With a dull thud, the SS Twilight's landing gear finally met the surface of the moon, and everyone on the Bridge let out a cheer. There were mainly two groups, one to either side. On one side was the PolariSoft crew, and on the other side were the former Kings and Queens from the Underworld caverns, with Northern standing somewhere in the middle. Saphira was the first one to actually say something, and she laughed before saying, "We really did make it!" "Oh, we sure did..." Murmured the deep voice of Prince Blaze, the imposingly tall Dragonpony king of what was once Inferno Cavern.
Silver let out a tired sigh as he leaned against Fluttershy, and he nuzzled her as he said, "I'll go to the medbay now..." It kind of worried her that he was not only willing to go, but reminding her. Then again, she supposed the painkillers were wearing off by then. Fluttershy said her quiet goodbyes to North and Saphira, and she walked out of the room, Silver held on her back.
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By the time it came to fix Silver's leg, it had been in awful shape for a long time, and the only alternative to removing his leg would have been an extremely demanding healing spell. For a normal pony, the answer was simple, a robotic leg to replace their normal one. But the princesses weren't having it. The Twilight's medbay ended up becoming a princessly meeting for a while, as Cadence, Flurry, Luna, and Celestia all came over on shuttles to visit both Fluttershy, and the pony with her. Their combined magic easily repaired Silver's leg, despite a halfhearted protest on his end. With the pain eliminated, Silver finally allowed himself to fall asleep, and as he snored away, the three princesses helped catch Fluttershy up on all the events she had missed, and Fluttershy did her best to explain what had happened.
She also gave Celestia the diary she had nabbed, because she suspected that Tia had kept all of Twilight's other diaries. And she had! All except one, the book Fluttershy brought up from Sparkle Labs. Luna took a bit of a break to check on the dreams of all the ponies on her moon, Cadence made sure to point out that she could nearly taste the affection between Fluttershy and Silver, and Celestia just kind of went along with the flow, since she was still coming down from the stresses of the past week. Flurry got a big hug from Fluttershy, along with a "You were so small the last time I saw you!"
After they ran out of things to talk about, Each princess got a warm hug from Fluttershy as they went back to their ships, and Celestia was told to "Please get some sleep?" "Oh, I plan to~" The mare said, giving her a tired grin in return as she walked out of the room. That just left Fluttershy and the nurses who happened to be on duty. Fluttershy gave one of them a shy smile, and she picked up Silver to leave. She found her way back to the bridge, and Saphira was waiting for her. "Hey, we figured you would come back here, I'm s'posed to show you to your room" She said. "Oh! That's wonderful, you guys read my mind" She said, smiling back at the mare.
As they walked to the room, Saphira told Fluttershy what it was like to be herself, an AI built from code and a little bit of magic versus an AI built with a pony soul and a littrle bit of code. It was pretty interesting to either of them, and by the time they got to the room, Fluttershy felt she had made another friend. For now though, she wanted rest. She didn't think she could sleep, she loved the idea of laying down, closing her eyes, and letting her mind rest.
The room was at the end of the Administration hall, and it had the biggest doors on it. And her cutie mark. "It's funny, the door didn't light up with your cutie mark until you powered the ship, and then we realized why it wouldn't open... it's meant for you" Saphira chirped. "What about you guys?" Fluttershy asked softly. Saphira nodded to the rest of the hall, saying, "We've got rooms here too, don't you even try to tell me you don't need it"
Well, she was right. When Fluttershy came close, she realized she would have to open the door herself. She bade Saphira goodbye so she could focus on it, and she found it easier than expected to open the door, walk inside, then close it again. When she did close it, the room went dark, and she frowned with confusion as the big TV on the wall lit up.
It lit up with Twilight on the screen. From the way she spoke, it seemed like this was nowhere near the first time she had recorded it, which was natural for her. She left such awkward phone messages, Fluttershy always found them amusing.
The purple mare sighed, then she looked to the camera. "I don't know why this is so hard to record, it's not like I expect that something bad is going to happen to me" She said. "But Fluttershy, if you are hearing this, then it means I wasn't here to show you how the ship works, but it does mean that you made it here, powered it up, your body and all" She said, smiling eagerly at the thought. "I don't know why the urge is there, but I felt like I needed to make this recording, just in case, just so I could tell you... why" She said.
