Star Trotter Verse

Chapters

Prologue
Ch1: Breaking Orbit
Ch2: Tension in the Black
Ch3: Letters
Ch4: Can't Get a Break
Ch5: Prime Directive, Part 1
Prime Directive, Part 2

Prologue

Ch0: Prolong

"Captain's Log Stardate 51890.2

"We have just arrived in Sector 21-8B, locally known as the Equus System, for the purpose of making first contact. The planet of Equestria is a large M class world still in its Pangaea phase of development. There are a few large islands but only one continent. The world is at the edge of the solar system of 24 Celestial bodies. Luckily the planet has a small dwarf star orbiting it as well as a small moon, both are about 1000 miles in diameter.

"There are several species on the planet but I intended to focus my attention on the ones who actually achieved FTL. They are a race of Equines that's name roughly translates to 'ponies'.

"They are a race of quadrupes that resemble Earth's horses. It is not uncommon for lifeforms to evolve down a similar evolutionary track but this planet is the first we have discovered where creatures out of Earth mythology evolved as Sapient beings, such as Unicorns and Pegasus.

"They are not exactly like horses as they have a much smaller muzzle and far larger eyes, taking up most of their head and giving them a far greater field of vision then a horse. They are also very small lifeforms with the average height generally being about 4 foot tall. That's only if you measure generously from hoof to head instead of shoulder like your supposed to with horses.

"They have a bright colorful coat of fur with their genitalia located inside their bodies like a reptile's. As such they do not have a concept of 'shame' regarding nudity and only wear clothing on special occasions.

"They have a sixth sense which allows them to interact with subatomic particles and internal energies. How this Energy comes out is different between species. 'Earth Ponies' have enhanced physical abilities and a deep connection to nature. Pegasus can manipulate weather patterns and use their energies to fly at great speeds despite their wings being to small to logically lift their bodies. Well Unicorns can use their horn to bend the laws of physics or out right break them in some cases.

"Even though they understand the science behind these abilities they still insist on calling it 'magic', revealing a primitive mindset. I suppose I should be grateful they at least attempt to understand the science even if they cling to archaic words for it.

"I have just spent the last 6 hours listening to the research team charged with observing the inhabitants of Equestria and I need to say I wish the situation was more promising.

"They seem a very superstitious civilization, clinging to the idea of magic governing their world, yet they have somehow outfitted a ship with a working warp drive engine... a wooden ship... the truly bizarre thing is they actually got it working through creating an artificial environment generator combined with some of the most impressive Deflector shields the Federation has ever seen. All created through some kind of complex energy manipulation instead of traditional technology.

"They successfully tested a... sail boat, some months ago and since then have been modifying a large galley for the purpose of using it as an exploratory vessel. They have been meticulously preparing not only their technology but training a crew.

"Speaking of their technology it is a mishmash of medieval contraptions and advanced energy manipulations not even the Federation is capable of.

"They have a complex network of light speed trains but don't have cars. They have Dilithium based power but never experimented with fossil fuels or simpler methods of electricity. They use primitive film based cameras yet for entertainment they use home projectors capable of sound and complex colors and effects, much closer to 21st century technology yet still using film. Although they watch Home movies through these projectors they don't have traditional television shows. Instead they listen to audio Dramas over the radio and listen to music. They have a style of music very similar to dubstep using the same electricity based instruments but powered directly by a small Dilithium battery. They have wireless earphones with built in compact radios but they still use record players.

"There technology is so inconsistent it's like they just skipped over 3000 years of technological growth well never experiencing half of it, implying their development wasn't natural. At some point in their history someone likely exposed them to remnants of the greater galaxy,"

Picard sighed. The old Starship Captain feeling his age in that moment, "It's a miracle they haven't killed themselves," he muttered before moving on.

"They have a strong matriarchy with the females of the species being in charge, much like Earth Equines. However in recent centuries males have been allowed more freedoms and obtained completely equal rights.

"Although they are allowed in the military a male's duty in these positions is often informing a female in authority of an issue and then letting them handle it. They are only allowed in combat through extra training in specialized branches.

"With how few males there are females tend to shelter and coddle them and have a strong instinct to look out for them well still romanticizing about a strong male capable of defending them, based on their literature.

"Speaking of literature their written language seems like nothing more then scribbles at first glance but is actually a complex alphabet similar to cursive. It likely evolved as such because they have to hold their writing utensils in their mouth.

"Their government seems to be made up of a stable Alliance of City States ruled over by a joint Senate. Where the Senators double as mayors of their city state. However they only meet for one week out of the month to discuss national policy and budget.

"Although they have a Senate the government is largely ruled by a matriarch, who does not have absolute power but near enough. The Senate must vote with a 70% majority to contradict her rulings. Their purpose is largely to rule over the City States as elected officials and to keep the matriarch from doing anything too extreme. The Senators don't even have absolute power in their city either, as they must answer to a council of nobles, called Governesses, for their city.

"In addition to a Mayor some City States have a matriarch of there own who is above them but lower then the ruler of Equestria. On rare occasion the Equines will go through a metamorphosis where they gain both wings and a horn, becoming an 'Alicorn'. The Equines believe these individuals have achieved 'enlightenment' and therefore put them in positions of authority as both ruler and religious figure head. When someone 'ascends' into an Alicorn they are crowned 'Princess' with their descendants being held as nobility, often becoming Governesses of a city state. Although it is rare there are males in government positions.

"At least they appear to be a peaceful race. If anything they are overly forgiving, meaning it might be easy for the less savory types to take advantage of them. Although they are capable of defending themselves through their unique abilities,"

Picard sighed, "That is all relevant data that has been collected. As I said this race is far from promising but, due to our war with the Borg, Starfleet is desperate to open up negotiations with as many planets as possible. They are hoping this race's unique abilities will allow us an advantage in the fight. Regrettably that means the Federation may intend to turn their race into cannon fodder-"

"Will you allow that Jean-Luc?"

Picard groaned turning around to see Q sitting on his coach.

"These ponies are such a peaceful lot," Said Q, oddly serious, "And you're Federation claims to be so enlightened,"

"What's this Q?" the human Captain glared, "I'm in no mood for more of your games,"

"No..." Q voice remained disturbingly calm, "No games Captain, just a courtesy. If even one pony dies as a result of your war I will not be giving you a second chance. I will exterminate every last man, woman, and child, every weeping bab. I will wipe humanity from the face of the Galaxy. I will irradiate your entire species from time itself so you never even existed at all,"

Picard stared at Q a moment. He wasn't acting at all as he knew him. There wasn't a trace of smugness or his juvenile nature. He wasn't shouting nonsense or trying to teach an unwanted lesson through underhanded and unethical means. He was legitimately threatening all of mankind with extinction. Something that contradicted everything they new about the Continuum's interest in humanity.

"Why?" Picard asked.

Q just raised an eyebrow.

"Obviously you aren't acting on the Continuum's interest, and you yourself have spent a good deal of time molding humanity. So I can't help but wonder, what makes these Equines so special. If they were just another of the races you were tormenting you wouldn't be threatening humanities extinction for disturbing them,"

Q... smiled. It wasn't like his normal mocking smile but was almost... nostalgic?

"I had forgotten how inquisitive humanity is. That was one of my favorite attributes of your species. And let's not forget you, particularly, are a clever one. I now remember why I enjoyed my role as your guide so much,"

"Guide? You tormented us, constantly pulling us into your vicious games,"

"Which you always came out the better for," Q dismissed, "I might have had some fun along the way but I always had humanities best interest at heart. At least until you creatures proved how little you changed. Everything you claimed humanity had left behind, all those principles you were so proud of. The Federation abandoned them the second they were backed into a corner.

"You're race returned to doing every underhanded and immoral thing it was famous for the moment you got in a war with a civilization superior to your own. Just how many compromises did Starfleet force you to make to save themselves from the Dominion?"

"Too many," Picard admitted.

"But you beat your enemy and realized those tactics worked. So now you're doing it all again against the Borg,"

"Would you rather we join the collective?" Picard glared, "These ponies of yours are in just as much danger from the Borg as ourselves. They will have to protect themselves. The Federation could help,"

"Really? You'd help them," Q eyed doubtfully, "Would you give them Technology? Medicines?... Weapons? Would you break your precious Prime Directive for them?"

"You know I can't,"

"No, you are one of the few humans who still clings to your morals but they didn't save you did they?" Picard first expected that comment to be mocking but on closer inspection of Q he realized the entity was actually showing sympathy, "I admire your values, even the ones I don't agree with, but that isn't what the ponies need to survive out here. They have their own values. Ones they won't abandon, ones they don't lord over others. They are the ideal your Federation pretends at... would you willingly destroy that?"

Picard didn't answer, he didn't know if he could.

"Look at their world, really look at it. Don't focus on their terminology which offends your human sensibilities. They have dozens of races living on one planet. Entire species that couldn't be more different, and yet they are living in peace with all. They won over all of them with hardly a conflict between the nations.

"They never had slaves or race riots, poverty and hunger were ended centuries ago. Even the males, who were kept subservient for Millenniums, wasn't out of a sense of superiority but practicality. With so few males being born the species would have died out if they hadn't sheltered them. Even then, when they developed potions, fine 'Formulas' if it insults your sensibilities..." Q sighed seeing Picard's outraged face at the term 'potion'.

"The point is when they found a way for a female to impregnate another female using a drop of blood in a 'formula', do you know how long it took them to give males completely equal rights? One year. Once they found a way to preserve the species without oppressing males they were rather quick to correct themselves.

"They are not perfect but they do not claim to be. What they are is able to admit when they are wrong and quick to forgive the flaws in others,"

"You..." Picard stared at Q for a moment but couldn't keep his shock to himself, "You care about them,"

"Not at first, at first they were play things like the rest of you but... they showed me acceptance, understanding, even... kindness. I do more then care for them Jean Luc. I would say I treasure them, might even go so far to say I love many of them... So imagine what I'll do if you allow your Federation to get them mixed up in your war,"

Picard eyed for a moment, "I'll make it clear to Starfleet, the Equines are under your protection,"

"I'd appreciate that," Q stood up, "And don't misunderstand me. I have no issue with the Federation building a relationship with my little ponies. Just don't drag them down to your level,"

Picard eyed, "I take it that means you expect us to protect them from the Borg well not involving them in the war,"

"Clever Clever," Q grinned, "There are certain things, key moments, I am forbidden to involve myself in. I can't protect them from the dangers they would face in the greater galaxy. It would stunt their growth, make them dependent on me. It would become obvious they are unworthy of continuing... that's the last thing I want,"

"Unworthy," Picard rolled the word over his tongue with disgust, "You admit you actually care, no in your own words 'love', these lifeforms and yet you still intend to test their worthiness as you did humanity,"

"It's not just me," Q explained, "If it was I'd likely just rid the galaxy of every threat to them and let them spend eternity in happy peace. Unfortunately I can't. There is an entire Continuum out there and even more beings you don't understand,"

Q eyed the Captain a moment and decided to say, "Humanity may very well be part of this some day so I should explain, for old time's sake. We test you, because we have to. Pocket Dimensions like this one grow on the universe like moles. Too many threaten it's health. Big ones like this must be observed carefully for fear it turn cancerous. Some times they even bump into each other, destroying each other and leaving open wounds on the main body of the universe. Too many of those could very well kill the universe itself.

"That is the purpose of higher beings such as the Q. We repair the damage and try to prevent the wounds from occurring in the first place. We do this... by cutting off the more cancerous moles. Universes we find as unworthy of surviving we destroy. I know what you will say Jean Luc. You think that makes us monsters but in truth we are more like antibodies. If we didn't do our job the universe itself, and all the pocket dimensions growing on it, would die.

"I exist in Multiple dimensions at once, testing them all well having a bit of fun... I showed you what it was like once. I let you experience time as if you were a being in Multiple moments happening all at once. This universe was judged unworthy and I gave you the chance to save it, and you did, even if you didn't fully understand what you were doing. You think me cruel but I convinced the Continuum to give you one last chance. If it wasn't for me your entire dimension would have been cast into the void. You've been given a second chance but it's been agreed that humanity will no longer be the race that decides if this dimension lives. Now it is the ponies turn. What they do and how they evolve will determine if you are truly worthy of survival,"

"... Why them?"

"Because they are the best of you. The Continuum thought it was you at first but humanity let us down with how you behaved during the Dominion war. True you acted in the same way as your counterparts in the main universe but I'm sad to say in order to be judged worthy you actually have to be better then them. The beings in the main universe can do whatever they want. They are the control group that you are judged by and you fell short.

"These ponies proved their goodness though as they usually do in most universes. Then they went beyond by discovering warp before their counterparts. They've done everything right and I hope will continue to do so. They are not the only ponies out there in the multiverse but they are extraordinary. How they handled me was proof of that... You're no longer the focus, and you should be thankful to be rid of that burden. But now these ponies are. What they do as they sail the stars will prove if your universe is truly worthy of surviving,"

"And the Borg is there test?" Picard speculated.

"Borg? No... not yet. Not all test are found in battle. I thought you understood that?" Q looked disappointed, "The Borg are just something I personally don't want the ponies involved in at this moment. The Continuum couldn't care less if you dragged the ponies into your war. We know they would win it for you, but I am not willing to let millions of them die for the glory of serving your name. Not when they are so much better then the lot of you. A war between the ponies and Borg would prove nothing to the Continuum as they would not be making any real morally questionable decisions during it. They'd just be battling monsters.

"No the Continuum has a different test in mind to truly judge their character. To see if they are capable of shaping this entire dimension into something worthy of the space it takes up. These test will likely last for hundreds if not thousands of years, but the first test. That is always the most important. It will determine if the Continuum even bothers with future endeavors. If they fail we will not be cruel and end this dimension's existence as painlessly as possible,"

Picard glared, "Including the ponies you love,"

"You misunderstand," Q shrugged, "As I said before I exist in multiple dimensions simultaneously. I am surrounded by billions of various pony civilizations. I care for all of them and well losing one will be painful it will not be as great a loss as you imagine,"

Picard growled, "Just when I was beginning to think there was something redeemable about you,"

Q glared, "That's your problem Jean-Luc. Where you, as a species, fail. You think that because I experience emotion differently then you that I am somehow inferior to you. You're entire race is remarkably judgmental of things with a different concept of mortality then yourselves. I am an immortal being, charged with measuring the worthiness of entire dimensions. That's billions of trillions of lives. Yes there are individuals here I truly dread to loss but I know they will die. If not now then centuries down the line.

"Yes it will be painful to lose them but life goes on. I will grieve and move on just like everyone else when they lose someone. The only difference is where you grieve over a single friend I often find myself weeping over the lose of entire dimensions, but still I except that is part of my life because it is better then losing them all,"

Picard eyed him, "You're trying very hard to make me understand you. Explaining the very secrets of life in a hope I will give you absolution,"

Q smiled sadly, "You might not believe this, and most likely don't feel the same way, but I always considered you a friend,"

"... you think the Equines will fail their test..."

"... I think... you will get in the way. That your Federation, in it's oh so superior enlightenment, will try to meddle. You can't help it. It's how you are. I think, now that you know all this, you will feel obligated to insert yourselves in the ponies lives and try to guide them through their test as if you hadn't failed your own,"

"You're counting on it," Picard realized, "Humanity getting in the way is part of their test. You're not just warning me through your own self interest but trying to get the Federation as an obstacle in whatever you have planned for the Equines. You're trying to see if we would doom the universe by trying to save it,"

Q smiled, an oddly satisfied smile, "It seems I said too much. Yes Jean-Luc, you're an obstacle... but not the test. That involves another culture. A familiar face though you don't realize the ponies have met,"

Picard sighed, "More riddles and secrets, I thought you were being frank with me for once,"

"I can't tell you everything. If you ever sit on my throne you'll understand why but for now it's too much for you to grasp. You may think highly of yourself but you aren't a god, not yet,"

"You may claim to be omnipotent but you are not God," Picard was adamant.

Q smiled, that mocking grin was back and any hope of getting any more answers was gone, "Lower case 'g' Moi Captain, and although it offends your sensibilities it doesn't change what I am..." Then he sighed, "The pieces are on the board. It's time for the test to begin... pencils ready Captain. Let's see how well you lot do on the final," and with that he was gone in a white flash.

Picard stood in his ready room, trying to process what he just learned. Unfortunately he didn't have the time. The door opened and several security officers ran in with phasers armed.

"What is the meaning of this?" Picard asked.

The chief of security, a Klingon named Worf, spoke up, "We have been trying to contact you for several minutes but the door to your room was locked,"

Picard groaned, "Q," pinching the bridge of his nose.

Worf nodded and signaled to the others to leave, "It's likely he wanted to stall us,"

Picard blinked, "Too what end?"

"A ship just landed on Equestria. It's been identified as a Ferengi vessel,"

"Captain Solopax," Filthy Rich grinned as the ugly creature walked towards him.

It was only about as tall as a pony but walking upright on two legs like a Minotaur. It had orange wrinkly skin despite being a young adult, a skinny body, a large head, and larger ears. As well as the sharp teeth of a predator. Of course it was always better to be friends with a predator then risk ending up their lunch. It wasn't like Filthy didn't do business with other predators.

"Mister Rich," The creature gave a toothy grin as he walked over to the counter. "It's good to see you again. Were you able to collect more of those crystals for me?"

"Of course," Filthy smiled, "The Pies have been working hard on their rock farm, mining out the material. They are quite happy to have a steady income of bits. Usually they just get a small check from the government for creating erosion,"

Solopax nodded, "Yes I am amazed by how this world seems frozen in space. You have to manually control nature itself,"

"Most ponies have gotten so used to it to the point they find the notion of nature acting like, well nature, frightening," Filthy decided to make small talk as he began walking towards the back.

He found it helped business practices if he treated his clients like friends. Not to mention that this was a special case. Filthy was acting as an ambassador of his world for all intensive purposes. These creatures knew nothing of ponies and he knew nothing of them. To help future relations between their cultures he had to be a good host. Thankfully these creatures had a strong respect for male merchants.

"That seems a strange mindset to have" said the wrinkly orange bipedal.

"Well, it's been this way for a thousand years," Filthy explained, "Discord, the spirit of chaos, spent a long time toying with the laws of nature. Even after he was defeated the world was filled with such scars from his magic it kinda just... stopped. Luckily all the various pony tribes came together and began using their unique types of magics to get the world going again. It takes a lot of work but we've gotten used to it as a matter of course,"

Finally reaching the door to the storage, Filthy quickly led the creature inside but groaned seeing his wife, Spoiled Rich, talking down to the staff as was usual for her. This certainly wouldn't look good to his new client.

"Sweet Heart?" Filthy tried.

"Not now Filthy," She huffed, "I'm getting these incompetent buffoons to reorganize the shelves. They got them in the most obscure order you could ever imagine,"

Filthy sighed, whenever his wife came into the store she always messed everything up. He felt doubly bad for the employees because they would just have to move everything back to the system they were supposed to be using as soon as she left otherwise they would be confused for months. He'd better close the shop early and give them a hoof. A whole day wasted, at least he was about to get a nice paycheck today as the go between for the Pies and Ferengi Captain.

"O-okay dear but... do you mind if I get two or three of them? I need help moving the Crystals into Captain Solopax's ship,"

Spoiled huffed again, "Just take a unicorn. That should be more then enough,"

"Actually," said the only Unicorn in his employ, "I can't really lift any more with telekinesis then I could physically,"

"Then what good are you?" Spoiled scuffed.

The Unicorn got a little defensive, "Hey I got my cutie mark in retail, not magic,"

"ARE YOU TALKING BACK TO ME!?" Spoiled screamed.

"No I-" The Unicorn tried to take it back but Spoiled won't hear of it.

"You're fired! Get out of my shop!"

The Unicorn glared and walked away from her.

When he reached the door of the Storage room Filthy quickly got his attention, well Spoiled's attention had already moved to chastising the others, "Just come back tomorrow, she won't remember you,"

The Unicorn glared at Spoiled a moment, who already forgot he existed, "No... thanks for the offer Mister Rich but it's not worth it,"

"I'll... I'll raise your pay, 3 extra bit an hour," Filthy promised.

"No offense Mister Rich, I think the world of you but no job is worth this,"

Filthy's ears pinned back, "I... I'm sorry you feel that way. Best of luck in your endeavors and feel free to accurately mark down on your resume that you quit here. I'll verify that if any of your future employers contact me,"

"Thanks," The Stallion smiled and walked away.

The Ferengi looked confused, "Why did you offer him so much to stay?"

Filthy sighed, "It's hard to find a pony with a cutie mark in sales. He was one of my best employees,"

The Ferengi looked even more confused, "How could you let a female sabotage your business like this?"

