A Journey Beyond: Equestria's First Ambassadors

"Every ship has to have a captain, and in these sheltered lands of Equestria it is slim pickings for captains that can deal with unprecedented circumstances." -Princess Luna

Chapter 1

Lightning Gale

Lightning Gale looked out to the stern of her ship.  Beyond the bannisters, she was greeted by nothing but a solid endless gray.  The intense fog swallowed what would normally be a beautiful starry night and a lush beach side valley.  Currently the only hint to their surroundings was the distant crashing of waves.  The torches positioned along the length of the ship warded off the fog, if only enough to see from bow to stern.

“Acting Captain,” A young brown unicorn addressed Lightning Gale, “Report from Acoustics.”

“Let me hear it,” Replied Lightning Gale.

“Ma'am, Acoustics reports that all listening devices have failed, echolocation is impossible.  We're essentially blind. We can't get our altitude or location either.”

“Ensign, I can still hear the ocean so our systems shouldn't be having trouble.  How is it possible that our echolocation systems failed?”

“I don't know, Ma'am.  Additionally, our compasses have gone out.  We can't get a reliable read from them.”

Lightning Gale sighed, “Compasses don't just fail, ensign.  Report back to acoustics and navigation.  I want a full report from them asap.”

“Y-yes, Ma'am!”  The ensigns tone was worried.

Once the ensign had disappeared below deck, Lightning Gale made her way to the nearest voicepipe and began to dish out orders in her command voice, being sure to show no sign of her unease.  “Change speed, Ahead slow.  Ascend to 4,000 feet.  All crew move to yellow alert.  Light all torches.  Augmented crew shifts, 12A.”

Moments after Lightning Gale let out the orders, a bell rung out and the ship became buzzed with activity.  Sales were tied, the balloons torch roared as the ship began to ascend, and ponies made their way across the deck to their stations.  As the crew carried out her orders, she relocated to the bow of the ship, situating herself near the forward thicket of voicepipes.  It wasn't long before all stations reported back green.

“Attention,”  Lightning Gale said into the voicepipes, again maintaining an authoritative voice despite the unease mounting on her, “We've encountered an unknown anomaly that is interfering with all forms of navigation.”  The crew on deck were fixated upon her.  She took a deep breath and continued,  “At this time, it is unknown whether the current fog conditions are coincidental or tied to the anomalous behavior of our instruments.  We will continue ahead slow on our current bearing until we either regain our navigational abilities, or we break free of this fog.  I have the highest degree of confidence in all of yo...”  Lightning Gale trailed off.  It hadn't registered with her until just then, but something had changed.

Finally, it struck her.  There was no sound, the telltale flapping of the balloon and the sails had completely gone, as well had the creaking of the wooden ship.  Additionally, the distant crashing of the waves had disappeared.  It was a true and dead silence that sent a chill up her spine.  Despite this, Lightning Gale steeled herself and continued her speech, “I have the highest confidence in all of you to carry out yo-”  The words froze in her mouth, the crew had shifted their view from her to just a few feet above her.  There was a look of terror in their eyes; out of reflex she wheeled around to look.  Before she was able to turn around completely a deafening crack like that of lightning tore through the silence and her ship made a sickening lurch to the side, the sudden movement sent a pulley block into the side of her head, knocking her to the ground.  As her consciousness faded, she caught a blurred glimpse of a black airship to the bow.  She wanted to yell out, to scream 'Evasive action!  Return fire!'.  All she managed was to cough some blood onto the deck before her consciousness slipped away.

<<♃>>

Lightning Gale looked up, a cider filled wooden stein and a worn wooden table against a dimly lit, sparsely populated tavern filled her view.  Her head still down against the table she let out a pained sigh, “That dream again...”  She muttered.  She knew she was lying to herself, it was more of a flashback than a dream.  She still wasn't sure of what had happened and nopony else acknowledged seeing a ship, so she had resigned herself to the belief that it had been a hallucination by her head trauma.  Still, the nightmares and flashbacks haunted her, as well as the memory of the crewmen they had lost that night.

She slowly rose to a normal posture, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she did.  With those thoughts still on her mind, she absently looked out at the rest of the tavern.    The atmosphere of the tavern was oddly relaxing, possibly due to the light thunderstorm taking place outside.  The pitter patter of rain against the windows, and the infrequent flashes of distant lightning was calming.  The patrons were sparse, arranged into groups here and there with the exception of a few lonely souls scattered around.  Unicorns, pegasi, and Earth ponies; but the tavern was largely dominated by bat ponies and griffons.  The area of Canterlot she was in had a very high density of the two, and so it wasn't a shock that they would frequent such a tavern.  Lightning herself, a white pegasus with a two-tone blue and white mane stuck out in the tavern.  The bandage on her head covering the bruising and scrapes from the injury she had sustained when the Regency was lost only caused her to stick out more.  Fortunately, she'd been frequenting the tavern, and thus none of the regulars paid her any more mind than normal.

As she scanned the tavern a little more closely she noticed two officers of the royals sitting together in a corner table.  To her they stuck out like a sore thumb, but no one else seemed to pay them any mind.  The royal officer uniforms were very unassuming, and to an untrained eye would look more like regular streetwear of the upper class.  They kept briefly scanning the tavern before looking back at each other and talking.  While she was inspecting the officers, the door swung open and a pony wearing a large black cloak entered.  She expected the pony to flip their hood down after getting out of the rain, but when they didn't she assumed it was just another seedy character wishing to stay anonymous.  They weren't uncommon in this area of Canterlot.

