Finding our Way Back Home

Chapters

Episode 1 - The Pictish
Chapter 1 - A Rude Awakening
Chapter 2 - Meetings & Reunions
Chapter 3 - The Quest to Find Friends
Chapter 4 - The Reasons Why
Chapter 5 - They've Found Us!
Prologue - Adrift in Space

Episode 1 - The Pictish

Looking at these stars suddenly dwarfed my own troubles and all the gravities of terrestrial life. I thought of their unfathomable distance, and the slow inevitable drift of their movements out of the unknown past into the unknown future.
— H. G. Wells, The Time Machine, 1895.

Chapter 1 - A Rude Awakening

Twilight wakes up. Her body feels numb, but she feels like she is laying on a bed of some sort. She thinks she hears something above her and snaps her eyes open. Her vision is blurry and unfocused but she has the vague outline of somepony standing over her.

“You’re awake, it is about time,” says the male blurry figure, in a familiar accent. It sounds a bit… Shetlandish?

Twilight tries to rub her eyes, but her hands don’t seem to want to move. A sudden bright light is flashed in her eyes, causing her to blink rapidly.

“Reaction is alright,” he mumbles, confirming Twilight’s thoughts about his accent being Shetlandish, “What about vision? How many fingers am I holding? Blink the number I’m holding up.” Something moves in front of Twilight’s face.

Twilight tries, she really does, but her vision won’t focus no matter how hard she tries.

“It is as I feared,” he sigh, moving what Twilight believed to be a hand away, “The long time you spent in stasis has weakened your eyes.”

Twilight starts to panic. ‘Does that mean I won’t be able to see? I didn't foresee this problem!’

“Now where did I put that bottle of Resight?” he mumbles, walking off leaving Twilight alone, but he soon returns. “This should fix you up a treat,” he says, leaning over Twilight.

Twilight can feel a huge hand being placed on her forehead, he then forces her eyes open with his large fingers. Then something is dropped in both her eyes. Her eyes feels weird for a while, before it starts to burn like he dropped acid on her eyes! Twilight tries to scream but her mouth can’t seem to open and all that comes out is a high pitch moan. She tries to blinks her eyes in an effort to remove the liquid, but he continues to forces them open. Black spots appear in her vision and grow bigger. She is going blind!!

Soon she is completely blind, but before she has time to panic further it suddenly returns, but crystal clear this time! But before she can look at the figure a bandage is put around her head, covering her eyes. Sadly making her blind again.

“Now don’t open your eyes until I remove the bandage so that the Resight can do its work, right,” he warns, tightening the bandage.

Twilight can’t seem to talk or move any part of her body, so she can’t reply. But that doesn’t seem to matter to the now unseen figure.

“Now I’m going to check on the other pod victims, but when I come back we will try and fix the talking problem,” he states, as Twilight can hear him walk away.

‘The other pod victims? He must mean my friends!’ Twilight thinks, panicking. She tries and calls after him, to ask if they are alright, but all that comes out is a moaning sound.

“Also even don’t bother to try and speak or move,” he yells, from most likely the door, “Most of your muscles are deteriorated into atrophy while you were in the stasis pod. So I would just sleep if I was you.”

With those words Twilight hears the sound of something closing, leaving her in silence. Twilight starts to panic, what has happen to her friends and what happen to the pods, they were supposed to help them maintain their muscles. How could her muscles deteriorate to the point where she can’t move at all! How is she going to complete her mission if she is a cripple? With these thoughts in mind she somehow manages to fall into an uneasy sleep.

Twilight is awoken by a loud clapping sound beside her ears, startling her

“Wake up princess,” says the familiar voice of the unseen figure, “I managed to dig up an old ‘Thought to Voice’ machine and I got it hooked up to you. So let’s have a talk.”

“What does he mean?” Twilight thinks, but something beside her speaks it.

“Good it works,” he says, sounding happy with himself, “And what this means is that whatever you think I hear, ok. So be careful what you think.”

Twilight thinks she better be careful what she thinks.

“You better,” he says, hearing what she is thinking, “Now I am sure you have questions, but so do I, so let’s play a game, for every question you answer I will answer one, ok?”

Twilight answers, “Ok.”

“Ok, first off what’s your name?” he asks, sounding like he sitting down.

“Twilight, what’s yours?” Twilight replies and then asks.

“It’s Alastair, now where are you from?” he asks.

“Equestria,” Twilight answers, honestly, “Are my friends ok?”

“They are alive, but are in the same state as you,” he answers, relieving Twilight slightly, “Now where is your planet?”

“ummm… somewhere hidden,” Twilight answers, secretly.

“Hmmm… I see,” he mutters, surprisingly not sounding unhappy.

Suddenly Twilight remembers something, something really important. “Excuse me but was there a small crystal ball on necklace with me in the pod?” Twilight asks, nervously.

“Yeah, but it is right now on the desk beside you,” he answers.

Twilight makes a relieved noise. “Thank goodness.”

“Is that something important?” he asks.

“Yeah, it is our only way back home,” admits Twilight.

“I see, well it’s your turn now,” he says, sounding like he leaning back on his chair.

“How long until I can take off the bandages?” Twilight asks, hoping to see again.

“Possibly a few more days, the Resight needs a few more days to settle.”

“That’s good.”

“I should mention that whatever is said in this room is between us, I’m not writing this down on any report and only I will decide what others find out about this, so be honest with me… can you use magic?”

Twilight stays quiet for a while before answering, “Yes…”

“I thought so, earlier scans showed it but I had to be sure,” he sighs, “I would keep quiet about it if I was you.”

“Why, is magic something forbidden or something?” Twilight says, feeling worried.

“It is not bad as such, but trouble follows magical races, and people don’t like to be caught up in it,” he explains, sadly.

Twilight wonders if this trouble is the same thing that got Twilight and her friends in this mess. Nevermind it can wait until later to find out, but it is her turn now, “How long have I been out?”

“I don’t know how long you been in stasis for, but you have been on this ship for about one solar week,” he explains.

Twilight wonders how long she has been in the pod for? She will need to check the stasis pods computer to find out… that is if she can ever move again.

“Ok, enough questions, let’s talk about your treatment,” he says, sounding like he is standing up.

“Will I be able to move again?” Twilight asks, scared of the answer.

“Of course, it just a matter of time,” he says, walking to another part of the room.

“How much time?” Twilight asks, relieved but worried that she may not have much time.

“Usual treatment would take months of muscle therapy and use of some powerful drugs,” he explains, sounding like he is moving equipment, “But I believe I can cut it down to about a week.”

“Really, how?” Twilight says, relieved that it won’t take months. But that doesn’t last.

“By using Extra Powerful Drugs,” he states, sounding like he picked something up.

“What…?”

“Basically I will be loading you down with huge doses of Regen and also pumping Boost into every part of your body,” he says, walking towards Twilight side.

“What is Regen and Boost?” Twilight says, now feeling very scared for some reason.

“Regen is made by the Yellons, it is mostly just water, but that water is full of millions of Nanobots whose job is to rebuild or repair damaged or dead parts of your body, in this case your muscles which have wasted away,” he explains, placing something large next to the bed.

“What’s the catch?” asks Twilight, feeling like there is one.

“Well since it is technically tearing apart and rebuilding your muscles, you will be in constant never-ceasing agony all over your body.”.

“What about Boost?” Twilight says, now totally terrified.

“Oh, that is just a muscle boosting drug made by my own race,” he dismisses, “It’s also quite painful, but you won’t be able to feel it over the Regen. It is made to increase the strength of weakened muscles.”

“Is that safe? It sounds like steroids?” Twilight says, worried.

“Don’t worry, I don’t know what this steroid is but Boost is safe in controlled amount, so how strong where you originally?”

“I don’t know? About average I guess,” Twilight guesses.

“Average eh… Able to lift one standard Star Fighter,” he seems to write down.

“Wait, what!?” Twilight doesn’t know what a standard Star Fighter is but she doubts she can lift one.

“Oh sorry,” he says, with a slight chuckle, “I was thinking of the average strength of my race and got confused, sorry sorry. I guess what I should ask is how many times your own weight can you lift?”

“Maybe one times,” says Twilight, not really confided in her own strength.

“Man, that sad,” he sighs.

“So how does this treatment work?” Twilight says, trying to move the subject from her own strength.

“Well I have this machine with me that will take care of you while the treatment is happening. It has the Regen, Boost and stuff in and will take care of doses.”

“Will I be awake for the treatment?” Twilight asks, scared of the constant never-ceasing agony part of the treatment.

“Don’t worry, I will keep you knock out with Hammer.”

“You’re going to knock me out with a hammer!?!” Twilight exclaims, now scared for another reason.

“No, Hammer is a sleeping drug also made by my own race,” he explains, “It is quite powerful and will keep you dead from the world while all the constant never-ceasing agony part happens.”

“Oh, that a relief… why is it called Hammer?”

“Because it knocks you out instantly and when you wake up you will feel like you were hit by a hammer,” he laughs.

“Great…” she says, sarcastically, wondering why all the medicine causes pain.

“No pain, no gain. Now excuse me,” he says, as Twilight hears the sound of walking closer.

“Excuse you for…” Twilight is about ask when it answered for her. He suddenly pulls down the sheet that covered her, for as the sheet is pulled away she realizes that she is naked. Twilight wants to cover herself up but of course there is no strength in her hands. “Why am I naked!?!” Twilight asks, her face most likely going red.

“That’s the way we found you,” he answers, finishing removing the sheet, “My guess is that your clothes deteriorated after being the stasis pod for so long.”

Twilight sighs, she didn’t think this would happen.

“Also we don’t have any clothes that would fit you. Not to mention for this treatment I would need to strip you if were wearing clothes anyway.”

“I see,” says Twilight, still very embarrassed.

“Now I am going to restrain you.”

“Wait what?!?”

“So don’t move at all, I mean I am going to be shoving over two dozen needles in ya.”

“Over a two dozen…” Twilight says, worried, she is not very fond of needles.

“Yes, five will be going into your neck, four will be going into each arm, three into each leg, four into your hips and four into your chest.”

“Why so many needles?!?” Twilight says, panicking.

“Nearly all of them will be Boost except for five of them. Now stay still,” he warns.

Suddenly metal clamps grab her around her head, chest, hips, upper and lower arm and leg before lifting her off the bed. Luckily the clamps seem to be padded so they don’t hurt at all. But these clamps made it impossible to move, not that she could anyway. Suddenly the clamps which seem to be slightly automated, moves Twilight body into a laying down star position.

“Why am I like this?!?!” Twilight yells, feeling very embarrassed at this very shameful position.

“Oh do you creatures never stop whining?”

“But what is this?!”

“It is just the bed’s support function. It’s made to help keep the patient rigid or can help hold them in certain positions that will help the patient heal faster and the doctor, which is me, treat them better. It can also realign bones and fix disjoined ones. In this case it will be holding you up so I can put needles underneath you and reach other places.”

“But won’t I get cold?” Twilight asks feeling really really embarrassed.

“Do you feel cold?”

“Well, no…”

“Good, because if that was the case the bed wouldn’t be doing its job, part of its design is to adjust the room temperature to your idea temperature, so don’t worry. Instead worry about the 27 needles I am about to put in you.”

“What…”

Suddenly Twilight hears the noise of something that sounds like an electric shaver.

“What are you doing?” Twilight asks, worried.

“I will just be shaving off a small bit of hair around the areas that I will be putting the needles in, so it doesn’t get in the way.”

He starts with very carefully shaving two small areas around her arteries in each armpit, elbow, wrist, upper thigh, knee, ankle and the two ones in the neck, he also shaved small areas around her necks two veins. He also shaved a bit around each shoulder blades, a bit right under each of her breast, a bit around the top of each butt check and finally two areas in front of her pelvis. If you can’t guess by now, Twilight face is redder than one of Applejack’s apples due to embarrassment. He is shaving around Twilight’s very private parts.

“Now let’s put these on ya,” he says, placing some sort of strap around her neck and then around each armpit, elbow, wrist, upper thigh, knee and ankle, the final ones are placed around her hip and chest.

“What are these?” she asks, as he places them on her.

“These are just to hold the needles and to make sure they don’t fall out,” he explains, placing the final one on, “Now comes the needles.”

The first two are placed into each of Twilight’s veins in the neck. Twilight groans, slightly, they are big needles.

“These will be pumping in the Regen,” he explains, “The vein will take the Nanobots right to your heart and then it will be spread everywhere else.”

“I see,” replies Twilight, she imagine that if she could speak her voice would be very pained.

He then puts needle into one of her necks jugulars. It isn’t as big as the last ones, but it is still hurts.

“This one will be keeping you under with Hammer.”

Twilight doesn't say anything this time and waits for the next.

The next two are placed in each of her jugulars. Now Twilight has five needles in her neck and is only keep in place by the strap… it hurts like hell!

“Those two will be supplying Boost for the muscles in your neck and head.”

He then places one into each of her wrists.

“These will be supplying you with all the nutriment you will need, and you will need a lot. After this you will lose a lot of weight, so don’t be surprised. After this all the needles I will be placing are for Boost, ok.”

“Ok, just get it over with please.”

He starts by placing another needle in each of her wrists, then another one in each of her elbows, armpits, upper thighs, knees and ankles, he places two more near her shoulder blades, one under each of her breasts, two in front of pelvis and finally one above each of her butt cheeks.

“Done, how do you feel?”

“Pained… why do I need so many Boost needles?”

“Sad to say that Boost only can affect a certain area of muscles before it becomes impotent, as it is usually only used to strengthen a single group of muscles.”

“I see, so that why I need so many needles.”

“It is quite a bother for cases like this, but we can’t improve it much for it is a purely natural drug. It is extracted from a fruit from my homeworld.”

“I see, that’s pretty amazing.”

“Hmmm, I will start putting the Regen and the Boost on soon, but I won’t put you on the Hammer yet, until I am sure everything is working as it should. It will be painful, but you have to deal with it, ok.”

“…ok,” Twilight says, scared.

“Here we go.”

Twilight can hear the sound of a machine start up with a soft hum, she can also feel liquid being pumped into her. It feels weird at first, like the Resight, and just like the Resight it suddenly starts to burn, like acid being poured into her blood, and keeps getting worst! Twilight wants to scream but like before she can only make a high pitched moan.

