Chapter 4
Twenty minutes later, everypony is waiting in the park. Even Princesses Celestia and Luna are here- but Twilight is still nowhere to be seen.
Celestia looks at Pinkie. “You sure she’s coming?” she asks.
Pinkie looks inquisitively at Lyra.
Lyra shrugs. “She agreed to be here if I prevented the funeral,” she states.
Twilight slams her head down on the panel in front of her again, letting out a deep groan. Just like the first time, even though it’s sensitive to her hooves, it completely ignores her forehead- and horn. “Ugh! How much more of this is there?”
“Current position, page eight of ninety-three.” She’s been having it translate the manual for her- or, more accurately, read the unfamiliar language the thing is written in… and tell her, in Equestrian, what it says.
“I’m not going to make those fifteen minutes… Come to think of it, how long do I have left?”
“Negative five minutes.”
She slams her head down again. “Ugh! Can you drive?”
“Affirmative.”
She lifts her head up, staring out the front window of the small, winged machine she’d discovered in another of the big rooms. It’s lined up with several others, so she finds herself staring across the aisle at a row of identical machines.
“And it can get me down?”
“Affirmative.”
“On time?”
“Negative.”
“Drat! Now, why didn’t I think of this earlier?”
Silence.
She sighs. “Please do?”
“Confirm directive,” it states. “Autopilot Dropship Seven Three to landing in Ponyville Park.”
She nods. “Uh, yes, please.”
A door closes behind her- closing her inside the winged machine, she realizes. “Orders confirmed. Depressurizing Bay Seven. Estimated time to landing, thirteen point four minutes. Enjoy your flight.” The green lights in the upper corners of the room turn yellow- and start blinking. That reminds her, the yellow ones in that first room had turned green at some point.
“Well, I suppose we could set up a funeral…”
“No!” Pinkie interrupts Princess Celestia. “She’s not dead yet! I can feel it!”
Celestia raises an eyebrow. “Where is she, then?”
“I donno,” Pinkie states. “But what is that noise?”
Ponies look around- right on time to spot the source of the noise.
It looks like Twilight’s rocket had. In the same sense that a foal’s stick figure- drawn with black pencil- looks like Princess Celestia.
The source of the noise is readily apparent- as four giant cylinders hanging off the sides, one at each corner. Each of them is bearing a red glow around the bottom- aside from the visible heat waves and, to those with wings, visible wind currents.
Not that those without wings are at much of a disadvantage in this case- this close to the ground, it’s kicking up a bit of a dust cloud- and the grass is actively flattening away from it.
The rest of the contraption looks like a great big box of some kind. Some glass at the front is visible, but it’s darkened somehow, rendering the inside completely invisible.
Four doors on the bottom of it suddenly open as it approaches the clear ground only a short distance away from them. Celestia, Luna, and all five of Twilight’s friends gallop forwards to take front row seats in the display as legs extend out from each of the doors… then it settles down on them. The wind and noise from the cylinders very quickly vanishes to a low hum- then, as that starts to lose pitch as well as volume, they slowly rotate ninety degrees, pointing the fading glowy parts away from everypony.
Finally, the huge door across the front of it opens.
Twilight bolts out of the yawning opening even before it’s all the way open, winging her way to the ground in front of everypony. “I’m here!” she cries. “Sorry I’m late!”
More than one pony stares at her.
“What did you find up there?” Lyra asks.
Twilight shrugs. “Not entirely sure,” she states- before turning to look at Luna. “It did call itself a starship…”
“Oh?”
Three days later, the Royal Guards standing around her machine wave seven mares past, letting them in the wide-open door. It had taken absolutely forever for Twilight to open up enough time on her schedule for this. Nopony else had quite as much trouble; a volunteer would take care of Fluttershy’s animals while she was gone. Applejack had been largely free already; it’s not a very busy season for her family. Pinkie had only had to mention it to get permission from the Cakes; Rainbow had simply scheduled so-called ‘wimpy weather’ and left it to the other weather ponies. Rarity had actually had to rearrange a little of her schedule, but if what Twilight told her was correct, a fashion disaster is waiting for her. Plain metal rooms indeed! … Not that this thing is much better, she finds. Oh well- at least it has that colored stripe on the walls.
Aside from Twilight, Princess Luna had the hardest time opening time. She’d had to arrange for a nap last night, so she could be fully rested today, during what is normally her rest period.
Twilight takes the seat up front, looking out the windows at the ground for a moment before looking back to the rest. All the others had unanimously agreed she should be at the controls, since she has prior experience. With no seats to climb into, the rest are standing behind her.
