Cryo-7

by Metal Pony Fan

The Early Bird Annoys the Captain

A yawn, a stretch, and Twilight's hoof landed on Astral's head. He smacked it away, and let out a yawn of his own. When he shifted, wrappers crinkled under him. One particularly sharp bit of foil jabbed him in the flank.

He groaned and sat up, using his magic to pull all of the candy and snack wrappers away from his fur. Last night had been quite a party, and he wasn't sure if he was waking up from sleep, or a sugar coma. He looked around the bed, and saw that the rest of his crew was in similar straits.

His crew.

He smiled. It was taking a while to sink in, that he wasn't alone anymore. It was no longer him against the galaxy, it was him, and a ragtag group of oddballs, against the galaxy. Somehow, that thought was actually comforting. One of those oddballs, Radio, had slipped off the bed during the night, leaving only a little bit of his tail up with the rest of them. Strawberry, still wearing her tool belt, was also wearing what remained of some candied popcorn like a cupcake wears sprinkles. Fluttershy, despite living alone in the wilderness up until yesterday, was the cleanest of them all. Every wrapper, from every snack she ate, was neatly folded and piled in front of where she was curled up under a blanket, with only the tip of her snout protruding. Also in front of her were several apples from the fruit basket Kathy had given them, each one a dessicated husk with two punctures in the skin.

The last crew member was laying next to him, and was just stirring awake. "Good morning," he coaxed her awake. "Rise and shine, Princess Bedhead."

Her eyes flicked open a little more as the cogs and gears started turning, preparing the mental machinery for another day. She looked up at the stallion leaning over her, and her brain dumped a good seven shovels full of coal on the burner. Her eyes snapped wide open, and her mind went into uncontrolled overdrive. "Oh, sweet Celestia, tell me there was no alcohol involved."

Astral stared as her hue shifted warmer. "Huh?"

She blinked up at him. "Huh?"

His eyebrows pulled together. "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing," she said quickly. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"Your face is red." He held his hooves up to his cheeks. "Right around here, like, bright, bright red."

She shoved him away before rolling out of the bed. "Shut up, it's too early to be dealing with you."

"We've probably slept more than twelve hours out of the last twenty-four," Astral pointed out. "But we made up for it by battling monsters the day before. One of the hazards of space travel, I guess."

"Ugh, don't remind me." Twilight stretched her hooves out. A thought hit her, and she held them up, washing them in magic as she erased her hidden notes. "But, that reminds me. I did some research yesterday,and it turns out those golems actually are fish. The tidal forces on Picus IV are caused by its neighboring planet, so things are pretty intense. That entire jungle is under seawater for nearly a quarter of the year. That's why everything was so dusty, it was crusted with salt. "Say, Astral," she tugged on the collar of her jacket, "how do you take this thing off?"

"Why?" He slid off the bed beside her. "Is your magic acting up again?"

"No," she huffed. "I just wanted to know how to do it."

"Ok, calm down, let's not start the day fighting." He sat beside her and started pantomiming the movements. "The easiest way is to reach up, over your head, and grab the back of the collar. Pull it up, over, watch the horn, then down."

Twilight followed the instructions, and ended up with her mane in a mess and the jacket in her lap.

"Like that," Astral chuckled. "Now you can pull your hooves free one at a time."

Twilight did exactly that, then smoothed out her mane. "ok, that makes sense."

She missed a spot in the back, but Astral kept quiet about it. "What? Not even a thank you?"

"I thanked you for the jacket." Twilight stretched again,letting out a groan as she spread her wings and moved them in a slow circle. "Instructions should be expected with the gift."

The unicorn shook his head. "Fine, I'll give you that." A feather broke loose during her stretches, and Astral picked it up. It was a tiny one, soft and downy. He waved it at her to get her attention. "Hey, you haven't been taking care of your wings lately. Do you want some help?"

Twilight's wings snapped shut, and she fixed him with an unbelieving stare. "What?"

"What?" Astral held out the feather. "I asked if you needed help preening."

"I- um-" Her face went red again, and she took a step back, not looking him in the eyes. "Astral," she stood rather stiff and held up a hoof, "I think we might have a bit of a cultural difference here. At least, I'm going to hope that's all it is."

