Captain Solar Shield, a buff earthpony stallion that had a blue coat, a solar eclipse for a cutie mark and a cerulean mane, just hovered there, suspended by the lack of gravity...
"See anything captain?" Moon Beam, a very level-headed unicorn with a light blue coat and a blue-green mane with a lunar eclipse fr a cutie mark, called out to Solar shield.
Instead of answering, however, Solar Shield just hovered there... looking into the blackness of space and admiring the beauty of the stars. Solar Shield had been part of the space program for about 20 years now and yet he still found the view breathtaking.
"You know I bet she's also looking up at those same stars right now..." Moon Beam said as she pushed herself forward until she was beside Solar Shield and joined him in admiring the view.
"*sigh* I like to think that, but iv'e been gone for 18 years I wonder how she is" Solar Shield said, Solar Shield was the captain of a space station but he still missed his life on earth. Although he had never told anyone about the reason why he missed earth so much, Moon Beam knew that he missed his wife Twin Flare, a light blue pegasus with a bright pink mane who had an injection for a cutie mark.
"I know you miss her, but look on the bright side... you only have to be here for another 2 years then you can go back to her and retire happily" Moon Beam said as she tried to cheer up her discouraged colleague.
"I know, but c'mon Moon beam what do they hope to find up here anyway? I mean they do have theories about some distant civilization, but who actually believes that?!" Even though it was Shields dream to find another civilization he never actually through that it would come true. He went to the space station to fulfill that dream but if it wasn't for Twin Flare's support, he would've never stayed for 20 full years.
Moon Beam was about to give a reply until she was cut off by a pony calling out for her and the captain from the radio control room...
"Capt'n Shield, Moon Beam come quick, you ain't gonna want'a miss this" The pony called with a thick Manehatten accent and a rough sounding voice.
As soon as they heard their names being called they immediately rushed towards the radio room and left the first mate back at the bridge to keep things running smoothly.
"What is it Ace?" that captain said upon arriving, Ace Starfire, a talented radio pony and a well known crew member aboard the space station, he had a warm caramel coat and a chocolate brown mane with a headset for a cutie mark.
"This captain, listen..." Ace said as he handed Solar Shield and Moon Beam a pair off headsets...
"Transmi---cutti---can't esta---stab---connect---contac---at---3684--5-6--2-00---sector--5---02---d--yo---r--ad---m--- nee--el- *static*" The whole room went quiet and the message recorder stopped. Ace Starfire didn't recognize the transmission origins and couldn't trace where they came from and he also couldn't use a set of incomplete coordinates... but he tried nonetheless...
"Unidentified Spacecraft this is Space station Equestria Alpha at coordinates 2-5-2-2-6-00-4 do you copy?" Ace said into the mike, realising that whoever sent the message must be in bad shape judging form the sound of his voice and the state that the message was in.
*static**static* Ace, Moon Beam and the Captain waited for a solid two minutes before Ace decided to try a different approach.
"I'm gonna launch radio buoys 3 through 7 to try and establish a secure connection, confirm order capt'n?" Ace looked at Solar Shield and awaited a go signal.
"Umm... uh... uh.. oh-ah! sorry, yes launch buoys and get a shuttle ready, I want to know where these signals are form and who's sending them" Shield had to get over the shock of realising that his dream could actually be reality and that he could make it happen, he wasn't going to miss this opportunity... not for the world.
Solar shield began to run towards the shuttle hanger and was stopped only by the voice behind him...
"I have a reading on th' craft sir!!" Ace called out to the fleeting form of captain Solar Shield who was heading to the shuttle hanger.
"Send the readings to shuttle twelve I'll look into them there, for now you should just stay there and monitor it... make sure you keep it within the DSR (Deep Space Radar)" Shield said before continuing his journey towards the shuttle hanger.
Along the way to the hanger he ran into Moon Beam, who had already started preparing for space travel. She didn't like to tell anyone, but she knew for a fact that while others stand in awe she's always the one to snap out of it first.
"Moon Beam, I need you to wake the Elements, especially Princess Twilight, we need them to represent Equestria once more." Solar Shield said before running up to the hanger doors and scanning his hoof.
Moon Beam, on the other hand was still trotting calmly towards the deep sleep chamber with six additional space suits for the elements. Moon Beam may be the captains assistant, but she still does most of the work.
Time to wake up your highness... Moon Beam thought as she turned of the sleep module that contained Princess Twilight and all of her friends. Slowly, the module started to decompress and, after letting enough compressed air out, the door to each individual sleep pod popped open.
Moon Beam walked over to the sleeping figures of the Elements of Harmony which reminded her of when she first went to space, she was so enthusiastic about it...
Moon Beam waved good bye to her family one last time before stepping on to the shuttles launch pad and entering the spacecraft...
"Are you ready?" Solar Shield asked her, she just gave him a weak smile and fastened her seatbelt. Moon Beam was incredibly nervous and exited for her first trip to space. Moon Beam and Solar Shield had been assign to be the new captains of the space station: Equestria Alpha, the first space station that Equestria had ever launched into space...
Before moon Beam could continue to reminisce she was snapped back to reality by the sudden sound of coughing and wheezing. Moon Beam immediately recognized the voice...
"*cough**cough* Ahem... umm... where are we?" Twilight asked in total confusion, she remembered that she was part of a space program so her metallic surrounding didn't scare her. What did scare her however, was the fact that the calendar on the wall read 2089...
"Princess, umm... you were put into hyper sleep for the time being, Princess Celestia's orders. But we need you right now, we found an Unidentified Spacecraft and by protocol it's you who should do the talking... you are to go to the shuttle hanger and meet with the captain there" Moon Beam kept her level head throughout that entire rant and Twilight was not one to be told twice.
