After The Fall

His vision was blurry. That shotgun did a lot of damage to him. Fuck, Dax thought, I should have worn the armor.

“Dax!” Ajax’s voice was getting muffled.

A few beeps in his helmet could be heard. Ajax’s voice could be heard clearer now.

“Dax, I’m taking over your medical systems. I’m going to attempt to stop the bleeding…”

Dax lost consciousness.

***

What happened here?

Attackers?

Half of this blood belongs to that?

Get that suit off of him.

***

BEEP

BEEP

He has multiple gunshot wounds to his chest and legs.

Let’s take a look.

Sweet Celestia, who is this guy?

He’s built like a tank. I’ve never seen bones so strong before.

He took a 12 gauge buck shot rounds to the chest. He shouldn’t even be alive.

I’m sorry Miss but you’re gonna have to leave.

***

So what are you saying doctor?

I’m saying his DNA and physiology varies from ours.

His DNA is different from ours by 1% He doesn’t carry any of the Earth, Pegasus, Unicorn, or any of those genes that he should. He also has an extra organ and some type of computer system in his spine. I don’t know what any of those systems do so I left them be. But what I’m saying is he’s not of our world.

So he’s an alien.

Be quiet Rainbow Dash and let the nice man finish.

He is an alien and he isn’t. He’s close to the same species as ours but not the same race. So to speak.

What about his suit he was wearing?

I assumed it was part of his clothes and left them on the chair next to his bed. That suit he was wearing is amazing. All the holes in it are repaired. The cracks in his visor are repairing themselves too.

Sorry Rarity. No fashion designing this time.

***

Dax awoke. Something wasn’t right. He felt another presence in his mind. Oh great, he thought, Ajax.

“I heard that,” she said. Her voice echoed around in his mind.

“Why are you in my mind?”

“Well you were bleeding so I transferred myself into your neural systems to help stop the bleeding and seal the wounds.”

“Where are we?”

“Well I could only use your ears while you were in la la land so I couldn’t hear much. But I would guess that we’re lying in a hospital bed in a hospital.”

“Great.”

“You should also be aware that they know.”

“Know what?”

“That you’re an alien; that you’re not from their world. Though they don’t really care much about that from what I can hear.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, they seem really curious about you. One of them is dying to learn about where we come from though I don’t think she’ll like the answer. Oh and I learned that the woman you saved was that DJ on the sign you saw.”

“Really? What was her name again? Vivian? Sarah? Uh this is gonna bother me.”

“Vinyl Scratch is her name. She and six others are sitting in the room looking at you. They’re all wondering when you’re gonna wake up.”

“Can I have my ears back?”

“Sure, oh and get me back into your pad as soon as possible. Your neural systems don’t have a lot of processing power.”

“Alright.”

Sound returned. Control of his body also came back. Dax continued to lie in the bed, listening.

“Why can’t I just slap him across the face? That should work!” came a crackly feminine voice.

“Rainbow Dash, that would be rude. You wouldn’t like if you woke up in some strange place with some strange, Rainbow haired gal smacking you in the face,” said another voice with a country accent.

“Wait, look!” said another voice, “His high brain activity just went down.”

“Is that good?”

“I don’t know. He had abnormally high brain activity to begin with.”

Dax opened his eyes and shot up like a bullet. He saw seven girls sitting in chairs around the room jump. One of them with a tomboyish look and Rainbow hair jumped out of her chair and flew towards him, fists and wings at the ready.

Dax raised his arm, he stopped the girl midflight.

“Ah! What is this?!” she yelled flapping her cyan wings in attempt to escape.

“Why are you trying to punch me?” Dax said. He searched for his pad and found it on the nightstand next to him. He grabbed it and felt Ajax leave his system.

“You jumped up like that. That and you’re an alien. You could have been attacking,” she protested.

“Oh Rainbow stop it now; the fella was probably startled. Waking up in a strange hospital like this,” a blond haired girl in a pair of work jeans and a shirt said. A Stetson hat sat upon her head.

“Fine,” Rainbow Dash said, “Can you put me down now?”

He put the girl back into her chair. Suddenly there was a pink blob in his face. A girl with pink hair was talking a mile a minute, “OOOOOHHH, an alien! We should have a party for the first alien in Ponyville! Do you have parties where you’re from? I bet you have parties. I love parties an-”

An arm cut her off. A girl with purple hair and pink highlights spoke up, “I’m sorry about this; waking up and having Rainbow Dash try to beat you up and Pinkie going crazy just as you wake up must be a little scary.”

