Chapters Chapter One ~ Hard Landing
I awoke to the sound of my alarm clock blaring in my ear. I had it set for 0400 hours to get a head start on my last day on Earth before I head to Mars. The first thing on my list of things to do would be to make myself breakfast. This consisted of a bowl of cereal and can of Coke. Not the best breakfast I have ever had but I only bought enough food for me to last the entire time that I was working in the newly built Barack Obama space center in Jacksonville, Florida.
I was residing in a Hilton Hotel somewhere in downtown Jacksonville. The hotel wasn’t that bad but I dislike big cities like these where there was no such thing as hospitality. Everyone had a place to be in a hurry so no one cared to politely ask you to move if you were caught in their way. This, however, didn’t manage to dampen my spirit due to the fact that I would be far away from them in due time. Seeing as I still had an hour and thirty minutes before a cab would pick me up to bring me to the space center, I decided that I would just sit out on the balcony and watch the city.
Sometimes I would compare myself to my grand parents when I was feeling a little under the weather. A lot of the time I would find them sitting out on their front porch admiring the scenery around their house. This thought brought a smile to my face and I felt as though I would be in their place someday. Usually at this time though I would be doing my morning pt, physical training, but today I felt it necessary to relax and to allow my mind to wander.
The sound of a phone ringing brought me out of my day-dream state and I walked inside to answer it.
“Hello?”
“Hi is this Lieutenant Greek?”
“Yes this is him. Who is this?”
“The cab driver called in. He will be here in about ten minutes.”
“Alright thank you.”
The man at the front desk hung up on me again. This was the second time in the past two days that he has done this and I believe that this is why I couldn’t bare to live in a city. Despite this little problem my mind moved to a more important matter: I had to get dressed. It only took me about five minutes to get into my uniform and I made my way to the lobby, suitcase in tow. After signing out at the front desk I made my way out to the street. Not long after I walked outside did the taxi pull up to the hotel.
The driver came around and threw my bag into the back. Without a word he slipped back into the driver’s seat. It was times like these that really bothered me. I had never been annoyed to the point of action but some of the people that I have run into in these cities really wear me down. A comment like this requires an equally robust counter argument. Some of the people that I find in cities like this greatly enhance my spirit and can be compared to most members of my family.
It took forty minutes to get to the space center so I had time to admire the sunrise one more time before going up into space. I will say that the view on most mornings never gets old. After all that I have seen and done, there is nothing that I will take for granted. When the sun was up my mind wondered over these five years that I have spent studying, learning, and training for this one last mission. I was planning on retiring after I finish with this year. With one last look out the window, I fell asleep.
A sudden irregular stop woke me up and I looked out the window. I could see the launch tower in the distance along with the shuttle that would take me and a few others up to the main craft. The building directly in front of me was of no particular interest. It was just like any other office building excluding the NASA logo at the top of the building and on the doors. With my luggage in-hand I walked through the building and eventually found a meeting room conveniently labeled “Operation Mars Explorer”, the name of the entire operation.
As fate would have it, I was the first to arrive and not even the head scientist who was supposed to ask us if we had any last-minute questions before we headed to the shuttle was there. It only took another ten minutes for the rest of the crew and the scientist to arrive. A couple of the other crewmembers asked if there were any changes to their stations and a couple other random questions. About half of them seemed to be worried while the rest were just wearing plain faces during the Q and A. At least I wasn’t the only one who wasn’t worried.
The crew consisted of five men. John Dixon was a short, stocky, pale man that had blonde hair and blue eyes. Brandi Clarke was average sized and had tan skin, brown eyes, and brown hair with blonde highlights. Dillon Parker was an average height with black hair, brown eyes, and had a farmer’s tan. Tyron Williams was just under the six and a half foot height limit, had black hair, dark eyes, and was dark toned. Finally I, Chase Greek, am almost six feet, dark brown hair and eyes with an average tan.
