To the Stars

by Jay David

Chaos

Given recent events, it was no surprise that Sunset had slept heavily, with her eyes only slowly opening once her alarm went off. Letting out a loud yawn, she begrudgingly got out of her bed, clad in her usual, purple pajamas. After giving herself a standard morning stretch, the young Captain finally stood up, glancing around her quarters. Since they were still in the depths of space, it was only natural that the place was completely dark, and so she sighed before speaking. "Pinkie...some light please."

"Acknowledged," the ship's AI answered.

Slowly, the light levels rose until she could actually make out the stuff in her room. After just a moment, she walked over to the wall closest to her, wherein there was an inlet with a computer panel beside it. After stopping there and thinking things over, she smiled slightly. "One coffee please. And a hot one too." Within seconds, the aforementioned panel began bleeping to her, and after that there was a multicoloured eminence from within the inlet. There, just as she'd requested, was a cup of hot coffee, which she smiled to before taking it and enjoying her first sip of the morning. "Ah! Fabricators. Gotta love em." Then, after moving over to a chair by her window, she sat, glancing out at the beautiful starry sights beyond, before speaking up again. "Pinkie. What's on the agenda for today?"

"A communique from Equis Command. A routine inspection of the engines. Meeting with senior staff. Scans and exploration of nearby nebula," Pinkie replied.

Sunset nodded, taking another sip of her coffee. "After everything we've been through since leaving the dock, I'll be happy for a standard day like that." Then, she snapped her fingers. "Oh! Remind me to check up with Twilight later I'll need to see how our newest crewmember's getting on since he hatched."

"Acknowledged," Pinkie said.

Then, after taking a moment to sit back and enjoy the peace of the moment, Sunset took a third sip of her coffee. But this time, something was wrong. The taste of her drink had completely changed. Not bad exactly, but a flavour that caught her completely off-guard. Pulling the cup back from her lips, she stared at it for a time before giving it a quick sniff. "Is that...chocolate milk?" Shaking her head, she rose from her chair, heading straight back to the fabricator, after which she pressed some further buttons. "I think there's been a mistake. I'm pretty sure I asked for coffee."

"A simple 'thank you' would have been appropriate," the fabricator replied.

Sunset, for a long time, stared at it, then slowly backed away before picking up her bracer, which had been resting on a nearby table. After attaching it to her wrist, she spoke into it. "Um, Applejack? Not to worry you or anything, but I just got some backtalk from my fabricator. Have you been tinkering with the ship's systems again?" After a short moment where there was no response, she frowned. "Applejack? You there?"

There was a brief bout of static, after which Sunset could finally hear the voice of her friend. Unfortunately, what she heard was not so ocmforting. "Won thgir ywercs adnik era sgniht. Tesnus, yrros."

Sighing, Sunset ceased with her message, instead raising both hands to her temples to rub them. "Okay, so this is the kind of day I'm gonna have today." Realising that things were amiss on her ship, Sunset got to work, first heading over to an adjacent room to get changed and then, after making sure her appearance was in proper order, leaving her quarters. The moment she did, she understood the full scope of what was going on. Because in every direction she turned, she saw something odd going on. Crewmembers walking on the ceiling instead of the floor. Potted plants appearing out of nowhere and floating on past her. Some crew even just walking backwards and speaking in reverse, much like what Applejack had done. One guy even seemed to have had his head replaced with a kettle, and the steam he let out made it very clear how unhappy he was about that. Alarmed, Sunset rushed down the hallway, ignoring the fact that some of it seemed to be changing from sterile metal to desert to jungle to frozen tundra with every passing moment. Eventually, she got to an elevator. "To the bridge!" she commanded.

"What's the password?" the elevator system replied.

"...Is every device I use going to give me trouble?" Sunset asked.

"Probably," the elevator conceded.

After another sigh, Sunset shrugged her shoulders. "...Please?"

"Nnnnnnope," the elevator replied, clearly amused.

"Open sesame?" Sunset tried again.

"Nada."

"Okay, can I get a hint?" the captain requested.

"Hmmmmm...What's black and white and red all..."

"Newspaper," Sunset answered immediately.

"That one's on me, I set the bar too low," the elevator admitted to themselves.

