Beyond the Boundaries

Chapter One

Twilight Sparkle blinked as the signal on the monitor snapped her out of her reverie. One of the magnetic clamps on her ship was now in alignment with the small escape pod which was floating aimlessly through the darkness of space, emitting a distress signal on encrypted military frequencies.

Another sensor near her hoof indicated that the clamp had found its destination, and automatically began tethering itself to the shuttle’s hull using strong electromagnets. With the flipping of a few more switches, Twilight made sure that the pod was safely attached to the port airlock so that she could inspect it at a later time.

The markings on the pod made her realize that it belonged to the Equestrian Empire, more specifically to the Empire Military Division, making Twilight sigh with relief. ‘Well, now at least I know that this isn’t a pirate pod... I hope.’

As she got up and walked out of the small cockpit into the ship’s main corridor, the next question popped into Twilight’s mind. ‘How long have the pod’s cryo systems been active? The cryo systems are automatically activated after a day of drifting so that the pony inside could survive, but these pods could be adrift for months or even years…’

Twilight’s scientific mind forced her to stop wasting her time and energy on guessing games. No matter how much she’d enjoy meeting a pony that was in the cryo pod for at least ten years, her experiences taught her not to get ahead of herself. Instead, she picked up her pace through the narrow and dimly lit metal corridor to the airlock.

Upon reaching her destination, Twilight looked at the thick, sealed door just before walking towards its control terminal. Taking note of the fact that the pod did indeed have a breathable atmosphere, she unlocked the first door and stepped through it. It slid closed behind her, sealing her in and starting its decontamination process, guaranteeing she wouldn’t bring any bacteria from the ship into the new environment.

Included with the decontamination systems was a scan of the other side of the door. If the pod contained anything too dangerous, it wouldn’t open and more extreme cleaning measures would have to be taken. Half a minute later, the cycle ended and the airlock opened only to reveal the escape pod’s own door.

This additional layer of safety was in place to protect the occupant in cryostasis. The pod itself was the cryogenic chamber, so there weren’t any extra layers between the hull and the escapee. If the door were forced open unexpectedly, this would most likely result in the death of the occupant. In the eyes of many, including Twilight’s, this was a fatal design flaw, however nopony up top seemed to care enough to implement new designs.

On the only part of the hull visible to her – just in between the Daedalus’ airlock and the rest of the pod – there was a panel. Twilight lit her horn and removed it with her magic as she didn’t want to take the risk of touching the extremely cold surface, then pressed the button behind it. This action caused several lights inside the pod to switch on and several key systems that were previously dormant to re-engage. One of these caused the systems to revive the occupant, removing the cryogenic fluids from their body and restarting their heart. Afterwards, all the systems powered down thus opening the pod door, allowing for a safe exit.

Now Twilight could finally look inside of the escape pod and, more importantly, at the pony it carried. It was a sky-blue pegasus wearing a military uniform. She was well-toned and bore a multi-colored mane, giving her a very unique look. The uniform looked torn and even burnt in a few places, the Empire Military logo on one of the shoulders faded slightly.

Suddenly the pegasus opened her eyes. She was blinking erratically, her eyes betraying that she wasn’t completely awake yet. She produced some incoherent noises as if she was trying to scream without any air in her lungs. Twilight carefully approached the mare, not wanting to scare her.

“Take it easy,” she said softly, trying to make herself sound as reassuring as possible. “You’re safe here.”

But, as very common with any creature in a state of confusion, the pegasus didn’t listen. She tried to get up unsuccessfully, her muscles barely responding after being inactive for a good amount of time. She kept twisting and turning to the best of her abilities, causing her to fall out of the chair and onto the cold, metal floor. With a retching noise, she emptied the contents of her stomach on the floor, losing consciousness moments after.

The world was nothing but the surreal, reddish darkness you see when you have your eyes closed as Rainbow Dash’s mind floated back into consciousness, the boring red hues accompanied by a rather nasty headache. Slowly, she cracked open an eyelid. Immediately her headache intensified, prompting her to close it again.

Rainbow groaned as she waited for a moment, allowing for the pain to subside before trying again. This time she waited for a while, shielding her eyes with a hoof and opening them bit by bit, allowing her eyes to get used to the light. A room slowly came into view. Blurry at first, shapes unclear, but after a few seconds it came into a focus. It was a reasonably small medical bay, maybe a little bit smaller than the ship she served on. Medical equipment and monitors were everywhere. Memories of what had happened on the ship she had served on until very recently came flooding back to her. Her crew members, her friends…

She forced back tears she suddenly felt coming up, thinking ‘I’m Rainbow Dash, lieutenant in the Equestrian Empire! I can’t afford to cry!’ The pegasus quickly focused on trying to remember what had happened after the destruction of her ship. The escape pod had drifted for a day until the cryo systems automatically kicked in… But when had she been woken up?

