Solar Sails: Marooned In Equestria

by Bluecho

01 - Coming Ashore

Solar Sails: Marooned In Equestria

By Bluecho

Ch. 01 - Coming Ashore

---

The solar dory descended from the opening at the bottom of the S.S. Docket Lot. One crewman prepared to deploy the sail, while another readied the ether jets at the rear. The third passenger was not a crewman at all, nor even a man, and instead sat up at attention. As the small boat cleared the opening, she flashed her commanding officer a salute, which was returned with a nod.

Modified Soldier G7-H3 watched as the mass of the Docket Lot gave way to the infinitely more massive expanse of stars. Their dinghy flared to life, pulling away rapidly from the Lot's undercarriage. At a side view, the vessel flaunted its solar sails, expanses of orange sheets divided into hexagonal cells, each roughly five centimeters across. When starlight caught them, the materials would react by “riding” the light waves. Put thousands of cells together, and their collective can move vessels across vast reaches of space. Presently they were drawn closed, as the Docket Lot maintained its orbit.

The same materials were stretched out on the dinghy's modest sails, catching the rays of the sun behind them. Jets flared to life at a fraction of full capacity as the small boat directed itself in a controlled, angled entry towards the ground.

“Get yerself comfy, ma'am,” said the crewman manning the engine. “It'll be...”

“An hour until landfall, I know,” interrupted G7-H3. “The briefing was thorough.” She met his eyes while attempting her best, most neutral face of professionalism she could muster. The men would ferry her to and from the planet's surface. No use establishing a hostile working relationship now.

“My apologies!” he said hastily, before adding “...Sergeant Miles.”

A sigh escaped her lips and she nodded in confirmation. By the letter of Chronicles Protocol, MS G7-H3 received the name Sarin Miles upon turning age five. Up until then she had simply been G7-H3, or more commonly just H3. The reasoning behind Chronicles Protocol was vague at best, never explained. Naturally she couldn't ask; the threat of Thomas Protocol made the prospect potentially dangerous, so she held her tongue. Regardless, she was from age five Sarin. This didn't bother her.

It was her rank as Sergeant that needled her. It was entirely honorary. She was a bio-engineered soldier. She held no authority.

Sarin sank into the seat, nervously re-checking the safety line tied around her waist. Absentmindedly she turned back to the Docket Lot, now distant enough for the Ether and Fueled propulsion vents in the rear to be visible. In the event of emergency or need for great haste, either or even both could be deployed in lieu of or in addition to the solar sails to propel the ship. As it stood, using all three standard methods of space propulsion would be unnecessary. The solar winds behind them had been more than sufficient coming out, and the local sun would similarly propel them away once it was time to leave.

This of course in spite of reservations by the navigators, who has insisted this sun could not be trusted. According to the mission dossier, the sun (or rather the planet) possessed inconsistent day/night cycles. The patterns observed by scouting ships over the last few years noted that while the schedule was regular, it was hardly clockwork regular. Rotation of the planet would vary by a few minutes from day to day, and if reports were to be believed, it would even lurch rapidly at select points.

Sarin noted with mild amusement that one of the scouting ship's crew was quoted as saying, “the sun seemed to rise and fall on that planet whenever it very well felt like it.” Similarly, the planet's moon was reported as having subtly irregular movements. It was this, among other traits, that attracted the Empire's attention.

Another was the seeming excess of Magic emanating from the globe. Such was difficult to ignore.

Given the whipping winds of the newly entered atmosphere, Sarin could not hope to distract herself with another perusal of the mission dossier. As such, the hour passed slowly. Not even the usual attention – or feigned lack thereof – was there to provide distraction. The two men accompanying her were too busy maintaining proper entry and stability to either stare or avoid staring. Staring at her.

Frowning, Sarin dislodged one of her arms from the hand-holds to adjust her goggles. Beneath them was a largely pale complexion, accented by bright blue patches around her eyes. Like gaudy eye shadow, ringed around her yellow eyes. Her forehead sported additional off-color marks, this a blue triangle that pointed down until it troughed sharply at the space between her eyes. Her off-white hair was here capped by a poorly padded helmet. This at least helped conceal her ears; unlike the natural single points, her long ears extended only to flare out in four tips each, tipped once again with blue.

