//-------------------------------------------------------// ASTRO Locomotive #2525 -by Sekhmet- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter One //-------------------------------------------------------// Chapter One I sat in the old, worn down seat, leathery from use, and I set my eyes out into the vastness to see something It was all so beautiful a few ages ago, a black blanket draped across my whole perception It was draped across your life. It cradled you once upon a time, mother universe's arms rocking you with her never-ceasing movements Things vibrate, things gravitate, the whole space was just a vast menagerie of principles, laws, and theories And she, the universe, all of perceived existence in reality is nothing more than a dance But now, these ideas don't comfort me anymore. Every thing was just so overwhelming Everything was a mystery The people, no matter what species they were, always had something on their minds, what with the unparalleled unpredictability of the universe My fingers were clutching at something, some kind of emotion that I couldn't find a name for. In place of this emotion I was coming to grips with, a poor, little red armrest had been abused. People all around were doing this exact same things, and some were committed to other tells of their concern for their own beings I remember that when I was in college we were taught about those people sitting and crying on themselves, shaking in completely justified terror These were some of the more interesting residents of space A few of those ones had inhabited my town before it got blown to smithereens. Those creatures were a bunch of oddballs, really. They were always these white, tan, black, and green or red apes and the one on the ones on the trains were pacing a rut into the floor with those two -umm..what was it?- feet of theirs. They, compared to the majority of the lifeforms I know, are relatively peaceful and diplomatic This had led them to be well-respected to most, what with their simple names (all of them just went by Anon, for some reason. That's not what their species are called. That would be human) and their love of our people. A few of them had even said they swung by our planet just because they liked our life so much Some of them mated Some of them had mates with the great ancestors of our proud nobody planet. There were those who had maintained their parent's equine features, others like me, had inherited the traits of both a man and a mare, and others were simply a product of man, although how they still come to be from a horse is quite odd. These ones are usually mystically conceived. One of the panicked apes had in their company a mare with rings around her eyes where lack of sleep had left its mark. A smile that could still the oceans of Neptune's furious seas had been etched on her face A hazy cloud of smoke had escaped her lips. Held firmly between her hooves was a pretty big, vertical pipe. Alcohol was for forgetting, Marijuana was for coping. She caught me looking at her, but she nodded, a message being sent without either of us needing speak. My horn glows faintly, showing off the highly contrasting white of my aura. From my bag, strewn about my miscellaneous sentimental treasures, a few textbooks on being a Security and General Maintenance Technician, and my set of tools for both of those jobs one of the pockets protected my own pipe, and my jar of sweet smelling substance. The green mare's eyes widen, and she smiles with her whole body. She had one hell  of an aura on her, man. I've never seen someone so calm after seeing their home and life as they lived it destroyed. I had just about reached madness when I looked out to the crumbling wreckage of Equestria. "What's up with you, stranger? Your partner there looks a tad stricken, but there's nothing wrong with you at all." A sit behind her squeaked and grated on my ears. Another mare, this time a satyr, stood and walked over to sit in the seat near us, and she smiled brilliantly. She set her messenger]s bag down on her booth's table, and brought out her glasswork, a small bowl with a spiraled blue and orange pattern on it. "She's good at looking on the bright side of things," said the satyr. She was a short, stocky, reddish-pink furred individual, with a mane and tail that had an odd flow, the way that some do when they are charged with an abundance of mystic energy, and it  glowed the colour of her aura, a dark blue, violet, and light shades of orange and purple. Her anatomy was quite bizarre, not wholly female or male in nature, but sharing the graces and flaws of both. She had large and impressive muscles pressing outwards in her arms and legs, a feminine face and muzzle, with rainbows for irises and a towering frame that had broad and stately shoulders. Wordlessly, the three of us hand and hoof over each of our pipes, filled with the sticky green and orange herb that we had around. All of this going on while the ape was getting worse. Frequently, his nostrils spread, and his shaking ceased, and his mouth widened as he drew in a quick breath. I noticed that she only moved when he acted out like that. "So, is she helping that guy?" I questioned, casting a glance on him. The powerful unicorn satyr said nothing. She bowed her head and waited. During one of the guy's ticks, the green mare in his company spoke up. "I'm helping him find himself. He's lost in his bad vibes, man." Was that what her cutie mark did? Is this some other kind of magic that an earth pony can cast?