The First and the Last

"Guidance?"

"We're go, Flight."

"CAPCOM?"

"Go, Flight."

"MEDCo?"

"Hibernation, go. Toivo's heart rate is up but in safe zone, Flight."

"Santa Maria, this is Houston, all systems nominal, you are go for launch."

Up in the top of the SpaceX Heavy Lifter II, Mikko Toivonen tried wiping the sweat off his brow. His hand clunked against the glass of his helmet and he sighed. "Houston, Santa Maria. Roger that Flight. Computer affirms systems go."

He turned his head as best he could, straining to get a glimpse of the hibernation pods in the bay below him. The rest of the crew slept soundly in their drug-induced states. Heart rates low and minds off in their dreams of Mars, Mikko relaxed a bit upon spotting the one closest to him. Kathy was in her own pod, sound asleep and looking peaceful as could be. The crackling resumed in his earpiece as the Flight Commander spoke again.

"Santa Maria, systems on the Santa Clara and the Pinta are go as well. You are now T-minus forty five seconds to launch."

Mikko gulped and cleared his throat. "Roger Flight. Heh, think you could send me up a drink real quick? Scotch on the rocks?"

Laughter was heard in his earpiece from most of the crew in ground control. The Flight Commander came back, chuckling himself. "I'll get right on it Toivo. Would you like a smoke and a copy of Playboy as well?"

It was Mikko's turn to laugh. "Well, Kathy is in hibernation, so she won't see the Playboy. I suppose what she doesn't know won't hurt her. Sorry, honey," he added, knowing she just might watch the flight logs after she was roused from her sleep.

"T-minus twenty seconds Santa Maria," a new voice spoke in his ear as the rumblings of the fuel couplings detached from the ship's hull. Mikko's fingers dug into the armrests of his cockpit seat.

"Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five, go for Maria engine start." The ship around Mikko rumbled, smoke and hot gasses from the engines already swirling around the forward bay windows.

"Two. One." The rumbling turned to violent shaking as the locking arms released the Santa Maria from its Earthly bounds. The gases around the ship were sucked underneath and through the tunnels below, twelve million pounds of thrust and gases as hot as the surface of the sun burning the painted metal of the launch pad. The fueling tower slowly sank below Mikko's vision, and the faint clouds above came ever closer.

"We have liftoff, the Santa Maria, bearing the crew for Mars Colony One. Paving the way for future colonists and our understanding of the Red Planet itself!" Mikko smiled and whooped at his earpiece.

Within moments, the crackling came back as Flight Control read off details of the launch, "now passing three thousand and two hundred miles per hour. The Pinta has lift off, ten seconds to Santa Clara liftoff and go for Santa Maria throttle up at mark... Mark."

"Roger, go for throttle up." If Mikko's eyes had been pushed back during the initial lift off, now they must have touched the back of his head, as the twin liquid boosters adorning his ship reached 110% of power and the g-forces increased dramatically.

"All three ships now in flight. Go for Santa Maria LRBSep."

Though the shaking didn't die down, the ear-shattering rumble slowly died down as the bright blue outside Mikko's cockpit window faded to a navy then to the deepest blue imaginable. "Roger, LRBSep, three, two, one." The sound of metal breaking from metal rattled Mikko's head, but was gone as quickly as it came. The shaking slowed, and the tips of the liquid rocket boosters slid down from his view, same as the fueling tower less than two minutes before.

"LRBSep confirm, Houston."

"Separation confirmed, Santa Maria. The Pinta is less than one mile behind, while the Santa Clara trails you by one and one half miles. All are holding a speed of fifteen and five hundred miles per hour. Go for continued roll and pitch.

"Roger, Houston, continuing roll and pitching up for break of Earth's gravity."

The dim and hazy view of Earth's atmosphere turned from his vision, and his eyes finally laid rest upon the black sight of space itself. Mikko's heart stopped as he gazed into the abyss. All sound stopped as the main engine cut off, and a tear rolled down Mikko's cheek. The only thing he could think of, was of how it was to finally sit in the cockpit seat, and once again see the dark reaches of space. Only this time, with his own eyes.

The crackling came back in his ear, and the world seemed to quicken to catch up to the slowed time of Mikko's reality. "Santa Maria, you are go for Second Stage Burn, and you need to wake up."

Mikko shook his head. "Copy that, Houston? I didn't read."

"You need to wake up!" A sing-songy voice rang in his ear, replacing the garbled and scratchy tones he heard before. He blinked, and where an vast eternity lay before him a moment ago, a face floated instead, a smile etched on its face. "Mr. Mikko! It is time to wake up!" the voice sang.

"Wha—" Mikko brought a hand to his eyes to rub the sleep from their corners, but his reach was impeded by a series of  intravenous tubes on the top of his wrist. The previous months of training, launch, and sleep rushed back to him, and he shook his head once more. He looked up through the hibernation pod's window at the face he always loved waking up next to.