John, who was an Ensign, was in charge of the engine and all of the power suppliers in the rear of the ship. Brandi was a civilian scientist that was sent with us to study Mars’ atmosphere. Dillon, who was also an Ensign, was the ships communications officer. Tyron was a civilian engineer whose sole purpose was to keep the jump drive on board the ship working long enough to get us to Mars and back. My purpose on the ship was to drive both of the shuttles.
After the short Q and A session we were prompted to board a bus that would take us to the launch tower. It didn’t take long for us to arrive at the launch tower and I mostly kept to myself during this trip. I was thinking too much about home. The tower seemed to stretch up forever but I was never one to be afraid of heights. The elevator that was positioned in the center of the tower was big enough for all of us and our luggage with some room left over. I offered a polite smile when I saw that Brandi kept looking at me.
When we reached the top we all stored our belongings in the small compartments beside our seats. This shuttle was just like the classic black and white space shuttle. This one was equipped with a super computer capable of docking this ship to the ISS after we departed to the other shuttle. When we all got settled into our seats I keyed the communications link.
“Lieutenant Greek to ground control mission is a-go.”
“Copy that. Disconnecting fuel and power lines blast-off in ten.”
With that a counter appeared in the top right corner of my screen counting down from ten seconds. As the counter struck three I felt the whole ship shudder and shake from the rockets going off. I couldn’t hear it but I knew that the guy on the comm said the famous line “Lift off. We have lift off.” In just a minute we were already almost surrounded by darkness. I could feel the dull thumps as the fuel tank and booster rockets fell away from the ship.
With one swift motion I had the control handle in my hands and steered the ship toward the Winter’s Fury. The ship was comparable with a nail with a ring around the rear area. It had white and red stripes and seemed to be big enough for how many people we had going into the ship. It was currently disconnected from the ISS but did have a couple astronauts moving between the two. The docking door was on the right side in the center and was very accessible with the ship we were currently in.
Once the airlocks were secure we grabbed our stuff and moved onto the ship. After putting away our stuff the two engineers pulled themselves to the rear of the ship, Brandi went to her small lab located in the center of the ship, and Dillon and I pulled ourselves to the bridge located on top of the ship and to the rear. The interior was quite bland with only an occasional porthole in the sides of the ship. The bridge, on the other hand, had a large viewport which gave us a nice view of the top of the ship and where the ship was pointed.
For the next week I ran systems checks and diagnostics for various tasks. Dillon relayed our condition to ground control and, which I learned at the end of the week, Brandi was reorganizing her lab while the two engineers were constantly checking the radiation and power levels of the ship. Despite the boring actions I performed, I did find joy in watching things float in the low gravity. But time goes on and we did come to the last day of the work week.
No one on the ship was resting as we had to prepare to leave Earth’s orbit and head to Mars. We were five minutes away from the jump when Dillon decided to start a conversation.
“Sir, what do you think is going to happen when we activate the jump-drive?”
“I’m not sure. I assume that it’s going to do what the scientists say it should do. It has to, I’m about to retire.” I said which brought out a chuckle from him.
“Thanks.” He said.
That’s when the speakers crackled with static.
“Ground Control to Winter’s Fury. Are all systems up and running?”
“Yes all systems are green and running fine. Beginning warm-up cycle now.” I said and then typed in a few commands.
The ship hummed to life and the running lights came on. Once the cycle was done I keyed the microphone.
“All systems are warmed up and ready for the jump.”
“Good. We will be monitoring your location via a tracker positioned on the ship. If everything goes according to plan then you will be traveling just under the speed of light. Jump when ready.”
“Copy that. Winter’s Fury out.” I said and then switched to the intercomm. “Attention all crew, secure all loose items. We will be jumping In five minutes.”
These five minutes seemed to go by slowly as I watched the digital clock positioned at the center of my monitor. The seconds ticked by as the minute hand moved ever closer to the 12. When there was just one minute left I keyed the intercomm again.
“Attention all crew, the jump will commence in one minute. Get to your wall mount and secure yourselves,”
I was so filled up with anticipation. This is the moment that will make or break history. This will either begin the true space age or it will fail and all this time will be for almost nothing.
