Equestria Base One: A Kerbal Space Program Odisseyby The Pyro KingChaptersNew goals, new objectives, new ambitionsA very Kerbal startSomething problematic this way comesHow to: Contact AliensNew goals, new objectives, new ambitionsKethane.... a must-have! Kethane is a green substance found underground in many planets' surfaces. One of these planets is Kerbin, one of the five planets in the Kerbol system with an atmosphere, alongside Eve, Duna, Jool and Laythe, one of the two planets with oxygen, alongside Laythe, and the only planet in the system that hosts life. Home to the Kerbals, Kerbin has been often the hub of massive cities, ranging from unkempt slum-like cities to a metropolis with high-end technology for a Tier 6 civilization. And it all wouldn't have been possible without Kethane exploration. Kethane itself is useless, but when you combine it with eletricity and science, and know what you're doing, you get many other critical resources, namely liquid fuels like gasoline, combustive oxidizer, monopropellant fuel, and others. It is basically an omniresource. Many Kerbals believe that space exploration came from the fact that Kethane resources were expiring, and that they worked on a way to harvest Kethane from the Mun, Minmus, and eventually from the other planets. Contrary to that thought, however, the main reason Kerbals went to space was because they thought it was cool. Space rockets date all the way back since Kerbin had only two cities. The main breakthrough was to combine Space and Kethane exploration. Unfortunately for the Kerbals, Kethane was also running out on the other planets. Even Eve, which has oceans of pure raw Kethane, was running dry. The comitee of space exploration often had discussions about what they could do. They ranged from peaceful, civilized debates to all-round fights. Bill and Bob often had conflicts in beliefs regarding the incomming fate, and had either civil debates, or fights to the death. Often the latter. However, at Day 24, Month 6, Year 233, the final news came. Only Eve had the last Kethane, as Kerbals often avoided mining from it since it's astoundingly hard to escape, but even then, Nedfrey Kerman and his crew transmitted a message to Kerbin that they had sucked the last drop of Kethane. True enough, radar scans revealled that Eve's oceans were gone. A meeting between the presidents of the major countries and states of Kerbin was invoked at the capital of the United Federation of Kerbin and Laythe. "Well, what are you going to do now, smart guy?" taunted Mitdrin Kerman, the emperor of People's Empire of Pandora, a civilization rivals with the Federation. "Shut up, emperor, taunting us will do no good." scolded Gregsey Kerman, the leader of the Federation. "Ignoring the childish insults of the Empire," said Macemone Kerman, president of the Nothern Provinces. "We'll have to either sit and wait until Kethane spots regenerate, or we try to aim for the stars." "The former is not an option, and the latter will be extremely hard to," replied Corfore Kerman, representant of the Republic of Quergelia. "My vote is to try to find a substitute to Kethane." "I don't think we have a resource as omnifunctional as Kethane to replace it," replied Gregsey. "I may have a solution to aim for the stars," said Donming Kerman, president of the Republic of South Pole. "My proposition includes a ship launching from Kerbin and perform an Oberth-Kuiper manuever with Eve and Jool." Mitdrin moved his hands in motion for him to continued. "The ship will pass through an Eve flyby in a prograde route. There, it will use the Oberth Effect to accelerate enough to aim for a Jool encounter. When the craft gets to Jool, it will once again use the Oberth Effect to accelerate into a Kerbol escape orbit." "That's a complicated, but great idea, Donming," commented Gregsey. "But the problem is to have Eve and Jool perfectly aligned. That pratically means we need a Kerbin -> Eve -> Jool window, as opposed to a single window," he added. "Well, actually, astrologists commented that there's a Kerbin -> Eve -> Jool window that will open in five days, so we're right on cue," commented Macemone. "Which star we could send a base to, anyway?" asked Mitdrin. "Well, the 'star' I have in mind isn't actually a star," answered Macemone. When he saw he got confused stares, he immediatly explained. "I had observed this rogue planet for quite a while. It is located right behind Kerbol relative to the Galactic core. It seems to have life, or at least plant life, and surprisingly, a small star-like object orbits it, and a Tylo-like object also orbits the planet at the same altitude of the 'star', and is located just on the other side. It's quite likely to have Kethane as well. I named it K-11." "Well, it's decided. We'll shoot for this rogue planet. Gentlekerbs, get the engineers to duty and prepare the kerbonauts." Five days later... It was literally a fight to place the K-11 Base Alpha in the launch pad. It had to use the very last suction of fuel made of Kethane from Eve, and riots were made, mainly because most Kerbals out there didn't knew that this Kethane would be put into good use. Sponsored by Lack Luster Labs, K-11 Base Alpha was, in a nutshell, a large tank with habitation spots. It had capacity for 42 Kerbals, beared a cargo room possessing twelve exploration rovers and five airplanes, had two greenhouses, permitting plantation and oxygen production during the space trip, and had a high-gain antennae for communication with Kerbin. The antenna itself couldn't contact Kerbin, but it did have capacity to talk to a communication probe located between Duna and Dres, used for contact with Laythe to Kerbin. The rocket was massive, so big it couldn't even fit in the original launch pad. The space center had to use Wayfare's XL Pads, which were completely useless until now. For reference, the XL Launch Pads were as big as the space center. The rocket fit each and every available cubic meter of the pad. Of course, even Rockomax Brand didn't have parts big enough to launch that monster of a rocket, so the space center had to buy KW Rocketry's monster-sized parts. That rocket completely dwarved the Deep Space Kraken, now defeated and resting on Bop's north. "Enough of narrating the rocket! Launch it, alterady!" yelled Jebediah Kerman from K-11 Base's control tower towards the blabbing mission control. FINE. "Liftoff in T minus ten...." "Nine!" "Eight!" "Seven!" "Six!" "Five!" "Fourthreetwooneliftoff!" said Jeb as he grew impatient over mission control, and mashed the 'flight' button. Bill simply facepalmed at Jeb's eagerness. Now, begins the Great Wait Of Oberth-Kuiper Manuever. The little Kerbals had no idea of what trouble they were putting themselves into... Author's Note ...as if they ever had an idea of the trouble they had ever since year 83! Yeah, I decided to finally write up a crossover with Kerbal Space Program. There were only two here, and one of them is dead, which makes it only one crossover story. I hope this one lives, too, but since I have tendencies to lose motivation to write stories out of the blue, I might randomly drop this story. A very Kerbal start"Got any six, Mitkin?" asked Jeblime. "Nah, go fish," answered Mitkin. "Seriously, we're playing Go Fish for weeks now. I'm bored, don't we have anything else to do?" asked Mallan. "You should have thought twice when you applied for a kerbonaut, dude," responded Endo as he pulled out a cart from the pool. "Argh, another two!" "Okay guys, we're injecting into a direct aerobrake with K-11's night side...or at least the side away from it's shiny moon," announced Bill over the intercom. Mitkin, Mallan, Endo and Jeblime all looked through their chambers' windows, and admired the sunset of the alien planet. "It kinda feels like there's something else down there..." commented Mallan. "Well, it's always kind of a possibility, Twilight. What if there's a species out of Equestria spying on us?" asked Lyra, looking at a book of constellations. "I told you, Lyra. Nopony has ever found any object outside of the Sun and the Moon. Quite likely there is nothing outside," responded Twilight. "Aw, you have to at least consider it. You remember that time where we thought ponies were the only intelligent species in Equestria? It was actually not true," said Lyra. "And that time where everypony thought that outside of Equestria it was an endless pit. Turns out we live in a planet," she added. "You have a point. But still, I just cannot imagine a place where a planet orbits a star, and spins by itself without at least one figure to help it," said Twilight. "Well, in the stories, that's exactly how it is at the homeworld of huma-" "Lyra, don't even start," interrupted Twilight with a stare. "Alright, no need to get stressed," replied Lyra with a sheepish grin. However, that grin quickly disappeared, with a shocked expression replacing it. "Wow, Twilight, look!" she said, pointing towards the window behind Twilight. A falling star. "Well, I didn't expect a falling star at this time. And it's redder than normal...sort of like...flames..." commented Twilight as she looked at the massive fireball. Pretty much everypony still awake at Ponyville, Cloudsdale and Canterlot had noticed the fiery spetacle going up there. Even the creatures at the Everfree Forest were looking at the fireball. Of course, at Canterlot Castle, the spetacle wasn't looken kindly at by the mare of the night. Looking out the window of the throne room, Luna had asked the guards to leave the room as she uncomfortably gazed at the flaming fireball. It was not natural. She tried to use her magic to check what that object was, but it seemingly blocked off her powers. Whatever was it, it was up for no good. "Some outside force tries to change my night....such crime shalln't go unpunished," said Luna as she stared at the alien object. She, however, knew that Celestia could think that she was simply overreacting. She'd have to ask for Twilight's help. "G-forces stable. Head Shield discarded. Aerobrake sucessful," reported Bill Kerman, looking at the flight computer. "We're heading to a direct landing now," he added. "Wait, we're not going the usual aerocapture-then-land manuever?" asked Bob as he looked over the window. "No, because thanks to K-11's lack of rotation, we can aim for a direct landing with proper manuevering," answered Bill. A short retro-booster was deployed, and it's engines flared to life and burned at full power, reducing the base's velocity. Alongside them, several of RealChute's white-colored drogue parachutes were deployed. "Speed reduced from awesome-tastic fast to boring-slow," reported Jebediah. "Fine, from 452m/s to 65m/s," he corrected himself after recieving a glare from Bill. The retro-rockets