I drifted in the vast expanse of nothingness that I found myself trapped in, stuck in a metal box, unable to move, unable to do anything about it. All around me, small pinpricks of light shined from millions and millions of miles away, a blanket of stars separating me from the vast unknown beyond. A large blue sphere floated under me, and a smaller silver one to my right. I looked down on it, taking in its beauty. Salvation. So near, yet so far. It was tantalizingly close.
It could be worse, I kept telling myself. My oxygen systems could have broken as well. As it stood, my thrusters were the only things to have been taken out by the blast. My thrusters, which were the one thing I needed to get this hunk of scrap metal moving again. I sighed.
It could be worse, I told myself. But I didn't believe it.
I wiped a bead of sweat off my brow. Was it getting hotter in here? I checked my instruments, which informed me that yes, it was getting hotter. In fact, my entire engine system was currently on fire. On the bright side, it looked like I would burn to death before I starved to death. That was much quicker.
Much more painful, as well, but I tried ignoring that part.
I checked my monitors again, taking note of my energy levels, which now rested at a pitiful four percent. I sighed once more, slouching down in my seat. There were times when it sucked being the only known race in the galaxy to sustain themselves on electricity.
I settled down and got comfortable in my seat. With the thrusters too damaged to repair, I had no means to get down to the planet below, which my ship's computers helpfully, teasingly, informed me was rich in oxygen. It was only a matter of time before I burned to death, starved to death, or was hit by a fast-moving chunk of space rock. However I died, I didn't want to have to experience it, and so I closed my eyes and readied myself for sleep. Hopefully I could stay unconscious during the process of death.
It could be worse.
Just as I was dozing off, a loud, sharp alarm jolted me awake. I jumped in surprise and hit my head on the roof of the cockpit. I cursed, checking the computer's systems.
At first, nothing seemed wrong. The fire had grown, but couldn't be what was causing my alarms to go off. I had turned off the ship's internal monitoring systems ages ago. I turned to the monitor showing information about the expanse of space around me.
A proximity alarm. Something very large and very fast was moving toward me. An asteroid perhaps? I welcomed an asteroid. Anything to put me out of my misery a little quicker. I turned on the ship's stern camera and put it on the screen.
Nothing. I scratched my head in confusion. Perhaps the ship's sensor system was more damaged in the attack than I had thought? I debated trying to fix it for a brief moment, then abandoned the thought. I was going to die anyway, what good would fixing the sensors do?
I was about to turn it off and try going back to sleep when I saw it. A star blinked out. Then another, then another. More and more of the spots of light were being swallowed by the unrelenting blackness, and it took me a few moments to process what I was seeing.
A giant ship, black as the space around it. I could make out no detail on the ship, the meager light from the stars and the planet around me not enough to battle back the darkness. Was this the ship that had attacked me before? I had not seen the perpetrator of the unprovoked attack, and had simply fled as fast as I could away from the source of the laser fire, overworking and destroying my already damaged thrusters in the process. Perhaps it was the same ship, and it had come back to finish me off?
A small glimmer of hope started to build inside of me. Maybe it was just a passing ship, and had nothing to do with the attacks? I could hail it and get them to pick me up and take me to the nearest spaceport. Quickly and with rising hope, I lunged at the computer and opened all of the commonly used hailing frequencies.
I cleared my throat. "This is Waz with the Arcnodian survey company! My ship's been damaged and I need pickup immediately. If anybody is getting this, please respond!" I repeated the message several times, to no avail.
I stared forlornly at the screen. It seemed the mysterious ship wasn't interested in helping me out.
I sighed. It could be worse, I told myself.
My sensors picked up a large buildup of energy.
Klaxons started blaring.
A green light appeared on the front of the mysterious ship.
A bolt of green energy fired from the ship, streaking towards me. It impacted with the back of my ship, dispersing on my shields but sending my vessel careening off towards the planet. With an overwhelming brightness, the large black ship powered up its warp drives and disappeared in a flash of light as my own ship lit up with the light of itself burning up in the planet's atmosphere.
