Spacecraft Chapter 1: Maiden Launch
Spike's name was called along with his assigned serial number M-6016. He got up, picked up his bag, and walked to the announcer. She looked like Twilight, but Spike knew, that wasn't Twilight. He hadn't seen her in a long time. The last time he saw her was when he was still a baby dragon. Now, he was almost as tall as a normal person, only slightly shorter. He wore a VekSuit, spacesuit; it was required. It was primarily a dark grey with green and purple lines running up and down, his belt was that same purple.
"You are to report to the loading train number 5 in dock 37b, you are assigned to the Celestia," the announcer told Spike as she continued to record Spike's transfer. The Celestia was a science vessel. Spike nodded to the announcer and proceeded to the loading train. A few minutes later, the train lurched forward and out of the docking bay. Spike looked out a window. Space, the only thing left. A vast... glob, of emptiness dotted with distant stars. The train passed into another section of the Canterlot Core. That was the station that did almost everything. It built the spacecraft used in the fleets, housed the academies, and where the commands were given to the fleet's crafts. Spike looked further up, and saw the Intergalactic Communications Array Tower, more commonly called the I-CAT. It's workings were based of dragon mail. The train slowed and eventually came to a stop. The doors opened and out went an influx of people and inside went another influx of people, doors closed behind Spike and the train shot off again. Beep! Upon hearing that sound, Spike pulled up his left wrist and activated his personnel Wrist-Comm. Up went a small, holographic screen. Directions to the Celesita appeared.
Spike opened the elevator and walked in. Once inside, a robotic voice spoke up. "Please place your personnel Wrist-Comm up to the scanner eye." Spike put his Wrist-Comm up to a small scanner eye. It scanned the Wrist-Comm and the elevator shot upward. The doors opened and Spike walked into a hallway. Spike looked to his left and right, unsure of where he was supposed to go. Beep! Another notification. Spike activated his Wrist-Comm and a new set of directions appeared along with a downloadable folder. Spike pressed the download option and swiped the screen back to the directions. Spike turned left and followed the directions to the . A set of doors slid open and Spike took a step forward.
"Spike." Spike turned his attention to the voice. It was Shining Armor. He was wearing a spacesuit like Spike, but Shining's also had lots of armored sections. In all honesty, he looked like a paladin.
"Uh, hey Shining." Spike said.
"You need some help with finding your room?"
"Uh, sure." Spike nodded. Shining led Spike to his room. Shining scanned his Wrist-Comm at the scanner eye and the door slid up.
Shining turned back to Spike. "Get yourself situated, then come meet me in the weapons testing range. You know how to get there?" Spike nodded. "Okay." Shining made his way to the weapons testing range.
The room was dark. Spike walked in and the lights automatically activated. The was a nock in one wall which served as a single bed. A desk with a lamp and a computer on it. A wardrobe filled with... nothing. One wall had a lighter shade of metal on it and seemed out of place. Curious, Spike walked over to the panel and pressed on it. It peeled itself away, moving to the sides to reveal the outside world. Outside, Mechanical arms placed man-sized orbs with smaller arms into the ship. Utility Craft. Spike turned away from the window and closed the panel back. He pulled out the chair from under the desk and sat down. He booted up the computer, put his left hand on the desk, pulled a little connector out of his Wrist-Comm, and attached it to the computer. The computer linked itself with Spikes Wrist-Comm and the comm updated itself. It only took a few moments.
Spike opened the folder he downloaded earlier and saw it held a detailed set of documents of the Celestia, her mission, crew, and cargo. Sighing, Spike got to reading.
The Celestia is a science vessel designated to the Andromeda Fleet of the Equestrian Empire. Its role is to provide scientific and mechanical services to the rest of the fleet. It is equipped with some of the latest advancements in the scientific field. It has been, as is common practice, outfitted with its own weaponry but is not an assault vessel. The Celestia also is not capable of the mass-teleportation transport spells that allow intergalactic travel done by the drop ships but is equipped with a pulse-drive for interplanetary travel.
The Andromeda's mission is to traverse the stars and find a suitable planet for habitation and to fight off the Changeling Swarm...