“Hang on, Twilight, I nearly got all the data I need,” he says, trying calm Twilight but she can’t him over the pain she is feeling, “Let’s see, Regan has spread nicely, all muscles are receiving Boost… ok, I’m going to put you under.”

He hits the button and the Hammer enters Twilight system. A ‘Goodnight’ is the last thing Twilight hears before her world suddenly goes black.

Chapter 2 - Meetings & Reunions

Twilight wakes up and every part of her body aches, but she doesn’t really care much because her head is killing her. It feels like she was repeatedly hit on the head with a hammer.

‘I guess Hammer lives up to its name,’ thinks Twilight. She feels that she is still held aloft by the bed, she can’t feel the needles anymore, but the straps are still in place.

“Awake at last, Twilight,” comes the voice of Alastair, “Let’s get you into a more comfortable position.”

Suddenly the bed moves her into a sitting position on the side of the bed. It then releases her arms, legs and head, but still holds onto her body. Twilight notices that she is now strong enough to support her own head, which is a good sign.

“Now let’s remove those bandages,” he says, placing his hand behind Twilight’s head. The bandages fall away and Twilight is greeting by the blinding lights of the real world.

As her eyes adjust she looks around the mostly empty white room and finally meets the face of Alastair. The first thing that comes to Twilight mind when she sees Alastair face is blue, for Alastair skin colour is a very dark blue. His face is very similar to a human but larger, and his eyes are sharper than any human could ever be, he has a well-trimmed beard and long hair that is held back by a ponytail, and his hair colour is ginger but bits of grey can be seen here and there. His face is only slightly lined with age and he seems to have some face tattoos(or is it face paint? She can’t tell), the largest being a pointed cross in the middle of his face. Suddenly he holds up three large fingers in front of her.

“How many fingers am I holding up? Blink the amount,” he asks.

Twilight blinks three times, remembering what he said before.

“Well, that’s a start,” he says, smiling, showing pretty white teeth, “We can do some more tests later if need be, but for now let’s check out your muscle growth.”

He runs his large hands across her neck and then her jaw. It feels slightly ticklish.

"It seems that all the muscles have grown back in your neck and jaw," he notes, he then forces her mouth open, "Stick your tongue out."

Even though it is embarrassing Twilight does, and Alastair gently grabs her tongue and gives it a light squeeze.

"Tongue seems alright too," he notes, letting the tongue return to Twilight’s mouth, "I think you can try and speak now. Try saying something."

Twilight thinks of something to say and settles with a simple, "Hello..." It hurt to speak, her throat feels swollen and any movement hurt her tender muscles, but she can speak!.

"I can see that it hurts, but the best thing you can do now is to continue and get into the practice," he says, patting Twilight on the head like a child, "Remind your muscles how to speak."

"I'll try," croaks Twilight, before breaking down in coughing.

"Let's just get you some Pain-Away, it won't stop the pain but it will numb it," he says, standing up and walking over to bench.

Twilight can't help but stare at Alastair figure as he stand up. He is over twice the size of Twilight, with huge muscles that look like he could easily crush steel. She can't believe someone of his size could treat her so gently.

"Here you go," he says, a small needle in hand. Twilight is surprised that he doesn't accidentally crush it with his huge fingers. He jabs the needle into her wrist and ejects the content.

Twilight can already feel the effects, as a slight numbing feeling spreading from her hand to the rest of her body.

"Thank you," Twilight says, smiling in relief.

"Now let's check the rest of your muscles," he says, reaching for one of her arms, but Twilight flinches away.

"Sorry!" Twilight says, embarrassed and now slightly intimidated by Alastair huge hands, even though they touched her before.

Alastair sighs, guessing what is going on. "Look," he says, grabbing her hand and placing her palm on his. "You can trust that I won't hurt you or do anything that will harm you, Twilight," he pledges, "I am a doctor first above anything else and this hands will never hurt you."

Even though her arm feels as heavy as lead, she feels his palm. It is twice as big as hers and so are his fingers, they have a rough feel to it but they feel comforting. She is so lost in exploring his hand she doesn't notices someone come in.

"Oi, Blazing Angel, stop flirting with the alien and give me a hand," says a Shetlandish voice behind Alastair.

Twilight looks up and sees another alien like Alastair, same accent, same skin colour, same hair colour, same huge height and same strong body build, but his hair is long and reaches down past his shoulder blades and has a stubble instead of a beard, he also has a huge scar going right across his forehead.

"What do you want, Rock Head?" Alastair asks, obliviously annoyed by this interruption.

"I want you to look at my arm, so stop flirting with the naked alien and get back to work," he says, just as annoyed.

"Naked..." Twilight says, looking down. She screams, remembering that she is naked and tries to covers herself up with hands, but it is hard since her arms still feel pretty weak. 'This is the worst," she thinks, as red as a apple, "It was embarrassing enough with Alastair seeing her naked, now a complete stranger has also seen her naked.' She wishes she could hide somewhere, but the clamp around her stomach keeps her still, and she also doubts that her leg can support her.

"Just look at my arm, doc," says the one called Rock Head, showing him the arm, uncaring to Twilight's plight.

Alastair looks at his arms, "You sprained it pretty bad... how did this happen?"

"I got in a fight with the Never-Ending Storm and it got pretty heated," Rock Head explains, dryly.

"I see... just slap a cooler pack on it and not use it for a few hours, then let your body do the rest," suggests Alastair.

"Fine, I was going to do that anyway, but Headhunter said I should get it checkout," Rock Head says, walking to the door, "I’ll let you get back to the alien. Have fun."

Alastair sighs and turns back to Twilight, who is still blushing, "Sorry about that, don't mind him he is just a normal Pictish idiot. I also see that your arms and chest muscles are working alright, how do they feel?"

"Heavy as lead and very sore," admits Twilight, upset.

"I see, that’s normal, but for us to continue please remove your arms to your side and sit up straight," he orders.

Twilight stays still for awhile and then slowly removes her hand placing them on either side, before she sits up straight. Her face becoming redder.

"Good girl," he praises, he then starts slowly running his hand down Twilight's arm, giving it a little squeeze every now and then, "They seem to be mostly grown back, but will need more Boost." He then places his finger on Twilight's hand, "Now I want you to squeeze it as hard as you can," he encourages.

Twilight nods and starts squeezing his finger as hard as possible.

Alastair shakes his head, "Still to weak."

Twilight nods her head, she doubts she could even hold a book like this.

"Now next parts will be a bit embarrassing so it might help to talk to me while I do it," he says, as he reaches behind her and starts feeling the muscles on her back.

Twilight gets instantly what he is doing. He is checking the muscles on her body and that means... Twilight's blush increases further. She starts talking to help take her mind off it like he suggested.

"So how are my friends?" Twilight asks, trying to ignore Alastair's large hands.

"Still sleeping," he answers, his hand running down Twilight's back, "I am using you to test if this treatment is working and will most likely keep them under until the treatment is finished."

"I see, so you won't be doing this to them?" she asks, embarrassed.

"Nah, if everything turns out alright with you, I won't have too," he says, moving his hands to her side, "I didn't really need to wake you up but I just wanted to check some things, like if the Resight worked and the muscles are growing back right."

"Are they?" Twilight asks, trying her very best to ignore the hands on her hips and sides.

"The ones in your neck and head have, the ones in your arms need a few more cycles, and from what I am getting from your body it does as well, and makes sense to believe that so will your legs," he explains, moving his hands to her front.

"I see..." stutters Twilight, failing to ignore the hands on her chest and stomach.

"Calm down, I won't touch them, there is no muscles in them to check anyway," he sighs, checking the area under her breasts.

"I know that!" Twilight says, flustered, "So how long have I been out for?"

"Only two solar days since you last woke up."

"Have I been out for that long?" Twilight says, surprised.

"That’s nothing compared to how long you slept before and in the stasis pod. You know the reason it took a week for you to wake up before is that your body had trouble remembering how to wake up," he says, moving his hand to her stomach (much Twilight's slight relief), "You’re lucky not to have ended up in a permanent coma

“Does that happen often?” asks Twilight, trying not to think how close Alastair’s hand is to her most private place.

“Hardly at all,” he replies, moving his hands down onto her thighs, “You have to be under for a very long time for it to happen.”

“Do you know how long have I been in stasis for, now?” Twilight asks, turning her head away in embarrassment.

“Like I said two days ago, no idea,” he says, moving his hands further down her leg, “Yesterday a Tech-head told me that manual interface have long stopped working on those pods, I guess that’s why we had to break you girls out of the pods.”

“We must have been out for a long time,” Twilight says, relieved that the hands are now further away from that place.

“Most likely,” agrees Alastair, moving his hands to her knees.

Twilight thinks for a while for something else to say, until she realizes something. “Wait, didn’t that person that came in here before call you Blazing Angel? You said that your name was Alastair?” asks Twilight, wondering if he lied to her.

“No, my name is actually Alastair, Blazing Angel is my title,” he explains, shaking his head, “Among my race your are supposed to address others by their title if they have earned one.”

“What is your race called anyway?” asks Twilight, curious.

“We are called Pictlanders by other races, technically the correct term is Pictish, but most just call us Pictlander since our homeworld is called Pictland,” explains Alastair, moving to her ankle.

“So is it better to call you Pictish or Pictlander?” asks Twilight, confused.

“Well Pictlander is more well known by most other races so they will know what you are talking about quicker, but Pictish is shorter and easier to say, but in the end it doesn’t matter and no Pictish will ever care,” he explains, checking her hooves.

“What does your race do?” asks Twilight, curious.

“Get in fights, get in more fights, drink, fight more, and then looks for more fights,” he says, flatly, standing up.

“Really?” Twilight says, slightly frightened.

“Don’t worry, we look for honorable and fair fights,” Alastair says, shaking his head, “Out in this universe Pictlanders are last thing you got to worry about... unless you go around looking for a fight.”

“Didn’t your race make Hammer and Boost?” Twilight asks, remembering that Alastair mentioned it before.

“Yeah, from plants on our homeworld,” Alastair says, crossing his arms.

Twilight then notices that he has stopped checking her out. “Is everything alright?” she asks, worried.

“The Regen have restored the muscles, they just need more Boost,” he explains, heading for the bed’s control panel, “So I will keep you under for a few more cycles to fix the rest.”

“I guess you will have to hold me in that position again,” Twilight says, unhappily.

“Yeah, but you will be out for most of it, now keep still,” he warns, as he hits some buttons.

“Suddenly the clamps moves to grab the parts it let go of before. It then lifts her up and moves her back into laying down star position again above the bed.

“Do I have to be held in this position?” Twilight asks, even more embarrassed now that she can see.

“I need to put needles under you, remember lass,” he says, as he picks up a tube with a needle on the end, it has blue liquid in it, “Now I’m going to put you under first before I put the needles in this time. So before I put you under do you have last questions?”

“No, just hurry,” Twilight asks, not wanting to remain awake in this position any longer than she has to.

“Fine, just let yourself go limp,” orders Alastair, moving the needle near her neck.

Twilight closes her eyes and lets herself fall limp. The needle slots back into the strap around her neck, and as soon as it pierces her skin she blacks out.

Twilight wakes up to the sound of movement and a splitting headache, but not has much pain as before but there still is pain. She opens her eyes to found herself out of the device and on the bed and under a sheet. She tries to move, but her muscles complains. Actually the only muscles that don’t seem to complain are the ones in her head and neck. She looks around and sees Alastair sitting down a nearby chair, looking over some square device and drinking something.

“Hello, Alastair,” Twilight calls out to the alien doctor.

“Hmmm, oh you are a awake?” he says, getting up and putting down the square object and the cup of liquid, “How are you feeling?”

“Sore but fine,” Twilight says, watching as he walks over.

“Can you sit up?” he asks, holding out his hand to help.

“I think so,” she says, grabbing his hand and moving her into a sitting position while holding the sheet over her chest. It hurt like hell but she can now move by herself.

“As you can see all your muscles have completely grown back and you have returned to your former strength… I think,” he explains, letting go of Twilight’s hand.

“Does that mean I can walk now?” asks Twilight, not caring about the ‘I think’ part.

“Technically yes, but as a doctor I suggest you wait until tomorrow,” he says, with a slight shrug, “To let the muscle pains dull down.”

Twilight tries moving her legs a bit and her muscles complained for every inch. “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.”

Alastair heads back to his chair and sits down again, grabbing his drink and picking up the device again.

“So how are my friends?” Twilight asks again.

“They all have woken up… except for one who I put under again for being too energetic,” he says, while looking over the device.

“Are they all healthy?” Twilight asks, worried.

“As healthy as you,” he replies, not removing his eyes from the device.

Suddenly the door opens and Pinkie Pie bursts in the room… totally naked.

“HIYA TWILIGHT!!” she yells, her hands in the air.

“PINKIE!” Twilight yells back.

Chapter 3 - The Quest to Find Friends

“God-damn girl, couldn’t you have just stayed in your bed like I asked you to,” Alastair yells at the sudden Pinkie Pie, getting off his chair.

“Sorry, but I got bored and I wanted to look for my friends,” Pinkie replies, smiling happily.

“Couldn’t you have waited until you were not in agony?” Alastair asks, sighing.

“She doesn’t look like she is in agony,” notes Twilight, still surprised by the sudden pink pony.

“Actually I am,” states Pinkie, a eye twitching, “Right now, I am in extreme amounts of pain.”

“Than lay down you idiot,” Alastair says, picking up Pinkie with one arm and throwing her onto the bed with Twilight, causing to Pinkie to say ‘Ouch!’, “You don’t mind sharing a bed with her?”

“Not really…” Twilight says, although it is a bit embarrassing to share a bed with a pony when they are both naked.

“Good, for I don’t want to have to carry her back to bed,” admits Alastair, glaring at the pink pony who just smiles back.

“Are you sure you don’t have any clothes?” Twilight asks, embarrassed as Pinkie slips under the sheet with Twilight.

“You know Pictish females aren’t much smaller than the males,” replies Alastair, noticing Twilight disappointed face he says, “But look, I will have some of the lads look around in storage and we will see if we can find any smaller races clothes.”

“Thank you,” Twilight says, thankful.

“Yeah, thanks!” thanks Pinkie, happily, “It is a bit drafty.”

