• Published 27th Jul 2016
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Harmony Among The Stars - tom117z



The ES Harmony, the pride of Princess Twilight Sparkle and Equestria's first FTL capable starship. It is due to make its maiden voyage to travel further than anypony before it, and yet its first mission... may be its last.

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10 - Xal

Princess Twilight’s Personal Log, August 20th, 3382 AD

Well, this is the moment of truth. In a few minutes we will rendezvous with the starship we discovered, there is still no sign of movement from the vessel and it remains at minimal power. If the hull analysis is to be believed, this ship belongs to the same species as the one whose ship was destroyed by the same aliens that damaged our own vessel.

The Sharin.

They appeared vaguely equine in the distress call that dragged us into this mess, and I am eager to meet them face-to-face. We could learn so much from one-another! They don’t appear to use magic, but if their systems are anything like those hostile ships then they are far more advanced than us! Imagine, what could their technology mixed with our own magic bring about? How advanced would both our worlds become? The sheer possibilities make me squeal as if I’m a filly again, or want to at least.

That is, if we find more than mere corpses. We still detect what appears to be a single life sign, but that still could turn out to be false given our state and the state of their own ship.

I hope that isn’t the case.


The ES Harmony slowed as it approached the small drifting starship just ahead. Little light was coming from the green coloured vessel, and those viewing it had to wonder if anything could truly be alive within. The ship seemed so lifeless, and on closer viewing signs of damage were obvious, charring along the hull where fires had burned were visible. However, there didn’t appear to be any hull breaches, and despite there being no breathable atmosphere within, there was still some power being directed to something in the very back of the ship.

The ES Harmony came to a complete halt a short distance from the ship, looming over the vastly smaller vessel.

“Any changes?” Twilight asked, standing in front of the captain’s chair.

“None,” Iynx reported. “It’s as dead as it was when we first came across it.

Twilight hummed, studying the ship being displayed on the viewscreen. “It shows signs of damage, any weapons signatures?”

Iynx shook her head. “Not from our scans, however limited they are we should have been able to pick up some trace if there were any.”

“Then what happened to it?” Nimble Star asked. “An accident maybe?”

“Perhaps,” Iynx shrugged. “But we won’t find out standing around here.”

“I agree,” Twilight stated. “Iynx, Silver Wrench, Geneser and I will head over to the vessel and see what we can find; Nimble Star, you have the bridge in our absence.”

“Aye, Ma’am,” Nimble Star nodded.

“We taking the transporter or a shuttle?” Iynx asked.

“Transporter,” Twilight responded. “We want to be in and out quickly if something goes wrong, we’ll keep a constant lock on us just in case.”

“Understood,” Iynx nodded. “I’ll grab the others, we’ll also retrieve some E.V. Suits for us, you did pack an alicorn sized E.V. Suit aboard the ship, right?”

Twilight smirked. “I do like to be prepared.”


Transporter Room



The transporter room was made up of two parts, first was the control where a crewmember stood on station behind a console, secondly a door led into a circular chamber which held a large crystal in the centre, metallic panels lining the walls enchanted to increase the power of the spell held within the crystal. The crystals themselves were unique in that they could only be produced in the Crystal Empire, and were capable of being designed to contain a powerful spell for one’s usage.

In this case, the spell was teleportation, the magic donated to the crystal by one Princess of Friendship.

“Are you sure it’s safe right now?” Iynx asked silver wrench cautiously as she placed on her E.V. Suit.

“It’s fine,” Silver Wrench assured. “I made sure the systems were repaired nicely, besides even without those systems the spell would still work, the only problem would be if the crystal itself was damaged. Which it wasn’t.”

“I know that,” Iynx rolled her eyes. “But we may need to be out in a hurry, those systems increase the spells range, effectiveness and decreases the time taken to charge. It’s useful to have.”

“You worry too much,” Silver stated, passing the griffon her helmet. “Nopony else is complaining.”

“I’m expressing a concern, not complaining,” she deadpanned.

“Are you two finished?” Geneser asked. “I don’t believe Silver would leave the transported diminished.”

“See,” Silver smirked. “Geneser agrees with me.”

Iynx’s smirk was far more predatory than Silver Wrench’s. “Well… she has a reason to be.”

“I…” Silver Wrench blushed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Uh huh…” Iynx was unconvinced, to say the least.

The sound of somepony clearing their throat caught their attention, the alicorn responsible was in a larger E.V. Suit covering over her entire body with her helmet held in her magical aura; the only thing that wouldn’t be covered while in the suit was her horn, just as was with Silver Wrench’s suit while the others would be covered completely.

“Is everything ready?” Princess Twilight asked the transported chief.

“Yes, your highness,” she responded. “Ready on your order.”

Twilight nodded to the mare, turning to her companions next.

“And you?”

“We’re all ready, Twilight,” Iynx confirmed.

“Right,” Twilight said. “Helmets on, when we’re on the pad we’ll be teleported right over to what appears to be the bridge. Understood.”

Confirmations came from the group, and Twilight placed on her helmet and led the others into the transported pad as her HUD booted up. Her HUD showed that oxygen levels were stable and the suit was sealed, her vitals were stable and the IFF tracker displayed her three companions.

