The Quest For Iscanter

Chapters

Miyuki's Question
Dessler's Decision
Nova's Insight
A Genius Helps Out.
The Messenger
The Hard News
The Message
Interlude on Alastor
The Final Party
The Morning After
Shining Armor's Twilight
The Crew
The Launch
The Ascent
Office Hours
First Warp
Past History
Kitchen Patrol
Assault On Alastor, Part One
Assault on Alastor, Part Two
Interlude on Balun
Hay, lo! Statue?
Recoveries
Food Flight
First Contact
Derek's Gift

Miyuki's Question

It was a dark and stormy night...

Miyuki, daughter of the legendary (and now full-time homemaking) space battleship captain Derek Wildstar, had woken up from the sound of a nearby lightning strike. This terrified her from her nose to her toes. She really didn't want to sleep alone tonight, so she walked over to the main bedroom, crawled over into her mother's place, placed her head on the pillow, and slept there. She felt loved and secure being close to both her parents, but for tonight even just one would do.

Her father found Miyuki in his bed as he woke up the following morning. He kissed her on her forehead. "Rise and shine, kiddo!"

"Daddy, I'd like to stay home today.", Miyuki said.

"What's going on?", Derek asked.

"At school today, one of the boys told me that you had killed his father. He was very angry at me about it. I don't want to go to that school anymore. May I please stay home?"

Derek's eyes widened in surprise, his gut felt dismay for his little girl, and his jaw took on the rigidity of anger at the situation. I knew someday it might come to this, he thought, but I was hoping not nearly so soon!

He forced a smile. "I understand, Little One. It's only a preschool you're going to. The law doesn't say you must go at your age. But I feel school is good for you. You can stay home today though, I'd enjoy the company during chores, then later we can walk in the park and play on the gym set. But tomorrow you be brave, and ignore the other kids questions for now. I promise you Mommy and Daddy will get to the bottom of this."

"THANK YOU, DADDY!", the little girl shouted in pleasure and relief. She bent over and kissed her father on his forehead.

"No problem, Kiddo", her father said.

The rest of the day went by as if it were still the weekend. First item one the agenda was breakfast, bowls of rice flakes with milk. Next, of course, was to clean up after themselves. They then ran a load of laundry. Then Derek taught the girl how to cut up beef for teriyaki for lunch.

Derek had to spend a few hours on his terminal reading and responding to the latest intelligence reports, as that was how he earned his pay while inactive. However, even unpaid, he felt the duty to helped the Earth Defense Forces however he could.

During this time, his daughter entertained herself watching cartoons, watching a flat 2D image on the house holoscreen. By now the cartoon noise had become constant background for him over the past several months, so by now he had become somewhat familiar with the imaginary universe his daughter immersed himself in. Sometimes he would even turn his head to watch the interaction between the ponies, pegasi, and alicorns in the stories, and soon became aware of at least the main story arcs over the series of episodes, ending when Twilight Sparkle earned her wings and became a princess.

His little girl was still young enough to require daily naps. He carried her to her bed, and laid her down to rest. Today this would buy him at least an hour. Today, he would try to put it to the best possible use. He would call his physician.

Dr. Seighn picked up immediately. He saw who was calling, and smiled. "What can I do for you today, Captain?"

Derek grimaced. "Please, Doc, I'm not active anymore, so don't call me by rank."

"Whatever you say, Captain", the once veternarian pressed into service as physician teased. Yet immediately after seeing the stormy weather in his friends's eyes, he took on a more serious tone. "What's going on, Derek?", the doctor asked.

"Two things, Doc.", Derek started. "One, my child is being bullied at school by a classmate whose father evidently died under my command. Second, she's beginning to withdraw into fantasy. She's less interested in school, doesn't nearly draw or play as much as she used to, but watches a continuous series of antique two-dee animated cartoons going by the general title of "My Little Pony."

"I see...", the doctor responded.

"But I wonder," Derek said, "if the same thing is happening to other children in the kindergarten age, give or take, who lost parents during the Years of Fire. If so, we've got to cook up a solution, and fast, or we're going to have a generation of pretty resentful or withdrawn or even hostile children."

Dr. Seighn nodded. "I really don't have much experience with anything but the basics regarding human psychology", he said, "let alone child psychology. I'm going to need to contact a specialist."

"Thanks!", Derek said.

"How's she interacting with you and Nova?", the doctor asked.

"She loves us like crazy and trusts us absolutely.", the former captain said. "It's just other parts of life she's beginning to withdraw from."

"I'll get back to you on this.", the doctor promised.

Derek smiled, as he said, "Domo Arigato, Sensei!". Then he cut the connection.

Dessler's Decision

Three shifts later, Nova was again preparing to retire for the night in her stateroom aboard the EDF Missouri.

Being a captain is never easy, even when the ship is small, Nova thought. That was the central point of the first lecture her Command School class received by the retired EDF admiral who was their instructor. He related the tradition that any person in command of a ship is called Captain, even though the actual rank would be less. That tradition was shorthand for the maxim he just stated: no one should ever consider themselves of less regard simply because thier ship was less famous or crewed by less people. Every man and woman everywhere in the fleet was expected to do their duty, he said.

Derek and herself had numerous long talks regarding the upcoming direction of their family, during her pregnancy, along with the details of that direction. Nova could tell that the years of war had been wearing hard upon him, but the decisions were easier now that their world was at peace. Her eyes misted over as she recalled one such conversation.

They were visiting her parents house in Colorado for Christmas. Nova was in her second trimester, very clearly showing, and so was taking it easy on the sofa. Her husband was sitting on the floor beside her, using the sofa to support his back. She was gently running her fingers through his dark hair, playing with it, as she knew it was calming to him.

Derek was undergoing medications and treatment for post-traumatic stress. He had so many losses: his family, his father figure on board the Yamato, and many of the men and women under his command. A grateful Earth was allowing him to use his year's worth of leave accumulated over the past five years, and Derek was grateful in return.

"Nova.", Derek said, eyes closed in pleasure over her caressing his hair, his face completely tranquil.

"Yes, darling?", she replied. Tears silently ran down her cheeks out of overwhelming gratitude to God to see him like this.

"I could stay on Earth and care for the baby. It's peacetime now. I won't be needed in space, and I think for all you've done you deserve a chance to move up the ranks. I have a letter from Commander Singleton himself recommending you for Command School. He's also inclined to promote you from Lieutenant to Major once you graduate."

"Are you sure, Derek?"

"Absolutely, dear. Remember how shortly before the Yamato was destroyed, Captain Avatar himself ordered me to start and keep a family with you? I'm determined to follow those orders the best way I know how."

Nova was stunned by the way he made this decision on his own initiative. What a gift! His was a love supreme!

It felt like she had only laid her head on the pillow, but at 03:00 hours, ship time, midway during her regulation six hours of sleep, the communications officer hailed her quarters, waking her in the process. "Incoming message, Captain!", he said. "Encrypted. Your eyes only."

"Thank you, Sparks!", she replied, as she sat up in her bed and walked to her desk. The data packet was already being decrypted. It was a text message, accompanied by several yottabytes worth of compressed video. She read the text. It said:

From: His Majesty Albrect Dessler the First, Emperor of the Galman Empire, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera...
To: Major Nova Forrester Wildstar, currently commanding EDF Missouri.
Re: Childrens' reaction to recent losses.

My dear Nova,

I am finally glad to hear from you and your family once again. It has been a long while, but I knew you and I and your husband have all been busy.

There is no need to make supplication to me in the formal manner. You and Derek are at least a couple of my dearest friends, I would be happy to provide anything within my power to give, simply out of gratitude for the two of you showing me a better way to live and to rule.

To business, then. Because I had been raised in a martial culture, it was hard for me to understand loss from a child's point of view until I visited a few orphans at the age you suggested during the past day. I suppose children become sufficiently hardened by the death of the people who fought for me, that they in turn would resolve to fight themselves, and so repeat the cycle. I understand that this part of my culture needs to be dismantled. It will have to be done slowly.

I'll be certain that My Little Pony is distributed throughout the media offices of all the subject worlds. That will be the first step. The second step, which is something I have the intuition you were hinting toward, was a creating of a My Little Pony adventure where the characters of that story act out at least a child's understanding of the unfortunate events..

Please also find attached various ships logs and camera contents from various of those ships which had been defeated by the Yamato on its way to Iscandar. You will find that my men were fighting for what they thought was a noble cause, and their depiction if any in the animation does require the respect it deserves.

You have my complete blessing to do this, so as to help not only your culture, but also mine, learn to share a universe in peace. Not as Emperor, but as friend.

Yours Sincerely,

Albrect.

Nova stood straight up from her chair and raised her fists over her head. "YES! YES! YES!", she shouted, exhultantly. It's a good thing my cabin is soundproofed , she thought, otherwise people might suspect my husband was with me. Little do they know, with him I'd be even louder!

Nova's Insight

Later, after he put Miyuki to bed, Derek decided it was time to involve his wife. He typed up a short cover letter, attached a copy of the conversation he had with Dr. Seighn, encrypted it in his wife's personal code, and sent it off via hyperwave relay. As far as he knew, Major Nova was still commanding a frigate taking part of exercises near Sirius. The cover letter read as follows:

Darling Nova,

I need your opinion on how to handle our daughter while you are gone. It's a potentially serious problem, but not yet serious enough to involve your direct intervention on Earth. Please read attached video conversation and you'll understand more. I'd appreciate a real-time hyperwave convo as soon as you square away all your more immediate responsibilies.

Love Forever,

Derek.

Next morning, Dr. Seighn called Derek at 06:00 hours, long before Miyuki was due to awake, and made his report.

"Derek, it seems you're not the only one with this problem. Acoording to my sources, a good three quarters of the primary school children who lost a parent or a close friend of a parent during the Quest for Iscandar or the Comet Empire invasion are showing disturbed emotional, behavioral, and attention patterns, ranging from slight to severe."

Derek gave a low, long whistle in dismay. "I hope you don't mind, Doc.", he said, "that I gave Nova a hypersquirt of our call yesterday. I thought she might have some insights."

The doctor's face was grim. "The more people on this, the better, Derek. Your daughter was just the canary in the coal mine. There's gas down there, and whether it chokes us or explodes is immaterial. I've involved someone named Nimii, a former intelligence analyist who did some counseling aboard the Yamato and has now retired to general psychotherapy practice. You and Nova should definitely kick around some ideas."

"Aye, aye, Doc.", Derek responded.

"You take care, Derek."

"You too, Doc.". The connection terminated.

Derek's own feelings were sufficiently disturbed that it was all he could do to go through the motions of the general routine for that day. He was a little distracted, but still treated Miyuki with the same loving kindness as he always did. She was, after all, one of the few good things his life had ever produced, and parenting Miyuki helped him reparent himself against the years he had spent while orphaned due to the Gamillon radiation bombings.

Later that evening, while Miyuki entertained herself more on My Little Pony, he finally received a hyperwave connection from his wife, serving aboard the EDF Missouri. Derek's spirits picked up right away.

"Darling!", he exclaimed upon seeing her.

Nova smiled. "Hello, Love.", she said. "I read your message. Tell me, what animation is she watching?"

"A bunch of antique DVD's called My Little Pony. Essentially an alternate universe populated with equines of all sorts. Essentially positive and cheerful messages in each episode."

"Squirt the entire series to me. I'll watch them in the privacy of my cabin. Nobody gainsays how the captain of the Missouri should spend her downtime". Nova grinned. "Not that she has much.", she added with a grimace.

Derek obligingly compressed the holovid's memories regarding all the episodes, encrypted them, and released the packet. "On their way, Dear.", he said. "Did you get them?"

"Yes, I did.", his wife said. "I've got an idea, which I shouldn't tell you yet because it might not work, but I've got to consult a higher power on this."

Derek raised his eyebrows at her. "Who did you have in mind?", he asked.

"An objective party.", she said, cryptically.

"Nova...", he said, in warning tones.

"Trust me, please, Derek! I love you so much, but I don't want to raise your hopes and then dash them prematurely."

"Okay, Captain.", he said, "Your call. And I love you more than all the stars in the sky."

"How sweet!", Nova beamed. "Okay, I'm on this. Bye for now!". Then Nova ended the call.

Instead of sleeping, Nova decided to write a persuasive letter to someone both she and her husband finally learned to trust. She encrypted it in her own personal code, added all the conversations plus the compressed entertainment series, then sent it. The letter read:

From: Nova Forrester Wildstar, Major, captain of EDF Missouri
To: His Majesty Albrect Dessler, Emperor of the Galman Empire.
Re: Childrens' reaction to recent losses.

Your Majesty,

Although I am not one of your subjects, I do understand that according to the Treaty of Reparation that the Earth Federation has become a protectorate of the Galman Empire, said protectorate enjoying home rule without interference from said Empire.

That said, as a citizen of a protectorate, I crave a boon from you, the Emperor.

As you may well know, both our sides had lost huge amounts of casualties. At least on our side, our youngest children are beginning to react to the losses they have suffered from their families. I wonder if children on many of the worlds you govern are also suffering from the same problem.

I believe the solution is to find a way to tell the story to the children of both sides in such a way as to promote reconciliation toward peace rather than further hostility, so that the youngest children can learn some of the truth and thereupon proceed through life with far less resentment.

My hypothesis is that recasting the story of our conflict using a storybook universe popular to at least one of our children, if aired widely, may be quite helpful. I know that it derives quintessentially from Terran culture and that you as a mighty warrior may find the episodes to be infantile, but please try to put yourself in the perspective of a five year old child.

I really also want to avoid this getting out of hand and becoming propaganda, so your point of view involving this initiative would be most appreciated.. Further, I and my husband seek your blessing on this.

Your friend,

Nova

A Genius Helps Out.

Steven Sandor had left active service just after Derek and Nova's wedding. He had resolved the event would mark the beginning of a new era for him, one where his inventions and innovations could contribute to the fortunes of the human race rather than be used as weapons of war.

To that end, Steven started up a company through which to market all the various things he had ideas for but never had the time to develop. As a result, after five years he possessed a greater net worth than some small countries. He had never found anyone to be close to, and so this was a good way to pass the time.

IQ-9, the sentient analysis robot which was possibly the only remaining intact artifact from the Yamato, made his home with him. IQ said this way he felt he could be of use.

Steven was at his console, deep in designing a section of diamondoid nanostructure when IQ-9 interrupted him. "SIR! INCOMING CALL FROM CAPTAIN WILDSTAR!"

"Put him on, please.", Steven said. His console changed from schematics to the image of a still slightly boyish looking Japanese man with his wild mane of dark hair. Derek's face looks a lot less grim, Steven thought, but I can still see echoes of the devastation still in his eyes. I think Nova and Miyuki were the best things that ever happened to him.

Steven smiled at him in greeting. "Hi Derek! How's the wife and kid?"

"Oh, the wife is closer to Sirius, that's all! Miyuki's chipper, but I have my concerns, and I'm hoping for some of your help."

"Anything for a friend.", Steven reassured him. "What's going on?"

Derek summarized the situation to Sandor.

Steven spent a few moments in very deep thought. Then he broke the silence, saying, "Although children's animation is practically a lost art, I think we have the resources to make an hour-long animation practically overnight. It will be the creative writing and the voice acting that will take far more time for us."

Derek nodded. They both shared the silence, both deep in thought.

Derek started the conversation back up. "I know that hand-drawn cels like in Snow White or even last century's anime would be extremely labor intensive, and would normally take up to several labor-years to create. We don't have enough time or labor at our command if were were restricted to just people. That said, we have our ace: a moderately creative artificial intelligence with the potential of turning years of work into seconds assuming proper guidance from us."

"You mean, IQ-9, don't you?", Steven asked.

"Exactly.", Derek replied. Then he addressed the robot. "IQ-9, you have been listening to this. Do you think you can draw animated cartoon characters in two dimensions with proper perspective, then lay voice and music dubbing upon it?"

"YES I CAN, CAPTAIN.", the machine replied. "I AM, AFTER ALL, A GENIUS ROBOT."

"This will be the truest test of that. Here's all the data.", Derek replied. "My wife got back to me with Dessler's blessing and a lot of, shall we say, footage from the opposition."

"So let's get to work.", Sandor concluded.

The Messenger

About a decade after Twilight Sparkle earned her wings and became a princess, the world of which Equestria formed a part of encountered dire times. An unknown enemy from beyond the sky began dropping rocks on the world. Each of the rocks as it fell delivered energy enough to destroy vast tracts of land, burn to a crisp the forest and the grass and the flowers, and boil away the oceans.

Princesses Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and Twilight Sparkle did everything they could to either deflect, destroy, repel, or shift elsewhere these falling rocks, but they couldn't get them all. They asked the alicorns of the other lands of the world, including none other than the Emperor himself of The Crysanthemum Empire for help, and even then they still couldn't get them all.

[ "Crysanthemum Empire?", Sandor commented to Derek during the design phase. "Clever way to put in Japan!" ]

The situation was clearly becoming grim. There soon became no place on the world liveable by anyone or anything, so everpony did what they could to build shelters underground where they and the remnant of the wildlife could survive... at least for a while. Celestia's best counselors informed her two years ago that the world only had two years left.

That was a year ago. In another year, all of Equestria's living things would become extinct. Last to go would be the alicorns, as they had knew the magic necessary to live for extremely long spans of time... but there were not enough alicorns available to breed with each other, their kind would die out eventually. None of the princesses were looking foward to living on a barren world with nothing left to take care of. That outcome was simply unacceptable.

Celestia announced an alicorns only meeting. Twilight Sparkle had been very busy through the previous year teleporting food, water, and other supplies between the shelters under the various lands. Nopony knew how to teleport aside from her. Trixie could have learned, but she had lost her sanity with her entire world being cooked all around her, so Luna cast a spell to stop time just for Trixie. Now, Trixie was a brightly reflecting statue in the center of the courtyard of the castle's underground shelter. She would be safe, even after everypony else was gone.

Twilght had over time expanded her own repetoire of magic. She could teleport not only herself now, but could also lock on and teleport an object or living thing between any two places she could every remember having been to herself. Pinkie Pie remarked it was kind of like flinging something from anywhere to anywhere, so flinging was what that type of teleporting was now called by everypony.

[ "Useful expansion, Sandor.", Derek replied ]

The Emperor of Crystanthemums was here too, having flown in under his own power inside of a day. That impressed everypony mightily. Twilight was looking completely worn out from all her flinging of ponies and supplies. Her face radiated a mixture of both determination and depression.

Not that everypony wasn't at least a little bit depressed from circumstances. Even Pinkie seemed somewhat subdued, however forced the smile she had pasted upon her own face for everypony else's sake.

Celestia and the Emperor both had flowing manes and tails, but there the resemblance ended. Celestia was a beautiful and ageless mare alicorn from whom bright multiple colors radiated. However, she would be a filly when compared to the age of the Emperor. He was an ancient stallion alicorn whose mane and tail radiated shades of fiery red and deep black, but his face was worn with the lines from more than ten housand years from caring for his subjects.

Rumor had it that Celestia and the Emperor had been discussing a possible marriage of state, but evidently that plan had gone by the wayside in the wake of the attacks from beyond.

Celestia began the meetiing. "Princesses and your Majesty", she began, "We only have one year left before our world becomes unliveable. During this year I have made every effort to locate who or what is vanquishing us, to no avail. However, I had made an accidental discovery in the archives about the castle's history, and have exploited it. It seems the castle was intentionally built by someone from my line as a resonant cavity to allow a message from the current ruler to reach interstellar range."

"Along with my other responsibilities,", she continued, "I have been attempting to make a search for extra-Equestrial intelligence, in the hope that we might gain some information or even assistance. I was successful."

[ "Nova, what an atrocious pun!", Derek commented. ]

The other princesses gasped in complete surprise. The Emperor remained his usual calm and serene self.

"And so it seems,", Celestia said, "that I actually made contact with the ruler of another world. She said she would send a messenger who would bear the knowledge to retrieve the items necessary to restore our world to the way it should be. She also gave me complete directions for the vessel I was to build so we could be ready to use that knowledge."

"YAY!", the other princesses shouted, in complete joy. Celestia interrupted them. "That's the good news", she said. "The not so good news is this. This world lies at the edge of another galaxy. Light itself, the fastest thing there is, would take about one hundred sixty thousand years to reach it. Obviously, that would be far too late for us, even if we could travel even that fast, which we can't."

"I could try teleporting there.", offered Twilight Sparkle.

"No, you can't", her teacher and mentor said. "You could teleport there in an instant, if you had the strength. But unfortunately it would be beyond even my strength or even the Emperor's. Even worse, you can't teleport to a place you've never been to."

"Poop.", Twilight interjected in disappointment.

"So we have a challenge ahead of us", Celestia continued. "We MUST be certain this messenger arrives safely. We created a small fleet of vessels capable of withstanding the rigors of space, and we're crewing them with our best sailors and war ponies. Twilight, you will be travelling on the flagship, commanded by our most experienced sailor in all of Equestria. Do everything you can for him."

"Yes, Princess!", Twilight Sparkle replied.

"The decoy will be commanded by Twilight's brother, Shining Armor.", Celestia went on.

[ "Does that make Shining Armor equal to Alex, and Twilight equal to me?", Derek asked the others. ]

[ "Not necessarily.", Sandor replied. "We work with what we've got. Twilight's going to play me, ultimately. Rainbow Dash is going to play you. ]

[ "But Rainbow Dash's a girl!", Derek protested. "What are we going to do, provide a male Nova?" ]

[ "More or less.", Nova replied, chuckling. ]

"Luna, I need you to stay here for defense, alongside me.", Celestia continued.

"Very good, sister.", Luna said.

[ "Don't forget", Derek reminded them, "Shining Armor is married to Cadence. How's he going to marry the equivalent of Starsha if he isn't single?" ]

[ "Don't worry, Derek, we've got an idea.", Nova reassured her husband. ]

Celestia was wrapping up. "Your Majesty, I'll see you in a couple hours. Everyone but Cadence, dismissed."

Within moments Princess Cadence was alone with her senior.

"So, what do you need to tell me?", Cadence asked Celestia.

Author's Note

All dialogue in brackets [] are not actually part of the episode viewed by Miyuki. These were merely discussion by Miyuki's family and friends as they were in the process of writing and designing the special My Little Pony episode just for her.

The Hard News

Princess Cadance stared at her ruler Princess Celestia, with trusting love but also a little apprehension.

"It has to do with my husband, doesn't it.", Cadance said.

Celestia sighed, then nodded. "Cadance, I've asked Twilight Sparkle to do something for me. She thought it was horrible but she understood the necessity. Now, you need to as well."

"Go on.", Cadence replied.

Celestia explained. "About a day before the fleet heads out, Twilight Sparkle is going to use the Elements Of Harmony to perform some surgery on her brother's memories. They are going to be temporarily repressed. Twilight will restore them if and only if he returns safely to Equestria. I have a dreadful feeling we will have actual, intelligent enemies out there, and if Shining Armor is captured I am absolutely certain they may well have the ability to sift through his mind for any and all information having to do with us Princesses. They'll be able to find out our strengths and weaknesses, and use what they learn to render us unable to defend our home further."

Cadence looked downward at the shelter floor. "Oh, no.", she said, softly.

"You understand now.", the ruler said. "Since you are the one Princess able to provide a powerful defensive field, that will make you a definite target once we are overrun. For your own safety, and for the safety of us all, your husband must forget everything about you, as well as forget Luna, Twilight, and myself. What he doesn't remember about us, he can't tell."

"Does he know?", the younger alicorn asked.

Celestia answered. "I spoke with him earlier. He understands what is at stake. I didn't order him to submit to this. He agrees, this is a horrible thing to have to do to you, but he also agrees that he knows too much and this is the only way to truly protect you should the very worst happen. He is the very noblest of stallions, and you should be extremely proud of him. His final wish before the launch was that he wanted to spend some time with you, while he remained completely himself."