“I warn you though it may not be in one piece,” he warns, leaving the room.

“What do you think he means by that?” asks Pinkie, looking at Twilight.

“I think he meant that it will be battle salvage,” explains Twilight, sighing, “But as long as we can get some clothes I don’t care where it comes from.”

They lay in silence for awhile until Pinkie breaks it by talking again.

“Hey Twilight, I’m bored!” whines Pinkie.

“Sorry to hear that,” Twilight says, sighing.

“Hey Twilight, I got an idea, let’s go look for our friends,” suggests Pinkie, surprising Twilight.

“What!?” Twilight says, shocked by Pinkies suggestion.

“I said let’s go look for our friends,” Pinkie repeats, smiling happily.

“No we can’t, we have to stay in are rooms, Alastair said,” scolds Twilight, scowling.

“No he didn’t,” counters Pinkie, still smiling.

“Yeah well he meant it,” admits Twilight, sighing again.

“But aren’t worried about our friends?” pouts Pinkie.

“Of course I am, but they are safe and we still need to heal properly,” counters Twilight, wondering where this is going.

“But what about Fluttershy? She will be so scared and lonely,” Pinkie says, sadly, “You don’t want to just leave her alone?”

“I guess…” admits Twilight, “But I am sure she will be ok for a day.”

“But it hasn’t just been a day, it has been a week,” counters Pinkie.

“I guess you right…” Twilight says, starting to give in.

“And then there is poor Rarity,” continues Pinkie, “I mean after what happened to her mane…”

“Wait, what happened to her mane…” then Twilight notices something she didn’t see before about Pinkie. Her mane is very short, like it was shaven off and only recently grown back. “Pinkie what happened to your mane?” Twilight asks, horrified.

“What do you mean? Your mane is the same as mine,” Pinkie replies.

“WHAT!?!” Twilight yells, placing her hands on her head. She is right, her mane is the same as Pinkie. “Why is my mane short?”

“Why does matter?” asks Pinkie, who doesn’t really care, “It will just grow back.”

“But I liked my mane,” moans Twilight, depressed.

“Well anyway,” Pinkie says, hopping off the bed, “Let’s go looking for our friends.”

“Look I can’t anyway,” Twilight says, sadly, still depressed about her mane, “I’m not like you, I can’t walk around with no clothes on.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Pinkie says, happily. With that she pulls off the large sheet, exposing Twilight.

“What the hay, Pinkie!” yells Twilight, covering herself with her hands.

“I will make something with the sheet,” declares Pinkie, grabbing the sheet from the middle.

“Wait, Pinkie! That belongs to…” Twilight says too late as Pinkie tears the sheet down the middle, “... Alastair.”

“Don’t worry about it, they have lots,” Pinkie says, without a care in the universe, “Now up you go.”

Pinkie suddenly pulls Twilight off the bed. Twilight winces as her muscles complain about their sudden use. “Ow, Pinkie that hurts!” cries Twilight.

“Mare up, Twilight, we are on a quest,” declares Pinkie, warping half of the sheet around Twilight.

“What are you doing, Pinkie?” Twilight asks, curious.

“Making a toga,” answers Pinkie, “And… done! What do you think?”

“It is not a huge improvement,” complains Twilight, noticing that see can still see the shape of her body through the sheet, also her nubs can be seen through the sheet.

“Moan, moan, all you do is moan,” Pinkie says, jokingly, putting on the other half of the sheet.

Twilight notices it is worst for Pinkie whose breasts are the biggest of any of her friends.

“Let’s go Twilight,” Pinkie says, skipping out of the room.

Twilight sighs. She grabs her amulet from the bedside table and follows her, this is definitely not a good idea, but somepony has to watch Pinkie. By the time Twilight leaves through the large door she is already regretting it, the muscles in her leg, chest and hips are killing her.

“How come you’re not in pain, Pinkie?” moans Twilight, wishing she could lay down again.

“Oh I am,” replies Pinkie, smiling, “I just don’t care.”

“I wish could be that carefree,” grumbles Twilight, as they exit the room. They find themselves in a white chrome hallway with doors lined across it, the hallway itself seem to be stretching out endlessly in both direction.

“What is this?” Twilight asks, looking up and down the hall, “There is nothing beside doors. No sighs, numbers or anything.”

“Weird right,” agrees Pinkie, who has already seen this.

“Let’s just open some nearby doors,” suggests Twilight, “Our friends must be nearby.”

“Okie Dokie Lokie,” Pinkie says, walking over one of the unmarked doors on the opposite side to Twilight’s room.

She open it and reveals what looks like a cleaning closet, with a weird looking broom and some other stuff.

“Let’s try another door,” Twilight says, opening one of the doors beside the cleaning closet to found an empty bedroom with bunk beds.

“Let’s try this one,” Pinkie says, opening a door beside Twilight’s room.

It turns out to be a workout place, where Pictlanders lift weights, do push-ups, squat-thrusts, sits-up and other such stuff, wearing nothing but their shorts… or nothing at all. They all stop and look at the two ponies.

“Niccce!” notes Pinkie.

“Mad Bomber thanks you,” one of the Pictlanders reply, before Twilight closes the door.

“Hey, why did you do that, Twilight?” Pinkie asks, looking at the blushing alicorn leaning against the wall.

“Didn’t you see that? They were barely wearing any clothes… actually some were not wearing anything at all!” Twilight whines, her blush increasing at what her poor virgin eyes saw.

“Don’t worry about it Twilight,” comforts Pinkie, patting Twilight back, “Just think that they are your brother.”

“That’s even worse!” Twilight yells, picturing a room full of working out Shining Armours... not wearing any clothes.

“Just let me open it again and ask for directions,” asks Pinkie.

“We are not opening it again! Let’s just try the other doors,” Twilight orders, not wanting to see that again.

The two mares try twenty more doors, totalling what they found so far: 8 bedrooms, 2 cleaning closets, 3 workout rooms, 1 gym(it is totally different to a workout room, really), 1 empty medical room, 2 shower rooms full of male Pictlanders(much embarrassment), 1 empty bathroom(which Pinkie used), and 4 unknown rooms.

“Nothing makes sense here!” yells Twilight, annoyed, “There is no pattern!”

“Yeah it is weird,” agrees Pinkie, looking up and down the hallway, “You should have let me asked for direction.”

“We are not going to enter a room of naked or semi-naked males while only wearing a sheet!” yells Twilight, tired of this argument.

“Ok, ok, let’s just keep looking then,” suggests Pinkie.

Twilight walks over to a door, wishing that they could just found their friends. She is irritated, annoyed, in pain and embarrassed. She just wants it to end so she can go back and lay down again.

“You know nothing can surprise me anymore, let’s see what behind this door!” Twilight yells, hitting the open door button… and what is behind the door is a jungle, full of trees, shrubs and some form of wild lion. Twilight quickly closes it. “I stand corrected..”

“Cool, they even have their own jungle in here,” Pinkie says, amazed.

“Right, now that I think about it where was your room Pinkie?” Twilight asks, looking up and down the hall.

“I don’t know I was walking for awhile until heard your voice and then came into your room… actually I can’t even remember where your room was,” notes Pinkie, looking down the hallway.

“Yeah, me neither,” admits Twilight, also looking down the hallway.

“Let’s try this one,” declares Pinkie, opening a door to a dark room, “What do you think this room is?”

“With our luck it is properly a cave with bats in it,” Twilight says sarcastically, walking in followed by Pinkie, “Pinkie try and find the lights.”

“Ok, but I don’t think caves have lights,” Pinkie says, happily patting the walls.

Suddenly something tackles Twilight, causing her to fall over. The attacker grips her tightly.

“Help! I being attacked by something!!” yells Twilight, trying to remove it.

It seems to be making Twilight chest wet and it’s also making a strange noise.

“Don’t worry Twilight!” yells Pinkie, “I found the lights.”

The lights turn on revealing the attacker, it has a yellow coat and pink shaven mane.

“Fluttershy?” both the mares yell, surprised.

For it is the timid pegasus. Her mane is short like theirs, but it is Fluttershy mane. The weird noise is her crying and the wetness is her tears.

“I was so scared!!” Fluttershy cries, clinging tighter to Twilight chest, “There was this really scary giant blue man and lots of needles and…”

“There, there, you are alright now,” Pinkie says, patting her back, and after a while Fluttershy seems calms down.

“Are you better now?” asks Twilight, Fluttershy nods, “Good, now can you get off me please.”

Fluttershy looks up and sees Twilight’s blushing face, she looks down and sees her own naked body.

“I’m sorry!!” yells Fluttershy, quickly getting off and covering herself with her hands. She winces as she feels the pain of her sudden movements.

“Let me make you a toga,” Pinkie says, happily, grabbing the sheets off Fluttershy bed.

“You better make me another one too,” asks Twilight, pointing to her toga to show that its chest is now transparent due to Fluttershy’s tears.

“Sorry,” Fluttershy apologies again.

“Don’t worry about it,” Twilight says, trying to comfort the pegasus.

Soon all three of them leave the room, with Fluttershy and Twilight in fresh togas. Back on their quest to make sense of this place and find their friends.

“Wow, it’s long,” Fluttershy says, looking up and down the hallway.

“Yeah and weird, there seems to be no room layout and every room is random,” explains Twilight.

“And worst, Twilight won’t let me ask for directions,” pouts Pinkie, crossing her arms.

“That because you keeping wanting to ask the ones in rooms full of naked ones!” yells Twilight, wishes Pinkie would drop it.

“Or semi-naked ones,” corrects Pinkie, smiling.

Fluttershy just blushes while she listens to this. Her ears suddenly perk, “Wait girls… I can hear something.”

Twilight and Pinkie perks their ears as well.

“Yeah, I can hear something as well,” argees Twilight.

“It sounds like running footsteps,” Pinkie says, pointing her hand down the hall, “It coming from that direction.”

They look and in the distance they see a large group of Pictlanders heading for them fast.

“Oh good we can ask for directions,” Pinkie says, happily waving at them.

“They coming pretty fast,” Fluttershy says, like a deer in the headlights.

Pictish have nearly reached them when suddenly Twilight pulls her two friends into a room and out of the stampeding of Pictlanders way. As they past they can hear a pictlander yell, “Come on, run faster! No pain no gain!”

“That was close,” Twilight says, wiping her brow, “These pictish love to excise don’t they.”

“Umm, girls…” Fluttershy tries to say.

“Admit Twilight you like being lost,” pouts Pinkie, crossing her hands.

“Girls…” Fluttershy tries to say again.

“Hay, I just saved you from being trampled!” Twilight says, frustrated.

“Girls!” Fluttershy yells, having enough.

“What?” both Twilight and Pinkie say turning to Fluttershy, to find her blushing a bright red.

“We are in a dressing room,” whispers Fluttershy, covering her eyes and pointing beside them.

They turn sideway and sees a bunch of Pictlanders in various states of getting dressed or getting undressed staring at them.

“Do you mind?” says one, looking annoyed and crossing his hands over his bare chest.

“SORRY!” yells Twilight and Fluttershy, rushing out of the room and dragging Pinkie behind them.

Soon they lay down in the middle of the hallway, panting and rubbing their aching muscles.

“Why does this place have so many naked and semi-naked Pictlanders in it?” Twilight asks the universe in general.

“Look we are never going to find our friends this way,” complains Pinkie.

Twilight is about to retort when they hear a familiar voice behind them.

“Howdy, it sure is good to see some familiar faces,” says Applejack, running over to her friends.

“Applejack!” the girls say before hugging the earth-pony. Applejack’s long blonde mane is now short like theirs, and she also wears two towels, one around her hips and one around her chest.

“Nice use of towels,” notes Twilight, wishing that she used some herself, at least cover herself better.

“Yeah, you three could some towels yourself,” Applejack says, looking them over, “Your chests are… rather exposed.”

Twilight and Fluttershy blush covering their chests, Pinkie doesn’t care.

“Toga are cool,” states Pinkie, happily puffing out her chest.

“Anyway, do you know where Rarity and Rainbow Dash are?” Twilight asks Applejack.

“If the state of our manes are any judge, Rarity will be crying in her room,” guesses Applejack, “And Rainbow Dash, no idea.”

“What are you doing here anyway? Is your room nearby?” asks Fluttershy.

Applejack turns around and looks down the hallway behind her, “Don’t think so… I was following the group of blue guys…”

“Pictlanders,” Twilight corrects.

“Pictlanders, whatever. I was following them, but they are pretty fast and got away,” continues Applejack, waving her hands in dismissive manner.

“Well I guess we should start checking the doors again,” Fluttershy suggests.

“You first,” Twilight says, pushing Applejack forwards. Twilight has had enough with her luck with doors.

“Fine, just stop pushing me, Twilight,” complains Applejack, pushing Twilight away and walking to the door.

She opens the door to reveal at what first looks like a battlefield, with Pictlanders attacking each other with fists, elbows, feet and what looks like chairs, and then at second glance turns out to be a cafeteria.

“I heard of a lunch hour rush before, but this is ridiculous,” notes Applejack, winces as she sees someone get hit by a chair.

A Pictlander falls in front of them with a pretty bad blood nose. They can see his blood pouring down his face. Them someone starts to drag him back into the fray, and as he is dragged away they can hear him scream… in excitement.

“Let go,” Twilight says, closing the door.

“Yeah,” agrees Pinkie, for once not wanting to ask for directions.

“Fluttershy, you can let go of my back now, the door is closed,” Applejack addresses the pegasus behind her.

“Sorry,” Fluttershy says, letting go.

“Don’t worry about it,” replies Applejack, patting her on the shoulder.

“But how are we going to find Rarity and Rainbow Dash like this?” complains Twilight, stomping her hoof in frustration, “Every room is random and has no pattern I can follow! They could be anywhere.”

Suddenly Pinkie does some odd movements that can only be her Pinkie sense.

“My pinky is twitching, my hoof is itching and my tail is wagging, that means that somepony is crying nearby... must be Rarity,” yells Pinkie, rushing off, “And she is over here.”

The other girls not arguing, follow after Pinkie. Soon they reach another part of the hallway.

“She is around here somewhere,” declares Pinkie, her Pinkie sense starting up again.

“I guess we better start opening doors,” Twilight sighs, heading for a door.

