A Short Tale

Chapter 1: One Late Night

Twilight Sparkle knew she was up late. She was completely taken up with her studies of a fail-safe spell just in the case that Equestria was somehow attacked in a massive way by a massive power. She was getting rather tired with all of her studies, so she wanted to try to get some sleep. She really wanted to complete just this one last thing. Her windows blew open though, preventing her from doing so. When she went over to close them, she noticed something peculiar in the night sky. A star was slowly falling. Now a shooting star, while uncommon, usually fell very swiftly unlike this star. She used her innate unicorn magic to bring her telescope over to the window to observe the star.

What she observed, however, was not actually a star. It was more like a meteor. It was heading directly for Equestria. She gasped, and called for Spike, her assistant, to deliver a message to Princess Celestia about it. Spike, not fully awake, didn't see this as much of a big deal which it obviously was. Equestria was threatened by this meteor! Twilight peered back to the meteor. She started seeing more details on it. It was actually metallic, and was spinning slowly. When she zoomed out a bit, she saw that it was actually heading straight towards Ponyville. Her assistant then saw what worried her so much, and shook from his daze. He started panicking, drawing Twilight's attention for a moment.

Then the metal object started shifting off to the side, as if intentionally avoiding Ponyville for some reason. She wondered if Princess Celestia had actually been able to move it, but then remembered that she was probably asleep at the moment. Maybe it was some other magic, then. The fiery object then started speeding up in its different course towards the Everfree Forest. Then, it disappeared into the forest. Following this disappearance was a great noise. A huge crash was heard throughout Ponyville, awakening many residents. Spike then belched up a letter from the princess. It was giving her directions to gather the other Elements of Harmony and investigate the strange object that crashed in the Everfree Forest.

"So, the enemy is in that direction, right?" Travian asked the human, confused. He was pointing off to the side, which in space could probably be nowhere and everywhere.

"You got it. Now hurry up, you aren't getting paid until you destroy them." Travian shrugged. Usually, he could actually see his opponent. They must have had some sort of cloaking mechanism. Then again, those were very rare. Especially for humans, which he was told was his enemy. He usually didn't help humans kill other humans, but he had been in the company of this group for quite some time and needed his pay. After all, money is everything, supposedly.

The door to his boarding pod opened. He walked inside, the door then closing behind him rather swiftly. It almost nipped the back of him. He adjusted himself properly and took a moment to make sure his helmet was working properly. Everything had checked out as fine or at least functional, and he was prepared for whatever could happen. Most likely everything, at least. He then turned on his radio.

"I am ready. Send me." He shook a little as the pod disconnected from the main ship. He walked over to a seat and took it. There were plenty of them, and he had a small difficulty in wondering which to take. He could sit in the front seat or in the back seat, but that would be utterly destroyed as a theory of space. After buckling himself in, he waited for further instructions or complete silence. Although this would be an easy mission, he couldn't help but be on his guard. Years upon years of danger can do that to a rogue gone mercenary. It was fun when he was a bandit... He could terrorize the innocent and the guilty alike! Now he had to be bias and all that garbage.

His radio then clicked in. It was the commander of the fleet that hired him. "You know, you are rather expensive. You are also a great asset to whoever you help." Travian nodded, not needing to speak. He was pretty awesome. "And an asset that could be used by an enemy against us." He froze in his seat. This sounded awfully familiar. Now if only he could properly recall from where... "We'd like to not take that risk. Also, we don't want to pay you what you asked." He looked out the window and saw a few of the ship's weapons locking on to him. Not this again. After all his effort, yet again he would be shot down in his prime.