"Uh, well..." Astral scratched his neck. He was actually surprised this was the first time this has come up. Or maybe it was that they were just too busy fighting before to worry about it. Hell, there were some pretty extreme cultural differences between the planets of the galactic assembly. Who knows how different Serus and Sevus were from a planet and culture six millenia old. "On Serus and Sevus, preening isn't that big of a deal. Sure, it isn't something that you would just do with any stranger, but between family members and close groups like a crew, it's a friendly gesture. Especially if there is an injury or something preventing them from preening on their own. My family used to help my grandmother preen because she had arthritis that wouldn't respond to sinovial augmentation. She had trouble reaching her wings, so we would lend a hoof, well, and my mother's hands. Grandma always liked mom's help best."

"Oh, ok." She visibly relaxed, letting out the breath she was holding. "That makes sense. You had me worried there."

"Why?" Without thinking, Astral asked, "What does preening mean in your culture?"

She stiffened up again. "Uh, well, unless it's a parent taking care of their children, or somepony unable to take care of it themselves, preening is usually done alone." She rubbed her leg with a hoof. "A stallion helping a mare preen would usually be seen as, um, foreplay."

Astral blinked. "Oh." He blinked again. "Oh!" His face started to take on a tinge of red as well. "Sorry, I was not suggesting that at all. I was only suggesting that your wings were starting to look ragged from keeping them covered constantly. You should pay more attention to them, and keep them out as much as you can."

Twilight nodded quickly. "I'll do that. I mean, who knows when I'll need to be at peak flight performance. Just look at Picus. That golem almost swatted me out of the air like a fly."

"Yeah," Astral agreed with an awkward laugh. "That's another thing. We need to get you some sort of weapon. If you can't use your combat spells for fear of hurting us or your surroundings, you need to have an alternative."

"I kind of agree." Twilight smiled. "But, I'll leave the choice to you." She headed into the washroom, glancing back out the door. "It doesn't have to be right away, so pick something good, captain. In the meantime," she smirked, "I've been thinking up a few new spells."

Astral smiled. Her confidence was back, at the very least. "Twi? Are we ok now?"

She thought for a moment, then nodded slowly. "Yeah, I think so. Get the others ready, would you?" With that, she shut the door.

---

Astral and crew gathered in the hallway outside the shuttlebay before departure. The Solomon's Ring was about to arrive on the outskirts of of Sevus' solar system, and they would depart at that time, heading back to Canterlot. But first, Captain Nova had asked to see them off personally.

As they waited, Berry was watching Twilight. Twilight wasn't really doing anything, but Berry was watching her all the same. The alicorn seemed a little uncomfortable with the attention, and though Fluttershy noticed, she kept her interaction with the two limited to glancing back and forth.

Astral was starting to feel uncomfortable for Twilight's sake. And how was Berry going so long without blinking? He was about to head over when Twilight finally broke down and looked over. "Is something wrong," she asked the earth pony.

"I'm not sure," Berry answered quietly, almost a whisper, "are you ok?"

With a sigh, Twilight glanced at the ceiling and shook her head. "This again?" She looked back at Berry, and after a moment, decided to answer truthfully. "I wasn't, but I will be. You don't have to worry."

"Oh, ok," Berry accepted the answer with a little hesitation, "you're sure?"

Twilight nodded. "I'm sure. I was just a little sad for a while."

Berry nodded, seemingly satisfied with the answer. "Is that why you held back with your magic?"

Twilight was about to nod yes, before she processed the question. "Wait. What?" She shook her head. When did she hold back her magic? Well, aside from keeping her fireballs from becoming overly dangerous on Picus. And Berry didn't even see that. "What are you talking about?"

"I was going over the sensor logs this morning, trying to figure how those big meany stone things did that distortion field thing they did, and I saw that I had info on when you fought those three on the way back." Berry rolled a hoof on the ground. "There were a whole bunch of localized temperature discrepancies, both high and low, and gravity distortions, and a low level ionizing electrical charge. That was elemental magic, wasn't it?"