“Wait, I can hear something,” Applejack states, looking for the source.

“Yeah, it sounds like crying?” agrees Fluttershy, looking around.

“Must be Rarity then,” Pinkie says, happily skipping towards the door where the sounds comes from.

They open the door and step in, where they see Rarity, crying in the corner of room. The reason is quite clear why she is crying for her mane is the same as them.

“Rarity are you alright?” asks Fluttershy, going to comfort her.

“NO!” Rarity wails, turning back to her friends, tears in her eyes. Luckily she isn’t wearing any mascara or her face would be more of a mess, “My beautiful mane has been cut away leaving me with this short cut, I am also without any clothes and I have no make-up!!”

“Nice to see you too,” grumbles Applejack, crossing her arms.

“Oh yes, quite,” replies Rarity, actually seeming to notice them. She then notices Fluttershy mane, “Darling, you're beautiful mane is gone too?!” Rarity says horrified, grabbing Fluttershy face.

“Actually all our hair is cut too,” Twilight says, pointing to her own mane.

“What kind of monster would do this?” Rarity asks, angrily.

“Most likely that doctor guy,” Pinkie says, happily.

“His name is Alastair,” corrects Twilight.

“Who?” says Applejack, Fluttershy and Rarity, confused.

“Don’t you know Alastair?” Twilight asks, also confused.

“The big blue guy? With a cross on his face?” Pinkie tries to explain.

“Was he the one who jabbed needles in my arse?” asks Applejack, angrily.

“Yes, but the needles were to help us,” defends Twilight.

“How does putting needles in… in our behind help us?” Rarity asks, raising an eyebrow.

“It is hard to explain,” Twilight says, wondering if Alastair didn’t explain Boost to them and just did it, “Anyway, didn’t you see Alastair when you woke up?.”

“Nope, only heard his voice and when I woke up I was alone in my room and in pain,” answers Applejack.

“Same here,” agrees Rarity, nodding her head.

“I was awake, but I pretended to be asleep when he came in,” confesses Fluttershy, blushing.

“Why?” asks Twilight.

“I was scared,” answers Fluttershy, lowering her head, “He is so big.”

“If I see him I am going to teach him a lesson,” declares Applejack, determined.

“Here, here,” agrees Rarity.

‘They won’t be saying that when they see him,’ thinks Twilight, hoping nopony gets hurt.

“Anyway, now that we found Rarity let’s find Rainbow Dash!” declares Pinkie, double fist pumping.

“Not until I get something to wear,” Rarity states, crossing her arm across her ample bosom.

Soon they leave the room with Rarity wearing a towel wrapped around her chest and toga made of a bed sheet over it. Twilight and Fluttershy also now wear a towel under their toga, and Pinkie… just doesn’t care.

“I guess we should try doors again,” sighs Twilight, opening a door.

Behind the door is another bunch of showering Pictlanders, they stare at the five ponies as the door opens.

“Sorry,” Twilight says, not caring anymore and closing the door.

“My word, what was that?” Rarity says, flustered and blushing a deep red.

“Did we just see a bunch of naked Pictlanders?” Applejack says, also blushing, “They are well built aren’t they?”

“Is it safe to look?” asks Fluttershy, who has closed her eyes just in case.

“Yeah it is,” sighs Twilight, who is used to this.

“Is every door like this?” asks Rarity, nevious.

“Actually they’re all random,” states Pinkie, “So you never know what you will get.”

“I guess we should try another,” Twilight says, going for another.

“Wait!” Rarity says, grabbing Twilight’s hand, “Maybe we should just look around the hallway. I mean she is most likely looking for us.”

“Good idea, Rarity,” Twilight says, happy at the option that did not involve opening doors.

The girls start walking down the hallway. After a while Pinkie speaks up again.

“You know what I just noticed,” states Pinkie, skipping down the hall, “We haven’t seen a single female Pictlander. Don’t you think that is weird.”

“Maybe the females are elsewhere,” suggests Rarity, adjusting her toga.

“Or maybe the Pictish females look like the males, with beard and everything,” jokes Applejack, smiling.

With that in mind Twilight imagines Alastair in a dress… Twilight then shudders.

“I wonder what one looks like?” Pinkie wonders.

“Stop right there!” yells a voice behind them.

The girls turn around and see a Pictish female, for it can only be that(what a coincidence). She has the long ginger hair, no facial hair, Pictish dark blue skin and a very curvy but muscular body. She is a little bit shorter than Alastair but she still towers over them. She wears some form of armour, similar to what they seen other Pictlander’s wear. She wears a skeletal looking face paint(least Twilight hopes it is face paint and not a tattoo) and is pointing a huge glowing sword at them.

“If you don’t speak up soon, I will be forced to just beat you to get the information,” she says, looking like she wants this to happen.

“Wait, stop!” Twilight says, not liking the look of the sword, “We are just looking for our friend!”

“Unless he is Pictish you won’t find whoever you are looking for here,” she declares, lowering her sword.

“No, she is one of us,” explains Twilight, relieved, “We are the aliens you picked up recently?”

She looks confused, before realization dawned on her face. “Oh yeah, the ones that had been in stasis too long,” she says, putting the sword away, “I guess that explains the bedsheet thing, right?”

“One must make do in the worst situation,” grumbles Rarity, crossing her hands over her chest.

“Aren’t you guys supposed to be in bed still? I mean no way you have recovered yet,” she states, looking them up and down.

“How would you know that?” asks Twilight.

“Cause I can see your muscles complaining,” she says, pointing down at them, “Your body obviously hasn’t recovered yet from the Boost they injected you with.”

The girls can’t argue with that, their muscles are killing them like they would after a hard workout.

“I suggest you go back to bed now,” she says, putting her hands behind her head, “For own sakes… also so not to piss off Alastair more than you most likely have.”

“Maybe we should go back, girls,” suggests Twilight, not wanting to anger Alastair and this new Pictlander, “I mean Rainbow Dash can wait until we fully recover, right?”

“Oh come on, Twilight!” Pinkie says, happily, “What’s a little bit of pain for our friends?”

“Pinkie, my muscles feel like they are on fire,” Twilight says, winching while rubbing her calf.

“No pain, no gain!” Pinkie says, happily marching forward, “Let’s find our friend and then feel sorry for ourselves later!”

“I have a nasty feeling that we are going to be in a lot more pain later,” sighs Applejack, shaking her head.

“I hope not,” whimpers Fluttershy, rubbing her arm.

“Do you know where Rainbow Dash is?” Pinkie asks the female Pictish, at last getting to ask someone.

The Pictish looks down at Pinkie who has walk up to her. The Pictlander is nearly twice as tall as Pinkie. She gives a bemused smile, before saying, “Depends, who is Rainbow Dash? The name doesn’t ring a bell. Also why should I help you anyway?”

“Oh please,” begs Pinkie, while still smiling, “She is blue and has rainbow coloured hair. So please help us! Pretty please with a cherry on top!”

“You have a weird way of asking someone for help,” she says, frowning before she suddenly smiles, “But you sure are amusing though.” She points down the hallway, “I believe room ‘50132’ had a something rainbow coloured in it.”

“Umm, which is room 50132?” Twilight says, confused and noting she isn’t as nice as Alastair, “None of the rooms are numbered.”

“Oh yeah, you don’t have one of these,” she says, holding up her left wrist. There seems to be something built into the armours wrist,

“What is that?” Twilight says, craning her neck to get a good look at the device, but it is kind of hard being the pictish is so tall.

“It is P.T.S.D,” she states, lowering her hand so Twilight can see better.

“A PTSD?” Twilight says, confused, ‘Post-traumatic stress disorder?’

“Yeah, a Pictish Tracking and Search Device,” she nods, pulling her hand up before moving her other hand across it, “And with a few taps.”

Suddenly numbers appear above the doors, also none of them seem to be in order. For example number 33309, is next to 101310 and that’s next to 663311, it makes no sense.

“This doesn’t make it any less confusing,” Twilight sighs, looking at the numbers.

“Are there really 663311 rooms here?” Rarity asks, amazed.

The Pictish laughs, “No, of course they're not. It is a puzzle.” She points up at the numbers, “If you take out all the numbers beside the last three, you get…”

Realization dawns of Twilight’s face, “309, 310, 311… so that means Rainbow Dash is in room 132.”

“Correct,” she smiles, showing her pearly whites, “Want me to take you there?”

“You will! Thank you!” Pinkie says, happily.

“Why not, I am bored anyway and you are the first interesting thing I have seen in ages,” she smirks, she starts walking off, “Coming?”

The girls quickly chase after the Pictlander, they have to walk quickly to keep up with her long strides, which is not helping their muscles at all.

“Hey, I got a question,” asks Applejack, having to jog to keep up, “Why are all the rooms weirdly laid out and what’s with the invisible number?”

“Hmm,” the Pictish says, looking down at Applejack, “Oh, that is just in case we are boarded. You know, to confuse the enemies. It means that the enemies will have trouble finding our sick, ammunition and other important stuff. It also means we have the home advantage, one can easily get lost around these halls, but a Pictish will never get lost on their own ship. So while they can’t find us we can always find them.”

“That’s actually kind of clever… in a dumb sort of way,” admits Twilight, trying her best to keep up with the Pictish, “But won’t that trick only a few times until they work out how your ships are laid out?”

“Nope for every Pictish ship is built with a different layout and a different number code,” she explains, while looking at her PTSD, “So our enemies will never be able to guess how our ships are laid out.”

“Do you get boarded often?” asks Rarity, worried.

“Not for long,” she says, giving a wicked smirk.

“I see… are we nearly there?” Rarity asks.

“It is just up ahead,” she says, pointing to a door a little distance away.

“That was fast,” Pinkie says, happily, skipping ahead towards the door.

“Hey I just thought, when you make the numbers appear do they appear all over the ship or just around you?” asks Twilight, as they head for the door.

“Just around me,” she smiles, “Would defeat the purpose if they lit up all the numbers on the ship, also if I wear my helmet I can make it so only I can see them through my helmet hud. Which is good if I don’t want my enemies to see them.”

Just then they reach the door, Pinkie has already gone inside. The rest of the girls and Pictlander follows her in.

“We found Rainbow Dash,” Pinkie says, standing by the sleeping pegasus, “And she is asleep.”

“I can fix that!” Applejack says, with a annoyed look on her face.

“Don’t bother,” says the Pictlander, smirking, “It looks like she is under the effect of Hammer.”

Twilight suddenly remember Alastair saying that one of her friends were still kept asleep because she was too energetic, I guess it was Rainbow Dash.

“How are we going to wake her up then?” asks Rarity, looking at the sleeping Rainbow Dash.

“I guess we will have to use Smack,” the Pictlander says, grabbing a needle off the bench.

“What the heck is Smack,” asks Applejack, confused.

“It is a powerful drug used to counter Hammer,” explains the Pictlander, “Called so, because when you wake up you”

“Let me guess, you feel like you were slapped across the face?” interrupts Twilight, getting the hang of Pictish pharmaceuticals.

“Something like that,” the Pictlander says, filling up the needle with a brown liquid. She walks over Rainbow Dash side and jabs it into her arm, injecting the contents. “Hope I didn’t put too much in.”

“What will happen if you put too much....” Twilight tries to ask.

Suddenly Rainbow Dash sits up with a wild look on her face.

“Rainbow Dash are you ok?” asks Fluttershy, worried.

Rainbow Dash quickly looks at Fluttershy, and then talked at a million words per-second, “IamjustfineFluttershywhyareyouspeakingsoslowIfeellikeacouldflyamileinasecondactuallyIthinkIwillWOO-HOO!!!!” Suddenly Rainbow Dash shoots off the bed and starts bouncing off the walls.

“Oops, methinks I gave her to much,” the Pictlander says, smiling at the bouncing pegasus.

“YOU THINK!!” Twilight yells, laying on the floor with the rest of her friends.

“Although I haven’t seen someone react to Smack like this before,” she says, dodging an incoming Rainbow Dash, “It is quite funny!”

“HOW LONG TO IT STOPS!?!” yells Applejack, watching Rainbow Dash bounce off more walls.

“Won’t be long now,” but as soon as she says those Rainbow Dash slows down and crashes onto the bed where she now lays groaning.

“Are you ok, Dash? asks Pinkie, walking to Rainbow Dash’s side.

“NO!” she yells, angrily her face planted in the pillow, “I feel like I was hit by a hammer multiple times and then slapped multiple times across the face!! Also all my muscles are killing me!!”

A sound of laughing can be heard, it is the Pictlander, “Hahaha, you aliens sure are amusing! It has been a while since I have had this much fun.”

“You think it is funny,” growls Rainbow Dash, failing to get her hooves, “Making fun of me! If I was at a 100% I would teach you a lesson!”

“Oh, you are actually threatening a Pictish? Can you get any more amusing,” she says, smiling, “I was actually planning to ditch you guys now, but now I think I will continue to help you guys find the other ones.”

“Wait, what other ones?” Twilight asks confused, while her and Applejack help Rainbow Dash up.

“The other three we pulled out of the ship,” she says, raising a eyebrow, “There was nine of you right?”

“No, we are the only ones who should of been on the ship?” Twilight says, shocked.

“Then someone was stowing away on your ship,” she says, smirking.

“Who could it be?” Rarity asks, confused.

“It better not be Spike,” Twilight says, worried, “I told him it was too dangerous for a baby dragon.”

“You better takes us to them,” Applejack says, now supporting Rainbow Dash while Rarity wraps her up with a towel.

“I already said I would,” she says, giving a cheeky smile, “But it might be quicker if I carry Rainbow Dash.”

“No way, I don’t want to be carried by you!” Rainbow Dash says, glaring at the smiling Pictish.

“No need to be angry,” she says, her smile growing, “I will carry you like this.” She suddenly picks up Rainbow Dash and holds her between both hands, one hand supporting her upper back and the other supporting both her legs.

“Wait! This is a princess carry!” Rainbow Dash yells, blushing slightly, “Put me down right now!!”

Applejack and Pinkie are laughing their plot off at this, and the other are trying to hide their giggles.

“Oh Celestia, this is perfect!” laughs Applejack, holding her sides, “I only wish I had a camera!”

“Dashy is like a bride!” Pinkie laughs, rolling on the ground.

