Synthetic Roses

My ship started letting out a load siren as alerts popped up on my HUD. My comms buzzed to life. "Glass, what's going on?"

I checked each and every system as I approached the planet. "I don't know, something's fucking up the landing--" a loud hiss cut me off. "Oh shit, there goes the cabin door." I tried to lock it in place, quickly managing to do the complete opposite as I entered the planet's atmosphere. "Oh shit...this is gonna be hot!" I tried to hold the cabin in place, managing to keep it from tearing off for a few seconds, but once it went it took the upper half of my arm with it.

I tried to ignore the dulled pain sensors and kept the ship level. As fast as I was going I was gonna slam into the surface at mach one. In a snap decision I ejected, launching myself clear of the ship and into a safe decent. My ship slammed into a plateau and exploded, a piece of shrapnel flew up towards me and slashed a large hole into my chute.

My once slow decent quickly turned into a fall as the ground drew closer. "Eagle come in, I'm gonna nee--" I was cut off as I slammed into the ground. My suit took most of the impact, but my already damaged arm was reduced to wires and a twisted metal shell.

I laid on my stomach as I tried to gather what little composure I had left. They send me to grab data from a dead ship, then all hell breaks loose and I loose my arm again! I rolled onto my back. "Command...come in?" I felt around my helmet, pulling off chunks of radio equipment as I surveyed the damage.

"Great...fucking great." I started laughing as I realized my situation. I was stranded. For how long, I had no idea. I was sure they would send help eventually, but who knows with my command, it's been thirty years since the first station went down, and they barely got around to sending me a week ago.

As much as I wanted to sulk over my misfortune I had to get up and move. I rolled onto my front again and pushed off with my good arm. First things first I needed to find that research station. A crew of two hundred doesn't go without a few augmented personnel, so I was sure I could fix up my arm if I found it.

Though, given my current luck, all the parts would be rusted to hell and unusable.

"Come on Glass...gotta be optimistic here, everything's gonna be great, the ships gonna work, I'll get all the data I need and leave in an hour...and there's probably gonna be a sissy pink unicorn to show me around." I shook my head and walked through the clearing, my suit's comms were K.I.A. but I could still track the last known location they had given me before I left.

I walked for nearly an hour through the dense forest, an overwhelming sense of death was following me the whole while. I thought about all the wasted supplies that went down in my ship, which also brought up the thought that the entire station I was looking for could very well be a pile of ash.

"Come on Glass...positive, thing positive." I kept chanting to myself as I wandered towards the signal. Slowly marching through the damp swamp of a forest. I felt gross as I pulled myself through the mud. It clung to my suit and made a disgusting sloshing sound as I walked.

But little by little I made my way closer to the signal. Eventually I was right on top of it, yet all I could see was trees and mud. "I knew it...god damn knew it." I checked my GPS again, I was standing on it and yet it was nowhere to be seen. "...Standing on it...I swear to shit--" I scratched at my footing with my boots. A layer of moss peeled away, revealing a solid metal hull. "Really?! Fucking mud." I growled angrily as I looked for a hatch or something.

Finding none I wandered around until I started hearing voices. Someone's alive!? I darted off towards the voices and found a busted airlock, jammed open by a tree root. The voices grew louder, and thus more coherent.

"--Demands you vacate!"

"--boss of me! Don't tell me--"

I slowly tiptoed through the earthy ship.

"This is Trixie's home, not yours!"

"Well I don't care, I'm not here for y-yo--" I peeked around a corner and spotted the source of the voices. A pair of horses were arguing in the middle of an empty room. "Trixie...don't move." the red head locked up, staring me dead in the eyes.

"Do not tell the Great and Powerful Trixie, what to do!" she tilted her head up and turned around, trotting over and bumping into me. "Ough- who else dist--" her eyes went to pinpricks as she looked at my visor.

This was a unicorn, a bone fide unicorn. Huh...and I was joking about that.

