Chapters My ship was going down.
My ship was going down, and I didn’t know why.
Usually, getting too close to a planet would just pull you into orbit if you weren’t careful, especially if was a large planet or you were a large ship.
This was a small planet, and I was a small ship.
My engines seized up right out of the jump, which left me drifting helplessly until I could get them back online. It was my fault I’d screwed up the jump calculations, and now I was paying for it.
Except then I passed way too close to this small planet, and now I was on a collision course and without engines to stop it.
But as they say, it’s not the fall that kills you. It’s the sudden stop at the end.
I tried the controls again, but they were useless.
The ship’s outside temperature started rising as I entered the atmosphere. I was at an unfortunate angle of approach, and the ride was starting to get very bumpy. I checked my harness.
I passed over the sun line into the dark side of the planet.
There was a dull roaring sound from outside the ship. The computer told me that the atmosphere was a breathable mix, and the temperature near the ground was balmy. It was a small comfort that if I survived the impact, I wouldn’t die from oxygen deprivation.
The planet was dark, so much that I could only rely on the altimeter to tell me how far from the ground I was.
Panicked, I did whatever I could to slow the decent. I’d never landed a ship on a planet before. I pulled the flaps on the wings, engaged the landing gear, but it didn’t make a difference.
There was a loud crack as I hit something. The ship started to spin. I didn’t even have time to be nauseous before hitting the ground.
I woke up, very unwillingly, to tapping on the cockpit. My harness and helmet saved me from death, but there was blood on my visor and it felt like my collarbone was broken. The tapping continued and I looked up to the cockpit windows, but it was too dark to see anything.
I removed my helmet, and wiped the blood off my face. The computer was rebooting from the crash, so I wasn’t able to send a distress signal or get any further information about the planet besides “habitable”.
The banging got louder. It wasn’t the wind.
I undid my harness and grabbed my helmet to use against whatever was out there. I very carefully got into a crouch on the seat and moved my injured hand to the canopy release. The opening would push back whatever was on top of it, and I could get in a good swing with my helmet.
I pulled the release, and the canopy popped open. I swung wildly at the opening.
I hit nothing. Plant matter drifted into the cockpit.
I looked around for the cause of the banging.
I could make out a vague shape on the wing. It turned its head and the moonlight reflected off of its gigantic eyes.
It looked at me for a moment, before making a terrible high-pitched laughing sound. What sounded like laughter could the creature calling its pack.
I slowly stepped out of the cockpit onto the wing opposite the creature. I watched carefully to make sure I didn’t trigger it to attack. It had stopped its terrible laughing and was staring again.
I took another step away.
The whole ship shifted with my weight and I lost my balance. I dropped my helmet to grab hold of the lip of the cockpit. The creature’s claws scraped against the wing as it tried to stay on.
It was coming for me.
It wasn’t moving threateningly, more curiously. It was possible it knew I was injured and was biding its time.
I backed away further, but this time it was ready for the shift and didn’t break stride. The ship groaned distressingly.
It stopped at the edge of the cockpit and tilted its head to the side. “Hi!” It sounded like it said.
If I jumped down, I could get a rock or something and chase it away. Maybe grab one of the fallen branches.
And then what? I thought. I couldn’t even begin to find a place to hide. The ship wouldn’t be safe, not from a hungry pack. And they would certainly outrun me.
I was going to die like in one of those scary stories they tell children to prevent this exact thing from happening.
My pounding heart was making my head pound. I glanced off the side of the wing. I knew it wasn’t a far drop, but it looked endless in the darkness.
“Hi!” The creature said again. It stretched its neck over the gap to look at me closer. Blood was oozing into my eye but I couldn’t wipe it away.
“Helloooo?” I heard from the ground and quickly looked around for the sound.
The pink one had called its pack. I was rapidly running out of options. Run or fight.
“Up here!” The creature on the wing said.
It was speaking Common.
How was it speaking Common? There were animals that could mimic speech. Maybe I talked in my sleep and it heard me. Maybe I was hearing things.
“What is this? What’s going on?” The other one said. Or maybe a third. I couldn’t tell anymore.
I had to get away.
I dropped off the wing and landed very badly. My ankle gave way when I tried to stand up. I heard the creature drop from the ship and it gave me all the incentive to get up and run.
I was surrounded by trees that I could barely see. But I ran on, tripping over them and getting caught in the branches.
I could hear the creatures gaining on me.
Something grabbed my leg and I screamed. I yanked my foot hard to get free and fell into a tree, knocking myself out.