“It is rather amusing, isn’t it. I mean she is even wearing white,” giggles Rarity, referring to the towel Rainbow Dash is wearing.

Rainbow Dash just glares at her friends, and then at the Pictish who just smirks back.

“You know you're pretty small,” she says, smirking,”You’re kind of like a child in my arms.”

“I am no child!” Rainbow Dash yells, angrily, “Just put me down, I can walk myself!”

“No, it will be bad for you after what happened before, and since it is my fault I will take responsibility and continue to carry you,” she says, clearly enjoying herself, she starts to walk out of the room, “Coming? I will take you to the stowaways.”

The girls follow, still giggling at Rainbow Dash, who is struggling.

“Put me DOWN right now…” Rainbow Dash pause mid scream and looks at the giggling Twilight, “Hey egghead, stop laughing and tell me something, what is her name? You never mentioned it.”

Twilight pauses her giggling and looks confused, “Actually I don’t know, I forgot to ask.”

“Let me,” Pinkie says, happily leaping next to the Pictish, “Excuse me but what’s your name?”

“Only now you realize?” she smiles, looking down at Pinkie, “But call me Devil.”

“Is that your title?” asks Twilight, remembering Alastair mentioning titles.

“Yep,” Devil smiles, looking back ahead.

“What do you mean by title?” asks Applejack, confused.

“I think it is something that Pictlanders earn and you are supposed to call them,” Twilight explains, trying to remember what Alastair said.

“Something like that,” smiles Devil.

“Interesting how does one earn a title, exactly?” asks Rarity, curious.

“By doing something impressive that stands out,” answers Devil.

“How did you get Devil?” asks Rainbow Dash, who has given up trying to escape.

“Well when a Pictish man or woman comes of age they must survive a year somewhere in the wilds of Pictland,” explains Devil, giving a evil smile, “I was only in there for a month until I was pulled out cause they thought it was unfair to the animals to keep someone like me in there.”

“That... impressive,” Twilight says, wondering how dangerous the wilds of the Pictish planet is and what Devil must of done to it.

“Technically you can get another title if you do something better, but I haven’t done anything more impressive yet,” Devil sighs, “I just keep getting all these boring jobs.”

“What is your job anyway?” asks Pinkie, looking up at Devil.

“To fight our enemies or other Pictish if they look tough,” Devil smirks.

“And that’s boring?” Rainbow Dash asks, confused, “That sounds pretty cool.”

“One, I have already fought all the tough Pictish… beside Alastair but he says I am not worth the time and he doesn’t want to marry me or father my children,” Devil sighs again, “Two, we are patrolling empty space just in cause we see a enemy, and big shock we haven’t.”

“Wait, what was that about Alastair marrying you?” Twilight asks, confused.

“That is how Pictish marriage works. The male has to beat the female to bed her or marry her,” explains Devil, yawning, “So that was Alastair’s way of saying he could easily beat me. Cocky bastard.”

“That sounds… barbaric,” gasps Rarity, horrified by this, “So you don’t marry out of love?”

“Oh of course we can… you just have to beat them first,” Devil smirks, “Oh course you don’t have to bed them or marry them after you beat them. Just in my case, if my father finds out that I was beaten by someone he will insist that I marry them or at least have a kid since I have beaten nearly all the toughest Pictish in the galaxy.”

“But isn’t that unfair to the female?” Fluttershy asks, shyly, “To have to marry someone they may not like?

“You are assuming that we Pictish female are easy to beat,” Devil smirks, “We usually have to go easy on them! If a Pictish doesn’t want to go down then she won’t go down… also you can refuse the battle if you are a wimp.”

Twilight nods, “So it not as serious as it sounds?”

“Nah, that wouldn’t be fun if it was,” Devil smirks, “But we Pictish usually do have sex afterwards.”

“What!” the girls say, blushing.

“Nothing is more fun after a good rumble than a good tumble,” Devil smirks, “That is also why we maintain a low gender ratio on ships, to lower the chance of unexpected pregnancies.”

“When males fight each other do they also, ummm… do each other?” Rarity asks, blushing.

“If they want to,” Devil shrugs, “We are pretty pan people… it also helps if there are no females about.”

“Oh my,” Rarity says, blushing.

“Rarity, your nose is bleeding,” smirks Applejack.

“It most certainly is not!” Rarity says, covering her nose, causing most of her friends to laugh.

“Well, we our in the area where the others are at,” Devil states, putting Rainbow Dash down next to a wall, where she leans on it.

“Wait, so they are in the same area?” Twilight says, confused.

“Yeah, they are randomized by a computer when built, so there is chance that sometimes rooms will be close together,” Devil explains, looking around, “Now they should be in rooms…”

A sudden noise interrupts Devil. They look over at the source and see that a door has opened and three heads are sticking out. As soon as they notice each other they quickly retract and the door closes. A angry looking Applejack heads for the door, followed by similar looking Rarity.

“I recognize those heads,” Applejack says.

“As do I,” agrees Rarity.

Applejack opens the door and quickly grabs the three ponies before they can escape, dragging them out.

“What the hell are you doing here!” Applejack yells, to her little sister Applebloom and her two friends.

“Let go, Applejack!” whines Applebloom, struggling.

“Not until you explain…” Applejack is interrupted by Rarity, who tapping her shoulder, “What is it Rarity?”

“Umm, have you seen our siblings?” Rarity says, with a shocked look on her face. This is shared by the rest of her friends.

Applejack confused, looks down. Her eyes widen, “What the hay!!”

Her little sister is not so little anymore, actually she is about the same size as Applejack and her body has finished filling out as well. She is now around about the same size and build as Applejack. The rest of them are similar states.

“You all have grown up?!” Rarity says, looking at the once fillies.

“What the hay happened to you girls!?” yells Applejack, letting them go.

“We don’t know! We just woke up like this,” explains Scootaloo, folding her hands over her small but modest chest.

“It might be better to explain why you were on the ship first,” Twilight asks, walking up to the group.

“We were exploring the ship,” Applebloom says, averting her eyes.

“Even though we told you girls not to and to stay at home,” Applejack says, angrily, tapping her hoof.

“But the curfew was so boring!” whines Sweetie Belle, “And it was the first ever Equestrian spaceship and we wanted to see it before it left.”

“We were being invaded!” yells Applejack, “The curfew was for your own good and safety.”

“But they couldn’t get us,” whines Applebloom, “They were being blocked by the shield.”

“Yes a shield that could have been broken at anytime!” yells Applejack, stamping her hoof, “And this still doesn’t explain why you are now here.”

“Well, when we entered the ship we look around and after a while we decide to leave, but then you six came abroad and laid in those pods,” Scootaloo starts to explain, “Then the ship started to start up and we were grabbed by some of the robots that Twilight made and put into three other pods, so it is not our fault!”

“Of course it is your fault! You shouldn’t of been in the ship at all!” continues to yell Applejack.

“Maybe we should save this argument for later,” Fluttershy says, shyly, “We’ve attracted some attention.”

The rest of girls look around and see they have attached some Pictish watchers. They are watching them in mild interest.

One of one that Twilight recognized as Rock Head says, “Go on, don’t mind us.”

The girls tries to cover themselves better with their hands, embarrassed being surround by many males while the girls wear nothing beside towels and/or sheets. But before this can continue for long Twilight hears a familiar voice.

“Out of my way, brick heads!” yells the familiar voice of Alastair.

“It’s Alastair!” Twilight says, starting to panic. They are going to get in so much trouble.

“You mean the one, that shaved us and stuck needles in our… behinds!” Rarity says, angrily, “I got a few things to say with him.”

Those things died when the other Pictish parted and Alastair walks through with his hands in his coat. He looks very pissed. He walks up to the girl and stands in front of them, glaring down at them.

“Twilight, do you know what I am feeling right now?” Alastair says, quietly fuming.

“Anger,” Twilight says, meekly, like a filly being told off by her parents.

“Yes, and do you know why?” Alastair asks, continuing be angry.

“Because we left our rooms…” Twilight answers, hanging her head to hide from Alastair piercing eyes.

“Yes, I am pissed because when I came back to your rooms I found no one there, which cause me to have to search for you!” he yells.

“You never said we couldn’t leave our rooms,” Pinkie says, opening her big mouth again.

“Sorry, I thought you were smart enough to understand the unsaid rule!” Alastair says, shooting Pinkie a sharp glare causing her to close her big mouth.

“Sorry Alastair,” Twilight says, who is soon joined by the rest of girls in chorus of apologies. For some reason it feels like the thing they needed to do.

Alastair sighs, “It’s not really me you should be apologizing to, but to your body that will be hurting today and tomorrow cause of this.” He then shrugs his shoulder, “So I guess you will have punished yourself enough for this…” He looks and notices the large group of pictish standing around. “SCRAM!!” he yells at them.

The pictish glare at him and boo a bit, but they soon start leaving, until only Alastair and Devil are left.

“You too, Devil,” yells Alastair, to Devil who is leaning against the wall with a amused look on her face.

“What no thank you for leading them here?” she says, smirking at Alastair.

Alastair sighs again, “Thank you, Devil… now piss off!”

Devil shrug and walks off, but she does turn and waves at the girls, “See you later.” But soon she walks into another room and they lose sight of her.

“Now everyone is going back to their rooms and there will be no complaining… got it!” he orders.

The girls nod, not wishing to upset the large man.

“Now you three,” he says, pointing to the three once fillies, “Back to your rooms!”

The girls nod and head back to their own rooms, with Applejack giving Applebloom ‘we are going to talk about this later’ look.

Alastair then lead them all back to their own rooms, letting them say a quick goodbye to each other before leaving. Soon only Twilight and Alastair is left.

“I am really sorry about this Alastair,” Twilight apologizes again.

“If you are really sorry than you wouldn’t have done this,” Alastair says, calmly.

Twilight sighs, “Pinkie managed to convince me that we should check on our other friends and I guess I got convinced…”

“Twilight, what you did you was noble and loyal but still very stupid,” notes Alastair.

“I guess so,” Twilight says, letting off a weak laugh.

They soon reach her room.

“Here we are,” Alastair states, “I put a new sheet on your bed.”

“Thank you,” Twilight says, slightly guilty.

“It is no problem,” he says, with a slight smile, “I will see you tomorrow.”

Twilight waves him goodbye before entering the room. She removes the sheet and towel that is wrapped around her and laying her sore body under the covers. She eventually manages to fall asleep.

Chapter 4 - The Reasons Why

Twilight wakes up, and instantly regrets it. Her muscles are killing her, and they feel worse than yesterday.

“I guess this is what happens if you use your muscles before they are ready,” mutters Twilight, groaning.

Twilight continues to lay there for who knows how long, feeling sorry for herself until the door opens and Alastair enters.

“Twilight are you awake?” he asks, approaching the bed and holding something in his hands.

“Yeah, but I wish I wasn’t,” she replies, with a bitter smile on her face.

“The pain should ease after you walk for awhile,” he notes, looking down at Twilight.

“But I don’t want to move,” whimpers Twilight.

“Tough luck, it is your punishment for yesterday,” he smirks, he then places something on the end of the bed, “We managed to dig up some old female Tiskat jumpsuits from storage. They even have adjustable tail holes.”

“Oh, thank you,” she says, looking at the jumpsuit, then as an afterthought, “Tiskat, who are they?”

We can answer that in a minute,” he says, heading for the door, “Now get dressed and meet me outside.” With that he leaves the room, closing the door behind him to give Twilight some privacy.

Twilight climbs out of bed and groans, her legs complaining at the treatment. She picks up the jumpsuit and examines it, it does seem to be battle salvage with mended holes and what looks like badly washed blood stains. She sighs and starts putting it on, I mean it is better than a sheet. It doesn’t come with a bra or underwear, but beggars can’t be choosers and at least it has a tail hole, but sadly no wing holes. After she puts it on she examines herself, it is a bit baggy and rough, but her fur acts as a natural padding, so it is alright. She makes sure to put on her amulet before she leaves the room and meets Alastair outside.

“Thanks for the clothes,” Twilight says, smiling.

“Yeah, sorry about the size but when the Assembly escort picks you up you will probably be able to get some better clothes,” he says, returning the smile.

“The Assembly?” Twilight asks, confused.

“The ruling party of the United Galactic Federation,” he explains, yawning, “They rule this part of the Galaxy.”

“And they are picking us up?” Twilight says, nervously, “Are we in trouble?”

“Nah, you’re an unheard of race and they just want to be in the loop and look important,” he says, smirking.

“So they are friendly?” Twilight asks, hopefully.

“They are harmless and let’s just leave it at that,” he smiles, reaching into his pocket, “Also to make sure I am not throwing you in blind I have something for you.” He pulls out a small tablet and hands it to Twilight.

“What is it?” Twilight says, examining it.

“It is a GIT,” he says, yawning again.

“Excuse me?” Twilight says, wondering if he heard him wrong.

“It is a G.I.T, a Galactic Information Tablet,” he explains, smiling, “You can look up all sort of stuff on it, great for a newcomer like you.”

“Really, thanks!” Twilight says, thankfully, at last she won’t be as lost as she thought she would be.

“Try it out and say Tiskat to it,” he says, pointing at the GIT.

Twilight does and the GIT lights up, within moments words appear on the screen.

Author’s note: You may skip over GIT entries if you want to for they are only favor texts and anything important will be said in the story. Thank you, continue to read.

GIT Entry: Tiskat.
Hailing primarily from the world of Tarkrit, the Tiskat is a race comprised entirely of noble families and aristocrats, with no lower or middle class. While such a system would normally lend itself to bigotry, ineffectual government bodies, nepotism, petty power struggles and glory seeking military, the Tiskat are only marginally guilty of the first.

This state of affairs occurred before the Tiskat had achieved galactic space travel, their homeworld was struck by a planet wide epidemic, and only the nobles and the very rich could afford treatment, resulting in the death of almost all of the planet's middle and bottom population.

While the Tiskat aristocrats had initially celebrated the death of all the rabble, they soon realised that they no longer had anyone to boss around and do all the menial labour.

Faced with the horrible possibility of folding their own underwear, the Tiskat launched into action. The few Tiskat left that could hold a spanner the right way around were quickly snatched up by the various noble houses, and tasked with constructing machines to do the work that they were unwilling to perform, with the promise of becoming nobility themselves. This spawned a conflict of sorts, where skilled individuals, such as engineers, soldiers and doctors were taken in by noble families in order to bolster their power and standing, while the new robotic work force was brought in to handle all unskilled labour.

