“Trivial!” called out Fine Control, as she spotted the young stallion, frantically glancing through the books in the library. “Thank goodness, you're still alive!”
“Not for much longer, if the Creature comes in here.” said Trivial, tossing aside one book and grabbing another. “Has it got Healthy yet?”
“Not unless it was within the last three minutes.” said Fine Control. “He says the herbs are growing well, at least, though that's slim comfort if we won't live long enough to use them. What are you doing?”
“This whole situation reminds me of something.” said Trivial, tossing yet another book aside. “I'm just not sure what, it's rather frustrating...”
“Does it matter?” asked Fine Control. “Without Magic Surge to provide the power, we can't ever go home; we're trapped here forever, in the deepest depths of space! Why, we shall never see Celestia's sun again!”
“Celestia's Sun!” said Trivial, looking up suddenly. “Brilliant! I think I know what to do now!
* * *
It had begun well enough, a full day earlier; the Friendship had been en route from Equestria to the first and nearest star, Proxima Centauri, a mere seven lightyears away. Thanks to the flutter-teleport, this equated to a mere three weeks of continuous rapid-cast teleportation spells; however, even with Magic Surge's impressive reserves providing most of the raw power, it was necessary to stop on occasion for all three unicorns to rest and recuperate. It was for this reason that Captain Swift Wing had declared a two-hour lunch break. Healthy Growth had taken the opportunity to ask Fine Control if she would accompany him in a game of chess, while Captain Swift Wing had asked Trivial Knowledge to double-check the spell matrices for any signs of incipient burnout. Trivial suspected that the Captain would likely spend her break in the main exercise room, trying to break her personal speed record; though he had absolutely no idea what Magic Surge would be doing, he privately suspected that she would be fast asleep, recovering the energy she'd need to keep the flutter-teleport running later in the day.
Trivial had just finished verifying the third reversal nodes, when he heard a sudden crashing overhead. Instantly dropping his test sapphire, he ran for the stairs, heading up into the overly large exercise room. Healthy Growth and Fine Control arrived at the door a moment after he did, and the muscular earth pony pushed him back and knocked on the door.
“Captain?” called out Healthy. When he received no reply, he tried the handle; the door was not locked. With care, motioning the other two to stay behind him, he carefully peered into the room.
His eye was immediately drawn to what lay on the floor, in the shattered remains of a balance beam. It was a stone pegasus, wings still outstretched, an expression of wide-eyed surprise on her face.
Captain Swift Wing had been turned to stone.
* * *
“It's the most clearcut case of a locked-room mystery I've ever seen.” said Healthy Knowledge, firmly. “We're the only ponies within several lightyears in any direction, and unless one of us smuggled a cockatrice aboard, there wouldn't be a cockatrice any closer than that, either.”
All three unicorns nodded. They knew where this was leading, but there was no denying the logic.
“On the other hand,” said Healthy, “it is possible for a unicorn to cast a petrification spell, turning somepony to stone – permanently, or temporarily. Do any of you know three how to cast such a spell?”
“No.” said Magic Surge, immediately.
“No.” agreed Fine Control.
“No,” said Trivial Knowledge, “but I do seem to recall a herbal cure that I read about once. A combination of herbs that, when rubbed into the skin over a period of three days, can restore a petrified pony to her previous physique. The details are in one of the books in the library.”
Healthy nodded. “That would be useful.” he said. “Celestia left us with a vast supply of seeds; I can grow the herbs, and we can apply them to the Captain as necessary. But that still leaves us with a problem. We have three unicorns on the Friendship, gentleponies. All three of you claim not to know the petrification spell; but we have a petrified pegasus placed in the pantry to tell us that somepony on this ship does know how to petrify.”
Healthy glared at the assembled unicorns. “Mares and colt, while I hesitate to accuse any of you of any such dealings, I suspect that one of you may be lying. Therefore, as procedure dictates, an investigation must be run. As the only remaining crew member physically unable to cast a petrification spell, I would propose that I lead this investigation. Any objections?”
The three unicorns shook their heads.
“Very well. In that case, I would like to enquire of each of you precisely where you were and what you were doing when the Captain was transformed.”
“I was in my room.” said Magic Surge. “Sleeping. You should know, you had some trouble waking me up.”
“I was playing chess with you.” said Fine Control.
“And I was checking the flutter-teleport sigils for signs of burnout.” I said.
Healthy nodded. “Fine was indeed playing chess with me,” he agreed. “I don't believe she could have cast a petrification spell during that time without my noticing her horn glow. Trivial arrived at the door along with me and Fine; short of teleportation, he could not have been in the room.”
“I didn't notice any signs of a teleport when we arrived in the exercise room.” said Fine.
“That would appear to exonerate Trivial.” said Healthy, firmly. “Magic Surge, that leaves only you. Your alibi is unconfirmed; you could have been in the exercise room, but slipped out the other door and down the back stairs before I entered the room. I shall ask you again; did you, or did you not, petrify Captain Swift Wing?”
“I did not!” said Magic Surge firmly, as three pairs of eyes looked at her.
“Fine and I were both in the same room at the time the incident happened.” said Healthy Growth, firmly. “We can corroborate each other's alibis. Trivial could not have got to us in time without teleporting, if he had petrified the Captain. It must have been you who did it; there is simply no-one else, in the deeps between the stars. Do you have anything to say in your defense?”
Magic Surge looked around at the three of us, then glanced up at something behind us. “It's – it's coming through the wall...” she said; and as she spoke, she turned to stone herself, a statue that showed the fact of her innocence more clearly than any words that she could have spoken.
There was a long silence, as the three of us stared at the statue that had been a valued crewmember and second-in-command mere minutes ago.
“Well,” said Healthy eventually, “no-one's horn was glowing there; so, as improbable as it seems, there must be some other creature here, far from any stars, that can turn ponies to stone.”
Trivial Knowledge glanced backward. “Through the wall?” he said. “But – the wall is unblemished. Nothing came through it!”
Healthy and Fine turned about, and inspected the blank wall.
“No teleportation residue.” said Fine. “What sort of creature could we possibly be dealing with here?”