Spike sat down in the back row of the lecture hall. He turned on the Holo-screen on his desk and connected his Wrist-Comm. A screen with numerous diagrams and equations appeared. The professor teaching -Professor Talon- started his lecture, and all in the hall listened intently. All but Spike. Mentally tuning the lecture out, Spike's mind wandered. Wandered to how he ended up in this room, listening to the foremost expert in the field of Faster-Than-Light Travel. Then it wandered to how FTL Travel was even discovered to be possible.
"Spike!" Twilight's voice called out, dragging Spike from his slumber. He looked over at the clock. 2 AM.
"Twilight..." Spike groaned to himself. "What are you doing up this late? This time." Spike walked out of his room and into Twilights lab, but Spike preferred to call it the 'crazy room that something will explode in'. "What is it-" Spike didn't even get to finish his sentence before he was being spun around Twilight in the air like a book.
"Look at it Spike. Isn't it beautiful?" Twilight squashed Spikes face next to hers, both facing a chalkboard.
"Yeah, but what is it?"
"Its the answer. The answer to Faster-Than-Light Travel. Cant you see it?" Spike couldn't say that he did. To him it just looked like a bunch of numbers and some pictures.
"Is this why you were reading all of those?" Spike asked, pointing to a pile of thick textbooks.
"Mm-mh." Twilight nodded.
"Okay. Now, can you go to sleep?" Spike heard a thud and looked over to see Twilight already doing just that. Shaking his head, Spike went to Twilight's room and grabbed her pillow and bedsheets.
After content that Twilight wasn't going to freeze while sleeping, Spike returned to his bed and sleep.
Spike returned to the present from his memories. "A regular FTL Spell-Sphere can only work for the spacecraft that its connected to," Professor Talon said. "And there is a limit to the size that it can effectively warp. A Mass-FTL Spell-Sphere is required to warp more than one ship at the same instance. Due to the complex technical aspects of any Mass Spell-Sphere, an entire spacecraft must be devoted to running it. The Warp Ship is the designated ship for such a purpose." Another student raised their hand. "Yes, question?" Professor Talon pointed to the student.
"Why can't the spacecrafts simply use their own FTL Spell-Spheres?"
"Ahh. An excellent question. Um, you there in the back." Professor pointed to Spike. "Perhaps you can answer your fellow students question." Spike's mind blanked. He was like a deer caught in a cars headlights.
"Because.... because, its too dangerous?" Spike answered uncertainly.
"Uh, yes. Not the answer I was searching for, but yes that is true. Too many FTL Spell-Spheres going off all in close proximity to each other is dangerous. Not to mention what happened if the coordinates entered are off even by a minuscule amount. And a Mass-FTL Spell-Sphere can make much longer warps much, much more frequently. Its just simply easier to use a single Mass-FTL Spell-Sphere than a few dozen or so individual FTL Spell-Spheres." A bell rang. "Oh, well. That's the cue for me to stop. Hehe. Anyway, don't forget the chapters assigned for reading tonight." All the students rose and deactivated their Holo-Screens. The students filed out of the lecture hall, each making their way to their quarters.
The door to Spikes quarters slid open. It was a small room. Two single beds, a bathroom with a toilet and shower, a desk, closet, and a TV. The furthest wall was slanted inward with metal shutters. The metal shutters flew up at the press of a button. Revealing a wide open endless expanse of space. Multiple large rings surrounded the center of the space station. The Canterlot Dome. The biggest concentration of surviving people lived here. A single, tall tower stood in the center. At the top was Princess Cadence's home. Her and Princess Luna are the last remaining Princesses of Equestria. Spike frowned. For the past few months, only Princess Luna had been seen. Cadence never seemed to leave the tower.
Spike entered a Warp Booth. A screen appeared showing the locations of the numerous other Warp Booths in the Canterlot Dome. Spike selected the Warp Booth right outside Cadences home and showed it his Wrist-Comm. "Access Denied!" A robotic voice told him. "You do not have the proper clearance." Spike reselected the Warp Booth and again, he was told that he didn't have the proper clearance. Annoyed, Spike once again selected the Warp Booth and this time, he entered a code onto the keypad. "Override Code Accepted. Prepare for warp." Spikes stomach turned upside-down and inside-out, his body felt like it was being twisted this way and that way before finally settling back to its natural position. He was in the lobby outside Cadence's room.
Princess Cadence heard a knocking at her door. Gripping anything she could to steady herself, she made her way to the door. She pressed a button on a panel beside the door and the door slid open. "Spike!" Cadence grabbed the young drake and pulled him into a bear hug. "Ohh. Its so good to see you again. But, why are you here?" She released Spike from the hug, allowing him the opportunity to catch his breath.
"I-I came to see you. Where have you been? You haven't left your tower. What is it?"
"Come on in and I'll tell you." She moved slightly to allow Spike entrance into her room.
Spike sat down on a bean bag with his hand on his head and Cadence sat at the foot of her bed with a gleeful expression on her face, cuddling her stomach. "You're pregnant?" Spike asked, still not entirely believing what he was just told. Cadence simply gave him a small nod. "And your sure that its Shining's child?" Spike asked jokingly. His face was promptly introduced to one of Cadence's pillows.
"Spike!" Cadence responded, trying her hardest not to laugh. Spike apologized in the midst of chuckling. After he got all of his chuckling out, Spike started to ask Cadence questions.
"Is it a boy or girl?"
"Not sure, but me and Shining have a bet on it." Spike chuckled at that. "My moneys on a girl. Shining's is on a boy. Which do you think?"
"I'll put my money on your side."
"Good choice. We've decided that if its a girl, then we'll name her Flurry Heart. And Fury Heart if its a boy."
"When did you guys find out?" Cadence's smile drooped slightly at the question. She bit her lower lip.
"We found out two months before...." She didn't need to continue. Spike knew what the 'before' that she didn't say was. Before the launching of the Canterlot Dome.
"Cadence?"
"Hmm?" Cadence looked back up to Spike.
"Can I stay here and read?" Cadence gave Spike a quizzical look. "This bean bag is really comfortable." Cadence smiled and chuckled.
"Of course."
Spike was in the middle of the last chapter that he had to read when there was a loud, sharp gasp and a glass cup shattered on the floor. Spike shot up, trying to find the cause of the sudden event. He saw Cadence leaning over a table, clutching her stomach. "Cadence! What is it?" Spike asked, running over to the pink alicorn, being carful not to stop on any shards of broken glass that covered the floor.
"Spike. Its the baby. Its coming," Cadence told him between quick sharp breaths.