“Jumping in ten.” I said and counted the seconds.
When the second hand touched the 12 I pushed the throttle all the way forward and pushed the red button beside the throttle. For a split-second it seemed as though nothing was going to happen. That is until everything blurred and swirled. I was unable to keep my eyes open and I was knocked unconscious.
The smell of smoke brought me from unconsciousness. I was disoriented and had no idea what had happened. I was lying in a small pool of blood next to my command chair. I took one look around the bridge to see if I could see anything to give an explanation as to what happened. All I saw were broken windows, cracked monitors, and Dillon. He was sitting in his chair with a tree branch sticking out of his back. His blood dripped to the floor under his seat.
The sight sickened me. I have seen men riddled with bullet holes, legs blown clean off or attached by a sliver of flesh, and limbs twisted in horrifying angles but this. This seemed worse than all that I have seen in the past. I struggled to get to my feet and walked out into the main corridor. The smoke made it hard to see but I knew that there was an airlock just a few feet ahead of me. The glowing red emergency lights showed that I was near the hatch.
With the touch of a button the door blasted off and sunlight poured in. With my right hand blocking most of the sunlight and my left hand applying pressure to the gash in my side I stumbled out of the airlock. In my stupor I didn’t see that the door was not level with the ground and I fell to the hard-packed dirt. My vision blurred as I heard someone gasp.
“There it is, weapons at the ready.”
“No wait it looks hurt.” I heard a young woman say in a soft tone.
“It’s an alien it could kill you Fluttershy.” Said another.
“I don’t care. I wouldn’t be who I was if I didn’t try to help any thing in need of attention.”
I heard a light flapping sound grow closer to me and a soft thump as whatever it was landed. I struggled to look up but my vision was so blurred that I couldn’t see. There was just a yellow blob and a couple of pink blobs around the first. I pushed myself along the ground away from it but it kept getting closer.
“It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you.”
Her voice made me stop and let the blob get close. I could barely feel what she was doing due to the fact that my entire body was numb. After just a minute of her cleaning the gash I heard another voice speak out. This one belonged to an older and wiser-sounding woman.
“Alright Fluttershy, that will do. I will take it to your house to be restrained in the basement.”
“But I’m not finished. What if he gets hurt more than he already is?” The one I presumed to be Fluttershy said.
“I know. But there is more to this creature than meets the eye. We have to take precautions just in case it’s dangerous.”
“Yes Princess Celestia.” Fluttershy said in a disappointed tone.
The next thing I know I’m floating a few feet off the ground and probably being moved to Fluttershy’s basement. She was walking alongside me and glancing at me every so often. All at once my vision cleared and I could finally see what the yellow blob was. It was a small Pegasus with a pink mane and tail. I assumed that this was what it was like to be high on drugs and didn’t really think much about it. It looked so real but fake at the same time. For the next couple of minutes I just starred at it and watched it’s movements.
Eventually we came to a small cottage and we entered it. The interior was simple but had many birds, squirrels, and other small animals in it. ‘This is come pretty powerful stuff to make me see all of this with such high detail.’ I thought to myself as I was brought down into a small basement. Whatever was holding me placed me on a bed and held down my arms and legs.
“What is happening.” I asked Fluttershy, half expecting for her to just disappear at the question.
“It talked.” She said and moved closer to me.
“Can you understand me?” She asked.
This was starting to get to my head and I was starting to believe what was happening.
“Yes? Why wouldn’t I. You’re just a figment of my imagination.” She didn’t seem to like that.
“I am not. I’m real. Are you feeling okay?” She asked.
“Uh yah. If you consider seeing a brightly colored Pegasus to be okay.” I replied.
“What’s that supposed to m-” She was cut off by another voice.
“He’s delirious, give him some room and he’ll see that we are real.”
This voice came from a Pegasus/Unicorn horse with a cotton candy colored mane and tail that wavered in a non-existent breeze. Her body was white and she wore a crown on her head and a necklace around her neck. Her horn was glowing the same color that my wrists were so I assumed that she was holding me down. What she said made me consider the possibility of this being real. ‘The Greeks had to get their ideas from somewhere so could this be real?’ I asked myself. Fluttershy noticed my distracted state and decided to try again.
