The final frontier

Chapters

1 Piracy
2 Discovery
3 Investigation
4 Crash
5 Escape

1 Piracy

Chet Rogers sat at the helm of his ship, staring blankly into space. Him and his crew had spent days sitting in high orbit of a star, a few dozen kliks from a nav beacon. Their ship, a SSTO transport, was most certainly not meant for sustained deep space travel, and they had been forced to run on minimal power the entire time to avoid running out of fuel. Meaning no internet, no gravity, and, thought Rogers as he pulled his blanket up, no heat.

However, Rogers reminded himself, it would all be worth it. The beacon they were loitering around was used by military automated freighters, for transporting equipment and weapons between bases. They were unarmed, and aside from a weak gravity field to keep away micro-meteorites, unarmored, making them easy pickings, assuming you could find one in the vast depths of interstellar space.

Even then, they would usually travel in a straight line from base to base, staying at FTL the entire time. However, the one base on the outer rim was in orbit of a large gas giant, requiring a much higher orbital velocity than most other bases. So, the freighters would drop out of FTL in front of a large star, and let its gravity accelerate them to sufficient velocity before continuing on. However, they would be very venerable during this time, and a perfect target.

At least in theory, Thought Rogers. They had been waiting days with no sign of any freighters, and had been beginning to lose hope. Rogers reached out to the comms console, and considered calling the civilian transport that had brought them here to come get them, when half dozen signatures flashed into existence on his radar. A second later, his navigator shouted out the contacts. "Bring us to 5 kliks." said Rogers eagerly as he sat up in his seat. "We've got some loot to plunder."

The shuttle's engines roared to life, burning towards the freighters, before swinging retrograde to bring them alongside. Rogers glanced at the freighters. The were essential tubes with engines on either side and a alcubierre dive in the center with cargo pods clamped on around it.

"Careful" said Rogers as he watched a column of plasma exhaust nearly spear a freighter. "We don't want to destroy them just yet".

"Sorry sir, I'll try to be more careful."

"Don't worry about it to much" said Rogers as he reached for his console. " just don't do it again."

"Now, what have we got here". Rogers tapped the controls. With a whine like a flashbulb, the shuttle fired a burst of Xrays at the first freighter. "Looks like engineering equipment" said Rogers with disappointment. He repeated on the second freighter. More engineering equipment. The third through fifth yielded the same results. Well sixth time is the charm, right? Thought Rogers as he pointed the scanner at the last freighter.

With a whine, the computer processed the data, and it appear on screen. "Hell yeah, Looks like we've got ourselves a small fortune. Two shuttles, a few engines, some computer systems. Get this to port, and we'll spend the rest of our lives on Centaurus station."

"That's assuming we get away with this, pointed out his navigator. The navy won't exactly ignore a few million bucks of equipment disappearing. "

"Don't worry, I've planned it out. There's a freighter captain who owes me a few favors, and is willing to haul us to Rimmer station."

"Rimmer station sir? You do remember what happened last time we went there." Pointed out the navigator.

"Don't worry, Chris and his gang had a run in with a navy destroyer about a month ago."

The navigator let out an exasperated sigh as he turned back to the controls. "If you say so sir."

The shuttle's engines roared to life once more, moving them in. As they swung around, the navigator was careful to not burn into their target, but failed to notice the freighter in front of it.

A column of plasma sliced into the freighters side, melting away a cargo pod, part of the outer hull, and into the navigation system, damaging it, and causing it to malfunction. It's thrusters fired, causing it to spin, slowly at first, but soon accelerating to incredible speeds, and causing its hull to begin to come apart. The spin caused the freighter to register as having the correct orbital velocity, triggering its FTL drive.

From the perspective of anyone on Rogers ship, it would have looked like the freighter flickered red before disappearing, as its extreme velocity caused it to red-shift. The freighter, however, stayed slightly below the speed of light, it's computers incorrectly controlling its speed. At such a low velocity for an FLT drive, it was very efficient, barely draining its power, allowing it to cruise for a long time.

A very long time. One hundred six years, four months, and six days, to be exact, traversing nearly 90 light years, only stopping when the gravity of a nearby brown dwarf caused it to disengage it's engines, leaving it drifting in high orbit.

If the freighter was capable of thinking, it might have noticed that this brown dwarf was orbited by a earth like planet, which was in term orbited by a moon, suspiciously similar to Luna, albeit significantly smaller, and a similarly sized star, which defied the laws of physics and thermodynamics with its very existence. But, the freighter was not programmed to ponder these things, only to simply travel from point A to point B. Or, in this case, point W.

For another forty years, as micro-meteorites slowly ablated away it's cargo pods and hull as it drifted through space. Until one particularly large micro-meteorite punched through its hull and ruptured one of its coolant tanks, causing the freighters battered self diagnostic system to come online. It quickly ran a scan of the ship, and finding upon finding most of its systems nonoperational, put itself into power saving mode and activated its distress beacon, sending a signal echoing across the stars, and announcing the position of a very special star system.

Author's Note

Well, that took a tad longer than expected, and typing it all on a mobile keyboard didn't help. I'm still getting the hang of dialog and proper use of paragraphs, but at least it isn't a wall of text (I hope). Tell me what you think of this so far in the comments, and likes are appreciated. ~~Also, whats up with the chapter numbering system?~~ never mind, it fixed itself when I published.

2 Discovery

Captain Austin Blackburn lied in his bunk, contemplating whether he was really needed on the bridge. He was the captain of of possibly one of the most powerful ships in the galaxy, and stuck helping some science vessel that had gotten lost on, ironically, a mission to chart a star system.

His ship, the Intrepid, was a new design, and the first of its class. It classified as a command cruiser, also known as a smart battleship, able to operate alone or at the head of a fleet. Like most Union vessels, it was mostly automated, and had extremely redundant systems. Six fusion reactors, and computer systems spread out through dozens of nodes throughout the ship, made it very hard to kill indeed. It also had a prototype antimatter reactor, allowing it to punch well above it's weight class.

They had been able to find the science vessel easily enough, and now were making there way to it at FTL. Given the option, he would have stayed in bed and let the computer sort it out, but protocol required he be on the bridge.

