Lost In the Stars

Chapters

Penguin chase
Threat level 6
Hard Landing
Vegetable on a spit
Distress Call
The Flying Rookery
Ascension
Codex: Penguins
Codex: Poptop

Penguin chase

Somewhere in the depths of space, within the Gamma Sector, There is silence. The Darkness of space lit only by the countless stars that dot the universe. Dots in a wide spectrum of color consisting of blue, red, orange, white, and yellow. Dots that each contain an endless possibility of adventure and discovery, science and mythology, life and death. Few ever get the opportunity to travel among the stars, fewer ever get to comprehend understand the significance of each one.

Within the Alpheli System silence has been replaced by the sound of explosions as three ships chased a cruiser. The three ships were shaped like giant saucers and each of them fired at the routing ship.

The fleeing ship had flat grey color along with red accents on the sides. It was equipped with thrusters on the stern and the bottom of the hull, and it was equipped with weapons on the bow. Though armed, the ship was still making its way to escape.

Within the cockpit of the routing ship was its pilot steering the ship. His brown skin and black hair was drenched with sweat. He wore a jumpsuit with his name embroidered on his left chest Nico. His palms were sweaty yet he still held the steer with a firm a grip. His breath was ragged as he heard the ship ache and moan with each time it was struck.

"Shield levels depleted." Spoke an electronic voice.

"Fantastic, just fantas-" ranted Nico just as he was thrown from his seat from an explosion that rocked the entire ship.

"Incoming transmission from the attacking vessels."

"Ughhh," moaned Niccolo as he picked himself up, "Let it through"

The cockpit soon turned black then showed a holographic of three penguins. Each penguin had multiple scars on their bodies, the signs of many conflicts in the past. One of the most noticeable was the center penguin with its crimson red bandana wrapped around its head and the right robotic flipper. They all looked upset.

"Ah, Dreadwing," exclaimed Niccolo giving a light bow, "Are you here deliver the rest of my winnings? Maybe that explains why your ships are behind me firing plasma beams. That's right, plasma beams loaded with pixels! To you I give a slow applaud" Nico sarcastically clapped his hands in a slow comical fashion

Dreadwing shouted with more energy than a supernova. "Pekka pekka poker! Pekka pock pixels! Pekka peeta!"

"Lies!" hissed Niccolo, "That was a fair game of poker! So what if I had four extra Aces?"

"Pekka peter piper pepper peeta!" The holograms soon flickered and vanished and light returned to the cockpit.

Niccolo sunk into his chair and sighed, "How come these birds can't be like Happy Feet and dance their problems away? Looks like I have no choice. Computer! What's the status of the ship's weapons?"

"Ion Cannons functioning at one hundred percent efficiency." Suddenly another plasma beam struck the side of the ship resulting in multiple explosions and shaking the entire ship violently. "Ion Cannons offline."

"No? how about the Proton Missiles?"

"Offline."

"Lasers?"

"Offline."

"Fatal Circuit Mark Two, and don't say offline again."

".....Fatal Circuit is still in the construction phase."

"Shit!" Cursed Niccolo as he beats his fists on the control panel. Nico then sighed, "Well, let's get the hell outta here." He quickly evaluated his options. He could escape into a different system and hide his ship in asteroid field from the penguins, but there's no food in asteroids and he would have to stay for several weeks. He could flee to the beta sector but he would still be chased by Dreadwing's goons.

It seems that where ever Niccolo would go Dreadwing would follow, but an idea lit up in the distressed pilot's mind. He remebered he recently upgraded his Starmap so that he could travel into the Delta Sector. Dreadwing's influence only extends to sectors as far as Gamma.

Before Niccolo put his plan of escape to action he shouted, "Computer! Reopen communications with Dreadwing!"

Within a matter of seconds the Penguin Holograms returned. "Pekka plock?" he asked with a hint of joy certain that Nico's death is near

Niccolo smiled as he said, "No, I'm not begging for mercy I already accepted my fate. This is probably the last time that I may speak to you sooooo," and with such a furious passion as if powered by a hundred pieces of burning coal Niccolo threw up his hands letting his middle fingers tower above the others, "Screw you you walking dominoes!" He shot his hands up and down with a childlike face of joy and mischief. After tiring himself from throwing his clenched hands up and down at a befuddled Dreadwing for what seemed like minutes he ended the transmission.

Niccolo went to work preparing for light speed setting his coordinates for the Delta Sector. With thoughts only focused on survival he chose a random system without looking and pressed the button "Go".

Niccolo's flaming ship soon made a jump into light speed heading into a course unknown. If he spared a second to look at his screen then he would have noticed that the planet he was heading towards had its sun rotating around it.

"I hope I won't get into anymore trouble where I'm going," said Niccolo as he closed his eyes to rest, "It can't be worse than a mob of angry Penguins."

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It was late at night in Equestria as Princess Luna was spending reading her seemingly endless supply of comic books as well as gorging on a wide assortment of snacks within the Canterlot Observatory. She sat beside a the observatory's high powered telescopes that gazed into the night sky.

Ever since Spike showed Luna his favorite comic, The Power Ponies, she's been obsessing over Sci-Fi comics. In just a few days she's read a mountain's worth of graphic novels from popular franchises such as Mane Wars, Star Trot, and Battlestar Gallopica. Luna had so many comic books in her quarters that during one afternoon her sister Celestia accidentally got buried under 10 stacks of Manga. Luna could recall that moment, Her sister made her new found hatred of comics cleare when she burned half the comics to a crisp.

Now with her surviving comics The Canterlot Observatory became a haven for the both of them. With her love of Sci-Fi Luna began to question a thought that's been dormant in her thoughts. "Do aliens exist? If they do then how come nopony has ever seen them? What are they like? Are they like the aliens in my comics? Can they take me on an adventure?"

With such thoughts circling around her head she decided to sate her ravenous curiosity by looking through the telescope. As she looked through she was greeted with a spectrum of color. Stars and galaxies that are all beyond the reach for even an Alicorn. She looked for a sign of extraterrestrial life but found none. The more Luna looked at the stars the more depressed she felt.

Tired of the depressing sight Luna was going to stop gazing through the telescope until a bright flash light blinded her. As Luna reopened her eyes and returned she saw a small object slowly getting bigger and bigger until it looked like a ship in her comics. Luna was having difficulties adjusting the telescope to the ships distance, but there it was, a ship just floating above Equestria

It took Princess Luna a full minute to comprehend this and when did she hammered her fore hooves on floor with excitement and shouted with shock as if she couldn't believe what she saw, "Aliens! Aliens in Equestria! Heavens be praised!" She wanted to stay still but couldn't help being giddy and giggled like a young filly.

When Luna finally recomposed herself looked again through and saw that the ship was landing, landing in the Everfree Forest. She squealed with joy, "I'll get to meet real aliens! There's so much to ask them, but," Luna put up a serious face,"As Princess of the Moon I must represent our planet and establish relations with the extraterrestrial life form." Soon her face cracked and she giggled once again and clapped her hooves, "Then I'll be able to go on many space adventures and explore the galaxy. Haha! But wait." Luna soon put her hoof under china and began to ponder, "I'll be in need of somepony to accompany me for this meeting. Tis not wise to depart unaccompanied especially if it's to meet with a mysterious life form. Hmmm, better write to Twilight."

Author's Note

It's been so long Since I've done anything. But playing Starbound as well as reading the other fanfics inspired me to make one of my own. I guess at some point I'll get a cover image for the story or make my own if I have the skills. Anyway, enjoy the story and if you find any fault within it please tell me.

Threat level 6

"Now exiting light speed," said the computer.

Nico slowly opened his eyes and yawned, "Computer, conduct an assessment on the ship."

"Weapons systems damaged and nonoperational, shields charging at eighty percent capacity, ship hull capacity at 12 percent, life support system damaged and offline. The ship has two hours worth of oxygen left, suggesting to land to launch automated repairs."

Nico sighed and slowly picked himself up from his chair. "Computer, do a planetary search."

"Detected a planet with a habitable environment. Threat level: 6. Primary Biome: grasslands"

Nico couldn't believe his luck and spoke with high spirits,"Computer, land this ship and launch repairs."

Nico left the cockpit to suit up as the computer maneuvered the ship into the planet's atmosphere. He entered a vast grey room illuminated by the ceiling lights. On the walls were windows that displayed the dark void of space and the green planet he was going to land in.

Nico opened the ship's storage, inside were a wide arsenal of weaponry and armor. He first focused on donning his armor made from titanium, which could withstand almost anything. To Nico, his armor was like his second skin. He slowly caressed his armor feeling every groove, bump, and scratch. He then grabbed his helmet and kept it at his side as he was browsing his weapons.

Nico selected his weapons: a titanium short sword, A large steel shield, and his pulse rifle that can store up to a hundred rounds of ammunition. Anyone or anything with half a mind would think twice before confronting him. Nico stored each of them into one of his favorite gadgets, the Millennium Side-Pocket. A portable storage device that can shrink items into compact size and can summon them back in the wielders at an instant, a useful item when collecting materials as well as a life saver when in the heat of battle. At Nico's wish, each of the items disappeared and were stored into his side-pocket.

A grumbling noise stopped Nico in his place. Immediately he went to a group of barrels and took the lids off one of them. Inside was a single object that had a grey color with a brown stem. "No, no, no," Nico went from one barrel to the next taking off each of their lids to revealing not even a crumb of food. He begrudgingly trudged back to the first barrel and grabbed the object as he said, "I'm completely outta food and all that is left is this!" he brought the object close to his face and said with a sense of defeat in his voice, "Damn it! I hate automatoes!" Nico took a large bite into it's soft skin gagging at it's metallic taste and spitting out the screws. "Ughh... I'm gonna have to add hunting to the list besides collecting fuel and getting a tetanus shot." As Nico finished off the last of the automato he grabbed a bow made of steel alongside some arrows. Nico then packed tools for collecting and handling materials into his side pocket.

"Landing in approximately twenty seconds," said the computer.

Nico strapped on his helmet. Once his helmet was on, Nico said, "Activate." As if brought to the life, the armor made a light humming sound and emitted a blue glow that encompassed Nico's body and quickly disappeared. Nico felt lighter, as if he wasn't wearing any armor at all. Nico's helmet lit up showing his vitals as well the energy levels in his suit.

"Landing complete, launching self repair program," said the computer.

Nico approached the ships's door to the outside and pressed a red button next to it. As the doors hissed open Nico grabbed a teleportation device from a small compartment and strapped it to his wrist. When Nico opened the ship's door he was immediately greeted by a cool breeze that tickled his chin and his lips. He looked around and was satisfied to see that the Computer landed his ship in a forest, safe from prying eyes. The door closed behind him as he stepped out.

Nico drew his hand and in that instant his steel bow assembled itself. He then began his hunt for food and went into the woods.

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Twilight stood along with her friends In her library. they were all exhausted from waking so early in the morning, except for Pinkie who was hopping in place with excitement showing no signs of fatigue in her eyes or movements. All of them were answering Princess Luna's summons and met in Twilight's home to wait for her.

Rarity yawned, "What must be so important that it has to disturb my beauty sleep? I need sleep to maintain my mane."

"Who cares about yer mane," retorted Applejack," I'm needed at the Farm for the apple harvest."

"Calm down you two," said Twilight,"This could be something so very important that Princess Luna may need our help. Equestria could be at ri-"

Twilight paused when she saw Luna entering the room. The Moon Princess was accompanied by two of her personal guards. Everyone stopped and bowed As Luna approached. Her face was stripped of any emotions and spoke as if she were addressing a guard. "Everypony rise. My sincerest apologies for awakening you all from a slumberous rest, but this is a dire situation."

"What is it Luna? Is Equestria in any danger?" asked Twilight, her eyes filled with dread as to what she's about to hear.

"While performing my royal duties as Princess of the Moon, I caught glimpse of a mysterious object descending from the skies landing in the Everfree Forest. I believe that it may be an alien spaceship."

Twilight's mouth dropped with such power that it almost detached from her face. "What?"

"Aliens?" Pinkie smiled, jumped, and shouted ecstatically, "Ooo, how super extra-fun extra-awesome extra-spectacular! Extraterrestrial aliens! I'm gonna throw an extra-super-duper fun welcome party. I think I'll write in the banner "Welcome to Equestria, Please don't eat us."

Fluttershy squeaked, "Eat us?" Her eyes shrunk to the size of pinpricks.

"Calm down sugercube." Spoke Applejack as she gave a Fluttershy a reassuring pat on the back.

Rainbow Dash exploded with laughter and fell down hugging her sides. "Oh that is rich! A spaceship? An alien? Next you're going tell us that there's going to be an invasion. Seems like a formula for a bad Si-Fi movie. Phbfff... Ha! Ha!" She finally stopped, wiping a tear from her eye. "I'm sorry Princess, I couldn't help myself."

"Alien invasion?" Exclaimed Pinkie Pie, "Ooo!" That means a bigger party! I'll have to get more streamers, because you can't have a party without strea-"

"Hark everypony!" Luna stomped her hoof on the floor causing everyone to pause and stare at her. "This is a matter we can't just ignore. This alien can bring many opportunities Equestria! Are we gonna let this moment slip from our grasp? Nay? then off to the Everfree Forest we go."

Luna led the way into the Everfree Forest. Her face was of stoic courage, but inside she was giddy with excitement for she is a step closer to fulfilling her greatest fantasy.

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Nico stalked the vast forest for game for the past two hours and has yet to find any. He walked until he entered to what seems to be a swamp at the edge of the forest. Nico stared at it's murky brown water that extends as far as his eyes could see where the crescent moon sets. "I walked across a forest looking for something to hunt and found nothing. Screw this crap, I'm taking short nap. Maybe I'll look through the swamp next."