“Are you alright? Do you need anything?”
“Yes. Let me go.”
“I can’t do that.” The pegicorn said.
“And why can’t you?” I asked directly to her.
“Because you could be dangerous and I don’t trust you.”
I began to make an argument but thought better of it. Looking into Fluttershy’s eyes I could see that she didn’t want to keep me here like this.
“Please.” I said to Fluttershy instead of the other one.
“Fluttershy can you please leave us for a minute. I have to have a little chat with our friend here.”
Fluttershy nodded and then walked back upstairs, closing the door behind her.
“I know what you are. You will not bring war here. Your kind was banished from this planet for a reason.” She said, her magenta eyes piercing into my soul.
“I-Banished?” I asked and gave her a quizzical look.
“Yes. I have heard the stories about how your kind developed weapons and waged war with anyone who disagreed with you.”
I was left speechless. ‘That never happened. We have been on planet Earth for as long as written history goes back. Could what she said be true? Could we have really been banished from this world and sent to Earth?’ Her face seemed to soften slightly.
“Perhaps I may have been to harsh. Forgive me. Did you humans learn your lesson?” She asked.
‘Oh no. What should I tell her? I can’t tell her that we did because that would be lying and that would make me loose the little trust she has for me.’
“I would say that most of us have. The only humans that want to wage war are either insane or are just plain evil.” I said which made her face soften even more.
“And I can trust that you won’t be of any harm to my subjects?” She asked.
I nodded.
“For your sake I hope that you are not lying.” She said and then the glow went away.
I struggled to sit up and move around a little bit. I gave her my thanks before she went upstairs. Not long after Fluttershy came down with a tray in her mouth. On the tray were slices of apple and a cup of water. I contemplated whether or not this was some kind of dream but there was too much evidence stacked up against it. Once I thought that I was going crazy but I didn’t see that as a possibility. She sat the tray on a small nightstand next to the bed before going to get a med kit from upstairs.
When she came back down with the med kit she started dressing the wound. For this I had to take off the top half of the jumpsuit so she could get a good view of what she was doing. While she was doing this I ate the apple slices and drank the glass of water. When we were finished she took the tray upstairs. Before she came back there was a knock at the door. I heard her open the door and greet someone named Twilight. From what I could hear she came here to take notes on the “creature” and to check my behavior for the princess.
From the moment that I saw this unicorn I knew that she didn’t trust me at all. The look on her face told of distrust and caution. She was purple with a darker purple mane and tail with a pink stripe running through both. She stopped on the other side of the room and dumped her back pack on the floor. As she looked into the bag I lifted my hand to scratch my back which startled her. Before I knew it I was on the floor out of breath and almost knocked out.
I heard a gasp and then Twilight said: “I thought that is was going to attack me.”
And so was the end of my first day on this world.
Chapter Three ~ I Come in Peace
The sound of birds chirping and a slight breeze blowing over me woke me from my slumber. My head was throbbing with pain and my vision was blurry. The sunlight pouring in through the window wasn’t helping and just made my headache worse. I rolled over and tried to wake up a little more. I wiped my eyes a couple of times and they finally cleared. I noticed something flickering in the top right side of my vision and I looked up at it.
It appeared to be some sort of ball of light. The more I looked at it the more it seemed to change. It was as if it was a ball of liquid that gave off light. It seemed to have blue and pink in the center, but I could barely tell. On the nightstand next to me was a stack of papers, a used quill, and a couple empty inkbottles. I picked up one of the papers and tried to figure out what it said. It had all kinds of shapes in rows but I had no idea what they meant. With a sigh I returned the paper to its spot and stood up.
Moving up the stairs turned out to be quite a challenge due to my injuries. I guess I should be thankful to be alive though. Pressing on I finally made it up the stairs and looked around. Everything looked normal but something was off. The lights were off and there seemed to be no sign of Fluttershy or Twilight. I was only able to take one step forward before I felt a draft on my back. Slowly turning around I was met with two big blue eyes and a pink pony-face.