He put his voice on the radio. "You might just shoot me down, but not paying me? Not only do I find that rude, I find it crude!" He saw a spike propel itself towards him. Typical belligerent and greedy humans. Money had to be spread around, after all! They could not just simply hoard it for their own selfish gain, like addiction or some terrible excuse. "My revenge shall bring you down. Oh yes, and you know for a fact that I am one for a long sho-" He felt his pod get shaken. He looked to his side to see a giant spike poking through the hull. "-t, you really should try not to interrupt me. I have importan-" The pod then started going into some sort of turbo drive as he remembered it was actually controlled by the main ship, not him. He looked towards his destination, finding it to be a planet that was rather blue. He'd have to cheer it up, then. He looked back to the main ship and saw it beginning to move. They were just going to leave him like all the rest without anything different. He still had his weapons and armor which was a plus. If he could rely on one thing, it would be his armor.

Travian turned off his radio and sighed. This was probably the fourth time this had happened to him. He sat back in his seat. How he could be calm in this situation, he attributes mostly to his insane brother. He wanted to find some music to listen to while his helmet lay atop his head, fastened in safely. He found a song to listen to while he sat down with the spike jutting into the hull as an arm rest. He looked to his destination again and saw that he finally hit the atmosphere. A flurry of colors invaded his vision as he saw the colors go from blue to yellow then back to blue. His vessel then caught fire. While normally he'd be fine with this, this fire was not his fault and therefore he would not be held responsible for the damage. The fire he refused to accept started to heat the inside up. He calmed down and sat back in his seat, pondering just what was going on. Travian was losing track of time as the vehicle was speeding forward progressively and the music in his helmet kept playing. While he was not accustomed to the temperature, he did have his suit on to cool him and keep him totally chill. There was no amount of heat that could make him not cool. Well... Maybe except for stars, close fires, and so he realized he wasn't invincible to heat. It was a sad realization. When time finally slowed down for him and it started making more sense, he saw his destination was not to the blue gem which constantly changed to yellow and back, but to a green grassy field with... buildings. "Wait... Hold up for one sec, this planet is inhabited?" he asked aloud as he arose in victory,  "Yes, I am saved!" His night vision in his helmet had activated at the time, so he knew the planet was dark. Either that or the fire was becoming dark and the ship is dark.

What he didn't realize until that moment was that he was actually heading towards the buildings. "Oh. That's not good. In fact, I would call that bad. Oh dear." He looked over across his former seat and saw the spike that was sticking out of the side of the pod. He noticed that he was in fact the smartest being on that ship, and therefore every decision he made was smart. He lifted his foot and kicked the side of the spike, causing the entire vehicle to start spinning. It was not his original plan, but it would work temporarily. The pod would eventually turn if he hurled himself at one side, according to his predictions. While he was not educated thoroughly, he was experienced in most tricky and trivial things. While in mid spin, he slammed himself on the side of the pod's walls, causing it to lean over to the side. It was like some sort of children's ride. He giggled with glee as he embraced his inner child. "Now this is my favorite part!" Travian realized his sanity was draining as an added side effect. It was a family thing, so he considered it normal instead of life threatening.

He could feel the vehicle coming to a stop. The interior wasn't as hot and it was slowing down. Travian was then launched to the roof of the inside as the vehicle crashed. It really hurt his back, possibly broke a few bones. Knowing his suit though, he'd be perfectly fine. Having an extremely overpowered suit against a minor crash can do that. The music from his helmet cancelled out the sound which he had lowered from the outside, but he knew the crash made the loudest boom this planet had ever heard. He suffered far worse injuries than the petty broken bones in his lifetime, including at least two spears running through him at the same time. He picked himself up but couldn't fully stand. His pod was crushed. He was abandoned on a remote planet with no communication abilities available to him. However, he knew his brother could find him. Travian knew the little time bending bugger could and would find him. It was only a matter of waiting. He consulted his helmet for a few moments. "How is the air here?" The screen said it was breathable. "Alright-y then. You haven't lied to me before, my lovely helmet." Travian enjoyed talking to inanimate objects. It was a hobby of his. In fact, he was forced to talk to them because he couldn't talk for a lot of his early life. Actually, all of his early life and quite a bit of his mid life. It reminded him why his metallic tongue was so precious to him. It was terrible not to have one in case you need to form consonants. With this hobby of his, his brother built the very armor he wore and tried to give it as much interactivity as possible for his enjoyment. His helmet showed a heart on it's screen. "I love you too, armor." He hugged himself, and let himself take a small rest. While he couldn't sleep, he did his best to close his eyes and lose track of time with music.