were dumped and main parachutes were deployed, those much larger than the drogue parachutes, and fitted with several orange stripes. LT-2 Landing Legs were activated to take up most of the damage and protect the wheels from impact. "Aaaaand.....we have touchdown!" said Bill over the intercom. "Wait...we actually made it?" asked Thompden. "I'm still alive and well..." replied Hadnard. "The best part is no more microgravity!" shouted Jeblime as she and the others ran out of the base module and embraced the gravity with the night sky overhead. K-11's gravity was near identical to Kerbin's. It was at 9.98m/s² whereas Kerbin's was at 9.82m/s². "Alright, guys, we probably should recover back into the base. It's nighttime, and we don't want to wake the wildlife up, in case of there being any," said Bill over the base's deck. "Aw, you're such a buzzkill, Bill," replied Mitkin as he climbed back into the base. "As my job as mission commander, it's up to me to decide what's the best for our crew," responded Bill, while the others headed to their chambers. "Who made you the mission commander?" a curious Jebediah asked. "Gene." answered Bill as he headed to his chamber, which he shares with Jeb and Bob. Next morning, at Ponyville... "Morning, Twi'," said Spike as Twilight walked down the library's stairs. "Hi, Spike. You woke earlier today?" asked Twilight as she walked towards the dragon. "Yeah, I couldn't sleep much further with all that chatter going outside. Apparently a red-colored falling star passed by here, and everypony is talking about it," answered Spike as he handed Twilight a newspaper. True enough, plastered on the front page was a picture of the flaming fireball, alongside a report. Red falling star flies above Ponyville! Above: An artist's rendition of the falling star from the given description. Deep in the night, Ponyville, Cloudsdale and Canterlot witnessed a large falling star passing right above Ponyville. Nopony has ever seen a falling star so close, or red-coloured. Red coloration may indicate flames. "I was placing my little tot on the bed, and suddently I hear a loud noise, and when I go outside to check, I see that large red thing directly above me going faster than a sonic rainboom, heading for White Tail Woods," commented a fellow resident of Ponyville who asked to remain anonymous. Read more at STARS, A1. "Yeah, I remember seeing it last night with Lyra. I didn't expect for so many people to overreact, though," commented Twilight as she shook her head. "Well, you don't see a red falling star passing right above you every day," said Spike as he put the newspaper on the counter. Twilight was about to counter-argue, but a knock on the door interrupted her. Spike went ahead to open it, and, unsurprisingly to Twilight, it was Lyra again. "Hi Spike, is Twi- oh, hi there, Twilight, have you seen the news?" she asked as she (somewhat rudely)hopped in the room. "Yes, I have seen it, apparently everypony knows about the star now," answered Twilight. "Lyra, what's going on? You seem chippier than usual," she commented. "Well, you see, nopony knows why this falling star is red and so close, and the newspaper says that it went to White Tail Woods, so I thought we could head there and see what is it!" Lyra explained, never removing her huge grin from her face. "Can I come, too?" asked Spike as he approached the two mares. However, before Twilight could give twenty five reasons why they shouldn't go there, Spike barfed up a message with the royal night symbol. "A letter from Luna! Odd...she hasn't sent a letter to me before," exclaimed Twilight as she levitated the message next to her, and opened it. "Hmm..." muttered her as she readed the letter. "Well...it seems that the red star is apparently not created by her, and even her magic is incapable of manipulating it. She wants us to search for any odd activity around here, but to never, under any circumstances, head over to White Tail Woods, as she feels a strong manipulation force that deters magic from there." Both Lyra and Spike said "Aww..." when they were told to avoid the crash site. "I find this kind of ridiculous. Such an object that is resistant to the princesses' magic simply can't exist, but since this is for the princess, I guess I'm in," said Twilight as she closed the letter. "Oh, come on, Twilight, stop living in the known and take a peek on the unknown," replied Spike as he rolled his eyes. "Yeah! We may be dealing with space aliens who came here to conquer Equestria and suck our brains with straws!" added Lyra. "Oh, please, Lyra, that's ridiculous," responded Twilight. "We'll scout Ponyville for any odds, and we'll meet up back here at the library after we're each done," she said. However, at the same time in a treehouse somewhere in Sweet Apple Acres, three ponies - specifically fillies - had different plans. "Girls, I invoked this reunion for a very important reason," said Scootaloo as she marched back and forth like a general, while Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle sat down watching. She picked a small stand blocked by sheets, and pulled the sheets out, revealing the morning's newspaper, and the red star in the front page. "As you can see here, a mysterious falling star has been found heading towards White Tail Woods. Nopony has had the courage to investigate there themselves. If we get there first, we might get our cutie marks as star researchers!" she announced. "Uh...I don' know... it seems dangerous, nopony knows what's there..." replied Apple Bloom. "Come on, Apple Bloom. If it was an alien creature, it'd have died from all these flames," said Sweetie Belle. "Besides, it's not like it's in the Everfree Forest or something," she added. "And even if we don't get cutie marks in star or alien research, we will get them in courage!" said Scootaloo, dropping her military voice. "Deal?" "Deal!" "Deal..." Something problematic this way comesThe warm and comforting light of the sun peeked through the base's window and straight into Bob's eyes, almost as if it had a laser pointer. Bob got up, rubbing his eyes, and grabbed his helmet. Securing it in his head, he walked outside and looked out from the hangar. It was only a night and the kerbals were alterady setting up the base. Jebediah was commanding everyone to prepare the base. An extremely large Extend-o-matic that seemed to be a flagpole was planted within walking distance from the base by Mitkin and Jeblime. Several rovers were parked around the base, and two airplanes were driven from the hangar, with assistance of two rover wheels in the front. Sighing for no reason in particular, Bob walked towards the bathroom. Turning on the tap, he used one of the last ammount of tap water to wash his eyes and brush his teeth. Contrary to public belief back on Kerbin, even kerbonauts have hygiene. Cleaning his face with a towel, he looked at himself at the mirror. Funnily, Bob was the only bucktooth blonde with curly hair in the crew. Jebediah always said that this facial design made him look like a cowardly young boy, but in Bob's view, that was exactly what he was. After banishing the memory of a time where he soiled himself after a daring reentry on Kerbin's innermost atmosphere(thanks to Jeb), he walked outside. "Heya, Bob!" said Hadnard, a good friend of Bob. "Hia Had. What brings you here? Your chamber is on the deck below," asked Bob as he shook Hadnard's hand. "Well, I wasn't going to my chamber. Bill said that you and me had to set up the communication antenna," answered him as he pointed towards the antenna. That was going to be a long chore. o.O.o "Any signal there, Bill?" shouted Hadnard as he pointed the antenna towards a small speck in the sky. "Nope," replied Bill, his voice barely loud enough to be heard. Bob moved the antenna a bit upwards. "Now?" "Nothing yet." "And now?" "No results." "Backward antenna wins the dance?" Bill facepalmed. "Why don't you just put the antenna in autopilot?" Bob and Hadnard looked at each other. "Autopilot?" The two asked at the same time. True enough, just behind the antenna's dish was a very small button in a hard-to-find place with 'AUTOPILOT' written in a terribly small size, and in Comic Sans. Oh, Lack Luster Labs, you never cease to amuse the Kerbals. With no further ado, Bob pressed 'autopilot'. The antenna simply pointed fowards and at 15° Y inclination, and before they knew it, the antenna shot a ray of communication at insanely high speeds. Meanwhile, in Deepish Space... Sitting squarely between Duna and Dres orbit was a small probe, in a perfect circular orbit and low inclination. The probe itself was a metal box with a probe core in the middle. Two deployed Communotron 88-88 antennas were placed in opposite sides. Alongside that, two deployable solar panels that tracked the position of Kerbol were in either side of the probe, using the star's solar rays to it's advantage and converting to eletric charge, keeping the probe alive. However, soon afterwards the probe detected a signal comming from outer space. Facing it, it captured the signal, and immediatly transmitted it to Kerbin. Back on Kerbin, however, things weren't going so pretty. The lack of Kethane meant several fuel-dependent devices such as cars, trains and airplanes became unfunctional. This wasn't a problem when Kerbals' destinations were within walking distance, but when they needed to travel far, from one city to another, it was a disaster. Riots were common on the streets, demanding substitutes to Kethane, and methods of transport that did not require fuel. (Riding Khorses was not an option.) At first they were mostly peaceful, if not irritating, protests, but the government knew that, sooner or later, the violent vandals would arrive. In the great capital of the Federation of Kerbin and Laythe, several kerbals in business suits discussed the issue. "Well, looks like the 'base' you proposed on K-11 is gone, smarty. What now?" spat Mitdrin as he slid a newspaper reporting the disappearance of the K-11 crew to the middle of the table. "Mitdrin, will you seriousy stop spouting your insults? Doing that won't make Kerbin and Laythe magically get Kethane or something like that," replied Macemone, crossing his arms, and Gregsey nodding. "I heard that Laythe has been having even more trouble with the situation over there. Several kerbals are completely trashing buildings there. If we don't do anything, the same may happen to us," commented Corfore, trying to get back on the main topic. "Yeah... if the K-11 crew at least responded to us, we could have a lead," replied Donming. The conversation, however, was interrupted as Linary peeked her head into the room. "Excuse me, sirs, but flight director Gene Kerman has asked me to let you know that a conversation link was