Ash stood on the bridge of Celestia's Sun and gazed out at the stars. She wondered what they would look like through real eyes, and not the sensor arrays that made up her own. She could see the stats of each star at will, it's lifetime, temperature, and predicted death date, but she could not see them purely for their beauty. She looked down and sighed when the door opened behind her, then continued gazing out into space as Starblazer trotted up next to her.
"So," Starblazer began, "we got the generator running. What's step two?" Ash turned her attention from the stars to Starblazer and pulled up her star map.
"Before you fell asleep, I mentioned the Phantom Zone, which was where the Manehattan's signal was sent from. Assuming they haven't repaired their engines, they should be somewhere in this vicinity." She pointed to a green dot that appeared. "And this," a yellow dot popped up, "is where we are." Starblazer examined the distance between them and the Manehattan and a sense of relief and joy washed over her.
"They're closer than I expected." She confessed out loud.
"I don't know if 'close' is the correct word ma'am," Ash stated, "but yes, they are within our range."
"So now we need a way to get on board their ship." Starblazer concluded.
"True ma'am," Ash agreed, "but I can't think of any possible way to reach them, and we can't repair the engines due to the fact that the generator couldn't power them, so there's no way to reach them by ship. So unless you feel like jumping," Starblazer gave a nod. "Wait, you aren't actually considering jumping, are you?"
"What other choices do we have?"
"Well, there's always, uh..." Oh great, Starblazer thought as Ash continued droning on, I broke her.
"Aha!" She exclaimed finally. "We can push Celestia's Sun!" Starblazer gave a look of disbelief from under her helmet.
"Push it?"
"Yup!"
"All the way to the Manehattan?"
"Yup." She repeated, "Aren't I a genius ma'am?"
"You're something alright." Starblazer responded, obviously not buying into her new idea.
"Fine," Ash said defeated, "We'll go with the first plan. But if I say it's too dangerous, then..."
"Ash," Starblazer interrupted, "I know the drill."
Starblazer stood in the small hangar bay and checked her T-240 rifle's charge for the third time. Ash appeared in the upper left-hand corner of her visor, wearing a pilots hat and goggles. Starblazer just rolled her eyes.
"All set ma'am," Ash reported, "whenever you're ready." Starblazer checked her rifles charge one last time, then clipped it to her side. She then made sure the claw tool was secure. She never knew when she'd need the incredible device.
"I'm ready."
"Alright then," Ash fitted the goggles over her eyes, "opening hangar doors in 3...2...1..." The bulky doors clicked noisily and then opened suddenly. Starblazer was thrown out of the hangar and drifted aimlessly into the emptiness of space. She had never felt anything like it. Floating freely in the dark vastness was breathtaking, and she glanced left and right, admiring all of the universe that surrounded her. Even Ash was silent as she took it all in. Starblazer was just glad to get out of the ship. It had become so dull and boring, the same routine every day, and now she could just float through space, without a care in the world. But she had a job to do, and free-floating carelessly through space was going to have to wait.
"Where to?" She asked.
"A little to your right ma'am." Ash stated, then remarked "Isn't it just beautiful ma'am?"
"Yes it is Ash," she smiled, "it most certainly is." She then triggered her armor's booster pack and shot off in the direction Ash had instructed her to. When she had traveled a short distance, Ash gave her another set of directions.
"Now turn just a little to the left ma'am," Starblazer turned slightly using a short burst of air from her side jet. "And the Manehattan is in this direction." Starblazer continued steadily onwards, when she noticed a small, shiny grey dot in the distance.
"What is that?" She asked.
"That's the Manehattan." Ash replied, "And it appears to be covered in some form of ice."
"'Some form'? Couldn't you just say it's covered in ice?"
"Well, I could, but considering this ice has a different energy reading than most ices, it would conclude that this is not an ordinary type of ice." Ash stated calmly.
"Alright, so what exactly does that mean?" Starblazer asked, confused.
"It's different than other ice ma'am."
"I got that Ash!" Starblazer exclaimed, "What I meant is how is it different?"
"Well, as I said before ma'am, it has a different energy signature."
"And that means?" Starblazer inquired.
"It means that this ice isn't really ice at all." Ash replied. "Whatever it is, it's alive."
"So the ice is alive?" Starblazer said in disbelief.
"Not the ice itself ma'am. Something in the ice. Or at least that's what the readings point to." A look of seriousness came over Ash. "And if you don't slow down ma'am, you're going to crash into it."
"Huh?" Starblazer said, taking her focus off Ash and realized she was right; the Manehattan now loomed before her, a giant icy-grey silhouette against a black backdrop. She hit her front booster hard, slowing her decent, but was unable to prevent herself from running into the ship. She extended her forelegs and prepared to brace herself against the icy hull. But when she came in contact with the ship, her hooves slipped and she smacked head first into the ship. Her helmet and armor lights flickered, then became steady once more.
"Smooth landing ma'am." Ash commented. Starblazer was about to reply when the ship shuddered. She quickly found a clear patch of metal and magnetized her front hooves to it to prevent herself from being shaken off. Then, almost as suddenly as it had started, it stopped, and all was still once more.
"Ash," a sense of confused fright lingered in Starblazer's voice, "What was that?" Ash looked frantically at invisible data and a look of confusion crossed her face as well.
"Fascinating," she whispered.
"What?" Starblazer asked.
"That wasn't the ship. It was the ice. How unusual."
"For living ice?" Starblazer questioned. "What is usual about living ice!?"
"True," Ash agreed, "but still, something doesn't add up." Starblazer was about to ask Ash what didn't add up, when the ice she was on pushed out suddenly with so much force that it broke through her armor's hold on the ship and she went flying off into space. Starblazer quickly activated her jets and stabilized herself just in time to see the icy fist retract and then expand over more if the ship.
"Ash?," Starblazer asked, "What just..."
"No idea ma'am." Ash answered before she had even asked the question, "but it appears as though something doesn't want us to be on the ship."
"Alright then," She unclipped her rifle, "time to change its mind." She clicked the rifle's safety off, waited for the power to hit max, and then took aim.
"Uh, ma'am," Ash said cautiously, "I not so sure that's a good idea." But Starblazer wasn't listening; she pulled the trigger and sent a bolt of energy silently soaring through space. It hit the ice and a silent explosion sent shards of ice flying harmlessly into space. The ice shuddered and retreated back into the ship through a large gap in the Manehattan's hull.
"What were you saying?" Starblazer smirked as she powered down her rifle and clipped in back into place.
You shall regret that. A voice echoed through her helmet.
"Regret what?" Starblazer asked, confused by the question.
"I didn't say you would regret anything ma'am." Ash confirmed.
Both you and your false friend will perish.
"There it was again!" Starblazer exclaimed. Ash looked around, as though she was searching for the source inside the helmet.
"I don't hear anything ma'am," she replied, "maybe you hit your head too hard." Starblazer listened for a little while, waiting for the voice to say something diabolical again. Silence.
"Yeah, maybe I did." She said, convincing herself as well as Ash. "Through the hole?"
"You read my mind ma'am, if such a feat was actually possible." Starblazer angled herself at the hole, hit her main jet, and boosted towards the Manehattan, but this time she made sure she wasn't going too fast. She didn't want to hit her head again. As she neared the gap, she cut the jets and coasted through the opening into the Manehattan.