Cadence's only answer was a silent one, the tears dropping down her eyes and splashing the floor.

"He's in the castle, if you want to see him.", Celestia offered.

"I want him here.", Cadence demanded.

Shining Armor had already been within hearing range, but had stayed back in a discreet place away from view. "Here I am, love.", he said, as he trotted over to the pair of mares.

The moment Shining Armor was nose to nose with his wife, Cadence slapped him across his face with a fore-hoof. "That's for Celestia being the one to tell me all this rather than you!", she cried.

The stallion looked down at the floor in utter shame. "I know myself to be brave in everything but this. When it comes to this one thing, I know I am a coward. I'm sorry, Cadence. I hope you'll forgive me for this one day. I also hope you'll forgive me for any of the possible consequences for what I might or might not do with my memories of you absent."

Cadence walked over and embraced him. "I love you. Of course I forgive you. For anything and everything. Past. Present. Future."

The pair embraced. Celestia watched impassively for several minutes.

The pair separated. Cadence told her husband. "There's a price for my forgiveness. Are you willing to pay it?"

"Anything you want, Cadence.", Shining Armor said.

"I am in season. I want you to sire my heir. Here. Now. Just in case.", she replied grimly.

"I'll leave the two of you alone.", Princess Celestia said, as she began walking away from them.

"STOP! YOU COME BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!", Cadence shouted.

Celestia halted. "How dare you!", she said sternly.

"I can dare, Auntie, for one occasion and one occasion only.", Cadence replied levelly. "By ancient tradition I require you, as the only other royal available at the present moment, to witness an affair of state, namely, so that you may verify without any doubt whatever that my foal, my heir, had been indeed sired by my husband Shining Armor and nopony else."

"You have that right", Celestia conceded, "but you presume much."

"I presume," her niece said, "I deserve reparations for the hurt you have done me. Are doing to me. Will be doing to me. You've never had a stallion in your life, and I'm sure just staying right there absolutely still and witnessing us will make the pain of that lost opportunity even worse. I want it to. You deserve to hurt as much as I am hurting now."

"You are certainly right about all that.", Celestia agreed. "So, let it be done."

Cadence turned to her husband. She whispered, for his ears alone, "Make me never, ever, forget you for as long as I live."

[ "Wow!", Derek told Sandor. "Nice plot device." ]

[ Sandor smiled. "I thought that would be clever.", he agreed. ]

The Message

Princess Celestia's overall plan did succeed, after a fashion. However, the price of the plan was measured in the lives of the ponies who would never return. They would be mourned by everypony in the entire land.

Celestia turned her head to the most senior of the remaining crew. His name was Avatar Apple, the brother of Granny Smith Apple, who had established a reputation for himself as the best sailor in all Equestria. He was an earth pony with an ebony colored hide.. He wore a beard, which along with his eyebrows, mane, and tail were snowy white with age, but he was still well muscled and as powerful as any stallion in his prime. He bore a cutie mark on his rump of a ship's anchor. In his eyes, one could see both experience and determination, as well as the thousand-furlong stare.

[ "Awesome, Derek!", Nova exclaimed. ]

"Please give us your report, Captain Avatar.", Princess Celestia requested, gently.

"Operation Empress was a complete success, ma'am.", the captain began. "We discovered a fleet of alien spacecraft out by the orbit of Alastor, planet nine in our system, an iceball. As soon as Twilight detected the presence of the incoming messenger, we commenced the operation. Shining Armor's detachment fired upon them, luring them into the cometary belt where they did battle. In the meantime, my ship followed the messenger. The messenger's craft made a forced landing on Mares, the red next planet out from us. I sent out Rainbow Dash and Applejack as an away team to investigate. They found the pilot, a female equine of unknown species, dead from suffocation by the Maretian atmosphere. The pilot held a crystal in her hands. My away team buried the pilot and brought back the crystal. We now have it here in Underground Canterlot available for examination."

[ "Thanks for the suggestion of using the name of a horse from the underworld", Nova commented to Wendy Singleton, Commander Singleton's daughter. ]

["I heard what was going on, and I thought I'd just drop in.", Wendy said. "This is fun!", she grinned! ]

Avatar held up a forehoof and coughed into it. "However, your Highness, nothing remained of either the decoy fleet or the alien invaders. We believe they completely destroyed each other.. My ship was the only one which made it back. I'm very sorry."

"So am I, my faithful captain.", Celestia replied somberly. "So am I. May I see the crystal, please?"

The sea-weathered stallion handed it to her.

"Hmm...", Celestia mused, staring into the crystal, deep in concentration. "Information encoding at the atomic level, who'd ever have thought? Prime numbers, yes, vertical by horizontal image size specified as the sum of the primes, very good. Aha, a time reference, in terms of inverse of a wavelength from water. A frame rate in terms of that time is specified. The first frame is right.... here. Full color, uncompressed. And, here's the sound. Astonishing information density, so they can afford to store it that way. So now I can cast a spell to view it, and let everypony else see. Here we go...."

Celestia continued to stare into the crystal. However, her horn radiated a multicolored aura, then focused the aura into a beam projecting an image onto the shelter wall.

They saw something resembling an alicorn. The body was similar to a pony's but smaller, with shorter legs, and straight ears. The mane and tail were short and cropped, it did not flow like Celestia's but instead simply sparkled with pure shimmering silver light. Both the hide and the wings were pure white. Beneath delicate eyelashes were eyes of a pale violet. The rump bore a cutie mark which had nearly exactly the same pattern as Twilight Sparkle's, but all the stars were the same uniform silver color.

[ "So equine versions of the Iscandarians are donkeys?", Wendy asked. ]

[ "I think it makes sense.", Sandor replied. "It will be similar for the twin planet, to be sure." ]

"It's a mare!", gasped a young stallion in the crew.

"But very different.", another young stallion said. "I like how she looks, though."

The exotic alicorn began to speak. "I am Star Share.", the alicorn said. "Star Share of Iscanter. We understand that Equestria is now in the process of being destroyed by the Gallopons."

[ Nova bent over, clenched her fists, and groaned, loudly. "Oh my God, Derek!", Nova exclaimed. "When will these puns ever stop?" ]

[ "I'm sorry, dear.", her husband said. "They just leave my brain without provocation." ]

Star Share continued. "We are willing to help you restore the ecosystem of your world. A year ago, I transmitted to Princess Celestia plans for building a vessel which can bring you to us. I sent my sister, Star Glare, to you with the crystal bearing this message. The crystal you hold also contains the means by which the vessel to be built may transcend the lightspeed barrier. You will face untold dangers, but we invite you to our world regardless."

The sparkling alicorn concluded. "Your time grows short. Please come to us. I am Star Share of Iscanter."

Celestia returned the crystal to Avatar. "Thank you.",she said. She addressed the wider audience. "We didn't have the facilities in Equestria itself to build a capital ship large enough for the engine space specified in the original plans I received from the reply originally beamed to me from deep space. I will now introduce you all to the Emperor of the Crysanthemum Empire, from the other side of our world, who will now carry the discussion for a while. Thank you, your Magesty, for coming."

An ancient alicorn stallion standing besides Celestia, with black hide, and a flowing mane and tail containing transcluscent red and black colors, faced the audience and briefly bowed his head to them. The cutie mark on his rump was a simple, bright red circle. "Thank you, your Highness, and noble mares and stallions.", the Emperor said. "We must all work to create together or else we shall be destroyed separately. I have already given special thanks to the Cowasaki and Mootsubishi corporations for their eagerness in spare no expense in labor or materials or talent in creating Celestia's interstellar vessel."

"You probably do not know this yet.", the Emperor continued, "but your side of the world is unequalled in the use of magic, which our countrymen see as clearly beyond our comprehension, so we do not even try to understand it, let alone use it.. Instead, we have intensively studied over the centuries the basic properties of matter and energy, space and time, and have devised mechanisms which perform all things that your countries rely so much upon magic to do. Some of these mechanisms can run by themselves. Some of these mechanisms can even think for themselves, because we have also studied the nature of intelligence itself to be able to automate intelligence to at least some small extent."

"I don't understand how a thing can think for itself!", Applejack exclaimed.

"Prepare for the experience of a lifetime, then.", the Emperor smiled at the skeptical country mare. "Indeed, since the ship lies under the crust of what was formerly the coast of our main island, we must take a recess and reconvene this meeting in my realm. Prior to the launch, I invite you all to partake of every pleasure our culture has to offer, and all you wish will be paid for from my country's treasury. Back to you, Princess."

Everypony began talking at once, either to each other or to ask a question of their ruler. Celestia had no other choice but to her forehoof against one of the crystal columns supporting the shelter, making a repeating chiming noise until order could be restored.

"Captain Avatar has the list of the crew members who will accompany him on this voyage.", the princess said. "I hereby decree that any ship's commander on detached duty outranks everypony else on board, even royals. He will assign ranks, ratings, and responsibilities as he sees fit. Luna, Twilight, am I absolutely clear on this?"

"Yes, ma'am!", Twilight Sparkle responded enthusiastically.

"I understand, sister.", Luna said calmly. "I know what is at stake. I promise I shall obey Avatar as if he were you."

"Me, too!", Twilight agreed. "Is Cadence coming with us?", she asked.

"No.", Celestia answered. "She is with foal."

"Then at least a part of my brother survived.", Twilight nodded, somberly.

"I think Shining Armor would have wanted that.", Avatar added. "He was an outstanding officer and even a good friend."

"Luna?", Avatar prompted.

"Yes, my lord?", the mare of the night asked.

"Your Highness, the term 'Sir' will work just fine on board.", the captain instructed her. "Once in space, your title no longer applies. Now, I need you to carry Twilight across the world to our ship. Twilight, once there, will return by teleport and begin flinging crew and supplies over. Sorry, Twilight, I know you're close to worn out. Just a little more is all I'm asking for."

Twilight grinned at her captain. "You've got it, sir!", she responded with verve.

"Very good.", Captain Avatar said, "Because I have something special in mind for you, afterward."

[ Derek, Nova, and Wendy all faced Steven Sandor, and together gave him thier applause for a great job so far. ]

Author's Note

Readers, please be patient with me. I know I'm mixing the Yamato/Star Blazers/Yamato 2199 canons, both in the characters from their world and the mapping of themselves into Little Pony characters which they are attempting. I'm doing this for the sake of clarity, if I can borrow a character from a different canon rather than make an entirely new one who would require background and exposition, then so much the better. I consider Yamato 2199 the most faithful interpretation of the Quest for Iscandar as it presently stands, but I have to use Star Blazers characters to make them better understood by the English speaking population. I'm trying to create as faithful a mapping of Yamato characters to Pony characters as is possible, but then that requires some rationalizations which some readers might not necessarily agree with. I am intending the maturity level to be teen at the very most, general if I possibly can. Some intimate interactions may take place but will only be alluded to without any details regarding it. I know some purists might disagree the way I am using the Pony characters to tell the Yamato story, but you can't impose space operate upon kidvid without causing at least a few distortions. I feel I am up to this challenge, and ask the readers to at least have an open mind as to what I am trying to attempt, and that everything I am trying to do has a reason and is not simply being done casually.

Interlude on Alastor

Far away in space lay the ninth planet of the sun, which the Equestrians know as Alastor after the horse of the underworld. The surface was a almost completely smooth sphere composed of solid helium and hydrogen. Somepony even might, if he or she ever touched down upon this forsaken world, consider it even colder than Queen Crysalis's heart.

But appearances can be deceiving, for underneath the ice... there were habitats, within which intelligent beings dwellt. Examining more closely, these beings were all uniformly pony-like in appearance, with short cropped manes and diminished tails, also having straight short ears.

They were uniformly blue-hided, the manes and the tails uniformly black in color, and not a one of them bore a cutie mark on their flank. Most of them had unmarked flanks. Others had their flanks branded black with either chevron, bar, or other patterns.

It was these denizens who formed the advance forces of the would-be conquerors of Equestria, eager to add it to thier interstellar empire at any possible cost... but directed to do so as efficiently as possible. It was like a ripe fruit for the plucking, a pastoral paradise anyequine of the upper class of the Gallopon Empire would be most eager to live in. Especially, if they didn't manage to destroy it first in their efforts to drive out the barbarians currently living there.

A portion of Alastor's ice melted, allowing a spacecraft to penetrate the surface and make departure. The spacecraft resembled a beetle of some intimidating species, and was colored the same blue color as the soldiers. In the control room, two Gallopons were in conference.

A stallion was obviously in charge. Branded on his flank was a single mark, a pair of crossed unicorn horns. The other one, a mare, had an oak leaf branded on her rump.

"It's a shame", the mare began, "that we have only this ship remaining out of the fleet we once had here. We only have our own projection relay satellites to defend the base. We got all of the Equestrians who attacked us, but it was an unconscionably expensive victory. Our Leader will not be pleased with us at all."

"At least you gathered some valueable intelligence which we can bring with us.", the stallion replied.

"Indeed.", the mare agreed. She pressed a button on a console.

"Medical here.", a tinny male voice responded.

"Tell us what you discovered regarding Equestrian anatomy.", the mare ordered.

The voice on the medical channel switched to female. "Pathology here.", the specialist announced. "We seem to have a clear case of convergent evolution. The general physical structures are all present, but there are differences in our respective morphologies ranging from subtle to major. The subtle difference is that an Equestrian possesses 2 more chromosomes than we do, for a total of 64. These extras have completely undecodeable genetic patterns. The other chromosomes correspond to the Gallopon genome that our culture had thoroughly mapped long since. Autopsy of a large statistical sample of individuals seems to indicate a small percentage either have vestigal wings or horns. As far as we know, such structures exist only in our legends, or, of course, among only the very few Iscanterians remaining. But the Iscanterian body shape is identical to ours. The Equestians are larger, yet more gracile and less robust. We're facing a mystery here, clearly."

"I'm intrigued by the horn, tell me how that functions for them.", the stallion ordered.

"We've done several scans. It seems both our people and the Equestrians appear to evolved from socialized herd animals, and we can see how the limbic and cerebral systems lay atop the herd brain and spinal cord. The horn is integral to the skull structure at large, we speculate it existed for combat to gain mating rights. However, a complete nervous system in its own right pervades the horn and culminates into a nerve bundle connected into their equivalent to the pineal gland. Some of our most ancient legends existing prior to the split between Iscanterians and Gallopons liken the gland to a "third eye", rumored to possess unknown abilities."

"Fascinating.", the mare breathed. "At least we have a live prisoner from whom we can extract more information. We'll bring him to our Leader so his best interrogators can work on him. Where is the prisoner now?"

The voice over the console changed to a different male voice. "Security here. He's.... oh, manure... he's escaped confinement, somehow bent the bars all around him till they burst? I see him now. He looks furious. HE'S CRUSHING ME AGAINST THE WALL AND NOT EVEN TOUCHING ME!!!". What next was heard, were prolonged and agonized screams from the various individuals in the medical wing... followed by sickening crunching and squishing noises.

The control room was silent for several shocked moments following.

"Sound Intruder Alert throughout the ship!", the stallion ordered. Klaxons shrieked over and over in response. "The intruder is an alien stallion, white hided, horn on forehead, and an exotic marking on his rump that is natural, not branded. Use sedation rounds if at all possible! Kill only if necessary! Helmsman, prepare us for Jump! Target, Gallopus! Gunnery, let's give those barbarians on Planet Three something to think about. Fire a multi-menace missile at the largest center of industrial activity remaining Then, we will Jump!"

. . .

I've escaped my cage, Shining Armor thought. Now, if I were the captain, where would I be?, he wondered. He held a weapon, captured from a jailor he crushed between the wall and his magic shield. He knew in theory it was possible to kill that way, but this was the very first time he felt forced to use it. He wanted to vomit because of what he had to make himself do. This ship will NOT escape my vengeance for the deaths and dissections of all my fellow-ponies!" he swore to himself.

I so much wish I were home. I wish I wasn't raised in an orphanage. I wish I could have found love or even had a foal. But none of these things will be possible for me now. I can only do my best to take all these creatures down with me.

Author's Note

Shining Armor is our Mamoru analog. All those who are Yamato fans can have faith that he WILL appear later. Keep in mind his memories have been altered to eliminate all knowledge of alicorns... including his wife and his sister.

The Final Party

The Mane Six were all together once again after a year or more of separation due to essential errands across the entire world. They were immersed together within a large tub of hot bathwater. It was steaming hot and deep enough to reach their necks. They all sat and leaned back on the edge, their heads cushioned by towels.

"Oh, this feels WONDERFUL!", Pinkie Pie said.

"Every part of this entire day was wonderful!", Twilight Sparkle added.

"And so was Granduncle!", AppleJack said. "Oh, the stories he could tell!"

"The whole city is so beautiful, and the people so charming and polite.", Rarity commented.

"Wow! What a dinner they gave us!", Rainbow Dash said. "Plants farmed from water tanks? Of so many types? Amazing!"

"And the DUMPLINGS! And the CAKES! And the NOODLES!", Pinkie Pie exclaimed in wonderment. "What about you, Fluttershy?", Pinkie asked. "What was your favorite part?"

"Meeting and saying hello to all kinds of animals I never knew existed before.", Fluttershy answered softly. "Then, later, meeting and saying hello to the Emperor's court. They were very kind to me, and they told me a few of their ancient legends.. Then I met a wierd kind of fox in an underground grove. He had nine tails. He claimed to be a master of both enlightenment and total focus. He taught me some of the basics, then gave me a riddle to solve during the voyage."

"What was that riddle?", Twilight asked.

"What was your original face before you were foaled?", Fluttershy replied.

"That's nonsense!", Rainbow Dash judged.

"Oh, and do you ya'll remember the singin' contest after dessert at the Emperor's banquet?", AppleJack grinned. "They would play music and the contestants would have to sing the words?"

"Oh, you mean the 'carry oakie'?", Rarity replied.

"Yeah, Pinkie here wiped the floor with 'em!", AppleJack announced proudly.

"I was just doing what felt right.", Pinkie Pie told them all. She smiled at the memory.

Pinkie had been paying closer attention to the orchestra during the banquest than anyone could ever have suspected. After dessert, she found herself becoming increasingly jittery listening to the attempts of people attempting to sing from memory words from the old songs to music played by the orchestra.

Attendants had brought small cups of powerful rice wine warmed gently, meant to be sipped delicately. Some in the Mane Six turned up their noses at it. However, AppleJack had been exposed to fermented apple juice, Rarity had learned refined tastes, and of course Pinkie Pie was ready to try anything new at least once, even this.

Pinkie Pie was on the verge of discovering what happens when somepony has consumed too much of it at once. Her normal lack of inhibitions were now magnified from the sips of rice wine she had taken, by ten times.

The Emperor was sitting at the head of the banquest table, with Princess Celestia on one side and Twilight Sparkle on the other. Twilight's friends sat close by both sides. He was acting as the master of ceremonies for the singing contest, and announced each of six entrants of the best "carry-oakie" singers under the island.

The end of the first song was greeted by all the Imperial ponies including the Emperor shouting, "Banzai!". Celestia raised her eyebrows at this, then gazed at the Mane Six, commenting while shrugging her shoulders: "When in Roam, do as the Roamers do!"

At the end of the next song, Celestia sipped at her wine and shouted, "Banzai" with everyone else. The Mane Six got the hint, and at the end of third sing they joined her in sipping wine and cheering.

By the time the final 'scheduled' song in the contest ended with a cheer, Pinkie Pie was thoroughly intoxicated and therefore believed herself ready for anything. She turned to face the Emperor, asking, "Your Emperorship, may I play too?"

Twilight Sparkle smiled in embarassment while the Emperor and Celestia exchanged glances. The Emperor faced Pinkie, and nodded. Pinkie walked a little unevenly, to the orchestra on one side of the room.

She whispered to the first violinist, "Could you play the first background stuff we heard during dinner?".

The violinist asked, "You mean The Scarlet Scarf?".

"Yeah!", Pinkie Pie said, "Speed it up a little bit, too, would'ja? Add some brass, too!"

Pinkie Pie walked to the center of the banquet room, and announced to all: "I'm going with my friends and we hope we will all return safely. I understand there will be no use for parties and songs on board a ship, so I am going to sing my very last song that I will ever sing before we all come home again. Hit it!"

The opening melody of the Scarlet Scarf, played at a much higher pace on trumpets leading, suggested martial overtones rather than melancholy. A stagelight centered on Pinkie as she began to sing at the top of her lungs in ringing tones for all to hear.

We're off, to outer space!
We leave Equestria!
To save the pony race!
Our star trotters!

Searching very far out there,
Heading out to Iscanter,
We leave our families behind,
What are the perils we'll find?

We must be strong and brave,
Our land, we have to save!
If we fail then someday,
All we love, will vanish away!

We will fight and take them on!
We won't quit until were done,
We'll be back, we will arrive,
Our land once again will thrive...

With our star trotters!

When the final bars of the music faded, Pinkie knelt toward the Emperor and Celestia.

The Emperor stood from his place at the banquest table and raised his wine up. Celestia and the rest of the Mane Six rapidly followed suit, as nearly instantly later everypony else. Attendants quickly brought cups to the members of the orchestra, who promptly stood, then the attendants themselves provided themselves cups as well.

When all stood, the Emperor raised his cup in the air, then drank from it, then shouted: "BANZAI!"

The entire hall resounded from the response by everpony else: "BANZAI!"

Pinkie stood up as she all saw everypony in the room facing her and cheering: "BANZAI! BANZAI! BANZAI!"

Pinkie felt very happy. She had once again followed her destiny, having brought hope and joy during this very time when both were needed most.

. . .

The Emperor of The Crysanthemum Empire was preparing to end his day in his chambers. It was a long day and night, and he needed his sleep, it wasn't as if he was young any more.

There was a gentle tap at his door. "Come in.", he said.

An attendant came through the door. "I'm sorry, my lord.", the attendant said, "but there's someone here who wants to see you and will not take a refusal."

The Emperor smiled. "Only two would dare.", he said, "and one of them is completely passed out on rice wine after her bath. I think I know who the other is. Please let her in."

"Yes, my lord.", the attendant answered, and then departed.

The Emperor saw Princess Celestia walk through his door. "I wanted to give you my personal thanks", Celestia said, "for being such a gracious host the night before my little ponies launch. Our defense would also have been impossible without your help."

"I am honored to hear these thanks in person from such a highborn mare as yourself.", the Emperor replied.

"Do you remember the offer of an alliance you gave me a few years ago?", Celestia asked him.

"The offer is still available.", the Emperor said.

"I wish to accept it. You have shown yourself to be so completely honorable and selfless that I now find the prospects of our realms joining, along with you and I, far too difficult for me to resist.", Celestia replied with a smile. She then grimaced, saying, "Somepony had also recently and forcefully reminded me regarding the perils of solitude. May I kindly stay the night with you? Ceremonies can come eventually."

"Of course.", he said, "Make yourself comfortable. By the way, my personal name is Forest Frost."

"You don't seem to have a forest or frost relate cutie mark.", Celestia stated.

"No.", Forest Frost confirmed. "Upon ascending the Crysanthemum Throne, a special ceremony changes the mark. Are you ready to retire for the night, your Highness?"

"Please, call me Celestia.", the alicorn mare corrected him.

"Celestia. Please, call me Forest.", he said. Then, Forest turned off the lights.

[ "And that's a wrap for the script for this evening.", Derek said. "IQ-9, get the drawing, music, and voiceovers done by morning. Thank you all!" ]

Author's Note

Five thumbs down? You must be kidding. I'm making serious adventure fiction here, and I'm following both the site's rules on keeping the story teen at most, and also the general rules of creative writing for making a well-structured story. Besides, who else but Pinkie could be able to sing her sensible version of the theme song? And the presence of sake? Get over it. A teen level story would allow mild consumption of alcoholic beverages by adult ponies during a state dinner.

