As they zipped through space, dodging comets and weaving around asteroids, the ship rattled and shook with every near-miss and impact. Twilight clutched his seat, his fur standing on end. Every time an asteroid scraped the hull, he let out a high-pitched yelp, sounding less like a seasoned space traveler and more like a terrified puppy.
“'Best pilot' my furry ass! I shoulda paid a veteran pilot to get us outta here!” Twilight barked, gripping the armrest as another asteroid grazed the ship.
Levi shot him a look, his teeth gritted in concentration. “I am the greatest pilot! These rocks are just in the way!”
Luna rolled her eyes as she braced herself against the shaking ship. “This is what happens when you rely on someone who’s more bark than bite.”
Levi growled in response, jerking the controls to narrowly dodge a massive asteroid that loomed ahead. “If you think you can do better, why don’t you fly?”
Twilight yelped as the ship tilted again, causing him to slide out of his seat and onto the floor. "Me? Fly? Are you crazy? I can barely drive a hovercraft, let alone a spaceship!"
Glitch, still glitching with excitement, leaned over Levi’s shoulder. “W-w-well, if we don’t do something quick, we might all end up as space pancakes! Let me t-t-try hacking into the asteroids, maybe slow them down!”
Levi shot her a baffled look. “You can’t hack asteroids! They’re rocks!”
Luna laughed, her eyes sparkling with amusement as the ship dodged yet another asteroid. “Glitch, you’ve really gotta learn the difference between machines and… well, everything else.”
Twilight scrambled back into his seat, panting. “Can we please focus? I’d rather not get crushed by a floating boulder, thank you very much!”
Levi rolled his eyes, expertly maneuvering the ship through the asteroid field. “Everyone calm down. I’ve got this under control.”
Suddenly, a massive chunk of space debris came out of nowhere, too large and too fast for Levi to avoid. Alarms blared as the ship took a direct hit, causing it to spin out of control.
“Under control, huh?” Luna quipped, holding onto the dashboard as the ship spiraled.
Levi gritted his teeth, his paws flying across the controls as he desperately tried to stabilize the ship. “Shut up and hold on!”
The ship whirled through space, tumbling end over end before Levi finally managed to regain control, leveling it out. Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Twilight, still clutching his seat for dear life, groaned. “I think I’m gonna be sick...”
"Throw up on my ship and I'm tossing you into storage," Levi growled.
Glitch, who seemed entirely unbothered by the chaos, giggled. “That was f-f-fun! Can we do it again?”
Luna shook her head, leaning back in her seat with a smirk. “You’re all nuts.”
Levi, still fuming, glanced at Twilight. “Maybe next time, you’ll think twice about questioning my piloting skills.”
Twilight shot him a glare, his fur still frazzled. “Next time? If there’s a next time, I’m hiring a real pilot!”
"I am a real pilot!" Levi barked. He then started digging through his pockets and pulled out a card. "See? I have my own pilot's license to prove it!"
"Are you sure that's real? Because you barely look an age over eighteen," said Twilight.
Levi scoffed. "Yeah? Well you barely look an age over ten."
"Well I'm not ten!" Twilight barked.
Luna snickered at the exchange, clearly entertained by the two of them bickering. “You two sound like a couple of pups fighting over a chew toy.”
Levi held up his pilot’s license, waving it in Twilight’s face. “This license is as real as it gets, okay? I earned this with my skills, and age has nothing to do with it.”
Twilight crossed his arms, still skeptical. “Skills, huh? If that near-death experience was ‘skills,’ I’d hate to see you on a bad day.”
Glitch leaned in, squinting at the card. “D-doesn’t that license expire… like, tomorrow?”
Levi’s eyes widened slightly as he glanced down at the card. Sure enough, the expiration date was dangerously close. “That’s… beside the point.”
Twilight smirked, tail wagging slowly with satisfaction. “Uh-huh. Sure, Captain. I guess we’ll see if you’re still a ‘real pilot’ when that card’s worth less than a speck of space dust.”
Levi grumbled under his breath, pocketing the card again. “Whatever. You guys don’t appreciate genius when you see it.
Luna laughed, stretching her arms. “Well, genius or not, I’d prefer to avoid another asteroid field anytime soon.”
Twilight snorted. “Or another ‘expert pilot’ demonstration.”
"Well, s-seeing as as as we're all going to be with each other for a long time, we sh-sh-should get to know each other!" Glitch suggested. "I-I-I'lll start! My name is Glitch! And this is my best my bestest friend, Luna!"
"Name's Twilight," said Twilight. "I have a shadow—"
"We all have a shadow," Levi interrupted.
"Yes. But he's, well...how do I put this? Um...he's alive," Twilight tried to explain.
Glitch clapped her paws and jumped excitedly. “That's so cool!”
The crew then stared at Levi, awaiting his introduction. Levi sighed and grumbled, with his ears flat against his head.
"What's y-your name, pilot?" Glitch asked curiously.
“I’m Levi,” he muttered, clearly not thrilled about sharing personal details. “And that’s all you need to know.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “That’s it? No grand story of how you became the ‘greatest pilot in the galaxy’?”
Levi shot him a glare. “Nope. I don’t do story time.”
Luna chuckled, her eyes gleaming with amusement. “Come on, Levi. You gotta give us something. We’re all stuck in this ship together, and we just survived an asteroid field. A little bonding won’t kill you.”
Levi huffed but remained silent, staring out at the vast expanse of space ahead. It was clear he wasn’t interested in sharing anything more.
Glitch, still chipper, broke the silence. “Ooooh, so Twilight has a living shadow! That’s cool! C-c-can we meet him?”
Twilight hesitated, his ears twitching nervously. “Uh... maybe later. He’s, uh, not the most social shadow.”
Luna raised an eyebrow. “A living shadow that’s antisocial? Now I’ve heard everything.”
Twilight fidgeted. “It’s complicated.”
Levi, still focused on piloting, rolled his eyes. “Everything’s complicated with you.”
Glitch giggled, clearly enjoying the banter. “I l-l-love complicated! Keeps things interesting.”
Twilight slumped in his seat, feeling outnumbered. “Yeah, well, I’m not here to be interesting. I’m here to not die in space, thanks to Captain Ego over there.”
Levi's ear twitched at the comment, but he stayed quiet, keeping his eyes locked on the controls.
"Where are we going?" Luna asked.
Levi kept his eyes on the stars ahead, not bothering to look at Luna. "Somewhere far away from that wannabe emperor. I don’t care where, as long as it’s far.”
Twilight shifted nervously. “You don’t have a plan? You’re just... winging it?”
Luna sighed, crossing her arms. “Typical. We escape one disaster just to fly blindly into another.”
“Relax,” Levi muttered. “I know what I’m doing.”
“You always know what you’re doing, right up until we’re about to crash into something,” Twilight grumbled.
Levi shot him a sharp glance. “Keep complaining, and I’ll drop you off at the nearest rock.”
Glitch giggled. “I-I think we’re all going to get along just f-f-fine!”
Luna shook her head with a smirk. “Yeah, this is gonna be fun. A ship full of teenage misfits with no plan. What could possibly go wrong?”
Twilight slumped in his seat again, eyes wide. “Everything. Literally everything.”
Levi ignored them all, navigating the ship with steady paws, his mind clearly elsewhere.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
