Twilight paced to and fro atop the bridge, "This is Captain Twilight Sparkle, requesting permission to enter jump."

"Yeah!" Her voice came over radio, but was as ready to go as usual. Rainbow leaned closer to the microphone. "Let us get this mission going."

The voice of an agent came online, "We have no reason to bar you. All lights are green and the path is clear. Good journey, and return safely."

Twilight smiled at the source of the voice, which was just where the speakers happened to be on the ship. "Thank you. Hopefully, I'll be coming back with friends."

The communications officer began their own part of the ritual, "Confirming we are away from the shipyard. Sparkle Gate charging."

Twilight gestured forward, initiating the trip. She looked over her shoulder. "I keep trying to move wings I don't have."

Rainbow laughed over her local line. "Regretting your body pick? I'm loving mine! Space-hardened, minus the odd bits. Not like we have to prepare for ultra space scavenging."

Twilight rubbed at her temple. "Maybe another time. It's a different experience though, that's for sure." She did a small backflip and grinned as she twisted in place. "There are advantaged to a smaller frame." She was a unicorn, not an alicorn, back to her first body. She adjusted the glasses on her snout. "There are times I wonder about that slight randomization. Did you get any defects?"

"I'm dangerously awesome?" One could almost hear Rainbow shrugging. "Other than that, I'm all good. You don't like your glasses? They suit you."

Twilight brushed them with her magic. "They're a part of me, but I can't really leave them behind despite them not being attached. Just one more thing to keep track of. A minor issue. I'm still Twilight, with or without glasses. Status report?"

A pony aide popped up in front of her. "We're ready!" He saluted sharply. "Directions entered, systems online."

Cadence appeared, a hologram like any other aide. "The ship is ready."

Twilight smiled at her dear friend and family member. "Glad to hear it, but you can say 'I'm ready', if you prefer. You are the ship."

Cadance rubbed just behind a cheek awkwardly. "Yes, true, but I prefer to not make us the same. I'm controlling the ship, not becoming the ship."

Twilight waved that away. "No time for philosophies right now. Put the crew on alert for jump, and let's get started."

"Aye-aye." Cadance vanished as quickly as she came, showing up on screens all over the ship. The room darkened as lights turned off and shifted to a cooler spectrum. The jump gate was about to open, so this would limit what would happen when they did.

A yawning portal of technology and magic opened before them as the engines hummed with power and batteries depleted of their charge. "This should make this trip shorter than the last, at least in travel times."

A few agreeing voices rose among her largely human crew.

Twilight turned back to face forward. "Dimensional engines engaged, lets do this!"

With the portal created, the ship powered through it in a blaze of a great icon of Twilight's personal mark. With it, the portal vanished, along with them. The people of Earth would only really know they left, and have to trust in their return.

Twilight sat in her chair, once again playing with her glasses as she tried to get used to them. "What do we know of the first seed world?"

Harriet Tappin, a human crew member from the first trip, saluted. "The first seed world is a rocky planet around a friendly-looking sun. Long-range scanners suggest an atmosphere with oxygen and other elements in tolerable quantities. Biosphere, unknown."

Twilight listened closely to the information. "And the readings on those seeds? How are they doing?"

"This one is dark so far as we know. No radio transmissions on any band we've tried." Harriet tapped at her holographic keyboard. "We'll have to get eyes on the ground to know for sure."

Twilight nodded slowly. "Does this planet have a name?"

Harriet shook her head. "Just a long set of numbers and letters." She read them off dutifully. "Um, thanks, by the way."

"For?" Twilight inclined her head. "I haven't done anything just yet."

"But you have!" Harriet waved over the bridge. "You accepted my application to serve here, under you. Thanks. I want to be part of what happens out here. I may be human, but I'm part pony too don't forget."

Twilight smiled at her and stood from her chair. "You're quite welcome. But I didn't play favorites. You were qualified for the position. Ah, have you synced?"

Harriet nodded quickly. "No fear of syncing here, ma'am. One of my mom's a digital aide. If she can handle being synced, I'm not going to wimp out. I did my last the day before we took off."

Twilight leaned in with a thoughtful hum. "Interesting." She straightened up. "Carry on then."

Harriet turned back to her console. "Another day or so, and we should be there."

"Sounds good." Twilight glanced over at one of the crew. "I'll be stepping off the bridge for a moment. Call If I'm needed and I'll be right back." She hopped to the floor. "The jump should be uneventful."

One of the human crew tipped their head in Twilight's direction. "Aye, captain." They kept their eyes forward. "Should be a cake walk, ma'am."

Twilight stood still, considering the word choice for a moment, then moved on to the closest door. It slid open and she stepped past into the ship at large. As she marched through, a pony materialized next to her. Rarity tossed her mane. "Darling, this is quite exciting. I've been an aide on quite a few vessels, but this is the first with you as the casting captain."

Twilight glanced over at Rarity with a small smirk. "You saying that just to flatter me?"

"I would never do such a thing!" Rarity touched her chest. "So bold as to do that to my captain, why I should never!" She laughed at the notion, even if her grin implied otherwise. "This promises to be an interesting mission, dear."

Twilight poked her holographic friend. "One thing, did you say 'casting' captain? Did you mean acting?"