"Hiya, Honey. Anything exciting happen?"

Kathy giggled and shook her head. "Oh no, I was saving the exciting part for when it's just you and me awake for the final approach." The pod's front slid to the side, revealing Kathy's full form. Mikko gasped and pulled her into the pod upon seeing what she was wearing: a skimpy and lacy nightgown with absolutely nothing for bottoms.

"Kathy! What are you doing? What if Marcus were to see—wait. You didn't?"

Kathy laughed and nodded. "Eeyup! Marcus was already tired before his hibernation and fell asleep in the cockpit. So I just moved him to his pod and may have started his hibernation early."

Mikko scolded his fiancé, "Kathy, you know how dangerous that is! What if something were to happen while both of us were asleep? What if there was a collision? Neither of us could have been woken in time for a proper course change!"

Kathy's face fell with each word, until she finally couldn't look into Mikko's face anymore. When she spoke, her voice was laden with close-by tears. "I just... wanted to surprise you before we had to get the new radar started."

Mikko sighed and started scolding himself in his head. "Oh what the hell, c'mere you!" He wrapped his arms around his future wife, and closed the door to his pod, faint giggling echoing from inside and throughout the quiet ship.

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A camera swiveled around on the top of the Santa Maria's capsule, aiming towards the stern at the large radar dish  mounted there, the Pinta and the Santa Clara just a few thousand meters behind, barely blocking out the light of the sun and the picturesque blue dot of Earth. A lone figure floated into view, his stark white space suit a contrast to the blackness of space. The suited man put his feet down on the capsule and his hands grasped the dish, moving it ever so slightly to the left.

"How's that Captain? Is the laser aimed right on Mars' terminator?

Mikko floated to the control panel just below the space walking man, the thin metal wall of the capsule separating them. "Looks good enough Gary. Sorry for waking you, you can come back in and get back in your pod if you want."

"With all due respect Captain, hell no! I haven't had real food since before we lifted off. I'm going to hit up the food storage first. Gary fired his thruster pack and flew off screen again before a his was hear near the Starboard of the ship.

"Alright Gary, but not too much! I know you only have a day's worth of hibernation left but we'll need as much rations as possible until we get our garden and the animal pens up."

A door to Mikko's right opened up and the suit clad man floated in, his helmet already off. "Not to worry Cap, just a bite before I go to bed. I know you and "mommy" don't like us missing our bed times." Gary smirked and floated towards the rear of the ship. He gave a pained gasp and rubbed the back of his head after a conspicuously flying clipboard connected with his skull. He turned and Mikko was already facing away, whistling nonchalantly and floating toward the cockpit.

Mikko floated through the bulkhead door and stuck his Velcroed feet to the floor next to Kathy. He poked her in the side and laughed as she gave a most adorable squeak. "Hey Hon, power still flowing nicely?"

Kathy frowned at him before turning to the control panel before her. "Yeah, I'm not the biggest tech-wiz on board, but I think we're ready to try out the new radar. How's this thing work again?"

Mikko shrugged and began flipping switches, flowing power to the radar dish. "I guess it's supposed to work like a normal radar, but I guess it uses some other type of wavelength that moves quicker through space, or isn't as affected by the particles. Or maybe it's trilithium. I don't know, I'm not an El-Aurian named Tolian. Guess it won't have interference from Mars' atmosphere like normal radar would. I don't even know the specifics entirely, just that it's something new the boys on Earth cooked up to try."

"Huh. I have no idea what you just said, but let's do this anyway. You ready?"

Mikko nodded and they both moved through their system's checklist smoothly. When the last switch had been flipped, Mikko pointed towards a monitor that had just lit up in front of Kathy. "Keep an eye there. You should get a steady rhythm of beeps, one beep at a time."

"Got it. Radar is firing the first rounds... now." A little blip appeared on the screen and moved towards a large hemisphere indicating Mars. The blip collided with the hemisphere, and bounced back towards the small dots indicating the three ships. As the first few rounds bounced back and forth, numbers ran across the screen which Kathy read out loud. "Hmm, says we're about... 336,000 kilometers away! But, we're travelling at 21,000 kilometers an hour! That's not right, that would put us at—"

Mikko spoke before her math was done in her head, "A little over 16 hours before touchdown. We need to start securing things! You go to food storage and get Gary back out here to help!" Mikko pushed off from the floor but grabbed a support bar when another light started flashing. He leaned down and peered at the new light. "Whoa... that's a huge gamma radiation spike!"

"Mikko, am I supposed to be getting two blips coming off Mars?" Mokki moved beside her and saw that indeed, as one wave hit Mars, two bounced back, but the second one was so much more focused. Focused right on the three ships!

"That has to be... no the radiation is coming from the stern! Pull up the camera I was just using." Kathy flipepd a couple switches and her radar view turned to the camera seeing the radar dish. Mikko pulled her from her seat and pushed her towards the back. "Get Gary and start securing, now!"