"Well... this may be my family's company but Spoiled is the head of my household, thank Celestia not the family. She married me centuries ago and I was really pleased when she took my name instead of insisting I take hers but... honestly I just think she did that for the recognition of being a Rich.

"Our marriage was arranged by the head of my Family, my mother Insanely Rich, for business and political reasons... Mom was mad grandfather didn't leave the company to her when he stepped down but was proud of me for inheriting the business side of things. I've always had a good head for business. However mom thought I needed a strong mare by my side to help me so she married me off to Spoiled for her connections in high society,"

"You... were married off... to her..." The Ferengi seemed baffled by this.

"I know arrange marriages aren't as common as they used to be but they still happen, especially when old money is involved. Thankfully Diamond is starting to take my lessons with her on business and mutual respect more seriously. Mom is getting up in years and thinking of stepping down in a century or so. Then She'll hoof over the family duties and control of the family vault to Diamond... I think she'll do a good job. Ever since she became friends with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, they're a little club of fillies, she's really turned over a new leaf,"

The Ferengi was just staring at him, "You mean to tell me... the females are in charge of this world?"

Filthy blinked confused, "Well Stallions have gotten more positions in government in recent centuries but yes politics remains a largely mare dominant position. My grandfather actually received a hard time being a working Stallion 500 years ago but things have gotten much better,"

Solopax looked utterly offended for some reason, "How could you let females boss you around. How could you let your wife interfere with your business when she clearly doesn't understand anything about it,"

Even though Filthy realized Solopax wasn't really asking he felt compelled to answer, "I imagine it's different where you come from but here there are far more mares then there are stallions. Mares had to micromanage us and even control our breeding habits at one point or our species would have suffered from inbreeding at best and extinction at worst. Those aren't really issues anymore but-"

"So for your species MALES are the weaker of the sexes?" The Ferengi gaped.

"Errrr... yes?" Filthy admitted. In a literal sense mares were physically stronger, "But between you and me I like to think Stallions are smarter,"

Solopax groaned, rubbing his head, still clearly confused and agitated by this news.

"It isn't really so complex. Although we have a strong matriarchy, Stallions have all the same rights as Mares. We can even serve in the military now... Although only specialized factions allow us in actual combat... that's not helping is it?"

Solopax glared, "No,"

"Well all species are bound to experience culture shock at times when developing relations. From what you're implying you have a male dominant society and in all honestly I don't really get how that could work. It wouldn't for ponies anyway but I'm sure it works brilliantly for you,"

Solopax sighed, rubbing the wrinkles on his forehead. He suddenly grew cold, "All I say is if your wife dares speak to me like that our business is through,"

"I'll make sure we stay out of her way but... maybe it be best if you waited in your ship? I'll start bringing in your order right away,"

Solopax sighed, "Very well," and went back to his ship.

As the Ferengi left Filthy sighed and went back to his wife to try, again, to get some of his employees away from her so they could actually do their jobs.

After 20 minutes of shameless pleading Filthy managed to get his wife to leave and his employees finally got around to moving the crates of crystals onto the Ferengi ship just outside.

Filthy wasn't sure why the Ferengi wanted so many crystals. Sure they were a good magical conductor but all you needed was one to power a city for a few years. However the Captain Ferengi was buying hundreds of crates full. Still he was being quite generous with the amount of gold he was paying for them.

Filthy grinned gleefully as he watched the Ferengi move large chest after large chest of gold into his store vault.

"STOP!"

Filthy gave a yelp of surprise as he turned to see Princess Twilight running over to the ship. She was accompanied by the new Ponyville Royal guard. Even though Ponyville had turned into an official City State some years ago their Princess was rarely seen being escorted by the guard. She was known for being a Princess of the ponies and not willing to give in to many formalities. She didn't even like for her subjects to call her "Princess" and was on a first name basis with everypony.

"Twilight?" Filthy blinked.

"Sorry Filthy," The Princess stood as tall as her little body could, "But I've just received word that these Ferengi are cheating you and the Pie family,"

Filthy blinked, "I had the gold tested. It's perfectly authentic,"

"Except for the fact it's worthless to them!" Twilight exclaimed, "We were looking over the blue prints to the Alchemy Machine they sold us and it turns out gold is one of the easiest metals to create with it! Discord says it's just a common building material to the rest of the Galaxy! They've been cheating us for months,"

Solopax looked nervous, "Now you're highness-"

"Arrest these ponies!" Twilight demanded her guards.

The Ferengi crew quickly pulled out their phasers and pointed them at the guards.

Solopax grinned, "Now you're highness think this through. Our weapons are far more advanced then your Spears,"

The Alicorn's horn began to glow and all the Ferengi weapons turned into a swarm of butterflies and flew away.

The Ferengi stared at the Alicorn in horror.

"I suggest you come peacefully," Twilight warned.

"N-now Princess," Solopax stuttered, "No need for that. All we did was trade your species something valuable too you. What does it matter what it's value to us is?"

"You tricked hundreds of my citizens by trading them something that they can't even USE in the galaxy! You led us to believe we could continue to do business with other races with our currency. We've been stock piling gold for moons for the purpose of trading with other cultures who would have just laughed in our faces! You've held our space program back by months, MONTHS, and stunted the growth of our civilizations because of this prank!"

Solopax gulped as the guards began to escort them to the Castle.

Twilight sighed, sitting on her throne at the Cutie Map. Ever since she first conceived of the Warp Enchantment the Map had shown an image of the entire galaxy. It hadn't called them anywhere yet but it was clear it wanted to. It was just waiting for them to leave.

She still didn't fully understand the map but she knew it had purpose. It wanted them to help Equestria become a better place, and it had. All species were united under a single rule and all were treated equally.

When the Ferengi first appeared she thought the galaxy would be much the same. They seemed so nice and were eager to be friends.

"So what's the plan?" Discord suddenly appeared in a white flash and sat next to her in a throne of his own, "Keep them locked up in the Dungeon for all eternity?"

"Of course not,"

"Right of course, they need a trial first," Discord nodded.

Twilight sighed, "I thought things were going so well. The greater galaxy was welcoming us to the stars and we hadn't even finished our first Warp capable ship,"

"It's sad isn't it?" Discord gave a mocking grin, "Maybe friendship isn't as valuable as you think it is?"

"Valuable," Twilight rolled the word over her tongue as it clicked, "The Ferengi talked a lot about things being valuable or profitable. They seemed obsessed with it,"

"All the more reason not to trust them,"

"No, we've been treating them like ponies but they're not. They don't think like us. So we have to try to think like them,"

Discord raised an eyebrow, "Really? That's your big plan for them? Pat them on the back and say 'don't do it again',"

"No they would see us as weak then. We need to explain things to them in ways they would understand,"

Discord scuffed and Twilight glared, "I'd think you would be all in favor of giving somepony a second chance. If we weren't willing to you would still be a statue," she scolded.

"You forget Celestia had me imprisoned in that stone shell for a thousand years. Perhaps these aliens require similar treatment?"

"I'm not turning anypony to stone!"

"You turned me to stone,"

"You were trying to destroy the PLANET!"

"Just having a bit of fun," Discord pouted, "And I never actually meant any of you any harm. These creatures willfully tried to trick you. They robbed you of thousands of pounds worth of Latinum,"

"Latinum?" Twilight blinked

"It's what the galaxy use as currency as it can't be replicated," Discord yawned, "Froggy Bottom Bog is actually rich in it,"

Twilight sighed, "I guess that's good. We'll at least be able to convert our currency easily enough... I don't know how the Dragons will feel about gold being proven worthless.... DRAGONS!" Twilight suddenly yelled.

Discord smiled but said nothing.

Twilight continued anyway, talking herself through it, "The Ferengi are obviously obsessed with riches but it's more then that. It's almost like they NEED to collect wealth. Both Dragons and Griffins have a strong hoarding instinct which they express through collecting wealth or items of sentimental value. The Ferengi seem to behave in a similar manner, likely due to having a strong hoarding instinct!" She realized, "We can't treat them as ponies because they don't think like ponies. We need to treat them like Dragons! I know just what to do!" she got up and ran from the room.

After a moment Discord spoke to the now empty room, "It seems things are going well,"

There was another flash of white light and a gray pony appeared seated at the table, "You made things far too easy for them," the Stallion accused, "If the Federation had gotten involved this would have been a much greater test. But you went and scared them off!"

"It's not my fault Picard saw through me," Discord faked innocence, "Besides the test isn't over," Discord informed, "They have the entire Ferengi civilization to deal with. All they did was what they always do, try to understand those that did them wrong. They took the first step on that path, but will it be enough to persuade an entire people with that mindset? They have a good track record so odds are good,"

"I still say letting them discover the secrets of the Borg would be a much better test,"

"We'll get to that, eventually, but now it's best if they keep their distance,"

"Take off the kid glove Q or we will replace you with someone actually willing to truly test these creatures," the pony disappeared in a flash of light.

"Try it and you'll burn long before this world does," Discord calmly informed but truthfully he knew his words were hollow. He couldn't take on the whole of the continuum. With a sigh he vanished in a flash of white light.

Twilight forced herself to walk calmly as she entered the Dungeon. She approached the bars of the cell and looked deeply at Solopax.

"I truly didn't mean anything by it," the Ferengi tried, "Gold really is valuable to you. All we did was give you what you wanted. Is it OUR fault what you wanted wasn't worth it's weight in paperclips!"

"How would you like to work for me?" Twilight smiled.

The Ferengi blinked.

"We obviously know nothing about the worlds beyond our own and your knowledge would be incredibly helpful to make sure we don't get conned by somepony else. We also need a spokespony for when we officially make contact with your world,"

"So I am to be an indentured servant?" Solopax drooped, "You want me to work off my debt,"

"No, you'll be paid, in crystals and precious gems. I looked at the blueprints of the Alchemy Machine and that can't seem to replicate anything magical. Besides we know the value of those so you won't be able to cheat us again,"

The Ferengi just kept staring at her, completely baffled.

"Everypony is entitled to a second chance. I'm giving you the opportunity to redeem yourself,"

"Why?" Solopax stared.

"It's what we do," Twilight shrugged, "Call it a flaw," she started to walk away, "You'll be spending your time down here til the next full moon but when you get out there will be a job waiting for you... if you want it... oh but as compensation for the trick we'll also be taking your ship. Allowing us to reverse engineer your technology will be more then enough to cover your debts to us,"

Solopax actually smiled, "You're rather shrewd. I can respect that, even in a Female,"

Twilight tried not to be offended and just walked out. She could here the other Ferengi laughing at Solopax in what appeared to be camaraderie.

Twilight couldn't help but smile, that went well.

Ch1: Breaking Orbit

Diamond grinned as she looked at herself in the mirror. She wasn't used to wearing armor but at least it wasn't a full body suit. It was only a Scalemail Cuirass with Boots made from the shredded scales of a dragon... Those dragons sure charge a lot for the bits of skin that fall off them. Of course Dragon scales were extremely dense as well as held a lot of eternal magic to the point enchanters could make permanent enchantments. The enchantment on this armor made it harder to land a hit on the wearer.

Under the armor was a thin full body suit made out of a similar cloth as the Wonderbolts uniforms. It was a stronger, lighter, and more flexible fabric then Kevlar as well as easy to enchant.

Where the Wonderbolts enchanted their uniforms to protect against weather the spacers enchantment allowed the wearer to survive the vacuum of space. Unfortunately this enchantment wasn't permanent. It had to be activated and used up some of the stored charge each time it was. Still this was a really good enchantment which lasted 30 hours when activate with enough charge to be used everyday for a year. Then you could just use a magical crystal to charge it back up.

The uniform also came with a belt with a bunch of pouches that were bigger on the inside. This Extention charm allowed each crewpony to carry thousands of pounds of equipment without weighing them down.

The enchantments weren't the only features either, although they were the coolest. The color of the armor reflected the rank of the wearer well the color of the cloth showed their position. Gold Armor was for Captains, White was for Senior Officers, Silver was for Officers, and Black was for Deck Hooves.

All jobs were seperated into one of 4 departments.

Medical Officers, who wore blue suits, looked after either the mental or physical health of the crew, which included moral maintenance such as planning parties. It might sound silly to races like the Ferengi (as Diamond had met a few of those since they landed in Ponyville) but party planners were so necessary to pony survival they were government employees with parties being paid through taxes. As a pony's mood altered the area around them it was very important to keep them happy. Because of this the party planners onboard the ship were listed as Medical Officers.

Then there were Enchanters. They wore yellow and were tasked with scientific and magical research (as they were one and the same thing) or maintaining the enchantments of the ship and it's equipment. Those that worked on the enchantments themselves were also expected to make new enchantments to benefit the ship and her crew.

Helms Ponies wore green and were charged with either piloting the Ship, Navigating it, Tactical, or observing communications.

Well Deck Hooves wore red and did all these jobs as well as cleaned and maintained the ship and even cooked.

Diamond was wearing the Attire of a Deck Hoof. Technically she was Doctor Wolf's apprentice but since she was coming with him on the ship he arranged for her to study with the other 20somethings onboard. Diamond was learning to be a therapist under Doctor Wolf but she never imagined that would lead her to becoming a spacer. Still the idea of traveling the galaxy well at the same time using her cutie mark to help people just seemed like a match made in Heaven.

Diamond's special talent was getting other ponies to do what she wanted and through that it gave her the ability to read them pretty well. She was good at understanding and manipulating ponies but realized she could use that to actually help ponies. She could understand them and so help them understand themselves. Then walk them through doing what was best for themselves.

Father was proud of her well Mother was ashamed. Mother wanted Diamond to focus on the family business instead of "running off into space". Of course the older mare had never approved of her daughter's desire to become a therapist. She always insisted it was a phase.

Diamond sighed, she never really got along with her mother and stopped trying to live up to her messed up expectations a long time ago. The grown filly was looking forward to being a Deck Hoof.

Deck Hooves were Apprentices learning all the trades onboard a ship well also doing the Grunt work. Because of how they were trained Senior Officers were expected to be well versed in all jobs in their department. At least those were the best of the best ponies Twilight had hired for those jobs.

Twilight had worked hard with the other Elements of Harmony. They came up with the rules of Ponyville's space exploration fleet. Weird as it was just one ship so far but Twilight was always one to obsess over every little detail. Diamond had gotten to experience that first hoof ever since she became friends with the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

As Ponyville was a City State now Celestia entrusted them with running the Space Fleet. Of course that only made sense as Twilight invented the Warp Enchantment.

Each City had their own little duty for the betterment of all Equestria and as the Elements of Harmony spread Friendship all across the planet that was kind of their thing. They had repaired relations with all races on the planet and united them under Celestia's rule. It just made sense Ponyville would also be charged with forming diplomatic relations with other planets.

"Diamond!" Father called from downstairs, "Stop admiring yourself and come down to breakfast,"

The young mare blushed. Okay so maybe she was still a little vain but you can't expect her to magically rid herself of all her flaws.

"This will probably be your last good breakfast for the next 5 years," Father called up, "You don't want it getting cold do you?"

"C-coming!" Diamond called back. She took one last glimpse of herself before heading downstairs.

Father and Mother were sitting at the table waiting for her.

Father grinned widely seeing her, clearly proud, well Mother looked disgusted by her uniform.

As Diamond seated herself Mother stuck up her nose and clapped her hooves together. Immediately ponies flooded in and laid out large bowls of food that would make any herbivore's mouth water.

"Madam Rich," Their butler bowed as the staff quickly fled, "The Chefs prepared a great feast in honor of young madam's journey to the stars. Starting we have a nice strawberry salad with s-"

"I can see what it is," Mother scoffed, "Now kindly get out,"

The old Butler flinched but did as he was told, leaving the dining room as quickly as possible.

"Honey," Father tried, "There was no call for that. He was just doing what-"

"Not now Filthy," Mother brushed him off before glaring at her daughter, "Just how far are you going to take this little rebellion of yours,"

"I'm not rebelling mother," Diamond tried to keep her voice calm.

"Are you actually planning on flying off in that death trap just to spite me?" Mother huffed, "I've allowed you to waste all the money I had saved up for a proper apprenticeship on that horrid rodent,"

"He's a wolf," Diamond corrected.

"That's not the point!" Mother snapped, "Now you're going to follow that lowly thing off on some half baked adventure. I've waited patiently for you to come to your senses but that was my fault for not realizing you had long since lost every ounce of sense. I'll give you one last warning young mare. If you get on that ship don't expect me to support you any further,"

Diamond glared, "You think I'd care if you cut me off. I've been working to earn my own money since I was 15," true it was helping out her father at his shop but he did pay her. It was a real job and everything.

"How about if I disown you?" Mother sneered.

Before Diamond had time to react to that her father roared, "Over my dead body you will!" He banged his hoof on the table, "I'd sooner divorce you then let you drive away my daughter!"

Mother put on her best fake smile, "Come no Filthy I wasn't serious. I just want Diamond to-"

"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" Filthy yelled.

"Filthy please, you need to understand. I'm just worried for our daughter,"

"You're just pissed that she's no longer a good little pawn for your ladder climbing schemes!" Filthy roared, "You obviously think I'm a door matt but you clearly overestimated yourself if you think I'd EVER choose you over my daughter! I don't even LIKE you! Get out! Get out of my house now!"

"Fine!" Spoiled stood up, "I'll spend some time over at our summer home as you get over this little hissy fit! Come find me when you're ready to apologize!" and with that she stormed out.

Diamond just sat there, dumbfounded.

Filthy just sighed, "Sorry you had to see that. The last thing I want is for you to be thinking of something like this well your out there,"

"S-she wasn't serious," Diamond tried to assure even though she knew it was a lie, "You know mother. She's always making idle threats"

Filthy looked at his daughter a moment and she could practically see the gears turning in his head, as if he was debating with himself what he should tell her, "You're not a little girl anymore... you should know what goes on behind closed doors,"

"Ewwwwwww!" Diamond exclaimed, "What's THAT have to do with anything!?"

Filthy chuckled but quickly grew more serious, "I meant you should probably know what your mother talks about in private,"

"... Do I really want to know?"

"... probably not... this isn't the first fight we had about your future... nor the first time she made that threat. I told her what would happen if she tried it. She seemed to think I loved my money more then you... she really is a despicable mare..."

"... You're... you're going to divorce mommy?" Diamond felt her whole body go numb. This wasn't something fully grown mares should have to deal with!

"The only reason we stayed together so long was because of you. You deserved a mother to teach you how to be a strong Mare,"

"What about the business?" Diamond tried to focus on Father's real passion.

"I'm only the CEO. As head of the family mother, technically, owns it well not having any real power over it. Spoiled couldn't force a single share out of my control,"

"But... but..." Diamond started grasping at straws, "What about grandmother? Won't she be upset?"

"Mostly at herself when I tell her the mare she found for me tried to make me choose between her and my daughter,"

"But your money! Mom will get half of everything!"

"Honey. My cutie mark might be a bag of bits but I've never been greedy. Business is my passion, money is just a nice side effect... and it could never be more important to me then you,"

Diamond felt like crying. Her parents really were breaking up, and it was all her fault. If she didn't take this stupid job-

"Sweet cake," Filthy got her attention, rightly guessing what his filly was thinking, "You've always made me so proud. Please continue to do so. You're mother might not see it but you're making history here. A real adventurer on the crew of Equestria's first space ship. How can you pass that up?

"And I couldn't be more proud knowing you earned it. You didn't ask for my help, not even once. You worked your flank off through the training program all on your own. This is your destiny. Please don't let this moment taint that,"

"I'll... try..." Diamond held back her tears.

"That's all any of us can do," Father smiled at her, "I love you,"

"I love you too daddy,"

● Meanwhile, at the Ship

Twilight sat at the table in the Observation lounge of the Ship with it's Senior Staff, going over all the last minute details well her friends made themselves comfortable in their quarters. The Elements of Harmony were only acting as ambassadors. They had little to do with running the actual ship. Twilight was only being informed of the ship's progress as she would be giving them their missions but it was up to the Captain how to execute those orders.

Twilight trusted that job, and the Senior Officers, to the highest ranking members of her court. They were originally entrusted to serve her crown when Ponyville became a City State, on Celestia's recommendation. Now that Ponyville was being named in charge of diplomatic relations between planets, Twilight was bringing everyone she could.

Commander Firebrand had been promoted and made Captain of the Ship. He was the head of the Ponyville Royal Guard but his skills were needed more on the Ship.

The Royal Guard was mostly charged with handling domestic problems in Ponyville and... well... Truthfully it was just a way for Stallions to serve the crown and the military well keeping them out of any actual combat. They would fight from a distance with spells, bows, and cannons but the military insisted on Stallions receiving specialized training for close combat.

