Troubleshooters: Tia and Twily

by ultra1437

Science Fiction

“And… here we are,” Twilight spoke, wings flapping slowly to settle down softly on the snow-covered grass. Once she touched down, her horn lit and a heating spell spread through the clearing, melting the snow and evaporating the water within.

Twilight led Celestia to their favorite picnic place, one of the smaller hills that made up Mount Canterhorn. It was secluded, it was private from all but spying pegasi and griffons, and it was perfect for an outside lunch or dinner date.

Looking to the sky, Twilight also knew that it offered a great view of ships ascending to and descending from orbit.

“Twi?” Celestia’s voice drifted to her ears over the silence.

“Hm?” she turned to see Celestia had laid out the food for their date.

“Dinner’s ready.” Celestia’s right wing motioned to the food laid out.

‘She really pulled out the big guns…’ Twilight thought as she looked over the homemade meal. Celestia really had gone all out. Homemade salad from her garden, including her sunflowers and daisies, rolls, even a grilled pineapple’s aroma slid into her nose.

Licking her lips, Twilight moved over to Celestia’s side and eyed the food hungrily. “It all looks so good. I can’t decide!”

Celestia smiled knowingly, Twilight’s reaction had been just as she knew it would. Her horn lit and a plate floated up to Twilight’s muzzle, offering itself to her.

Taking the plate in her own magic, the purple mare grabbed a little bit of everything, eager to chow down.

Celestia snagged her own plate, she copied Twilight, taking a little of everything. Both ponies tucked in eagerly.

---

The meal was utterly destroyed. Only crumbs had survived the reckoning and would live to tell of the destruction from the two alicorns.

Twilight lay on her side tucked against Celestia. The smaller mare had grown, now only smaller than two ponies, the mare beside her and Luna. Cadance rivalled her height, as they were so similar in age, at least when one counts away years in decades.

Celestia had her wing around Twilight as they both gazed into the night sky. Twilight snuggled deeper into the white mare’s embrace. “Tia?”

Celestia didn’t answer her, only tightening her wing in response.

“I’ve got a surprise for you.” One of Twilight’s forehooves poked out and pointed skyward, toward Canterlot’s spaceport.

Almost as if on cue, a massive, grey warship slowly climbed into view. It clearly wasn’t quite finished, evidenced by the environmental shielding covering some sections still missing plating or ports that hadn’t quite been filled yet.

Celestia hadn’t thought it was the surprise until the second half of the ship came into view. The words REN Celestia were engraved into its sides. A purple glow surrounded the ship for a few seconds before becoming translucent.

It was almost cylindrical, it had three wings making up the bulk of its mass. It almost resembled a chicken’s egg, or a massive industrial drill, if it was tipped onto its side, split into three sections and cradled a massive orb. Each of the three sections had a small pair of wings. Each of its three main wings had two thrusters on one side, six in all. There appeared to be a third thruster on the inside of each main wing, almost as if it was to be used if the wing was broken off from the ship itself.

‘Oh, it looks like they got the shield generators installed and online,’ Twilight thought.

“Twilight? What is this?” she looked to the mare under her wing to find a bright smile in return.

“This, Tia is my surprise.” Twilight’s smile shrunk to a content grin as her hoof followed the ship.

“A ship?”

“Yep.”

Two ponies continued to stare up at the massive ship in the sky, only one awestruck at its sleek hull.

“Twilight… is this really necessary?” Celestia asked, a wing wrapped around the smaller mare.

She felt Twilight’s nod as a reply more than anything after a few seconds. “Mhmm. I meticulously designed it. Three redundant Luna-class thrusters on each side, there’s a pair of linked You-class harmonic shield resonators each in the fore and aft for defense, and six Me-class blaster cannons as offense.”

Celestia blinked once. “I understood all that when I saw the approved plans, but why did you name it after me?”

They stared again at the words REN Celestia embossed on the ship’s side, against it’s still slate-gray hull. Twilight spoke up quietly, almost a whisper. “Oh. It’s not finished yet. It’s commissioned to match your colors once it’s done!”

Celestia sighed before reaching down and nuzzling the smaller mare cocooned in her wing. “That doesn’t answer my question, Twilight.” She kissed her prey below her horn before pulling back slightly.

Twilight jumped only very slightly as Celestia’s muzzle touched her forehead. “Well… the real reason is complicated.” Her ears pinned back, making her look every bit the prey she’d become.

Celestia laughed softly. “We have been dating a while, haven’t we? I think that anything you may have told me before then would make this look easy, wouldn’t it?”

