Star Trek: Equestria: Starfleet Academy Season 1

by Captain_Cosmos

Episode 6: Starlight, Starbright

The sun had just set upon the academy as Jessica and twilight got ready for their stargazing session that night. Jessica picked her telescope case out from under her bed and set it on top. Opening it to put her stargazing PADD in it. From the other side of the room, she could hear twilight barely trying to contain her excitement. "I can't wait, I can't wait, I can't wait!" Jessica giggled softly. Twilight's childlike excitement about stargazing was something she could relate to, having displayed similar excitement on multiple occasions. And twilight, despite already having done it every night that weekend, was still just as excited as the first night.

"So twilight. How many constellations do you think we'll see tonight?" Twilight way her telescope into her saddlebag as she thought.

"I hope we get to see a whole bunch. Maybe we'll get to see a constellation that can be seen from Equuis." Jessica chuckled.

"Doubtful, but I wouldn't mind seeing one. It'll give you a chance to educate me on a constellation." Both girls chuckled. It was true that their stargazing sessions so far have been more like Jessica helping twilight identify constellations, which happened frequently due to the Alicorn's thirst for knowledge on this subject from earth's perspective.

"Seriously though, it's been fun twilight. It's nice to have a stargazing partner who actually knows what I'm talking about, even if that partner needs to be brought up to speed on certain things." Twilight nodded.

"I'm just happy I don't have to stargaze on my own anymore. Granted before I moved to Ponyville, I was fine with that, but then I met my friends." Jessica snickered.

"Yeah, friends do change you don't they."

"And I've never been happier to have met them." At that moment, twilight's combadge beeped and spike's voice came through.

"Twilight, is it ok if I spend the night in Luke's quarters? We're in an intense Mario Kart 100 circuit and we really don't feel like stopping." Twilight rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Have you finished your homework for the weekend?"

"Yes. I have. I'm not a baby anymore twilight, I know when I need to work and when I get to play." Twilight thought for a minute before sighing.

"Alright, as long as luke is ok with it, you can, just don't stay up too late, I'm getting up extra early to make sure you're up. Because we got classes tomorrow."

"Right. Don't worry Twi, I'll go to bed at a reasonable time."

"Not spike-reasonable."

"I know. Again, I'm not a baby anymore. And why are you talking to me about finishing homework? You haven't finished yours yet." Twilight just rolled her eyes.

"Stargazing can only be done at night, so can you really blame me? Plus the assignment needed 3 nights of stargazing to finish."

"Yeah yeah. Anyway, thanks Twi, see you tomorrow." The connection was cut. With twilight rolling her eyes.

"Hey Jessica, you said your brother usually goes to sleep by 9 right?"

"At the latest. You thinking that should be spike's bed time?" Twilight nodded. Jessica tapped her combadge.

"Luke, this is Jessica."

"Hey Jessica what's up?"

"Heard you and spike are having a sleep over tonight."

"Yeah, it's gonna be a blast."

"Just as long as you make sure spike's in bed before you go to sleep. It's a school night after all."

"Yeah yeah, I'll make sure the little guy gets his sleep. Since when did you become mom?" Jessica chuckled.

"The minute I had to carry you back to your quarters the first time because once you fall asleep, there's no waking you for hours. And I wasn't gonna leave my brother out in the open like that." Luke chuckled.

"Ok, 'mom'. I'll make sure to get spike to bed at a reasonable time. Have fun on your stargazing date with twilight." Both twilight and Jessica froze, blushing like mad when he said that. And then they both heard laughter from Jessica's combadge.

"Luke! It's not that kind of thing!" Luke calmed down enough to talk again.

"Oh I'm sorry Jessica. But that was too perfect of a teasing opportunity. you know which way you swing, and your roommate is quite the eye catcher." Jessica groaned, then smirked.

"Oh really? And I'm supposed to pretend like I don't know who you're crushing on? Maybe T'Nea could be getting a tip-off sometime in the very near future." Luke stopped laughing entirely.

"You wouldn't."

"Oh yeah? How bout I beep her right now."

"No! Don't do that! I'm sorry!" Jessica smiled.

"That's what I thought. Now, have fun tonight." With that Jessica cut the signal and took off her badge, dropping it onto her desk with an exasperated sigh. "I love my brother, I really do, but man oh man can he be a pain in the butt sometimes. Sorry about that twilight." Twilight, who had just then unfrozen and returned from her state of shock, shook her head.

"It's fine Jessica. Siblings tease siblings right?" Jessica chuckled as she picked up her telescope case.

"Can't be siblings without a little teasing. It's a fundamental part of family law." Twilight put on her saddle as she chuckled.

"Can't argue with that. Now, what's going on with T'Nea and Luke?" Jessica giggled as they headed out the door.