The Royal Guard was mostly a Ceremonial position meant to keep Stallions happy. They kept the Princess company, kept tourist from wandering into restricted rooms, and offer eye candy at state functions. There most important job was mostly reconnaissance. They made observations of any possible threats and then report them to the Ponyville Defense, the mostly mare dominated Infantry.

Twilight went a step further and put them in charge of domestic police work. However Ponyville was such a quiet town no real laws were broken outside children skipping class.

However as leader of the Royal Guard Firebrand directed both the Royal Guard and the Ponyville Defense. Firebrand also had real combat experience. He formerly worked as a field medic for a monster hunting organization until it was disbanded. Then he went to work as a Canterlot Royal Guard on Celestia's insistence. There he enlisted in the Royal Marching Band. He was actually a very young Stallion, younger then the Crusaders, but he was very worldly and accomplished for his age.

After Ponyville became a City State Celestia transfered him over here to act as it's commanding officer. He was very dutiful, if a bit overly snarky. He liked to play ogres and Ooglets with Spike, Big Mac, and Discord.

Twilight's Primary Helmspony was also formerly in Celestia's Special monster hunting agency. Bon Bon, who's real name was apparently Sweetie Drops. She was a retired Secret Agent but she often provided tactical support to Twilight ever since Ponyville became a City State.

Her wife, Lyra Heartstrings, was actually an old friend of Twilight's from before she moved to Ponyville. Although honestly Twilight wasn't a very good friend to her back then. Luckily she repaired things with Lyra some years ago. Twilight was looking forward to this trip with her. It give them some time to talk.

Another Pony on her court was one that she didn't actually know all that well. She did know him and talked to him a lot but knew nothing about his past as it was largely classified. Doctor Clockwork Whooves was the 1st Enchanter onboard as well as the First Mate and the Head Wizard on her court. Surprising seeing as he was an Earth Pony.

He was skilled with a magical tool called a "wand" which acted much like a unicorn's horn, allowing him to channel his internal magic in the form of spells. However that was more a hobby of his. His real skills laid in invention. He was a brilliant inventor who created magical enchantments through scientific principles. He was a master of Runes, Enchantments, and Potions. He also had Doctorates in nearly every scientific field there was, outside medicine.

He was responsible for the train network, cameras, movies, cellphones, laptops, even adapting Crystals as a power source was discovered by him. Nearly every scientific breakthrough in the last 200 years was made by him. He was considered the Starswirl of their age.

Although Twilight thought that was like comparing apples and oranges. Starswirl had invented countless spells but not actual inventions and Whooves only knew basic spell casting, specializing in the crafting side of magic but using scientific principles to do so. His discoveries were in science, not magic. A field Starswirl never stepped hoof in but Twilight was sure if he had he would have done brilliantly.

The good Doctor was married to Derpy Hooves and they had a now 20 something year old daughter named Dinky Hooves who had enlisted as a Deck Hoof.

The last member of her Senior Staff was a Hippogriff. A medical doctor by the name of Silver Quill. He was a bit of a goof and liked to tell ponies he didn't have a medical licence (Even though Twilight could see it in his file). His joking nature gave him an nice bedside manner but he was a bit... silly

Twilight blinked as she looked over the crews files, "Doctor Whooves?"

"Yeeeeeees?" The Earth pony grinned smugly, pleased to have been called on.

"All the Deck Hooves, every single one, is listed as to having gone to your school,"

"Really? How odd," The good doctor pondered.

"The same school that Firebrand, the Crusaders, and even Spike went to,,"

"What a coincidence," Whooves gave a sly smile, like he had a secret.

"The same one that only enrolled one batch of students then closed down when they graduated,"

"I do believe your right,"

"Doctor," Twilight glared then sent a similar glared at Firebrand, "Captain. I understand that you don't want to be without your friends for 5 years but you need to actually hire QUALIFIED Deck Hooves,"

Firebrand's expression of shock slowly morphed into one of anger, "Come again,"

"I realize most of the crew is made up of qualified individuals but just because Deck Hooves are the lowest ranking members doesn't mean-"

Firebrand banged his hoof on the table, "Are you accusing ME of showing favoritism Princess," He sneered her title.

Doctor Whooves put a hoof on Firebrand's shoulder and shook his head.

"Your Majesty," The Doctor said calmly, "I can assure you. My former students are the most qualified ponies in Equestria for this. I made sure they would be from the moment I took them under my wing,"

"I know what your school was Doctor and personally I think you did a great thing," Twilight assured with great sympathy, "Ponies with Atypical Classifications of Magical Manifestations, or Classes, like Pinkie's cosmic powers or Firebrand's fire bending, often feel confused and even scared. Their magic acts up in ways unusual for their species and few ponies know how to teach them to control their unique gifts,"

Twilight didn't even know magic could really come out in such bizarre ways like that until she met Pinkie. She thought it was just an old pony's tale, "It was a great thing you did to take it on yourself to teach them how to control these gifts. Something I'm sure Pinkie would have appreciated having around when she was a filly,"

"However," Twilight went on, "Just because these ponies are gifted doesn't make them qualified to be spacers. We needed ponies who were capable of topping the charts during boot camp and training,"

"Which they did," answered the good Doctor.

"Are you telling me that was just a coincidence?" Twilight glared, "That the cadets that just happened to go through your school just happened to be the ones you PERSONALLY chose for this missions,"

"No it's not a coincidence. It's precisely the reason I chose to teach them, and only them,"

Twilight eyed him for a second, "Are you claiming you somehow KNEW these would be the Cadets that would be chosen. What did Pinkie get one of her 'visions' and just forget to tell me?"

"No," Firebrand said quickly, "Celestia did,"

Twilight froze and got thoughtful.

"No need to lie to the girl," The Doctor scolded his former student. Then said to Twilight, "I'm a time traveling alien who has been devoting much of my time to this planet to insure our little dimension wouldn't implode-"

Firebrand quickly covered his mouth with a hoof.

Twilight... blinked... then looked too Firebrand.

The Captain smiled nervously "He's got a weird sense of humor your highness,"

"Well I don't appreciate it," Twilight groaned, rubbing her temple with her hoof, "So Celestia had a vision,"

Firebrand nodded, "She saw the future captains of a space fairing fleet. She sent Clockwork to teach us the various scientific theories we'd need to know in addition to controlling our Classes,"

Twilight thought on this, as it was a pretty reasonable explanation. Alicorns often saw visions of the future. Twilight remembered freaking out the first time it happened to her. They saw glimpses of possible futures. It was how Celestia knew Twilight had the potential to become an Alicorn, even how she knew who her friends would be and what they could all do for Equestria. She even saw a future where Discord was reformed and risked everything on the off chance he could be saved. Taking steps to help the future captains of Equestria's space fairing fleet reach their potential? Honestly that sounded exactly like something Celestia would do.

After the meeting, when everypony but the Captain and his first mate left, the Doctor found himself fiddling with his scarf. It kept getting caught in the armor.

"She's going to find out eventually," The Doctor rolled his eyes as Firebrand repeatedly banged his head against his Captain-y desk, "And she's going to be maaaaad when she realizes you lied to her,"

Firebrand slammed his head down one last time and groaned into the wood, "I know you have trouble understanding this but routinely foalnapping children to take them on adventures across the galaxy is frowned on by most ponies,"

"You had permission slips!" The Doctor defended.

"No... we didn't..."

The Doctor blinked, "... Really? I was sure I sent those home," he stopped to think it over.

Firebrand just groaned. Then something clicked in his mind, "Doctor... you never told us why,"

"Hum?" The Doctor made an absent-minded sound in his throat.

"Why you chose us, why out of everypony on the planet, you invited us to your school and showed us the wonders of... everything... but you just let something slip and I'm not sure I want clarification,"

The Doctor looked at him more closely.

"What did you mean 'to insure this dimension wouldn't implode'?"

The Doctor froze for the briefest of moments before getting a strangely serious air about him. It was in moments like this when Firebrand could see his age. He was so much older then anypony knew, older then pony civilization itself. The young Stallion could feel the power radiating off the Earth Pony and knew why so many cultures out in the verse thought of him as a god. However it only lasted a moment as his features quickly shifted into a goofy grin, "Oh I was just being over dramatic. Don't worry about it. Just continue being your brilliant self and everything will work out,"

The Doctor was always more of a "Do as I say not as I do" kinda teacher, scolding Firebrand for lying to Twilight then not five minutes later reminding the young Stallion who was the real master of lies.

Solopax stood on the Deck beside the Senior staff behind the helm, right next to the Chief Medical Pony. Although he wasn't sure why he was called that seeing as he was a Hippogriff. Equestrians insisted on calling everyone "pony" even those that weren't. It reminded him of humanities insistence that all races were part of "mankind". It didn't matter, he'd just have to try and get them to say "people" as to not offend the more sensitive races.

Solopax watched the expressions of the crew as they all looked out at the Stars. They marveled by the fact that the universe had turned black dispite being so close to the sun. It was strange that their planet, at the edge of the solar system, had a dwarf star just small enough and just far enough away to not fry the planet.

Solopax didn't know stars could be so small. It was only about 500 miles in diameter. Plasma usually didn't form without a much greater gravity well. None of the ponies seemed troubled by it. They all just stared at it as they passed the small star. The ship was shaking a bit but that was too be expected when breaking orbit.

The whole crew was up here on deck, along with the Princess and her Entourage, and even their families. Solopax had to admit, it was pretty amazing to be walking on the deck of a wooden ship with all of space surrounding you. He could literally feel the warmth of the sun yet it felt good. They were right next to the hottest substance in the universe and the environmental bubble made it feel like they were on the beach. You could even stare directly at it without fear of going blind thanks to the shields.

They all watched as they passed the star and it shrank off into the distance.

"We've broken orbit" The Helms Pony called as the ship stopped shaking, "We're officially in Outter Space!"

The entire crew began to cheer well confetti exploded from everywhere. Solopax just blinked, not understanding what the big deal was. It was a bit mundane to him.

However he jumped as the entire crew began to glow. They flashed with strange lights and vibrated a bit. This obviously wasn't normal based on their own reactions. They started to scream and panic, thinking something was wrong with the environmental bubble.

"Calm down every pony!" when no one settled down the Princess exclaimed, "LISTEN," her voice was somehow loud enough to shock the crew into silence, "There is nothing wrong with the bubble. It's the Cutie Map. It appears to be calling us, the entire crew, somewhere,"

Solopax, and as many as the crew as was possible, crowded around the Cutie Map behind the helm. He'd never seen such a sight. there was an image of a ship on the table. It sailed across the map to...

"Oh no," Solopax stared.

Twilight loudly declared, "To Ferenginar!"

"You can't," Solopax tried.

Twilight blinked, "Eh? Aren't you excited to visit home,"

"There is a reason I left!" Solopax exclaimed, "The same reason my crew decided to settle on your planet when you let us out of prison! Ferenginar is a war zone right now! Ever since Nagus Rom was put into office he started giving females more rights and workers mandatory benefits and higher pay,"

Rainbow Dash blinked, "Isn't that a good thing,"

"Sure if you ignore the fact that all the people clinging to the old ways are rioting in the streets and getting in fights with new age protesters. Ferenginar is NOT the stablest of planets right now,"

Twilight looked at the map, "Must be why the map is sending us there,"

Solopax gaped, "How can you blindly follow this thing!?"

Twilight thought on it as that deserved an answer, "Honestly we don't know exactly what the map is but it has always led us to exactly where we needed to be. This map has helped us repair friendships, give life to fallen civilizations, and even stop wars before they begin. If it's sending us there and we ignore it I guarantee you something horrible will happen in our absence. The map believes our crew can help your people Solopax, please let us,"

Solopax rubbed his temple, Should have known better then to get on a ship with a bunch of Superstitious..." He stopped himself from saying something nasty.

Twilight smiled, "I know you think we are naive but we have experience dealing with cultures on the edge. You've seen our planet. Did you think Dragons, Changelings, Griffins, Minotaurs, and Yaks were always living peaceful in each others cities in a united government? We had to work at it. We had to listen to each other and compromise. We had to learn that we're all different in our beliefs and values and be willing to accept there is no one right answer. We had to learn, so much, and there is still so much more to learn. Let us share our knowledge with your own ponies and learn the next steps together,"

Solopax stared at her a moment, "I agreed to show you around the galaxy and I will but don't say I didn't warn you. The Merchants Guild won't take kindly to you rubbing your noses in our affairs,"

Twilight smiled, "It's what we do,"

Ch2: Tension in the Black

Author's Note

Edited:
Aug 31, 2019

I made a few minor changes, like getting the calendar more in sync with the other other fics

Ch2: Tension in the Black

● 20 Years Earlier

Smart Mouth looked at his front paws. They were definitely paws, not hooves like his Daddy had. The 3 year old colt had hooves on his back legs but his front legs had paws and weird looking digits called thumbs. Real ponies could just hold things because of a type of magical static cling but he had to use the short digits and thumbs. His face was that of a pony, although he had a girly snout. He had sharp teeth and fox ears as well as the fluffy tail a fox. However he had the wings and body type of a Pegasus.

He had orange fur with a white under belly. Although most of his fur was short and slick like a pony's he had a puff of white fluff on his chest. The lower half of his legs were white with thick blue squigglies between the white and orange fur. His tail was orange with a white underside and black tip and a blue squiggly between the orange and the black as well as the orange and white. His wings had blue feathers, long white ones in the middle, well the tips were black. His cheeks and lower jaw were white with a black line going down his snout and black patches around his large blue eyes, well the rest of his face was orange. His mane was blue and cut in a short spiky boyish style.

He looked... weird. He had the classic pretty colt features but odd fox bits added on. It was obvious he wasn't a normal pony.

It didn't help that he didn't even eat plants like ponies did. Those tasted really nasty and made him gag, even gave him a belly ache. Grains and diary and pastries were all fine and even good for him but not straight up plants like vegetables or fruits. Although what was really good for him scared ponies. He loved meat, bacon made from pigs instead of hay, burger patties made from chicken instead of tofu or beans, and fish, lots and lots of fish. He loved sea food. It had no equal.

His father had crates of persevered meat in his basement, imported straight from Griffinstone. Smart Mouth tried not to eat it in front of ponies as they tended to freak out. It's like they thought because he ate a fish he would eat a pony. He was half pony the dumbbells!

It wasn't so bad. No one really picked on him but that was because they were scared of him. He was the creepy quiet kid that ate meat. The weird looking half breed.

The young colt kit sighed as he stretched his wings and glided off the top bunk. He passed his older brother on the bottom as he got to the floor.

The Unicorn colt kit blinked looking up at him as he played his JoyBoy, " Where are you going?" asked his brother, Book Smarts.

"I'm thirsty," Smart Mouth declared in a voice that definitely was not a whine.

"You're trying NOT to drink at bedtime remember. So you don't wet the bed,"

Smart Mouth blushed, "I haven't wet in a week!"

"Because you haven't drunk any water just before bed," Book Smarts glared,

"B-but I'm REALLY thirsty," Smart Mouth insisted.

"Okay but you better put on your special underpants before you go back to sleep,"

Smart Mouth blushed, "But-"

"Everytime you wet it ends up dripping on me," Book Smarts glared, "If you're going to drink then you're going to wear the pants,"

Mouth's blush deepened but agreed with a not whiny, "Fine," before walking out of the room.

Book Smarts had been awfully bossy and over protective ever since their mom died last year... no it was even before that but it had gotten worse this past year. Smart Mouth just developed a bit of a bed wetting problem.

He didn't know why. Their mom was pure evil. She was always yelling and hitting daddy and hit them when he wasn't around. He didn't miss her at all... for some reason his chest got all tight as he thought that. He really didn't understand what he was feeling.

Daddy made excuses for mommy. That she was a Kitsune and that she didn't understand pony culture but Mister Koto, their tutor, was a Kitsune to and he was really nice. He never raised his voice or hit them so obviously being a Kitsune was no excuse.

When Mommy died Daddy hired Mister Koto to teach them Kitsune magic. Daddy was a bit over protective himself and had them learning from a tutor instead of going to school. Mister Koto was teaching them how to read and write and do math and stuff but he was also teaching them how to bend raw Energy called Kai as well as simple spell casting from the Elder Scrolls. He was even teaching them magical crafts like making Runes, Enchantments, and Potions.

Smart Mouth loved the crafting lessons the most and liked to play with his potions set. He only had simple recipes like minor tummy ache soothers but they were a lot of fun to make. Mister Koto was also teaching him to be Sneaky because Kitsune were naturally very light footed. It be an important skill to their survival.

Smart Mouth used those super special awesome sneaking skills to enter the hallway and slink by the adjacent nursery. There his baby sister, Curious Cat, slept. It was her fault mom was dead. Mommy died giving birth to her. Smart Mouth was kinda thankful to her for that but at the same time mad at her... it was weird.

He just knew he didn't want to wake her, she screamed whenever she was woken up and demanded that if she was awake then everypony else had to be. She was an Earth pony / fox hybrid. Daddy liked to joke that he had a full set now: Unicorn, Pegasus, and Earth pony.

Although Daddy was a unicorn, like Auntie and so many others of their family, he was descended from all three tribes like a lot of families were nowadays.

Shaking his head, and getting his mind back on track, The colt kit slowly sneaked by the nursery and looked around the lit hallway. Daddy kept the hallway light on at night so the children's rooms wouldn't be so dark. Turning off he got to the living room and was a little shocked to see daddy awake and drinking Cider with a special guest.

"Auntie Computer Wiz!" Smart Mouth grinned spotting his favorite Aunt on the couch. He ran over to her excitedly but frown when he saw she was all misty eyed.

"Hi Sweetie," The normal unicorn mare reached out and ruffled his mane as she forced her eyes to dry and showed a clearly fake smile.

It looked like she was still upset about losing her husband. Know It All Senior died in a carriage accident about the same time Mom died in children birth. Soon after Auntie gave birth to a colt she named him Know It All Junior. She'd been visiting a lot since then, getting help from Daddy.

Uncle Know It All had been a nice Stallion but honestly Smart Mouth didn't know him very well. Before he died Smart Mouth rarely got to see Auntie so the foal didn't know him very well.

"Buddy," Daddy got his attention, looking strangely serious, "It's well past your bedtime,"

"But I'm thirsty," Smart Mouth will admit, he whined that time. He just wanted to stay with Auntie.

Daddy sighed. He walked over to the kitchen which was directed connected to the living room, seperated only by a long counter. He pulled a sippy cup out of the dish washer and poured some water into it from the faucet. He quickly screwed on the lid and brought the cup to the colt kit. The Stallion didn't even mention that the colt should empty his bladder before going to sleep, just shooed him off to bed. Really he was practically begging to be eavesdropped on. So Smart Mouth, being a good little colt, sat in the hallway drinking his sippy.

"Sorry about that," Daddy said to Auntie.

"It's okay," said Auntie, "You've got a house filled with foals, it's bound to happen... Stealthy... do you think we're cursed?"

Daddy didn't answer.

"You're mother, my sister, your wife... my husband... so many ponies lost,"

"It really does feel like it sometimes..." Daddy admitted taking a sip of his own drink, "It's the reason I refuse to let what happened to my wife affect my daughter. When my own mother died giving birth to me... father couldn't even stand the sight of me. I spent my foalhood bouncing from house to house as he pawned me off on other family members... I always told myself I'd be a good father if something like that happened to me... I just... never thought it would... still... I love my daughter and will raise her with all the love she could ever hope to have...

"Yes... I think we are cursed but that's why we need to spit in the face of whatever asshole diety keeps bucking with us. Why we need to cling to what we have... You know I'm not very good at the whole comforting thing but... I worry about you. With Celestia transferring me over to Ponyville you won't have any more support out her in Canterlot... Please... come with us,"

"I don't know... I have a good job out her and it was hard getting Junior in the Celestial Daycare,"

"I know but... We might be distant cousins but we were raised together a good portion of the time. There's a reason my children call you 'Auntie'. I consider you a sister. Please, stay. I might not be much help but at least this way we can mourn together... and stop each other from doing anything stupid. Plus, since I'm working as an Archer for the new Princess' Royal Guard, I can probably get Princess Twilight to enroll your foals in her school and daycare free of charge as a member of my household,"

"Really living up to your name eh, 'Stealthy Intellect'," Auntie chuckled, "Trying to bribe me?"

"You know you love it. Besides you're son, Street Smart, is getting too be a real hoof full. Some time under the guidance of the Council of Friendship would do him some good... please Wiz, come with me. I need you just as much as you need me right now..."

"Alright..."

"Woo-hoo!" Mouth cheered.

"Smart Mouth!" Daddy scolded, "Go. To. Bed,"

"Sorry Daddy," The colt grinned before running of to give his brother the good news.

In the following weeks the family got settled into a routine in the Ponyville castle.

