20 - Into New Space
Captain Roger was swift in his announcement. With all crew aboard, he spoke to them all. Most of them only heard his voice on the ship's intercom, speaking as he was from the bridge. Still, everyone was listening intently as they all listened to him.
"People. When we set off from Earth, we were ready for a new world, but what we found is amazing. Dragons are intelligent, smart creatures, eager to be friends." He shifted in his seat. "We also discovered some important things about ourselves. The truth that ponies, our old friends, had seeded Earth so long ago, it's history itself."
He sat up. "And they need us. We have received word that there are other ponies, not as fortunate as the ones that found us. They're in trouble, and we're close enough to lend a hand. We owe it to our pony friends to try, which is why I called you all back to the ship. We will be traveling to aid them."
With that, he signed off. A rush of murmurs passed over the ship. Many were excited to hear more about their old friends. Others were simply happy to be going on a new journey, to see new places. Discontentment over their shore leave being interrupted was, thankfully, low enough to be treated individually.
The ponies were eager to help with that, ensuring such unhappy souls got extra time and attention from caring pony companions.
"Hello." She looked up as he appeared. "We had such a lovely conversation, I was hoping we could continue it."
She smiled, tinged with a smirk as it was. "Doctor Whooves. Are you actually a doctor?"
He cleared his throat. "Of course! I have a PhD in Equine Psychology." He motioned for her to follow. "Come along. I know of a nice lounge we can chat in."
The woman held her hands together behind her back as she walked along with him. "I'm not equine, if you didn't notice. Are you certain you're speaking to the right patient?"
He turned a corner with her following him. "You're not wrong, miss, but that doesn't mean we can't talk. Talking can be very helpful. Often enough, I am not sure who is doing the healing." He looked up at her as he walked alongside her. "We're both doctors. You understand how it can go, Doctor Rose Quartz. A lovely name, if you don't mind my saying so. Very pony."
Rose rolled her eyes at that. "Just Rose is fine. Thank you, though. I take pride in my name. You don't look like a 'Doctor Whooves' yourself."
He flicked his tail as they walked along. "A mix of things. But it does sound like hooves, does it not?" He raised one, wagging it in the air as he ambled on the other three. "I certainly have those."
Rose folded her arms over her chest as she watched him trot along. "Okay, but what's with the bow tie? It looks ridiculous."
Doctor Whooves fiddled with the bow tie around his neck. "I thought it really brought the look together."
"It's lovely." She went up to ruffle his mane. "But it not being over a shirt is a unique pony 'habit' that baffles me."
He sighed with a flick of his ear. "We all have our thing. Some of us are more fabulous than others." He chuckled at her touch. "Now now, Rose. I believe you're getting ahead of yourself. You'd think a professional would be better at keeping their hands to themselves."
She stopped ruffling his mane and cleared her throat. "Sorry." She moved her hands behind her back. "Should we continue? Now, you are a pony. So far as I've been told, ponies tend to enjoy little touches like that. Sorry if I offended."
Doctor Whooves turned, waving off her concern. "No no, I wasn't offended at all. Perhaps even a little flattered." He fiddled with his hooves a little as they walked along. "I'm actually visiting to talk to you. I know you're a little dispirited, being called back as you were."
Rose sighed softly at that. "To be expected. I was looking forward to some more time on the surface, but duty calls. I would have been back sooner or later anyway. There's no harm done."
Doctor Whooves perked at that. "Truly? Very mature thinking on your part. Oh, I was informed that shore leave time is being refunded for all crew that had theirs interrupted."
Rose shrugged gently at that. "Even better. Now it's not so bad. I guess they wanted to get us out of there quick. Do you know why?"
He did not look up from his trotting.
She held out a hand for the door before them, letting him go first. "Do you?"
He looked at the door, and then at her. He wasn't sure he should tell her, even if she already had a suspicion of what was going on. It wasn't his place to say, after all.
"You clearly do." She put a hand at her hip. "Is it a secret?"
Doctor Whooves kept his mouth shut. He would not tell her, regardless of her apparent knowledge.
She smirked faintly at that. "Keep your secrets then." She gestured at a table. "We can talk about something else. You did want to talk, didn't you?"
He lit up as he motioned for her to take a seat. "But of course! I found your company rather enjoyable. How is it you came to join this voyage?"
Rose took the offered seat and held her hands together on the table. "A ship out to the middle of nowhere, to see what can be seen? I don't understand people who turned down the opportunity."
He folded his hooves under his chin. "I see. What led you to it, if I may ask?"
Rose raised a finger to tap at her nose. "There's a certain allure in mystery, isn't there?" She laughed gently. "I'd ask you, but you're a program, Doctor. They uploaded you into the ship and you hardly had a choice in the matter."
"On the contrary!" He sat up tall. "When we are in the primary hubs, we, all of us, are told what mission awaits us, and we are given a choice. Only those who agree are then sent. Did you think we were randomly chosen? Digital slaves? Perish the thought."
Rose shook her head at that. "Amazing. Then, do you not want to be here?"
He chuckled as he adjusted his bow tie. "But of course I wanted to be here. I wanted to explore this vast universe. I wanted to serve alongside my beloved humans and leave some little mark on the vast cosmos we call home. It sounded far more interesting than sitting around. Besides, there's a copy of me home, safe and sound. It's a very temporary risk I'm taking if you think about it."
Rose looked around the lounge. There was only one other pony present, tending to the food and drinks. She looked back at Doctor Whooves. "You could die."
He snorted at that. "Sure could, but it'd only be this me. There's another me on Earth, a fair number, likely, all busily tending to the needs of ponies and humans around him with the same silly smile."
She pursed her lips. "I thought I knew a lot about the ponies, but it seems like I barely scratched the surface."
