//------------------------------// // 21 - Departure // Story: Harmony Among The Stars // by tom117z //------------------------------// Princess Twilight Sparkle’s Personal Log, October 2nd, 3382 AD. It is done. The Sha’Du have been saved. And yet I feel uneasy. More shuttles from the Harmony have landed, and some supplies and equipment were teleported directly to us. J’Poc, in his hurry to evacuate, has left behind the Stabilisation Crystals from the station; more than enough to replenish our lost supply. But as I just stated, he evacuated He’s gone. Reports from the Harmony indicate they almost destroyed his ship, but they were forced to break off their attack when he dropped a mine right in their path. I do not blame the crew, I would have been more disappointed had they recklessly carried on despite the mine, which would have likely damaged the ship heavily and cause massive loss of life. They did the right thing, even if it mean J’Poc’s escape, just as Commander Iynx did in saving the child he had threatened. He is sick and twisted, using a child’s life and endangering it to save his own. I fear we may see him again, or perhaps he’ll just slink away to some bar in the galaxy’s backwater. I suppose only time will tell which will be the case. Either way, our resident Chief Engineer is overseeing the crystal implantation in our ship’s core, and we should be able to get underway soon. Before that however, Teneer wishes to speak with me. He and his people are quite grateful towards us. Sha’Du Village “I take it you have everything you need?” Teneer enquired to the alicorn princess with him inside the Elder’s hut. Twilight nodded in confirmation. “Luckily we didn’t give him enough time to pack his things.” “Well I’m not even going to bother asking how any of it works,” he commented. “We have pointed sticks and you can shoot light from your head.” The Princess chuckled lightly. “It’s probably for the best.” “You know, we’re not going to forget this. We’ll be telling this story for generations.” At this declaration the Princess couldn’t help but grimace at the thought, causing the Elder to raise his eyebrow in slight confusion as to the alicorn’s behaviour. “Princess? Is something wrong?” “All of this is wrong,” she replied grimly. “No offence but you and your people are primitive. Your civilisation is still in its early stages and yet you encountered starships and robotic drones that fire plasma! And as you said, you won’t forget it.” “And you’re worried it will affect us in a bad way?” “Yes,” she confirmed. “In the thousands of years to come, the details of this event will become lost. The last thing I want is to be worshiped as a goddess… again.” “Again?” “Even on my world there are those that see alicorns as divine ultimate beings due to our power and longevity. Meeting us could affect your cultural development in the years to come.” “We’re just one village.” “Stories spread fast,” she retorted. “And it changes from person to person too.” “I see your point,” he admitted. “I will do my best to see the truth of the matter known, but unlike you I won’t live forever.” “Nothing lives forever,” Twilight stated with a shake of her head. “Even me.” “Nevertheless, in some thousands of years when we reach out to the stars, I trust you will be there to greet us again?” Twilight turned and looked towards the bipedal alien, developing a warm smile as she nodded her head. The thought had already crossed her mind previously, and she couldn’t deny the scholar in her was eager to see how the species would continue to develop over the millennia. “I look forward to the day, should I still exist,” Twilight said. “And hopefully then I’ll be able to clear up any misconceptions that may have arisen about this very day. I imagine there will be a few.” “As you’ve said,” he commented. “Still, until that day comes I bid you both my farewell and my profound thanks. I don’t know what we would have done if you and your people hadn’t come along when you did.” The Elder gave the Princess a respectful bow to convey his gratitude, a gesture by which the Princess was touched. “Thank you, Elder Teneer. But we were not alone.” He smirked. “You didn’t really need our help.” “But you did have the courage, in the end, to stand up for yourselves,” she insisted. “People like yourself, and the late Ronaar. Never lose your spirit, Teneer.” “I’ll keep that in mind, I know Ronaar would appreciate the praise,” Teneer said. “It’s still hard to believe he’s gone. I had known him for almost my entire life.” “Victory seldom comes without a price,” Twilight grimly reminded him. “Even after we get home, there are still those who didn’t make it that far. Star Gazer, and too many others will never see home again.” “Then fight,” Teneer stated. “Fight to keep them safe, fight not to lose a single other soul.” “Of that, we can agree,” the Princess replied. ES Harmony, Engineering “Hoof that over, would you?” Silver Wrench asked to Xal, who quickly passed the scanner over, going to use it but getting annoyed at two nearby engineers who he quickly moved over to. “No, stop!” he ordered, taking a few cables they were connecting away from them. “This one goes there, that one goes there! Understand?” Shaking his head, he moved away from them and back to where he was working. “I swear, you take your eyes off the kids for a few moments…” Silver Wrench proceeded to run the scanner over the core, or more specifically one of the injector assemblies, checking to see if the readings were stable. He and Xal had been leading the engineering staff in loading up the recovered crystals into the core, and thus far all had proceeded without a hitch. The core seemed to accept the alien grown ‘dilithium’ crystals as Xal’s people called them, and the Chief Engineer was confident they would soon be back on course for home. “All seems stable,” Silver noted. “Who knows, maybe these crystals of yours will make out trip home that bit faster.” “I wouldn’t think so, sadly,” Xal stated. “These crystal are no different to the ones found on your own world, and unless we find somewhere to replace the broken warp nacelle, it will make no difference to speed.” “Warp nacelle?” Xal sighed. “Another term my people and other veterans of the galactic stage use. You just use nacelle or ‘the engine’ don’t you?” The pony nodded. “Pretty much. Though, since meeting you I’ve heard the Princess saying they might rename them to fit in with the norm of the other races out in there in the quadrant.” “A logical choice.” “Thought you