//------------------------------// // III. Convergence // Story: Starship Ponyville: Homeward // by Vylet Pony //------------------------------// The Starship Ponyville was the first of its kind: an Industry-Class Hyper Cruiser, capable of housing 10,000 occupants, 300 naval combatant spacecraft, and 20 high capacity transports. All of these criterion were filled completely by the time of launch. It was built beneath the outskirts of Ponyville, with its production having started before the Equestrian Civil War. For the past month, debates had increased among the crew about the very nature of the Starship Ponyville’s purpose. Celestia had declared a state of emergency in Equestria a few years back, regarding the overpopulation and resource crisis. Her proposed solution was to find habitable planets outside of the Equestrian planetary system in order to find suitable locations to colonize. However, since the expedition began, they hadn’t explored any planets. The decision to investigate an asteroid over anything else in the past three months confused many. Hundreds of ponies had gathered along the east hangar bays across the ship to watch the asteroid interception. The plan was that the starship would match the relative velocity of the object and perform a soft touchdown. Celestia had determined that this would be the safest and most non-destructive means to investigating the asteroid, with no evident collision course otherwise. Soon after the crowds had gathered, the asteroid came into view. Murmurs and whispers filled the rooms and halls of the ship. Satyrn, Vylet, and Sylver watched together in the main hangar where they had been. Rayna was watching intently from the top of Vylet’s head. “I’ve spent a lot of time going through the records kept on this ship,” Rayna told them. Sylver whipped around to Rayna, a bewildered expression had come over him. “Rayna, how in the hell did you get access to those? Only Celestia has permission to see them. You could be convicted of treachery against the Equestrian monarchy,” Sylver’s rare tone of concern took Satyrn by surprise. “Yeah.. Rayna are you serious?’ Vylet questioned. Satyrn nodded, echoing his inquiry. “The laws only apply to ponies that exist,” Rayna was aloof, “but according to what I know, CX38 was logged as a point of interest the same date that we left Equestria.” Satyrn and Sylver exchanged curious glances. Between them, Vylet appeared to be contemplative. “Well..” Sylver started, “Celestia didn’t even know this asteroid existed until March, I think. Does that check out?” Vylet and Satyrn nodded. “So it wouldn’t make sense. Are you sure you analyzed everything properly?” Sylver asked. “I don’t make mistakes,” Rayna insisted. “You kind of do. Hyper-intelligence doesn’t make you invulnerable to everything,” Vylet taunted. Rayna’s horn glowed brightly, revealing the records in question. Sylver covered his eyes, unwilling to view classified information. Vylet and Satyrn examined the records closely. The records revealed that CX38 was added to an index of locations to reach during the expedition. It was the only entry and was dated “February 10, 2051, Sol 1”. “So?” Satyrn’s expression was patronizing, “why were you looking through these documents to begin with?” “I want to keep Vylet safe. Any potential compromise in leadership must be found out sooner or later,” Rayna replied defiantly. “If you’re desperate to keep him safe, why do you let him sit near the deflector shields?” said Sylver. Rayna’s looked over at Vylet for assistance. Vylet shrugged at her, with a smug expression. “They burn your face–” “Ok it’s … time for you to be … quiet,” Rayna was attempting to sound flustered, but fumbled over her words. The four of them looked back outside to see the asteroid right along the ship. The crowd of ponies began to make various oohs and ahhs as CX38 inched closer and closer to the ship. About fifteen minutes later, the Starship Ponyville was hovering just over the asteroid. After a moment, the ship touched down on the asteroid, the hangar filled with cheering and applause. Satyrn, Vylet, and Sylver cheered with them. As Rayna settled into Vylet’s hair, her face became contemplative. The asteroid was sprawling with researchers and scientists examining the rock and its structural integrity, like ants moving about their subterranean colonies. Satyrn was helping to set out a gravitational generator, as CX38’s escape velocity had been deemed a risk factor of the operation. The surface was dry and brittle, breaking under hoof; it was silent as a grave for the time being. Satyrn set down the generator half a mile out from the ship’s landing site. She waved up at Sylver, who was watching from the ship’s bridge. Sylver dashed over to a command console and set out a terradome which covered the surface area of operations. As the terradome locked down, Satyrn removed her AMCD head protection. The sound of mechanical whirrs and clicks echoed throughout the dome and then things were quiet again. Suddenly, the asteroid sprung to life, as the spotlights on the ship revealed the bluish-grey, rocky surface of CX38 in its full glory. After flipping a few switches, the machine buzzed to life. Satyrn felt the asteroid pulling her towards itself as gravity began to normalize. When this occurred, she heard distant chirping sounds, like hundreds of bats flying together in unison. She listened for the source and traced it to the cavern entrance. “Sylver, did you catch that?” Satyrn spoke over the comms. Various bits of static and noise were heard before Sylver replied. “Hear what? I was making coffee.” Sylver was making coffee. “There were some weird noises coming from the cavern, I think.” “Probably falling rocks or something. We just gave CX38 the gift of gravity. After all, you know what gravity does. Things fall.” Sylver started snickering at his own sarcasm. Satyrn glanced over at the bridge, Sylver was surveying the area in question. “Honestly, everything looks good right now. All diagnostics come out safe.” Sylver reassured. “Alright. Thanks.” Satyrn replied. She stood up and started towards the ship.