Time Turner was jolted awake as the Twilight rocked violently to the left, throwing him from his bed and onto the cold metal floor. Scrambling to his desk as he was continually shunted from side to side, he grabbed his uniform band, a piece of red material that went around his neck, and activated the comm badge that was pinned on it.
“Time Turner to bridge, what’s going on up there?” he asked, fearful that the Taurians they had faced only a week earlier had finally caught up with them. After a second, the cheerful voice of Star Shot filled his ears.
“Sorry about that Time Turner, we took a bit of a detour through a small nebula that had a few anomalies weaved through it. We’re just going through a bit of space turbulence that’s all,” she replied and Time Turner groaned.
“Space turbulence is not a real thing, it’s just varying gravitational forces acting on the ship. But that’s not the point, as the chief science officer on the ship, you should have called me when you first detected the anomalies.”
“Well get up here then,” Star said, disconnecting the comm badge. Time Turner facehooved, rubbing the tiredness from his eyes as he struggled to restrain the frustration that was building up inside him. He and Star Shot were the best of friends, but she always found a way to irritate him with her carefree attitude. She loved to ignore the safety protocols and charge into a situation without all the facts, something he found utterly stupid.
He slipped the uniform band around his neck and left his quarters, grunting as the Twilight rocked again, shunting him into the doorframe.
***
On the bridge, Time Turner took over his station, relieving a young ensign who gave him a strange look as he walked away. Star Shot gave him a nod and a smile, before turning back to the main view screen, where a massive cloud of purple dust surrounded the ship, with light from unknown sources refracting off the tiny particles throughout.
“Wow, that’s beautiful,” said Primprose, her eyes glazed over in awe. Time Turner smirked at the girl’s innocence.
“It’s just a cloud of dust PrimProse,” he told her as he started up the scanners, searching for any sign of the anomalies that Star had previously mentioned.
“I know, but… I’ve never actually been inside of a nebula before,” she replied, pouting at the stallion for ruining her fun.
“Yeah Time Turner, lighten up, we’re out here to explore remember?” Star smiled as she turned to face Swift. “How’s the hull plating holding up?”
“Not bad, a few micro-fractures, but the magi-seals are taking care of them with no issues,” he replied, not looking up from his console.
“Keep an eye on the mage reactor levels,” Time Turner said, sending a file to Swift’s console. “Stellar Cartography are doing a few experiments in cargo room four.”
“On it, thanks.”
For the next few hours, they carefully studied the anomalies in the nebula, finding that they were simply reverse gravity wells, pockets of ‘negative gravity’ that forced matter away from it rather than toward it.
“I don’t think we are going to find anything useful out here captain, just some run-of-the-mill stellar anomalies,” said Swift, looking slightly disappointed, but mostly exhausted. One of the things that Time Turner most admired about Swift was that some of his more ‘efficient,’ if not self-harming, traits had translated from his former position as a royal guard to his tactical officer status. The main one of those qualities was the tendency to work ridiculous hours on next to no sleep, and after taking a quick look into the bridge logs, Time Turner found that Swift had been working for the past twenty-one hours, with only a single half-hour coffee break at lunch time. Shooting another quick look over at the tactical station, Time Turner tried to get a read on just how much damage his ruined sleeping pattern was doing. But sure enough, and much like he expected, Swift was like a block of marble. A few bags under the eyes and some slightly ragged breathing were the only indication of his body protesting.
The only times that Swift ever showed true emotion was when he was with Heartstrings, as though she was the final key to his heart, able to carve away the marble.
With a quick flurry of hooves, Time Turner sent a quick message through to Star’s screen on the captain’s chair, informing her of Swift’s condition. Star looked at it for a moment, letting a single concerned sigh escape her lips.
“Swift, I just had a quick look at the logs here and it tells me that you are long overdue to be relieved. Go to bed,” said Star, instantly snapping back into her authoritarian voice. Time Turner’s heart skipped a silent beat, as though her voice had woven though his soul and frozen him in place.
‘What are you doing fool? Science!” shouted the rational side of his brain. Throughout his time with Star Shot, his mind had a tendency to wander. Not because he was attracted to her, not at all, but rather the fact that she represented everything he hoped to be in the future. He wanted his own ship, his own crew and his own adventure. Serving on the ‘Twilight’ was just the first step.
“But, uh¬¬... um. C-Captain, I really don’t–“ Swift started, before a single raised hoof stopped him.
“No arguing my friend. You can barely make a sentence. Now go back to your quarters. Heartstrings will have my hide if I were to let you pass out on the console,” she said, her words jovial but her tone as serious as Time Turner had ever heard. Swift simply closed his eyes and nodded once, before stepping away from the console and being relieved by the same ensign that had previously occupied the science station.
