//------------------------------// // Resolutions // Story: Imperfect Stasis // by Mocha Star //------------------------------// Twilight stood over the table in the command room while Shining sat beside her and looked at the display of the ship, most of it blacked out as the power was being funneled through the ship to other imperative locations. “Shining?” “Yes, Princess?” “Call me Twilight, please,” she asked softly as she followed the power, “it’s being shunted.” “What is?” “The reason Alotta woke up was the power fluctuated through the command ring and her pod was the one that was affected. All the pods are interlinked into the power network relay systems with their own power supply if the power fails. Common stuff,” she waved her hoof dismissively, “but there was a short in her pod that made it switch to backup power at random after the systems began to fail, waking parts of her body in random order. “The reason she died was because parts of her were older than others…” “That’s, awful,” he said leaning against her again and feeling the loss of the minotaur again, “such a terrible way to die.” “Yes, but that’s not what I’m getting at. There’s more to my reference, the whole ship has these systems installed across it and they’re all switching on and off.” “Oh no! The crew?!” “No, they have their own constant power supply in the level that runs with it’s own thaumic generator powered by the aether itself. There’s no way it’ll fail,” her ear twitched as he sighed, “they’d survive in hypersleep for the next million years, I think,” she shrugged enough to make him move off her as she followed the power conduits. “So, what’s the big deal? They’ll be fine then?” “No, the power’s going to the rear of the ship. Power’s being moved to keep us alive at the cost of other systems, and it’s getting worse. At the rate it’s going the ship may fall out of FTL.” “So, that’s not so bad,” he said hopping to the table and looked over the ship diagram. “Without going through the shutdown protocols? We’ll be turned to space dust covering half a lightyear. We’d be dead before we knew it and no pony would know for centuries what happened to us. All of us, every pony, Diamond Dog, minotaur on this ship, not to mention the other creatures in hypersleep and plants… the bacteria we’re carrying: Everything plays a role on this mission, and this ships loss…” They fell silent as they watched a part of the ship blink out before them. “Twilight, we have to fix this… now.” “Yes, we do,” she said opening her wings and straightening her back, “we have to go through engineering and find what’s wrong.” “How do you know that?” “Because, everything is processed through the rear of the ship. Waste, propulsion, energy conversion. It’s all done back there, and that’s where the power’s going in the largest quantities.” “I… don’t know anything about electronics or machinery, Twilight. What help can I be?” Twilight thought for a moment. “Well, you can push buttons and pull levers. Everypony is useful,” she said stoically, “every one.” Shining looked to Twilight with clinical interest for a moment before she wrapped a wing over him and pulled him close. “We’re all useful, right?” “Of course, Twilight. We’re all needed, like I need you.” She turned to nuzzle him and sniffled. “Thank you, Shining. I missed you so much.” “Hey, you’re not totally forgiven yet,” he pushed away and she let him go, looking at him she was at a loss for words. “You still have a few years of silent treatment coming your way.” Twilight chuckled at his comment and he let a laugh out. She leapt and tackled him to the floor and hugged him tightly, pressing her body to his. “Okay, I’ll apologize everyday until you forgive me,” she nuzzled him as he wheezed from her larger body size pressing on him, “starting after we fix the ship.” She got off him and moved on as he rolled to his belly. “I’m right behind you,” he said pushing himself up, grinning widely. … They arrived in engineering and exited the elevator taking several steps ahead and looking at the heavy blast doors that sealed the area off from unauthorized personnel. They felt as though they were wearing saddlebags loaded with bricks. “So, do we knock, or...?” Twilight pointed to the bracelet that was now wrapped around Shining’s right foreleg. He rolled his eyes at the irony and moved to a panel. The door hissed and opened enough for a single creature to move through. “You go first,” Twilight said and waited for him to go through. The door hissed closed and she smiled as he yelled her name. She waved her hoof by the pad and it hissed open and she went through the door to a tight hug. “Shining, this’ the most secure area of the ship: No more than one enters at a time, that’s why the engineering crew is sealed inside.” He let her go and frowned at her. “You just wanted to use your pass, didn’t you?” She smiled slightly and hugged him. “I’m sorry, if it didn’t work you would’ve just opened the door from this side, right?” “Yeah, but I wouldn’t have hugged you.” She let him go and looked at the platform they were on then the railing at the end. She moved to the edge and gawked at the sight of the engineering floor. Three square miles of packed piping, tubing, machinery, and power storage devices that held enough energy to power everything on the homeworld for the next ten thousand years. “Where do we start?” Shining asked. Twilight shrugged and looked around the sight. “This’ only the first level. There