The Ambassador

Lightning Strike kicked his hind legs up on the desk. Day one of his new job, and he was bored out of his mind. He didn’t really want to go in the first place. Well, of course he was loyal to the Princess. But he didn’t want to leave.

He thought back on the conversation he had had with Quick Fix a couple months ago.

“It don’t matter what you know,” he began in his matter-of-fact Manehatten accent. “Ponies these days only care what you do.”

It was true, in some sense. Lightning Strike was a successful engineer, but he could never find a job.

“Me and you, we could switch jobs easily, based on the experience we have. You build stuff, I fix it. But nopony cares.”

Lightning had thought about it for a while, and supposed Quick Fix was correct. The buck had offered to let Lightning intern at his repair shop once they got back; couldn’t hurt his resume.

But Lightning’s thoughts drifted to his marefriend Strawberry Avalanche, the real reason he had gone. Wife, Lightning corrected himself. The two had married just before his departure.

He often fantasized of his final moments with his wife. Even though the creamy pink mare was opposed to him leaving for so long, she understood that they needed the money. Sometimes Lightning could still feel his wife’s embrace before his trek to the Badlands.

“Angelfire will be old enough to speak the next time she sees you,” the Unicorn whispered dolefully, nuzzling Lightning close.

“I know, love. I’m sorry, I just want the absolute best for you and Angel.”

“So selfless,” Strawberry smiled, attempting to mask her aching, “That’s why I love you so much.”

“I love you,” Lightning gently kissed his wife. He looked down to the small white Unicorn foal cradled in Strawberry’s right foreleg. “Take care of your mother, little one,” Lightning chuckled, his voice cracking.

He turned to leave, fearful that he would change his mind and abandon the Princess.

“We’ll be waiting,”

A loud thump and sharp pain woke Lightning from his daydream.

“Huh?” he grumbled dumbly. He hadn’t noticed that he had begun wandering a hallway, and had walked straight into a wall. That was odd. Lightning didn’t zone out that much often. But he was here, he may as well explore. Learn his way around.

Lightning rubbed his muzzle, bitterly cursing the wall for ruining his trance. He paced around, until he discovered one of the doors they couldn’t open. This one led to a janitorial section of some sort, indicated by the sign outside.

“I’m an engineer. No stupid door is gonna stop me.” Lightning began searching for a tool he could use, hopefully a screwdriver. It was better than doing nothing.

~~~

Twilight remained still as the humans took in the sight of her.

“Roman, man… what the fuck are these?” a younger human with a sharp face raised his arms in a questioning manner.

Roman rubbed the back of his neck. “They’re… the creatures I talked about. They’re friends.”

Another human, this one more rotund than the others jabbed a thick finger at Roman. “Those alien things, you mean? Told you the suits were up to something.” He elbowed another man next to him, who nodded absently.

Roman narrowed his eyes. “Shut up with your conspiracy theories right now, Plumber. There is no government.”

“That’s what you’re supposed to say, you fucking suit.”

“Seriously, shut your ass, Plumb. No one wants to hear you spewing.”

The three ponies remained silent, shocked at the profanity.

The round man, Plumber, didn’t appear to agree with Roman. “This guy just comes outta nowhere, spins some shit about aliens, then expects us to trust some bright-ass horse things he brings to camp? Probably here to eat us in our sleep!”

“Knock it off, Plumber.” Another man spoke with an obvious feeling of authority. He turned to Roman. “Do they understand English?”

“Yes. And we’re vegetarians,” Blazing Skyward smirked. Half of the men shuffled backwards upon hearing her.

The man faced the three ponies, eyeing them with intensity. “We have a lot to talk about, it looks like.”

The ponies said nothing.

Expressionless, the man continued. “I’m Caine. Roman here is my great-great-grandfather. Because I trust his judgment, we’re going to take you back to camp. Roman insists that it’s important."

Twilight couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows. Roman and Caine looked to be less than 10 years apart age-wise. Surely Roman had an explanation for his unnaturally long life.

The look in Roman’s eyes stated that he felt Twilight’s confusion. “We’ll clear everything up, I swear.”

Twilight nodded. “Thank you.” She dipped her head to Caine. “It’s very generous of you to take us in times of peril.”

Caine turned and began to walk away, and the other men quickly followed. “We’ll see if it was smart.”