There Quarters were HUGE. However Smart Mouth still had to share a room with his big brother but the room was much bigger, complete with it's own bathroom and walk in closet like all the other bedrooms. Street Smart got his own room since he was so much older then the other foals. The 13 year old unicorn didn't seem to care about that though, as if it was a given. Junior was moved into a larger nursery with Cat. Both Auntie and Dad had their own rooms to.

Even with all that there was still enough space for Auntie to have her work shop for her computer stuff and for the foals to have a playroom. Smart Mouth really prefered having a play room verses his own room... he was kinda scared to sleep by himself.

They even had a real kitchen and dining room as well as a large sitting room which daddy turned into a library. Daddy was a big fan of fictional works but not so much text books or reference guides.

Auntie had to take the train to get to her own job in Canterlot. She wrote code for laptops and Smart Phones. As Computers were expensive, and she was a skilled Technomancer, she was paid very well.

She took Smart Mouth and Book Smarts into Canterlot with her ever day so they could learn from Mister Koto.

One day, after the foals came home with Auntie, Daddy got a very special visitor. Doctor Whooves, the Princess' head Wizard, entered the family's quarters and was polity given a seat in the living room.

"You want Mouthy to go to your school," Stealthy blinked as he looked at his middle child sitting next to him on the couch. The 3 year old was busy playing with his daddy's phone but looked up at the word 'School', a little nervous as well as excited by the concept. He was technically old enough to go to a legitimate preschool and Doctor Whooves school taught kids of all ages. "I know what your school is but I haven't seen Mouthy show any signs of a Class,"

"That's because it's subtle," smiled the Doctor, "I've seen him sneaking about the castle,"

"That's just him practicing his Kitsune traits," Stealthy insisted.

"To an extent but Kitsune can't step into a random shadow and walk out of another,"

Stealthy froze, "You think he's a Rogue?"

"Or a shadow bender but these things are genetic so it's more likely he's a Rogue given you're one yourself," The Doctor continued to smile.

Stealthy's eyes grew wide, "How could you possibly know that!?"

"I'm good at spotting these things. Not to mention where most don't even know about classes you seem well versed in what Rogues are," The Doctor outsmart Daddy! "You have great potential but your son? The speed and Dexterity of a Pegasus, the natural stealth and magic of a Kitsune, and the powers and skills of a Rogue. He has the potential to become a very powerful master of the craft.

"My school doesn't just teach how Classes work. They receive the best education, both magical and academic. There children learn at their own pace from computers with breaks for class participation activities such as labs and story time. I'll also take them on daily Field Trips to expand their world view. As such they won't be back home until six but I'll make sure they eat and have their naps,"

Stealthy nibbled his bottom lip, "Rogues don't have the best reputation. Most assume we're liars and theives without understanding what our class really entails,"

"I can't protect your son from that but I can give him a place to belong. I even have a few other Rogues about his age. They'll grow up together and learn to master their powers in a safe environment. Isn't that something you would have liked when you were a foal,"

"... alright... I'll let him go to your school,"

● Present Day

"Will you get off that already!" Rumble demanded from his hanyou friend, who was busy playing on his phone. It was like he was attached to the thing.

Smart Mouth just grunted as he refused to look up from the screen. They might not get signal all the way to Equestria but the ship had a private network which let them communicate to any connecting phone within a light year of it, making it's range encompass most solar systems they entered. This let him talk to landing parties on planets if he wanted to. Not that they had the opportunity for landing parties yet.

The Princess had also uploaded all movies, books, games, and even fan fictions to the server for the crew to enjoy. She organized them nicely in customized Apps. She also got them "shows" off the Internet and reviews / Analysis of those shows. Ponies might not have invented whatever a "television" was that Solopax kept talking about but they did have shows that were posted by season in the form of Apps. Each "Channel" had it's own App where you could watch entire series of shows they made for free. You just had to sit through a few advertisements during the beginning and middle.

Princess Celestia said she'd be sending them physical updates of media through Spike's dragon fire once a moon so the crew wouldn't miss anything. It was a way of keeping up morale.

Smart Mouth sighed as he forced his mind back on where he was, "My shift doesn't start for another 4 hours," the 23 year old Hanyou rolled his eyes as he laid in bed. It was amazing after all these years he still had the top bunk.

"Need I remind you that we're on a SPACE SHIP!"

"Which we've been on for 8 moons! and still have another month before we reach that Mass Relay thing Solopax was talking about," Smart Mouth grumbled.

The Mass Relay would apparently let their ship jump to faster then warp speeds to any other connected Relay. Unfortunately they didn't have one in their Solar system. Their home world was near the very edge of the star cluster and the Mass Relay was near the center.

Their ship was only moving at Warp 4, which Solopax said was impressive for their first ship and just enough to really explore the galaxy, but they were still going so slow. The Warp Enchantments bent the mass of the ship in order to fly faster then light. Although that sounds impressive it takes thousands of years for the light from far away stars to reach them.

Warp 4 made it so they could reach the mass relays in about 2 months of consecutive travel. However they also had to navigate around solar systems as it was dangerous to fly at warp speeds in them. That's what they had their sail for which let them ride solar winds to travel at light speed.

The young Hanyou gave a sigh. They'd been traveling in the space between solar systems for so long, trapped in the black, "I'm getting restless!" he suddenly exclaimed as over dramatically as possible.

"Then why don't you come with me to the arcade! Or we could go to the swimming pool or the library. I heard the Princess has a whole collection of Enchanted books we can check out," Rumble, and Mouthy's other friends, understood what a shut in the colt kit was and were always patiently trying to get him to do things with them. Although it could get overwhelming at times it was something the Hanyou appreciated.

Smart Mouth pondered on the notion of playing in a book. Enchanted books were fun. You got to live an adventure as your favorite characters literally inside a book. They were just simulated danger so it wasn't like it could actually kill you or anything but even knowing that it was still fun.

You played the books a chapter at a time, with each containing a different quest which all lead up to the final chapter. Each Quest usually lasted an hour in the real world even though days could potentially pass in the book. The adventure didn't end until you completed the quest, failed the quest, or your character died (at which point you get thrown out of the book and you have to play the adventure again from the beginning of the chapter if you wanted to see it through). It was possible to skip around the book and only play your favorite chapters but Mouthy liked playing through the whole story.

Mouthy's family had a pretty extensive library themselves as they were all a bunch of avid readers. Street Smart owned a large collection of enchanted comic books he let the younger ones play in as foals. He also had a lot of regular comics he let the younger ones read (dispite them costing thousands of bits each). There weren't many books Smart Mouth hadn't read or played in (when the option was offered).

Mouthy actually damaged his eyes by reading in the dark so much as a foal. He had big round glasses on his face now and was practically blind without them. It didn't help that he used to cheat on his eye exams as a foal so he wouldn't have to wear glasses. When called into the eye doctor's office he'd get as close as he could to the little poster on the wall with the letters. He knew he had to read from it so he would memorize it before the doc would come in.

It really REALLY upset his dad when he figured out that's what he was doing. The colt's poor little mutt butt was still cursing the hybrid's foolishness.

"Mouthy, MOUTHY,"

The Hanyou blinked and looked off at his friend.

"You drifted off into your own little world again," Rumble pouted.

"S-sorry," Mouthy blushed and stretched out his wings. He hopped off the bed and glided to the floor, "I guess we could find a book to play in," stuffing his phone into his utility belt.

They were supposed to wear their uniforms on at all times, just in case. They could take the armor off well not on duty but they had to wear the jump suit at all times. They had lots of extra jump suits to change into every day. They were allowed a few personal accessories with them but the uniform was a must.

Rumble grinned, "Great!" and began prancing out of the colts' quarters.

To save on space the Deck Hooves doubled up in family quarters. That meant 2 to a room and 4 total to a quarters. Thankfully they got to request their roommates.

The Princess must be worried as she insisted the Deck Hooves be separated by gender. The colts quarters were all grouped together on the other side of the ship from the fillies with the higher ranking officers in between. Deck Hooves weren't even allowed near the other gender's quarters. It was one of the offenses that could result in a tanning. The older ponies in between were supposed to make sure they "didn't get up to mischief".

Just cuz they were hormonal 20 somethings didn't mean the fillies would jump the colts first chance they got or anything. They were responsible adults, trusted with representing the best of Equestria to the greater galaxy. True they were Apprentices, and were being treated like Apprentices would be in any other job, but this wasn't any other job. They had a lot more responsibility and had to go through 2 years worth of training just to qualify for the apprenticeship. They should be allowed coed dorms!

"You're doing it again," Rumble informed.

"S-sorry," Mouthy blushed. He was a bit autistic so it was easy for him to get lost in his own head. True he was on the more functional side of the Spectrum but he was still a bit socially awkward and... well... oblivious.

"No worries," Rumble assured then whinnied excitedly, "I hope they have Power Ponies comics! Hey! We should see if Button Mash and Pipsqueak want to play with us. They should be getting off their shift now!" Rumble grinned excited at the names of their roommates.

Like Mouthy himself, Rumble, Pipsqueak, and Button Mash were rogues.

They were so good at sneaking they could blend into the background to be almost invisible, as well as travel through shadows themselves. They were even born with gymnast level agility and flexibility. Which made them naturally better at archery, firearms, and duel welding weapons. A rogue could channel their adrenalin, through their magic, to become even faster and more agile. Even think faster well in that state and jump long distance. Not over a Skyscraper or anything, but between tall buildings? No problem.

The boys had other powers to, both from their races and their class Archetypes, but sneakiness and agility powers were their primary class.

The four boys had trained together, been in the same dorm at Doctor Whooves' school, on account of sharing the same primary class.

They were best friends. Although the other boys could get frustrated with Smart Mouth's pacing and scatter brain. He never felt anything but a loving friendship from them.

Button and Smart Mouth had been dating since they were foals and now they shared a room.

It might be weird that Mouthy would be complaining about Coed dorms when he was gay but it was the principal of the thing.

The Princess didn't seem to care about the Deck Hoof colts hooking up with each other... probably because old Mare's got all weird and embarrassing whenever Stallions coupled... more realistically it was probably because the Princess didn't want to run the risk of the Deck Hooves having babies onboard. True some of the crew had children with them but apprentices were much to young to handle such things.

Smart Mouth and Button Mash had always had an open relationship. They slept around but always came back to each other. This was actually pretty common as Equestria was in an age of "free love" where monogamy was thought of as... silly.

Real relationships weren't based on sex but an emotional connection. The idea that you could have casual sex with your friends helped this as it made special someponies focus more on emotionally bonding. Sex you could get from anywhere but a special somepony was somepony you were deeply connected to on much more important things.

It was foalhood crushes often evolved into stable long term relationships in Equestria. It's why Button and Mouthy still loved each other so much. Sex was insignificant to their relationship.

Prince Spike was also part of their little clique in school, despite not being in their dorm, and continued to hang out with them after graduation. Spike didn't have any natural classes but some could be taught. The Doctor trained the hatching as a Knight, as the boy once fantasized, as well as trained his natural dragon magic. Twilight didn't know much about how to teach Spike how to control his Dragon magic so Doctor Whooves volunteered to do it.

Dragon magic was a bit like Unicorn or Wizard magic as you could use any style by channeling it through a focus. However Dragons were literally the living manifestation of magic. Their bodies were magic, making their whole body act as a focus. This let them channel spells through touch spells, as well as different fire breath powers.

Mouthy nodded to himself as his mind turned to Spike for a moment. It might have seem random but their was a purpose to his abstract thinking patterns, "Do you think the Princess will let Spike out of their quarters long enough to have some fun?"

"I don't know," Rumble thought out loud, "Wouldn't hurt to ask but Spike's a Prince. He's always had a lot more responsibility then either of us,"

"I'm sure I could convince her," Mouthy insisted.

Rumble nodded, "Then you run off to find Spike and I'll get the others. We'll meet up in the library,"

Mouthy forced a grin as his chest started to get tight. Truthfully he didn't like the idea of splitting up but still nodded his head with a "Sure". His friends tried not to push him into doing anything too extreme but sometimes they forgot that little simple things everypony did could freak him out to.

They parted ways and Mouthy made his way to the Princesses quarters. Knocking on her door he heard a distinct, "Come in."

Trotting inside he looked around the Royal accommodations. Honestly it wasn't much. It looked exactly like the family quarters; 2 bedrooms on either side of a hallway leading to the living room behind it. The back wall of the living room having a bathroom and walk in closet along with a large window to get a good view of the stars. A digital projector connected to the computer network and controlled through a phone was on the ceiling and there was even a white screen you could pull down to project things on.

This meant that even though he was a Deck Hoof, Spike, being the Princess' ward, got his own room. Mouthy was a little jealous but honestly it was kinda cool to share a quarters with most of his best friends like he did back in school.

The Princess was busy going over some Scrolls at her desk in the living room well Spike was busy checking things off.

"Hum... Twilight?" Mouthy tried to get her attention, and knowing how much the Princess hated her title. She was a much more informal Princess them most.

"Sorry, I'm a bit busy at the moment," still she put her scrolls down and walked over, "What do you need?"

"Well we're all off duty right now and were hoping Spike could join us," Mouthy tried.

Twilight looked forlorn, "Sorry, but as I said, we're a bit busy,"

"Still, the reason you have a whole deck dedicated to recreation is because you knew it be good for morale. Spike really shouldn't be spending his off duty hours helping keep up with your schedule. He'll go nuts. He needs some off time to,"

The Princess looked thoughtful, "I suppose your right," she looked over at Spike, "Go enjoy yourself with your friends. I can manage this by myself,"

Spike looked weary, "You sure?"

"Absolutely, go have fun,"

Spike smiled, "Thanks Twilight!" before running off with the Hanyou.

Twilight smiled as she got back to work.

Doctor Whooves trotted about the deck, doing his first officer duties by over seeing the crew manage the enchantments and equipment.

He managed to reverse engineer many of the scientific principles presented in the Ferengi ship and duplicate them through enchantments which where added to the ship last minute.

The Replicator had helped a lot. Although... many of the crew had been seeing the Doctor about the fact they weren't... pooping.

He had to have a ship wide meeting to explain that food made through Replicators was fully absorbed by the body with no waste product. It was completely healthy with nothing the body didn't need. Because of this they would need enemas once a moon to keep their tubes healthy since they weren't in use. It had been a very embarrassing talk for everyone. It didn't help that the foals on board kept giggling well occasionally exclaiming "Gross!"

"Doc!"

Doctor Whooves looked over and smiled seeing one of his students, a Changeling by the name of Sketchy. He was an empath, able to sense and control emotions. A useful skill for a Changeling, no?

The Changeling Apprentice was currently being a good Deck Hoof and was busying himself by scrubbing the floor to get rid of the excess magical residue that built up due to all the permanent enchantments onboard... a floor the Doctor was currently walking on.

"Oh dear! SORRY!" The Doctor quickly galloped away from the wet floor, "keep up the good work!"

The Changeling rolled his eyes and continued to scrub, getting lots of help cleaning the ship from the other Deck Hooves.

Firebrand grinned as the Doctor found his way to the helm, "Smooth,"

"Don't get snarky with me colt," The Doctor huffed.

"That's 'Captain Colt'," Firebrand stood tall and proud.

The Helms Pony rolled her eyes, "Captain Colt is right," Teased Gilda the Griffin, "If there was any justice in this world, you'd be mopping up the floor with the rest of the foals,"

Firebrand glared, "Hey I earned my spot as Captain! I worked my flank off to get here!"

Gilda scoffed, "Woh now Captain Colt, no need for a tantrum,"

"T-TANTRUM!" Firebrand roared, "I DON'T HAVE TANTRUMS!"

Doctor Whooves rolled his eyes and snapped, "That's enough. The last thing the crew needs is to see the ranking officers bickering,"

The Hippogriff, "Yeah sorry Doc, we all know who is really in charge,"

The Doctor glared, "Well I appreciate the sentiment I have no desire for such admiration. Firebrand is your Captain, despite his age, and you will treat him with the respect that title deserves,"

Gilda nodded but obviously didn't believe it, nor was she the only one who felt that way. Firebrand wasn't even old enough to be out of an Apprenticeship yet he was given the privilege of being Captain of the first ever space fairing ship! Most of the crew assumed it was just honorary and Clockwork was really in charge.

Although most of the crew thought that Gilda was the only one willing to actually voice her concerns to the colt's face. The rest of the crew just talked about it behind his back.

"Captain," Clockwork eyed his former student disapprovingly, "If I may speak with you in your office for a moment,"

Firebrand's ears pinned, looking the perfect image of a foal who knew he was about to be on the receiving end of a harsh tongue lashing. He tried to hold himself with dignity but all the crew saw was a child following his elder to his room.

Once they were gone from sight a voice called, "You being a jerk again Gilda?"

The Griffin looked over as her friend Rainbow Dash flew down from the crows nest.

Gilda rolled her eyes, "Come on Dashie you know the colt is just here to look good on the posters,"

Dash glared, "He's doing the best he can. Give the foal a break,"

"SEE!" Gilda glared, "Even you admit he's just a foal,"

RD blushed, "That's not what I meant,"

"He's only 27 for Buck sake!" Gilda exclaimed, "They passed up legitimately qualified ponies for that little colt to smile at the camera as we sailed away,"

"Look," Dash sighed, "I know he's a bit young but he's a brilliant strategist. I got to see him first hoof during several of the monster attacks these past few years. Attacks where not a single resident of Ponyville died! Not one since he got promoted to commanding officer,"

"Then make him a tactical officer! Place him in charge of the cannons or something. Heck I'll even admit you could probably skip right over his apprenticeship as a Deck Hoof, but to put him on the Senior Staff? Let alone make him CAPTAIN!? RD it's an insult to every single being in the Equestrian fleet. You could have gotten any Captain from the Navy and put them on this boat and they'd be a MILLION times more qualified then that colt,"

"That's enough," Dash glared, "Twilight believes in him and that's all that matters,"

Gilda rolled her eyes, "Yeah sure Dashie,"

"Shut the door," Clockwork ordered and Firebrand quickly did so.

The young Captain gulped once they were sealed off from the rest of the crew, "You're not going to whack me are you?" he tried to joke, unfortunately that only seemed to irritate the Doctor more.

"You're not a Deck Hoof, nor an apprentice, so you shouldn't expect to be punished like one," The Doctor scolded.

"I was only joking,"

"You are the CAPTAIN. The sole reason I brought you back here is because, as first officer, it is my JOB to tell you when you are being an idiot," The Doctor glared, "You worked hard to reach this point but you aren't done yet. You have to earn the respect of the crew. They won't just give it to you because of your title. You have to prove your WORTHY of that title. This would be the same if you were a 300 year old war hero or a wet behind the ears colt!

"Acting like a prepubescent FOAL is not the way to do that. You can't just scream impudently at the crew. You have to carry yourself with dignity and respect!"

Firebrand hung his head, "Sorry..." despite what the Doctor was saying he felt like a chastised foal. It didn't help that the Doctor was a foalhood authority figure who scolded him frequently during his school days and even had to whack his backside on occasion. He hated disappointing the Stallion.

The Doctor sighed, "What the crew sees right now is a figure head. Someone to look good on the recruitment posters for future ships. They need to see you as the man I know you are,"

Firebrand nodded. The Doctor got his words mixed up some times. He meant "Stallion" just now... would probably get mad if the flame pony pointed that out.

"You've accomplished a lot in your young life but this. This is literally the makings of history. Generations to come will always remember YOU were the first Captain onboard a Space fairing ship. The crew is looking you up and down and wondering if you're really worthy of that and what you just showed them by yelling at that Griffin is a child who can't control his temper or take criticism. You need to be so much more then that,"

"She was out of line!"

"Yes she was but you should have acted like a Captain and called her out on her insubordination. Not throw a tantrum about not throwing tantrums,"

Firebrand blushed, had he really done that?

"Like it or not your age plays a factor in how the crew perceive you. You need to be mature and not live down to their expectations,"

"I'll do better," Firebrand promised.

The Doctor just sighed, "I hope you do. You're exactly the kind of Captain this crew needs but you need to show them that. Not just through your words but your actions, Understand?"

"Yes sir,"

The Doctor groaned, "And you need to stop looking at me like that. I'm not in charge here, you are. My job is to help you and tell you my opinion but you shouldn't take it as gospel. You're the Captain. Your decisions are what matters here most,"

"So ignore everything you just told me, got it," Firebrand snarked and the Doctor just rolled his eyes at him.

Ch3: Letters

Author's Note

Edit:
Aug 31, 2019

I altered how the calendar works so it isn't so insane.

There are 1095 days in a pony year but with the traditional 12 months.

However the months last 90 days each. With each week being about 10 days. A week is measured by Lunar cycles, which takes it about 10 days to go through no moon to full moon. There are 100 moons in a year.

