This is the story of Starsky, a stallion part of a crew in the CSA, Celestia Space Association/Civilian Space Agency. And on his crew's anniversary of their first assignment, they realize things will be much more different than last year.
One of the first things Alicorn Princess Twilight does is set out for a space program, 100 years later, that same program takes Equestria past the moon and even to their former homeworld, Equine.
This is the story of Starsky, a stallion part of a crew in the CSA, Celestia Space Association/Civilian Space Agency. And on his crew's anniversary of thier first assignment, they realize things will be much more different than last year.
The scarlet pony in his white coat stood in the bleak room, alone, and away from the others in the main control room. He didn’t necessarily mind the company, even if they were noisy, especially with the launch at hand, it was just he wanted to see the landscape of the historic event to take place. His gaze was through the window, focused like a high-powered beam on the launch site, the view being nothing like he had dreamed of.
On one hand, he noticed the camera flashes dancing around like fireflies across the huge launch pad, on the other, he noticed the high powered spotlights that lit up the entire area, and the rocket itself.
Oh Celestia, the rocket was a magnificent piece of science, its nose protruded into the silent night sky with confidence and with much power behind it, almost 100 times of a dynamite explosive. The amount of power the rocket demanded and held would make even a pyromaniac tread with care and caution, as well as a certain sense of reverence.
The large contrast between the rocket and the sky was very much so, as the rocket wasn’t bothered to be painted, so reflected the whiteness of the lights hitting it, which would naturally be very different from the black night sky behind it. The only companion the vast veil of darkness had was the glittering of millions of stars, as well as the lonely moon. The rocket, in its appearance right now, was but a speck on the near horizon. As said before, it was wise to tread with care, since one of these machines has not been seen to go off for 15,000 years; no one knows the power that can be wielded, not even the Alicorn Princesses, whom were born as Equestrians, not Equinens.
“Excited, sir?” The pony turned around with his coat not getting too much in the way, to see that one of his acquaintances whom he did not hear come in.
The scarlet pony chuckled, “My dear Cal, this isn’t the time to be formal. This is but a time to rejoice!” And with this, he put a hoof on his friend’s shoulder.
The aqua pony named Cal simply chuckled, “Right you are, Ray, but there is never a time to not be formal.” Ray whined, “C’mon, let us be like friends this one time.”
Cal rolled his green eyes, and sighed, “Since today is the day we see our work come to fruition, I’ll let it be…”
Ray laughed, but quickly composed himself, and turned to gaze out the paned window once more, “It’s funny how life treats you, at one point, we were ridiculed, and told to not even try. Now we are here, virtually celebrities, at the mercy of the media.”
Cal kept his face straight, “Don’t forget about the astronauts actually going out to space.”
“That’s true… But think of it!” Ray turned again to his colleague, “Princess Twilight Sparkle won’t have to regret ever having supported this venture, sticking her neck out in front of Celestia no less!”
Cal apathetically blinked once while chuckling, seeming almost distant, detached. Ray turned back around to the window, and a few moments of silence hinged on the two friends, until Cal finally broke it.
“You never did answer my question, are you excited?”
“Huh? Oh, well…” Ray thought about this for a second, then smiled as he began reminiscing, “I don’t think anybody here who has spent the full 10 years of getting here with us would not be.”
“Well said, after all, remember the first day of us starting this project?”
“Who could forget?”
Cal chuckled, “True, but I’m serious, we came up to the old building that had seemed to have been there at least 25 years before we showed up, to find a couple of ponies in there, working with run down equipment, with a horridly understaffed crew, and with some equipment seeming very maleficent.”
“And we wondered to ourselves, the ones who got the state-of-the-art technology, had the expert team, and had the funds to do this project, how they were able to procure the first half of the information which we needed to progress in the project with so little.
“I asked one of them, the head of the whole group, how they did it. He just smiled at me, and simply said, ‘we only carried out what had been worked on for several millennium now, this is the work, no, the spirit, of so many ponies.’ That’s what got me determined to get the first space craft into space with a pony on it. That’s what had me stay up those nights working on the formula on how to achieve the velocity to stay in orbit, had me stay on the job for 10 painstakingly agonizing years. I wanted to help make those ponies’ dreams, who dedicated their entire lives to this effort, become reality.”
Cal didn’t say anything after that, because as he was opening his mouth to continue the reminiscing, a mare’s voice boom across the hollow room, vibrating through the stallions’ heads.
“T minus 1 minute to launch, all personnel come into Command Center for debriefing and operation.”
After the voice subsided, and the ringing in their ears stopped, the two friends rubbed their head, “Wish they could at least lower the volume down,” Ray sighed.
Cal replied sarcastically, “Someone could be sleeping on the job.”
Ray melodramatically said, “This is the end of the world!”
They both shared a laugh, and they walked towards the room that went to the next, which was the Command Center.
Ray stopped, and turned around, to take in the gaze of the room, “It feels like this is the last time we’ll be in this room for awhile, it was fun listening to Doc talk in his monologue about shit.”
Cal smirked, “Like you listened.”
“Touché, sadiq.”
Cal stopped shortly, but resumed walking with a question, “Sadiq?”
“Yea,” Ray said as he opened the door, but paused to explain, “It means ‘friend’ in the Zebra’s native language. We are in the southwestern most point of Equestria, right next to the Zebra tribal grounds.”
Cal waved off the explanation, “Yea, yea, I know we’re near the zebras, I don’t need to be given a lecture on our whereabouts.”
“Fine by me,” Ray said, chuckling in the process.
And with that, they entered the brightly lit room of command central. With a wave of voices that almost reached concussive force. All of the ponies in the room was chattering, and talking, giving orders, receiving them.
“Holy Celestia, I think I know why I went into the room in the first place…” Ray said muttering to himself.
Cal laughed as he went down the steps to his computer; he was in charge of making sure all of the systems on the rocket were sound and good to go. Ray, on the other hand, was one of the people calling the shots.
“All right stallions and mares, let’s get this launch underway.
“Weather nominal?”
“All good here, sir!” A small orange mare called out from the front.
“Launch systems in check?”
“Online!” A red stallion called out closer to Ray.
“How about the rocket sensors?”
“All sensors are working!”
“Rocket systems?”
Cal called out from the middle row, “Online!”
“Com systems?”
“Sir?”
“Double check that our com links are good to go.”
A few moments of silence hung over as the green stallion checked, double checked, and did it all over again.
“Online!”
And with that, everything continued as planned, Ray simply wanted to make sure he had communications with the ponies on the rocket.
He pushed into the button for the com, and spoke into the microphone, “This is CC-1, how copy?”
A short second of static, then a mare voice came up, “CC-1, this is Alpha-delta-Niner, we copy you fine. No static seems to be of interference, we have full fuel tanks, our systems are reading normal, life-support is nominal; we are as ready as we’ll ever be, over.”
A sigh escaped Ray’s mouth; he smiled, “Copy, damn glad to have you as commander of the first rocket launch into space for over 15,000 years.”
The commander sighed, but had a hint of giggling in there, “Always the emotional one, sir, we’ll see you when we clear off and in orbit, over.”
Ray stood back up from having leaned over to the microphone, smiling warmly. He knew that nothing could happen to this launch, nothing horrid and out of luck. His team checked and re checked every little problem. And with that, he relaxed with ease into his chair. He watched the launch pad as the countdown from 10 seconds began.
“10, 9, 8, 7…”
This is it, he thought, the start of a journey for all ponykind.
“… 5, 4, 3, 2…”
I suppose it was worth it, but I can only hope that what happens afterwards, will be in our favor.
“… 1, 0, we have ignition.”
Ray flew open his eyes, in time to see the first signs of the rocket having ignited its fuel. The sight blinded the entire room, and flooded the dark night sky with light.
That was when they felt the shockwave from the ignition. They were too close. Ray’s ears felt the wave pass through him, and noticed that his friends were fine as well, however, the glass for the windows had shattered, and scattered all over the floor, right up to the first row of computers.
“Damn…” Ray had said to himself, knowing that the onslaught of noise from the launch would subdue any attempt of screaming over it.
He sighed as he watched the rocket leave the pad, and slowly go over the horizon, and up into the sky. It wasn’t until maybe 10 minutes later that the sound of the rockets firing off had died down.
“Alright ponies… We got our work cut out for us, so let’s begin…”
“I’m telling you Cadence, the idea for space flight isn’t as arbitrary as you make it seem so!” Princess Luna shouted at her sister.
Since the first launch of ponies 10 years ago, space launches have become more manageable and more efficient, to the point where if someone wanted to go into space, they simply had to ask to put their name into the schedule.
The 4 princesses affiliated with, if not rulers of, Equestria gathered to discuss about the possible issues of space flight and going out into space. In the marble rotunda the Alicorns have met in, laid a conference table, made of hard oak, and accompanied with 4 solid wooden chairs, smoothed out to be comfortable to sit in. The air was cooler than the summer day outside, but the atmosphere had no intentions of being cool. Twilight Sparkle and Luna supported the notion of Space flight; opposing them was Cadence and Celestia.
“We aren’t even of Equestria for heaven’s sake, our home world is Equine! We came here through space, one way or the other, so why can’t we go back?” Luna said as she was getting back down, composing herself in the process.
Cadence rebutted, “If we came here, it was for the good reason of our ancestors, and I’d think they wouldn’t want their posterior to go back making whatever mistake they made.”
Luna muttered, “Mistake they made,” She slammed her hoof on the table, “that was 15,000 years ago, none of us are of Equine, we are all Equestrian born ponies, so whatever their reason for coming here isn’t known to us, it might’ve been something more than a ‘mistake’!”
Celestia cleared her throat, “Basically, the problem here is whether to go back to Equine, because we ended up here instead of there, whether it was because of our ancestors’ mistakes or they simply had to? What if we pushed aside going back to Equine, what are the advantages to going into space then?”
And as if on cue, Twilight smiled, and chipped into the conversation, “We have found indications of an abundance of resources on the moon; Luna has agreed to let us have a colony there, to mine those resources. Particularly because the ingredients we need to cure this… IDI that’s been plaguing Equestria, is found there as well. We can also build a space colony near the sun to gather the solar radiation there and convert it to solar power, energy we need for the energy demand we’ve been barely able to keep up with, the colony would give us elbow room.
“And I hate to bring Equine up again, but aside from colonial intentions, going there would mean additional land for our crowding population, and, depending on its state, even more natural resources, those that have been somewhat strained here on Equestria.”
Celestia pondered on this, which Cadence couldn’t stand, “If someone accidentally goes out of a space ship in mid-flight, them, and the entire population in the ship would be killed. To say nothing of freak ionic storms or a rogue comet that comes and finds its way to a ship…”
Luna quickly replies, “We’ll have detecting, radar, and safety systems on before we even discuss bringing civilians into space. Celestia, this is a chance to explore not just our world like never before, but other bodies of mass that we can visit now.”
“And what about the Griffon-Technological War Treaty?” Cadence asked.
Both Luna’s heart sank a little, as she knew that Cadence could nullify the entire argument thus far, with the treaty after the first tech war.
“I’m sure you know what I’m talking about, Luna, but to be sure, why don’t you explain?” Cadence said with her head tilted higher than usual, and in a very snotty way.
“It’s the treaty that resulted from the first Tech War that we had with the Griffon Alliance… It’s where we competed with the Alliance in an effort to best them over with technology. The result of this war was the destruction of the Zebra Republic, which went into a cascade effect, and landed back in the Stone Age. So, to prevent that, both sides of the said war had to hand over technology to each other, so that no suspicion would form and cause a second tech war to break out.”