As the defeated Nico was walking to a tree to rest on, he heard a rustling sound within the bushes. He immediately drew his bow and fired bush which squealed in response. Nico quickly made his way to the bushes moving the foliage to gaze at what he shot at. Instead of a corpse of some strange alien creature, Nico found a rabbit with snow like fur. It's haunches arched over Nico's arrow and its breathing so erratic Nico thought it would explode from fear. The rabbit looked up at Nico's face with fear in its eyes. It's face of fear then turned into anger as It shook its fore-arm at Nico while jabbering a foul language. When it was done, it hopped away into the forest.

Nico stared where the rabbit once stood. When he finally mustered enough of his senses he muttered quietly, "Did I just get chastised by a rabbit? A rabbit?" Nico placed his hand on his stomach as it rumbled and growled like a beast. "Ugh.... should've gutted that rabbit."

Nico's suddenly heard a beastly roar. He immediately backed away from the bushes and the trees. Nico's heart began to beat quicker as the roars came closer and he couldn't find the source. He looked into the bushes and into the trees but found no sign of the beast, that was until he found himself under a shadow that was increasing in size. He looked up to see a winged beast in front of the sun flying directly towards. Nico fired his bow at the beast but missed, due to the sun in his eyes The beast was only a few seconds away. It was so close that Nico could make out the beast's bushy red mane, demonic like wings, and scorpion tale.

When Nico was just within the reach of the creature's razor sharp claws, He moved so fast that his body became a blur. Nico chuckled as he watched the now befuddled beast looking for him. When the beast became aware of Nico's position, Nico had already sheathed his bow and drew out his sword and shield.

The beast roared and charged towards Nico, but whenever it too got close Nico would move like a flash of light out of the beast's grasp. The beast kept charging Nico, failing every time to have him pinned, until it exhausted and stopped to recover. Nico dashed over to the beast like a flash of like and slashed its right foreleg.

The beast bellowed in pain as it fell on its bloodied leg. In defense the beast tried to pierce Nico with its stinger, but Nico raised his shield in time. The stinger pierced through Nico's shield and was so close to his face that he thought that the tip of the stinger was shaving the whiskers off his face.

Nico's arm was strapped to the shield and before he could even react the beast flailed its tail in the air. Nico was shaken like a boneless chicken as he was unbuckling his straps. Once he freed himself, Nico was thrown to the ground.

The beast pounced on him and was about to tear him apart with its massive jaws. The Beast pinned Nico's legs and chest with its massive body. The beast roared at Nico showering him in saliva and the horrid stench of decay.

Nico frantically stabbed at the beast's other uninjured foreleg, causing its hulking body to fall on him. Nico then plunged it into the beast's neck. The sword descended into the beast's flesh with such ease it was only stopped by its hilt. Crimson blood was bursting from the beast's necks and was raining down on Nico. The blood painted Nico's helmet and chest. Nico couldn't breath without inhaling at least a droplet of blood. The beast yelped in pain. It forgot the the scrumptious taste of prey, It forgot the prey within its grip, its only thought was the cold blade that resides in its throat. The beast groaned, yelped and shook violently until it choked on its own blood and died.

Nico coughed and gagged spitting out the blood that made it into his mouth. When he was done he took a deep breath. He then patted the beast and chuckled, "finally, something to eat. Just gotta get outta here." Nico was trying to free himself from the corpse that pinned him. "Ok I just gotta umph.... just gotta ummphh! Ummph!" After numerous attempts Nico gave up. "Well shit. Looks like I'll have to cut myself out. Cut myself a serving of steak while I'm at it."

Nico reached for his sword and pulled it out from the dead beast with ease. When he began to cut off chunks of flesh from the corpse Nico heard an ominous bubbling sound. He couldn't see what it is but he heard an orchestra of water droplets falling down on the earth. He heard growling from what sounds like a massive beast. His blood went cold when the growling intensified and got closer to where he was.

Suddenly like magic, the dead beast was lifted to the air. Nico felt relieved from the weight until he gazed what was in front of him. A four headed reptilian creature, larger than Nico's spaceship, ripping the beast he just killed as if it was just paper. He slowly crawled away from the massive reptile, watching its heads fight over every morsel of food it had. Once he felt that he was far away enough, Nico got up and sprinted into the forest while saying under his breath, "Threat level six my ass."

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Princess Luna as well as the rest of group had been wandering the Everfree Forest for more than two hours for the mysterious alien spacecraft. The sun had already risen and pierced through the foliage of the trees. "Oh, I'm so bored!" Pouted Rainbow Dash, "I'm sorry everypony but I can't just stay here. I gotta practice for the Equestrian Games!" She flew off into the skies.

AppleJack shouted, "Rainbow Dash! Get yer tail back over here."

"Let her go Applejack," interjected Twilight, " Princess Luna, we should split up into two groups so that we could find the alien faster."

Luna nodded her head. "Agreed"

"Alright, Fluttershy and Pinkie, go with Princess Luna. Rarity and Applejack, come with me."

"I'll have one of my guards accompany your party." She turned to her guards. "Obsidian, accompany Princess Twilight's party."

"Yes Princess," replied the guard.

The two newly formed groups went their separate ways to find the spacecraft.

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It has already been an hour since Twilight split up from Luna and still, they found no sight of the alien spaceship.

To past the time, Rarity decided to talk to Applejack. She said to her, "You know Applejack, If I had known sooner we'd be meeting an alien from outer space I would've worn my best satin dress encrusted with the finest jewels."

"Sure," responded Applejack, "Make a dazzling treat of yourself so that if the alien decides to eat us it'll try to eat you first. That sure is Generous of ya, Rarity."

"Oh please, I don't think an alien would fly across space just to look for a-" An arrow zipped past Rarity and struck a tree behind her. "Snaaaack! Twilight!"

Another arrow zipped by and struck the guard accompanying Twilight's party in the left foreleg. He screamed and fell on his side. Twilight saw the fallen guard and rushed towards him. She focused on her horn and conjured a purple shield in front of her and the guard. Arrows meant for her skull ricocheted off the shield. "Everypony behind me!" Twilight shouted.

"No need to tell me twice!" Said a wide eyed Applejack as she scrambled towards Twilight.

"Where?" Rarity screamed, "Where are the arrows coming from?"

Sweat was beading down Twilight's face as she held the force field. "I don't know, but I can't stay like this for too long! We need to get outta here! Applejack! Carry him!"

Applejack lifted the wounded guard and placed him on her back. The guard was panting violently as he tried to feel the arrow protruding from his side. "Everything's gonna be alright sugercube. Just hold on. We'll get ya fixed lickety-split."

Twilight backed away from the arrows with Applejack and Rarity. Once they believed they were far enough they ran away out of the Everfree Forest.

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Princess Luna was leading her group when she heard a series of screams. Luna's Guard took a defensive stance..

Fluttershy looked like she was about to have a heart attack. "That sounded like Rarity!"

Pinkie jumped to Fluttershy and grasped her face with her hooves, clinging both cheeks together. "The Alien!" She screeched, "The Alien is eating Rarity!" Pinkie then put her hoof under chin. "Hmmm. I'll have to give the Alien an extra slice of cake so that Rarity can still have some."

After listening to Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy fainted and fell from Pinkie's grasp into the dirt floor.

Luna eyebrows rose up to the tip of her forehead when she heard the word "alien"but immediately felt sick with guilt. It was she who brought Twilight and her friends to search for something that's more likely an illusion caused by lack of sleep. She's not gonna let anyone be harmed because of her fantasies. "Pinkie, wake Fluttershy. I'm going to help Twilight."

Luna's guard stepped forward. "Princess it's dangerous."

"Don't concern me about safety when somepony's life is at risk." She then turned, stretched her wings, and took off.

Her guard shouted for her but she was already gone. She was as fast as a whip as she zipped past the trees following the screams that rang in her ears. Nothing was going to distract her nothing, that was until her vision became blinded by random glare. She barely avoided crashing into a tree. The mysterious object captured Luna's attention causing her to land to see what it was. She worked her way through the bushes until she made her way to a large opening.

Luna's previous thoughts evaporated into nothing as she found herself staring at the alien spaceship she had been so looking for. The spaceships in her comics couldn't prepare her for the sight she was seeing. She walked closer to the ship to rest her hoof on the exterior of the ship's hull. She stroked the smooth metal of the ship. She circled around the ship gazing in awe at the ships's cockpit and weapons, and attachments till Luna made her way to the rear to the engines.

Between the two engines there was a door. Luna walked to the door and looked for a way in. There were no buttons to be seen so Luna focused her horn on the door and encompassed it in a blue glow. She kept at this until she heard the door click and the door whooshed open revealing the inside.

Luna rushed in to gaze at the inside of the ship, she couldn't help but let her jaw drop at the sight of the Ship's interior. She felt that she was dipped in another world. It took minutes for Luna to finally be free herself of the deep trance and move on.

Luna went further into the ship to another door. The door whooshed opened from Luna's presence. Luna then found herself in the cockpit. She giggled with delight and hopped up and down with an uncontrollable excitement. Luna stared at the steering wheel and the vast array of buttons alongside it. It was at this point that Luna no longer saw herself as Princess of the Moon, but Captain Luna of the United Equestrian Star Fleet. She soon began to talk to herself in a commanding voice. "Lieutenant Gears! The ship's under fire! What's going on?"

Luna then spoke in a Trottingham accent. "Mum! Clingon forces are firing at us from all sides. We have to take off now If we want to see the next star."

Luna then spoke in a monotone yet intelligent voice. "Agreed, maintaining a dangerous position without any sign of victory would be highly illogical." She cracked up into laughter

Luna went to the pilot's chair and sat in it. As she was adjusting herself an alarm went off and a computer voice spoke, "Intruder alert. Intruder alert. Intruder alert." The whole room went dark except for a flashing red light. As the alarms blared on, a chrome like material sprouted from the pilot's chair wrapped around Luna's entire body except for her head. She squirmed and kicked but couldn't break free. Luna became panicked. She aimed her horn on the ship's control panel fired a bolt of magic at it.

The control panel sparked and short circuited and the bonds that bounded Luna liquefied and fell apart. Luna thought everything was gonna be ok but the alarms continued blaring within the room.

"Er-er-er-er-er-error." the computer voice was distorted and the voice fluctuated dramatically. "st-st-starting engines. taking off." The ship then lifted off the ground. The whole forest shook from the massive power of the ship's engines.

Luna could see Ponyville and Canterlot in the distance, it felt so insignificant seeing them both from such a height. As Luna stared Rainbow Dash suddenly appeared. She was gawking at the ship appeared in the sky. Rainbow Dash then flew closer and landed on the windshield of the cockpit. She was trying to look who was in the cockpit but couldn't see through the windows. She just rapidly tapped on the glass hopeful that she would gained the pilot's attention

"F.T.L. jump in 10,9..." said the computer

Luna rapidly pressed every button on the control panel, hopeful that one of them will stop the ship. Her efforts were futile.

When the countdown finished, a sound like no other rocked all of Equestria. The force produced shook the earth and the trees closest to the ship ripped in half. Rainbow Dash disappeared like a flash of light.

Luna was thrown back into her chair, her hopes of escaping were dashed. She looked through the windshield in a mixture of awe and horror. She sat and watched as the ship bolted past hundreds to thousands of stars as if they were just grains of sands in a massive desert. Luna's dream of flying to the stars became a reality, thought not how she imagined. Luna continued to stare into the massive abyss of space, fearful of her destination.

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Nico was sitting atop a branch high on a tree bashing his head on the trunk. "The purple one summoned a force field. A force field. Why?" Nico was driven to tears by his growling stomach. "What happened to the days when alien creatures were easy to kill and crazy shit like force fields don't appear outta the blue?!"

Nico's ears twitched as he heard a familiar a sound in a distance. His face froze. "No, no." The sound increased to a point where Nico couldn't even hear himself think. The whole forest began to sway back and forth, Nico had to hold on to the trunk of the tree just to keep him from falling off.

As he was looking for the source of the sound, Nico saw his ship floating in the distance. He saw the engines lit up and knew that his ship was about to make a jump and enter F.T.L. speed. Nico was going to teleport back into his ship and cancel the jump. Nico brought out his teleportation device, but he was already too late.

The ship was gone, as if it just turned to air in an instant, then there was a wave of sound and force like nothing Equestria has ever witnessed before. The shock wave threw Nico off his branch and flew him backwards. Nico felt like he lost all of his senses. He wasn't even aware of the numerous trees and branches he crashed into or when his body slammed on the ground.

When he finally started to regain his senses, Nico felt like he his whole body was stuffed with broken glass. He wanted to scream, but he could hardly even breath. He heard only a constant ringing sound in his ears. Anytime he tried keep his eyes open Nico would get a soaring headache. The few times that Nico opened his eye's, he saw his visor informing him of his condition.

Nico laid there coughing blood and thought to himself. "I have multiple fractures in my chest and legs, I'm suffering a concussion, lost sight in my right eye, ruptured both eardrums, and I'm bleeding internally. I'm basically screwed, but." Nico forced himself to stay awake. "I made promise to myself a long time ago. When I left Earth." Nico summoned a large syringe, filled with a red glowing liquid, in his hand. He then jabbed the tip of the syringe into hid exposed flesh and emptied it's contents into his bloodstream. Nico slowly moved his lips and uttered a small chant, "Revenge. Revenge. Revenge." The contents of the syringe began to perform its funtion and started healing Nico's body returning Nico's sight and hearing. "Revenge. Revenge. Revenge." Nico began to scream like a demonic beast as his bones were being shifted and reformed into their original shape. "Revenge! Revenge! Revenge!" Nico's internal body began to heal itself closing any open wounds, stopping him from bleeding to death. "Ugh....."

Nico was completely healed, though exhausted from the ordeal. He couldn't just go to sleep, especially if someone just made off with his ship. Nico slowly picked himself. Nico brought out his teleportation device and was going warp back to his ship, until the device beeped and the text appeared: Unable to teleport ship is in light speed. Accessible in approximately 40 minutes.