With a moan, he pulled himself from the warmth of his bed, and into the uncomfortably cold air of his room. He rinsed himself off in his personal shower, one of the benefits of being captain, before throwing on his uniform. He considered turning off the artificial gravity so he wouldn't have to walk, but decided he would rather not, partially because it would increase his reputation of being lazy. Which was false, he might add. He had just worked his way through the ranks on ships stationed far from civilization, were protocols were a bit more lax. As he was leaving his quarters, an alarm trilled, accompanied by a small blue light. "Well, looks like we're here already" he said to no-one in particular. "Computer, when are we dropping out of FTL?"

"Five minutes sir"

"Thanks. And make sure my coffee is on the bridge when I get there."

"I have already prepared it, sir."

"Good. And you don't have to call me sir. Just call me captain, or Austin."

Captain Austin quickly made his way to the bridge, greeting the occasional officer. He knew almost everyone on the Intrepid by name. While the ship was 4.5 kilometers long, most of its systems were automated, meaning it only had a crew of 200, 100 marines and 100 officers.

As stepped onto the bridge he was greeted by the officers already present.

"I see you're on time as always", chuckled Commander Parris, the ship's first officer, as she stepped away from her station..

"Hey, I've got a reputation to keep", responded Austin. "And besides, it's not like we're saving the galaxy or anything." Austin grabbed his coffee, stepped up to his chair, and looked around the bridge.

The bridge was actually deep inside the ship, for obvious reasons, so the walls and parts of the ceiling and floor were covered in screens, which were currently displaying the distorted view available through the FTL bubble around the ship. Parris, Sat next to him, in a similar chair. The weapons officer, Lieutenant O'Neill, and Navigator, Lieutenant Spearing, sat in front of and slightly below them.

"Dropping out of FTL in ten seconds" called out Spearing.

Everyone who was not sitting quickly grabbed a seat. With a lurch, the Intrepid came free of the FTL bubble, immediately unfolding its radiators, and began venting super-heated coolant that had accumulated during their time at FTL. They had burned before they had made the jump, nearly a day before, so they were already matching velocity. Austin noted that they were within 10 kilometers, pretty impressive considering the size of the Intrepid. Even at this range, the science vessel, the Prometheus, was clearly visible. It was much smaller than the Intrepid, only 700 meters long, and was much more utilitarian, looking very much like a flying brick compared to the Intrepid's sweeping lines and streamlined Engine pods.

"The Prometheus is hailing us" called out Parris.

Austin tapped his console, opening the line to the Prometheus. After a second, an image a the Prometheus's bridge popped up, showing the Prometheus's captain, Abner Black. Abner was one of the older captains in the navy, and was almost as old as the Prometheus. Unlike Austin, he wasn't a true captain, just a scientist who had stuck around long enough to find himself the highest ranking person on the ship.

"Oh, hello Captain," said Abner, looking up from his a book."I presume you were sent to assist us."

"Yes, we heard you have some issues with your computer"

"Of course. Our navigation system seems to have given out, which, considering it's older than me, isn't to surprising."

"Well, I'll see what I can do. It shouldn't take to long to fix."

Austin turned on the intercom to engineering. "Hey, Victor, we need to fix our friends navigation system."

"Do not worry captain, I can send engineers over right away," responded Victor over the comms. " I believe it is old model, should be easy to fix."

Soon, several engineers boarded one of the Intrepid's shuttle's and loaded up the required spare parts. Austin watched it launch from one of the tubes along the side of the ship, and cruise through space to the Prometheus. He sat back in his seat, pulled out his tablet, and began waiting for the repairs to be finished. The other officers went back to their stations, continuing working one what they had been doing previously.

"Captain," called out Parris, interrupting him a couple minutes into his book."Something is showing up on the long range comms. I don't recognize the format or encoding, although it is fairly degraded."

"Where's it coming from?" Asked Austin.

"It seems to be coming from the galactic west, although I'm having a hard time getting a lock."

"So, pretty much the middle of nowhere," pointed out O'Neal.

"Well, it would be further than any know ship has gone, and I don't see stars in that direction." Replied Parris.

"So, the middle of nowhere." Repeated O'Neal.

"How about we use the Prometheus to help triangulate the signal." Said Austin

Austin was about to call the Prometheus when a call appeared onscreen. "Hello again," said Abner. "I presume you detected the same signal we did."

"Yes, i was hoping you could help triangulate it." Responded Austin.

"Of course, I will get to it as soon as the navigation systems are finished being repaired. I wonder what the signal could be. I mean, this sounds overly optimistic, but it could be an undiscovered race of aliens."

Abner was interrupted as Victor walked onto the Prometheus's bridge. "Captain, we have been able to repair part of navigation system, but it is more heavily damaged than expected, and it cannot generate stronk enough signal to safely jump more than a light year."

"Well, could we link the Prometheus's navigation to ours to make a long range jump?"

"Yes, that would be possible"

"Then get working on it right away, we may have found something actually interesting out here."

Soon, the Prometheus was able to make a short jump, only a couple dozen AU, but enough to triangulate the signal, orbiting something small about 15 light years away. The Prometheus quickly returned, and aligned with the Intrepid. After a short issue with compatibility, they were able to activate FTL, and head for the signal.

The jump was relatively short, but it still gave Austin enough time to start on his monthly report he had been putting off for months. He quickly compiled a list of systems and maintenance, but was unsure of what to put down for the rest.

His thoughts were interrupted by Lieutenant Spearing "We are dropping out of FTL in thirty seconds sir" she called out.

Is that the only thing she ever says, thought Austin. With a lurch, they slowed to subliminal speeds once again. For a second, something large flickered past them. Spearing responded by turning the Intrepid and lighting up the engines. A column of plasma erupted from the ship's engines, bright enough to blind anyone not behind 4 inches of leaded glass. The Prometheus followed, carefully staying well away from the Intrepid's exhaust. The object that had passed them soon began to stop shrinking into the distance and started growing.

Spearing shut off the main engines and began slowing the ship again as they grew closer to the object, skillfully matching velocities. As they got closer, it became clear as to what the source of the signal was. An ancient looking and battered freighter, floating in the inky blackness.

"Turn on the lights, I want to see if we can identify it." Said Austin.

The floodlights on front of the Intrepid came to life, illuminating the decrepit freighter. As it slowly rotated, a registry number became visible.

"Parris, run that number through the system, see if you can't find anything."

After a second, Parris responded. "If this is correct, this freighter has been missing for a hundred forty six years."

"Damn, that's pretty long." Said Austin. "I wonder how it got all this way."

Before anyone could respond, they were interrupted by another call from the Prometheus. "Captain," said Abner."There seems to be a rather Earth like planet orbiting this star."