He waved a hoof. "Don't beat yourself up about it. Ponies are just as complicated as humans, and humans aren't so simple, last I looked into the matter." He gestured with his other hoof. "Have you considered adding 'equine' to your list of interests? I could be your guide on that, if you'd like."
Rose drummed her fingers together. "I feel suddenly uncertain if I was just hit on by a pony, and I'm not sure how I feel about that."
Doctor Whooves colored at that. "Ma'am! I was only approaching your intellectual growth, not anything tawdry. Do forgive me for being so forward, but I couldn't help but notice your pursuit of knowledge, even over relaxation. You remind me a little of myself when I was younger."
Rose sighed softly as she moved her hands to rest on the table. "Well, thank you. I think. Intellectual curiosity is my entire reason for being here."
The two chatted amiably about their interests, both shared and different.
Twilight appeared above Roger, taking up the ceiling over his reclined head. "Permission to begin?"
Roger started, so close to falling asleep. "What? Begin what?"
Twilight twitched an ear. "The spell to allow crewmembers to breed successfully with willing other species. It worked when we first arrived, allowing the first few generations of ponies to be fruitful and spread across the planet Earth."
Roger propped an arm under his head, looking up at Twilight. "There are only humans and ponies on the ship, and we have plenty of either. Why would we be needing children right now?"
Twilight shrugged at that. "Children mean life. While you have ponies, you have exactly zero living ponies. Besides, there is a dragon on board."
Roger almost fell out of his bed. "A dragon?! When did? Why am I only being told of this now?!"
Twilight sighed with a slight flare of her wings. "This morning. As soon as I was made aware of the presence of a new species, I requested the ship run a full scan of all crew and passengers. I am pleased to report that the invasion is only one member. They appear to be more curious than harmful, which is why I didn't raise any alarms."
Roger blinked as he tried to take in this news. "Okay, so, a dragon has taken it upon themselves to join us on our voyage?"
Twilight nodded once. "In order to save time, I took the liberty of introducing myself and welcomed them aboard."
Roger put a hand over his face. "Twilight. I am the captain of this ship. I need to be informed the very instant we know there's someone new on the ship. Do you have their identification at least?"
Twilight held out her wings as she projected a screen into the air. A young looking dragon stared back at Roger, alongside the ship's roster. "You're going to want to read through their bio. I took the liberty of researching them on the dragon's network to provide all pertinent information."
Roger rubbed his forehead as he scanned the info. "Dawning Star. Cute name." He had to stifle a laugh at that. "She likes sunrises and taking naps?" He sat up, staring at Twilight. "Are you serious?"
Twilight shrank under his gaze. "Ponies like to sleep too! She sounds like a lovely girl."
Roger paced across the room, sleep far from his mind. "Twilight, even if you start that breeding spell, it won't cover dragons. Any children she has, which we didn't talk to her about, will be a human or a pony, right?"
Twilight swished her tail as she hovered there. "I would assume so, yes. We lack the genetic comprehension of dragons to assure it will work, but we also lack the comprehension that it will, for sure, not work. She is Equestrian, like ponies. It may work."
Roger stopped at the wall and sighed heavily. "How are we supposed to explain this to her? That we can magically give her children, just like that?"
Twilight chuckled at that. "Oh I can think of any number of ways to present such information to her, including video records of past uses." She directed a hoof at herself. "I was the mother of a few ponies, some of which serve on this very ship. It would be my pleasure to assist, Captain. Permission to begin spell?"
Roger stared at Twilight. He did not know how he felt about having a living digital guide, sometimes. "Is there a reason to start this spell?"
Twilight sat down in the air as she regarded him. "For one, it would permit the digital aides on the ship to have families. The duration of this voyage is only growing longer at every turn. Allowing them that opportunity would be good for morale. For another, I am curious if it will function on a dragon, and a chance to find out has been presented."
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I like to think that Dragons are the oldest lifeforms on Equestria, evolving in symbiosis with the fluctuation that gave rise to the harmony crsyal that lets them eist, and all other life came later once the world cooled enough for complex organic compounds to exist with liquid water etc? As such I prefer to think Dragons are more like Mew, all genetics and compatibility, and not reverted after all this time to Dittos, compatibloe with all races except themselves leading to minimum of two generations between dragon generations through diaspora and rehybridisation?
Me: Twilight your Cadance is showing
That’s your sister in law’s job
And of course, the Doctor's human friend is named "Rose." What a coincidence.
I guess I can see Twilight's point about having foals to improve crew morale. I feel like that was a missed opportunity in ST: Voyager. One woman was pregnant when the series began, and only one other got pregnant in the following years.
Can digital assistants have live foals or just digital ones?
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The spell creates living young of the programmed sorts, so they expect a human or a pony. How a dragon would react to it, being an Equestrian species, is uncertain.
Still requires two willing creatures of different species that want to have a child together.
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It was my idea so....
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And it was an awesome idea! I'm glad David used it. The Doctor belongs with Rose, any Rose.
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Has a long time Star Trek fan I have never been a fan of the idea of having families on a ship that encounters dangers that could destroy the entire ship.
How many times did John Luke Picard threatened to destroy the ship in a self-destruct sequence during Star Trek the Next generation?
He was not going to only kill his crew but innocent children. That is something I did not like.
Steve really puts this idea into sharp contrast.
(First example at 2:05, 7 year old girl with severe radiation poisoning.)
https://youtube.com/watch?v=kcYYq-s2lW0&si=TrcLXAiZ9iZa1kFw
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Life is danger. Just because there is risk doesn't mean someone simply can't, or musn't do something. If you are at the point of Star Trek, you think Earth is safe? Nowhere is safe.
Do your best.