~~~

Lightning whistled an old tune as he worked. It pained him to keep thinking about his family, so he needed something to take his mind off of them. The door was proving to be stubborn. Maybe the lock had been broken.

What will Angelfire’s first word be?

Lightning shook his head, angry at his thoughts for wandering back. He knew he was homesick, but thinking about his life awaiting him would only make things even more miserable.

What about her first spell? What will her cutie mark be? Will I be there for her cuteceanara?

Lightning Strike gritted his teeth. Of course I will. I’ll be there.

Lightning stopped what he was doing. He sat back and sighed. “I just want to see you again,” he whispered. He twitched as he felt the ghost of Strawberry’s touch, gently whispering to him.

“We’ll be waiting…”

Lightning Strike knew this was going to be a very lonely job.

~~~

“Now, Roman promised you answers, but once he’s done, I expect some. From both of you.” Caine stated as he sat down. Twilight nodded in agreement.

“Of course.”

Roman sighed, his eyes wandering as he wondered where to begin.

“The United States spent great amounts of money studying space travel before the war. They knew overpopulation was a problem, so they decided to look for another planet to colonize. There were several possible candidates. Equestria included, but the nukes were launched before they could act.

“After that, whoever was left decided that that was still our best option. But they couldn’t risk just launching themselves into an unknown environment. So, low-level officials were selected to be test subjects, of sorts.

“They were sent to several different planets, each with Earth-like conditions. I landed in Equestria.”

Roman drew in a deep breath. “My journey was 40 years long, and I spent all of it in cryo-storage. By the time I woke up, the government had already gathered enough information to determine that Equestria was our only option.”

Twilight gaped at Roman. “You… you said ‘colonize’. I thought-”

“That was the intention,” Roman interrupted, lowering his gaze in shame. “5 years after I was sent, another ambassador followed my trajectory. We would gather enough information about suitable places to live, and once we returned, organize the pilgrimage to Equestria.”

Roman flinched at Twilight’s growing expression of hurt and betrayal. “We were just going to terraform the Badlands, I swear to God, Twilight.” He raised his arms in a gesture of display. “We couldn’t stay here.”

Twilight swallowed, suppressing the stabbing pain in her chest. The Equestrians surely would have accepted the human refugees, had Roman told her the truth.

“I… I still don’t understand. Th-the reports…”

Roman nodded. “They were computer generated. Algorithms that determined our chances of survival based on the progress we made in regards to our infrastructure.

Twilight remained silent, absorbing all that she had just learned. After several moments, she spoke up. “What went wrong? If you were planning on coming back, what went wrong?”

Roman shook his head, smiling wryly. “We fought a losing battle. Radiation, disease, starvation, other natural elements. Some of us made it, but not enough to make a difference.”

“All those crazies out there,” He pointed out to the streets below. “They’re just as hungry and desperate as we are. But they’re the kings of the jungle now.”

~~~

The space station turned about to be a lot bigger inside than it looked. “A pony could get lost down here for ages,” Lightning murmured to himself. He made sure to memorize every sign next to every door he passed; it wouldn’t be good to trip up and lose his way.

His hoofsteps created an eerie echo in the seemingly endless hallway. It was weird that so many doors had appeared to have been forced shut. There was nothing through them except more walkway! One of them actually had the lock broken.

Lightning’s stomach rumbled, and he took that as a sign to end his little escapade for today. He turned back the way he came, his eyes cast sullenly on the floor. “I’m gonna go crazy…” Lightning mumbled.