Each month is a different season, with the seasons repeating themselves in order 3 times.

Example: October is the last Summer of the year, November is the last Fall, and December is the final Winter.

As a result the most celebrated Holidays were held during these months final months.

Each Season has it's own holidays but the big ones (Birthdays, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Eve) are only celebrated once a year. Other holidays involving presents and candy replaced them during the regular seasons but aren't as big a deal, getting no more then a week off school.

However, for the last 3 months, Kids got off school as a Year End Break (instead of every Summer having a break) to celebrate the holidays with with families.

Many parents choose to send their kids to camp in October for all but the last week, so they could still spend Halloween together.

Days last 30 hours on The Halo Rings and Citadel, with 20 hours of daylight and 10 hours of night, based on the Leviathans' homeworld before the creation of the Citadel Galaxy. This is considered the standard amount of time in a day according to the Galactic standard Calendar, which the ponies have used for hundreds of years thanks to Luna's discoveries.

The average species have a life expectancy of passed 150 Galactic Standard Years and some living much longer. As the Ponies themselves live decades past 500 galactic standard years.

Ch3: Letters

● 10 years earlier

Twilight felt like crying but they were happy tears... maybe a little sad. Spike was growing up. It was the weirdest feeling, pride and joy mixed with sorrow. Her little dragon wasn't so little anymore.

Spike stood tall on all four of his legs. He was getting bigger and it was starting to put strain on his back to walk on two... At least that's what he said. Twilight suspected he was just self-conscious of how big he was getting.

It was probably for the best as even on 4 legs he was as big as Big Mac now. He had lost all his baby fat. He was such a skinny guy but his face was still round with a short snout. His tail was long and dragged on the floor behind him as he walked onto the stage. Despite his size he was still an adorably cute little thing. Twilight didn't know what it was but he just seemed smaller then he really was.

He was wearing a white robe as was tradition. Ever since Twilight learned about this little ceremony she wanted Spike to have it. Spike didn't get to experience much of his dragon heritage due to being raised by a pony but this... this was important to them. It was the first step on the road to adulthood. She couldn't deny Spike such an important moment in a dragons life.

When a dragon turns 20 they go through this little ceremony. They stand before a Cleric of Io, the dragon god of peace and balance and leader of all the dragon gods. There they are baptismed in fire and declared a Fledgling, the dragon equivalent of a child instead of a baby.

Spike looked nervous as he stood before the huge dragon. Twilight often wondered why the Tree of Harmony gave her such a tall ceiling but it was kind of obvious now. It was big enough to let a full grown dragon wander the halls and enter all the important rooms. There were even a few dozen large bedrooms with ridiculously sized bathrooms... it was for Spike. The castle was designed so Spike could live comfortably in it for the rest of his eternal life.

It was one of the reasons she had so much faith in the map. Whatever gave them this castle it was clearly intelligent and it clearly cared about them. Showing off it's affection in little ways like making sure her family was taken care of.

"Little dragon," The dragon Cleric spoke once Spike was in front of him, "Are you ready to prove to your family that you aren't a hatchling anymore?"

Spike gulped and hesitantly nodded. The great dragon gently turned Spike around so he was facing the audience and softly pushed him to the edge of the stage.

Beside Twilight, Shining Armor was already in tears as he yelled out, "You can do it little bro!"

Cadence eagerly stumbled on her hooves well little Flurry Heart cheered. Mom and dad were here to, crying softly at the beautiful moment. Even Celestia had come and all of Spike's friends, including Discord who was cheering loudly well waving a ridiculous foam finger and wearing a hoofball shirt. Thorax looked nervous well Ember looked proud. It really is amazing just how many friends Spike had gained among all the species of Equestria, and all of them were here.

Spike sucked in a breath and let out a "Mighty" roar. Twilight did her best not to snicker about how cute it was. She knew how hard he had been practicing it all month. Twilight couldn't help but feel nostalgic as she remembered how he used to sound like a little colt screaming impudently at the world but now... now he sounded like a little lion cub. It was absolutely adorable but not a sound a pony could make. Twilight had come to understand that's just how dragons are... it's part of growing up. Their vocal cords change and allowed them to let out a true roar.

As Spike roared the Cleric allowed flames to burst from his mouth and completely consume the much smaller dragon. The little dragon continued to roar as his robes where burned away. It was a truly impressive sight. The flames continued to burn until the robed were incinerated to nothing. Finally the large Dragon choked them back and Spike continued to burn for a moment longer. When the flames died there Spike stood completely unharmed. His bare scales shining as if freshly polished.

The old dragon smiled and greeted, "Welcome to the world Fledgling,"

Normally the Ceremony would end there but Twilight had asked the Cleric for something special. He pulled out a small crown and put it on Spike's head before bowing to the little dragon, "All hail Spike Sparkle, ward of Twilight Sparkle, and Prince of Ponyville,"

Spike gaped as the crowd bowed to him.

● Present Day

Spike yawned as he rewatched a movie from the projector. He was already caught up with all his shows and movies before they even left Ponyville. Mostly he spent the month rewatching his favorites.

He had already read all the new comic books Twilight had bought him soon after they left. He really should have done as she said and spaced them out.

Since Mouthy talked to Twilight, Spike had a lot more free time but unfortunately he didn't know what to do with it. All his friends were on duty right now and he didn't know what to do with himself on his off hours. Especially since Twilight was making a point of not letting him help. The young dragon knew Mouthy meant well but Spike wasn't used to doing nothing.

He fiddled with his phone as a movie played from the projector. Just as he was about to surrend himself to boredom he gave out a belch. A puff of flames burst from his mouth and morphed into a letter. He looked at the Seal and blinked realizing it was addressed to him.

He was tickled by a tinge of hope as he opened it.

"Dear Spike.

"Sorry this took a bit longer then expected. Some of the Companies were having trouble figuring out how to send the raw files to me and it took some coaching to teach many of the crew's families how to work a computer to send the video letters. Rest assured next month's pack will arrive promptly on the first."

With the letter came with something very special indeed. Spike grinned excitedly as he jumped up and ran out the door.

Spike smiled so hard his face hurt as he ran into the computer lab. He burst in excitedly and collided with one of his old friends from school.

Canned Cream was a white Earth Pony with a brown mane and green highlights, a gifted shadow bender. Before the space program started he was Apprenticing in the Canterlot royal guard on the night shift. He was probably guarding the lab to make sure no one messed with the computer network or it's Apps. Good thing Spike had authorization.

"Sorry CC," Spike helped the Stallion back to his feet.

Canned Cream groaned as he collected himself, "Getting run over by a stampeding dragon isn't how I thought I'd spend my night. What's the hurry?"

Spike, barely phased due to his excitement, held up the SD card, "Look what I just barfed up. Courtesy of Celestia," he boasted.

CC blinked and slowly smiled, "Is that what I think it is?"

"Yep," Spike didn't lose his grin, "Our first computer update for all the shows we missed this month!"

"I'm more interested in the letters," CC confessed, "I know you're a freakishly rich Prince but most ponies can't afford a computer. I never even had a phone until we got on this boat. Couldn't exactly watch the Apps without that," As a result CC didn't really care to check out the Shows now that he had access to them. It was just so much too catch up on... though he had gotten into watching the "Friendship is Magic" cartoon based off the Twilight's friendship journal.

Still CC prefered the audio drama on public radio called "Doctor Who" based on the Doctor's life. Apparently each of the Doctor's face's kept a different diary about their adventures. A way of not only remembering but to keep his time line straight when interacting with other time travelers. 50 years ago one of the Doctor's pony companions, a miss Vinyl Scratch, convinced him to let her turn it into a radio series on her station. True she mostly played music but every night, beginning as soon as the sun went down, she played a bunch of different audio dramas. CC had been listening to those stories since before he ever went to the Doctor's school. It was awe inspiring to learn they were real.

"They have Radio shows to," Spike assured, everypony had access to radio shows, "and PDFs of books and comics and-and all kinds of cool stuff,"

"And letters from our families," CC reminded.

Spike shrugged as he hopped over to the computer terminal and plugged the SD card in. Hopping into the chair he began typing away on the keyboard, "Flurry Heart has been sending us near daily updates of how things are going in Ponyville since she took over and Shining has been sending us tons of letters about how worried he is about Flurry Heart. Then Twilight and Celestia have been trading letters like crazy talking about everything that is going on with us as well as back home. I think I might actually be hearing from them MORE often since we came out here,"

Canned Cream rolled his eyes, "Not all of us have Dragon breath. I have to wait for Celestia to mail us our letters,"

Spike blushed, "S-sorry, I didn't think... I'll start working on uploading the letters first. They should be sent to all the appropriate Email Apps in an hour,"

CC smiled contently, "Did you tell The Doc about the Update?"

"Errrrr..." Spike blushed as he started the letter upload.

CC just chuckled, "I'll call him. You keep working. Everyone has been waiting for this stuff for a month,"

"Aye Aye, colt who has the exact same rank as me," Spike snarked with a solute.

CC rolled his eyes, "Yeah yeah, I get it. I can't boss you around," Still CC couldn't help but smirk as he pulled up the contacts on his phone, "But don't forget. I was the hall monitor when we were in school,"

"We went to a school 'House'. There was only a single room with no halls,"

"I was still the Hall Monitor!" CC insisted as he called the Doctor. Strangely the Doctor didn't accept any video and was only playing audio.

"Yes I'm a bit busy slaying dragons at the moment," The Doctor loudly panted through the speakers.

"SLAYING DRAGONS!" Spike yelped from where he was.

"Sorry Fledgling, I meant Slaying 'evil' dragons," The Doctor smiled, "I'm in the enchanted book 'Knights of Last Ember". Basically I'm a good dragon fighting an evil dragon Empire. It was actually written by a Dragon. Strange seeing myself as a Dragon. Never regenerated into one but I have been a verity of alien reptiles before. Been so long since I had hands and 2 feet. Bit tricky to walk upright after so long as a quadruped,"

"Doctor," CC tried to get him to focus.

"Right you called for a reason didn't you. GAH! The dragon summoned his kobold minions!"

"Doctor!" CC huffed.

"It's not like there is a pause button in a book!" The Doctor huffed back, "Anyway tell me what you need,"

"Nothing really. Just wanted to tell you we got our first month's update,"

"That's great! The crew could really use the morale boost. Unfortunately I'm in a book right now so you'll have to inform the Captain directly,"

CC blinked, "Why would I have to tell Firebrand anything?"

"Oh for- HE'S THE CAPTAIN! You need to tell him what's going on! Honestly Creamy I thought at least my own students would support him in this. You're his friends! Can't you at least be happy for him!"

CC fidgeted as he felt his face heat up, "I am happy for him Doc, really, but..."

"... you think he's just a poster boy to,"

"Well if he wasn't a poster colt then the rest of us really got screwed," CC snarked.

The Doctor sighed, "One second," there was an explosion followed by the sound of Kobolds screaming, "There now I have a few moments to talk,"

"... Where you..." CC blinked, "Seriously just fighting an army this whole time?"

"What? You've never single handedly, errr hoofedly, maybe claw-edly, defeated an army well talking on the phone? Besides this is just a book. It's much harder to do that in real life," CC could practically hear the Doctor shrug after that little comment, "Now Creamy-"

"Please don't call me that," CC sighed.

"I want you to understand that just because Firebrand ascended in rank quicker then you doesn't mean the rest of you haven't accomplished quite a bit yourselves. You should be proud of what you've done. There are only a handful of people in all of Equestria who can say they got to serve on your world's first starship. You're extraordinary. You shouldn't feel jealous just because one of your peers is doing better then you. I have every bit of confidence you'll get there eventually,"

CC blushed and squirmed a bit, "T-thanks Doc,"

"Now run along and tell your Captain what's going on,"

"Aye sir,"

"GAH! Sir!? How could you be so cruel!?"

CC rolled his eyes, "Sorry my parents raised me to be respectful to my elders,"

"ELDERS! I'm still in my prime!"

"Goodbye Doctor,"

"Bye Creamy,"

Firebrand sat at his desk in the observation lounge.

The Lounge was a pretty big room behind the helm. It was filled with enchanted tables which ran the deep space scans and other advantages the ship had gained thanks to the doctor reverse engineering Ferengi technology as enchantments. There were large magic windows on the walls which let them see great distances away in any direction of the ship. A giant crystal ball, used for communication with other vessels, was in the center of the room. It was in the middle of a round table (not the Cutie Map, that was outside where the helm could see it for directions).

Firebrand liked to do his work in here instead of his office which was just behind them at the back. He liked being surrounded by his crew... even if they didn't think much of him.

He lifted his head and looked out the windows. Just taking a moment to stare at the giant Ring they were passing.

"Giant" doesn't really cover it. It was massive, beyond huge. It had the diameter of a star. Solopax called it a "Halo Ring"

Thousands of years ago, Luna had discovered rings like this one all over the Galaxy. There was at least one in every star cluster, like the Mass Relays. They just kinda sat there, floating between star systems.

She had taken measurements of how long the days lasted from her telescope.The first telescope powerful enough to observe stars in other galaxies. She used it to map out the patterns of the stars and recorded them in great detail. It was actually how she earned her Cutie Mark.

After Luna was banished Celestia put the patterns into effect as the Equestrian Calendar and started basing the orbit of their own planet's sun and moon on the length of time on the rings.

When Luna returned and learned her star charts were not only accepted by ponies but in common use... Well the older guards told stories of how she wept.

Firebrand couldn't imagine it. Devoting so much of yourself to something only for it to be ignored by the world. Then coming back and seeing ponies couldn't even function without it. It was a truly great thing Celestia did for her sister.

Firebrand had gotten to know Celestia pretty well over the years. As a monster hunter he got his missions directly from her and as a member of Canterlot's royal guard he spent many mornings with her.

She wasn't as informal as Twilight and was very proud of the mask she wore for the public but that's what it was, a mask. A mask she didn't wear around her guard. Her real personality was very snarky with a love of pranks, bordering on troll levels. She hated those fancy parties she had to host every year but still handled herself with dignity and respect during them.

She also regretted how she treated her sister in her youth. Not cruelly but indifferent, which she claims is even worse. Ever since Luna came back Celestia has been trying to do little things to show her sister she cared, like making her breakfast after the Night Princess comes back from shepherding dreams and battling nightmares all night.

Working at the Palace in Canterlot Firebrand got to see just how amazing the two sisters really were. However he spent most of his time with Celestia

Truthfully he missed those days. Working at the Castle of Friendship certainly had a lot more action (what with Ponyville being on the very edge of the Everfree Forest and suffering from frequent monster attacks). However he still missed the days were he stood by Celestia's throne and listened to her tease the nobles and get them all flustered. It was calmer days, with not even the smallest taste of adventure, but it was much more personal.

Twilight treated all the guards like they were her friends but Celestia... you felt like family serving her. It was like all your fellow guards were your siblings and Celestia was the mother to all of them... He missed that.

Firebrand's mind stopped idly shifting from topic to topic (out of boredom) as his ears caught the sound of his ringing phone.

he accepted the videochat and CC popped up, "Go ahead,"

"Captain," CC saluted and Firebrand couldn't help but smile. Where Firebrand served Celestia directly Canned Cream served Luna on the night shift. True he was only an Apprentice but he still got to spend time with her. It was no secret amongst the guard that the colt had a crush on the Princess of the night. There were even rumors that it was more then a crush and that he was Luna's secret consort. Although Firebrand couldn't imagine Luna would let him leave the planet if that was true.

"Report," Firebrand tried acting like a captain since CC was actually treating him like one. The flame pony really did appreciate it. As tension built among the crew they were showing him less and less respect. One of the older Commanders even absentmindedly called him "sport" well they were going over the sensor readings. He didn't mean anything by it but it was obvious he thought he was just a poster colt to.

"Spike just got last month's care package from Celestia. He's uploading our families letters now and will get to work on updating the apps afterwards,"

Firebrand smiled, "That's great news. I'll send a ship wide text alerting the crew. Knowing the letters are here should raise their spirits, but keep an eye on the Prince. Make sure no one harasses him well he's working. It will take him longer if he has to stop to answer a bunch of questions,"

"Aye Sir! Over and out," The screen cut of.

Firebrand smiled and put his phone away.

"That was good thinking," One of the Helms ponies working a magic table smiled encouragingly, "Better we get those letters quickly then everyone pestering Spike about them,"

Firebrand... wished the guy didn't sound so condescending right then. Like he was amazed Firebrand thought of that on his own. No one had a problem with him being the commander of Ponyville's forces but they were all shocked he could adapt those same skills here. He chose not to comment on it and instead made small talk about the letters. He was trying his best to act like a captain instead of an easily offended child, like the Doctor said he should... of course part of him wandered... was he really in charge or was he exactly what everypony thought he was, a figure head. Everypony listened to the doctor and went to him with everything. True they were supposed t, but maybe Firebrand should deal with the crew more directly. It was something to think about.

Diamond grinned eagerly as her email dinged. She found two letters on her phone, just for her. She knew she should be working but she hadn't heard from her parents in so long... and she hadn't left things in the most stable of circumstances. Her desire to finally know what happened took over everything. Playing the video from her mom her smile slowly failed and her face distorted into tears.

"What's wrong Diamond?" Apple Bloom asked as she wandered away from the soil she was tending to.

They were in the green house deck working the water melon patch. They were growing all kinds of things so that it could be turned into raw material for the Replicators. It was easier then mining asteroids for rocks as Solopax suggested.

It only took an Earth Pony a month to grow a fruit to be completely ripe in Equestria but it was even easier out here without having to fight against the chaos magic in the soil. It took a matter of seconds now but they didn't need so much food so they merely tended the soil and kept the plants watered and made the Replicator bars as needed.

"My... my dad... he really did it... my parents are really divorced," Diamond whispered, "Mom sent me a letter... yelling at me for costing her her seat on the Ponyville Council,"

"Her seat?" Apple Bloom glared.

"You know how my dad was made governor after Ponyville became a City State?"

"Yeah, Applejack convinced Twilight to do it after she was made a Governess. Since ya'll Riches have done just as much for Ponyville as my family it only seemed fair,"

Diamond weakly smiled, but quickly lost it, "Well mom was the one going to all those meetings well dad handled the business but since the title comes from him Mom has no legal standing to advise Twilight anymore,"

"No offense Diamond but that's probably a good thing. I know Applejack was upset your mom wouldn't let Filthy go to those meetings himself,"

"He didn't want to go," Diamond informed, "I mean, dad appreciates the thought but he's interested in business, not politics. After that whole incident when he ran for mayor he learned he's really bad at that. The only reason he even accepted the title was because Grandma said he had to but he was able to pawn off his responsibilities on mom. Now dad has to start helping Flurry Heart run Ponyville,"

"Don't worry," Apple Bloom insisted, "They got Big Mac helping them, and Maud is standing in for Pinkie. I'm sure they'll do a good job,"

Diamond sighed, "I'm sure they will but... I realize you don't like my mom and probably think this is a good thing but she swore to cut all ties with me for this,"

Apple Bloom's ears pinned, "I'm sorry Diamond. I might not... understand your mom but I know you love her,"

Diamond sighed, "Thanks Apple Bloom... but I think I might request to be let off work early so I can talk to Doctor Wolf,"

"That's probably a good idea," Apple Bloom nodded, "But you should probably get ready for a lecture about answering your email at work. I doubt they'll tan you this time, considering,"

Diamond rolled her eyes, "I've never been spanked a day in my life,"

"Which probably explains why you were such a brat as a child," Apple Bloom snickered in an attempt to distract her friend.

"HEY!"

It worked!

Applejack smirked looking at the video on her phone. Grannie had her hoof on the Webcam's lense. AJ couldn't see anything but Grannie's tapping hoof.

"Is dis thing on?" Grannie hollered.

"Yep," AJ grinned, hearing the annoyed voice of her big brother, Big Mac.

"How can you tell?" Grannie finally took her hoof away and AJ could see them both clearly.

"It says it right there," Big Mac pointed.

"Where?"

"That blinking light,"

"Well how is anypony supposed to know what a blinking light means. Dang modern doohickey,"

Applejack laughed. She knew the old mare would probably pull her ear if she heard her laugh at her but the orange Earth Pony couldn't help it. She missed her family so much and it was nice to see them up to their usual antics. Grannie was over 500 years old and still not used to the boom in technology from these past couple hundred years, especially these last few decades.

"Applejack!" Grannie suddenly yelled at the screen, getting her face up close to the webcam, "Hello? Can you hear me?"

"Nope," Big Mac shook his head, "We're recording a message for her. Then we wait for her to send a message back to us, like letters,"

"Well what's the point of that!?"

"So she can see us," Big Mac assured.