Kathy nodded before floating through the door. Mikko turned back to the screen and moved its view to directly astern. The sun was insanely bright, brighter than it should have been that far from it. He flipped through a couple of filters on the camera before settling on one that gave him a clear view of the sun and the Earth. Although the Earth was slightly to the right of the sun, a massive wave of light was moving toward it and the three ships. Mikko's eyes widened and he got on the intercom system. "We've got a solar flare! Pretty big one from the looks of it. We may have to forget about securing and just get in the pods. They should be enough to protect us from the rad—"

Mikko stopped short as he was blinded by a white beam of light. He shielded his eyes with a hand and brought his gold-glass sunglasses to his face. They helped a little and allowed him to see just where the light came from: the surface of Mars itself. "What. The. Absolute. Fuck? He could feel his skin heating up from the sheer intensity of the light. He could hear the groaning of the metal around him as well, the heat expanding the ship's hull. The Santa Maria began to shake as a warning light came on the screen.

Mikko wiped the sweat forming on his forehead, straining his eyes to see the monitor. Up in the left corner, a series of numbers showing the three ship's speeds began steadily rising. Twenty four thousand, twenty eight, thirty four thousand miles per hour! The ship's vibrating would have shaken Mikko from his spot had there been gravity. He grabbed for the microphone and screamed into it, "Something, I don't know what is happening up here! Get in your pods, now! We may have to emergency eject them! Course and speed is way off, estimated time to impact with the planet, sixteen hours and ten minutes!"

Two confirmations of Kathy and Gary being secured in their pods later, Mikko found himself strapped to his chair and firing all thrusters to try and return them to their primary course.

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Approximately four million, three hundred thousand light years away, a blue figure stood upon a balcony, overlooking her vast kingdom. She sighed, looking up to her moon, knowing that not many were awake at that time of night, but she knew her subjects appreciated it more then, than a thousand years ago. The darkness of it all was peaceful, although the light reflecting off her moon was more comforting. A constant reminder of her duties. A reminder of her power, and the responsibilities that came with.

She sighed once more, her feathers ruffling against the chill of the early Spring air. She turned her hooves to the door behind her to start the evening court but stopped as a shiver ran down her spine. Not from the cold, but from something else. Something ancient. She turned to face the vast valley below and saw a glimmer of light deep within its dark recesses. That glimmer shone brighter and brighter until she could barely stand to look anymore. Suddenly, the light died to a mere pinprick on the horizon. But before her eyes could readjust, the light focused into a solitary beam that pierced the heavens and raced towards a star, one so dim only the figure's advanced night vision could see.

It was a star she knew well, for it had been her sister's first responsibility, just before her Mother's death. Gears and wheels clicked into place in her head. Pieces brought together to form a picture of the once grandiose kingdom their kind had built to date. Her eyes nearly burst from her head in realization. She spread her wings and took flight, racing towards the open doors of the balcony of her sister's bedroom. She flew in at lightning quick speeds, and slid along the floor, her hooves scratching the ornately laid marble with a loud screech.

A white head with ethereal hair popped up, a face mask over her eyes. "That had better be you Luna, and it darn well better be important! You know I have a meeting with that pompous featherbrain Vespucci from Griffonia in the morning! So you better—"

Her rambling was cut short by a hoof being thrust into her mouth. a Glow surrounded the horn atop her head and the face mask she bore was lifted revealing slightly bloodshot eyes. Luna looked fairly worse for the wear, her feathers stuck at odd angles and her normally flowing mane plastered to the back of her neck from the strain of her quick flight. Luna leaned in and slowly withdrew her hoof from her sister's mouth, who smacked her lips to rid herself of an odd flavor from the silver shoe.

"Sister! Celestia! Something... I don't know how it happened, but thou must rouse the guard! I do not know what could make its way through, or what could happen when our subjects see of it..." She teetered off at Celestia's own hoof raised to silence her sister.

"Luna, slow down and tell me what's going on."

Luna took a few deep breaths, although she still looked ready to burst with anxiety. "Sister, the mirror, it has activated!"

Celestia scoffed and smiled gently at Luna. "Come now Luna, are you sure you didn't doze off and have a dream? There are still nearly twenty one moons before the mirror opens again."

"I know when I am dreaming or not Celestia!" Luna's Royal Canterlot voice echoing out across the courtyard below, causing a few golden clad guards to shift uncomfortably. "And I speak not of that mirror. I mean, the mirror! The one deep in the Everfree!"

Celestia's own eyes widened as the realization came upon her. "You mean..."

"Yes, Sister. The mirror that bore us to this land in the beginning! Back when Mother's planet had met its doom!"

Celestia's jaw hung slack, but her eyes shone with intense deliberation. A moment later she spoke, the years of command and wisdom lay heavy in her voice, "You shall rouse the guard Luna. I shall wake Twilight and have her gather the other Elements immediately. Call for all available guards from across Equestria. I do not know what could come through that portal."