"Oh, now that's a story as old as their friendship." Twilight arched an eyebrow in curiosity.

Over in Luke's dorm, he had just gotten off the com with Jessica as he and spike went back to playing Mario kart 100 on Luke's PlayStation 50.

"Alright little dude, the girls want you in bed before I go to sleep so after this race, we should go get ready for bed before we forget."

"Got it. BTW, guess what?"

"What?" Spike pressed a button on his controller and his Kart in the game blasted ahead of Luke's, straight over the finish line.

"I just blasted my way into first place." Luke just kept staring at the screen.

"How?! You didn't have a speed boost power up, did you?" Spike shook his head.

"No, but I did find the built in speed boost button for that particular Kart."

"Darn it. And I intentionally left out that part because no other Kart has that power." Spike chuckled.

"What's the matter luke? Upset you were beat by a rookie?" Luke shook his head.

"Nah, you won fair and square, or, at least as fair and square as Mario Kart allows." Spike chuckled.

"Yeah." Luke got up from his beanbag.

"Alright, time to get our teeth brushed and all that." Spike and Luke made their way into the bathroom.

"So, Luke, if you don't mind me asking, what was all that about with Jessica?"

"Oh, just two siblings taking jabs at each other. Nothing that hasn't happened before." Spike chuckled.

"Oh yeah. Twilight and I tease each other a lot too. Lately she's been teasing me about how I miss my marefriend back on Equuis." Luke arched an eyebrow.

"Marefriend? Is that the equivalent of a girlfriend on earth?" Spike nodded.

"Yep. Or at least, that's what I've learned since coming here—" spike's face suddenly crunched up as a little rumbling sound started coming from him. Luke eyes him.

"Spike, you ok?" Spike Just flapped his wings and backed away from Luke, just as he opened his mouth and in a burst of fire, a scroll spat out of his mouth and fell onto the floor. Luke jumped back a little.

"Dude, what was that?!" Spike sighed in relief.

"Sorry about that Luke, that's what happens when someone sends fire mail to me. I start to look like I'm sick and then I spit out a letter." Luke sighed.

"Oh thank goodness. I thought you were actually sick for a moment. Twilight and Jessica would've gone nuts." Spike chuckled.

"Nah, twilight probably would've just never allowed you anywhere near me again." Both Of then chuckled as spine picked up the letter and examined the seal. Once he got a good look at it, he beamed. "Oh, speaking of my marefriend, this is from her!" Luke smiled.

"Ooh, I bet it's probably a letter all about how she misses you." Spike chuckled.

"And probably asking when I can come and visit." Spike unrolled the scroll and read.

Dear Spike,

How's it going? Is that big fancy academy treating you well? Because if not, they'll have to deal with me. Ha ha. The crusaders and I miss having you around. It's just not the crusaders without its 6th member. And it's also not spikeybelle without My Spikey Wikey. Aw well, we'll just have to wait until shining armor and princess Cadance visit. They're bringing me and the rest of the crusaders along with us so we can hang out with our sisters! I'm so excited I can't wait! You have to show me what you've been up to! Anyway, just wanted to see how you were doing, and to tell you about my visit. I'm not gonna say when because I want that to be a surprise. See you when I see you, be it when you come to visit or when I visit.

Love you always,

Sweetie Belle.

Spike chuckled as he rolled the scroll back up. Luke giggling a little.

"Sounds like she misses you a lot" Spike nodded.

"Yep. And it looks like the next time I'll see her is when she comes to visit with twilight's brother and sister in law." Luke's eyes widened.

"Wait, you mean shining armor and princess Cadance?" Spike nodded.

"Yeah. That's them—" at that moment, there was a small flash and a poof that resulted in a flat snowflake shaped crystal floating in the air. Spike smiled while Luke eyed the thing.

"Let me guess. Mail?" Spike nodded. "My aren't we popular tonight." Spike and Luke chuckled as spike plucked the flake out from the air and read what was written on it.

Dear spike,

I am not sure whether your marefriend has let you know yet or not, but Cadance, flurry heart and I, along with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Are planning on visiting you guys at Starfleet Academy. We want to surprise Twily so if you could not tell her we will be there on the week October 31st, we would really appreciate it. If this is a bad time for some reason please let us know as soon as possible. Looking forward to catching up with you.

Sincerely,
Shining Armor

Spike read the letter and chuckled. "Well, so much for Sweetie Belle surprising me." Luke nodded.

"October 31st, thats Halloween, the spookiest day of the year." Spike nodded.

"On Equuis we call it Nightmare Night. Hm, now that I think about it, that's a month away, I need to start thinking about what I want to go as." Luke giggled.