Twilight nodded. "Fireballs, Ice lance, and Gravity mines," Twilight named off the spells. "I didn't use Thunderstrike, because it can be unpredictable, but I had it ready. I did hold back, but only because it was necessary. I could have put everyone in danger if I used full strength. What would have happened if I ignited the forest? It would have been hard to make it back through a forest fire, and teleporting three ponies at a time is tricky, especially since I didn't know exactly where the shuttle was."

Berry shook her head, not convinced. "There were fourteen fireballs, and each one had its temperature dropped three times after it was made. They went from five thousand degrees, to two thousand, to twelve hundred. Five Thousand is about as hot as a welding arc. You could have used the Fireballs like that." She shrugged. "Granpa had a plasma torch that operated at twenty-eight- thousand. Sure, there wasn't much mass in the plasma stream, and if the fireballs in the sensor readings hit that temperature, the oxygen in the atmosphere could ignite, and the entire planet would have gone up in flames, and, um, what was I trying to say?" The earth pony shook her head. "Sorry. Sometimes, I get the feeling that I start rambling, and when I notice it, I try to stop myself, but then I forget what I was saying, and I fill in the gaps with random information, and that makes it worse, then I notice it again, and I'm so sorry, I'm doing it again, aren't I?"

Twilight put a hoof around the other mare, giving her a small hug. "Don't make cold fireballs," she separated from her and smiled, "I got the point."

Astral frowned. Those numbers made perfect sense. Twelve hundred degrees Centigrade was the regulation limit for competitive fire Skeet. It was a little irritating that she was choking herself back to an arbitrary limit he couldn't even reach.

It's probably a matter of environment, he realized. She said it herself back on Canterlot, that she wasn't used to leaving the planet. He knew she was strong. The fight on the Philomena was enough evidence for him, but she just needed to gain the confidence to harness her power in any situation. That was the sort of thing that only came through experience.

Astral shook his head, wondering if it was possible to help the process along when he noticed Radio sitting against a wall, facing it. Starting over, Astral noticed that the colt had his face glued to a small pad. It was, military issue, armored and rugged, but personalized with stickers on the back, and paintings of his family's cutie marks around the rim. A white cross, a cloud with a rainbow-colored lightning bolt, a cloud and red cross, and his own colored lightning bolt and red cross. Fitting.

Eventually, the colt looked up, and glanced back at Astral with a grimace.

The unicorn stopped at the colt's side. "What is it?" he asked quietly.

"I just got a message from my dad." Radio stuffed his pad back into his new saddlebags with the medical supplies given to them by Captain Nova. "Big guy was sent back Canterlot a few days ago."

"So, negotiations with Furia are over?" That didn't explain the face he made. "Did they get their orbital defense thing?"

"Funny thing is... no. The entire chain of command is terrified right now, and me being off-planet is a big part of that right now." Radio scratched the shoulder straps of his bags. "Big guy was injured when they sent him back, and now they think Canterlot is ready to wipe us out of existence."

"How badly injured?" Astral glanced back at Twilight. She wouldn't be happy about a friend of hers being injured, even if it was her ex. "And why would Canterlot react that badly?"

"Just a dislocated shoulder. My dad was there when it happened, and set it almost immediately. He'll be sore, but he'll probably be walking normally by the time we get back." Radio shrugged. "And I believe the exact words Jones used were, 'there's no orbital defense system in existence that can protect you,' but I might be mistaken."

With a sigh, Astral dragged a hoof down his face. "Yeah, he did say something like that. What's the story, how did he get hurt?"

"Well, he was being housed in the military barracks in section fourty-two. That's where Ribbon and I went through basic training. It's the location for all the classified and delicate stuff that goes on. It's also the safest, most secure place on the planet. And, well, Mac was getting along with everypony really well. Too well, apparently. He was eating in the mess with everypony, attending exercises, giving seminars on survival procedures, and beating the tar out of our elite soldiers at hoof-wrestling." Radio shook his head. "Somepony thought it would be funny to pit him against the latest version of experimental android without telling him. Now, he's hurt, Furia's short an android, and everypony back home is demanding to know where I am."