Luna thought her hooves were suddenly interesting, and observed them, as Twilight began her argument, much to the other Alicorns’ surprise.
“Who launched the space program?”
Cadence was visibly baffled by the question, “You?”
“And not by Equestria, right?”
“… Yes?”
“The treaty was signed by the Equestrian Empire and the Griffon Empire. If the space program resumed under only one of the leaders of the Equestrian Empire, then it wouldn’t be able to be considered Equestrian Technology. If it went under my name, or the Crystal Empire’s, the same effect would occur.”
The other Alicorns blinked once, thinking over what was said, then twice.
After a few moments, everypony turned to face the supreme ruler of the Equestrian Empire, waiting for her decision.
She looked up from her pondering, and smiled, “Let it be. Whether it continues under Twilight or my sister, so be it. And I’ll allow for all space traveling, unless it threatens the Empire in any way, and/or threatens the civilians of the Empire. As for the institutions to be formed after this, I’ll only ask to have control of the space colony, as well as the civilian space travel institution, am I clear?”
The two Alicorns nodded eagerly, not able to wait any longer to begin, but much to their surprise, Cadence sighed.
“I’ll supply resources to the project, if needed. But for the time being, I still think this is a bad idea…”
And with that, Cadence left the room, leaving the Sisters and Twilight.
Twilight sighed, and began, “Well, I’ll get right back with my team, and see if we can’t start experiments with more advanced space flights.”
And she left through another door, opposite of the one Cadence left in.
The Alicorn Sisters turned to each other, and they knew just how things would fall in place. They knew the challenges that would occur over the years, the dissident movements against them, but they knew it was well worth the risk, to see Equine again, and see Equestria flourish once more.
They both silently nodded, and teleported to a deeper part of the Canterlot castle. Alone, and thinking in deep thought, pondering how things may play out.
But I want to spend time with you…. After all, this is your last day here, isn’t it?
Yea… Then I’m going on my mission with my crew mates.
Starsky, can I ask you something?
What is it?
I felt a pale of icy cold water hit my face; so much for a nice and pleasant way to get me up.
“What the hell, Navi?! I told you to wake me up, gently, and let me tell you, this was not gently!” It was no use, the pink mare was laughing on the floor uncontrollably.
“You should’ve heard yourself Starsky, you were mumbling about your visit to your mare friend!” Navi said, beaming.
“Oh Celestia, I was?” I hoof palmed myself, as I was sluggishly getting out my bunk.
I finally opened my eyes without pain, so I could see my surroundings for the first time. My cabin was still the same as ever, so Navi didn’t screw around with anything. I quickly from the corner to the left of me to the right; still had my poster of the Empire’s propaganda, with Celestia’s face looking down at me, with the caption, Obey. Never knew why she had that poster made some 75 years ago, then again, few ponies know what happened that far back then. I quickly lost interest in the poster, and made sure everything was in my cupboard using magic to inventory everything. Once I had put everything back, I realized everything was back to normal. So I simply put on my brown jacket with a silhouette of Celestia with a Sun behind her as an emblem that appeared on the front, near the hear. And with that, I jumped off the bed.
Now, I’ve done this hundreds of times, so I know I don’t go flying into the other side of the wall when I jump off, not unless a certain crew mate shorted out the Gravity Flux Capacitor.
“Damn it, Navi!” And with this, Navi floated up with laughter, “Fix this you-“
I was about to call Navi some mean things, when the PA inside my room went off with a mare voice, “Navi, I told you to wake him up, not prank him.”
I didn’t understand why she even tried, Skipper. I could hear her stifling laughter. Damn, so she was in this too?
“Aw… I’m sorry; I might still have a problem with my hearing from the accident back on the CSC!” Navi said, and she floated in a circular pattern across my cabin.
“As legit and reasonable as that excuse is, I still don’t believe it!” I shouted at her, and pushed off of her to get to the GFC circuit board, resulting in kicking her to the other wall. Thank you laws of physics.
“Hey!” She pouted, “That was mean!”
I grunted as I pulled the shorted out wire and replaced it, “At least you don’t have to deal with a wet bunk…” I muttered to myself, partly to her.
She gasped melodramatically, “You’re still not potty-trained?” And at this, I slammed the lever for the Gravity level to go straight up to normal, resulting in me slamming into my soft bunk, and her into the hard metal floor.
“Oh ho! Guess I cranked it a bit too hard huh?” I said as Navi struggled to get herself out of the dented crater she formed, “Great, I got a dent in my floor now! What am I gonna do?”
Once she regained her head, she scowled at me, “and you wonder why I mess with you, you piece of-“
“Hey! I seriously do need you two up here though; we’re almost at the ESS!” Skipper said through the PA.
I half-skipped, half-fast walked to the door, saying, “Okay, sir, we’re on our way up, at least I am, I think Navi’s gonna have a hard time keeping her breakfast in!”
And as the door slid open automatically, I heard her muffle, “No I won’t!” And with that the door shut on her, and a split second after, I heard her bang her head onto the door.
I spoke out to Skipper, “Seems like it’ll be a bit longer, if she forgot about the 2 second delay for the door.” And with that, Skipper sighed, and I chuckled to myself with pride.
I doubt I could find a better life than this, being a member of the CSA definitely had its perks. For one, you had a couple other ponies working with you, and you had free rides into space. Of course, the only downside with the Civilian Space Agency is that the salary is barely able to keep you afloat in the economy, given you don’t sleep in the ship you’re assigned to, which I did.
It has been a little over a year since I met this pair of mares, otherwise known as Navi and Skipper. Navi, as seen earlier, is a little lopsided on the stupid side, not stupid mentally, just stupid on the side of things she does. Skipper is more composed, and usually not like what she was earlier, she’s also the captain of this tin can, which is known as the Celestia’s Ship Titan.
After a couple months of shore leave, we were assigned on a mission with no details, and no direction as to what it was about, except that it was important, and urgent.
All we really know is that the stallion with the assignment is the commander of the Equestrian Space Station, or ESS. It wasn’t unusual that Aster would have the assignment, but it was weird when we had to go to his office to pick up the details, not at the air lock.
I finally got to the cockpit, where the sullen Skipper awaited.
When I got into the co-pilot seat, I braced for a lecture, today was no exception.
“So you realize that you could’ve killed her there?”
“Yes, yes I do,” As monotonously as I could.
“So why do you go off nearly killing Navi?”
“For my personal vendetta, oh, and that she’s an ass.”
“Did you mean that literally or figuratively? Cause I can tell her you think she doesn’t look like a pony, but in fact, a donkey.”
I rolled my eyes, “I meant it figuratively. My eyes aren’t that bad.”
“I’d hope so, if you were allowed into the CSA for commission, and as a pilot, Celestia help us,” And with that, I turned to see the yellow mare smiling at me, with her blue eyes calmly looking at me.
“Good to see you’re in a good mood this morning.”
She chuckled, “When every morning’s like this one, you tend to look forward to them.”
I laughed, and asked, “Where is she?”
“Are you seriously unable to come up with something better to continue the conversation?”
“Just answer the freaking question.”
Despite looking out into the view window, I could feel she was rolling her eyes, “She’s in the back, either manning the dorsal turret, or the ventral one, why?”
“Do you think we should let her be shooting? I mean, her aim’s gotta be all off considering her incident this morning.”
“Which one, the GFC being turned on and her falling down, or her ramming into the door?”
I guffawed, and unable to control my laughter, Skipper just said the answer when I put my hoof up to gesture ‘give me a minute’, “right, both…”
After I regained my breathing, the static on the radio dissipated and came one of Aster’s Docking Officers, “CS Titan, this is the ESS, we are granting you docking permission at docking bay 2, and Aster will see you there.”
I nodded, even though the stallion could see me, “Copy, we’ll dock at bay 2, over.”
I shut off manual and let the auto-pilot guide the ship to the bay, and turned to Skipper.
“I never understood why you always liked to actually fly the ship, especially on the docking portion of piloting.”
Skipper sighed, and despite having to have full concentration, she muttered, “If you need an explanation, then you’ll never understand.”
I just sighed, “Touché.”
I felt the ship surge a little to the left before planting its starboard door to the bay’s airlock.
“Aaaaaaand we’re in. Alright, I’ll call Navi to get out to the starboard door, and I’ll meet up with you two there. Alright?”
“Affirmative,” I did a mock salute, and then Skipper grabbed my arm, I turned around to see her serious face, “Try not to tell Navi to go to the Port door.”
I pouted, “You know me too well, very well then.”
As I exited out of the cockpit, and waited for the door to close, I paused, and muttered, “She deserved it…”
I stretched my back as I crouched down like a kitten stretching.
“Ah, nothing beats the ESS in comfort out in space!” I exclaimed with a start.
Navi laughed demonically, “Aha, no you don’t,” and she yanked my tail back to where she was into a sitting position, getting a yelp and a ‘hey!’ from me.
She rested her arm on top of my head as she looked down at me with a sinister atmosphere quickly shrouding her, “You won’t die, but when I’m done with you, I’ll make sure you wish you had a death.”
Skipper came from behind, “Keep your personal matters off-duty, we’re actually around other ponies, so don’t bring that crap flying around, got that crew?”
Both Navi and I did an actual salute, and attentively said, “Yes, sir!”
“Not that militant” Skipper muttered, and the both of us went down laughing, when we got up, I turned to Navi, “No hard feelings?”
Navi just laughed, “Both of us would be dead if we took all of this seriously.”
“No kidding.”
With that, we went through the air lock, and met the brown stallion that we were to meet.
“Long time, no see Aster,” Skipper said as she was the first through the lock, “I’m assuming you still remember my crew?”
She gestures to Navi and I, and Aster did a stern nod, “Of course, if you’ll follow me.”
I fell behind Skipper, and Navi whispered into my ear, “Damn, something big is up. Have you ever seen Aster that rigid?”
I shrugged, “I don’t think so, it’s probably because there’s some military officer inspecting his efficiency on the ESS.”
“Oh.”
We progressed down through the Plaza, since we had to go through it from our bay to reach the central command bridge of the station. We hustled through the various ebb and flows of the crowd. I heard a couple customers trying to barter a price for some miscellaneous item I couldn’t see clearly. Here and there, a bar appeared, and then there was Jazz’s security office. She wasn’t in there, typically, but this time, she was looking at her video screens intently.
“Yea, something’s up,” I whispered back to Navi, just loud enough to get over the noise of the crowd, and just quiet enough to be undetectable by Skipper, a few mere feet from me.
“What do you mean?”
I sighed, and quickly nodded over to Jazz’s office.
“Yea, Jazz is in her office, so?”
“When was the last time you saw her there, and not in one of the bars?”
Silence followed, in relative terms, and I assumed that she realized something was indeed up. Despite the new evidence of something happening, we kept going through the Plaza, evading any opposite flows of the crowd.
A couple minutes passed, and we were almost to the bridge, when Navi nudged me one more time, “Is it just me, or is the atmosphere of the place somewhat different?”
I pondered on this for a few steps, and then it suddenly hit me. I scanned the upper level, seeing various ponies with the emblem of the LIA on their jackets.
My eyes widened, “Shit, the military is here, that’s why everything’s different,” I said with a nervous tone and a rising panic in my voice.