“Not really,” Dax said remembering Bolide Station.

“I’m Twilight Sparkle,” the girl said, “The one with pink hair and wings is Fluttershy, the purple haired one is Rarity, the pink girl you just met is Pinkie Pie, you already met Rainbow Dash, the blond one with the hat is Applejack, and the blue haired one is Vinyl Scratch.”

“Howdy partner,” Applejack said.

“Pleasure to meet you Darling,” Rarity said in a fancy, Victorian voice.

“Sorry I tried to kill you,” Rainbow Dash laughed.

“Um, hi,” whispered Fluttershy.

“Hi!” said Pinkie Pie.

Vinyl jumped out of her seat and gripped the super soldier in a bear hug.

“Thank you, thank you so much! I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t saved me!” her slangy, melodious voice cried.

Dax cringed, “Gunshots?!”

“Oh, right. Sorry ‘bout that,” she jumped back into her seat.

“So where’re you from?” Applejack asked.

“Uh… can we talk about that later?”

“Sure.”

“Can you show us that telekinesis you used to stop Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asked.

“Sure,” Dax pulled his pad up from the nightstand. It hovered above his hand, rotating to his will.

“How are you doing that?” Twilight asked, taking notes on a note pad, “You don’t have any genes that would be indicative of any abilities like this.”

“Well I can explain that later,” Dax said.

“What about you abnormally high brain activity? Is that normal for you or is it something else?”

“Well that would be better explained if I introduced you to someone,” Dax said.

The girls all looked at each other. He came into the hospital alone, right? Dax grabbed his pad and tapped a few buttons.

“Come on out Ajax,” Dax said. The pad’s screen began to glow and Ajax’s avatar popped into existence.

“Hello everyone,” Ajax said.

Ajax’s avatar stood life sized next to the bed. Everyone stared in awe at the person who now stood before them.

“Everyone,” Dax said, “This is Ajax. She is my caretaker artificial intelligence. She was kind of in my mind earlier.”

Twilight smiled. She ran up to the hologram, “You’re an A.I.?!”

“Yes, I am an A.I.”

“Oh my gosh! What’s it like being a computer? How much processing power do you have? What kind of software do you run on? Are you a smart or dumb A.I.? What’s your life expectancy?”

Everyone watched in awe as Ajax answered all of Twilight’s questions in quick succession until finally Twilight ran out of questions to ask the A.I.

Ajax didn’t mind. It seemed she was enjoying talking to someone other than Dax. She’d only talked to Dax for the past one year. Though she wouldn’t admit it to Dax or herself she did enjoy talking to another person.

“So you’re a computer?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Not exactly,” Dax said, “She just happens to live in one. And unlike us, her abilities to function are only limited by how much processing power she has access to.”

“So…Can you explain that in plain Equestrian?” She asked.

“Take your ability to fly, Rainbow,” Twilight said, “In a large room you can do more of your tricks and flips, but in a smaller room you can’t do as much. It’s the same thing for her.”

“Oh I get it now.”

“It’s so amazing to be talking to an A.I. I mean a real artificial intelligence. Equestrian scientists have been trying to build an A.I. for years now but haven’t been making much progress.”

“Well it took scientists from my worlds hundreds of years before anything like Ajax was built.”

A holographic chair materialized next to Ajax. She took her seat.

“Well how long do you plan on bein on our fine world Mister….mister…? What did you say ur name was?” Applejack asked.

“Oh dear, girls!” Rarity said as hushed as she could, “No one asked his name!”

“Just saying, I can hear you Miss Rarity,” Dax said, “My name is Dax.”

“Well it’s mighty nice to make your acquaintance Dax,” AJ said.

“Thanks. Vinyl is it?” Dax asked turning to the DJ.

“Yup,” Vinyl bounced.

“Do you know who those guys were who attacked you?”

She shrunk down at mention of the previous night, “No, I don’t. I just remember walking home and having a cloth shoved in my face. After that I woke up tied to a chair. I don’t even want to know what would have happened if you didn’t show up when you did.”

“Well I just happened to be in the neighborhood.”

“That brings up another question; why are you here? I mean not that you aren’t welcome but why did you come to our planet?” Twilight asked.

