1: Close Encounter of the Third Kind
The Other Side of the GalaxyChapter 1: Close Encounter of the Third KindBy The Accursed One
The third planet in the Kerbol system, Kerbin, was known by many names by its many races. Those on the Equestrian continent called their home planet Equus. Those on the Kerbonia continent called the planet Kerbin. What they all agreed on, though, was that the planet was home. The Kerbals, of their homelands on the continent of Kerbonia, chose to explore their little corner of the universe, while the ponies and other races in their Equestrian homelands decided to stay put, ignorant of other countries and forms of life outside their home. That all changed after one fateful event.
One warm summer night in the middle of July, the ponies in Ponyville gathered for their annual comet-watching gathering. Looking towards the sky, they saw a meteor that appeared larger than most, and it was coming toward them! Everypony started running away, fearing for their lives as the object from space got closer and closer, losing speed as the fireball entered the thickest part of the atmosphere. Upon closer inspection, this fireball would turn out to be a piece of a rocket whose orbit decayed to the point of irreversibly re-entering the atmosphere.
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William, Jebediah, and Robert Kerman, known popularly as Bill, Jeb, and Bob respectively, were walking down the bridge to the command pod of their orbiter. This was going to be the first manned flight into orbit, and the rocket’s testing had worked well so far. After the kerbonauts entered the rocket, the hatch was sealed, and the countdown to launch was initiated. Launching in T-minus ten, nine, eight, prepare for liftoff, seven, engines started, six… came the voice over their speakers. five, engines lit, four, three, two, one, and liftoff! The rocket shuddered as the launch clamps holding it in place released and the rocket started lifting itself into the atmosphere, engines at maximum thrust to escape gravity’s strong hold.
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The object crashed into the planet’s surface, throwing copious amounts of dust and debris into the atmosphere and creating a large impact crater around one kilometer in diameter. Luckily for the ponies, it landed mostly in the Everfree Forest, with large amounts of damage to the surrounding farmland. That year’s harvest may not get the town through the winter. All the pegasi that were on the scene went to gather clouds to put out the inevitable forest fire, circumventing the next day’s orders for a rainstorm.
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Outside the thickest parts of the atmosphere yet still not in orbit, the three kerbonauts started the engines to form and circularize an orbit around Kerbin. Jebediah sent a message to mission control confirming that the rocket is indeed in orbit and has enough fuel to return to the planet, then extended the solar panels so their craft would not lose power when it goes on the opposite side of Kerbin from the sun. Mission control hailed the orbiter to tell its crew to start a de-orbit burn once they see the sun again in the hopes that the landing site would be close enough to the space center that retrieving the capsule wouldn’t be too much of a hassle.
Sunrise above Kerbin was a beautiful thing: seeing Kerbol barely peeking out above the planet’s surface left a bright glow on the land below, also illuminating the upper atmosphere and giving it a light blue glow. Inside the orbiting rocket, though, was a different story. The kerbonauts were distracted by Jebediah trying to exit the capsule, thinking he had the proper equipment to perform a spacewalk. Needless to say, an argument ensued and the window for the de-orbit was closing fast.
Suddenly, Bill noticed the sun had risen above Kerbin and quickly got his brothers to focus on entering the atmosphere, at least until the parachute was deployed. He turned the craft so its engines pointed retrograde, away from the direction of orbit, and turned up the throttle. The rocket started slowing down, and its projected orbit had the craft landing in the ocean to the west of the space center, taking the planet’s rotation into account. The sound of a minute explosion filled the ship: the fuel tanks had been ejected, and the capsule was now at the mercy of the atmosphere.
After around five minutes of free-falling through the atmosphere at around 11,000 meters per second, the bottom of the capsule started lighting up with the high amounts of heat caused by friction in the air at high speeds. The heat shields on the outside of the capsule began deteriorating, the outer coating burning off as the capsule got closer to the ground. After some time, the heat tapered off, allowing the kerbonauts to activate the parachute that would take them to the ground safely. At an altitude of 500 meters, the parachute fully opened, signaling the craft would make a safe landing in the ocean just to the west of a beach.
The capsule finally splashed down, landing close enough to the shore that its inhabitants could swim to land. Bob Kerman, probably the most scared of the three, exited the capsule first much to the dismay of his brother. They swam the fifty meters to shore, leaving the capsule where it was for the space center to pick it up later. Little did they know, though, that they landed on the other side of the world from their homes, and the inhabitants of where they landed were less than happy with them...
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Deciding, once the wreckage cooled off and the fire was put out, to inspect what had landed in their homeland from space, the ponies of Ponyville crowded around the mysterious object. The crater its impact had caused smothered acres of farmland, indirectly burned down large amounts of trees, and destroyed the homes and businesses of those ponies unfortunate enough to be living close to the Everfree Forest. Luckily for them, though, nopony was injured spare for a couple sprained knees from tripping whilst running. The object had a peculiar color, shape, and texture compared to the occasional meteorite that landed in the outer lands. Instead of being grey, bumpy, and rocky, it was charred white with black paint, smooth, and a uniform cylinder.
“K… S… C…” one pony said, reading what was written on the side of the crashed fuel tank out loud. “Anypony know what a KSC is?” The reply was a resounding no.
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“Ugh, when are we going to stop walking? My feet are tired, and I’m tired, and I bet Bill is too! I just want to go back in space,” Jebediah Kerman complained to his brother Bob, who was just as annoyed with walking the miles to civilization as he was with his brother’s endless ranting about not being in space.
After days and nights of walking, the three stranded kerbonauts found a village on the edge of a large forest one night. The brothers looked like they had been through a storm with the way their clothing was shredded up, leaving patches of their green skin red with sunburn.
“Guys, I must be delusional or something,” Bill said to his brothers, “because I’m not seeing Minmus anywhere. I see the Mün, but not Minmus.”
“See Minmus? I wish I was on Minmus. At least there, I’d have some food. It is the pudding moon, after all,” Bob replied.
Suddenly, they saw a quadrupedal equine being galloping towards them, trying to get the brothers’ attention in a language they didn’t understand. They could make out some words due to the languages having slightly similar roots, but nothing comprehensible. The Kerbals attempted to communicate through gestures; well, Bill tried and failed. The Equestrians were just not as intelligent, it seemed.
