//------------------------------// // Ignition Stage // Story: Finding Space // by dancing mop //------------------------------// Deep in the shadowed forest, silence reigned supreme. A thin crescent moon cast thin streams of light through the skeletal trees, and a thick, cloying mist permeated the land. A cloaked figure emerged from the mist, hoofsteps softly falling on the wet earth. Moving with purpose, she came to a clump of gnarled branches at the base of several trees. She pulled it aside, revealing a door that was crudely hewn into the side of the largest tree. Checking one last time to ensure she was unobserved, she raised her hoof, and knocked three times upon its solid surface. For a time, there was once again silence, punctuated only by the pony's breathing. Then, a series of mechanisms could be heard within the tree itself, culminating in a loud click as the door was unlocked. She pulled the door open with only the barest of creaks on it's heavy, well-oiled hinges. Within, a chamber less than half the width of the tree-trunk was revealed by a firefly lantern suspended from the ceiling. Stepping inside, she pulled the door shut behind her. After a moment's hesitation, the floor itself began to descend deeper into the earth. Shifting uncomfortably from the sudden momentum, the pony adjusted her saddlebags, keeping the weight better centered. Her precious cargo shifted around in the bags, dully clinking together. The floor lurched as it came to a stop, causing her knees to buckle. She was now standing in a room lined with wooden planks, and lit by two more lanterns. In front of her, another door stood, constructed of sturdy timbers, with a bronze handle securely locked from within. Clearing her throat, she called out, "Guys! It's me! I got some more stuff to look at!" A muffled voice answered from behind the door, "Wha-oh, you did? Um, oh, good!" Locks could be heard disengaging, as the voice continued, "What took you so long? We thought you'd be back hours ago." The door opened, and the speaker stood in the entrance. She too was wearing a cloak, wrapped tightly around her to ward off the subterranean cold. Her hood had been pulled back, revealing a young white unicorn, whose green eyes inquisitively stared down the still-hooded figure. "Sorry," The newcomer replied, violet eyes sparkling with pride as she lowered her own hood, "I just had to take another look. You wouldn't believe what I found!" "Scoots, that you?" Another voice drawled from the back of the cramped space. A new pony stepped forward, a similarly cloaked yellow filly, with blazing orange eyes and an oversized pink bow on her head. "No," replied "scoots", "I'm a changeling spy who looks like your friend, who found out about your secret lab, and the ultra-secret alien technology you're studying in it, and who's here steal it so our glorious queen can use it to take down Equestria." Without warning, she found herself pinned to the wall by a surprisingly strong forehoof wrapped under her neck, legs dangling just above the floor. "Whoah, whoah, I was just kidding, Apple Bloom! Let me down!" "Ah know." Apple Bloom replied, not letting up, "That's not why ah'm mad." "Huh?" Apple Bloom pulled her hoof back, letting Scootaloo drop to the floor in a heap. "Ya went back t'the dig site without us. Ya know we don't go there, 'cept as a group." "Aw, C'mon!" Scootaloo shot back angrily, pulling herself to her hooves and brushing herself off, "You know it's harder for them to see us when we're alone anyway!" "That's not the point!" Apple Bloom shouted back, "We're Crusaders, darnit! We do things together!" Lowering her voice, she continued, "'Sides, if ya did get caught, an' one o' us wasn't there, we wouldn't find out about it 'til the Guard started knockin' at the door." "Guys, you know I don't like to take sides." Sweetie Belle interjected from behind her. Scootaloo scoffed. "You can say that again", She said, rolling her eyes. Sweetie Belle gave her an evil, toothy grin and repeated, "You know I don't like to take sides, but I'm with Apple Bloom on this one. We're supposed to be a team. We don't go sneaking off alone into a dangerous government facility. We go sneaking off with our two friends into a dangerous government facility!" Scootaloo frowned sullenly, "Sorry, I thought you guys would like a surprise." "Well," Sweetie Belle replied, "Humor us." "Yeah!" Piped in Apple Bloom, "We still might! It just depends on what kinda neat stuff ya brought us." Scootaloo smiled and reached into her saddlebags, withdrawing a cylindrical object not much larger than her hoof, with severed, blackened wires sticking out of one side, and a line of curved metal panels secured to the exterior. "Check this out!" The other two crowded around her to get a look at the object. "Where'd ya get it from?" Asked Apple Bloom. "It was kind of in the back of the cockpit, right under where the floor used to be." "Say," Said Sweetie Belle, "This kinda looks like some kind of plug at the end here. What was it plugged into?" "Um, the bottom of the chair." "What?" "Oh!" Said Apple Bloom, "Ah think Ah know what it is! An' if Ah'm right, it's super important! Come on!" She snatched up the part with a hoof, leading the other two deeper into the room, behind a rolling steel shelving unit with plastic bins stacked neatly on it's shelves. There was an open area behind it, with more shelves spread around the walls, and a large drafting table in the middle. Papers, pencils, and random bits of twisted metal and plastic were strewn all over the