The unicorn's ears went flat as she backed away. "Rose...Trixie will take back everything if you help her."

The apparent Rose said nothing, holding perfectly still and never breaking eye contact. She slowly tiptoed into the center of the room. I followed her lead by standing in the middle of the doorway. She slowly walked over to me, never taking more than a single hoof's length at a time.

"Rose this is no longer amusing! Cease and assist me! Help me!" Trixie broke character and started panicking. "I'm too young to get eaten by some monster!"

Rose kept a cool head and a hardened expression as she crawled closer to me. "Trixie, shut up already." Rose stood tall in front of me and slowly stuck a hoof out towards me. "Can. . .you. . .understand. . .me?" she poked her hoof at me, "You. . . " she pointed to herself. "Me. . .you understand me?"

I just stared at her, my visor hiding my offended expression. "Yeah...I'm not retarded."

Rose jerked her head upright and shook off my sudden speech. "Oh! ...Well...I-- that was...."

"Unexpected?"

Rose shook her head. "No, more rude than unexpected. Unexpectedly rude."

"Perfect...now--" I stopped talking as Trixie slowly tried to creep past. I blocked the way and made her run back into the room. "Now...like I was gonna say. Hello alien, I'm here to evict you. Now get out and don't come back."

"Trixie agrees." Trixie slowly tried to walk past. Rose stuck her hoof out and blocked her way.

Rose poked my gut with her hoof. "Geez, for a whatever you are, you're sure as heck rude. I mean, would asking nicely hurt so much?"

I went to point at her, only managing to make a few disconnect cable flail in her general direction. "I do- aw...." I looked at my destroyed arm. "Damn it...that was my scolding hand."

Trixie started babbling and pacing around the room as Rose looked at my arm. "What the heck are you? Like some kinda magic thingy?"

I blew her off, making a dismissive gesture with my flesh and blood hand. "Magic. I'm part scienc-- I was part science! Now I'm part broken, so if you could get out so I could fix this thing that'd be great."

Rose shook her head. "I'm sorry I wasn't aware I was in your way! Rude ass. See if you asked nicely I'd be gone by now, but noooo, you had to be a smart aleck!"

"I can't believe this...I'm getting lectured by a horse person about being rude! I mean you're...you know...gross...like pooping wherever you want and tracking mud everywhere--"

Rose scrunched up her muzzle and started shaking. "You're a jerk!"

"No shit...now can you move- move..move." each time I tried to sidestep her and move into what was becoming painfully apparent was a security checkpoint, she would step right back into my way. "Seriously?"

"Where ya goin'?"

"We really doing this!?"

Rose pushed me back a step. "I don't know Mr. three legs, you tell me!"

"Don't you talk about my di- wait...oh." I looked at my arm. "This isn't a leg...it's an arm."

"You're an arm."

I stared at the feisty mare at my front and held her aside so I could open the rest of the ship. Trixie started cowering in a corner as I went to work forcing the door open. "Please, Trixie will find a new home!"

I rummaged around the internal components as I watched Trixie shield herself from me. "Your home? You've actually been living here...like in this room?" She nodded weakly and covered her face. "Oh boy...have you been missing out." I found the emergency release and yanked it, sending a door behind Trixie flying open. The mare tumbled backwards and landed on her back.

The ship behind her was pristine, completely untouched by the moss and mud from the previous room. Trixie stood up and looked around the clean white corridor. "Trixie is...what is this?!"

I stepped past her. Turning around to the two mares and throwing my arm and nub out. "This is some crappy research station. Now go away." I turned down the hall and followed the directory to the medical bay.

Rose followed me the whole way. "This is...wow...who made this!?"

I ignored her and pried the med bay door open. "A bunch of weirdos. I don't know what they were studying but I'm sure it was something stupid." I yanked the release and sent the door out of the way. The ship had landed crooked, but it looked like sinking into the mud helped level it out.

I pulled open cabinet after cabinet, finding medical supplies for days but no prosthetic. "Oh come on."

