’m incapable of command.” “Your secret is safe with me, Dawn.” “Thanks Joe.” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next day I sat, fidgeting, at the conn of the Magic for what had seemed like ages. I glared at my helmsman, Bed-o-win hoping that he would receive the go ahead to launch, but I realized that trying to bore a hole in his head with my stare was not going to get the Magic moving anytime sooner. My usually impassive and quiet first mate, Joe, voiced his annoyance, “Why are we still waiting? The whole crew and all of the supplies are aboard. We are ready to launch.” My science officer, Stardust, piped in, “Maybe they detected an anomaly in one of our engines and wish to fix it before launch?” “Impossible! I checked the engines this morning. They were optimal then. Maybe I’ll run a diagnostic just in case,” my chief engineer, Valkyrie, chimed in. “Belay that, Ms. Valkyrie. Diagnostics take a few hours to complete, force the engines offline for hours and we should be launching soon.” “I hope,” I muttered afterwards. Finally, the call came in from Equestrian Space Command that we had the go-ahead to launch. “Finally!” everypony on deck proclaimed. I didn’t blame them for their annoyance; Equestrian bureaucracy could muddle and slow down even the most mundane of affairs. If the paperwork in Rumble’s office relating to Ponyville’s weather was any indication, I’m sure that launching a starship must have involved a lot of paper work. “Alright Bed-o-win, take us out.” “Yes Ma’am. Sorry ma’am.” “Just get us underway.” He, thankfully, just nodded assent and started to guide the ship out of dry dock. Bed-o-win, a horse from Saddle Arabia, was a strange one indeed. I’ll admit, I had my doubts when he was recommended for my helmsman, but when I saw him maneuver a shuttle craft and I saw his aptitude scores, I knew he was the pony for the job. Try as he may, he has a lisp that no amount of speech therapy seemed to get rid of. His lisp makes him self-conscious and that drives his lisp more. It is like the never ending cycle of apologies my mom’s friend Fluttershy has. I looked around at my other officers. Stardust was as cheeky as ever, talking some poor pony’s ear off about the ins-and-outs of Luna knows what. The pony could get on my nerves sometimes, but there was nopony more knowledgeable about anything than her. I’m sure that if my mother and Stardust played a game of Trivial Pursuit it would be the most epic battle of brains ever. Honeycrisp, who would be more likely to be found in the infirmary or the core than on deck, was preset. Protocol required her presence on the bridge for launch, but the look of contempt on her face spoke volumes about where she’d rather be. She is my chief medical officer and a looker…. Not that I’m into mares or anything. Heh. She is a member of the vast Apple family and proud of her heritage from which sometimes manifests itself in her habit of random anecdotes stemming from family experiences. Her bedside manner is gruff, but it gets the job done as I recalled from when she patched me up after a bar fight (I’ll swear to this day that I didn’t instigate it!). Horseapples! That antiseptic was cold. Brr. Royally Bucked stood up at tactical, a gleaming smile on his face as he was attempting to seduce another victim. I swear… that pony had banging on the brain more than I care to know. But I tell you what, the unicorn is a genus tactician, has an intimate understanding of weaponry, and an uncanny accuracy with both ship-based and personal weapons. I remember this one time I saw him hit the bullseye of a target from a hundred meters with a bow and arrow. I’m lucky to hit the broadside of a barn at that range. Valkyrie sat with her paws and wings folded as she sat engrossed on the readout on the screen of the engineering console, all the while adjusting knobs, pushing buttons, and pulling levers occasionally with her gleaming claws. The griffin was a bright lass, but her dedication to the ships engines kinda had me worried. I heard she even named them. I guess I equi-morphised the ship, so giving names and personalities to the engines are not too big of a stretch. Bed-o-win pulled me out of my musing, “We are clear of the station and we are ready to teleport.” “Go ahead, Bed.” “Where is our destination?” “The Cat’s Eye Nebula.” “Aye-aye. Imputing course now.” “Let’s do this. Take us out.” He pressed a large red button on his console and the ship shuttered and was engulfed in a brilliant flash of white light as we began our journey.