estabilished with the K-11 crew." "I'm glad we finally can talk. The crew over here has been pretty worried about the fact that you haven't estabilished a conversation link for a long time, and we thought that you all have been lost forever," said Gene over the conversation computer. "Heh, when we landed, it was not only nighttime here, but we were pretty much exhausted, so the first thing we did was to sleep," replied Bill. Gene was about to reply, but he was seemingly interrupted. "Huh? Oh, alright. Uh, the commonwealth of Kerbin countries asked me that they should personally talk to you. I'll be switching channels, so hang on for a minute," he said. With that, the screen blacked out, being replaced by white letters arranged to spell 'NO SIGNAL'. "Commonwealth of Kerbin countries?" asked Bob as he raised an eyebrow. "Bob, those guys are behind the entire operation. They're the main cause we were sent here," Hadnard explained. Before Bob could ask other things, however, the black screen was replaced by a live conference room filled with Kerbals in business suits. "Greetings, sirs. It's a pleasure to talk to you," said Bill. "The pleasure is ours, Bill. It's a honor to speak with a kerbal in a planet far, far away," replied Gregsey. "Anyway, now that we have contact, we need to sort things out. The planes we sent you have a built-in Kethane scanner, as you can see from the large green object in their 'underbellies'. The first mission is to perform a fly across the surrounding area of the planet to check for kethane deposits," he instructed. "I got it, I'll dispatch the plane crew right now," said Bill. "But be careful, Bill. This seems like a trivial exploration mission like the ones you had on Moho's north pole, but it's much more than that. Laythe has alterady broken down from the lack of Kethane, and who knows how much time we got here on Kerbin," warned Macemone. "We will not disappoint you, gentlekerbs. K-11 signing out," Bill replied, and the connection link was closed. "Alright, guys, get your planes ready as I get the other crew," he commanded. "Wait...we'll fly?" asked Hadnard. Bill responded with a simple nod, causing Hadnard to get ecstatic and Bob to get worried. o.O.o "Can you believe it, Bob? We get to fly....in an alien superplanet out of the Kerbol system...for the first time!" cheered Hadnard, unable to contain his enthusiasm. "Yeah, but... what if suddently the engines jerk out or something?" asked Bob. "Don't worry, Bob. Scans of the planet revealed that the planet's atmosphere has oxygen, even more than Laythe," answered Hadnard. "We don't know if it's safe enough to breathe like in Kerbin, though," he added. Laythe had oxygen, but it's atmosphere had nasty chemicals that made breathing it's pure air impossible, thus the inhabitants have to use air helmets. It could be the same in K-11. "Alright, everyone, you're free to takeoff!" said Bill over the intercom. With that, the airplanes' engines roared to life. Bob carefully moved his throttle up to 68%, and raised the frontal nose gear to protect the rover wheels. Eventually the airplane gained enough speed to raise from the ground, and before he knew it, he was flying alongside four other kerbals for the first time in his life. "I'm flying.... I'm actually flying!" shouted Bob as he raised his hands to the air, the SAS keeping the plane stable. "Yeah! Feels good, doesn't it?" said Hadnard as he slowly approached Bob but retaining a safe distance. "It's like that. First, you begin flying with basic C7 aerospace jets, and before you know it, you're flying a B9 aerospace airplane easily!" he added. Despite the excitement and fun with Bob and Hadnard over White Tail Woods, things weren't as pretty at Canterlot Castle. Princess Luna couldn't shake the feeling that something - or worse, somebody - from an entirely different world has been breaching into Equestria and taking over it piece by piece. Princess Celestia calmly - but still with a concerned feeling - entered Luna's room, only to find the night princess laying uncomfortably in her bed, unable to relax. "Lunie, I know you're feeling stressed up, but you need to relax. Overworking yourself over such things won't help," she said. "I know, sister, but...it's the fact that I've had so many clues that such things would happen, yet I never actually took much notice to them...and now, this." Celestia rose an eyebrow. "'So many clues'? Care to elaborate? I'm not sure if I follow." Luna inhaled deeply. "First, all the way until I was recovered from...being that monster, I had seen a star far, far away, but yet, it was so close to me. It had that tint of yellow, unlike the other stars, which appear white from our point of view. He sometimes talked to me, and his name was Kerbol. "He was often quiet yet friendly, but he warned me that, in the correct time, he'd inadvertently bring a surprise to our kingdom, whether we like it or not. Whenever I asked him what surprise it would be, he always responded with 'Grudge is not the correct way to welcome a neighbor, whether he's from a nearby road or from another kingdom. Abide by this rule'. "I had no clue about what he was talking about, and I thought that he was being crazy. Eventually he stopped talking to me, even if I try to talk to him. But despite that, I couldn't take his words out of my head, and at the same time, I couldn't shake the feeling that something...purely out of this world was heading to our direction. "And when I saw the red falling star last night, I knew that it was the thing that was out of our world. When it 'crashed' at White Tail Woods, I continued to feel like it was...still there. And this morning, I felt like it's been calling to something else, likely Kerbol...apparently they're looking to extract something out of our world." Celestia could only frown to see her sister going through so much. Though she was a little confused as to why she never let her know about Kerbol, she knew she needed to help Luna out. "Don't worry, Luna. I'll send in an exploration team to the crash site. We'll find what is it," said Celestia. "I found some Kethane over here!" shouted Kurt over the radio. "Coordinates marked, Kurt," replied Dunlorf. "Uh...guys, you may want to see this," Bob called out, ahead from the others. The four pilots approached him, and couldn't believe what they were seeing. "Woah...is that a freaking town?!" asked Dunlorf rhetorically. "We are colonizing a planet with aliens! That might get us in trouble!" said Kurt, beginning to sweat. Duning, however, had fallen behind the others, and when he heard them talking about an alien town, immediatly throttled up to see. Unfortunately, his plane was directly behind Bob's. "Slow down, Duning, you're going to crash!" yelled Hadnard. But before either Duning or Bob could react, Duning's Mk1 Cockpit collided with Bob's Jet engine. "Oh dear..." muttered Duning as Bob's airplane began to fall. "HELP, I'M FALLING!" screamed Bob, unable to think properly. "Bob, listen to me!" shouted Kurt over the radio. "Your cockpit has a parachute! Take it and ditch the plane!" he commanded. Panicking, Bob franatically moved the items inside the drawer on the Mk1 Cockpit. Finally finding a portable Mk16 Parachute, Bob equipped it, and lept out of the cockpit. As the parachute semi-deployed, Bob took a look above him, the airplanes continued flying fowards for a moment, and afterwards they did a 180° turn and headed back to the base. Looking below him, he saw that he'd land on the edge of a forest near the aforementioned town. Back at K-11 Base One, things were a lot quieter than in the morning. Kerbals now were pretty much staying in the habitation chambers or looking around in the decks. However, Mitkin, Endo, Jebediah and Jeblime were sitting outside playing a game of Truth or Dare. "I told you, Mitkin, I haven't even heard about the new afterburner," replied Jebediah, sweating lightly. "Don't lie to me, Jeb. I remember seeing you at the runway back at KSC, and you were the only one piloting an aircraft. Afterwards I saw the very same aircraft flying with an afterburner, breaking the speed of sound," said Mitkin. Jebediah, seeing that he was narrowed down by Mitkin, Endo, and Jeblime, decided to give up. "Fine! I did! And it was awesome! There, happy?" said Jebediah, remembering his test flight. He'd give anything to be able to keep that experimental afterburner airplane. "Heh, the funniest part was the situation," commented Endo as the trio enjoyed the first three turns before Jebediah's. Jeb often made the cruelest Truths. "Well...sister! Truth or Dare?" asked Jebediah as he faced Jeblime with a mischievous expression. Jeblime began to sweat profusely. "Uh...dare!" she answered as she began to think about all the embarassing things she'd have to say if she answered 'Truth'. However, she immediatly realized that 'Dare' could be an even worse option. Everyone at the space center knows that Jebediah is a daredevil, and he was very likely to dare her to circumnavigate K-11 with one of the airplanes at the upper atmosphere. However, this time Jeb was even more crueler, and she had a hint as his mischievous face turned into one of pure malice. "I dare you to take your helmet off." That phrase alone was enough to reduce Jeblime's heartbeats to 5 BPM. Endo and Mitkin just sat there with their jaws dropped. "Wow, Jebediah. Your dare is too... harsh," said Mitkin. "I mean, taking the helmet off? That could cause death!" he added. "It won't. I did the same thing to Billy-Bobfrey on Laythe. He didn't die, rather he just coughed and gasped until he secured his helmet again," replied Jebediah, before turning his gaze to his sister again. Jeblime gulped loudly before placing her hands on her helmet's lock. Slowly, she unlocked it, and slid it off her head. She closed her eyes as she prepared for the incomming suffocation... ...which never came. Slowly opening her eyes, she was surprised to find herself still alive. Curiously, she decided to inhale some air... and it felt pratically the same as back in Kerbin. It even felt better to breathe the pure oxygen in the atmosphere rather than having to rely on oxygen tanks. "I... can breathe..." she muttered as she noticed Endo's, Mitkin's and her brother's expective gazes. "Wait, the atmosphere is safe to breathe?" asked Jebediah rethorically. Quickly, he took his helmet off and inhaled deeply. True enough, he was met with pure oxygen. "I....can!" he said. Immediatly, Endo and Mitkin took their helmets off as well. "Hey, guys!" shouted Jebediah to the K-11 base(who were a bit shocked to see the four kerbals without helmets). "The atmosphere is safe and just like Kerbin's! We can breathe!" Every kerbal's pupils shrank after that. Immediatly, each and every kerbal ran for their chambers and took off their bulky EVA suits and helmets, instead replacing it with the much more comfortable IVA clothing. Airlock systems were also deactivated, thus having all rooms rely on only one door. Immediatly after that, the several kerbals ran outside, now bearing their IVA attires, and acted just like Rapunzel after finally leaving the tower. It looked childish, but it's pratically what any astronaut would do after several years of being in space relying on heavy EVA suits and oxygen tanks. Despite all the fun the kerbals were having, two school fillies would not say the same. Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had been marching from Ponyville all the way to White Tail Woods for quite a while, and their legs were aching in pain. Despite that, Scootaloo marched fowards, though her two friends weren't as persistent as her. "Ugh...my hooves feel like they will explode," said Sweetie Belle as she looked at her aching hooves. "Can we at least stop for a li'l rest?" asked Apple Bloom, feeling even worse as she was also carrying a camera. "No, we walked so far alterady, we aren't going to give up just now!" answered Scootaloo. "And besides, we just arrived at the forest," she added. However, with all their pain on their hooves, the two fillies couldn't even notice the forest nearby. They could only whimper as they entered the forest. Fortunately, unlike the Everfree Forest, White Tail Woods had no dangerous beasts or enviorment. However, the only thing that the three ponies could notice was a faint ruckus going deeper in the forest. "What's that?" "Shhh!" Quietly, the three fillies ventured into the forest. The remnants of the previous race from last week around the woods was still vibrant. The noise got louder and clearer as they went deeper, and it seemingly changed from a faint ruckus to a sound of cheering. At what seemed to be point-blank range of the sound, the three fillies poked their heads through a bush, and saw it. A large, alien base with several aliens running around, and some alien machines. "Girls, we may have found the first alien species in Equestria!" whispered Sweetie Belle. "And a pretty foalish one, too," Scootaloo added. Apple Bloom was about to take a photo, but one of the aliens stopped doing the 'alien dance', and looked in their direction. "Oh no," the trio said in unison. Something problematic this way comes! How to: Contact AliensBob felt like he snapped in half from the extreme G-forces when the parachute fully deployed. "Freaking second-hand parachutes," he thought, mentally cursing the engineer who designed these planes for not including a proper RealChute parachute. Those were much softer and easier to use. Eventually, Bob landed in the strange alien forest. Repacking his parachute, he began to look around. From what he had seen, the town was off north. Bob was in no mood to explore a dense forest alone and defenseless, but on the other hand he didn't need to be held captive by the natives, either. Although, when he thought more about it, living out his days until the other crew finds a way to rescue him in a dark forest didn't seem like a great option, either. He decided to hang near the town. Flickering his EVA lights on, Bob began to walk towards the town... or at least where he thought the town was. "Hey, what's that?" asked Mitkin to himself as he saw, for a split second, three things in white, orange and yellow sticking out behind the bush. Could there be alien life in this planet? Or his mind was playing tricks with him? Mitkin, however, knew that his crewmates would likely think he was seeing things, but he was sure that there was something in there. He knows the difference between whether there's nothing and when there's actually something. He began to race towards the bush, attracting Mallan's attention. "Mitkin, where are you going?" asked Mallan as he tailed his friend. o.O.o "They found us! Run!" shouted Scootaloo as the three fillies raced away from the scene. "I told you it wasn't a great idea!" said Apple Bloom, gazing at Scootaloo. She was about to respond, but was interrupted by Sweetie Belle. "Arguing won't do any good, let's just hide!" she said. With that, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle leaped to the right while Apple Bloom leaped to the left, hiding in the foilage. "Where'd they go?" asked the alien in the front. "Huh? What did go?" counter-asked the alien in the back. The language they spoke, from the fillies' point of view, was completely foreign. "Oh Celestia, what do we do now?" asked Sweetie Belle, silently hyperventilating. "Simple, we just hide here until they give up. I'm more concerned about what they're planning to do," answered Scootaloo. "They could very well be planning to suck our brains with straws and mindjack us!" replied Sweetie. "We can't let that happen! We need to take them out!" said Scootaloo. Without thinking twice, she leaped into the frontal alien's head. "YOU'LL NEVER EAT OUR BRAINS!" she yelled as she (unsucessfully)pounced Mitkin. "WOAH DUDE, THERE IS SOMETHING IN MY HEAD!" screamed Mitkin. Suddently, Sweetie Belle joined in, and afterwards Apple Bloom did as well, and before he knew it, Mitkin was being trampled by three fillies. "I'M BEING SURRENDERED! MALLAN, HELP!" shouted Mitkin as he clumsily walked around at a fast pace. "I'm on it!" said Mallan as he carefully approached Mitkin from behind, and yanked Scootaloo from his head, allowing Mitkin to see. "Let me go, you brain-sucking E.T.!" yelled Scootaloo as she flailed her limbs violently, knocking Mallan on his back, though not freeing herself from his grip. Meanwhile, Mitkin had alterady grabbed Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. "We're surrendered!" "I knew we were gettin' in bad trouble from the start..." "Let's take these troublesome creatures to the lab, shall we?" said Mitkin as he and Mallan headed back to the base. Bob was flabbergasted as he saw the entire town from the outskirts of the forest. Needless to say, he was in an inhabited world. But how could he contact the species in this situation? The locals would likely flee from him, or think he's a xenomorph, or something. But his thoughts were interrupted by an object in the horizon. Bob saw a large tree that seemed to resemble a house. Now that was an odd place to live. He simply had to check that place closer. But he had to cross part of the town first. Bob's mind simply solved that issue with one word; stealth. Bob took the nearest road he could find, and fortunately the emptiest. He sneaked behind convenient crates located on the sides of each road. It at first seemed worthless, as there was nobody nearby, but as soon as he got into a crossroad, he saw it. The town was populated by colorful, four-legged creatures. And there were several of them. It would be no easy task. o.O.o It was certainly a nightmare. Bob didn't want to redo the experience any time soon, though he knew that he'd have to do it again to go back to his emergency landing site. That, and there were several near-misses. Especially with a specific mint green alien, who seemed determined to find any and all unusual things in the entire town. Looking at the tree, Bob saw that it indeed was completely changed to resemble a house. Carefully entering, Bob noticed that there was nobody inside, but rather it was filled with books. Now that was an incredibly ironic thing, to store books within one of the objects that are killed to produce the books. Walking towards one of the shelves, Bob picked up a book to check if he could understand anything. True enough, the books were written in a completely foreign language. Placing the book back in it's respective place, Bob heard footsteps comming from outside. Panicking, Bob looked for a place to hide. His bulky EVA suit wouldn't let him climb the shelves, and he knew that he couldn't hide below a stash of books. He noticed a door laying flatly at the wall, and raced towards it. Right at the nick of time, Bob gently shut the door, and three beings entered the door. Looking through the lock, he could see that there was the mint green equine he had trouble with before, another purple one, and even a purple lizard that Bob assumed was her pet. "Well, we couldn't find anything unusual around here," said Twilight, rolling her eyes. "But we only basically explored town! Why can't we go to the crash site?" replied Lyra. "Remember the letter? The princess said everypony should avoid heading there," answered Twilight. The language they spoke was completely foreign to Bob. He knew that communicating was not a solution, and that he could very well be trapped in there for the rest of his life. And of course, there HAD to be a piece of paper in the floor barely noticeable in which Bob tripped on, causing a loud noise as Bob came rolling down the stairs into the basement. "What was that?" asked Lyra rhethorically as she, Twilight and Spike headed to the basement, and found it. A cosmonaut crashed into the floor, just what they were looking for. "Well, I got to say, those specimen are quite interesting," said Hellou, the field scientist of the crew, as she and other Kerbals analyzed the three fillies, as they stood in a glass room. "I don't think you'd say the same if you were attacked by them like they did to me," replied Mitkin, still recovering from the experience. "You let some girly, girly pony-like creatures attack you?" asked Jebediah as he began to chuckle. "Jeb, don't consider creatures by their looks. You also said the Kraken looked too cute and harmless when we heard that Camke died by it. And look how dangerous the Kraken actually is," replied Bill, staring at Jeb. The three fillies were completely oblivious to what the kerbals were saying, but it didn't take a world genius to figure that they were terrified and thinking of the worst. "I wish I knew what they were sayin'," commented Apple Bloom as she tapped on the glass. "Well, they're probably plotting to eat our brains and take over Equestria," replied Sweetie Belle. "So...what do you plan to do with them?" asked Jebediah. "Well, I'm going to perform a few experiments," answered Hellou as she flicked a blue switch in the command desk. Immediatly, the room behind the glass wall began to slowly flood all the way until the water level hit the fillies' underbellies. The trio looked at each other. "What's this water for?" asked Scootaloo. "Maybe it isn't water, maybe it's acid!" replied Sweetie Belle. "Uh, I don' think it's acid. Maybe they're performing experiments on us?" suggested Apple Bloom. And indeed, their bodies didn't seem to react dangerously to the water. "But I'm not a lab rat!" Author's Note Time to write: 3 hours, with a 5 hour interval inbetween Difficulty: Moderate-Difficult Creativity-o-Meter at time of writing: Nominal Oh, and I'm leaving this here: I did not create Hellou or Jeblime.