At least no one can see all the rest of the blue on me, she thought, thinking of the rest of her body. Her series, the MS G7s, were notorious for their genetic irregularities that marked them distinct from the rest of Fatae race.

For once Sarin held hope that the men would stare at her, if only to pass the time feeling terrible about herself. I'd honestly rather feel self-conscious than bored, she mused sadly.

As the soldier lamented her fate, the dory slid down its slanted course, descending slowly along the path of the rising sun to planet below, set to touch ground on the central, large continent. Orbital studies had pegged it as a richly varied mass of land, which the rest of the planet dotted with smaller plots and scatted islands. This central mass was also observed to be the focal point of the unusual solar and lunar activities. As if the schedule of the sun and moon favored that one particular side of the planet.

Sarin spied tracts of land and forest as they approached, and even a mountain off in the distance. The dory slowed, ready to begin spiraling. They were coming through cloud level when she saw off in the distance a trail of light. It blurred together a few different hues, but Sarin almost mistook it for a rainbow. One with a course towards the ground. Moving at transonic speeds.

“What's that?” she asked above the whipping winds, pointing at the object.

The crewman at the head of the boat glanced off starboard side before saying, “Don't know. Might be meteorite.”

“Nah,” said the rearmost crewman, “we'd a' seen it back topside.” He divided his attention between checking the object's path and keeping the course on the ether rudder steady. “Might be a flyin' machine, or some kind of creature.”

“Moving that fast?” responded Sarin, tucking a stray hair back under the helmet. “No living creature moves that fast. Except maybe some of the L series.” She strained her eyes, before popping out her telescope to get a better look. “...is that a...cone?” She sat up with both hands clasped around the scope.

“Hey! Get down ya' blasted idiot!” yelled the rear crewman, forgetting at the moment Sarin technically outranked him. “Yer gonna fall like-”

Just as the object neared the planet's surface, the mach cone ruptured. At once, a massive shock wave burst from that point, while the object's rainbow trail continued on brighter, faster than before.

Sarin herself focused on the object – a cyan, winged quadriped – curve over the land before beginning an upward climb. She could hardly keep track of it, moving so rapidly. Something this amazing has to go into the report, she thought. A living thing moving fast enough to...is that a pony...?

“Incoming!”

Sarin looked up from the scope just in time to see the massive rainbow shock wave as it slammed into the dory. The boat rocked aside with the force of the wave...and then continued moving.

“The sails!” called out the foremost crewman, gripping the offending rigging. All the individual cells on the sheet glowed bright, mixing their natural orange with the colors of the visible spectrum. So activated, they caught the light waves and pulled the boat along with it.

Not braced for impact, Sarin pitched away from the blast briefly, then pitched in the opposite direction again as the boat continued moving. Scrambling, she gripped the side only well enough to hang over as the dory traveled through the air. She coiled her fingers around the wood, adrenaline surging through her system.

“Aah! Help!” she screamed, eyes wide under the goggles, heart racing. G-Force training didn't prepare me for this, she thought in brief panic.

The rear crewman shuffled over a bit, reaching out his hand while gripping the hand-hold with the other. “Grab my hand!”

Finally regaining composure, Sarin set her eyes into hard lines and unfurled her nearer hand. She extended it forward towards the waiting fingers of the man. That is until she felt herself pitch forward again. Looking “up”, she saw not the horizon or the sky, but the ground.

The sails flew with the shock wave much longer than the boat's center of mass would willingly follow, causing the entire rig to topple over in the air. Momentum carried it further, causing the boat to de-accelerate sure, but also spin wildly.

Vertigo shot through Sarin's stomach upwards, into her head. Sky and ground alternated around her, up and down ceasing to be constants. Gravity was almost arrested at the point of first tipping, before the rolling caused “outward” to become the new “down”. It hurt her eyes to see the rapid cascade of light; a lesser soldier might devolve into a seizure.