It went on for Celestia knows how long. "Sigh." Spike shut off the computer and got up. He turned to his bag and started to unpack his small amount of belongings; a few clothes, old comic books -he never read them anymore-, Once that was done, Spike made his down to the weapons range. The doors slide open to reveal a long room with targets at one end, a line down the middle and lots of experimental weaponry on the other side. Shining motioned for Spike. "What is it Shining?"
"These." Shining placed a case on the table. "Go on. Open it." Spike opened the case and inside was a small plasma-shield augment for his Wrist-Comm and two dual-wield plasma pistols. Each pistol was in the shape of a half U. Spike pulled out one of the pistols and turned it around in his hand. "Give them a test fire." Spike pulled out the other pistol and walked over to the firing range. Down the other side was a moving target. Spike took aim with one and fired. He missed. He tried again, and missed again.
"Showin' the newbie the new toys, Ah see."
Spike turned around to see a pegasus in a pair of blue jean overalls and under that she wore a white VekSuit with the sleeves rolled up and covered with splotches of black grease. Spike could tell she was a mechanic from the Omni-tool gauntlet resting on her right wrist and the belt she wore. It had pouches everywhere, each was filled to the brim with small bits of metal, mostly screws. She had orange skin and short, scraggily blue-colored hair and a pair of folded wings on her back and brown eyes. And she was taller than Spike. "Spike, this is Valery Wrench. She's probably the single greatest mechanic on the entire station."
"Nice to meet ya Spike." Valery gave out a big grin -one eye closed- and put out her hand.
"Um, nice to meet you too, Valery." Spike shook her hand and held a nervous grin.
"Ah see Shinin' was givin' you your weapons and he's shown ya the blaster function. But did he show ya the sword function?"
"Huh, sword function?" Spike blinked.
"Ah'll take that as a no. Here, lemme show ya." Spike handed Valery his blasters. Valery put the two pistols together by the bottom halves and they magnetically locked themselves. She pulled down on the trigger and a sharp blade -made of the same plasma as the shots- sprouted forth.
"Wow." Valery deactivated the sword and handed Spike back the blasters. Spike took the connected blasters in his right hand and pulled on the trigger. Spike twisted the blade in his hand, admiring the blue blade. It gave off a low, enjoyable hum. Spike switched his focus from the blade to his Wrist-Comm and activated the shield augmentation. Four small, white arms extended from the corners and formed a plasma-shield. "Wow again," Spike commented.
"Wanna give 'em the ol' test run?" Valery pointed over to a circular combat ring, specifically one for close-quarters combat. There was a single deactivated combat droid in it.
"Sigh, okay,' Spike exasperated. He stepped into the ring, lowered his helmet's combat visor, and got into a battle stance.
"Dominant foot forward," Shining told him.
"Oh, yeah." Spike switched his footing. "Okay, I'm ready." Valery set the difficulty level and pressed a button. The droid's singular, center eye glowed yellow. It grabbed a short white metallic pole from its back and bent down into a fighting stance. The two ends of the pole extended, forming a staff -as long as Spike was tall- with electricity arching between the grip and each end.
The droid rushed forward at Spike. Spike placed his shield in front, blocking a sharp jab from the staff. The droid responded by jabbing more and more. Electricity crackled at every hit and Spike's shield was quickly running out of power. Cracks formed across the shield. "Spike, ya gotta do more than just defendin', attack some." Spike's shield dropped from low power. Without missing a beat, the droid jabbed Spike in the gut. Spike felt electricity coarse through his body and fell limp on the floor. Upon registering that its opponent was down, the droid deactivated.
Spike sat in the Celestia's bridge. HIs body still ached from the electricity. "Yes, Commander, the Celestia is ready for mass-warp," Shining Armor told the other man on the video screen.
"Affirmative, Captain Shining Armor. Begin mass-warp," the man responded. One of the other ships -the Fleet Carrier- lit up like a star. Reality around the fleet distorted, expanded, stretched outward. Spike's vision got blurry and his ears rang for a moment. Then it was over as reality reshaped itself, condensed back into its natural state. However, the sight before the fleet took them entirely by surprise.
An entire Changeling fleet.