"What difference does that make?"

Applejack just smiled, "It makes a world of difference Grannie," she said out loud even though she knew her family couldn't see her.

"Well Applejack," Grannie finally started filling her in on what happened this month, "since you left and took little Apple Bloom with ya I had to hire some new hands. Dar working out fine, although dar some of those Apple fanatics that are just obsessed with all things Applejack. They keeping asking a million questions about you. Ever since you girls had that book of yours adapted into a cartoon on dat dar computer we've been getting more of them. It's not as bad as when ya'll first published that book but it's still insane. At least our sales are going up as a result,"

Big Mac informed, "We've had to start using the apples to make those dense bricks of raw matter for the Replicators. Flurry Heart dipped into the town treasury to outfit all the houses and restaurants in Ponyville with Replicators since it's healthier. She even made it illegal to sell regular food within Ponyville's boarders. Now the market is filled with ponies selling these Replicator bars. Filthy convinced Flurry to give the vendors portable Replicators to make their meals at their stands.

"Filthy even financed a new restaurant which has a replicator at every table. You just select what you want from the screen, insert a few bits, and the food appears in front of you. They don't even have waitresses, just bus-colts to clean the tables and restock the Replicators with bars,"

Grannie informed, "Well I refuse to get caught up in all this 'pre programmed' food. Sweet Apple Acres is still making everything by hoof. We have to use the ingredients from the Replicator now because of that stupid law Flurry passed-"

"They're supposedly healthier," Said Big Mac

"and they don't taste right!" Grannie insisted, "We had to completely rethink our recipes. 1500 years of tradition down the toilet! Those recipes were made by MY grandfather, who poured his heart and soul into their dishes,"

"Actually," Big Mac sighed, "Grannie insisting on still making everything from scratch has helped business. It's considered 'novelty food' and is selling well. A few of the restaurants in town are doing the same thing but most of them are focusing purely on programming the Replicators with their meals for convenience. But like Grannie said they don't quite taste the same so Chefs have to completely relearn their palette,"

Applejack just smiled as she listened to her family complain. Well Grannie was doing most of the Complaining. Big Mac was doing his best to be the voice of reason. AJ really appreciated how much effort Big Mac was putting into the video. She knew he wasn't much of a talker but it was nice to hear his voice right now.

Smart Mouth grinned looking at the various videos from his family. They were all doing well.

Street Smart's job was going great in fact. He even got Miss Scratch to play one of his songs during the morning rush to work. He worked at Vinyl Scratch's global radio station as a composer. She played music during the day but at night She played Audio Dramas. That's how most radio stations worked. That way when most ponies were off work they could relax at home by listening to their shows.

Street Smart mostly wrote music for the Audio Dramas but occasionally Miss Scratch played the songs he composed on her daytime radio.

Miss Scratch had a lot of ponies working for her, especially when it came to creating the Audio Dramas. There were like 30 ponies working on the editing alone. Then they had who-knows how many musicians but only a handful of composers.

Dad had forced all the kids in his house to study music (Smart Mouth himself played the Cello) but Street Smart found he was better at writing it. Even got his cutie mark for composition.

Book Smarts got his cutie mark in business management and had recently graduated from his Apprenticeship at Filthy's store. Filthy made him the night time store manager. He'd been doing that job for years but now he officially had the title he trained for. He was getting a nice sized paycheck now and a large discount at the store. Book Smarts was really proud that he finally managed it.

Curious Cat was still apprenticing and would be for another 9 years. She's studying as a ranger / vet at Fluttershy's animal Sanctuary. She did get her cutie mark in taking care of animals after all.

Know it all Junior was going to a university of higher learning instead of an Apprenticeship. He'd gotten a scholarship to study there for the next 9 years. He could get a Doctorate during that time.

Even Outsmart was doing well. She was Auntie's niece who came to live with them when Mouthy was 10. The family curse had gotten her and she fell on hard times but she had been able to pick herself back up in Ponyville and make some friends. Even got a good job and just moved into an apartment of her own.

Dad had been promoted as head of his scout platoon. His Rogue Class making it easy for him to infiltrate the forest unseen to observe the monsters.

Yep the family was all doing well and each of them sent him a video. Mouthy would be pretty busy on his off hours answering them all.

Twilight sighed watching her videos from home. Despite Flurry being technically in charge of Ponyville at the moment she was very self-conscious. She was just so unsure of herself she was sending the Alicorn of Friendship letters by Spike daily. Flurry passed everything by Twilight before taking action but Twilight was trying to give her free range. Watching Flurry on the video was almost heart breaking. She still seemed so unsure of herself.

"I've been trying to work with the makeshift Council you left me but..." The 19 year old Alicorn sighed, "Well they keep looking at me like I'm supposed to know EVERYTHING! I didn't ascend into Alicorn-hood like you and all the other Princesses did! These wings are just a birth defect but mom actually expects me to look after my own city. I know having me watch over your city is supposed to ease me into the concept but I don't... I need help Twilight but every time I ask you I just get a 'follow your gut'. I know I have the Council but they're as new to this as I am!

"Spoiled was probably the only pony who actually served with you and now she's GONE! Starlight thinks I'm too high strung and that's a laugh coming from her...

"I'm trying to bring Ponyville into the Space Age. The Replicators are the key, I know they are... I just don't know if I'm going about this right. I gave all the houses and restaurants and even the venders Replicators for free. I even created a Replicator based factory out in the middle of no where to mass produce everything from toys to computers.

"The Replicators can make them for practically nothing, I just have to replace the Crystals which power the facility every few moons, which is expensive but much cheaper then getting thousands of raw materials and paying for labor to put them all together. I can even make laptops and smart phones for the same cost of making a child's toy! The most complex technology we have is now as easy to build as pushing a button!

"Replicators will put Ponyville on the map, I know it. It won't be long before we are the capital of trade not only on our own planet but our entire sector of Space! I believe we can do it but the cost of converting everything...

"When I asked you if I should use your castle treasury to fund converting the town you just said 'do what you think is best'. I could BANKRUPT all of Ponyville! I'm still having trouble prioritizing what I need to do and... I raised taxes...

"I made sure to only use a Sales and business tax like you do but I had to raise them, temporarily, just until the treasury is stable again, but it pissed everyone off! I tried to explain it was only for a year so that the treasury can be sustained as I go through all these new advancements but ponies don't care about that!

"It doesn't help that Filthy asked for funding to build a fleet of space ships. I even managed to convince the Ferengi to act as advisors to the merchant vessels as there is so much they can teach us. He thinks we can use them for trading with other worlds well you explore the universe. He made a lesser model to your own which we can quickly enchant in the next 30 moons. They're even quicker them your ship but the shields and environmental bubble aren't as powerful. They won't be able to survive getting close to the ring but we can make ourselves an amazing powerhouse of interstellar trade in our own sector...

"I think I'm going good in the long term but short term everypony is upset with me!"

Twilight sighed listening to Flurry condemn herself. The filly spent an hour explaining everything she already told Twilight in greater, albeit more abstract, detail.

Twilight was sure to make a video of herself, not sure another written letter could cover it, as she assured her niece she was doing a fine job and how she thought her ideas for Ponyville were brilliant. Yes the average citizens had trouble looking at the big picture but they would come to appreciate her... likely after Twilight returned and Flurry stepped down. It was just how ponies are.

Firebrand smiled after looking through all the videos of his family. Most of the crew was in a much better mood as well but a hoof-ful had gotten had news... which was bringing down the morale of all there friends. They needed something more. They couldn't keep traveling like this. Cutie Map or not the crew needed some shore leave.

Ch4: Can't Get a Break

Author's Note

Edited:
Aug 31, 2019

Ch4: Can't Get a Break

Firebrand was sitting not so comfortably in his office as he was waiting for the Princess to show. He didn't want to put her on the spot in front of the crew. She might be an informal Princess but she was still an Alicorn rather she liked it or not. He couldn't afford to be seen yelling at her in public, if she chose to make a scene that is. Morale was low enough as it is.

"Come in," he called, hearing a knock at the door.

The door opened to reveal the Princess of Friendship. She quickly closed the door behind her and trotted in. She looked a little out of it herself, "You wanted to see me Captain,"

"Yes," Firebrand sat tall and tried to project a confident appearance, "I thought it only right that I inform you before the rest of the crew. Our long range sensors have picked up a habitable planet in the Star system we are approaching. I've decided we will be stopping there for a couple weeks to give the crew some much needed shore leave,"

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Twilight argued, "Things tend to be pretty urgent when the map summons you somewhere,"

"It will still be another month before we reach the Mass Relay at the center of it," Firebrand reminded, "Then it's an additional month and a half before we reach Ferenginar. We can't keep going like this. Tension among the crew just keeps building. If anything the crew is more anxious after getting the letters as it reminded them they won't see their families in person for another 5 years. They need to relieve stress. With respect, this is a courtesy notification. We will be entering the solar system within the hour and entertaining the planet's orbit shortly after,"

Twilight sighed, "I really don't think this is a good idea, Captain,"

"You entrusted me with the well being of this crew," Firebrand reminded, "Please believe me when I say that if we continue at this pace they will snap long before we reach Ferenginar,"

Twilight sighed again, "Alright Captain. Honestly I could use some rest myself... What does Solopax have to say about this planet?"

"I was waiting to get you to sign off before seeking his advice," Firebrand tapped on his phone and sent a text to the Ferengi ordering him to come to the Captain's office immediately.

Solopax was all smiles when he entered, the black not appearing to effect him as much as the rest of the crew, "Captain? Don't see you in here often. Was beginning to think the rumors were true and the big boy chair intimidated you,"

"In-intimidated!" Firebrand roared before choking back his irritation, "Whatever, just hurry up and close the door." he ordered and Solopax gave a shrugged before obeying. Once he was seated Firebrand asked, "Take a seat and tell us about the planet we are approaching."

"Which one, there are several habitable planets in the system we're aimed at,"

"How about one with ponies?" Firebrand insisted.

Solopax grinned, showing off his sharp teeth, "Well none have ponies, at least not of the Sentient variety, but one does have people,"

Firebrand rolled his eyes, "You're as bad as the Doctor when it comes to semantics,"

"It's not a semantic, Cap," Insisted Solopax, "It's actually something I've been meaning to talk to you about. A lot of races would take offense at being lumped together like that. People is a broad, inclusive, term which doesn't specify race. Most races are more accepting of that,"

Firebrand huffed, "Do you know anything about the planet or not?"

Solopax rolled his eyes at the dismissal of such an important topic, "My ship did a scan of the entire star cluster when we arrived, looking for worlds worth trading with. Shinobi World... wasn't one of them. They have very limited technology; basic computers but no wifi, short range radio but nothing better then a few miles. Evidence of more sophisticated tech in ruins which indicates they were more advanced at one point but lost it, likely from some kind of apocalypse. However they have recovered enough to have a functioning civilization. They are a rare breed of magical humanoid,"

"Humanoids?" Twilight blinked.

"The galaxy isn't as different as you imagine. A few billion years ago a race fondly remembered as the Engineers, seeing the end of their species for whatever reason, seeded the galaxy with their DNA. This caused all planets to go down a similar evolutionary track. That means all the basic animal kingdoms exist on almost every planet. They might look a little, or even vastly, different sometimes but their core traits can be linked with other lifeforms across the galaxy. Most races are indirectly related to each other because of these. Even we are distant evolutionary cousins,"

"REALLY!?" Twilight awed, "That's amazing! See Firebrand! I told you having a Ferengi aboard would help. We have so much to learn from them," she clapped her hooves.

Firebrand just gave another huffed, "I don't really see what that has to do with anything,"

Solopax rolled his eyes, "I was getting to that. See Humanoids are the most common intelligent lifeform to evolve, but usually they don't have magic so they aren't truly Sapient and often driven by their base instincts. Even Ferengi have basic magic. Maybe not to the degree of you ponies but we do have a 6th sense when it comes to magic which allows us to create runes and potions to channel our internal energies. It is an extremely expensive field of study in my culture though. Usually only bankers can afford it,"

Twilight's eyes snapped open, "You have to PAY for an education!" In Equestria your skills and knowledge determined how far you could go.

You worked at your own pace in enchanted text books Doctor Whooves created. The books contained Equestria's entire understanding of the univers. Kids learned everything they could at their own pace. The books were even self grading for the homework and test in them. Teachers were mostly there to help kids when they got stuck but they also taught the kids through labs and other class participation activities to work on social skills and creative thinking.

True you had to pay for many kinds of apprenticeships but that was to apply knowledge you already knew in the real world. Even then it was only when learning under a single master of a trade that they sometimes asked for compensation. In those situations the master teaches on a one on one basis and usually mentors learned just as much from their apprentices. Even then there were many companies, and even universities of higher learning, which offered free apprenticeships, provided your grades were good enough. The very idea that you had to pay to learn the basics was insane.

Solopax just shrugged off this horrible offense against learning, "That was one of the things Grand Nagus Rom changed. He used taxes to fund a free university in every city on the planet, even had them built in small towns,"

"I think I'm going to like this Nagus," Twilight insisted.

Solopax rolled his eyes, "Grand Nagus is a title, not a name,"

Firebrand soft growled, "You two must be the most easily distracted ponies in the galaxy," well rubbing his temple with his hoof, "Seriously, Smart Mouth thinks less abstract then you, and he's Autistic!"

Solopax blushed and defended, "I'm only answering the questions I'm asked! That's my job! Blame the princess,"

Twilight was an even deeper shade of crimson in her purple fur. Her fur literally changing color as it tends to do. A Pony's facial fur were like mood rings, "Sorry, my fault. There is just so much to learn... so Humanoids?"

"Right, Humanoids," Solopax nodded, "They are like ants, culturally anyway as they are more closely related to apes genetically. They are amazing builders that can shape their landscape and think very inventively but still just animals at their core as they lack the magical sixth sense that defines sapiens. Magical humans are very rare but even when they evolve they still have that primitive mindset despite meeting the galactic definition of Sapient.

"You have to take extra care well trading with them to make sure they don't destroy themselves with what you give them. A responsible trader has to guide any primitive civilization they trade with so they are ready for the technology they buy. All citizens, not just humanoids, have a chance of killing themselves with science they aren't ready for so you have to make them ready by training them and guiding them. It can take decades to fully integrate a culture,"

Twilight nodded, "Flurry told me she was able to convince your former crew to work with the fleet she's building. A ferengi advisor will be on board every ship in the fleet to guide us as we form friendships with all planets of this Sector,"

Solopax smiled, "I know. I recieved quite a few eager letters from my crew, former crew. They are thrilled to be part of this new era of trade for your planet... They... have also made a request... I didn't know how to bring it up to you,"

Firebrand groaned, "Maybe bring it up later," he didn't really ask.

"No," Twilight disregarded Firebrand, "It's important to insure our newest citizens are adjusting well. I take it this is something your crew can't ask Flurry Heart?"

Solopax shook his head, "She doesn't have the means to deliver on this request. My crew was hoping, since we are headed to Ferengiar, that we might collect their families... not just their immediate families either. Since we are making Equestria our home and you don't really have the means for us to visit regularly-"

"I understand," Twilight nodded, "I'll tell Flurry to set up a new Ferengi distract for all of your families and future generations. We should probably extend the invitation to the friends of your crew, and their families,"

Solopax gaped, "Seriously?"

Twilight shrugged, "It's only practical. You're crew was only a few dozen. If Equestria is truly going to accommodate a new species we have to make sure your numbers are large enough to sustain a healthy population,"

Firebrand grinned, "She means she doesn't want to risk you guys inbreeding due to limited options,"

Solopax blushed, "I suppose that is... practical," still a bit insane though. Maybe she didn't realize how many people that was, "But Princess, our families would already be putting a few hundred Ferengi on your planet, add their friends and that's easily a few thousand,"

"Good," was Twilight's response.

Solopax gaped, "This ship can't possibly hold that many!"

"You're homes are completely self contained right?" Twilight asked, seemingly randomly. She really was very easily distracted. At least it seemed that way, "No pipes under the building thanks to everything being recycled through the Replicator?"

"...yes,"

"Good, then with the proper runes I should have no problem teleporting their homes to Ponyville. They will never need to get on the ship,"

"Seriously!?" Solopax gaped.

Firebrand waved off, "It shouldn't be that hard really. As long as there is somepony to lay down the runes where we want them in Ponyville the distance of transport doesn't matter. You just need two physical links. That is enough to bend space to the point a few months of traveling, by warp, becomes instantaneous,"

Solopax just awed. These creatures magical knowledge put them just short of gods and they treated it like it was no big deal.

Firebrand looked over at the princess with a bored expression, "The Doctor taught all of us rune crafting, so the apprentices you didn't want will easily be able to help you transport all the buildings in a day instead of a week,"

Twilight rolled her eyes, "I'll take your smugness to mean you are confident in their abilities,"

"I went to school with all these kids. The lowest educated amongst us still has an Expert level degree in runes," assured Firebrand, "You can leave it to them as you handle the diplomatic stuff,"

Twilight nodded and looked over at Solopax, "I'll write Flurry now and have her get us a list of Ferengi we need to extend the invitation to from your crew,"

● A Few Hours Later

Twilight stood on the deck and looked up at the blue sky. A sky, a real sky, complete with the scent of salt in the ocean breeze, the sight of the sea. She had almost forgotten how beautiful it was outside the black.

They had just broken into the Planet's atmosphere and were flying a good 20 miles above the sea, slowly easing themselves down before they reach a nearby port. This entire world looked so beautiful with tall Ivory towers surrounded by green trees and little shops. She could see the inhabitants crowding around on the distant land looking up at them. It really was amazing to be outside the black.

"The longer you travel," Solopax explained as he stood by her, "The easier it gets. If you do this long enough there will come a day where you dread to leave the stars. Where your ship becomes home and the crew your family. Only coming planet side to trade and resupply,"

"The romantic in me wants to say that sounds wonderful," Twilight smiled but flushed a bit as she admitted, "But after spending over a month on this boat the realist in me thinks that sounds like Tartarus,"

Solopax chuckled, "There's an adjustment period but you get used to it. Then you'll start to love it,"

"Stockholm Syndrome at it's finest," Twilight joked.

Solopax chuckled, "You have a good sense of humor, for a female,"

The Princess rolled her eyes, then looked around as they left the ocean and began sailing over land. They sailed over the port and headed further inland.

"PRINCESS!!!" Firebrand screamed, running out of the observation lounge, "We're being hailed!"

Twilight blinked and looked at Solopax, "I thought you said they didn't have the means to contact us?"

"They don't," Solopax looked equally puzzled.

Firebrand explained, "It's not from the planet. We traced the signal to a ship hiding in the upper atmosphere,"

"A ship?" Twilight blinked but hurried to the observation lounge. Solopax was right behind her as she ordered, "Patch it through,"

A weird looking furless monkey appeared in the large crystal ball. Well almost furless, it had random patches of fur on the top of it's head and face.

Solopax violently snarled seeing it, "Hoo'mon!" he exclaimed.

The Hoo'mon glared back, "I should have known you lot would be behind this. Corrupting the horses already,"

"Who the buck you calling horses!?" Firebrand snapped, temporarily forgetting himself.

Twilight managed to keep a calmer head, "Gentlecolts please, there is no need to stoop to such language," She looked at the ugly creature and did her best not to let it's appearance get to her. It had such mundane coloring and a flat face, "I am Princess Twilight Sparkle of the planet Equestria. This is our Captain Firebrand, and our Advisor of Galactic Affairs Solopax. Would you kindly identify yourself?"

"Captain Indiana Jackson, representing The United Federation of Planets. State your reasoning behind making such a spectacle of yourselves," It ordered.

Twilight blinked, "Spectacle? We are simply looking for a place to land for shore leave,"

"Unacceptable," The Hoo'mon glared, "This is a prewarp civilization if I ever saw one. It goes against our highest laws to interfere with them,"

Twilight blinked again and looked at Solopax, "Is there some kind of charter of Galactic law we are unaware of?"

"No," Solopax continued glaring at the Hoo'mon, "The Federation just likes lording it's holier then thou morals over everyone they meet," Then he began yelling well pointing a finger at the screen, "We aren't even in Federation space and you're still trying to boss around hard working people! You're guest of this Sector and as the first Species to discover Warp drive within these boarders the ponies have far more right to dictate the rules here. You're in their territory, stop trying to assert your will on them,"

"There is a reason we don't interfere with prewarp civilizations. Your presence has already caused a panic on the surface!"

"Shut up!" Solopax snapped in a juvenile manner, "You're just mad we actually want to form relations with these creatures for trade,"

"THE HELL YOU ARE," The Hoo'mon roared, "I can't believe Picard actually decided to leave the horses to you Ferengi shites. You really are corrupting them. You can't trade with such a primitive culture! They'll destroy themselves with whatever you give them!"