I woke up somewhere very warm and comfortable, and my first thought was that the crash had all been a dream and I was back aboard the Romulus after a very uneventful journey. I didn’t want to get up and report for duty, I wanted to stay curled up around this warm pillow.
There was also someone walking around which was strange because I lived alone. I didn’t matter as long as I could stay in this nice haze of almost-asleep.
The footsteps multiplied and then there was whispered talking and it pulled me awake.
I opened my eyes and blinked a few times at the bright sunshine coming in through the windows. There was a four-legged purple creature staring at me with gigantic eyes. It took a couple of steps back.
I was sure it was one of the creatures from last night, although it didn’t look so threatening up close and it daylight.
I nodded as best as I could. My mouth was too dry to speak.
“Where did you come from? Did you fall out of the sky? Are you a shooting star?”
I shook my head. I couldn’t answer any of its questions. It was a serious crime to interfere with developing cultures more than necessary.
My ship. The computer would be rebooted and I had to get back to send a distress signal. Tell the Romulus what’s going on.
I tried to get up but it was so much harder than I thought it would be.
“No no no no no, don’t move!” Another creature appeared, brushing past the purple creature and putting up a paw to stop me. More like a hoof. This new creature had wings like a bird folded against its sides.
“I have to get back to my ship,” I explained, before I realized I was giving away information I shouldn’t.
“What’s a ship?” The purple creature asked.
“Please, Twilight, it needs to rest. You can talk to it later.” The winged creature told the purple one.
“Oh. Right. I should get back to my research anyway.”
Twilight looked at me longingly for a moment and then left the room.
“Now, are you hungry? Do you think you could keep some soup down?” The winged one asked me.
I was hungry, but there was no guarantee the soup would even be edible to me. Not to mention that there could be any number of toxins or bacteria that were harmless to these creatures but would kill me. I couldn’t explain, so I just shook my head.
“Um, okay.” It looked up at the ceiling for something to say. “You know, none of the animals I take care of can talk back, so this is really nice. Well, now. Now that you’re awake it’s really nice.” It paused awkwardly. “Are you sure you’re not hungry?”
“I don’t think I can eat the same food as you.”
“Oh. I didn’t think of that. Are you a carnivore? Because I can, uh, ask if maybe Owl can share some of whatever he eats.” Then, it added very quietly, “Um, as long as you won’t eat it in front of me.” It backed away slightly, like maybe I would tell it I preferred to eat it.
“No, I can’t.”
“Okay. I’m still going to bring you a bowl, okay? In case you change your mind.”
It left the room and I could hear it banging around behind the wall.
I sat up carefully. I dropped the heated pillow and regretted losing the warmth on my shoulder.
I checked myself over. The cut on my head was bandaged, but I’d have to find something to make a sling for my injured arm. Everything else ached, but I would live.
I had to get back to my ship and send the distress signal. I didn’t know how far away or in what direction it was. I could’ve been out for days and be half the planet away by now. I’d still have to try.
The creature returned, expertly balancing the bowl of soup on a tray held in its mouth. It set it down on a table near me. It smelled edible and delicious, but I’d have to ignore my hunger.
“You should be lying down.” It said. “Here, I’ll fix your pillow.” It grabbed the pillow with its front hooves and fluffed it. It was impressed by the way it managed without any hands.
“I have to get to my ship.” I repeated. “Will you take me there?”
It considered this for a moment. “If there’s something you need from your, uh, ship, I’m sure I can get it for you.”
At least I knew now that it was close by. “No.” If the creature wouldn’t help, I’d have to find it on my own.
I got up to my knees and the slowly stood up. I swayed only a little. My head almost reached the ceiling of the room, which I thought was odd since the creatures barely came up to my hip.
“Please, don’t!” The creature squeaked. It reared up to stop me, using its small wings for balance.
It didn’t stop me, though. I found the door and opened it and stepped outside.
The overwhelming sight of being planetside hit me and for a moment all I could do was stare. There were plants everywhere, and it was difficult to accept that the ground continued forever. The sky was couldn’t be touched and the sun was so bright that it blocked out the stars.
I looked around for some idea of where my ship was. It was incredibly disorienting to see the distance that I did. I looked for trees and found the arboretum where I must have crashed off to the left.
I started off in that direction.
The creature followed me. “You should be resting!” It said, having no difficulty keeping up.
It jumped in front of me and blocked my path. “No. You are not well and you need to go back.” It said firmly. It would have been endearing if I wasn’t so worried about getting to my ship. I stepped around it.
It wasn’t a long walk, but it drained me. The creature was right and I should be resting, but this was far more important. It objected quietly the entire way, but didn’t try to stop me again.