are five levels just like this one, more or less. The power is being diverted here, so let’s find the main power terminal and see what’s going on. Maybe it’ll shed more light on the situation. It’s that way, I think.” Twilight led him down several walkways and through several rooms until they got to the door to the room. “They locked the door?” she asked idly. “Command override, open the door, code Harmonic Six.” The light over the panel blinked red then green and the door hissed open sucking in a gust of air that nearly pulled her in before it balanced, some. Lowering her wings she used her magic to force the doors open and stepped inside, followed by Shining. “What happened?” he asked. “The gravity’s so heavy here that it’s imbalancing the air flow,” she inhaled a heavy breath. I don’t know how long it’ll be until it gets too hard to breathe, let’s go ahead and I’ll keep an eye on you.” “Yeah, likewise,” he replied as they entered the room and looked around. The terminals were flickering on and off as she approached and tapped them. “The power surge is affecting the systems here, too. There’re stairs behind that door, let’s see if there’s another terminal down there,” she moved to the panel and raised her hoof. “Wait!” she stopped and looked at him, “if the air sucked us in a little here, what’s gonna happen when we open that door? What’s gonna happen?” Twilight blinked at him and lowered her hoof back to the floor. “We need space suits.” *** Opening the door to the stairs they were nearly pulled down the corridor leading to them as air tried to balance itself. The doors shut as Twilight pressed the panel with her magic and the suction stopped. “You’re a genius, Shining.” “You’re wise for listening to me,” he replied as they looked down the hallway through their helmets to the stairs at the end and several sealed doors along the way. “Do you wanna explore?” “No, this has to be priority, we have to find out what’s wrong.” Shining took the lead and led them down the stairs to the next set of terminals. Twilight approached them and with a tap they were brought to life. Words in languages Shining didn’t know scrolled across the screens and he looked at Twilight as she read what scrolled by. “Oh no,” she whispered to herself, but it went through the helmet communications system to Shining. He stayed silent. “There’s a fault in the engines, something happened to them and they can’t self repair for some reason, so they’ve been channeling more power to them to correct whatever the problem is. We have to get to the core.” She turned and bumped into Shining and looked through the system diagnostics and atmospheric detection systems displayed inside her helmet to the pony that stood two heads shorter than her and blushed as he returned her gaze. She turned away finally and moved to the door at the far end of the room and opened it. There wasn’t a sucking of air, but the alert that there was none in the rooms ahead. The weight on their bodies made them feel as though they were carrying twice their weight, yet they trudged on. The way was clear the whole way with dust a millimeter deep laid across the floor the whole way that puffed as they stepped through it. He looked back and saw their path as they walked and began to think idly to pass the time and take his mind off the weight on his legs. “Twilight, it’s getting so hard to move.” “I know, but we’ll fix it soon and then you’ll feel like you’re walking on clouds.” Several corridors they passed through until they came to a lift and entered it. “Is this a good idea? With the gravity being so heavy?” “I don’t know,” Twilight responded as she pressed a button, “but I can’t teleport very far with this weight on me, us. So we have to take the chances as they come and adapt as we can.” He nodded and sat as the lift began to descend. It ground slightly as it moved, but made the trip all the same. He was the first off and glad to be on solid ground again once they stopped at the engine level. The weight almost made him fall to his belly as it pulled on him. Twilight left the lift and staggered as she moved ahead to the blast doors and moved to open them. The door buzzed and ground barely open enough for her to fit through if she’d not been wearing a spacesuit. She inhaled deeply and used her magic to bring Shining to her side and she looked intently at a spot just inside the doors and teleported through the doors. Barely making it inside she and Shining collapsed to the floor and looked back at the door that they barely passed through. “That was too close,” she said as she forced herself up and looked around the room. “The control room’s here, the engine’s in the next room. Let’s go,” she said as she lifted him and moved her way to the doors to the next room. They opened easily and she winced at the heat that washed over her while Shining shouted in surprise and tried to get away to no avail. “It’s hot, Twilight! Even through my suit, it shouldn’t be this hot.” “I know,” she said as sweat began to form on her brow. “The engines are failing, that’s what the console read. There’s a fault in the gravity plating that started when the ship struck something, maybe a meteor or grazed an asteroid? It doesn’t know, but it woke me up and it’s been failing more and more ever since. The weight is pulling the engines out of alignment,” she panted as she walked in further and looked at the engine core through heavy glass, “and the systems are trying to keep