I couldn't see outside past the flames, and braced myself for impact. Without thrusters, there was nothing I could do to slow myself down, and even if I could I wouldn't want to. I would burn up if I stayed in here too long. Hell, I was likely to burn up anyways, and I was already traveling at thousands of miles an hour.
My vision returned as my ship slowed down, revealing the new world I was about to violently crash in to. In front of me, a mountain range protruded from the ground, and my current trajectory had me passing dangerously close to them. Between the mountains, I could see a sea of tall, brown structures, sporting dozens of smaller brown limbs, each of which held many flat green protrusions. I'd never seen anything like it before in all my life, and I would have marveled in the beauty of it all if I wasn't in the middle of a crash landing.
The mountains approached quickly and I instinctively went to my useless control panel and tried piloting my ship between the mountains. It was no good. The thrusters refused to cooperate, and my ship smashed nose-first into a mountain with an impact that ripped me out of my seat and launched me painfully into the front of my ship. The metal of my craft was tougher than the rock of the mountain, however. My ship continued on, gouging out a large hunk of rock and sending it falling to the ground below.
I barely had time to scream as my ship dove into the sea of green and brown and hit the planet. The front of my ship tore a rut into the ground as it slid, and the nose crumpled in on itself before completely tearing off. I was sent flying out of the new opening in the front of the ship, my fall ended by something hard and painful. With one last sharp pain on my head as I landed, I blacked out.
Things were worse.
Applebloom was the only one to notice the the streak in the sky falling into the forest.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders had been dragging a small cage through the Everfree forest, intent on capturing a rare forest beast in an attempt to earn their Cutie Marks. The idea had been proposed by Scootaloo, and after some convincing on her part, the Crusaders decided it had been worth a shot. After all, the small risk of dying in the Everfree was worth a lifetime of Cutie Marks.
Sweetie Belle had been the one to suggest they borrow a cage from Fluttershy. She had lots of cages, she reasoned, and wouldn't mind if one went missing for just a few hours. Besides, Fluttershy would forgive them and forget about it when she saw their cool new beast-catching Cutie Marks.
The three friends had been wandering a small ways past Zecora's tree home when Applebloom noticed the streak of fire in the sky. Her two friends would have seen it, too, if they hadn't been so busy bickering.
"But how are we gonna catch a cockatrice if we can't even look at it?" Sweetie Belle was saying. "We should find something nice, like a jackalope!"
Scootaloo groaned and rolled her eyes. "Because cockatrices are scary and cool, but jackalopes are cute and fuzzy-wuzzy! I want a cool Cutie Mark, not a... fuzzy-wuzzy one!" Scootaloo made a gagging motion to emphasize her displeasure in the idea.
As the two argued over animals they likely would never find, Applebloom was keeping watch around them, the eeriness of the forest getting to her. She was nervous, and rightfully so, as the forest was a dangerous place, even for those who had been there before. Applebloom was thankful to be so close to Zecora's home. The wise zebra was an expert at surviving the dark, creepy Everfree forest, and Applebloom found solace in the idea of running to her if they needed help.
As she surveyed the land around her, lagging slightly behind her two friends, she saw it- something fiery and bright falling through the clouds. "Hey, girls, look at that!" she exclaimed, pointing to it through a gap in the trees.
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle didn't hear her, too immersed in their argument. Applebloom, in her fearful curiosity, didn't notice that her two friends continued down the forest path without her. "C'mon girls, let's go check it out! Maybe it's a meteorite?" she wondered allowed, running deeper into the forest, her fear of the unknown being overpowered by her curiosity.
The fiery object left her field of view, sinking below the forest canopy, and was immediately followed by a faint crashing noise. "We're almost there, girls!" Applebloom called out to her two friends, unaware she was alone. "Maybe we'll get our Cutie Marks in astronomy!"
