Faster Than the Stars

Chapters

The Pod
The Medbay
The Realization
The Decision
The Scan
The Procedure

The Pod

Author's Note

I've had that sci-fi itch recently and wondered what would happen if a pony somehow ended up in the world of the game FTL. I than decided to write about it. I hope you enjoy.

The Pod

All I could hear from within my tiny metal prison were the terrifying explosions and magic I could hear going off all around me alongside the constant muffled yelling of my wardens from outside. And with my hooves and wings bound in strange metal and magic, All I could do was curl up as best I could and wait while my wardens finished up with whatever they were doing. And hope that once they had finished that they would be too tired to do anything more with me.

I looked up in a panic at the smooth metal door of my prison when a particularly loud bang came from it as I heard one of my wardens yell something out from right outside. For just a moment I was convinced it was one of my wardens about to come and get me despite whatever was going on outside and I sucked in a breath. Nothing more ended up happening and I breathed a very quiet sigh of relief that they weren't coming to get me again just yet. There was no obvious way to open it from either side and yet whenever my wardens wished it to open it did as they wished. And when it came to me the doors would simply stand there, locking me within unless one of them wished to move me.

Somehow an even louder explosion echoed within my prison and I nearly screamed at the sounds of it, barely managing to bite into my lip to try and muffle it the best I could. If I screamed again they might have reason to come in and the last time they did that... Just the very memory of what they did to me caused my body to begin shaking and I nearly began crying. I forced myself to not and curled up even tighter than before to the point where I could feel where my restraints had bound me to begin to hurt. Why had I ever gone by myself to fetch that stupid ball...

I flinched as the most violent explosion yet rumbled throughout my prison, the very metal walls around me rattling from the force. The moment afterward, time seemed to freeze, the only things I could hear were my own subdued breathing and the slight hum of the far too bright light above me before it suddenly flared red then simply vanished. Not a second later I found myself forced against the wall beside me. My body seized up in fear and I scrunched my eyes shut.

I wanted to be home again. I wanted to cuddle up against my momma and poppa and never let go.

The Kestrel

“Critical hit! I repeat, critical hit from our burst lasers! Sensors are now detecting critical malfunctions in that slaver scums ship. I- oh yeah their ship’s definitely breaking apart now.”

Teron breathed out a sigh of relief as Veran called out over the ship's comms that they had won against the slavers. It had always been nerve-racking piloting a ship and simultaneously being the one to maneuver it around in a fight, though with the critical information they had acquired it had only become more so. Thankfully, at least this time, he had avoided everything but a few stray shots that got past the shields. He slowed the ship down while shifting it towards the now-defunct slaver ship.

“Good work Veran, glad to see your aim is as good as ever. Nox, how're the shields looking now?”

“Shields are now restored back to full functionality. Hull has suffered some minor permanent damage but otherwise, the Kestral is back to full functionality. I am now currently relocating to the storage bay now and getting ready to prep it to bring in anything useful that might've been left on the slaver's ship."

“Thank you Nox, I’ll bring the ship in a little closer before we all meet up there. With any luck, there will be some good finds among the scrap that we can actually make use of. And maybe some identification on any bodies of the slaves we can recover so we can at least make sure they aren't forgotten. It's not much, but we can at least make sure they're remembered.” It was a sad fate what happened to those slaves during the battle but as much as he hated it, he wasn't about to give in to the demands of those slavers for a tribute. He carefully maneuvered the ship so that the wreckage would now be within range of their mechanical arm before setting it to auto-pilot to keep up with the drifting wreckage and getting up to head over to the storage bay.

Veran voice crackled over the comms again just as he began his journey. “Hey captain, I ended up doing a preliminary scan before heading over and I think we have a fully intact pod among the wreckage. I'm not seeing picking up anything specific within it nor am I seeing any life, bless the souls of those slaves and damn those slavers, but something’s good has got to be in there.

Teron mulled in thoughts as he made his way over for a moment before responding. "A good find Veran. Meet up with me and Nox in storage and point it out for us. The less time spent here, the better.”

“Will do captain."

It was very dark and quiet in my prison now. So dark I couldn't even see anything and it was so eerily silent now. Were my wardens... gone? I felt hope swell slightly within me before I clamped down on it. They’d done this disappearing trick before, and I wasn’t going to fall for it again. The last time... I shivered as I thought about it, never again. So I waited, curled up in a ball while I listened for whenever they might return.

Time passed and slowly I found it harder and harder to breathe even as I took deeper and deeper breaths. Why was it so hard to breathe now and why was it getting colder. So cold. Before I knew it I was having to gasp for air but even that offered no relief. Why was it so cold? What... what was happening. I... so cold.

Teron whistled as he looked upon the pod they had recovered from the slaver's ship. It was a miracle that it had stayed fully intact despite the battle, but it was a miracle he'd gladly take. He looked over to Nox who was currently interfacing with the storage bay's control panel as he guided the many intricate parts in a fraction of the time it would take a human. He was quite glad he had them aboard, engi's as a whole were a good people despite the mysteries of their strange mechanical yet biological existence and their leaders were still doing whatever they could to help the Federation despite the iron grasp the resistance had managed to pull over almost all of Federation space.

Veran came up beside him smiling, another man wearing the Federation uniform just like him who served as the Kestrel's weapon master and the third of their motley three-man crew. The ship was severely undermanned but considering the circumstances, three would have to do. "So captain, what do you think they had hidden away in this pod? I personally think it's some sort of secret weapon but I'm curious about your thoughts."

Teron shrugged. "Honestly, as long as it's something we can use I'll take it. We need everything we can get if we're actually going to succeed."

Veran nodded. "That's fair enough. Hey Nox, how much longer until you can pop that thing open?"