Rainbow could faintly remember a purple mare as the last thing she saw, though she wasn’t exactly certain.

The door to the room hissed open, startling the pegasus within. She quickly jerked her head to look at the entrance, seeing a unicorn who she was pretty sure to be the mare from her memories. She was purple and wearing an Empire Research Division uniform. Rainbow remembered clearly now.

“Good. I see you are awake now,” Twilight said softly, carefully approaching Rainbow’s bed.

Rainbow looked at the unicorn in bewilderment. “W-who are you? A-and where am I?” she asked, confusion and a slight undertone of fear in her voice. “W-what happened?”

“My name is Twilight Sparkle, commander in the Empire Research Division. You’re on board my ship, the Daedalus,” Twilight replied calmly. “Before I tell you anything else, Lieutenant,” she continued, her voice now sounding more formal, “I’m going to have to ask you a couple of things since there were no coherent logs on board your escape pod.”

The pegasus nodded weakly, being familiar with procedures and protocols of stumbling on a sole survivor. The empire was very strict when it came to survivors of the destruction of a ship, treason always being a possibility.

“State your name, rank, and position.” Twilight began her inquiry in a low, detached formal voice. She had activated a recording device the second she spoke, making sure she could send all details and potential evidence of crime to higher up in the Empire’s command if need be.

“Rainbow D. Dash, Lieutenant, gunnery officer on board the Empire Military Vessel Iapyx,” the pegasus quickly replied. Although still weak, her voice was regaining some of its confidence, especially at the point of reaching the gunnery officer part.

Twilight Sparkle nodded and continued, keeping the formality of her voice. “You were found at exactly 2104 hours shipboard time, on the twenty-fifth of January, 3084. As there were no logs on board the escape pod, I will need you to tell me what led up to you abandoning the Iapyx.”

After a brief pause, Rainbow Dash began to explain everything that had happened. How one minute she had just been keeping watch and the other she had been thrown into the emergency situation… How there had been several impacts, how she thought she had seen something outside but hadn’t properly looked, how the other gunnery officer had perished, along with many of her crewmembers. The confidence left her voice faster than it had entered it and after that point the pegasus sounded significantly more depressed. She stopped for a few seconds after recounting her reaching the pod and ejecting it but soon continued with what she knew of what had attacked the ship. Admittedly this wasn’t too much, just that she thought to have caught a glimpse of it and therefore presumed it to be very large and that she hadn’t picked up any heat signatures.

Shutting off the recording device, Twilight looked at the pegasus, her voice becoming a bit friendlier. “That’s all, Lieutenant. No doubt you have a lot of questions. I’ll try to answer them if I can.”

Rainbow Dash spent a few moments in silence to gather her thoughts, trying to suppress the memories from the attack yet again. “How long was I out?”

“From information you’ve provided, three weeks and two days,” Twilight answered calmly. “I think you were very lucky that I found you, otherwise you could have been out here for a very long time.” She paused, tapping her hoof on her chin. “But if you’re asking for how long you were unconscious; seven hours and twenty-four minutes.”

“Where are we, anyways?” Rainbow asked, her voice gaining confidence yet again.

“We’re still in nebula IX-54221. I’m here on a research mission, Lieutenant, but according to my calculations with the speed I’m currently working at, we should be reaching Outpost thirty-eight in about two weeks.”

The pegasus nodded, and after a moment of silence asked “Twilight?”

“Commander Twilight, Lieutenant.”

“Commander, do you maybe have any room where I can stretch my wings? I was supposed to have my leave just after our patrol. I haven’t had the chance to properly fly in ages…”

Nodding slowly, Twilight answered. “That would only be possible in the cargo bay, but first we need to make sure your legs and wings are strong enough before doing anything else.”

Some short stretching exercises for Rainbow Dash and a quick tour later, Rainbow and Twilight were standing in front of a large metal door. ‘Cargo Bay’ was printed on a piece of metal plating adorning the side of the door. As Twilight opened the door, Rainbow Dash queried about something which had been bugging her for most of the tour. “Twilight?”

“Commander.”

“Commander, where’s the rest of the crew? Asleep or something?”

“Oh, there is no crew. I’m the only one on board.” Twilight replied matter-of-factly, revealing the large cargo bay behind the opened door. It was one of the largest areas of the ship, next to the research lab and engineering. “As I said, I’m on a research mission in the nebula, documenting all the phenomena occurring here.”