Navi detected it, and asked in the same rise of panic, “What can an officer do to change the atmosphere?”
I didn’t need to explain it, as we stepped into the bridge, whose wall was lined with LIA soldiers. Each one of them had a rifle at hoof, and each one of them looked hostile, enough to kill anything that crossed one of them.
Navi quietly gasped in fear and shock, “What could possibly cause the LIA to institute marshal law, quietly no less?”
I couldn’t say anything, I was too stunned by the number of soldiers in the room, pondering why there would be a need for this number of them in here too.
I quickly came back to reality when Aster called out from his office, “Are you coming or not?”
I quickly realized I had stopped when I entered the room, and that Aster was already across the room to his own office, I shook my head subtly, and told him, “Yea, I’m coming.”
I put a hoof down to prevent Navi from going yet, “We’ll find out why they’re here right now.”
When she nodded, I turned to face the middle of the room, acknowledging I had to go through there, and not wanting to be in the sight of every one of those soldiers, the thought seemed terrifying. Nevertheless, I had a job, so I held my breath as I walked through the middle to the other side.
When I entered Aster’s office, I sighed a huge relief, as did Navi when she came through shortly after. It felt like a security check, and you thought you forgot something metallic, the thing was you had only one shot at it. The whole process was nerve-wracking, so when Aster called us over, we almost didn’t, we were still shaking so much.
“I’m glad you guys got here as fast you could, I appreciate that,” Aster still putting up a rigid front, but clearly relaxing a little bit, he sat into his chair, and gestured to the one chair opposite of him, “I suppose all three of you can’t sit there, I can call up for two more chairs?” He was already half-way up, when we refused his offer.
“We’re fine really, besides, we don’t want to fall off a chair when you give us the assignment, seems pretty big,” Skipper said observantly.
So she did notice the LIA soldiers; Aster chuckled, “I guess you guys could get the feeling this is big, and it kind of is.”
“Okay then, so what is..?” I was cut off abruptly.
“First I have to hear your individual pledges to the Equestrian Empire. Like Skipper said, this is big, and must be kept under wraps until the mission is accomplished, okay?” Aster said calmly.
All three of us were dead silent. I ran through my mind in class why they would ask for a pledge of individual ponies. The answer chimed in my head, if there was a catastrophic accident, or a terrorist infiltration, the procedure is to ask for the ponies’ pledge to both the Solar Princess and the Lunar Princess.
“Well?” Aster was rather impatient, most likely because we were being monitored, and if all three of us waited any longer, we would most likely be shot on sight, at least, that was my impression of the situation.
I stepped forward, and put a hoof up to the emblem on my jacket, “In the name of the Equestrian Empire, I hereby declare myself a loyal servant of the Alicorn Sisters, and declare my dying wish to have no harm come to them, the Empire, or its citizens.”
I stepped back, and the other two did the same thing, said the same thing, and then fell back in line.
Silence lapsed through the entire room, most likely for only a split second, but let me tell you, when your life is on the line, a heartbeat feels like a millennia. However, Aster started laughing as he neared us.
“Friends, I’m glad to have you aboard,” And with that, he hugged Skipper, then did a high-hoof with me, and hugged Navi, “I really do apologize for that, but, as we know, it’s”
“Procedure, we know,” All three of us said at the same time, cutting him off. And with that, all of us in the room broke out laughing again.
Once the laughter had died down, Aster let go of his rigid front and became the same young stallion we all knew him to be.
“So, how are you three?”
He turned to Skipper first, expectantly, and of course, she replies, finally relaxed, “My mother is still in the hospital from last week’s fall during the earthquake, I think my father is still fine, assuming his sleep in his grave is undisturbed.”
“I’m sorry about your mother,” Aster frowned, and after a few sentimental seconds, he turned to Navi, “And how about you, Miss Astro?”
She cleared her throat, as if annoyed, and after a few moments of being dumbstruck, Aster widened his eyes, “I must apologize, Misses Mapper, I keep forgetting you married that fine stallion a month back. Congratulation by the way.”
She beamed, “Thank you Aster, but other than that, nothing has really happened.”
“That’s unusual; considering this is you we’re talking about Navi…” Aster stated.
I snickered, which earned me a slap to the back of my head by Skipper, and then Aster’s grey eyes strayed over to me, “And how about you Starsky?”
I sighed, and recalled my month of shore leave. I remembered my visit to my parents, then my quick trip to my sister’s and got to catch up on how she was doing at the university she was teaching at. I then remembered me getting back to some of my friends that scattered throughout Equestria after graduation from high school, one was in Manehattan, and the others were in Ponyville. I did just about anything anypony would have done; I even went out to the Neighagra Falls for a couple days.
After the short reminiscing, I replied, “Absolutely nothing.”
Navi chided, “Liar.”
I stared her down, “Am not.”
Aster chimed in, nervously chuckling, “Okay, okay, so you didn’t do anything, that’s all good and dandy! Moving on!”
Skipper interrupted my stare down with Navi, and I noticed a brown blur of fur rushing over to the side of the office, to pull something rectangular out from under a window.
I shifted myself so I could get a better view of Aster while shrugging Skipper off of me, “So what is the mission?”
Aster pulled up the rigid veil again as he sternly gestured to the newly procured folder that was laying on top of the desk, “This, as I’ve said before, is very big, and not something I want to have out to the public, as it stands, this mission is classified.”
He opened the folder to present a single, white sheet of paper; he cleared his throat, and began reading the sheet.
May 20, 120 AT (After Twilight’s Ascension)
At approximately 0500 hours, an Ionic storm unleashed its brute on Equine. This storm had last far longer than any other, and far stronger than any recorded storm. The result were serious cases of IDI, and the ponies’ showed accelerated growth of the illness, possibly giving them only a week a best before it becomes permanent. If you can’t get relief out here before May 30, Celestia Help us.
-Lan, Governor of Equine Colony
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, but it was there, the worst case of IDI in the history of ponies. Skipper collapsed, probably remembering what it was like to see her dad die of IDI. It seemed Navi didn’t realize what IDI was.
Saving her the trouble, I explained, “IDI is short for Ionic Depolarization Illness, ponies started facing it 110 years ago, after the first sorties of space launches were sent, they contracted IDI. Where the synapses of your brain loses the ability to send messages along the pathways, because the ions of the neuron are destabilized, and can’t function probably; usually, a pony has a month to get the cure, which is a certain ionic transmitter that are super rare, highly classified, and can last for only a short amount of time. Past the deadline for the cure, the pony experiences the worst death imaginable. Where everything shuts down, one by one, your ability to feel, to hear, to see, to smell, to taste, and by then, you can’t even think anymore. In the end, you become a meat Popsicle.
Navi shuddered at most likely the thought of experiencing that, and then realized that the entire colony of Equine, with few exceptions, have contracted that.
“So that’s why our three-month long shore leave was cut to a month,” I observed.
Aster nodded, “Today is the 23rd, which is why I was grateful you could get here so soon, nevertheless, it’ll take a day at least for you guys to make it to Equine, assuming no anomalies come out of the blue and stall you.”
Skipper chuckled, “You make sound like they’re intentionally trying to stop us.”
The silence only supported Skipper’s statement. At that moment, I finally realized why the LIA soldiers were even standing outside.
“The few people who know of this believe this was a terrorist attack?” I said, betraying my growing panic.
Aster nodded, “It is a definite possibility; we usually can see an ion storm coming and warn Equine 3 or 4 days in advance. This one seemed as if it came out of nowhere, and not only that, but grew to be larger than any storm and fiercer than any storm on record.”
“So it’s not even it a question, it was a terrorist attack.”
Aster paused momentarily, and said, “Yes, it’s not a question anymore; we are assuming it was, and with good reason mind you.”
I acted in self-defense, “I was only stating the fact.”
Aster set the sheet of paper down, and looked across the desk, and asked us, “So, are you guys willing to be the relief team to send the cure to the Equinens? You have 4 days to get there, and 3 days to treat the ponies before the illness starts becoming permanent. Are you ready?”
Skipper sighed, and in place of her, I said, “More than we’ll ever be,” and I shook his hand.
The pony looked out of the window, looking down on the ponies still infected with the IDI, waiting to get the cure from the three ponies sent from the CSA. The black cloak on the pony prevented any light down onto his face, keeping his identity a secret intentionally.
He heard his door open, but he was expecting that, his servant always was one for being punctual.
“You’re here on time, I’m impressed, this line of ponies seems to be endless.”
The pony that just came in was panting, and pouring sweat onto the ground.
“I—have—the—,“ The brown pony was panting too hard to say anything, but the cloaked one was patient, he didn’t turn around either, he was simply waiting to hear why the servant was there.
“… I have the cure, right here.”
A sinister laugh came from the cloaked pony, and then the transmitter disappeared from the servant, possibly into the cloaked one’s view.
“At last, we’ll be able to avoid the CRA’s first line of defense, the Ion cannon. We finally get to have them actually confront us.”
“Uh, sir,” The brown stallion said, “They formed the LIA, so we’re not safe out ‘there’ either.”
The pony groaned, and he finally said, “Very well, we’ll send in an operative to undermine them, we will be able to win this battle against the Empire.”
Another sinister laugh, and then a cough, on the floor showed signs of blood.
“Sir, are you okay?”
He coughed again, and then cleared his throat, “Yes, yes I am, you are dismissed until further notice.”
“Of course, thank you sir.”
And when the door closed, the stallion muttered to himself, “Celestia will regret having crossed with me, destroying my entire career… She must be gone!”
One final evil, deep, laugh vibrated through the room, and even through the complex.
I nudged Navi a little as we followed Skipper, “So, any idea who this new pony on our crew is?”
Equine had been cleared of any trace of IDI, so our current mission had been dealt with. However, Lan, the governor of Equine, had told us that there was an addition to our crew waiting at the CSA embassy on the planet, which was where we were headed.
I bumped Navi’s pink side again, but before I could ask her yet again, she sighed, finally giving up, “I’ve you before; I don’t know who it is.”
Despite my disappointment, I persevered, “I hope it’s not someone green. Remember Lue?”
I instantly regretted having brought the poor mare up, as Navi just grimaced; she turned her head around and sternly said, “Let’s not talk about her, please?”
I nodded and made a mental note to not forget about their little incident out on the Titan’s hull, to put it simply, and to not have any details go into the explanation, Lue was given to us to train and to not have be such a, say, “green” pony. At first we thought they meant rookie, little did we know that they meant the green part; Navi has never been able to get out of the ship’s airlock without having some trace of disgust from the hallucination smell of Lue’s vomit after her first flight out in space.
The pink mare turned around, trying rather hard to stay as professional as possible, and not shivering her bones out, I muttered in a somewhat apologetic voice, “Right, sorry… But don’t you hope it’s someone good too?”
She shrugged, not turning back around and focusing on following Skipper since we ran into a rather large crowd of ponies; it was, after all, lunch rush, “Of course I do, why would I want yet another rookie?”
She had me there, after all, why would she hope for one? I let the subject drop after that, and continued on to watching the Equine buildings and streets go by. A equestrian pony’s first time there would be surreal.
The colony was built on the planet, except not on top, yet it was. They essentially created a fish bowl city on the now barren planet, except they used magic to enchant the “bowls” to portray views of what you’d see on Equestria; the bizarre thing is though, you were on Equestria, if you didn’t have you mind straight. You could feel the sun’s heat, and there was plenty of lively nature on Equine, it was quite a wonder really.
