In Space, We Don't Abandon Innocence

by David Silver

30 - Error Corrected

Twilight appeared on a console near Roger. "The programming of the spell has been adjusted."

Roger glanced up from his chair with a sharp smile. "And what does that mean?"

Twilight raised a hoof. "Simply, if either partner that desires an offspring is not yet physically mature, the spell will not activate. This is now in affect on all residents of the ship."

Roger gave a thumbs up. "Good. Keep an eye on it."

Twilight pointed at Roger as she vanished. "You got it!"

Roger stood up as he rubbed his beard. "You heard her, no more kids having kids." He sighed, thinking about that. "I swear. She's a genius, but doesn't think through some things." He sank back into his chair. "Any status reports?"

Applejack appeared from nothing, tossing a piece of fruit in her mouth. "Mmph, mmph." She swallowed with a chuckle. "Everything's just peachy here. Though there is somethin' I've been meanin' to talk about."

Roger nodded gently at Applejack. "What's on your mind?"

Applejack waved her hat gently. "Food supplies are good an' all, but we really should consider when and where we'll restock up on supplies, considerin' how long this detour is."

Roger pinched his brow with a grumble. "Right. So, we have to visit somewhere that the crew can get fresh food and resupply the ship's stores." He clicked his tongue. "And probably restock on the basics."

Applejack nodded along with that. "Are there more dragon planets on the way? We got some of their money, don't we? Would be an easy fix!"

Roger looked to the others. One raised their hand. "We're out of dragon space, Captain. We can start scanning for usable planets or signs of sapient life?"

Roger tilted his head back and forth as he thought. "That'd take forever, but our scanners are better than anything we had back home. Set it up, and see what you can find. We don't have anything else to do as we drift."

The bridge's activity increased as they began scanning the planets they were going to soar past.

Applejack smiled at Roger warmly. "Yer doing great, Captain."

Roger rolled his eyes. "Thank you for the update, Applejack." With a wave, he dismissed her. "Get some rest."

She vanished with a friendly laugh.

He considered what lay ahead. The crew would go out of their way to scan anything that looked promising.

And eventually, they found a suitable world, one inhabited by a civilization willing to trade. Well, that would be ideal. It was also possible they'd just find a planet with animals or plants that could be harvested for some biomatter without any negotiations involved. Either was fine with him.

Casey ran her fingers lightly over the buttons of her console. "Captain. I'm detecting an Earth-like planet. Habitable zone, radiation's on the tolerable side. It looks like the perfect place for an ecosystem."

Roger raised a brow at that. "Could it be inhabited? Also, pick a prize."

Casey rubbed at her chin lightly. "Pick a prize, what does that mean?"

Roger rolled a finger. "You found a planet first that could pan out. Pick a price for yourself if it passes muster."

Casey gave a thoughtful hum. "Oh, thanks! In that case, I want, uh, hm. Free cake? That's my pick." She shrugged a bit at that. "That's so vague."

Roger laughed with a genuine smile. "Cake it is. Maybe with the help of what we find there. Let's do a full observation of that world. Put it on screen if you can."

The main screen switched to a view of the world. Unlike Earth with its greens, this one was far more pink. "Not Earth's usual yellow sun, I gather?"

Casey pointed to the view. "Captain, yes. It's also too small. Given its size and location in the solar system, it's not getting anywhere near as much sunlight as Earth did." She tapped rapidly a moment. "Chilly, but with liquid water on its surface. Life could rise there, and the excess of oxygen in its atmosphere implies it has."

Roger smiled as he leaned forward. "Wonderful. Inform the crew we're going to be stopping here for a few days. Full planetary scan for anything that might interest us, from the weather, to animal life, to vegetation."

"Aye aye!" came several voices as different folks got to work examining it in different ways.

Elsewhere and nowhere, Rainbow looked between different sensors with a smile. "Finally! I swear I was gonna fall asleep with nothing to look at." She laughed. "This is so exciting. A new planet! We'll have to see what we can find!"

Rainbow Dash felt like her heart was in her throat as she leaned forward to see the planet on her screen. "Look at you, cute little thing." She laughed as she worked her wings and hooves over countless buttons. "Let's get a good look at you."

Rainbow Dash chirped in delight as she examined the little planet. "You're perfect! But something about you feels a bit odd. Just, something's wrong." She didn't know how to explain it, but a tiny little shiver ran down her spine. "Mmm, vapors?" She examined the spectrographs of what could be found in the planet's atmosphere. "No, that looks safe."

Rainbow Dash sat back from her console. "Still, feels weird." She twisted in her seat with a grunt. "If there's some trick to this I'm missing, maybe somepony else can figure it out."

Rainbow Dash popped up from her seat and took to the air, using her wings to sail towards a cluster of ponies working on their own projects. "Hey guys, gals, and nonbinary pals!" She waved at them from above. "Something about this planet is bugging me, but I can't put my hoof on it."

One mare looked up at her, then nudged the stallion next to her. He blinked before really seeming to realize Rainbow had spoken. "Oh, sorry. Want me to have a look at that data?"

