Final Frontiers

The Everfree forest had a habit of smothering the desire for conversation; Twilight was content just making observations as they followed their path. The depression was fairly uniform in depth and only varied when it was intersected by large stones that had been buried or in areas where the dirt walls had fallen inward. Along the sides of the trench the trees had been pushed over or snapped at the trunk while smaller plants had been crushed and torn out of the ground. Whatever made this had cut an impressive swath of destruction, and she was glad it hadn't come down somewhere within Ponyville. Images of what that might have looked like began to paint themselves in her imagination, but the sudden appearance of a cyan pegasus waving both hooves over her head snapped her out of it.

The group took off at a gallop.

When Twilight got to where Rainbow had flagged them down, she found the trench had widened out to either side, forming a sort of bowl, the trees tipped outward at awkward angles away from what lay in the middle. She ran her eyes over it, spending a few moments analyzing everything she could see from this distance against the knowledge from all the books she had read over the years. When she turned, her friends were looking at her expectantly.

"Spill it, Twilight. What is it?" AJ asked.

Twilight glanced at it once more before answering "Well, it doesn't appear to be a dragon-"

"WOOO! Called it!" Rainbow interrupted, giving an enthusiastic hoof-pump. AJ let out a snort and rolled her eyes.

Twilight quickly continued before Dash or AJ could say anything further, "It doesn't appear to be a dragon, at least not like any of the ones I've read about. It also doesn't fit any sort of description from the other wildlife books I've read, either."

With that last statement Dash flew over to get a closer look, the other ponies moving a bit closer as well. Now that Twilight was much closer she could make out how unnaturally smooth the light grey surface was. The whole thing was wedge-like in appearance, reminding Twilight of an arrowhead. The object tapered from one narrow end up into a wider area and splayed out into two offshoots, fitting the description of wings. One of these was still intact, ending with a boxy frame around a metallic cylinder that pointed toward the narrower end. The wider end - Twilight assuming it was the rear from the way the object had come out of the portal - had several cylinders poking out of it, each ending in a fluted cone section; one of the cylinders sat slightly lopsided in its housing.

"Hey Twi, there's some markings on it up here, but they're all jumbled. Kinda looks like letters," came Rainbow's voice from above her.

"There's some over here as well," Fluttershy added while AJ turned her head to try to read it.

Twilight was slowly backing away as the realization dawned on her.

"There's a yella 'n black line with an arrow pointin' down that says, um... it don't look like any writin' I've seen 'fore, my best guess is 'manual release.' There's some dirt coverin' the bit below that. Want me ta dig it out so I can read the rest?"

"It's a ship," the magician said, stunned. Had it been right-side up Twilight imagined the best way to describe the appearance would be "predatory."

"Wait,” Dash poked her head over the edge of one of the wings, “What?”

Giving a nod, Twilight summarized her observations. "Fairly sure. The writing on the outside, the body material is most definitely manufactured, and the curves and angles are all engineered to increase aerodynamics. Just look at it, Dash. Doesn't it have the body of something built for speed?"

Rainbow gave the ship a once over before nodding her agreement, "When it came through that portal it was going fast enough to do a Rainboom, I know that much."

"It all points to it being a ship of some sort and, if you remember, the first thing it did before it crashed was try to reduce its forward momentum," Twilight said as she worked her way around the craft until she found scorch marks in the dirt, "with a reverse thrust."

"So..." Dash said, looking for somepony to finish the thought for her.

Every ship I've read about has had some form of crew, Twilight thought to herself. "So, somepony might be in there and in need of our help. AJ, did you say there was something that said 'manual release'?"

"Yeah, over here. Ya want me ta dig it out?"

Twilight was frantically digging with her front hooves before AJ could finish her question. This ship had been going fast when it hit the hill. If anypony was in here, please be okay. Please be okay. Please be okay. These three words repeated over and over in her thoughts. Between her and AJ it didn't take long to move the dirt out of the way, revealing that the line AJ had mention outlined a square-ish region on the side - about two body-lengths in width by three high - and the arrow had been pointing to a lever. The word 'Airlock' had also been uncovered. Twilight used her magic to manipulate the lever, but nothing happened. She tried once more, but the door refused to open.

"Maybe it's stuck?" Rainbow offered.