"Yeah, there's a Halloween dance scheduled for that night, and it wouldn't be fun to show up without a costume. But we can worry about that later. Right now, we got a circuit to finish." Spike nodded.

"Ready to lose again?" Luke chuckled.

"Hey, no way are you beating me at my own game. Especially after I disable that Kart so we are on even ground from now on." Spike rolled his eyes.

"Your just mad you're getting crushed by a rookie."

"Oh yeah? Bring it dragon man, because this time, speed demon Luke is done playing around." Luke and spike swiftly went back to their game.

On the other side of the campus, Jessica and twilight reached the perfect stargazing site, known throughout the academy as the lookout. Twilight nodded as she and Jessica set up their telescopes.

"Oh yeah, this is definitely the perfect place to stargaze. Uninterrupted view of the stars, warm weather, perfect stargazing conditions." Jessica chuckled.

"Yeah, you can't get these kind of conditions in New York. No matter what time of year it is. One night, it would be too cold, another night would be too warm, clouds, rain, even adequate conditions were rare. The only way I could get stargaze on a regular basis was by modifying my scopetron 6000 to see past cloud coverage." Twilight gawked at jessica's telescope while effortlessly using her magic to set up her own.

"No way, that thing can see past cloud coverage? How?" Jessica smiled as she reached into her case and pulled out a small card like object.

"It's all thanks to this HUD chip. Standard accessory for all telescopes these days." Twilight eyed the chip.

"HUD, That stands for Heads Up Display Right?" Jessica nodded.

"Correct. What it normally does is display all sorts of data you can see through the eyepiece, Star coordinates, time, date, things like that." Twilight nodded. Prompting Jessica to continue. "This particular chip however, has a bonus feature. In addition to its usual function, it's been upgraded to allow the scopetron's viewfinder to pretend the clouds aren't even there, using advanced communication and positioning technology, it can essentially do its job blindfolded." Twilight took the chip in her magic and examined it.

"Fascinating. How did you do it? Modify this thing I mean?" Jessica giggled softly as she plucked the chip out of the air and proceeded to insert it into her telescope.

"I, had help. At the time I was 4 years old. So I needed help from an adult. Franklin saw right away that I was fascinated in the stars, but couldn't due to New York's inconsistent weather. So, he helped me modified the Scopetron's HUD chip to compensate for that." Twilight smiled.

"Well That was nice of him. Is he a friend of yours? Have I seen him before?" Jessica however wasn't listening as she stared off into space. Inside her mind, it was a nightmare.

"There you go jessi, now you can see the stars without having to look at the dull grey sky."

"Awesome! Thank you daddy, you're the best!"

Jessica watched as her younger self and her father hugged next to her at the time new scopetron 6000. Having just gotten it for her 4th birthday. Jessica looked on, letting a tear fall down her cheek. That's when she heard a voice that she DIDN'T want to hear.

"Well well Well, taking a trip down memory lane now are we?" The scene around Jessica changed into a void and Jessica saw the dark pony creature appear. Jessica clenched her fists.

"Leave me alone. I'm not in the mood to deal with potential demons right now." Nightmare Moon put on a shocked face.

"What? But you don't want to watch what that man from your past turns into?" With that, the scene changed again to a room, Jessica saw herself just over a year older then just a few minutes ago. This time she was stargazing, and just enjoying the view.

"Someday. I'm gonna go up there. I'm gonna go explore the stars like captain archer did." Jessica heard laughing and turned to see her father with an empty bottle of alcohol in his hand.

"Ha! Forget it you little runt. The only way your gonna see the stars is through a telescope. What, with your condition and all." Jessica saw her younger self think for a minute.

"Then I'll join Starfleet. They always send their people into space." Again, her father laughed.

"And why would Starfleet want a pile of trash like you?" Older Jessica turned her back on the scene, tears threatening to come out in full force. While Nightmare Moon laughed.

"Oh, I'm going to enjoy tormenting you with this. For now though, the magical pest beckons." Nightmare Moon and the scene vanished.

"Jessica? Jessica. JESSICA!" Jessica shook her head and turned to face twilight.

"What? Did you say something Twilight?" Twilight eyed Jessica.

"You zoned out for a minute when I asked how you know Franklin." Jessica realized what must've happened and rubbed the back of her neck.

"Oh, sorry about that twilight. I guess mentioning my father again brought up some, less then desirable memories for me." Twilight made an oh face of realization.

"Oh, oh I'm sorry Jessica. I didn't mean to-"

"It's ok twilight. It was years ago and usually it's less painful if I just call him by his first name." Twilight nodded.

"Of course. Let's, how about we get to stargazing. You know, the reason we're here." Jessica nodded.

"Right. Let's see what constellations are out tonight." Jessica and twilight both went to position their scopes upward when something in her viewfinder caught Jessica's eye.