Nico decided that in his condition the forest was too dangerous to stay in. He followed, a trail of blood left behind by one of the creatures he shot at. Once he felt comfortable, Nico increased his pace to jog.

His face carried a grim expression, as memories from long ago brooded over him. Nico tried to brush them away by focusing on his ship. "Just hold out for a little longer. Don't get distracted." Still, they remained in Nico's mind. He thought of home as he followed the trail of blood.

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Twilight and her group were at the edge of the Everfree forest. She as well as everyone else were on the floor, not from fatigue, but from a massive force that threw each of them off their hooves. They weren't the only ones affected, everywhere the leaves were ripped off from the trees by the force and gently rained down on Twilight and her friends.

Applejack got up rubbing her head with her hoof. "Ooh," she groaned, "I feel like a seasons worth of apples were just dumped on my head." She then turned towards the guard she was once carrying. She slightly cringed at the sight. The guard's ebony colored leg was soaked with red blood caused by the arrow. The guard looked like he was at the brink of death. "Twilight!" Applejack shouted, "Get over here!"

Twilight, followed by Rarity, rushed over to Applejack. Twilight bit her lip in an attempt to hide the nausea, while Rarity's pupils shrunk to the size of pinpricks.

"Twi ya have to get this feller to hospital," said Applejack, "You're the only one who can get him there in an instant."

"I can't just leave you here defenseless," complained Twilight, "What if the thing that was shooting at us earlier is following us?"

The guard spoke weakly, "Princess Twilight, There's no need to take me to the hospital. Every guard is equipped with a medical kit for such situations such as this. It's at my side. It has everything you need."

Rarity retrieved a small container with her horn and levitated it to the guard's face so that he could see. "This?" She asked.

The guard gave a slight nod. "Princess, I need you to extract the arrow from my foreleg. Your magic can easily take out the entire the arrow." He turned his head towards Applejack. "Miss Applejack, I may not be able to tolerate the pain, so I'll need you hold me down."

"Alright Sugarcube." said Applejack.

Twilight moved closer to the guard's wounded leg. "Rarity, I'll need your help." Rarity walked next to Twilight. "I'll need you to open his wound so that I could easily extract the arrow."

Rarity nodded and focused her horn on the wound lodged with the arrow. The wound was encompassed in a blue glow and was slowly opened.

The guard began to pant and bear his teeth to prevent himself from screaming. Applejack began to press down on the guard. "You're doing good. You're doing very good. Just a little longer." Applejack gave a small reassuring smile.

It was Twilight's turn. She focused her horn on the arrow and slowly levitated it out. She was extremely cautious so that the arrowhead doesn't break off from the shaft. When Twilight extracted the blood painted arrow she said to Rarity, "Look for something to douse his wounds."

Rarity clicked open the medical container and saw many things: bandages, rubbing alcohol, sutures, a needle, scissors, compress, and much more. Rarity grabbed the rubbing alcohol and slowly poured its contents over the guards wounds. The Guard grunted from the stinging sensation.

"Now we're gonna have to close the wound. Rarity, you're good at sewing. Help with the stitches." Applejack stroked the guard's and said to him, "Don't worry your 'ol head off now. We're almost done."

Rarity grabbed the sutures and the needle and went to work. It was like sewing a rip from a shirt. She was able to stitch the guards within a few minutes.

"Alright now we just gotta bandage your wounds and you'll be done," said Applejack

"To think," said Rarity, "All this happened because Princess Luna made us search for an alien Spaceship. First the arrows then the massive quake, it's as if some greater force doesn't want us to find it. Oh, I'm gonna have arrange an appointment at the spa as soon as possible."

As Rarity and Applejack were bandaging the guard a sudden snap of a fallen trig alerted Twilight. She looked into the forest searching for the noise and wasn't sure if it was Luna's party. "Princess Luna, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie! Anypony?" Twilight gulpped. She went into a defensive stance aiming her horn at the source of noise that hid within the countless trees of the Everfree Forest. "Whoever or whatever you are, step out now! I'm armed."

In response a massive shadowy figure stepped out from foliage that had kept him hid. As the figure approached, Twilight could see that it was easily twice her size. She thought she was looking at a Minotaur, but the figure didn't had horns and wasn't broad in size. "Stop!" Twilight barked. The figure obeyed and stopped.

Twilight noticed that the figure had something within his grip. "What is that? throw it to me." The figure obeyed and tossed the object to Twilight. It landed on the ground with a heavy thud in front of Twilight. It was a steel bow.

Twilight looked at figure. He wore grey armor that covered most of his body and face, and they were caked with dry maroon blood. Rarity and Applejack stared at the figure with horror in their eye's. Twilight went pale as she thought that the dried blood could be of her friends blood.

Twilight wasted no time and seized the figure with her magic. The figure squirmed and struggled as he was suddenly being lifted and brought towards Twilight. His arms and legs were bound, the only thing he could move freely was his head. Twilight wanted to know what it is. She's never seen a race like this in Equestria or in her books. "What are you and what are you doing here" asked Twilight.

The creature spoke coldly, "If we're going to do introductions, I'd like to be on the ground and talk to you eye to eye." Twilight lowered him to the ground on his knees. His face was leveled to Twilight's. He spoke in a gaily "From what I just heard you're looking for an alien and his space ship. Well congrats, you found him."

Twilight was flabbergasted to see the alien in front of her eyes speaking the same language of hers. "Y-you speak-"

"The same language, yeah. I'm just as surprised as you." The alien's voice suddenly became very interrogative despite being a captive. "How bout we take turns asking each other questions? You already asked, so it's my turn. The white one mentioned someone by the name of Princess Luna and that she wanted to search for my ship. Why?"

"She wanted to make contact with the aliens that landed in the Everfree Forest. Seeing you now, that was mistake."

"Whatta ya talking bout?" The Alien cracked a smile. "You were right to look for me! I wouldn't be surprised if half the galaxy is searching for me! I'm that interesting!"

"I answered your question now answer mine. What are you doing here?"

"I came here simply for repairs as well as to refuel and resupply. I'm sorry that I hurt your friend," Said the Alien as he looked at the wounded guard and frowned, "I didn't know you were all a sentient species, plus, hunger blurs the mind. My turn. You have wings and a horn while your companions lack having both these. What species are you?"

"I'm an Alicorn. I'm the embodiment of three different Pony races: Earth Ponies, Pegasi, and Unicorns. As an Alicorn, I've been entitled Princess of Magic."

"So, you're in a position of power?"

"In a sense yes."

"What about those tattoos on your butt?" The Alien pointed at Twilight's flank.

"That's my cutie mark. It shows what special talent I have. Everypony has one. Enough questions. We're gonna regroup with Princess Luna and bring you to Canterlot, with or without a spaceship, Where you'll be judged by Princess Celestia. She will decide what will happen to you next."

"Oh, that's great," said the Alien, "I'm flattered by your invitation, but I have other plans." The alien snorted his nose and Spat something into Twilight's eyes. Twilight screamed and tried rub her eye's of the snotty matter, but then Twilight's neck was wrapped by the alien's arm and a sharp blood coated blade hung right next to her arteries.

"Twilight!" shouted by both Rarity and Applejack in unison

"Don't move or the Princess gets nicked!" Nico lowered his head to Twilight's and whispered into her ear, "I'm sorry this has to happen, but someone made off with my ship. That massive quake you felt that was my ship going into F.T.L. speed. I'm going to teleport to my ship and get outta of your hair, just play along."

Twilight couldn't trust the Alien. This alien was too dangerous to let free. She wasn't going to let it into space and cause more harm. "No," said Twilight. She became enveloped in a lavender glow and exploded. The Alien was blown off of Twilight and crashed into a tree. Rarity and Applejack shielded their eyes from the blast.

When the Alien recovered, Twilight spread her wings and aimed her horn at the Alien. She then fired a bolt at the Alien, but he was able to dodge the attack. The tree that was behind the Alien blew to a thousand pieces.

"Shit!" cursed the Alien as he ran off into the plains towards Ponyville.

Twilight chased after him.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You've really done it now!" Gasped Nico to himself, "You've encountered a new race and already, they want you dead."

Nico was making a mad dash from the crazy psycho Alicorn named Twilight. Where he was running to didn't matter as long as it was faraway from Twilight. He looked up over his shoulder and saw that the Alicorn was flying after him.

If he had known this planet was inhabited by a race of horses with powers that can reduce people to nothing as well as have the power of flight, Nico would've chosen a different planet. Why he thought that talking with the 'Alicorn' was a good idea was mystery to himself.

Nico checked his teleporter device. "Twelve more minutes, just gotta survive for twelve more minutes!"

Twilight fired magical bolts and beams of light at Nico, Who was fortunate enough to dodge each attack, Where ever Nico went Twilight followed, leaving behind wasteland of holes and cracks in the earth. Nico was fast and his armor helped in making him more agile, but he couldn't keep on running. Nico was beginning to gasp for air and slow down. When he thought he was about to meet his fate, He saw what looked like a Town. It inspired Nico not to give up and maintain his pace.

When he got closer saw that even the town was damaged from the F.T.L jump. Broken glass littered the floor and various wagons and carts tipped spewing out their contents of food and goods. For some unknown reason the Alicorn stopped firing at him, but Nico didn't notice that. Nico was staring at a pile of apples that were on the floor. He rushed over and shoved an apple to his mouth to feed his now ravenous hunger. He was on his knees as grabbed as many apples as he could and stored them in his Millennium Side-Pocket.

"Hey," Someone shouted "Ya have to pay for those ya dang varmint!"

Nico looked up and was slapped across the face. losing the apple he was eating. He saw that the one who slapped was a creature that was similar to Twilight. It had a light lime green fur and her eye's were orange. She was old in appearance and guessing by the lack of wings and a horn Nico presumed that it could be a 'Earth Pony'.

Nico stood up and towered over the creature."Oh," squeaked the green horse noticing Nico's height and the dried blood on his armor and face. She started to slowly back away suddenly becoming very courteous. "On second thought, have as many apples as ya can stomach. On the house!"

Nico saw that he was surrounded by creatures of various colors as well as the different emblems on their flanks. They all swarmed around him staring at him with a mixture of awe and fear.

"What is that!" one of them squealed.

"A Minotaur?"

"Do you think he has something to do with what happened?"

"What kinda clothes are those? Why is it painted red?

"Look!" One of them pointed in the sky. Princess Twilight!"

They all bowed down as Twilight descended from the sky and landed on the ground. She landed right next to Nico within the horde of multicolored horses. "Everypony Listen! " Twilight shouted, "He's-"

Nico cut off Twilight and shouted, "A Minotaur! Yes I'm a Minotaur. My name is ....ugh... Mclovin!" Everyone around him as well as Twilight gave him a weird look as if he was insane, but continued to listen. Nico couldn't believe his luck. He "Yes, I have come from Minotaur Land to preach the gospel of the Goober! My clothes, I slathered strawberry jelly on it a few days ago as part of my religious duties. I have not cleaned it since, for to complete the ritual of sugary enlightenment I must also slather peanut butter on my clothes. Unfortunately my homeland has long since ran out of peanut butter, so I have come here. If I'm ever to make it into the ancient lands of Smucker then for all that is good I need peanut butter!"

One of the members of the crowd whispered, "Is Hugh Jelly part of this religion."

Twilight didn't say anything. She didn't want to provoke the massive crowd into a panic and turn Ponyville upside down like it often does whenever something strange happens. She just stared at Nico with disbelief.

Someone gave Nico a jar of peanut butter, Nico thanked her by saying, "May the almighty Smucker bless your soul." He then dipped his fingers in the peanut butter and slowly rubbed it all over his chest, over the dried blood. Nico heard a beeping sound from his teleporter device on his wrist. He looked at it and saw that his ship just exited the jump and he was now able to teleport there. He proceeded to rub peanut butter on his chest. "I have completed the ritual. Now, for my years of devotion I will be raptured into the holy land and enjoy eternal bliss."

Nico then pressed on his teleporter and disappeared in a flash, leaving behind the confused crowd. Among the crowd, some of them went to get strawberry jelly and peanut butter.

Author's Note

Ha! I'm finally done with this chapter. In all honesty I hate it when my chapters turn out to be so long. It takes a long time to edit and fix it and I always have a feeling that I did something wrong. For future chapters, I will make them shorter so they won't take as long and I'll be able to handle it better.

Hard Landing

In a flash of blue light, Nico found himself within his ship. He was so relived to return to his mobile sanctuary he wanted to kiss the metal floor. He had little time for celebration as he noticed the flashing red lights that lit up the dark room and the alarms ringing constantly with no end. Wasting no time he dashed for the cockpit.

As Nico ran through, the ship suddenly shook violently throwing him off feet his. Various containers tipped over, spewing out their contents all over the metal floor. Nico maneuvered through the scattered debris while at the same time trying to maintain his footing.

When he was close to the cockpit door, Nico drew his pulse rifle. As the door whooshed open Nico charged in and aimed his rifle at whatever was in the pilot's chair and shouted, "Turn around and put your hands up!"

Luna turned around in the chair looked at Nico, her eyes were filled with horror. "This is it!" she thought as closed her eyes.

Nico almost jumped and threw down his weapon in surrender from seeing another Alicorn in his pilot's chair. The last Alicorn he encountered almost killed him, Nico didn't want to repeat the mistake in his own ship. His finger rested on the trigger when suddenly the ship shook again throwing Nico off balance. His eyes wandered from Luna to the cockpit's windshield seeing a green planet that took up the entire view.

Nico made a deep and exasperated sigh. He holstered his weapon,and walked to Luna who still had her eyes closed. Nico grabbed the Luna's shoulders and began to shake her. "Hey!" he snapped. Luna opened her eye's and looked at Nico, she could see her reflection from the helmet's grey visor. Nico took off his helmet revealing his brown eyes, black hair, and brown complexion. "Do you understand what I'm saying?" Luna silently nodded. "Good, then if you wish to live do what I say. On the wall over there." Nico was pointing at one of the cockpit's back walls, "There's a red button. Press it, it'll deploy a seat for you. I don't think I have to tell you the rest, so go. Go!"