Rainbow peers out the nearly-invisible window at a Guard standing by. “Wait. Aren’t these things impossibly dark?”
Twilight shrugs. “Not sure. But, uh… We’re going up so high we won’t have gravity. Make sure you hold onto something!” She glances sideways to three of her companions. “Or be ready to use your wings.” She smirks.
Rainbow mirrors her smirk. “I’m sure we can play anchor for other ponies as well.”
Twilight nods. “Everypony ready?” She asks.
A round of nods.
She looks back forwards. “Okay then, take us up!”
Applejack tilts her head. “Weren’t you going to drive?”
Twilight shakes her head. “No…” she cringes. “I couldn’t figure out how.”
A voice sounds from the suddenly glowing panel in front of her. “Welcome back, Captain,” it states- as the cylinders just visible from the window begin to tilt upwards, building noise. The big door closes at the same time. “Autopilot engaged. Estimated time to docking, twelve point seven minutes. Enjoy your flight.”
Twilight hops out of the seat to run back to the pile of ponies that just landed on the floor behind her. “Everypony okay?” She asks.
Applejack hops off the top of the pile. “I thought you said we wouldn’t fall,” she states.
Twilight shakes her head. “We aren’t falling- back to Equestria, that is. I’m not sure how it does it, but apparently, this bigger one can hold a gravity spell for a very long time.”
“Gravity generator operating at zero point three one percent capacity, generating one point zero zero gee shipboard.” the control panel’s voice helpfully supplies.
“Uh, and a very strong one at that, I guess.”
Rainbow slides out from the bottom of the dissolving heap. “Good thing it’s not strong right now,” she states- and glances out the front windows again. “We there yet?”
Twilight nods. “We’re here… It’s not opening, though.” She scowls at the door.
“Why?” Princess Luna asks.
The control panel answers. “Bay Seven is currently pressurized to zero point eight one local atmospheres and climbing.”
Everypony blinks.
“Pressurized?” Rainbow asks. “Isn’t that dangerous?”
“Uh- no, actually,” Twilight smiles back at her friend. “You know how the air gets thinner as you fly higher? That’s because it has pressure- and the weight of the air above it is creating that pressure. Sure, too much pressure can be dangerous- that’s essentially what a bomb does, after all- but without air pressure, we’d die. We’re up so high there is no air to have pressure- so it has to provide its own.”
“Inaccurate,” the control panel chimes in immediately. “Starship Athena is in low orbit; minor atmospheric drag is detected, at approximately one point three zero four Newtons.” Almost as soon as it finishes talking, the door unlocks and starts opening- with no hiss of pressure like the one that had come when it landed in the park.
Twilight blinks. “What’s the atmospheric pressure up here?”
“External atmospheric pressure at current altitude is below measurable threshold.”
She tilts her head. “How fast are we moving?”
“Twenty-seven thousand six hundred kilometers per hour.”
Her eyes widen. “Thats…! How far is that in a single second?”
“Seven point six six six kilometers per second.”
She turns slowly towards the wide-eyed Princess Luna. “That’s… That’s Ponyville to Canterlot and back- twice- in ten seconds flat.”
Rainbow blinks. “Uh… I don’t think I’m that fast…”
Twilight turns to her immediately, with a chuckle. “Yea, not even close. The speed of sound- the speed at which the Sonic Rainboom occurs- is three hundred forty-three meters per second. This… What, twenty times that? Twenty two?” She looks at the control panel. “Right?”
“Current velocity is approximately mach twenty two point two five two.”
Nod. “Close enough.”
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I'm curious as to the lander craft design. Is that more of an X-wing or a quadcopter (assuming you replaced the fans with vertically-facing rockets)?
Is fuel a concern?
9145784
It is more of a quadcopter-type design; note, though, that the engines on it are capable of rotating horizontal and, presumably, upwards (and backwards) as well- and double as turbine engines in atmosphere. It is a designated space-to-surface craft. It is specifically noted that the engines go horizontal as they power down, for storage.
As for fuel concerns... On a dropship that small, most certainly. A trip this short wouldn't bother it, though. On the mothership... Well, a ship THAT large most certainly has some decent bunkerage, but yes, fuel may become a problem in the near future. (She also almost certainly was NOT loaded with full tanks for the test flight.) How big of a problem varies- it is the only ship available, small craft included, capable of interstellar distances.
Bonus points for a very unique use of her early catch phrase.