" if you're asking for permission to check it out, go ahead" said Austin.

"Of course" said Abner. "I will leave immediately."

Once the Prometheus left, they began investigating the freighter once more. After several attempts to download the freighters logs, they managed to learn that it was, attacked by pirates, and found its way to this system when it malfunctioned. Unusual, but not impossible.

As they were finishing up reviewing the logs, they received yet another call from the Prometheus.

"Has that old man managed to get lost again." Muttered O'Neal under his breath.

"Well hello again," said Abner. "I have found something, well, rather interesting."

"Define interesting" responded Austin.

"Well, I'll let you see for yourself." After a second an image popped up onscreen. Showing a 19th century looking city. Full of pastel colored horses.

"Well, my monthly report just got a whole lot more interesting."

Author's Note

So far so good, although I'm still stuck righting this on my kindle. I think it's gone well, and things are about to get much more interesting.

3 Investigation

"Ummm, I'm not the only one seeing this, right?" Asked Austin cautiously.

"Nope, that's a city full of goddamn rainbow horses" Deadpanned O'Neal.

"Abner, would you kindly explain what the hell we're seeing here."

"This is among the dozens of settlements we have found on this planet's surface." Replied Abner.

"So, we've found a planet of rainbow horses?"

"No, there seem to be several other intelligent species as well, including Griffons and zebras."

"So, we've found rainbow animal land?"

"You could say that."

"Wait, isn't this place is in high orbit of a brown dwarf. There shouldn't be enough light to sustain that kind of plant life." pointed out O'Neal.

"Well, there seems to be a miniature star." Replied Abner.

"Just when I thought this couldn't get weirder." Muttered O'Neil.

After several more minutes of conversation, and a couple theories as to what was going on (The suggestion that they were all in a dream was quickly debunked by Spearing, who claimed she could always tell if she was dreaming), they decided to bring the Intrepid over to the planet, unofficially named "rainbow pony land" and see if they could send a group of marines to the surface with the scientists to gather some samples and get a closer view of the inhabitants.

Soon, the Intrepid was ready for the jump. Fortunately, since they were in such high orbit of the star, they were at almost perfect orbital velocity. With a slight lurch, the Intrepid instantly accelerated to the speed of light, before returning to subliminal speeds a second later. The drop from FTL was a bit bumpy, no thanks to their close proximity to the planet's gravity well, but the FTL drive was fine. As soon as the drive had shut down, the ship began slowly turning around, before lighting up its main engines, correcting its orbit to meet up with the Prometheus. They switched over to cold gas thrusters as they grew closer, and opened up their radiators. However, miles below the them, their short burn did not go unnoticed.

All across Equestria and some parts of the neighboring countries, a small light, noticeably brighter than the stars around it, appeared in the night sky. Most were asleep, or not particularly concerned with watching the night sky, and did not notice it. However, a certain purple unicorn did.

Twilight Sparkle looked up to the night sky, her telescope on the balcony next to her. The mid-summer months were particularly good for star watching, and Rainbow Dash had assured her their wouldn't be a cloud in the sky. Princesses Luna had told her a day before that there would be a small meteor shower. Nothing particularly large, but since most didn't happen until later in the year, and usually weren't visible from Ponyville, this was a unique opportunity. Spike was already asleep, but had spent most of the day helping Rarity, so she had let him have the evening off. After all, it wasn't like she would need help stargazing, although she felt spike might want to see the meteor shower.

As Twilight mentally labeled constellations and stars waiting for the shower to start, she noticed a flicker of light in the corner of her eye, causing her to glance over. A pure white light, too bright to be star, and moving to slow to be a meteor, was slowly working its way across the sky. Twilight scrambled to point her telescope at it, but just before she could, it faded out, leaving nothing but a faint glowing, which quickly dissipated. She continued searching with her telescope, slowly tracking the path the glow would have taken.

As she neared the horizon, she spotted something. A faintly flickering light, similar to that of sunlight reflecting off metal. It disappeared for a second and as her eyes adjusted, she could make out a faint outline against the blackness of space. Then, with a harsh glare, the reflected light obscured her vision again. Before Twilight could get any further looks, it slipped beneath the horizon. Quickly, she grabbed a notebook and pen and lit her lamp, no longer interested in a meteor shower as she began sketching what she saw.

After the short burn, the Intrepid and Prometheus quickly rendezvoused. Both ships were in a slow roll, to ease the stress on the climate control systems, which caused polished surfaces to occasionally reflect sunlight. Most of the bridge crew, seated to the side or below the front screen, barely noticed, but the captain's chair was directly in the center, with a clear view to the glare. Something, though Austin as yet another flash of light left him seeing spots in one eye, that gets very annoying after a couple minutes. He reached over to his console, and increased the opacity and sensitivity of the screen and external cameras. Much better, he thought, as the next flash of sunlight was almost completely blocked out. He quickly got back to looking over the crew roster. While normally the marine commander, Sergeant Major Anna Lewin would be in charge of choosing who would go on a mission like this, he felt like making the choice himself.

The planet was, as one could tell just by looking, Garden-class. It had an atmosphere consisting of nearly 30% oxygen, 60% nitrogen, and the rest carbon dioxide, argon, and other typical trace gasses. Plus the large amount of water, floral and animal life in some cases seemingly identical to that on earth, mostly flat land, an average temperature of 15 degrees Celsius, and gravity of .92 Gs, it scored as more habitable for human life than Earth itself.

Of course, the most certainly non-spacefaring civilization living on the surface meant colonization was out of the question. On the other hand, several of the intelligent species on the planet seemed to posses some form of telekinesis, giving it the ability to hold things meant for hands with things that were most certainly not. The most pronounced example was the unicorns, one of the three "pony" subspecies, who could lift objects at least as big as they were, even at relatively long distances, although this ability seemed to be limited by line of sight. The shear number of intelligent species, most from earth mythology, or even currently existing earth species, was also unusual. Already, theories that a portal of some kind had connected earth and this planet had popped up. Of course, all of this was from orbital observations, and a couple dips into the upper atmosphere by a shuttle, and actual samples would be needed to determine any of this for sure. Which, if things went to plan, they would have soon.