Shocked, disoriented, and vaguely vomitous, Sarin did the perfectly natural thing: she let go of the boat.

The feeling of falling too quickly ceded to lurching pain centered around her waist. Flailing her arms, Sarin found her life-line and held it fast, feeling it taught in her hands. She desperately turned her head to focus in that direction, only to find the cord whipping her around. Still spinning, the dory strung her along like a gleeful child abusing a new toy on a string. Looking away, she saw glimpses of the ground getting closer...maybe. Yes, the ground was getting closer...she assumed.

Sarin felt behind her, making sure...yes! Parachute! Not that it does me any good, she thought. The very line meant to save me if I fell over is going to drag me to my death when the boat crashes.

Only one thing to do, she thought, holding the line tighter and pulling it in. Reaching down, she groped for a moment with her belt until her knife came free of its sheath. Gripping the handle like a vice, Sarin stabbed at the line. She hacked cord-ward for several seconds, chancing eyes “away” over her shoulder to see the ground coming up closer...probably.

Through a combination of spastic stabs and sawing cuts, the devil cord finally severed messily. The centripetal force cast Sarin away from the tumbling wreck as the two crewmen desperately worked at their respective controls as best they could. Sarin could see the two shouting, but the rush of the wind and the sound of blood pounding against her arterial walls left whatever conversation the men had as little more than noise.

Righting herself to one direction or another – she couldn't really be sure which direction was up and frankly cared little so long as it remained somewhere consistent – Sarin frantically seized the drawstring on her pack and jerked. This induced more vertigo as her orientation shifted violently one more time with the popping of the parachute. Except now with the benefit of a reduced speed, dizzy Sarin was positive down pointed where it should, towards the ground.

A ground that hastened to meet her; less rapidly that before, but approaching nonetheless. A heavy mass of green met her eyes there. Trees, tall and thick, and right where she was landing. She drunkenly looked away, seeing a mountain a few hundred meters away. Not that she could see the edifice well, as spots began to appear in the corners of her eyes.

Descending on currents of air beneath her chute, Sarin could vaguely hear the sound of a crash somewhere in the distance as the world went dark.

...

Rainbow Dash slowed her pace, looking back to admire her handiwork. "Awesome! Another Sonic Rainboom successfully pulled off! Glad to see I'm not losing my touch." She smirked to herself, her high spirits marred only by the knowledge that no one was around this time to see it.

She glanced around to check if she was incorrect - doubtful, being so amazing - and noticed a plume of smoke rising from a nearby grove of trees.

"Huh, wonder what that's about?" Dash wondered, considering a strafe over to investigate. The thought briefly occurred to her that perhaps that object she spied in the corner of her eye but ignored was some kind of observer. Or possibly a flying machine. And another brief thought occurred that the machine could have crashed.

"Hmm..." she hummed. Then she took a look at the position of the sun. "Oh man, has it been that long already! Better get back to Ponyville. Rarity said something about...something or other..." She trailed off, trying to recall what it was Rarity wanted her for. Coming up empty - knowing herself, she'd say she hadn't listened too hard - she turned a moment back to her earlier thought...and completely forgot her place entirely there as well.

"Eh, probably nothing," Rainbow Dash shrugged, before putting her incredible speed to work flying back home.

Author's Note:

For reference, just imagine the space ships from Treasure Planet when it comes to the space-faring vessels in this story. It's basically exactly that. Also apparently solar sails are a real, scientific thing.

Feel free to point out typos, grammatical errors, and other instances where I tread the same ground or fail to adequately explain what's going on. Just make sure someone else hasn't already pointed out the same thing before.

Comments

[Hallucination]

for a second i thought somebody had combined MLP with Spelljammer

[Bluecho]

3736589 No, but if it makes the story more enjoyable, you can pretend it's set in a homebrew version of Spelljammer.

[Hallucination]

3736710 nah, just the novelty of it