Rose was walking circles around the room, taking in the entire ship. "Wow...this is cool!"

"Yeah yeah, space age stuff, now help me!" I yanked down a large tool box, limb replacement tools quickly fell to the floor and scattered all over the place. "Well that's half of it. Hey you still wanna-" the mare was gone, off exploring the ship.

I gathered the tools and put them on a desk. Next was a new arm, or at least some replacement parts. This whole one armed thing was beginning to get inconvenient.

I wandered from room to room, eventually finding an archaic three fingered arm in a locker. "What the fuck is this!? Fucking twenty-second century shit!" I held it under my good arm as I looked around for a more decent replacement. After an hour of searching I ran into the horses again. They followed me around as I went back to the medical bay and started replacing my arm.

Trixie was the first to address me. "How did you know that there was more house!?"

I unscrewed my base plate and let my broken arm fall to the floor. "House? It's a ship, what you thought the checkpoint was it?" I started laughing at her. I attached the new arm and hooked in the nerves. "I mean...what the hell?" the old arm was levitating in front of me with a blue glow. It bopped against my helmet as a soft twinkle faded into the background noise.

I ignored it and went back to attaching my new arm. Once I was hooked back in and my arm was back in passable condition I tested out my new three fingered hand. "So stupid looking." I grumbled angrily as I looked at the inferior hand. "Wonder if I can jack this thing up."

"So what's your name?" Rose trotted a circle around me as she spoke.

"Oh, you're still here. Shouldn't you be out in a pasture somewhere?" Rose kicked me, giving me a dead leg. "Fuu- even through the suit."

"So you gonna tell me or should I keep doing that?"

I rubbed the back of my leg as I took my helmet off. "Jesus, fine. My name's Glass."

Rose stopped her pacing as I set my busted helmet down. "I uh...wow...you're...hmmm...." she planted herself infront of me. "So Glass...is that like...short for something?"

I scratched my chin with my new hand, the fingers were slightly more abrasive than I liked, but I could fix that. "No, It's my last name, and everyone calls me by my last name."

"Uhuh...so hey...you gonna be staying here for a while?"

I cocked my head and leaned forward. "You coming on to me, horse?"

Rose glared at me. "Pony...still not a horse. And no, this place is awesome!" I just pushed off the table and started walking through the ship. "Hey I wasn't done talking! Who the heck do you think you are!?"

"Someone busy. Now go away." I bopped her on the nose and walked away.

"Oh you think I'm not busy! I was here for something too!" Rose followed me as I unlocked the rest of the ship. "Wait, you know about this place right? Where'd this come from?" she pulled a flower from her saddlebags and held it for me.

I took the flower in my hand and turned it over and over. "Hmm, it's the cure for cancer."

"Wha- what now?"

I handed her back the flower. "Yep, it's a special kind of rose they bred to cure cancer. How fucking old is this ship, they switched from the rose to synthetics ages ago."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you're telling me the plant I've been using for tea, cures cancer?!"

I started snickering. "That must taste awful." I walked with her as I wiped off the slightly dusty nameplate. "Greenhouse...someone's growing pot, I know it." I pried the door open, what waited behind was a massive jungle of exotic plants. "Whoa shit..." I wandered in and looked around. "I think I found out what they were studying." I took a look at a particular plant and took what I could. "Haha! I knew someone would be growing pot." I stuffed my new prize in my suit and walked out.

I walked halfway down the corridor before realizing I was alone. I ran back and found Rose stunned in the middle of the greenhouse. "Um...you're not following me."

"It's beautiful...." Rose sat in awe as the plants gently swayed from the synthetic light. It was also that moment when I realized this place still had power.

I started going over things in my head. "Standard...about seven years...military grade...ooooh." Military grade ship batteries could last up to fifty years, and if the lights were still on after thirty years they weren't about to go out any time soon.