Rainbow Dash lowered to the ground with a smile. "I mean, that's great if you can. This isn't an observation assignment though, so I'm not sure if you're, uh, equipped for that."

He waved that away. "You just want a spare set of eyes. I won't be working the equipment, just looking at what they found. Lead the way!"

Rainbow Dash lit up at that. "Thanks!" She led him back to her station and allowed him access to the information she had been reviewing. "Any ideas on what might be going on here?"

He sat next to her and began hoofing at the controls. He wasn't nearly as fast at Rainbow had been, but he patiently waded through the information. "Hm! Hm... Nice little world, huh? Still, hm." He rubbed at his furry chin gently. "Ah ha!" He began pressing new buttons. "Yeah, there's, look, here." He thrust a hoof. "Plenty of signs of animals. We should be careful about that."

Rainbow Dash bobbed along, following as best she could. "Got it. Hey, Captain." She saluted to him with a wing. "Sir, sir! We've spotted some animal activity on the surface!"

Roger rubbed his beard. "Incoming megafauna, possibly?"

Rainbow shrugged at that. "We can't tell how big the animals are, just that the world has plenty of them. Lots of little, a few bigs? Who knows."

Roger shook his head with a sigh. "We'll get to it in a moment." He waved at Rainbow, dismissing her. "Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Once we know what we're dealing with, we'll work on how to interact with them."

Rainbow saluted him, flashing a confident smile. "No problem!" She vanished without further sound.

"Sheesh, those holograms." Roger rubbed at his eyes gently. "Well, how long until we can reach the planet?"

Rainbow clopped her hoof against the visiting pony's. "Thanks for the help! I swear, I would have been staring at that for hours. Ugh, organic chemistry is not my specialty."

The visitor returned her smile. "You got it. The data was surprisingly sparse though." He perked up at that. "Oh, maybe that's what felt off."

Rainbow nodded at that. "Yeah, maybe! It's still a nice world, and I'm really happy to get a look at it!" She stretched in place. "It's like seeing your family again. That might be a weird thing to say about a planet." She fluttered her wings. "Oh! Wonder if the captain would let me borrow one of those portable emitters Sunset's gotten fond of. I'd love to take a real flight around, check things out close and personal."

He waggled his hooves. "Sure, we'll go with that. I mean, not that you don't count as real, but we both know what you mean."

Rainbow chuckled at that. "Guess I just miss the sensation of being real, having my own body." She clopped her hooves. "You shoulda seen it! When I first came to Earth, I had this sweet space-body. That thing was a tank. I loved it so much! I literally flew down from outer space to a landing on Earth without a scratch on me that wasn't fixed in a jiff."

The other pony gave a sidelong look. "Space body?"

Rainbow laughed. "Oh yeah, it was great." She sighed at the memories. "Look, we had to be sure every pony on that first ship survived, so we got them the toughest bodies we could, which meant I was basically immortal." She slumped. "Basically. I did die eventually, boo. Still miss that body."

He tapped at his hooves with a little snicker. "Somehow that's just not the wildest thing I've heard today." He considered. "Maybe second wildest. Anyway, I'm gonna get back to work. Gonna have to take a closer look at this planet later."

Rainbow clapped her hooves together. "Hey, thanks again! Later!"

He waved before vanishing without a sound.

Rainbow returned to her work, and the planet beyond that.

In a far corner of the ship, Applejack and Fluttershy appeared in what was becoming their typical meeting place. "Glad you could make it." She swatted the shy pegasus on the shoulder. "Medbay quiet fer now?"

Fluttershy jerked as she rubbed her arm with a frown. "Applejack, ow! Yes, the medbay is empty right now. Which, um, is pretty good. There isn't a lot I can do to help." She sat up with a nervous smile. "I think that dragon may hatch within a week or two. I can't be certain. I, um, only have limited information on how dragon eggs work."

Applejack leaned in to bump against Fluttershy's side. "Doing a bang-up job though." She laughed gently. "Don't know what we'd do without ya."

Fluttershy returned a soft chuckle. "Thank you." She raised a hoof uncertainly. "I might make mistakes, but it's nice to be able to help. Um, so how are you doing?"

Applejack gave a light shrug. "Sittin' around waiting for more input from that planet. It'll be fun workin' with new kinds ah biomass. We'll have to figure out what we can use, or not, to keep the crew nice an' fed!"

Fluttershy clasped her hooves together gently. "Don't overextend yourself! Don't want anypony gettin' hurt."

Applejack flashed a winning smile. "Please. This here's mah job! Even afore we came to Earth, ah loved me a good growin' project. Keepin' evreycreature fed makes me powerful happy. Ain't no thin'."

Fluttershy glomped Applejack, squishing her against the wall of their room. "Well, I'm proud of you anyway!"

Applejack squirmed her way out of the grip with a laugh. "Appreciate it." She touched her nose to Fluttershy's. "Sounds like we're both doin' what we love. Saving lives and food, huh?"