Rainbow looked at her in surprise. “Yeah, I got that much, but on your own? Isn’t that a little dangerous? What if there was some kind of accident or something? Or a pirate raid?”

“There would be multiple backup systems automatically piloting the ship to the nearest starbase. This is one of the few ships equipped with such technology, actually.”

“Right…” Rainbow said unconvinced as the mares trotted into the cargo bay. She wasn’t too eager to trust Empire technology. She was well aware of the cases in which the Empire would spy on ponies with their so-called ‘backup systems’. It happened far less on ships compared to starbases, but it still happened. “Twilight? I mean, Commander?” she said as an entirely different question came to her mind. “You’re one single pony on a large ship... Aren’t you a bit lonely? Don’t you miss having some company?”

Twilight’s expression changed, looking the slightest bit hurt. “Sometimes I do,” she said, hanging her head, her voice wavered like she was caught off-guard by such a question. “In the end, ponies usually end up as more of a nuisance than anything else, though. I prefer books.” Her ears drooped. “They don’t abandon you,” she said, obviously trying to lie to herself.

“Well, those are problems everypony has to deal with, Commander. If they abandon you, you realize you’ve picked the wrong ponies to hang out with, and you move on," Rainbow replied coldly.

But giving Twilight an in-depth life lecture wasn’t her goal at this very moment. Her itchy wings reminded her why they came here. She wanted... No... She needed to fly. It had been far too long since she was able to spread her wings and let her worries go in the ecstasy of the flight. Excited, she spread her wings without waiting for Twilight to say anything. The air from the cargo bay was stale – she could feel it in her feathers. For some reason fresh air gave her much different sensations. However, it was still air, and this was more than enough for the sky-blue pegasus at that moment. Her wings tingled, a few joints popping as she stretched them.

“Hey! Careful there!” Twilight yelled, dodging the pegasus’ left wing by just a few centimeters as it swung around in exercise.

Rainbow looked over her shoulder in confusion and gave the unicorn a slightly apologetic look. “Heh, whoops… Sorry about that, Commander,” she said, her face turning slightly red from embarrassment.

After a few more seconds of stretching she suddenly took off into the air, her wings now flapping with great enthusiasm. Rainbow giggled with excitement as she passed some of the larger stacks of crates. She had been missing this feeling greatly and for a moment she lost herself, closing her eyes in the ecstasy of the flight, letting the flow of the air ruffle her wings.

One definite downside of space travel was that in most cases ships were quite cramped. This was especially unfortunate for pegasi, who could barely find the room to fly on military vessels. Even the cargo bays on those were almost always chock-full of large crates containing assorted weaponry and miscellaneous supplies.

However, Rainbow Dash's happiness ended up being short lived. With her eyes still closed, she crashed into the stack of heavy containers only a few seconds later. “Gaaaa-AAAAH!” she yelled as she bounced off the heavy crate like it was a concrete wall, plummeting and hitting the cold, metal floor with a painful sounding thump. “Ow…”

Twilight gasped as she lit her horn, teleporting herself next to the crashed pegasus. “Oh my, are you alright?” she asked in a worried tone once she arrived, trying to help Rainbow back onto her hooves.

“I’m fine, just some bruises,” she replied, voice strained slightly, wobbling on her legs. “Just… haven’t flown in a while...”

Frowning, Twilight reprimanded the pegasus. “You should have been more careful, especially so soon after getting up from cryostasis. You could have broken a wing or worse if you’d have fallen from higher up!”

Rainbow snorted derisively.

“Maybe it’s better to give those wings some rest for now,” added Twilight and rolled her eyes.

“What?! Why? I can fly perfectly fine! I’d like to remind you that I was awarded as Best Young Flyer for—” Rainbow countered.

“I really don’t care how good you were in the past, Lieutenant.”

“With all due respect, Commander—”

“Usually ponies who say that don’t mean it, Lieutenant,” Twilight replied darkly. “You crashed doing a basic exercise, and I won’t let you kill yourself to prove a point.” Not giving the pegasus any time to respond, she continued. “Tomorrow there’ll be plenty of time for you to fly as long as you promise me that you won’t tear down the cargo bay.”

“Fine,” Rainbow grunted in response, eager to change the topic of this conversation. “What time is it, anyways?”

“Nineteen-hundred hours, shipboard time,” Twilight answered, sounding like a professor giving a lecture. “Which I hold to Equestrian Main Time. I don’t follow Daylight Savings Time, since I find that one of the empire’s less fortunate... um... inventions.”