My ship was right where I left it. I was so happy to see it again that I almost cried.
The tiredness I felt before was gone. I could send a distress signal.
I looked around for my helmet, which was necessary to interface with the ship’s computer. I remembered dropping it, but I didn’t remember where.
The creature found it first and peered curiously into it.
It still had my blood covering the visor, but I got most of it off with my sleeve.
I slipped my helmet on and the display came up immediately.
There was a yelp from the cockpit and then a purple head appeared. The purple creature was in my ship. It looked at me embarrassed.
“Get out of my ship!”
Twilight climbed out of the cockpit. “I’m sorry. I know I should’ve asked for permission. I just…” It trailed off.
“Out!” It jumped off the wing and stepped away from the ship.
I climbed up into the cockpit to see what it had messed up. There were several dirty hoofprints on the seat, but otherwise nothing was out of place. The computer synching up with the helmet must’ve been what startled it.
It was still waiting by the ship with the winged creature. I ignored it and brought up the computer.
It was difficult to operate with just one hand, but the AI quickly compensated. I had rough coordinates for where I was. With a sinking feeling, I confirmed I was in a forbidden zone, a place where undeveloped systems were protected from outside influence. Being on an undeveloped planet was bad enough, being on a forbidden planet meant that I could face prison time. If only I hadn’t messed up the coordinates.
I sent the distress signal to the nearest relay station. I had no hope of fixing the ship myself and pretending like this never happened. I’d have to wait for a ship to come rescue me and possibly cause more trauma to the locals on the planet. I was going to lose my rank and position over this.
The message would take a few hours to reach the relay station and come back with a reply. There was nothing, by necessity, in the forbidden zones, so my long-range communications were useless. I’d have to communicate by relay or short-range when a ship got close.
I sent another message via relay to the Romulus, explaining the situation.
I took out the first aid kit and opened a pain pack. I slid it under my shirt to where it felt like my collarbone was broken. The relief was almost instantaneous. I’d still have to put my arm in a sling so I didn’t damage it further, but every move would no longer be in agony. I put a couple of more packs in my pocket for later.
I pulled out an energy bar from storage and unwrapped it. It was supposed to taste like a gourmet meal, but they all tasted bland to me. It didn’t matter. I was hungry enough that I ate the whole thing in a few bites.
I ran a systems check on the ship. I knew the engines were gone, but if the hull was still intact, I could be towed instead of having to have a landing party bring my ship back up. It was much faster and had less impact.
I was also worried about all of the scanning equipment lodged in the gunner’s seat. It was sensitive and expensive, and would be near impossible to replace.
It would be just my luck that the hull was breached and my equipment was junk.
I was so happy to find out I was wrong.
I grabbed a second set of clothes and more energy bars. With the delay between messages and the distance to any ships, I’d still have to spend a few more days on the planet and I didn’t want to do it in the cockpit.
There was nothing sling-like to wrap my arm in, so I used another jacket. It looked ridiculous, but it worked.
I climbed out of the ship to find the winged creature sitting angrily on the ground.
“You were very mean to Twilight and you should apologize. She is very upset.”
“She should not have been in my ship.” If I had to be mean to these creatures to protect them, then I would be.
The creature was right. I should not have yelled at her, especially when I was going to have to spend a few days here anyway. She was just curious, like a child.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s Twilight you should apologize to.” She got up and came to stand beside me. “Now, you’ve seen your ship. It’s time for you to rest.”
It was difficult to argue.
The walk back was harder than the walk up and I had to sit down about halfway. The creature was all over me then, mumbling to itself about how it never should have let me come.
The creature took my pack from me and looped it over its head. It spread its wings to balance it on its back. I tried to take it back because it was obviously heavy for the small creature, but it wouldn’t let me.
“I have it. You shouldn’t carry heavy things.”
We walked the rest of the way, with the creature walking slow and unsteady.
It dropped my pack right inside the door and nudged me back towards the bed it had made on the floor for me.
The purple creature, Twilight stuck her head out of a side door tentatively. She saw me and pulled her head back instantly.
“I’m so sorry. I won’t touch it again.”
“I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I’m sorry for that.”
The winged creature looked very satisfied.
Twilight came over and leaned her head against my leg. I wasn’t sure why she did, but I patted her head gingerly like I would a pet.
The winged creature came over and picked up the heated pillow with her mouth. “I’ll go refill this for you.” She said through gritted teeth. She went into the other room and I heard the sound of water running.
Twilight watched her leave.
“So, your ship, does it take you places?”