Applejack squared herself up to the side of the ship and wiggled her flanks in preparation for what would come next. "Well then, let’s see what happens if'n we KNOCK!" she said, giving it a good buck. There was a hiss of air and AJ backed up a few paces. The ponies watched as the door slid back into the doorframe before retracting completely into the hull. The door opened into darkness, a heavy fog poured out of the door and dissipated at Twilight and AJ's hooves. Squaring her jaw, Twilight focused magic into her horn to create a light and stepped into the gloom, her friends following behind her. Further in they encountered another door bearing the same word 'Airlock'.

"Just an educated guess," Twilight said "but I think the door behind us is going to have to close before this one will open."

"You mean it's going to trap us in here?" Rainbow asked.

"Whats the matter, flymare? Scared?" AJ playfully teased, taking the chance to get back at Dash for all the jokes about the destroyed apples from earlier this morning.

"Me? No way! I just... like to have room to move, ya know? It's a bit cramped in here for anything other than low-speed hovering," she retorted, glancing at the nearby walls.

Twilight pulled the lever to the inner airlock and the door behind them slid closed with a hiss. After the seal had been achieved, the same fog that had poured of the door when they first got it open began seeping out of vents in the walls. Twilight subconsciously held her breath until the inner airlock opened.

The group exited the airlock into a fairly large hallway, wide enough for all of them to stand side-by-side comfortably with room for a fifth, and gazed around at their new surroundings. While the outside of the ship had looked largely unscathed from the crash the interior was a complete mess. Numerous panels on the walls had been jarred off, revealing the wiring and circuitry below; some were occasionally popping in a shower of sparks, casting a strobe-light effect over the hallway. One of a set of double doors at the far end of the hallway hung at an odd angle, keeping its partner from closing properly. A heavy cloud of gas poured from a dangling tube, dissipating in midair. The surface under their hooves was littered with miscellaneous objects that must have been strewn about upon impact.

A sudden squeak from Fluttershy caused everypony to jump. "Oh, I'm sorry!" she whispered, her head down near her hooves. "I didn't hurt you, did I?" When she didn't get a response, she raised her head to find all her friends looking at her. Her face turning crimson at the sudden overwhelming feeling of being in the spotlight, she stumbled to explain "I... was going to look through the crack in the doors, and um.. when I went to move this chirped." She lowered her head down to one of the objects to try talking to it again. "Um...hello?"

The small device flickered twice, then an area lit up. "Hello," a strange female voice replied, causing all the other ponies to gather around the little square of light. Fluttershy gingerly picked the object up and cradled it in her forehooves.

Fluttershy looked each pony around her, getting a nod to continue. "Oh... my name is Fluttershy. Do you have a name? Are you... hurt?"

"Hello, designation 'Fluttershy,' " – the light pulsed with each word – "I am the Integrated Avionics and Shipboard Assistant or I.A.S.A.. You may call me 'Iana' or 'computer,' whichever you prefer. Status: a majority of my primary systems are catatonic and the current interface we are using is damaged - power failure imminent. Recommend replacement or repair at soonest opportunity."

"Oh you poor thing! Here, let’s get you comfortable," Fluttershy tucked the little gadget snugly in her soft pink mane, "Is that better?"

The little box blinked in response, "Unit sensors offline, I am unable to qualify 'better' at this time. Gesture logged and placed in scan queue. Thank you for this experience, Fluttershy. Do you require further assistance?"

At the question, Fluttershy looked to her friends for guidance. A pantomimed conversation of moving lips and waving hooves took place, each pony trying to communicate which question to ask the little box next. Fed up that the routine was getting them nowhere, Rainbow hovered closer and spoke up, "So um, did you say you were a computer or something?"

"New designation detected. Please identify," it beeped.

"New what?" Rainbow looked confused until Twilight mouthed 'it wants your name' at her. "Oh! You can call me Rainbow Dash. So, are you a computer?"

The device chirped then continued, "Designation, ‘Rainbow Dash’ entered. Affirmative: I am a form of computer, capable of adaptive learning."

"Could you, like, access information and stuff?" Dash continued with her line of inquiry.

Chirp. "Certainly, Rainbow Dash. What would you like me to access?"

"This is designation Twilight Sparkle speaking. What can you tell us about the crew?" Twilight interrupted.

