The Son of Earth

"SOE on deck!"

The various engineers, soldiers, and technicians in the docking bay snapped to attention, their heels resounding on the smooth metal floor.

David stepped out of the door, holding Twilight's hoof. He gestured with his other hand and said, "At ease, men. Has anything changed since I was gone?"

"No, sir, other than that rumors have spread that you've found a new species?" asked one of the soldiers, staring straight at Twilight.

David suppressed a chuckle at this. "Indeed I have. Anyway, I presume my quarters have been made ready?"

"Yes sir!" stated another. "They have been cleaned, all your books have been reshelved, and your minibar has been restocked."

"Good. We will stop there once the lady --" he gestured to Twilight with this "-- and I address the populace."

"Uh... Yes sir!" said the soldier. He turned and began to lead them through the steel bulkhead that led to the ship's hallways. It was engraved with a symbol depicting a sword with a pair of wings coming out of it, with the words Hominem in Perpetuum underneath. The soldier stopped for a few seconds and tapped on a keypad, clicks emanating from the keys. The door opened with a hiss, and the corridor beyond came into view. It was relatively large, about three meters across and five tall.

The trio stepped into the hallway, the door sealing behind them. The hallway was a dull grey, punctuated every so often with doors, pipes, and vents. Various civilians, soldiers, and technicians alike stopped and stared as they passed, some having the sense to snap to attention. They weaved through corners and went through various hallways until they cameaad to open the door, then stood at attention as David and Twilight passed through.

"SOE on the bridge!" shouted one of the technicians. They all rose to attention, clicking their heels on the metal floor. David gestured with his hand.

"At ease, ladies and gentlemen. This here is Ms. Twilight Sparkle," he said, gesturing to the purple pony who was standing next to him. "She is a delegate sent by the denizens of the planet. You will treat her with the utmost respect, and make sure that no harm comes to her and that all her non-classified demands are satisfied, understood?"

The crewmen of the bridge all snapped to attention. "Yes sir!" they said in unison.

Turning to Twilight, he said, "I will be back within the hour. If you need anything, just ask these nice people; within reason, of course, they'll get you what you need." He walked out of the bridge, and instantly the tension in the air eased.

The crewmen were gathered in a circle around the purple unicorn. They all looked rather hesitant; as if they were expecting her to eat them at any time. She felt rather uncomfortable with all these humans staring at her, eying her almost viciously. She was grateful when one of them finally spoke.

"Hey, Jones. You think this horse-thing talks?" said the human to its friend.

"Well, ain't no better time to find out. 'Ey you! Horse-unicorn-thing! Can you hear me?"

"Uhm...." was her only reply.

"You stupid or something?"

"N.. No." she said.

"Well, at least it talks," said the first.

"I wonder," said a third crewman. "whether it'll eat us alive or just wear us."

Twilight was mortified that anyone would ever think that she would do that. "I... Why would I do that? I don't even eat meat..."

"Why risk finding it out?" said a fourth. "I'm not risking my life so that that guy can keep thinking he's better than us."

"Let's us make sure that these aliens aren't just Ceryllians in disguise. I wonder if they can feel pain?" said the third, drawing a small knife.

"Yeah, maybe we'll even make the Boss proud."

Twilight couldn't take any more of this. Eyes watering, she screamed and started banging on the door, pleading to be let out. She thought she was going to be safe, because she heard the sound of footsteps running, but before she felt the door open she felt something being stabbed into her back. She was out cold on the floor within seconds.

"...me your motives, I'll just have to shoot you myself. Now, I'll ask again: Who put you up to this?"

Twilight heard a voice talking. Her vision was still cloudy, but it sounded like David.

"The Purity will prevail, scum, and Humanity will reign supreme!" she heard another voice say, almost angrily. Suddenly, a dull ringing filled the room, followed by a thud.

"Fucking worthless. Alright, lock the rest of 'em in the brig. I might let 'em see the light of day sometime again soon, if they don't get a magbullet first. Anyway, I'm going to go check on the victim, see how she's holding up. Thanks again for helping, Vice Admiral."

"No problem, David. Just wanted to make sure that nothing potentially world-destroying happens."

"Yeah," Twilight heard David suppress a chuckle at this. "Just another day in the job, I guess." She heard footsteps walking, then something hissing. The footsteps sounded much nearer now. "Hey, you awake?" she heard him say.

"Y... yeah," she said, weakly. "What... what happened?" she said. She just noticed the dull pain in her back; she began faintly remembering what had come before.

"Well, the soldiers' reports stated that after they started rushing once they heard your scream and pounding against the bridge, they attempted to storm it but found it'd been locked down. It took them nearly five minutes to saw through the door, and they found you being held up by some of the bridge crewmen with a knife to your throat. They managed to either wound or force them into surrendering, but it was then that they found the injury on your back. Thankfully, it didn't hit anything vital, but still. One of the ringleaders said to our faces he was going to plant a bomb on the bridge if we didn't bow to his demands, so he was... executed. At least he provided us with some very valuable information about a new terrorist group that's appeared. I won't discuss the details, since they're currently highly classified, but suffice it to say they're surprisingly nasty people. Anyway, you'll be moved to the medbay shortly once this is all sorted out. I'm sorry that this happened, but that's how it goes." With this, he turned and began to walk out; but he stopped, and, coming back to where she was laying, he nuzzled her head. "You'll be fine."

David hung his head in his hands and sighed. Not only was he probably going to be denied permission to land the Colony, but an unknown amount of his subjects were literally willing to die to prevent a peaceful relationship. He groaned as he enviously eyed the pistol on his desk before looking back at his paperwork. He had to sign the forms about the "execution" of that terrorist, as well as providing compensation for the family, launching an investigation, and figuring out who was behind it all. In addition, he had to ready the colony dropships. Sighing again, he thought back on how much easier simple diplomat life was. He even had time to chat; here, it was pile of paperwork on top of pile of paperwork on top of pile of paperwork. He was so busy he barely even noticed when his secretary opened the door.

"Sir," she began. "The Vice Admiral wants to see you."

"Send him in," said David. Perhaps talking with someone else would help ease the stress of the workload. The Vice Admiral came in, dropping another stack of paperwork.

"Here's the latest field report," he said with his thick accent. "We've managed to narrow down the search to about one hundred victims; we'll need your input on this by tomorrow. After all, your next surface expedition isn't scheduled until three days from now, right?"

David sighed. "Yep. Three days of paperwork, constant bickering, and manhunting. What could possibly be more fun?"