“I can’t-”
“I know, but it’s a ship, right? That’s what ships do.” It was obvious that she had already figured something out. “But ships sail on water, and you weren’t near a lake when we found you. And then there were all the trees and burned grass.”
The water shut off. Twilight glanced back. “You fell from the sky.” She said quickly and stepped away from me as the other creature came back.
She dropped the pillow in my lap. “All warm,” she said.
“I’ll, uh, come back later.” Twilight said. She eyed my helmet hungrily and then left.
The winged creature hummed as it adjusted the bed. It was glad to have me back safe in its care.
I lay down on the bed, cuddling the warm pillow to my chest. I was asleep almost instantly.
I woke up groggy and disoriented. It was dark out. The winged creature was asleep on a sofa, with its back leg hanging off the edge and an opened wing draped over it.
I checked my helmet to see if any messages came back from the relay station, but it said it was out of range. I’d have to get closer to the ship to check.
I sat up and replaced the pack on my collarbone. It was throbbing again and the warm pillow had gone cold a while ago.
The creature rolled over on the couch, still asleep.
I picked up my helmet and shut the door. It was silent this time.
It was still very dark out, and I didn’t have a light. I remembered the direction my ship was in, though, and I also recalled that the path there was pretty clear.
It was peacefully quiet out here. There was always background noise on ships, no matter where you were. It was strange. I always thought that the molten cores of planets would make noise, similar to the engine noise on ships.
I checked my helmet every once in a while to see if it had reestablished a connection. I got more and more worried as I went on that I didn’t know where I was going. The dark was making it impossible to see any landmarks that I remembered from the path before.
And then I saw it, the hole in the trees and the scorched path where my ship crashed.
But my ship was gone.
It was gone.
I dropped my helmet and ran to the empty space to look for clues. Did a passing ship see it and take it without looking for me? No. No. They would have scanned the area for me. Even if they thought I was already dead.
There were tracks everywhere, but Twilight and the other creatures had been stomping all over the area.
What if the creatures took it?
It was ridiculous that the creatures could have taken it, but they were the only ones who knew about the crash.
I shook it awake and it blinked at me sleepily. “What’s going on?”
“My ship is gone.”
“What? Gone where?” It rubbed its eyes with a hoof. It was not grasping the severity of the situation.
“Where’s Twilight?”
“She’s at the library but it’s really late. You can talk to her in the morning.”
“No, take me to her now.”
“If you-”
“Now!”
It made a squeaking sound and nodded.
We left in the opposite direction of the crash site. The creature had no trouble navigating in the darkness, which was helpful because I couldn’t see very well at all.
The path changed from dirt into flat rocks, and I could make out the shape of darkened rooms on either side of the path. The creature was leading us towards a large tree that had rooms set in the branches.
“I’m sure Twilight knows nothing about this,” the creature said quietly.
I knocked hard on the door in the tree. There was no answer and I tried the knob. It was unlocked.
“You shouldn’t go in-” the creature mumbled, but it was too late for objections.
I was surprised that this room was much bigger than the other creature’s. There were stacks of boxes everywhere and boxes lined up on shelves in the walls.
Twilight was not here. There were stairs, but they looked small and I was unsure if they would support my weight.
“Twilight!” I called out. There was no reply, so I called her again, louder.
She appeared at the top of the stairs.
“What? What is this?”
“My ship is gone.”
“What? How?” She said, surprised. I couldn’t tell if she was faking it.
“Who else knew about it?” I demanded of her.
“I don’t know why-”
“Who else?!”
“No one! Just me and Fluttershy”-she nodded to the winged pony cowering by the door-“and Pinkie and Princess Celestia. And none of them could have taken it.”
There were way too many names on that list. “Who are Pinkie and Celestia?”
“Pinkie was the other pony there when we found you. And Princess Celestia is my teacher.”
“Why would you tell her? Where is she?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I tell her everything. She’s all the way in Canterlot. She wouldn’t take your ship. No one could have. It was way too big.” Her voice was shaking and I could see she really didn’t know what happened.
This was getting me nowhere. I left the room.
I sat on the steps outside of the door and put my head in my hand. I felt a headache coming on.
There was very expensive, very classified scanning equipment in my ship. The scientists at McLaughlin Mining spent years developing that equipment, and now it was lost. Or worse, some passing ship did take it and knew what it was. I was going to go to prison over this.
It wasn’t just the scanning equipment, either. The idea of the creatures taking apart my ship and trying to figure out how to make it work was horrifying. Advanced technology could change even these small, simple creatures.
There was once a race called the Ohs. An alien ship crashed on their planet, killing the pilot. It took them nearly a century, but they fixed the ship and mimicked the technology. Their entire population took to the stars, searching for other intelligent life.