I punched. My survival training kicked in and I was in a defensive stance in no time. The pink pony flew down the stairs and landed with a thud. Out of the corner of my eye I saw another orb of light fly toward me. As soon as the orb struck me I felt lightning surge across my chest. My vision turned red and I felt my heart beating at an unnatural rate. I lost my ability to stand and I hit the floor, hard. All of my muscles locked up and I couldn’t move. Just as I felt that I was about to die the electricity stopped.
A bright flash revealed none other that Princess Celestia. She looked pissed. “I thought you had learned your lesson and wouldn’t attack one of my ponies.” She stated with force.
“I… it…scared me.” I choked out.
“You punched her down the stairs. You could have killed her.”
“It’s okay princess, I’m fine.” I heard the pony call from down the stairs.
“Alright. But listen human, next time I won’t hesitate to electrify you to death.” She said, venom in each word.
I just nodded. At this point I could barely breath. My heart was pounding and I almost couldn’t move. With another flash, the princess was gone and the pink pony was walking up to me slowly. Her hair had fallen flat and her head was drooped.
“I’m sorry I scared you. I just got a little excited when I saw you awake and I couldn’t help myself.”
“Alright…name?” I said weakly while holding my chest.
“I’m Pinkie Pie, what’s your name?”
“Chase.” Was all I could say before I was out of breath again.
“Will you be alright if I go to get Fluttershy, I’m not sure how to help you.” She said, her hair returning to its original puffy form.
I nodded my head and she left out the front door. I continued to lie there for about fifteen minutes when I finally caught my breath. I moved up onto the couch in the living room. I noticed that there weren’t any animals in the cottage, unlike when I first got here. I pondered this for a second but I just decided to ignore it for now. My heart rate had gone down and the twitching in my muscles had died down. My vision returned to normal and I lost the feeling of being near death.
I took a look around and noticed that there were a couple more of those orbs. I wondered briefly how they worked but that though quickly changed when I realized that I couldn’t even get close to those things or else I might set them off. The princess must really not like me if she would kill me for something that wasn’t my fault. There was something in her eyes that I couldn’t quite identify. Hatred maybe. I don’t know. She’s confusing.
While in the middle of trying to come up with a reason that she might hate me personally Fluttershy came in followed my five ponies of many colors. As the purple one entered I started to move away from them. They made a half circle in front of me. I was backed into a wall and the only way out would be to go through them. With those glowing mines near, I wouldn’t even try to get away.
“Chase, these are my friends. This is Applejack, Rainbowdash, and Rarity. I believe you already met Pinkie Pie and Twilight right?”
“I more than met Twilight.” I replied.
“Hey you better watch it. She’s sorry for what she did.” Rainbowdash said while getting up in my face.
“You had better get outa’ my face. I really don’t want to hit you.” I threatened.
“Oh yeah, why don’t you make me.”
“Because your fucking princess would kill me if I did.”
“Princess Celestia would never do such a barbaric thing.” Rarity said with disgust.
“Oh yeah, why don’t you ask’er then because she sure enough just about fucking did thirty minutes ago.”
All of them let out a gasp at that except for Pinkie. They must have not known about it. I then told them about the orb and what it does. When I told them what Celestia said they didn’t know how to react. After a minute they backed up a little except for Fluttershy. She walked up and nuzzled my cheek. I flinched but I knew that she wouldn’t hurt me. They all offered comforting smiles which I was glad to return.
“Why are you so nice to me when your princess is so untrusting?” I asked. This question has been bothering me for a while.
“Well as far as I know you haven’t attacked anyone on purpose. Princess Celestia is much older than us so she must know something about you that we don’t.” Rarity said.
When she said that all of them took a step back once they put the pieces together.
“I’m not bad. She said something about humans being on this planet a long time ago. It must have been a while because we have no record of this happening. Hell, I’m not even sure this is happening.” I said opening my arms in a wide sweep to emphasize.”