Meanwhile, on the lower decks of the intrepid, it was lunchtime for the alpha shift of marines. David had just finished showering off from his morning workout, hair still wet. He knew the shower had cost him a decent portion of his monthly water ration, but sometimes the various dry cleaning methods just didn't cut it. He grabbed sandwich, consisting of peanut butter and some form of flavored nutrient paste smeared in-between two loaves of bread. He sat down at a relatively empty table and took a bite. Surprisingly not bad, he thought as he took another bite. He was interrupted as someone sat down next to him. He glanced up to see his bunk mate, Mark, with a bowl of soup.

"Y'know, these PB&R sandwiches aren't so bad," Said David.

"PB&R? Peanut butter and rations? I think I'll pass." said Mark, looking with disgust at David's sandwich.

"Oh come on, it isn't that bad. I think they actually managed to find some grape flavored paste to but on these."

"Whatever you say," responded Mark. After a second, Mark looked up. "I bet the officers don't have to deal with this." he mumbled accusingly.

"The officers get the same food as we do. we've both been to the officers mess before, remember." countered David. Mark grudgingly agreed, before continuing to eat his soup.

Just as David was finishing his lunch, his tablet pinged. He reached down and picked it up, looking at the message he had received. It was from the captain, requesting that he come to the shuttlebay. He looked over, and noticed that Mark had gotten a message too. "You get called down to the shuttlebay?" asked David.

"Yeah, and by the captain himself. It must be important. Or something." replied Mark, somewhat nervously.

"Wonder what it could be," said David.

"I dunno, but I bet it has something to do with the planet we're in orbit of. I got a glance of it from the lounge, and it looked pretty earth-like."

"Wait, what were you doing in the lounge?"

"Uhh, nothing. But It is unusual for the captain to call marines down himself." Said Mark, trying to change the subject.

David just sighed, and continued walking. The rest of the journey to the shuttlebay was relatively quiet, most of the marines still on lunch break, and most of the officers on the upper decks. As they walked into the shuttlebay, they noticed an atmospheric shuttle was already prepped for launch, the faint hum of its reactor barely audible over the background noise of the ship.

The atmospheric shuttle was the size of a small bus, and despite it's boxy shape, was fairly sleek. Two intakes protruded halfway down each side, and a pair of exhaust nozzles extended from the rear, as well as several cold gas thrusters. A pair of short wings were folded against its hull, to stabilise the shuttle in atmosphere.

A small group of scientists stood nearby, several from the Prometheus, based on their uniforms, excitedly talking among themselves. The Captain and Sergeant Master Lewin Stood nearby.

"Well, looks like we're gonna be escorting some civvies while they explore some brave new world" said Mark.

"Hey, they've proven themselves reasonably good at not dieing." Responded David.

They approached the Captain and Lewin. Lewin stepped forwards, and after glancing around to make sure it was only them and the scientists, began talking. "Well, as you've probably guessed, you're going to be escorting some scientists for this mission" Started Lewin.

"But, don't expect this to be your standard mission to some dead rock floating in space." continued the captain. He motioned to the projector nearby, which had a holographic projection of a planet displayed. At first glance, it could be mistaken for Earth, but it only had three noticeable continents, one stretching from pole to pole, and two more on the opposite side of the planet, looking rather similar to the first, but separated by a sea that looked no wider than a dozen miles at a few points. "This planet, as well as being the most earth-like planet ever discovered, contains several intelligent species, many from ancient mythology. The council has already approved this mission, and are expecting results soon."

Mark and David looked somewhat skeptical, but continued listening after a harsh glare from Lewin. "We want you to go to here" Said the captain, motioning to a forested area, near the base of a mountain, in the southern hemisphere. The hologram zoomed in, showing a thick deciduous forest. To the east, the forest grew much thicker, turning from a light green to an ominous, darker color, completely covering the forest floor below. To the north, the forests thinned almost completely, turning plains. Towards the very top, what looked like fields of wheat and an orchard could be seen. "Three biomes seem to meet here, and while all of them seem to resemble earth, the thicker forest seems to contain some unusually large animals. A settlement of one of the native species is nearby, so you may get a chance to observe the natives, although you may want to take caution to not be spotted. There is a fortress city on top of the nearby mountain, so you may get a chance to observe that. Also, a cloud formation to the north seems to remain completely stationary, and it keeps generating unusual radar returns, so you should probably steer clear. And remember, they are non-space faring, so preventing cultural contamination is to be more important than your lives."

The captain continued briefing them about the mission, including the natives they would likely encounter. The inhabitants of the nearby village were, to the surprise of the two marines, small, technicolor, pony-like creatures. They looked somewhat cute, almost as if they had been taken from a cartoon. However, the somewhat ridiculous flying abilities of the Pegasuses, along with the telekinetic abilities shown by the unicorns, were somewhat concerning. Of course, they had to remain in full environmental containment while on the surface to prevent the spreading of any alien bacteria or other organisms.

Seeing as they would likely be encountering your average north american forest, with a potential mythological twist, both Mark and David decided to wear light power armor. It over doubled your strength, had a full sensor suite, had chemical boosters to allow it to fly short distances, and had enough armor to withstand .50 cal fire, albeit only on sections of the front. They both had standard issue 10 mm assault rifles and handguns, too weak for combat against most power armor and vehicles, but rapid firing and light, perfect for unarmored targets. David grabbed a .50 cal Gauss marksmen rifle as well, while Mark went for a rocket launcher.

"Really? You're bringing a rocket launcher?" asked David incredulously as he attempted to fit his pistol into a leather holster. "You'll only be able to carry three rockets. Plus, it seems a bit overkill."

"Well, there's no kill like overkill" responded Mark. "And who knows? It'll be useful if we have to fight a dragon."

"There aren't dragons anywhere near where we're landing" pointed out David. "If there were, we would've seen them from orbit."

"You're no fun" said Mark with a fake pout as they hopped into the shuttle.

Author's Note

Well, I don't have an excuse to not write now that it's summer break, so I guess I better start writing. These chapters take quite a while to write, but at least I can use my PC now. Also, for the sake of keeping things simple(ish), this story will assume that only the ponies, griffons, zebras, minotaurs, diamond dogs and dragons are sapient, while everything else is simply unusually intelligent. Also this is (or was, until the ponies showed up) relatively hard sci-fi, so everything, with the exception of the Alcubierre style FTL drives/gravity manipulation (they're the same thing) and magic, is within the reach of modern technology, or at least a proven theory.

4 Crash

David leaned back in the pilots seat as the scientists climbed into the shuttle. Mark was next to him, in the copilots seat, going over a few preflight checks. Neither of them were pilots, but the shuttle's were designed to be extremely easy to fly, and both of them had some basic flight training. The countless hours he had spent in the simulators probably helped too.