Thankfully, that was enough to get the job done, as there was an instant ding sound before Sunset felt the familiar sensation of the elevator rising. Before long, she was where she needed to be, the bridge, and understandably all of her crew there were frantically working at their stations trying to make sense of what was going on. "Report!"

Rarity, eternally grateful that her commanding officer was finally here, got up from her station to meet with her. "Oh thank goodness you're here, Sunset! Things have been absolute mayhem today!"

"How long has this nonsense been going on?" Sunset enquired.

"About an hour," Rainbow called back to her, while struggling to get her console to stop moving the ship about randomly.

Placing her hands upon her hips, Sunset looked back to Rarity. "Why didn't anybody call me?"

"Sorry, Captain. But messages through the ship haven't exactly been cooperative this morning," Rarity explained.

Sunset nodded, understanding. "I get it. I had that same trouble with Applejack earlier." Again, she looked around, and it took all of her willpower to ignore the fact that one of her bridge crew seemed to be sporting a pair of elephant trunks where their ears should have been. "Any ideas?"

"None!" Rainbow explained. "One minute we were heading to that nebula, the next, bam! Suddenly every weird thing you could imagine was happening!"

"Well we must have encountered something to make all this start!" Sunset reasoned. "Any unusual readings, or maybe some ships in the area that might be responsible?"

"Nothing of the sort, I fear," Rarity replied. "From what we can gather we're in a perfectly ordinary part of space with perfectly ordinary things going on. There's simply no explanation for what's occurring."

"I know! And isn't it so much better?" The new voice took all of them aback, and they turned to see, sitting at one of the workstations of the bridge, was a person that none of them actually recognised. From the general appearance, it seemed to be a young woman about their age, with short white hair. But as she turned in her chair, her general appearance became clearer. Though clad in the same uniform as the rest, there was no mistaking that this was no crewman. Her aforementioned hair was long enough at the front to cover one eye, her skin was grey and she was sporting a single fang on one side of her mouth. Her eyes, which were bright yellow with red pupils, looked to all of them before the stranger started smirking. "Well? Anybody gonna say 'thank you' to me for livening up the day?"

Instantly, Rainbow got up from her station, pointing her bracer at the intruder and powering up its weapon. "You! Identify yourself!"

Getting up from the chair, the newcomer looked to the angry pilot with amusement, then gave a sweeping bow. "Of course. Where are my manners? Allow me to introduce myself." Only after standing tall again did she actually do so. "I am Eris. And you, my dear, new friends, are the brave crew of the Phoenix." She clapped her hands together. "Introductions over."

Rainbow frowned, then glanced to her captain. "Permission to detain this crazy alien, Ma'am?"

But Sunset raised her hand to her pilot, trying to keep things peaceful, before stepping closer to Eris. "I am Captain Sunset Shimmer. On behalf of the peoples of Equis, I offer you greeting."

Many on the bridge looked to her with confusion, but also recognised that her role called for diplomacy when meeting new life forms. Eris, for her part, merely chuckled. "Wow, those protocols really are hammered into you guys, huh?" Raising her hand, Eris snapped her fingers, and in a bright flash of light, she had disappeared. Everyone looked around frantically to see where she had gone, but it was only when she spoke again that they could pinpoint her. "So, you've all seen some of my starter works. But I'd be pretty keen to get some constructive criticism." They all turned to see her, and now she was clad not in a mimicry of their uniforms but an outfit of her own. A brown, fur garb that stretched from her neckline down to her thighs. "I mean, I could try twisting the ship itself into a pretzel, how about that?"

Realising that they were dealing with a weight class far above their own, Sunset knew caution had to be used here, and so silently urged Rainbow to lower her weapon. The pilot did so, though reluctantly, and the captain cleared her throat before speaking to the intruder a second time. "Miss Eris? We are a ship of exploration. We are here to learn about what's out there in the vast reaches of space. We've never encountered one like you before, so we would be honoured if you could teach us more about yourself."

Eris looked to her for a time, then rolled her eyes. "Really? You get a free pass to spend time with a nigh-omnipotent Discordant, and you use it for educational purposes? Wow, you must be an absolute riot at parties," she said with clear sarcasm.

Luckily, Sunset was a touch more savvy than the alien gave her credit for, and so smirked slightly. "So, your people are the 'Discordant' you say? Very helpful."

