The Explorer and The Princesses

“Jack, We’ve arrived at our destination.” A feminine voice said through the intercom.

In his bed the man groaned and rolled over facing the black bulkhead next to him.

“Jack, you told me to get you up no matter what.” She said again. A few moments later the bed raised up and stowed itself away, causing the man to fall out onto the floor.

“Ouch! Shit ok I’m up Vicky I’m up…. Give me a few minutes to get dressed. And didn’t I tell you to call me ‘captain’ as well?!” The man said, laying on the floor and rubbing his head.

There was no response from the intercom and Jack sat up slowly. He had dark brown hair that was cut short, along with dark blue eyes. He had a few days’ growth of stubble on his face and was wearing nothing besides a pair of black boxers with white stars on them. Sighing he stood up and placed his hands on his lower back, stretching backwards.

Heading to the small bathroom in his cabin he took a quick shower and brushed his teeth. He had rather pronounced canines, much larger than most but nothing too ridiculous. Some people said it was because he was a dog. Mostly women who were a bit upset with him. He headed back into his room rubbing his head with a towel.

“Taking your time I see.” The intercom spoke again.

“Well I thought I could use a shower and I thought you could use a show so it’s a win-win for both of us.” Jack said, tossing his towel into a nearby hamper. He quickly got dressed in another pair of boxers, then a pair of black pants and a red shirt. The clothing was form fitting, almost like spandex. He then pushed a few buttons on a keypad next to him and the wall slid away revealing a segmented set of armor. He gathered the pieces and began dressing himself. He put his feet into the metal boots that locked closed automatically as his feet were secure. He then sat down into the metal leg plates that wrapped around the front of his thighs. Standing up the rest of the armor closed up between his legs and locked itself into place with the boots. He walked backwards into the alcove and pressed his back into the chest piece of the armor which surrounded his front and locked into place. Afterwards he fit his hands into the open gloves that closed and locked into place like the boots. After the gloves were in place the rest of the armor adjusted and locked into place. Blue lights ran from the boots up to the neck of the suit and down the arms, and a chime sounded as it checked that it was sealed.

This suit was mostly black with a few white and blue highlights around the flexible parts. He grabbed the helmet that went along with it, a black one-piece helmet that had a blacked out visor where his eyes would be. The rest of the front was angled so as to deflect high speed projectiles. He didn’t put his helmet on however, and he just carried it to the door of his room. Pressing a switch on the wall, the door slid open and he made his way down the hallway.

Upon reaching the cockpit, the pilot’s chair was turned around to face him. Sitting down and spinning to face the front he reviewed the glowing orange HUDs that fed him information on his ship and the current star system he was in.

“It’s about time…” The intercom spoke again.

“Well I just wanted to make myself pretty for you baby.” Jack answered.

“Don’t call me baby.”

“Alright Vicky, alright. Status report.” Jack said, his fingers moving along the screen to his right, reading about the supplies he had left. He would have to head back in a few days. He’d been out in actual deep space for over a year. A year of warping from one star to the next. Now he was closer than any human had been to the galactic center. These charts were going to make him a fortune. Of course he’d also have to spend about that much time getting back, but that wasn’t a problem for him, he had Vicky to keep him company after all. Another few moments of silence and he rolled his eyes and looked at the screen to his left, checking to see what the scanners picked up.

“Vicky, can I PLEASE have the status report?” Jack asked, looking up at the roof of the cabin.

“All systems nominal. Fuel at 35%. Recommend refueling at the local star before continuing on. Warp Drive ready to engage. Scanners fully operational. Weapon systems stowed.” Vicky answered Jack after he said the ‘magic words’.

“And how are you today Princess?” Jack asked, gripping the flight stick and putting his left hand on the throttle controls.

“Computer systems are functioning at peak efficiency and memory files have been defragmented. I am fine, thank you for asking.”

“Good, can’t have my number one feeling under the weather.” Jack said, laying in a course for the star at the center of this system. He noted that there were 5 other planets and a few asteroid belts here, nothing out of the ordinary. As for what the long range scanners picked up, nothing here was suitable for life of any kind. Another dead star system.

“I never feel under the weather Jack.” Vicky answered. Jack detected a hint of sass in her voice but just smiled anyway.

“Well how about some music then?” Jack asked, turning his head to the right and sorted through some files. He then selected a song (listen to the music by the doobie brothers)

A few minutes of faster than light travel and scanning each of the planets and Jack had brought his ship back in orbit of the star. He flicked the switch on the console that opened the fuel scoop and let go of the controls. All that was left was to wait and enjoy the music.

“One day you’ll dance with me Vicky. I’m sure of it.” Jack said, turning to the right in his chair, then leaning back and putting his feet up on the console.