"You just never bothered to put any effort into trading with 'inferior' lifeforms," Solopax did weird little air quotes with his fingers instead of his whole hand as ponies do... probably the weirdest thing to focus on during this conversation, "You have to guide them and prepare them for the technology you give them. It's called responsible trading,"

"It's called forcing your morals on primitive worlds," The Hoo'mon barked, "You're destroying their culture,"

"Oh yes because letting them die from disease and famine is so necessary to a culture!"

"Gentlecolts," Twilight tried again. "I'm afraid I'm at a loss here," she tried to be diplomatic. "I don't see the problem of touching down and mingling with these creatures. We ponies have found a healthy exposure to diversity is good for development. Sharing ideas is only-"

"Stop!" The Hoo'mon snapped, "Stop right there, 'sharing ideas' is exactly what we want to avoid," that sounded rather archaic, "These lifeforms aren't ready to know about the greater galaxy. They've barely discovered working plumbing!"

Twilight blinked, "If your not here to contact the inhabitants then why are you here?"

Solopax scoffed, "Isn't it obvious. They detected the Dilithium and are likely mining it without offering the rightful owners anything in return,"

Twilight gaped before looking back at the orb, practically begging the Hoo'mon to deny it with her eyes. The Hoo'mon just scoffed, offering no denial or defense.

There was a knock from no where, getting Twilight to look all around. Then a flash of white light and the crystal ball suddenly turned to static. After a moment Discord appeared in the ball, "Welcome to the second test of the semester," he declared.

"Test?" Twilight blinked.

"Your crew is in horrible danger," Explained Discord, "They will destroy your ship to uphold their values,"

"Back up!" Twilight demanded, "What did you mean by 'test'?"

"Yeah," Firebrand eyed, "What happens if we fail,"

"Then Everyone dies," Discord looked mournful, almost like the concept was too painful for him to think about. This... was serious.

"Errrrr..." Solopax stared, "Who is this?" He almost said, "What is that?" But he'd been in space too long to get away with such rudeness over an unfamiliar species, "Weren't we talking to the Hoo'mon a moment ago,"

"Sorry Discord, Solopax, Solopax, Discord," Firebrand suddenly seemed freakishly polite and cheerful, "Now that we have the pleasantries out of the way how about WE TALK ABOUT THE FACT HOSTILE ALIENS ARE PLANNING TO FIRE ON US!"

Discord waved off, "Oh relax, Time is frozen outside this little bubble, gives you a bit to decide what to do,"

Since they weren't on a time limit, Twilight went into further detail, "Discord is the spirit of Chaos. He got a little too wild with his games a long time ago and endangered our world. He's the reason we have to directly control all of nature, but we stopped him and reformed him,"

"You... tamed... a god," Solopax gaped.

Discord explained, "The ponies have the means to destroy even an elder god, thanks to some powerful magical artifacts. Instead they chose to imprison me. Then offered me compassion and understanding when my sentence was up, much like they did with you. They do have a very personalized justice system if you have noticed,"

Solopax had noticed, he actually thought it was a flaw on their part. They prefered to teach criminals to be better rather then punish them, giving a wrist slap at worse. They even made sure the wrong doers gained a career they would actually enjoy. Solopax took all this as another sign of their naive nature, but if it worked for even the gods that challenged their world...

"Discord," Firebrand got the god's attention, "You said they were getting ready to fire on us?"

"If that is what you heard," Answered the trickster.

"He said we're in danger," Twilight reminded, "Not that they would fire, or even who 'they' are. The danger could come from the ship, the planet's inhabitants, or perhaps an unknown third party. You have to listen carefully when talking to Discord and not jump to any conclusions," Discord smiled fondly at her for that.

Although Discord could aggravate her, Twilight still tried her best to understand his perspective. He was a god. He didn't think or even feel the way mortals do but that does not mean he was without morals or emotions. Twilight understood that and respected it. She was what Picard should have been. Unfortunately, Twilight them looked at Discord expectantly.

Discord sighed, "Sorry Princess, no more clues, it's against the rules,"

Firebrand rolled his eyes, "Since when is the god of Chaos bound by rules?"

Discord huffed but Twilight beat him to it, "Since always," Said Twilight, "First time I met Discord he tricked me into playing a game with him that involved rules, very few but straight forward rules. After all what is chaos without a hint of order,"

Discord gaped staring at her... this dimension's Twilight really was something. He should see if she would allow him to keep her soul after she died.

"So Discord," Twilight looked at the god, "Are these your own, spirit of the moment, rules or is it something else,"

"Both are equally important," Discord insisted with a huff.

Twilight rolled her eyes, getting a tad annoyed by the answer.

Discord sighed, "You are a space fairing Civilization now. The rules say I can only help you to a certain degree from this moment on,"

Twilight sighed back, "As if you weren't vague enough... your still going to have tea with Fluttershy though, right?"

"Of course. Social visits don't count as helping," Discord waved off, then got hard, "And don't think you can weasel information out of me through a technicality. Unlike with mortals, we gods could care less about the words of the law. It's spirit means everything,"

Twilight pouted, "Guess we should be grateful for the time freeze, gives us time to formulate a plan," She looked over at her captain, "So, my master tactician, how do we stop a hostile alien ship from stealing another world's resources without starting an interstellar war?"

Everypony in the room suddenly looked at Firebrand with less then confident expressions.

Firebrand coughed into his hoof and gathered himself, "Well diplomacy is the best option but if that fails we need to forcibly take back what they stole, without them being able to prove it was us,"

Discord raised an eyebrow.

Solopax scoffed, "How do you propose we do that?"

"The rogues," Firebrand insisted, "Rather the apprentices onboard with a Rogue class. We send them to sabotage their ship,"

Twilight frowned, "That seems a little harsh,"

"We just disable them," Firebrand insisted, "No ponies will get hurt on either side. Afterwards they will be more willing to hear us out,"

Twilight shook her head then looked over at Solopax, "How effective are our shields if they choose to attack?"

Solopax shrugged, "Honestly? With your understanding of magical wards you have the most impressive shields in the galaxy. So long as you keep your runes charged with dilithium they would be incapable of damaging your vessel "

Twilight nodded, "And we have enough crystals on board to stay charged for years,"

Solopax shrugged, "Well more like hours from continuous blast. Their weapons are very advanced,"

Twilight nodded again and looked over at Firebrand, "I appreciate your suggestion captain but these aren't monsters we are facing. No matter how different they look they are ponies like us. We can't afford to think like Soldiers right now. Can you come up with a less hostile plan?"

Firebrand sighed, "The only other option to reclaim the crystals they stole would be..." Thinking hard on it before snapping his hoof. The magical static controlled by it crashing against each other to make the sound, "Tractor beam," formulated Firebrand, "The Doctor was able to reverse engineer a magical equivalent based on science recovered from the Ferengi vessel.

"We just need to get close to them and force their ship down to the planet's surface. Then, once they have been exposed to the natives we can act as Arbiters to discuss reimbursement for what was stolen. The thieves will likely be hostile and the natives will be understandably upset, possibly wanting vengeance if they are anything like most races we have dealt with. We will need to take steps to insure both sides are safe,"

Twilight smiled, "Now you are thinking like a diplomat. I have handled worse negotiation sessions. With a well versed song they would be more willing to listen,"

Solopax smacked his large forehead with his hand, "A song? really?"

Twilight grinned, "Ponies are distant cousins to sirens. We might not have mind altering voices but we can channel our internal magics through singing. It makes us more persuasive. You still have to give a good arguement and it is perfectly possible to shake off the suggestion. It just makes others more willing to listen to our opinions,"

All Solopax heard was "Sirens", ponies were bloody sirens! Mind you to a much lesser degree but with their 500+ year lifespans, and their shere variety of magical powers, they had to be bloody sirens on top of it!

Firebrand looked at Twilight, "Are we ready to implement the plan princess?"

Twilight smiled at the orb, "Thanks for the assistance, Discord, but we'll take it from here,"

Ch5: Prime Directive, Part 1

"It's gone!" yelped the young Ensign at the helm. Ensign Rhodes was fresh out of the Academy, been with them only a few months, but he was a promising pilot. Still he had a habit of overreacting to every unexpected thing that happened in the black. As a result Captain Jackson wasn't really expecting much cause for the yelp of surprise.

Indiana blinked as he looked at the fuzzy screen, filled with white static. Even if they had lost the hailing frequency that shouldn't have happened. It should have just cut out.

"Try hailing them again," ordered Indiana.

"No sir," said the Ensign, but before the old captain had a chance to yell at the brat for disobeying a direct order the boy corrected, "I mean I can't. We didn't lose the connection, sir. It's being held in some kind of stasis. What we lost was the ship. I think they activated a cloaking device of some kind,"

"Red Alert," Called the first officer and red lights began to flash, accompanied by an irritating noise.

"Turn that off," Indiana barked.

"Captain?" The first officer looked puzzled as the alert instantly left. The blue skinned not-quite-man was always questioning him at the least appropriate times.

"Raise shields," Indiana demanded

"Raising shields," called the Vulcan Spyssk, their tactical officer.

"Captain!" the sound of urgency in the first officer's voice was apparent. Bov really was such a pain in the ass, "We need to have the crew ready to-"

"To what you moron?" Indiana growled rubbing his forehead, "Kill all mankind? That may not matter to your lot but I happen to like living,"

"That's a bit uncalled for," glared Bov.

"These horses have a class S entity watching over them. According to Picard's memo Q is ready to wipe out all mankind if we even indirectly cause the death of one of them. What do you think that thing will do if we were stupid enough to actually fire a torpedo at their ship?"

The young Ensign nervously asked, "What are we supposed to do then?"

"Get us away from the planet, see if they follow us into open space. Hopefully they are only acting defensively,"

The Ensign plotted the course and quickly engaged as he muttered, "Pretty severe reaction to getting scolded,"

The Captain ignored him, "If they choose to follow us jump to warp 9, they aren't fast enough to catch us. We can-"

The whole ship suddenly jerked and the entire bridge crew flew out of their chairs.

"Tractor beam!" The Ensign screamed as he scrambled back to the controls. He frantically began pressing buttons, "I can't get us out! It's using some kind of bizarre energy frequency,"

The screen cleared up and the purple horse reappeared, "Federation vessel, please remain calm. We are bringing you down to the planet's surface to resolve your crime of theft,"

"What!?" Indiana roared.

"Rest assured we will take measures to insure your safety and will-"

"You can't take us down to the surface!" exclaimed Indiana.

"Relax Captain," the horse insisted, "After this is resolved you're worlds will be the best of friends,"

"Close hailing frequency," Indiana ordered.

The ensign pushed a button but the horse was still on the view screen, raising an eyebrow at them. Then the boy began frantically pressing more buttons, "I can't,"

The horse smiled, "Our magics are far more advanced then your technology,"

"So be it," The Captain growled, "Computer activate self destruct, command code 0001 Destruct, 1 second timer,"

Twilight gasped well Firebrand screamed at the Helms ponies, "Teleport them to the brig!"

The entire bridge crew turned into light before the Federation ship exploded.

Firebrand looked at the creatures at their stations, "Did you get them,"

Bon Bon, who had been standing off to the side bossing around her Helms ponies during this, closly examined all the crystal balls, "All 472 crewmembers safely in the brig... some of them are foals..."

Twilight gaped, "Why would he do that? We were just trying to get them to talk. I even said so!"

Solopax scuffed, "The Federation take their 'no interference' policy very seriously. It's their highest law,"

Twilight snapped, "And you couldn't have told us that!"

"I wasn't expecting them to kill themselves over it," Solopax defended.

Twilight shook her head, "I need to get down there," before disappearing in a flash of purple light. She reappeared in front of a small cell in the lower decks, one of a thousand in the brig. A magical force field separating them.

"Why?" Twilight asked the occupant, "you didn't even give your crew time to evacuate,"

The Hoo'man dismissed, as if it was a trivial matter, "We wouldn't have been able to get out of your tractor beam anyway,"

Twilight gaped, "If Bon Bon hadn't locked onto your life signs before we decloaked you would all be..." she couldn't even say it.

"I won't violate the prime directive," was all Indiana said.

"CHILDREN!" Twilight exclaimed, "your ship was full of foals and you were willing to kill them all,"

"Including my own son," was Captain Jackson's answer.

"Why!?" Twilight demanded, "You didn't even hesitate!"

"And you transported us through our shields," Answered the Captain, "We have greatly underestimated the extent of your 'magic',"

Twilight shook her head, "Just tell me why. I thought I made it clear we weren't going to hurt you,"

"But you would have done plenty of hurt to them!" The captain snapped, "The prime directive isn't meant to protect us from other civilizations. It's meant to protect them FROM us! Every citizen of the Federation swears an oath to uphold the Prime Directive. That starts with school children to the flag. You can't even imagine the type of damage your ignorance could do to a developing civilization,"

"I'm not as ignorant as you think," Twilight glared, "I personally help integrate dozens of civilizations into one united global government,"

"Then your more monstrous then we thought as well," The Captain glared, "Who would have thought such cute little horses would be such great conquerors,"

"We aren't conquerors!" Twilight insisted, "We don't go into lands and declare war. We join through diplomacy, through building strong friendships. All the races are grateful for our help,"

"I'm sorry, benevolent conquerors then," The Captain snorted.

Twilight looked down at her hooves, "We aren't conquerors... we take steps to insure the cultures we meet endure. We... I,"

She looked up at the captain. The very air started to vibrate to a melody, as if a hidden Orchestra began to play. Then she began to sing,

"I'm not a conqueror.

I do everything I can to preserve the cultures we meet.

It's not easy. I realize it's not, but it's worth the struggle.

Culture Death is always possible. It doesn't matter if you sail the stars or just mastered the flame.

I'm not blind to that, but I do my best to adapt to their culture well preserving our own.

Each time you make a new friend you lose something, but gain so much more.

You have to adapt yourself, by understanding your new friend.

I stop, I listen, I learn of their ways well introducing my own, then go on to teach ponies about them.

I do this with every civilization I meet. Our differences make us special. It would be a crime to extinguish that.

But by coming together we can raise above ourselves to greatness.

I'm not a conqueror... I believe peace is a blessing to all,"

The captain just stared at her during this, feeling oddly more relaxed... but still, "You can't force me to talk to them," The Captain insisted once the song ended.

Twilight sighed, "I know... We'll return on our journey to the Trek Sector in a few weeks, after our shore leave. I'll make sure you get back to your people," Twilight's horn glowed and she touched it to a panel on the wall. All the fields turned off, "You can join us on the surface if you want, but I doubt you will. You and your crew are free to wander the ship. Maybe we can learn a bit about each other so something like this doesn't happen again... one deck above us is the guest quarters, make yourselves comfortable,"

"You're lyrics sucked," Firebrand smiled when Twilight returned to the bridge.

"You were listening?" Twilight raised an eyebrow.

Firebrand tapped a small crystal ball, with a clear image of the brig. The humans were currently gathering together but hadn't left it yet. Many of the parents were looking over the children and hugging them tightly. It looked like they truly treasured them, even the Captain with his own son, yet they treasured this prime directive even more... it was foalish to thing an impromptu song could change their minds but maybe it was enough for them to understand pony values.

"Wasn't about to leave you unguarded with hostile aliens," Firebrand recaptured her attention, "Although I wished you would have talked to me before releasing them. If they are willing to off themselves over this prime directive it isn't unreasonable to assume they attack us for it,"

Twilight shook her head, "All friendships run the risk of hurting each other. That doesn't mean they aren't worth the risk," she rested her hoof on Firebrand, "You are a great soldier. The best strategist Equestria has ever seen. That is why I chose you as captain. I know you can keep every pony alive during our journey,"

"Only if you listen to me," Firebrand insisted.

Twilight ignored this, "But you need to stop thinking like a soldier. I'll admit, I've given my fair share of friendship beatings, as you foals have come to call it," Firebrands ears pinned at being called a foal, "but I always try to resolve things peacefully as my first course... I shouldn't have indulged your plan of forced Diplomacy without trying to talk first. That was my fault,"

"I'm the captain," Firebrand childishly muttered.

Twilight sighed, "You sound like me when I first got my castle. I assumed just because I was a princess that meant I had to be perfect for everypony who saw me, otherwise I felt I was letting them down. I thought that I couldn't afford to be wrong... but I learned we are all wrong sometimes. A job in authority isn't about being perfect or doing everything yourself. It's about fixing your own mistakes and trusting those under you.

"I know your young Firebrand but I have every last ounce of faith you will grow into your new position. There is no pony I trust more to protect us," she tapped his shoulder and walked back to the large orb in the center of the room, looking out at the remains of the human ship, "Inform the crew of our guest. Tell them to make them feel welcome as we will be together for a while. And Solopax arrange a mandatory meeting for the crew, so you can explain these humanoids to us all in greater detail. I don't want a fiasco like this happening during shore leave. When the crew is ready, and our guest have made themselves comfortable, return to the planet,"

"We aren't horses," insisted the small green horse, "That would be like me calling you an ape,"

Rhodes blushed, "S-sorry... Sandbar... Wow that's a weird name," diplomacy wasn't really his strong suit.

He was just a pilot and engineer. He didn't usually, well ever actually, deal with aliens unaffiliated with the Federation. The idea of him talking to a hostile alien and representing the entire Federation was flat out laughable. He was way to excitable and blunt to deal with this but now every member of his crew were unwilling diplomats. They all represented the Federation in a delicate moment that very well could lead to another war with a superior force if handled improperly... why did it have to be his ship that ran into them?

Sandbar shrugged as he snacked on his sandwich of assorted flowers. He didn't really look the part of a hostile alien. He kinda looked like a children's toy with how bright and colorful he was. The young Stallion just spotted the Ensign eating some weird fish dish and sat himself down. They just started talking, trying to learn about each other and their civilizations... it was hard to think they were a second away from blasting each other out of the Sky, just a few hours ago.

"Like Jamie is any better," Sandbar smiled, "At least my name actually means something,"

"Yeah..." The boy shrugged, "How does that work? We have reports on how cutie marks work but I still don't understand how so many of you have marks matching your name. Are you named after you get your Cutie Mark?"

"Nope," Sandbar shrug as he swallowed his bite, "It's kinda a self-fulfilling prophecy. Ponies will often try to live up to their names through hobbies and that eventually evolves into a special talent related to the field. Not always but it's pretty common,"

"Just to live up to their name?"

"Well it's more then that," Sandbar explained, "Ponies don't have a family name like you guys," Solopax had explained what that was, "We have a family theme, which usually relates to a family trade. Foals feel pressured to follow in their family's hoof prints, to effectively live up to their name. There is no shame in breaking away from that but most don't.

"There is a big Naming VS. Nurture debate scholars are always going on about. Honestly living up to my name is probably why I became a Marine biologist. My family's theme in studying and caring for critters, but I love the sea so I specialized in that. And what is space but the largest ocean. My apprenticeship with Twilight shaped me further and I became a diplomat to ocean based civilizations,"

"Apprenticing?" the human tilted his head in confusion. It was amazing how many gestures like that were universal. It might have something to do with what Solopax said about most creatures being genetically linked.

"It's how our education system works. We enter preschool at 3 where we learn to read, write, basic math, and our colors of course.

"Then we go to regular school at 6 where we do a bunch of class participation stuff, like labs and story time, in between working in an enchanted text books. The books contain the entire collection of knowledge known to our planet, separated by field of study. They have a bunch of assignments and test in them, which are self grading. You work at your own pace with the teacher acting more as guide. Theoretically you could graduate with a Doctorate in every field in existence thanks to this system. The first mate on board actually created the books as well as the system a couple hundred years ago.

"Anyway then you graduate school at 13 with whatever degrees you earned and start your apprenticeship. Some choose to go to schools of higher learning for further study as well as a more specialized education. Others apprentice at a company and learn a trade. Then there are the ones lucky enough to apprentice under a master of a trade.

"I went to Princess Twilight's school of friendship,"

Jamie blinked, "A school of... friendship?"

"Basically it taught us how to be diplomats," at least one of them was a trained diplomat, "You know, how to embrace our differences and respect other cultures well safely exchanging ideas. Even cultures just starting out have something valuable to teach us,"

Jamie shook his head, "And how long do you do that,"

"Until we are 30, usually,"

Jamie groaned, "Over a hundred years in school... and I thought my 4 at the Academy was boring,"

"A hundred?" Sandbar blinked, "How you figure?"

Jamie smiled, "You ponies measure a year based on how long it last on the Halo Rings. Where Terrains measure years based on solar systems around our homeworld. You're 'year' effectively last for 3.6 of our own."