New goals, new objectives, new ambitionsKethane.... a must-have! Kethane is a green substance found underground in many planets' surfaces. One of these planets is Kerbin, one of the five planets in the Kerbol system with an atmosphere, alongside Eve, Duna, Jool and Laythe, one of the two planets with oxygen, alongside Laythe, and the only planet in the system that hosts life. Home to the Kerbals, Kerbin has been often the hub of massive cities, ranging from unkempt slum-like cities to a metropolis with high-end technology for a Tier 6 civilization. And it all wouldn't have been possible without Kethane exploration. Kethane itself is useless, but when you combine it with eletricity and science, and know what you're doing, you get many other critical resources, namely liquid fuels like gasoline, combustive oxidizer, monopropellant fuel, and others. It is basically an omniresource. Many Kerbals believe that space exploration came from the fact that Kethane resources were expiring, and that they worked on a way to harvest Kethane from the Mun, Minmus, and eventually from the other planets. Contrary to that thought, however, the main reason Kerbals went to space was because they thought it was cool. Space rockets date all the way back since Kerbin had only two cities. The main breakthrough was to combine Space and Kethane exploration. Unfortunately for the Kerbals, Kethane was also running out on the other planets. Even Eve, which has oceans of pure raw Kethane, was running dry. The comitee of space exploration often had discussions about what they could do. They ranged from peaceful, civilized debates to all-round fights. Bill and Bob often had conflicts in beliefs regarding the incomming fate, and had either civil debates, or fights to the death. Often the latter. However, at Day 24, Month 6, Year 233, the final news came. Only Eve had the last Kethane, as Kerbals often avoided mining from it since it's astoundingly hard to escape, but even then, Nedfrey Kerman and his crew transmitted a message to Kerbin that they had sucked the last drop of Kethane. True enough, radar scans revealled that Eve's oceans were gone. A meeting between the presidents of the major countries and states of Kerbin was invoked at the capital of the United Federation of Kerbin and Laythe. "Well, what are you going to do now, smart guy?" taunted Mitdrin Kerman, the emperor of People's Empire of Pandora, a civilization rivals with the Federation. "Shut up, emperor, taunting us will do no good." scolded Gregsey Kerman, the leader of the Federation. "Ignoring the childish insults of the Empire," said Macemone Kerman, president of the Nothern Provinces. "We'll have to either sit and wait until Kethane spots regenerate, or we try to aim for the stars." "The former is not an option, and the latter will be extremely hard to," replied Corfore Kerman, representant of the Republic of Quergelia. "My vote is to try to find a substitute to Kethane." "I don't think we have a resource as omnifunctional as Kethane to replace it," replied Gregsey. "I may have a solution to aim for the stars," said Donming Kerman, president of the Republic of South Pole. "My proposition includes a ship launching from Kerbin and perform an Oberth-Kuiper manuever with Eve and Jool." Mitdrin moved his hands in motion for him to continued. "The ship will pass through an Eve flyby in a prograde route. There, it will use the Oberth Effect to accelerate enough to aim for a Jool encounter. When the craft gets to Jool, it will once again use the Oberth Effect to accelerate into a Kerbol escape orbit." "That's a complicated, but great idea, Donming," commented Gregsey. "But the problem is to have Eve and Jool perfectly aligned. That pratically means we need a Kerbin -> Eve -> Jool window, as opposed to a single window," he added. "Well, actually, astrologists commented that there's a Kerbin -> Eve -> Jool window that will open in five days, so we're right on cue," commented Macemone. "Which star we could send a base to, anyway?" asked Mitdrin. "Well, the 'star' I have in mind isn't actually a star," answered Macemone. When he saw he got confused stares, he immediatly explained. "I had observed this rogue planet for quite a while. It is located right behind Kerbol relative to the Galactic core. It seems to have life, or at least plant life, and surprisingly, a small star-like object orbits it, and a Tylo-like object also orbits the planet at the same altitude of the 'star', and is located just on the other side. It's quite likely to have Kethane as well. I named it K-11." "Well, it's decided. We'll shoot for this rogue planet. Gentlekerbs, get the engineers to duty and prepare the kerbonauts." Five days later... It was literally a fight to place the K-11 Base Alpha in the launch pad. It had to use the very last suction of fuel made of Kethane from Eve, and riots were made, mainly because most Kerbals out there didn't knew that this Kethane would be put into good use. Sponsored by Lack Luster Labs, K-11 Base Alpha was, in a nutshell, a large tank with habitation spots. It had capacity for 42 Kerbals, beared a cargo room possessing twelve exploration rovers and five airplanes, had two greenhouses, permitting plantation and oxygen production during the space trip, and had a high-gain antennae for communication with Kerbin. The antenna itself couldn't contact Kerbin, but it did have capacity to talk to a communication probe located between Duna and Dres, used for contact with Laythe to Kerbin. The rocket was massive, so big it couldn't even fit in the original launch pad. The space center had to use Wayfare's XL Pads, which were completely useless until now. For reference, the XL Launch Pads were as big as the space center. The rocket fit each and every available cubic meter of the pad. Of course, even Rockomax Brand didn't have parts big enough to launch that monster of a rocket, so the space center had to buy KW Rocketry's monster-sized parts. That rocket completely dwarved the Deep Space Kraken, now defeated and resting on Bop's north. "Enough of narrating the rocket! Launch it, alterady!" yelled Jebediah Kerman from K-11 Base's control tower towards the blabbing mission control. FINE. "Liftoff in T minus ten...." "Nine!" "Eight!" "Seven!" "Six!" "Five!" "Fourthreetwooneliftoff!" said Jeb as he grew impatient over mission control, and mashed the 'flight' button. Bill simply facepalmed at Jeb's eagerness. Now, begins the Great Wait Of Oberth-Kuiper Manuever. The little Kerbals had no idea of what trouble they were putting themselves into... Author's Note ...as if they ever had an idea of the trouble they had ever since year 83! Yeah, I decided to finally write up a crossover with Kerbal Space Program. There were only two here, and one of them is dead, which makes it only one crossover story. I hope this one lives, too, but since I have tendencies to lose motivation to write stories out of the blue, I might randomly drop this story.
A very Kerbal start"Got any six, Mitkin?" asked Jeblime. "Nah, go fish," answered Mitkin. "Seriously, we're playing Go Fish for weeks now. I'm bored, don't we have anything else to do?" asked Mallan. "You should have thought twice when you applied for a kerbonaut, dude," responded Endo as he pulled out a cart from the pool. "Argh, another two!" "Okay guys, we're injecting into a direct aerobrake with K-11's night side...or at least the side away from it's shiny moon," announced Bill over the intercom. Mitkin, Mallan, Endo and Jeblime all looked through their chambers' windows, and admired the sunset of the alien planet. "It kinda feels like there's something else down there..." commented Mallan. "Well, it's always kind of a possibility, Twilight. What if there's a species out of Equestria spying on us?" asked Lyra, looking at a book of constellations. "I told you, Lyra. Nopony has ever found any object outside of the Sun and the Moon. Quite likely there is nothing outside," responded Twilight. "Aw, you have to at least consider it. You remember that time where we thought ponies were the only intelligent species in Equestria? It was actually not true," said Lyra. "And that time where everypony thought that outside of Equestria it was an endless pit. Turns out we live in a planet," she added. "You have a point. But still, I just cannot imagine a place where a planet orbits a star, and spins by itself without at least one figure to help it," said Twilight. "Well, in the stories, that's exactly how it is at the homeworld of huma-" "Lyra, don't even start," interrupted Twilight with a stare. "Alright, no need to get stressed," replied Lyra with a sheepish grin. However, that grin quickly disappeared, with a shocked expression replacing it. "Wow, Twilight, look!" she said, pointing towards the window behind Twilight. A falling star. "Well, I didn't expect a falling star at this time. And it's redder than normal...sort of like...flames..." commented Twilight as she looked at the massive fireball. Pretty much everypony still awake at Ponyville, Cloudsdale and Canterlot had noticed the fiery spetacle going up there. Even the creatures at the Everfree Forest were looking at the fireball. Of course, at Canterlot Castle, the spetacle wasn't looken kindly at by the mare of the night. Looking out the window of the throne room, Luna had asked the guards to leave the room as she uncomfortably gazed at the flaming fireball. It was not natural. She tried to use her magic to check what that object was, but it seemingly blocked off her powers. Whatever was it, it was up for no good. "Some outside force tries to change my night....such crime shalln't go unpunished," said Luna as she stared at the alien object. She, however, knew that Celestia could think that she was simply overreacting. She'd have to ask for Twilight's help. "G-forces stable. Head Shield discarded. Aerobrake sucessful," reported Bill Kerman, looking at the flight computer. "We're heading to a direct landing now," he added. "Wait, we're not going the usual aerocapture-then-land manuever?" asked Bob as he looked over the window. "No, because thanks to K-11's lack of rotation, we can aim for a direct landing with proper manuevering," answered Bill. A short retro-booster was deployed, and it's engines flared to life and burned at full power, reducing the base's velocity. Alongside them, several of RealChute's white-colored drogue parachutes were deployed. "Speed reduced from awesome-tastic fast to boring-slow," reported Jebediah. "Fine, from 452m/s to 65m/s," he corrected himself after recieving a glare from Bill. The retro-rockets were dumped and main parachutes were deployed, those much larger than the drogue parachutes, and