She could smell smoke, now, and she knew she was close. It was just behind a small line of bushes, directly in her path. She charged at it, full speed, and jumped over the bushes. "Yee-haw!" she cried, emulating what her big sister said when practicing for the rodeo competitions she participated in. Her cry was cut short when she reached the other side of the bush and saw what lay before her.
On the other side of the bush was a gigantic canyon, with a river at the bottom that was surrounded on all sides by lush, green trees. Applebloom let out a scream and moved her legs as though trying to run back, but to no avail. She fell.
The wind whipped past her face as she plummeted down into the canyon. Her eyes started to water so she closed them, protecting her eyes from the wind and stopping her from seeing her inevitable demise.
With a splash, she landed in the river below and sunk like a stone straight to the bottom. She opened her eyes and instinctively tried taking a breath of air, but covered her mouth before she could. Her lungs were burning- she hadn't been able to breath while falling, and she desperately wanted for air.
Applebloom pushed herself off riverbed, swimming as hard as she could. She burst out of the water and gasped for air. "Girls, help!" she cried out as the river pulled her along with it. She desperately fought to keep her head above water as the river pulled at her, trying its hardest to drag her down to the bottom once more.
Ahead of her, a rock protruded from the river and she grabbed onto it as she passed, clutching on to its slippery surface. She managed to heave herself up on top of it, where she lay panting, all of her energy drained.
After a few moments of rest, she wiped a few strands of wet mane out of her face and looked around. "G-girls?" she called out, searching for her friends. "Sweetie Belle! Scootaloo!" Her voice echoed off the ravine canyon wall, unanswered.
The smell of smoke once more assaulted her and she turned her head to the side. Beside the river, a smoking crater scarred the landscape, its inhabitant releasing a plume of black smoke into the sky. Applebloom stood up on wobbly legs and hopped from the rock to the riverbank before slowly, cautiously moving towards the crater.
Inside the crater laid the strangest meteorite Applebloom had ever seen. It was a dark, navy blue in colour, and was made up of flat, angular plates. A few bright cyan lights flickered here and there on the meteorite's surface.
Applebloom cautiously approached the object. She would be the first to admit that she didn't know much about space rocks, but she was pretty sure there was something wrong with this one. She quickly gave it a light tap and jumped back, only to be surprised when the object produced a metallic 'ting' sound. What kind of meteorite was made of metal?
A shuffle of leaves and the snapping of a twig. Applebloom whirled around, eyes wide, expecting to come face to face with a timberwolf or some other dangerous creature. She wished her friends were here. They were the ones that had the cage.
However, instead of being assaulted by a sharp-toothed, pointy-clawed, filly-eating monster, she saw a strange-looking creature, slightly resembling a pony, crawling out from a bush.
The creature had navy blue skin and was completely furless. It was shaped like the princesses, if the princesses had much longer and thinner legs. A smooth horn jutted out from its forehead, and it reminded Applebloom of the princesses' long horns. Unlike the princesses, its sides were bare of wings and it lacked a Cutie Mark on its flank. Applebloom noted the creature's eyes. The bright cyan eyes had no pupils, which gave the creature a creepy appearance.
As Applebloom stared on in shock, the creature extended one hoof out to her and opened its mouth, letting out a raspy sound. It repeated the sound again, and again, and again, before rolling onto its side, gasping for air.
Applebloom slowly moved toward it, taking note of its light grey belly. "Are you alright?" she asked warily, her voice low. "Do- do ya' need help?"
The creature responded to her questions by trying to push itself away from her, but it lacked the energy to do so and only managed to get a few inches further.
"I'm not gonna hurt you!" Applebloom said, her uneasiness replaced with worry for the creature. It was trying to get away from her, after all, so it was more afraid of her than she was of it. "Trust me."
The creature either didn't believe her or didn't understand her. It kept trying to escape, but its wounds made it impossible for it to escape. It said something in a language Applebloom didn't recognize.