"Thank you, designation added. Until more ship systems are brought online I only have access to a remote command log generally used by repair droids. Would you like to see a log of the last commands the crew entered, Twilight Sparkle?" The light on the box flickered and dimmed slightly.

Twilight confirmed she would, and a small cracked screen came to life on the little box in Fluttershy's mane. Twilight read a page or two but was unable to decipher exactly what the commands were for, but a thought struck her, "Iana, when were these commands entered?"

"Checking, one moment. Approximately zero hours forty three minutes ago from a single console in Piloting, shortly after re-entry into unknown atmosphere and prior to shutdown of primary ship systems. Would you... like me to direct you... to Pilotinggggg-?"

Twilight confirmed they would, but all she got was a beep and the glowing light was gone. The unicorn frowned. "Alright, we've got a destination and an approximate crew count now. Look for some indication of how to get to Piloting," she said, turning to focus her magic back into a light source.

"Hey!" Dash exclaimed, getting her friends attention, "these green lights weren't on when we came through the airlock thing. Think maybe that computer thing turned ‘em on?" The green lights Dash was talking about ran parallel to the walls on both the floor & ceiling and traveled through the broken set of doors that wouldn't close properly.

Everypony was too preoccupied making their way across the debris-strewn floor to notice Fluttershy, nearly in tears, gently take the lifeless box down to give it a tight hug, whisper a thank you, and return it to her mane before moving to join her friends. The one functioning double door slid quietly open when the group got close, shepherding them deeper into the ship as they continued to follow the green lights.

The hallway on the other side of the doors was similar to the first, in both appearance and condition, however it was much shorter. Numerous dead screens lined the walls, the purple light from Twilight's horn reflecting off of them like eerie pupils that followed the ponies as they walked past. The group was already halfway through the door at the end of the hallway when Rainbow glanced back and noticed the tears running down Fluttershy's face.

"Hey 'Shy, what's wrong?" she asked, hovering up along side the walking Fluttershy.

"She's-" the yellow pegasus started, wiping the tears away with a forehoof, "she's gone."

"Who's gone, sugarcube?" AJ chimed in, curious.

Fluttershy removed the small box from her mane once more, cradling it like a small animal. "Iasa. She's gone."

"You've still got that broken thing?" Rainbow remarked as an eyebrow climbed up her forehead.

We don't have time for this, Twilight thought. "We can take care of her um... remains, when we get out of here, Fluttershy, but right now we need to keep going." AJ came over to put the yellow pegasus in a hug to comfort her. While Flutters was busy wiping her eyes again AJ and Twilight both shot Dash a glare for her last insensitive outburst.

What did I say?! Rainbow Dash continued to hover in reverse through the door to give some space to the ponies directing stink eyes her direction. Why do they have to pretend and treat it like was some living creature? she watched as AJ and Twilight comforted the distressed Fluttershy. It was only a machine. It even said it should be replaced! She was still mentally grumbling when a lot of scale-like bumps brushed up against the lightning bolt of her cutie mark. She quickly spun around and came face to face with it.

Expressionless and silent, it stared back at her.

"AAAAAAAAAH!" she screamed, hooves and wings going every which way in a panic. In her spasm she only managed to get herself caught in something. Dash tried her best to buck her way free, but she wasn't in a position to give a solid hit and the more she struggled the tighter the thing seemed to hold on.

"DASH!"

"WHAT THE HAY?!?"

"OH NO!"

Twilight, AJ, and Fluttershy came tearing into the room, stopping below where Rainbow as tangled up. Their eyes all went wide.

"HELP! IT'S GOT ME!" Dash threw her hoof into its side.

"Rainbow, stop!" Twilight cried.

"DO SOMETHING!" Rainbow responded, bucking with her free hind hoof once more. This time she connected with something, causing both of them to fall to the floor with a loud THUD! pinning Dash on her back beneath it. “GET OFF! GET OFF OF ME!” she continued to smash her front legs into it anywhere she could; mainly the shoulders and head.

Twilight increased the light from her horn. "Calm down and look at it, Dash!" she said, "It's not holding you; YOU got caught in some straps from your own panic."