fitted with several orange stripes. LT-2 Landing Legs were activated to take up most of the damage and protect the wheels from impact. "Aaaaand.....we have touchdown!" said Bill over the intercom. "Wait...we actually made it?" asked Thompden. "I'm still alive and well..." replied Hadnard. "The best part is no more microgravity!" shouted Jeblime as she and the others ran out of the base module and embraced the gravity with the night sky overhead. K-11's gravity was near identical to Kerbin's. It was at 9.98m/s² whereas Kerbin's was at 9.82m/s². "Alright, guys, we probably should recover back into the base. It's nighttime, and we don't want to wake the wildlife up, in case of there being any," said Bill over the base's deck. "Aw, you're such a buzzkill, Bill," replied Mitkin as he climbed back into the base. "As my job as mission commander, it's up to me to decide what's the best for our crew," responded Bill, while the others headed to their chambers. "Who made you the mission commander?" a curious Jebediah asked. "Gene." answered Bill as he headed to his chamber, which he shares with Jeb and Bob. Next morning, at Ponyville... "Morning, Twi'," said Spike as Twilight walked down the library's stairs. "Hi, Spike. You woke earlier today?" asked Twilight as she walked towards the dragon. "Yeah, I couldn't sleep much further with all that chatter going outside. Apparently a red-colored falling star passed by here, and everypony is talking about it," answered Spike as he handed Twilight a newspaper. True enough, plastered on the front page was a picture of the flaming fireball, alongside a report. Red falling star flies above Ponyville! Above: An artist's rendition of the falling star from the given description. Deep in the night, Ponyville, Cloudsdale and Canterlot witnessed a large falling star passing right above Ponyville. Nopony has ever seen a falling star so close, or red-coloured. Red coloration may indicate flames. "I was placing my little tot on the bed, and suddently I hear a loud noise, and when I go outside to check, I see that large red thing directly above me going faster than a sonic rainboom, heading for White Tail Woods," commented a fellow resident of Ponyville who asked to remain anonymous. Read more at STARS, A1. "Yeah, I remember seeing it last night with Lyra. I didn't expect for so many people to overreact, though," commented Twilight as she shook her head. "Well, you don't see a red falling star passing right above you every day," said Spike as he put the newspaper on the counter. Twilight was about to counter-argue, but a knock on the door interrupted her. Spike went ahead to open it, and, unsurprisingly to Twilight, it was Lyra again. "Hi Spike, is Twi- oh, hi there, Twilight, have you seen the news?" she asked as she (somewhat rudely)hopped in the room. "Yes, I have seen it, apparently everypony knows about the star now," answered Twilight. "Lyra, what's going on? You seem chippier than usual," she commented. "Well, you see, nopony knows why this falling star is red and so close, and the newspaper says that it went to White Tail Woods, so I thought we could head there and see what is it!" Lyra explained, never removing her huge grin from her face. "Can I come, too?" asked Spike as he approached the two mares. However, before Twilight could give twenty five reasons why they shouldn't go there, Spike barfed up a message with the royal night symbol. "A letter from Luna! Odd...she hasn't sent a letter to me before," exclaimed Twilight as she levitated the message next to her, and opened it. "Hmm..." muttered her as she readed the letter. "Well...it seems that the red star is apparently not created by her, and even her magic is incapable of manipulating it. She wants us to search for any odd activity around here, but to never, under any circumstances, head over to White Tail Woods, as she feels a strong manipulation force that deters magic from there." Both Lyra and Spike said "Aww..." when they were told to avoid the crash site. "I find this kind of ridiculous. Such an object that is resistant to the princesses' magic simply can't exist, but since this is for the princess, I guess I'm in," said Twilight as she closed the letter. "Oh, come on, Twilight, stop living in the known and take a peek on the unknown," replied Spike as he rolled his eyes. "Yeah! We may be dealing with space aliens who came here to conquer Equestria and suck our brains with straws!" added Lyra. "Oh, please, Lyra, that's ridiculous," responded Twilight. "We'll scout Ponyville for any odds, and we'll meet up back here at the library after we're each done," she said. However, at the same time in a treehouse somewhere in Sweet Apple Acres, three ponies - specifically fillies - had different plans. "Girls, I invoked this reunion for a very important reason," said Scootaloo as she marched back and forth like a general, while Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle sat down watching. She picked a small stand blocked by sheets, and pulled the sheets out, revealing the morning's newspaper, and the red star in the front page. "As you can see here, a mysterious falling star has been found heading towards White Tail Woods. Nopony has had the courage to investigate there themselves. If we get there first, we might get our cutie marks as star researchers!" she announced. "Uh...I don' know... it seems dangerous, nopony knows what's there..." replied Apple Bloom. "Come on, Apple Bloom. If it was an alien creature, it'd have died from all these flames," said Sweetie Belle. "Besides, it's not like it's in the Everfree Forest or something," she added. "And even if we don't get cutie marks in star or alien research, we will get them in courage!" said Scootaloo, dropping her military voice. "Deal?" "Deal!" "Deal..."
Something problematic this way comesThe warm and comforting light of the sun peeked through the base's window and straight into Bob's eyes, almost as if it had a laser pointer. Bob got up, rubbing his eyes, and grabbed his helmet. Securing it in his head, he walked outside and looked out from the hangar. It was only a night and the kerbals were alterady setting up the base. Jebediah was commanding everyone to prepare the base. An extremely large Extend-o-matic that seemed to be a flagpole was planted within walking distance from the base by Mitkin and Jeblime. Several rovers were parked around the base, and two airplanes were driven from the hangar, with assistance of two rover wheels in the front. Sighing for no reason in particular, Bob walked towards the bathroom. Turning on the tap, he used one of the last ammount of tap water to wash his eyes and brush his teeth. Contrary to public belief back on Kerbin, even kerbonauts have hygiene. Cleaning his face with a towel, he looked at himself at the mirror. Funnily, Bob was the only bucktooth blonde with curly hair in the crew. Jebediah always said that this facial design made him look like a cowardly young boy, but in Bob's view, that was exactly what he was. After banishing the memory of a time where he soiled himself after a daring reentry on Kerbin's innermost atmosphere(thanks to Jeb), he walked outside. "Heya, Bob!" said Hadnard, a good friend of Bob. "Hia Had. What brings you here? Your chamber is on the deck below," asked Bob as he shook Hadnard's hand. "Well, I wasn't going to my chamber. Bill said that you and me had to set up the communication antenna," answered him as he pointed towards the antenna. That was going to be a long chore. o.O.o "Any signal there, Bill?" shouted Hadnard as he pointed the antenna towards a small speck in the sky. "Nope," replied Bill, his voice barely loud enough to be heard. Bob moved the antenna a bit upwards. "Now?" "Nothing yet." "And now?" "No results." "Backward antenna wins the dance?" Bill facepalmed. "Why don't you just put the antenna in autopilot?" Bob and Hadnard looked at each other. "Autopilot?" The two asked at the same time. True enough, just behind the antenna's dish was a very small button in a hard-to-find place with 'AUTOPILOT' written in a terribly small size, and in Comic Sans. Oh, Lack Luster Labs, you never cease to amuse the Kerbals. With no further ado, Bob pressed 'autopilot'. The antenna simply pointed fowards and at 15° Y inclination, and before they knew it, the antenna shot a ray of communication at insanely high speeds. Meanwhile, in Deepish Space... Sitting squarely between Duna and Dres orbit was a small probe, in a perfect circular orbit and low inclination. The probe itself was a metal box with a probe core in the middle. Two deployed Communotron 88-88 antennas were placed in opposite sides. Alongside that, two deployable solar panels that tracked the position of Kerbol were in either side of the probe, using the star's solar rays to it's advantage and converting to eletric charge, keeping the probe alive. However, soon afterwards the probe detected a signal comming from outer space. Facing it, it captured the signal, and immediatly transmitted it to Kerbin. Back on Kerbin, however, things weren't going so pretty. The lack of Kethane meant several fuel-dependent devices such as cars, trains and airplanes became unfunctional. This wasn't a problem when Kerbals' destinations were within walking distance, but when they needed to travel far, from one city to another, it was a disaster. Riots were common on the streets, demanding substitutes to Kethane, and methods of transport that did not require fuel. (Riding Khorses was not an option.) At first they were mostly peaceful, if not irritating, protests, but the government knew that, sooner or later, the violent vandals would arrive. In the great capital of the Federation of Kerbin and Laythe, several kerbals in business suits discussed the issue. "Well, looks like the 'base' you proposed on K-11 is gone, smarty. What now?" spat Mitdrin as he slid a newspaper reporting the disappearance of the K-11 crew to the middle of the table. "Mitdrin, will you seriousy stop spouting your insults? Doing that won't make Kerbin and Laythe magically get Kethane or something like that," replied Macemone, crossing his arms, and Gregsey nodding. "I heard that Laythe has been having even more trouble with the situation over there. Several kerbals are completely trashing buildings there. If we don't do anything, the same may happen to us," commented Corfore, trying to get back on the main topic. "Yeah... if the K-11 crew at least responded to us, we could have a lead," replied Donming. The conversation, however, was interrupted as Linary peeked her head into the room. "Excuse me, sirs, but flight director Gene Kerman has asked me to let you know that a conversation link was estabilished with the K-11 crew." "I'm glad we finally can talk. The crew over here has been pretty