"Everyone onboard?" Asked David as he looked behind him. He was quickly answered by a series of nods and yeses. "Alright then. This is your captain speaking, please put on your seatbelts and raise your tray tables." He heard a few laughs from the back as he sealed the cabin door. After a second, the computer confirmed the shuttle was ready, and he opened the comms channel.

"This is atmos shuttle alpha, requesting permission to launch."

"This is launch control, please state your launch code." Came the response.

"Launch code is alpha-alpha-seven-one"

"Launch permission granted for port three"

With a lurch, the shuttle was moved along its tracks until it was facing towards the rear of the ship. Then, it tipped forwards and slid into the launch tube. A thud shook the shuttle as a hatch slammed shut behind them, and another opened in front of them, revealing the blackness of space.

"Launch ready," stated the computer.

A large, red launch button appear on the screen in front of him. "Hold on" said David as he hammered the button, and the shuttle was launched from the ship, pushing everyone back into their seats. No longer under the influence of the Intrepid's artificial gravity, only the harnesses kept everyone in place.

As soon as they were far enough from the Intrepid, David set a course for the waypoint already marked on the map. The shuttle twisted around, and fired its thrusters with a quiet hiss, gently slowing. After about thirty seconds, the engines shut down, leaving them drifting. A counter informed them they would enter the atmosphere in fifteen minutes.

David undid his harness, and turned around in his seat, floating just above it. The scientists followed suite, although they seemed rather reluctant to let go of their armrests, with the exception of me particularly green looking scientist, who pushed himself to the bathroom.

"So, this is it," started Mark, who had turned around as well. "People are going to look into the history books, and see our names as the ones who led the first expedition to the third garden class planet ever discovered."

"Bet your mother would be proud" said David nonchalantly.

"I can see it now," continued Mark. "Private Mark Elmer and David Jacobson bravely volunteered-"

"We didn't volunteer, we were chosen." Pointed out David.

"Come on, can't you be fun for once"

David just rolled his eyes, and pulled himself back into his seat. The timer said there was still a bit of time left, so he decided to look at their landing site. He moved the image over to one of the larger screens, and began looking it over. There was no way he could get the shuttle into the thicker dark forest, and if he landed in the fields, the locals would have to be blind to miss him. There were a few cleanings big enough to land in to the west though, which he marked on the map. He was interrupted a few minutes later by Mark.

"Nice holster" complimented Mark, who had just floated next to him. "Where'd ya get it? It certainly isn't standard issue."

"This?" Asked David, removing the holster from his hip. "Belonged to my great grandfather." He had a ranch back on earth. It's real leather too."

"Nice, bet that would go for at least a hundred today. It's pretty good quality too, considering how old it is."

"Yeah, I like it over just magnetically attaching stuff. It won't fall off if your battery dies."

Their conversation was cut off as the computer chimed. David glanced down to the control panel. "Three minutes." He called out. "Everyone buckle up." The scientists began floating back to their seats, and the two marines strapped themselves in. Already, the shuttle was shifting as it began skim the outer atmosphere. The computer prepared the shuttle for atmospheric entry, locking the wings open with a click, and firing the thrusters one last time to stabilize them before retracting.

They began rocking noticeably as they fell deeper into the atmosphere, a red glow building in front of them. An airspeed indicator popped up as they plunged deeper still. The increasing deceleration pushed everyone into their harnesses, accompanied by fierce red flames, and a bone shaking rattle. The temperature in the cabin began to rise, the immense amount of heat seeping in.

After a minute, the shaking began to ease, and the flames dissipated, leaving a white shock cone. Outside the shuttle, the intakes opened, allowing air to flood into the engines. It was heated to thousands of degrees by the reactor, accelerating out the nozzles. The shuttle pulled up as its control surfaces bit the air, leaving it cruising miles above the ground. David looked at the map and checked their course, before lowering the throttle, flaring the airbrakes, and dropping the nose. Their speed and altitude dropped, leaving them just subsonic and skimming through the clouds towards their objective. The cloud formations seemed to tower around them, massive columns of wispy gas climbing into the air.

"Hey, look at that rainbow," said Mark, pointing at a flash of light that had just appeared throughout the whiteness.

David glanced up, spotting the almost incandescent glow. "Wow, yeah, I haven't seen one in years. You really only get them on earth." Replied David as he swung the shuttle towards it, marveling at its vivid colors as they grew closer.

"Wait, something seems off" Thought David out loud. "Is the rainbow-?"

David stopped mid-sentence as it hit him. You aren't supposed to be able to get closer to rainbows. He grabbed the manual controls, but it was too late. The shuttle smashed into it, the intakes sucking in volatile liquid rainbow, the intense heat immediately detonating it. The sudden shock damaged and misaligned dozens of intricate systems, overloading the reactor. It instantly shut down, venting excess plasma as quickly as it could.

Unfortunately, the right engine exploded much more violently than the left, throwing the shuttle into a flat spin. The scientists screamed as they were pushed against their seats, and several passed from the intense G-forces. David gripped the controls, knuckles white, doing his best to stabilize the shuttle, while Mark frantically tried to get something working. Alarms blared as they plunged earthward, and from a glance, they knew restarting the engines was out of the question.

"Dammit you piece of shit, pull up!" shouted David as he grappled with the controls.

"Comms are out!" Shouted Mark over the racket. "We're on our own!"

"Shit, just what we needed!"

The altimeter counted down so fast the first few numbers went by too quickly to see as they broke through the clouds, the ground now visible miles below. After what seemed like an eternity, the spin slowed, and with a gut wrenching lurch, the shuttle pulled into a glide. David quickly pointed the shuttle at one of the closer cleanings he had marked, and, with help from the computer, he carefully let the shuttle glide in. As their altitude dropped, he lowered the landing skids and flaps.

As the clearing grew closer, it soon became obvious that it wasn't big enough to land. Rocks and brush scattered the area, before ending in a small cliff. The two marines desperately searched for some way to land. Out of the corner of his eye, David spotted the reflection of light off of water. A small stream ran through the forest into the field, providing a opening just wide enough.

David dipped the nose, guiding the shuttle in between the trees. The rear skids skipped off the surface of the water, and David flared the airbrakes. For a second it seemed like they might land safely, but then the back of the shuttle struck a downed tree. They pitched forwards as they burst into the clearing, partially crushing another tree, before hitting the ground. The front skid immediately tore free, digging the nose into the turf. With a crunch, they struck a large rock, and the entire shuttle flipped, landing on its roof, before rolling over, coming to rest mostly upright against a tree only feet from the cliff. Several moans could be heard throughout the cabin, and by the smell of it, at least one of the scientists had vomited.