Luna obeyed and rushed to the wall Nico was pointing at. She tried to maintain her balance as the ship shook once again. She pressed the red button and a seat appeared from a small compartment. Luna jumped in and strapped herself in.

Nico sat down in the pilot's chair. "Computer, Initiate emergency crash protocol." There was no response. Nico wondered why until he stared at the control console. The control console was charred black and had large chunks of it missing. He turned his head to Luna with a scowl plastered on his face. "What the hell did you do?!"

"Is this an appropriate time to bring this up now?" Luna shouted, her eyes focused on the ever-increasing green planet.

"When it involves my ship, yes!" Nico flicked a series of switches under the control console putting him in manual control of the ship. "Spaceships that can travel faster than the speed of light aren't cheap you know! If we survive this, you're going to owe me alot of pixels."

Nico's ship had just breached through the atmosphere. As the ship rapidly descended from space it began to heat up from the friction. Within seconds the ship looked like a flaming metal inferno. Within, the ship's hull slowly began to heat up.

Nico tried to start the ships engines. "Come on, come on. There's gotta be some juice left in you." Nico could already feel the ship began to heat up. After numerous attempts, Nico finally gave up trying to activate the ship's engines. Sweat was starting drip down from his face. Crashing was inevitable, but if he doesn't do something, he and Luna would die a fiery death. The ship began to shake again and rocked Nico and Luna side to side in their seats as if they were just ragdolls. Nico grabbed hold of the controls that steered the ship and forced it down with intense force. Slowly, the ship began to level itself and the shaking decreased. Nico then added as much resistance to the ship as much as possible as he flicked more switches.

Numerous flaps protruded from the ship, while small rockets aimed at the front of ship activated to reduce the speed of the ship's descent. With nothing else at his disposal, Nico hoped that this will be enough. For now, He could only maintain his hold on the controls as the ship fell from space.

Nico could see the planet clearly. It was filled with green trees that carpeted the planet as well as the occasional large bodies of green water. He could see the sun rising over the horizon bringing light to the planet.

When the ship was close to the surface Nico shouted, "Brace yourself!"

The ship was a blazing ball of fire as it descened into the massive forest. It mowed and burned whatever tree in it's way, leaving behind an expansive trail of massive trunks fallen over and burnt to a crisp. When the ship made contact with the ground the ship plowed the dirt as well as the trees. It kept going until it gradually slowed down from the amounting dirt and trees. When the ship finally came to a complete stop, the front half of the ship was buried under a massive mishmash of trees, dirt, and anything else unfortunate enough to get caught in the aftermath.

"Ugh," groaned Nico, "Still alive?"

Luna slowly opened her eyes to see only darkness. The whole cockpit was pitch black from the dirt that covered the ship.

"Hold on a sec." said Nico.

Luna heard a clicking sound then saw a beam of light that lit up a small part of the room. Nico unbuckled himself from his seat and slowly hobbled to her. He flashed the light at Luna's face, She hissed from the sudden exposure and groaned the soreness in her head and neck.

Nico stood a few feet from where Luna sat, "You okay?" he said as he aimed his flashlight at Luna again to examine her.

Luna groaned, "I'm alright. Just get me out of this chair, please."

The second Nico unstrapped Luna, Luna fell into Nico. Nico dropped his flashlight to catch the falling Alicorn. "Sorry, I forgot to mention the ship is at a slight incline. Are you able to walk?"

"Yes, you can put me down now," said Luna with a small blush in her cheeks. Nico obeyed and placed Luna on the floor.

Nico was going to get his flashlight when saw the Alicorn's horn abruptly glow blue. He was about to draw his weapon but was stopped when he saw the flashlight floating in front of his face. "Here you go," Luna said. Nico swiped the flashlight from the air while making a small sigh of relief.

"Do you need a flashlight?" Nico croaked, unsure of what's going to happen next.

"No thanks, I can use my horn as a source of light." Luna's horn glowed once again. It illuminated the whole cockpit in a small blue light.

"Well," Nico chuckled, "I guess I won't need this after all." He disposed his flashlight into his pocket.

Nico went to the cockpit's door. He then inserted his hands into the door and opened them apart. Numerous pieces of debris fell through the door into the cockpit. "Watch your step," said Nico as he walked through the doorway.

Luna followed Nico through the ship, filling the dark void of the ship with her magical light and the clacking sound her hooves made with each step. Seeing the destruction around her, Luna felt scared out of her wits. She expected the alien would throw a murderous fit from gazing at what remains of his ship, but the Alien remained silent as if oblivious to what's around him. Luna remained quiet, fearing that a single peep could provoke the Alien.

Nico tried to hide his emotions from the Alicorn that was walking with him; his face was devoid of any expression. Of course his heart ache seeing his beloved ship in such a shape, but he was more antsy about the Alicorn behind him. He felt that any moment the strange blue horse would fire something from her horn and kill him, just like Twilight tried to do to him. "No, no" Pondered Nico to himself, "I'm the only one that can get her off this rock. Killing me now would virtually be suicide on her part. Why did she take my ship even though she obviously doesn't know how to operate?"

Nico quickly peeked at the Alicorn. He could see the awe and fear expressed from the Alicorn. The way she breathed, walked, and the look in her eyes, It was like as if Nico was staring at a child. A small, lost, child pricked from home and faced with the vast unknown. A child filled with fear, curiosity, and wonder. Feelings Nico once and still to this day felt. regardless of what he saw, he maintained his guard and was ready to strike should the navy blue Alicorn decides that his presence was no longer needed.

Nico and Luna finally reached the door that opened to the outside Nico previously used. Above the door was a valve with a red thin handle. Nico twisted the valve. Luna was wondering why nothing happened. She then heard a sound coming from the door. She wanted to get closer but Nico stopped her. The sound became increasingly louder, it sounded like a balloon being inflated. It went on like this until "Pop!" The door shot up into the air and landed on the ground with a thud sound.

Both Nico and Luna flinched from the sudden exposure of light. Nico covered his eye's with one of his hands and jumped through the doorway. Luna ran and jumped through the doorway. While in the air, she then extended her wings and slowly glided down to the dirt ground.

Luna gaped at the destruction she was observing. A blazing trail of trees knocked and piled over each other as if they were just dominoes. She then turned to look at the spaceship. Half of it was buried under a giant mound of dirt and trees the ship scooped up when it collided with the ground. Her thought's were then disturbed by a clicking sound.

Luna turned around to see the Alien pointing his weapon at her. It was the same weapon that the Alien was pointing at her earlier back on the ship. The weapon was long and bulky with a black hole pointed her.She didn't know what to do, she never fought an opponent armed with such a strange weapon. Responding to instinct, Luna went into a defensive stance and aimed her horn at the Alien.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Nico said, his rifle still aimed at Luna's head. "The second I see your horn glow, I pull the trigger." Luna looked to the trees and wondered if she can find safety in the dense forest. Nico saw the distress in her eyes and exclaimed, "Oh yes! The forest! Offers a lot of protection, and if you decide to hide there know that I won't chase after you. But!" Nico's voice suddenly became dark. Luna could see the malice in his glaring eyes. "If you run now, I won't shoot you but I don't want to see your face again. Do anything stupid and you'll be flying in two different directions. If you want to stay and if you mean no harm, you gotta show that I can trust you. Don't aim your horn at me and sit down." Luna hesitantly obeyed and sat.

Luna watched Nico slowly approach her, his weapon still within his hands aiming at her. Her heart was beating so fast that she thought it was gonna burst from her chest. Luna wanted to explode into the air and fly as far away from the Alien as much as possible. Despite this, Luna remained as still as statue. This alien is her only chance of escaping this planet and returning home. She continued to stare at Nico who was now a few feet away from her.

Nico holstered his weapon and sat down in front of Luna. He held his hands up in front of his chest to show to Luna he's nit armed. He had a small smile on his face as he said, "Good, good. you've shown that you trust me, We're making great progress. Now, You have to show that I can trust you. I'm gonna ask you a question and I want you to be totally honest. Know that in my years of travel I've encountered many liars and con men. Let's just say they met with an unsatisfactory ending. Be honest in what you say and I promise I won't hurt you. My question is, why?"

Luna looked up at with a confused look on her face. "Why?" she asked.

"Why did you take my ship? When I was on your home planet I met a member of your species by the name of 'Princess Twilight'. She told me that someone named 'Princess Luna' was searching for an alien spacecraft that landed within the Everfree Forest and wanted to make contact with the aliens that landed."

"Y-you didn't kill Twilight, did you?" muttered Luna.

"Rest assured Princess, I didn't do it." Nico could see her eyes shrink at the sound of her title. He couldn't help but chuckle, "Oh please! Twilight told she was an Alicorn, because-" Nico pointed at Luna's horn and wings, "She had both of those. It was painfully obvious. Your color, tiara, horn, wings, the emblem on your flank. I knew who you were the first moment I saw you. Now, why did you take my ship?"

Luna was afraid to tell Nico the truth. She feared that he won't keep his promise if she told him why she was in his spaceship. Still, the Alien knew so much and he was her only way home. "Might as well." Luna thought to herself. She took a deep breath and started. "I went to your ship, because I wanted to go on an adventure." Nico gave Luna a confused look. Luna continued, "I know, I know. It's foolish and stupid, but since I was just a young filly I stared at the starry night sky of my home and wondered to myself, 'What resides there that even an Alicorn can't reach?' Through the many countless events and years in my life that question remained. Recently I started reading picture books commonly called 'comics'. It showed me amazing tales of space travel and exploration, going to one planet to the next as if it were just a whim. It opened my mind to what lay beyond my home, and since then, I spend my nights gazing through a telescope hoping to see an alien spaceship. That was until I saw your spaceship." Luna's lips began to tremble and tears began to fall from her eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm so very sorry. I just wanted to go on an adventure. Please, forgive me."

Nico stood up, his face remained expressionless. Luna gasped as she thought this was gonna be the end. Nico's lips began to tremble. He then burst into into a maddening laugh. His face turned pink and tears were running down his face. He kept at this until he started to choke. As he was hacking and wheezing, Nico shouted at Luna, "How old are you?"

Luna, confused, said, "I'm over a thousand years old. You're not mad at me?"

Nico was still laughing and coughing. "Of course I'm mad, you wrecked my ship! In those thousand years, weren't you taught to respect other peoples' privacy? Jeez!" Nico took a series of deep breaths to calm down and said with a sigh, "I'm glad that you spoke honestly, and sorry for laughing. After realizing that everything was caused by a childhood fantasy, I couldn't help but breakdown inside. Give me your ha-er I mean... hoof." Luna offered her hoof to Nico, which he grabbed and lifted Luna up from the ground. "Don't be too sore about the ship, what's broken can be fixed." Nico looked at his half buried ship and silently muttered to himself, "Even though it'll take a long-ass time."

Luna giggled, "Perhaps it's about time for introductions."

"Ah yes, let's start over shall we." Nico then bowed and spoke with a regal voice, "Niccolo Jimenez, but you can just call me Nico. And who would I have the 'satisfaction' of meeting?"

Luna spread her wings and bowed. "Princess Luna of Equestria. Honored to be here."

"Well Princess Luna, let me be the first to say congratulations on simultaneously discovering space travel and committing grand theft auto at the same time! Let this planet just be a steppingstone on our adventure in the stars!"

Luna looked up at Nico with a sparkle in her eyes and a wide smile. "Yes!" she squeaked. She jumped to Nico and gave him a hug. "Thank you, Nico."

The tip of Luna's horn was grazing the bottom of Nico's mouth. He gulped and chuckled, "Heheh. Luna can you please be more careful with your horn? You don't want to poke out anyone's eyes would you?"

"Oops! Sorry!" giggled Luna. She looked up at Nico, her smile showing no sign of falter. "I'm just.......thank you."

Author's Note

And so the story begins. Wow! I finished this chapter much faster than my last one. On a more important note, I'll be probably won't be able to upload another chapter for a few weeks because I'll be gone for Youth camp on the 20th of July, not to mention my birthday coming up. I hate parties, I'd rather just eat out and have a fancy cake.

Vegetable on a spit

After the meeting between Nico and Luna, Nico went off into the forest to hunt for food. "Feel free to explore the forest," he said as he was walking into the woods, "Watch out for the wildlife!" So, for the past few hours Luna has been flying through the forest gazing at the breath taking sights before her. At first glance Luna thought the forest was similar to the ones back at her home, She's never been so wrong in her life. In those few hours Luna saw giant green plant stalks with massive blue flowers sprouting all over it, alien creatures so mind boggling Luna couldn't find the words to describe them, and patches of purple grass.

"Purple Grass!" said Luna to herself, "Now I've seen it all!"

Luna descended to the ground to take a break and relax. She sprawled all over the purple grass, laughing and giggling as she buried her face in the grass. She's never had so much fun in her life. She wished that her sister was here to share this moment with her. That would've been the highlight of this whole journey for Luna, yelling at her sister's face, "I told you that aliens were real! I told you so!"

Luna looked up into the sky and saw planets close and large enough that she could see it with just her eyes. As she gazed at the planet taking each detail into her mind the sun was slowly setting. Luna decided it was now a good time to return back to camp before it became dark.

"Snap!"

Luna jumped from the sound and looked at the surroundings around her. Everywhere, there were trees. Luna remembered Nico's warning before and was about to flee, until she saw a small shadowy figure hiding behind a tree. It disappeared as soon as Luna noticed its presence. Luna wasn't going to take a chance and decided to return to the ship. She spread her wings and was about to take off, but she noticed something behind her. She turned to see a small creature in front of her.