worried about the fact that you haven't estabilished a conversation link for a long time, and we thought that you all have been lost forever," said Gene over the conversation computer. "Heh, when we landed, it was not only nighttime here, but we were pretty much exhausted, so the first thing we did was to sleep," replied Bill. Gene was about to reply, but he was seemingly interrupted. "Huh? Oh, alright. Uh, the commonwealth of Kerbin countries asked me that they should personally talk to you. I'll be switching channels, so hang on for a minute," he said. With that, the screen blacked out, being replaced by white letters arranged to spell 'NO SIGNAL'. "Commonwealth of Kerbin countries?" asked Bob as he raised an eyebrow. "Bob, those guys are behind the entire operation. They're the main cause we were sent here," Hadnard explained. Before Bob could ask other things, however, the black screen was replaced by a live conference room filled with Kerbals in business suits. "Greetings, sirs. It's a pleasure to talk to you," said Bill. "The pleasure is ours, Bill. It's a honor to speak with a kerbal in a planet far, far away," replied Gregsey. "Anyway, now that we have contact, we need to sort things out. The planes we sent you have a built-in Kethane scanner, as you can see from the large green object in their 'underbellies'. The first mission is to perform a fly across the surrounding area of the planet to check for kethane deposits," he instructed. "I got it, I'll dispatch the plane crew right now," said Bill. "But be careful, Bill. This seems like a trivial exploration mission like the ones you had on Moho's north pole, but it's much more than that. Laythe has alterady broken down from the lack of Kethane, and who knows how much time we got here on Kerbin," warned Macemone. "We will not disappoint you, gentlekerbs. K-11 signing out," Bill replied, and the connection link was closed. "Alright, guys, get your planes ready as I get the other crew," he commanded. "Wait...we'll fly?" asked Hadnard. Bill responded with a simple nod, causing Hadnard to get ecstatic and Bob to get worried. o.O.o "Can you believe it, Bob? We get to fly....in an alien superplanet out of the Kerbol system...for the first time!" cheered Hadnard, unable to contain his enthusiasm. "Yeah, but... what if suddently the engines jerk out or something?" asked Bob. "Don't worry, Bob. Scans of the planet revealed that the planet's atmosphere has oxygen, even more than Laythe," answered Hadnard. "We don't know if it's safe enough to breathe like in Kerbin, though," he added. Laythe had oxygen, but it's atmosphere had nasty chemicals that made breathing it's pure air impossible, thus the inhabitants have to use air helmets. It could be the same in K-11. "Alright, everyone, you're free to takeoff!" said Bill over the intercom. With that, the airplanes' engines roared to life. Bob carefully moved his throttle up to 68%, and raised the frontal nose gear to protect the rover wheels. Eventually the airplane gained enough speed to raise from the ground, and before he knew it, he was flying alongside four other kerbals for the first time in his life. "I'm flying.... I'm actually flying!" shouted Bob as he raised his hands to the air, the SAS keeping the plane stable. "Yeah! Feels good, doesn't it?" said Hadnard as he slowly approached Bob but retaining a safe distance. "It's like that. First, you begin flying with basic C7 aerospace jets, and before you know it, you're flying a B9 aerospace airplane easily!" he added. Despite the excitement and fun with Bob and Hadnard over White Tail Woods, things weren't as pretty at Canterlot Castle. Princess Luna couldn't shake the feeling that something - or worse, somebody - from an entirely different world has been breaching into Equestria and taking over it piece by piece. Princess Celestia calmly - but still with a concerned feeling - entered Luna's room, only to find the night princess laying uncomfortably in her bed, unable to relax. "Lunie, I know you're feeling stressed up, but you need to relax. Overworking yourself over such things won't help," she said. "I know, sister, but...it's the fact that I've had so many clues that such things would happen, yet I never actually took much notice to them...and now, this." Celestia rose an eyebrow. "'So many clues'? Care to elaborate? I'm not sure if I follow." Luna inhaled deeply. "First, all the way until I was recovered from...being that monster, I had seen a star far, far away, but yet, it was so close to me. It had that tint of yellow, unlike the other stars, which appear white from our point of view. He sometimes talked to me, and his name was Kerbol. "He was often quiet yet friendly, but he warned me that, in the correct time, he'd inadvertently bring a surprise to our kingdom, whether we like it or not. Whenever I asked him what surprise it would be, he always responded with 'Grudge is not the correct way to welcome a neighbor, whether he's from a nearby road or from another kingdom. Abide by this rule'. "I had no clue about what he was talking about, and I thought that he was being crazy. Eventually he stopped talking to me, even if I try to talk to him. But despite that, I couldn't take his words out of my head, and at the same time, I couldn't shake the feeling that something...purely out of this world was heading to our direction. "And when I saw the red falling star last night, I knew that it was the thing that was out of our world. When it 'crashed' at White Tail Woods, I continued to feel like it was...still there. And this morning, I felt like it's been calling to something else, likely Kerbol...apparently they're looking to extract something out of our world." Celestia could only frown to see her sister going through so much. Though she was a little confused as to why she never let her know about Kerbol, she knew she needed to help Luna out. "Don't worry, Luna. I'll send in an exploration team to the crash site. We'll find what is it," said Celestia. "I found some Kethane over here!" shouted Kurt over the radio. "Coordinates marked, Kurt," replied Dunlorf. "Uh...guys, you may want to see this," Bob called out, ahead from the others. The four pilots approached him, and couldn't believe what they were seeing. "Woah...is that a freaking town?!" asked Dunlorf rhetorically. "We are colonizing a planet with aliens! That might get us in trouble!" said Kurt, beginning to sweat. Duning, however, had fallen behind the others, and when he heard them talking about an alien town, immediatly throttled up to see. Unfortunately, his plane was directly behind Bob's. "Slow down, Duning, you're going to crash!" yelled Hadnard. But before either Duning or Bob could react, Duning's Mk1 Cockpit collided with Bob's Jet engine. "Oh dear..." muttered Duning as Bob's airplane began to fall. "HELP, I'M FALLING!" screamed Bob, unable to think properly. "Bob, listen to me!" shouted Kurt over the radio. "Your cockpit has a parachute! Take it and ditch the plane!" he commanded. Panicking, Bob franatically moved the items inside the drawer on the Mk1 Cockpit. Finally finding a portable Mk16 Parachute, Bob equipped it, and lept out of the cockpit. As the parachute semi-deployed, Bob took a look above him, the airplanes continued flying fowards for a moment, and afterwards they did a 180° turn and headed back to the base. Looking below him, he saw that he'd land on the edge of a forest near the aforementioned town. Back at K-11 Base One, things were a lot quieter than in the morning. Kerbals now were pretty much staying in the habitation chambers or looking around in the decks. However, Mitkin, Endo, Jebediah and Jeblime were sitting outside playing a game of Truth or Dare. "I told you, Mitkin, I haven't even heard about the new afterburner," replied Jebediah, sweating lightly. "Don't lie to me, Jeb. I remember seeing you at the runway back at KSC, and you were the only one piloting an aircraft. Afterwards I saw the very same aircraft flying with an afterburner, breaking the speed of sound," said Mitkin. Jebediah, seeing that he was narrowed down by Mitkin, Endo, and Jeblime, decided to give up. "Fine! I did! And it was awesome! There, happy?" said Jebediah, remembering his test flight. He'd give anything to be able to keep that experimental afterburner airplane. "Heh, the funniest part was the situation," commented Endo as the trio enjoyed the first three turns before Jebediah's. Jeb often made the cruelest Truths. "Well...sister! Truth or Dare?" asked Jebediah as he faced Jeblime with a mischievous expression. Jeblime began to sweat profusely. "Uh...dare!" she answered as she began to think about all the embarassing things she'd have to say if she answered 'Truth'. However, she immediatly realized that 'Dare' could be an even worse option. Everyone at the space center knows that Jebediah is a daredevil, and he was very likely to dare her to circumnavigate K-11 with one of the airplanes at the upper atmosphere. However, this time Jeb was even more crueler, and she had a hint as his mischievous face turned into one of pure malice. "I dare you to take your helmet off." That phrase alone was enough to reduce Jeblime's heartbeats to 5 BPM. Endo and Mitkin just sat there with their jaws dropped. "Wow, Jebediah. Your dare is too... harsh," said Mitkin. "I mean, taking the helmet off? That could cause death!" he added. "It won't. I did the same thing to Billy-Bobfrey on Laythe. He didn't die, rather he just coughed and gasped until he secured his helmet again," replied Jebediah, before turning his gaze to his sister again. Jeblime gulped loudly before placing her hands on her helmet's lock. Slowly, she unlocked it, and slid it off her head. She closed her eyes as she prepared for the incomming suffocation... ...which never came. Slowly opening her eyes, she was surprised to find herself still alive. Curiously, she decided to inhale some air... and it felt pratically the same as back in Kerbin. It even felt better to breathe the pure oxygen in the atmosphere rather than having to rely on oxygen tanks. "I... can breathe..." she muttered as she noticed Endo's, Mitkin's and her brother's expective gazes. "Wait, the atmosphere is safe to breathe?" asked Jebediah rethorically. Quickly, he took his helmet off and inhaled deeply. True enough, he was met with pure oxygen. "I....can!" he said. Immediatly, Endo and Mitkin took their helmets off as well. "Hey, guys!" shouted Jebediah to the K-11 base(who were a bit shocked to see the four kerbals without helmets). "The atmosphere is safe and just like Kerbin's! We can breathe!" Every kerbal's pupils shrank after that. Immediatly, each and every kerbal ran for their chambers and took off their bulky EVA suits and helmets, instead replacing it with the much more comfortable IVA clothing. Airlock systems were also deactivated, thus having all rooms rely on only one door. Immediatly after that, the several kerbals ran outside, now bearing their IVA attires, and acted just like Rapunzel after finally leaving the tower. It looked childish, but it's pratically what any astronaut would do after several years of being in space relying on heavy EVA suits and oxygen tanks. Despite all the fun the kerbals were having, two school fillies would not say the same. Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had been marching from Ponyville all the way to White Tail Woods for quite a while, and their legs were aching in pain. Despite that, Scootaloo marched fowards, though her two friends weren't as persistent as her. "Ugh...my hooves feel like they will explode," said Sweetie Belle as she looked at her aching hooves. "Can we at least stop for a li'l rest?" asked Apple Bloom, feeling even worse as she was also carrying a camera. "No, we walked so far alterady, we aren't going to give up just now!" answered Scootaloo. "And besides, we just arrived at the forest," she added. However, with all their pain on their hooves, the two fillies couldn't even notice the forest nearby. They could only whimper as they entered the forest. Fortunately, unlike the Everfree Forest, White Tail Woods had no dangerous beasts or enviorment. However, the only thing that the three ponies could notice was a faint ruckus going deeper in the forest. "What's that?" "Shhh!" Quietly, the three fillies ventured into the forest. The remnants of the previous race from last week around the woods was still vibrant. The noise got louder and clearer as they went deeper, and it seemingly changed from a faint ruckus to a sound of cheering. At what seemed to be point-blank range of the sound, the three fillies poked their heads through a bush, and saw it. A large, alien base with several aliens running around, and some alien machines. "Girls, we may have found the first alien species in Equestria!" whispered Sweetie Belle. "And a pretty foalish one, too," Scootaloo added. Apple Bloom was about to take a photo, but one of the aliens stopped doing the 'alien dance', and looked in their direction. "Oh no," the trio said in unison. Something problematic this way comes!
How to: Contact AliensBob felt like he snapped in half from the extreme G-forces when the parachute fully deployed. "Freaking second-hand parachutes," he thought, mentally cursing the engineer who designed these planes for not including a proper RealChute parachute. Those were much softer and easier to use. Eventually, Bob landed in the strange alien forest. Repacking his parachute, he began to look around. From what he had seen, the town was off north. Bob was in no mood to explore a dense forest alone and defenseless, but on the other hand he didn't need to be held captive by the natives, either. Although, when he thought more about it, living out his days until the other crew finds a way to rescue him in a dark forest didn't seem like a great option, either. He decided to hang near the town. Flickering his EVA lights on, Bob began to walk towards the town... or at least where he thought the town was. "Hey, what's that?" asked Mitkin to himself as he saw, for a split second, three things in white, orange and yellow sticking out behind the bush. Could there be alien life in this planet? Or his mind was playing tricks with him? Mitkin, however, knew that his crewmates would likely think he was seeing things, but he was sure that there was something in there. He knows the difference between whether there's nothing and when there's actually something. He began to race towards the bush, attracting Mallan's attention. "Mitkin, where are you going?" asked Mallan as he tailed his friend. o.O.o "They found us! Run!" shouted Scootaloo as the three fillies raced away from the scene. "I told you it wasn't a great idea!" said Apple Bloom, gazing at Scootaloo. She was about to respond, but was interrupted by Sweetie Belle. "Arguing won't do any good, let's just hide!" she said. With that, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle leaped to the right while Apple Bloom leaped to the left, hiding in the foilage. "Where'd they go?" asked the alien in the front. "Huh? What did go?" counter-asked the alien in the back. The language they spoke, from the fillies' point of view, was completely foreign. "Oh Celestia, what do we do now?" asked Sweetie Belle, silently hyperventilating. "Simple, we just hide here until they give up. I'm more concerned about what they're planning to do," answered Scootaloo. "They could very well be planning to suck our brains with straws and mindjack us!" replied Sweetie. "We can't let that happen! We need to take them out!" said Scootaloo. Without thinking twice, she leaped into the frontal alien's head. "YOU'LL NEVER EAT OUR BRAINS!" she yelled as she (unsucessfully)pounced Mitkin. "WOAH DUDE, THERE IS SOMETHING IN MY HEAD!" screamed Mitkin. Suddently, Sweetie Belle joined in, and afterwards Apple Bloom did as well, and before he knew it, Mitkin was being trampled by three fillies. "I'M BEING SURRENDERED! MALLAN, HELP!" shouted Mitkin as he clumsily walked around at a fast pace. "I'm on it!" said Mallan as he carefully approached Mitkin from behind, and yanked Scootaloo from his head, allowing Mitkin to see. "Let me go, you brain-sucking E.T.!" yelled Scootaloo as she flailed her limbs violently, knocking Mallan on his back, though not freeing herself from his grip. Meanwhile, Mitkin had alterady grabbed Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. "We're surrendered!" "I knew we were gettin' in bad trouble from the start..." "Let's take these troublesome creatures to the lab, shall we?" said Mitkin as he and Mallan headed back to the base. Bob was flabbergasted as he saw the entire town from the outskirts of the forest. Needless to say, he was in an inhabited world. But how could he contact the species in this situation? The locals would likely flee from him, or think he's a xenomorph, or something. But his thoughts were interrupted by an object in the horizon. Bob saw a large tree that seemed to resemble a house. Now that was an odd place to live. He simply had to check that place closer. But he had to cross part of the town first. Bob's mind simply solved that issue with one word; stealth. Bob took the nearest road he could find, and fortunately the emptiest. He sneaked behind convenient crates located on the sides of each road. It at first seemed worthless, as there was nobody nearby, but as soon as he got into a crossroad, he saw it. The town was populated by colorful, four-legged creatures. And there were several of them. It would be no easy task. o.O.o It was certainly a nightmare. Bob didn't want to redo the experience any time soon, though he knew that he'd have to do it again to go back to his emergency landing site. That, and there were several near-misses. Especially with a specific mint green alien, who seemed determined to find any and all unusual things in the entire town. Looking at the tree, Bob saw that it indeed was completely changed to resemble a house. Carefully entering, Bob noticed that there was nobody inside, but rather it was filled with books. Now that was an incredibly ironic thing, to store books within one of the objects that are killed to produce the books. Walking towards one of the shelves, Bob picked up a book to check if he could understand anything. True enough, the books were written in a completely foreign language. Placing the book back in it's respective place, Bob heard footsteps comming from outside. Panicking, Bob looked for a place to hide. His bulky EVA suit wouldn't let him climb the shelves, and he knew that he couldn't hide below a stash of books. He noticed a door laying flatly at the wall, and raced towards it. Right at the nick of time, Bob gently shut the door, and three beings entered the door. Looking through the lock, he could see that there was the mint green equine he had trouble with before, another purple one, and even a purple lizard that Bob assumed was her pet. "Well, we couldn't find anything unusual around here," said Twilight, rolling her eyes. "But we only basically explored town! Why can't we go to the crash site?" replied Lyra. "Remember the letter? The princess said everypony should avoid heading there," answered Twilight. The language they spoke was completely foreign to Bob. He knew that communicating was not a solution, and that he could very well be trapped in there for the rest of his life. And of course, there HAD to be a piece of paper in the floor barely noticeable in which Bob tripped on, causing a loud noise as Bob came rolling down the stairs into the basement. "What was that?" asked Lyra rhethorically as she, Twilight and Spike headed to the basement, and found it. A cosmonaut crashed into the floor, just what they were looking for. "Well, I got to say, those specimen are quite interesting," said Hellou, the field scientist of the crew, as she and other Kerbals analyzed the three fillies, as they stood in a glass room. "I don't think you'd say the same if you were attacked by them like they did to me," replied Mitkin, still recovering from the experience. "You let some girly, girly pony-like creatures attack you?" asked Jebediah as he began to chuckle. "Jeb, don't consider creatures by their looks. You also said the Kraken looked too cute and harmless when we heard that Camke died by it. And look how dangerous the Kraken actually is," replied Bill, staring at Jeb. The three fillies were completely oblivious to what the kerbals were saying, but it didn't take a world genius to figure that they were terrified and thinking of the worst. "I wish I knew what they were sayin'," commented Apple Bloom as she tapped on the glass. "Well, they're probably plotting to eat our brains and take over Equestria," replied Sweetie Belle. "So...what do you plan to do with them?" asked Jebediah. "Well, I'm going to perform a few experiments," answered Hellou as she flicked a blue switch in the command desk. Immediatly, the room behind the glass wall began to slowly flood all the way until the water level hit the fillies' underbellies. The trio looked at each other. "What's this water for?" asked Scootaloo. "Maybe it isn't water, maybe it's acid!" replied Sweetie Belle. "Uh, I don' think it's acid. Maybe they're performing experiments on us?" suggested Apple Bloom. And indeed, their bodies didn't seem to react dangerously to the water. "But I'm not a lab rat!" Author's Note Time to write: 3 hours, with a 5 hour interval inbetween Difficulty: Moderate-Difficult Creativity-o-Meter at time of writing: Nominal Oh, and I'm leaving this here: I did not create Hellou or Jeblime.