After a few more blocks, I remember the news board talking something of a “Nightmare Cult.”
“Hey Navi, any idea on the cult that announced its existence?” I had said in a low tone, because of the situation.
“Other than the fact that they claimed to had have caused the ion storm, and that they are intent on making sure no pony makes it past Equine, and eventually push every pony back onto Equestria, not much.”
I sighed, but then much to my surprise, Skipper chimed in, apparently having heard the conversation, “The Nightmare Cult are supposedly an organization that thinks space should be left alone, and that ponies should stay on what we now consider an oasis of life, as we have yet to encounter any others civilization, or living organisms for that matter.”
I was thrown back by the Cult’s desire and ultimate goal, “That sounds wrong though! To not have ponies be in space-“
Skipper stopped and looked right into my eyes, and said very grimly, “That is reality Starsky, we have our perspective, they have theirs, and so long as they don’t take too drastic of actions I don’t care much for their opinions, and you shouldn’t either.”
I stood there like a dumb colt, and then realized she had finished and nodded my head in one slight movement, before she went on ahead, trotting through the streets.
Navi came up and smirked, “Don’t forget you’re our rookie still, until this new person comes aboard that is.”
I rolled my eyes, and picked up my previous pace, then asked out of curiosity, “Why do we need another pony on our ship anyways?”
A chuckle escaped Navi’s mouth, but before I could protest, she hastily explained, “We have two pilots, and a gunner, which would be me, the thing of it is, we need another pony to control the dorsal turrets, as well as do maintenance on the Titan, which, frankly, the ship could use.”
I just kept trotting, acknowledging what Navi had said, it made sense at least, and no matter how you looked at it, we could all use the new company.
We had finally reached the Equine’s CSA Embassy, and entered the small, low profile orange building that had dual glass doors with CSA soldiers guarding the entrance. Once we had been cleared on the inside that we were CSA employees/members, the clerk input the standard code, and we were let through to the elevator, which descended into the more recognizable abyss that was HQ.
We observed the layout, there were computer systems along the walls of the huge room, and in the middle was the holographic strategic emitter (HSE) that allowed Celestia herself to talk with the commanders of the various CSA headquarters across Equestria, as well as the embassy on Equine. Right now, it was only being used to go over recent situations, mainly revolving around the ion storm incident.
"Ah," I said, looking around, observing the fellow ponies working on most likely some highly classified assignment which we porbably already know, and the public does not, "It's good to be back to HQ!"
Skipper tilted her head like she had rolled her eyes and now has a headache, "Even if it isn't the one you were brought into our crew from?"
I reminisced the days before I was on the Titan. I was maybe 19 and had been a part of the CSA for a year then, when I was called up from my previous assignment to be put on a crew that would work on the trade routes between Equine and Equestria, making sure no pirates or rouge ships got a hold of the valuable resources Equine occasionally requested and needed. I couldn't believe my dream was about to come true, being able to go up into space. The first time I had looked up into space, and asked my dad which stars were which, was when I had learned to love the stars, and got my cutie mark, which was 3 stars in an upside down triangle, shrouded by a veil of faint color of black, which complemented well on my dark navy blue coat of fur.
I sighed after the remininsce, despite my dream having come true, the HQ was a really nice place to be, "Any HQ is my home."
Navi choked down a scolding laugh at the cheesy reply, but Skipper simply continued walking, probably face-hoofing herself mentally, cursing she had even brought up the question.
We made way to the center of the whole facility, where we met a tan colored mare that was eagerly waiting for us.
"Glad the crew of the CS Titan could come here today," He said in a moderately tenor voice, his grey eyes scanning each one of us, "I'm Commander Net, and I'm sure we will meet each other at another time than this."
After his short laugh, and us looking at each other quizically, we then waited for him to continue, "Ah, yes, the new recruit, her name's Star Twirl, and she's your first pegasus I presume?"
At that, we all grimaced, remembering Lue. Navi and Skipper were Earth ponies, and I was a unicorn, so naturally we were helpless in trying to help Lue with her EVA duties.
Net saw our faces, and understood immediately, if not remmebering a portion of a report given to him, "Ah, yes... Well, she is your first Equinen right?"
This took us aback a little. I didn't know Equinens were a part of the CSA. And almost as if hearing my thoughts, Net laughed rather loudly and explained,
"Equinens were never banned from working with us in the CSA, they just never thought to. After all, they are already in what is considered space, the thing most of us Equestrians go after doing."
He had a point, I thought to myself as Skipper cleared her throat, "So where is this new pony?"
"She's coming out of her quarters behind us once she's got her things and is ready to go out with you guys," Net said sternly, as if he decided to go back into commander mode.
The three of us just stood there, nodding once to acknowledge and register the given knowledge. It had been a while since Lue had been aboard, so I was a little nervous as to how we might do, considering we were a little rusty with our extra vehicular skills.
Generally speaking, a crew of one of the CSA's ship would contain five members of the crew: two pilots, two gunners, and an engineer. We never actually had a second gunner for whatever reason, but Navi does fine enough job keeping bandits off of us as well as some terrorists, the likes of which we would see more often now with the Nightmare cult announcing its existence. We did have an engineer not too long ago, Lue.
The point of the engineer is that in the event the turrets are jammed or the wings on the ship are not operating as they should, etc. Ultimately, they are the EVA players of the ship. The very reason we didn't have an engineer is the very reason that we have not been on the duty we were originally created for as a crew: to patrol the trade routes as well as guard any caravans that had happened to be carrying valuable resources which Equine needs.
A few moments had passed before we had heard the distinctive thud of a satchel bag landing behind the commander, who turned around in subtle surprise, only to find the mare that had materialized there.
I was quite taken aback by her, she wasn't some pony I had expected to be in the CSA. Her blue mane sharply contrasted with her milky white coat, completed with the green eyes which looked like the shade of emerald. But it wasn't that that made me think she didn't belong there, it was her absolute cheery mood and the gargantuan smile across her face. In the CSA, a cheery innocent person does not belong.
With a big smile, she said, "Glad to be a part of the crew! I'm Star Twirl, which you probably already know by now thanks to this commander you see here," and with that she payed the back of the commander, and judging by his facial expression, it was a little harder than she had intended it to be on the middle aged stallion.
Skipper stepped up a little and said in response, intentionally stiffly, "Welcome to my crew, I'm Skipper, the captain, and this pink mare here is Navi, our sole gunner."
Navi did a simple nod, probably hoping for the apparently hyped mare to not attack her, a hope found to be lost.
As Star Twirl tackle/hug Navi, she beamed in a somehow even higher pitch, "Glad to meet you Navi! You too Skipper!" She then noticed me, and she didn't exactly lose her cheer, but rather become curious, "And who is this stallion?"
I was opening my mouth when Skipper abruptly stopped my attempt and said, "This here is our pilot, Starsky."
With that, I just shut my mouth. Thanks Skipper... I had thought to myself before Star Twirl's voice entered into my thought process,
"Nice to meet you Starsky! Try to keep the ship steady while I'm on top of the ship!"
I blinked twice, remembering that this mare was joining the trio on their ship, and with that, I merely replied with a smile, "I can't give any guarantee, but I'll try my best."
The white mare gave me a warm smile, and then went back to her hyper-ness. She might've been just what we needed, I thought to myself, and with that I smiled to myself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So you say you had experience back in the Equine Trade and Space Agency?" Navi had asked to Star Twirl as we entered the CS Titan.
The walk back to the ship from the CSA Embassy was rather uneventful, since Star Twirl apparently was temporarily in the hyper personality, and that she was actually serious when needed to be. Which I won't be complaining about anytime.
Star Twirl just nodded, which I could see since I was toward the back, "Yea, so I know the business of patrolling the trade routes, but I've never been out of the ship I was on because I never needed do."
The three of us thought the same thing, there was no doubt about it, at least she's been in space. The silence following her reply was too long.
"What?" She had said, with a hint of panic and confusion all tied up in with trying to be defensive.
Before anything else got out of hand, I quickly explained, "Before you, we had a rookie engineer on our ship, and we had to teach her how to do EVA, to keep it simple, her being green meant more than her being a rookie..."
Star Twirl could only stifle a snicker as she said, "oh."
Navi kept quiet up until that point, she exasperatedly yelled, "Oh come on!" Which forced me into a death laughter, which eventually infected the three mares.
After the laughter died down, we realized we made it back to the CS Titan, Star Twirl was the first to step out and admire what little we could see of it on this side of the airlock. This was also the first time in a while that I had thought about the Titan and how it looked like.
It was really just a standard Celestia's Ship, with it's overlapping color scheme of yellow, orange, and grey. The design was somewhat stocky, but held the impression of a Griffon Tank. The body of the ship was somewhat long and wide, and it had to be, it held the pilot compartment, armory, and the living quarters for the members of the ship. But my personal favorite part of the ship were the turrets, sweet Celestia.
There were two turrets on the Titan, as opposed to older models with only one, and newer ones with four. Anyways, the two turrets were place towards the center of the ship, one ventral, and one dorsal. They weren't round, but not all that boxy, if you will. There were two types of cannons aboard the Titan, one was the standard cannon used in the services of the Celestial Royal Army, with this version having an obscenely long barrel, to allow more propulsion of the shell, be it armor-piercing or high explosive. The second cannon was a more or less experimental design. It was the new ion cannon which allowed the production and propulsion of extremely ionized particles. I shouldn't say experimental, because it has been developed over the years, but it's far from being perfect. The Ionic Particle Discharger (IPD) would take no more than a few atoms from the air in the ship (oxygen, nitrogen, etc) and would ionize them by heating the inside of the compartment of the cannon to the point where the titanium alloy of the cannon would nearly melt, all while throwing electrons on the atoms and molecules while relentlessly thrashing them into each other while also splitting the electrons away, in effect producing ionized atoms that'd otherwise be not harmful, and these atoms are then launched at its target at near light speed with accuracy that lasers want when they grow up. We've only used it once, the IPD, and once we did, we understood why it takes up half of the turret's space (due to having to vent the heat within out into space as well as housing the compartment for the ionizing process) as well as how long it takes to cool it down.
The times when we had ever used the cannons were when terrorists were around, and that was only because the strict regulations were satisfied in those situations. That's all I know for that part of our ship, as for the engines, I only know that they're placed within the hull (we have two) and how they work is that they somehow use space to move, this in effect allows us pilots to feel as if we're driving a car on ground, the only difference is we can go up or down. I never knew much about the engines though, that was Lue's job, and now Star Twirl's. That wasn't all they did though, engineers that is, no they manned the turrets not being operated by the gunner (Navi preferred the dorsal turret), as well as went outside of the ship to check external sensors and systems.
It would be easier to have electronics do this, but it's more widespread that engineers go out and do it, this is why we needed an EVA specialist, which Star Twirl was apparently not.
After a couple moments of reminiscing, I had realized every pony else was doing the same thing, and chuckled, which brought the others out of their trance. After I explained to them why I chuckled, we piled into the ship.
"I'm not going to be the one to teach her...." Navi mumbled once Star Twirl went into her new quarters and the door had shut behind her.
Both Skipper and I looked at each other, and knew exactly what we were going to do, we rushed to the pilot compartment.
We bumped into each other a couple of times, almost tripped on my part, but after about 5 seconds of this to get to the cockpit, I beat her by a hair.
"I beat you!" She squeaked, and I defiantly stood up at her, with a "oh no you did not just say that" look, and with that, Skipper admitted defeat as I went to claim the pilot chair.
