//------------------------------// // First Contact // Story: The Quest For Iscanter // by eternalsquire //------------------------------// Doctor 'Trapper' Jock McIntosh just finished a very good night's sleep. When he woke up, he felt like a completely new pony. He actually felt happy for the first time in his life, no longer needing to numb the various emotional pains he had been afflicted with through his life, by chemical means. Now of course, he still felt the cravings, and as a physician he was well aware he had developed a biochemical dependence. As a patient he was also well aware that kicking any form of substance abuse would by necessity require a period of withdrawal. There was no such thing as a magical or any other easy cure for alcoholism. He had known from a failed meetings with a Twelve-Stride Group, that he would need to resist the substance for the rest of his life, dedicating each day, one day at a time, to doing so. He would definitely need to build a support group for himself to accomplish this. Now, however, he had a reason to raise his own personal standards. Fluttershy. She's so beautiful!, he thought, as he watched over her, still asleep, gently breathing, deep within her own wonderful dreams. Which no doubt included him. Last night with her was absolutely one hundred fifty percent incredible! This was his first intimate contact with anypony. He was a hopeless romantic and would wait for nothing less than true love to do such a thing. Fluttershy had told him also, and she had no reason to lie, that he was also her first. She said she believed in a destiny greater than all ponies, therefore she was convinced to have faith she would someday discover true love herself, regardless of her shyness. He had, of course, amassed a fair knowledge concerning the process from his obstetrical textbooks, but the description in those books was so clinical and so very lifeless when compared to the actual reality which he and his new wife had shared several times within the space of a day of leave all to themselves: a wedding gift from the captain. But I only saw standard pictures of and cross-section diagrams of coverings from the texts., he thougth. I never even in my wildest dreams would imagined as my first experience a pegasus making me lie down and then supplementing her leg strength by hovering over me with such precision. That had to have been researched! Ouch! I feel a bit sore right now. But oh, my! Was last night ever worth it!. . . . Fluttershy's brilliant emerald eyes opened slightly. She noticed her new husband looking down on her with incredible tenderness, and so she kept her eyes shut since she needed a few thoughts by herself before she began the first day of the rest of her life. He could wait until she had all her memories of last night sorted through. Following the end of her shift which had followed the captain's sudden consent for her to marry Trapper, she begged of him a private audience in his quarters, and so they spent a few minutes there. "Captain Avatar", she said, "I need you to help me decide something." "What would that be, Miss Fluttershy?", he responded. "I only give orders, and expect them to be obeyed, but I don't presume to tell other ponies what to think." "This is uncomfortable for me to say, sir. I need to ask you. What would be the consequences of my becoming gravid by my new husband immediately?" "That is an uncomfortable thought, Miss. A good third of our crew are all mares. If they all became gravid, we wouldn't be able to fight nearly as well as we could. Even if neither you nor the doctor are line officers, in a crisis we'd still need every able hand. Would I punish you if you could no longer perform your full duties because you were with foal? No. But I'd relegate you to a status you might consider either extremely boring or far beneath your actual capabilities, just to protect your foal." "Like mopping decks, cleaning bilges, paper work, and such?" "Yes, and such like. Nothing personal, you understand. Once the foal came into the world, you would also need to arrange your own foal care so you could return to normal duties. Doing otherwise might possibly offend me, with all that implies." "I recognize that, captain. I'd do whatever it took to help the ship to the best of my remaining ability, otherwise, no matter how messy or dirty or thankless, because what I do is not nearly as important as why I do it." "If you don't mind my asking, Miss Fluttershy, what makes you think you'd catch tonight? Before boarding every mare took a foaling control shot good for the next couple years." She took a heavy twine cord from one of her halter pockets, and hung it around her neck. Hanging on the cord were two sticks attached by wound twine at right angles, with the vertical stick slightly longer than the horizontal one. "Religious exemption, sir. I am a member of the Virgin Cult, sir, and I know to keep myself under control." "Now that I am married," she continued. "I face a dilemma. I am in season. Under regular circumstances, I could well carry immediately. My morality forbids me from taking the shot. I will, however, on your direct orders refrain from any contact with my husband until we return to Equestria, for the sake of the mission. I would humbly beg of you not to so order me, but I am willing to submit to the needs of the many. Your decision, Captain." Avatar thought it over silently. "No, Miss Fluttershy... I would never even consider..." Fluttershy immediately hung her head in disappointment. "...killing the dreams the crew has regarding their own future. Go have your foal with not only my permission, but also my blessing. Remember the sacrifices you'll be making in exchange." Fluttershy's mood changed immediately, and she raised her head back up. Her eyes now shone with hope. "Permission to give the captain a hug?" "The offered gesture is appreciated with gratitude, but its execution is unnecessary.", he said. "Dismissed." . . . Fluttershy was now fully awake