Nox didn't look up from the interface as he responded. "Approximately fifteen seconds from now. All the protocols have been satisfied and we are merely waiting for the ship to finish integrating the pod's door into its system before it can pop it open."

Veran nodded, and just like engi had said, they didn't have to wait long before with a whir the pod's door slid open to reveal something that none of them had been ready for. For inside lay what seemed to be a small purple miniature horse slumped on the ground and bound with simple metal restraints in multiple places. And it looked like it had been alive before lack of oxygen had taken them in the pod despite the sensors not having picked up any life at all earlier.

For a moment Teron and Veran could only stare in shock at what lay within the pod while Nox looked on with the emotionless gaze of an engi. Teron snapped out of it first. "I- Nox! Get that horse thing over to the medbay, now! I'm not sure what it is exactly and if it's carrying any sort of disease you'll be immune to it. Veran, with me to the medbay observation room! We need to get it active and prepped for treatment. Whatever it is, it hopefully hasn't been too long that we can't at least save it. Let's move people!"

The Medbay

Author's Note

I just wanted to say thank you all for the support the story's received so far. This chapter's a bit more of an informational one but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.

The Medbay

Teron paced back and forth while occasionally looking over to Nox and the strange horse bat thing they were with. Because winged horse bats that the Federation didn't even have records of were just something slavers happened to have hidden in pods within their ships now apparently. And they also didn't register at all with normal sensors, even the medbay's ones as they had found out.

Thankfully, Nox being as brilliant with technology as they are had just manually directed the nano medi-bots in the operation on it instead, making various assumptions about it which thankfully turned out alright in the end, managing to get it breathing again at least. But he still couldn't help but wonder, what in the world was it? Why did the slavers even have it? How-

Veran cleared from one of the seats within the observation room and Teron paused while looking over to him. "Hey captain, you good? I'm starting to think that the floor underneath you might start to wear away with how much you're pacing right now."

Teron blinked for a moment before shaking his head. What was he doing getting so caught up in his thoughts like that? "Oh uh, I apologize about that. I'm just trying to... process this entire situation I suppose. I was prepared for a lot of things when we began this mission. Ending up with a strange purple horse bat in our care that we can't even perform basic scans on was certainly one not on that list."

Veran chuckled, "Heh, I definitely gotta agree with you there. But the best thing we can do right now? Put down some basic info we've learned about her into the database ourselves and some very likely things about her before committing ourselves to just keeping an eye on it. Because whatever they are, I doubt they'll be able to break down the blast doors at the very least. Can't believe though that they'll be our first use of the Kestrel's beautiful new doors though."

Teron nodded as he thought about it. "Yeah, that's a good idea. Put down what we know about it before continuing onward towards the Federation Base and if possible bring her into a trusted place in Zoltan or Engi space for them to take care of. Though, this is certainly going to be awkward if we ever have to make use of the medbay before then... hmm, maybe we can separate it from the rest of the medbay somehow? Potentially, but we'd need to make quite a bit of time and use more scrap than-"

With a roll of his eyes, while Teron began to lose himself in thoughts once more Veran stood up and clapped one of his hands over Teron's back, smiling as he startled him out of his reverie. "Hey, one thing at a time captain. Let's get that information about her down first before considering anything like that. I'm sure Nox has learned quite a bit seeing as he's been the one manually directing her treatments. And while you're doing that, I'll keep an eye on our external sensors and make sure nothing else is coming to jump us without being spotted.

Teron did his best to fight his rising embarrassment as he straightened up. "You're right, you're right. I suppose this entire situation has me flustered. Let me just get a pad ready to record this all down in first." He quickly detached one of the empty monitors within the room and it flickered for just a moment booting up once more in its more mobile version. In just a few moments he had it set up to document new medical records about it.

"Of course I am captain. I'll let you know if anything comes up on the sensors."

"Thank you Veran, I don't know what I'd do without you sometimes." As Veran left Teron took a deep breath before switching on the observation room's two-way comm system and speaking to Nox. "Hey Nox, in lieu of there being no information on our new resident Veran figured it'd be a good idea to establish some records for them ourselves and I agree with him. With you having had ample time with them now would you mind describing any of your observations on them if now is a good time? I have a pad keyed to record whatever you might say about it with me."

Nox turned from the monitor they were currently interfacing with and towards Teron before nodding. "That is a reasonable idea and I am not truly preoccupied at the moment. Let me know when I am good to begin."

Teron tapped the record button on the pad before giving a thumbs up and a nod to Nox.

Nox took that as their cue to begin. "After an encounter with slavers of an unknown faction, a previously unknown species has been discovered. It is currently unclear if they are the product of genetic engineering or an indigenous species of a currently unknown planet, but they do bear a striking resemblance to two different species originally present on the human homeworld of Earth. The pony and the bat. For now, I will be assigning them the name Equus Ferus Chiroptera, or the much simpler term which I will be using, bat pony."

They motioned one of their arms to the now aptly named bat pony before continuing. "This particular member of the species is a female, though they appear to be suffering from malnutrition and from a variety of other issues, though at the current moment it is difficult to confirm any of these as true due to sensors seemingly being unable to detect her presence. The cause of this is currently unknown. They are unlikely to carry any diseases with them that a functional medbay wouldn't be able to deal with as can be inferred by the many physical and electrical marks left on her by said slavers and the fact said slavers used to be active. She also used to have a variety of metal restraints on for a prolonged period of time which have since been removed and replaced with far looser, Federation regulation restraints. They will still restrict her movement to just a few feet from the bed, but they will not cause any markings unless she continually strains against them, in which case they will tighten."

