ERA 5326

The two days of travel had passed without much of any sort of inconvenience. For Zurn, he had practiced with the shotgun almost every moment he was not sleeping eating. Foche had been getting rather friendly with another Junto member of the Nosferatu's crew, while Grellick had spent much of the time meditating in his quarters, allowing himself only enough time to eat or sleep. He was more anti-social during that time than any other time in his life. A knock on his door brought him back to reality.

“Hey, Grellick! Come on out! You're not going to believe this!” Grellick threw on his trench-coat quickly, bolting out the door.

“Zurn! What's going on?!” Looking out the window brought him to a full realization. “That's J-144? We're here?” He looked down upon the Class 5 world below him. Clouds swirled, the planet rotated, and it seemed very peaceful. He could hardly believe they were in the Demilitarized Zone.

“The shuttle is prepared and fueled up. VIG-56 will take us down when Foche gets here.” A squelching sound from behind alerted them to Foche's presence. “He just fell on his face again. He's been doing that for a day now.”

“Don't mind me or the fact my people don't use artificial gravity on their vessels.” Foche collected himself, staring at J-144. “Beautiful. Reminds me of my homeworld.”

The shuttle was quite delicate. It had been designed for more rigorous insertions, but it had been retrofitted for terrestrial work. Grellick ran his hand over the tear drop hull. The single engine on the back glowed with radioactive life. The landing jets and sponsoons gleamed with polish.

“You really made this quite beautiful, eh?” Zurn looked around.

“VIG isn't here. Maybe we shouldn't-”

“Stop being such a spoilsport, Zurn. At least Foche won't be driving.” Foche's face turned a bright white with embarassment.

“That was one time, and I was intoxicated!” Foche began waving his many tentacles around in emphasis.

“Foche, the word is drunk. Shorter, and more to the point. We all know you Nuzites are eggheads, so don't use your large words. Zurn might not understand-” Grellick's remark was met by a double-handed backhand slap that sent him flying at the shuttle bay wall.

“Be quiet, Grellick. I'm smarter than the average Huzilian.” He squeezed himself into the small rear compartment of the shuttle. “Althought I'm also a lot bigger too.” Foche took the passenger's seat, while Grellick strapped himself into the pilot's seat. A voice came over the intercom inside.

“All right. It appears that you are all inside. We will be launching you in a few minutes, once we get the magnetic rails warmed up.” Grellick turned around and shrugged.

“Easy as pie to fly these things. Pull down to go forward, push up to stop. Left and right are normal, of course.”

“Good flying.” The intercom clicked off, leaving Zurn, Foche and Grellick quite concerned.

“Grellick, this isn't going to hurt, is it?” Grellick smirked.

“Well, the heat shields should hold.” The shuttle bay doors opened, rails extending as the shuttle was turned around. “Unfortunately, I don't think Zurn's stomach will.” The Huzilian squirmed, giving up when he couldn't get a clear hit on Grellick.

“When we get on the planet, you are so dead, human.” The rails began to glow a fluorescent green, dragging the shuttle forward. Grellick gritted his teeth.

“This might hurt a lot.” Without warning, the rails hit full power, rocketing the shuttle forward. All three beings inside were screaming as it shot towards the planet. “This might hurt a whole lot more than a lot!” The shuttle hit the outer atmosphere, the heat shields shining to a bright white. Foche checked the temperature dials with worry.

“The heat shield's reaching its upper limits! We need to pull up, cut some of this heat out of the equation!” Grellick strained as he pulled up on another control stick to his right.

“Come on, you stupid son of a gun! Pull up!” The shuttle groaned, its descent straightening out. “Foche, fire up the engine! Get me a shallower descent!” Foche began flipping dials. A loud rushing sound from behind, coupled with a sudden decrease in the temperature of the heat shields, told Grellick everything he needed to know.

“Grellick, Foche! If we die, I'm coming back to life, bringing you both back to life, just to kill you!” The shuttle streaked across what seemed to be a night sky. VIG-56's voice came over the intercom.

“You're off target! Off target! Course correct now, or you'll end up in an area similar to Juntao's Guni Desert!” The intercom fizzled out, exploding with a loud bang as electricity built up across various systems. Foche attempted to compensate, resulting in the inertial dampening system exploding.