Rainbow gave Twilight an amused look. “Welcome to the club… It threw my sleeping schedule off for a week on the Iapyx.”

Twilight chuckled lightly as the two were leaving the cargo bay, happy to know she wasn’t the only one who disliked such inconvenient arrangements.

Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash were both in the small kitchen, the former standing next to the small infrared oven, levitating two meals out of a storage container, tossed it into the oven and turn it on as Rainbow was sitting on one of the four chairs positioned around the small dining table. “Unfortunately I don’t have anything but standard rations, Lieutenant,” Twilight said apologetically.

Rainbow groaned. “Eugh… Well, at least I’m used to them,” she answered disdainfully as she looked sadly at the meal in front of her, convincing herself that those meals contained everything that a pony needed to survive. Everything but taste.

“So... ERD, huh?” Rainbow began, hoping to strike some small talk to pass the time. “Where did you study?”

“Equestria, at the Imperial University,” Twilight replied.

“Equestria?!” Rainbow interjected in utter fascination, cutting off the unicorn before she could finish her sentence. “You studied there? I’ve never even been in the home system, let alone Equestria.”

Just as Rainbow finished her sentence, the oven alerted the pair to the readiness of the food with a beep. Twilight levitated both meals out and sat down next to Rainbow,  setting one of the packages in front of the pegasus and the other at her own spot. “There you go.”

Rainbow opened her package, took a bite off of her moldy tasting and smelling meal, and grimaced in disgust in the same moment. “I lied,” she said as she managed to wash the piece with some water. “I’ve never managed to get used to the taste.” She shuddered. “It tastes just as vile as the first time...”

Twilight giggled.

Rainbow smiled. “So... what’s Equestria like, Commander?”

Twilight paused for a moment, lost in thought as she reflected on every word she was about to speak. “I’ve read that it used to be a beautiful green planet and everyone lived in harmony, being pony or not. There were a few that wanted to disturb that idyll, but they were swiftly dealt with. The world was ruled by two alicorn Princesses, one commanding the sun and the other commanding the moon.“

“What about now?”

“It’s just a giant city. I don’t know what else to say... I wish it had more parks, I guess. But I haven’t been there for years. Maybe it’s changed in that time.”

“Do you miss it?”

Twilight laughed wholeheartedly, causing a chunk of her food to fly near her guest’s ear, sticking to the the wall. “Sorry about that.”

“I’ll take that as a no.”

”I’m a pragmatic pony, Lieutenant. Nostalgia doesn’t really have any practical usage.”

“I... I’m sorry to hear that,” Rainbow replied in a disappointed tone.

They continued to eat in silence, images of the still-grimacing Rainbow kept the unicorn amused throughout the dinner service.

Twilight stopped at a door labeled ‘Quarters’ and opened it with a wave of her hoof. “I have one spare bed in here. You’ll have to share my quarters, though, unless you prefer the cargo bay.”

Rainbow groaned. “There are other chambers as well. Why can’t I—”

“Feel free to pick any other chamber, Lieutenant. Just keep in mind, that this is a research vessel. In most chambers you’ll find dangerous chemicals, of which the vapours could kill you instantly. Two of them are sealed tightly because of that very reason.” Twilight looked at Dash with a smirk. “So, take your pick.”

“I see that I’m drowning in options.” Rainbow lifted her head and tapped her hoof onto her chin, spinning on her hooves, turning towards the chamber exit. “Well, good n—”

“Don’t you even think about it, Lieutenant Dash,” Twilight quickly responded to the pegasus’ comment. “I don’t want to scrape your remains off the cargo bay floor in the morning, just because you wanted to prove me wrong.”

“But I—”

“Are we clear?” Twilight asked with a strict voice, pausing for a mere second, as the pegasus noded sheepishly. “Good. You can shower in there,” Twilight continued with a calm voice, waving a hoof towards a second door, opposite to the one to her quarters. “Though I recommend against doing that for a couple more hours… There have been reports of strange illnesses in some ponies who used detergents not long after being awoken from a cryo state. It’s probably just some form of allergy, but I would rather not risk having any of that on my ship.”

Rainbow nodded slightly in half-agreement. She reluctantly stepped onto her bed and curled her tail under herself, still determined to show the commander just how wrong she was. After all, she had won the best young flyer competition. She just needed to wait a few more minutes for the unicorn to fall asleep. Just a few more minutes.

But the events of the day took their toll as Rainbow succumbed to her exhaustion. It didn’t take more than a minute for her heavy eyelids to close, forcing her body to relax and drift off to sleep.