might see it that way,” Silver remarked. “FTL and Warp are near identical, even with magic added into the mix it’s arguable just a variation. But looking over the data you gave on your impulse drive, it works completely differently to our thaumatic drive.” “That’s because your thaumatic drive is entirely magical in nature, while your FTL drive is not. Not to mention it runs through the nacelles along with the warp field while the impulse drive tends to have their one individual placements on the hull of our ships.” “Two completely different devices with the same roles,” the pony agreed. “If the Princess is going to propose renaming the FTL drive to Warp Drive, I suggest she does not do the same with the thaumatic drive.” “She’s way ahead of you on that, she does her research.” “As I’ve noted,” Xal said. “Either way, the injector assembly seems to be processing the antimatter stream very well, core temperatures are green across the board and the reaction flow is occurring as expected.” “Good,” Silver replied, cantering over across engineering towards the main engineering console. Stopping there, he ran some checks over all the key systems of the core as all eyes turned to him nervously. Everything on the console came back positive, and he was able to release a sigh of relief as the core itself hummed happily away in the background. “She’s ready.” Cheers and the stamps of hooves erupted around engineering as the engineer celebrated the achievement, Xal just standing awkwardly among them, unsure whether he should cheer too with the others. In the end, he simply decided to stand there and wait for the ponies to quiet down. With a few final levers switched and buttons pressed Silver Wrench was satisfied, making his way past the exuberant engineers and back towards Xal. “We’re all good here. Is the Princess still on the surface?” “All the rest of the senior staff are,” Xal informed him. “We should inform the Princess immediately.” “My thoughts exactly, come on.” Down in the Sha’Du village things were coming to a close. With all equipment packed away all of the Harmony’s remaining shuttles were boarded and quickly took off into the air and quickly became hidden by the sun’s blinding rays of light. The shuttlecraft then sped off up into the sky, leaving orbit for docking with the ES Harmony. As this was going on, Princess Twilight and the others in the senior staff with her remained behind for final farewells, preparing for teleportation up to the ship. The group were stood together outside Elder Teneer’s hut, the villagers all circled around them as best they could. “I wish you a safe trip,” Teneer said. “You will forever be welcome in our village.” “Thank you, Elder Teneer,” she replied with a respectful bow of her head. “But I doubt we shall ever return.” “I understand. But nevertheless, the offer remains open.” “What will you do now?” Commander Iynx enquired. “Rebuild, continue on. What we have always done.” The griffon shook her head. “I doubt normality is going to return overnight.” “No, this will stick with us for some time to come. But things will get better, they are already better thanks to all of you.” “You flatter us,” Nimble Star commented. “It is much for you to dwell,” Geneser also said. “But for now, I wish you well.” “I too wish you well,” the Elder replied to the zebra doctor. “All of you, give my regards to Silver Wrench and Xal. Especially the latter, it’s good to know not all of his kind are like the invader known as J’Poc.” “I think you would find the majority aren’t,” Princess Twilight Sparkle stated. “But there will always be subversions to what we see as the normality, whether that subversion is for better or worse.” “True enough. But enough talk, I cannot keep you from your home for too long after you went to so much trouble saving ours.” Twilight nodded. “Then until we meet again. Farewell, Teneer.” The Princess looked down at Iynx, giving her a brief nod. The griffon in question nodded back, bringing up a small device in her talons. She pressed onto the centre button, activating the beacon signalling the crew of the ES Harmony that they were ready to beam up. A lavender aura then began to surround all of the Harmony’s senior staff, and after a few moments of charging a blinding flash of light consumed them as the vanished from the Sha’Du’s village in but a moment. When the light dissipated they were nowhere to be seen, only a few embers of lavender magic remained, disintegrating on touching the ground. The villagers examined the spot where the alien visitors had been a few moments earlier, in awe at the sight. Then, the crowd began to disperse, either chatting or moving on with their lives. Teneer was the last one left looking at where the crew had departed, finally moving his gaze towards the sky. It was there that, despite the day, he swore he could just faintly see a shooting star begin to move across the heavens. And then, high above the planet, the ES Harmony was moving away. They broke orbit, the single working nacelle alight as the thaumatic drive did its work. The vast starship quickly moved away from the gravity well, the planet quickly getting smaller and smaller as it drifted off into the distance. They passed by one of the two moons orbiting the planet, the shadow of the starship casting darkness briefly onto the surface as they went on by. They quickly left that behind too, and once they were far away from the gravity wells of both the moon and planet the ship slowed down, the nacelle lighting up and an aura building around it. On the bridge all the officers had taken their stations. Silver Wrench was in engineering while his other half worked on in medical. Nimble was ready at the helm, Iynx at tactical and Xal took over one of the other station on the bridge. Princess Twilight Sparkle herself stood tall and proudly next to the captain’s chair, her gaze briefly resting on the empty chair. “FTL is charged and ready,” Nimble Star reported. “Waiting your command, your highness.” Twilight nodded at the helmspony, her vision shifting from the seat to the sight of stars plastered into the viewscreen. Meeting another alien species had been a treat, but she was eager to get underway. The planet they were just on may have been beautiful, but there was no place like home. “Resume previous heading,” she ordered. “Engage.” The nacelle gave a pulse as the field formed around the hull, the ship jolting forwards and out of the system, leaving the Sha’Du, their world and the long abandoned station far behind.