“I highly doubt that. Seeing as once we’re done I’ll never be dealing with you again.”

“Oh baby, you wound me.” Jack said, placing his left hand on his chest and faking a deep injury. “After all we’ve been through, you’re just going to leave me?”

“I suppose not… you’d be lost without me…” Vicky said after a few moments. “And don’t call me baby!”

“Yes ma’am!” Jack said raising his right hand in a salute while he was reclined. A few minutes later a chime sounded.

“Fuel stores at 100%, retracting fuel scoop.” Vicky said over the intercoms.

“Alright well I guess it’s on to the next one.” Jack said, removing his feet from the console and spinning back around to face front. He opened up a tab of the star system and then expanded it to the current galactic map.

In the few hundred years after the development of Faster Than Light travel, humans had only successfully started colonizing “deep space”. Deep Space. In all honestly they hadn’t even expanded out a single percent of the galaxy, with less than that sufficiently “policed” and only slightly more than that explored. Jack was out here on the frontiers of exploration collecting planetary data for the corporations that effectively ruled humanity now. While he could make good credits selling maps and data, his true goal was a bit more noble. He was searching for intelligent life. All this time in space and Humans were the only life that they had found. Well that, and what was left on earth. The rest of the planets they found were all barren and there were no extra-terrestrial life forms anywhere in known space. We were alone. But Jack wouldn’t believe that. He couldn’t. The galaxy was too big, and if not in this galaxy, certainly there HAD to be life in another galaxy. The universe was infinite. There had to be more than just us.

Finally plotting in a course, taking him back the way he came would be too inefficient so he plotted the most direct route. He would be taking his ship through undocumented space, but fortunately for him space was big and empty. Nothing to worry about. He throttled up and engaged his ships warp drive and a timer began to tick down. 13 hours until reaching his destination, then it would be another stop for fuel and another jump. And then another two weeks of jumping back to the closest outer rim space station to restock on supplies and updated charts. And of course to make ship loads of credits. Enough to buy Vicky’s dreams. Well, her father’s dreams anyway.

Standing up and looking out the large glass cockpit at the blackness of space he wondered what kind of thing’s he’d see. Even after a year he never lost his wanderlust. He turned and walked out of the cockpit and headed down the corridor that ran the center of the ship. He passed by the “captain’s quarters”, then the “dining room” and entered a large open room with a rug covering the metal deck. On one wall was a large red couch and on the other side was a ship monitor he used to watch old data disks.

“What’s it going to be today? More old 20th century fantasy?” Vicky called out over the intercom.

“You know I’m a sucker for the old stuff. Just watching how people imagined the future would be is interesting. It lets me see how far we’ve come and how far we’ve still to go. Take Star-Trek for example.” Jack said, plopping down on the couch and holding his hand up, making a holographic interface come up as he browsed through the episodes.

“They have warp travel and interstellar ships. But ours are much faster and much more sturdy. We however don’t have replicators that can make anything and everything like they can.” Jack said, finding one of the “Voyager” series episodes.

“They also didn’t have me.” Vicky said.

“True, but Data was a close approximation. In all actuality you’re probably slightly behind Data, since you don’t have a body yet.” Jack said, settling in and watching the open scenes.

“That’s right, Yet.” Vicky added. “And when we get back the first thing I’m going to do is slap you.”

“Vicky darling why all the hate? You know I only tease you because I love you right?” Jack said, smiling up at the small camera in the corner of the room.

“Don’t give me that look. I know you tell all the women that.” She said semi-venomously.

“What other women? Are you hiding them from me? Because I don’t remember any of these mysterious women.”

“Well obviously not recently. However, I do still have some security logs of your…. Visitors.”

“Then you’ll know that nothing ever happened.” Jack said dejectedly.

“That’s right. You lured in women with talk of a ‘big ship’. But when they got here they found out you’re all talk and no walk.”

“You know you’re the only woman for me Vicky.” Jack said, smiling up at the camera again.

Just then the alarm went off and the ship shuddered. The telltale sign of the ship dropping out of warp. He cut off the screen and ran back down the hallway towards the cabin. “Report!”

“We’ve dropped out of warp due to a gravitic anomaly. Engines non-responsive. Recalibrating.”

Reaching the cockpit, the door slid open and he practically jumped into the pilot’s seat, checking the HUDs for any information. It was then he looked up and his eyes went wide as his body froze. An Einstein-Rosin bridge, a wormhole. The first anyone had ever discovered. And not just anyone, HIM! He was the first! This would make him a station’s worth of credits!

“Jack! We’ve got a problem!” Vicky said, bringing him back to his senses. “We’re being pulled into the anomaly!”