The once peaceful Ohs were psychics and built their entire civilization on the sharing of knowledge. When other races refused to share their knowledge with the Ohs terms, they took it by force.
Two hundred years from the original crash, they became a big enough threat for the Alliance to declare that there would never be peace, and that the Ohs should be wiped out for the good of us all.
Two hundred and twenty five years from the original crash, and the Ohs were gone.
If I hadn’t screwed up those jump coordinates, none of this would have happened.
I got up and started walking back to the crash site. It was still too dark to look for clues, but I had nowhere else to go.
It was a difficult walk just to the end of the rocky path. I was tired, physically, and mentally I was just tired of being tired and in pain. But getting my ship back was far more important than how I felt.
I took a few moments to breathe before going down the dirt path that would take me to the crash site.
“Wait! Wait!” I heard Twilight call out from behind me as she ran to catch up to me. She walked beside me but stayed much further away than she would have before. She was scared of me.
“I don’t…I don’t know who took your ship,” she panted. “But I’ll help you find it.”
“How are you going to do that?”
“There has to be some evidence left behind. Like tracks. Or hoofprints. And we’ll ask the other ponies in the morning if they saw anything.”
“No! You can’t tell anyone else about the ship. Or about me.”
“If they saw what took your ship then I’m not really telling them anything they don’t already know.”
“No!” She flinched at my anger. I was tired of explaining that she couldn’t let anyone know about me.
She stopped walking. “I’m just trying to help! You’re the first outsider I’ve ever seen and you’re probably the most important thing to ever happen to Equestria. But you won’t tell me anything and you won’t tell me why and all you do is yell at us and demand things and you can find your own stupid ship by yourself!” She turned and ran, leaving me all alone on the path.
I felt a little bad about it, but I knew that in the long run, it was better this way.
I continued down the path to the crash site, stumbling over the uneven dirt that Twilight was no longer leading me around.
I walked around the site again. Close to the ship it was dirt and tracks showed up, but further out it was plants and I couldn’t find them. My second time around was just as useless. I kicked a rock in frustration and watched as it bounced into the night.
I sat down in the dirt and put my head down on my knees. I couldn’t stop the tears even if I wanted to.
I was so angry at myself and whoever took my ship. If I had just stayed with my ship. If I had just gotten the coordinates right. If I just hadn’t put off the assignment to spend another night on Bethlehem Station. If I had just passed my flight training and become a military pilot like my grandfather.
When I picked my head up to wipe my dry, sticky eyes, I saw the sky getting lighter over the path that led from the crash site. I thought for a moment that my eyes were just getting used to the dark before I realized that I was on a planet.
It was the sun rising.
I’d always heard stories of sunrises. I’ve heard stories of battle-hardened soldiers weeping and of the blind seeing for the first time. Some people say that you can make a wish on a sunrise and it will come true.
I didn’t really believe the stories, but it was hard not thinking about them as the first few rays of sunlight came over the hill. The black sky turned grey. The sun came shortly after, deep red and orange, touching the plants and trees with an eerie light. I could feel the rush of warmth on my face.
The sky turned purple, then blue as the sun rose higher and higher. The world came alive as animals screeched and chirped in the trees.
And then it was over. Quietly, like the sun was embarrassed of the majesty it had just unfolded.
I’d spent the night crying and angry, but I was done now. The sun rose, bringing with it the possibility of finding my ship and leaving this planet.
I got up and brushed the dirt from my flightsuit. I walked around the crash site once again, but even with the sun up I couldn’t tell what was evidence and what was a feature of the crash. There were deep grooves where my ship imbedded itself in the dirt. Were they longer than they were before, suggesting some moving equipment? I could pick out the defined prints of my boots in the dirt and the soft prints of the creatures. Were there more than there should have been?
I just couldn’t tell.
“Heeey!” I heard shouted from the top of the hill. I turned to find a pink creature running down the hill towards me.
“Didn’t’cha hear the horns? C’mon!” It stopped in front of me, shifting its feet and bobbing insistently.
I had no idea what it was trying to say. I wasn’t sure, either, if I wanted to deal with anymore creatures after last night.
“What?”
“The horns .” It emphasized, like I should know what they were. “Princess Celestia is here!”
“Twilight got a letter last night that Princess Celestia was coming first thing in the morning and she was soooo excited to meet you! And now she’s here.”
“No, I’m not going to meet her and Twilight should not have told anyone about me. Where is she?” Why was Twilight sending this other creature as a messenger?