them aligned.” “So,” he panted, “the gravity is breaking the engines? That doesn’t make sense to me.” “Science often confuses ponies,” she chuckled, “I’ll explain it to you later. Just, pulling that lever should reset the engines in sequence and keep us at FTL while balancing the power flow again. Once the flow is balanced the systems will begin to self repair and we’ll be home free,” she said happily. Walking to console near the window she reached and gripped the lever. “So, that’s gonna fix everything? Just, pull a lever?” “Yeah, why?” “Kinda, I dunno, anticlamatic… I was expecting something more.” “Well, life isn’t like a book or movie. It’s sometimes as easy as pulling a lever,” she said pulling down. There was a low hum and grinding sound. The engine core flashed blue and then green just before gravity stabilized and she breathed easier and let him go to the floor. They breathed a sigh of relief as they moved more freely, the weight of their bodies freed. “So, now what?” “Now, we go get a drink at Minnie’s,” Twilight said turning away from the handle and problems. “I guess, after a shower. I’m really sweaty in here,” he said tapping his suit and looking at the engine. “Is it supposed to do that?” Twilight exhaled shortly and lowered her head. “I don’t think so, whatever it is,” she said turning around and looking at the engine core. “You’re getting your little adventure after all.” The core was crackling with fire and electricity, dancing across its spherical shell as arcs of plasma formed and fell back to itself. “That looks like a star.” Twilight stood beside him and nodded. “Don’t tell anypony, ever, but it is a star. It’s how we power the ship engines, humans created an artificial star to power them. They’re the most inventive species ever, but not without faults. Ponies used magic to confine the star and minotaurs used their technology to distribute the power. “Together it was supposed to be the ultimate, eternal, power source. The problem with stars, is gravity.” “Gravity?” he asked, sweating still. “They make their own. The room in there is supposed to project an antigravity field equal to the gravity the star is producing so that there’s a balance of weight. If the gravity fails on either side the engines fail. That’s why the power’s been channeling here, the core’s losing anti-gravity power.” “So, just balance it out. You can do that, right?” “No, each system is proprietary to their races. The star is collapsing, that’s human tech, not pony.” “So, what do we do, then?! Just wait while it collapses and we fall out of FTL?” “No, it’ll turn into a black hole and suck most of the ship into itself before it evaporates. The rest of the ship will be turned to space dust from moving faster than light to standard space speeds in less than a minute.” “So, what the hell do we do?! I can’t die before I’m supposed to die!” “Well,” she paused and thought for a long moment then sighed. “I don’t know how to restart a sun… let alone make one.” He turned and quickly made his way to the consoles. “There’s gotta be something in here, anything!” “They don’t keep that stuff accessible to us, Shining. Even if they did, it’d take a week for a team of ponies to get the basics down and the minotaurs that are trained in the matters are asleep.” “Then do something with your princess powers! You can’t let us die all die like this!” Twilight looked at the core again and watched the arcing plasma strings dancing across the surface. She watched for nearly half an hour while Shining tried to find anything in the computers. Her eyes widened and she snapped her head to look at him. “Shining,” she said with a happy tone. “What?” “We’re moving at FTL speeds! That’s the answer, well, an answer.” He looked back to her. “An answer to what?” “We have to open the core and expose the star to space and it’ll reset itself!” “Twilight, I’m not a scientist, but that’s not how stars work. Even I know that.” “No, but that doesn’t apply at these speeds. The dark energy we’re passing through is more than enough to reset the core by, essentially, washing away the extra charge. All we have to do it open the ventilation ducts for, like, ten seconds, then we’ll be set and fixed!” He looked at her through both their helmets and stared into her hopeful eyes. “Fine, but if we die I’m never talking to you again,” he said walking past her and to the window. “So where’re the vents?” “They’re,” she looked around the core and didn’t see anything, “wait a minute, let me check.” She tapped several commands into the control panel and read the displays and garnered an awkward smirk. “Just pull the lever against that wall for ten seconds, that’s it.” He smiled back to her. “I guess sometimes a lever is all you need, may I?” She nodded. He hopped in excitement. “I never thought I’d get the chance to save everypony! Best day ever!” He pulled the lever and there was a hissing sound, but nothing happened near the core. “Did it work?” he asked several seconds later. Twilight shook her head and he pulled the lever again. “It’s not working, the panel says the vent system is damaged and needs to be,” she lowered her head until her helmet made contact with the console, “opened manually.” He let the lever go and panted as the heat began to dehydrate him. “So, where are we going?” “Not we, me. The system will vent once the system is activated so I’ll just go out there, pull the whatever to open the vents, teleport back and boom, over. Then we can