Comet The Last Son of Kolton

Comet stood patiently outside the barn waiting for Applejack and the rest of his family to show up, His thoughts racing at a mile a minute.  In the course of one day he'd managed to cause a scene at school, derail a train, and come out unscathed and receive a visit in his dreams from Princess Luna herself claiming he was an alien.  He looked up at the moon and thought of what she'd said to him.

"You are not a monster Comet, A monster would not care about hurting others or destroying property."

Those words gave him a sliver of comfort in his heart that despite what he had done there was still hope for him. He smiled as saw the Apples walking up to the barn. Applejack wore her hat while Granny and Applebloom were still dressed in nightgowns, As for Big Mac he wore his red union suit underwear.

"Yawn would y'all mind telling me why you woke us up this late for sis?" Applebloom asked as she rubbed sleep from her eyes.

"A'h already explained to y'all twice." Applejack said as she slid off the bolt to the barn door. "It's time we tell Comet the truth."

Everyone except Applejack and Comet's woke right up at her words, their heavy eyes and tired bodies all but forgotten as Applejack swung the barn door open and led them to a tarp cover in the back corner of the barn.

"Applejack are you sure Comet is ready for this?" Granny Smith asked. "A'h was hoping to wait until he was a little older."

"A'h was too Granny but he knows about it now so A'h don't see no point in waiting." Applejack said as she reached onto and pulled the tarp off revealing a weathered looking but intact spaceship.

Comet's eyes went wide with fascination, Princess Luna had been telling the truth all along. The ship was a long cylindrical rocket with three engines and a large window on top. It was caked with dirt and dried mud thou it's original silver color shined thru in some places.

"Well this is it?" Applejack said.  Comet gently ran his hoof across the hull of the rocket, The alloy felt strange yet familiar to his touch.

"How did it happen?" He asked. Applebloom stepped forward.

"One night as A'h was lying in bed A'h saw a comet streak across the and crash into the orchard. A'h woke the rest of the family and when we got out there Applejack found you trapped inside."

Then Big Mac stepped up to him.

"We tried to get you out but it was too hot from reentry, So we all gathered up some buckets, Applebloom pumped water from the well and A'h brought them over as fast as I could so Granny and Applejack could put it out."

"Imagine the relief A'h felt when I saw you were still alive, Heaven's to Betsy for a moment it nearly gave me a heart attack." Granny said

Comet stood and his family told him how they'd all risked their lives to rescue him, Finally Applejack took off her hat and pulled out a locket which she handed to him. It was a silver diamond with a comet's tail and what looked like the letter C in the center.

"You were wearing that around ye'r neck when found you." Applejack explained "Go ahead open it."

Gently Comet pushed the button down and opened the locket, Inside was a picture of a white stallion with a silver beard that matched his mane and a white mare with a matching mane holding a newborn foal in her hooves. Tears stung his eyes as he realized who they were.

"Mom...Dad?" The First Teardrop hit the picture as Comet stared at the picture in his hoof, For a moment their was silence then Applebloom walked up to her baby brother and embraced him.

"A'h know how you feel right now Comet, A'h never really knew ma'h Ma and Pa either, they passed away when I was just a foal."   Applebloom fought to keep to from crying for Comet's sake.

"A'h don't care if your an alien or not that don't make you no different from the rest of us. As far as Ah'm concerned your an Apple to the core." Applebloom said

"Your darn tootin Granny added "Apples always look out fe'r one another."

"That goes double for me Applejack said."

"Eeyup." Big Mac smiled and said.

Comet wiped his eyes and looked up at Applejack. "How do you do it Sis? How do you keep going when you lose someone you love?"

Applejack steeled herself as thought back to when they gotten the terrible news about the accident.

"Well it's not easy at first it feels like there's a hole in your heart that'll never heal but as time goes on you find that with the help of friends and family that your able to move on.  A'h know Ma and Pa would want us to remember them as they were and move on with our lives."

Comet sighed and looked over at the spaceship. "I'd like to be alone for a while."

"A'h understand Comet just don't stay out all night okay?"

"Yeah"

"Come on everypony Comet needs a little time to himself."

Comet sat in the loft looking up at the night sky thru the open loft door, it had been almost a full hour and yet his mind would not let him rest.

"What were you like?" Comet looked at the picture in the locket. "Where did I come from? more importantly where do I fit in in this world?" Comet's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the barn door opening.

"It's me just coming to check on you, Y'all alright in here?" Comet looked down at Applejack as he stood up and climbed down. "I'm fine it's just I have so many questions and no answers."

"Well do you know what planet I came from?"