After Swift had left the bridge, Star turned to Time Turner.
“I swear; that stallion will be the death of me.”
“Death of you? More like the death of himself. We need to crack down on this, captain. You saw today’s work log, now have a look at the rest of the week,” he told her, swiping at his console and sending the rest of the files to Star’s screen.
Breathing out yet another dejected sigh on Swift’s behalf, she skimmed over the logs, and Time Turner could tell she was only getting more and more worried about her friend. Collapsing onto her chair, Star Shot ran an irritated hoof through her mane.
“What is wrong with him? Why is he trying to torture himself?” she asked nopony, staring out into space. Time Turner watched her closely; her breathing was calm, her eyes were active, internally running though all of the possibilities and solutions to the problem that was her tactical officer. She never once scowled, never slammed her hoof onto the armrest in frustration. She just thought. “We have to talk to him, find out why.”
“I agree, although we should wait until he goes for his next scheduled shift and do it just before then,” he suggested and Star nodded, before shooting a look back at her screen.
“Uh, Time Turner, did you know that his next shift is in four hours?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at the science officer.
“Delay it to eight?”
“Yep, delay it to eight.”
***
Following a hasty reshuffling of duty rosters, Time Turner and PrimProse managed to make certain that Swift received his eight hours of sleep, but when the time finally came to talk to him about what was going one, Time Turner found himself in an unwanted situation.
“Why do I have to be the one to talk to him? Where are you going to be?” he asked Star, as they stood a few doors down from Swift’s quarters.
“Because you are the one who has had psychologist training my friend. And besides, PrimProse will be there to assist you,” Star replied, gesturing to the pink pony beside her, who smiled awkwardly.
“Fantastic,” he said in a deadpan tone, before pushing past them both. Making his way up to the door, Time Turner pressed the doorbell, wincing slightly at the grating electronic buzz that it made. A few seconds later the door opened to reveal Swift looking only slightly rested. The dark circles under his eyes were the size of saucers and Time Turner could barely make out any flecks of white from inside his bloodshot eyes.
“Oh, hello sir, how can I help you?” he asked, stepping aside and gesturing them in.
“Well, the captain ordered us to come and talk to you about something very important.”
“And what’s that?” Swift inquired, taking a seat on his bed. Time Turner sat next to him while PrimProse took the chair at his desk.
“We need to know why you have been taking such long shifts on the bridge,” Primprose said simply, giving him a kind smile.
“And more importantly, we need you to stop. So, go on. Regale us with your story,” Time Turner said with far more drama than he had intended. Swift gave him a small scowl, before bowing his head in knowing defeat.
“I-I have been having a lot of nightmares and stuff lately. Not to mention feeling physically weak. I can’t concentrate. I can barely see though this haze that has come over my vision I-I’m just having a rough time,” he explained, his voice cracking slightly.
“Have you been to see Doctor Neuron or hey, even your wife?” Primprose asked, giving him a quizzical look and Swift just nodded.
“A few times now. But they aren’t overly sure what is going on. But after conversing with some family and friends back in Equestria, I know what is going on.”
“Okay, go on…” said Time Turner, now thoroughly intrigued.
“Have either of you ever heard of the theory about the three types of pony magic?” he asked, and received a shake of the head from both of the others. “Well the theory states that every type of pony in the main three races has their own breed of magic. Pegasi can fly and move clouds, make weather and what have you. Unicorns have more control since they have their horn to guide their energy. But Earth ponies? Our magic is connected to the earth, and since I’m away from it, it’s affecting my body. But then I’m not the only one. All of the issues that have been going on between the Earth ponies and the others on the ship? Same problem as me, we need earth to get our magic back.”
“But that’s ridiculous! I’m an Earth Pony and I’ve had no such problems,” Time Turner objected, snorting at the very idea of Earth pony magic.
“Oh no? You haven’t felt extra tired, hard of breath when you first wake up and just before you go to bed?” Swift asked knowingly. Time Turner paled. The breathing problems had started about two weeks ago, but he had just attributed it to a mistake in the pressure sensors of the life support system, and had even submitted multiple maintenance requests as a result.
“I-I…” he stammered, unsure of how to respond.
“That’s what I thought. I didn’t want to go the captain until I had enough evidence that this was the case, but after a lot of research I think I finally have it,” he told them, pointing to a large folder that rested on the desk next to Primprose. “Basically Turner, if we don’t find an M-class planet with a magical resonance similar to Equestria’s soon, Earth Ponies are going to start dying off.”