The doors shut behind them, and as they got into position around the crystal it began to light up with a familiar lavender aura which spread throughout the chamber and over all four of its occupants. After a few seconds of charging, the four disappeared in a flash of lavender light, only to reappear in a pitch black room aboard the alien vessel.

“Bring lights and magnetic hooves online,” Twilight ordered.

Twilight felt herself be dragged down to the floor by her magnetic hooves on the suit, allowing her to walk around despite the lack of gravity. The others had done the same, and one by one they brought their bright helmet lights online, allowing them to see around the darkened room.

As they surveyed the bridge, burnt out consoles could be spotted as some debris floated freely through the vacuum consuming the ship. Twilight’s gaze briefly focused on to what seemed to be the captain’s chair in the centre of the bridge, before moving on. She looked directly behind the captain’s chair, where an open doorway led into a corridor beyond.

“There seems to be a way to the rest of the ship over here,” Twilight informed the others.

Twilight examined the hallway, Iynx joining her as Geneser and Silver Wrench continued to examine the bridge.

“This ship is damaged heavily,” Geneser spoke out. “I can only imagine the crew suffocated helplessly.”

“Then where are the crew?” Iynx asked.

Twilight looked at The Commander. “Asking question like that are just asking for tr-”

A shout cut her off, and all of them span to see Silver Wrench scramble away from something floating across the centre of the bridge.

A mummified body.

“I just turned around and its face was right in mine!” Silver Wrench shouted. “I mean, what the hay?!”

Geneser approached the corpse, which was wearing a black uniform with blue highlighting. It was recognisably equine, and was largely intact due to the lack of an atmosphere. Geneser brought up her right foreleg, where her suit had an added medical scanner. She passed it up and down the corpse, moving to check the results when it finished.

“He appears to be male,” Geneser stated. “A strong bone structure, not at all frail.”

The zebra moved on through some more of the results before speaking up again.

“Cause of death was electrocution most likely from a damaged console, which, when it exploded, burnt him like a piece of charcoal,” she stated, gesturing to the burns along the front of his barrel up to his sunken face.

“Lovely,” Iynx deadpanned.

After a search of the room, and further down into the corridor and two side rooms it led to, they counted a total of four bodies that all died the same way.

After the search was completed and they made a log of all they had found thus far, before meeting back in the corridor.

“So, that’s this corridor, the environmental systems and shield systems explored along with this corridor and the bridge,” Iynx recapped. “What’s through door number three I wonder?”

“Only one way to find out,” Twilight said, examining the third door which, like the previous two in the corridor, was closed.

The Princess’ horn lit up brightly as she grabbed hold of the door and forced it open, allowing the group access further into the ship.

“Alright, I know an engine room when I see one,” Silver whistled, looking up and the strange looking engine.

The engine in question was a large cylinder which seemed lifeless and dead much like the rest of the ship. However, some other machinery in there seemed to glow softly, indicating they were either receiving or producing power.

“That’s their main core?” Iynx asked. “It’s a lot smaller than ours.”

“It’s completely deactivated,” Silver noted, moving to the online machinery while passing a fifth corpse.

The light seemed to be coming from a dim display, the language displayed wasn’t in any form that Silver Wrench could read. Thus, he had his suit scan the sentences and run them through several translation spells, allowing the suit to then display what it could successfully translate on his helmet’s HUD.

“They call the main reactor in the middle a ‘warp core’. Logs indicate it was shut down after a power surge, one that likely caused the death of the crew. However, auxiliary generators are giving off minimal power and sending said power to a cryogenic pod in the room beyond this one.”

“Cryogenic pod?” Twilight’s eyes widened. “Somepony is still alive in here?”

“It would seem that way,” Silver Wrench nodded, before humming in contemplation. “To be honest, even without magic their life support systems don’t seem to be all that different from ours. I think I may be able to bring them online. Air will be a bit stale though.”

“Do it,” Twilight agreed. “In the meantime, Iynx and Geneser follow me. Let’s go see about this survivor.”

As they left Silver Wrench to get to work, Twilight opened up one of the next doors and a short walk later they found themselves in the very back room of the ship. Two large windows sat either side, out of one they could see a great view of the nearby ES Harmony.

Or at least it would have been a great view, had the ship not been as roughed up as it had been then. It certainly didn’t currently look like a brand new starship.

Across the front wall sat various control systems, and opposite lining all across the back wall were several cryogenic pods. Most were open, dark and silent, but one was still lit up. The one in question was the only one closed and with frost obscuring the occupant within from view.

“Silver Wrench, we’ve located the survivor,” Twilight informed the engineer over the suits radio, moving towards the pod and examining the console. “If my translation spell is correct, he has been inside for one year. However, his vitals seem to be stable.”

“Roger that,” Silver responded. “I’m bringing life support online in just a couple minutes, wait for me.”

Twilight confirmed, and soon after the estimated time had elapsed the sound of air flowing into the ship made itself known. A small amount of gravity also took hold, floating debris falling to the floor with a clang. The three in the cryogenic chamber looked between one another, and then Twilight clasped her magic around her helmet, preparing a spell just in case there wasn’t another air outside to protect herself.