get drinks,” she lifted her head from the console and turned to force a smile. “Easy as apple pie.” “Okay, so how do we open the vents? Where’s the lever?” Twilight walked past him and opened a door against the far wall. “Outside.” “Oh, outside. That sounds easy, wait, outside? Like, outer space, outside?” “Eeyup.” He looked intently at her. “There’s a couch in your suite with your name on it… let’s go there and talk about this.” “This’ no time for jokes, Shining.” “I’m serious! You need my help, heck, you need more than my help if you think walking around outside is a good idea to vent the power of a star!” “Don’t raise your voice at me,” she replied back as she walked through the doorway. He followed her closely. “I’ve fought monsters and befriended the Lord of Chaos. I’ve-” “Never actually done anything like this! It’s one thing being tethered to the ship and floating around for fun. This? Make a mistake and you’re lost!” “Then I teleport back,” she said in a deeper tone. “That hasn’t been working too well for you lately. Ever since we got down here your magic’s been wacky, at best.” “It may be better now.” “What if it’s not? What if you get sucked out into space and turned into-” “Then I die, Shining,” she turned back to look at him with a disturbing calm, “I die and join my friends, family, lost loved ones and pets that I’ve cared for over the years,” she stood tall and if she could open her wings, she would have. “I return to all that I’ve lost, for the sake of all those beneath me.” “What the hay are you talking about?! There’s only me that’ll ever know, that’ll ever care about your sacrifice… What would the heroes of Equestria’s third age think if you died before you finished your objective? I can’t do this!” “I always finish what I start, it’s what I’ve always done and will die doing.” “You’ve got issues, we’ve established that, but there’s more to this mission! If you succeed and don’t make it back, I’ll be alone for the rest of my life.” Twilight looked down to him and slumped. “I know… I,” she paused, “I have to do this, for all those under me.” “Under you? What about the Bronze Pass you were so proud of? The bricks of hay and oats you choked down for years. The overall world of suffering you subjected yourself to just to be one of those you rule over? You wanted to be their equals, now you want to die their queen?” “No, Shining. It’s not like that, I have to do this. It’s what Princess Celestia would do, right?” “Well we don’t know because we can’t just call ‘Princess Celestia’ and-” “Yes, my little pony?” “-expect, her… of course.” “Princess Celestia?! How are you here? Can you help us fix the core?” “I’m sorry, Princess Twilight Sparkle, I’m the core’s verbal interface. The core system is nearing critical mass, but I’ve been listening to your conversation and I believe in your ability to make the right choice, Twilight.” “Why’s she voiced as Princess Celestia?” Shining asked Twilight. “When something goes wrong with the most dangerous and important area of the ship, the most recognized and calming voice has to be the one chosen, right?” Twilight advised him. “So, you still believe in me, Princess Celestia?” “I am programed to respond to you, Twilight, as you need me to. And right now I’m sensing the same young unicorn that was afraid of leaving Canterlot to make friends in Ponyville. That was once so insecure that she started a mob over a stuffed doll just to find a reason to write a letter to me.” “Twilight, we should talk about that,” Shining said softly. “The same little Alicorn that would cry into my mane when she was afraid she was going to fail her friends or the nation. You’ve always been so concerned about others’ opinions of yourself, Twilight, that you’ve rarely thought, rationally, about yourself. Time is running out. If you leave the core as it is, I estimate four days before it goes critical. “You can spend that time living as you did back home, or you can spend it as you did when you were alone… or, my most faithful student, you can do what you postulated and live the rest of your life as you see fit. But whatever you choose, you’ll always be special in my heart and in the hearts of every creature that has crossed your path.” “Wow, she’s really good,” Shining said aloud. Twilight looked to him and he gulped. The tears in her eyes were dripping into the helmet and she wept silently. “We should go back upstairs and take these suits off, take a little while, and talk the options over. C’mon, Twi,” he turned and started to leave. He stopped and looked back to see she was gone. “Twilight? Where are you?” he asked loudly. Her voice crackled back through his helmet as he bound into the room they’d both been in. “I’m outside the next set of doors. Shining, you’ve never called me ‘Twi’ before, and it helped me make up my mind.” “Please! Don’t go, don’t die, not for me, not for us,” he called out. “I might not die. There’s a great chance I’ll just walk back in the door.” “How can you deflect the issue like that? This’ life or death and doesn’t need justification! Just use your magic to do this, you’re an Alicorn.” “My magic is wacky because of the massive amount of magical energy coursing through the area. There’s more flowing around here than I’ve ever used in my life, much more than I could control. I’m opening the outer maintenance hatch now. It’s so much cooler.” “That’s because it’s space! It’s cold and will kill you! Just, come back in and we can figure