In Space, We Don't Abandon Innocence

by David Silver

21 - Greeting the Dawn

"So, um." Dawning Star looked between the pony and human interrogating her. "This spell, is it going to hurt?"

Twilight Sparkle spoke first. "Absolutely not! Not in the slightest. In fact, you shouldn't feel anything, and it won't do anything until and unless you want it to."

Tela held up her hands. "Yeah, don't worry. We'd never do something that could hurt you. We're only looking for permission. Your say-so. If it helps, this gets you forgiven for sneaking on board the ship in the first place. I can't imagine dragons are much nicer about stowaways."

Dawning laughed tensely at that. "No. But, you all seem like nice creatures. You wouldn't hurt me, right?"

Tela glanced over at Twilight. She then raised her hand to place it gently on Dawning's shoulder. "Absolutely not. So long as you aren't hurting us, we won't hurt you."

Twilight spread her wings with a smile. "Now, I'm about to enact that program. Any objections?"

Dawning Star raised her hands. "If you're sure it won't hurt or nothing, sure?"

Unseen by the creatures inside it, the entire ship glimmered with ancient power, bathing all within it with the spell that would allow any of them to spawn with other species. "And, done." Twilight nodded. "If we wanted to have children, we could. I am quite busy being the ship, however, so I have no specific desire to raise a foal at this time."

Tela stood up. "Well, that's what she can do." She gave Dawning a pat on the back. "There are other digital aides around. You should ask them if they want to have a kid."

Dawning colored in her cheek scales. "Hey! I said you could cast the spell. I did not say I was in a hurry to lay any eggs."

Twilight inclined her head. "Oh, no. There will be no eggs involved. Any children created will already be in late toddler stage and advance swiftly to moderate childhood by all records. If you'd like, visit the library for historical details on the foals created by this in the past. Thank you for taking part."

Dawning Star mumbled quietly as she stood up. "Yeah yeah, you're welcome. Gonna go now. This is a lot to think about." She opened the door and scampered off, the door closing behind her.

Tela glanced towards Twilight. "You're sure this is a good idea? She is a stranger, loose on the ship. Not exactly the first thing I'd go for in terms of security."

Twilight straightened herself out with a toss of her mane. "Her kind do not often care for mischief making. They tend to be creatures of curiosity, and greed. If you give her something, she may not give it back. But if you make friends with her, she will consider you part of her collection, and be quite loyal."

Tela blinked at that. "As in she could end up being helpful to us?"

Twilight nodded once. "In the same manner as humans help each other. I have not known many dragons, but those I have known were full of life and love. You just have to get used to them, and help them adjust to you."

Tela headed for the door. "If you insist. I'll dispatch the proper aide for that."

---

Summoned, Pinkie appeared before Dawning Star. "Hiya! I hear you're new on the ship. Ooo, it's been a while since I got a chance to welcome somecreature!"

Dawning Star twitched her tail as she took in the appearance of the pony before her. She was pink in coloration, with hair that defied all laws of physics, and a cutie mark resembling three balloons. "You sure are, hm, something?" She stroked along her snout, considering Pinkie. "You have a name?"

"Oh! I'm Pinkie! Sorry, thought I said that." She bounced forward towards Dawning. "And you are Dawning Star, a dragon who snuck on our ship. Sneaky!"

Dawning stepped back. "You know about that? Who told you?"

Pinkie pulled out a scroll, already filled out. "Let's see. There's a big list of things here, and uh..." She glanced up at Dawning's confused face. "What? I'm a program, silly. What the computer knows, it can share with me." She folded up the scroll and tucked it away. "But I don't need a computer to know you need a welcome party!"

Dawning slumped gently at that. "I, uh, guess that means there's nothing secret on this ship."

Pinkie put a hoof to her mouth as she giggled. "Oh yes there is! You were secret before they found you, silly. But now they found you, so not a secret. That's the annoying part about secrets. Once you know them, they're gone! Unless you get a new one. Did you know we have an actual dragon on board?"