Recognising that she'd let something slip, Eris was taken aback, but only briefly, as she soon pointed to Sunset and cackled. "Oh! Ohohohoho! You're gonna be a fun one!"

Rainbow, not having the same tolerance for such shenanigans as her commanding officer, stepped forward with an angry look about her. "Did you just come to our ship to mess with us?! Because that is not cool!"

Everyone looker to her, worried about what Eris might to in retaliation to such a remark. Thankfully, she seemed unconcerned. "Well, things get kinda samey in my realm. When you have a whole race of people like me who do random stuff for funzies, it tends to get...what's the word...dull?" She clapped her hands together. "So, I got to thinking. Why not come out here? Sow a little mischief in the mortal plane?"

Sunset blinked to her. "So...you're here...for a vacation?"

Eris thought on that, tapping her chin with her finger, before shrugging her shoulders and putting on an innocent smile. "Yep! Pretty much!"

As it began to set in for the crew that they were dealing with a rogue of some sort, Rarity, stepping closer, waved her hand slightly so as to get Eris' attention. When the young Discordant looked to her, the communications officer asked the natural question that was one everybody's minds. "Pardon me for asking, Miss Eris. But you mentioned your realm. May I ask where that is, exactly?"

Having tried to get away from that place, Eris was naturally unenthusiastic about talking about it. Yet, there was no harm in answering, so she did so. "You don't need me to describe it or name it. You guys go through it all the time."

Rainbow, hearing that, folded her arms and raised an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure we'd remember meeting somebody like you before now."

Eris chuckled. "Really? You never wondered if your so-called 'Travel-Space' was anything more than a convenient highway for you?"

Everyone stared at her, stunned into silence. Even Rainbow, as irritated as she was with this whole debacle, couldn't get a response out in the face of a revelation like that. Sunset, by contrast, actually was able to get a few words out. "There...are are people in Travel-Space?" After waiting for Eris to nod to her to confirm what she'd said, she continued, looking away from the intruder as she did so. "I mean, it was always speculated that there might be some form of life in there. But we never had confirmation about it!"

Eris shrugged. "Of course not. You know as well as I do that you squishy, flesh-and-blood types can't last in there outside of your ships. One second in all that and poof, you're scattered into atoms!"

Rarity looked to her with curiosity. "Flash and blood types? Do you mean to say that you are not?"

Eris glanced back to her, smirking again. "Correct! We're energy and light and power and all that jazz. What you're seeing now is just what I decided to wear today." She thought on that for a moment. "If you actually saw a Discordants natural form, your eyeballs would probably pop."

Realising that she needed to act quickly before the visitor decided to get any ideas from that notion, Sunset hurried a response. "So...erm...is there anything else you can tell us about your people? We're all ears here."

Eris seemed completely uninterested in attending a question-and-answer session, but before she could officially refuse the request, her expression hanged. Suddenly, she seemed worried about something, and turned her attention away from the crew and towards the ceiling. Many others looked there to see what she was staring at, but there was nothing. Then, to their slight confusion, she started talking, though to who they couldn't say. "Yes...yes, I know you said not to come, but I was just trying to have some fun! You remember fun, right?" Sunset's instincts kicked in, and she understood that Eris was communing with her fellows back home. So, stepping back slightly, she allowed the conversation to carry on. "Yes, yes, alright, I'll put it all back the way it was, stop worry about it!" Then, she frowned. "Hey! I only cause that black hole one time!" Rather expectedly, that remark caused no end of concern for the crew, but again they said nothing as Eris looked back down to them, letting out a sigh. "Okay, change of plans. Looks like I've gotta go back home."

"No, please, we'll miss you so much," Rainbow remarked with sarcasm so thick you could be hit in the face with it.

Eris, thankfully, ignored her, then raised her hand again before snapping her fingers. There was a slight rumbling through the ship, after which she clapped her hands together again. "There we go! All back where it's suppose to be!"

Sunset opened her mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by the crewman from earlier whose ears had been turned into trunks. "Oh! I can hear again!" He turned in his chair, then looked on in shock at the sight of Eris. "Hold up...we have an intruder!"