The creature had a massive black and white head that looked too big for its own body. long black arms protruded from the top of the creature's head. They were so long that they drag on the dirt floor wherever the creature walked. To Luna, it looked extremely adorable, so much that she wanted to scoop up the creature and give it a roaring hug.

Its orange eyes stared at Luna's cyan eyes for about a minute and then merrily skipped off as if oblivious to Luna's existence. As Luna stared with awe, she was unaware of another creature behind her. It was the same type of creature that was in front of Luna. The creature's head began to twitch and secrete what could only be saliva. As if ripped open, the creature's massive head slowly began to open, revealing a jagged mouth line big enough to engulf something more than twice the its size. As the creature's lengthy arms circled around Luna, An arrow zipped past Luna and struck the top of the creature's mouth. The power was so great that the creature was flung into the air and became pinned on a tree.

Luna's pupils shrunk at the arrow that went past her. She turned to see the creature hanging from the arrow still squirming. It thrashed its longs arms in the air, smashing the arrow and the tree that held it place. Bits of wood shot up into the air like shrapnel from an explosion as the creature freed itself.

The creature's jaw was lodged open from what was left of the arrow. A long, blood-red tongue appeared from the creature's mouth and removed the arrow. Its eyes changed from an orange to a red pigment, Its arms became more muscular, and its jaw increased in size.

The now monstrous creature charged to pounce on Luna, its arm outstretched to seize her. Before Luna could flee and take off into the air, a blur of blue light zipped past her and towards the creature. "Slash!" The sound of metal cutting through flesh rung in Luna's ears. The next the second, Luna saw the creature rolling towards her, along with its dismembered head. Luna looked up to see Nico with a sword painted green within his hands. After he cleaned his sword by rubbing it off the purple grass, Nico turned to Luna and laughed at her shocked expression. "Didn't I tell you to watch out for wildlife!"

Luna pointed her hoof at the corpse and sputtered, "It-it-"

"Tried to eat you? Yes, good observation there." He then knelled down and scooped the creature's dismembered head. "Ooo this is heavy. Care to help?" Nico gasped.

"Are you really gonna eat the beast that tried to eat me?" Questioned Luna.

"Well, being marooned on a planet as well as hardly having any provisions doesn't leave a man with many options. Would you kindly?"

Luna shook her head and let out a sigh. She levitated the creature's head from Nico's hands into the air. "Well, don't make me eat this." Luna shuddered as she looked at the head, its mouth still ajar with its tongue sticking out.

Nico picked up the creature's small body and slung it over his shoulder. "Why? Vegetarian? Don't worry about it. this little beast is a plant! if I remember correctly it's called a um..... a poptop." Nico began to walk back to camp, Luna went after him.

"'Poptop'?" Luna said sarcastically, "Oh! I have never been so sorely mistaken! Please, enlighten me of this plant you call a 'poptop'."

"Oh, ha, ha. Well, poptops are a plant species. They're very cute when they want to be. A few minutes ago you were starring at one in the face. Trust me don't let looks deceive you, that's how they get you. They get you from behind while your distracted by their cuteness. It proves my theory back in high school, cuteness is a weapon. And that reminds me, Luna can you please turn around."

Luna obeyed Nico and turned around. The sun had already set and it was already too dark to see anything clearly. Luna could see only orange eyes staring at her and Nico.

Nico continued to talk. "Another thing interesting of poptops is that they don't eat you. Of course they 'eat' you but they don't swallow you. They only just chew on you continuously to get your succulent nutrients. In all honesty they're not really dangerous unless provoked and if you don't pay attention to them. Luna?"

Luna wasn't paying attention to Nico, she was more concerned of the countless orange eyes that were staring at her. "Nico," Luna gulped, "Have I ever told that I can use teleportation?"

"You can? Then get us outta here please, I see orange eyes as well."

Nico sat down by the campfire. "Alright I finished installing the turrets so we'll be safe from any pesky creatures that want to make a meal out of us. Could you please lend me your hoof for a quick sec?"

Luna was right next to him staring at the dark sky filled with stars. She obeyed and held out her hoof. Nico then pulled out a syringe and injected something into Luna. "Ow!" she yelled, "Hast thou gone nimble-footed! what was that?"

Nico was thrown back from the force of the great Equestrian voice. "Woah!" he shouted, "That was just something for the turrets so they can recognize you and not shoot! I should've told you I'm sorry, I didn't expect you to go all Shakespearean and knock me off my ass! My ears are ringing."

Luna began to blush. "Sorry, force of old habit."

"It's okay, it's my fault. Anyway, I think the poptop has been cooked enough for eating." He turned to the food on the spit that's been roasting for fifteen minutes. Nico never felt more excited to eat a vegetable in his life. He grabbed his sword and carved a piece and offered it to Luna.

Luna backed her head away from the offering. "Uhh, no thanks."

"Oh come on Luna. It's just a carnivorous plant. It's a roasted vegetable now! Eat please."

Luna gave out a long sigh. She levitated the slice of poptop to her mouth and took a small bite. She slowly chewed trying not to get sick that the thing she was eating something was once alive. "It's actually good." said Luna with a small smile on her face. She then had a thought. "It was actually good? I'm the worst."

Nico jumped with joy. "Yes! I'm so proud of you! Here, have an apple." Nico held out his hand to Luna and an apple appeared in his hand.

Luna gazed at the apple then at Nico. "You had apples this whole time?"

"Yes, I did. Apples are a luxury to me and I want to save them in case we really do need them." Nico pointed to his ship. "I'm gonna go to the ship to get a drink. Here's my sword if you want to carve yourself some more." He left his sword in front of Luna and walked off.

"Do you require me for light?" Luna called out.

"No thanks, I'm good!"

Nico brought out his flashlight and jumped up through the ship's open door. He turned on his flashlight and made his way to the ship's cockpit. Many memories began to surge through Nico's mind as he walked through his ship. Nico could recall many events he had with his ship, from using it to save Apex insurgents from their tyrannical government to its many scuffles in space. Countless times the ship saved Nico on his daring escapes when things got dangerous. The many times he spoke to the computer of the ship gave him more comfort than anyone else has since he first started his voyage. To Nico, his ship was like home. Now it's just a shell of what it used to be just like his last home.

Nico found himself in his pilot's chair, his hands clutched tightly to the ship's controls. He released them and stared blankly at the charred control panel. Nico remembered why he was here and grabbed the flashlight resting on his lap. he went underneath the control console and opened a secret compartment. Inside was a single brown bottle with a label, it read whiskey. As Nico grabbed the bottle something fell on the floor. He picked it up.

It was a photograph of two men, one looked liked he was in his forties while the other looked to be twenty. They both had the same brown skin color, black hair, and wore the same blue colored jumpsuit. The older man's arm rested around younger man as they both smiled. Behind them were a line of ships that were similar to Nico's ship.

Nico flipped the photo and saw writing on the back. Nico, sometimes I find it hard to believe how much you've grown. Once you were just barely learning how to walk, next your making spaceships alongside me. You made me proud. I knew you wanted to be an astronaut when you grew, so I wish you're as happy as I am. If there's anything that ever troubles you, come straight to me, but if I'm not there be strong and face your problems with a positive attitude. -Your Loving Father 5/25/2076

"I will, Dad." Nico silently muttered with a small smile.

Nico walked off with the bottle of whiskey and photo in hand. He spotted his helmet on the ground and picked that up as well. When he returned to the campfire he saw Luna eating more of the Poptop. Luna noticed Nico and asked him, "What do you have their Nico?"

Nico hid the photo in his Millennium side-pocket. "Just my helmet and a bottle of whiskey." Nico sat down and carved off a piece of poptop for himself. "You want some whiskey?"

Luna shook her head violently and sputtered, "Oh, no thanks. My sister tells me to refrain from alcohol, said it blurs the mind. Is it true?"

Nico popped off the cap and took a sip from the whiskey. "Yes, but only if you drink too much. I don't really drink alcohol that much really, only on special occasions."

"And what special occasion would that be if I may ask?"

"You crashing my ship, so a perfect occasion indeed." Nico noticed Luna blushing violently and handed her the bottle. "Here, your sister is not here to bother you now. Your also older than anyone else that I know, at least in human standards."

"Human?"

"That's my species. I'm a Human. And Your uh, a Pony Alicorn?"

"Yes." Luna took a swig of whiskey, she then started to gag and retch from the strong flavor. "How in Tartarus do you drink this?"

Nico laughed and slapped his knee from seeing the Alicorn cough and gag from the drink. "Well you don't drink it for the flavor that's for sure."

As Luna was wiping her face of the drink she asked another question, "Nico, do you have family as well?"

Nico paused from this question. Luna thought he didn't hear her because of the crackling wood of the campfire, but Nico spoke. His voice sounding like it was forced from expressing any emotion. "I have a family. Mother, Father, three younger sisters, and a lot of cousins back at home. Can I have my bottle back?" Luna levitated the bottle of whiskey to Nico. Nico drunk half of the bottle's contents. He belched and wiped his mouth with his arm.

"Are we ever gonna stop at your home?"

"Not anytime soon, Luna."

"Why not? Don't you miss them?"

"Yes I miss them, but I can't due to many circumstances. Someday. Won't your sister miss you?"

Luna frowned. "Nico, are you okay? Is there anything troubling you?"

"No, I'm alright, really. I'm just concerned about you."

"Why me?"

Nico became more angry. "I have a Princess in my presence and I could only presume her kingdom is in chaos searching for her!"

"What are you saying Nico?"

"You know what I'm saying Luna. I can't keep you with me, your people need you! I have to return you where you belong!"

Luna turned her head away. "If that is what you believe, so be it." Luna began to sniffle.

"Luna," Nico scooted closer to Luna and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Please, don't be so sad. I'm sorry, I'm just concerned about your people and your responsibility as a princess." Luna turned her head to Nico, tears were dripping from her face. Nico wiped the tears away from her eyes and said, "I know what I said when we first met. Don't think of this as the end of your adventure, but the beginning of an adventure to get you home. Tomorrow, were going to build a distress beacon to get help, and I'm going to take you to a planet filled with many different aliens. After that, we get parts to fix my ship as well as fuel then fly you back home. How does sound Luna."

"Will I ever get to see you again?" Luna sniffed.

Nico tilted his head and smiled. "Luna, you broke my ship. I'm not gonna let you outta my sight!"

Luna chuckled and started to smile. "Thanks Nico."

"Alright, lay down and watch the stars with me. You're such a drama queen, and you call yourself a princess?" Nico laughed when Luna punched him on the arm.

Nico and Luna laid down and starred at the starry night sky. Countless stars of many hues dot the sky. the orchestra of color and light was accompanied by the occasional comet and a shooting star. It wasn't much for the duo to be captivated by the majesty of the night sky.

"Luna," said Nico as lifted his upper body from the ground, "Have this." He placed a small rectangular device on her stomach.

Luna craned her head to see the device. "What is this Nico?" she asked.

"It's called a codex. It's used to record and contain information. I mainly use it just as a field journal. It contains information on different creatures and other alien creatures, I encountered. You should have this."

Luna felt touch by this and blushed. "That's so thoughtful of you Nico, thank you."

"Ah don't mention it. After that poptop encounter, I just don't want you to get eaten, or chewed up. Do you want more whiskey." Nico shook bottle, swirling its contents.

"No thanks." Luna replied.

Nico and Luna continued to watch the stars until they slowly feel asleep. Tomorrow, they will work on escaping from the planet.

Author's Note

Introducing, the codex! I'll be making small bonus chapters that will include some info on a creature or alien, as well as Nico describing his experience. There's also gonna be artwork. Bad artwork because it will be done by me. It will be posted on perhaps on a weekly basis (or whenever I feel like it).

On other news I will be going to youth camp tomorrow morning and I won't come back till the 24th, so you won't hear another peep from me. Until then, be patient.

The Poptop creature was taken from a fellow Starbound fan. Here's the link if you're still curious about the Poptop and the wonderful artist that brought him to life.

Distress Call

Since the night before, Nico and Luna has been working on constructing a distress beacon the moment they first woke. Nico assigned Luna to collecting wood for the beacon. When she asked what to use to gather wood, Nico went to his ship and came back with a battleaxe that was half his size. "Here," He said as he threw it to Luna's hooves, "And don't slice off your head."

As Luna left to collect wood Nico went to his ship once again to gather all the supplies he needed to make the dish. He grabbed two bars of silver, ten bars of copper, ten bars of iron, and 150 pixels. Nico clapped his hands and said, "My days of hoarding is finally paying off." Nico went into his ship one last time and came back with looked like an anvil. He placed all the bars on the top of the device and activated it. Within seconds, the bars started to melt. He poured the molten metal into mold. For the next hour, Nico hammered and shaped the metal into a dish for the beacon.

By the time Nico was done Luna came back with a hundred logs levitating in the air. "Nico, I have retrieved some lumber! What should I do now?"

Nico heaved the dish from the, hissing from the heat of the freshly forged metal, and placed it on the dirt. "I gotta say, you work really hard. Just cut some of the logs into planks."

Nico walked to his ship and brought out a large orange device and held it with two hands. Luna stared at Nico to see what he was going to do next. Nico aimed the orange device at the dirt mound that buried his ship and pulled the trigger. Slowly, dirt particles began to lift up into the air and drift towards Nico. Hundreds upon a thousand specks of dirt flew into Nico's millennium side-pocket. Trees, unearthed from the dirt, fell off to the sides.

Luna was flabbergasted to see such a spectacle. She stopped her work and approached Nico. "How are you doing that?" She asked.

Nico's eyes remained focus. "It's thanks to this baddie," said Nico as he patted his orange device, "The Matter Manipulator. Manipulates anything that matters. No matter what size, this thing will break anything down into a molecular scale and store it in my Millennium Side-Pocket. Here's another thing." Nico released his finger, causing all the dirt in front of him to fall to the ground. He flicked a switch and the device emitted a blue laser. Nico aimed the laser at the ground and pulled the trigger. Instantly, cube of dirt formed in the place of the laser. "The Matter Manipulator can also reassemble materials into compact cube, excellent for building."