The Morning After

Twilight Sparkle was eating her breakfast of oats and barley, when she noticed Princess Celestia approaching her with a lilt in her walk. Her smile right now sort of reminds me of Princess Cadence's after her honeymoon with my brother., Twilight thought. She looks happier than I've seen her in a very long time!

"What can I do for you today, your Highness?", Twilight asked.

"I know that you Mane Six have a lot to do and very little time left to do it in before the launch.", Celestia said. "However, Luna wanted me to inform you that she found some type of projectile on course to our present location. You've all had three days to train, and this projectile is scheduled to impact in about six hours. How is your team's status?"

"Well", Twilight explained, "I had compressed my entire magic library long since, but I didn't realize I could have all the information from those books at my hoof-tips simply by copying it all to Moosubishi nano-storage. If you don't mind, I'd like to do the same with the Canterlot library, including the locked archives. It would only take an hour if I can fling the books over to Moosubishi. Better to have them and not need them..."

"...Then to need them and not have them!", Celestia finished. "By all means."

"I want to take Trixie with us.", Twilight continued. "I know she's in Luna's stasis field right now, but we need the field off so we can get Trixie down from being hysterical. But I know I can train her to teleport, and from there she can learn how to fling. We absolutely have to have more than one of me."

"Done.", Celestia replied.

"Pinkie Pie is having a hangover from last night's party.", Twilight reported. "I think we need her more responsive than she's being right now, even thought I'm really tempted to let it run it's course so she can learn her lesson. But we just don't have the time. I can detoxify her magically, and there will be some pain for her. Fortunately, she only is supposed to run the mess hall, much later after launch."

"Do it.", her mentor said.

"I gave Rarity some selected reading assignments in some specialized magic we think she can best deal with, but I haven't heard a thing from her since.", Twilight said. "Fluttershy doesn't have much to do right now. She's just standing there and staring off into space, getting herself mentally prepared I suppose. Rainbow Dash is running test flights of the prototype environmental containment suit that Avatar and Rarity worked together on. If it works, the WonderBolt Black and Red teams will be able to withstand the rigors of space as they fly."

"That's about it!", Twilight Sparkle concluded.

"That's actually as good as I can expect from my most faithful student taking upon her shoulders a huge amount of responsibility.", Celestia cheered her. "Now, do you have any final questions for me?"

"I'm, um, a little embarassed to ask this.", Twilight started. "But in all my studies of magic and it's effect on living things, I feel like my knowledge is leading me to believe that there our reality contains things which are far too orderly to ignore. It almost seems like Equestria had been designed just for us, and that all living things have a common design, and all of space and time can be explained by only a handful of equations which are very beautiful in their terseness. Celestia, have you ever supposed who we are and everything we inhabit has actually been designed by an intelligence far beyond even your knowledge and power? If so, do you really think this intelligence cares about us at all?"

"These are such profound questions for my student to asking, and I believe only a princess like you would have the presence of mind to even think of them. You've touched upon an esoteric subject of magic, known as the study of supreme beings.", Celestia replied.

Celestia continued. "All I can say is this. There are numerous stories and legends about the existence of a higher power or powers who formed the reality which we inhabit. For example, The Emperor says his line had been originally established by a higher being, and this forms the justification for his line to rule. Of course, he says the Empire abandoned that just after the Second Equestrian War, something which happened way before your time or my time. Only the Emperor remembers."

"There's another legend, little more than a tale passed down through the nursery, about how a colt was born of a virgin mare who grew up to be a stallion who pronounced the teachings forming the basis of Canterlot's culture, yet he was killed by having limbs nailed to trees by the Roamers, simply for daring to assert that he was the son whose father created the universe.

These both have to be taken with a bit of salt lick. My personal opinion is that we have an Author or Authors who created everypony so we can interact in such a way as to provide a profound message of love, peace, and kindness. Sometimes I like to think I can ask in my deepest thoughts for said Author to continue to write us in such a way as we can continue to thrive. Does that help you any?"

Twilight looked at the ground. "Well, I can only hope in my deepest thoughts that the Author of our story writes it in such a way as we can continue to survive sensibly, and also make it so that my brother can have the memories I took from him. I feel very guilty for doing that."

"But it had to be done.", Celestia said. "I supposed the Gallopons know nothing about whether the alicorns on Equestria, can use magic, and I mean to keep it that way. Our secret could prove to be a lifesaving edge by the end of our day."

"That was kind of begging the question,", Twilight replied, "of why we didn't do the same for the other crewmembers. I get it! Only my brother was able to get up close and personal enough to Cadance to really understand just how powerful she really is, and by extension, us. Everypony else just sees alicorns as leadership figures, nothing more."

Celestia nodded. "That's about right. I am glad you were willing to help us out that way. I regret we had to do this to him."

Twilight's face turned pale from the memory. "Oh, no.", she whispered. She knelt,face down on the ground, with her rear pointed toward her mentor. Her body began shaking, then stomache promply heaved some of her recently digested breakfast through her throat and spilled it onto the ground. Twilight's consciousness turned inward. Oblivious to the outside world, she neighed in agony from each heave, but eventually her stomache was empty and her neighing subsided.

When Twilight came back to herself, she noticed was Celestia kneeling beside her and running her hoof through Twilight's mane to comfort her. "Care to tell me about it, my little filly?", Celestia asked.

Shining Armor's Twilight

Even with tears falling down her cheeks, Twilight Sparkle stayed calm and began relating to Princess Celestia her own actions just prior to the start of Operation Empress.

. . .

The rest of the Mane Six were at her underground quarters, along with Spike, awaiting the arrival of her brother, Shining Armor, along with his wife Princess Cadence.

Twilight had placed the Elements of Harmony around her friends' necks and donned the crown. This was going to be major magic they were about to be doing.

The interior of Twilight's personal space was arranged as far as cushions, curtains, library, and everything were concerned, to be identical to her home in Ponyville which had once stood on the surface. Twilight made it so long since, just to help maintain her own sanity, but now it would also serve the purpose of giving her brother a restful place where he could feel absolute trust. Shining Armor would need to lower his own emotional shields down to zero, never mind the actual ones, in order for what his sister had in mind to be able to work at all.

The couple finally made it. "Welcome!", Twilight said. Then she asked them, "Have you said your goodbyes?"

Cadence said, "Yes." The couple enjoyed one final lingering kiss, this one seasoned with their tears. "We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun.", Shining Armor said to his wife.

Twiight said, "I want you, brother, to lay down on this pile of cushions. I want you as absolutely relaxed as you can manage. While you get yourself situated, I'm going to make the room dimmer. Cadence, you need to go now. I'm sorry."

"Goodbye, Shining Armor", Cadence said sadly. "I love you. Always and always and always."

"Goodbye Cadence.", Shining Armor responded. He made a weak grin as he said, "I'll see you on the other side, my love."

As Cadence left, Twilight turned down to lighting to nearly complete darkness. Her brother was looking up into her loving face, her own eyes welling with unfallen tears. "Goodbye, Sis.", he said. "Not forever if I can possibly help it.", she declared, wiping her eyes dry with her foreleg. "Now, just how much do you trust me?"

"With everything I have. Everything I am.", he replied.

"Good.", Twilight said as she powered up her horn, which lit dimly, then casted a sleep spell on her brother. She held back, because she wanted him just midway between sound asleep and fully awake. "I want you to close your eyes and relax. You're feeling tired, after all your labors protecting us and defending us. Everywhere you've ever been, everypony has learned to love you. I love you, more than I know how to say. But now it is time for you to finally rest. How are you feeling?"

"Like I'm floating on clouds.", he answered.

"All right.", she replied. "I want you to imagine a treasure chest with its lid open."

"Okay.", he replied.

"I want you to put everything you know about Luna and Celestia into it, including their names, including all your memories of them.", she instructed.

"Done.", he replied.

Twilight adjusted the power of her sleep spell, increasing it slightly to make her brother relax further. He was now in a highly suggestible state. She said, "Now, I want you to put everything you know about your wife, Cadence, who you love, including her name, including all your memories of her, into that treasure chest."

"Done.", he said.

Twilight breathed. "Now, I want you to put everything you know about me and our parents, including my name and theirs, including all memories of us, into that treasure chest."

"Done.", he told her.

"Now, I want you to close that chest and lock it.", Twilight instructed. "It will only open with a key. The key will turn the lock open and all contents of the chest shall be restored to you, if and only if you consummate your love with the only mare who is worthy of it. The love of your life."

"I understand.", he said, drowsily.

"Now, I want you to put the locked chest into a place where nopony, not even you, can ever find it.", Twilight instructed. "That chest is now lost forever, unless the key turns its lock. Nopony or any other creature in the universe can read your mind to find it. No torture or temptation will ever persuade you to reveal it. Not even you know its there anymore, so how could you even reveal what isn't there?"

"Done.", Shining Armor said.

Twilight Sparkle signed inwardly. That was the easy part. How the really hard part begins. She tapped her forehoof on the floor, twice. That was the signal for the other ponies in the room to focus their will on Twilight's brother. The Elements of Harmony glowed slightly in the darkness. Twilight's tiara also glowed slightly as well. It was time. She poured her power dimly over Shining Night's reclining form, saying as she did so:

"I want you ready to reach inside yourself, and with all your might and your love for all Equestria and the Crystal Empire forget everything you know about Celestia, including her name and appearance. I also want you to forget everything you know about Luna, including her name and appearance. I also want you to forget everything you know about Cadence, including her name and appearance. I also want you to forget everything you know about your parents, including their name and appearance. I also want you to forget everything about me, Twilight Sparkle, including my name and appearance. I will now be a nameless and disembodied voice to you. Are you ready to do this?"

"Yes.", Shining Armor said.

"Go.", Twilight Sparkle commanded. Shining Armor tensed. She tapped her forehoof twice more on the floor. The entire room lit while the Mane Six intensified thier power of friendship upon the resting stallion, bolstering his own will to obey. Memory upon memory flashed through his eyes for all to see, as he twitched with his own efforts reinforced by magic, to seal away his own memories. And then it was done. His twitching had stopped. The room went completely dark again, aside from a dim purple glow.

Shining Armor heared a nameless and disembodied voice instruct him: "Shining Armor, you are an orphan. You do not even know who or where your parents are, and you have no known relatives. You lived within the Ponyville orphanage. You got your cutie mark by using your shield to cushion the fall of one of your fellow orphans. The only thing you know about alicorns is that they are rare and special but you don't know why.. You have never seen an alicorn up close, only very, very far away. You are a general in the Ponyville militia forming after the rocks began to fall on our world, and as the bravest pony in the land you volunteered to lead a diversion as part of Operation Empress. That is who you are. Everypony adores you for your courage."

He heard a double tap on the floor. The purple glow intensified, more colors shone throughout the room, then he could see the brilliant white glow of somepony's eyes flash directly above him, briefly more intensely than the sun. Then the entire room went dark once again. He now felt completely certain everything the voice told him was the absolute truth.

The disembodied voice said, "When I count to three and I click my hooves together, you will awaken in a dark room feeling completely rested and refreshed. Somepony will lead you out of the dark room and escort you to your ship."

The last he heard from this voice was this: "One... Two... Three..."

This was followed by a: Click.

. . .

"Now you are just starting to learn how ruthless a ruler must be sometimes on behalf of the subjects.", the teacher told the student.

[ "Absolutely brilliant, Nova!", Derek said to his wife in appreciation. ]

The Crew

The Emperor's banquest room was soon emptied of tables and chairs and converted into a meeting hall with a raised dais at one end upon which rested a lectern.

The Emperor of the Crysanthemum Empire was speaking from it. "Noble mares and stallions, we have discovered an incoming projectile of unknown nature approaching Big Island. It does not take a genius to deduce it is meant to destroy us and the immediate vicinity. We therefore need to move up the takeoff time, so that our vessel can defend us from this missile. Princess Celestia, what you do have for us?"

"Captain Avatar, can we be ready in time?", the beautiful white alicorn asked.

"We can do it, ma'am.", the aged sailor pony replied. "Let's introduce the crew."

An alicorn stallion just barely grown out of colthood with a golden hide, blonde mane and tail, and violet eyes trotted away from the gathered audience toward the dais, climbed it, then walked over to the lectern. He was very handsome in a delicate sort of way. The Emperor gave him a brief hug prior to moving aside for the youngster.

"I am the Operations Officer, Forest Snow.", the speaker said.

"My grandson.", the Emperor whispered into Celestia's ear proudly.

"I will now announce the bridge officers.", Forest Snow said:

"Captain Avatar Apple, commanding!
Twilight Sparkle, Magic Officer and Executive Officer!
Luna, Engine Room and Gunnery! Next in rank after Sparkle!
Rainbow Dash, Tactical!
Rarity, Navigation!
Fluttershy, Communications!"

"That's all who are going?", a stallion in the audience asked incredulously. The other ponies in the room began arguing.

Avatar raised his voice. "TEN.... SHUN!", he shouted.

The room was now silent. Everypony was standing at attention and respectfully facing the dais. "Thank you.", Avatar said. "Those announced above are of officer rank. We will be bringing a total of about forty crew and about five civilian medics, one of whom is a fully licensed physician and will carry a courtesy rank equal to Twilight. We also will be taking five civilian technicial representatives each from the Cowasaki and Moosubishi corporations. We also will have two flight squadrons. Everyone other than the officers and pilots will be rankless for now, aside from Iron Will who will be the Master Chief Crewbull.. If any of you crewponies has a complaint, you bother him about it first! Now, I want everypony aboard within the next hour!"

"YES, SIR!", everypony shouted in reply.

"EVERYONE DISMISSED!", announced Forest Snow.

The room began to empty. Pinkie Pie and AppleJack were walking out the door together and through a corridor.

"We're not running the ship?", Pinkie Pie asked.

"Naw.", said Applejack. "You'll be doing a job even more important than the Twilight Sparkle's!"

"What would that be?", Pinkie asked.

"Well", Applejack answered, "As the very best pastry chef in all Equestria, you are going to responsible for feeding us all. That makes you Mess Chief Pinkie Pie. In your mess hall, whatever you say, goes. Even the captain must obey you there."

"Ooooo.", Pinkie Pie squealed with delight. "Are you gonna help?"

"Kinda.", AppleJack said. "I'm the one who has to in a hurry turn pony manure from the toilets into apples, wheat, oats, and other such things for you to cook with. There's no magic for that, but I read the manuals from Cowasaki and if I follow the directions and operate the converters properly there should be no problem. If I have any spare time at all I'll be making apple products with you."

"Sounds like a fun job.", Pinkie Pie observed.

"Yeah, real fun.", AppleJack replied sarcastically. "We're both gonna be workin' our hindquarters off."

"I didn't see Luna", Pinkie remarked. "Where do you suppose she is?"

"I have no idea.", AppleJack answered.

. . .

The engine shaft ran from the front tip of the ship all the way to its rear. Midway through the shaft was a chamber which could only be reached via a special access corridor. At the very center of the chamber, in the floor, was a receptacle cut out of Crystal Empire crystal. The receptacle had a cover made of the same material.

Luna was there. She twisted the cover off. Then, out of a halter with pockets she was wearing, she took out the message crystal from Iscanter. She slid the message crystal into the receptacle. It was a perfect fit. She then twisted the cover back on, tightly.

"That should do it.", Luna spoke aloud to herself. "Time to get ready."

. . .

Rainbow Dash trotted through the access corridor to the ship, then took the elevator to the bridge. He encountered there Forest Snow. Gosh, he really looks good enough to eat!, Rainbow thought, her insides a-quiver with feelings she had never known before in her life. Pony poo! What am I thinking? she asked herself in astonishment.

"Which way is the captain's cabin?", Rainbow asked aloud.

"Upstairs, then take a right.", Forest Snow replied. Forest felt miffed when Rainbow didn't even bother to thank him as he climbed up.

Rainbow Dash made his way over, then knocked on the door. "Rainbow Dash here.", he said.

"Come in.", his captain responded.

Rainbow opened the hatch, entered the cabin, then closed the hatch behind him. "Captain, do you have time to answer a question for me?"

"I have a little.", he said.

"I have no combat experience, like the soldiers in Celestia's guard." Rainbow said. "Why did you choose me as your battle chief?"

"You were the leader of the team who placed gold in the annual aerial stickball games for four years straight, am I correct?", he asked.

Rainbow Dash made a weak grin of embarrassment, and nodded.

"Well, there you go.", Avatar answered, "You're the very best I could find at sizing up a tactical situation in three dimensions and responding to it with your players in the very best way.. That's exactly what we need. I have every confidence you can handle the job and learn how it scales to a real fight. However, the rest is up to you."

"Yes, sir. Thank you sir.". Rainbow Dash made a hasty exit downward to the bridge.

Meanwhile, Rarity had just boarded the bridge. She wanted to introduce herself properly to the Operations Officer. "Hi, I'm Rarity..."

"He's upstairs and to the right!", Forest Snow shouted at her.

Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy arrived on the bridge. "Is everyone here?", Twilight asked.

"Luna said she'd be staying in the engine room.", Forest said.

"Everyone, take your places.", Twilight said. "Fluttershy, the first thing I want you to do after initializing your panel, is to call Pinkie and AppleJack up here."

"You got it, Twilight.", Fluttershy replied.

"Can we turn over the wave motion engine, now?", Twilight asked.

"No.", Rarity replied, "It needs a lot more power than even the Elements Of Harmony can deliver."

"I was afraid of that.", Twilight said. "The missile is due to arrive in under twenty minutes!"

"EVERYONE, DON'T PANIC!", the old sailor shouted as we walked down the steps of his cabin and took his seat in the command chair. "Fluttershy.", he said.

"Yes, sir!", she responded.

"Put me through to Celestia.", he said. A ceiling screen lit up. "Hello, your Highness.", he began.

"What's going on, captain?", Princess Celestia replied.

"I'm going to need power transmitted from as many alicorns around the world as possible, to supplement what the Elements of Harmony are going to provide, so we can initiate the engine systems. Please spread the word and get started, ma'am!", the captain requested.

Two more earth ponies had now entered the bridge. "Mane Six", the captain said, "I need you over in the engine room at a gallop. When you get there, work together to apply the Element's powers to the engine. Luna will tell you where to aim. Now git!"

The Mane Six got.

Author's Note

I've had to distribute Sandor's role among many of the ponies. Also keep in mind that the two largest corporations in the Crysanthemum Empire are Cowasaki, a manufacturer of all manner of mechanical devices down to the nanoscale, and Moosubishi, specializing in information technology and nanotronics.

The Launch

The Mane Six rushed down from the bridge and reached the engine room of the great ship in sixty seconds flat. They saw Luna standing nearby a console. She had her horn buried into a hole in the console, not unlike the way Princess Celestia used her own horn as a key to unlock the Elements of Harmony from a special chamber in Castle Cantlerlot such a long time ago.

"Twilight Sparkle", Luna said, "I need to have your friends set up with the Elements. Focus as much raw power as you are able to upon me. I'll route yours and mine together and focus the combination into the message crystal.". Luna's eyes then glowed white with an extremely large amount of controlled power, all the Mare of The Night could muster. Her horn was hidden, lodged deeply into the access port, but clearly something was happening.

"Captain!", Forest Snow announced from on the bridge, "We went from zero to thirty percent of required power!"

Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Apple Jack were now wearing their Element necklaces. Twilight Sparkle had put on her tiara. The group of them levitated and radiated a multicolored glow. Twilight aimed her horn and sent the group's power of friendship to the midnight black alicorn she had managed to befriend. Her own eyes then glowed white with power as a beam of pure white light coruscated from her horn to land upon Luna.

"Power increasing from thirty to fifty percent!", Forest Snow reported.

Princess Celestia focused all her considerable might upon her sister half a world away. A white beam leaped from her own horn and arced over the horizon, striking the underground target.

"We're getting power beamed from Equestria! We're now ninety percent!", Forest Snow exclaimed.

Come on... hang in there... pour it on.... just a little bit more... Twilight urged herself.

Princess Cadence focused all of her hopes and dreams of a future with her missing husband and his foal she was carrying, from her home in the Crystal Empire, upon Luna. Another beam, pink this time, arced across the world.

Luna noticed the difference immediately. Between herself and everyone else she was channeling ten times the power she had ever wielded as Night Mare. She wanted to remember this moment the rest of her life: the love, caring, and friendship she was channeling from everyone else, being bathed in it, as she routed it all through her horn into the crystal chamber in the center of the ship. The message crystal within the chamber began to glow, first dimly, then steadily increasing until it began to radiate its own energy. The engine shaft captured the energy and routed it to the flywheel assembly. The primary flywheel began turning slowly, then faster till it was a blur, then faster yet until it became red-hot. Then the primary flywheel spun the secondary flywheel until it, too, turned red-hot. The secondary flywheel spun a shaft connected to a series of electrical generators which powered radiation projectors constructed from the blueprints the Iscanterians supplied. Those projectors bathed the crystal in the radiation, of which the brilliant white light which could only be seen by Luna presently was just a small part of the total spectrum.

Her eyes still bright with power, Luna grinned, actually feeling a new emotion for the first time in her life: joy. The power of friendship had done more than than simply release her from the bondage of her own anger. This time, the powers of love and friendship branded themselves indelibly upon her soul. She now knew whatever else happened, she would never feel alone again. Ever. In a volume too low for anyone to hear, Luna whispered to herself, "Yes!", not just for the engines, but also for herself.

"WE HAVE SELF-SUSTAINING ENGINES, SIR!", Forest Snow shouted in glee.

"MASTER CHIEF! DETONATE EXPLOSIVE CHARGES!", Captain Avatar Apple ordered.

Iron Will's voice could be heard through an intercom, repeating the order. Dull thuds were heard by the bridge crew through the top and side of the ship as tons of dirt and debris were thrown clear, leaving an irridescent surface.

"RARITY, RAISE THE SHIP!"

"Yes, sir!", Rarity replied. Her horn, just like Luna's, was plugged into a console socket above her head. The marvelous nearly-magical artistanship of Moosubishi made it possible for her to steer with her mind alone. There were levers and other manual controls for backup, but since Rarity was the only pony outside the Crysanthemum Empire who knew how to operate machinery, even if only a sewing machine bought for her from Cowasaki as a gift by Avatar Apple in one of his sea trips, she could instantly extend the principle to a much larger machine like a ship. She knew how to make it turn, just like she could make the bobbins turn or the cloth advance. She could view any instruments she desired, which were then overlaid as images atop her vision. Augmented Reality was the name given by the technicians.

She needed only to will it. The ship began shaking itself out of the soil in response.

"OPS, PLUG INTO RADAR! GIVE ME TIME TO MISSILE IMPACT!"

Forest Snow had practiced with both mockups and simulations for more than a year. His station was actually designed to fit into his own talent by which he obtained his own cutie mark, remarkably only months after birth, the ability to sense objects and people all around him without even needing to see them: extra-sensory perception.

"Three minutes, Captain!", Forest replied.

Manure, Avatar thought. He pressed a button on his command console. "Luna, we need you topside for gunnery, fast!"

"As you wish, my lord.", Luna's filtered voice replied.

That stupid royal attitude has got to be the first thing that will go!, the captain resolved, while he tried to keep the exasperation out of his eyes just as Luna galloped into the bridge full tilt. I'll have to admit, though, she does gives everything her all.

"Luna, plug into the gunner's station.", the captain instructed. "Rarity, status!"

"We've just cleared the soil!", Rarity replied. The ponies on the bridge could now see sunlight and the devastated landscape. "Why were we underground, anyway?"

He replied, with a curl to his lip, "So that nothing could see the ship we were building. Too bad the enemy decided upon overkill and would take out the entire Crysanthemum Empire along with us. Roll the ship to port twenty degrees."