Everyone stared at him, and after he silently got the message that he'd missed out on a bit, he sheepishly got back to his chair. Sunset, shaking her head slightly, looked back as Eris spoke up again. "Well, this has been fun. Love to do it again one day, but I gotta go."

Though relieved that such a disruption to her ship was departing, an idea suddenly popped into Sunset's head. One she knew she couldn't let go without at least trying. "Wait!" she called. Eris was surprised, as was everyone else, but Sunset quickly composed herself. "Your people have great powers in this realm, yes? You can do whatever you like?"

Eris took on a smug look. "You name it, we can do it!"

Sunset hesitated, but only for a moment. "Can you...undo the genocide of the Drakkons? Bring them back?"

Immediately, the mood on the bridge became quiet and solemn, and even Eris, boisterous as she had been, suddenly started looking awkward. "Ooh. That's...yeah...I can't do that." Understanding that the humans needed more than that, she explained. "I know I probably gave the impression that my kind can do whatever, but we sort of have a few rules. And big ones at that." She looked right at Sunset. "The biggest of all? Don't mess with life and death. We don't kill and we don't bring back those who've passed."

Holding herself, Sunset looked away. "I see...thank you."

Her tone had been a reserved one when she said that, and Eris glanced around the room, seeing the disappointed looks on everyone's faces. "Well," she began. "That definitely killed the mood."

Finally, she snapped her fingers, bathing herself in another bright flash, after which she was gone completely. In her wake was silence as everyone looked to their captain. Nobody said anything, unsure of what would even be appropriate to say to her. Then, after taking a deep breath, Sunset assumed a more professional demeanour, looking to Rarity. "I need you to send word to Equis Command. Tell them what's happened and what we've learned here today." Then, she looked to Rainbow. "Contact every department of the ship. Make sure everything's fine." She turned, heading back to her chair, then sat upon it before staring out at the sight of stars on the viewscreen.

Though Rarity would have usually carried out her captain's orders immediately, this time she waited for a moment, moving closer to her friend and looking to her with worry. "Sunset?"

Sunset herself didn't look to her, instead just continuing to stare out at space. "I just...I had to ask."

Rarity nodded, understanding. Then, she got back to her console, taking a moment to calm herself before speaking in her usual tone. "Pinkie. Prepare long-range communication to Equis Command."

"Okie-dokie, Loki!" the AI replied.

All slowly turned to Rarity's console, with the communications officer staring silently at her screen before realising, along with everybody else, that their recent visitor likely left them with an unexpected parting gift. "Oh...oh dear."

Comments

[Frazikar]

Ah, a visit from Little Miss Marker Q, with the surprise gift to be revealed.

[silverMEGAlicorn]

"A simple 'thank you' would have been appropriate," the fabricator replied.

The moment the computer said this, I was glad to know that Sunset would get the Q-Janeway with a mix of Picard treatment 😆

[Flutterdash 34]

"Yay, I love Q"

[Secundum]

So, guessing that in this verse Discord is some sort of Progenitor, or their leader?

[TasermonsPartner]

Heh, I was wondering when/how Pinkie would become, well, Pinkie. This is actually rather ingenius considering how Pinkie in the show is somewhat chaotic. Plus, this'll allow the AI to have limited ability to break the 4th wall and other physics somewhat at times.

Now, how will Sunset convince Equis command not to immediately recall the ship to wipe out the newly rogue AI program? Maybe convince them that it's a sentient lifeform and that would kill it? But then that still leaves a new lifeform in charge of a highly advanced ship with access to all the space command's data and secrets.

And also Sunset now has to worry if their traveling through Travel-Space might be harming the others that actually live there.

"So...erm...is there anything else you can tell us about your people? We're all ears here."

...She's so lucky that Eris didn't turn one of them into a jumble of ears.

Sooo, not that you need one, but was there any particular reason you decided to genderswap Discord?

The bit about Sunset wanting to bring back the Drakkons was very sweet of her to try, though.

[Jay David]

11766654 Well, the main reason why I genderswapped was because I didn't want to just copy/paste the character as-is. Everyone else had been tweaked in some way, so I figured I'd do the same with our favourite chaos boy

[ghostcyclone02]

"Okie-dokie, Loki!" the AI replied.

THERE'S OUR GIRL