The Sovereign Chronicles - Of E-SEL and Sabotage

"Apple pie, extra crispy"

The S.P.M hummed slowly into life and began to glow. Bristle watched as the photons of light swirled and condensed into the perfect apple pie. He took the pie from the machine and sat down at the dining table. The dining table was his second favourite place to be on the whole ship and when he was there he was happy. He began to cut into the apple pie. The smell that met his nose was perfect, as usual. That was the problem with this ship, everything was too perfect. Nothing went wrong and no meal was overcooked. He bit into the pie and smiled.

"Perfection" he said happily "Isn't all that bad"

The intercom bleeped. "Great" sighed Bristle "Something else has gone wrong"

He trotted over to the intercom and pushed the "ACCEPT CALL" button. The intercom flared into life and there was the face of Captain Beerbanks.

"Rise and shine, brains" Beerbanks ordered "We got another loose pressure coupling down on C deck. All the other engineers are off being engineers so I reckon you should be able to fix it, seeing as you built the damn thing"

Bristle blinked and answered “I didn't build it, I designed it"

"I don't care. I don't care if the bleedin' admiral designed it. Hell, I don't care if Princess Cadence herself designed it! I'm the alpha male, and you're currently the person I wanna shove into an airlock and blast out into the depths of space. Now fix that bloody coupling" The captain slammed the table and the line went dead.

Bristle looked at the blank screen dumbfounded and then sighed. He remembered back to the day he found Earth. He was going to go far; He had a career due to his discovery; He was showered in fame, riches and even cute little fillies at one point; He was elected to be Cadenza's royal astronomer at one point. He looked out of the window and into the vast expanse of space. How the buck did he end up here? He sighed again and wandered over to his cupboard. He opened it and removed the toolbox he owned. It used to fix scientific equipment. Now it was just used for fixing pressure couplings. It was a shame, they were good tools. What a rotten way to end their service. He picked the toolbox up with his magic and walked out of his quarters.

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Bristle walked through the brightly lit corridors of the ship. Other ponies wandered past him and acknowledged him with a simple nod or an occasional “sir” from the cadets. He turned a corner and saw the coupling that had burst. He was about to walk over to it, but something faded into view out of the corner of his eye. He froze as the shape began to take form. It was a pony shape, and it looked like it was holding a thermal disrupter.

“Freeze” a calm, female voice said.

It was a familiar voice, one that Bristle knew very well.

“Alright Sugardrop, you got me. Now please never do that again” Bristle sighed

Sugardrop’s features came into form. She was a light brown filly with a long, blonde mane. She wore a bizarre looking watch on her front left hoof and also wore a very puzzled expression.

"Something the matter?" She asked. "Or are you being a jerk on purpose?"

Bristle shot her a stern look, to which she pretended to cower against.

"OOOH! The death stare!" She exclaimed in a sarcastic tone "Careful or my head might explode!"

Bristle sighed and looked out of a nearby window. Sugardrop cocked her head and then wandered over to Bristle.

"You really don't wanna be here do you?" She asked, trying her best to be sympathetic.

"No" He whispered. He was trying to hold back the tears that were coming to his eyes.

"Listen" Sugardrop said "You are my inspiration. My king. You're the reason I'm a scientist, and the reason that I'm your lab assistant. What I invented today, this cloaky thing, I invented from your formulae, your theories. You're not useless and you might as well be happy you're here because you're getting everypony down."

"Yeah, thanks. The more you shout at me the happier I'll be" Said Bristle. He tried to cram as much sarcasm into that statement as possible.

"I've got a psychiatric degree" said Sugardrop "If you wanna talk, I'll listen"

"I've got a coupling to fix" Stated Bristle "If you wanna help, I'll take it"

Sugardrop smiled, and then faded from view.

"I'm always here for you" She said.

Bristle smiled. Now he wouldn't know if he was truly alone or not. Trust science to invent things he didn't need. "Ah well" he thought " Back to couplings" He walked over to the coupling and put down his toolbox. Why did he even bring his toolbox? The job was pushing a wire in a hole and hitting the re-engage button. He picked up the wire that was on the floor and plugged it back into the wall. He was about to hit the re-engage button when he noticed something that worried him. The coupling computer hadn't logged any faults in the coupling. He turned to the screen.

"Computer, show engineering log for Coupling 59 mach 2-e."

The computer obeyed and a series of events appeared on the screen.

"Show most recent"

The screen zoomed in to the top of the list. The entry log read "COUPLING MANUALLY DISCONNECTED"

Bristle had discovered a sabotage. He had to report it. "At last, something exciting!" Bristle thought. However, as Bristle pressed the re-engage button he began thinking. Why the buck would anypony disengage a pressure coupling? The worst that could do is switch off the coffee machines. As Bristle thought, a dark pony, whose hair covered his face, wandered over to Bristle.

"Excuse me?" The dark pony asked.

Bristle turned around, only to be met with the sight of a pipe flying at his face at a high velocity. it made contact with the front of his forehead and all went black.