As he neared the door that led to the maze of corridors, Lightning felt a tingling unease.  Something felt… wrong. Not something that he would expect in a new environment; not even something he would notice. Instincts.

Lightning swallowed, and wet his lips. His instincts told him something was very wrong.

~~~

“So what’s the plan?”

Caine turned to meet Twilight’s eyes. “Excuse me?”

“What’s the plan? You obviously haven’t given up. What are you going to do?”

Caine shook his head. “The only thing to do: survive.”

Twilight blinked.

“The system the suits had in the old days, that’s gone now. There is no government. Anywhere. Sure, there are pockets of us stranded here and there, but there’s nothing to do but soldier on and try to live to see tomorrow. I’m responsible for my group. No one else. The dream Roman had when he was launched died probably before he even landed in Equestria.”

“But you can’t do anything?” Blazing finally spoke up. “I mean, we came here to help you guys. You’re saying there’s nothing to help?”

“There’s no saving this world, no.” Roman said grimly. “The damage has been done. But, you can help us,” he added, turning cautiously to Caine.

Caine raised his eyebrows. “Oh?”

Roman nodded. “They have magic, we don’t. They can help us get a steady supply of food, better protection, maybe a better place to live.”

Caine raised a finger impassively. “I think I would like to see this magic. Roman has glorified it to no end.”

“Okay…?” Twilight stood up, unsure. Twilight felt her magical aura form around her horn as she lifted Caine off of his seat.

Caine, who had maintained a serious composure so far, widened his eyes and flailed comically as Twilight levitated him. She held him for a few seconds, then gently lowered him back into his chair.

“That… was something.” Caine nodded, brushing his hair to the side, trying to regain his composure.

Roman grinned. “And magic has nearly no limit! Imagine the possibilities!”

“This has been an interesting discussion, but we will have to continue propositions tomorrow. I have to return to my herd.” Twilight exclaimed, not quite eager to be around Roman for much longer, her frustration coupled with hunger and drowsiness. She was still rather bitter that Roman had lied to her, even though he meant no harm.

“Your herd?” Caine leaned forward. Roman rubbed the back of his neck. Apparently Roman hadn’t given all the details.

“Yes, my herd. They’re still at the landing tower where I departed earlier this evening.” Twilight explained, beckoning for Blazing Skyward and Dr. Whooves to stand up. “And we need to get back to them right away.”

Roman and Caine’s faces both darkened in dread as she finished her sentence. Twilight was quick to notice.

“What?”

Roman bit his thumb. “The United States landing tower? The official one, about 10 miles West of here?”

“Sounds about right,” Dr. Whooves nodded slowly.

“Fucking hell.” Roman cursed. “How did you get down?”

Twilight frowned in confusion. “The elevator? There was only one feral human there, and it was…dispatched.”

“No, no, no, that’s not what I- um…” Roman hesitated. “Did you dock on the space station? That has to have been how you got the coordinates.”

Twilight nodded.

“Fuck!” Roman swore again.

“What in the heavens has you so riled up?” Dr. Whooves said, eyes narrowed at the language.

Roman shook his head, eyes wandering again. “You really didn’t have any trouble up there?”

Twilight felt a block of ice forming in her stomach. “What kind of trouble?”

Roman gripped his head in his hands. “When I docked there, maybe 25 years ago, the crew, they were all… they were feral.”

The block of ice exploded.

“I barely got out with my life.”

Blazing shook her head. “That’s nuts. We were up there like, last night. There weren’t any humans.”

"You must not have seen them, but that space station was home to hundreds of Americans. It’s likely they starved off, but I’m concerned that you didn’t see any bodies.”

“We didn’t explore the station in its entirety; some doors couldn’t be opened.” Twilight said.

Roman considered this. “Another ambassador must have done that. But then…”

Twilight's eyes widened as she came to the terrifying conclusion before Roman did. “Lightning may not be alone up there.”