Nox paused for a moment before heading next to the unconscious bat pony laying on a medical bed. "Her fur is a faded dark purple and her mane and tail are a similarly faded yellow with a single green streak running through them both. She also appears to have a distinct marking on both sides of her flank. A simple constellation. This all appears to be naturally occurring and not the result of any sort of dyes but without the ability to scan her this cannot be confirmed. It is more likely than not that she is the product of genetic engineering. It is unknown how long she will stay unconscious. For now, until sensors can be configured to properly see her there is not much more to add." And with that Nox fell silent.

Teron stopped the recording while processing all the information Nox had just given him. "Thank you, Nox. Though I do think we need to get moving again so for now I'm going to ask you to head back to the shield before I start up the FTL drive and head to the next beacon. Would you be able to keep an eye on the medbay though when she does wake up? You would be the closest and probably best suited of us all to handle and keep her calm when she does. Certainly better than me at least because I can tell you right now, dealing with strange alien animals I've never seen before is not my forte."

Nox nodded. "That is acceptable captain."

"Thank you, Nox. Hopefully, whenever we get back to the Federation base they'll know what to do with her."

I woke up feeling both exhausted and surprisingly comfortable. What had even happened last ni-

I froze as I was assaulted by the terrible memories of what had happened. Of how hard it was to breathe. Of how cold it got. Of the terrifying explosions that had been rumbling throughout my prison. The one I was still stuck within. With a muffled whimper I slowly opened up my eyes expecting to see the cold metal walls of my prison. I ended up staring in shock at what greeted me instead.

I was no longer within my prison. I was in a bed, an honest-to-goodness bed. I was now surrounded by all sorts of magical contraptions now in a far more spacious room than I had ever been in since I had been taken from my home. My metal restraints were almost all gone now except for a few which had been replaced by some type of stretchy yet comfy blue cloth, and while I still felt sore I could actually properly move.

For an entire minute I simply just stared around as a feeling I thought I wouldn't ever feel again began to blossom in my chest. Hope. Had I been rescued and now finally free? Was I going to be able to go back home?

And then the door opened to the sight of a terrifying bipedal metal thing with a flat plane of green glass for its face entering the room. It was decidedly not a pony who had saved me nor one of my wardens. I screamed.

The Realization

Nox for the first time in a good while stood confused by the medbay doors while they tried to process why exactly the bat pony was currently straining in vain against the nano-fiber restrains that still bound her to the medical bed itself and screeched in the first place. She had seemed calm right up until the moment they had entered, not even approached, just entered. Even animals had logic associated with them, so did that mean they had bad interactions with other engi's in the past, and not just the slavers that had captured her?

As they silently pondered this the comms by their auditory sensors crackled to life with the worried voice of Veran. "Hey uh, everything good in there Nox? We can kinda hear whatever the hell that ear-piercing screech was. And I'm not entirely sure what I'm even seeing happening in there at the moment. Do you need me or even the both of us to come in? Teron certainly wouldn't hesitate to drop comms with the refueling platform we're at right now to help out."

Nox pondered this for just a moment before responding. "No, I do believe if either you or Teron came in it would have the opposite of the desired effect in the bat pony. I do believe after a bit of analysis the best solution at the current moment is simply patience. They cannot break their bindings, nor do they seem able to do any damage at all to anything important currently set up within the medbay. I will inform you and the captain when I have finished or if I require aid at any point in the future."

"Sounds good then buddy, I'll stand at the ready in that case."

"Affirmative." And with that comms went off while Nox enacted the tried and true method that hadn't failed them yet. Waiting until the right moment.

I could barely breathe as I stared at the terrifying metal thing standing in front of the door from underneath the medical bed I had awoken on. I had long since given up on trying to break or remove whatever my new bindings were that kept me tethered to the table, and while I knew that hiding under a bed where we could both plainly see each other wasn't exactly hiding me it was the best I could manage.

I stared at it with fear in my eyes as I wondered whenever it would begin... whatever in Tartarus it was going to do to me. And it simply stood there, menacingly. Never once shifting after the little bits of movement and strange noises it had made when it had initially entered. I wasn't exactly sure how long this had been going on when it moved once more, making a few more strange noises while it did.

I shrunk backward the moment it did, though it did not come for me. Rather it slowly made its way to a wall before somehow opening it up and just waiting there. Before I could wonder what the terrifying metal thing could possibly want a whirring sound came from the new opening in the wall and I flinched back as it grew steadily louder until it stopped when two strange bowls appeared in it.

It took them both with its strange appendages before it began to approach me with them. I panicked in an instant and I screamed again while once more attempting to run away from it, though just like every other attempt I failed. I looked back in terror expecting it to be right on top of me now to do whatever it was going to do to me only to find it had gone back to simply standing in front of the door. And laid right in front of the bed I'd been hiding under was now the two bowls it'd been carrying, one containing water and the other some paste that looked a lot like what my previous wardens had fed me.

I stared between the two bowls and the terrifying metal thing for a good minute as both my hunger and thirst made themselves clearly known to me. I could barely remember the last time I had eaten or drank something and however long I had been unconscious hadn't done me any favors. Eventually, I caved and I very slowly began to make my way to both of the bowls. It might've been given to me by a terrifying metal thing, but it hadn't done anything more than just that. Was it... friendly maybe? I took another look at the green screen where its face should've been and shuddered. Maybe it was, but that still didn't change the fact it was terrifying.

I tried to ignore the fact that the bowls being on the floor made me feel like I was just some animal or pet even if it was better than it just being dumped on the floor and went to the bowl of water first. And while I bent down to drink from it I realized something and paused. I was still tethered to the bed, but unlike before I was no longer bound. I was able to move however I wanted to as long as I didn't actually end up putting any strain on the new fabric restraints I had on me. Which in this case meant anything that didn't involve me moving too far away from the medical bed.