"Everyone alive?" Asked David. After a quick headcount, the answer was, fortunately yes, and David pried himself from his seat.

"Everyone put one environmental suits, I don't trust this thing to be airtight anymore."

The suit locker had survived the landing, along with their weapons, so all the scientists were suited up quickly enough, allowing them to dispose of some vomit soaked clothing. They turned towards the battered exit, eager to escape the cramped shuttle. Mark pulled open the inner door, only to find the outer one caved in. After a few kicks, it yielded, revealing the outside.

"Damn," said Mark as he looked at the trail of destruction behind them."That was pretty rough". A trench extended at least 75 meters, ploughing through various plants and shrubbery, leaving various components scattered, before ending at a large rock. A dozen meters farther, one of their wings was snapped off, embedded in the ground from their flip.

David stepped out beside him, and glanced at the shuttle.

"Well, looks like its totaled." he said, trying to lighten the mood. "nose caved in, wing missing, engines gutted. That'll increase our insurance rates."

Mark, turned to look at him, and while he couldn't see his face through the helmet, David was willing to bet he was not amused. David instead turned to the scientists, who were standing around the shuttle, poking at the wreckage or investigating some of the nearby plant life. Time to get them working, he though.

"Well, it's safe to assume we aren't getting the comms back up anytime soon, and even if we could, the Intrepid and Prometheus are over the horizon, and probably won't be back for at least six hours. Hopefully they'll see us, and send a rescue. In the meantime, I guess you scientists can poke around a bit, just don't get lost. Someone can try to work on the comms, get a radio up to send an S.O.S. In the meantime, the natives might have seen the crash, and if they come our way we might be in trouble."

After discussing how to best keep watch, it was decided that they would take turns watching the edge of the forest. David was chosen to go first, since the scope on his marksman rifle would be useful for keeping watch. He turned to the forest, started a two hour timer, and began heading north.

Hours Earlier

"Hey, Twilight, you fell asleep reading again"

"Wha-" mumbled Twilight as she groggily pulled herself from her desk, before being blinded by the morning sun streaming through the window.

"Oww, turn down the lights" a second later, the memories of last night came back to her. She looked over her desk, seeing a completed letter, along with several sketches of the night sky and the object she had seen. She quickly rolled them up and sealed them.

"Spike, I need you to send these to the princess. I saw something last night while you were asleep, and I think it might be important."

"OK, whatever," said spike as he grabbed the letter and incinerated it in magical flame.

Twilight immediately began pacing back and forth, awaiting a response. Whatever the object she had seen was, it didn't match anything she could find in her astronomy books. She hoped the princesses would be able to make something of it.

Just before crash

Rainbow Dash zipped through the sky, kicking a stray cloud that had wandered into the sky above Ponyville. Finally, she thought to herself, I can get some rest. She started flying to her napping cloud, but decided to check on the rainbow she had set up earlier first.

The rainbow was quite impressive, thought Rainbow Dash. The new airships they got at cloudsdale certainly helped, although they wouldn't have been able to get it this big without her assistance. She flew in closer, skimming inches from the glittering surface of the rainbow. She slowed to a hover next to it, and admired the vivid colors, contrasted by the white of the clouds in the distance. It's awful nice up here, she thought. Maybe I could set up a cloud here, relax, enjoy the view. She turned to go grab a nearby cloud, but stopped. her ear pricked up as a low rumbling sound filled the air, gradually getting louder. She spun around to face it, just as the rainbow exploded.

Something smacked her in the side of the head, leaving her seeing stars. At the same time, searing pain spread across her left wing and body, before fading to numbness. The world slipped away, the only thing she could feel was the air rushing past her. It feels like I'm flying, she thought. But something is wrong, what's wrong... Her wings reflexively snapped open as she realized what was going on.

She shook the stars from her head, and pulled herself back to consciousness. Opening her wings had spun her to the left, into a dizzying spiral. She tried to correct, but could barely feel her left wing. However, she was able to slow her rate of fall, and go into an unsteady glide. I must have lost a couple feathers, she thought, mind still fuzzy. Those will take ages to regrow, and I've got to do... something, something about flying.

She began flapping her wings, and leveled out, struggling to compensate for the asymmetrical lift and the seemingly constantly shifting ground. She turned towards what looked like Ponyville, and tried to pick up speed. Below her, she noticed Red Apple Acres. Hey, I don't remember Applejack having two barns, that doesn't seem right, she thought. She tried to keep going, but her injuries combined with overexertion had sapped her strength, and the world went black again as the ground rushed up to meet her.

Mark stood in the center of the clearing, observing the scientists. It had been less than an hour, and the scientists had already found something intresting to examine. His HUD showed several of the scientists had wandered out of view, into the forest, only visibe because of the names dsiplayed above their heads.

"Hey, John, you're a bit too far away," he called out over the suit intercom. John mumbled something in response, and turned back to the clearing. Mark looked around checking to make sure no one else had left the clearing. As he completed a full rotation, he noticed something on the shuttle. He looked closer, and saw fur and blood splattered next to the engine exhaust port. "Huh, looks like we crushed an alien squirrel. Oh well."

Author's Note

OK, that chapter wasn't too bad. Things are starting to kick off now though, and it only gets more exciting from here. I also did some reworking of the earlier chapters, although I could still use an editor. I'm gonna try to put out chapters as fast as I can, maybe around once a week. Also, feedback is appreciated, I'm trying to make this story good, even if it requires a complete rewrite.

Edit: Ok, minor rewrite because having mark just randomly shoot at stuff was mostly out of character. This version makes somewhat more sense.

5 Escape

"How are things going" Asked David

"Pretty well, but I think we may have crushed a squirrel or something when we crashed." Responded Mark.

"A squirrel?" Asked David.

"Well, there's some blood and fur plastered to the side of the hull, and I don't think its was there when we launched"

"Huh, well, no one's gonna care. Could'a been worse." Said David.

"Yeah, we would really be in trouble if we hit a local or something." He added, and cut the connection.

David lay silently, watching the nearby village and farms through his scope. Hopefully the locals don't consider squirrels sacred or something, he thought. That would be one of the more unusual things for a war to be started because of. Probably on par with the skirmish between the U.S.S. Gunboat Diplomacy and that Ceasian Faction because of our use of frying pans. Actually, why was the Gunboat Diplomacy even sent on a trade mission mission.