Another hour has passed by and the duo has long since returned to their work. When Luna felt that she was done she searched for Nico to see what he was doing. As Luna was looking for Nico, she noticed that the ship was unearthed but still remained tilted forward. She walked towards the ship to see Nico on the side of ship atop one of it's weapons. He wore his helmet and had a blowtorch in his hand. Thousands of sparks flew into the air as Nico slowly cut the metal connecting the giant weapon to the ship. The ship ached as the giant weapon then fell off the ship and landed on the ground with a massive thud.

Nico saw the Alicorn staring at him. "Oh Luna, can you do me a big favor?" He pointed at the fallen weapon. "Can you lift this up for me?" Luna focused her horn on the weapon and lifted into the air. Nico jumped to the ground and directed Luna on how to direct the weapon. "Lay it next to the ship, and make sure that it's pointed outward." When it was finished the weapon was at the side of the ship's rear and was aimed at the sky.

"What is all this for?" Asked Luna.

"Oh, just a precaution," responded Nico

"A precaution? For what?"

"Space pirates. Trust me when I say they are in my ass. They prey on the weak, so naturally they're attracted to distress beacons like a moth to light. You see flying saucer, that spells trouble in bold letters."

"You don't think that they might...."

Nico sighed, "Maybe, maybe not. I don't know what could happen. One time I went to a planet in the Alpha Sector and made distress beacon to attract pirate ships and shoot them down for their molten cores, which are very valuable and useful. I was armed with a bazooka, you know a rocket launcher. I activated it and hid. When I saw a shadow, I fired at it and shot it down. As it turned out, the ship I shot down wasn't a flying saucer but a Hylotl spaceship! Not only did I had to fix their spaceship, I had attend their peace seminars for two months! So let's be careful and not just fire at anything that comes from space. I'm gonna make a detonator for the weapon ,then the beacon. When I'm done I want you to hide in the forest."

After an hour, Nico completed arming the massive weapon as well as constructing the distress beacon. The beacon was placed close to the ship to insure that any ship hovering above will be hit by the weapon. The dish was supported by wooden planks and had a crank at its side. Nico shouted to Luna "Get ready! I'm gonna activate the distress beacon!" Nico began to turn the crank. The dish began to rotate and make a beeping sound. Nico rushed to the forest where Luna was hiding. He grabbed a tiny detonator that laid next to Luna. The device had a single red button and a yellow wire at the end that went all the way to the ship. "Now we wait." said Nico.

After waiting for a few minutes, Nico and Luna heard a whirring sound. The trees began to shake and the dirt moved with life as a massive flying saucer was descending from space.

The flying saucer was layered with grey metal plates top to bottom. Red lights moved along the side of the ship. What shocked Luna the most was seeing a penguin operating the flying saucer. The penguin was within a small glass dome cockpit operating the ship with two red levers.

"Yep," whispered Nico, "Definitely a pirate. Just wait till it's above the distress beacon."

The flying ship flew over the woods looking for the one who sent the distress signal. When it was hovering over the the beacon, Nico wasted no time and pressed the red button on the detonator. A rocket whooshed out of the weapon and struck the underside of the flying saucer.

The entire ship was engulfed in both a blinding light and a hellish flame. The sound of the explosion deafened the ears of Luna and Nico. Luna shielded herself from the light and the flak, while Nico just stood and watched the scene with a smile that stretched to each cheek.

The ship crashed to the ground and was now a simmering husk of metal. The whole ship was burnt black and there was no sign of the penguin that piloted the ship.

Nico clapped his rapidly hands. "Yes! Yes! Yes!" He walking to the crashed flying saucer to salvage it of its molten core. When he was halfway there, fifty flying saucers suddenly appeared. The whole forest shook as if they were in a massive storm. Their combined sounds made it near impossible for Nico to hear himself when he said to himself, "Shit!"

He was afraid to move. Any sudden movement, and he could get blown to smithereens. Nico drew out his sword and prepared for the fight for his life. "Okay," He murmured to himself, "Don't believe that this the end. Just fifty flying saucers operated by penguins thirsting for my blood instead of just one. Nothing unique, just another day in the galaxy."

Author's Note

A battle of the ages, coming next chapter! I'm sorry for making all you wait, I'm currently in New York to visit my aunt. Tomorrow I'm gonna have to fly to Sacremento for my cousin's birthday. I'm really busy, but I'm trying my best to squeeze some of my time into this.

The Flying Rookery

Luna stared at the armada of flying saucers that almost blotted out the sky. She was left breathless to see such an overwhelming force. "How are we going to defeat such a force?" She thought. She looked down at Nico, who remained in full view of the flying ships. "Fool! He's going to get himself killed!"

Nico waited for what the penguins were about to do next, He felt a chill go down his spine when he heard a familiar voice. "Pekka Pekka Pico! Pekka pop pie?"

Nico just smiled and exclaimed, "Oh Dreadwing! How nice it is to see you! I'm glad that we have already moved past the poker incident! I'm honored to receive your invitation of death, but with a heavy heart I must decline your offer! It's not like I hate dying a violent death, I just find living more appealing! I must admit, you caught me at the most inappropriate time! I was in the middle of something! How about we meet again at a different time? How about Tues-" One of the flying saucers fired at Nico. It barely missed Nico, but the explosion it made launched Nico into the forest.

"Nico!" Shouted Luna. Luna flew through the trees to retrieve Nico. She found him laying flat on the floor. His armor was burnt black and was steaming. "Nico?" Luna put her hooves on Nico and shook him. "Nico, please say something."

Nico wheezed, "That.....flying sack of shit......didn't let me finish. I think.....my ribs are broken." Nico checked the status his status on his helmet. It showed that Nico is three of Nico's ribs were cracked, and his right fibula was broken. "Yup.... Broken."

Multiple spotlights beamed on Luna and Nico. Dreadwing squawked, "Pecka pill Pico! Pecka ploom pop pop!" The flying saucers began to fire. They fired everything they had at the forest.

Luna scooped Nico with one of her wings and ran off to avoid the oncoming onslaught. Where ever she went, flying saucers tailed her and fired bolts of plasma at every turn. "It's of no use!" Luna gasped. Sweat was beading down her face. She couldn't outrun the flying saucers. She stopped and concentrated on her horn. The ships fired at the stationary Alicorn. In a massive blue flash, Luna was gone and in her place was a crater of hissing earth.

The penguins in their ships celebrated amongst themselves, squawking their praise to each other for vaporizing Nico. They were all cut off by Dreadwing. He barked orders to his units. "Pekka pekka ploot pip! Pekka Poom! Pekka Plock! Pekka ploot pip!" Responding to their commander's orders, two flying saucers landed on the dirt ground. Their doors opened up and out came a squad of penguins, armed with an assortment of weaponry. One of them was operating a small tank. They all wore a forest green helmet. The squad of penguins waddled their way to Nico's ship to salvage it of parts.

Luna teleported herself back to her original hiding and collapsed. Nico rolled over groaning from the pain in his chest. He forced himself to stand up and supported himself on a tree as well as stand on just his left leg. His breathing was ragged but it slowly recovered to a slow wheeze.

He looked to the distance and saw his ship crawling with penguins. His blood started to boil and he armed himself with his pulse rifle. "Luna!" he gasped. Luna looked up at Nico and saw that he was already hobbling to his ship.

Luna went over and stopped him. "Are you serious?," She silently hissed, "There are fifty flying saucers out there. You barely survived one! What makes you think you'll last?"

"I have a plan, Luna. Remember about the molten cores I was talking about earlier? Well, they can function as a battery. I'll use that to power the ship and I will.... I...." Nico gulped. He couldn't find the words about what he was about to do. "Well, you'll find out later." He pointed to the two saucers on the ground. "I'm gonna have to extract a molten core from one of those two ships." He then pointed to the saucers in the air. "Luna, I need you to cover me and distract the saucers as best as you can. Can you handle it?"

Luna had a look of concern on her face as she asked, "Are you still able, Nico?"

Nico took a huge breath and clenched his gun to his chest, "I'm ready to kick some tail. let's go!"

The two slowly walked till they were at the edge of the forest. As they readied themselves for their counter attack, Nico began to count down. "10.9.8-" Luna spread her wings and prepared to take off. She held a stern expression but couldn't help but crack a smile for was filled with excitement. "-4.3.2.1. Go!"

Luna shot into the sky and fired her horn at one of the flying saucers. It exploded into a massive ball of ball of flame and slowly fell to the ground. The other saucers began to fire at Luna, but she was able to avoid every attack thanks to her speed.

The falling saucer crashed on the squad of penguins. In the midst of the confusion, Nico walked in with his pulse rifle and fired it at the penguins. He was able to shoot down three, each one filled with at least ten bullets. The penguins started to turned their attention to Nico. "Pekka pop! Pekka pop!" One of them barked. They then started to fire at Nico.

Before the bullets can even reached him, Nico brought out his Matter Manipulator and hastily made a wall of dirt, two cubes of thick. Hundreds of bullets went into the dirt wall, none of them pierced through.

Nico sat at the base of the wall. His breathing was erratic. He cringed from the pain in his chest and the burns under his armor. "Too many to handle," He thought to himself, "There has to be someway to get past them." As he was thinking the top right corner of the wall blew up. Nico threw a coughing fit while fanning away the dust. He quickly peeked his head around the wall and saw a small tank aimed at his direction. "Think, think, think Nico!" He screamed to himself. A memory came to Nico's mind and he had an idea. "The turrets!" he said. The top of the wall was suddenly blown off. He peeked again and was relieved that they weren't destroyed.

The turrets surrounded the ship but were all faced the other way. If Nico could just take one or two they could provide enough covering fire for Nico to get into one of the saucers and extract the molten core.

Nico wasted no time and went into action. He ran just as what was left of the dirt wall was blown up. Nico felt a shot of pain in his leg again and stumbled to the ground. "Argghh! Fffff...." Nico summoned a flash grenade in his hand and threw it at the penguins. He got up and hopped on one foot to one of his automated turret. With a few adjustments, Nico rotated the turret. The turret fired, making the penguins squawk in terror and run for cover. He hopped to another turret and grabbed it. He let out a cry from the pain he felt as he hugged the massive device to his chest. He carried it to one of the saucers where he set it up there.

One of the penguins barked commands "Pekka Pun! He pointed his flipper at the penguin operating the tank. "Pekka!" He then pointed at Nico and his turret "Pekka Plip! Pekka P-" He was hit by a bullet to the head. The bullet pierced through his skull and exited out its helmet. The bullet splattered paint all over the dirt as the penguin fell to the floor.

The automated turret shot at the other penguin, but he sealed himself in his tank. The bullets only ricocheted off the tanks armor. Seeing no progress Nico entered the flying saucer. The space inside was small, there was barely enough room for Nico just to stand. Nico saw a penguin lounging about, while smoking a cigarette. When the penguin noticed Nico's he cursed, "Pekka Puck!" and scrambled for his weapon. Nico thrown himself at the penguin and they both fell to the floor. Before the penguin could even react, Nico hit him across the face until he was unconscious.

Nico brought himself up and rubbed his hands together. "Ok Nico, you've been in one of their ships before back in their home planet." He searched the small room for the compartment of the ship's molten core. "If my memory serves me correctly the molten core should be..... here!" He pointed to a floor panel that had penguin text inscribed as well as a voltage symbol. He carefully removed the panel, moaning from the pain in his chest. Inside was a bright glowing orange orb encapsulated in grey metal. He carefully extracted the battery and stored it in his side-pocket.

The whole ship suddenly shook, Nico could only presume that it was the tank. He hobbled out of there just in time for an explosion to knock Nico off his feet. He was groggy from the shock and couldn't get up. He looked at the tank which was now aiming its gun at him. When It was about to finish Nico off a flying saucer suddenly crashed on top of the small tank.

Nico's head fell to the ground. He looked up and saw Luna flying in the air. She dodged every attack the flying saucers threw at her and occasionally fired a magical bolt at one of the many flying saucers. producing destructive results. He let out light smile knowing that Luna's still okay.

Nico picked himself up and continued on his trek to the ship. It was a struggle to keep for Nico to keep himself balanced. It hurts just to stand. He used his pulse rifle as an improvised crutch and hobbled slowly to his ship.

Everything in front of Nico looked like hell. Nico saw penguins on fire running and screaming, smoking saucers that crashed to the ground thanks to the navy Alicorn's power, and the forest now consumed in a hellish flame. The intoxicating stench of burning fuel and fat made Nico feel sick to his stomach.

More penguins showed up to confront Nico, to which Nico brought up his gun with just one arm and sprayed them with bullets. He didn't want to bring the weapon to his chest to aim, because it hurt to feel the weapon's recoil. "I feel like shit," Nico groaned. Still, He picked up his pace despite. Nico can't afford to waste time. Even though Luna was powerful, Nico was sure that even Alicorns get tired at some point.

When he reached his ship he ran and jumped through the doorway. When his feet landed on the metal floor, Nico went limp and rolled down the incline to the cockpit's doorway. Nico picked himself up and stumbled his way into the cockpit to the control console.

He brought out the molten core and placed it on the control console. The whole room slowly began to light up and whir to life. What was left of the console lit up and Nico heard a familiar voice. "Welcome, Nico," said the Computer. Nico never felt so happy to hear this monotone voice.

Nico instantly forgot about his troubles. He sat on the pilot's chair and placed both his hands on the steering wheel. "Computer," said Nico his voice filled with joy, "Give me a status report." The Computer responded, " Ship's shield offline, fuel depleted, missile system damaged, airlock door missing. Unable to exit planet's atmosphere."