table, which was dominated by a large, much-erased, incomplete sketch of a spacecraft, similar in shape to the crashed alien one. Apple Bloom bounded over to the table, and began inspecting a part of the diagram, twisting the part in her hoof around and eyeing it closely. "Yeah," She said, "Ah think Ah've got it! This here's the control coupling." "Oh, yeah!" , Said Scootaloo half-heartedly. She looked pleadingly at her other friend, "That thing. Yeah." "Oh!" Sweetie exclaimed as she caught her friend's meaning, "It's the part that connects the engine and the cockpit controls. It tells the engines what to do." "I thought that was what the controls were for." Apple Bloom attempted to clarify. "Nah, that's just an interface fer the pony in the driver's seat. This here takes input from the controls, and turns it inta a series of commands fer the individual boosters. Ya know what that means, right?" Scootaloo shrugged. "No." She admitted. "It means that we've got ourselves a whole engine an' control system." She grinned widely, barely containing her excitement. "It means that we're ready ta build a spaceship!" * * * "What?! No, we're not!" Twilight yelled, throwing her hooves up in a panic. Her, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash had once again convened in Pinkie's workshop, while the contractors she and Pinkie had hired built them a new headquarters. They had amassed a similar setup to the Crusaders' secret lab, with alien spaceship parts interspersed with incomplete drawings of hypothetical blueprints across their table. "Awww, whaddya mean, Twilight?" Asked Pinkie, still clutching the diagram she had slammed down on the table before her stupendous announcement. "We still don't know the proper amount of explosives to load on the spacecraft! Or how to build a frame tough enough to withstand an explosion strong enough to propel it into outer space! We don't even know if it can be done! And what about the instruments we need to load onto it? Do you have any idea how we're going to isolate them from the blast?" Twilight stood panting, having let loose with her entire tirade in one breath. Her friends sat, stunned, waiting for her to continue, or better yet, calm down. She lowered her voice, continuing, "I don't honestly know if this idea is going to work. I don't think a cannon's blast is going to be the way to get to space." Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes, responding, "Well, sorry if I didn't think of all the science-y stuff right away. I just wanted to throw an idea out there. You know, contribute to the group." "Awww, Dashie!" Said Pinkie as she threw a hoof over her friends shoulder, "You do plenty of stuff. Yeah, maybe your idea for a spaceship didn't work-" "Might not." Twilight interrupted. "Might not work," Pinkie continued without breaking stride, "And maybe you couldn't get one single pony to come and work for us in the last three weeks, but we're still glad you're here." Rainbow sulked, sinking into her chair and crossing her forelegs over her chest. "Thanks for the pep talk, Pinkie." "No problem, Dashie!" Twilight had calmed down sufficiently by now, and spoke up, "Hey, it's not the end of the world or anything. Pinkie and I just need to crunch some numbers and work out these engineering problems, and then we need to put up a safe site to test our spacecraft." * * * "What? Why would we need that? I'm sure this won't hurt anypony." "Yeah, you're overreactin', Sweetie Belle. We've got a wall ta hide behind; we're perfectly safe already." The Cutie Mark Crusaders had set themselves up in one of the many small valleys around Ponyville, far away enough from prying eyes for Crusader Business. There was a platform in the center of the valley, with a tube the size of a refrigerator on top of it, which they had somehow set upright. The tube had a vaguely conical nose at the top, and a nozzle on the bottom which had been salvaged from the alien vessel. A trial of wires ran from the platform, to a lever resting at the hooves of three young fillies, who were currently crouched behind a sizeable dirt mound. Sweetie Belle nervously wrung her hooves, trying to reason with her brash friends, "I just think that this could get a little...you know, explosive." Scootaloo was not to be dissuaded. "Duh," She said, "That's why we put it in a valley." Apple Bloom chimed in, attampting to assuage her friends fears, "We're pretty far from town, too. This ain't too likely ta hurt anypony. It can't be any worse than "Mine-Blasters" idea, tight?" "That's what I'm afraid of," Said Sweetie Belle, "It might be. I mean, that pack of dynamite wasn't nearly as big as this. And we just filled it with fuel from an alien spaceship." "But Ah made sure the blast's gonna go down. As in, inta the ground, and away from everypony, includin' us." Said Apple Bloom. She reached for the lever, and prepared to press it down. "Hey!" Scootaloo shouted, grabbing at the lever herself, "I get to do that!" "No way! Ah designed this thing, and Ah get ta launch it!" "Girls..." "Give it to me! I built most of it!" "Ah know how it works!" "Girls!" Sweetie Belle shouted as the lever was thrown, and the spaceship on the platform exploded. A rushing noise was heard, as if all the air were being pulled towards it, before a deafening crash bellowed out of it, with a flash of searing, bright light from the bottom. The platform, along with the ground under it, was completely demolished, as a shockwave blew out over the valley, flooding it with incandescent light and thunderous noise. The