His thoughts were interrupted when he noticed some commotion by the apple orchard. He couldn't get a good view through the trees, but it didn't seem major, he could only make out a couple of ponies. After a couple minutes, an orange pony galloped down the road. He watched it as it came to the split path that led to the forest. It didn't even slow down, and continued dashing towards the village. Satisfied that nothing was heading their way, he continued looking for signs of trouble.

"Twilight, Rainbow Dash is hurt real bad!" Yelled Applejack as she burst through the door into the library, causing twilight to nearly jump out of her chair.

"What happened?" Asked Twilight.

"Ah don't know. She just crash landed right in front of me bleeding and burnt. She looks like she got into a fight with a dragon. We patched her up the best we could, but..."

"I'll teleport her to the hospital, it'll be faster" said Twilight. "Hold on." With a blinding flash, the two disappeared, leaving only the faint smell of ozone. They reappeared a millisecond later in front of Applejack's house. Applejack rushed inside, and Twilight followed.

Inside, Rainbow Dash was lying on the dining room table, unconscious, being tended to by Granny Smith. Twilight looked closer, and immediately felt sick. The entire left half of her body was covered in burns, charred black flesh and fur nearly exposing bone. A bloody bandage was wrapped around her head, covering a large gash.

"Ok, I think I can do this," said Twilight. "Granny Smith, you might want to takes a step back." Twilight concentrated on the Ponyville hospital, hoping she could get them close enough. Once she was sure she could manage it, she teleported them to in front of the Ponyville hospital. Applejack's fur was slightly singed, Twilight barely able to teleport the three of them at once, and Twilight herself felt nauseous from magical overexertion.

Applejack quickly regained her wits, and rushed into the hospital. A second later, doctors and nurses hurried out, carefully put Rainbow Dash on a stretcher, and carried her inside. Twilight and Applejack followed, only to be stopped at the doors of the operating room. They nervously waited, watching the clock on the wall. After about fifteen minutes, a doctor stepped out.

"Will she be OK?" asked Twilight.

"Well, her wounds were almost completely cauterized, so she didn't lose much blood. But the burns are so deep that she probably won't ever recover fully. We aren't sure how bad it is, but she probably will walk with a limp for the rest of her life, and might need a leg brace to comfortably stand. Her wings are also pretty bad, and her feather follicles are probably permanently destroyed. Fortunately, she will recover from the concussion she got, and shouldn't have any brain damage "

"Can't you use a tissue regeneration spell to-" Started twilight, before being cut off by the doctor.

"No, we've done all we can. She's lucky to not lose the limb"

"I know a regeneration spell, it's better at-" Twilight was cut off again by the doctor.

"Look, I can't just let random ponies operate on a patient." Said the doctor.

Twilight decided against pushing further, knowing the doctor wasn't likely to let her in anytime soon. She instead sat back down, and hoped for the best.

With a beep, the timer on David's HUD reached zero. "Hey, my shift is up, so i'll be coming your way soon." He called over the comms. He got up from his position, and made sure his gauss rifle was concealed. He had dug out a small area in the ground on top of a hill at the edge of the forest. It was halfway under a bush, and he had built a small wall of sticks and leaves in front of it, with a hole for his rifle. It gave anyone in it a good view, while being nearly undetectable. He turned on his rifles locator beacon, so it would be easy to find it again. Satisfied everything was hidden, he walked back towards the crash site.

The walk to the site was uneventful. Larger animals that had been frightened off by the crash had returned, and showed remarkably little fear of him. Rays of light shone through the treetops, illuminating the forest floor. The sun was nearly directly above him, and likely wouldn't set for hours. David considered taking off his helmet to enjoy the fresh forest air, but decided he would rather not risk getting some alien disease. After a couple minutes, he could see the clearing through the trees.

A lot of debris from their violent landing had been gathered, and the scientists seem to have recovered some equipment to use. Mark was at the edge of the clearing, rearranging a couple small boulders by the edge of the stream. "Hey," called David as he stepped into the clearing. "Your turn to keep watch".

Mark set down the boulder he was carrying. "Alright, I'll get going. See ya in two hours"

"Try not to get lost, OK"

Mark grumbled something in return, too quiet for the mic to detect.

David rolled his eyes, and turned to the scientists. "Alright, you guys can do your sciencey things. Just don't go too far. I'll be in the shuttle if you need me." He watched as the scientists got back to work, then turned around and stepped into the shuttle

"Yes mom," said one of the scientists the second he turned his back.

David spun around, but the scientists had scattered already. He sighed, and walked into the shuttle. He glanced over at the comms interface, which still read systems offline. Carefully, he pried off one of the wall panels, and began looking over the wires below. Spotting a cable that had come loose, he reached in and reconnected it. With a pop, the entire comms panel went black. He groaned. looked like it wouldn't be as easy to repair as he thought.

After going through what seemed like miles of cables and computers, David connected the final cable to the shuttle batteries. After a second, the standby light on the radio transmitter flashed on, and he silently cheered. He had managed to reroute power to the radio equipment, and after a few good kicks, gotten it working again. Now he just had to reconnect it to the controls, and it should work. He was interrupted when Mark called him over the comms, causing him to jump and nearly short circuit the entire setup.

"Hey, my two hours are almost up," said Mark. "Nothing unusual happened, but a train left for the mountain city. If we were spotted, it'll probably bring the news to the garrison in the castle."

"It's been two hours?" asked David, surprised at how quickly the time had passed.

"Yeah, last I checked. I'm getting ready to leave right now."

"Alright, I'll finish up down here. Whatever you do, don't touch anything in the shuttle. I just spent hours fixing it, so you had better not break it."

"Don't worry, I'll stay away from it. I want to get off this rock as much as you do."

A couple minutes later, Mark was back at the clearing, and David went back out to the observation spot. Nothing unusual happened for the next two hours, although the sun was getting close to the horizon. After a while, he started wishing something would happen, just to end his boredom. Finally, with a beep, his alarm indicated another two hours had passed, and he called Mark to let him know he was coming. As he got up from the hole, a stick got caught on his holster. He jerked it free, causing a sharp point on the stick to cut into the leather. Wonderful, though David, looking scar on the ancient leather. Oh well, I can get it repaired later.