"No A'h don reckon A'h do, A'h did bring something for you thou." Applejack opened her saddlebag and took out a small pyramid shaped crystal.  "We found this inside the rocket when we found you. A'h don't know what it is or what it does or anything."

"Didn't you think of taking it to somepony who knew like Rarity or Twilight?" Comet asked.

Applejack turned and looked over at him, Her eyes full of doubt and uncertainty.

"At first A'h was going to but then A'h thought what might happen when the rest of Equestria learned about you. It's not that A'h don't trust my friends, It was mah'self A'h didn't trust. And so in spite of being the Element of Honesty A'h talked it over with the family and decided to wait and tell you first when you were older. A'h far as Ah'm concerned it's your secret to tell not mine.

Carefully Comet took the crystal in his hoof his eyes staring in wonder at the beams of light tracing their way along the edges in an intricate pattern. Suddenly the crystal began to give off a soft hum and the lights began to glow brighter.

"I-I-Is it supposed to do that?"

"It's never done it before."

The light emanating from the crystal slowly began to take form. when it finally dimmed a Mare and a Stallion stood before them. Comet and Applejack recognized them immediately . The Stallion stood tall and proud, He was clad in a long blue robe with a familiar crest on the front and a red cape flowed behind him.  The mare stood by his side clad in a sliver metallic robe with a matching headband. Her mane and coat were as white as snow and her face wore a kind gentle expression that reminded Applejack of Fluttershy in some way.

"Hello my son my how much you've grown since I last saw you." The mare's voice was as gentle as her face.  "My Name is Lara'Lan Faust, I am your mother."

"And I am your father Jav-El." The stallion said. I can see by the look on your face that you have many questions about who you are and where you come from. Which is why we are here to answer them for you.

Comet stood still as a statue, his heartbeat echoing in his ears as he processed this. Finally he managed to calm down enough to take two steps forward.

"Your...my....parents?" Lara smiled back and nodded but Comet could see tears in her eyes .

"We were your parents Kom-El what you are seeing right now are shadows, consciousness given form by this memory crystal. By my calculations of distance and velocity I estimate we have been dead for thousands of years." Comet's heart sank at his father's words.

"Mr Jav-El sir?" Applejack stepped up to him. "Mah name's Applejack Ah'm Comet err Kom-El's big sister. It's ah nice tah meet ya. "Ah've got quite a few questions mah'self like why did you send him here?"

I assume by now you know the truth, Kom-El is not from your world."

"Kom-El...Is that my name?" Comet asked.

"It is" Jav-El confirmed.

"Where do I come from? Why did you send me here?"

"You come from Kolton my son, A world with a climate and environment much harsher than Equis." An image of a large lush blue and green planet appeared behind Jav-El as he explained.

As for why we sent you it was to save your life."

Comet stood there confused. "Save me from what?"

Jav-El sighed and said "From calamity my son. For over a hundred thousand years our race thrived on many great advances in magic and science. In our heyday our world was a paradise, We were free from the ills of poverty, war, disease, famine crime, old age and even death itself.Thanks to the science of cloning our race was essentially immortal." Images of great cities filled with tall skyscrapers, lush green parks, clean air and prosperous citizens flashed before the apple's eyes.

"But overtime as our prosperity gave way to overpopulation, decadence, boredom, sloth and greed. Because of this all children were conceived not out of love but for the purpose of breeding stronger smarter more beautiful members of our race." An image of a room filled with stalks covered with strange bulbs appeared before them.

"These are genesis chambers where all children of Kolton were conceived. Their parents were selected based on the genetic strength of their lineage. From the day they were born every child was designed to fulfill a predetermined role in our society.  Depending on which guild their parents were from they would go on to be a worker, a scientist, a soldier, an artisan, or a leader.

Comet listened intently as his spoke told him of the different guilds and the roles they played in their race's lives. The Workers performed the menial labor jobs and was the lowest of the guilds, Next was the Military who's provided security and defense even though Kolton did not have many external enemies. The Artisans consisted of artists, designers and architects who built the cities and lived in fancy penthouses as a reward for their work. The Scientists of which his father belonged to were highly prized due to their guilds advancements in making Kolton the paradise it once was. Finally there was the Mediators guild which consisted of senators, lawmakers, judges and, councilmen which was led by the Chairman of the High Council,  the Vice Chairman and Speaker of the Council.  They were the governing power of Kolton. Once a Koltonian was born into their guild they could never leave it.

"So I was born into the science guild then?"