Applebloom sat down to think. Should she go find help? Surely Applejack would be able to do something to help the poor thing. Maybe she would go find Twilight and get her to help, too. Twilight was a Princess, and if a Princess couldn't do anything to help the creature, nopony could.
But the creature was scared enough as it was. If she brought Applejack and Twilight along, the creature might just die of a fear-induced heart attack. No, she couldn't bring anypony to help it, not yet. Which meant the creature's well-being fell into her hooves.
Or did it? Surely she didn't have a responsibility to risk her own safety to help the creature. The thing could be dangerous. Maybe it was a trap, and it wanted to get her to come and try to help it so it could eat her up. Or maybe it would wait until she helped it get back into ship shape and then attack? She could already hear what Applejack would say if she found out. 'Now that was a plum stupid thing you did, risking yourself like that! Just what in tarnation were ya' thinkin'?'
But how would she see herself after that? How would she see herself if she found this injured creature, alone and scared, and left it behind? She tried putting itself into its horseshoes. No, she couldn't just leave it. She couldn't condemn it to death just because she was afraid. Just because it was different.
Besides, she might get her Cutie Mark in animal rescue.
When Applebloom focused once more on the creature, she saw that it had moved a slight bit. It was no facing the large metal meteorite, staring at a certain spot. After a quick glance she managed to find what it was looking at- a large hole in the front of the object. The inside of the object was too dark to see, except when a shower of sparks erupted from the torn metal.
"Do you want to go in there?" Applebloom asked the creature.
She received no response.
"Well, I don't think I'm strong enough to carry you all the way over there..." she said. "What's so special about that thing, anyway?"
Applebloom cautiously approached the opening, wary of the falling sparks. Inside of the object was the strangest room she had ever seen. A chair sat in the middle, mostly detached from the now destroyed floor. All around it were strange objects covered with glowing cyan lights and buttons. Applebloom wearily crawled up, careful not to cut herself on the sharp, twisted metal.
Applebloom took a closer look at the warped metal devices and strange panels adorning the interior of the object. All the metal was painted a dark blue, much like the creature that seemed to have accompanied it. Applebloom spotted a large button, directly beside the chair, and pushed it, hoping the button would somehow grant her insight on what, exactly, the object was.
She let out a disappointed sigh when nothing happened. Surely the largest button in the place was supposed to do something important? She shrugged and continued looking around, ignoring all the other buttons.
Applebloom was about to give up on her investigation when a small object caught her eye. It was lying underneath a device that was hanging haphazardly on the wall by strings of varying colours, half hidden from view. It must have been sent flying when the object landed.
Applebloom leaned down and picked it up. It was a strange thing that reminded her a bit of a bird. A bottle-sized cylinder of metal, with a flat part in the middle that made it easier to grip in her teeth. On one end, what reminded her of a saxophone mouthpiece protruded, reminding her of the unpleasant time she and her friends had while trying to get their jazz musician Cutie Marks. On the sides, two small, wing-like protrusions resembling a bird's outstretched wings.
Applebloom surveyed the room one last time before clambering up over the hole in the object and bringing the device back to the creature. She dropped the device in front of it. "This is all ah could find," she explained to it.
The creature stared at the device for a few moments, as though it expected it to explode. When it didn't, the creature looked up at Applebloom, its hesitance now replaced with curiosity.
"It's yours, isn't it? Ah don't know if it'll help you much, but it's all ah could find."
The creature looked down at the device once more. It to hesitate for a moment, then grabbed the device greedily. With a grunt and an effort of will, it managed to sit up.
Applebloom moved up to it when she saw it trying to sit up on wobbly legs and helped steady it. "Careful! You're hurt," she remarked.
The creature ignored her, instead opting to pick up the device in its arms and fiddle with it for a moment, adjusting the wing-like protrusions, before turning it over and slamming the mouthpiece-end into the dirt. It sat back with a satisfied expression.