Sandbar gaped, "But solar cycles are inconsistent. All planets have a different number of days it takes to orbit their star. Where as the Rings keep a universal consistancy!"

Jamie shrugged, "We didn't discover that until our civilization had begun space travel. Your telescopes are a lot more advanced then ours were back then. Hell your Telescopes were a lot more advanced then our early satellites,"

"What's a satellite?" Sandbar blinked.

"Something that is likely completely worthless to your civilization but most rely on heavily for making observations of other planets and Communications,"

"Communications?" Sandbar blinked.

"I'm not sure if it is compatible with your energy manipulation but it's how we communicate to ships on the other side of the quadrant. There are buoys all over the galaxy which relay the signal. They are strictly for Federation use. I'm sure the Ferengi will let you use their's though,"

"I wonder why Solopax didn't tell us about them..." Sandbar looked troubled.

"They are for exclusive Ferengi use. You have to get permission from the planet to use them and then they will tax you each time you use it. I doubt the Federation will let you use their's given you sided with the Ferengi,"

"Sided?" Sandbar tilted his head.

"The Federation and Ferengi have been in a cold war for decades now," Jamie shrugged.

Sandbar nodded as he thought to himself how the ponies should help them settle the feud once they handled whatever crisis was going on Ferengiar. Better to leave that alone for now as it was too early in their relationship to offer advice, especially given the start. So Sandbar backtracked the conversation a little, "You said you were 20, but with your calendar that would actually put you closer to 5 or 6... you're pretty articulate for a toddler,"

"Humans age much faster then ponies, MUCH much faster then... well, everything. If we went by the standard galactic calendar we would only live to be 40 at most... and that's wishful thinking,"

"Wow... sorry," Sandbar didn't know what to say. Most Equestrian species lived to be a few decades past 500 (the ones that didn't had straight up eternal youth) but this guy wouldn't even be considered an adult before he kicked it.

"It's not so bad," Jamie waved off, "Our short lifespans is the source of our greatest strength, our ambition. Humans can do more in a single lifetime then most races do in a thousand years, our years that is. We are compelled to. Most aliens live so long they don't feel any urgency to leave their marks. Like you said, your whole species spends a hundred years just for school and I bet most don't even get doctorates in that time,"

"Most don't," Sandbar admitted. He had a few though, but then he spent his apprenticeship at a school for higher learning.

Jamie looked all proud, "I have 5 doctorates, and they are all just as good as the galactic standard. That actually works a lot like your own education system,"

Sandbar gaped. A FIVE YEAR OLD had 5 doctorates!? What did they get a doctorate for each year of life! "In what?"

"Mathematics, Engineering, Computer Science, Spacial Aviation (that's piloting starships), and Xeno linguistics (alien languages)," Jamie listed off, "And I graduated at the bottom of the top 10% of Starfleet Academy," He shrugged, "Humans short lifespans make us compelled to cram as much into life as possible. Hell even when we are lazy we don't tend to linger as long as most aliens. Even our days our shorter then yours,"

Sandbar just awed at the concept, "Wow... is that normal for the Federation?"

"Honestly... no, it's not common but it's not exactly rare in this day and age either. I graduated university when I was 16 like most, only I had a bunch of doctorates instead of the usual masters degrees. We do the whole, learn at your own pace, thing to. Then I went straight to Starfleet Academy, which is a pretty common career choice at that age. I guess the Academy is our equivalent of apprenticing. I was there for 4 years, crammed to the brim with studying and weepy nights from the occasional work overload. Then I got my choice of station since I did so well and chose to come out here. The Federation has never been here before and I wanted to come out with the small bang of ships to explore the unknown,"

"Wow," Sandbar awed, "Twilight just asked me if I wanted to come and I said 'sure'. There was no real training or anything beyond basic survival and operations stuff. I think the apprentices were the only ones who actually had to prove themselves. The rest were just hoof picked by the Mane 6,"

"Main 6?" Jamie blinked.

"No, Mane, like hair," Sandbar patted his mane, "They are the champions of our world. They are largely responsible for uniting everycreature into a global government. They are warriors and diplomats, the ultimate peace keepers of our planet. These guys have such raw magical power they can take on armies all on there own. The rest of the crew is kinda just here to keep them company and run the ship. We don't actually have that big a role in things.

"I just graduated my apprenticeship a few years ago, been working in the oceans with Seaponies, sea dragons, basically a whole lot of creatures that start with 'sea'. Been acting as the ambassador to their city states out there for Ponyville, where I'm from. But I was all too thrilled when Twilight told me she wanted me to be a science officer onboard this ship... unfortunately I haven't gotten to really do anything. We've been nonstop sailing, but Twilight promised I could take a team down to the planet's oceans and observe the wild life. It should be awesome to see what Alien fish are like,"

"Well they are-"

"HEY," Sandbar loudly shushed him, "No spoilers,"

"You think, as a scientist, you would want as much data as possible," Jamie insisted.

"We can compare notes afterwards. Part of what makes this so thrilling is exploring an unknown region. Equestria mapped out every inch of our oceans centuries ago,"

A few more hours later, after Sandbar reported his findings to Twilight and Jamie reported to his Captain, The Princess stood in the observation lounge with the Mane 6 and senor staff as well as the heads of each department branch (Like the chief pilot Gilda).

"You can't go down there," Indiana glared as he stood in the horse's main control center with them, a little shocked he was literally allowed anywhere on board the vessel but not letting that detract him.

Twilight sighed, "I am willing to respect your beliefs but you need to respect mine. It's not like I want to go down their and hoof over space travel. Solopax explained they need to be eased into that,"

The human Captain actually face palmed, "You could destroy their entire culture or make them completely dependent on you,"

"As I explained I have experience-" Twilight tried but was interrupted.

"Not with this. You are proposing first contact with a pre-warp civilization! You may have experienced indoctrinating primitive cultures but this is on a whole other level! We picked up some chatter over their barely functional internet system (it's how we knew you were there). They think your ship is a vessel for the gods! You go down there with your magic and 2000 year lifespans it will only confirm it for them regardless what you say. You're new Ferengi pals might be okay with that but you claim to have higher morals,"

Twilight looked to Solopax, who shrugged, "We Ferengi have found that impersonating deities is the safest way to interact with younger cultures. However, as you had such a problem with trading gold, I thought it best to prepare you through other trading tactics. After all, just because it is the safest way doesn't mean it's the only way. Just go down them, offer them a gift of technology (or in your case techno magic), and explain your wish to form diplomatic relations with their world. They will be untrusting and maybe even hostile but if the gift is extravagant enough their greed my compel them to open trade. If not threaten to take your gift to the country's rival. Of course they might try to kill you for threatening to do that but just wear a personal deflector and it will peacefully scare them enough not to try that again. I believe your armor is automatically enchanted with that,"

Twilight nodded, "There is enough charge for a dozen burst of personnel ward spells," then looked at the captain, "That sound reasonable to you,"

"No... it doesn't," glared the human, as Solopax was apparently mispronouncing their species name.

"Alright," Twilight nodded, "Now we're getting somewhere. See open dialogue is a good thing for everypony. Now how can we compromise to a nice middle ground so everypony's happy,"

"We can't," Indiana huffed, "Don't go down there and I will be happy,"

"Now that's not productive," Twilight frown, "You need to work with us. My crew has been stuck on this ship for over a month. We aren't used to space travel. We need social interaction with new faces and blue skys. A Ponies desire to socialize is as strong as a human's ambition or a Ferengi's hoarding instinct. We need to come to a reasonable middle for all our people,"

"Maybe..." Firebrand started but stopped.

"Yes?" Twilight looked to him.

Firebrand sighed, "Maybe we could try landing on an isolated tropical island. Set up some tents and party gear?"

Gilda frowned, "What about socializing with aliens. That's the whole reason we came here out here,"

"We have aliens," Firebrand insisted pointing at the human, "If you would be willing to relax with us on the beach for a week or so we would get our new friends fix before sailing to the Trek Sector. It'd also help ease tension between our crews. We don't have the resources or the understanding to fully deal with First contact with a species that mistakes us for gods. We need to study up. Learn both the Ferengi way and the Federation way, then create our own based on both view points,"

Firebrand looked intently at the fellow Captain, "It is in a pony's nature to try and befriend everyone. We WILL contact races without space travel. You can't stop us. It would be like trying to get the Ferengi to stop being greedy. What you can do is teach us why you value the Prime directive over the lives of your very children and prepare us to minimize the damage we could do,"

Then he looked at Solopax, "And you have experience trading with younger Civilization that we will need to teach our merchants to avoid a disaster. You two have 30 months. That is how long it will be before our fleet is complete. Once that is finished we will be sailing the stars far and wide and trying to befriend every intelligent lifeform we meet. That's 30 months to teach us all we need to know to protect both ourselves and them. In that time, Twilight can use your teaching to write our own code of laws regarding space exploration,"

Twilight smiled proudly at the young stallion before looking at the aliens, "Is that acceptable to all parties,"

The human captain rubbed his temple, "I suppose I have no choice. It's better then leaving you to destroy countless cultures as you blunder about the universe. I'll get you in contact with Starfleet High Command once we are back in the Trek Sector and they can teach you everything you need to know,"

Solopax shook his head, "The Ferengi Merchants Guild will be a harder sell, especially if the Federation is involved, but I believe your new citizens will be happy to teach you what we know,"

Twilight nodded, "It's a step in the right direction,"

"See," Discord looked at the other Q as they watched without form, "I told you they would recover. Everything is fine,"

"They still attacked without provocation," Insisted the Q, "Doesn't seem very friendly to me, Q,"

"But they corrected themselves. Is clearly worth a C- then," Discord insisted, "Ponies stumble, they are still discovering themselves. Usually we allow those we test to have a concrete system before we start in on them,"

"These ponies are progressing too quickly," insisted Q, "If they had made that progression on their own we could have afforded to be more lenient, but the Doctor decided to stick his muzzle into their affairs as he did with humanity before them. If he wishes to give the ponies the tools they need instead of gaining them on their own then we must insure they use them correctly,"

"He's done everything according to our rules, only giving them what they would have discovered themselves. He's just... egging them on a bit to help,"

The entity gave an exacerbated sigh, "He has to fight us every inch of the way. Does he really think we enjoy this? If we don't do our job the entire universe will die. What is one dimension in the grand scheme of that?"

Discord shrugged, "If I disagreed I'd be helping him instead of you, but I think this one is worth sparing though. They will prove it to you,"

"We shall see. Is the next phase set?"

"The pieces are moving," Discord assured, "The ponies think they can stay on a war torn planet with the Federation and Ferengi without incident, they really are so naive," Discord sighed. It was the one think he didn't like about them. They were so... innocent, which was just a shade of ignorance. Still he had faith in them, "Let's see if they can keep all three parties happy without compromising their own values,"

Author's Note

Edited:
Aug 31, 2019

I altered the calendar and time comparisons

Prime Directive, Part 2

Flash Sentry blushed as he laid on his back in front of Twilight. She was just laying there on the beach, reading a book well absentmindedly brushing the knots out of his belly fur. He wouldn't normally feel so embarrassed about it, but the humans were staring at him like foals who didn't know what a consort was. He half expected to have to give them "the talk."

Equestria was big on "free love," but the Princesses went a step further. The whole reason the royal guard was originally founded was so their princess had a harem of willing stallions. True the royal guard had evolved to have more duties as part of the actual military (even if they were glorified scouts), but the Princesses still pampered and fiddled with them.

Some guards were special though, the princess' favorites. They were called consorts and were given certain privileges for the princess' favor. Despite their official rank in the guard they could boss everypony else around. They offered the crown advice and emotional support. They got pampered quite a bit by the princess but weren't allowed to have other partners outside the Harem (to avoid bringing possible diseases back to the princess). They weren't really husbands though... more along the lines of willing sex slaves. They were somepony the princess trusted to experiment with her kinks and keep her confidences.

Unfortunately consorts usually were no longer allowed on reconnaissance missions as the Princess wasn't willing to risk them, which kinda sucked. Canned Cream was really lucky. He was a consort to Princess Luna but she still let him come out here into space without her. Shining Armor was probably the most famous consort, given his princess actually married him. Of course Twilight hadn't known her brother was even a consort and more then a little peeved when she found out. It was an honorable position but it was still an embarrassing one.

Flash was the only consort Twilight had brought with her, which did make him feel special... although part of him thought it might just be because he was the most vocal when she punished him... Twilight did love to punish her consorts and even gave them "maintenance" spankings. Those were supposed to remind them to behave, but it's not like guards are prone to disobedience in the first place. As well as into using whips and chains on them... not even her friends knew just how kinky Twi was...

Although Spike had walked in on Twilight spanking Flash over her knee. Twi played it off and pretended she was just disciplining one of the apprentices well Spike rubbed his own rear sympathetically... not sure why as Twilight once told Flash that she never actually spanked Spike, just grounded him and such. She told him that in confidence though... said since giving a spanking aroused her, it creeped her out at the idea of doing that to her ward or any actual child... yet she still read fiction were children were spanked... the princess confused Flash.

From a good distance away, watching the couple, Mouthy sighed as he looked at the princess with her stallion. They looked happy. It must be nice to be a consort. To be pampered and spoiled without a care in the world. Looking away, Mouthy saw Spike as the drake gave a lecture on Atypical Magical Manifestations.

"Classes are rare but can occur in any Sapient creature." Spike blushed as he realized his mistake. "That is, any creature aware of mind and magic." Equestria had a different definition of Sapiens then humans, probably because humans didn't fall into that category. They were some weird gray area, no magic but easily having pony intelligence. They might even be smarter then ponies. No way ponies could have developed Warp Drive without magic.

Spike shook his head and focused back on his lecture, "There are 4 core classes; Rogues, Mages, Clerics, and Warriors. Each class comes with it's own unique range of powers and natural talents. However there are also Archetypes, or rather secondary classes, which focus on additional, more specialized, powers and talents. Everyone born with a class has both a core class and an Archetype.

"Warriors can channel their magic to give them burst of physical power, like what earth ponies can naturally do but to greater levels. Rogues have a number of powers and talents which make them superior scouts, born as masters of stealth to the point they can even travel through shadows. Mages have versatile spell casting, but not as reality breaking as unicorns, more limited but still impressive in it's own right. A mage can cast spells without need of a focus like a horn or wand."

Mouthy sighed at the humans uncomprehending eyes. They just couldn't grasp that magic, at it's heart, is a pretty straightforward and simple concept. It just sounds complicated.

The young coltkit was laying off to the side, just watching the humans watch him. Nothing really interesting was happening.

"Boring, isn't it?" Mouthy heard a sinister giggle from behind him. Looking back there stood the lord of chaos and disharmony. "This isn't exactly the fun you were promised planet side."

Mouthy groaned out a sigh. "Not really. All we are doing is explaining common sense stuff to the humans. We can't even see the natives of this planet! I wanted to see how aliens live, not just lecture them on why our fur changes color when we blush."

"It is indeed a shame..." Discord nodded. "How about we spice things up?" He snapped his fingers and suddenly Mouthy was gone. Twilight immediately jerked up to her hooves and ran over, but before she could get a word in Discord smiled. "You didn't think the test was over, did you?" he said as he vanished in a flash of white light.

Mouthy blinked as he appeared in a forest in his humanoid body. He wasn't really put out by this as he was naturally a shapeshifter (Kinda as he only had a handful of basic forms).

He had furless pale tan skin with a lot of freckles around his eyes but his hair was the same blue color. He still had his furry hooved lower legs and his fluffy fox tail and fox ears. His wings were also a lot bigger to compete for having a heavier body.

He often wondered just what this form was until he met the humans and saw the subtle similarities, well looking past the major differences. His foalhood tutor had called this his "humanoid" form and Mouthy just assumed that it was a bizarre made up word the yokai used.

There was a flash of light and Discord appeared next to him.

"Here is your chance." Discord smiled. "Let's see if you can make a new friend."

Mouthy blushed and squirmed. "I'm not really the most... socially adapt at making friends. Can you bring Spike here or-"

"No," Discord dismissed. "The very reason you struggle with such things is why you are perfect for this." Discord knew, if Mouthy failed, Discord could claim it was because he had a natural handicap. But if he passed Discord could rub it in Q's face that even Ponies with disabilities were capable of greatness. It be a big win with little risk. "Don't worry about it though. You have 3 weeks before your crew will find you."

"Three WEEKS!?!"

"Well, 2 weeks and 9 days, starting... now." Discord disappeared in a flash of light.

Twilight was panicking. "Discord!" she screamed at the sky as the humans stared at her like she was mad. "Discord!!!" she shrieked. "You can't just run off with one of my subordinates! We have been through this! Bring him back this instant." She stomped her hoof. What should have seemed childish made the humans fearful as the ground split open and cracked.

"Watch yourselves Twi." AJ walked over. "Mind that Alicorn strength."

"He just took him!" Twi snapped.

"I saw." AJ nodded. "But yelling at the sky won't help. Ya'll need a... kinder approach."

Twilight sighed and looked over at Fluttershy, who immediately eeped from her place by the human foals.

Fluttershy steeled herself and flew a bit away from the children. Landing on the beach Fluttershy spoke with rare authority, although barely raised her voice, "Discord?" she asked, more as a disapproving mother.

There was a flash of light and the long, almost serpent like abomination, appeared before her. "Yes, Flutter dearest?" The creature twisted in the air, yet it's mismatched wings didn't move.

"Why did you take one of our apprentices?" Fluttershy remained stern before the giant. The humans were just gaping at her.

"Well you did so poorly on your last test, I thought you could use some extra credit, well the rest of the class took a pop quiz." The abomination smiled deviously.

Twilight sighed as she landed next to Fluttershy. "More tests Discord? Can't we just relax for a bit?"

The humans stiffened at the word "Test". Was this a Q? Was this what they naturally looked like? Captain Indiana shared a look with his first officer, before walking over to the creature. He stood beside the pony princess.

"Well if you want everyone to die for the sake of catching a few Zs." The creature smiled.

Twilight took notice of how the human stiffened. Still she addressed Discord. "Alright, you have our attention."

"The hooman can explain it to you better then I." This... Discord informed the Princess. It taunted both the Captain and the Ferengi, who stood further back in the trees.

Twilight looked at the human captain. The man remained stiff but the look the abomination was giving him told him he had no choice. Hopefully he could make the ponies understand the necessity of it. "There is an asteroid, about the size of a continent, on it's way here. It should be here within a month."

Twilight gaped, "An ASTEROID!!! While we are here sipping martinis by the beach!?!"

"You said we would only be here a week. That's more then enough time to get out and-"

"He hoped he could get you out of here before you noticed." Discord smiled. "For a civilization that doesn't have a god they are big on the 'divine judgment'."

Indiana glared. "This planet is on a Collision Course with that asteroid. It is an apocalyptic event."

The Ferengi hissed as he stormed over. His stance aggressive and bouncy, clearly wanting a fight. "You Federation slime!!! Where do you get off judging if this planet has a right to live!!!" he didn't really ask. "That is why you were mining the Dilithium, isn't it!!! You were trying to save it, but the people? No, WHY SHOULD YOU BOTHER WITH THE PEOPLE!!!"

"The Prime directive forbids interference with the natural development of a planet!" the human Captain roared. "You think I like the fact I was ordered to save rocks over people! But this planets time has come!"

"You soulless MONSTER!!!" Solopax hissed.

"Like your people are any better." The human glared. "You would force the planet to surrender their most valuable resources and lively hoods before stepping in. They might as well be dead after you got through with!-"

"That's enough!" Twilight spoke up, before looking at Discord, "How long do we have?"

"hmmmm," Discord pondered uninterested, "2 weeks and 9 days." He waved off. "By your pony calendar."

Twilight nodded. He horn glowed and her voice echoed across the island, yet somehow didn't hurt the ears of the people next to her, "Everyone back to the Ship, Code Red,"

The entire islands began packing up as fast as they could.

"Your highness," the human tried. "Can't you see what this thing is doing? It WANTS you to interfere. It wants you to put yourselves above common decency and declare yourselves superior. It WANTS you to fail."

Twilight just looked at him. "I think it is time you explained to me the purpose of this 'Prime Directive'," she said as she headed back to the ship. She paused and looked at Discord. "Why exactly did you take the deck hoof?"

Discord smiled. "Your poster colt will figure it out soon enough. I advise you to listen to him."

Mouthy did what he always did when he needed to think... he paced. He walked back and forth wondering what he needed to do. Discord wasn't one to torment ponies without reason, but there must be more to it then just making a friend. Why was this happening?

Mouthy looked around the forest and twitched when he heard it: Voices arguing in the distance. Was that where he was supposed to go? He couldn't hear anything else besides birds chirping. Standing tall in human form he sunk into the shadows and moved towards the noise.