So... I came online today to have a good... hundred notifications greet me. ALL of them being story favorites for THIS story in particular. So I'm like 'Oh that's cool!' Then I check my story stats and see, over the last view days this story has gotten OVER 4,400 MORE VIEWS?! EXCUUUUUSE ME?! You don't know how happy I am to hear this! AND THAT IT GOT FEATURED?! HERE HAVE A CHAPTER AS MY THANKS!

Chapter 23: Repairs

I flew the ship just outside of Ponyville as I slowly set it down in a green field as Twilight was beside me was giddy with excitement.

"Twilight, before we do this I need to make sure of two things." I said as I shut the ships engine off. "One... do NOT touch the FTL drive core. You are only to observe." I counted off as she nodded. "Two, if things get hairy... can you create shields of any kind with that magic of yours?" I asked getting her to slowly nod. "Alright... let's go!" I commanded as I stood up and walked out of the ship, carrying a box of tools with me.

Twilight hurriedly followed behind me as we rounded to the back of the ship, towards the engines.

"Alright Lucy, show me it." I said as the middle section between the engines slowly split open, and out hovered a cylindrical object that was humming with power, with lights flashing all over it.

"I've had the bots fix up much of the ship, and they've repaired a lot of the FTL drive but it seems they didn't finish the repairs." Lucy said as I nodded.

Carefully, I took it in my hands and backed up a few steps, before lightly setting it on the ground as I turned to my tool box and Twilight stared on in awe.

"This is what the big deal is about? ALL THAT POWER! In this tiny little thing?" She said as she moved an inch closer, getting a better look. "It's... amazing."

I gave a small chuckle as I found what I needed and continued to get to work, first by opening the casing, revealing many wires and lights on the inside. But the part that caught our attention the most, was the small ball of light that was floating in the center, surrounded by a layer of glass.

"What is that..." Twilight breathed as her eyes opened a bit wider.

"That, is what I was worried about." I said aloud as I let out a sigh. "See that glowing ball there?" I asked pointing to the small ball of dimming light. "THAT... is super condensed energy. But see this crack?" I questioned pointing to the crack in the glass case, getting her to nod. "That crack and many others has made this thing leak power this whole time. It's not nearly powerful enough to work anymore..." I said sighing.

"Well..." Twilight began examining further. "This doesn't look any different than compressed magic. Maybe we could give that a try?" She asked, lifting an eyebrow.

Shrugging I began taking out the little ball of light. "Well... worth a shot I suppose." I said as I held the ball out in front of me, slowly opening the capsule as the ball of light floated out as the energy dissipated into the air, making the hair on the back of my neck stand up as I gave a small shiver.

I went to work on the small glass ball, filling in the crack with a fluid that quickly hardened, sealing it shut as I looked back over to Twilight as her horn became brighter. It flickered with bright purple energy as I saw the tip begin to form a small ball of light, which slowly grew in size before she suddenly stopped, getting the ball to drift away from her horn and float in place.

"Whew!" She said wiping sweat off her brow. "Is this good enough?" She asked gesturing to the magical ball of light.

"I don't know... are you sure it's stable? We only have one shot at this." I said warily as I examined the ball.

Nodding she smiled. "Oh yes definitely! You could even touch it with your hands if you want to!"

Nodding back, I moved forward and enclosed the ball in its new glass prison as I returned back to the FTL drive. Slowly, I slid the core back into the drive and clicked it shut. I waited a few more seconds before the whole thing let out a little shake and began humming ever so slightly as a small smile creeps onto my face.

"You guys have no idea how easy you got it with this damn magic thing..." I whispered.

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The rest of the repairs were fairly minor, such as shifting things back into place and replacing a few wires as it seems Lucy had been hard at work fixing all of the major parts of the ship. When I was finally finished I slowly slid the drive back into the ship and turned to Twilight, who was still smiling. As I was repairing it I had been answering all of her questions about space flight and the FTL drive, well as many as I knew the answer to.

"So... I guess this is my last day here huh?" I said with a small smile. "I gotta say I'm gonna miss all the colors of this place." I finished as I looked around.

"What do you mean? Doesn't your planet have colors?" She asked confused.

I cleaned off some tools and set them back into the toolbox as I looked over to her and sighed. "It does but... let's just say we have a very different color palette. You see... we basically have run most of our planet's resources dry and therefore almost everything is synthetic or metal." I said getting her to slowly nod. "We have no forests or anything left on earth. We barely kept that planet alive before we put money into cleaning the atmosphere. We weren't kind to the planet in the past."

"That sounds so... different! I can't even imagine it." She replied as I nodded and closed the toolbox.

"Well... I guess I should go alert the Princesses everything is ready to go. Want me to give you a ride back?" I asked getting her to shake her head. "Alright... tell your friends it was a pleasure." I finished as I made my way into the ship.

"Hey!" Twilight yelled back causing me to stop and turn to her. "You think we'll ever hear from you again?" She asks as I stop and think.

"Well... I guess that's up for fate to decide. Hopefully... if we do... it's on better terms." I said with a smile as I got into the ship and booted up the engines.

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The fly to Canterlot was filled with silence and deep thought as I kept a slow and steady drift through the air. I had this deep feeling within me, but I couldn't single out what it meant. Something about tomorrow is making me feel uneasy.

'Maybe I've grown too attached to this place' I mulled over as Canterlot came into view.

I flew back up to the carriage landing area as I had before and touched down, immediately being swamped by more ponies with cameras, shouting random questions in my direction, more than half of them having to do with me and Luna in ways I'd rather not mention.

'They don't give up easily... I'll give em that'

Shutting off the engines, I quickly left the ship as some guards grouped around me, holding back the ponies from mobbing me. I hurried my way through the landing strip and into the castle, not wanting to hear any more of their ridiculous claims or questions. Taking in a deep breath to clear my mind, I made my way through the castle once again, for what may be the final time.

'Jeez I've been here for less than a week and I'm already gonna miss this place...' I thought to myself as I looked around the halls as I passed by beautifully crafted windows, depicting different scenes of history.

When I finally reached the two ornate doors I slowly pushed them open, attracting the attention of the two alicorns at the far end of the large room.

Nodding in their direction, I spoke with authority. "It's ready."

Author's Note

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