With one last set of clearances from the Equine Space Trafficking Control, we went off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So uh, how are we doing this?"
We had spent about 2 hours getting off and away from Equine, and when we did we went off a further away to prevent jamming up the space there, why? Because we had an EVA training session to do for Star Twirl. At this point, Skipper is leading Star Twirl to the airlock door, and I'm keeping tabs on the two via video.
"It's not quantum physics, it's just going to the EVA closet and pulling out a suit that is meant specifically for a Pegasus. If anything, this is rocket science. What was your grade in that back in the Equine Academy?" Skipper chided at Star Twirl's question.
After Skipper's short burst of chuckles, the poor white mare mumbled out either an A+ or A-. With that, I chuckled to myself at how she even beat me at the final grade I had, which was a B+, but the Equestrian Academy might have been harder, I don't know.
They made the corner from the living quarters to the airlock in a couple more seconds, and then Skipper directed Star Twirl with some silent gestures to the closet on the opposite side of them. A few moments with some sounds of Star Twirl's hooves transporting her to the closet and into it. Even if it is concealed, I'm just glad I out grew being a little colt. Well, mostly anyways.
A few zipping sounds here and there, and the white mare stepped out of the closet in a greyish black suit, which completely encased her body, and enveloped her wings, still giving flexibility, despite the appearance of being rigid. It also covered her hooves with black boots that seemed as if they were made of steel. Her helmet had only the front and to the side of the rectangular shape that was glass. She didn't need the back side or the full sides though, not when she had a radar that was holographically projected on the lower right of her forward field of vision. As she stepped out, she strayed over to the yellow mare within my view and stayed with her, all the way to the airlock. There, Star Twirl went into it, and once Skipper had gone in, I closed the airlock. I waited the few minutes where the air was being drained back into the ship, rather than be vented off into space. Once the air lock was but a vacuum, I opened the door which went out into space. After that, I just listened to them talk and ramble.
Skipper started by explaining how to operate the EVA suit, "It's not that hard, all you have to do is steer like you're flying, while letting the jets and thrusters do what your wings would, as for actually going forward or backwards, for which you'd lean in accordance to gravity, just think of going forward, there are little electrical receivers that pick up the brain's thoughts when you put on the helmet, that'll respond to 'forward, go, backwards, and stop'."
Star Twirl nodded a little too firmly, and perked her heard out of the ship like a gopher looking out from underground, scanning the vast field if emptiness and space around her, it was too funny. That is, until you saw how nervous she looked, or was it terrified?
Skipper must've noticed, because she consoled her, "Don't worry Star Twirl, I won't rush you out of the air lock until you feel you're ready."
Star Twirl turned around to see her temporary teacher, and realized one important detail.
"You're not a Pegasus," she said to Skipper, not so matter-of-factly, but more a doubtful statement, and could almost be mistaken as a question.
At that, Skipper chuckled quietly to herself, then explained, "Starsky will be taking me around using his magic."
At that, I couldn't help but give a smug, content look to nothing in particular, feeling for once prideful for something the other ponies did not possess, my magic.
A certain pink mare startled me by saying, "So you're prideful of being used like a chauffeur? Stallion, you're stooping that low?"
I jumped in surprise, and yelled, "GET OUT OF HERE!!!!"
After a quick trading of swearing of which sailors on the Equestrian seas wouldn't attempt, she finally left, and after what had seemed like 5 hours, probably only barely a minute, I changed my field of vision to Star Twirl who had yet to leave the air lock.
But much to my dismay, she was heading back into the ship, and I dramatically raised my hooves up as if to flip a table, "Celestia damn it!" And went through the resealing process of the airlock chamber so the ponies could come back in. Apparently, it had been as long as it felt. Although I have the feeling that Skipper mind my abscence from that session too much.
"What do you mean we're not back on patrol duty?!" Skipper asked in a fit.
We had returned to the ESS with the expectations of being able to go back to our old job: patrolling the trade routes. That didn't happen at all, at least, not according to the tan stallion in front of us.
Aster put his hooves up in defense, "Hey it wasn't me that changed your orders! I just give them to you..."
I smirked while Navi yelled at him, "bullSHIT! You have control of this station, the only person you'd take orders from are those from Celestia or the Administrator of the CSA!"
There was silence that followed, proving that Aster was telling the truth. At that, I dropped my flank onto the ground, speechless.
This has never happened before, where Aster's orders were told to be changed, and not just any orders, but an assignment.
Skipper said with a concealed tone of concern, "So what is the new assignment....?"
Aster was about say something, but we then heard a whining noise as the 10 generators on the station grinded to a halt, ceasing not only the gravitational functions of the stations, but the electricity as well. We were in such pitch black, we may as well had our eyes closed, there was no difference.
Aster sighed in frustration, "This had been going on for the last couple of days or so. It needs to stop."
As if on cue, everything went back to normal, and I grinned as I heard a thump and a groan from a mare who seemed to have a bad time with gravitational fluxes. As I turned around to see that it was Navi (confirming my suspicions), Skipper asked with panic on the rise in her voice.
"So why haven't you contacted the colony? Surely, this couldn't be unnoticed by Celestia herself?"
Aster silently retreated back to his desk, once he sat back into the chair, he replied both sternly and quietly, "Do you really think that we wouldn't have already contacted them?"
"How long ago did you?"
"Approximately 12 hours ago."
My jaw unhinged. 12 hours is a long time, they should've been able to get a message out, even if the primary com system was down.
Silence hung over us for a few seconds, each one feeling like an eternity as each of us absorbed the fact that the Celestial Space Colony might be in a very serious situation.
Skipper broke the silence with a clearing of her throat, "So we've been assigned to go out and investigate?"
Aster smiled weakly, "You took the words right out of my mouth."
A collective sigh grew within the crew, at least we were heading back out once more.
Surprisingly, Star Twirl was the one who asked first, "When do we go?"
Aster just smiled, "Whenever you're ready."
That was the first time in a while I had smiled from one side of the face to the other.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fear is something that you create, I thought to myself. Isn't it?
I opened my eyes, to see that I was staring at a ceiling I hadn't fallen asleep under. My hearing was gone, and I had virtually no control over my body. When it had finally moved, my body, it changed its position from lying on it's back to standing on all 4 hooves. The view before me with my apparent eyesight, was nothing short of both awe and horror.
I was in a white colored cabin of a shuttle, with the side to my left torn out like a meteor had hit it, which is most likely what happened, I watched as ponies flew out through there, and watched as they each exploded into millions of pieces of boiled blood, frozen flesh, and other matters indescribable.
Before me stood one pure blue mare and one pure black stallion.
No, I thought to myself as the two smiled at me, both wit pure terror in their eyes.
"No!" This time it was audible, but I still had no control over my body.
I felt the tug if the vacuum of merciless space, and I knew it was only a matter of time before "it" happened. But for the first time in this cruel event, I could finally move my body.
I slowly crept up to my parents as they struggled to stay in the ship with the same terrorized eyes and the same hollow smile. This is not real, I tell myself, this is all a dream.
But it doesn't matter, another thought came to me, almost as if on its own.
I watched my parents get thrown out into space like rag dolls rendered useless by a month old colt, and exploded into millions of pieces just like the others. But I knew them.
Right when I had seen them explode, the emergency shuttle down procedure activated. A few others and I fell down to our knees and barely wrapped our mind around what had happened.
I opened my eyes slowly, to find my ceiling, hearing, and control over my body to be functional and in place. I rolled out of bed and sat at the edge of it, recollecting the nightmare.
I had lost count of the number of times it had attacked me, it barely affects me nowadays. The first time it occurred, I wasn't on the Titan, and so I was in a private home softly weeping at the distorted memory.
When I was a colt, maybe 4 or 5 years old, my parents and I went out in a shuttle to go and visit Equine as part of a yearly vacation we did. But a meteorite that wasn't detected by the ship's system rammed the side of the shuttle, ripping the impact site off, and along with it, dozens of ponies that had been unlucky to have a sub-malfunctioning Shuttle Shutdown Procedure System on the ship, my parents were two of them.
I shook my head quietly, knocking my dark mane into my face, which I had pushed back so I could see what time it was.
0530 hours
"Ugh," I groaned to myself.
"Skipper! I told you to get me up when my shift came up!" I yelled, and then muttered to myself, "no wonder I had the nightmare..."
After a few seconds that dragged, Skipper buzzed in through the comms system, "I thought you'd appreciate the extra sleep, guess not..."
I sighed, instantly hating myself, and got up to put on my jacket. After having done so, I walked on over to the door and went through to go take over the piloting duties of the ship.
Thanks to the thoughtful design of the Titan models, I got there in no time.
Despite having an attack of déjà Vù when I entered the cockpit and nodded towards the yellow mare, I sighed as if nothing was old or new, and sat down in my seat.
After a few buttons being pushed, Skipper gave up command of the ship to me, but instead of leaving afterwards, she just stayed there, admiring the sight in front of us, which was the fiery fireball steadily growing in size.
"You know, you can just go and sleep now if you want, I wouldn't hold it up to you."
Skipper just grinned subtlety, and sighed.
Muttering to myself, I said, "Guess that's that," I just watched as the stars became dinner one by one as the Equestrian sun grew larger.
After a few moments that were probably hours, Skipper spoke, "I wonder why we were the ones asked to go to the CSC..."
I nodded slightly and chuckled, getting a slight face full of black mane, "Well, it might be a low priority thing. After all, it is us."
A deadweight fell between us after that; not an uncomfortable one, it was more of the one where a growing anxiety grew and festered. I knew why we were going to the CSC, and I'm sure she did too.
See, the CSC is the outpost near the sun, the place where we get more or less the energy needed to power up Equine and some Equestrian outposts like the ESS or some CSA or LIA. If whatever the reason may be, it shuts down, the majority of systems outside of pre-space cease to function until the CSC resumes producing power. Needless to say, it was imperative we had gone to the outpost to restart the main computers within.
I sighed, and then smiled at a thought.
"So where are they now?" I asked.
I imagined Skipper either closing her eyes and shaking her head or nodding it in nostalgia, "They're probably in their respective turrets."
A length of silence found its way within us, until she asked rhetorically, "Was that all you wanted to say?"
I just laughed at that, since there was nothing else to do about that.
I was about to say something to her, but then I had noticed the distinctive spot on the sun.
"Well, it looks like we're almost there...." I said with a level of anxiety I hadn't anticipated to exist, and her silence didn't make it any better, "Sound the alarm, yeah?"
Skipper quietly cleared her throat, and then spoke into the comms, "Personnel to their stations, we are reaching the CSC soon."
Once she had finished speaking, I heard some clicking and turning of notches, telling me she was switching channels so she could talk to the CSC station.
To say the CSC was large would do it no justice. The command center alone was three times the size of the CS Titan, the three rings orbiting the center alone could rival the ESS. The 3 rings were stacked on each other, but still had space between themselves.
The Celestial Space Colony was tilted in a way which the top ring had the most sun on its dorsal surface, which was needed considering it had the solar panels the CSC is even built for. The second and middle ring held the majority of the generators and power cores that takes the solar energy and convert it so that the other cailities of Equestria can use it. The tird ring was possibly the largest, containing all residential and life sustaining supplies and quarters which the crew and their families dwelled in. Not sure why it was made in the way that the first ring was thin, but a ways out from the Command Center, and had solar panels stretched from one edge of the ring to the other, which was miles of area, like a blanket, and therefore effectively harnassing vast amounts of energy; the second ring was 10 times wider in diameter, and brought closer to the center; the third was more in the middle of the two rings distance wise, but is similar in size to the second ring.