Rarity shook her head with a smug look. "Darling, really. You are Twilight Sparkle. I feel certain you are a captain who will cast a spell or two."

Twilight continued on her way, with Rarity's company. "I think you're right. I'll cast whatever it takes to see this mission through." She rubbed at her forehead as they passed by a few pony engineers discussing engine efficiency and the new batteries the dragons had created for them.

As a pair, they arrived at engineering. The pony technicians gave Twilight a cheerful greeting, their tails held high. The human technician gave her a familiar nod as well.

Twilight peeked past the crew as she came closer to a whiteboard filled with plans for a device. "Will we be able to put this into use?" She waved at it. "I was so close to putting It into active, but this mission may be a fine time to test drive it, if we can get it assembled and functioning with what we have."

The humans looked at one another, then back at Twilight. "Are you suggesting building a synchronization hub? Here, on the ship?"

Twilight nodded with a small smile. "Exactly. The basics are in place, if you think about it. We just need to construct it. This sync module should be far smaller than the room-sized version we're used to. Allowing all crew that want to sync the option to do so whenever they're off-duty would increase morale, and safety, don't you think?"

One of the humans looks a bit nervous at the idea. "Not sure I'll use it. Having a copy of me isn't the same as the original me staying alive, ma'am."

Twilight nodded in response. "There will be no coercement. The choice will be present, to use, or not. Neither will negatively impact your record. This is a deeply personal decision."

Rarity poked Twilight with a hoof. "You're hoping that the command will be willing to sync, even when on duty. Am I right?"

"Not while on-duty! That would be quite distracting. But it would be nice if most of the crew sees the advantage." Twilight waved up at the complex diagram. "I've taken an interesting turn in this incarnation, operating a company."

Rarity leaned in. "Taking after me, are we dear? I'm flattered in only the best of ways. We business owners have to stick together." She bumped against Twilight's side.

Twilight rolled her eyes playfully. "Let's start working on this, shall we?" She flipped the board to a new page. "This version of my design is far more efficient than what we're used to. Thankfully, humans love sharing information. It's one of their talents. Advances in material and information processes makes the old design look almost quaintly outdated."

She shared words with the engineers about what to do and how to get it done, but she didn't do it herself. She was the captain, not an engineer, even if part of her wanted to just jump into it and get it done. She had to pace herself, even if her adrenaline was high.

"By the way," began Rarity, leaning closer to Twilight. "You should talk with Cadance as soon as you can, dear."

Twilight lifted her ears. "I had spoken to her briefly just before our jump. Why?"

"Well..." Rarity shook her head with a faint chuckle. "She's worried that there might be... an issue." She leaned in close to Twilight's ear. "With her foal."

Twilight stepped back and blinked. "What? Why? What's wrong?"

Rarity clapped a hoof over her mouth. "Nothing's wrong, per se, but she is on the ship, and I think the poor dear would like Flurry to have a position, instead of just accompanying us."

"Ah!" Twilight held up a finger. "Of course. Yes. I'll talk with her immediately. Thank you."

Rarity gave Twilight a quick hug. "Take care, captain." And like that, she vanished.

Cadance's head poked free of a screen. "I didn't want to make you feel like you had to. You are the captain, Twilight. It's your choice."

Twilight leaned forward. "Would it make you happy?"

Cadance thought a moment, then nodded. "Yes, I think so. She has been quite eager to join me in my work. She has synced. Shining will help keep an eye on her. I'm only asking for a junior position, of course. She's done well in training, but she's barely out of it."

"She'll be alright." Twilight stepped closer. "The ship is quite safe, after all. Let's give her something to do, shall we? Get her settled in, then you can rest easy." She considered a moment. "What speciality did she select?"

Cadance bounced up. "Oh, communications, believe it or not. She was quick with learning how to operate them, and really loves working with them."

Twilight nodded. "Alright, our communication officer gets an assistant and some pony to tutor then. I'll speak with them to make sure they're on board with the idea."

Cadance vanished away. "I'll tell Flurry."

Twilight sped towards the bridge, confident things were in order. "The captain should be at the bridge, ready to act." She nodded at her reminder to herself. "Let's get this mission done properly."

With a dash of power, she arrived on the bridge. She strode past the crew without slowing down. "What's our status?"

Harriet perked up as Twilight approached. "We'll be dropping out of jump momentarily." She waved at the main screen where the images of the jump tunnel broke, revealing space all around with a star ahead of them. Orbiting it were a collection of planets. Their target already labeled clearly. It was the second planet of the bunch, in the habitable zone of the star.

"Confirming jump success." The navigation officer tapped his console. "Everything checks out."

Twilight brought up a screen next to her with a small wave of her hoof. "I do believe it's time we investigate what appears to be life on the surface of that world. Hopefully, some ponies are among them." She cringed. "And if not, they still deserve to be found and documented. Their equipment could even have surviving sync data."

The crew gave murmurs of agreement. The whole ship rose to action as their mission began in earnest. It was time to start Operation Scattered Seeds.

Author's Note

We begin a new story and I'm so happy to have you all here with me. As a note, I feed on your comments. I love them all, even the ones that make me mad. All of them, so do comment. I read every single one of them! Ahem, let's go off, into space!

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