It was freeing in a way I had forgotten to move without considering those metal restraints, even if I couldn't particularly feel my wings still and wherever they had been still ached. With that in mind, I carefully picked up the bowl of water with my forehooves while precariously balancing on my hind legs before beginning to drink, still keeping a fearful eye on the terrifying metal thing while I did so. It might've been a small thing, but I at least felt a bit more like an actual pony drinking like this than I had in a long time.

Nox had impassionately watched as the terrified bat pony worked up the courage to approach the bowls of water and food they had laid out for it after Veran had delivered it to them. It was still odd how they were so fearful and how expressive their face was, especially their large eyes, but internally they were quite satisfied with what they had accomplished by simply using a bit of patience with her. And given some more time, they were confident that they could get them to stop being so skittish around them. At least they were until the bat pony did something completely unexpected and lifted up the bowl of water to drink from it.

Outwardly, of course, they didn't react. They had resolved themselves to move as little as possible while they were trying to get the bat pony used to their presence and they weren't about to stop just because they witnessed something truly unexpected. But inwardly, for the second time in short succession, they stood confused.

Why had the bat pony decided to drink from the bowl of water like that instead of just simply bending down and drinking straight from it like she had been seemingly about to do? How had she even managed to pull it off without dropping the bowl as well? It was almost like she had done something like that before but with how those metal restraints had bound her before they had exchanged them for Federation regulation restraints it was severely doubtful to be something she had learned while with those slavers, much less able to do so naturally in the first place. So why...

And then it hit Nox, a realization that seemed incredibly far-fetched and would upgrade the priority to identify that slavers ship's faction by magnitudes. It would bring it to nearly the same level of priority as dealing with the rebels themselves, and the Federation was at war with them at the current moment. But it was one they needed to perform a rudimentary test to determine the validity of as soon as possible, no matter how unlikely it actually was. It explained so much about her actions thus far if it was true, even if it would make everything far more complicated at the same time.

Nox pondered for just a moment on how to test their suspicions before deciding on something simple. A test of their self-awareness. It was far from foolproof by itself but if she passed combined with some of the things she'd been showing before... Well, the captain would be the one making that decision.

They slowly made their way to detach one of the many non-essential monitors in the medbay. The moment they did so the bat pony darted away in fear. In an instant she was back to being under the table, abandoning the bowl of food they had been about to take from. Nox paid this no mind as they did so before recalibrating the pad into the image they wanted it to show. An image of the simple constellation she had on both sides of her flank that had been taken while she was unconscious and in treatment before they changed it into a completely different constellation. It was a harder version of the test since it wasn't exactly a picture of her though if she failed this one they'd just see if they could pass when it was a full-body picture of them.

With a slow motion, Nox crouched down while they turned the pad over to face her. The bat pony's face twisted from just fear into a combination of fear and confusion at this. It was clear they did not recognize this. Nox then changed the image back into a picture of the constellation on her flank. She paused for a moment before her eyes widened and she looked back to her flank for just a moment before looking back. She had passed.

Nox very slowly stood up before going back to in front of the door before they activated the comms, contacting the captain. "Captain, a matter of great import has come up and by Federation regulation, you are required to make a decision about this now."

Teron's voice crackled back over the comms after a few moments. "Oh Nox, did something happen with the bat pony? Do you need us-"

"Captain, I do not need you or Veran to come into the medbay, I need you to make a priority decision. I apologize if you are still in negotiations with the refueling station but this is as I said, a matter of great import."

Teron paused for just a moment before a click came over, "Hey, I apologize about this but something big just came up in my ship and I need to handle it now. I'll hail you once more when the matter has been resolved." Another click came over the comms before he talked once more. "Okay, I've put the refueling platform on hold for the moment. What happened?"

Nox made sure clearly enunciate the words they were about to say. "I believe the bat pony is no simple animal. They are almost certainly a sapient creature and a decision needs to be made."

The Decision

Author's Note

Been a while since the last chapter but that's just how inspiration goes I guess. There one moment, gone the next. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this chapter.

The Decision

One of the monitors in the cockpit flickered for a moment before showing the feed coming from the medbay. Teron stared at Nox through it before his gaze flickered over to the strange sight of the bat pony hiding underneath the medical bed while he processed what Nox had just said. Eventually, after another moment he spoke up.

"When you say sapient-"

Nox's monotone voice crackled over Teron's as he stood nearly motionless in the medbay. "When I say sapient, I do not mean she is merely smart. She has shown signs of self-awareness, recognizing a physical feature on herself when she saw them elsewhere. They have also made use of the bowl in an unusual way while simultaneously displaying signs of familiarity with bowls. It is nothing truly full proof, but the chances are far more likely than not with it, too much so to put it as coincidence. I trust you remember the decision you are required to make as captain?"

Teron took a breath as he put a hand on his head, a headache starting to form while he thought about the implications of what Nox was saying. "Sorry, I just had to make sure, and I do. Frankly, I think you already know what I'm going to do. We just cannot afford the time to search for wherever her homeworld might be right now, and we don't even know how those slavers got her."

He slumped a bit more into his hand as he began to think more and more about it. "And with The Rebellion going on at the moment, the few Federation bases that haven't been abandoned or destroyed wouldn't be able to do it either, much less without being caught. Nor would the original plan work out, it's too high profile now and would have to be taken to places where the rebels almost certainly have eyes on top of being too large a detour for us to reasonably take in the first place. Fuck."

"Fuck indeed. But what will we choose to do instead?"