"Uh... alright then. Say, are you hungry? Ah could probably find somethin' to eat out in the woods," Applebloom offered. "My big sis says you gotta eat lots when you're trying to heal from being hurt!"
The creature just ignored her, continuing to stare at the device it had just planted in the ground. Applebloom shuffled her hooves awkwardly.
"So... do ya' have a place to stay now that your... thingy is all broken?" she asked. The creature turned its head to look at her for a moment, but didn't respond. "'Cause my barn is free, and it's got lots of hay for sleeping in. You're welcome to stay there until you're all better!"
The creature didn't respond. Before Applebloom could say anything else, a small beeping noise came from the ground in front of the creature. She looked down at the device the it had set down. A light on the side of the device had turned on, and the creature seemed happy. It lowered its head to the device, and a small spark jumped from the device to its horn, causing the light on the side of the machine to fade. Applebloom watched in awe as the creature's grey belly lit up with a similar cyan light.
"Uh, is it supposed to do that?" she asked, pointing, only to be once more ignored by the creature. To her surprise, the creature stood up with apparent ease, its long legs making it tower over her. It picked up the device in its mouth, wandered over to the crashed object and started inspecting it.
"Ah think it's broken," Applebloom helpfully provided. The creature turned to her and lowered its head.
"Do you speak at all?" Applebloom asked it.
The creature tilted its head.
"Do you even understand me?"
They stood there, watching each other. Just when Applebloom started to get nervous, the creature raised a hoof to its chest and said a word.
"Waz."
"Huh? Waz?" Applebloom asked, confused. "What's a waz?"
The creature made a tapping motion on its chest. "Waz." It repeated the gesture a few more times.
Applebloom nodded her head. "Ooohh, I get it! You're Waz! That's your name, right?" She tapped her own chest. "Applebloom!"
"Abblblum," the creature repeated, pointing at her.
She shook her head and tapped her chest again. "Applebloom," she said, enunciating each syllable clearly. "Applebloom."
Waz tried a few more times. "Abbleblume. Appleblume. A- Applebloom."
"That's right, you've got it!" Applebloom exclaimed. "Good job!"
Applebloom looked up at the sky. The sun had almost set, and the shadows on the ground were growing. She knew it wasn't a good idea to stay in the Everfree at night. She looked back at her new friend.
"Hey, Waz, we should go," she told him. "The forest is dangerous at night."
Waz cocked his head, almost seeming to understand what she was saying. Applebloom smiled back.
"C'mon, this way!" she said, trotting off in the direction she believe Ponyville to be. Waz followed along obediently, having nothing better to do.
The two set off into the woods as the shadows grew behind them.
'Applebloom' led me through the strange land I had found myself in, presumably to take me back to wherever it was she lived. Down here on the ground, I saw a lot more of the strange green structures than I could ever imagine. Millions of them were on the ground, and I tried avoiding them, preferring to step on the dirt path Applebloom was following. The green things creeped me out.
We walked for a while, Applebloom looking nervous. I briefly wondered what she was so nervous about. Probably just some primitive fear of darkness or something.
Speaking of darkness, now that the sun had gone down for the night, my solar collector was useless. I could only hope that I wouldn't have to expend much electrical energy before the sun rose once more- I didn't fancy surviving everything I'd been through just to die of starvation a few hours later.
Eventually, after a long, silent walk, we finally made our way out of the sea of brown towers. I let out a sigh of relief. That place was unnatural. Applebloom said something in that gibberish language of hers and stopped, turning towards me.
She said something else and I cocked my head. I had no idea what she was trying to get across, but it seemed serious. She pointed in a direction ahead of us and I looked to see what was causing such a fun.