She lifted off her helmet, and was able to take a deep breath of, admittedly stale, air afterwards. The Princess breathed a sigh of relief as the other two followed suit, though they continued to use their helmets to light up the place.

“Alright, stand ready. I’m opening it,” Twilight stated, pressing some commands on the console by the pod.

The pod made several mechanical noises as it deactivated, and the thawing process began. The ice melted away, revealing a sleeping alien within. He wore the same uniform as the others, though similar to a pony he lacked fur and had rather bony facial features with sharp looking points at the end of their ears.

After the thawing process finished, the pod slowly opened up and the alien within wearily opened his eyes.

His eyes passed over his three rescuers, and he groggily said something in his native language.

“Hold on, I need to translate,” Twilight assured, knowing he didn’t understand but hoping her tone would place him at ease.

Her horn glowed brightly and enveloped all of those present.

“There, can you understand me?” Twilight asked.

“Yes,” he answered. “I can, thank you for releasing me. But… how did you do that with the translation?”

Twilight chuckled. “It’s a long story. Who are you?”

The alien slowly, with the assistance of Geneser, arose from the pod and got to his hooves. He studied his rescuers momentarily, cautiously.

“In a dire situation you were thrust,” Geneser noted. “Do not worry, in us you can trust.”

“My name is Xal, I was the tactical officer aboard this Scout Ship, the Sharin Starship Serenity. Now, who are you? And how long was I out?”

Twilight gave him a welcoming smile. “It’s a pleasure, Xal. I am Princess Twilight Sparkle. And this is Commander Iynx and Chief Medical Officer Geneser.”

“Greetings,” he nodded to them, though eying them with some suspicion. Then, however, one thing she said registered in his mind.

“Princess?!” he blurted. “You’re royalty?”

Twilight chuckled. “I am. Now, what happened here, Xal?”

“I…” Xal sighed. “We were on route home when our warp drive malfunctioned, I attempted to shut it down and bring us to impulse power, but an overload killed my crew. I’m all that’s left. How long was I out?”

“One year,” Twilight said. “If the translation spell was correct.”

“A year?” Xal asked. “I knew being found was a slim hope, I’m just glad… wait. Spell?”

“As the Princess said, it’s a long story,” Iynx spoke up. “Look, our ship is pretty beat up and we’re stuck at sub-light.”

“You are?” Xal asked, getting nods in return. “Well then, since you’re my only hope of leaving this place, feel free to scavenge what parts you need to repair your warp drive.”

“Thank you, Xal,” Twilight bowed her head to him. “However, we don’t have a warp drive, we have an FTL drive.”

“FTL?” he asked. “Does it use matter and antimatter?”

“Yes,” Twilight stated. “But it uses something else I know you don’t have, another form of energy.”

“Another form?”

“It’s a-”

“Long story?” Xal finished. “I gathered that. Anyway, our ship uses warp drive, which runs through the nacelles, and impulse, which runs through the impulse engines, to move; as do all the races we’ve come across.”

“We use thaumatic drive and FTL, which both run through the nacelles,” Iynx explained. “You would have to ask our engineer if you’re interested in the specifics.”

“I see…” he stated. “Well, I have a lot of questions, and I assume you have many for me too?”

“I must admit, I do,” Twilight said as she tried not to grin like a filly. “You’re the first alien life we’ve met face-to-face. This is quite an exciting moment for us!”

“The only one?” Xal asked in disbelief. “But… you are all of three different species?”

“Yes,” Twilight nodded. “But we evolved on the same planet, along with many other species.”

“I… OK, many more questions just sprang to mind. But I believe we should stick to with our species names here, and discuss the rest back on your vessel.”

“Agreed,” Twilight stated. “Well, I’m a pony of the alicorn subspecies. Commander Iynx here is a griffon, and Geneser is a zebra.”

“I see. Well, I myself am a sharin.”

“We know, we have heard of your species before, rather recently actually…”

“You have?” Xal blinked. “Where?”

“I…” Twilight grinned sheepishly. “It’s a long story.”

“I’m going to be hearing that a lot, I feel,” Xal deadpanned.

Author's Note:

I've decided to change the specifications of the Celestial Class, as a defence ship as well as Equus' first it doesn't make sense to have a crew of 100, so I've slimmed it down to just nine crew. The ship generally goes on patrols and then returns to base where the crew sleep, but if for whatever reason the ship is out for longer there is a cryo bay near the bridge. Aside from that the ship contains a shield control room, two escape pod bays, two airlocks and a main engineering; it is very small, barley larger than the Sharin Scout. I've also made it less rocket shaped so it is less sleek and more... primitive, bulky and basic. The Harmony is really their first decent starship.

The Celestial Class:

Out of all the ships I've made in Space Engineers based on this fic, only the Sharin Scout Ship and the Celestial are to scale. The Harmony and Raider will be smaller than they should be simply so my computer doesn't melt.

After the raider ship is done I will release all the ships on steam workshop both separately and together as a world save.