Rainbow's heart was beating as fast as it ever had been, but she did what she was told. The longer she made herself look the more the nightmare she had seen was being replaced with reality. It wasn't holding her, her hoof had gotten caught in one of the loops of strapping; the scaly skin rubbing up against her wasn't... well it might be skin, but it wasn't grabbing at her, it was just rubbing against her as the legs or whatever lay there limply. The faceless-face still freaked her out a bit, though.

"Ok, I'm cool," Dash said, exhaling heavily. She untangled her leg and wriggled out from under it to join the three other ponies. "What..." she started to say, still a little short of breath, "What is that?" She was shivering, coming down from the sudden bust of adrenaline and fear.

"That must be the crew," Twilight moved closer to the figure sprawled out on the floor, poking it lightly with an exploratory hoof, “Let’s hope your thrashing and bucking didn't hurt it further, Dash.”

It felt like he was swimming, waves of consciousness ebbing in & out and carrying him from present to past.

"What is that?"

It had been a shuttle full of MagnaGuards. The Master had taught her Apprentice to think for himself and question orders, but she made it clear that her order to run was not one to be questioned by pushing him through the blast door and locking it from her side.

"I ain't seen anythin’ like this before."

He had told them the weapon was a reward from a bounty; the truth would have gotten him killed. He took care to conceal it better after that.

"We'll drag it out if we have to."

Hauling the freighter through the asteroid field had wrecked havoc on his ship. Thanks to his Master's instruction, ship repairs came as second nature to him. It had helped that she was a terrible pilot and provided much to practice on.

"Almost there..."

A couple carrying an infant had come running out of one of the biodomes at the edge of the extraction quadrant. Intel had told them that area was clear.

"What will you do if it wakes up?"

The pirates hadn't been ready for him to wake up. Their downfall; his profit.

"I don't know if you can hear me."

What...? Who was speaking? The voice was not one he knew.

"I'm so sorry."

She was apologizing to him, for what transgression he didn't know. But this wasn't a memory, was it? He slogged his way through what felt like waist-deep water toward the source of the voice as it continued to speak to him.

Fluttershy threw the door open while Applejack and Rainbow lowered the creature out of the cart. The two situated one arm around each of their necks and dragged it through the living room. "Almost there..." Applejack said through gritted teeth, one of the creature's sleeves in her mouth to keep the arm from slipping off. They maneuvered into the guest room, rolling it up onto the bed and laying the body on its back.

Twilight closed the library door behind her. The four guards who had escorted them from the edge of Everfree had posted themselves outside to deter any curious pony from disturbing the occupants. One of them had even gone and collected all the equipment Twilight had left in the gazebo earlier that day, much to Twilight's appreciation. She trudged to the guest room, dropping the equipment in a heap on the floor, following the trail of muddy hoof-prints and two muddy drag marks. She joined the circle of ponies that were silently standing around the bed, watching the creature.

Rainbow broke the silence, "What do we do now?" Everypony exchanged unsure glances before moving out into the living room to continue the conversation.

“Darling, is it wise to keep this–“ Rarity paused to wave a hoof at the figure on the bed, “–animal in your home with you?

“We couldn't just leave it-” Twilight started to reply.

“What will you do if it wakes up?” Rarity asked.

Twilight could only look at her hooves, “I don’t know.”

“What if it-“

“Ah think she gets it, Rarity,” Applejack growled, walking between the two.

Rarity realized how dejected Twilight looked, “Oh, I’m sorry, dear. I didn't intend any of that to come off as mean, I just think we need some sort of contingency if this creature isn't as... friendly as we hope it is.”

“If it wakes up, all I can do is try to communicate with it and hope it can understand we mean it no harm,” Twilight said wearily. And if it isn't friendly, I’ll just have to contain it until the Princess can arrive.

Fluttershy gently placed one of the creature's arms that had been hanging off the edge of the bed back up by its, pulling a blanket up around it, although the length of the creature prevented its whole body from being covered. "Um, I need to go check on my animal friends, but I'd like to come back later. If that's alright with you, I wouldn't want to impose..."

"You're all welcome to stay, if you'd like," Twilight offered. "Even though it's only early afternoon, I know it's been a long day for all of us. I'm going to take a shower to try and relax a bit. If you'd like to order a pizza or something, just be sure to tell one of the guards outside. The last thing I want is my house to be put on a blacklist because a guard arrested or roughed up the delivery pony." With that said she headed upstairs.