Teron looked back up to the monitor as he took his head out of his hand. "The only thing we can. We take her with us to the Federation Base alongside our information. I'm not about to abandon a new sapient to the Rebels just because the situation is not ideal. And in the interest of solving our lack of information about her before some complication comes up from your blind treatment, you have my permission to direct some of our scrap into upgrading our sensors and medbay as necessary in order for them to actually work on her. Having to delay using it to put more power safely into our shields is far from ideal but we'll live with a delay. She might not. And it's not like it's something that wasn't planned to be upgraded at some point."

At his words, Nox looks towards the pad their holding before beginning to interface with it. "Affirmative Captain, I will begin drawing up plans on how to improve the general usage of both and of finding a way to detect her. But now that this matter has been resolved, I would like to request permission to perform an experimental procedure on her. Of course, this would be once a proper scan on her has been performed on her and done in order to expediently solve the problem of communication."

Teron's face twists into confusion for a moment at the mention of an experimental procedure before he realizes what Nox meant and it hardens. "You can't be serious. You know what my thoughts on that barbaric procedure were back when it was introduced by Dr. Edenburg and that was before he joined the Rebels and started aiding in their efforts to 'civilize' the 'lesser' races. You even agreed with me back then! You can't be serious."

Nox merely stayed impassive while he responded. "I would not suggest it if I were not serious. And as I recall, I only mostly agreed with you, disagreeing only in extreme cases where such a thing might be necessary. I would constitute this situation as one of them. If we do not solve the communication problem in a timely manner, the odds they pass away due to their lack of basic knowledge is high unless we wish to lock her down into specific areas until we reach the Federation Base. Something that would cost us even more valuable resources when we already aren't in the best position."

Nox then gestured towards the bat pony, who promptly flinched as they did so. "And while we are engaged in combat, a simple shot hitting the wrong place could make those efforts null and void before we can save her and such a thing could even imperil us too. By doing this, we are able to raise her chances of survival exponentially and would likely improve the quality of her time here, even despite some of the complications involved with it. Complications that with a few personal modifications to the flawed design I would be capable of mostly alleviating."

Teron stared at the monitor before he sighed, hard. "I hate the fact you're making a good point."

"As do I Captain. That does not stop this from being something that it is best we do if we wish for her to have the best odds of living for the duration of her stay with us while not breaking any Federation laws or procedures."

"I'm pretty sure performing experimental procedures on a newly discovered sapient species is still breaking something there."

"It is technically, even if not explicitly stated." Nox admits. "But we were given leeway to push them somewhat while on this mission. It is time to use that leeway. Do I have permission to perform the experimental procedure once it is possible to do so safely?"

"I can't believe I'm actually approving this but yes, you have permission to perform it."

"Affirmative Captain. I will then begin working with Veran in improving the functionality of our sensors and discovering how to make them work on the bat pony as soon as I am confident in my preliminary designs. And once that is done and we have a moment of peace, I will begin the experimental procedure."

Teron nods as he begins preparing the communication system in the cockpit once more. "You do that Nox, I trust you to organize that properly. I'll get back to negotiating with the refueling station so we don't run out of fuel. I'll let you both know once that's done and then we'll begin the process to jump to the next sector."

I slowly crept back out once the terrifying metal thing had left after it had finished making whatever those strange noises were to what seemed to be thin air. They sounded so similar to the noises my wardens made, but different somehow? I shuddered a bit as I thought about them before shaking my head while my stomach growled. The paste might not have been very appetizing, I still didn't feel particularly too great, and instead of my wardens I now was with that metal thing with no idea where home was. None of that changed the fact I was still very hungry.

But at least it seemed better, I think at least? It didn't try to do anything to me other than put down the bowls of food and water and show me some strange picture of the stars before showing me my cutie mark of all things before it went away. I was still trapped, but I was no longer bound. And even when I thought I had messed up and gotten myself in trouble with it, it hadn't done anything but stand there. Nothing was truly good but... it was better. And that was something.

Not much happened for a long while after I finished eating what I could, other than the occasional mechanical sounds that came out of nowhere that sent me back under the bed out of instinct before I could stop myself. I occasionally tried to push against whatever it was that my new bindings were, but no matter what I tried they simply stretched with me and began to pull hard until I relented and went back. I couldn't even reach anything else within the room where I was placed, it pulled me back too quickly before beginning to hurt for me to do so.

It was probably for the best though, as much as I wanted to move around and stretch about after being bound for so long, the last thing I wanted to do was to make that metal thing angry at me, it could probably do far worse to me than whatever my wardens had done before if it had taken me from them somehow. Maybe it even had an even stronger shocking spell metal thing it could use on me-

I shook my head before that line of thought could continue as I took a deep breath. 'Come on Star Dancer, they haven't done that to you just yet. They're nicer. Just try not to bother them and figure out whatever it is they want from you and do it and maybe they'll let you go. Just don't frustrate them by hiding whenever you see them and it might just be okay. You can do this.'

With that thought and not much else to do I climbed back on top of the medical bed and laid down on it staring at the doorway. The metal thing was still terrifying but I wouldn't let my fear mess up whatever it was that was happening now. I still jumped at the random sounds but I managed to control myself, a step in the right direction.

I couldn't tell just how much time had passed where I had just been staring at that strange magic door they had left through when my eyes began to grow tired. I struggled in vain to stay awake, but eventually, my eyes fell closed as a fitful sleep took me.

The Scan

Veran sighed in relief as Nox finally finished attaching some of the new modifications to the sensor array and he finally was able to stop holding up the heavy equipment without it falling. "Whew, I'm glad that we finally got that part done. My arms were killing me with how long I was having to hold that up."