“What do you mean?” Twilight asked.
“I mean I think that I went crazy on the way to Mars and they had to send me back…or kill me.” I answered, mumbling that last part.
“Mars?”
“It’s a planet near my home world.”
“So what your saying is that coming here wasn’t on purpose? That’s not what Brandi said. She said that the machine was supposed to take you to a different universe.”
“Wait, Brandi’s still alive?”
“Yes, she is the only one besides you. She might not make it through this week though. She’s in critical condition.”
“I need to go see her. Where is she?”
“Um…you’re not very healthy yourself, maybe we can take a message.” Rarity said.
“No. I have to see her. I’m sure that it would be much better to go out seeing at least one familiar face.” I said.
“But-“
“It’s not about me. You may think that humans are selfish, mean, or whatever you want but you’ll be wrong. Dying alone is not something that I want anyone to experience.”
“We have been talking to her.”
“If what Princess Celestia said was true and no one else survived the crash then we are the last humans.”
“But then when she dies then you will be the last one and will die alone.”
“I know…just take me to her.” I said with a tone that meant that this conversation was over.
Twilight led us out the door and down a long path to a small town. The town seemed to lack really advanced technology like I thought they would have. It reminded me of something you might see during the renaissance fair. The streets were made of gravel and stones. The buildings were made out of wood and stones. We seemed to be heading toward a big tree that had a door and windows. Somehow the doors opened without anyone touching them. As soon as I saw her I knew that she wasn’t going to make it.
Chapter Four ~ Eye-opening Discovery
Walking up to that bed was like getting shot right in my heart. I knew from the way she looked at me that she wasn’t going to make it. That didn’t stop her from smiling though. Her smile was just like the one she gave me on the first day we met. As I got up to the bed her smile grew brighter and she took my hand. No words were needed. I knew exactly what she was thinking and what I had to do. Due to the fact that the bed was only a foot off the ground, I was able to sit next to her and offer my company.
“I know she told you,” Brandi said in a weak tone.
“Yah. She told me what you told her,” I replied.
“Look I know it’s hard to believe but what I said was true. You were made a target when they choose you for the mission. Our orders were, if the mission didn’t fail, to kill you.”
“What, that’s not at all what they told me. Was the ship an inter-universal craft?” I asked.
“It was supposed to be… look if you want more answers you will find them in my lab. I’m just really tired right now.” She said in an even weaker tone.
“Of course. Yeah, you should rest up. Please don’t die. You’re the last person on this planet I can trust.” After I realized what I said I chuckled lightly. “Hell, you’re the only other person on this planet,” I said which brought out a giggle from her.
“Promise me something Lieutenant.”
“You don’t have to call me Lieutenant. Just call me Chase.” I said with a warm smile.
“Chase, promise me that you will do whatever you can to help these ponies. Also, don’t beat yourself up if I don’t make-”
“No, you’re gonna make it.”
“Don’t lie to me Chase. It doesn’t suit your personality. And about my promise…”
“I promise,” I stated.
As she closed her eyes I thought to myself if I really believed that she would survive the night. The answer I came up with took a few minutes to accept. Hearing her breathing become steady, I knew that she was asleep. I knew that that might be the last time I see her awake.
“Um…Chase? Do you want to move up to my spare room? It might be more comfortable than sitting on the ground,” Twilight asked as she walked into the room.
“No thank you Twilight. I guess it is pretty late isn’t it,” I said as I glanced out the window above the couch.
“I assumed that you were spending the night here so I told Fluttershy she could go back to her cottage.”
“Alright, thanks for letting me stay,” I replied.
“Chase?”
“Yeah?”
“About earlier. I’m sorry I didn’t trust you. It’s just that…I’ve never seen Princess Celestia take such a drastic measure as to lay lethal mines in Fluttershy’s house. She scared me,” Twilight said while lowering her head to the ground.
“It’s okay. Although I don’t know why your princess isn’t trusting of me, I don’t blame any of you for your actions. Just be glad I’m not some alien warlord…wait…I mean I’m not an alien that wants to kill you,” I said with a smile.