The shower felt better than she imagined it would. Twilight lay on the bathtub floor, her hooves comfortably tucked under her. The hot water spraying from the shower head played over her coat, gently massaging the dried mud from the trench out of her fur and loosening the stiff muscles in– well, actually all over. Twilight raised her face into the stream, closing her eyes and relishing the sensation. It didn't take long for her bangs to get completely drenched, and when she lowered her head they flopped down over her face. She snorted and was about to curse her bangs when she realized it felt similar to when Aloe and Lotus Blossom put a hot towel over your face at the end of a massage. She left them like that until the warm feeling had ceased, then climbed out of the shower and dried off. Feeling much better, she headed back downstairs.

AJ and Rainbow were passed out on the couch, a nearly-empty box of pizza open on the floor in front of them. A note was pinned on the front door. Twilight gave it a quick glance, immediately recognizing the elegant script to be Rarity's. She had gone back to the boutique to freshen up. The note also mentioned that Fluttershy had gone to her cottage to make sure the other animals would have everything they needed as she intended to return to the library later in the day.

A gurgling rumble came from Twilight's stomach as it voiced its displeasure from being ignored all day. Putting the note down, Twilight floated the last slice of pizza from the box over and had a mouthful. She didn't like being "that pony" that took the last slice, but the synchronized orchestra of snores coming from the couch told her they probably wouldn't care at this point. BLEH! Twilight made a sour face as something unpleasant hit her palate. Pineapple and... hot sauce? I must have taken one of Rainbow's slices, the pegasus was always ordering something weird on her pizzas. Twilight made her way to the kitchen, popping the fridge open in search of something to wash the flavor down. She perused the available selection and finally settled on a bottle of hard cider she had stashed at the back. Popping the top with her magic, Twilight eagerly tilted the bottle back, the first mouthful of the amber liquid providing immediate relief.

Twilight slowly trotted back out of the kitchen, cider floating with her. She spent a moment standing in the doorway thinking of nothing in particular and eventually wandered back to the guest room. Twilight carefully turned the doorknob to make as little noise as possible, then poked her head into the room. No change. The figure was still stretched out, its chest rising and falling steadily under the blanket. Twilight moved the rest of the way into the room and closed the door behind her before moving to the side of the bed and plopping her flanks down on the carpet in a comfortable sitting position.

She wasn't sure how long she quietly observed the creature, the half-empty bottle of cider - now sitting on the nightstand - was helping to blur the passage of time. Her eyes roamed over the figure; its scaly coat was mostly dark grey, almost black, with stripes of yellow. It looked comically out of place, the bed was too short to accommodate its legs and so wide that another one of its kind could fit beside it. Twilight leaned forward, putting her head down on an empty part of the bed. Her eyes drifted closed.

"I don't know if you can hear me." The words had escaped her mouth before she realized she was even speaking. "I'm not sure you can even understand what I'm saying, but I just want to say I'm sorry." Twilight could feel the weariness bubbling up again but this time she made no effort to hold it back; the cider flowing through her was making it easier to say what was on her mind. "I'm so sorry. It's my fault you crashed your ship here. I was tired and maybe I missed something in my calculations," the tears were welling up behind her eyelids, by Celestia it feels good just to say all this out loud, "and now here you are, hurt and probably lost because I'm such an... egghead." Weak as it was it was the best insult she could think of to hurl at herself at the moment.

Opening her eyes, Twilight scooched her head closer to the arm Fluttershy had put back up on the bed, resting her muzzle in the open palm before closing her eyes once more. She wanted that physical contact, if the creature couldn't understand what she was saying maybe it would comprehend the gesture. "Please be okay. Please. I'm scared because I don't know what to do to make this better - none of us do, we don't know how to help you. You're the first of your kind Equestria has ever seen, as far as I know. I'm sorry. Even if you don't ever forgive me," the comfort of the soft mattress coupled with the weariness from all the pent-up stress was quickly dragging Twilight into the realm of sleep, her words coming out slowly "please... just be... alright." Her breathing became rhythmic as she finally gave in to slumber. Time continued to pass as the two lay on the bed, both hurting in their own way.