out another way!” “Celestia was right, you were right, my friends were right. I put others’ opinions of me first. I need to do this, for me. And as a result, whatever happens, I’ll have made everyone proud, even you. Shining, I’m so sorry I lied to you, woke you, stole your life and career from you. I thought about it, but I didn’t really think about it, if that makes sense.” “Twilight, come back. We’ll talk this out and maybe we can both go fix it, together. I don’t want to lose you, I can’t be alone for the rest of my life.” “That’s only if I don’t make it, silly colt. I plan to come back. I’m on the surface of the ship, walking to the venting chutes.” “Chutes? How many are there? Are you going to have to open more than one?” “No, just the one. They’re just redundant systems that’ve failed.” “That defeats the point of them being redundant then, doesn’t it?” Twilight giggled through the comms. “Yeah, one of them is warped and won’t open. The other has to be open manually. It’s easy enough, Shining. All I do is press a button and get out of the chute while you pull the handle and vent the atmosphere of the star. Once that happens the dark matter and energy will flow into the vent chute and recharge the star. Just like I said it would before. “I’m nearing the chute.” Shining coughed dryly and walked back into the reactor observation room and to the lever. “I’m ready, because I believe in you.” “Thank you, Shining. I know you do, and I believe in you, too. You can do this with me.” They fell silent for a minute until Twilight broke the silence. “I’m almost to the vent. It’s more like an iris, to be honest. Once I push the button I’ll tell you and let you know when I leave the chute. You pull the lever and we hug when it’s over, okay?” “Yeah, or what was it you said earlier? Yup?” Twilight sighed wistfully. “Eeyup, it’s what my best friend, Applejack’s brother said, a lot. He was quite the stallion.” “Oh?” he asked, “was he one, indeed?” “Not like that. I rarely look at ponies that way in the first place. With him he was as large as a horse, almost. Red as the skin of an apple and his heart was a honest as-” “Sounds like something happened,” he joked. Twilight puffed her cheeks but didn’t reply. “Were you at least close?” “No, a friend of a friend is all he was. Nothing more. I’m at the iris. Pressing the button. Oh no,” she said in surprise over the connection. “What? What happened?” Twilight pressed the button twice more and the hatch opened and closed each time. “The hatch won’t stay open unless I’m pressing the button.” A klaxon alarm sounded twice and the room around the core turned yellow. “What was that?!” “The console just lit up! I don’t know, Celestia, what’s happening?” “Venting cycle has begun,” the voice replied to them. “Oh horseapples…” Twilight gulped and pressed the button with her magic and backed down the chute, focusing like she hadn’t in millenia, only for the iris to swivel closed before she could get out. “Push it and wedge something in there, there’s gotta be something, there’s always something!” “Don’t panic, Shining. This’, gonna be okay. I can still make one heck of a shield spell and that’s from my own reserve of magic, not from the world around me. I’ll go into my overpowered mode and boost the shield, just pull the lever when I say so, I’ll be fine.” “Fine? You’re saying you can deflect the heat of a star washing over you for ten seconds?” “Yeah?” she responded with uncertainty. “That’s not enough! We have to do something else, teleport back here and get something to wedge in there.” “I can’t, Shining. I’m opposite a star, I’d be sucked into it before I reformed on the other side. I’d never make it. Shining, I’m ready, pull the lever.” “No, i don’t believe you! It’ll kill you, the fire of a sun. C’mon, there has to be another way.” “Shining, this’ it. Vent now or the core will go critical in the next few minutes. The safety seals were released when the venting cycle began. I didn’t know they would, but I can feel the change in power, it’s so strong. You have to pull it, now, Shining.” “Twilight, I can’t lose you… I, have strong feelings for you, I want to tell you muzzle to muzzle.” Twilight’s eyes glowed white as she focused the shield around herself and pressed the button with her hoof and the iris opened. She could feel the heat spike to greater than it was in the control room. “I feel the same way, Shining. Pull the lever and I’ll tell you when I get back in.” Shutting his eyes tightly he leaned and pulled the lever down and held it as a whooshing sound filled the area. Twilight screamed as the fire of a white dwarf washed past her and down the chute, out into space. The heat wasn’t abated by the shield and she could feel herself beginning to sweat profusely inside her suit. Each breath she exhaled threatened to blind her vision with fog on the inside of her helmet. She grunted and panted as seconds passed. She whined as her eyes returned to their normal purple and her shield began to fail as her magic waned. With a whimper at the last second her boots demagnetized from the heat and as the last flame of the star sputtered out she used her magic to hold herself in place. “It’s working, Twilight! The heats dropping and the console’s turning green again! It’s fixed, come back in! Twilight?” he waited a few seconds. “Twilight, stop messing around and come back in here.” “I, love you, Shining,” her voice crackled through his helmet, then there was silence.