I'll bear any more details secluded, but you should have a grasp of the sheer size of the CSC.
"CSC this is CS Titan Model 26A, we are requesting permission to dock, over," static.
She repeated, "CSC, this is CS Titan Model 26A, we are requesting permission to dock, do you copy?"
After the reply of static, I looked back at her, and she and I knew exactly what the other was thinking in that moment of time. We both knew that the CSC had been attacked.
"I'm going to pull the Titan up to one of the docks, and see if I can't get a manual lock onto the airlocks," I had said to Skipper as I turned around and turned up the engines.
I heard her sigh as she tumbled down into her seat to the left of me, and mumbled out, "Why does this have to happen? I mean, I would've been fine with patrol duty!"
I quietly chuckled to myself, even though we were in the face of a grim situation that was about to unfold, possibly, maybe, who knows.
After falling into its shadow, the CSC, I scanned for any docks on the second ring, considering the residential ones would most likely be guarded.
It may have been luck, maybe not, but I found a dock out of the corner of my eye on the ventral surface of the solar panel ring, and what's more, it was near an emergency offshoot to the command center.
Skipper knew where I was looking, and doubt was apparent in her voice, "Are you sure it's fine to go through there?"
I remained silent as my inner-self was conflicted and at war with itself on whether to go by Skipper's caution, or to go and take the risk; I had almost decided not to.
She called my name once, and that snapped me out of my self confliction, and I shook my head affirmatively, "We'll be fine."
Sweat formed on my forehead as I worked the ship into position to latch into the dock, which was not easy considering I had to manually unlock the airlock as well, which meant I had to hit the dock in a certain way that'd trigger the automatic system to allow the ship access. I could only hope I did it right, let alone hope that the cult hadn't tampered with the system.
We had landed into the dock, maunally locking in place and safely entering the ring. Not one of us had not brought a rifle, as well as wearing an EVA suit.
Skipper had motioned Navi to take point, and we carefully, as well as quietly, moved the hundred meters to the offshoot, which was to the right of us, I had seen earlier. The only good thing about being on the top ring was that it was only a catwalk, so we could quite literally see someone else coming from a mile away. But they could see right back at us.
50 meters to go, the clipping of our hooves on the hard steel floor eventually echoed throughout the ring and back to us, at least allowing us to think we were the only ones up here.
25 meters left, we heard a loud groan of metal falling out of place, but after half a minute, we silently agreed it was of no threat, though it did further our alertness and jumpiness.
10 meters, we could see the distinctive airlock door which led out of the ring and down to the Command Center, it bulged slightly inward towards the off shoot, and had a classic sea ship hatch wheel to open it.
5 meters, the blood began to burn and pound with adrenaline as it coursed through my body.
4 meters, my hearing had been nearly entirely impaired by my heart's now powerful thumping.
3 meters, Navi could almost touch the door now, while I was in the rear, hoping my heart doesn't find its way out of my throat.
2 meters, I flinched at the sound of my hoof accidentally skirting the floor, causing an overreaction on my part and reflexively falling almost backwards.
A meter to go, I slide into position at the right side of the seal, and nodded to Skipper that I was in place, the pink mare to my left, on the other side of the door, nodded as well.
I know that the eternity afterwards was only the few seconds of Skipper waiting to call out the command, but it didn't matter, it had felt like a lifetime, eternally waiting, with each heart beat pounding in my ears.
Finally, breaking the deathly silence between us, within the ring, and within fate itself, time rolled forward once more as Skipper screamed out, "Go, Go, Go! Move it! Now!" Again and again, I opened the door and we went beyond sonic rain boom.
I couldn't help my screaming, no one could, it didn't matter, the offshoot was an emergency evacuation tube, so despite the miles of distance to the Command Center, we were there in a matter of minutes, at least it seemed like so. The tube was also very long, and very fragile, so if the cult were here and wanted to, they could destroy the tube with relative ease and pull it away from Command, putting us into space.
We had reached the hatch on the opposite side, blew through, and then stumbled into the command center.
It was bulbous, spherical, in accordance to the rings. It was , as said before, much larger than the Titan; it had two decks: Inferior Bridge, and Superior Command. The bridge held the majority of operations on the station, but the Command was where the brass were. In short, it was the Equine CSA embassy, but inverted.
The tube we had come through from, naturally, went to the lower deck.
To make the gargantuan room bigger, it was deathly silent, and pitch black.
I whispered, "Celestia, this isn't funny anymore...." Which received a collection of hushed chuckles.
I silently smiled to myself since they couldn't see me, then quickly returned to the main issue, no lights.
After a few minutes of clattering, a couple clicks, my light on my rifle emitted it's beam out into the room, revealing various railings and tables as well as consoles. Soon thereafter, three other beams helped to create an adequate amount of lighting.
I sighed after that episode of trying to get light, then moved onto the next issue, getting power back up. I trotted over to the Mai. Console, trying to find a directive towards where I could turn on the main power. Much to my disappointment, and expectation, it would be much more complicated than I had hoped. I had to go to the engineering section and check if the generators weren't maltreated, and the cores were still nominal. I then had to go to the electrical sector and check, re-check, and repeat that again and again all the miles and miles of wiring and electrical cords and power routes.
Or Skipper could just say, "Computer, activate program 'Aster 0-1-1-5-9' on the authority of Captain Skipper, code 1-8-2."
All systems came back online thereafter.
I sighed in annoyance, and muttered, "Or you could do that..."
I smiled weakly as the mares all laughed at my comment on the new found power being online.
But I didn't expect the world to go dark right after, and for me to get knocked out.
I opened my eyes to a blur. Not knowing just what was in the world yet. They adjusted eventually, my eyes, and the view before me was one I had not remembered when my eyes closed previously. The white ceiling above me was lit with a brilliant light, but it did not possess the source of it. When I had tried to turn my head, a burning sharp pain entered my thinking process, the pain being somewhere on the back of my head.
I grunted with effort, and I finally managed to turn my head around to the left of my bunk to see the lamp that brightly lit the room. I did not expect to see the teal mare in a white nurse uniform there.
"W- ow," I said after feeling the rocks grinding through my throat, but after a few gulps, I could speak freely, but she explained before I had the chance to ask.
"You're in the Equestrian Space Station's hospital, you were taken here after we found you alone in the CSC."
"Oh okay," I had said turning my head to face the ceiling again and closed my eyes, it wasn't until shortly after that that what she had said sank in.
I opened my eyes wide, and turned my head back towards the nurse violently, ignoring the pain in the back of my head, and asked with no regard for the panic in my voice, "Wait, what do you mean I was the only one there?"
The nurse looked over at me quizzically, then apparently remembered something, and nervously smiled, "I'll let the kind mare here to debrief you, to let you know what they think happened."
"Can you tell me who it is?"
"You'll find out soon enough."
"But of course."
The mare finished checking the monitors around me and turned around to head for the door. When she had gone right up to it, she turned around.
"I forgot to mention, there's a folder to the right of you, it supposedly should get you up to speed."
After she had gone through the door, I glanced over to the nightstand to my right, and discovered that she was right. The folder itself was long and slim, which didn't really matter much when the single piece of paper in it was of the same characteristics. The only interesting thing about the folder was that it was midnight blue.
A little curious, I used my magic, with tentative care as to not hurt myself more, to bring the folder over, and to see the paper within it. What it was wasn't anything I had expected at all.
"Starsky:
I understand that you work for the CSA, but as leader and head of the Lunar Intelligence Agency, I am allowed to do as I please in terms of giving information, naturally. What you are about to read is for your eyes only, due to it being extremely classified information for some simple reasons I will not discuss at this moment.
You have a decision here to make however: read the information below and become more involved in something you had thought previously to be a simple mission, or you can close the folder now, forget about this, and continue on with your life. Your choice."
I didn't really enjoy the idea of having to choose according to a paper, but I was curious as to what the nurse meant before about being the only one on the CSC when they found me. On the same token, I generally don't ignore warnings, even if they are somewhat hidden and not meant to discourage me. And I was further curious as to who wrote this letter.
There was no choice, I continued reading:
"Hopefully, you won't regret this, but it was your choice after all:"
Mission status: classified
Crew's status: 3 MIA, 1 in critical
Mission completion: unknown
Crew retrieval: CS Solrun
Report: Due to absence of crew, this report will be written by Captain Snow of the CS Solrun.
At approximately 0800 hours, about 12 hours since the crew's departure, the Solrun had come to retrieve the crew due to failing of returning at designated time. Only the ship's pilot, Sergeant Starsky, was found, the engineer, gunner, and commander were not found anywhere. When the sergeant was found, he was crippled over a console that was discovered as the main console, assumption of his being there was to power the station back up. A blow to the back of his head is apparent cause of been unconscious when discovered. Departure of the CSC was about 1030 hours, it was left with a skeleton crew maintaining it.
Assumptions aren't encouraged, but it's a viable theory that the Nightmare Cult had lured the crew there, and one of the three MIA, if not all three, are members of the organization.
Status of mission: completed
Completion of mission: unknown"
I had set the paper back onto its resting place on top of the folder, wondering how this changed anything. But then I realized there was another paper in the folder that I must've missed.
As I picked up the folder to pull out the paper, a thought came into my mind, "this was not there before."
I set the folder back down, wondering where the paper had come from, and was deep in thought until a soft chuckle came from nowhere.
I looked around, with my heart already in my throat, and my skeleton kept out from my body, frantically trying to find the source.
"Oops, I sometimes forget to reveal myself, especially since you found me out much sooner than I had anticipated."
Immediately the shadows in the room began to shift around, almost as if materializing something, someone. That wasn't nearly as strange as me not freaking out though.
Slowly the darkness swirled and tumbled around, me somehow able to tell it was moving at all, until finally a pony emerged out from it.
Not sure why, but her necklace was the first thing to catch my eye, it was pitch black, and had a white, crescent moon in the center. The next thing to be registered was her black crown rested on top of her head, slightly in front of her horn. Her mane stretched down on the left side of her neck slightly, then went back up onto her back, where it rested. And then finally, after maybe a second, a day, who knows, but I finally realized it was the princess of the night before me.
I was about to jump out of my bed and kneel down before her, but she knew I was going to do that, and deflected my attempt softly with a magical barrier, "I had heard you were hurt, I wish to see you not hurt yourself anymore than you are."
I sighed, knowing her wish was an order didn't help because I still felt obliged to give respect, nevertheless, I laid in bed, now understanding why the nurse hadn't said anything, at least partly.
I tried to ask in reverence, "What is the reason for a princess to pay a visit to see me in my condition?"
The princess of the night smiled softly, as if she was radiated by the warmth of millions of stars, "To see how you are. Oh, don't give me such a look, is that such a hard reason to believe?"
I nodded gracefully once, and with that her majesty had sighed, "I suppose it is a hard concept to believe."
I chuckled quietly to myself, but immediately regretted doing so when the princess tilted her head with a look of mild surprise.
"Y-your majesty, I meant no offense! I was jus-"
She cut me off with her hoof, and my heart had apparently still been lodged in my throat, since it thumped in it once more, "I know you meant no offense, I actually am surprised that you aren't so stiff as to be able to chuckle, few ponies actually get this comfortable."