"Ahoy captain what have we here?" Twilight turned to Jessica curiously.

"What Jessica?" Jessica smirked as she confirmed the sight.

"I spy with my little eye. Rainbow Danger Dash, coolest cadet here at Starfleet Academy, in the botanical gardens, cuddling with Fluttershy and a bunch of cute rabbits, whilst in the middle of an evening picnic." Twilight's eyes widened.

"Shut, up! No way is that a thing." Jessica snorted.

"You think I'm joking? Adjust your telescope negative 45 degrees down and right." Twilight positioned her scope like Jessica's and saw that her stargazing partner was right!

"I don't believe it. It IS Rainbow Dash!” Jessica nodded.

“Now What was that she was saying? We’ll never catch her doing anything like this in public?” Twilight chuckled.

“Oh she is so never going to hear the end of this. Think we should beep her right now?” Jessica laughed.

“As much as it would be hilarious to see if we can scare her out of her wits, I think we should let them have their moment.” Twilight nodded.

“Agreed. Now. Lets angle our sights to the stars.” Jessica nodded as they FINALLY set their sights on the stars. It was several minutes before either of them said a word. Then twilight broke the silence. “Hey, Jessica? You ever wish that was you?” Jessica arched an eyebrow at twilight.

“What do you mean twilight?”

“I mean, being down there? Having that moment with your special someone? Having, a special someone at all?” Jessica fell silent as she thought for a moment.

“Well, Yeah. Sometimes I do. But I never seem to find the right girl for me.” Twilight’s ears perked up.

“Wait, you mean you’re—“ Jessica giggled.

“Yes, I’m homosexual. Though you probably already suspected it after that potshot Luke took at me earlier.” Twilight’s eyes widened as she made a realization.

“Wait, he said I was quite the eye catcher, he wasn’t implying...” Jessica chuckled and nodded.

“Yep. He was poking fun at the prospect of us dating.” Twilight blushed like mad in embarrassment.

“I-I fail to see how that is as funny as your making it out to be.” Jessica giggled.

“Because we only JUST met last week. I mean, yeah sure, we live together in the dorm but still, a week isn’t exactly a long time to know someone isn’t it.” Twilight was beginning to giggle.

“No, I suppose not.”

“Yeah, you see, I’ve found that the best way to pursue a relationship is slowly work up to that by being friends with the other. Enjoy each other’s company, and if you find that a relationship is possible, bring it up to said friend.” Twilight nodded.

“That’s actually a good way to go about it.” Jessica smiled.

“I know, right? That way even if the other has no interest whatsoever in a romantic relationship, the possibility of still being friends is still there. Because wouldn’t you rather have them as a friend then not have them at all?” Twilight nodded.

“That makes sense. I know I’d rather have the mare of my dreams as a friend than not at all.” Jessica fell silent.

“You swing that way too huh.” Twilight sighed, but nodded.

“Yeah, I do. I guess I always just, knew I preferred mares to colts.” Jessica nodded.

“Yeah, me too. At first I didn’t understand what it was, but I found myself attracted to girls more then boys. Guess it’s just a part of who we homosexual beings are huh.” Twilight nodded.

“Yeah. Think there’s somepony out there for me Jessica?” Jessica nodded.

“Of course. There’s someone out there for everyone. I know you’ll find someone Twilight. Just like I will. Someday.”

“Someday.” Twilight and Jessica day there in silence, before both letting out giggling.

“Wow. We come here to stargaze, and we end up talking about our sexuality.”

“I know. It isn’t something I was expecting to reveal to someone I’ve only known for a week.”

“Neither was I. Not that I’m particularly ashamed or anything. Just didn’t seem like something you tell your still relatively new friend.”

“I hear ya. Did we even locate a constellation yet?” Jessica shook her head.

“I don’t think so.” Twilight nodded.

“Then let’s get to it.” Jessica nodded.

“Right.” Jessica and twilight both turned back to their telescopes and FINALLY started to look at the stars, from then on, engaging in talk of constellations and even playing name that constellation using pictures from jessica’s phone. However, Jessica had other things on her mind. “So not only do I need to worry about that thing in my mind, and said thing tormenting me about my birth father, but now there’s another thing in there. Why the stars am I seeing twilight in a new light all of a sudden?!” Unbeknownst to Jessica, twilight also had something on her mind.

“Why the hay does Jessica seem more beautiful all of a sudden? And, why is my heart suddenly beating faster?” Twilight shook her head to clear the thought. Deciding to focus on the task at hand. “Seriously though, what the hay is going on?”

To be continued.

Author's Note:

End of the intro arc, it’s a month before Halloween/nightmare night in-story, so I need something to fill in the gap. One or two stories should do it I’m thinking. So, any ideas? No idea is too crazy.