FTL: Wings of the Federation

by Appy

Chapter 3 - Old Friends, Old Enemies

The station, Theta Seven, might have been somewhat out of the way of the usual interstellar FTL traffic and trade routes, and slightly smaller than average at that, but it certainly didn't lack for crowds. Shops vied for the attention of numerous passersby with a plethora of brightly colored signs, sparkly lights, and loud salesponies. Trinkets, food, clothing, ship parts and technologies old and new alike, were all for sale, and for a reasonable price.

"Mom," Dinky began. "Me and Carrot are going to find someplace to get some food. You coming with us?"

"I think I'll take a walk around a bit. I'll catch up to you later. Just order me a sandwich to go if I don't find you."

Carrot Top shrugged, "Suit yourself, Cap. Catch you later." Carrot and Dinky wandered into the throngs of passing ponies, where Derpy lost sight of them. Casually trotting through the station, Derpy took in the scenes of something that seemed to her like she had experienced it a lifetime and a half ago.

Civilian life.

Derpy was still admiring the scenes with an eager longing when she heard somepony shout, “Oh, no way… Derpy! Derpy Hooves! Get your bubbly flank over here!” Turning to the source of the disturbance, Derpy saw a mint green unicorn mare approaching her at full gallop. Derpy stared in equal parts confusion and amazement at both the pony she was seeing and the acrobatics she was performing. The mare vaulted over tables and benches with her left foreleg, much to the chagrin of the ponies seated at them, and leaped at Derpy. Several seconds later the two collided, landing in a heap on the floor.

"Oh my Celestia, Derpy, I can't believe it's really you!" Lyra shouted, crushing Derpy in a tight hug. Lyra disentangled herself from Derpy, stood up, and helped Derpy to do the same.

"Lyra… Lyra Heartstrings, you old son of a horse! Long time, no see," Derpy said, leaning forward to give Lyra a proper hug now that they weren't sprawled on the floor. Releasing her from the hug, Derpy noticed something on Lyra’s left forehoof. A thick, silvery glove thing, it appeared. Derpy pointed at it, asking, "What is that?"

"Oh, this?" Lyra beamed proudly, holding up the hoof in question. "This," she said, "is the Hydraulic Automated Nonmagical Displacer, or HAND for short. It—"

"It took her four days to come up with an acronym for that thing that fit the word 'hand'," a cream colored earth pony mare stated with a snicker as she approached Derpy and Lyra.

"It did not take me four days! Only, like, a couple of hours," Lyra responded lamely.

"Yes. A couple of hours spread across four days. Sometimes I think it took you longer to make the acronym than it did the HAND itself." Bon Bon replied.

"What?" Lyra asked. "I spent months on this design! I still need to work out a few kinks, too."

"I’ll bet you can use it to work out a few kinks of your own, if you catch my drift."

Derpy put her hoof to her mouth and snickered at Bon Bon's comment. Lyra raised the HAND to Bon Bon’s face as the middlemost of five thin, claw-like appendages on the glove popped out and pointed at Bon Bon. Lyra stood in that position with a defiant look on her face. Derpy, not knowing the meaning behind the gesture, inquired, "Um, is something supposed to happen, or…?"

Lyra opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by Bon Bon, who had heard this explanation on a number of occasions. "It’s a gesture she learned from a couple of griffins. A rude gesture. It basically boils down to, 'go buck yourself'." Bon Bon shook her head with a smile before starting to walk, saying, "let's get back to the shop. I'm sure there are a couple of ponies lined up and waiting."

"Oh!" Derpy exclaimed. "I didn't know you two had a shop here. Judging by your cutie mark, I'm guessing it's a sweets shop of some sort? My name is Ditzy, by the way. Ditzy Doo."

"I'm Bon Bon. Pleasure to meet you, Ditzy. And yes, it is a sweets shop. Well... my half, anyway."

"Your half? You have the other half then, Lyra?" Derpy asked, turning to the unicorn.

"Yep. I sell all sorts of techno-nicknacks and devices. Much I make myself, like the HAND here." Lyra punctuated her point by wiggling the fingers on the HAND.

They worked their way through a small crowd centered around a traveling performer doing a complicated balancing routine. The performer was balancing with one leg a beach ball, all the while spinning three plates on sticks on his face and juggling.

Lyra, Bon Bon and Derpy approached a shop labeled "Sweet Machines" in glowing neon tubes after clearing the crowd. Half of the counter, under a neon sign of Bon Bon's cutie mark, was beige in color. Behind the glass were racks of various sweets, pastries and delicacies. The other half of the counter was steel gray, and under a sign of Lyra's cutie mark. Where Bon Bon's side held varying desserts, Lyra's held numerous little gadgets and gizmos. Both sides had several ponies waiting in lines or browsing through the electronic catalogs of their inventories.

"Sorry about the wait, folks! We're here, I was just catching up with an old friend of mine," Lyra said as she vaulted over the counter, using the HAND to assist her.

"Couldn't you, for once, go behind the counter like a normal pony?" Bon Bon asked as she pushed open the chest-high swinging doors separating the store from the crowd.

"Nope. Much more fun this way," Lyra replied. Derpy followed Bon Bon behind the counter and watched as she and Lyra conducted their business. Derpy helped wherever she could, handing Lyra this, Bon Bon that, or packaging a customer's items.

Approximately fifteen minutes later, the crowd was dispersed, all having been attended to.

"Seems like you get a decent bit of business," Derpy said.

"Yeah. You'd be surprised, actually. We mostly get ponies around here, but I know Lyra has dealt with an Engi or two, and I've had a Coltan customer myself once," Bon Bon stated.