"Ok, but umm... how long will my friends be out?" Twilight said as she pointed to the sleeping forms of her friends.
"They aren't alicorns, your majesty, so it will take a few more minutes to wake them up. The pegasi are usually the ones to wake first, then the unicorns and then the earth ponies" Moon bean liked to things by the book, and so naturally she had already memorized most of the details.
"Oh... well ok then, just be sure to call me when they do wake up ok?" Twilight said in a groggy tone before turning to leave the room. "Wait did you say we found a ship?!" Twilight looked back with a shocked expression on her face, but before Moon Beam could reply Twilight had already begun her run towards the hanger.
Moon Beam smiled reluctantly at Twilight before realising that she still had Twilights suit with her "Wait Princess your suit!" Moon Beam called out while levitating Twilights suit up to her. Twilight quickly trotted back to the sleep chamber and grabbed the suit she then took a short detour to the changing room. Unlike Everyone else on the ship, the Elements of Harmony didn't have space suit under there clothing and still had to put them on... despite them being completely naked anyway.
Twilight, after struggling to put on a space suite with no one else's help and coping to the tight fit, was now making a mad dash towards the shuttle hanger...
I hope am not late... Twilight said as she darted towards the hanger door and pushed her hoof against the identification pad. The hanger door slowly swung open, allowing for Twilight to continue her journey towards the shuttle bay. Twilight made a final sprint and made it to the shuttle bay and was quickly escorted to shuttle 12, where Solar Shield was already waiting.
"Princess praise Celestia you're here I just got word form Ace that the alien ship has tried to establish contact once more!! We must hurry if we want to get to it! ... uh umm... your majesty" Captain Solar Shield said before climbing aboard the shuttle.
"Wait who's Ace and has the ship tried to contact us before?" Twilight said with a quizzical look. Solar Shield motioned for Twilight to come aboard and told her that he would explain everything on the way to the alien spacecraft.
After Twilight and Captain Shield had boarded the shuttle the hangar manager had already begun to open the take-off doors and started the launch sequence. Shortly after the launch sequence started Twilight and Captain Shield were hurtling through space at supersonic speed. When Captain Shield was done calibrating everything and establishing connections with the base he began filling Twilight in on their current situation, this included a brief recap of what she missed during hypersleep.
"So we just go to the ship and try to contact them?" Twilight said for the third time still not wanting to believe that so little planning went into this first encounter.
"Yes, your highness, this is what we do for every spaceship in need of repairs... and by the sound of it this ship needs alot of repairs" Solar Shield said while remembering the shattered bits and pieces of the message that they had heard.
"But what if they're armed and dangerous?! what if they want to kill us or-or-or maybe even take over our homeworld?!" Twilight said starting to panic.
"Relax Princess if they are armed... well we are too... I just don't want to have to use our arms..." Shield said trying not to imagine a worst case senario.
After those words the entire shuttle fell silent for a few minutes until Ace's voice cracked through the radio.
"*static* Hello can you hear me? *static*" Ace spoke through his radio. "*static*Loud and clear control what does it look like form up there?*static*" Shield replied happy to have established contact.
"Well, you should be able to see the actual object in a few minutes..." Ace said while he scanned through charts and graphs trying to work out where the object came form and whether or not it was one of theirs.
A few minutes passed and not a sound was heard... until Twilight caught a glimpse of what they were looking for.
"WOAH! that thing is huge!!" Twilight blurted out suddenly while she glued her face to the window of the shuttle to try and get a better view.
"What is it?" Solar Shield said while he slowed the shuttles engines down to a near stop right next to the behemoth of a spacecraft.
The captain slowly brought the shuttle right next to what he assumed was a boarding bay, but he didn't try to attach himself, instead he simply picked up the radio and began broadcasting a massage to the ship. Due to the fact that they had no idea what kind of frequency the radio rode on, Solar Shield just began broadcasting several messages on several signals so that there would be a very slim chance that the spacecraft wouldn't be able to receive the message.
"It's only a matter of time until one of our messages gets through and we can establish contact..." Shield unbuckled himself and floated over to the shuttle's control panel and turned on every receiver that they had, when suddenly one of them started blinking...
Beep beep beep...
...Beep beep beep
"We have confirmation that the launch was successful!!" Thomas Mallory, a muscular and fit man with an above average height, yelled triumphantly at the rest of his team at N.A.S.A. his team was delighted... all except for one...
"What's wrong John? I thought you always wanted to build a working spaceship? and now you have, so what's up?" Thomas walked over to John Dickenson, an excellent computer engineer who had below average height and a slight slouch and was renowned for making extraordinary spaceship designs and blueprints.
"...They said that the Arch would be our last hope... do you really think that they were telling the truth?... I mean look at what we are doing to our planet..." John said in dismay as he looked at the files in his hands...
The Arch (1)
Model: DST( Deep Space Traveller)
Type: Self-sustaining
Purpose: Exploration
Created: July 10, 2076
Launched December 2, 2078
Included Functions: Weapons Systems, Multiple communications arrays, Hyperjump Generator, and reinforced plating.
Description: The Arch 1 was meant to carry the last survivors of the human race in case of some species threatening disaster.
"I wanted to create a ship that would allow me to make contact with other alien races... not this..." John said while letting a tear run down his cheek.
"Being remembered as one of the people who saved humanity is, in my opinion, more important than aliens..." Thomas said to his friend trying to lighten the mood.
"It's not that it's just that... has humanity really gone so far... that we have to think about what would happen if we destroyed are own planet?" John said with sadness sewn all over his words.
"*sigh* I don't know anymore... I don't even know what to be scared of... the fact that we planned for the worst... or the fact that the worst could happen at any time..." With those words John got up and left the room... leaving Thomas to think about what he had just heard.
Meanwhile aboard the Arch 1
"I'll find them for you dad..."