His rest was interrupted by his suit warning him of foreign entities around him. He rolled over onto his chest and stopped the music. Something was horribly off about this planet, and he felt it at that instant. The planet almost felt... Magical. He had only heard about these planets from his brother, who dreaded magic. Travian himself was opposed to magic as it hampered with his strength and focus. Worst of all, his brother would take longer to find him. Much longer. He looked at the door of the pod and saw it was surrounded by a purple glow. That was the first hint of his magic theory. He got into a crouching position and walked up the the door. He grabbed his pistol out of its holster. He then looked at the handle that said "Emergency Open". He raised his hand to the handle and put it around it. He put the pistol up next to the door. Then he pulled the handle.

The door bolted open. It fell forward and he was prepared for anything that would try to kill him and or arrest him. It has occurred where something tried to kill Travian while arresting him. He raised the pistol and almost spoke out. His face could do naught but slowly fall. He beheld colorful baby horses. It was an adorable sight that could have melted a lesser being's heart. Some of them had horns, and some had wings. There were six of them and one of him. He stared at them, letting his thoughts stop. He decided to keep his mouth shut for once and see what the natives would do to him. They stared right back at him, until a purple baby unicorn said something.

"Girls... Why isn't it doing anything? I thought this thing would have been very danger-" The voice was surprisingly old for what he thought were baby horses. Maybe twenty in human years. He shifted slightly to stare at her directly. His visor, at least, was facing her. That was until a cyan one got in his face.

"Don't you take a step closer to her! I'm warnin' you!" Travian stood his ground in the doorway. He slowly lowered his pistol into its holster and looked back to the cyan one. He then put up his hand and laid it upon her chest. He then slightly pushed her away in hopes of getting her on the ground and out of his way. It was to no avail as she was flying, but Travian believed in effort. He had accumulated at least five thousand effort points over his life, and he had been counting. With the cyan one out of the way for the moment, he put his boot forward out of the broken pod. He planted it firmly into the ground and did the same with his other foot. He dragged himself out of the pod and stood at full height, easily dwarfing the little horses. They were cute when they were scared.

He decided to assess his situation. He was surrounded by tiny horses which lived on a highly magical planet. He was in moderate pain from the broken bones that were still healing, and he probably looked terrifying to the natives, who also spoke in a human language that he had learned only fifty or so years ago. Overall, it wasn't the worst situation he could be in. He looked down at the other horses, examining them. They all were very different. One was bright pink and had some form of smile upon its face. Another was orange with blond hair and some kind of hat Travian was not overly fond of. The one in front of him was cyan with... Rainbow hair. 'That most certainly isn't natural,' Travian thought. The one he stared at was purple and was a unicorn. He looked over and saw an extremely pale unicorn with purple hair. The one next to that one had long pink hair and was a yellowish color that he couldn't make it. It also looked adorable and shy.

He decided it was time. "I tell you what, that one right there is simply cute, adorable, and overly attractive at the moment." Travian said. He really wasn't attracted to them, but it probably made them feel good. All the horses took a step back and he noticed the yellow one blush heavily. "No wait! I just got to know you were yellow! Don't you go changing on me. I don't want two pink ones to deal with." The yellow one was no longer yellow in the face and possibly other places. Travian turned to the rest of them. It was time for twenty questions. "Anyways, who are all of you, what planet is this, why is it so magical, and why are you so hostile to me?" He said in particular to the cyan one. They all were shocked at his moderate amount of curiosity and how fluent he was in their language. It would be a long night of explaining for them, and a short night of listening for him. At least he hoped so. That was how things always went, right?