"Rolling to port, twenty degrees.", she acknowledged. As the ship rolled, Avatar flipped another switch on his own console to close the windows, so as to to protect everypony's eyes on the bridge from what was about to happen.

"Luna, lock on the missile with the foward turret and open fire."

The entire ship rang like a wine glass and vibrated with an impact which threw a few ponies off their hooves and onto the floor.

Author's Note

The hull is not of iron construction. It's actually made of nanomachined diamond... among other things.

The Ascent

"Captain", Forest Snow said, "Missile has vanished from radar, all detonation energy has dissipated.". He took his horn out of the control socket for his console.

"Rarity.", the captain said, "You are in the Helm station. Helm, right the ship and bring the nose up. Extend flight surfaces. Connect port and starboard auxilliary rockets to wave engine. Auxilliary rockets to full power!"

The ship rapidly began its ascent through the atmosphere. The windows showed the sky slowly changing from bright blue, to indigo, then to black. Stars could now be seen. They were in orbit.

Fluttershy threw a couple switches. Cheers from nearly everypony in the ship could be heard over the speakers.

"Thank you, Comms. Make it two way.", Avatar said, "Thank you, all officers and crew. Now that you all have my complete attention, I will say that every creature so far has done a magnificent job. Forest, as I recall, you have sealed orders from your grandfather, to be opened once we made it to orbit."

"Yes sir.", Forest said, as he opened up not an envelope with paper, but instead a paper scroll containing Imperial calligraphy. "My grandfather, the Emperor of Crysanthemums, respectfully requests and requires our ship be named for our undying will to persevere over the many long years uncountable. The word for this is also the most ancient word for our people: we are the Yamato. Signed with the Emperor's seal, witnessed by the signatures of both Princess Celestia and Princess Cadence."

"Let it be so!", the captain said. "We are the Yamato!", he ordered.

"WE ARE THE YAMATO! WE ARE THE YAMATO! WE ARE THE YAMATO!", everypony on the ship, as well as Iron Will, shouted over the speakers.

"Thank you all.", the captain answered. "We will be heading on thrust to Mares. Once we arrive in about three hours, we will attempt our first warp manuever. That is all."

Avatar directed in a more discreet voice. "Helm, connect main rocket to wave engine. Combat speed one, please. Comms, shipwide off. Good job, Comms!"

Fluttershy smiled.

. . .

Avatar passed the word through Rarity and Fluttershy to bring the entire Mane Six along with Forest and Luna over to his ready room for planning. He would meet them there in a half hour.

Precisely to the second, Avatar entered the room. He certainly expected the other ponies there. What he didn't expect were the tantalizing odors of fresh baked bread and apple pie, along with brewing coffee. The sources of those odors were laid out upon a shelf upon one side of his ready room, alongside pitchers of juice and water. He noticed Pinkie Pie and AppleJack standing in front of the shelf to one side. AppleJack rang a triangle while Pinkie Pie shouted, "Lunchtime!"

"Outstanding!", he exclaimed. "Has the rest of the crew had theirs first?", he asked.

AppleJack replied, "You won't want to thank us just yet. These were made from the first batch of, um, 'recycled' ingredients. Pinkie tasted first, then I tried them because I was assisting her. If the captain doesn't mind, we want him to be our first test subject before the crew eats this stuff. If the captain pleases?"

He nodded at them both. "Normally, I'd disagree. In nearly all cases it's been my policy on board my ships that the crew eats first before the officers. But my crew has never tasted food synthesized directly from thier own poop nor drink from their own pee! Therefore, it falls to me to set the example."

He tasted a morsel of bread and a forkful of apple pie, washing them both down with a sip of black coffee thoughtfully poured into a cup by Pinkie. Finally, he motioned to the yellow pitcher. AppleJack served him a glass of it. The liquid tasted exactly like freshly squeezed lemonade.

"I can't tell any of these apart from the real thing. I hope they're nutritious as they taste.", he said. "Excellent work, both of you. The pie also meets the Apple family reputation. Now, I want to see my crew fed within the next hour. We here will feed ourselves." Pinkie and AppleJack both left the room, smiling, enormously pleased with themselves.

"Join in, everyone.", Avatar urged. "We'll make this a working lunch. XO, overview please."

Twilight Sparkle nodded. After taking a few moments to eat an entire half loaf of bread, she inserted her horn into the overhead socket interface for the ready room projection console. This was her first time using the direct interface, and her eyes widened in amazement. Wow, she thought, I can see the stars, I can see our present course, I can see everything! Now I want an illustration of the warp process on the floor for all to see. The information systems embedded within the console promptly responded to her mental request and obtained information from the astrogation systems on the bridge.

"The process of doing it is actually simpler than the process of describing it.", Twilight began. "Think of space and time together as a huge piece of fabric upon which everything in the universe rests.", she said. An even rectangular grid appeared on the floor. "Now, everything having mass, such as planets and stars and even our sun, creates dents in the fabric proportional to the mass.", she continued The entire solar system of which Equestria formed a part, became superimposed upon the grid: distorting the grid in the places where the sun and planets presently resided.

"The fact that dents exist naturally implies we can make our own dents. In fact, when I teleport, that's exactly what I do: I instinctively make a dent in the fabric hard enough to punch through and then emerge at a difference place in the fabric. Princess Celestia was right in that if I actually had the strength and the experience of where Iscanter exactly is, I could have teleported there long since and retrieved what they have to offer us. We all know I have neither. That's why we need a crew working together using Iscanterian artisanship to teleport our ship from here to there. Even then, we don't have the power in the wave motion engine to do that single leap all at once, we have to proceed in smaller jumps."

The view on the floor rotated and changed to show a pair of curved walls connected by a tunnel. "Notice the tunnel", Twilight said. "The engine creates a tunnel, a molehole if you like, for just as long as needed for our ship to act like a sewing needle: piercing one side of our reality and exiting into another part."

Rarity immediately paid attention as soon as the work 'sewing' was mentioned. "So that's why...", she breathed in sudden insight.

"Yes, Rarity", Twilight said, "That's the reason the captain picked you for helm. You'll learn more about navigating in normal space on the job, but we all know you have the steadiest hand in Equestria with a sewing needle."

"Really.", Rarity deadpanned. "It's only a matter of making the stitch in time."

"And", Twilight grinned, "Your job is to make a stitch in space-time! It has to be done manually, because there's one small problem left, and that's propelling ourselves through the tunnel. The wave motion engine works by capturing waves composed of particles smaller than you can see which can travel no slower than light. That gives us as much power as we can build the engines to handle. Has anyone ever done any surfing?"

Pinkie Pie smiled and raised her hand. "I vacationed in Hayway-eee once. You have to lay on your board and catch the wave at just the right time, or it won't work. The wave won't take you and your board to the shore."

"Exactly", Twilight agreed. "Not only do we need to pierce the space-time fabric with our ship, we also need to do it at the precise moment a faster than light wave arrives to carry our ship through the tunnel from the place we exit to the place we arrive. It takes the judgement of a live intelligence to do this."

The floor image now superimposed a series of waves crossing rapidly through the right hoof wall, through the tunnel, and then through the left hoof wall. "Perfect timing is absolutely necessary", Twlight concluded, "or it won't work."

"What if Rarity gets it wrong?", Rainbow Dash challenged. "What could happen?"

"The best outcome for us in that case", Twilight replied, "is that we waste our opportunity to jump. We waste engine power and crew time, and then we have to try again. I don't believe the captain would be happy with that."

Captain Avatar nodded grimly.

"A not-quite-as-good outcome", Twilight continued, "is that we exit in the wrong place, practically anywhere in the universe, and be lost. We'd fail our mission."

"Correct.", the captain said.

"An even worse outcome", she said, "is that the engine would destroy the ship and all of us with it. Finally, there's the almost infinitesimal possibility that the pieces of space-time fabric remain permanently attached together, causing the universe to completely collapse upon itself instantaneously. It would be as if Equestria transformed into an imaginary concept rather than remain a real fact of life which we all exist for. It would be as if we never were. Questions?"

None dared raise their hand.

"So, let's get to work.", the captain concluded. "Dismissed."

The expression on Avatar's face darkened. "Alicorns, stay.", he grated. I need to have words with you three."

Forest looked nervous. Twilight gulped. Luna remained calm and serene.

Author's Note

A clearer explanation of how space warps work, simple enough for even a child like Miyuki to understand partially.

Office Hours

"Are we in trouble?", Twilight Sparkle asked.

The captain did not answer her directly. Instead, he said in a curt tone. "Tails to the bulkhead, NOW! Stand straight. Eyes front. DON'T LOOK AT ME! Stare straight ahead, to the opposite wall." All three ponies followed his directiive.

Then, Avatar paced back and forth in front of them. "I have no idea what to do with lot of you, the worst excuses for crewponies I have ever seen in all the ships I've ever sailed!"

"We are in space now. I'm the sole authority. I mean to have no princes or princesses here on my ship. Anyone who disagrees can leave my own vessel and run their own ship. I'll be happy to escort you to the airlock on the way! No one wants to do that? Wise choice."

He walked over to the black mare. "Luna! Why did you address me in royal protocol back when we trying to escape that missile?"

"There would be no titles in space, you said.", Luna replied. "We were not in space yet."

Avatar approached her closely and touched her nose with his. "THE VERY LAST THING I NEED ON MY SHIP IS YOU, A SERVICING SEA LAWYER!", he roared at her. "GET YOURSELF THE SERVICE OUT OF MY SIGHT!"

[ "Should we actually be using those words when kids are watching this, Derek? Nova asked, unsure. ]
[ "'What words?", Derek shrugged. "This is all sweetness and light compared to my dressings down at the Academy. Avatar actually struck me on the face when I spoke out of turn, once, on the first voyage. I never did tell you that, did I?" ]

Luna retreated from the ready room in a walk, head down, her entire body and limbs stiffened in resentment.

The captain then faced the purple pony. "Twilight Sparkle.", he remarked quietly. "A heroine several times over. Bootstrapped to princess by the sheer force of inspiration. You've never lost a battle when it comes to metaphysical combat with things that go 'boo' in the night. I'm sure you're proud of yourself for all your triumphs."

"Maybe you even believe you actually can do just about anything with the right amount of research and will and brillance, and this makes you feel 'invincible'?", he asked, with mocking tones on the final word. "News update, Princess: you are not, and you never will be.", he continued more levelly.

"How do you feel about your teacher and ruler, Princess Celestia?", he asked Twilight Sparkle..

"I love her.", Twilight answered. "I'd do anything for her."

"Would you die for her?", he challenged.

"Absolutely!", she responded.

"Would you kill for her?", he asked.

"I... think... so...", she replied haltingly.

"So, the filly finally made up her mind regarding her willingness to kill to save her life and others.", he said sarcastically. "Final question for the grand prize at the fair: have you ever killed anypony on your princess's orders?"

Twilight paused. Then, she hung her head. "No.", she whispered.

"BRING THAT HEAD BACK UP!", Avatar shouted. "EYES FRONT! MAKE ME HEAR YOUR ANSWER CLEARLY!"

"I HAVE NEVER KILLED ANYPONY!!!", she shouted after correcting her posture.

"I have never killed anypony, what?", her captain asked in tones of menace.

"I HAVE NEVER KILLED ANYPONY, SIR!", she shouted again.

"And that", Avatar said, "is why you're not invincible. You've got a blind spot in your self-image. You've never defended Equestria physically. You've only solved problems to drag everypony's rumps out of the fire, and so far you've kept your hands clean. You've got a real attitude problem, Sparkle. The only acceptable answer to any question is, 'Yes, Sir', or 'No, Sir', plus what I want to know. Now, you discovered you have a problem, am I correct?"

"YES, SIR, I HAVE AN ATTITUDE PROBLEM!", Twilight Sparkle shouted, as tears ran down the sides of her face and dropped to the crystal decking.

"Poor, poor little filly.", her captain said softly in mocking tones of pity. "She's only now beginning to understand how cruel and unfair life can be. That bad things can happen to good ponies. That rewards often never go to the deserving. That evil will go unpunished despite her best efforts. That atrocities will happen which she cannot prevent or stop or solve, her only choice being to send ponies to die in order to save all the rest. That someday she will wake up remember having another sentient creature's blood spilling on her hands, or even worse, some other pony's."

"Hear me well.", he continued sternly. "The attitude which makes you the best new princess Equestria has ever seen, is exactly the same attitude that would make you judgmental regarding my decisions. This ship does not need the second-in-command, namely you, second-guessing the captain! Nobody is invincible, not even you. Anypony can fail, even you. Anypony can die, even you."

"The only cure for your attitude problem", he continued more calmly, "Is to learn to obey orders without hesitation and without question, without reinterpretation to suit your own needs or to preserve your own dignity or sense of fairness. You take the orders and you pass them down. No more. No less. Fail by letting your intellect or your scruples get in the way, and eventually you will make a decision which will Kill. Us. All. Do you read me, filly?"

"YES, SIR!", Twilight shouted.

"So.", Avatar said. "First. No more tears on my decks. I think you dropped about fifty. Lick each and every one of them up before you leave. Drop any more anywhere, and you will lick each and every one of them up. Second. After we finish the test warp, I want you to spend two of each of your offshift hours with Iron Will in basic discipline and physical training. Tell him I said so. Execute my orders. The only acceptable verbal response to an order is 'Aye, Sir'. Respond now."

"AYE SIR, I WILL EXECUTE YOUR ORDERS AS STATED!" Twilight began licking the deck.

Forest Snow glanced in the captain's direction. "EYES FRONT!", the captain shouted. As he approached Forest, he said in a lower voice, "Have you learned anything at all from what you have witnessed so far?"

"I learned I know nothing about how a ship is run or even anything about life, Sir!", Forest replied.

"You've just won the prize that Twilight missed out on.", Avatar replied. "A sheltered princeling you are, greener than grass, but at least you have the common sense to realise what you are. At least you know you're spoiled, so you have just a little bit more good pony sense than those two silly fillies combined, but even yours is miniscule. Realize you're replaceable. Luna is replaceable. Even Twilight is replaceable. If anypony gets killed, others will rise to the occasion, and the mission will continue. So do both your captain and your grandfather a favor. Train alongside Twilight under Iron Will. That way maybe I can gain two useful crewponies for the price of one. That is an order."

"AYE, SIR!", Forest shouted. After all, if nothing else he was a very quick learner based on what just happened over the past few minutes.

"Dismissed.", the captain concluded. Forest and Twilight left his ready room.

"I so much hate breaking new ponies.", Avatar said to himself. "It's got to be the worst part of my job."

First Warp

Twilight Sparkle immediately trotted down from the bridge to the engine room. She found Luna there, her horn inserted into the engineering console socket, but only to measure the engine's power flow.

"So, Twilight, how did it go?", Luna asked.

"He was so unfair to all three of us. Especially to you!", Twilight answered.

"But here's the thing, child.", Luna said. "Don't you think he has the right to be unfair to us?"

"I'd find that hard to believe.", the purple alicorn replied.

"I'm at least ten times your age, so with that much experience I knew instantly what he was talking about. " Luna said. "He made it clear when he called me a sea lawyer. I understand that on a ship a captain has no use for inflexible ponies who quote the captain's rules right back at them rather than simply obey orders, no matter how arbitrary or unfair they might seem on the surface. What he said really stung, but after some introspection on the way to engineering I knew he was right. Did something else happen to you?"

"I hate what he did to me up there.", Twilight said. "He humiliated me." Her body quivered in unreleased rage. "What I hate even worse is how Forest got off nearly unscathed."

"Why shouldn't he?", Luna asked.

"Because he's an alicorn just like us.", Twilight answered.

"There's only three of us like that.", Luna remarked. "Don't you believe the captain might believe that we might believe we're entitled to special treatment? Look, life is unfair, and the captain was trying to show us that in his unequal treatment of us. But in defeat we still need to pick up our heads, look forward, and move on. That's what he's trying to teach us."

"Why did he have to be so mean to all of us?", Twilight asked.

"It's his job.", Luna replied. She then shrugged her shoulders and said, "The war-ponies break in their new recruits nearly exactly the same way. We're headed for war. Whatever abuse he's handing out to us is simply meant to prepare us for that. Or did you believe this was simply going to be a voyage of discovery where all you were required to do was study, perhaps to write an article for a journal such as the Equegraphic? Just shove your resentment into a box for now, and come back to it later. That's what I'm doing."

Luna sighed. "Best get back up to the bridge now, Twilight, before the captain becomes even less happy with you."

. . .

The bridge was nearly completely filled with ponies a half hour later. For the sake of the test warp, the captain had long since ordered everyone on the bridge to be wearing an environmental suit and have their helmets sealed around their heads. Each of these suits was a very comfortable fit due to Rarity's efforts at custom tailoring. Even the helmets had optional jackets incorporated tor fitting over the horns. Rarity did not design these herself. She found them from somepony in Big Island who manufactured them for an entirely different purpose: they were fashioned from membranes flexible enough to conform to most horns, thin enough to not interfere with the sensations and signals provided to the horn for the mental interface, strong enough to not tear under stress, and proved to be completely air and water tight.

Rarity, fully suited up, was standing with her horn in the navigation control socket. Twilight Sparkle, likewise attired, plugged herself into a general purpose socket and mentally selected astrogation. Forest Snow was plugged into the radar socket. A unicorn from the war-pony contingent arrived and plugged himself into gunnery control.

Captain Avatar Apple, not having a horn, stood in front of his command console, giving him an overview of the entire ship's systems and even some ability to subsitute for any damaged function. Rainbow Dash, also hornless, quietly sat at her station and stayed silently watchful.

Finally, there was Fluttershy, who also hornless watched her board and listened to ship's internal traffic. "Captain.", she said, "We're all suited up here. All departments are ready."

"Sir, ship is lined up with the destination coordinates.", Twilight said. "Target is Alastor, Planet Nine."

"Nothing on radar, sir.", Forest Snow said.

"Engineering.", the captain prompted.

"No defects noticed.", Luna replied over the bridge loudspeaker.

"Rarity, take the ship to point one lightspeed.". the captain ordered.

"Aye sir! Point one lightspeed.", Rarity responded.

A barefly perceptable hum could be heard on the ship as the flywheels revolved slightly faster in response to the load being placed upon them from the wave engine's increase in output.

"Ship's power 105 percent", Luna reported through Fluttershy's console.

"Good.", Avatar said, "Now, ramp up gradually to point eight lights."

As the Yamato's speed increased, the flywheels gradually became louder and higher in pitch, and their movement could be heard throughout the entire ship. By the time the ship had reached maximum rated sublight speed, the flywheels generated a high pitched roaring chatter which assaulted everypony's ears across the entire ship from stem to stern.

"Rarity", the captain shouted over the chatter, "Start warp sequence!. Forest, count it down to help Rarity focus!"

Rarity could view in her mind the sensors finding the faster-than-light waves crossing over the tunnel plotted for this manuever. Forest called up the same display in his own mind. He set his to make a chirping sound the other crew members could hear each time a wave exited the tunnel, and which would help him make the count.

"Rarity", Forest said, "Remember to punch through the wave at dead center! On ten!", Chirp!

Luna eyes shone white again while regulating the engine shaft feedback cycle. "One hundred twenty percent power, captain!", she called out.

"Seven!", Forest shouted. Chirp! The bridge crew resembled statues in their concentration and focus.

"Six!", Chirp! Pinkie Pie and Applejack looked at each other whle peeling potatoes together in the mess hall.

"Five!", Chirp! The war-ponies were relaxing in their barracks.

"Four!", Chirp! Fluttershy was focused, not on her board, but inward.

"Three!", Chirp! Nopony on the bridge relented in their focus on their own consoles.

"Two!", Chirp!

"One!", Chirp!

"WARP!", Avatar bellowed.

"Warp!", Rarity replied. With an act of will, she activated the mechanisms just as the wave hit the crosshairs.

The engine shaft glowed a golden yellow as accumulated power was released to create the tunnel. The tunnel was pierced by the ship as it moved at relativistic speed. The ship caught the faster-than-light wave just like Pinkie's surfboard caught an ocean wave, and the wave propelled the ship. Time stopped as the ship traversed the molehole. Everypony was still.

Except... for Pinkie Pie. She found herself peeling potatoes with the peels falling into the trash, even while AppleJack was as completely still as a statue and caught in mid-peel, his peels suspended in mid-fair. Grinning to herself, Pinkie poured black coffee into a mug, covered the mug with a lid, walked upstairs to the bridge, and placed it upon the empty space of the captain's right hoof console. Then, she walked back down to her mess-hall and continued peeling potatoes.

Once the eternally infinitesimal instant expired, the ship re-emerged into normal space.

However, the planet Alastor was nowhere to be found.

The captain banged his left fore-hoof against the left console. "Where in perdition are we?", he shouted.

"Give me a moment please, sir.", Twilight Sparkle said. "All right. The maps say we overshot Alastor's orbit, and now are somewhere in the cometary belt."

"I'm sorry, captain!", Rarity apologized. "I guess I need a lot more practice."

Avatar's voice softened. "We all need a lot more practice, Rarity.", he said. "At least we're alive and in the system."

"It's probably just as well.", Twilight Sparkle said. "If the captain pleases, I need to talk with him in private."

"Very well, Twilight.", he answered. "Nothing else is going on, anyway. Desuit, everyone."

Avatar glanced at a cup of coffee just near his right fore-hoof. He looked out the windows to see the stars. He then suddenly did a double-take to the coffee. And just where from perdition did that come from, anyway? , the captain wondered. Could the warp have had anything to do with that?

Past History

Captain Avatar Apple of the Yamato and his first officer Twilight Sparkle began a conference in the captain's quarters about an hour after the warp.

"What's on your mind?", the captain asked.

"It's just as well we missed Alastor anyway.", Twilight said. "We are by no means ready to take on the base which we can certainly deduce exists there."

"Afraid, my little filly?", he asked sarcastically.

"No way, Captain", she replied calmly. "We simply have niether the weapons nor armor needed to do the job."

"Sure we do.", he asserted.

"Permission to speak freely?", Twilight asked.

"Granted.", he said.

She began. "We haven't had real ships of war in Equestria or anyplace else for time out of mind. I didn't even know we ever had any. I had to go back to records in the sealed archives of Canterlot castle going back to the Second Equestrian War, which happened more than ten thousand years ago! All access there was forbidden, even to me, until our entire world became threatened, and only then. Once I read them, I instantly understood why."

"We had one sailing ship before the rocks fell, and it was yours. You bring a cargo of apples from Equestria. You bring back a cargo of powdered crystanthemum petals for the Apple clan to use as a natural pesticide. Begging the captains pardon, but I think he's doing a really good job faking it so far from having read Hornblown novels all his life in his spare time. But unless we can bring actual armanent to the field, your command will not last much longer."

"You're on thin ice, Sparkle.", the captain warned.

"Just doing my duty as Magic Officer, sir. Which needs to include a full understanding of what we as ponies are capable of. However, compared to back then, we know nothing about war. Tell me, sir, why did you ask Luna to use the foward, and by our way only, turret which was occupled by only a single Maresushita coherent digging beam meant for mining to obtain materials to repair our ship?"

"Because I thought it was a gun.", he retorted.

Twilight smiled. "I had absolutely no idea a digging beam could be used that way. In fact, I had no idea how we were going to handle the missile. We were all relying upon you at that moment, and that was your turn to rise to the occasion. The captain wins the grand prize at the fair this time!"

"Aside from that sly dig regarding my recent mast., I can't disagree.", he said.

"What goes around, sir.", Twilight nodded. "But we can't win if we're simply a one trick pony. You said it yourself, I have no choice but to get my own hands dirty. I had a small taste of that when I prepared my own brother for Operation Empress. That hardened me a bit. Maybe what you had to do to me was more than a little painful, but I think that's made me a little bit harder too. So now I'm ready to build some things, sir. Very horrible things to use against the Gallopons. Not for revenge. Not for research. Not to prove I can do it. Only so that we may live. Follow me so far, sir?"