Astral held up a hoof to stop the colt. "Wait, he hoof-wrestled an android, and won?"

"Uh, no?" Radio took his wing and patted the compartment where he put his pad. "My dad said it was a boxing match. After trading a few punches, big guy realized something was up. One of the scientists spilled the wheat, and told him not to hold back. The android was so badly damaged that the research team will be set back months repairing it."

Astral let out a snort, but managed not to laugh. "Just tell President Jones exactly what happened. Everything will be fine."

Radio wasn't as convinced. "You seem awfully sure about that."

Astral gave the colt a pat on the shoulder. "The first time I met Coriander Jones, he set off an energy blast into the sky for no reason, insulted the shampoo I used, spied on Twilight while she was sleeping, and talked about hoof-wrestling with a stallion by the name of Rock Duster." Radio's ears perked up at the mention of his dad's name. "He's not going to be mad. He's going to laugh his ass off that your android lost. And if that isn't enough to reassure you, we can contact Jones directly."

Radio nodded, looking a little relieved. "You can really do that?"

Astral nodded to Twilight. "She can. At least, I'm pretty sure she can."

The indicated pony lifted her snout in Astral's general direction, suspiciously eyeing him out of the corner of her eye. "Can what?" she asked slowly. "What are you two whispering about over there?"

Astral shrugged. "If we needed to, could you get in touch with President Jones?"

"Of course. You have a pad?" She held up a hoof in Radio's direction, gesturing for the pad. The colt took it out of his bags, turned it on, and held it out. Without taking it from him, Twilight started tapping the screen. "I'll add contact info for Coriander, Jasper, Silver, Celestia, Luna, and Chrysalis. Private lines, of course, so only contact them if it's important."

"Wait," Radio looked at the pad when she finished typing, "You know the President of the Galactic Assembly's private com-line? And you're on a first name basis? And who are these others?"

"Jasper is president Jones' top aide," Astral answered. "Silver is a blind, eternally young unicorn from my home planet. And, by the way, she was also the one who blew it up. The last three are a group of immortal beings who secretly rule the universe." He looked up at Twilight. "Did I miss anything?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "They don't rule universe." With a sigh she told Radio, "Celestia and Luna were the sister princesses of Equestria. Yes, they're immortal, but they don't rule anything now. Celestia was my mentor when I was growing up, and she serves as an advisor to any leader who is looking for advice. Chrysalis is sort of an auditor, and weeds out corruption within the galactic assembly. And Luna currently runs the most prestigious educational institution in the galaxy... by proxy."

"Cheapest too," Astral added. "Former student speaking. Hard as hell, but the whole thing was just about free."

Twilight squinted at the unicorn. "You attended the academy? Did you graduate?"

"Of course I did," Astral replied, looking hurt. "Associate's of Magical Arts, in Applied Utility Magic. Minors in ship repair and personal business finance." He leveled a glare at Radio after the colt started snickering. "Yes. I know. It's a shit degree. I barely even made it because of my scores in applied spellcasting one through four, and everybody I graduated with is probably working in a fast food place or a dry dock right now. Still, I probably wouldn't be able to hide my Aura without the skills I learned in those classes."

Twilight shrugged. "As long as you gained something from it, I'm sure Luna will be happy. She was always fond of pointing out that practical results outweigh test scores."

"Hey," radio tapped at his pad, looking up just enough to stay in the conversation, "Ribbon's taking classes at Luna Academy, and she's living on one of Canterlot's space stations, is there a chance I could take some time to visit her? I haven't seen her in two years."

"Of course you can," Twilight answered. "We should all at least say hi, so let's stop by Canter Delta on the way back to the towers."

"Yes!" Radio buried his face in his pad. "I'll call her and let her- No, wait." He looked up again. "Should I tell her, or should it be a surprise?"

The airlock door opened, but the door leading to the shuttlebay. A tall biped in a light-duty space-suit walk in with the ponies. Captain Nova removed his helmet, blinking as the light was no longer being filtered through the suit's computerized visor. He let out a sigh and swiped his sweaty hair back. "Please forgive the delay, I was overseeing the launch of our main supply shuttle, and the preparations of a permanent communications satellite to augment the one you left in orbit."