Fluttershy blinked in surprise at the sudden touch. "Ah, yes. That's very true. We're both saving the crew, in our different ways." She smiled as she sank to her haunches. "You help keep them from needing me."

Applejack dusted off her hat lightly. "Funny how things work out sometimes, ain't it?" She considered quietly a moment. "Say, ah was thinkin'. Maybe we should have a little gatherin', a shindig for just us originals. The Mane Six, gathered again!"

Fluttershy coughed sharply, caught off guard by the suggestion. "Really? Um, that sounds nice, but do you think we should? Is there anything we could do that might, um, break our friendships?"

Applejack flicked her hat at Fluttershy. "Seriously? We've been friends for how long now? If we were gonna get in a fight over somethin', woulda already happened by now, ah reckon."

Fluttershy groaned at that. "You're right. Sorry. We have so much fun together." She slumped. "I shouldn't worry about breaking it apart, because we'll still be friends." She dared a smile. "Really, it does sound fun. Do you think the others will agree?"

Applejack rolled a hoof in slow circles. "'Sides us? Twilight's in. Just talked to her last night."

Fluttershy fidgeted with her hooves. "Oh? What were you two talking about?"

Applejack sat up at that with a cocky smile. "Ah was jus' goin' over the numbers. That's why I told the captain about us maybe runnin' low on some things if we didn't restock. Still, she said yes to a gatherin', even sounded right pleased with the idea."

Fluttershy shrugged uncertainly. "Okay, that sounds great! But what about Rarity? Have you asked her yet?"

Applejack clapped a hoof to her face. "Shoot! She can be a hard one to pin down at times. Ah'll get on her. You talk to Rainbow. You two have a special connection, she'll make time fer you any day."

Fluttershy scratched at one leg gently. "Are you sure? I think Rainbow Dash is a lot busier than I am. There's just so much data to sort through, and she needs to keep the sensors going..."

Applejack laughed with a toss of her head. "Come on, you can do it. Besides, bet you she'd be real happy if you sat down with her a moment. Go on! She misses you."

Fluttershy gasped in alarm. "Misses me? What makes you say that?"

Applejack pointed up as she spoke. "It's easy to see. How often do you talk to her?"

Fluttershy took a moment to really think about that. "Well there was, no, but... no." She sank. "Oh my, I really haven't talked to her in a while."

Applejack put a comforting hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder. "Eh, I figure she knows you're busy with other things, but maybe that would be a nice reminder." She clapped Fluttershy on the shoulder. "Go on and say hi. You'll both be happier fer it."

Fluttershy perked up at that as she wiped away the forming tears. "You're right! I should go say hi. Even if it's just for a moment. She'd really appreciate that." She hopped to her hooves, looking ready to spring away. "Um, if that's alright?" She looked back at Applejack with clear uncertainty.

Applejack smiled. "Of course it is. Ah told ya to do it, didn't I?"

Fluttershy swiped a wing past Applejack. "Thank you! Sorry I have to go." She took off, vanishing mid-flap.

Applejack chuckled at the space that once held Fluttershy. "Silly mare." She vanished herself to begin her hunt for Rarity.

Author's Note:

Let's visit a planet! This could be fun!

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Comments

[Cyana Flame]

[David Silver]

11940295
I am unsure how to feel about your emoji.

[Okie Brony]

Oooooooh, a pink planet! That sounds awesometastic!

Could it be... Discord?
images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/31000000/Discord-discord-my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-31069361-640-360.png

[PrincePegacornV]

11940276
I wish to say thank you for your insight.

I also have been a long-time reader of books, since way-back when I was in single digits of age. I still occasionally pick up a paperback and read, yet with my eyesight going into left field, I do that less and less these days. I began with my mom's historical novels, but truly found my place with the likes of Asimov and Clarke and Niven, et. al.
Then my focus changed once I was given an odd book by some English writer named Tolkien. Not only was I drawn into Middle Earth, but other stories in a similar vein, many of which are classic books.
Once I found this site, however, I visit this nearly everyday now. And here, I've had my own inclination to do that which I never expected to do: write stories myself. Shoot, I'm a pianist, not a wordsmith!. Here, it don't matter any. It is fan fiction, not the next Great American Novel. We do this for the love and fun of our favorite characters. And it is always a pleasure to hear from another who share much the same notions.

Again, thanks.

[Booster Spice]

Pink algae on Earth has intresting chemical exudates? And Dwarf stars are said to be extremely unstable as in lots of flares? Maybe something about lower mass means less damping of fluctuations, like jumping on the Moons lower gravity give you mroe time to rotate so far and get back down to teh surface head first?

Twilight fixed the physical maturity. Maybe next she should fix the mental and social maturity, Or would that leave pretty much the crew permanently sterile?

[BestinDworld]

11940300
I meant to ask what is the name of the ship? I’m a fan of Star Trek and I watched resurgence recently so I was thinking U.S.S. Resolute as a name

[David Silver]

11940416
A fine name.

[Amethyst Dragonfly]

Have they found the planet of pink Kaijus?