I wandered around the ship as Trixie was sheepishly dragging things across the corridor. "Hey, the hell are you doing?!"

She stopped in hall and looked at me. "Trixie is moving in. Do you want to help?"

"Seriously?"

"Trixie is always serious."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Why should I let you?!"

"Because you're a nice pony."

I leaned against the wall as she wandered off. "I don't even walk on four legs." I mumbled as I trailed after her. She was setting her things in front of the bunk room and slowly unpacking.

She set her things down bag after bag, box after box. I just shook my head in defeat and wandered off. There was no harm in letting her squat in the crew quarters. All I needed was the captains quarters and the server room.

"Glass!?" Rose's shrieks woke me up. "Glass, it's trying to--oh!"

I ran over to the greenhouse and spotted a vine wrapping around her backside, it was snaking around her body and going towards her backside. "Ha-ha- holy shit!" I found a fire extinguisher and started bashing the vine. The vine let Rose flop to the floor and retreated. "Jesus...that was like something out of a bad porno."

Rose shook her body, kicking her legs and stretching out. "I'll be back soon!" she darted off.

I shrugged and went about my work, restoring the ship and finding a place to sleep. The captain's quarters was perfect, and the previous captain had left a plentiful supply of booze in his wake.

"Hey blue horse!? You wanna get hammered?" I walked my way back to the crew quarters and found Trixie unpacking a wizards hat. "Blue horse...I found bourbon, you in?"

Trixie spun around. "What?!"

I just stared at her. "Calm down...I found alcohol."

"Oh...Trixie apologizes."

"For freaking out, or for talking in the third person?" this flustered Trixie. "I'm kidding. Now we doing this or not, because getting drunk with aliens is amazing."

Trixie let out a long huff as the bottle was pulled free from my hand. "Trixie will indulge if you insist."

"Oh...that's what that is." I grabbed the bottle back from her and took a drink. "Huh. Well you seem awfully calm now...."

I passed the bottle back to her. "We- Trixie, I...have been staying in that mossy box for three months. Now you come and open up a whole new house for Trixie. Trixie accepts your existence in exchange for this wonderful new home."

I yanked the bottle back. "Accepts my existence, Jesus. What are you, the collective?"

"Trix-ee, does not understand."

"No...a drunk horse pony wouldn't." I stood up in a huff. "Damn it Trixie, you're drunk again! Get out, get the hell out and go suck a dong! Louse drink drunk!" I stumbled out of the room as I took a particularly heavy drink. "Fuushkin, horsh pone...bah!"

I leaned against the wall as I walked towards my new bed. I stepped into the Captain's quarters and found Rose laying across my bed and setting things out. "Rosh horsh, tha fuck?!"

She ignored me and continued to unpack. "No, Rosh get out, get you out drunk!" I yanked the neatly pressed sheet out from under her and claimed the bed.

"Oh you wanna go drunkie!?" Rose quickly jumped up and onto my back. She started trotting in place and whining as I buried myself into the plush bed. "Oh no, this is my bed now! Get out! Get...ut- ...." her voice faded away as I drifted away. Happily drunk and secure in my power over the horse ponies.

I could sort out my ruined ship and start digging the files off the computer in the morning.

I jumped upright when I realized something horrible. Rose was flung off me and onto the floor. "Food...no food...fuck." I grumbled angrily at the realization that I had no breakfast waiting for me.

"I've got food." Rose poked my side. "I'll share if you get off my bed."

I glared angrily at her. "I don't barshter with spach horsh!" I drunkenly rambled at her, pointed my synthetic hand at her. "I dun...when tha fuck did I get this!?" I got out of the bed and started wandering around. "What tha hell my amre!?"

Rose jumped up and claimed her spot on the bed. "See, was that so--"

"Whysh my arme all fuucked up!?" I sat on the floor and fumbled with my arm. "It looks like...robat...why I no have fingers, robat finger!" I spent the rest of my conscious hours messing with my arm, until finally succumbing to the drink.