Directly in front of them.
Academy Chapter 1: Remberence
Spike sat down in the back row of the lecture hall. He turned on the Holo-screen on his desk and connected his Wrist-Comm. A screen with numerous diagrams and equations appeared. The professor teaching -Professor Talon- started his lecture, and all in the hall listened intently. All but Spike. Mentally tuning the lecture out, Spike's mind wandered. Wandered to how he ended up in this room, listening to the foremost expert in the field of Faster-Than-Light Travel. Then it wandered to how FTL Travel was even discovered to be possible.
"Spike!" Twilight's voice called out, dragging Spike from his slumber. He looked over at the clock. 2 AM.
"Twilight..." Spike groaned to himself. "What are you doing up this late? This time." Spike walked out of his room and into Twilights lab, but Spike preferred to call it the 'crazy room that something will explode in'. "What is it-" Spike didn't even get to finish his sentence before he was being spun around Twilight in the air like a book.
"Look at it Spike. Isn't it beautiful?" Twilight squashed Spikes face next to hers, both facing a chalkboard.
"Yeah, but what is it?"
"Its the answer. The answer to Faster-Than-Light Travel. Cant you see it?" Spike couldn't say that he did. To him it just looked like a bunch of numbers and some pictures.
"Is this why you were reading all of those?" Spike asked, pointing to a pile of thick textbooks.
"Mm-mh." Twilight nodded.
"Okay. Now, can you go to sleep?" Spike heard a thud and looked over to see Twilight already doing just that. Shaking his head, Spike went to Twilight's room and grabbed her pillow and bedsheets.
After content that Twilight wasn't going to freeze while sleeping, Spike returned to his bed and sleep.
Spike returned to the present from his memories. "A regular FTL Spell-Sphere can only work for the spacecraft that its connected to," Professor Talon said. "And there is a limit to the size that it can effectively warp. A Mass-FTL Spell-Sphere is required to warp more than one ship at the same instance. Due to the complex technical aspects of any Mass Spell-Sphere, an entire spacecraft must be devoted to running it. The Warp Ship is the designated ship for such a purpose." Another student raised their hand. "Yes, question?" Professor Talon pointed to the student.
"Why can't the spacecrafts simply use their own FTL Spell-Spheres?"
"Ahh. An excellent question. Um, you there in the back." Professor pointed to Spike. "Perhaps you can answer your fellow students question." Spike's mind blanked. He was like a deer caught in a cars headlights.
"Because.... because, its too dangerous?" Spike answered uncertainly.
"Uh, yes. Not the answer I was searching for, but yes that is true. Too many FTL Spell-Spheres going off all in close proximity to each other is dangerous. Not to mention what happened if the coordinates entered are off even by a minuscule amount. And a Mass-FTL Spell-Sphere can make much longer warps much, much more frequently. Its just simply easier to use a single Mass-FTL Spell-Sphere than a few dozen or so individual FTL Spell-Spheres." A bell rang. "Oh, well. That's the cue for me to stop. Hehe. Anyway, don't forget the chapters assigned for reading tonight." All the students rose and deactivated their Holo-Screens. The students filed out of the lecture hall, each making their way to their quarters.
The door to Spikes quarters slid open. It was a small room. Two single beds, a bathroom with a toilet and shower, a desk, closet, and a TV. The furthest wall was slanted inward with metal shutters. The metal shutters flew up at the press of a button. Revealing a wide open endless expanse of space. Multiple large rings surrounded the center of the space station. The Canterlot Dome. The biggest concentration of surviving people lived here. A single, tall tower stood in the center. At the top was Princess Cadence's home. Her and Princess Luna are the last remaining Princesses of Equestria. Spike frowned. For the past few months, only Princess Luna had been seen. Cadence never seemed to leave the tower.
Spike entered a Warp Booth. A screen appeared showing the locations of the numerous other Warp Booths in the Canterlot Dome. Spike selected the Warp Booth right outside Cadences home and showed it his Wrist-Comm. "Access Denied!" A robotic voice told him. "You do not have the proper clearance." Spike reselected the Warp Booth and again, he was told that he didn't have the proper clearance. Annoyed, Spike once again selected the Warp Booth and this time, he entered a code onto the keypad. "Override Code Accepted. Prepare for warp." Spikes stomach turned upside-down and inside-out, his body felt like it was being twisted this way and that way before finally settling back to its natural position. He was in the lobby outside Cadence's room.