I gulped a little, "I'm not exactly comfortable here, princess."
And with that, she began laughing, of such laughter I've never seen before. She had landed flat on her back, with her sides apparently hurting.
"Are you okay?" I said as I slowly moved across my bed to get a better look at her condition.
I stumbled a little more, and I was flat on my belly and looking down at her recovering from her laugh, "Yes! Yes I am fine! Oh, Sergeant, I've had few ponies ever try to make a joke to me in such a long time!"
I rolled my eyes a little, "It wasn't exactly supposed to be one."
She had a short burst of laughter, but then stopped herself, and got up as you collected herself. In a short few seconds, the princess of the night looked as firm as she had when she first walked in; I knew what was about to happen next, she was going to ask if I read the folder and it's contents, so I didn't waste time.
"Yes, I did read the folder."
The princess raised an eyebrow, whether in amusement or surprise I can not say, " Do you regret it?"
I shook my head once, just like I had when nodding.
"Excellent. Now I have another question."
I waited patiently, and then her soft voice spoke with concern, "Who do you think is of the Nightmare Cult?"
I shrugged as if I didn't care, although inside me, it did sting, "I can only guess it was Star Twirl, she was new, and of a different upbringing than Skipper and Navi."
The princess of the night tilted her head, confused, and then her eyes went wide as if she realized something.
"Sergeant, did you not understand the question?"
Now it was my turn to be confused, and shook my head.
She sighed, "We can figure out whether one of your friends are part of it, but right now, think about it. How did the CSC become a ghost station?"
It was like being a deer in the headlights, or maybe receiving a revelation from a being higher than the princesses, I don't know, but everything about this turn of event all of a sudden made sense, at least why the Princess of the Night was here.
The CSC had almost 1000 ponies on it, and that's just the crew, who knows how many civilians were on there. An entire station to be cleared out would require an high level position in the CSA or LIA. So that means someone of either organization is of the Nightmare Cult, and who's to say there are more?
The princess looked sternly at me as I pieced more of the puzzle together, "So you're here on a very low profile because you don't know who is the Nightmare Cult?"
She nodded, "Do you know if there are any......." I gulped hard as I said the word, "traitors, in your organization?"
This time, the night princess shook her head and replied, "I had found none to be of the NC cult, although there were a great deal of suspects in the low ranks, none of my high officials were possible to be suspects."
I nodded absent-mindedly, then it hit me that that left one other organization, "So who do you think it might be in the CSA?"
She shrugged, "All I know is that it would have to be anybody with a head position of an embassy or higher."
I let that sink in, there are approximately 56 bases and embassies under the CSA, so that's 56 officials right there, and then you add the other positions above it.
"That leaves a possibility of over 100 suspects...."
The princess nodded once, "And it could very well be one of the stations' commanders, like Aster-"
I disliked disregarding my obligations, but I rolled out of my bed and stood up right squared into the princess's eyes and firmly said, "no."
She blinked, "Excuse me?"
I repeated myself, "No, Aster would never turn his back on the CSA, nor on Equestria."
A few moments of silence hung as I moved back to my bunk and rested my flank on it, and then she spoke again, "Very well, but you must understand I have no affiliation with the CSA outside of my sister, so I do not know who to trust or not to."
"Then why did you trust me?"
That must've built ice between us because she fell silent, and even visibly slouched slightly, not the sad kind, but more of a disapproval one.
She moved over to the desk to the left of my bed, the one where I saw the nurse at. She monitored the screens that were now flatlining because I pulled off the cables and lines on me. Then she turned her head slightly so I could see a bit of her eyes.
"Call me Luna."
My eyes went wide, and she turned fully now, laughing quietly.
"I trust you because you were the only one to have been extracted from the CSC."
I sighed at the relatively stupid reason..... Luna, gave.
She noticed my sourness on that, and added, "That's not all though."
"Oh really?" I said melodramatically.
"Yes, you also were genuinely surprised when I told you to think about the bigger picture."
"How do you know I wasn't acting?"
She gave a smirk, "If that was acting, you should've made it in the film industry and not into the space industry."
I laughed as I said, "Good point."
As my laughter died down, she continued looking at me, and after a few more uncomfortable seconds, she finally spoke.
"The reason I came here....."
At this, my ears perked up and had went back on my hooves and waited for the rest, eagerly, I said, "Yes?"
"My reason was simply to ask if you wanted to temporarily be a part of the LIA."
I stood there, frozen, figuring out that she had offered me a spot in the Lunar Intelligence Agency, the equivalence of the Celestial Royal Army on Equestria.
She cleared her throat, then firmly said, "Close that mouth, sergeant, we are still on business."
I shook my head, and stood firmly again, and took a couple deep and long breaths as I decided.
She raised an eyebrow curiously, "Well?"
I thought about my friends that were now gone, as well the mystery of what the hell happened on the CSC. Then I thought about the compromising of the Celestial Space Agency. There was no choice to it.
..... Luna, raised out a hoof, and I stared at it for a little while.
"Count me...." I raised my hoof, and as it hit hers I finished off, "in."
She smiled, "Good, I am glad my visit wasn't such a waste as my adjutants suspected it may have been."
And with that, my first step in becoming a key player in what was to come was taken, and I stepped into a playing field much larger than I had anticipated. But will I regret it? Of course not, it was my choice after all.
Soon after Luna's visit, I was released and allowed to leave the hospital. No one seemed to have noticed, or at least acknowledged, that the princess of the night had come to visit me. But with recent events, I decided it'd be better if I didn't think too much of it. So I just let the tan stallion catch up to as I strolled in the promenade.
"Starsky!"
I turned my head around to see Aster raising his hoof to allow me to spot him easier, I nodded and continued walking apace; Aster followed quickly on suit.
"How are you holding up?" Aster asked with concern as he managed to catch up with me.
I just shrugged, "I guess with everything going on, I must be faring well."
I watched him laugh, then chat away about how the station was doing, which would at least encapsulate a part of my interest, but my mind was elsewhere.
The conversation in the hospital still echoed in my thoughts.
"And it could very well be one of the stations' commanders, like Aster-"
I looked back at the stallion, wondering how he could ever betray the Empire, Celestia, or even his friends. His continual chatter continued more, and at one point he even closed his eyes in a passive contempt. How could he be traitor?
"So what now?"
I snapped back to reality, "What?"
Aster chuckled quietly after he figured out I space out, then repeated himself.
"I was asking what're you going to do?"
"What do you mean?"
He whistled long and low, "did that injury erase some of your memory? Because you don't have a ship or crew mates, you're automatically on leave! So what now?"
"Well I'm going to-"
Trust no one, the thought came like an alarm, the CSA is compromised, it's better they don't know.
Aster became a bit stiff, with a face of concern, but it seemed much more hostile without the contempt which he used to possess.
He asked slowly with transparent suspicion, "Going to what?"
My heart started to slowly work its way up to my throat, increasing its pump and pounding force. I didn't know if I could trust Aster or not, the pony in front of me was no longer someone I could or should consider a friend anymore. I wondered in the brief second which I had before my silence would be alarming. So without thinking, I tried to play it off.
"I don't know, I thought I had something to so, I'm trying to think of something to do, so what have you been up to?"
Aster didn't remove his sternness, and he asked with a little more concern than suspicion, "What was it you had thought of doing?"
I didn't realize we had stopped until this point, so I continued walking sighing, eyes closed. I knew I could play this off well, but I was so nervous that it could backfire on me horribly, which didn't help calm me down.
"Well, I don't want to say..."
"What?" At this point, Aster had risen his voice to almost a demanding an answer volume.
"Well, maybe..... Visit..... My, parents..." I was making it up as I was going along, but I did even try to look embarrassed.
Much to my relief, Aster had returned to his normal self and just laughed.
"Star, I thought you were talking of going to cause some trouble or something of the sort!"
He slapped my back with his right hoof, I chuckled, albeit nervously, and replied meekly, "I would never do something of the sort!"
Behind my voice, as Aster laughed heartily, a voice echoed right behind my words, although obviously only I could hear it.
"Trust no one' sword anymore, suspect everyone and believe anyone, but trust yourself."
The conversation came back to mind once more, "And it could very well be one of the stations' commanders, like Aster-......"
Aster left me to go about his other businesses that called for his time and attention. I didn't mind it, considering all things that had happened, and that I wasn't far from the shuttle I would be taking to head down to Equestria. I didn't care to begin with.
At this time, most of the promenade was bustling with ponies either departuring, such as myself, or arriving, such as the pink mare that was running at a rather lightning pace, right at me.
Right before it thought she was going to crash into me, she stopped within a foot of my face. It was then I had realized my eyes were shut tight.
I opened them slowly, and the first thing to see was the pink mare with her very pink mane. The next thing I noticed was that she beaming, if I didn't know better, or didn't look as closely, I could've mistaken her as Navi.
She fired off questions so fast, I was concerned that she'd break the sound barrier. Not the mention the possible space quake that could be generated by her rapid jumping up and down.
"How are you? I don't know where I'm going! Are you lost? If so, let's try to find a kiosk or something and--!"
I had enough at that point, her voice going so fast like that could've been compared to a chainsaw, and I was not in the mood for beaming innocence. I put my hoof on top of her head to keep her from jumping and replied coldly,
"I'm leaving, so leave me alone."
I walked around her, feeling slightly unsettled. What I did... I thought to myself, was it really okay?
"But Star..."
I froze, everything except my heart stopped. That voice did not belong to the mare, but another completely different one. I slowly turned around, feeling my heart in my throat, pounding, and trembling, when did I start trembling?
The lighting had diminished, as has all the ponies that had once been bustling around me. It was just myself, and Nightsky, my mother.
"You'll be safer here..." The ghost of the past said with a solemn tone to me, with real concern in my eyes.
But before I could speak, the black back drop dissolved away, like water hitting paint on a wall, into a shuttle that had a gaping hole to the left, and most everything gone, exception to a few rows of seats near me, and some more on the other side. This is my shuttle, the one where I witnessed my parents.....
This isn't a shuttle.
This is a nightmare.
"Not this, please, no!" I wanted to move my arms, legs, maybe my head, anything, maybe even close my eyes, but to no avail.
I was stuck, watching the remaining ponies on the shuttle get sucked out if the shuttle one by one, screaming, helplessly, hopelessly.
Then came the worst part, my parents.....
I observed the faint smile, deeply imprinted on my memory like it was branded there, that my mother gave to me, somehow knowing I was fine, that I was safe.
The blue mare looked up from I to the stallion next to her, Solsky, the brown stallion that was my father, and closed her eyes, with a streak of tears glistening in the sterile white light. After some seconds that could be eternity then and there, with the air rushing, and constant wax and wane of screaming, my mother turned her gaze back to me.
"We love you, never forget that..."
As soon as they lost their grip on their seats, the landscape pulled away as fast as a gunshot. I had the impression of falling, but once the scene I had been a part of disappeared, it was pitch black all around me. Then in front of me was another scene coming towards me like a light at the end of a tunnel.
It was the scene with the pink mare. I saw her jumping up and down, and then I saw me, a different me, put my hoof down on top of head, and walked around.
I'm such a bastard... I thought as I reflected in despair.
I then went back to reality through that different me.
Once the landscape had ceased moving, I could feel my entire body shuddering and shaking, while I was heaving and gasping.
I turned around to see the mare still where she was standing, still figuring out what I had just said. I observed quickly and silently the ponies walking by me as if nothing happened.