"What do you have in mind, XO?", the captain asked.

"What back then they called weapons of mass destruction, sir, with plans I obtained from the sealed records.", she said. "Equestria during the Second Equestrian War had found a way to convert matter into pure energy, the research was called the Manehatten Project. They had used these, most unfortunately, against the Crysanthemum Empire as a last resort to force their surrender and a peace treaty with the current Emperor, who at the time was simply a colt-aged figurehead controlled by military rulers. We need to create our own missiles armed with smaller versions of these warheads, for cracking open other warships. We need to create launchers for those missiles. We need to refit this ship for those launchers, and we also need to refit the Wonderbolt suits to be able to launch at least two small ones at a go."

"Good thinking, so far. What else?", he asked.

She continued, "I examined the Maresushita mining beam in detail. I'm glad I did, after having studied the basic principles of Crystanthemum artisanship for a year. We could replace a turrent and add two on the fore side, and two aft, with three beams each. The tool appears to project a dense beam of anti-electrons by amplifying light and then using the light to pump a medium which makes the particles.. Essentially, shocking the target but with antimatter instead. Antimatter destroys any form of matter, sir, enemy armor would be useless against it. We increase the size from gun to cannon."

"Oh, a 'shock cannon' ", he said. "Catchy name, that."

"Whatever the captain wishes.", Twilight replied. "I estimate we could have a good two and a half million furlong range."

"I'll believe that when I see that.", Avatar was skeptical. "What else?"

"A modern-day weapon of mass destruction.", she sighed. "I could apply the same overall design principle of the Maresushita cutter and adapt it to the fore and aft sections of the wave motion engine's resonance cavity surrounding the message crystal. It would turn the ship into one giant cannon projecting faster than light particles. It would use up the engine's power in a single burst, and then the engine would need time to recharge. We should only use that after everything else fails."

"A 'wave motion gun'. ", the captain mused. "How long do you think everything you're mentioning would all take?"

"Normally", she said, "It would have taken about five years on Equestria's surface, if not from all the digging for minerals which would half to be done, than from the bureaucrats fighting each other and delaying the work. Fortunately, we're at a place where we have available lots of rocks smashed apart into bite sized pieces, and the power from our ship to smelt, refine, cast, and machine them. I'd estimate four months if we had to do that all by ourselves. However, we seem to be quite close to the original residence of a friend I made years ago. If I can call in a favor from him, maybe we can accomplish all this in four weeks."

He raised his eyebrows at her. "And just who would this friend be?"

"My friend's name is Discord.", Twilight Sparkle declared. "His home is right... there", she pointed with her right forehoof at a star somewhat brighter than the others. "In the ancient Roaman language, his name would have been known as 'Eris'. His home is more or less a planet in it's own right,and I would never have known had he not told me."

"Lucky for us.", Avatar said.

"Maybe.", Twilight Sparkle agreed. "But I think we need to be very polite to him."

She paused. "Oh, by the way, sir. Would you like to know why we don't have these things with us today?"

He crossed his forelegs as he informed her, "I'm all ears.".

Twilight quirked up one side of her mouth. "I doubt that, sir."

She breathed. "Anyway, because the peace treaty as a consequence of two Crysanthemum cities being completely wiped out had banned all sophisticated weaponss. All physical combat was to be performed either with the open hoof or with a sword or stick or arrow, while riding nothing more complicated than a war chariot. Any pony violating the treaty was to be instantly beheaded when caught. Equestria developed magic over the past ten thousand years to make our lives more comfortable, and The Crystanthemum empire developed artisanship while remaining absolutely devoted to pacifism. Now do you realize just by how much I am prepared to destroy all we hold sacred, because I love my family and friends so much and need to protect them from an even worse horror?"

"Aye, my little filly.", Avatar said. "I do."

Kitchen Patrol

During the month they spent on Eris, Discord's original home and current refuge, everpony was working double shifts. In several repair bays within the Yamato, ponies were either smelting ore into metal, machining the metal into parts, or assembling the parts into machines or missile casings. Ponies created a clean room in a different bay and were using it to assemble warheads.

Anypony who was not technically inclined was either requested to volunteer or was even dowright drafted into essential errands which only required unskilled labor. Captain Avatar, to set the example, took a crash course from a technician in using an arc welder and was during his second shift using it to join sections of hull under the "guidance" of somepony else.

Rainbow Dash was becoming more intrigued by Forest Snow with each passing day. He was her kind of stallion, she decided. They were both bold when they needed to be, but she admired his restraint and well-honed sense of ettiquite, something she knew she never had. There came a day when she finally gathered up the nerve to ask him for a 'date', which under the current conditions amounted to little more than a private conversation over lunch or dinner.

She walked by the mess for something to eat, when discovered the mess hatch to be locked. She was also horrified to hear a conversation behind the mess hatch:

Pinkie Pie: "Great, now you've got a nice long one. Just put a coat of butter all over it. Now, put it in my oven. It's getting really hot for your loaf."
Forest Snow: "Like this?"
Pinkie Pie: "Oh... that's just great. Now, do that again, please."
Forest Snow: "Here's the next one."
Pinkie Pie: "Mmm... that's good. Now, it's gonna spurt out sooner or later. You need to be careful when that happens, like getting it wrapped in advance, but this time I'm safe enough, and I can clean up later. Just let it happen. Now finish a full baker's dozen for me. Just slam 'em in!"
Forest Snow: "Okay... (eleven wet slapping noises in rapid succession)... Done."
Pinkie Pie: "So good! Now shove your load upward... Hard!"
Forest Snow: (gasping for air)
Pinkie Pie: "We'll do the next three together... slowly... One!"
Forest Snow: (moaning softly)
Pinkie Pie: (panting) "Two!"
Forest Snow: (moaning loader)
Pinkie Pie: "Last one, wait 'till I'm ready... Three!"
Forest Snow: (groaning with exertion)
Pinkie Pie: (growning with exertion)
Forest Snow: (silence)
Pinkie Pie: "Whew! Thanks, Forest, I really needed that!"
Forest Snow: "Thank you! I couldn't have had a better teacher for my first time!"
Pinkie Pie: "Aww... I'm glad you appreciate it. We need to break for an hour, and then we can do it again."

Forest Snow opened the hatch to find Rainbow Dash on the other side of it. Her face had taken on an expression of despair and whose jaw was so slack it had practically dropped to the deck. "Can I help you with something, Rainbow?", he asked.

"JUST WHAT DO YOU TWO THINK YOU ARE DOING?", shouted Rainbow.

Pinkie Pie stuck her head out the hatch. "We're making garlic bread for dinner tonight, and moving boxes of flour. Is that a problem?", she asked innocently.

A suspicious Rainbow Dash looked inside the mess bakery. She could feel the heat from the oven, and smell the luxurious smell of butter, garlic, and parsely in the air. To the right to the oven was three-compartment sink. To the right of the sink were stacked four very large boxes of flour. Everything looked normal.

Rainbow blushed in embarassment. "Never mind me", she said.

"Whatever.", Pinkie Pie shrugged. Rainbow Dash galloped away.

"You are such a sweetie!", Pinkie whispered in Forest's ear. She kissed Forest on the cheek. "Thanks for helping!", she said aloud.

Forest blushed. "Thank you. You're the best.", he said. He trotted out of the mess hall, head held high in pride.

. . .

Faster than light travel within the Yamato was impossible, with only one exception: rumors. The captain soon heard a rumor regarding Pinkie Pie and Forest Snow. He needed evidence or he couldn't do a thing. He therefore reviewed the live-time recordings from the cameras inside the mess.

Strangely enough, the cameras had somehow failed to record any video for a single half-hour section. There, he saw only static. Why there was only static rather than video each and every time he played that section was a conundrum which left him scratching his head. Only himself and the Master Chief had the security codes to view the recordings. What little he knew about write-only memory convinced him that overwriting or erasing the images should be by definition impossible.. Even worse, the audio was loud and clear, and if the video was gone the audio should have been gone too. The dialogue under the wrong interpretation could well be damning, but without video or direct witnesses he had no case for non-judicial punishment.

How far should he go through with investigating this? Was this left better alone? Or, was this too serious a break in ship's discipline to ignore? Avatar decided the first place to start was lunch, so he walked to the mess. He caught Pinkie's eye and nodded at her. Pinkie walked over to the table he selected. "Is there anything you'd like to order off today's menu, sir?", she asked.

"Garlic bread... hot, with some coffee, please", the captain requested. "How about you have some with me?"

"As you wish, your Captainness!", Pinkie replied with a shrug and a smile.

In under a minute the mess chief came back with a plate full of crusty bread loaves with the wonderful aroma and garlic and butter, plus a mug of coffee. Pinkie brought herself a lemonade. They both ate in silence.

"Pinkie, there's something I need to ask you about...", Avatar began, when the loaves were nearly all gone.

"Captain, sir.", Pinkie grinned, "Before we conduct ship's business, would you care to play a game or two of 'equiss' with me? Two dimensional? I think the captain needs a break."

"I'll humor you, Cookie.", the captain said. "Set 'em up." Pinkie brought a board out from the games closet in the mess hall, placed the board down, then set up the pieces. "Light or darkness, sir?", Pinkie asked.

"Darkness, thank you.", Avatar replied. Pinkie turned the board around for him. For her first move, she moved her right castle's stile foward two spaces. The captain responded moving the prince's stile foward two. He kept developing his pieces in a standard opening. Pinkie was evidently making legal movies with hers but otherwise the moves were random. Her final move was a pony to the captain's starting row.

It was now the captain's move. He started at the board, then he blinked in surprise. He was now in check from Pinkie's princess. The two vacant squares were covered by the pony she just moved. The princess and the pony were covered by a mayor and a line of stiles. He had nothing in range to take the princess out. Game over.

She's just lucky., he thought to himself. "Another game?", he asked. "Could I have light this time, please?" Pinkie nodded, then turned the board around. This time, Avatar moved a stile in front of his princess's pony one square. Pinkie, this time, answered by advancing her princess's stile two squares. This time, Avatar was trying for a double mayor opening. Again, Pinkie answered with random but legal moves. Some of her moves appeared suicidal, she lost some pieces, but at the same time she took a few pieces of his.

Avatar watched Pinkie's next move carefully. She advanced her stile toward his back row. Then nodding at him, she placed replaced the stile with one of her captured castles, resting upside down. "Second princess.", she announced. He looked at his own pieces. Not good. Pinkie could most likely force a win in less than ten moves.

"Your strategies are beyond my comprehension.", he told her.

"What strategies?", she said, shrugging.

"You mean, you had absolutely no idea what you were doing?", he asked.

"Nope!", she smiled brilliantly.

The captain's jaw dropped.

"Would the captain be interested in going for a walk with me outside? Maybe he could give me some personal advice.", Pinkie said.

Avatar understood this as a request for a confidential conversation with him as the counselor. Such a conversation would be priviledged and therefore useless as a confession.

He closed his jaw, then nodded. "It it would help me solve a mystery, then by all means.", he said.

. . .

Avatar and Pinkie suited up then cycled through an airlock. They walked in jumping strides in the low gravity of Eris, approximately a quarter mile of frozen surface away from the ship. Off in the distance, they could see the Yamato tied down, and sparkles from welding and cutting tools.

Pinkie motioned her hand to a large outcropping large enough for them to sit on. They sat side to side. He then drew a finger across his thoat, meaning for her to deactivate her suits microphone. He did the same. She then leaned her head against the captain's shoulder, not so much for an embrace but so her helmet could make contact with his. It was very well known that sound could conduct this way, making this private conversation as private could be.

"Pinkie, would you care to tell me what's going on with you and Forest?", he asked.

"I've just been giving him lessons on baking so he could feel useful on his second shift.", she answered.

"If the lessons were other than just about baking...", he said.

"Cameras in the mess hall should record that.", she replied, in a tone conveying simple fact.

"That's the problem. For a single half hour, there's just video static, plus an audio conversation which could be taken to mean just about anything.", he said. "Is there anything you could have done to make that happen?"

"Nothing I know of.", she shrugged.

"The hatches were closed and locked.", Avatar continued. "I've asked Forest about this, but he says you and he are just friends."

"So, what's the problem?", Pinkie asked her captain.

"I think you're fraternizing with Forest.",he accused her.

"What's... 'fraternizing'?", she asked.

"It means, Pinkie, inappropriate contact between an officer and a crewpony.", he stated. "It's very bad for discipline."

"I think both Forest and I consider our contact appropriate so far.", she told him. "I've heard about how much you hate 'sea lawyers', but could you consider listening to something?"

"Go ahead", he sighed.

"As the mess chief, I'm one of your warrant officers. He's a very junior officer, and even if I'm below him some, I'm still an officer.", she pointed out. "Even if the contact was inappropriate, it wouldn't meet your definition."

Pinkie Pie has herself covered three hundred and sixty degrees!, the captain thought to himself in complete and utter astonishment.

Avatar shook his head in bewilderment. "Pinkie Pie, just what in perdition's name are you?"

"Pinkie Pie!", she said, smiling at him.

"No, that's 'who are you'.", he said. "I'll ask this again, what are you?"

"Pinkie Pie!", she said again, grinning at him brilliantly.

"If this wasn't a confidential conversation", her captain fumed at her, "I'd be after you for insolence."

"Nopony has been able to make sense of me since I had been foaled,", she said, "so I'm only giving you the simplest possible explanation for who and what I am. There are 'things' I can do. Most of them are just luck. Other things I can make happen only because I mean well and because they are funny. I actually played a prank on you, not too long ago."

"Really.", Avatar raised his white eyebrows at her.

"Did you happen to notice a mug of coffee poured just for you right after our first space warp?", she asked him.

"THAT WAS YOU?", he shouted at her.

"Yup!", she said. "It was interesting. Everyone was frozen as statues and objects were frozen in midair. Aside from me. So, I passed the time by bringing you some coffee. I somehow knew I had to sit back down where I started from for the prank to work. I thought you would enjoy that."

"I can't deny that I did.", he replied. "You're got the makings of an unstoppable soldier, properly trained!"

"Sir, with all respect, I can't be a soldier.", she stated. "My destiny is to bring joy to all ponies, and I strongly suspect to all other creatures as well. I am learning my destiny will allow me to do almost anything I want and even defend me without my even realizing it, so long as I am upholding joy unselfishly. My best function right now is as a mess chief. No more. No less. I'm useless for anything else here but bringing joy to everypony's tummies. Understand so far, sir?"

"I'm beginning to.", the captain said.

"So, I need to share with you some confidences.", Pinkie Pie told him. "Pinkie Swear?"

"Defined as?", he replied.

"Break my confidence and my destiny will not treat you at all well.", she explained. "It's not a threat. It's a law of nature."

"I agree to it.", he promised her.

. . .

While all the repairs were going on, Forest Snow felt useless. Since the ship was going nowhere, there was no radar to read. He spent some time with Twilight Sparkle in physical training under Iron Will. His muscles had originally hurt very bad but now he felt a little more powerful, a little more like the stallion he felt he should be.

He noticed his voice had been deepening slightly over the past year. He felt warm feelings stir within him whenever he was close to Rainbox Dash, but he was about as shy to her as she was to him. But he also knew he was destined for someone else, and therefore he told himself he shouldn't be even thinking that way about Rainbow Dash.

The contradiction was causing him problems in focusing. He needed someone he could confide in, not anyone in authority, but an ordinary crewpony simply wouldn't do. Simply walking about the ship wouldn't help.

He thought perhaps maybe a pony whom everypony liked without exception could help him figure things out. Lost in his thoughts, he wandered throught the corridor by the mess hall. He collided with another pony on his path.

"Oof!", he exclaimed. He had collided with the mess chief, Pinkie Pie.

"Looking for something?", she asked him.

"I feel useless around here.", he said. "Got something for me to do?",

"You can help me with the baking!", she told him.

"Happy to learn!", he exclaimed. They walked into the kitchen side of the mess hall together.

"Can you move me some boxes of flour, please?", she asked him. With his developing strength, Forest found that he could. Pinkie, in the meantime, was shaping loaves of bread, stuffing them with crushed garlic, and slathering them with butter from a large jar.

"Pinkie?", he said.

"Yes, Forest?", she asked.

"I need some advice.", he said, "Private advice."

"What about?", she asked.

Forest brought his mouth to her ear. "Fillies.", he whispered.

"Oh!", Pinkie whispered back. "Wait a moment, would you?"

Pinkie dashed around the kitchen, shutting hatches and spinning the locks closed. Then she dashed back to Forest. "What do you need to know?", she whispered into his ear.

He whispered back. "I'm really beginning to have feelings for Rainbow Dash, and I think she has feelings for me. But I'm afraid I'll be disappointed if I go anywhere with this, because then I'll disappoint my grandfather. He and Princess Celestia have in mind for me to marry a princess when we return, to seal an alliance they are considering."

"Who?", Pinkie whispered.

"I've heard about your Pinkie Swear.", Forest said. "Will you keep this confidential?"

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!", Pinkie swore to him.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle, but I doubt she even knows what's being planned for her. Grandfather told me.", Forest whispered. "I mean, I like her a lot, she's probably the brightest pony in all the world, she'd be any stallion's idea of a catch, and I could even learn to love her, but I just don't feel anything for her. I know it's my duty to marry her, but..."

"Forest Snow!", Pinkie whispered, "Nobody should sacrifice their joy out of duty. You need to make your own decision who to love. Don't let even an Emperor bully you into doing otherwise."

"But how do I go about doing that?", he whispered to her. "My conscience says one thing, my body says another. How do I know how to choose with my heart?"

"I think I can show you a way to tell the difference.", Pinkie whispered. "Here's what we need to do...".

. . .

"So, Captain.", Pinkie Pie concluded, "I found the best way for him to clear his mind, was to help him get it all out of his system by using a brief but intense session of hard isometric exercise, with the help of some items already available in my kitchen. Not to mention, some bits of butter smeared in just the right places."

Avatar Apple nodded, slowly. "So that's the way you're going to play it.", he said.

"I don't understand what you're talking about, sir.", Pinkie said. "I do, though, have something very hard for me to say though, that I need to unburden myself about in confidence. May I please lay down first?"

He nodded, and sat vertically with his rump down on a rock, Pinkie laid back upon the rock, with the back of her helmet between his hind legs. He bent down toward her so their helmets made contact again tor conducting sound.

"Pinkie Swear?", she asked.

"Pinkie Swear.", he declared.

"All right.", Pinkie said. Her face turned sad. "No colt or stallion needs to ever feel unsafe close to me... because I am sterile. I can't bear a foal... not ever."

"Just how did that happen?", he asked her.

"It seems I didn't start out as a Pie.", she said. "My actual parents are unknown. Closed adoption. Celestia would reveal the medical records to me, but nothing else. It seems I was still not talking by the time other foals started school. That, and the fact I was distractable, caused the doctors to diagnose me with autism. They said I would always stay a foal mentally and be unable to care for one. Evidently my parents asked them to put me under and spay me... I still had nightmares about suffocating under a mask but I never understood why I had them until very recently. I asked Luna about them. She said she did her best to keep my experience hidden under cover of night lest it drive me insane, possibly even equicidal from the post traumatic stress. Luna was sorry she couldn't tell me more, but that was all she knew."

"Oh, Pinkie!", Avatar's response was anguished. He stared down from his helmet into her face through her helmet.

Tears fell from the sides of her eyes, downward into the back of her helmet. "Then,", she continued, "I was adopted out to the Pies. I was very depressed and angry for being sent away, so I still didn't talk much even after I finally understood words while living at the rock farm. Then the Sonic Rainboom happened, and everything changed for me. Then I finally became part of a group of friends who I loved and who loved me. I began becoming a source of joy to everyone, which gave me some joy. Some years later, the rocks started to fall. I was all grown up by the time, but I wasn't having seasons like other mares. I went to a doctor, who examined me and said why, but couldn't guess who did this to me. Or why."

"I was very angry for a while and stopped giving parties.", Pinky continued. "I heard vicious rumors being circulated about me that I was on the verge of becoming a sociopath and a cereal killer. That hurt my feelings. Then someone pointed me to a cinema named WhoTooted where films were being show with a character very much like me slashing ponys' throats with a knife. That really hurt my feelings! So, I went to Celestia and demanded the truth.'"

More tears fell. "This meant I could never marry. I mean, who would want me since I couldn't bear a foal for them? Celestia helped talked me through my feelings for an hour every week with her for a year. Eventually, I felt better. I also learned from her that there were more ways to help somepony feel joy beyond throwing a party, which I actually began doing again, even underground. Sometimes, all it would take would be the right words at the right time... or the right touch... and I would feel joy once again helping others feel joy, just like when I was younger. Follow me, sir?"

"Yes, I do.", her captain said.

"So even if I did have a special friend, I wouldn't lift my tail for just anyone.", Pinkie said. "Forest, I think, would be the one who would be especially deserving of that if the time ever came.".

She smiled through her helmet. She continued, "He's nice, he's smart, he's sweet, he's gentle, and... I really like him. Not for keeps, though. But he's the only one, if I ever would with anypony on this ship. If I could have him just once, I would release him to seek his own destiny, just like I have been seeking mine."

"So", Avatar said, "We come back full circle. What should we do with you?"

"Everything I do, I only do for the joy of everypony who needs me. That's my destiny. It's what I've dedicated myself to doing starting long ago. Here and now I pledge myself to continue.". she told him.

"I have to consider ship's discipline. No. You can't.", her captain declared.

"Yes I can... and I will.", Pinkie Pie said quietly but forcefully. "Let it go... please.", she urged more gently.

Avatar finally nodded downward to her, silently and solemnly, in agreement.

"I've got a ship to run.", he said gently. "You have a crew to feed. Carry on, Pinkie Pie. Carry on."

Author's Note

Important character development for Forest. Forest Snow is not a simple analog for Yuki Mori, known in English as Nova Forrestor. He's a bright and sensitive young stallion with a stallion's sense of priorities. Also, a nod (or is it a refutation) to all the depictions of Pinkie as vicious on YouTube. If she ever was going to be a cereal killer, now you know she has cause. Fortunately, she got by with a little help from her friends... and the very best psychotherapist in all Equestria. The captain finds he has no choice to treat Pinkie gently... probably because he realises Pinkie occupies a special place in everypony's heart, and now finally understands why.

(I was unfortunate enough to see slasher fics on y-o-u-t-u-b-e starring everybody's favorite pink little pony. I thought they were horrible. Above are her own feelings about the subject.)

N.B. 'equiss' is another word for standard chess. Pieces in MLP are prince, princess, castle, mayor, pony, and stile. In the second game, Avatar was trying for a fianchetto opening. Good luck, Captain! Against Pinkie, you're gonna need it!

Assault On Alastor, Part One

By the time the Yamato was ready to leave Eris, it had become an entirely different ship. Before, it was more or less a barge made from crystal with a single turret holding a single cutting laser. Now, the original ship was embedded within a much larger structure of nickel-iron: three times longer, five times as wide, and six times as high.

The instant Twilight Sparkle mentioned to Captain Avatar Apple the sealed records from ten thousand years ago which she brought with her, he demanded to see the index. She brought him to his reading console, loaded the information, then set him loose upon it. He immediately looked up sections on naval history, naval architecture, and military science.

Five shifts later, in the middle of 'night', Avatar required Twilight's presence in the cabin. She noticed his eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep, but she also saw a gleam of inspiration within them.

The captain stabbed his finger at a diagram displayed on his reading console. Build this!, he ordered her.

It was the blueprints for an ancient battleship built by The Crysanthemum Empire during the Second Equestrian War. It had been the largest battleship of it's time that had ever been built. Her hull had sleek lines and deadly symmetries bristling with all manner of slug-throwing armament, and appeared to have been especially drawn to strike terror into the hearts of any of her adversaries. She even had a ram that could crush other ships upon impact, to sink them. She had been known as "The Yamato". According to the archives, it was sunk before it even had the chance to be effectively used, thanks to the hubris of the military rulers of the time.