Twilight pushed her muzzle into Celestia’s side and spoke softly, and the only way Celestia knew her marefriend had spoken was because she felt them.

Teasingly, she tightened her wing around Twilight as she spoke, “What was that, love? You’ll have to speak up.”

Twilight’s wings tried to flare, failing miserably in their confined space. After a few seconds she spoke up, “Lemme out, please.”

“Only if you promise to tell me. It doesn’t have to be today, or tomorrow, but eventually.” Celestia’s wing lifted away at Twilight’s nod, freeing the smaller mare.

The ship’s engines fired up, bringing a small whine along on the wind. Twilight stepped away a few feet as Celestia folded her wing back at her side. “It… it’s a present. For you.” Celestia’s shocked look only lasted a fraction of a second. “I know how much you hate feeling powerless in the universe, especially since we started exploring it and leaving the nest, as you once put it. The revolution to change Equestria into a republic certainly didn’t help that any.” Both ponies’ heads bowed for a few seconds.

“Indeed, but it certainly did help our little ponies learn for themselves, after all.”

Twilight nodded once. “Yeah.”

Celestia poked Twilight with a free hoof. “Enough reminiscing on the past, I would say. You were saying?”

Twilight pointed to a dome in the middle of the ship. “What I didn’t put in the blueprints, was a special chamber. Should you need to be anywhere in the universe, that chamber lets you channel your entire mana pool into the Celestia’s oversized power banks.”

The whining intensified and the Celestia sailed across the sky and away from the planet. Both alicorns’ thoughts were interrupted as it seemed to effortlessly glide away.

“My entire pool, Twilight?” Twilight nodded once. “Are you sure?” Another nod. “In all my years, I’ve ever used it entirely twice. I assure you, unless Luna has shown you a memory of hers, you haven’t seen my entire reserve of magic.”

Twilight looked up at where the Celestia had flown off. “It took me several favors for Luna, several months of calculations, and an entire farm field’s worth of coffee, but I have seen both times. I assure you, Tia, it will hold your entire reserve and use it to whatever ends you wish. If I may, can I please continue my previous explanation?”

Celestia nodded once. Twilight continued her explanation, “You or by proxy, any alicorn, can literally supercharge that ship. The banks only flow one way into the ship, so you cannot overcharge the banks, unless you or another alicorn do it on purpose. The chamber also doubles as a focus for teleportation.”

“Teleportation?” Twilight looked at her marefriend, for one of the first times truly seeing confusion on her face.

“Yes, teleportation. While any alicorn can use it, it’s tuned specifically to you. That means with you and the ship working together, you both can literally be anywhere at any time. You won’t feel helpless anymore, Celestia.”

Twilight suddenly found her world had turned a pleasant shade of alabaster as Celestia knocked her on her back as Tia attempted to hug the life-force out of her. “I… Thank you, Twilight. If this ship performs as it says you will, I will be able to help my ponies once again, even if I am no longer their leader. If there’s anything you wish of me, I would gladly give it to you.”

Twilight squeaked once as Celestia released her. “There is one thing.”

Celestia’s mask slipped back on. “Name it.”

Twilight turned pleading eyes on her lover. “Take me with you. I’m tired of feeling helpless myself.”

Celestia smiled and laughed loudly, full heaving laughs. “That’s it? Consider it done, Captain Twilight Sparkle.” She drew the smaller mare into another bonecrushing hug, before kissing her on the lips.

A shrill scream heralded the Celestia’s return to Equestria. Celestia looked up at the ship again and thought, ‘You know, I think I like it with my name on it now.’

Twilight wrapped her wings around Celestia, returning the gesture from before. A contented sigh escaped the white mare as she relaxed in Twilight’s embrace, snuggling in deeper.

As the Celestia slid back into the spaceport, both ponies let sleep claim them.

Author's Note:

Written August 18th, 2014.

This was a big one, it set in motion this series of prompts. Now updated with a new front-half!

Comments

[Dustchu]

I was so confused when this story updated, but eh.
Awesome job!

[EnderHooves]

Wow, I've been waiting to say this. THE CELESTIA HAS RETURNED!!!
Now, you may be thinking to yourself "how could he have been waiting to say it if this is the first time he's read this story?"
Well, it was several years ago when I first joined this site. I was reading a good story, then I spot it, a wonderful, beautiful typo. I forget what exactly it was, but instead of typing celestia, they typed the celestia. It was great. And now it's back. I wonder if I would be able to find that comment.

Personal jokes aside, this story looks great so far and I'm eager to see what else happens.