“Goodnight Chase.”
“Goodnight Twilight.”
I awoke to find my hand still gripped in Brandie’s. This time, however, it didn’t feel warm or soft. It just felt cold and dead. When I sat up I looked to her to answer the question that I already knew the answer to. I didn’t react to seeing her dead. Years of war have taught me not to. As I heard hooves on the stairs in the next room, I knew that I was in for a long day. I decided that I would meet Twilight in the next room so she wouldn’t have to see Brandi in her current state.
“Good morning Chase. How did you sleep?” Twilight asked with her usual happy smile.
“Okay given the circumstances,” I replied.
She seemed to catch on to what had happened and her smile disappeared. She looked into my eyes and asked the question without passing a word.
“Yeah,” was the only answer I could give her.
“I’m so sorry Chase,” she said with tears in her eyes. “I did all I could do with my magic but her wounds were too great.”
“After a crash like that I’m surprised that anyone survived. Do you, by any chance have a shovel I could borrow?”
“It’s in the shed next to the library,” she answered.
It took about ten minutes to bring Brandi out to the field North of the town where I thought it would be a good place to lay her down. Twilight didn’t accompany me on the trip. She said something about leaving me to it. I’m actually thankful for the peace and quiet. So far, I haven’t had much of it since waking up on this planet. It felt good to finally be able to think this through. While digging the grave, my thoughts wandered over the past five years of my life and how much of it had been lies.
After burying her and placing a medium sized stone on the grave I sat back for about five minutes and went over the five years I’ve spent with her. From what I could remember, there was no hint at what the actual mission was. Having taken the time to say my final goodbye and thinking over my current situation, I made my way back to the library. When I entered, I found Twilight reading one of her books. I walked up behind her and took a peek at the book. It was written in the same language that I saw before and I couldn’t read it.
“Is that some kind of ancient language or something?” I asked curiously.
“What? No this is equestrian; it’s the written form of what we’re speaking. You can’t read it?” She asked with a tilt of her head.
“No, I guess our written languages are different but our spoken language is the same,” I answered.
“By the way, I have a question about your ship. How does it work?” She asked with a quill and parchment ready.
“That’s a big subject but I’ll start with what powers it. There’s a power generator called a reactor. It’s…shit I need to get back to the ship.” I stated as I realized that the reactor is a big problem.
“What? What is it?” She asked.
“The reactor could be going critical.” I answered in a monotone voice.
Chapter Five ~ Back to the Ship
The Elements of Harmony along with me and a mint green unicorn named Lyra were sprinting back to the crash site. The nuclear reactor in the ship could become a major problem if the coolant leaked out of it and/or if the pump blew out. Should either of these scenarios come true, the reactor would be damaged beyond repair and I would definitely be forced to stay on this planet. Another problem would be if there were ponies inside the ship and messing around with the reactor. God knows what would happen to them.
Finally reaching the camp of scientists positioned just outside of the ship we ran through just about anything in our way. By the end of the sprint my legs were just about to give out and I was out of breath. Kneeling down, I did my best to catch my breath as soon as I could.
“Are you alright sugar cube?” Applejack asked.
“Yah, it’s the crash. I got pretty banged up. I’ll be fine though.” I answered as I stood to my full height.
Off to my right there was a ramp leading up to the airlock that I originally escaped from. After another few moment’s rest I ran up the ramp and into the ship followed by the rest of the ponies. It didn’t take me long to get to the engine room and the reactor looked intact. Another pony in a hazmat suit walked into the room and greeted us.
“Uh hello. You must be the alien that came here in this ship. Might I say it is quite astonishing with all the machines and mechanisms. I do wish that you were able to warn us about the liquid that flowed from this machine over here before somepony was hurt.” The scientist said.
“So I was too late. Did they die?” I asked.
“No but she sustained major injuries and is now in Ponyville Hospital in critical condition.” He answered, his smile disappearing.
“Only one casualty? That’s amazing. I was expecting at least ten were dead by now.” I remarked.