"You did more than oversee preparations sir." Cathy walked in behind him, devoid of any safety equipment. The only things she wore were magnetic latching mechanisms on each of her legs.

The captain squared his shoulders. "I confess, I may have spent more time hauling crates than issuing orders, but the crew knows what they need to do. I did what would best help our mission at the given moment." He cleared his throat. "I must say, however, the size of your satellite is surprisingly small, given its signal output. Is it a custom unit?"

"Oh, no," Berry piped up, "I just fixed it before we launched it. I wanted to be able to talk to my new grandpa even if we got far away."

"I see." Nova said quietly. "You were the one who fixed our scanner for us, weren't you? Thank you for that. We ran a diagnostic on the system and everything is functioning properly, you saved my crew some time."

Cathy walked up to Fluttershy, and unhooked a large piece from the latching device on her left front leg. It was a pad, a fairly large one, and the beetle wiped a smudge from the screen before offering it to the feral pony. "A parting gift. This contains a language program I developed. If you take it at the recommended pace, it will help you completely regain the ability to speak over the course of a few months. You will be able to converse at a basic level much sooner than that, but it will take patience." She walked backwards to the captain's side after Fluttershy accepted the device. "Best of luck... to all of you. I hope we meet again."

"Indeed," Captain Nova nodded his agreement, "You are all welcome aboard the Solomon's Ring, and I will personally make sure you remain updated on our efforts on Sevus."

"Thank you," Astral spoke up, "that means a lot to us."

"The leader of the settlement, an Elder Sparrow, and her father, Tekrin, have already contacted me." Nova tried to kneel down to gain a better eye-level with Astral but gave up when his bulky suit refused to bend the way he wanted. "They asked me to pass along their thanks to your crew, and to let you know that things are already improving. The threat of death no longer looms over them every day, and ponies are finally able to mourn and are starting to pull together and move forward."

"Tekrin mentioned he was sorry for how he treated all of you," Cathy added, "repeatedly at that. And he promised he would stay in touch with his grand-daughter, no matter how far apart you may be."

"Yay!" Berry jumped up, almost dislodging the toy goose from her head. She started poking Twilight in the side. "I wanna go call him from the shuttle. Can I? Can I? Please?"

Twilight put up a small forcefield to absorb the constant, repeated jabs, and sighed. "Yes, Berry, we're going to leave in a minute, then you can call anypony you want. Be patient."

"Yay, thank you," the earth pony said with a nod. She stood in place, bouncing up and down with excitement. "I'm really good at being patient!"

Nova and Cathy exchanged wide-eyed glances and quickly stepped to the side, clearing the door. "We won't delay you any further," Cathy said, sweeping one leg towards the shuttlebay. "Good luck."

"Indeed," Nova added with a nod. "Safe travels."

Ponies started shuffling out to the Shuttle, Twilight exiting last. "Thanks again, Captain, Cathy. I appreciate everything you've done for us."

Cathy stepped forward. "Our pleasure, Miss Sparkle."

Captain Nova offered a small bow. "Indeed, it was pleasure to have you." Twilight walked out and the airlock door closed. Almost immediately, an insistent knocking came from the other door. "If only all ponies were so pleasant."

With a sigh, Cathy stole Nova's catchphrase. "Indeed."

"Hey ya! Anypony home?" The knocking continued. "How's my favorite captain? You in there, sir?"

"Do we have to open it?" Nova whispered.

"I'm afraid so sir," Cathy whispered back.

The door slid open before either of them could move to the controls, and two pegasi stood in the doorway. The shorter of the two, a mare with silky, bark brown fur and a long mane of autumn colors withdrew her wingtip from a nearby panel. "I found the panel which controls it, dear," she whispered in a heavy, exotic accent as dark and silky as her coat. The other wing was wrapped around a bell shaped basket woven with dried vines and leaves that matched her mane. "I was supposed to do that, yes?"