Princess Cadence heard a knocking at her door. Gripping anything she could to steady herself, she made her way to the door. She pressed a button on a panel beside the door and the door slid open. "Spike!" Cadence grabbed the young drake and pulled him into a bear hug. "Ohh. Its so good to see you again. But, why are you here?" She released Spike from the hug, allowing him the opportunity to catch his breath.
"I-I came to see you. Where have you been? You haven't left your tower. What is it?"
"Come on in and I'll tell you." She moved slightly to allow Spike entrance into her room.
Spike sat down on a bean bag with his hand on his head and Cadence sat at the foot of her bed with a gleeful expression on her face, cuddling her stomach. "You're pregnant?" Spike asked, still not entirely believing what he was just told. Cadence simply gave him a small nod. "And your sure that its Shining's child?" Spike asked jokingly. His face was promptly introduced to one of Cadence's pillows.
"Spike!" Cadence responded, trying her hardest not to laugh. Spike apologized in the midst of chuckling. After he got all of his chuckling out, Spike started to ask Cadence questions.
"Is it a boy or girl?"
"Not sure, but me and Shining have a bet on it." Spike chuckled at that. "My moneys on a girl. Shining's is on a boy. Which do you think?"
"I'll put my money on your side."
"Good choice. We've decided that if its a girl, then we'll name her Flurry Heart. And Fury Heart if its a boy."
"When did you guys find out?" Cadence's smile drooped slightly at the question. She bit her lower lip.
"We found out two months before...." She didn't need to continue. Spike knew what the 'before' that she didn't say was. Before the launching of the Canterlot Dome.
"Cadence?"
"Hmm?" Cadence looked back up to Spike.
"Can I stay here and read?" Cadence gave Spike a quizzical look. "This bean bag is really comfortable." Cadence smiled and chuckled.
"Of course."
Spike was in the middle of the last chapter that he had to read when there was a loud, sharp gasp and a glass cup shattered on the floor. Spike shot up, trying to find the cause of the sudden event. He saw Cadence leaning over a table, clutching her stomach. "Cadence! What is it?" Spike asked, running over to the pink alicorn, being carful not to stop on any shards of broken glass that covered the floor.
"Spike. Its the baby. Its coming," Cadence told him between quick sharp breaths.
Mana is not a form of matter. In fact, matter and mana are two separate things. Matter is any physical object in the universe. Mana, however is a form of energy in the universe.
Mana has a variety of uses but its most commonly thought of use is to power practically anything and everything. Long gone are the days of energy shortages. It has been found that mana is the most potent form of energy. With its near-infinite abundance and cheap and easy collection and control makes it the de facto form of energy. Mana is everywhere and its use is what allowed the Equus race to space travel. Mana is used in casting spells. There are devices that simulate these spells. Spell-Spheres. All spacecraft systems and subsystems are preformed by Spell-Spheres designed specifically for that spell. Spell-Spheres allow Faster-Than-Light Travel through use of recreating teleportation spells.
Nearly every race and species in the universe holds a connection to mana. The Equus race in particular is special in that the four sub-races of Equus can all use mana, each in a different way.
Alicorns hold the strongest connection to mana. They can control mana in all the ways the other three sub-races can.
Unicorns hold the second strongest connection to mana. Their horn acts as an antenna of sorts. The amount of magic they can preform is dependent upon how much mana their bodies can withstand. Too much and they will explode as all the mana forces its way out of the forced containment.
Pegasus hold a more subtle connection to mana. They can use mana to fly -- a natural self-levitation spell, if you will --, control the weather, and create meteorological phenomenon.
Earth Equus, to the uneducated, appear to hold no connection to mana whatsoever. This is false. They hold the subtlest connection to mana. The also have tactile telekinesis (limited telekinesis activated and used through physical contact) and a connection to the very ground beneath them that few others can ever hope to just barely understand.
-Delta