Nox merely began to fiddle with the sensory array, not even looking up at Veran before interfacing with it to see if the software within was working properly with the new modifications. "If your arms were getting tired, you should have said so Veran. There is no reason for you to push yourself when I can simply support the weight myself while you recover."

Veran scoffed at their words. "We're still on a timer bud, I know it isn't much but I'd rather get this done quicker, even if my arms are sore later from it. If the worst-case scenario happens and I hurt myself while doing that? I just go to the medbay and get it patched up in a jiffy."

"The true worst-case scenario is not that Veran. It is that your arms give out and we are set back to null with modifying the sensors and the aftermath caused by you going to the med bay, which is currently housing the bat pony could cause many different troubles as well."

Veran waved a hand a Nox, as if that'd happen. "Semantics. You'd yell at me to stop long before that if you noticed it was getting bad, and I know when I actually have to call it as well. I'm not that stupid. Anyways, are those fancy modifications you made this time any good? Or are we going to have to go back to the drawing board with this attempt?"

Nox looked up at Veran for a moment before looking back to the sensory array. "I am going through the motions to test it now. This method of detection while unlikely to work in the first place is something different and will at least narrow down what might work, ruling out an entire line of techniques I will not have to check in the future." They paused in their work for a moment before continuing on. "It is certainly curious how even our now more advanced sensors have not even offered a glimpse into why she is undetectable by them with the standard methods."

"So maybe, gotcha Nox." Veran began to roll his shoulders as the soreness slowly faded away. "I honestly still can't believe that gal is actually sapient still. I mean it was one thing when she was just some new crazy alien horse we miraculously found barely alive in the wreckage of a slaver's ship we had just destroyed. But now? She's not some new animal, she's an entirely new species that's never been encountered before, except by those pirate bastards. And we're the ones that found her. It's incredible to me, y'know?"

"It was was certainly quite the improbable series of events that led to us finding her. But not impossible, just like many other things. We just happened to be the ones in this situation and so now we-" Nox abruptly stops talking as they pause.

After a moment of silence, Veran looked back over to the engi. Veran was not the type to worry too much about things but Nox pausing mid-sentence without any obvious reason for it? That had him a bit worried. "Uh Nox, you okay there?"

The engi was silent for another moment before they finally responded. "Yes... I was merely dedicating more focus towards analyzing the results I got back from my tests."

Veran felt a bit of relief course through him while he gave Nox a nod. "Did it actually work this time then?"

"I... I am unsure. There is an anomaly within the test itself that I cannot resolve. I am going to redo it, this time while pushing sensors to their new limits."

"You're unsure? Well shit, that's a new one. I can't remember the last time you were unsure about something."

"I have been unsure of plenty of things in the past. A majority of the time it is resolved before you would even notice. This bat pony though has been the source of most of these situations in recent times, however. I will now need a moment so do not panic if I do not respond to any outside stimulus, these tests will require my full attention."

Veran gave him a thumbs up which Nox did not react to at all. "Huh, guess he was quite serious about that one I suppose."

After a few more moments of silence, Veran shifted one of the monitors over to the view of the medbay and the bat pony that lay asleep at the moment within, alongside a no life signs detected message in the corner of the screen. "What a troublemaker you've been, making Nox here push himself to actually figure you out. Cute like this though, I'll give you that at least."

About a minute had passed before Nox moved once more, shifting something in the sensory array. The moment he did this, the no life signs message flashed for a moment before shifting to one life sign detected. "A simple yet unexpected solution. Strange."

Veran's eyes widened while he looked over to Nox. "You got it?!"

"Affirmative. The anomaly I detected turned out to be her and with a simple adjustment to what the sensors consider a life sign, I was able to make it consider her as one. It is an extremely crude and rudimentary solution, nor am I completely sure why she's only detectable while scanning for slug telepathy alongside normal scanning. Further testing will be required to confirm anything and to adapt this to the medbay's own medical scanners, but I am confident that in the next few days I will be able to perfect and streamline this."

Veran smiled as he clapped his hands. It was quite the mystery why the bat pony hadn't been detectable but Nox had figured it out and quite quickly at that. "Hah! Well done Nox, you were starting to have me worried this was going to be a mystery we weren't going to be able to solve." A look of confusion then took over as he considered a bit more about what Nox had said. "Though why would scanning for slug telepathy work?"

Nox shrugged. "As I have said, I do not know exactly why. And my wording was a gross simplification of what I was scanning for, but essentially it is a type of scanning that detects the frequencies many of the slug's telepathic powers shift whenever they are used. I did not expect it to work, it was merely to be thorough and rule out such a possibility. I will certainly not refute such a happening though."

Just as Veran was about to respond, the Kestrel's internal comms crackled to life with Teron's voice. "Hey, I've just finished negotiations with the refueling and we'll have enough now to jump to wherever we may need to in the next sector and a bit extra. And over the next day or so, we'll be flying to the very edge of the exit beacon as required for a smooth transition to one of the sectors in our path. Though unfortunately are options for this aren't great unless we want to head away from the Federation Base which just isn't an option. We either get to go through a sector that's been swarmed by pirates ever since the Federation was forced to cede their hold of the sector or suffer far too high losses from the Rebels, or we can go to the sector that seceded to the rebels early on, forcing the Federation into leaving the other one in the first place. And frankly, this really isn't a hard choice for me to make so be prepared for lots of trouble from pirates. If you think differently about that though, feel free to bring it up to me."

Teron's voice paused for just a moment before he continued. "And let me know if either of you two need more time in order to get the medbay and sensors updated, I know using the FTL drive while you're working with that can cause some unnecessary complications. Though I can already see you've managed to get the sensors upgraded and actually detect the bat pony so well done on that from both of you. I'll be busy just getting the auto-pilot ready to get us to the edge before getting some rest myself. Keep up the good work you two." A click followed as the comms went off.