Refitted with turrets for beam weaponry and ports for missiles of all sizes large and small, this modern replica being built could very well be expected to strike terror squared into the hearts of the Gallopons. And, of course, the new Yamato thanks to Twilight was designed to also dish out as a surprise gift, an intense buffet of faster-than-light particles for the Gallopons' just desserts.

"Twilight", Captain Avatar said, "I believe that ancient bastard the Emperor remembered that old ship, and wanted to see her gain the glory he thinks she should have deserved."

"So what?", Twilight Sparkle answered him. "We're building this not for our glory, but to save our own lives and our world and everyone on it that we love. I don't care about a little ego trip on his part."

"Well, said!", he replied. "Can you do it in four weeks?"

"Discord is bringing ores all over the cometary belt to us", she replied. "We will have our dues to pay to him, but with the ores close at hand, and all of us working double shifts, it can be done."

"It will be done!", he ordered.

Twilight Sparkle stood straight and tall with pride, looked him in the eye, and exclaimed, "AYE, SIR!"

...

Four weeks later all was now in readiness. The crewponies were especially motivated to work extra hard by Pinkie Pie's constant stream of absolutely delicious meals, starring her new specialty, loaves of fresh baked bread saturated with butter, garlic, and parsley. Everypony clamored for more of them! More! MORE! That plus Pinkie's wonderful coffee gifted to the ship by the Saddle Arabians had been supercharging everypony's efforts across the entire ship.

Forest Snow turned out to be a remarkably effective baker's apprentice for Pinkie, he was hard pressed to create the garlic loaves every hour on the hour, but she had trained him very well. This left Pinkie free to do the more intricate food preparation.

Everyone was on station at the bridge. Luna had trained three shifts worth of gunners from among the warponies over the past month, so she was now able to care for the engines down below continuously.

"Comms, shipwide.", the captain ordered. Fluttershy opened the circuits.

"This is the captain.", Avatar said. "We now have a warship finally worthy of the name. Let's go kick some Gallopon tail! Stand by... OPS!"

"Yes, sir!", Forest responded. Both his and his captain's voices could be heard throughout the ship.

"Take command for exit maneuvers.", the captain said. He stood up, then ordered: "Sit in my chair!". Forest did.

Avatar continued, "This ain't your grampa's old mobile, his legacy. This is our ship. Forest, this will be your legacy! Take us out!"

"AYE, SIR!", Forest shouted. "Radar!", he called out.

"Go!", Twilight called back, having temporarily taken Forest's station.

"Gunner!", Forest called out.

"Go!", the warpony called back.

"Tac!", Forest called out.

"Go!", Rainbow Dash called back.

"Nav!", Forest called out.

"Go!", Rarity called back.

"Engines!", Forest called out.

"Auxilliary and main engines at your discretion!", Luna called back over the speakers.

Forest leaned back into Avatar's chair, then shouted: " Full power to all engines! YAMATO.... HASSHIN! ." The order to launch, in The Crystanthemum Empire's ancestral tongue.

The Yamato's engines roared as they immediately pushed her straight across the icy surface. She picked up speed, and within a minute was clearing Eris's horizon.

The ponies were quickly learning what it took to fly beyond the confines of their world. And they liked it. A lot.

Thank you so very much , Pinkie, for teaching me confidence! Forest thought.

. . .

A shift later, Pinkie Pie found herself summoned to the captains quarters. I really hope it's not one of his infamous 'masts', she thought to herself. Pinkie knew she had done exactly the right thing by Forest, and that had been verified by the 'scuttlebutt' or naval name for rumors, that Forest was learning to escape the shadow of his grandfather and become his own stallion. Even if she were to have imposed upon her the worst punishment possible, she'd do the same thing all over again. And, over, and over, and over, and over..., she thought, But even once was more than enough! . She smiled to herself in fond rememberance.

Avatar was busy at his desk, reading. He looked up when he heard her hoofsteps as she approached. He saw she was standing at attention as a sign of respect to him. She was smiling silently at him.

"Mess Chief Pinkie, do you know what I called you in here for?", he asked.

"No, sir.", she replied. "If it's about..."

"Stow it.", he stopped her. "I think we've both taken each others' measure over that one. You're a healer, not a killer. I read that loud and clear from you. But even if you won't take life, I know you're just as willing to lay down your life to protect others, and you're also one of the hardest working ponies on the ship.. Am I right?"

Pinkie's eyes grew bigger than saucers. "You honor me, sir.", she said solemnly.

"Fine. I don't offer my honor to just anyfilly, and I don't believe you would offer yours to just anycolt.", the captain said.

"So. In a battle", Avatar continued, "even the support crew must pitch in. I've got Fluttershy on comms because she's a lot like you: she'll give me her all but choosing who should live and who should die would destroy her emotionally and mentally. I've put her in the one seat which would do the ship the least amount of harm. I think she's going to need your help. With me so far?

Pinkie nodded at him.

The captain continued, "I believe you to be made of much sterner stuff. I won't order you to do this, but I would be grateful if you would train on the console to her left for damage control, during your offshift. It would save lives. Up for it?"

"Yes, sir!", she grinned.

"I thought so.", he answered. "I think she needs someone like you to keep her focused. Thank you, Pinkie. Dismissed."

. . .

An hour later, Captain Avatar called all his senior officers to a meeting in his ready room.

"Honored mares and stallions", he announced, "Even though the enemy fleet is no more, Twilight has been taking telescope sightings of Alastor. She's discovered rocks are still being launched. This is simply unacceptable. We cannot leave our own people vulnerable. We absolutely must take out that base before we can leave the system."

"Sir.", Rainbow Dash interrupted. "Discord's world, Eris, is usually on the other side of the system from Alastor. Speed of light delay would make sightings in real time impossible."

"'Usually", is the operative term, Rainbow." Twlight Sparkle said. "Right now, however, Eris is just crossing the point where the orbits of Palatine, planet eight, and Alastor, planet nine would usually intersect."

[ "I have a feeling the characters are taking on a life of their own.", Wendy noted. ]
[ "Yes,", Sandor said. "Oh, by the way, Palatine is the arena where the horses raced in honor of Neptune." ]
[ "Makes sense.", Derek said. "Nova, isn't your male analog getting a little more, um, experience than necessary? "]
[ "I'm representing him in my position, but he doesn't need to be a thing like me otherwise. He's a young stallion with a young stallion's sense of priorities.", Derek's wife replied, primly. ]

Twilight continued. "The latter two planets are also usually close to the intersection. This is an extremely rare alignment. I have a feeling the combined gravity shadow had thrown off our aim during the first warp attempt. So, Rarity, it really was just as much my fault as yours."

"No problem, Twilight!", Rarity said.

"Thank you.", Twilight acknowledged. "What this actually buys us is a much shortened distance between us and Alastor. At combat speed one we can arrive in only a couple of days. The next question to ask is what's the next step. Anyone have any ideas?"

"Could we test the wave motion gun on the base?", the captain asked.

"Not a good idea.", she told him. "Alastor is covered in methane ice with liquid hydrogen lakes coated with helium snow. The base is buried under miles of ice. Taking the base using that weapon would require us to practically melt the entire planet, which would throw off the orbits of Palatine, Eris, and other objects in the cometary belt. Possible, but overkill. We need something a bit more surgical."

"Explosive charges?", Rainbow Dash asked.

"Glad to see you keeping up on the military science reading assignments I gave you.", Avatar congratulated her. "What do we have that's powerful enough?", he asked his group.

He was answered by a long period of silence. Nopony could think of anything offhand.

"Can we try thinking outside of the stable?", the captain asked.

"The shock cannons emits antiparticles in large quantities.", Luna noted. "Could we collect enough of them in a single place and use them all at once?"

"Maybe, if we had magnetic bottles to keep the particles in.", Twlight replied.

"How long would those take to make?", Avatar asked.

"A couple weeks or more.", she said.

"Too late.", the captain commented.

Fluttershy raised her hand. "Yes, Fluttershy?", the captain asked.

"What if we made ordinary bottles and lined them with magic to contain the particles?", Fluttershy naively suggested.

Her captain blinked in surprise. "Let that be a lesson to us all! If we think all we have is a hammer then every problem looks like a nail. We've been so impressed by Crysanthemum artisanship we forgot we had our own Equestrian abilities to add to it. Brilliant thinking, Fluttershy!" Her face shone at the compliment.

"Think about magic for a moment, Twilight.", he instructed. "Know any good spells?"

"Several, I think.", the purple alicorn replied. "How large, and how many?"

"Large enough for the Wondersuits to carry.", he replied. "As many as we can make for both squadrons twice over."

"Doable.", Twilight declared.

"Then our order of battle should look something like this.", Avatar began. "We have Red and Black squadrons use antimatter bombs to clear away the ice and expose the base. Then, the Yamato aims straight into the planet with shock cannon, to completely eliminate the base without risking Alastor's integrity. Rainbow, brief your squadrons. Twilight, Luna, make those bombs. The rest of you, draw up a detailed plan of attack together, and put it on my console inside four hours. Questions?"

"Do we even know exactly where this base is?", Rarity asked.

"No.", Twilight told her. "That's the only major flaw in this plan. We'll have to find this base the hard way."

. . .

Gallopon soldiers dwelt within habitats underneath miles of ice under the forsaken surface of a frozen world. Occasionally one solder would push a lever on a console, sending a powerful energy beam to rise through the ice, melting it. The beam leapt outward into space to strike a mirror in orbit. The reflected beam travelled to another mirror... then another... then another... to finally strike a small piece of rocky debris nearby. Light pressure from the beam shoved the rock into a course toward the inner system, of which the world of Equestria belonged to.

A Gallopon stallion with a single horn branded on his rump was pacing back and forth, thinking out loud. "Our fleet gets completely destroyed, and our general runs off in our last ship. His ship before jumping fired a multi-menace missile at Planet Three which gets neutralized by an unknown ship, an insignificant thing emerging from the soil on that world. That ship flies to Mares, then disappears. I strongly suspect they jumped. Where to?"

"Here, Columnel?", one of his unbranded soldiers ventured a guess.

"Paranoia would dictate that, yes.", the officer agreed. "We don't have any weapons to defend ourselves with...". His eyebrows rose as he trailed off. "Or, do we?", he wondered. "I think we can arrange a suitable welcome for them..."

. . .

The Yamato quickly approached Alastor, then hovered about five hundred furlongs above the surface. Everypony was tense on the bridge, waiting for something, anything to happen. Captain Avatar nodded to his tactical officer. Rainbow Dash spoke over the ship's intercom: "Wonderbolt Red Squadron, launch!"

The Yamato's belly hatch opened, and a rocket propelled craft exited through the hatch. The craft was fitted around the pilot as if it were a custom form-fitting jacket, except here the jacket was made from steel and composite plastics. Maneric was out first. He had been a trainer at the Wonderbolts Academy, but here he was needed now as the captain of his own wing. "Red One, go!", Maneric said.

Next to follow was Soarin, Maneric's wingmate. "Red Two, go!", Soarin said.

In rapid succession the other three pairs belonging to Maneric soon followed: Spitfire and Blaze, Fire Streak and Fleet Foot, and High Winds and Lightning Streak. The each announced their readiness.

Maneric decided to tighten up his group. "Red Squadron, this is Red One. Form up on me. Cruise in formation and begin scanning for anything which could look like a base."

Meanwhile on the Yamato, everyone on the bridge was watchful for any potential adversaries. However, all was quiet. Nothing was present. The lack of activity on the planet seemed eerie considering this was the place where the rocks slowly destroying Equestria were being thrown from.

Suddenly, the ship shuddered from incoming fire, rocking the bridge crew in their chairs. "BATTLESTATIONS!", the captain shouted. "Radar, location!"

"I don't know, sir!", Forest Snow said. "There's nothing showing on the radar!"

"Red One!", Rainbow Dash cried out. "Do you see anything from the surface firing on us?"

"Our squadron sees nothing, Tac!", said Maneric.

Again by surprise, the ship received another massive bolt, but from a different direction.

"Hit on the port side above the waterline.", Twilight Sparkle said.

"Compartment 15B open to space!", Pinkie Pie said. She was sitting to Fluttershy's left, using a spare communications console to coordinate damage control. "Damage crew is sealing it!"

"Medical reports two casualties, captain!", Fluttershy said.

"Where in perdition are those coming from?", the captain asked.

"Radar shows large energy signature coming... from above!", Forest breathed.

Another BOOM! rang the ship like a bell.

"Engineering got hit!", Pinkie Pie cried.

"I can't give you the main engine anymore, captain!", Luna shouted through the bridge speakers.

"Five more casualties, sir!", Fluttershy said.

"Scanners indicate satellites around Alastor.", Twilight said. "Those could be the source."

"Find a lake!", Avatar ordered.

"Maneric!", shouted Rainbow Dash.

"Lake course 290 relative to you, about five thousand furlongs.", Maneric reported.

"Hard to port, 70 degrees!", the captain ordered.

"70 degrees port, just as soon we can finish the turn.", Rarity reported. Everypony could feel the turn's stress upon them.

"Incoming!", Forest shouted.

"TRACE IT, TWILIGHT!", the captain shouted.

"Scanners on deep field!", Twilight Sparkle declared.

A crashing BOOM! resounded through the Yamato.

"That sure didn't sound good", Fluttershy said. "Five more casualties on that one, captain!"

"We got that one on foward turret three.", Pinkie Pie reported.

"Distance to lake!", the captain said.

"Five hundred furlongs.", Rarity said. "Four... Three... Two... One..."

"DIVE!", Avatar shouted.

BOOM! A final bolt struck the ship. The Wonderbolts watched in dismay as the ship instead of diving into the hydrogen lake, foundered and sank.

Assault on Alastor, Part Two

The bridge of the Yamato was dark aside for emergency lighting.

"That one was a killer.", Rarity commented.

"That one almost killed us.", Twilight Sparkle remarked.

"Too right.", the captain said. "I believe faking it as a sinking vessel convinced them to quit firing on us."

"So now what?", Rainbow Dash asked.

"The satellites seem to act as mirrors.", Twilight said. "I found the one above us which they are using. Take that one out, and we can buy us some time."

"Even though we can submerge, we never anticipated submarine combat. We can't fire missiles while submerged, just torpedoes", Twilight said. "Sorry, Captain."

"I'm the only excuse for military science that we've got, Twilight.", Avatar said. "It's not your fault."

Rainbow Dash's eyes brightened. "I have an idea!"

"Don't be shy about it, Tac.", the captain told her.

"Can a Wondersuit withstand temporary immersion, Twilight?", Rainbow Dash asked.

"Can't see why not.", Twilight answered.

"Good.", Rainbow said. "I'll strap one on, float to the surface, take off, then aim and fire a surface to orbit missile. We've got those, right, Captain?"

"I should certainly hope so.", Avatar confirmed.

"If I'm not mistaken", Rainbow went on, "An STO casing is exactly the same dimensions as the missiles the squadrons use for fighting. Load me up on both sides, and I'll take out that reflector."

"Afraid you'll miss?", Forest challenged.

"It's not like that! An STO doesn't weigh the same as an air-to-air!", Rainbow retorted. "I need a balanced takeoff load if I'm using the catapult!".

"When we escape", the captain summarized, "they'll try to fire upon us using the ones nearby. We might get hit again, may not so badly. In the meantime, we launch Black squadron. Rainbow in the air will lead both squadrons. Between all the pony eyeballs in the air we should be able to find the exact location of the actual cannon."

Avatar slammed his forehooves together. "And then, that Gallopon base will be well and truly done for!"

...

"That barbarian ship has been well and truly done for!", the columnel smiled viciously. "Good work, everyone!"

The soldiers nearby him nodded their heads in salute, then refocused on other tasks.

...

Rainbow Dash left the bridge to make her way to an access corridor. At the end of it was a hatchway. She spun the hatchway lock open, then stepped inside. Inside the hatchway was a large, cavernous room. On the side of the room was an intercom unit. Rainbow used a forehoof to switch on the unit. "Hangar, this is Tac.", she said. "Bring up the Zero, please. Mount STO's on the hardpoints. Get half of Black up here, get the other half portside. Thank you."

Meanwhile, hasty repairs were being made to both the Yamato's and the injureds' bodily integrity. Full lighting had been restored on the bridge. Fluttershy relayed from medical that so far there were nothing worse than burns, abrasions, and contusions.

"Could be worse. Much worse.", Avatar commented.. Silence now reigned. "Rainbow, status!", he said.

"Wonderbolt Zero ready to launch, sir!", Rainbow Dash declared. "I'm on the starboard magnetic catapult."

"Thanks, Tac.", the captain replied. "Rarity, bleed the tanks. We want to surface briefly, then resubmerge!"

"Doing it...", Rarity replied.

"We're up.", Twilight reported, "with liquid slopping over the forecastle. Catapulting..."

Rainbow's Wondersuit was built somewhat differently from those of her squadrons. She customed modified it herself. She added a more sophisticated radar suite, almost but not quite as good as the Yamato's herself, and had tuned the engines herself for maximum performance. She made the fuel tanks larger for greater range, and she added a space behind where a second pony could sit.

The Yamato's magnetic catapult threw Rainbow silently into the air, but at a trajectory just barely skimming the surface. This was actually part of the plan. Rainbow needed to be nowhere near the Yamato before she lit her own little engines. That way, Rainbow herself would not be shot down by the reflector satellite stationed direcly above the ship.

"One little flying pony...", she counted. "Two little flying ponies... Three little flying ponies... Four little flying ponies... Now!" The nuclear jets lit. Rainbow's craft was now under power. "Red Squadron, this is Zero.", she said. "Split up in pairs and skim the ground. Captain, I'm ready for the manuever."

"Go for it!", Avatar said,.

On Equestria one of the standard Wonderbolt manuevers was The Infinity Takeoff. The pegasus performing it was to gather speed level with the ground, and then convert the speed straight into altitude as straight upward as possible. Rainbow accelerated for a few moments, then yanked back the stick with both forehooves and redlined the engines. She was now going in a course vertical relative to the surface.

How funny..., Rainbow thought. I'm flying more than twice as fast as the speed of sound on Equestria and there's not even a hint of a Sonic Rainboom. Alastor might be a fun place to visit for someponies, but not me. The plain ain't got no atmosphere. Okay... I'm lined up with the reflector satellite. Lock on! FIRE!"

Rainbow's surface to orbit missile promptly shattered the sword hanging over the Yamato's neck.

"Step Two!", the captain announced. "We'll have just a few seconds before they notice its gone.". He pushed an intercom button on his own console. "Black Squadron, launch!"

Both the port and starboard magnetic catapults flung the remaining Wonderbolts into the sky. They could at least light engines immediately, since at the present moment the enemy had no eyes with which to see.

"Rarity, submerge us again!"

"Done, sir.", the navigator replied.

Rainbow Dash leveled her craft out to ten thousand furlongs altitude. "Black Squadron, this is Zero.", she said. "Disperse in pairs. All Wonderbolts, try to find anything at all which might look like a base. Stay stealthed."

If we could somehow do away with radio. I so much wish Twilight was reading my mind right now., Rainbow hoped.

How do you know that I'm not?, Twilight replied.

Twilight, it's you!, Rainbow shouted silently in joy.

Radio doesn't work from our depth. I thought I'd try a telepathy spell., Twilight sent.

Fantastic!, Rainbow responded Any possibility you can relay between the Wonderbolts?

No. Sorry, Twilight answered regretfully. Just only with the Mane Six and Celestia. Celestia is very much out of range.

Don't worry about it, Raindow Dash encouraged. What we've got now is a whole lot more than the nothin' we've had before!

...

The Gallopon columnel thought to himself how he might word his report directly to the Leader about how they successfully sank a barbarian spaceship. In the meantime, he had a planet to subjugate. Time to throw more rocks. He gave the order for the cannon to blast another rock toward Planet Three.

A technician could be heard counting down. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two One.

A section of ice suddenly brightened, then melted, as a corsuscating beam of bright light emerged from the surface and leapt into the sky. The beam reflected off a series of satellites... but it didn't hit a rock this time... it simply escaped into empty space.

What the... , the technician thought.

...

Spitfire spotted it first. "Zero, this is Black Three!", she called out. "I just saw it!"

"Coordinates, please.", Rainbow Dash said.

"40 relative to my position, thirty five hundred furlongs out.", Spitfire reported.

Got that,Twilight? , Rainbow Dash sent.

Clear as a bell! . Twilight sent back. I've just told the captain. He says go ahead with Step Three without us.

No problem. , Rainbow finished. "Wonderbolts!", she radioed. "Stage Three, I repeat, Stage Three. Latitude 45.53 degrees, longitude 260.07. Hug the ground."

Rainbow hear microphone clicks responding to her in acknowledgement.

...

It took the Gallopon equivalent of fifty minutes for the incident of the missing mirror to rise upward through the chain of command back to the columnel. He was still in the middle of writing his report for his Leader.

During that time, the Wonderbolts had time to fly to the position which Spitfire spotted. Red Squadron dropped their antimatter explosive canisters in a five thousand furlong circle around the target. Black Squadron dropped all of theirs in the center of said circle.

The plan now was for Wonderbolts get at far away from the target as fast as possible, hugging the ground to avoid radar detection. Twilight Sparkle made it extremely clear to one and all that antimatter in bulk was dreadfully dangerous stuff which everyone should consider as scary to be around as Nightmare Moon.

"No offense intended, Luna.", Twilight said in an aside during the briefing beforehand.

"None taken, child.", Luna replied. "I would be happy to play Nightmare Moon once again... for the Gallopons own pleasure."

Twilight! Rainbow dash sent. Hot-hoof prank is good to go!.

I've passed that to the captain. Twilight sent back. You guys get out of there !

"Rarity,", Avatar ordered, "purge the tanks. Set bow to twenty degrees up. Auxilliary engines to full. Launch!"

The Yamato prompty leapt out of the lake.

...

"Aha!", the Gallopon columnel said. "It wasn't dead after all. It soon will be."

"Sir!", a three-chevroned stallion said. "One of the reflecting satellites is gone! The one above the ship!"

"It doesn't matter", the columnel replied. "We'll find an alternate series of angles. Fire!"

...

Far below the ice, the cannon warmed up, then discharged. The resulting beam hit the antimatter charges in the center. The center charges exploded, causing the ice not to melt so much as to erupt in solid chuncks upward and outward, exposing the cannon. The fireball caused the antimatter charges placed along the circumference to detonate. The enhanced fireball then extended downward, creating a crater exposing the base. The beam itself continued.

boom!

"That one was just grazed off the deck plates.", Twilight Sparkle said.

"I'm tired of being under these satellites.", Avatar said. "Ballistic course to cannon coordinates, fastest speed possible!"

Everypony grabbed hold of something to prevent the sudden acceleration from toppling them to the floor.

...

"They're... just ... leaving?", the columnel said.

An unbranded mare studied a tactical board. "Um... sir... I don't think so. I think you'll want to look at this."

They noticed the Yamato's bow was now hovering right over their cannon.

...

"Shock cannon, turrets one and two, point-blank range, FIRE!", yelled the captain.

White-hot beams of anti-electronic death screamed out from the Yamato's foward turrets. The base windows shattered first. The poured stone supports melted and vaporized. Finally, the metal framing and desks melted into red-hot puddles.

The columnel watched the Yamato bearing in on him. He stood tall and shouted, "ZAR DESSCLOPP!!", in defiance, just as another shock cannon beam intersected his location, turning himself and all his subordinates into ash.

The ponies on the bridge all turned toward their captain in horror. They as a race had never taken life on any significant scale in living memory.