Dawning Star frowned as she took a step back. "It's my first time meeting ponies. I thought I was going to be alone, okay? Also, I am that dragon, so why are you telling me, about me?"

Pinkie smiled as she bounced up and down. "Sorry! I tend to run off at the mouth, a lot." She took a breath. "Okay. Do you want to come to my party?"

"Do I have a choice?" Dawning was starting to get something of a grasp on that pink pony. "I get the feeling I don't, really."

"Wow!" She pounced on Dawning, hugging her tight. "You're smart. Let's go!"

Dawning tried to pull free of the pony. "What? Wait, stop! Stop hugging me! Let me go!"

Pinkie held on to Dawning with all four hooves. "We're going to the party! Oh this is going to be so much fun!"

---

The ship propelled through the grand void between stars. There was nothing to look at. There was everything to look at. Roger watched that slowly changing view of the infinite. "This mission was originally slated to be under a year. The stargate threw us five years off course, and now we're sailing years further away on a rescue mission."

"Sounds to me like it was worth it, Captain." Tela stood at ease before him. "Everyone is having a great time. The dragon's been doing well for herself. She's friendly, once you get past her own, unique, defenses."

Casey glanced over from her seat. "I hear some are taking you up on that offer. Things will get busy with the pitter-patter of small feet, or hooves, around the ship."

Roger turned his seat to look at his fellow crew members. "Maybe so. Maybe so." He glanced out the window, just in time to see a new star appear in the distance. "That reminds me. Has anyone figured out what the source of that stargate was? The dragons don't seem to have been involved."

Tela grunted softly at that. "Still looking, Sir. Our current best bet is the ponies. I'd think they're the only ones who could have left something like that lying around."

Casey folded her hands together in her lap. "The architecture is enough of a match, Captain, but there was another ship that could activate it nearby. They would have to be ponies with considerable resources."

Roger shook his head at that. "Wait a minute. Those seed ships were barely big enough to carry people, much less one of those giant stargates."

Casey smiled as she tapped at her datapad. "You are correct, Captain. Such construction would have to come from a far more stable society than the one mid-collapse that Twilight described."

Roger stood up, facing out towards the void. "What happened? What do we know?"

Casey switched screens on her pad. "I cross referenced the gate's telemetry with our ship's archives. No matches, outside the pony architecture. My guess, such as it is, is that at least one of those seed ships landed on just the right planet. Better than ours, and I thought they got lucky with us."

Roger perked as he turned towards Casey. "Do you think they found Equestria?"

She nodded once. "Someone did. Someone who has enough power to send their people through a stargate. We don't know how many places that stargate could connect to. We assume one, but that's just an assumption without time to study it."

Tela held up a hand. "Do we have any ideas what happened to them?"

The bridge was quiet, with no ideas to share on that. Tela sighed, returning to her chair. "Too many questions, too few answers. Maybe the ponies we're going to rescue will have one or two for us."

Casey sat back, laying her pad in her lap. "Somewhere out there, is a planet of ponies who made it. Let's not get impatient looking for them. We can only do so much with our little lives."

Roger pointed at her. "Getting awfully philosophic, but you aren't wrong. We'll do what we can. This rescue mission is urgent. We may return to base afterwards, considering how off-course we've gotten."

Tela stood up to meet him. "As long as we're off-course, could we investigate those other points of interest?"

Casey raised a hand. "If we do that, Captain, we'll never go home."

"Point." Roger leaned back, ands on his belly. "Let's focus. We can decide what we do after the rescue, after the rescue."

The dragon crewmember cleared her throat. "Excuse me, but, if I may say so?" She shrank as all eyes turned towards her. "Do we know why we're rescuing ponies?"

Roger snorted. "One, you're not crew, let alone command crew. You shouldn't be on the deck." Dawning Star shrank at that. "But to answer your question." That got her to perk. "Our crew has a good deal of ponies, virtual as they are. They want to know what happened to their fellow ponies, and so does the rest of us. If we can lend a hand, we stand to gain much, besides resting more easily than knowing we could have helped but did nothing."