“She’s doing princess stuff, y’know, with the Princess. But she asked me to bring you and she says that she’s not mad about last night. Although she’s still mad about last night. But she told me not to tell you that. Oh.”
“No. I’m not meeting anyone.” The pink creature was talking so fast that I couldn’t catch everything.
“But it’s the Princess. The Princess .”
And it hit me. Twilight didn’t just tell a couple of her friends about me, she’d told one of her leaders. A thousand sunrises wouldn’t fix the absolute panic I felt. It was too late.
No, no. I could still salvage this.
My ship was gone, so aside from the crash site and me, there was no evidence that I was here. The crash site could be explained away. Maybe a meteor or a volcano or whatever disaster planets had. I’d have to find somewhere to hide. They wouldn’t find me and Twilight and Fluttershy would just be dismissed as crazy.
But there was still the pink creature bouncing in front of me.
I briefly considered striking it with my helmet. Maybe knock it out or worse. It would give me enough time to run before anyone knew where I was going. I’d have to run into the trees, and then find somewhere to hide until I could locate my ship or a rescue ship came for me. It was not a good plan.
“You’re not moving.” The pink creature observed. Its ears swiveled backwards. “Oh, but that’s okay! The Princess came to meet you!”
In a moment, I could hear the sound of creatures coming up the path.
And then there was no choice.
The creature turned towards the noise and I swung with my helmet. I felt it connect and the creature went down. I took off towards the trees. With enough head start and the creature out long enough to not know where I went, I might just avoid this disaster.
“Mr. Johnson?! Where are you going?”
I stopped and turned towards the sound before I could even process the oddness.
There was a gigantic white creature standing on the hill, covered in golden jewelry. It started coming towards me, but all I could do was stare.
Twilight appeared behind what could only be Princess Celestia and rushed towards the pink creature. “Pinkie? What happened?” She said as she poked the pink creature with her hoof.
Princess Celestia turned her head curiously towards Pinkie, then back to me. I backed up into a tree.
“Mr. Johnson, why didn’t you—you’re not Mr. Johnson.” The creature said, confused, when it got closer. “Who are you?”
Recognition. That’s what was so odd. This was a primitive planet in the forbidden zone. I should’ve been the first human this creature had ever seen. But this was not its first contact.
How was that even possible? There would have been records somewhere if humans had been here. Ship trajectories are tracked, communications triangulated. You can’t just contact an uncontacted planet and have no one know about it.
The creature was right in front of me now. It towered over me, leaning down its head to keep eye contact. There was a long spike protruding from its head that hovered dangerously close to my face.
“Do you work with Mr. Johnson? Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”
“I’m…not supposed to be here.”
“What do you mean?” The creature backed off a little, tilting its head, confused. “Are you running from something? Is it the war?”
“No. What war?”
“Mr. Johnson said that you humans were at war. He said when the war was over, humans would start coming again.”
We were always at war. Humans were so spread out that there were constant planetary disputes, uprisings, religious wars. But this planet was so far out of colonized space that it was absurd that this creature would even know about a human war, much less be involved with it.
“I don’t know what war you’re talking about. Humans don’t come here because it’s a forbidden zone.”
“What?! No, no. Twilight said you were injured and clearly you should be resting. We’ll go back to the castle and talk about this when you’re feeling better.”
I was a little irritated at the brush off, especially since I knew there was something else going on.
“Why did you-” I started, but was interrupted.
“No! I mean, we’ll talk about this later. It’s just a terrible mistake. Twilight!” She shouted back to her. “If you would please, go tell my escort to bring the carriage here and we’ll head straight back to Canterlot.”
Twilight bowed deeply. “Yes, Princess, but, um, what about Pinkie? I think she’s hurt and I can’t just leave-”
“I’m sure she will be fine, now go.”
“Yes, Princess.” Twilight bowed low again. She moved Pinkie’s head from where it was resting against her leg and set it gently into the grass. She ran back up the path.
“Don’t worry, we will get this all settled.” The Princess told me, lowering its spike to my eye level. I wasn’t sure, but it almost felt like a threat.
I had the feeling that I should have kept running.
“So, tell me, what happened after the crash? I was so busy I didn’t get Twilight’s letter until late last night.”
“Twilight and, I guess it was Pinkie, found—how did you know I crashed?”
“Princess Luna had your ship moved to our stable. I don’t know how she managed it, with the technology as old as it was.”
“My ship? You took my ship? Where is it?” I caught myself looking around frantically, even though it was obviously not here.
“It’s in our stable, in Canterlot. It’s not a model that I’ve seen before, so the repairs might be more difficult. But, oh, here’s the carriage. We’ll talk about this when we get to the castle.”
