The Quest For Iscanter

by eternalsquire

First Warp

Twilight Sparkle immediately trotted down from the bridge to the engine room. She found Luna there, her horn inserted into the engineering console socket, but only to measure the engine's power flow.

"So, Twilight, how did it go?", Luna asked.

"He was so unfair to all three of us. Especially to you!", Twilight answered.

"But here's the thing, child.", Luna said. "Don't you think he has the right to be unfair to us?"

"I'd find that hard to believe.", the purple alicorn replied.

"I'm at least ten times your age, so with that much experience I knew instantly what he was talking about. " Luna said. "He made it clear when he called me a sea lawyer. I understand that on a ship a captain has no use for inflexible ponies who quote the captain's rules right back at them rather than simply obey orders, no matter how arbitrary or unfair they might seem on the surface. What he said really stung, but after some introspection on the way to engineering I knew he was right. Did something else happen to you?"

"I hate what he did to me up there.", Twilight said. "He humiliated me." Her body quivered in unreleased rage. "What I hate even worse is how Forest got off nearly unscathed."

"Why shouldn't he?", Luna asked.

"Because he's an alicorn just like us.", Twilight answered.

"There's only three of us like that.", Luna remarked. "Don't you believe the captain might believe that we might believe we're entitled to special treatment? Look, life is unfair, and the captain was trying to show us that in his unequal treatment of us. But in defeat we still need to pick up our heads, look forward, and move on. That's what he's trying to teach us."

"Why did he have to be so mean to all of us?", Twilight asked.

"It's his job.", Luna replied. She then shrugged her shoulders and said, "The war-ponies break in their new recruits nearly exactly the same way. We're headed for war. Whatever abuse he's handing out to us is simply meant to prepare us for that. Or did you believe this was simply going to be a voyage of discovery where all you were required to do was study, perhaps to write an article for a journal such as the Equegraphic? Just shove your resentment into a box for now, and come back to it later. That's what I'm doing."

Luna sighed. "Best get back up to the bridge now, Twilight, before the captain becomes even less happy with you."

. . .

The bridge was nearly completely filled with ponies a half hour later. For the sake of the test warp, the captain had long since ordered everyone on the bridge to be wearing an environmental suit and have their helmets sealed around their heads. Each of these suits was a very comfortable fit due to Rarity's efforts at custom tailoring. Even the helmets had optional jackets incorporated tor fitting over the horns. Rarity did not design these herself. She found them from somepony in Big Island who manufactured them for an entirely different purpose: they were fashioned from membranes flexible enough to conform to most horns, thin enough to not interfere with the sensations and signals provided to the horn for the mental interface, strong enough to not tear under stress, and proved to be completely air and water tight.

Rarity, fully suited up, was standing with her horn in the navigation control socket. Twilight Sparkle, likewise attired, plugged herself into a general purpose socket and mentally selected astrogation. Forest Snow was plugged into the radar socket. A unicorn from the war-pony contingent arrived and plugged himself into gunnery control.

Captain Avatar Apple, not having a horn, stood in front of his command console, giving him an overview of the entire ship's systems and even some ability to subsitute for any damaged function. Rainbow Dash, also hornless, quietly sat at her station and stayed silently watchful.

Finally, there was Fluttershy, who also hornless watched her board and listened to ship's internal traffic. "Captain.", she said, "We're all suited up here. All departments are ready."

"Sir, ship is lined up with the destination coordinates.", Twilight said. "Target is Alastor, Planet Nine."

"Nothing on radar, sir.", Forest Snow said.

"Engineering.", the captain prompted.

"No defects noticed.", Luna replied over the bridge loudspeaker.

"Rarity, take the ship to point one lightspeed.". the captain ordered.

"Aye sir! Point one lightspeed.", Rarity responded.

A barefly perceptable hum could be heard on the ship as the flywheels revolved slightly faster in response to the load being placed upon them from the wave engine's increase in output.

"Ship's power 105 percent", Luna reported through Fluttershy's console.

"Good.", Avatar said, "Now, ramp up gradually to point eight lights."

As the Yamato's speed increased, the flywheels gradually became louder and higher in pitch, and their movement could be heard throughout the entire ship. By the time the ship had reached maximum rated sublight speed, the flywheels generated a high pitched roaring chatter which assaulted everypony's ears across the entire ship from stem to stern.

"Rarity", the captain shouted over the chatter, "Start warp sequence!. Forest, count it down to help Rarity focus!"

Rarity could view in her mind the sensors finding the faster-than-light waves crossing over the tunnel plotted for this manuever. Forest called up the same display in his own mind. He set his to make a chirping sound the other crew members could hear each time a wave exited the tunnel, and which would help him make the count.

"Rarity", Forest said, "Remember to punch through the wave at dead center! On ten!", Chirp!

Luna eyes shone white again while regulating the engine shaft feedback cycle. "One hundred twenty percent power, captain!", she called out.

"Seven!", Forest shouted. Chirp! The bridge crew resembled statues in their concentration and focus.

"Six!", Chirp! Pinkie Pie and Applejack looked at each other whle peeling potatoes together in the mess hall.

"Five!", Chirp! The war-ponies were relaxing in their barracks.

"Four!", Chirp! Fluttershy was focused, not on her board, but inward.

"Three!", Chirp! Nopony on the bridge relented in their focus on their own consoles.

"Two!", Chirp!

"One!", Chirp!

"WARP!", Avatar bellowed.

"Warp!", Rarity replied. With an act of will, she activated the mechanisms just as the wave hit the crosshairs.

The engine shaft glowed a golden yellow as accumulated power was released to create the tunnel. The tunnel was pierced by the ship as it moved at relativistic speed. The ship caught the faster-than-light wave just like Pinkie's surfboard caught an ocean wave, and the wave propelled the ship. Time stopped as the ship traversed the molehole. Everypony was still.

Except... for Pinkie Pie. She found herself peeling potatoes with the peels falling into the trash, even while AppleJack was as completely still as a statue and caught in mid-peel, his peels suspended in mid-fair. Grinning to herself, Pinkie poured black coffee into a mug, covered the mug with a lid, walked upstairs to the bridge, and placed it upon the empty space of the captain's right hoof console. Then, she walked back down to her mess-hall and continued peeling potatoes.

Once the eternally infinitesimal instant expired, the ship re-emerged into normal space.

However, the planet Alastor was nowhere to be found.

The captain banged his left fore-hoof against the left console. "Where in perdition are we?", he shouted.

"Give me a moment please, sir.", Twilight Sparkle said. "All right. The maps say we overshot Alastor's orbit, and now are somewhere in the cometary belt."

"I'm sorry, captain!", Rarity apologized. "I guess I need a lot more practice."

Avatar's voice softened. "We all need a lot more practice, Rarity.", he said. "At least we're alive and in the system."

"It's probably just as well.", Twilight Sparkle said. "If the captain pleases, I need to talk with him in private."

"Very well, Twilight.", he answered. "Nothing else is going on, anyway. Desuit, everyone."

Avatar glanced at a cup of coffee just near his right fore-hoof. He looked out the windows to see the stars. He then suddenly did a double-take to the coffee. And just where from perdition did that come from, anyway? , the captain wondered. Could the warp have had anything to do with that?

Comments

[eternalsquire]

I have a feeling the downvotes are coming from purists from both MLP and Yamato.