A deep breath, then she kept going. "Fluttershy, you're my last friend, everyone else is gone. I don't know how Tia and Luna handle it. I don't! I... This ship was designed from the beginning in the hopes that I would find a way to link a pony's mind to the controls, because what would be better than an AI but a pony with a helmet on?" She said. "But I couldn't make it work, not the way I planned" She said, sighing. "So, I'm taking the power core. I'm taking you and it to Sparkle labs, and I'm going to put you in it" She said.
"Then, I'll... I'll never lose you, I'll make the ship work, my greatest project won't be such a failure" She said, tears rolling down her cheeks as she spoke. Fluttershy felt such a well of sadness at the image... Twilight had been hurting, it was clear that her fears had been consuming her at the time. But who can help a pony if they refuse to help themselves? Twilight began to speak again, "Anyway, I suppose that's all of it, it's getting late so I'll just go with this one" She said, and her magic reached for something, probably the camera switch, considering that it went black. Then, the room slowly lit up, illuminating a spacious, beautifully lit up bedroom with murals along the walls that reminded Fluttershy of her old home. Fluttershy couldn't help but smile, a bittersweet wave of emotion rolling through her.
Twilight had died, but her biggest creation hadn't. She would live on, in the form of memory, legend, and a massive spaceship in her name. And she was finally at rest, too. Fluttershy had been ready to go when Twilight brought her down to the labs, but now? She was excited for the second leg of her life. She hadn't ever been to space, and she also hadn't ever bothered to get herself a coltfriend back in her time...
And well, she had one now. She couldn't help smiling as she laid Silver up on her bed, being extra gentle with him. She gave his snout a little kiss, then she pulled the blanket over him, finding that her new body was perfectly capable of producing the adorable little "Squee" that would sometimes escape her. Fluttershy climbed up onto her bed, and she laid down next to Silver, finally closing her eyes.
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The Equestrian space fleet stayed on the moon for one week. In that time, the crews and the populations of each ship settled in to their temporary homes, Fluttershy taught herself how to control every aspect of the ship that she now called home. Her and Silver grew even closer together as he recovered, too. The poor stallion had done more damage to himself than either of them had thought in Sparkle Labs, but it wasn't anything too severe, just worn out muscles that meant he spent a lot of time laying in bed with Fluttershy as she silently learned how her ship worked.
Firebox and the rest of the Underworld rescue crew were given free reign of the ship's massage parlor for a few days, and the poor guards who had sat waiting in the rain for Celestia for so long were told to rest their wings and stay warm and dry for as long as they needed. Northern and Polaris finally took a rest, and Tinker took a long nap in an actual bed, in a nice room that he'd been given, even though he had planned to sleep in the van he had brought onboard. Celestia got some well needed rest, she read through Twilight's last diary, and it was put away with the rest of them. Luna had gone for a spacewalk, which was strange to her, since the last time she was able to stand on the moon, it had been as a magic manifestation of herself while her soul was trapped inside of the moon.
All of Equestria's non-organic ponies had a party on the surface of the moon at one point, just because they could. Why not? It's not like they needed to breathe! Even Fluttershy attended, but only long enough to take a break from learning how her ship worked.
Silver had also had a meeting with White Stream, the author from ThreeTown! She wanted to try turning his adventure in a book, and he didn't mind retelling the entire experience to her, with some additions by Fluttershy.
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With a roar of its engines, the SS Twilight lifted off of the moon alongside the Cadence, falling in line behind the two Sisters' ships. By then, it was easy for Fluttershy to control the ship, and she did it all from her bedroom, though she did manifest on one of the bridge's computers for the sake of the ponies there. She still looked a little angular though.
One by one, all of Equestria's smaller ships lifted into space from the moon. Once they were all in proper formation, every ship gathered together over the comms to confirm the planet they were heading for, a distant one that appeared to have a similar atmosphere to Earth. And as a group, the ponies of Equestria fired up their thrusters, setting off towards the stars.
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Fluttershy opened her eyes, smiling over to Silver as she said "Well, we're underway... what?" She asked, noticing the worried look on his face. "I... I think I left the lights on in the labs" Silver said, looking back at her. Fluttershy looked deeply confused until she saw the smile tugging at his lips, then she broke out into a laugh, saying, "You doofus!" As she limply smacked him with a hoof, something the stallion barely noticed as he laughed along with her. "Oh, I got you good" He said, grinning a big, happy grin at her, for so many reasons that he couldn't keep count. "Oh, shut up~" Fluttershy said, and just to make sure he did shut up, the mare pulled the stallion into a kiss, holding him close to her.
On the bridge of her own ship, Cadence looked up from her book with a somewhat confused Expression. Where was that much love coming from?