Just as Lightning Gale turned her focus back to her cider, the cloaked pony she had noticed sat down at her table.  “Erm, can I help you?”  Lightning Gale said, raising an eyebrow at the stranger.

“I do believe you can.”  Came the cloaked ponies terse reply, the voice female.

Lightning Gale wasn't quite sure how to continue the conversation, but after a few moments of awkward silence she managed, “May I ask you who you are before we proceed with this conversation?”

“Luna.” Came the flat reply.

Lightning Gale mulled the name over for a bit.  She'd known a couple 'Luna's' before, and Luna was a popular alias for those who'd rather stay anonymous.  Regardless of the circumstances behind it, she now had a name to address the stranger by.  “What do you ask of me then, 'Luna'?”

“I require a captain for a newly commissioned ship.  It's mission shall be diffcult.”

Lightning Gale's eyes faded, “I'm not your mare.  I'm not going to be anyone’s captain anytime soon.”  She replied, her tone sullen and her gaze sinking to the floor.

“Wrong.”  'Luna' said firmly, “You're the ONLY mare for the job.”  After a few moments of silence, 'Luna' continued,  “...I know about the incident.”

Lightning Gale's gaze shot up at her statement, her eye's so wide it almost hurt, “How could you know?!”

“I have my ways.” 'Luna' replied.  “You are the only captain with experience in unknown conditions, and you conducted yourself admirably.”

Lightning Gale's shock gave way to a helplessness deep within her, “And none of my actions kept my ship from becoming a total loss, or my crew from their injuries.  It's by sheer luck alone that I was left with only this.”  She said as she rubbed the bandage on the side of her head.

“There's no way you could have prevented that.  It was no fault of yours.”

“THEN WHOSE WAS IT?!”  Snapped Lightning Gale, “My crew trusted me, and I led them to that fate!”

“Nothing you could have done would have prevented the incident.  After reading the reports from you and your crew, this was no accident.  I believe you were attacked.”

“How... how could you have read my reports?  That's classified information.”  Lightning Gale tensed up.

'Luna' looked around, then she moved her hood back just enough to finally allow the dim torch light to fall on her face, revealing her identity.

“Y-Your highness!”  Lightning Gale exclaimed before bowing her head.

Luna moved her hood forward before looking around the bar again, luckily no one had been within earshot.  It would have been difficult to discuss these matters had anyone walked over.  “Formalities are to be avoided here.  They may draw unwanted attention, and the nature of our talks are classified.”

“Understood, Pr--  Lun-- Ma'am.”  Lightning Gale raised her head, not quite sure how to address the princess before her.

“Good, now back to my original question.  I need a captain and you're the best pony for the job.”

“What sort of mission is it?”

“To leave Equestria's borders.  Reports of strange encounters have increased recently, and yours is the apex of it thus far.”

“Venture beyond our borders?  With all due respect, since when do we have an interest in the outside world?”

“Like I said, strange encounters have increased.  These things may be normal on the outside, or the outside may know what they are and how to prevent them... if there even is an outside civilization.”

“I... see.”  Lightning Gale's ears drooped.

“Beyond that, we also want to contact other civilizations.  Our isolationist policy is becoming outdated.  We need to make contact with others, isolating ourselves is not the answer.  Especially when our actions most likely affect other inhabitants of our planet.”

Lightning Gale sighed before looking up, “Ma'am, I don't think I want to find a place where ghost ships with power like what I witnessed are common.”  Luna and Lightning shared a reserved chuckle, “But, I am intrigued with the concept of foreigners.”

“Sounds like I've got you hooked then.  Exactly what I wanted.”  Luna made a strange motion in the air with her hoof, and the two officers she had noticed earlier rose.  As they left, Lightning was able to identify one of them as a bat pony.

“Do you have a special connection with bat ponies, Luna?”

“They are big fans of the night.  Suffice it to say I'm more popular with them than with any of the other pony races.  Why do you ask?”

“No reason...”  In truth, there was.  Bat ponies were uncommon in the royal guard, but were the vast majority of Luna's personal guard.  “So when do I get details on this new assignment?”

“Report to the castle tomorrow at noon.  I'll take care of your other duties, don't bother reporting in at the air yard.”  Luna said, adjusting her cloak as she stood.  “I'll be expecting you.”  She said as she turned and headed for the door.  Like that, she disappeared just as fast as she had appeared.

Lightning Gale had a lot going through her head.  As she was mulling over the conversation, she looked down at the table.  A small card had been left on the table where Luna had been sitting.  She picked it up and began to read the handwritting, “A ship will need a crew, and a crew will need uniforms.  Head over to the Wooden Horse Boutique to choose a uniform for your crew.  I've pre-approved some designs, all you have to do is choose from them.  Additionally, if you have any luxury provisions in mind stop at the general stores near the boutique.  The opposite side of this card bears the royal seal, have them bill the castle.  You may purchase anything you feel necessary beyond standard Airship provisions.  Do not feel pressured, the ship will be well equipped and funded.  Should necessities arise during the voyage, they can be procured.”

Lightning Gale looked up, a bit stunned.  She had only just agreed to the assignment, and she had already been allowed to purchase anything she felt necessary on the royal's dime, and Luna had already authorized several uniforms to choose from.  The popular perception of the public was that Luna was a maladjusted princess over a thousand years behind the times.  One who couldn't enter the public's eye without yelling in the archaic Royal Canterlot Voice, couldn't be seen without royal garb on, or was even capable of something as clandestine as what had just happened.  However, the meeting had shattered these preconceptions.

“Huh.”  She slipped out before finally taking a few hearty gulps of her warming cider.