Dawning rubbed at her chin. "Well, alright. If you think it's the right thing to do."

"She is allowed here." Twilight appeared before them, wearing a standard issue uniform for ponies on the ship. "I know I usually appear as a digital pony, but sometimes it's nice to dress up a bit." She brushed at her seldom-worn outfit with a hoof. "But I allowed her, Captain. She expressed curiosity about how 'humans handled leadership'. Forgive me if she is posing any difficulties."

Roger held up his hands. "It's fine. Don't worry about it. Did you have anything to add?"

Twilight's ears lowered. "The planet where we are heading has an ancient civilization. That is why it was selected for a seed. There was hope, however dim, that the remnants of those people could be used by arriving ponies."

Roger turned to Dawning Star. "Do you have anything to add?"

Dawning clasped her hands together. "Uh, um. No?" She held out her hands as she slunk away.

Roger sank back into his chair. "Alright, now, we're at the less-interesting part. Travel takes time. We just need to keep this ship in working order while we do it. Twilight—" Twilight perked at her name. "—has enabled the cross-species spell. We may have more faces to feed and care for."

Casey nodded once. "Don't worry about that, Captain. We'll keep the ship fed. Shouldn't be a problem. People will be happy to have children around." She burst into sudden giggles. "Imagine that, children without the fuss of birth. Why don't we just keep that on all the time?"

Twilight shrank as eyes turned towards her. "We don't want either of our races becoming entirely dependent on any single technology to the point that we cannot exist without it. I strongly move against this idea. this is also why two members of different species are required. If you have two members of the same species, they can make children the old-fashioned way."

Casey put a hand to her mouth. "That's, um, good to know." She sat back down, keeping her hands at her lap.

Roger stood up as he returned to looking out the window. "Let's not get distracted. We'll aid those who need it, but the rest of us are on-duty. Let's keep our senses sharp, in case we run into anything before we reach the target."

Author's Note:

Dawning Star seems to be getting into things reasonably well.

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Comments

[Amethyst Dragonfly]

Twilight's ears lowered. "The planet where we are heading has an ancient civilization. That is why it was selected for a seed. There was hope, however dim, that the remnants of those people could be used by arriving ponies."

Maybe the ancient civilization was as per the Forerunners in stories written by Andre Norton.

[BestinDworld]

Well maybe dawning star can the dragons unofficial official liaison if when or maybe if the dragons discover she’s missing which hopefully won’t lead to disaster

Also what does dawning star look like maybe ai fan art maybe? Perhaps in an black evening dress like one of those that shoe your curves

[Booster Spice]

Oh dear, Poor Casey. Twilight didnt implement the substage of hybridisation thats far easier than hard different species blending.

Then again, Twilight always had an easier time with Orange Frogs than Orange Guards?

[David Silver]

11933704
i.postimg.cc/PxgtMj38/image.png

[PrincePegacornV]

One thing I love about reading other's stories is the comments by other ponies in the fandom. While I do love the ideas that many will offer, I'd like to add here at this point in the story two things should be in focus: the rescue, and the Stargate. The dragon Dawning Star is just another dimension to the unfolding of this tale. That Stargate, however, is intriguing, and offers so many paths of thought and supposition. Been so far a good read...

[Okie Brony]

"Do I have a choice?" Dawning was starting to get something of a grasp on that pink pony. "I get the feeling I don't, really."

Nopony can resist the Ponk Power of a Pinkie Party.
Fun! Resistance is futile.

11933797
Wow. 😍
(Edit: I just read the next chapter, and Dawning is younger than I thought. She's still beautiful.)

[Twinkie Sprinkle]

Now I'm caught up again.

These will technically be comments on the previous chapter, but I'll leave them here.

It's interesting that a version of Doctor Whooves has shown up and met *a* Rose.

Also I'm not sure if it's intentional or just a fun little coincidence, but Rose's last name definitely made me think of Steven Universe.