“Well,” Dax said. He knew he was lying or only telling part of the truth. Right now there was no need for them to know what he did, “I was exploring. My ship detected your planet and found that it contained life so Ajax and I decided to study the culture here. We were about to get a rough outline of this town before we heard Vinyl’s scream. After that, well the rest you already know.”

“Wait! You were here trying to learn more about us?” Vinyl said.

“Yeah, your culture is interesting. You have a very interesting society here. Just last night I was exploring Cloudsdale.”

“You were in Cloudsdale? That means you can walk on clouds! How were you not seen? I’m pretty sure that someone walking around without wings in a suit like that would be noticed,” Rainbow said.

“Well my suit has a stealth kit. It allows me to be invisible and unheard by anyone. As for walking on clouds, Ajax is still trying to figure that one out.”

“Give me a few days and I can probably figure it out,” Ajax said.

“So you’re planning to learn more about us?” Applejack asked.

“If you’ll allow. If not then I’ll return to my ship and depart without question. I’ll be disappointed but I’ll respect your wishes.”

“Aw heck. You can stay as long as you like, it’s not every day an alien saves the life of one of our friends. You’re A OK in my book,” Applejack smiled.

“Oh what the heck, you’re fine by me too,” Rainbow Dash said.

“This is so amazing! A real life alien! And an A.I.! You can stay as long as you like.”

“I like him,” Vinyl smirked, “He saved my life, the least I can do is expose him to the best Equestria has to offer.”

Dax proceeded to ask and answer a series of questions. He learned that Equestria is ruled by a pair of extremely benevolent sisters named Princesses Celestia and Luna. He was amazed to learn that the two actually physically controlled the orbits of the star and moon that hung above the planet.

Dax was released from the hospital later that day. The doctors gave him some cream to rub into the bandages. He would be fine in a few days they said. He walked out on crutches. Vinyl held his helmet.

The nine of them, Ajax included, her avatar ‘walking’ along with them, headed to the Library.

“So,” Rainbow Dash said, “you said you can walk on clouds. But can you fly?”

“Actually yes,” Dax said. He turned to Applejack, “Can you hold these for a second?” he asked holding up the crutches. She took them and joined the others in watching. Dax floated into the air. They all gasped as he floated into the sky. He had no wings yet he floated up.

Rainbow Dash leapt into the air and followed.

“Whoa, how are you doing that without wings?” she asked amazed. She hovered next to Dax.

“I’m an alien remember? I don’t have to obey the laws of physics.”

“Like Meeee!” Pinkie Pie sang from the ground.

The nine headed over to Twilight’s tree house. They had fun with each other. Ajax, ever the intellectual kept the attention of Rarity, Twilight, and Fluttershy. Dax kept close the group so Ajax didn’t phase out of existence. It felt nice to fly again. They finally reached the house; Vinyl helped Dax back onto his crutches.

Twilight knocked. The door was answered by a boy in a green shirt and blue shorts answered the door. He had green and purple, spiky hair and looked no older than 12 or 13 years old.

“Hi Twilight,” He said looking over at Dax on his crutches, “Who’s your new friend?”

“Hi Spike, This is Dax. He’s the one who saved Vinyl last night.”

Spike’s eyes widened, “You’re the alien Twilight says took a shotgun round to the chest? That’s so cool! Come in!”

They all filed in in succession. The library was huge. Dax and Ajax stood in amazement. There were shelves and shelves of books lining the walls. A table stood in the center of the room, holding a lamp and book. A couch sat in one end along with several chairs and benches.

Vinyl helped Dax onto the couch. Ajax’s chair materialized much to Spike’s amazement. Vinyl took a seat next to Dax.

“Do you mind if I inform the Princesses that you’re here and on your feet?” Twilight asked.

“Not at all,” Dax responded. He pulled up his pad and checked his medical data. The nanites in his body were repairing his wounds. He should be fine in a few days.

Spike had grabbed a paper and quill and began to write. He was finished and rolled up the paper and breathed a burst of green fire onto it. It burned and turned to smoke in one quick burst.

“Well that was interesting,” Ajax said.

“Very but not the craziest thing I’ve seen.”

“What kind of crazy things have you seen then, Darling?” Rarity asked.

“Well I once saw a guy lose all his hair after smashing a container of tritium.”

“Um, what’s tritium?” Fluttershy asked.

“Oh I know!” Pinkie yipped, “Tritium is an isotope of hydrogen that can form tritiated water which is a radioactive form of water that can be toxic when it comes into contact with skin.”