Veran snorted as he stretched his arms above his head. "Well, a sector full of pirates sounds like it'll be a joy to deal with. Oh well, at least they'll make good target practice if they try and push their luck when they shouldn't. I should get some rest if that's where we'll be jumping next, the last thing we need is for me to be too tired to properly operate the weapon systems and accidentally sabotage us. You'll be good in getting the medbay upgraded yourself or do you want me to help you out when I get back up?"

"I should be fine in performing the upgrade myself, it is much more technical in nature what needs to be done with the medbay compared to how much hardware the sensors needed. The pirate-infested sector could potentially be trouble though considering our new passenger. It seems I will have to hurry that procedure on her along if we wish to mitigate that trouble."

One of Veran's eyebrows raises as he gives Nox a look. "Procedure, what kind of procedure would you even perform on her and why?"

Nox laid silent for a moment before they spoke. "One that is not particularly nice, but one that both I and the captain have agreed is necessary in the end despite its troubles."

I woke up startled by a loud humming noise coming from somewhere around me. I looked around in a panic before my ears finally pinpointed where exactly the noise was coming from and I looked over to find it was only the metal being doing something with one of the many strange flickering counters in the room. It looked over at me for a moment before merely looking back to whatever it was doing.

I took a deep breath as I began to work up my courage. I didn't know what it was doing nor did I know what it wanted. But there was only one way to figure it out. I shakily called out to it. "H-hello?"

It looked over to me again with its motionless green visage and I almost shied away from it as it did so, but I forced myself not to. I couldn't just let myself be afraid of it forever, especially when it hadn't even done anything bad to me and had even helped me a bit. "I don't know what it is you're doing but m-maybe I can help somehow? Or is there something that you want me to do something?"

The metal being didn't react at all for a moment a loud beep came from the counter it was working with and the humming noise stopped. It then slowly began to approach me, its right arm somehow shifting through some strange magic as it did so, the solid metal shifting before my eyes. My breath hitched as it came to a stop right in front of me and its right arm, having fully shifted from its claw-like look into something else entirely, reached for me. I couldn't help myself and closed my eyes as I squeaked in fear and awaited a blow from it.

A blow that never came, instead in its place I felt the new bindings I had acquired here go slack. I cracked open an eye to see its right arm shifting back to the strange claw look as its left collected the strange blue cloth. It then moved back over to the corner of the room it had been in before and turned back to me, pointing towards a platform on the ground beside it.

I was frozen looking in surprise. All it had done was just take off my bindings with seemingly no effort involved from it whatsoever. How had it done that? What magic did it know and how did it even perform it despite not being a unicorn? Why had its arm-

My train of thought was brought to a halt as it pointed towards the platform beside it again. My eyes dilated as I rushed in a panic over to it. I couldn't let myself be a problem to it, I couldn't make them angry. It merely watched impassively as I came to a stop on the platform struggling not to panic too much before it hit one of the many buttons on the counter.

A magical bright green light suddenly encompassed me as it did so causing me to jump a bit before I realized it wasn't doing much to me at all. It made me feel a little bit tingly all over but otherwise, there was nothing. Just the metal being staring at me and a strange screen on the counter while I stood within whatever magic it was doing.

I began to grow nervous and antsy as a few minutes passed on by with more of the same but I kept myself from moving out of the green light. Eventually, it began to fade and it nodded toward me. I didn't know what exactly it had done but it was seemingly satisfied with whatever it had done there. And while it didn't seem to understand what I was saying, it had removed whatever those bindings were with ease and seemed incredibly powerful.

I could at least be happy it was satisfied for the moment.

The Procedure

Author's Note

That took a bit longer than anticipated but here's the next chapter. I hope you all enjoy!

The Procedure

Nox stared at the bat pony who was currently nervously shuffling on the full-body scanner. She had picked up very quickly on what they had meant with their gestures and had even seemingly attempted to communicate with them, making strangely musical noises that didn't match up with any known languages, more definitive proof of her intelligence.

Though chances were they were quite afraid of them, they might be a completely new species but their tells seemed to be glaringly obvious and comparable to earth horses in many ways. A shift of their hoof there, the constant flattening of their ears, and the way their tail was consistently clamped down. It could just be that they were misinterpreting her, but nonetheless, It bothered Nox. Though there was nothing to be done about it at the moment but continue on the course.

Nox glanced down towards the pad in their hands and the new data displayed on it. The readings were strange to say the least, but they were readings nonetheless. And while a good deal of them were messy and unreliable at best, like how it showed her with two completely different circulatory systems. One based around the standard heart most biological creatures had and one based around some organ in the brain which kept changing position somehow, likely a misread of some sort, the most important things seemed just fine. Specifically, around the parts of the frontal lobe, the nano medi-bots would need to interact with during the procedure.

Of course, this was far from the ideal time to perform said procedure, there was some potential that even the seemingly set information gained from the recent scans to be unreliable as well. Not to mention how little time they had been able to dedicate to modifying the original design that Dr. Edenburg had created for an internal translator. They had taken care of the glaring issues which plagued it like the permanent memory loss or lack of impulse control experienced by volunteers, an incredibly simple fix that only required a more refined method for the procedure and subsequent installment that actually accounted for the differences in the various species brains. But many of the smaller issues could not be dealt with as swiftly.

But even with all these potential issues, Nox had estimated that this had far better chances for both the Kestrel and the bat pony to survive. Because simply put, both Teron and Veran were vastly underestimating how much trouble the sector ahead was going to be. Even before the war, reports had it pegged as a hotbed of piracy and with the last Federation report being years ago, chances were that trouble was to be around every beacon that lay within the sector. The trouble that could easily spell the end for the bat pony, or for either of the humans if they were preoccupied with trying to protect the bat pony. Something that was simply unacceptable.