"This feels so wrong on so many levels.", Fluttershy said. "I wish we didn't have to do things like this."

"I'm so very sorry", Avatar replied to her, soberly and sincerely remorseful. "Our voyage is only going to get worse before it begins to get better."

Interlude on Balun

The Yamato and her crew retreated from Alastor and returned to Eris for about two weeks worth of repairs. The instant they landed on this, Discord's world, Twilight Sparkle decided to put on an environmental suit and walk outside. She needed to talk with someone.

The dragon-like chimera, Discord, materialized in front of her. "Thanks for letting us stay here", Twilight said to him. "Thanks also, for finding and bringing those ores for us. We promise you, you can have your fun with us after we successfully return and repair our world. We'll discuss the specifics then."

"Think nothing of it!", Discord declared happily. "Just recognize all Equestria owes me a favor... and some respect."

Twilight smiled. "The prospect of us owing you a favor might frighten some ponies... but I think we all can live with that. I have a personal request of you, just as a friend."

"How can I help?", the chimera asked.

Twilight explained. "Faster than light communications had not yet been worked out, so there was no chance for the crew to say good-bye to their families at home in real time. Instead, everyone on the crew had five minutes to record whatever they wished into this chip. Just as a favor to me, can you please see that it gets to Princess Celestia?"

"Of course.", Discord nodded soberly. "I know I often have a strange way of showing I care... but I still do care. Come back soon. You're one of the few creatures I've met in a long while whom I genuinely respect crossing wits with."

"Oh Discord, I love you too.", the alicorn said in a mocking, but still somewhat affectionate, manner. "I will. I promise."

. . .

Meanwhile, within empty intergalactic space, there lay a huge gas giant of a planet, orange in color with yellow and white spots and stripes, about five times the size of Jupiter, in a close orbit around a white dwarf star. There were huge structures floating above the planet. There was a constant traffic of ships of all sizes, from fighter craft through passenger shuttles all the way up to destroyers and dreadnoughts, entering and leaving the structures.

Within the largest structure, at its uppermost tip, was a conference room having all four of its walls transparent to space. Several Gallopons were standing around a table in the room. At the head of a table stood a mare whose rump was branded with a pair of unicorn horns. One of her staff, a mare branded with an oak leaf, had been delivering her report...

"... and that, General Goelle, is our current situation with respect to a barbarian world in the outmarches which we have been securing for our glorious Empire."

"So you're saying, Adjuntant", Goelle summarized levelly, "that we lost our garrison fleet half a cycle ago and we completely lost contact with the garrison just recently?"

"Yes, ma'am", her aide said.

The general rolled her eyes upward to the ceiling, then lowered them back at her staff. "Notice, one and all, the price paid for overconfidence, laziness, and bad judgement in general. Our Leader has decreed only the fittest among the stars may survive and breed to pass on their heritage to their foals, and we, the Gallopon race, are they. Yet, I believe that garrison's demise can only increase the overall potential for intellect of which our race is capable. My next question is this: where is the present location of the ship the garrison's commander fled in?"

"Unknown, ma'am."

"Send a message to Gallopon that specific ship is commanded by a coward, and is to be destroyed on sight. Clear?"

"Crystal, ma'am".

"Good job, Sarita.", Goelle smiled, "You're learning fast. Dismissed."

Immediately after the aide left the room and the door shut behind her, Goelle's mood rapidly changed from bemusement to fury. I was so much looking forward to taking the credit for that world!, she fumed. She had imagined herself being branded with a wing to go with her horns, being declared a Marshall, getting her brains serviced out all day and night by The Glorious Leader (what self-respecting mare wouldn't want that?), and beginning a dynasty on that conquered world with the resulting foals.

She slammed her right fore-hoof onto the table, making it shake. "WHY AREN'T YOU SUPERVISING YOUR GARRISONS MORE CLOSELY?", Goelle shouted at the top of the lungs. "I DECLARE, YOU SEEM UNABLE TO TELL YOUR RESPECTIVE MANURE GENERATION SYSTEMS FROM HOLES IN THE GROUND!!!"

"But General.", a columnel in her staff protested. "It was just an insignificant world. Telescope reconnaisance revealed a pastoral culture. The local sentients appeared similar to us but appeared to have had no weapons or major industry. There was no resistant put up against us when we began the orbital bombardment."

Goelle clicked her fore-hooves together in the air. An video image of the approaching bow end view of what obviously was a rediculously large warship, grey on the deck, red under the waterline, with three sets of large turrets showing, one set damaged. The image was then replaced by static, then by darkness. "Then what do you call this?", she hissed at them.

"A warship?", guessed another columnel.

"You just won first prize for obvious thinking, stallion!", exclained Goelle sarcastically.

"So how does a civilization go from pastoral to taking out a system garrison in only days?", asked a third columnel.

Goelle set her jaw. "Extremely... Good... Question...", she grated out grimly. "Just go! All of you!"

Terrified of annoying her any further, her entire herd of columnels spooked and galloped out through the room's exits.

The general pressed a button on a board. "Put me through to the Leader.", she ordered. Maybe he knows the answer , she thought. Oh well, so much for my chances of recognition. .

. . .

Once repairs were finished, the crew of the Yamato said no fond farewells to the frozen iceball they had pressed into service as a dry-dock. They simply left. Their course was now set outbound of the solar system, and they were now crossing the heliopause.

Peace and quiet reigned on the bridge, at least for now.

"Captain", Rarity said, "I recommend we take progressively longer warps until we are more certain of our navigation."

"Good idea!", Avatar said.

"So, sir, what star would you like to try for first?", she asked.

"We need to head Galactic South, toward the Cloud Of Dreams", the captain replied. "Pick any star in that direction."

"Aye, sir!", Rarity responded. "Look alive, everyone!"

She nodded to Fluttershy. "Give me Engineering.", Rarity said to her.

"Yes?", Luna replied through the speakers.

"Luna", Rarity said, "please bring up engine power for a space warp. We're going interstellar this time."

"I heard about your first problem with our navigation which got us to Eris rather than Alastor.", Luna said. "Are you sure you're really up for an interstellar jump?"

"I said this before!", Twilight Sparkle emphasized. "It wasn't her fault! It was mine!"

"Very well", Luna calmly said. "Are you sure you can anticipate another problem?"

"NO!", Twilight said emphatically. "But where would we be without risk?"

"Luna, quit complaining and just get to work!", the captain shouted, smiling at Twilight all the while.

"As thou, my lord, wisheth!", the chief engineer said, in a tone of surprise. "Luna out."

Avatar paused in a frown for a moment, believing he had already stamped out the royal attitude from her. But then, he realized Luna was joking back at him. He smiled. Then he giggled. Then he had a belly laugh over it.

The rest of the bridge crew joined in on the the laughter.

The Yamato had finally become a happy ship.

Hay, lo! Statue?

By mutual agreement, Avatar, Rarity, and Twilight decided they would rather warp between stars than straight out into empty space whenever possible. This made excellent sense for a few reasons:

From a navigation standpoint, the gravity shadow provided by the target star should cause the warp to automatically terminate safely. They had discovered this nearly completely by accident when their first warp turned out to be not to Alastor's orbit, but instead to the current center of mass between not just Alastor but also Eris and Palatine creating a shadow larger than all those individual planets combined.

From a logistics standpoint, planets or even chunks of rock orbiting around the star would present opportunities for reprovisioning or even shore leave.

From a military standpoint, the Yamato's power source would be much easier to detect in empty space by the Gallopons, than say, when it was drowned out by something of much greater energy like a local sun.

Rarity decided on a easy target for the Yamato's first interstellar warp. Ancient Equestiran astronomers had called it, The Dog Star. She was also curious as to whether or not it was called thus because dogs actually lived there. Why not find out?

The Yamato emerged just outside that star's calculated habitable zone. Right on target.

However, Twilight used the ship's sensory suite to search for gravitational effects upon the sun by possible orbiting planets, and found nothing. This star was alone. She shrugged. The theories must be right, she guessed, Stopovers in general, never mind ones with air to breathe and food to eat, will likely be far and few between, But at least we fixed the gravity shadow problem!

"Good job, Rarity!", she said. "I think we can turn this completely over to you. Keep us heading Galactic South. You've got the watch for a little while!"

"Thank you, XO!", the seamstress-turned-navigator said, while bumping her right fore-hoof with Twilight's.

Twilight noticed Fluttershy absent from her console. Probably asleep, as I should be, But first, a chore, and one I'm not at all looking forward to. She pressed a switch on the console. "Luna?", she queried, "are you still there?"

"Just about to go off-shift, Twilight!", said Luna through the speakers.

"So am I. Can you meet me in Medical, first, if you please?"

"Of course. Is this about Trixie?"

"Yes, unfortunately. We need to wake her up from her nap now."

"Understood, Twilight. On my way."

As Twilight Sparkle was on her way out, she noticed Rainbow Dash quletly playing some kind of rapidly moving video game using a her console keyboard.. Twilight smirked as she prepared to tease Rainbow for not paying attention. She crept up behind the pegasus. "Haayyy!", she drawled. "What'cha dooo'in?"

"Can't you see I'm working here, Twilight?", Rainbow said in a low yet somewhat irritable voice.

"This is work?"

"You betcha. This is a combat training simulation. Battle chiefs like me need lots of practice."

"Whatever.", Twilight shrugged. "Have fun."

Rainbow Dash continued to slay virtual enemy ships by the bucketful, as Twilight finally left.

. . .

Niether Twilight Sparkle nor Luna had ever visited the sickbay prior to this moment. Luna opened the hatch, then entered first. Twilight followed her.

Luna's sense of smell was immediately assaulted by the combined stench of antiseptics and blood permeating the air. She led Twilight silently past the ward where the more severely wounded lay upon cots unconscious, and where those less so slept standing. At the far end of the sickbay was another hatch. Luna banged on it with a fore-hoof. Hard. Several times.

"ALL RIGHT ALREADY!", a stallion's voice shouted from within. "I'M UP!".

The hatch opened. Throughout it emerged an earth pony. He had a sky blue hide with a white mane and tail. He bore no cutie mark. He walked in a swaying path toward the pair. "I hope you woke me up for a really good reason!", he declared, glaring at them through his bright green eyes. "Your banging has given me an awful headache!".

"Sorry about that, doctor.", Luna apologized. "Twilight, this is our ship's doctor..."

"And resident alcoholic, but I never drink on duty...", interrupted the doctor.

"...whom the ward fondly calls Trapper.", Luna finished.

"Why do they call you Trapper?", Twilight asked the doctor.

"Long story.", he began. "I had been foaled up in Mane, very cold country there. I was raised in a small town that had been one of the rail stops between Manehatten and the Crystal Empire. No matter how hard I tried, I never got my cutie mark, never found my destiny. I tried very hard to drown the shame of that away. I visited a pastural counselor for advice on how to stop drinking all day and night, and she said, perhaps I am one of the few ponies created having the talent to create their own destiny. So, I decided to train in Manehatten to be a veternarian.

I was travelling back there from home when the first rocks fell. The wind from the blast of one of them derailed our train, and there were lots and lots of hurt or dying or dead ponies shaken around in the passenger cars or even flung out through the windows. So, without any medical training whatever, and using only the supplies in my bag meant for animals only, I triaged the ponies. I gave first aid to those most likely to survive. A very cute young mare, shy little thing who wouldn't talk to anypony under normal circumstances, swung immediately into action and gave emotional comfort to the merely hurt. I really hope to meet her again someday. She's probably still back on Equestria, for all I know.

Most of the comfort I gave was ethical. Two I had to put to sleep. We eventually got rescued. The Manehatten Medical Association hauled me before their ethics board and then pressed criminal charges against me for premeditated equicide and for practicing medicine without a license. The prosecutor demanded to know why I felt I had the authority to choose death for those ponies."

He shuddered in horror. "I told her one pony had a compounded rib cage, and the other had a broken spine. They were both conscious and suffering badly. I spoke with each of them alone, explaining what was hurting them and that it was beyond my skill to treat, since I was just a vet and not a doctor. They were in a lot of pain. I had two syringes left of poppy extract after having treated the other patients. I used a full syringe on each of them. After each begged me to kill them!" Then you admit to murder!, the prosecutor had thundered."

"I screamed out in the courtroom," the doctor said, "What in Tartarus did you expect me to do, just let them die in agony? I was trapped out there, and I was in over my head! . And so, after the prosecution and defense attorneys rested their cases, the judge instructed the jury to consider that the conscious decision to take a pony's life was the definition of premeditated equicide."

"The verdict came in.", he breathed. "Twelve to zero: innocent. The jury had nullified the verdict."

"I remember that!", Twilight Sparkle exclaimed.

"As well you should", he said. "It made the headlines that week: 'Trapper' gets away free and clear! Manehatten decided to appeal the verdict to Celestia. She invited me to a private audience first.

"What did she say to you?", Luna asked.

Trapper answered: " 'The rest of my realm might never forgive you. But the jurors did, and so shall I. ' "

The two alicorns nodded at him, recognizing Celestia's penchant for acting at her very best.

Trapper took another breath. "Celestia announced she was refusing to hear the case. So Manehatten takes its revenge by expelling me from vet school. Worse than that, Celestia was right. The majority of Equestria considered me not welcome for employment, shelter, or even food anywhere. I decided to emigrate to The Crysanthemum Empire. Celestia did me the great honor of making an application of asylum to the Emperor himself on my behalf."

He stared off with a look of amazement on his face.. "They invited me to study at their medical school, no less! They have surgical procedures here that work at the molecular level which make Equestrian physicians look positively crude in comparison with their scalpels, sewing thread, and healing spells. They even design new medicines using information artisanship alone!"

Tears welled up in his eyes. "I'm forever grateful to these people. They have a far different ethic regarding life and death, and because of that, they welcomed me into their land and into their lives."

"No offense, doctor...", Twilight Sparkle began.

" 'Trapper' to my friends.", the physician replied, wiping his eyes with his foreleg.

"Trapper, then", she said. "Why are you here rather than some other?"

"I was the only Crysanthemum board-certified general surgeon who volunteered.", Trapper said. "Simple as that. None of the Equestrian physicians would even consider shipping out with me once they heard I was going. The nerve."

Twilight grinned at him. "Don't worry. I think they're insane. You, of course, are anything but. So you must be our 'Doctor Sane' .", she teased.

"I prefer 'Trapper', thank you very much!", he said, grinning back at her.

. . .

Trapper welcomed the two alicorns into his quarters, which also doubled as his office. The place was a literal mare's nest of papers and books... except for one single corner, always kept neat. There, resided a statue. It was full size, of a mare unicorn. The statue had a metallic sheen to it, but nothing could even scratch it.

The mares both were fully aware whose statue it was: Trixie, Twlight Sparkle's frequent rival and occasional friend. But it was no statue. It really was Trixie. However, it was Trixie, trapped in a spell which Luna had cast which stopped time just for her. The side effect of the spell was that it rendered her indestructable relative to the outside world. The downside of the spell was that it took a large enough amount of power that Luna could only immobilize one creature this way at any given time.

"So, Luna, what do we need to do?", Twilight asked.

"She was quite distraught at the time.", Luna replied. "I think we should have her in an empty room, and in restraints, when I take my stasis field off from her."

"Let's get her into an isolation ward.", Trapper suggested, as he put on his white halter. The three of them carried the statue into a place which he had given the more clinical and polite name for, a soundproofed padded cell where a pony could be rendered incapable of harming self or others.

In each of the corners at the floor and ceiling were hooks. Trapper threaded soft linen ropes through the hooks and wound them around the statue's legs, body, and neck. to guarantee immobility. He then closed the hatch, leaving himself and the two alicorns locked inside with the statue. "Ready, Luna?", he asked.

Luna nodded at him.

"Go.", he told her.

The silvery coating covering Trixie completely disappeared. She had been alive all along, but for her no time at all at passed. Her eyes were closed. She now took back up where she left off, which was to scream incoherently at the top of her lungs. Both Twilight and Luna were covering their ears from it.

Trapper did not react to this at all. Instead, he took a syringe out of his pocket, added a needle to it, filled the syringe from a vial filled with fluid, drew the syringe out, then squirted a small amount into the air. He nodded at his helpers. Twilight and Luna each held a hindquarter of Trixie so that her rump would not shake off the needle which Trapper was about to inject her with.

Trixie inhaled more air to continue screaming, but then her body went slack and her neck slumped downward as the powerful tranquilizer took effect on her. She brought her neck back up. Her eyes were glazed and here pupils were completely dilated from the effects of the drug. Then, she recognized her friend.

"Shwilight Shhparhhkle.", Trixie's voice slurred. "Issh that you?"

The object of Trixie's attention knelt in front of her. "Yes, it's me. I'm here."

"Thasshh nisshee", Trixie smiled. Then she yawned, closed her eyes, and started snorring.

"Trapper," Twilight said, "I think she's going to need me really close by for the next few days, I don't want to leave her side unless it's battlestations. I'm the only pony she genuinely likes and respects. I'm going to need meals for us both, too. Can you relay those as doctor's orders to the captain, please?"

"I'd have absolutely no problem doing that.", Trapper replied.

"We'll see you later.", Luna said. "I'll tell Pinkie you're here."

"Bring me some books, please, too!", Twilight begged.

The others left.

Twilight was now alone, watching over a sleeping Trixie.

Life especially hasn't been fair to her, Twilight thought.

Recoveries

Twilight Sparkle just woke up from happy dreams of her childhood playing with Cadence.

Pinkie Pie had been shaking her shoulder. "Twilight! Breakfast!", Pinkie whispered urgently.

"What've you got?"

"Your favorite fifty-fifty barley and brown rice mix, in a self-serve feed bag. Apples and carrots for you and Trixie to share.", Pinkie said. "Captain's orders. Roughage in the majority of our diet shall be mandatory. Bread and desserts will only be served on evenings. Nothing more embarassing, Avatar said, than to see a pony need to see the dentist we don't have."

"Thanks", Twilight yawned. "Look, I've got something to tell you about the doctor."

"Really?"

"He's Trapper McIntosh!", Twilight exclaimed.

"So what?", Pinkie asked.

"So what!", Twilight exclaimed. "This is the vet who eight years ago mercy killed two ponies injured badly from a train wreck northeast of Manehatten. Don't you care?"

"Of course I care!", Pinkie claimed. "But he was found not guilty. What's the problem? Is our chief medical officer a vet?"

"No.", Twilight answered. "He emigrated to Big Island and went to thier medical school. That's not the problem."

"I can't believe," Pinkie said, standing with forelegs crossed, "that you'd be such a hypocrite as to hold what he absolutely had to do, against him, just because he had follow higher laws than existed on the books. I read the news too, you know!"

"Pinkie! That's not the problem either!", Twilight responded with an edge to her voice.

"So what is the problem?"

"Fluttershy had been involved. He let it slip to Luna and I today."

"So, Fluttershy helped him mercy-kill those ponies?", Pinkie asked, incredulously, wide-eyed.

"NO!", Twilight Sparkle growled in frustration.

"Then DON'T WORRY!", Pinkie Pie smiled brilliantly at her friend. "I passed the doctor on his way up to the bridge to make his report to the captain about Trixie. My Pinkie Sense says the poop should be hitting the fan for Fluttershy just about any moment now..."

. . .

Trapper walked up the stairs to the bridge. Good exercise, he thought, I should do this more often!. He had never been up this way before. He and the captain had only met once, on Big Island, and that just before launch. He wondered what the bridge would look like.

He should actually have been wondering who would be on the bridge, because the destiny he had given up on finding a very long time ago, was now about to finally arrive and hit him harder than a metaphorical ton of bricks.

He entered the bridge through the rear hatchway. Captain Avatar Apple was sitting behind a console half a furlong in front of the entrance. Rarity was in the front, right center. Rainbow Dash was in the front, left center. Forest Snow was at the far right, and Luna was at the far left.

"Welcome to the bridge, finally, Doctor!", Avatar said.

"Glad to see you at work, finally, Captain!", the physician said.

"What brings you up here?", the captain asked.

"I need to make a report on a patient:", Trapper said. "Twlight Sparkle is going to...."

Trapper's voice trailed off, because he just noticed one more crew member. A pegasus. Blonde body and wings. Bright red mane. The cutie mark of butterflies.

Could it be..., he thought in amazement.

"Uh, doctor, just why are you starting at...", Avatar started.

The pegasus turned toward Trapper. Defintely a mare. Definitely emerald green eyes beneath very feminine eyelashes. Her jaw dropped in surprise the instant she saw his face.

"By the sweet virgin mare...", she breathed softly in astonishment.

"IT'S YOU!", they both shouted at each other in amazed joy.

Trapper walked to the front of the bridge where she was standing, They looked deeply into each others' eyes.

"Ahem...", the captain attempted to interrupt.

"I'm...", Trapper tried to begin.

"Doctor Jock 'Trapper' McIntosh, exiled from Equestria long ago.", the beautiful pegasus spoke softly to him, smiling.

"But I never did learn your name.", the doctor said.

"Fluttershy.", the pegasus told him.

"Our communications officer.", Avatar supplied.

"You were so incredible out there, Fluttershy.", Trapper said. "I couldn't help but fall in love with you from afar."

Complete silence reigned on the bridge as the others witnessed the scene, dumbstruck.

The doctor raised the stakes. He knelt in front of Fluttershy, bowing his head before her. "I can't help but completely adore you now. I choose you as my destiny, you as my forever. Will you marry me?"

"I always hoped I'd find you once again someday", Fluttershy said softly, her forehooves clasped together, and her eyes filling with happy tears. "Now get off the deck, my silly pony, and hear my answer."

Trapper stood up to face her. "Yes, Jock.", she said. "I love you more than I can possibly understand. I love you more than you can possibly imagine. Most definitely, without any doubt whatever: yes. I will marry you!

"CAN SOMEPONY KINDLY TELL ME WHAT THE SERVICE IS GOING ON IN MY BRIDGE?", Avatar demanded. Luna left the bridge engineering station, approached the captain, then whispered quickly and urgently into his ear.

Jock didn't hear him. Neither did Fluttershy. Right now the only world which existed was each other, as they embraced and then began kissing passionately.

Luna finished her whispered explanation. "Aw, perdition..", the captain said in a much more subdued tone. He clapped his forehooves together in applause, and the other onlookers followed him.

Jock's flank shimmered. Butterflies identical to Fluttershy's then appeared there. His cutie mark had finally arrived, so late in adulthood, because after much searching he found that his destiny was to love and care for Fluttershy!

Avatar was hard pressed to remain stoic upon seeing the magic finally happen to Jock, as he had an example to set, but otherwise there wasn't a dry eye on the bridge witnessing it.

The loving couple soon came up for air. They faced the captain. "Captain", Trapper said, "in deep space, you speak for Equestria and for The Crysanthemum Empire, do you not?"

"I know what you're about to say, Doctor.", Avatar replied. "I have the power to marry you two."

"May I respectfully request that power be used on behalf of Fluttershy and I?", Trapper asked.

"May I respectfully point out we have a war going on?", the captain replied. "I might make you two ponies one till death do you part, but that one will still be subject to the needs of the many, and death might part you two tragically at any time."

"Our marriage will yield to the mission, and to you, at need, sir.", Fluttershy replied soberly. "We promise."

"Fine.", Avatar said. "Let it be recorded in the log of our ship the Yamato that Jock 'The Trapper' McIntosh, medical doctor and chief medical officer, is now the husband of Fluttershy, the communications officer. I wish you two many happy years together, assuming we all survive the times which are to come. The two of you have my permission to share quarters."

"Thank you, sir.", Trapper said modestly.

"Don't thank me yet, Trapper", the captain warned. "I want you and I up in my quarters to make the report you originally intended before all this pony manure just happened. Fluttershy, kindly keep your mind on your work until the end of your shift."

"Yes sir.", Fluttershy said. "Thank you, sir."