On the ground, a large crowd of the native inhabitants had gathered to witness a bright comet streaking across the night sky. Some were running around screaming while others watched in awe. One dropped its hat, its blonde mane tumbling out.

“What in tarnation? Ain't no comet supposed to move like that!” True to what it stated, the 'comet' turned, streaking right over the town, causing any who were standing there in awe to scatter, running for cover anywhere, even under overturned carts.

“Gah! Come on, you! Stupid! Piece! Of! Junk!” The shuttle contacted the ground, bouncing along. The engine kicked out, shutting off as the landing jets fired. The shuttle was slowed, but was still gliding just above the ground. Yanking the main control right and left, Grellick barely avoided trees. Almost as if out of nowhere, a large hut appeared, the shuttle taking the roof right off. A small lake past the hut became the final resting place of the shuttle. Zurn was thrown from the shuttle, rocketing far from where it landed. Foche was buried upside down in mud, while Grellick was thrown backwards into the hut they had just accidentally partially demolished. Zurn was the first to recover, returning quickly to the crash site to drag the shuttle out. Foche had wiggled his way out of where he had been sticking out of the mud.

“Grellick? Where is that stupid human now?!” Grellick climbed out of the ruined hut, staring wide-eyed.

“That shuttle really is a piece of junk!” He clambered over, falling down a pile of wood. He quickly stood on his feet, looking around. He retrieved his hat from the shuttle, fixing it on top of his head as best he could a waterlogged hat. He looked at the glass panels on the shuttle. “Doesn't look like it will fly again. Let me see if my communicator works.” Unbeknownst to them, a small equine had returned to the hut that Grellick had just clambered out of. “Nosferatu, come in. Nosferatu!” Only static issued from the communicator. Grellick turned around to come face to face with an equine. It was barely half his height, with stripes like a zebra. Zurn slowly walked over and knelt down.

“So, these are the natives of this world? Grellick, if they really live in huts, we might be wasting our time here.” Foche was freaking out in the background, his tentacles waving around as he screamed.

“Mud! Mud is not good for me at all! I hate mud!” He started running around in circles screaming. Grellick rubbed his forehead, turning to his large associate.

“Zurn, could you shut him up? Please?” Zurn grabbed Foche with one hand and slapped him with three. Foche was out like a light. “Good. Now that we have some peace and quiet, we can have proper first contact.” He extended his hand to the equine, who stared at him with wide-eyed fear. It ran and hid.

“I think it's scared of us, Grellick. I mean, look at that dust trail.” Grellick turned around to see only a dust trail.

“No kidding. Whatever. We need to make a base camp. I think that hut should do fine. Zurn, set Foche down inside the hut. I'll grab the gear.”

Foche woke up to a round wall around him, with a modified tent over his head. Zurn sat beside him, eating a small bowl of rice. Grellick munched down on a nutrient bar as he checked the communicator.

“Nosferatu, come in, Nosferatu!” He shook his head again. “Still no response. The comms in the shuttle are fried, too. The electric bolts I saw in the shuttle, I've never seen anything like that.” Grellick continued to munch on the nutrient bar, staring at a small environment scanner he was able to set up.

“Grellick, the Nosferatu is probably gone from orbit. You remember what the general said, right?” Grellick silently nodded. Foche decided to pipe in.

“So, we are stuck here for now?”

“Appears so. Did you guys notice the tribal masks in here-” A loud noise from the outside broke his concentration. “Zurn, check that out, would you?” Zurn set down his empty rice bowl and stood up, staring out.

“Grellick, Foche, would you two believe me if I said there are at least two dozen equines outside, outfitted in golden armour, with floating crossbows and spears next to them?” Grellick and Foche looked at each other for a short bit, then fell over laughing. “I'm not kidding-” A crossbow bolt flew past his head, cutting part of his ponytail off. “All right. No one messes with my ponytail!” He leaped out from the hut and charged the two dozen equines, only to slam into some invisible barrier. “Foche! Grellick! They've got some sort of shield generator!” Grellick leaped out, his handgun drawn. Foche rested his rifle against the wall of the hut, taking aim.