“We have safety measures in place to prevent many injuries from occurring.” He said, standing slightly taller be the last word.
“Alright what happened to the liquid and where is it?” I asked in a more friendly tone.
“Oh that stuff is outside in a couple of metal barrels.” He answered.
“Good, good. Well would you like to join us as we go through the ship? You’ll certainly learn a lot more from first-hand experience than by just looking at the stuff.” I asked already knowing the answer.
“Yes I would love a tour of the ship!” He said with such enthusiasm that rivaled Pinkie Pie.
We went throughout the ship and I explained what things were or how things worked that weren’t too complicated. I purposefully didn’t go to the science lab and the cargo bay as I wanted to save those for the end. When I did finally get to the lab twilight went crazy. She practically zoomed from station to station looking at all of the different instruments. I let her look around while I searched for the mission documents that Brandi was talking about. I eventually came across an electronic tablet that had quite a few files on it. The tablet was old, about 15 years to be exact. It actually looked like the ones that came out back in 2015 but I couldn’t be sure.
As I looked through the different files I finally found what I was looking for. To sum it up the document stated that I was a liability and that I knew too much about our secret projects. The entire reason that I was sent here was because if the mission failed and we didn’t make it back to Earth then I would be dead. However, if the mission succeeded, Dillon was under strict orders to kill me. If he failed at eliminating me, Brandi was the next one up.
After reading through the documents I sat back on one of the counters and just stared at the screen. I trusted Brandi more than anyone outside of my family. I knew what she was telling me was the truth but I couldn’t believe it. Up until I read it on this tablet, I kind of pushed it off and didn’t give it much thought. I guess nothing is as it seems until you know everything about it. This did take some time to process but I came to when Twilight walked up to me.
“Do you mind if I take a few things for further study?” She asked.
I never really gave it much thought but when they ask me something, I can’t exactly say no. They look too darn cute.
“Well that depends on what you want to take.” I answered.
“There’s pictures of a planet in the blue folder and that microscope.” She said as she pointed to each of them.
“Alright Twilight.” I answered to which she replied with a cute squeak as she ran to grab the items.
“Alright let’s move to the cargo bay. There’s something in there that you might find a little more useful than a back pack. You won’t have to carry that stuff on your back to the library.” I said as I made my way to the central stairwell.
Getting to the cargo bay took no time at all as the stairwell almost lead directly to it. When we got there they took a sweeping glance at everything while I walked over to the rover in the back of the cargo bay. The rover was about the size of a large car and had seats for four. It looked like a white, windowless van with a few antennas on the top next to a transmission dish. The wheels were normal sized all-terrain tires made to withstand the harsh, Martian surface.
I took the folder and the microscope and put them into one of the little cargo containers on the rover. Next I opened the door for the elements to climb inside. The scientist insisted on staying in the ship and examining the new-found areas of the craft. Despite seven ponies and a human being in a four person space, there was room to move around, albeit very little. After a basic explanation of how the rover worked I started the engine. Only then did I realize that the cargo bay door wasn’t open. I climbed out and ran over to a console near the door. The large batteries inside the ship had enough juice to keep the ship functional long enough for the ship to return to Earth, should anything happen to it.
Or, at least, that’s what the scientists back on Earth told me. I was relieved to find that the batteries did have enough power to last for about a week and I used a small fraction of it to open the door. Once opened, I returned to the rover and slowly drove out of the room. The scientists outside the ship were amazed to see this machine come out of the ship and would have panicked if the scientist that was with us didn’t tell the others about his experience.
The drive back to Fluttershy’s cottage only took about five minutes and the minutes flew by due to the fact that Twilight kept talking throughout the ride. Once we reached the cottage we exited the vehicle and met in front of the house. All except for Fluttershy decided that they had had enough for today and headed home. After moving inside Fluttershy walked upstairs to her bedroom and I headed into the basement. This day rivals my first day in Equestria for the most interesting day that I have ever had. While looking back on the events of the day, I slowly closed my eyes, not knowing what tomorrow had in store for me.