Crusaders were hurled to the ground, and clung to each other to avoid being blasted away. Their meager pile of dirt was stripped away by the force of the blast, leaving only enough of a lump to protect them from the searing fire. As quickly as it had begun, the unearthly chaos subsided, and the valley could be seen once more. A massive crater took up the space where the platform had once been, and a pall of dust and smoke hung thickly in the air. The remains of their spacecraft could be seen, a speck hurtling through the sky. It landed several miles away, with an audible thump and a puff of cloud. Scootaloo was the first to recover. Picking herself up, she climbed over what was left of their meagre safety measure. With her ears ringing, and her face streaked with soot, she peered at the incredible scene of destruction, and had only one thing to say. "That. Was. AWESOME!" Apple Bloom stood up beside her, annoyedly picking at an ear. "EITHER WE USED WAAAY TOO MUCH FUEL, OR THAT WASN'T AN ENGINE!" She yelled. Sweetie Belle nervously poked her head up, exclaiming, "I knew it! I knew we should have been more careful! We are gonna be in so much trouble now." "WHAT?", Yelled Apple Bloom. Scootaloo rolled her eyes and leaned in close to her friend's ear. "SHE SAID WE'RE GONNA GET IN BIG TROUBLE NOW!" Apple Bloom nodded, "WE ARE GONNA GET IN TROUBLE! THERE'S NO WAY ANYPONY'LL MISS THAT!' She yelled, pointing to the center of the valley, where the cloud of smoke from the blast was almost cleared away. Scootaloo took in the site, and agreed. "Yeaaah...that's a really big crater." * * * "It sure is, Dashie!", Pinkie exclaimed as they took in the devastation. By now, several dozen ponies had congregated on the edge of the valley, ogling at the ash-covered crater, and whispering amongst each other about what could have caused it. "What could have caused it?" Asked Rainbow Dash. Twilight replied, "Well, either another alien ship just crashed in ponyville; which, judging by the lack of wreckage, and the fact that no one we talked to saw anything before the explosion, probably didn't happen; or our local demolition crew is busy." Rainbow sighed, "The Cutie Mark Crusaders?" "Yup." "Oh boy!" Said Pinkie, "I can't wait to hear about what they were doing! I'll bet it was something really neat to make an explosion like that. Even I haven't blown up anything that spectacularly!" "We need to find them and make sure they're alright." Said Twilight, "And we'll have to let their sisters know what happened. They are not going to be happy about this." * * * "No, they weren't." Said Scootaloo, "No Crusading for a week! That was awful!" They had been denied access to their clubhouse, and their secret base, for an entire week, but they were back underground now, preparing to go back to the drawing board with their design. "Terrible!" Said Apple Bloom. "Unbearable!" Said Sweetie Belle. "Draconian!" Said Scootaloo. Apple Bloom arched an eyebrow inquisitively. "Draconian?" She asked, "What's that mean?" Scootaloo shrugged. "I dunno. Doesn't it mean bad? Sweetie Belle, what's that word mean?" "What makes you think I know!?" "Actually, it means: Overly harsh authority, or something to that nature, so it may be accurate in this instance." Said Filthy Rich. "Oh, okay." Said Apple Bloom, before doing a double-take. "Wait, how'd you get here?!" The handsomely dressed stallion smirked, and hefted the large briefcase he was carrying. "My Filthy Sense told me there was an investment opportunity here! And I brought a present of sorts." He lifted the briefcase up onto the drafting table, as the three fillies exchanged confused looks, and glanced from one another to the exit, wordlessly mouthing questions and dumbly waving their hooves around. Filthy undid the clasps and withdrew a length of metal, covered on one side large, crystalline tubes, that appeared to be just one piece of a larger whole. With curiosity overcoming their confusion, the Crusaders closed in around him, admiring the object. "What is it?" "Ooh, it's pretty!" "Cool!" Filthy placed the object on the table gently. "I don't honestly know what it is," He said with a shrug, "But I know that it's the only one on that ship. And I also know that you three managed to assemble something that almost worked as a spacecraft in a week, with just this." He added, with a sweep of his hoof around the cluttered, dimly lit room. "Sooo, what, yer gonna help us build a spaceship?" "Yes. I will provide any financial assistance you require, and I can also gain access to the crashed spacecraft, which will give us a supply of technology Sparkle's government program won't possess." Apple Bloom thought about this, and responded, "Just give us a second here, okay?" "Certainly." The three fillies retreated to a corner of the room, and convened a quick huddle. Harsh sounds could be heard being whispered back and forth, accompanied by wild gesticulations. Eventually, they broke the huddle, and strode over to Filthy. Apple Bloom spoke first. "Okay, mister Rich, we've got one question for ya, about our compensation." Sweetie Belle continued for her, "Will we get our cutie marks?" Filthy fought hard to keep actual dollar signs from appearing in his eyes as he responded, "Sure. I don't see why not." "You hear that, guys?" Scootaloo squeaked, "We're gonna get our cutie marks!" Too late, Filthy realized what sort of acoustical barrage he was about to be subjected to, and was unable to cover his ears in time to defend from the call of "CUTIE MARK CRUSADER SPACE ENGINEERS! YAAAAY!!!"