As skill and intellect became just as valuable as blood and wealth, the Tiskat nobility steadily became a more efficient, and became solely focused on the betterment of their race and collective gene pools. To that end the various noble families banded together to form a collective planet wide government, where a noble family is voted in and their current head or heir becomes the monarch. This was the birth of the modern Tiskat kingdom.

The current ruling family is the House Tacitus.

Reptilian in nature, Tiskats have an average bipedal build, with a partially scaly hide and no extraneous limbs besides a large reptilian tail. their heads are decorated with large manes of spines that protrude from their scalp, they are also feature large reptilian eyes, fanged canines, slits for noses and no ears. Thier races most unusual feature is their ability to shift out of the visible spectrum (i.e become invisible), it is believed this ability is magical in nature, but apart from this, the Tiskat, like most races, have no aptitude for magic. Another unusual part of their culture is that they have largely forsaken natural birth and have taken to growing children within their gene labs, so as to remove any perceived flaws in their genetic makeup as well as strengthening all desirable genes.

As of today the Tiskat one of the founding and leading races of the assembly, and also leading in the areas of espionage, robotics and genetic engineering.
End of entry.

Twilight frowns, “That was interesting but brief… is that really all there is?”

Alastair smiles, “It tells you all you need to know about them. It does have more information on it about subject but you have ask for it, otherwise it will brief.”

“I see,” Twilight sighs, before smiling, “Thank you again Alastair, I imagine this will be very helpful.”

“You’re welcome,” he smiles, before walking off, “Now let’s pick up your friends. I have already dropped off the clothes for them. Afterwards let’s get something for you to eat…. also if you get tired of carrying the GIT, it can hang off your suit.”

“Great, I am really hungry,” Twilight says, happily, catching up with Alastair while attaching the GIT to her suit.

“Yeah, we better put some meat on those bones of yours,” he smirks, giving Twilight a gentle poke in the arm, “After the treatment you have barely any body fat left.”

Twilight rubs her tummy, she is right now the skinniest she could ever be without being dead. “That’s probably a good idea.”

They head off and pick up her friends one after the other, also managing to meet Devil at Rainbow Dash’s room. Where they’re arguing.

“You are a total arsehole!” Rainbow Dash yells, to the smirking Devil.

“You are just upset because I won’t be carrying you today,” Devil smirks, crossing her hands.

“Why would I ever want to be carried by you again!” yells Rainbow Dash, gritting her teeth, “You made me look an idiot in front of my friends!”

“Speaking about making you look an idiot in front of your friends,” Devils says, turning towards the approaching group of ponies and Alastair.

“Sorry to interrupt your lovers quarrel,” Alastair says, managing to keep a straight face, “But we have three more to pick up and I ain’t waiting for you two to finish.”

“We are not having a lover's quarrel!” yells Rainbow Dash, angrily, stomping her hoof.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t want to go out with a weakling like her anyway,” Devil says, looking annoyed at thought of going out with someone weak.

“I’m not a weakling!” yells Rainbow Dash, glaring at her.

“Oh, want to prove it then?” she says, bending over and placing her finger under Rainbow Dash’s chin, “And if you win maybe we can have some fun afterwards?”

Rainbow Dash knocks the hand away and glares daggers at the Pictlander, flushed a little, “Why would I want to do anything with with you? You’re an alien!” With that Rainbow Dash chases after her friends who have already walked off, leaving behind the Pictlander.

Devil smirks, “These aliens sure are fun.” Devil then runs after and catches up with the group.

“I notices that you two are not wearing any face paint today?” notes Rarity, looking at both Alastair and Devil, who faces are clean beside the pointed cross in the middle of Alastair face, which is a tattoo.

“Couldn’t really be bothered, cause I just had a shower before I went to pick you girls up,” he says, scratching his beard, “It takes a bit of time to put on the old face paint.”

“I only sometimes put it on,” Devil smiles, lightly patting the sides of her face, “It is not got for one's skin to always wear it.”

“That too,” notes Alastair, frowning.

“Why does your race wear face paint?” asks Rarity, curious.

Alastair shrugs, “It is just a cultural thing, and I guess we never found any reason to stop.”

“I think we are here,” notes Devil, looking around, “Your stowaways are kept near here.”

“I will go get them,” Alastair says, walking off.

“Good, cause I’m ready to give them a hiding of a lifetime,” Applejack says, frowning, clapping her hands together.

“It is weird to think of them all grown up,” sighs Rarity, shaking her head, “What will our mother say.”

“I guess the stasis pod must have malfunctioned and didn't stop the aging process,” Twilight guessed, who had thought about this.

“How long were we in the pods for, anyway?” asks Rainbow Dash, turning towards Twilight.

“I will have to examine them to find out,” Twilight says, shrugging, “But maybe a few decades.”

“Something like that,” agrees Alastair, coming back with the three once fillies hiding behind him, deciding that Alastair is a lot less scary than their sisters right now.

“Get out here!” yells Applejack, angrily, pointing at the floor in front of her.

“No way,” Applebloom says, sticking her tongue out, “You are just going to yell at us.”

“Darn tootin I am,” Applejack replies, glaring at them.

“Look, I am going to kick all your arses in a minute if you don’t shut up,” Alastair says, glaring at them all, “Let’s just go to the cafeteria and talk this over with something to eat.” He waits for them to agree or nod before turning to Devil, “Which cafeteria you think is safe right now?”

“I think cafeteria 2 is pretty empty right now I think,” shrugs Devil.

“Let’s head there then,” Alastair says, walking off.

The walk is pretty quiet with the Cutiemark Crusaders avoiding the glares of their sisters, until they finally reach a cafeteria. As they enter the cafeteria they notice that it is pretty empty, especially compared to the one yesterday. The only other Pictish here are a group of them watching two arm wrestle each other.

“This will do,” Alastair says, patting a table that is pretty far from the other Pictlanders, “Sit yourselves down and I will get something to eat… herbivores right?”

“Yes, that is right,” Twilight says, surprised that Alastair knew.

“Thought so, sit yourselves down,” Alastair says, walking towards the counter.

The girls have a bit of trouble getting on the chairs, considering they are twice as tall as they are used to. They will have to sit on their knees, cause the table is twice as high as well.

Alastair comes back carrying back a large tray with various items on it. “Here we go,” he says, placing the tray in the middle of the table, “I picked various fruits and vegetables that will not kill you.”

“Kill us?!” Twilight says, looking at the produce horrified.

“They come from Pictland and a lot of things there are poisonous to other races, but these ones are safe,” Alastair explains, smiling and sitting down next the seated Devil.

“If you are lucky,” smirks Devil, resting her head in her hands.

The girls stare at the fruit, like bomb waiting to go off. Until brave Pinkie reaches forward and grabs one, placing it in her mouth and taking a small bite. She chews slowly.

“Well, is it alright?” Applejack asks, nervously.

Pinkie stays quiet for awhile for before nodding and saying, “Tastes weird, but it is alright.”

The girls sigh in relief and all grab some fruits. Alastair satisfied, pulls out a bottle from his coat and takes a swig from it.

“Is that alcohol?” Sweetie Belle asks, with child like curiousity.

“Is it? I noticed you drink before,” Twilight asks, will feasting on a large fruit.

“I did say we Pictish like to drink before,” Alastair says, putting the bottle away, “It helps Pictish concentrate and calms down.”

“But only if they don’t drink too much,” add Devil, smiling, “Otherwise they go crazy.”

“That sounds weird,” Rainbow Dash says, frowning, “So small amounts of alcohol is good for a Pictlander?”

“Yeah, especially if you are doing something that requires a steady hand,” explains Alastair, smiling, “Engineers and Doctors Pictlanders always have some on hand.”

There is a silent after this since no pony has anything to say after this, but it is quickly filled by another question.

“Where did you get the tattoo, mr Alastair?” asks Scootaloo.

Alastair rubs the bridge of his nose where the tattoo is with a pondering look on his face, “I’m not quite sure, I have got a lot of tattoos in my life, but I believe I got this one after I finished medical school.”

“You should see some of the tattoos I got,” smirks Devil, nugging the pony beside her, which turned out to be a unimpressed Rainbow Dash.

“Girls are you not asking these questions to avoid having us talk to you, would you?” Rarity asks, frowning at the once fillies.

“Maybe…” Sweetie Belle says, avoiding her sister’s eyes.

“What are we going to do with them, Twilight?” asks Rainbow Dash, looking at Twilight.

“I guess we will have to take them with us,” Twilight sighs, shaking her head.

“What! We can’t, it might be dangerous,” Applejack yells, horrified at the thought of her sister getting hurt.

“Well, what do you supposed we do then?” Twilight yells back, “We can’t send them home remember, and we can’t leave them with Alastair.”

“That we can agree on,” Alastair says, nodding his head.

Applejack throws a quick glare at Twilight and then at the Cutiemark Crusaders, but doesn’t say anything.

“But what can they do, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash yells, leaning forward, “We all trained for this, they didn’t.”

“I don’t know!” Twilight yells, slamming her fists on the table “I never planned for any of this!”

“Calm down the lot of you!” yells Alastair, also slamming his fist on table, shutting everyone up. “I would like to know why you girls were in space in the first place, since I get the feeling you are new to space travel?”

They all look at Twilight, waiting to see what she will do. Twilight sighs, I guess they owe it to Alastair to explain some of it.

“We are on a journey to save our homeworld,” Twilight starts to explain.

“Should I leave?” Devil asks, surprising Twilight, she forgot she is here.

“No, let Devil stay,” suggests Alastair, shaking his head, “She is a bit of dimwit but trustworthy enough to keep a secret.”

Twilight nods, “If you say so. Our homeworld was attacked by unknown alien race,” Twilight says, her face saddening, “At first we tried to defend ourselves, but they could also use magic and managed to block a lot of our attacks.”

“So you can use magic?” Devil says, looking surprised before then smiling, “Can you get any more interesting.”

“Quiet Devil!” warns Alastair, slapping Devil on the back of her head, before gesturing Twilight to continue.

“We soon realized we were fighting a losing battle and that they didn’t plan to invade us, but destroy us!” Twilight says, shivering a bit at the memories.

“Sounds like the Magi,” Alastair sighs, shaking his head.

“That is what I thought,” Devil says, glaring at Alastair and rubbing the back of her head.

“Who are the Magi?” Twilight says, confused.

“Most likely the race that attacked you,” Alastair explains, “They are known to hunt down magic using races and annihilate them. They have already destroyed the Angels and have tried to attack the Rooyins many times before.”

“Angels and Rooyins?” Twilight says, confused.

“They were magical users,” Alastair sighs, crossing his arms, “The Angels were wiped out thousands of years ago, back in the early days of the federation, and the Rooyins while able to use magic sadly have forgotten, cause of hundreds of years of enslavement to Bardics.”

“That’s sad,” Twilight says, shocked by all this.

“And they might have wiped out who knows how many other magical races as well,” add Devils, for once serious.

“What is this federation doing about this?” asks Applejack, frowning.

“Actually the federation was formed to fight the Magi threat,” Alastair explains, “The Magi are too strong to fight by oneself.”

“That is what we are doing out in the middle of nowhere,” adds Devil, sighing, “Patrolling for them.”

“But we have gotten off track,” Alastair says, turning back to Twilight, “So what did you do after you found out that you were losing.”

“Our most powerful unicorns and alicorns erected a powerful shield that forced them out of our planet and protected us,” Twilight says, her eyes sparkling when she remembers the massive shield being summoned, “But it would not last forever and they still attacked us. So we planned to escape. I was tasked to build the first Equestrian ship that would carry a small crew of ponies on a mission to move the entire planet of Equis somewhere else, where we could have time to prepare.”

“God damn, how do you plan to move entire planet?” Alastair says, frowning at Twilight.

“We worked something out…” Twilight says, avoiding Alastair gaze.

Alastair sighs, seeing that Twilight won’t tell him, “So what happened next?”

“I built the ship,” Twilight says, smiling, “I was quite proud of it.”

“You were proud of that lump of junk?” Devil says, raising her eyebrow.

“What do you mean lump of junk?!” Twilight says, angrily.

“Afterwards I think I will take you to see your ship,” Alastair says, sighing again.

Twilight doesn’t like the sound of this.

“So what happened afterwards,” Devil asks.

“Once it was done we left, with three unwanted crew members,” Twilight says, looking the Cutiemark Crusaders, who are looked sheepish, “We went to sleep and Equis was... put somewhere safe.”

“Somewhere safe, eh?” Alastair says, giving Twilight serious look.

“Somewhere safe,” Twilight repeats, continuing to avoid his gaze.

There is a long silent before somepony spoke up.

“I got a question, Alastair,” Sweetie Belle says, breaking the silence.

“Hmm?” Alastair replies, turning toward her.

“What happened to our hair?” Sweetie Belle asks, pointing at her short hair.

With that an outroar is created.

“Yes, why is my hair like this!” asks Rarity, angrily.

“Yeah, who gave me this buzz cut!” adds Rainbow Dash, also angry.

“Argh, I knew this would come up sooner or later,” grumbles Alastair, rubbing his head, “Look I actually I shaved you bold, it was only because I had Regrowth that you have as much hair as you do.”

Rarity looks wozy at the thought.

“But why shave us at all?” Twilight says, confused.

“I can’t perform carnal surgery on a head full head of hair,” Alastair explains, instantly regretting it.

“YOU DID SURGERY ON US!!” they all yell, causing Alastair and Devil to block both their ears.

“Don’t you find it strange that you can understand Devil and me?” Alastair says, unblocking his ears.

The girls pause at this. He is right, it is kind of weird to think that they would be speaking Equestrian.

“All members of the federation at birth are implanted with a chip that lets them understanding other races as if they were speaking their native tongue,” explains Alastair, pointing at his head, “But this chip needs to be implanted in their brain, so I did a bit carnal surgery.”

“But what if you did something wrong?” Twilight says, scared that something might have, “You might have really mucked us up!”

“Twilight, I am a professional,” Alastair says, smiling, “I made sure of everything before I started opening up your head… also I had a machine do the work.” He holds up his large hands, “These are bit too big to be doing brain surgery on such tiny heads.”