"A Coltan? This deep into Equestrian space?" Derpy questioned.

"Yeah, I was surprised too," Bon Bon answered. "He seemed like a sort of... religious emissary, but he was interested in Equestrian cuisine as well. He mentioned wanting to spread the Coltan ideals of peace and tolerance to Equis, to reach as many ponies as possible."

"I really don't think the pony home world needs any help with ideals of peace and tolerance. That is practically what we were raised on, anyway," Lyra interjected.

"Tell that to the green glowy guy, not me," Bon Bon said.

"Why do they glow, anyway?" Derpy asked. She had never personally met a Coltan, but had seen several throughout her travels in Equestrian space. Their telltale green glow gave them away easily.

Lyra plopped into a chair and leaned back, resting her hind legs on the counter. Levitating several small tools, she idly tinkered with the HAND while saying, "I think it's something to do with magical ley lines on their home planet. The lines were stronger than usual, and so it sort of affected the Coltans' evolutionary biology. Their symbiotic relationship with the ley lines on their home planet allows them to naturally and unconsciously tap into any such lines across the galaxy. I've read some reports of a few more powerful Coltans being able to reach these fault lines through temporal rifts. Sometimes they're even powerful enough to power electronics, but most of the time it simply enhances their personal magical abilities and makes them terrible at covert ops."

"Wow. You sure know a lot about the Coltans," Derpy said.

"Yeah, I did some research on them a while ago. Their unique abilities gave me an idea for a device. It would have been a working horn for non-unicorns to wear, tapping into these magical lines like the Coltans do naturally to power it. At first I was going to try for simple levitation and move up from there, but it didn't go so well."

"What happened?"

"The first seventeen prototypes failed. Explosively so. I gave up after I got tired of magically regrowing my hair."

Derpy giggled. Turning to Bon Bon, she asked, "Do things usually explode around her?"

Bon Bon sighed, and shook her head with a smile. "You have no idea."

"Well, I—" Derpy began before being cut off by her growling stomach. She gave a sheepish grin and said, "Sorry, it's been awhile since I've had anything good to eat. I haven't had a chance to get anything fresh since—" Derpy cut herself off, not wanting to drag Lyra and Bon Bon into the mess she was caught up in. "Never mind." Derpy gazed longingly through the glass of the shelves at the various fresh sweets. "Anyway," she said. "Would it be too much trouble to ask for something to eat? How much for a—"

"Nonsense!" Bon Bon exclaimed. "Any friend of Lyra's is a friend of mine. No charge. You just tell me what suits your fancy."

"Well... if it's not too much trouble, a blueberry muffin?" Derpy said hopefully.

"Just one?" Bon Bon asked with a knowing smile.

"Err," Derpy stammered.

"Oh, for the love of..." Lyra exclaimed. "Spit it out, girl! Tell the nice mare what you want. She won't bite. Well, maybe not you, anyway." Lyra wiggled her eyebrows at Bon Bon, who once again sighed.

"I'm going to bake you a fresh batch of muffins," Bon Bon said to Derpy, ignoring Lyra's continued eyebrow wiggling, "and whatever you don't eat, you can take back to your ship with you. I won't take 'no' for an answer." Bon Bon nodded before trotting into the kitchen in the back. Lyra and Derpy sat for a moment, listening to the clanking of the various baking utensils being utilized by Bon Bon. When she was sure Bon Bon wouldn't be coming out anytime soon, Lyra took her hind legs off the counter, straightened herself in her chair, and leaned towards Derpy. Quietly, she asked, "'Haven't eaten anything fresh since...' Since when, Derpy? Why?"

"Nothing," Derpy said quickly, "it's nothing. Definitely not something I want to drag you or Bon Bon into. I regret ever letting that slip out."

"What's done is done, Derps. So tell me, what's wrong?"

Derpy sighed. "I never could keep a secret from you, Lyra. I got on the bad side of the wrong people."

"Who? You haven't been to the Rockquine home worlds recently, have you? I know they get angry really easily. One time, I—"

"The Rebels," Derpy said simply.

"—what?"

"The Rebels."

Lyra was silent for a moment. Finally, she cheered, "Way to go, Derpy! Score one more for the Federation. What'd you do, harass one of their cargo ships? Maybe fire a missile or two at one of their moon bases?" She nudged Derpy with her elbow.

"I should probably start at the beginning, shouldn't I?" Derpy asked.

"Might be best," Lyra answered.

Derpy took a deep breath, then let it out. "OK," she began, "It all started about two weeks ago..."

Author's Note:

I know chapters are getting shorter, but I'm leading up to something, so it should all be good.

Thanks once again to TimeBaby and Grif for prereading and editing!

And thank YOU for reading! Hope you enjoyed.

Comments

[Minitheif]

Very nice chapter! Can't wait to hear a full backstory to the journey.
Also, I caught this. "...dealt with an Engi or two..."
and later "...peace and tolerance to Equis, "
Not sure if Equis was supposed to be a planet, or if you meant to punnify Engi into Equi.

[Tyren]

Wait, nine to ten ponies. Side characters only Im guessing. Derpy, Carrot, Dinks, Vinal, Octy, the CMC, then its foggy. Maybe snips and snails to try to even out the guy ratio and get it to a even 10 or maybe Trixie and Gilda to get the bitch and non-pony factors.

[Appy]

1870162

No no, the Engi are still Engi. You must have accidentally passed Lyra's clarifying comment. Equis is what I called the pony homeworld.

[Heat Horn]

Theeeeeeeeeere we go... backstory..... much better