Though it would still likely be far safer than traveling right through rebel territory, there would be no time to spare for ensuring a smooth procedure within such a place. And the Kestrel simply could not afford delays or potential losses without risking everything. So the odds simply had to be rigged as much as possible towards both the survival of the bat pony and the Kestrel as much as possible, taking what calculated risks needed to be taken. And that required communication to be possible first and foremost, even if Teron and Veran would likely both object to them rushing the procedure.

Nox after a moment of thinking about how to best approach the next step, simply gave a few instructions to the nano medi-bots from the pad they held and they quickly began to release an invisible sleeping gas into the medbay. Within a few minutes, the nervous bat pony quickly grew drowsy, swaying on their hooves. Seeing this work effectively, Nox moved towards the next step and picked her up to bring back to the medical bed. Her eyes widened a bit when they did that, but the gas had done its job and had made her sufficiently drowsy enough to stop any sort of panicked response.

They laid her down onto the medical bed as they looked back towards their pad to double-check everything was as ready as it could be for the procedure while they waited for them to truly slip into unconsciousness. Everything they checked seemed to be good and soon enough the bat pony was unconscious. With that, Nox began the procedure.

"Nox, when I gave you permission to perform that procedure on her, I assumed you meant, no wait you did actually tell me you were going to actually take the time to ensure it would be as safe and smooth as possible. So in what galaxy does that actually mean you're going to rush this and do it in less than a day!"

My ears twitched and my head was positively throbbing while I woke up. What in the stars had happened? I tried to think about what I had done yesterday, but that only made my head hurt even more as I laid wherever I was with my eyes closed.

"Woah, Woah, Woah, what do you mean you gave Nox permission to do this shit in the first place Teron! This procedure is already so messed up that the few who actually had it done on them for testing purposes ended up having so many problems that it was shot down almost instantly and that 'Doctor' almost had his medical license revoked in short order. How could you even authorize that?!"

The migraine in my head only worsened as the unfamiliar voices yelling around me continued. Why did they have to be so loud? Still, I tried to shut them out while I was dealing with the pain.

"Veran, while I have not fixed every problem with the procedure, I did solve or at least greatly lessen the impact of all the major flaws. I would not have even done this procedure in the first place had I not been mostly confident that she would not end up like those first subjects of Dr. Edenburg. And captain, this is the safest time I could've done it. If I had waited longer, there the odds we end up in an altercation with pirates that might prove deadly for the bat pony or one of you in your efforts to protect her were too great. So I-"

"Decided to perform an experimental procedure on her instead that you gave Nox permission to do in the first place Teron. And if we end up in some fight, we just lock the goddamn blast doors to the medbay while we deal with 'em! Simple and easy! Not this-"

"Can you all be quiet, please! I'm having enough trouble with this migraine and figuring out what happened as it is, I don't... need..." My voice trailed off while I stared in shock at who actually lay around me, memories flooding back to me. What had I just done! I had just yelled at more wardens and the strange metal thing that had been with me last time I had awoken. There was fear in my eyes while I stared at them, waiting for their rebuke at what I had done.

Strangely, they all just stood there. The wardens simply stared back at me with their small eyes while the metal thing impassively watched before its claw rose up as it waved at me with it, a monotone voice coming from it that I understood somehow. "Greetings, it seems you have recovered from the procedure faster than expected. You mentioned you had a migraine and trouble remembering what had happened?"

My jaws flapped uselessly for a moment while I tried to figure out why it was asking me that and not yelling at me? Was it always able to understand me? My migraine only grew worse while I tried to make sense of it all. "I.. what?"

The metal thing merely kept looking at me before it began again. "As I said, you mentioned you had a migraine and memory problems? How severe are these issues and are there any more you are experiencing at the moment? It is vital you inform me of any such issues."

I stared at it for a moment before I slowly shook my head. Was I dreaming of this maybe? Why weren't the wardens doing anything? And why did speaking feel so weird so now? "They... they're not too bad. The migraine's painful but I'm managing for now and I can remember things just fine, I think. It just took a moment for everything to come back to me... I-"

I abruptly stopped and shrunk back when the warden with a brown mane interrupted me and leaned closer. "You remember everything just fine? That's a relief, I do hope no more issues than that migraine come up. And if they do you better take care of it Nox, ya hear me?" It then extended one of it's strangely shaped claws towards me. "I'm Veran, what about you girl?"

I stared at Veran for a moment while my head was trying to wrap itself around the fact they were being friendly, before I absentmindedly responded to them. "I, I'm Star Dancer."

This time it was the black-maned warden who spoke as the brown maned one awkwardly pulled their claw back. "Veran, hold up for the moment. And Nox, we're going to continue our discussion later." They then turned towards me. " And Star Dancer was it? Well, I'm Teron, and let me be the first to properly welcome you to the Federation ship, The Kestrel. I apologize for whatever it was you experienced at the hands of those pirates you were with originally, but I can assure you that you're safe here. There's nothing to fear anymore."

I looked up to Teron as I stared at him with unbelieving eyes as tears began to form in them. Was it really true, was it actually over? "I-I'm safe now? I can go home?"

They paused for a moment then nodded. "That you are and while I can't promise we'll be able to find your home anytime soon with how many other matters are forcing our attention towards them at the moment, we will be doing everything in our power to help you get back once we are free and able to do so. You have my word as the captain of this ship on it."

I felt tears of happiness begin to run down my face despite the bad migraine I was currently experiencing. It might finally be over. I might be able to go home.