Jav-El smiled and said "No my boy you were not born into any guild."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Your father and I felt that our race lost something precious with the guild system. His Mother answered. The power of choice. What if I a child dreamed of becoming something other than what society intended. What if two ponies from different guilds found love and happiness together in spite of what society felt about it.  What if those two ponies decided to have a natural born foal together. One that could decide his own path instead of one that was chosen for him. That child was you Kom-El, Kolton's first natural birth in centuries. That's why we had to send you away."

"Why didn't you come with me?"  Lara's face sank with sadness at Comet's question.

"We wanted to Kom-El, Her voice was full of regret. We just didn't have enough time."

"You still haven't told me what happened." Comet Said.

"I was getting to that Kom-El." Jav-El said. "Our planet's sun was dying, In eons past it's ultra solar rays embodied our species with incredible powers.  but as time went on and our sun aged our species abilities began to wane. My colleagues and I discovered the the increasing gravitational pull of the sun was rendering Kolton's core very unstable." The Image of the planet slowly changed from a lush green paradise orbiting a yellow sun to an increasingly barren desert wasteland orbiting a red dwarf. "Our world was wracked natural disasters of increasingly cataclysmic proportions. Eventually our military leader General Zebrod attempted to stage a coup against the high council. but it was unsuccessful. I myself tried to warn the council of the impending danger but they wouldn't listen, So my colleagues and I decided to proceed alone."

"Are there any other survivors besides me?"  Comet asked.

"Possibly." Jav-El's answered. My Colleagues in Kanterdor were working on a plan to evacuate our race." An image of a large ship appeared along with a large telescope sized ray. "It was ark meant to carry our people to this world since it only had room for a handful of crew members we developed the miniaturizer. With it we could reduce our cities and their inhabitants in size a thousandfold and carry them in bottles to Equis. But before we could test it we were betrayed.

"Betrayed?" The Crystal displayed a large monolithic computer that seemed to tower over Jav-El.

"Maneframe the single greatest achievement of Koltonian science, A self-aware supercomputer responsible for running all day to day operations on Kolton and the keeper of all knowledge known to the Koltonian race. Maneframe knew the end was coming but rather than inform the council it chose to hijack the ark project in order to save itself. When my Colleagues tried to stop it,  it shrunk them along with the entire city of Kanterdor and it six million inhabitants and trapped it in a bottle before escaping in the ark." Comet watched as the ark launched into deep space leaving a despondent Jav-El behind."

"Alone I decided to work on building a new ark to take the three of us to Equis but by then it was too late. Kolton had entered it death throes and the only prototype was only big enough for one. So we decided to send them you our only son." Comet watched as his parents loaded him into the ark. They hugged and kissed him and said their goodbyes before another tremor forced  Jav-El to launch.

The tears fell from Comet's eyes as he ran up to the images of his parents only for his hooves to pass thru them. They knelt next to him as his mother wrapped her hooves around him.

"How I wish I could hold you in my arms again my little Kom-El. Lara said,  Alas I am only a construct of my former consciousness. It is too late for us, for Kolton but it is not too late for you. You have a second chance at life and from what I've seen a very loving family. Live as one of them my son. They are a great race capable of great compassion and caring and there is much they can teach you and much you can teach them. " Lara slowly released her son as she and Jav-El stood back up.

"Before you go I have one last question. Why am I so different from them? I know I'm an alien although I'm still having trouble believing it it's just... something happened to me yesterday I-I-I can't really explain it too well. At first It was like I could see thru and hear everything at once, Then I was somehow running fast enough to create a sonic boom, There was a train coming...I didn't see it until it was too late.

You are beginning to reach the age of maturity, your cells have been absorbing the radiation of Equis's sun. It's strengthening your muscles, your skin, your senses. Equis's sun is much younger than Kolton's was and it's gravity is much weaker. Already you are stronger than I possibly could have imagined and I'm certain you will grow much stronger as you mature. The only way to know how strong is too keep testing your limits."

"But I don't want to grow stronger!" Comet protested. "I-I-I-I don't want these powers, I've done nothing but hurt ponies since I got them!" Comet slammed his hoof into a support beam splitting it clean in two, He drew back his hoof in horror.

  "Kom-El my son...."

"Don't call me that!" Comet interrupted his mother. "It's Comet and I'm not your son I'm not this..this alien Kom-El!" Comet put his hooves to his head as his voice trembled with sadness.

Applejack tried to reason with him.  "Comet it's okay A'h understand how you feel."

"No you don't just leave me alone!" Faster than a speeding bullet Comet charged out of the barn and ran like a bolt of lightening straight for the Everfree forest leaving a trail of toppled trees in his wake. Applejack gave chase with all her speed but Comet was already a speck on the horizon.

"Comet...come back." Applejack's eyes stung with tears as she looked at the trail Comet had left.