Now, I wonder what my XO would have thought of all this had she seen it? , Avatar wondered.

. . .

The target of Avatar's musings leaned against a padded wall and ate her breakfast. She then went to the medical bay's lavatory to take case of essential needs.

Upon her return, she noticed Trixies eyes were open. Then she noticed Trixie was smiling at her.

"Hi, Trixie!", Twilight greeted her.

"Why am I here?", Trixie asked. "One moment it's flaming rocks falling and destroying everything around me, and the next moment I've just noticed I've been packed away like a spider's lunch!"

"You've been having a very bad time. Call it a nightmare, at least for now."

"Sure. But The Great Trixie is supposed to be a stage magician, not an escape artist. Am I supposed to entertain you?"

"Not today."

"So..."

"Trixie, a little while ago, you were having a terrible nightmare, and we begged Luna to end it for you, which she did, but the price was high. We didn't know if the nightmare would carry over once you woke up, so we wanted to make sure you didn't hurt yourself."

"Oh. Sometimes nightmares do work like that, don't they? What did Luna want in exchange?"

"It's not like that. It wasn't anything Luna asked for nor got."

"Look", Trixie sighed, "It's really great for you to be keeping me company. But I want you to stop being so mysterious. Tell me what's going on."

"We're not sure you can handle the shock of hearing the entire truth all at once. We've all be facing a nightmare far worse than the one you just left. That's why you're in restraints. As a precaution."

"Twilight, I'll only tell you this once. Quit patronizing me."

The purple alicorn sighed. "You sure?"

Trixie glared at her.

"All right. Eight years ago, a civilization far away in space wanted our world for themselves. They dropped rocks on us having enough energy from motion alone to devastate our biosphere, and decimate us along with it. About a year ago, Celestia contacted a different civilization in space for help. The enemy are the Gallopon, and our friends are the Iscanter. The princess of Iscanter offered us some type of magic to restore our world, but said we had to come get it ourselves. She gave Celestia directly the plans for the engine system of the ship we're riding on now. About a month or so ago, Iscanter sent a messenger with the power core for that engine."

"So, we're no longer in Equestria?"

"We're been in deep space for five weeks now."

"How deep?"

"We've already made our first jump to another star.."

"Oh my!"

"And that's only the first step. Iscanter lies at the edge of the Cloud of Dreams."

Trixie just blinked. "Eight years ago, you say. But to me, that was just moments ago. Just what did you do to me?"

"Um... everything you knew or ever were fond of had been destroyed by those rocks and as a result you lost your sanity. Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and I agreed to stop time for you till we had a better idea. In a way, you're lucky. The price you paid for your rescue was to lose eight years of history... the history the rest of us have been going through."

"Oh. So why aren't I screaming crazy now?"

"At least a couple reasons. The main one, is that our doctor gave you a medicine to make you sleep once Luna lifted the time stop spell, to break the mental state you were suffering which made the spell necessary in the first place. Now that you are awake, a smaller dose of it will keep you calm until you are more certain of yourself. The other, I suppose, is you have a good friend looking after you to give you answers to questions."

"You, I suppose."

"Yes, Trixie, me. You've been a trial to me and others at times, but I think all you've ever really needed during those times was just a friend you couldn't intimidate, who''d you allow to show you the truth about yourself so you could learn."

"So, we're aboard a ship?"

"Yes."

"How many of us are on board?"

"Between fifty and sixty."

"And now, you have another. How many of us left on Equestria?"

"A tenth of us, in underground shelters. We have eleven months to restore Equestria... or else..."

"They die."

"That's right...", Twilight Sparkle sighed. "Or else... they die."

"If you only had room for fifty or sixty, why pick me to go along with you? Is it because I'm The Great Trixie?"

"I'll only tell you this once. We have a captain upstairs, name of Avatar Apple, who won't stand for that kind of nonsense. You're either 'just Trixie' now or you'll learn to be 'just Trixie' the hard way from him. He's the most experienced sailor we have left, an earth pony who in deep space Celestia has decreed outranks even royalty. He's been tough on me. He's been tough on us all. Cross him, and suffer the consequences."

Trixie nodded. "So why..."

"How do you feel now about the kind of creatures who did all this to us?"

"I want to KILL... THEM... ALL!", she shrieked in rage.

"Good. We'll be happy to turn you loose on some, but you follow the captain's order when, all right?"

"What weapons can I use?"

"We're hoping just yourself will be weapon enough. I'm the only teleporter on this ship. Over the past eight years, I've learned to turn teleporting into a devastating weapon. You're the only other pony who even has the potenital to learn what I know. That's why we brought you. We need more than one of us to deal with point defense."

"What's 'point defense'?"

"We'll tell you as you learn how to use teleporting for point defense."

"I've tried learning how to teleport from you one once before. What makes you think I'd be successful this time?"

"Luna can help us."

Food Flight

Down inside the Yamato's keel, AppleJack and a Moosubishi civilian technical representative were inspecting the goods recently coming out of the food synthesizers. They just didn't look right. The red apples were fading to pink, the yellow apples were fading to white, you could almost see through the greens, and the grains looked like they were crumbling into dust.

"AppleJack-san", the civilan said as he bowed to her, "I do believe I understand your problem."

"What's that?"

"Our company's food recyclers are not one hundred percent efficient, because they don't synthesize at the atomic level, merely at the organic molecular level through enzymes via automated polymerase chain reactions. They cannot indefinitely recycle nutrients from your waste. You are asking too much of these machines."

Her eyes widened. "We're breakin' the synthesizers? We'll starve!"

"Not as bad as that, fortunately. You need certain inputs. So long as you provide sufficient chlorophyll and cellulose the machines should be able to handle the rest."

"Just where do you 'spect us to find chlorophyll and cellulose 'round here?", AppleJack's accent got thicker the more upset she became.

"These can usually be found in green plants of all kinds.",

"Look, just 'cause ah'm a farmer doesn't mean ah'm an uneducated country hick when it comes to growin' things. I know what chlorophyll and cellulose are! Clorophyll stores light into sugars. Cellulose is like to plants what bricks are to buildin's. But we're outta reach of Equestria and can't get plants from there no-more!"

"Then", the technician said, crossing his forelegs at her, "the plants will need to be found elsewhere".

. . .

Forest Snow visited Trixie's isolation ward at Twilight Sparkle's invitation.

Trixie glanced at him and then did a double take. "Ooooo!", she squealed, "He's so priiiii-ty!",

"Ignore her, it's the tranquilizers.", Twilight warned.

"So why am I here?", he asked.

"I wanted you to introduce you to Trixie."

Twilight faced her. "Trixie, this is Forest Snow, grandson and heir presumptive of the current Emperor of The Crysanthemum Empire. They've built our ship for us, provided most of the equipment, and even lent us a few ponies for officers and crew. Forest Snow, for example, is our Operations Officer. On the bridge he scans an instrument known as a radar by which we can identify incoming hostiles such as ships and missiles."

"Okay...", most of the explanation already having gone far over Trixie's head. Then, noticed his cutie mark, a white circle with a single green line between the center and the rim. She pointed to it. "What's that for?"

Forest blushed in embarassment. "Almost none of us in our land have cutie marks like you, aside from certain of the royal lines and about one in a thousand random ponies in our Empire. We think they only predomiminate in pony populations who've fully embraced magic, like Celestia's realm. We never really did. We prefer to create our own destinies, being craftsponies, artisans, and discoverers of truth at all levels of existence. It's a kind of personal to us, and you pointing to one would be equivalent to one of us pointing to your gender, Trixie, and shouting out how cute yours is for all the world to hear."

He continued. "But since you asked, and because you can be excused for currently being a mental patient, I shall answer. My talent is extra-sensory perception. I know the positions and identities of everything in my near vicinity without my needing to see them. My range is about maybe twenty furlongs. The radar instruments operate very much like my talent, except on a much larger scale."

"I'm a mental patient?", Trixie fumed.

"It's the only way I can take your current curiosity as not being insulting..."

"Moving right along...", Twilight interrupted, flashing a obviously fake brilliant smile by way of warding off a possible conversational disaster, "Forest Snow, this is Trixie. Before I earned my wings, she was about as powerful a magic user as could be and not have a cutie mark in magic. Even that level is nothing to fool around with. She ran a carnival act known as The Great Trixie, as a stage illusionist. We brought her along because properly trained we believe she could help protect us."

"Honored to meet you, Trixie-san.", he said in tones which from him were meant to express the soul of courtesy.

"Charmed, I'm sure", Trixie pleasantly surprised. "I'd be more charmed to spend some time with..."

"Forest...", said Twilight, "Let's show her some moves we've been practicing lately."

"What kind of moves?", Trixie asked snidely.

"Fighting", he shrugged. "To be exact, fighting between unicorns with the bare horns."

"How rude!", she declared. "I mean, those are private things to be playing with!"

"Not in our culture. I mean, a hoof can cause a severe injury or even kill if extreme skill is used, but a horn is deadly even if casually thrusted, and of course, we have other movies for blocking. I've been teaching Twilight. I'm actually rated high enought to be 'obligated to teach'. Ready, Twilight? Slow motion. I'll do blocking."

Twilight stepped quickly toward Forest to make a straight thrust. Forest crossed her horn with his, making a loud clack ! sound, not only forcing her horn downward but preventing further foward progress. "Downward block!", he announced.

Clack! "Upward block!", Clack! "Outside right block!", Clack! "Inside right block!", Clack! "Inside left block!", Clack! "Outside left block!".

"Those are just the basics.", he said. "Layered above that are patterns, the 'kata', and then there's always strategy."

Twilight smiled, bowing her head briefly. "Domo, Sensei! Trixie, I've been starting to teach Forest some elements of magic, and he's already picked up a couple useful spells. For a realm which shies away from magic he's sure a very fast learner. Show her!"

Forest concentrated. A short green beam of brilliant light emanated from his horn, perhaps as long as one of his own legs. Wherever he moved his head, the beam went along with it, making a brief humming sound as it moved. "Cutting beam.", he said. "I can't be careless with this, it would even cut through solid rock or metal. Nothing can withstand it... except."

Twilight extended a similar beam of her own, except its color was purple. "Exercise one, Sensei?", she grinned at him.

"By all means, my most faithful student!", he said. Is that common to all teachers?, Twilight wondered. I miss Celestia so much already!

As the teacher of sword and the teacher of magic sparred once again, this time light flashed brilliantly from each of the humming beams as they crossed to block each other, each time with a deafening crash!.

Trixie stared at the scene. "AWESOME!!! AWESOME!!! AWESOME!!!", she shouted in delight, trying to jump up and down in excitement but barely wiggling within her restraints. "I WANT TO LEARN THAT TOO!!!"

And, when I do, Trixie swore silently to herself, I will use it to kill!

. . .

Avatar had been listening in his command seat, to AppleJack explain the ship's current predicament.

"... and so you see, sir", AppleJack concluded her report, "we're able to stretch our supplies by using the synthesizers to recycle our manure, but not replace them entirely. We absolutely must find fresh green grass, trees, ferns, or what-have-you to refresh the nutritional values in our food occasionally, or we will all starve to death within weeks. Stuff's fairly bland and tasteless even now."

He nodded at her, grimly. He then activated his intercom to public address. "Executive Officer, please report to the bridge, immediately!", the overhead speakers roared throughout the ship.

Within minutes, Twilight Sparkle and Forest Snow could be heard clambering up the stairs to the bridge in haste. They were lathered in sweat.

"So glad you two could make it.", Avatar said sarcastically. "We have a problem."

Fluttershy sniffed the air wafting from the rear and averted her nose. "And you two need a shower!", she added.

"Life Support Specialist, repeat the summary to the Executive Officer which you told to me.", he ordered.

AppleJack did just that.

"So, where's the nearest place we can take on an entire holdful of plants?", he asked.

"Sir, according to the star maps contained in the Iscanterian message crystal, there's a system about a thousand lightyears along our course.", Twilight reported. "There's a gas giant, similar to our planet five, Poseidon, but the gas giant lies within the habitable zone of the red giant primary. That means all satellites of the gas giant reside in the same zone. One of them has a footnote attached to it indicating it contains an active biosphere.

"The satellite also has a name.", she said, bringing up the chart. A large arrow pointed to it, and it was labelled:

BEEMEELA

First Contact

Doctor 'Trapper' Jock McIntosh just finished a very good night's sleep. When he woke up, he felt like a completely new pony. He actually felt happy for the first time in his life, no longer needing to numb the various emotional pains he had been afflicted with through his life, by chemical means.

Now of course, he still felt the cravings, and as a physician he was well aware he had developed a biochemical dependence. As a patient he was also well aware that kicking any form of substance abuse would by necessity require a period of withdrawal. There was no such thing as a magical or any other easy cure for alcoholism. He had known from a failed meetings with a Twelve-Stride Group, that he would need to resist the substance for the rest of his life, dedicating each day, one day at a time, to doing so. He would definitely need to build a support group for himself to accomplish this.

Now, however, he had a reason to raise his own personal standards. Fluttershy.

She's so beautiful!, he thought, as he watched over her, still asleep, gently breathing, deep within her own wonderful dreams. Which no doubt included him.

Last night with her was absolutely one hundred fifty percent incredible! This was his first intimate contact with anypony. He was a hopeless romantic and would wait for nothing less than true love to do such a thing. Fluttershy had told him also, and she had no reason to lie, that he was also her first. She said she believed in a destiny greater than all ponies, therefore she was convinced to have faith she would someday discover true love herself, regardless of her shyness.

He had, of course, amassed a fair knowledge concerning the process from his obstetrical textbooks, but the description in those books was so clinical and so very lifeless when compared to the actual reality which he and his new wife had shared several times within the space of a day of leave all to themselves: a wedding gift from the captain.

But I only saw standard pictures of and cross-section diagrams of coverings from the texts., he thougth. I never even in my wildest dreams would imagined as my first experience a pegasus making me lie down and then supplementing her leg strength by hovering over me with such precision. That had to have been researched! Ouch! I feel a bit sore right now. But oh, my! Was last night ever worth it!.

. . .

Fluttershy's brilliant emerald eyes opened slightly. She noticed her new husband looking down on her with incredible tenderness, and so she kept her eyes shut since she needed a few thoughts by herself before she began the first day of the rest of her life. He could wait until she had all her memories of last night sorted through.

Following the end of her shift which had followed the captain's sudden consent for her to marry Trapper, she begged of him a private audience in his quarters, and so they spent a few minutes there.

"Captain Avatar", she said, "I need you to help me decide something."

"What would that be, Miss Fluttershy?", he responded. "I only give orders, and expect them to be obeyed, but I don't presume to tell other ponies what to think."

"This is uncomfortable for me to say, sir. I need to ask you. What would be the consequences of my becoming gravid by my new husband immediately?"

"That is an uncomfortable thought, Miss. A good third of our crew are all mares. If they all became gravid, we wouldn't be able to fight nearly as well as we could. Even if neither you nor the doctor are line officers, in a crisis we'd still need every able hand. Would I punish you if you could no longer perform your full duties because you were with foal? No. But I'd relegate you to a status you might consider either extremely boring or far beneath your actual capabilities, just to protect your foal."

"Like mopping decks, cleaning bilges, paper work, and such?"

"Yes, and such like. Nothing personal, you understand. Once the foal came into the world, you would also need to arrange your own foal care so you could return to normal duties. Doing otherwise might possibly offend me, with all that implies."

"I recognize that, captain. I'd do whatever it took to help the ship to the best of my remaining ability, otherwise, no matter how messy or dirty or thankless, because what I do is not nearly as important as why I do it."

"If you don't mind my asking, Miss Fluttershy, what makes you think you'd catch tonight? Before boarding every mare took a foaling control shot good for the next couple years."

She took a heavy twine cord from one of her halter pockets, and hung it around her neck. Hanging on the cord were two sticks attached by wound twine at right angles, with the vertical stick slightly longer than the horizontal one. "Religious exemption, sir. I am a member of the Virgin Cult, sir, and I know to keep myself under control."

"Now that I am married," she continued. "I face a dilemma. I am in season. Under regular circumstances, I could well carry immediately. My morality forbids me from taking the shot. I will, however, on your direct orders refrain from any contact with my husband until we return to Equestria, for the sake of the mission. I would humbly beg of you not to so order me, but I am willing to submit to the needs of the many. Your decision, Captain."

Avatar thought it over silently. "No, Miss Fluttershy... I would never even consider..."

Fluttershy immediately hung her head in disappointment.

"...killing the dreams the crew has regarding their own future. Go have your foal with not only my permission, but also my blessing. Remember the sacrifices you'll be making in exchange."

Fluttershy's mood changed immediately, and she raised her head back up. Her eyes now shone with hope.

"Permission to give the captain a hug?"

"The offered gesture is appreciated with gratitude, but its execution is unnecessary.", he said. "Dismissed."

. . .

Fluttershy was now fully awake in the doctor's quarters. She could remember, vividly, her being fully in season, eager for her new husband to service her, but she read some books since she wanted him to just relax and enjoy. She remembered her awareness becoming dim and taken over by feelings making ordinary joy and delight look like candles compared to the sun. She remembered at the very same moment being conscious of nothing else but her husband quivering and releasing his own very special wedding gift, meant just for her.

I have absolutely no regrets carrying this sweet, wonderful, gentle stallion's foal., she thought. He's absolutely selfless! He's taken on entirely too much punishment for doing exactly the right thing under exactly the wrong circumstances, that nobody can really understand but me, since I saw it happen that day. He deserves this foal I can now feel growing inside me.

She opened her eyes to gaze upward at Trapper watching over her. "I love you.", she said softly. "Forever."

"I love you forever also, Fluttershy.", he replied in just as gentle a tone.

They kissed, tenderly but deeply.

The doctor's intercom received a hail. "Good morning!", Pinkie Pie's cheerful voice rang over the speakers. "Sorry to cut your honeymoon short, but the captain has a mission involving both of you. He needs you both in his ready room in a half hour!"

Trapper pressed a button on his intercom to reply. "We'll be there!", he said.

Fluttershy smiled at him. "Duty calls, doctor!"

"I think, though, we both need a shower first.", he said. "A nice, hot, soapy, fifteen minute one. Together."

"I need to wash some stallion right out of my mane, and send him on his way. But your way sounds like a lot more fun!"

. . .

Several ponies including the captain were now assembled in his ready room. He was in the center, and his ponies he had summoned positioned themselves alongside the walls.

"We have a major problem which needs solved immediately.", Avatar said. "It concerns the food supply. We misunderstood the proper functioning and use of our ship's food synthesizers. They cannot use only pony manure as the input, as our own bodies absorb more useful nutrients than are left behind in the manure. We have, in short, been inadvertently slowly starving ourselves for several weeks. I'm sure many of you have already noticed subtle defects in the taste or consistency of the food. We've been assured by our technical staff that a hold full of fresh green plants will add back the missing nutrients for the remainder of the mission. Our Executive Officer will now describe where we can find them."

Twilight Sparkle stuck her horn the into ceiling socket controlling the information console. Through mental commands she had the room project upon the floor the path between Equestria and Iscanter. There was a small dot representing the ship. They had not made very good time in five weeks, being halfway between Equestria and the edge of the Milky Way, a small fraction of the entire journey. "That's where we are right now", she explained.

A blinking dot about at the edge of the Milky Way along the projected Galactic South heading, now appeared. "That's where we need to stop over. According to the star charts we have from Iscanter, this system contains a world having an active biosphere. What kind of active biosphere is unknown, but we must chance this anyway."

The blinking dot expanded and took over the floor, replacing the overall course. Now the ponies could see a map of the star system in question. "This is what Iscanter terms the 'Beemeela' system. It has a single large gas giant in the star's habitable zone, making all of the gas giant's satellites, some of them as large as Equestria itself, also potentially habitable. Fortunately, the Iscanter maps were kind enough to spare us the time needed to search for the satellite we want. The name of the world itself is also Beemeela, and it is so labeled." An arrow drew itself to the indicated world, second out from the gas giant.

"That's all we know.", Twilight said. "It's about a thousand lightyears away. Are you able to make jumps that far yet, Navigator?"

"We are getting close to being able to make reliable space warps of half that distance. We'd need just two.", Rarity said.

"Well, that's progress.", Twilight answered. "Our mission is to get down there, find the location of green plants if any which our bodies can use, then report back. Once the Yamato gets the all clear, she can land and we can load her up."

Rainbow Dash reported next. "We're going to be taking one of our all-purpose mission craft, the Seagull, a vertical take off and landing plane. I'll be piloting, and I'll take Soarin for co-pilot. We'll have a pair of pilots in Wondersuits an escort."

"Doctor McIntosh is going to head this mission.", Avatar said, "The Tactical Officer will be in overall command, but I'll expect her full cooperation with the doctor, and and other way around."

Trapper and Rainbow Dash glanced at each other uneasily.

"I will be taking a pair of specialists with me.", Trapper began. "Zecora's the best herbalist on Equestria..."

The zebra grinned upon hearing this.

'... that we know about.", Trapper smiled.

Zecora rolled her eyes up in exasperation, but remained silent under the physician's teasing.

"Therefore she's the best botanist we have available."

"We know we're desperate for food", Zecora rhymed, "But I can taste which leaves are good. Altogether, that's so much better."

"Also", Trapper continued, "I plan on taking the Communications Officer along. I believe she has a natural empathic ability with most living things, putting her in the best position to manage a First Contact for us."

Wow! Fluttershy thought. I get to be the one that talks with new creatures! She stared at her husband with eyes filled with both love and lust for him. Perhaps we'd even get some private time down there, perhaps? Maybe in full gravity!

"This will all happen about 24 hours from now.", Avatar said. "Everyone involved should prepare for a week's excursion."

Derek's Gift

Three months later, the first sight of Miyuki's day upon waking, was that of both her parents together sitting on the floor before her.

"MOMMY! YOU'RE BACK!", the child shrieked in joy. Her mother opened her arms out to her daughter. Miyuki leapt out of bed and ran into them. "Oh, Miykui", her mother said, while crying happy tears, "I'm so glad to be back too."

The EDF Missouri returned the night before, just in time for its captain to make port to Moonbase. Nova then took a shuttle to their apartment in Big Island, which centuries ago had been known as Japan. Nova finally arrived at the apartment about 02:00 hours local time, late, but not too late for a husband who was wildly ecstatic to see her return provide her with a proper welcome.

Said husband quickly turned the mother-daughter hug into a mother-daughter-father hug, the grownups sandwhiching thier little girl in between. Derek reached over Miyuki's head and gave his wife a quick kiss.

Miyuki squirmed out of the embrace and sat on her bedroom floor, opposite them. "I'm six today!", she said, proudly.

"We know it", her father grinned back at her. He nodded at his wife. Derek and Nova sang the Happy Birthday song to her.

"We have a gift for you, Little One.", Derek said. "I understand you like My Little Pony, is that right?"

"Abso-posi-tively-lutely, Daddy!", his little girl chirped.

"What if I were to tell you", her father said, "that we have a new episode of My Little Pony, and you'd be the very first one to ever see it?"

"It might not be perfect.", her mother said. "You'd have to tell us if we're a little bit off somewhere. After you see it, and any necessary changes suggested by you, the rest of the children in all the entire Milky Way would get to see it too."

"Whoa....", Miyuki said in an undertone of complete astonishment, both eyes and mouth wide and round from the awesome responsibility now being placed upon her shoulders.

"So after breakfast", Nova said, "We'll watch it together. It's a two hour special."

"That's almost the best present I could ever have in the whole entire world.", Miyuki said.

"What could be better?", her father asked.

"You and Mommy both together here on my birthday, silly.", Miyuki stated.

"Aww....", her parents said. More embraces and more tears and more kisses were exchanged before breakfast. After they ate, they all sat down on cushions in front of the holoscreen in the living room.

And so started a new episode of My Little Pony...