"Oh," Nico silently muttered. Those words hurt Nico worse more than every other wound he had ever received. After remembering why he was here, he laid his head on the steering wheel and buried himself in his arms. He Then beat his fists on the control the console while screaming, "No! No! No!" He kept on beating his fists until they started to bleed. He held his bleeding hand while at the same time wiping the tears coming from his eyes. He took a series of deep breaths and said, "No. I have to do this." He looked up into the metal roof. He continued to star until he mustered enough strength to say, "Computer...... initiate self destruct protocol."

"Are you sure?" responded the computer.

"Yes," Nico muttered.

"Commencing self destruct in three minutes."

Nico got up from his chair and began to walk off. When he as at the doorway Nico turned around. He didn't know what to say for he was lost for words. This has been his home for eight years and now it will be gone. "Goodbye, I'll miss you." Nico felt that it was right for him to say that. He jumped off back into open.

Sweat was running down Luna's face as she dodged and maneuvered around the flying saucers' attacks. It was near impossible for her have a second to breath. Whenever she got the chance, she fired her horn at the saucers. The saucers began to circle around Luna. "Pekka plop purr!" Dreadwing squawked. In response, minature versions of the flying saucers detached from them. Much like their larger counterparts they were similar in shape and was operated by one penguin. They were an overwhelming force too much for Luna to handle.

They surrounded Luna and fired their lasers at her. The lasers hit Luna at all sides. She cried from the shots of pain all over and her flying started to falter. It was when one of the saucers shot her wings that she started to plummet to the ground. The saucers started to descend as well, relentless in their assault on Luna.

Luna was at the edge of consciousness. As she was falling, she saw a rocket fired from the ground. The rocket was heading in her direction. Her pupils shrunk to pinpricks as the rocket zipped past her head, just grazing her celestial mane. The rocket struck one of the tiny saucers causing a massive explosion. The explosion consumed all those around it. Luna could feel the intense heat of the explosion radiating on her back.

Nico threw down the bazooka he looted from a dead penguin next to his feet and ran towards the falling the Alicorn, regardless of the pain. He gasped and cursed from the pain in each of his steps, but he still maintained his pace. He made a massive leap into air with the use of his armor and caught Luna in his arms. When he landed, Nico stumbled and fell on his back. Nico wheezed from the weight on his chest. "Aghh....shit!"

Luna looked at Nico, her pupils still shrunken. "You shot at me?" she asked.

Nico was gasping for air and looked at Luna with a wild expression. "Y-yes..."

Luna grew red with anger. "Are you mad!?" She screamed.

"Ugh...." feeling completely depleted of oxygen Nico pushed Luna off his chest. He stood up and started to regain his breath. "Sorry," he gasped.

Luna got up. Still mad, she shouted, "That doesn't excuse your reckless behavior! What have you been doing all this time?"

He placed his fingers over Luna's lips and shushed her. "I have no time to tell you. We have to get as faraway from here as possible. We have to-" All the flying saucers were circled above both Nico and Luna. Nico brought out his Matter Manipulator and constructed dome of dirt. He hugged his arm around Luna's neck. "Luna, teleport us outta here. Quick!"

Without question, Luna closed her eyes and focused on her horn. The dark room was filled with a flash of blue light then again with the dark. Nico and Luna were outside and stared at the dome of dirt they previously inhabited. One of the larger saucers hovered above the dome and crashed down at an intense speed. It moved so fast that half of it was submerged in the dirt. It slowly ascended back into the air leaving behind a large pit. Then, the rest of the saucers fired at the pit. Dirt and rocked were blown into the air from the firepower. They all fired until the pit looked like a fiery gateway to hell.

Nico chuckled at the penguins for being so gullible. Nico turned around "Come on Luna, let's-" Nico found himself a few feet from the ship. His mouth dropped wide open. "Luna, Why did you teleport us back to the ship?"

Luna shrugged. "I thought it would be a safe place to temporarily hide ourselves in. Why?"

"Because the ship is gonna self-destruct." Nico quickly gibbered.

Luna looked at Nico as if he were crazy. "W-what?"

"The ship is gonna blow up! We got to get outta here!"

Luna calmly responded with an, "Oh." Once she screamed, "Ooohh!" She spread her wings and barked an order to Nico. "Climb onto my back." Wasting no time, Nico obeyed and sat on Luna's back. He wrapped his arms around her neck. Luna grunted from Nico's weight as well as the injuries she sustained. "Hold on tight, Nico." She said. With a single flap of her wings, the two took off with great speed.

Nico thought they will be outside the range of ship's explosion. He and Luna will be safe, while the penguins will perish in the blast. He was certain that they would both be safe. Nico's hopes were dashed when there was an explosion that sent him and Luna crashing into a tree. Nico picked his face from the ground. He saw all the flying saucers aiming their weapons at him and Luna. Nico turned his attention his ship. It started to combust and explode.

Dreadwing saw this and ordered everyone to retreat. "Pekka pekka pern! Pekka pekka pern!" He squawked.

Nico turned to Luna and saw that she was knocked unconcious. With escape now impossible, Nico came up with another hastily constructed plan. He brought out the Matter Manipulator and made a second dome, this time made of stone. With no other option, Nico hoped for the best. He held Luna in his arms and was wiping the blood from her forehead.

The flying saucers began their retreat, but they were already too late. The ship exploded into a massive ball of fire that engulfed everything: the flying saucers, the dome made of stone, and everything within a five-mile radius of the ship. Nico quickly made a hole for Luna and placed her in it. He was hopeful that it would keep her cooler. When the whole dome was consumed by the wave of fire, the stone that protected Nico and Luna begun to turn red from the intense heat.

It wasn't long for Nico to feel liked he was being baked alive. He ripped off his helmet and was stripping himself of the rest of his armor. When he felt that his own sweat was evaporating from his skin, Nico took off every article of clothing he had on left. He still felt like he was burning. He turned his head to Luna's body in the hole. He has to find someway to stay cool, that was all Nico thought of. He crawled over to Luna and touched her with his side cheek. Nico felt like he was touching cold steel, he never felt such relief in his life.

As he was pressing his body against Luna's, Nico's senses returned to him. He blushed violently and was too horrified to think properly. "Gah..Gah.Gah..Gah.Gah..Gah..Gah." Nico forced himself up, grunting from the sores he felt allover his body. He once again felt the blistering heat all over his body. Nico cursed his misfortune. "Oh God. I'm sorry Luna." He once again pressed his body against Luna. Too tired to do anything much less think, Nico past out from exhaustion. His troubles slowly began to fade away as he rests, safe from the inferno raging outside.

Author's Note

A Chapter overflowing with action. The conclusion of this whole conflict will be on the next chapter. If any of you are concerned about the last paragraph, please know that I don't plan nor desire any romance between Nico and Luna. For Nico becoming nude and doing what he just did, well I stand by this saying I said to myself while writing the last few paragraphs. "It's getting hot in here, so take off all your clothes.... if you don't want to end up like baked potato."

Ascension

It has been hours since the ship had exploded. The dome of stone that protected Nico and Luna from the blast had long since reverted back to their natural color when the temperature dropped to normal.

Luna laid flat on her back. She groaned from the surging through her head and back, as well as hissing from the burns that dot her body. As she lay she thought her head was about to explode.

“Where am I?” Luna moaned to herself. The last thing she could recall was flying away from battle with Nico on her back.

Luna slowly opened her eyes only to see pitch black. She concentrated on her horn and illuminated the whole room in a blue a light. She saw a roof of stone above her. “A cave?” Luna’s eyes scoured the room and quickly found herself in a hole, two feet deep. “What is this?”

As she was thinking, Luna felt a hand being rubbed on her left side. Her eyes lost all focus and she let out a tiny moan as she felt the hand glide over her singed patches of fur.

Suddenly, Luna heard a series of coughs. Her eyes refocused and shrunk to the size of pinpricks as an unsettling thought appeared in her mind, “Who is touching me?” She cautiously turned her head left to see a Nico stroking her chest, his naked body grinding alongside hers.

A powerful blush instantly overtook Luna’s face. She let out a loud shriek as she scampered out of the hole. Nico awoke from the scream and sat up. His eyes were in a daze as he searched for the source of the noise. Immediately Nico’s face was greeted with a hoof slap that ran across his face as well as the word, “Pervert!”

Nico grunted from the pain and rubbed the red imprint left on his right cheek. He then looked up to see the Alicorn glooming over him. Nico looked into Luna’s eyes and saw the flames of rage as well as himself within the consuming the flames. Nico blushed as he remembered that he isn’t wearing clothes. Nico stood up on his feet and muttered, “Th-this isn’t what it looks like.”
Luna shielded her eyes with her hoof to prevent them from gazing at Nico’s delicates. “Don’t waste your words with me you sex-starved cobra! Your appearance says enough!”

Nico’s mouth dropped open from what Luna just said. “No, no way in hell.” Nico brought up his hands in surrender and said, “Just listen, please. You got knocked out while we were escaping. I had to make this dome of rock to protect ourselves from the blast.” Nico pointed at the hole he made. “I made this so you can stay cool during the blast. Then it got super hot and so……. yeah.” Nico stared at the ground and scratched his arm. “Sorry,” he squeaked.

“So, you have the effrontery to strip yourself naked and lay next to me?” Luna released a massive sigh and let down her hoof to stare at Nico.” I will overlook this incident, Nico. But know that I am no fool. I will not fall for your tricks so easily.” As she talked Luna’s eyes slowly wandered downwards to Nico’s waist. Within seconds, Luna’s wings exploded into the air with a massive “pomf!” sound.

Just as her face was being overtaken by a powerful blush, Luna felt a strong surge of pain coming from her wings. “Ahhhh!” She fell down on her stomach and bit at the bottom of her lip. She beat her hooves on the dirt floor as tears escaped from her eyes. “Oh the pain!” she cryed

“Luna!” Nico called out. He scrambled out from the dirt hole and knelt right next to Luna. “Where’s the pain?” questioned Nico, as he examined Luna for any wounds.

“My wings,” cried the blue Alicorn.

Nico looked at Luna’s wings. He noticed that they were throbbing but couldn’t find any sign of a fracture that pierced through her skin. He then spoke up to Luna, “Well there’s no sign of a compound fracture, or any type of fracture. The explosion that knocked you back, I’m pretty sure that the force sprained one of your muscles and you didn’t feel it until you flexed your wings. So you gotta close your wings and I’ll bandage them up.”

Luna felt another surge of blush overtake her face. She stared at the ground to avoid looking at Nico as she said sheepishly, “Uh. I cannot do that, not right now.”
Nico raised an eyebrow in wonder. “Really? I mean yeah I know your wings hurt, but…. can you even move ‘em?”

Luna shook her head. “This out of my power, Nico. Please, there must be some other way.”

“Oookay. Well, if it’s too much, then I got something to fix this quick.”

Luna nodded and let out a small smile. “Yes, yes Nico, I would very much appreciate that,” Luna looked at Nico with her eyes closed and said, “Yes, before you do anything else, can you please put on some clothes?”

“Oh yeah,” chuckled Nico. He plodded toward his clothes and armor which were randomly laid on the dirt floor. He hissed from the sudden pain erupting from his right leg and chest as he moved.

“Are you okay, Nico?” asked Luna, her voice filled with concern.

“Well, I could be doing better,” sighed Nico. He slowly put his arms and legs through his jumpsuit. Afterwards he grabbed the Millennium Side-Pocket and buckled it around his waist. He scooped up his armor one at a time deposited them into his side pocket.
Nico hobbled back to Luna and summoned a stimpack in his left hand. The red contents of the syringe glowed in the dim environment, fighting Luna’s blue spectral light. “You’re not scared of needles are you?”

“I will take the headsman’s axe if it means an end to this horrid pain!” screamed Luna, tears pouring from her eyes as her wings continued to throb, “Hurry up!”

“Ok then, jeez.” Nico kneeled besides Luna looking for a spot for the injection. As soon as he found one, he made the injection and emptied the syringe’s contents into the Alicorn. As time passed, Luna’s wings slowly started to descend and then finally folded back into their original position. Luna let out a sigh of relief as the pain subsided. She looked up at Nico with a skitteish smile and gibbered, “Thank you, Nico.”

Nico grinned. “Yeah, luckily for you, you didn’t break any bones. What I love about them is that they can fix anything: burns, cuts, bullet wounds, you name it.”

“Then how come you will not use one for yourself?”

“Two things, it forces your bones back into place and that’s really painful, and they’re really hard to come by. I only have two left.”

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t realize how valuable they were.”

Nico shook his head. “It’s cool, cool. I’ll send a bill to your kingdom. But right now let’s get outta here.”

Nico walked to the rock wall, Luna tailing behind him, and summoned a pickaxe, its head made of gold and the handle made of a black material. As he winds his arms he suddenly gasped and turned to Luna. “My ship,” said Nico solemnly. Luna gulped as she looked at Nico, fearing as to what is going to happen next. Nico sighed, “Well, I’m gonna have to add this to the bill.” He then began chipping at the stone wall as Luna stared at him in total confusion. Nico continued, “Since I’m the owner I will give my own appraisal for my ship. Let’s see a first class Hermes scouting vessel, a real classic, and no longer in production. That starts off at about roughly fifteen million pixels.” Luna mouth dropped wide open. “With the materials used to make the ship as well as the star maps upgrades that would be ten million pixels.” Luna was shaking her head frantically. “And the memories I had with the ship, priceless. I promise you it would amount to hefty sum.”

Luna buried her head into her hooves. “Are you serious?” asked Luna

Sweat was streaming down Nico’s face as picked at the wall. “Well, I am hoping for compensation.”

Luna moaned, “Oh, my sister is going end me!”

“A sister? I didn’t know you had a sister. What’s her name?”

“Yes,” sighed Luna, “I have an older sister. Her name is Princess Celestia, and when we return, she’s going to be more than my sibling, she’s going to be my executioner!”

