//------------------------------// // Chapter 25: Light // Story: Equestria's first warp drive - Alternate ending // by CCC //------------------------------// “Well, on the bright side,” said Twilight, “if they're not moving then it means we'd still catch up to them quite quickly, even if we let go of the warp bubble. We could relax a bit, catch up on our sleep.” “That would be nice.” said Fluttershy, quietly. There was a short silence. None of the girls moved out of position. “Of course,” continued Twilight, “there could be just about anything there when we catch up to them. It'd almost certainly be best if we're well rested, and ready to react to whatever we find.” There was another pause. “And Flim would sure appreciate not having to bring us all our meals.” continued Twilight. “Not to mention bringing round that bucket...” Fluttershy blushed. The bucket was just embarrassing. But none of the ponies moved out of formation. “I really would prefer to rescue our sisters as soon as possible, darling.” said Rarity, after a while. “Perhaps we should just keep this up for a few more minutes before we stop?” “If we do stop the spell,” said Twilight, “there's no reason why we can't start it again, later.” “I think we can keep this up a couple of hours still.” said Rainbow. “Maybe longer.” “We should probably make a schedule.” said Twilight. “Five minutes off every now and then for bathroom breaks, eight hours off once a day to sleep, maybe fifteen minutes for meals...” “I don't need fifteen minutes to eat a quick lunch.” said Rainbow Dash. Rarity shuddered. “As much as I appreciate the sentiment, darling, it's really not very ladylike to bolt your food.” Rainbow snorted derisively. As if manners mattered at a time like this! * * * “It's kind of dark out here.” said Sweetie Belle, looking down the unlit corridor. “Yeah, without all those glowing screens...” agreed Applebloom. “Oh, comeon.” said Scootaloo. “It's just a bit of darkness. Come on, let's go find that ink.” “There could be anything out there.” said Sweetie Belle, nervously. “Aliens, maybe.” There was a sudden burst of green light. All three fillies jumped, and turned around. “What?” asked Spike. “Dragon, remember?” He blew out another puff of flame, lighting up the corridor for an instant. “Can you keep that up?” asked Sweetie. “Nah, I get out of breath.” said Spike. “Don't worry about the aliens, they're scaredy-cats. I can deal with them.” He puffed out his chest and strutted a bit. “What about alicorns?” asked Sweetie Belle. “What?” asked Spike, his strutting interrupted. “There was an alicorn filly earlier.” said Sweetie. “I don't think she liked us much. She chased us into a broom closet.” “I think I met her.” said Spike. “She seemed a bit confused.” “Confused how?” asked Applebloom. “She said she was Celestia's daughter,” said Spike, “but she thought that Rarity was Celestia's student. I don't know why she'd want to lie about that, but there's definitely something funny going on with her.” There was a swishing sound from next to them. The Crusaders dived to hide behind Spike, who yelped and let out a tiny puff of flame... which allowed him to see that the sound had been a door opening as they walked past it. “D'ya think there might be some ink in there?” asked Applebloom. “With any luck,” said Spike, “there'll be a torch in there. Or maybe a bit of wood. Something that burns... I can light it, and then we can have some proper light...” “Do these aliens even use torches?” asked Scootaloo. “I mean, they had those glowy panels in the roof...” “Like firefly lanterns without the fireflies.” said Sweetie Belle. “I could make a torch,” said Spike, “if we find some sticks and maybe a bit of tar.” “Do aliens even have tar?” asked Sweetie Belle. “Now just a minute!” objected Applebloom. “We're being Cutie Mark Crusader Ink Finders, not Cutie Mark Crusader Tar Finders! We gotta concentrate on one thing at a time or we'll never get our cutie marks!” “Maybe we could be Cutie Mark Crusader Stuff Finders?” suggested Sweetie Belle. “Yeah, that might be a bit more useful than Ink Finders.” added Spike. “I mean, then you could find anything that somepony was looking for, not just ink.” “Hmmm.” said Applebloom. “Ah guess that makes sense. Okay then... Cutie Mark Crusader Stuff Finders it is!” “You're going to come help us look, right?” Sweetie Belle asked Spike. “It's just going to be a whole lot easier if we've got a bit of light...” * * * “So, we'll hold the spell up for the next three hours then,” said Twilight, “at which point we'll break for supper. We'll go to sleep – I'll set an alarm spell to wake us up after eight hours – and then we'll have breakfast and come back to pick up this spell again. Then we'll have a few bathroom breaks distributed throughout the day, fifteen minutes for lunch...” “That's way too long.” opined Dash, again. Rarity growled. “Fifteen minutes for lunch.” said Twilight, firmly. “And then we'll keep going, again with an occasional bathroom break, until we stop for supper tomorrow. Repeat as necessary. Then we'll be far more alert when we catch up to those Ferengi, and better able to deal with anything they might try.” “If they've harmed so much as one hair on Sweetie Belle's head...” muttered Rarity, darkly. “We'll catch up to them in about three and a half days with this schedule.” said Twilight. “And of course we'll keep up the communication with Spike, so we'll know what's happening...”