"Ya did great, Autumn," the other pegasi, a stallion, answered. "You always do, that's why I married you. An awesome stallion needs an awesome mare by his side." He was tall and skinny, with a pale green coat which greyed around his face where he was trying, and failing to grow a beard. He started in with a slight limp, pointing at captain with a hoof that looked like someone tried to burn it off. The fur was missing up to the ankle, and the exposed skin was badly scarred. The hoof itself was poked full of small holes. How they got there was anyone's guess, but they were old, and patched with some sort of glass-like material. "Hey, captain, go~od to see you. How've you been? Thanks for letting us crash here, we really appreciate it."

Nova rolled his eyes for Cathy to see before turning around. "Mr. Zephyr, you're early, by about 2 hours."

"Is that so?" He strolled into the airlock, bringing with him the overpowering stench of cheap cologne. "And call me Zeph, man, you've done enough for me to earn that. Ever since you guys picked us up at that terrafa-whats-it station, you folks have been simply outstanding. Hal, can I call you Hal?"

Halifax Nova shook his head. "No."

The protest was not heard. "Hal, your crew is simply phenomenal. I was just in the mess hall, regaling them with the tales of my adventures through the galaxy, and they were all just so worried that I might miss the shuttle launch."

"I'm sure they were," Cathy said pleasantly. "Did they send you down here?"

"They sure did, miss Cathy." Zephyr put his other hoof on his heart, this one was untouched by whatever injuries had damaged the other. "It is so touching that they care about making sure I get where I need to be. Though, it wouldn't be right to deprive them of the ending to the story I was telling." His hoof moved to the greasy, pompously styled mane on his head, and he pulled a small data card from it. He tossed the chip to Nova, who immediately tossed it to Cathy, who backed up and let it clatter to the floor. "That's a recording of some of my best stories. No need to thank me."

"You keep that in your mane?" Cathy asked before gingerly picking it up with the mag-latch on her leg. She made sure that no part of it actually touched her.

"Well," Nova clasped his hands, both of which were thankfully still gloved. "Mr.Zephyr, as much as we hate to see you go-"

"No," Cathy looked up at the Captain, shaking her insectoid head, "no, sir."

Nova's eyes went wide."Right, right," he said quickly, "no, um, I mean, I wouldn't want delay you any further than we already have. The airlock is cycling right now, since another shuttle is departing, but as soon as they leave, you will be able to board the shuttle for Canter Alpha, and I will personally make sure it leaves the moment you are on board."

The pegasus flew up to smack a hoof against the biped's shoulder. "You're a real pal, Hal. I like you." When he landed, he brought his hoof to his chin. "You know, as thanks, why don't I help you take that boring manecut of yours to the ne~ext level?"

Even the mare with him shook her head violently.

Nova's hand shot up in a clenched fist, parking his wrist next to his ear. "What was that?" He asked he asked his forearm in a demanding tone, eyebrows furrowed in concentration. "Understood." He dropped his fist and looked down at his first mate. "K'tthia, we're needed on the bridge." After a second, he added, "urgently."

"Understood," she answered. "Please wait here," she told the two guests, "the doors will automatically open when it is safe to leave." She headed out into the hallway.

Nova was out with her in seconds, turning and reaching for the door control with a hurried, "safe journeys."

Zephyr looked over at his mare with a smile, extending the tip of his wing to brush against hers. "We'll head to Delta after that," he whispered, "you'll be safe there with my family."

The door slammed shut, and the captain released a breath he had been holding.

"Sir," Cathy heaved a sigh of her own, "that was wonderfully quick thinking, you have my appluase."

Nova leaned on the door, forehead resting on the arm of his suit as he whispered. "You know what the worst part about this is?" He looked down at Cathy. "I designed that awful cologne he's wearing."

Comments

[xoid]

Flutter missed her brutter by that much.

[PrincessLunaTheGamer]

Plz I need more story

[Snowkitsune]

7887284
Flutters would have eaten her brother lol

[The Chronicler]

"Yay!" Berry jumped up, almost dislodging the toy goose from her head. She started poking Twilight in the side. "I wanna go call him from the shuttle. Can I? Can I? Please?"

I keep forgetting that Berry is in her twenties.

[memevolt]

7887284
Thank all that is good!