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// Chapter Three: Embark 
// Story: My Little Trekkie: First Contact is Magic 
// by A Dude Guy Thing 
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It was finally time to depart, and tension was growing. Everybody was in their stations. Captain Sparkle was in her chair, watching the monitor in front of her. Her command staff were all with her in the bridge, except for Fluttershy, who was in the engine room, in case anything happened, and Twilight had a screen open by her side displaying Fluttershy's station. Braeburn was also in the bridge, but ready to be sent anywhere should anypony need help. Verhina was observing the crew by the entrance to the bridge.

Various ponies of importance were passing through the bridge. Twilight had a determined look on her face, and after a few moments as things settled down, she gave the order. “Begin lift off.” Numerous ponies began typing on their consoles, as the ship slowly positioned itself for take off. “Lift off in three, two, one... GO!” For a few moments, nothing happened. “Aww, fiddlesticks!” Pinkie shouted. Suddenly, the ship blasted off, quickly leaving the planet surface in moments, and moving above.

The ship slowly started heading above Equestria. They weren't that high, and in fact, just going over Ponyville. Almost everypony was watching the monitor, displaying what was directly in front of the ship. They gazed in wonder as the ship sped Ponyville, and pegasi gaped at it as it whizzed past. The trance was snapped as the ship hit something, flying. “Oh no..” Twilight said. “Who did we hit?” 

Braeburn rushed to the camera console, and checked. “We've hit.. an owl.” A louder crack was hit. “Great, now we've hit Derpy.” Twilight sighed. “Guh, lets just hope that the ship washing service at Moderately Deep Space Nine is cheap. Alright, Rainbow, take us away from home.” With that, Rainbow Dash enthusiastically punched in a few commands with her hooves, and leaned back, as the ship slowly tilted upwards and finally sped up, leaving the atmosphere relatively quickly.

What greeted them upon leaving was amazing. Countless stars were in every direction possible, as the ship quickly travelled away from the planet. The main screen displayed an image of Equestria, and Twilight gasped. It was so much larger than she had ever hoped and.. a sphere? Damn, Celestia has got some explaining to do, she thought. She watched as the planet slowly grew smaller and smaller, until she noticed other planets, which were all.. orbiting the sun. When I get home, she's going to have a full scale revolution on her hands, Twilight thought.

Snapping out of her daydream, she thought for a moment about what to do. “Uhh, Pinkie, scan for the space station.” Pinkie excitedly tapped into her console. “Okay, I found it, but before we go I should tell you that there are some ships coming right to us! Ooh, look! And there are smaller ones about to hit us!” The ship vibrated violently. “Oh, those are missiles! How silly of me!”

Twilight had a look of shock on her face, but quickly snapped out of it. “Return fire! Pinkie, send the lead ships co-ordinates to Applejack. Applejack, prepare to fire. Rainbow Dash, make sure that we aren't heading in the same direction as them, or we'll be too easy to hit. Rarity, try to open a channel with the lead ship.” 

Soon enough, Rarity reported “Channel opened, Captain.” Twilight rose from her chair, standing directly in front of the screen. The screen flickered into life, displaying two strange creatures, which looked like ponies but both had two strange horns on both sides of their heads, like branches of trees. Both their coats were brown. The left one spoke. “We are the Antellonian Imperium, and in the glorious name of his divine highness, we demand that you surrender the ship.” Twilight sighed. “No, no, we are taking your ship, in the glorious name of Princess Celestia. Surrender now or we will be forced to use our Thermonuclear Friendship Device.” Twilight finished, bluffing with the last part.

Both parties stared at each other – Twilight trying to figure if they would surrender, and the two aliens trying to figure if she was bluffing or not. Eventually, the left one who had spoken before stated his intentions. “Surrender, this is your last chance.” Twilight stared at him with anger. “So be it. Fire!” At that, dozens of laser beams were fired at the enemy ship. Likewise, the small but numerous enemy ships began firing their weaponry at their vessel. The ship was rocking with every hit taken, but Twilight wasn't just about to give up. “Enemy lead ship shields down!” Pinkie shouted. Twilight grinned. “Fire the muffins!”

With that, Pinkies explosive muffins were fired, some missing, but most impacting the hull and exploding, creating holes in the hull. Soon, the ship exploded, sending debris flying. Firing ceased for a few moment, as if all the crews of all the ships were shocked, at the same time, but then returned. Twilight had an idea. “Applejack, what's the biggest weapon we've got?” Thinking for a moment, Applejack responded. “Well, that'd be the Prototype Proton R-19. But we only have two.” Twilight grinned.

Two missiles were launched from the ship, and began travelling. Through space. Towards the tightly packed group of ships engaged in combat with a large ship. The sight was beautiful – two missiles gracefully travelling through nothingness, as bright lasers lit the scene in a dizzying array of bright colours. Soon, another colour emerged – Orange, from an explosion.

“Their shields are down!” Pinkie reported. “Teleport them all off! Do what we did to Luna when she became pushy – Straight to the moon!” Twilight commanded. “Hold on,” one earth pony stepped up. “Aint that a little too far? Just killin' them all like that?” Another pony also joined. “Yeah, think off all of their families! Their children!” They slowly approached Twilight, mutiny in their minds. “STOP!”

The sound had actually came from Braeburn, of all ponies. “What do you two think you're doing, Applecider, and you of all ponies, Applecake? It may seem brutal, but think of what they'd do to us, if they had the chance! Sure, they may have families, but so do we! It's them or us.” Twilight was impressed – not only had Braeburn taken the initiative to try and defuse a situation, but he actually was successful. Both ponies were backing down, annoyed but with a look of defeat on both of their faces.

Twilight stood their, impressed, when she was brought back to reality by the ship shuddering as another laser hit it. “Do it.” she said, and Pinkie hit a few keys and grinned. “It's done! They're partying in space now!” she said. Twilight relaxed in her chair, and listened to Fluttershy's damage reports. “Umm, and there's a few hull breaches but not in anywhere important, though a few crew quarters have to be sealed off. Oh, and the secondary communications array got damaged, but nobody ever uses that anyway, other than making prank calls on SpaceMart.”

It had taken a while, but the ship had finally been fully repaired, while it travelled to Moderately Deep Space Nine. They all watched the massive space station in awe. It was like a palace, in space. Ships travelled in and out regularly, and there seemed to be some sort of strange, alien tunnel near it which occasionally opened and closed to allow ships to travel through. Rarity gave her a thumbs up as the communication channel was opened, and Twilight stepped forward in front of the screen, and it displayed a creature which seemed identical to a pony on it, with a light brown coat and horn, a dark brown mane and tail, a friendly smile. After a few moments Twilight realised something: it was no unicorn, it was an alicorn, with its winged tucked by its side.

“Greetings, ponies. You have my utmost gratitude for saving the ship. Please, come on board, I'd like to discuss this in person. You'll be directed towards a suitable dock.” The channel closed before Twilight had a moment to say anything, but then, she had nothing to say. She was too excited about the prospect of exploring an alien station. From what Verhina had told her, not only had the stations crew discovered a wormhole in space which led to a part of the galaxy incredibly far away, but their Pony Joe's had the best tofu burgers in the known universe.

The ship slowly docked, and Twilight prepared to explore a new, alien place.