There is akward silence after this, until Alastair sighs and gets up.

“Look I check afterwards there is nothing wrong with your brain,” he says, shaking his head, “But now, since you seem to have finished eating let’s go check your ship, it is in the hanger.”

“That sounds like a great idea,” Twilight says, trying to get rid of the imagine of Alastair poking around her brain as she climbs off the bench, nearly falling over since her legs are numb because she was kneeling on it.

“Just let me finish this,” Pinkie says, shoving the last of the fruit in her mouth and munching it down, before jumping off the bench and doing a little cartwheel.

“They weren’t bad were they?” comments Fluttershy, getting off the bench.

“They were ok, I guess,” Rainbow Dash says, flying off.

Soon everypony is off the bench and heading out of the cafeteria. Just in time too, the arm wrestling has got intense... and by intense I mean they were punching each other in face by now.

Twilight just stares, frozen, her mouth hanging open at what lay in the hanger.

“It used to look cooler,” notes Scootaloo, staring at the wreck.

“It is not so easy on the eyes now, is it?” Rarity says, staring at the ship.

“WHAT HAPPENED TO MY SHIP!?!” yells Twilight, unfreezing, “It was not like this before!” She says this while looking at Alastair as if to defend herself.

“Hate to say it Twilight, but Devil was right, it is pretty much a hunk of junk,” Rainbow Dash says, staring at wreck.

To describe what the state of ship is in, imagine this. Imagine a spaceship, now imagine a large chunk of it is missing, now imagine some smaller chunks are missing, now imagine some small holes here and there, now imagine that the thrusters and cockpit are destroyed, finally imagine bits of metal sticking out of it. There you now have a basic idea what it looks like.

Now imagine it worse.

“What could have done this?!” Twilight asks the world in general.

“I have a an idea about that,” comes a voice from below them.

They look down from the platform they are standing on down on to the hangar floor, where they see a Pictish look up at them.

“What’s up, Burner?” Alastair greets the Pictish known as Burner.

“Nothing much, Blazing Angel,” he greets back.

“Blazing Angel?” Rainbow Dash says, confused.

“Another time, Rainbow Dash,” Alastair says, waving her off, “So what’s your idea, Burner?”

“It depends on whether or not you had an automatic maintenance system on board?” Burner asks, rubbing his oily hands on his armour.

“Yes, we did,” Twilight answers, of course they would have to have one, they were asleep for the entire journey.

“Then it is most likely that it run out of parts, and started stripping parts of the ship that was not a high priority to maintain,” he says, now rubbing his less greasy hands together, “It sometimes happens.”

“But I packed a lot of spare material so this wouldn’t happen,” Twilight says, confused.

“Hey, don’t tell me, I just told you want I think happened,” Burner says, shrugging, “I could be wrong.”

“Thanks for your time, Burner,” Alastair says, smiling.

“Yes, thanks for the theory,” Twilight says.

“No problem,” Burner says, walking to the other end of the hanger, “If you need any help with the ship me and Blunt Force are going to be around here for a while.”

“What kind of title is Burner and Blunt Force?” Rainbow Dash asks, as they climb down, off the platform and onto the hanger floor.

“The kind you get when you use a starfighters thrusters as an improvised weapon, or when you use the bluntest weapon you can get your hands on to fight with, in this case it was another enemy,” Devil explains, smiling.

“Pictish titles are weird,” Pinkie says, giggling.

They continue to walk towards the ruined ship, until they reaches its side.

“How do we get on board?” Twilight says, looking for a ramp or something.

“This way,” Alastair says, reaching down and picking up Twilight, temporarily surprising her.

“Thanks Alastair,” Twilight says, as she is placed down on the ship, “I can’t really use my wings.”

“You could of always made holes in it like your colourful friend did,” Alastair says, watching Rainbow Dash fly onto the ship, “It wouldn’t of bothered me.”

“Maybe I should have,” Twilight laughs, rubbing back of her neck. It makes sense to think that Rainbow Dash would have made sure it had wing holes.

Alastair and Devil help the rest of the ponies on broad of the ship, before pulling themselves up and onto the ship, where they sit on the edge.

“You girls can check things out and we will stay here,” Alastair says, pulling out his bottle, “I don’t really like walking around small corridors unless I have too.” Devil nods her head in agreement.

“Is it safe to go in?” asks Fluttershy, looking inside the ruined interior of the ship.

“I don’t know,” answers Alastair, he then turns towards the distant Burner, who is working on something, and yells, “Oi Burner, is it safe inside the ship?!”

“Probably!” Burner yells back.

“Probably,” Alastair repeats, taking a swig from his bottle, before offering it to Devil, who takes it and also takes a swig before handing it back.

“That sounds reassuring,” sighs Rainbow Dash.

“Let’s just go,” says Twilight, walking inside the ship. The ponies follow her.

The inside of the ship is a mess with bits of metal and wires everywhere. All the ship’s lights seem to have blown out, luckily the Pictish seem to have set up lights all over the ship.

“It used to be a lot neater in here,” notes Rarity, stepping over some scrap metal.

“What ever happened to all the robots you made, Twilight?” asks Applebloom, looking around.

“I don’t know,” Twilight says, confused, “But they should be here?”

“I think the Pictish entered through there,” Applejack says, pointing to door that was forced open.

“Why didn’t they just enter through the way we came through?” Scootaloo says, confused.

Twilight shrugs, “Don’t know, the Pictish are a strange people.”

“I think I found one of the robots!” declares Pinkie, who standing by the door and pointing at something on the ground.

The girls approaches Pinkie and their eyes widen.

“This doesn’t look like any robot I made,” Twilight says, looking down at the disabled robot.

“Actually Twilight, it looks like a lot of robot you made. Just mushed together,” Pinkie says, just staring at the robot.

“Maybe they tore each other for parts until there was only one left?” suggests Rainbow Dash.

“But I left them lots of parts to maintain themselves,” Twilight says, getting more confused.

“So what happened then?” asks Applejack, tapping her hoof, annoyed, “Since you keep shooting down everyponies elses ideas.”

“I am not shooting down everyponies ideas!” Twilight snaps back, “I am just having trouble believing this.”

“Ok, let’s us just calm down,” Rarity says, stepping between Applejack and Twilight, “Twilight is there anyway you can find out how long we were asleep for?”

“I guess we could check out the stasis pods, but I heard that the interface is broken or something,” sighs Twilight, “But maybe we should check anyway. I remember that the stasis room is near here.”

“It is over here, Twilight,” calls Pinkie, standing by another forced open door.

The girls walk through it and see that this room is most likely the most intact in the ship. It still looked like it was airtight, but the stasis pods are a mess, with bits of wires and most of its parts sticking out, also the glass cases are broken most likely from when the Pictish got them out. The spare stasis pods are all gone except the three that once held the fillies, although they look even worst than the original ones, with huge amounts of the components pulled out in what looks a like a hasty repair job.

“The pods are a mess,” notes Rainbow Dash, looking around the room.

“Are these the ones that held Applebloom and her friends?” Applejack says, walking over to the last of the spare pods.

“They have to be, all the others are gone,” notes Twilight, walking up to Applejack.

“Anyway to tell why they are now full grown mares now?” Applejack asks, crossing her arms.

“Let’s see what I can find,” Twilight says, looking at one of the control panels, but it doesn’t work, “No all the control panels are burned out.”

“Anyway to fix it?” asks Applejack.

“Maybe, if I had the right tools and materials, but it would take time and there is no guarantee that the data will be uncorrupted,” Twilight sighs, shaking her head.

“What do you mean by corrupted?” Applejack says, confused.

“I mean that considering the state of the pods I am not sure if they were still recording data or just running on automatic,” Twilight explains, “And if was running on automatic then it would stop recording and just focus on maintaining the pods.”

“So there is no way to tell how long we were in the pods for?” asks Rarity, frowning.

“I didn’t say that,” answers Twilight, shaking her head, “We just can’t from here.”

“Maybe we should check on the storage room?” Rainbow Dash suggests, “To check if anything is left.”

“Good idea,” agrees Twilight.

“Actually I remember that I made some clothes for our journey, so we will be able to hopefully get some better to wear,” Rarity says, smiling at the thought.

“Let’s get going,” Twilight says, heading out of the room.

The girls found it tricky to find the storage room, since there is barely any lights and the ship is in shambles, but by following their memories they eventually find the door to the storage room. But now they find themselves with a new problem.

“The door is sealed shut,” notes Applejack, checking the door.

“But our stuff is on the other side,” whines Rainbow Dash, “Like our weapons and armour.”

“And our clothes,” add Rarity, also looking displeased.

“Instead of whining why don’t you help me open it,” Applejack says, trying to force it open. The girls all try to open the door together, but it won’t budge.

“I think it is welded shut,” pants Twilight, giving up opening the door.

“Are you girls alright in there?” yells the voice of Alastair, “It sounds like you are struggling with something?”

“Yeah, we are fine,” Twilight yells back, “We just can’t open the door to the storage.”

“Ok, I will get one of the boys to help,” Alastair yells back, “They are great at forcing open stuff.” They then hear Alastair shout, “Can one you two help the aliens open a door?”

“Depends where the door is?” Burner yells back.

“We are here!” Twilight yells, trying to catch his attention.

“I will get it,” comes a new voice that must be Blunt Force, he sounds nearby, “I think I am on your side of the ship. Let me just go through this door.”

Twilight waits patiently and then she realizes something, “Wait, there is no doors on this side of the ship.”

Suddenly the door in front of them is torn open, and Blunt Force looks in on them, “Ok, where’s the door?”

“That was it…” Twilight says, shocked.

“Oh, that was easy then,” he says, smiling.

“Wait, what happened to the storage room?” Twilight says, trying to look past him.

“There is no room there,” he says, moving out of the way, “It just leads outside.”

The girls are once again shocked, for the storage room is gone. It is like it was removed, for they can still see signs of it once being there, it is like it was taken apart.

“What happened?!” Twilight yells, once again confused.

“Well following on what Burner said, when your automatic maintenance ran out of parts and things to take apart for parts, it started taken apart the ship itself. Guess which room it would take apart first?” Blunt Force says, looking Twilight.

“The room that no longer has any use,” Twilight answers, shaking her head.

“But what happened to the clothes?” Rarity asks, horror appearing on her face.

“And our weapons?” Rainbow Dash adds.

“I guess they used the weapons for parts and dumped the clothes so they can use whatever was holding them for scrap,” guesses Blunt Force, placing his hands behind his head.

“No, I really liked the weapons,” Rainbow Dash moans.

“Who cares about the weapons, all my clothes I worked on, ruined!” whines Rarity, placing a hand dramatically on her head.

“Well excuse me, Rarity,” Rainbow Dash says, sarcastically, “When the Magi attack and when we have no means of defending ourselves, I am sure the loss of the clothes will be noticed!”

“No need to act like that, Rainbow Dash,” huffs Rarity.

“Let’s not fight guys,” Applejack interjects, “Right now, the Magi and clothes are the least of our worries. Twilight you got any other idea now of how long we were in space for?”

“It must have been for a long time,” sighs Twilight, her head shagging, “For things to turn out like this…” Suddenly Twilight eyes shoots open in realization, “Wait the power room, it’s where the mainframe is located!”

“So?” Applejack says, confused.

“The power room is the most sturdiest part of the ship, so it might still be in alright condition,” Twilight starts to explain, “Also the mainframe and powercore was built to last, and the mainframe is connected to the long range magical scanner, so it would have been taking reports from it, and those reports will be dated!”

“So as long as the mainframe still work we can find out how long we been asleep for, right?” Applejack says, trying to understand.

“It may give us a rough idea,” Twilight says, smiling.

“Let’s go then,” Pinkie says, happily.

The girls rush to the power room, leaving the bemused Blunt Force behind. Of course they face the same problem, another door, but this one is huge.

“This one is also sealed shut,” sighs Applejack, laying her hand on the door.

“Hey, Blunt Force are you still there!” Pinkie yells, back down the way they came.

“Yeah, need another door open?” he yells back.

“Yes please,” Pinkie answers, happily.

“Give a second, if it is the power room I will need help,” he says, sounding like he walking off, “It has major blast doors.”

“Pictish are so helpful,” Pinkie smiles, turning back to her friends.

“Yes they are,” agrees Fluttershy, smiling.

“Nice too,” Sweetie Belle adds.

“So what with the large doors, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asks, leaning against them.

“Beside the stasis room this room is the most important,” Twilight says, placing her hand on the door, “Actually it may be more important since without it nothing will work! The Dynamo Core keeps everything working, from our stasis pods to the thrusters.”

“I think I remember you saying it was a nightmare to build,” comments Applejack, chuckling.

“Well a magically driven perpetual motion generator is no easy fast. I was quite happy about it, unlimited energy and it doesn’t wear down so it could technically last forever,” Twilight says, proudly.

“So it would of been easy to maintain, right?” Applejack ask.

“You would basically have to change the wiring, and that does need to happen often,” Twilight says, smiling.

“I am back,” says a voice behind them, which turns out to be Blunt Force. He has to crouch to get through the hallway, “Damn this, I hate hallways like this.”

“So what did you get to help?” asks Twilight, as they get out of the way of the large man.

“Another Pictish,” says the voice of Burner, behind Blunt Force.

“What, no tools, just another Pictlander?” Rainbow Dash says, surprised.

“The only tools we need are these ones right here,” Blunt Force smirks, flexing his muscles.

“Out of the way ladies, this may get messy,” Burner says, smirking.

The two Pictish grab both grab the bottom of door and start grunting and pulling. At first nothing happens, and the girls wonders if they were just wasting their time, until they hear the sound of metal complaining. A gap appears at the bottom of the door, that is slowly getting bigger, but something soon gives way, it is door. The door shoots up, the mechanism holding it has broken.

“Ok, let us just weld this so it stays open,” Burner says, pulling something from his belt, and after a few minutes the door has been welded into place.

“Job well done,” Blunt Force says, nodding his head, he then looks inside the room and his eyes widen, “Hey, is the a Hyper Motion Generator?”

