Chapter 5: Aurora (Meet Me In The Stars)
“An asteroid hit one of our wings?” Sweetie Belle asked. She pressed her face up against the glass of the window.
Scootaloo also moved up to the window to get a view, “It hit our ship? How bad is it?”
Applebloom joined her fellow ponies at the window, “There’s the wing floatin’ nearby,” she pointed to the broken wing that was floating in space.
“We need to fix the wing before it floats too far away,” Spike commented, trying to look over the fillies’ heads so he could see as well.
Scootaloo turned back around to see the dragon, “What do we do? It’s not like we can just fix it from here.”
The yellow filly turned to face her friends, “Can’t Sweetie Belle just use her magic an’ fix the wing from inside of the ship?”
“You really trust her with that? Remember when she tried to use her magic to move a rock? She set it on fire,” the pegasus explained with a dead-serious expression on her face.
“F-For real?” Spike couldn’t believe that actually happened.
“She’s right. And besides, it’s not like we can just walk on out there,” the unicorn spoke with her face still up against the glass.
Spike had an idea, “Or can we?”
All of the ponies looked at him with disbelief.
“Say what?” Applebloom was the first to speak.
“Think about it, we have that airlock in the back along with spacesuits, right? Well, we have them for times like these. It’s an emergency and we don’t have much of a choice. If we don’t fix it, we’re dead in the water,” Spike described, “And if we don’t hurry, the wing will drift too far away for us to recover..”
“But that sounds really dangerous!” Sweetie Belle expressed her worry, “We’re floating in an asteroid field as it is!”
“Sweetie Belle’s got a point, Spike. Besides, even if we do go out to fix it, we don’t know how long it will take or how long we’ll last. We’re so far away from Celestia’s sun, I can only imagine how cold it is out there!” Scootaloo added to her friend’s concerns.
The unicorn spoke once more, “And for that matter, who would go out?”
After a bit of a silence and worry amongst the four, the young dragon spoke, “I will.”
The three ponies looked at their captain in surprise.
“Ya can’t go out there, Spike, yer our captain!” Applebloom shouted.
“And it’s super dangerous!” Sweetie Belle said again.
“But we need to get the wing fixed no matter what, right?” Spike reiterated their problem.
The ponies knew he was right. With a nod from all of them, Spike led the fillies to the back of their rocket. With their help, Spike suited up for his spacewalk.
Applebloom was holding on to Spike's helmet, waiting to give and it to him. She asked the dragon a question, “Are ya sure ya havta do this? Ah mean, ah could go out there an’ do it mahself. Ah know how ta repair things, too.”
“I got this, Applebloom,” Spike said as he zipped up his suit, “Besides, Besides, I have claws, which makes things like this a whole lot easier.”
Spike’s words didn’t seem to comfort the yellow pony. “Ah guess so,” she said, giving the space helmet to the dragon.
“Alright, you ready Spike?” Scootaloo asked the second the dragon placed the helmet over his head. She was responded to with a nod. “Okay, as soon as we leave, we’ll open up the airlock, in which you will be able to go out into space. You’ll have about ten minutes or so to reattach the wing. It shouldn’t take you that long, but let’s not test it. We’ll be right here in the ship, in constant communication with you. The second something bad happens, we’re getting you out of there, got it?”
“Got it.”
“And Spike, I don’t think I have to say this, but remember that we need the wing back on or we can’t get home or do anything. Failure. Is not. An option,” Scootaloo’s face was serious.
Spike sighed, “Thanks….no pressure….”
“Be safe out there, Spike,” Sweetie Belle said as she trotted out of the airlock room with the other ponies following.
“And Celestiaspeed,” Scootaloo added quickly before the doors slid closed behind them.
As the girls left, Spike turned his attention to the airlock doors. On the outside, his body language would give off the impression that he was calm and collected. Inside his suit, however, he was shaking uncontrollably and gritting his teeth. His claws where gripped tightly on the railing, waiting for the airlock doors to open. As if on cue, a red light started flashing, accompanied by a siren. The door creaked open slowly, causing a whirlwind of air to rush out of the room and into the vacuum that awaited outside. The dragon hung on tightly to the railing before him, trying his best to not fly out of the rocket. After what felt like an eternity to the dragon, the whirlwind ceased trying to pull Spike out. Carefully floating, Spike drifted out of the ship and into space. Moving slowly along the side of the rocket, he gripped whatever he could to not fly off. His concentration of this, however, was broken with by radio transmission.
“Spike, are you there? Come on.”
“I’m here, just taking my time on moving along the side,” Spike answered as his claws gripped onto the ship.
“Good to hear you’re alright,” Sweetie Belle continued, “Now, the thrusters are turned off and we are stationary right now. You have eight minutes of air in your suit and the wing is within grabbing distance for you. How are you doing out there?”
“It’s cold out here in space,” Spike commented, trying not to think of how dangerous the space walk was.
On the radio, another voice spoke up, Scootaloo’s, “Just be careful out there, Spike! The odds of surviving a space walk repair in an asteroid field are 3,076 to one!”
“Never tell me the odds,” the dragon nonchalantly replied as he continued moving towards the broken wing.
“Where’d ya get those numbers? Applebloom’s voice spoke up.
“I don’t know….”
Ignoring the fillies speaking on the radio, Spike made it to the broken wing. Carefully gripping onto what was left of the wing, he looked up to see the broken piece hovering just within his reach.
“I’ve reached the wing. The missing piece is within my grasp,” Spike announced.
“Understood. We see you from here,” Scootaloo responded as she looked down from the window to see the dragon outside.
Sweetie Belle looked on as well with her friends, “Take your time, Spike. We can’t afford any mistakes. Also, you have six minutes of air left.”
Spike’s voice was deadpan, “You’re not helping.”
“Oh, right, sorry!” the unicorn apologized.
Spike was quick with his work. He mended the broken wing both quickly and efficiently. While he was having trouble working in the vacuum of space, he couldn’t let that stop him. The dragon couldn’t let his audience bother him either. He felt the eyes of the three ponies on him as he worked. Another bothering aspect for the dragon was the silence. While the ponies were under radio silence, the only sound Spike could hear with him breathing within his own suit.
“Almost done here,” Spike spoke, wanting to break the deafening stillness.
“Alright, just hurry up please. Ah wanna get home,” Applebloom replied.
“I hear that.”
Back in the ship, the three ponies were watching the dragon carefully.
Scootaloo looked down out the window to Spike working, “This is really intense….like reading that last Major Dun book. No, this is more suspenseful!”
“Spike is really brave about all of this,” Sweetie Belle commented as she observed the console in front of her.
“He really is, goin’ out fer that space walk an’ all,” Applebloom added, looking out the same window as her pegasus friend.
Spike’s voice came on the radio again, “Alright, the wing is fixed. It should get us back to Equestria, no problem.”
“Alright!” Scootaloo cheered.
“Great, now hurry back to the airlock door, you only have two minutes of air left,” the unicorn’s voice had a touch of panic in it.
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” the dragon remarked as he disappeared from the view of the window.
Outside, the dragon was hurrying along the side of the spacecraft. Hanging on to what he could, he moved from one point to the next while grabbing onto the ship. Upon reaching the door of the airlock, Spike saw the door locked shut. He tried to push the button to open the large doors, yet they were still unresponsive.
Spike spoke into the radio, “Equestria, we have a problem.”