Nothing did happen, it was just a hallucination, one that was a matter of seconds, one that was unnoticed, I told myself.
I blinked several time to get the tears out, and then coughed. I looked up to see the mare still there yet, and cleared my throat.
"What's your name?" I asked as firmly as possible, though failing horribly.
She turned around hurriedly, startled at first, but then a little calmer when she recognized me.
She replied quietly, "Party Pie. That's my name."
Her surname, Pie, struck nostalgia from deep within, paving over the grief that had surfaced.
I smiled warmly, "There's a kiosk not far from here, just keep going straight, and watch the right side for it."
Pie's eyes lit up with gratitude, her suppressed smile solidifying that she has joy building up.
"Thank you, thank you , thank you!"
After a minute of her saying thank you , she finally stopped.
After a moment of silence between us, despite the chatter of the dock, she said, "See you around I guess!"
She stood there beaming, waiting, no, expecting a reply.
I sighed, closing my eyes while doing so, wondering how innocence can such a blessing as such. I looked up, and met her expectations, "Who knows what'll happen, but yea, see you around."
Party turned around with a huge smile and began jumping up and down as she went on her quest to find the kiosk.
Her joyful response to my giving directions to her echoed in my mind, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
I chuckled as I looked at her one last time, "No, thank you..."
With that, I walked off, entering the shuttle shortly thereafter.
------------------
The shuttle ride was relatively short, about an hour, so I finally got out of my seat, briefly stretching within the space I had, and proceeded to walk towards the shuttles' door.
Considering that the shuttle was a luxury one to an degree, there was only myself, and 15 other ponies or so.
The shuttle opened its doors outwards, with a blinding light that one would find repulsive, but I found it to be heartwarming. My eyes finally adjusted after a few blinks and squints, and before me was the land which I've always held admirable.
Despite years of advancements in science and technology, the land of Equestria was still natural and beautiful as ever.
I glanced near the shuttle port, and observed the long green grass flowing in the wind, glistening when the sun had hit it just right, and in a wave-like pattern that ran perpendicular of the shuttle. Out in the distance, one could see the Everfree Forest with its shrouded, mysterious, atmosphere that could still be seen as beautiful with the sun sending rays through the thick tree canopy being slightly diluted by the mist within.
The freshness of the air that which I inhaled was filled with the aroma of roses most likely hidden within the sea of grass, blended in with it was the texture and fullness of the air, filling my body with relaxation. In harmony with all of this, I could hear a cicada chirping its buzz on this warm summer day, and the chaotic chirps of birds emanated from various flocks in the sky.
Canterlot could be seen on its perch on the mountain, though miles away, with its misty fog ringing the base of its perch formed by the cascading waterfalls which fell from the magnificent and colorful city. And not too far from the beautiful city was the town which I was headed for, the calm yet energetic Ponyville. The architecture was a reminiscent design for the times when ponies had meek technology and elements of mathematics and science. The wooden sense of the town as whole was one that felt like a "no place like home" feel.
I was knocked out of my tranquil state when I felt a pushing nudge on my back, and when I turned around to see who it was, it was much to my surprise a silver mare that had a sandy white mane, with green, clear eyes. I also felt I had seen her from somewhere previously.
"Move," she stated quietly but firmly, "we need not to waste time."
I linked several times, each periodically long, then quickly trotted down from the shuttle and into the port. As the crowd began to gather within, I awaited for the mare to arrive here.
To my right, I heard her voice, "You caught on quickly."
It was all I could do to not flinch or act startled, "'Where there are many, secrets are traded by few.'"
I turned my head around to be able to see the mare, and much to my surprise, she held an eyebrow above her eye, "I'm impressed, you already know the LIA's motto."
I nodded, trying to avoid a smirk. I did hold my gaze on her however.
After a few moments had passed, she noticed I had been staring at her studiously, "What?"
I absently shook my head, "Pardon me, but where have I met you before?"
The mare expressed a face of confusion, with which I recognized from the hospital, and like dominoes falling, everything fell into place, like a light switch turned on.
"You were the nurse," I stated before I even let the mare try to explain.
Shortly thereafter, both me and her realized that the chatter within the port had died down, she nodded her head towards the door, "Let's leave."
I nodded and followed apace.
We passed by multiple groups of earth ponies conversing about the coming traditional harvest and its festival, as well as some pegasi groups debating on who they liked most on the wonder bolts. Surprisingly, only one pair of unicorns was present outside of me and the silver mare; unsurprisingly, however, they were discussing the upcoming Grand Galloping Gala. The mare that was slightly ahead of me continually scanned everything around her, much of a contrast to what we were supposedly doing, casually walking out. Nevertheless, to minimize its suspiciousness, my eyes began to aimlessly wander around the port, studying with no purpose the restaurants around.
I recalled a story of one of the Cakes from Ponyville moved out here because the Space Program had begun to more or less take off, and the Cake felt that there would be success out here. Ever since, the Pumpkin Restaurant had been open for business, bearing the name of its own founder.
Another pioneer out from Ponyville, a filly then, who was of the Apple Family, came out here with her two friends to find out if she could find herself in this frontier 80 years ago. She opened a successful restaurant that served Sweet Apple Acre's famous apple dishes, primarily pies. A more unique aspect was... Is, the Cutie Mark Crusader Academy which, needless to say, helps fillies find their cutie marks.
Speaking of Apple Acres.... I remember a wild tale of a problematic expansion of the farm, involving lack of horsepower, but distaste of external employees. And while we're at it, there's also one that is of a famous fashionista who hit it big with her business some 90 or so years ago. Maybe the creation of Ponyville's unique Rainbow Bolts would spark an interesting story? Possibly even the story of how the Ponyville Quintet sponsored the Natural Preservation Act. If I remember correctly, there was something about a company that was solely for the creation and management of parties? But why am I thinking of stories to possibly tell?
Alas, that was getting carried away about another lifetime; in this one currently, we had gone through the doors of the port and into the realm of nature, where we were alone, walking in between the tall green grass on a paved dirt road.
Although we hadn't ceased walking, I asked, "So what's your name? I'm tired of thinking of you as 'the silver mare'."
She chuckled softly, and shortly after, I heard her response, "My name's Io. I'm going to assume and hope that you realizing I was the nurse will be enough to get you going, yes?"
I nodded as the gears in my head shifted back and the pages flipped back to that train of thought, "Yes, and Luna not having been acknowledged was the first thing to click."
For a second of what I swear was silence by her out of jealousy, for whatever reason, she responded after the brief silence, "Go on, I'm curious to see what you might've pieced together."
I nodded and took in a deep breath and looked straight out onto the dirt road amongst the trees of green grass, "I was wondering as to why nopony in the hospital had even the slightest hint of excitement or anxiety of having the princess come to visit me, let alone seem to know she was there. But it wasn't that they weren't excited, it's because they didn't even know to begin with. And that was because you leaked the security and allowed Luna to bypass the patrols and even the front room."
I knew I was right, despite the silence thereafter. During the long silence, the landscape evolved and morphed from green grass and a dirt road, down to a larger, paved out road, which went through the edge of a large and thick forest about a mile or so from Ponyville. The road had been paved in such a way that trees still arched over it and formed a canopy of green and brown that shielded the path from the sun. To the left of us stretched the rest of the mystical forest, as far as the eye could see into the thickness of the trees, until the trees were so tightly wounded together that not even light could infiltrate. To the right of the road was a tranquil meadow that seemed almost untouched by animals or ponies alike. Between us and the meadow was a small, yet deep, stream that stretched from the field we left and all the way around the bend towards Ponyville. Birds could be heard chirping in call and response, much less chaotic than the screeches of the flocks earlier. It would normally be hard to not be relaxed, however, today was an exception, although I'm not sure why.
Io spoke softly, "I'm sure you already know you're right."
I was about to smile, but then she elevated the roughness and volume of her voice, "But don't give me a smirk about it."
I couldn't help it, I laughed hard, deciding that that was most likely the kind of smile my mouth was going to form.
She raised her eyebrow and asked curiously, "Well?"
It wasn't hard to figure she was wanting me to continue.
I motioned my head towards her, "You're a unicorn correct?"
She then snapped back, "I have a horn no? Or did it appear right now?"
I ignored her reply and progressed, "That's some rather interesting magic you possess, is it not?"
Now she had a smirk, "One of the reasons the princess recruited me into the Agency."
It all made sense when I realized she was with Luna, and that she was an unicorn as well.
Those thoughts appeared out of nowhere when I was talking to Aster.
"How far can you push it?"
She looked at me quizzically, "What do you mean?"
I sighed, "I mean how far can you push the magic?"
Her expression eroded into one of understanding, with her eyebrows raised, "Ah, well, the farthest I've pushed it was to insert thoughts into someone's mind or to receive them."
I slouched my shoulders. I hadn't noticed they were so tense.
"I see... That does sound useful for something like an Intelligence Agency."
I shifted my head to face her while still walking, but she caught me off guard by looking right back at me, with furrowed brows and a frown.
"That's as far as I can push it, as well as would like to... And the target can know fully well that the thought isn't theirs or that I tapped into theirs."
I recalled how, though abruptly entered my mind, the thought of trusting no one when talking to Aster felt like something I could've told myself.
That may be why I didn't notice it at first.
"No mind control?" I asked as I swung my head back forward, the previous thought dispelled
She shook her head in the corner of my eye, "First of all, you and I both know that it's physically impossible, even by Starswirl himself. Secondly, assuming we could do it, it'd be mentally impossible to stay an individual as their mind molds into mind..."
I cleared my throat, "Metaphorically speaking."
I didn't need an image of two brains splattering into themselves.
Of course, she refuted in a high pitch, "Well......."
I stared ice daggers into her, and spoke each work periodically, and with emphasis, "Metaphorically speaking."
"For Celestia's sake, I'm messing with you!" With that she laughed for the first time, with a nice sound that flowed like milk, fluid yet full. The first impression of it to me was like a mother gently laughing, though her laugh was in no way soft.
"You have a great laugh," I said without really thinking.
Io turned her face from my view, hurriedly replying, "Thanks! Though I've been complimented of that before!"
She straightened herself out, and I simply smiled tenderly. I closed my eyes when we reached a straight bend in the road, and let thoughts flow through my mind. I hadn't thought much of Io's appearance.
Her mane swept with the wind with ease and harmony of each other as well as each strand and current of the wind. The eyes she possessed held crystal gems of green that seemed to hold a thousand different versions of themselves whenever she shifted even slightly. And of course, she was a little shorter than me, but barely, I only assume so because I feel tension in my neck when I slightly bend it to see her in the eyes.
I shook my head after realizing where this could be leading to, and took a breath, albeit shaky. She didn't notice however, then focused on the road ahead, it hadn't occurred to me but the road had straightened out, the forest and meadow gone, and only Ponyville slightly growing in size in the surroundings of us.
I sighed, then muttered, "Another time, another world, another life."
Io turned her head slightly out of the corner of my eye, and asked, "What was that?"
I cursed mildly in my head, then replied, "It was nothing worth of discussion."
After a frustrated, or was it disappointed, grunt from her, we continued on in silence towards Ponyville, us nearly there.
I recalled the brief shuttle ride, and the file that was given to me by one of the flight attendants:
"In Ponyville, you will meet your new crew mates of the LS Nebula, you will pilot the ship and be under the captain: Nebulae."
Now, after all that's happened between then and now, I felt much better to meet them.