The return to the crash site was, once again, uneventful, and he immediately got to work on the radio. With a bit of effort, he was able to jury-rig it up to a console, and get the software working. After a quick double check to make sure nothing would blow up in his face, he lifted two wires from the console. He tapped them together, sending a burst of power to the radio. the receiver on his suit confirmed that the radio had sent a loud beep. Experimentally, he tapped out a couple S.O.S.s. To his surprise, through a burst of static and distorted noise, a response came through.

Deeetdidididit didit dididit. The message continued for about twenty seconds. His suit translated the message, displaying it on his HUD.

"this is the intrepid we have received your message. please identify"

"This is David Jacobson, our shuttle crashed in the forest. please send assistance." His suit displayed his speech in morse code, which he tapped with the wires.

"this is the intrepid, we see your location. we will send assistance, ETA fifteen minutes."

David pumped his fist and switched his suit to local comms. "Guys, we've got help inbound, ETA fifteen minutes."

"They'd better be fast," said Mark, "cause a bunch of ponies in armor just showed up and headed our way, and they'll be here in less than fifteen minutes. I think I can slow them down if needed."

"Go ahead, but you had better not do something stupid." Said David.

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

"If you say so..."

Mark watched the column of gold armored ponies advance. They were only a few kilometers away, and the crash site wasn't far from the edge of the forest. It was almost certain they would reach them before help from the Intrepid. But, depending on well disciplined they were, he could probably delay them for at least a couple minutes. He pulled out his rocket launcher, moved the gauss rifle, and poked the launcher through the hole in the bush, and waited. When they got within 50 meters of him, he pointed the designator into the center of the pony formation and fired. With a thunk, the warhead was magnetically accelerated from its tube, igniting its rocket motor as soon as it was far enough away. Its guidance systems kicked in, and it accelerated towards the ponies.

Celestial Shield marched along the path to the Whitetail woods. The Anti-dragon section Royal Guard had been sent down to deal with a supposed dragon in Whitetail Woods. An unfortunate pegasus had gotten what looked like dragon fire burns, but according to the doctors it looked like it had been done by something non-magical, but just as hot as dragon fire. He figured the doctors just got it wrong, he couldn't see those kinds of temperatures being generated by something non-magical.

Suddenly, some of the guards in the front of the formation yelled. He looked up, to something hurtling towards them, trailing smoke. Before he could react, it exploded above them, creating an almost perfect circle of white smoke, and left his ears ringing. Immediately, the smoke cloud descended, causing his eyes to start itching and watering uncontrollably and cough every time he tried to take a deep breath. Barely able to see and disoriented he stumbled away from smoke, and attempted to clear his eyes. Blinking away tears, he managed to get away from the smoke. As he sat down in a field beside the road, he saw something large disappear into the forest at the top of a nearby hill.

As soon as the rest of his squad recover from the smoke, he got them together and headed towards the hill. It wasn't very large, but big enough to give it a good view of the nearby town, Ponyville. The top of it was covered in small trees and bushes, making it an almost perfect hiding spot. He pushed through the first row of bushes, and stumbled into a shallow hole, a sharp branch cutting his foreleg. He glanced at the injury, and seeing it had barely drawn blood, continued on.

Mark ran through the woods as fast as he could. He had stuck around for a minute after firing the rocket, watching the results. The ponies seemed to be recovering relatively quickly, but it would buy them the time they needed. He burst from the forest into the clearing, just as two dropships slowed to a hover above them, a telltale rumble coming from their engines.

The dropships were bigger than the shuttle, but not by much. However, two powerful fusion engines in the roots of their high mounted wings, several tons of armor, a large chin turret and a black, grey and red paintjob meant they were much more powerful and intimidating. Several marines jumped from one, their power armor easily absorbing the fall, and began securing cables to the wreckage of the shuttle, whilst the other landed, opening its rear door. The scientists hurried in, and Mark and David followed.

"Is this everyone?" shouted the loadmaster over the rumble of the engines.

David did a quick headcount. "Yep, we're all here." He yelled in return.

"OK pilot, get us out of here" He shouted into his mic.

The loading door closed, blocking out most of the noise from the engines. Through a small porthole, Mark could see the second dropship take off, the shuttle carried underneath it.

"Well, looks like we're safe now," said Mark.

The Captain looked up from his computer, and turned to them, while Lewin continued standing next to him. As soon as they had gotten on the ship, the Captain had called them to his Ready Room."Now, We have already looked over the recordings from your mission, and I have to say, that could have gone better. But, you can't be blamed for the explosive rainbows, and you did do a reasonable job of making the best of your situation. The locals did find out you were there, but once again, nothing you could do about it. The scientist were still able to get a lot of useful information, nobody was hurt, and the locals never came in contact with you, so your mission could still be considered a success.

Mark internally sighed, realizing they were not being punished.

"We are considering sending you down for a second mission as soon as we figure out the exact cause of the crash. Until then, you are dismissed."

Mark got up, contemplating what he had been told. He immediately headed for the mess, hungry after not eating for about eight hours.

"Well, we get another mission to the surface." Said David. "what do you think."

"I dunno, I guess it is pretty nice down there when you aren't crashing."

"Yeah, maybe we should set up a resort or something."

Celestial Shield stood, waiting on the platform for the train to arrive. After spending the rest of last evening and most of today searching the forest, they hadn't found a trace of the "monsters". They did find what looked like some kind of crash site, although whatever had crashed was long gone. They had however, heard what sounded like a muffled dragon's roar and seen something fly off, but the setting sun had prevented them from getting a good look, and it was moving to fast to catch. But, seeing as the threat seemed to be gone, half of the Royal Guard company, including him, had been ordered back to Canterlot, while the other half was to stick around.

His train of though was interrupted by the train as it rolled into the station, accompanied by the hissing of steam and squealing of brakes. The train was empty, sent specifically for the Royal Guard, with each carriage for a specific squad. As he worked his way towards the carriage marked for his squad, somepony bumped into him, sending a sharp pain into his foreleg. He glanced down, and noticed the cut he had gained yesterday from a stick, while mostly healed, did seem to be showing the signs of an infection. He frowned, and reminded himself to get it checked out later.

Author's Note

Well, that chapter took a bit longer than expected, partially because a spider took up residence in my keyboard and caused me to forget to save. But the spider is gone and I got a lesson as to what happens when you don't save often, so all is good. Once again, advice as to how improve my story will be appreciated.

Edit: rewriting much more minor for this chapter, and another is in the works