A red creature, larger than Applebloom, was walking down a dirt road towards a red building of some sort. It looked strong, and I was slightly worried. Why did Applebloom make us stop? Was it dangerous? I wondered if I could beat it if things went downhill. If it attacked, I could zap it a few times to take it down, but I wouldn't last the night if I wasted that much energy. Perhaps-
Applebloom interrupted me with a few words, then made a motion with her hooves. I may not have understood what she was saying, but I recognized the gesture- stay here. I sat down where I was, to show her that I got the message.
Applebloom trotted up the path towards the red creature, not a hint of fear in her step. Perhaps they knew each other? They looked like they were the same species, but the red one was so much larger. Maybe they were related? Perhaps Applebloom was a youngling?
Applebloom said something to the red one as she approached, causing the red one to turn with a smile on its face. It looked relieved, which only reinforced my relative theory. If a young family member of mine came home after dark, I'd be relieved too. The night was not a safe time to be awake, especially on my homeworld.
My homeworld. It had been ages since I'd been back, and I missed it with a fiery passion. The only thing that had kept me going the last few cycles had been the thought of returning to my parents.
I hoped the inhabitants of this planet were advanced enough to have the parts I would need to fix my ship. Otherwise, I wasn't sure how I would be able to go on, without my friends and family.
I shook my head. It was no time to be moping. I needed to focus on the positives if I was to get off this planet.
Applebloom was walking down the dirt path with the red one, away from me. Was she leaving me behind? My mind started to panic. She was the only creature one this world that I knew! What was I supposed to do now?
I jogged in place, frantically trying to figure out what I was supposed to do now. Where would I sleep? The moon was already up, and I heard frightening noises emanating from the dark and terrifying sea of green behind me. A long howl pierced the night, and I jumped up in terror.
I was considering bolting after Applebloom, despite her telling me to stay where I was, when I saw her look at me over her shoulder and nod her head. I don't know what she meant by it, but I took it as a sign that she wanted me to follow her and the red one. I sprinted as fast as my legs could carry me away from the darkness behind me. Once I got a safe distance away, I slowed down and started to be as sneaky and quiet as possible. I still didn't know if the red one knew I was here or not.
The three of us - Applebloom and her friend on the road and me ducking behind rocks and those brown things - made our way to a group of red buildings of some sort. Much like the brown structures we had been passing, they weren't designed in any style I had seen before. They looked like it was made out of some sort of light, painted material, unlike the heavy stone buildings of my homeworld. Many windows adorned the sides, and there were small colourful things in the dirt in front of the buildings.
Applebloom and the red creature opened the front door to the largest one and went inside, leaving me all alone outside. I took the opportunity to stand up from behind the rock I found myself using as cover, stretching out my legs and neck. I was exhausted- the events of the day had taken their toll on me.
I stood there for a few minutes, unsure of what to do. First visits to new planets were always awkward, especially when you didn't share a common language, and this was no different. For all I knew, Applebloom had told me earlier what I should do and I didn't understand her.
Suddenly Applebloom was at a window and I didn't have to wonder any more. The window opened up and Applebloom hopped out, climbing down a pile of stacked yellow rectangles. She made a waving motion with her hoof that I took as a 'follow me' gesture before quietly making her way to another, smaller building. The door made a slight creaking noise as it was opened and she went inside.
Author's Note
I wonder if anyone is even going to read this? Whatever. Found another story with an unsubmitted chapter, so I'll copy-paste the author's notes from all the others I'm publishing tonight.
Haven't touched this site in nearly two years now. Haven't seen an episode of MLP or anything in that time, either. Just not a fan anymore, but that's okay.
Tonight I started feeling all nostalgic and logged back in to see how things are going (and I'm lucky my computer remembers my password, otherwise I'd be SOL!) So I logged back in and saw that this story had an unreleased but finished chapter, and figured why the hell not?
So here it is. I hope you enjoy, and to anyone who reads this, thank you for supporting me years ago, reading my stories and giving me a grand old time. I love writing, and I love when people enjoy what I write. Unfortunately, I haven't written much in the two years I've been gone, but maybe I'll pick it up again. Again- why the hell not?