“Engine status?!” Jack said, turning his eyes only slightly so that he could see the screen to his left and began going through emergency procedures.

“Still non-responsive and other systems are failing due to electromagnetic interference!”

Jack looked down and picked up his helmet that had fallen to the floor. Upon putting it on the neck sealed and attached itself to the chest of the suit, another beep sounded as the internal display lit up. A big green “Sealed and Pressurized” text box flashed before fading and unblocking his vision. The ship began to shake violently and the lights in the cabin went out, replaced by the emergency red lights. All of the HUDs in the cockpit began flashing reading various error messages.

Then just as if it was only a moment the ship emerged through the other side. Jack had hardly even noticed that he passed right through the wormhole. At the other side the shaking stopped but his ship was still unresponsive, save for the beeping. His ship was accelerating towards a planet though. And for the second time his eyes focused on what was in front of him and his body stopped moving. A planet. But not just any planet. This planet was green and blue. There was no mistaking this planet had vegetation and liquid of some sort. Quickly moving again, he commanded his assistant.

“Vicky! Run planetary scanners now!” Jack shouted.

“We don’t have power for that! We need to restart the engines!”

“Goddamn it Vicky we are going to land on this planet either fucking way! Run the scanners!”

“Vegetation, liquid water, various forms of biological life. The atmosphere seems breathable but there is a variable here I’m detecting. It seems like some sort of electric field all over the planet. It shouldn’t cause problems for electronics though.” He had found life. A wormhole AND life? In the same day? But at the cost of his ship. Not yet, he wasn’t giving up yet!

Jack did his best to get flight controls back online and angle his ship for re-entry. He knew they were going too fast and everything was pointing towards a crash landing. Looking around hastily he removed his hand from the throttle and gripped a small box on his waist. He plugged it into the far side of the console, with a wire leading from the box to his suit.

“Vicky get in!” Jack said.

“WHAT?!” Vicky called out over the intercom.

“Just GET IN. I’m not going to lose you now! Not ever! GET IN THE SUIT!”

Twilight sat up out of bed as her alarm went off next to her. She stared bleary eyed at it, her purple and pink hair a mess from the bad dreams she just had. She let a tear roll down her cheek as she switched the alarm clock off. It had been two hundred years since her friends and her had their last adventure together and Twilight was still struggling with Friendship’s final lesson, saying goodbye. Her muzzle quivered as she took a deep breath. Mornings were hard for her now, but she was a Princess and she had her duties to attend to.

Standing up she walked over to the bathroom and took care of her morning routine. A shower to wash away the tears and the sleep, and brushing her teeth to get rid of any morning breath. Upon exiting the bathroom, she had a towel wrapped around her chest and sat down at her vanity mirror. She picked up a white brush with her old friend Rarity’s Cutie Mark on it and she began brushing out her mane. Her horn lit up and she made the bed behind her magically.

After a few moments of fixing her hair she set the brush down, back in its proper place and headed over to the wardrobe. She let the towel fall as she looked for something to wear. Her light purple fur was illuminated by the moon and candle light in her room. Her body was beautiful by any standard of the word, however she never found a special somepony. All of her other friends had one in their time, but she was too focused on her studies. When the time came however, all the stallion’s she knew were settled down, and she didn’t have any younger suiters. Opening the door to her wardrobe she selected a white button up blouse and black knee length skirt and began dressing herself.

Twilight shut the wardrobe and walked out of her room, stopping only momentarily to grab a clipboard and stack of papers out of the mail slot outside her room. The morning science and magical studies reports. She walked down the hallways of the Canterlot Castle towards the dining hall. As she walked the sun raised up over the horizon and flooded the hallways with light. At the same time all of the lanterns in the hallway extinguished themselves.

Twilight was the first to arrive in the Dining hall and she sat down quietly at the table, reading her reports. Nothing out of the ordinary was reported. Progress had been slow in the department of enchanting tools and construction materials, as well as magical acceleration of vegetation. The door opened and in walked the two sisters, Celestia and Luna. They talked over the mundane events of the court and Luna gave a brief summary of the events of the night. They each took their spots at the table when Celestia spoke.

“Ah Twilight, good morning!”

Twilight blinked and put down her reports, forcing a weak smile to the surface. “Good morning Celestia, Luna.”

The two sisters looked on at their fellow princess. They knew Twilight was having an extremely difficult time. They too had to endure this trial, so they knew all too well how it felt. They also understood that Twilight’s friends were much closer than anypony they had when they had to go through this. Uncertain as what to say, since they had said and done it all already, the sisters looked at each other. This was something Twilight would have to work through in her own way, just as they did.

“Twilight, you might be interested in this.” Luna said, choosing to ignore the proverbial elephant in the room. “Last night a falling star was seen landing in the Everfree Forest.”