The carriage rumbled into sight over the hill. It was pulled by a team of creatures. Twilight came running up behind them.
“Let’s go,” the Princess said. She turned and walked gracefully to the carriage. She just assumed I would follow her, and she was right. She had my ship. This whole nightmare would be over if I could just get to it and know when the rescue ship would arrive.
As I passed by, Pinkie stood up uncertainly and said “Wait.”
“I’m really sorry I hit you.” I apologized.
She looked at me for a moment before kicking me hard in the shin. She turned away and walked unsteadily to Twilight. I definitely deserved that.
The carriage was open on the top, which made me a little agoraphobic. The Princess was already in the carriage and there was little room left for me. I was surprised, however, to find there was a built in bench in the back of the carriage, which the Princess would be unable to use.
“Back to the castle,” she ordered the creatures pulling the carriage. The circled the carriage back onto the path, and we headed off for the castle, and my ship.
The path to the castle was long, so long that I was having trouble keeping my eyes open. Princess Celestia said little the whole way, she just kept looking back at me. Maybe she was worried I would fall out of the carriage.
I could see the castle on a hillside long before we arrived. The air got colder as we climbed the winding path up the hills.
No one greeted us at the castle entrance. Princess Celestia stepped out of the carriage and I followed.
“It’s been unnecessary to keep the staff as full as it once was,” Princess Celestia explained. “Of course, with more visitors coming, I’ll personally see to filling out our ranks.”
I wasn’t sure what she meant, but there were more pressing matters. “Where is my ship?”
“Are you sure you don’t want to rest, maybe have something to eat? The chef here isn’t Blueberry, but he’s quite good.”
“No, I just want to see my ship.” I insisted.
“Yes, of course.” I followed her through the halls of the castle, which were richly decorated with wall hangings and abstract art. There were stained-glass windows, done in the old handmade style.
She paused by a non-descript door to use a keypad—it was so out of place that I couldn’t comprehend it for a minute. I had seen no indications that the creatures possessed any electronic or computer technology at all, and here this creature was using a keypad—with a hoof, no less.
“Are you alright?” She asked. The door was already unlocked, and she was holding it open, waiting.
I descended the narrow stairwell behind the door, following the Princess. It was the standard grey paneling of access tubes that were everywhere on ships. The stairwell was obviously not meant for a creature of Celestia’s height. She had her head low and stepped carefully down the stairs.
We came to another door with another keypad. She pressed the combination and the door slid open. She ducked through the doorway and I followed.
It was a spaceport. It looked almost like every other spaceport I’d ever been in, but completely empty. Except for a ship whose model I’d never seen before, and my own ship.
Aside from the earlier damage it looked unharmed. It even had some of the leaves and dirt still stuck to it. I ran to it, pressing my cheek to the hull. I was so happy I didn’t care how stupid I looked hugging a ship.
I pulled on my helmet and climbed into the cockpit. There was a message.
There was a message!
There was a rescue ship coming for me. It was an Alliance troop transport that would take me back to the Hartwell spaceport. It would arrive in 50 standard hours. Counting from when the message arrived, it was more like 20 standard hours. I was lucky it was so close to where I’d made my initial jump. I was also incredibly lucky that it was even interested in picking me up.
I sent a reply message. Now all I had to do was wait for them to come. I took my helmet off and sighed in relief.
“We don’t have a mechanic at the moment, so I’m afraid that there’s not much we can do for your ship.” Princess Celestia stood just below the height of the wing and could look almost directly into the cockpit. It was a little unsettling.
“There’s a ship coming for me.” I was uncomfortable telling her this, even though it was clear I wasn’t going to contaminate her.
“Oh, excellent. Is Mr. Johnson going to be on the ship?”
“No. I don’t know a Mr. Johnson.”
She tilted her head, considering. “I suppose it has been a long time.” She sounded very uncertain.
The humans that were here before probably abandoned the planet if they didn’t find any resources worth exploiting, if they even spent the time to do the surveys.
I climbed out of the cockpit, watching Celestia watch me.
“But the time doesn’t matter, right?”
“NOOO!”
I turned towards the scream and saw a creature like a dark, smaller Celestia standing at the door to the port.
It charged at me so fast I couldn’t get away. I backed up against the ship. It was in my face, with her long, sharp spike hovering between my eyes. It bared its teeth. I was going to be impaled.
“No! NO!” It screamed at me.
“Luna, don’t--”
“No!” It whipped its head towards Celestia so fast that the spike nicked my forehead. “It doesn’t belong here! They abandoned us! They left us here all alone! We should just kill this one before anypony else sees it.”