“Whoa! Hold on, Zurn! I'm comin- what in the galaxy is that?!” A very large equine landed in front of the trio, a very stern look on its face. “Either I'm insane, or we are utterly frakkin' screwed.” Foche and Zurn nodded, their weapons aiming around.

“Stand down, guards! I will handle this!” Grellick had to stop. The equine was speaking Alliance Basic? That was impossible. “Why did you destroy Zecora's home?” Grellick carefully put his handgun away, motioning for Zurn and Foche to hide away theirs.

“First, we're not really supposed to be here. Second – I'm going to be perfectly honest – that hut came out of nowhere, giving me no time to change course.” The large equine had wings and a horn, and a coat that was bright white, now that Grellick decided to check it out.

“Well, I shall take you on your word, for now. I am Princess Celestia, one of the princesses who rules this land.” She nodded towards Grellick, who did not understand for a minute.

“What do you- oh. My name is Grellick Henderson, GeoTech Pioneer. The big, blue guy is Zurn, and the purple tentacled Nuzite is Foche. Say hi guys!” The other two waved. “To be honest, this is not the area we are supposed to be in. Actually, do we even know where we were supposed to be?”

“No clue.”

“Haven't the foggiest.” Grellick turned back to Celestia.

“We sort of need a place to stay, too. Unfortunately, we were in Zecora's hut for a short bit. One of your equines here shot at Zurn, which made him consider you a threat. Bad idea to make a Huzilian angry” Celestia stared at the motley group in interest.

“Nuzite? Huzilian? What do those words mean?” Grellick slapped his hand against his forehead.

“Right. I forgot you've never been to the stars, as far as I can tell. A Huzilian and a Nuzite, they're both aliens.” The armoured equines took several steps back, fear in their eyes. “Good aliens. We represent the interstellar group known as the Alliance of Free Species. As Pioneers, we came here to establish a colony, not to start a war.” Zurn had left to check on the shuttle, while Foche was busy packing up their makeshift camp. “We really need a place to sleep, preferably somewhere dry.” Celestia looked down for a minute, looking back up to nod.

“That would be adequate. You did not mean any harm by your actions. Guards, you can leave now. We should be fine, Captain.” Another equine stepped forward, this one clearly a male. He was white with a blue two-tone mane.

“They weren't kidding about the multi-coloured equines.”

“We're ponies, Henderson. Equines is too formal for us.” Grellick shrugged.

“Equines, ponies, same diff.” Celestia looked over to her Captain for a minute.

“Captain, would it be easy enough to build a house large enough for the tallest of these three?” The Captain shrugged.

“Given a few days, we should be able to whip up something. Having it inside a town would cause too much panic.”

“How about here in this forest? It looks nice.” The ponies appeared to visibly recoil at the mention of the forest. “At least, maybe on the edge. I don't feel like walking a far ways for food.” Zurn returned to report.

“Shuttle's completely fried, Grellick. It's not flying out of here ever.”

“That makes things more complicated. Is it okay if we come with you to wherever you came from on this planet?” Celestia nodded, her horn glowing with a mysterious force.

“What is that?” Grellick began to back up, fear beginning to creep into his being.

“A teleportation spell. Fastest way to Canterlot.” Grellick slapped his face hard for that one.

“Pony Camelot. Of course it's frakkin' Canterlot-” The light expanded and encompassed Grellick, Celestia, his friends, and the guards, leaving no one, or pony behind.

The flash returned, Grellick running to a bush to retch. Zurn stood there, slowly rocking, while Foche looked a sickly green.

“I'm sorry if it caused you any discomfort.” Grellick turned to Celestia, irritation written on his face.

“That's an understatement. I don't want to teleport ever.” Celestia seemed about to object. “Ever!” She quieted down, a smaller pony pushing past. This one was lavender, with a two-tone purple mane. From its voice, Grellick deduced it was female.

“Are these the new arrivals? Oh, one has six appendages! I wonder why it looks so angry! That one has tentacles! Aliens! This is incredible, Princess!” Grellick turned to Celestia, shaking his head.

“If I could go with you, we could work out the arrangements for a small house in the forest, if it's not too much trouble?” Celestia nodded, looking at various guards and servants around wherever they had appeared.

“Follow me.”