“A… falling star?” Twilight asked. “There hasn’t been one of those since… well since Star-Swirl’s time!” Twilight said, her eyes finally gaining a bit of shine to them.

Celestia smiled and her heart swelled with joy. This was what she was hoping for. Maybe this new investigation could finally bring her Twilight back to her. She sorely hated seeing what time had done to her most precious student and dear friend.

“Yes,” Luna continued. “It fell in the Everfree last night and there was reports of a large explosion that followed soon after. Perhaps it is magical in nature? I thought you might like to investigate it.”

Twilight smiled her first true smile in the longest time the two princesses had seen. Twilight quickly stood up and grabbed the fresh tray of hay toast the chef brought out and ran out of the dining hall. The chef watched and sighed, then went back to the kitchen to continue making breakfast. As the two sisters sat and smiled at one another their belly’s growled and they then noticed that she had made off with ALL of the toast. Luna huffed and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

“At least she’s feeling better. I really wanted some toast.”

Jack came to slowly, still sitting in the pilot’s chair he was strapped into. He moved his head and hands slowly, fighting to regain consciousness.

“Vicky….” He said weakly. “Vicky..?”

Without getting an answer he began to come to a little faster. He searched around for the buckle to the seat and unclipped himself. As he came free he stood slowly and then fell to the side, landing on his hands and knees. “Vicky..! VICKY!”

“I’m here Jack, don’t yell.” She answered in his helmet.

“Oh thank the stars. I thought I’d lost you. Don’t scare me like that!” He let out his breath and used the chair to stand himself up.

“You were really worried?” Vicky asked.

“Of course I was worried about you.” Jack said. Vicky was about to say something but Jack followed up with “You’re my baby girl, I’ve got to worry about you.”

“Hmph” came through the earpiece and Jack smiled for a moment before he surveyed the damage to his ship.

What was once a orderly image of technological beauty, was now mostly ruined. Consoles were busted open from overloading, the front viewscreen was cracked the whole way across the canopy. The door was slightly ajar and he could see the hallway was no longer even. That and there was light coming in from the roof, which was never a good sign from a space faring vessel.

“Sweet baby space jesus…” Jack said as he forced his way out of the cockpit. His ship was in ruins. He slowly fought his way through the debris. He had to check the reactor. If that was too far beyond repair he’d never get off this planet.

“Vicky I’m going to need your help now more than ever.” Jack said as he found himself outside in a rather long crater. His ship had broken in half and the forward section was about thirty feet away from the aft.

Once a sleek white vessel that was the flashship model of the corporation that made it, it was now a smoldering blackened husk threatening to go critical. Jack quickly crossed the distance and made his way into the aft section of the ship. Once he reached the engine room he inspected the fusion containment unit. Finding no cracks he looked around at the various consoles. There was one, thankfully intact and he booted it up.

“Low power. Warning, Damage… Yeah you don’t say.” Jack said as he read the screen.

“It seems like the core is stable, but we’ll need a way to restart it. If we could generate enough electricity to start it again, we can get some systems back online and try to rebuild.” Vicky said.

Jack sat down as the console turned off and he looked up at the roof of the engine room. This was going to take a long time, even if he had a whole hangar’s worth of mechanics. Alone he’d be stuck here for years. Well, he was still alive and thankfully he had a month’s worth of power in the suit so he could make something with that time to at least be able to recharge his suit and keep Vicky online.

“Well better not waste any time, let’s go see what we can salvage.” Jack said.

He spent the next hour, caught somewhere between the heartache of picking through the wreckage of his ship, and the giddiness of being on a habitable planet and having gone through a wormhole. He found most of his clothing was intact as well as a set of general purpose tools, a good portion of rations and water, as well as a first aid kit and some of the specialized tool benches in the work room. At least he would be able to refine and process materials in order to speed up repairs.

After packing some general survival gear into a case that could fit on the back of his suit he emerged from the forward of the ship. He looked up at the crater wall and began to climb out.

“I wonder what kind of life is out here?” Jack asked, half giddy with excitement.

Just as he climbed up the last bit of the wall, his head came over the side to see a set of purple hooves, along with several sets of white hooves. He cast his gaze up, following the purple hooves up to purple legs, clad in a black skirt that hugged a nice set of hips. Tucked into the skirt was a button up white blouse that held a very perky set of breasts that were obscured by a set of purple arms holding a clipboard. Just over the edge of the clipboard Jack could make out a shocked expression on the face of whatever this thing was. It’s purple eyes shining brightly. Above its eyes it had a single horn growing out of its forehead and on top of that was a neatly styled purple hairdo with a pink stripe running through it.

“Wow…” Jack, Vicky, and the alien said together in unison.