“Luna, I know you’re upset, but it’s all going to be alright now. The humans are coming back, and we have to be there for them.”
“We don’t need them! We’re so much better off than we ever were before. I will not go back to groveling at their feet like a stupid pet!” It turned back to me, brandishing the spike again. “Are you going to enslave us again, human? Are you going to make us worship the ground you walk on, only to leave us again when we become too much of a financial burden?”
“I don’t…” I swallowed and tried to sound as convincing as I could, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t want to enslave you.”
“Luna, please. We weren’t slaves, you know we weren’t. You know that the love you had for Ms. Patel was--”
“No! Don’t you ever bring up that name!” Luna lunged at Celestia with its spike, but Celestia countered with her own.
I looked for a way to escape or hide. I could get in my ship and close the canopy, but if the creatures could operate a keypad they could definitely pop the latch. I could make a run for the door, but Luna could definitely outrun me. The only plan I had was to slowly inch away and hope that Luna was too occupied to notice me.
“Open your eyes, Celestia! We’ve lived far too long in the shadow of the humans. It’s better if…” it sniffled and I could see tears forming in its eyes. “…If we just forget about them. If we kill this one and pretend like it was never here. They’re only going to disappoint us again.” It sniffled again and the tears started. “We waited so long, Celestia.” It dropped its head, shaking with tears. Celestia put her head against Luna’s.
“It’s alright. It’s alright. It won’t be like last time.”
It stepped away from Celestia. “It better not be.” It turned towards me, lowering its head threateningly. “Will it?”
“No.” I said, but I honestly had no idea. Indentured races still existed, but you didn’t fill an entire planet with indentured creatures. You engineered them on-site in only the amount you needed. And you never, ever culled them from existing species. That was just wrong.
Luna left the port slowly, keeping an eye on me until passing through the door back into the castle.
“I’m so sorry about that.” Celestia apologized. “It’s just been such a long time, and she spent a long time looking for you after you left.”
“How long?”
She thought for a moment. “Oh, it’s probably been close to a thousand years.”
“A thousand years?!” The number was staggering. It had to be a mistake. She had to be using a different measurement.
“It wasn’t all at once, though. She’d leave for 50 or 60 years at a time.”
“A thousand Tiffer-Standard years?” I asked again. She had to be confused.
“A thousand Earth years. I don’t know of ‘Tiffer-Standard’.”
Likewise, I’d never heard of an Earth year, or knew how long it would be. It was still impossible. Nothing lived for a thousand years.
“You waited for a thousand years?”
“Of course. Mr. Johnson said that humans would return after the war, and that we should wait and maintain until you returned.”
“What war?”
“Surely you know?” She said it like I was playing dumb. When I shook my head, she elaborated. “With the Esses. They attacked Vox when they wouldn’t convert to their religion. The last I heard was that the humans had lost Vox and were mounting an invasion force to recapture it.”
I had never heard of this war, or the planet Vox. It was difficult to accept that she might be telling the truth and had really live a thousand years.
“But that’s all over with, right? You’ve won the war?”
“I don’t know what happened. I’ve never heard of this.”
She was shocked. “No, you have to know. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? Because the war is over, and humans are coming back.”
“No, I told you that I’m not supposed to be here. My ship crashed by accident and I didn’t even know that humans had ever been on this planet. I’m sorry.”
“No. No. You must be confused. The war is over, so you came here to re-open us. You must’ve just forgotten.” She was sounding a little hysterical now and I considered just going along with her story before she took Luna’s advice.
“The war…it probably happened before I was born. And I was never really good with history.”
“Yes. That must be it. And, oh, I’ve forgotten how tired you must be. Let me show you to your room. We can talk all about the re-opening once you’ve had some time to rest.”
“Uh, right.” It was worth it to just play along with her. In twenty hours I would be gone.
She led me back up the stairs, looking back at me a few times despite the cramped space.
There was a curious creature covered in metal plates waiting in the hallway. It made a strangles screaming sound before taking off in the other direction.
“They will all get used to humans soon enough.” Celestia reassured me as she led me through the castle hallways.
We stopped in front of a door. “Please, make yourself at home. I’ll put someone outside your door if you need anything.”
“Thanks.”
She waited for me to go in, like she was worried I would bolt as soon as she turned away. I went in and shut the door behind me. I waited for the sound of her footsteps to go away.
The room was lavishly decorated, like a high-end hotel or spa. There wasn’t a bed or even a pillow bed like at Fluttershy’s, but there was a couch. I settled down on it, tucking a pillow under my head.
In twenty hours I would be rescued.