Nico chuckled at the distressed Alicorn. He then saw a small opening as a cone of grey light shown through the crack. Nico worked through the pain and hastened his pace. He did this until he made a hole large enough for him to squeeze through. As he was shimmying through the hole he called out to Luna, “I made the hole. I’m gonna squeeze through and make it big enough for you to fit through.”

“Or,” interjected Luna, “I can do this.”

As Nico popped from the hole, Luna appeared in a blue flash in front of him and gave him a smirk. “Or you can do that, yeah.”

As the two looked at their surroundings they felt that they weren’t on the same planet anymore. The foliage that towered above as well as the slew of strange alien creatures were replaced with a scarred landscape populated with scorched trees, all buried under a thick blanket of ash. The clouds of ash covered the sky turning the suns light into a sickly grey color. The air was so thick with ash that it watered both Luna and Nico’s eyes and almost caused them to go into a coughing fit. Nico strapped on his helmet while Luna unfurled her wings to cover her eyes.

Nico walked forward. “Come on, follow me.”

“Where are we even going?” questioned Luna.

“We’re looking for one of the Penguin spaceships. There has to be some here after the blast. It’s our only chance. Either we find a working saucer or we’ll just have to make another distress beacon and wait.”

He plowed through the clumps of fallen ash that were as high as his waist. He suddenly stopped when he saw a gaping crater under a small layer of ash. He let out a heavy sigh and continued.

He finally stopped when he saw mounds of ash. He walked to one of the grey mounds and started to wipe off the ash to reveal a metal plate. Nico smiled as he had found a crashed Penguin ship and continued to wipe off the ash from the ship’s sides to inspect the ship for any damage to the hull. He stopped when he saw a small breach that stretched vertically along the ship.

Nico snapped his fingers in a rapid succession. “Damn,” he cursed.

Luna was behind Nico. “What’s wrong, Nico?” she asked.

“Ships busted. Alright I’m gonna need your help right now, Luna. I need you to look for anymore crashed saucers” Nico walked from the saucer and pointed to the other mounds of ash. “You can start over there. Holler at me when you find a working saucer.

Luna nodded and split apart from Nico to check on the other fallen saucers. Each ship they came upon varied in condition. Some only had just a small breach in the hull; others were cracked in half like an egg, while a few were completely ripped to shreds with the only proof of their existence being chunks of shrapnel charred black scattered about the area of their demise. For the Penguins that operated these spacecraft, some remained in their spaceships which currently serve as their metal tomb. Other Penguins who happened to be found outside their ship lay lifeless on the ground buried under a thick layer of ash.

With every saucer he inspected, Nico’s hope of escape seemed more fleeting. When he spotted a saucer wedged into the ground. He sauntered over to the ship, skeptical that the saucer he heading towards would fare better than the last one he came upon.

He clambered to the saucer’s glass dome, trying to compromise for his injuries. He slowly wiped the ash and saw within the glass dome, a dead penguin. It was sprawled all over the controls. Nico was going to leave to examine the rest of the ship when he noticed the deceased penguin had a prosthetic flipper on its right side. Nico gawked at the penguin. “Dreadwing,” he dribbled. When he finally regained his composure Nico shouted into the air, “Luna, get over here!” I think I found our ship!”

Nico circled the ship and was pleased to find no serious damage done to the hull. He came to the base of the saucer where no ash fell where he found a small metal panel. He summoned his Matter Manipulator and focused it on the panel till it was gone. On the other side was a large number of wires and cables of various colors and sizes arranged in a varied sequence of patterns. Nico gazed at the wiring for only a few seconds, “Too easy.”

Luna came behind Nico. She was gasping and coughing from the poor air. “You found a working ship?” she wheezed, “What are you doing?”

Nico inserted both his hands into the compartment. His hands moved with the grace of a calm river as he took apart and rearranged the wires. “Just hotwiring the saucer so we can get in.”

“Is it difficult?”

Nico only chuckled. “Nah. To me this is just as easy as breathing. I used to hotwire cars back in the day.” Nico turned his head to Luna and asked, “Do you have any cars where you come from?

“Do you mean the railroad car?”

“No, I mean an automobile. A vehicle with four wheels?”

Luna shook her head. “No, sorry”

“Really?! Well, anyway bear with me. Anyway I used to steal cars and sell them off, and that was when I was just ten years old! I had to sink down below the dashboard just to reach the pedals! I was a shitty human being when I was young. Then one day I got caught by my dad. He came home early that day and was pretty shocked to find a sports car on our driveway.”

Luna was eyeing Nico with curiosity. “So, you got caught by your father? What happened next?”

Nico closed his eyes and said in a nonchalant voice, “Oh, just simple heart warmed scolding and a promise by me to never do such a thing again.” Nico then cracked into laughter. “Of course that was after I had my ass whupped red with a belt. My dad was strict and he sure did the beat the chollo outta me on that day.” Nico laughed along with Luna. “Oh, the good old days?”

The saucer suddenly began to whir with life. “Got it!” shouted Nico. He returned the metal panel and backed away from the ship. Four beams protruded out from the saucer to balance. Small steps, with a size meant for penguins, extruded from the saucer to Nico and Luna, and the saucer’s doors whooshed open.

When the doors opened, two penguins tumbled down the stairs to Nico’s feet. Luna jumped back, her pupils shrinking to tiny pinpricks. Nico picked up the two penguins and started to arrange them in a line. He entered the ship and carried the other penguins out, one wrapped in each of his arms.

He finally carried Dreadwing from the ship. He was more difficult than the others, as his prosthetic metal flipper weighed him down and Dreadwing, despite his small stature, was a dense mass of muscle. Nico grunted and sweated as he carried Dreadwing down the tiny flight of steps.

As Nico placed Dreadwing on the ash floor, He brought out his Matter Manipulator and aimed it at the base of Dreadwing’s metal flipper. “I could get something out of this. I know a friend in Alcor Three who’s willing to take something like this. He can probably get this flipper off of our hands and help us out in exchange. He could even het you a free passage back to your home if he’s capable.” Nico grinned as he held Dreadwing’s flipper in his hands. “Well, at least I can say that today won’t be a total loss.” He deposited the flipper into his side-pocket and made his way into the saucer. “You coming?”

Nico turned to Luna who had her eyes transfixed on the dead penguins. She broke from her trance and stared up to Nico as he then joked, “Come on, let’s get inside you like a ghost!” Nico was covered head to toe with grey ash, while only Luna’s face remained clear of impurities.

Luna followed Nico into the saucer and bended her head through the archway. Once inside the ship’s doors whooshed close. She started to shake her entire body of the ash, while Nico patted his jumpsuit.

The inside of the saucer was well lit by the ceiling lights which allowed all to be seen. It was cramped and small to the point where Nico had to crook his head to avoid hitting his ceiling. The metallic walls were equipped with flashing lights and screens as well as a few lockers, which stunk with the strong lingering smell of fish. In the center of the room was a small swivel chair that could ascend into the cockpit.

Nico wasted no time and crawled over to the chair and removed the chair. He stood up and squeezed his body through the hole into the cockpit; he popped both his arms into the glass dome compartment one at a time.

The room was darkened by the ash which covered the glass dome. The control console’s buttons illuminated the area with an assortment of colors.

Nico pressed a large yellow button found in the center of the console and the whole ship began to quake. He then pressed a green button and immediately the ash that covered the glass dome was washed away to reveal the grey smoldering wasteland. Nico grasped the red joysticks that were at the center of the control console and lightly pressed them forward.

Slowly, the ship began to rise from the ground and leveled itself in the air. As it moved, Nico inserted coordinates into the control console. “Alcor Three here we come,” he cheered with a small tired grin on his face. He pressed a large red button and the shep began to move upwards.

Nico ducked out from the cockpit and called Luna over. He pointed to the cockpit and said to her, “Hey Luna, go up and take a look.”

Luna obeyed and went to the control console. She stood up on her hind legs to reach the cockpit. Her eyes were filled with wonder as she started at the mishmash of buttons and levers as well as to see the ship ascending into space. She grunted from the sudden force she felt and tried to keep herself from collapsing down onto the floor. She couldn’t help but smile as she saw herself in space.

Luna turned her gaze to the planet she just escaped from. There on the surface of the massive green planet was a small grey blemish. Luna’s smile slowly faded away and she looked down to ground. Then the as the saucer jumped into lightspeed, Luna exited the cockpit and sat down on the floor.

“We’re finally on the move!” Nico cheered.

Luna tried to avoid looking at his face. She let out a sigh and muttered to Nico, “How you do it Nico?”

”Scuse me?” asked Nico, “How do I do what?”

“Those Penguin’s that perished. So many gone. I know they were our adversaries, but-” She looked up at Nico with trembling lips. “-how are you not disturbed by any of this?”

Nico smile vanished as he stared at the downtrodden Alicorn. He let out a sigh sat right next to her and said in a solemn voice. “The Milky Way Galaxy isn’t perfect. It’s not a place of wonder or adventure that’s been so romanticized in your comics. It’s a meat grinder where people and become something else. It took me time to learn that lesson; I’ve done things I regret during those years.” Luna frowned and stared at the floor. Nico continued, “This galaxy isn’t meant for the weak, but you’re not weak, Luna. “

Luna stared up at Nico in confusion. “What?”

“Yup, not even close. You’re quite the opposite really. The way you fight, I wouldn’t dream having to face you.”

“Really?” asked Luna jokingly.

“Yeah!” Nico moved his hands back in forth in a swift motion. “You were all like ‘whoosh!’ You moved so fast in the air I had a hard time trying to find you! Not to mention you saved my ass like twice!”

“You saved my life too!”

“Well, yeah but not like how you did it, with your horns and wings! I’m not saying that I’m jealous, but I wouldn’t mind if I could do what you did.” Nico rubbed his chin as he said, “You know make a decent companion to travel if….”

Luna’s ears flicked with excitement. “If what?”

“You know, if weren’t so terrible with operating ships,” Nico mumbled, “I mean, you did crashed mine.”

Luna began bashing Nico’s arm. “When are you going to let that go?” she giggled.

“Well, since you did save my hide more than once today, I shall deduct your bill I will send to you and your sister.”

The two broke into laughter. Then Nico patted Luna on her back. “You see how easily you forgot about the penguins? I know death is a serious thing, but it’s all a part of life. I will die, you will die, everyone dies at some point. Some sooner than others. And when our bodies are long gone, the universe still continues without us.” Nico scoffed,”I don’t know how that would answer your question, I’m not a poet. If you ever find yourself troubled, I’m always available.”

Luna nodded and wrapped her hooves around Nico in a warm embrace. “Thank you.”

Author's Note

Did this take forever! Again I'm sorry for not posting anything for a long time, perhaps making some of you believe that I was dead. No it was just school and having to do multiple revisions that contributed to the amount of time just to finish this chapter.

Codex: Penguins

Codex>Library>Races>Penguin

Penguins, the bane of galaxy and its inhabitants. A greedy and malicious race feared by all the other alien races. But, to humans like me, we’re more speechless than scared. To me, seeing a penguin pilot a saucer was very shocking, maybe more shocking than watching a Hylotl and a Floran having a conversation without the Hylotl being stabbed, that kind of shocking. Not to sound racist but back where I came from, Penguins are nothing more than zoo animals.

They were so different, so unique and bizarre. I had to find their world planet, and I did. Following numerous rumors and directions I flew to the home world of black and white pirates. I entered their home system, mindful not being caught. I followed the coordinates given to me to find a planet completely shrouded in dark clouds. I was confused at the sight of this but I continued anyway. Below, where I thought I would see an arctic tundra, there was instead a massive dark ocean. I checked the planets temperature saw that it was 32 degrees Celsius. There was no snow or ice, just an ocean with nothing, except for a lone mountain. This mountain was so large and tall that the view from the inside of my ship couldn't capture the entirety of this mass of rock. On the sides of the massive mountain were massive smoke stacks puffing blind smoke into the sky. In the mid-line of the mountain was a massive square hole carved into the mountain where Penguin saucers docked bringing with them their loot.

Why would they still live there? No snow, it was hot, the planet they lived in now has long lost its luster. Is that why they pillage the Milky Way, so they can just stay in this barren water world? I was about to leave this planet and cursing the stubborn inhabitants that live there, but suddenly I saw a trio of saucers. I was about to panic until I noticed they were attached together carrying a large device in the center of them. I stared silently preparing to move in case of anything. The device then began to suck up the black clouds. Light began to pierce through the gap and began to light up the planet. Then like magic the machine began to shoot out white snow.

I have to say that Penguins sure are a resilient race. They don't give up and they fight for themselves. And despite being ruthless brigands, I still can't help but laugh when I see them with plasma weapons trying to melt my face off.

Codex: Poptop

Codex>Library>Monsters>Poptop

When I first encountered this creature, I was in the Al Kab System mining for some ores. I thought it was one of the cutest things I ever encountered. I kid you not it was blow your heart out cute. Those orange marbles eyes that glowed, the massive head that looked too big for it's own stringy body and legs to support, and its arms that would stretch and drag on the floor. Compared to the many unspeakable horrors that I've seen and confronted, It was relief to see a creature that didn't look like something pulled from a kid's nightmare. I didn't know what I was thinking, because I grabbed the Poptop and took it to my ship to keep as a little companion. I started to have second thoughts the next morning when I woke up to find my head between the little devil's ginormous jaws. I miraculously ripped it from my head, losing almost every fiber of hair, and shot it out the airlock. I never took off my helmet for a whole month after that. My hair has long since grown back, and I stroke my hand now and then to remind myself of that old saying, "Don't judge a book by it's cover."

Author's Note

The Codex, small bonus chapters of monsters and other alien races. Comes along with a drawing. If any of you would like to enrich the Starbound universe with your own monster, message me a description about your monster and I'll write about it as well as draw it. If you want to send a url of your drawing as well, that would be awesome!

For now I'm gonna be working on the next chapter. Until next time!