“Uh, yeah. That’s exactly what it is,” Dax said amazed, “How’d you know that?”

“It was under T!” she sang as she bounced into the kitchen.

“So I should be back to normal within a few days. I’m looking forward to learning all about you guys. So far we’ve only scratched the surface. We only know the names of a few artists, similarities between my culture and yours’, brand names, ect. Only a little bit.”

“What artists do you know?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Well we saw some posters for Daft Pony, The Mustangs, Black Jacket, Archie, and one for Ms. Scratch over here.”

Vinyl blushed at the recognition. Pinkie returned with some pastries and apple juice. She handed a muffin to Dax. He held his pad up to it. Nothing that wasn’t consistent a normal blueberry muffin.

“Sorry,” he said, “Alien food and all, I don’t want to happen to eat anything that may be toxic to me.”

“Understandable,” Applejack said, “Later you should try some good ole fashion, homegrown, Apple family apples. Best apples in all of Equestria.”

“I’ll take you up on that offer.”

“So if you’re gonna be learning about our culture and customs, where are you gonna be staying?” Vinyl asked.

“Well I don’t really need a place to stay as much as a place to park.”

“Park?” Vinyl asked.

“Well right now my ship is about 7000 meters above the ground just outside of Cloudsdale.”

“Well there are some unused plots of land that the mayor has been dying to get rid of. I’m sure she won’t mind you taking a few acres off her hands,” Twilight said.

“Cool,” Dax said. A crash of thunder could be heard outside. Rain began to pour.

“Uh, I flew past a weather factory in Cloudsdale. Aren’t you…uh pegasi supposed to be able to control the weather?”

“Aw Luna’s fury,” Rainbow moaned, “I forgot there was a thunderstorm scheduled for today. Well, looks like the weather patrol did a good job without me there today.”

“Well we could always do a slumber party!” Pinkie said. Ran up to a book shelf and pulled a book. The shelf turned revealing a wall of party supplies. Streamers, ribbons, games and sleeping bags lined the wall.

“I have party supplies stashed allover Ponyville. In case of party emergencies,” Pinkie said, grabbing a party horn.

“When did you get time to build this?” Rarity asked.

“Oh Rarity, you have to see past the fourth wall! For now, let’s party!”

With that she grabbed a hat off the wall, removed some streamers and ribbons and began to decorate the library. Vinyl grabbed a pair of turn tables off the wall and some records. The others grabbed their sleeping bags.

Ajax’s form disappeared before rematerializing in some PJs and a party hat. Dax gave her a look.

“What?” she asked.

“You never told me you could do that.”

Pinkie ran up to him and tossed a party hat on his head. She bounced away before coming back with a pair of party glasses, beads, confetti, and a party horn. As Pinkie bounced away he failed to notice Vinyl throwing him a sleeping bag. She put a hand to her mouth as it smacked him across his head. Ajax laughed.

“Oh my gosh! You alright?” she asked.

“Yeah, not every day I’m assaulted with party supplies and a sleeping bag.”

Applejack grabbed a board game off the wall. Vinyl returned to the turntables and tossed a record on. She rejoined the group. It was a simple game. The objective was to get one’s piece around the board in a series of circuits. Dax and Ajax watched while the others played; Ajax taking notes on the rules and quirks of the game.

Social situations like this weren’t unfamiliar to Dax. He’d normally been the observer in most of them. At any party or any dinner with the Brass he’d pay his respects before withdrawing to the courtyard or outside or anywhere away from attention. Here he felt reasonably comfortable sitting on the couch observing like always.

Not like six years ago. He’d never really forgiven Naomi or Ajax for that, though he had a great time.

***

Six Year Ago. Shock Trooper Training School. Third Year of Training.

Mess Hall.

“So an Earth Corporate, a Priest, and a normal guy all walk into a bar,” Adrian says, “The bartender looks up to the corporate and says, ‘Fuck outta here you cheap bastard. Your wallet is rustier than a hatch on a water hauler.’ He turns to the priest and says, ‘What the fuck are you doing here, father? Shouldn’t you be harassing some kids at a daycare or something?’ The last guy sits at the bar and orders a drink and says, ‘what’s my problem then?’ The bartender looks at him and says, ‘Nothing, now get the fuck outta here.’”

They all shared a laugh. Dax, Adrian, Danny, Naomi, and Daisy all sat the table. The mess hall was a nice place. The large windows offered a nice view of Colombia’s star. They sat eating their supper.