in the doctor's quarters. She could remember, vividly, her being fully in season, eager for her new husband to service her, but she read some books since she wanted him to just relax and enjoy. She remembered her awareness becoming dim and taken over by feelings making ordinary joy and delight look like candles compared to the sun. She remembered at the very same moment being conscious of nothing else but her husband quivering and releasing his own very special wedding gift, meant just for her. I have absolutely no regrets carrying this sweet, wonderful, gentle stallion's foal., she thought. He's absolutely selfless! He's taken on entirely too much punishment for doing exactly the right thing under exactly the wrong circumstances, that nobody can really understand but me, since I saw it happen that day. He deserves this foal I can now feel growing inside me. She opened her eyes to gaze upward at Trapper watching over her. "I love you.", she said softly. "Forever." "I love you forever also, Fluttershy.", he replied in just as gentle a tone. They kissed, tenderly but deeply. The doctor's intercom received a hail. "Good morning!", Pinkie Pie's cheerful voice rang over the speakers. "Sorry to cut your honeymoon short, but the captain has a mission involving both of you. He needs you both in his ready room in a half hour!" Trapper pressed a button on his intercom to reply. "We'll be there!", he said. Fluttershy smiled at him. "Duty calls, doctor!" "I think, though, we both need a shower first.", he said. "A nice, hot, soapy, fifteen minute one. Together." "I need to wash some stallion right out of my mane, and send him on his way. But your way sounds like a lot more fun!" . . . Several ponies including the captain were now assembled in his ready room. He was in the center, and his ponies he had summoned positioned themselves alongside the walls. "We have a major problem which needs solved immediately.", Avatar said. "It concerns the food supply. We misunderstood the proper functioning and use of our ship's food synthesizers. They cannot use only pony manure as the input, as our own bodies absorb more useful nutrients than are left behind in the manure. We have, in short, been inadvertently slowly starving ourselves for several weeks. I'm sure many of you have already noticed subtle defects in the taste or consistency of the food. We've been assured by our technical staff that a hold full of fresh green plants will add back the missing nutrients for the remainder of the mission. Our Executive Officer will now describe where we can find them." Twilight Sparkle stuck her horn the into ceiling socket controlling the information console. Through mental commands she had the room project upon the floor the path between Equestria and Iscanter. There was a small dot representing the ship. They had not made very good time in five weeks, being halfway between Equestria and the edge of the Milky Way, a small fraction of the entire journey. "That's where we are right now", she explained. A blinking dot about at the edge of the Milky Way along the projected Galactic South heading, now appeared. "That's where we need to stop over. According to the star charts we have from Iscanter, this system contains a world having an active biosphere. What kind of active biosphere is unknown, but we must chance this anyway." The blinking dot expanded and took over the floor, replacing the overall course. Now the ponies could see a map of the star system in question. "This is what Iscanter terms the 'Beemeela' system. It has a single large gas giant in the star's habitable zone, making all of the gas giant's satellites, some of them as large as Equestria itself, also potentially habitable. Fortunately, the Iscanter maps were kind enough to spare us the time needed to search for the satellite we want. The name of the world itself is also Beemeela, and it is so labeled." An arrow drew itself to the indicated world, second out from the gas giant. "That's all we know.", Twilight said. "It's about a thousand lightyears away. Are you able to make jumps that far yet, Navigator?" "We are getting close to being able to make reliable space warps of half that distance. We'd need just two.", Rarity said. "Well, that's progress.", Twilight answered. "Our mission is to get down there, find the location of green plants if any which our bodies can use, then report back. Once the Yamato gets the all clear, she can land and we can load her up." Rainbow Dash reported next. "We're going to be taking one of our all-purpose mission craft, the Seagull, a vertical take off and landing plane. I'll be piloting, and I'll take Soarin for co-pilot. We'll have a pair of pilots in Wondersuits an escort." "Doctor McIntosh is going to head this mission.", Avatar said, "The Tactical Officer will be in overall command, but I'll expect her full cooperation with the doctor, and and other way around." Trapper and Rainbow Dash glanced at each other uneasily. "I will be taking a pair of specialists with me.", Trapper began. "Zecora's the best herbalist on Equestria..." The zebra grinned upon hearing this. '... that we know about.", Trapper smiled. Zecora rolled her eyes up in exasperation, but remained silent under the physician's teasing. "Therefore she's the best botanist we have available." "We know we're desperate for food", Zecora rhymed, "But I can taste which leaves are good. Altogether, that's so much better." "Also", Trapper continued, "I plan on taking the Communications Officer along. I believe she has a natural empathic ability with most living things, putting her in the best position to manage a First Contact for us." Wow! Fluttershy thought. I get to be the one that talks with new creatures! She stared at her husband with eyes filled with both love and lust for him. Perhaps we'd even get some private time down there, perhaps? Maybe in full gravity! "This will all happen about 24 hours from now.", Avatar said. "Everyone involved should prepare for a week's excursion."