Daisy spook up, “So everyone’s going to that ‘social dinner’ tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Naomi said, “We all know what it really is. A party for us. The Brass isn’t allowed to actually throw a party for us, regulations make sure to that. But that doesn’t stop them from throwing one for the Admiral.”

“I like the Admiral,” Danny said, “Everyone says his glares can cut a hole through a bulkhead but he has a soft side.”

No one noticed Dax get up and attempt to leave, in an attempt to get out of going to the party. This one happened to be optional and Dax was going to do everything he could to get out of it. No one noticed him leave. No one except Naomi.

He was almost at the exit when he felt an arm grab him by the collar.

“Just where do you think you’re going?” she asked. He turned around, her face burning a hole through him, “You are going to that party.”

“No I’m not,” Dax said.

“You want me to make this an order? Leader rotation isn’t until next week so I’m squad leader until then. So unless the Admiral appoints a leader out of the five of us like he did for half the other squads you’re going to that party.”

“Not under regulation 435. If I have prior commitments then I’m off the hook.”

“What prior commitments do you supposeably have?”

“Medical.”

She let go of him, “Fine.” She looked a bit disappointed as he walked out of the Mess hall. Ajax appeared next to her.

“Just so you know,” she said, “He’s going whether he knows it or not.”

“And how do you plan on getting him to do that?” Naomi asked glumly.

“Meet me in medical bay 36. I figured he’d try to volunteer for some new treatment so I switched what he signed up for. He’ll be ‘testing’ an anesthetic and a new neural drug. The neural drug makes people more compliant and submissive,” Ajax grinned, “You’ll find him unconscious on a table. Make him have a good time, he’s too high strung.”

Naomi starred at the A.I. If anyone said A.I.s weren’t fully sentient she had an argument against it. She’d just played her own trainee.

“Just don’t have too much fun with him or I will know,” She gave Naomi a sly grin before ‘walking’ down the hall.

Naomi smiled and ran back into the mess hall.

“Guys, Dax is coming. But I’m gonna need your help carrying him.”

Friday.

The four trainees had their dress uniforms on. Underneath they wore common casuals. They reported to Medical Bay 36. Dax was unconscious on the bed.

Dax awoke. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t the med bay. He was in a chair at a table in the hanger. Trainees were mingling around with each other. He looked down; he was in his dress suit. Naomi.

She ran up to him, a huge grin plastered on her face, “Hi Dax!”

“What the fuck Naomi. Why am I here?” he asked, fury beginning to make its way up to his face.

“I don’t know. You tell me,” she said mischievously.

“You drugged me. You switched what I had signed up for,” he said angrily.

“Wrong! That was Ajax. I just brought you here,” she grinned.

“Eh what?! AJAX!” he yelled. The A.I. appeared next to his chair.

“Yes?” she smiled.

“Don’t you get smug with me! What did you do to me?!”

“Oh just a little something, something,” she said, “Let’s test it out; stand up.”

Dax stood up.

“Put your hand on your nose,” she said.

He felt his hand moving of its own accord. He wasn’t doing this. What was this?

A look of horror crossed his face, “What did you do to me?”

“Jump up and down.”

He did.

“You’re a bit high strung Dax,” the A.I. said, “Relax, have a good time.”

Naomi was going to enjoy this.

“I’m going to kill you, both of you.”

The ceremony for the admiral was short and sweet. Soon the DJ came on stage. The music began to play, the lights dimmed. Laser lights and strobes came on. Ajax winked out of existence. People began dancing.

Naomi grabbed his hand, “Let’s have some fun. Dance.”

He found himself following her into the fray, “I hate you.”

“I know,” she grinned, “Thanks Ajax!”

***

His pleasant thoughts were interrupted. Rainbow Dash had fallen asleep on the floor, sprawled out like a cat. Applejack was curled up in a ball. Pinkie Pie was packing up the game.

“I think it’s time to get to sleep,” Twilight said yawning.

“I agree,” Rarity yawned. She pulled herself into her sleeping bag.

They packed up the party gear and killed the lights. Ajax’s avatar vanished as they all climbed into their bags. Dax lay on the couch, staring at the ceiling. None of his old friends survived. Here he was in this alien world; and yet something about these people made him want to trust them. In his one day of being here he’d already made some friends. Maybe he could finally take some time off running and relax. If there was one thing Naomi taught him it was that. As he fell asleep he was unaware of a pair of red eyes curiously watching him…