Everypony looks at the main feature of room, a large glass cylinder that extends to the floor to the roof, a pulsing ball floats in the middle of it, around it five rings of metal float around the ball, spinning around it at extreme speeds and in different directions, energy arcs off the ball and rings onto two small rods that are placed on the roof and floor of the cylinder. This is the Dynamo Core.

“No they look different, but it is definitely seems to be a perpetual motion generator,” Burner says, having trouble wiping the surprise off his face, “But I have never seen one this small before… who knew that this hunk of junk had something so powerful.”

Twilight feels a small amount of pride at what they are saying, that even to this alien her power core is impressive. “It is pretty good isn’t it? I am quite proud I made it,” Twilight says, smiling. Her smile fades when she sees the serious looks on the Pictlanders face.

“It would be probably better if you don’t mention what you said to anyone else,” warns Burner, shaking his head.

“What, why?” Twilight says, confused.

“If some people knew you could make something like this,” Blunt Force says, pointing to the core, “Then they would stop at nothing to get there hands on you, cause it would tell them that you are magical and powerful enough to make something this powerful by yourself, it will also make it easier for those that hunt magical races.”

Twilight just nods and hangs her head, she remembers what Alastair said, keep the fact that you can use magic to yourself. I guess saying you made something like this is a dead give away.

“Don’t worry, we won’t tell anyone, just be careful,” Blunt Force says, giving Twilight a very light pat on the back.

“Yeah, if anyone asks about it say you got it from an Ancient’s ship,” suggests Burner, smiling.

“Who are the Ancient and why are they aloud to make things like this and not get in trouble?” asks Pinkie, pouting and crossing her hands.

“Because they are not around anymore,” Burner answers.

“Huh?” Pinkie says, confused.

“She has a GIT right,” Burner says, pointing at Twilight, “Look it up yourself, it will probably tell you better than we can.”

“Huh, Twilight has a git?” Pinkie says, still confused.

“Later Pinkie,” Twilight says, waving Pinkie off, “Thanks for advice.”

“You’re welcome,” Burner says, smiling,

“But didn’t you say you have something similar?” Rarity asks, curious, “A Hyper… something?”

“A Hyper Motion Generator, yes it is also perpetual motion generator and to answer your next question, yes it is magical,” Blunt Force says, sighing.

“But where do they come from?” Rarity asks.

“They are made by certain manufacturers and are very expensive,” Burner explains, “I mean the place you would find one in the Pictish fleet is on a Halbert capital class ship, and only on special ones, and definitely not a Tomahawk class ship like this one.”

“But why don’t they get in trouble?” asks Pinkie, curious.

“Because it is Magitech, it is made by using machines that harness magic rather than a person, so it not that special, just very expensive,” explains Burner, “Get it?”

The girls don’t get it, but Twilight notes to look up Magitech later.

“Since that is all, we will leave you girls to do whatever you were doing and we will take a break,” Burner says, smirking.

The girls watch the two Pictish leave and crawl their way out, and leaving them alone again. But before they can start anything, one of the Pictish yell something back at them.

“Also if it is possible when you finish could you disable the ship’s power or something?” Blunt Force yells, “For safety, you know. There is a lot of exposed wires on this ship and we got to move it to the Assembly’s ship when it arrives.”

“Ok, I will try,” Twilight yells back.

“Thanks,” he yells, before he disappears.

“So where is the mainframe?” asks Applejack, walking into the room.

“It is here by the wall,” Twilight says, leading them to a screen by the wall, “I hope it still works.” Twilight flicks a switch, and nothing happens... until a low humming sound is heard. Suddenly the screen flickers to life and awaits input…

“Thanks Celestia it works,” Applejack says, wiping her brow, “For a second there...”

“Told you it was made to last,” Twilight says, happily.

“So what can you get from it?” asks Rainbow Dash, hurrying Twilight up.

“A lot, but we don’t have time to look through it,” sighs Twilight, moving her hands to the keyboard, “So we are just trying to find dates and the scanner will hopefully have it.”

Twilight inputs ‘SCANNER_LOGS’ into the mainframe, it makes some worrisome noises before the screen changes and shows a long list of logs with dates, the first one being the day after they launched. Twilight starts moving down towards the more recent ones.

“How far do you think these go for?” Rainbow Dash asks, looking at the long list.

“The scanner is supposed to scan monthly for any signs of high concentration of magics and homes the ship onto them,” Twilight explains, continuing to scroll through the list, “So the list could go on for awhile.”

Suddenly the screen flickers and the words new entry appear on it, before forcing Twilight to the top of the list again.

“What just happened?” Fluttershy asks, concerned.

“Don’t worry, the scanner must of just activated and recorded a new log,” Twilight explains, happily, “Which is good so then we will know exactly how long we were in space for… but sadly it means I will have to start scrolling through the list again.”

“Just hurry up, egghead,” Rainbow Dash groans, faceplaming.

Twilight starts scrolling through the list again. The years start adding up, 1 year, 2 years, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, 50 years, 100 years…

“Those are a lot of years,” Applejack says, her eyes widening.

“Twilight, how close are we to the bottom?” Rainbow Dash asks, concerned.

“I have no idea,” Twilight says, worried about the high numbers appearing on the screen, “We just have to get to the bottom.”

100 years, 150 years, 200 years, 300 years, 500 years! They have been in space for exactly 500 years!

“Five hundred years… we have been asleep for five hundred years…” Applejack says, too shocked for words.

“Well no wonder the ship is so messed up,” Rainbow Dash says, shaking her head in disbelief.

“It is no wonder our clothes were destroyed,” Rarity says, kind of horrified to think that she is now over 500 years old.

“Does that mean we can drink now?” Applebloom asks, before she is whacked on the side of her head by Applejack.

“Twilight, are you ok?” Fluttershy asks, patting the shocked Twilight on the shoulder.

“I just… I just can’t believe it…” Twilight finally says, turning off the mainframe and slumping down, “We been in space for five hundred… and we found nothing…”

“Calm down, Twilight,” Applejack says, trying to pick up the fallen alicorn, “It will be fine, we are alright and we can still look, right?”

“But I didn’t know what to do, we have be asleep for so long! I didn’t plan for it!” Twilight cries, burying her head in her hands.

“We will just have to wing it, right, like usual,” Rainbow Dash says, smiling and patting Twilight on the back.

“Together,” Fluttershy says, hugging Twilight.

“Yeah… you’re right, we will just have to wing it together,” Twilight says, calming down, “Sorry about that.”

“It’s cool, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash says, smiling, “I mean we are all pretty shocked about.”

“I just never expected to be up here for five hundred years,” Twilight says, shaking her head, “It is no wonder that everything fell apart, we never had enough supplies to last that long.”

“Thank Celestia for the Pictish finding us otherwise we may have be toast,” comments Pinkie, not a care in the world.

“So nothing else, Twilight,” Applejack asks, looking at the now turned off maneframe.

“No, we found out what we wanted to know,” Twilight says, she then looks at the Cutiemark Crusaders, “Well nearly everything, and I think we left Alastair and Devil waiting long enough. Let me just turn off the ship’s power.”

Twilight walks over to the Dynamo Core, she pulls a lever on the side of the cylinder, which causes the metal rods on the top and bottom to retract. Soon any remaining lights in the room turn off, showing that the power is now off.

“Ok, let’s go,” Twilight says, leaving.

The girls leave the room and head back to where they left Alastair and Devil.

“Finished then,” asks Alastair, has they approach him.

“About damn time,” Devil says, yawning.

“Yeah, we found out how long we were asleep for,” Twilight explains.

“Really, how long?” asks Alastair, curious.

“Five hundred years,” Twilight says, shaking her head.

Alastair eyes widen, “Five hundred? Forgot what I said before, you were in fucking great condition for being five hundred years old.”

Twilight awkwardly laughs and rubs the back of her head, “I still don’t know what happened to the stasis pods to end up like we did…”

“Well, I suppose it will have to be a mystery that you will have to solve later,” Alastair says, getting off the ship, “Since now you have to see the Captain!”

Chapter 5 - They've Found Us!

The girls walk through the ship, following Alastair’s lead.

“I understand why you guys need to see the captain, but why did you force me to come?” Devil whines, following from behind.

“Two reasons, one, if I have to suffer I want someone else to suffer with me,” Alastair says, smirking, “Two, I need to talk with you about something afterwards.”

“The first reason sucks, but fine,” groans Devil, rolling her eyes.

“Is this captain something scary?” Twilight asks, nervous.

“Nah, no more scary than any other Pictish, he can just be really boring,” Alastair says, scanning doors.

“Huh?” Twilight says, confused.

“You will find out in a second,” Alastair says, opening a random door, only to reveal an elevator, “Get in, this goes to the bridge.”

The ponies and the Pictish crowd in, luckily since it is a Pictish elevator it isn’t cramped. Alastair swipes his PTSD against a glowing part near the door, causing the door to close and the elevator to raise.

“So how is he boring?” Twilight asks, as the elevator suddenly goes sideways, before going up again.

“It is kind of hard to explain,” Alastair says, rubbing the back of his head, “Actually most other races find him overwhelming.”

“Huh?” Twilight says, even more confused.

“Just wait, we are nearly there,” Alastair says, checking his PTSD.

Just as Alastair finishes talking, the elevator stops, and its door opens.

“Welcome to the bridge!” Alastair says, walking out of the elevator.

“Cool!” Rainbow Dash says, looking around.

The sight before them is impressive, not the bridge itself which is just a bunch of Pictish working behind control panels and talking to each other… also some them are drinking, but the impressive part is the large window that nearly stretched across the entire bridge, showing one of the most beautiful starlit sky they have ever seen. The ponies can’t help but rush to the window and look outside. Endless stars stretch out before them, no planets, suns or moons in sight, just endless stars.

“It’s amazing,” Twilight whispers, mezmerised.

“It’s kind of haunting,” adds Applejack, wide eyed.

“So many stars…” Sweetie Belle says, also mezmerised.

“It is beautiful!” Rarity says, looking like she is about to cry.

“It is just stars,” Devils interrupts, rolling her eyes, “Did you live underground or something?”

“Oh, sorry,” Twilight says, realizing that they got distracted.

“No, don’t worry, we have plenty of time,” says unknown voice beside them.

The ponies look beside them and see a Pictish sitting cross legged, looking back at them. He has long hair and well trimmed bearded like Alastair but his hair isn’t held in a ponytail and is hanging loose.

“Ah, Captain Hammer, should've known you would be here,” Alastair says, smiling slightly.

“Not much else to do on the bridge,” Hammer smirks, standing up, revealing that he is a bit taller than Alastair.

“Yes, I imagine that being a Captain without a battle is kind of boring,” Devil says, glad that she is not a captain.

Hammer turns to the ponies, “Do you want to continue looking at the stars for a while longer or do you want to get down to business?”

“Just hurry up,” Devil says, getting irritated.

“Maybe it is better if we just talk now,” suggests Twilight, tearing herself away from the window.

“Fine by me,” Hammer says, striding to the middle of the ship, where he sits down on a large chair that seems to be able to rotate.

The ponies follow him to the middle of the room where they stand in front of the chair, even when sitting down he is bigger than them.

“Now I’m required to ask you some question by Federation laws, and you have to answer them to the best of your abilities, understood?” Hammer quickly explains, crossing his hands.

“I guess…” Twilight tries to say.

“Good,” Hammer starts, leaning back and closing his eyes, “Now, where did you come from, what is the level of your technology, where is your homeworld, do you know of the Magi, what do you know of magic, who is your leader, what were you doing in space…?” He continues to ask question without giving Twilight anytime to answer them. The questions continue to mount up without any sign of stopping and soon even Twilight loses track of them. “And finally,” he says, slowing down, “Are you friend... or foe?” he asks, opening his eyes.

“What?” Twilight says, finally catching up. “We are completely harmless and friendly!” she quickly answers, worried.

“I can see that,” Hammer says, smiling, “I will make sure to add it to my report.”

“Wait? What about the other questions?” Rainbow Dash asks, confused.

“What about them?” Hammer smirks, “I asked them and you couldn’t answer them. Let’s just leave it at that, alright?”

The ponies just look confused, but before they can continue the conversation, another Pictish walks up and starts talking with Hammer, blocking any chance at a continued conversation. Twilight turns to Alastair in hope of him understanding what is going on, only to find him leaning against the walls, like he is about to fall asleep, Devil is a similar situation.

“Alastair, are you alright?” Twilight asks, confused by the sleepy Pictish.

“What, is he done yet?” Alastair says, straightening himself up, “God, does he like to talk too much!”

“And it is so boring…” adds Devil, straightening herself up as well.

“It was boring?” Twilight asks, confused, who thought it was more overwhelming than boring.

“For us at least,” Devil says, stretching, “Listen to someone talk to someone else for about ten minutes is boring as hell for a Pictish, especially when it him talking non-stop.”

“He was talking for ten minutes?” Rarity says, shocked, “It didn’t feel like it was that long.”

“Something usually don’t,” Alastair yawns, holding a hand to his mouth, “This is one of them.”

“But why does he talk like that anyway?” Twilight asks, the question bothering her.

“Easy, because he is a captain and he has too,” Devil states, “He is required to by law.”

“But that clever ass of a Pictlander thought of a way to avoid it,” explains Alastair, shaking his head, “You see he just has to ask the questions, he doesn’t always need answers.”

“So is that why he talks like that?” Rainbow Dash asks.

“Sort of, it is kind of his thing,” Devil explains, putting her hands behind her head, “His title is Hammer, he got for being able to overwhelm some people and to bore the shit out of the others with just words, a rare skill for a Pictish.”

“I sort of get the hammer part with the overwhelm people thing, but bore?” Applejack asks, confused.

“You forget that hammer is also a potent sleeping drug,” Alastair says, smiling.

“Oh yeah, I forgot,” Applejack says, rubbing her forehead at the memory.

“If you guys are done talking about my title,” interrupts Hammer, who seems to have stopped talking to the other Pictlander, “But I was told that the Federation will be picking you up sooner than I expected.”

“So they found someone nearby, did they?” Alastair says, seeming to be completely waken up now.

“Yes, they did,” Hammer sighs, displeasure clear in his voice, “Duke Drakken Tacitus, Brother of the King of the Tiskat.”

“They are sending royalty, ey?” Alastair says, raising an eyebrow.

“Why the bloody hell did it have to the Tiskat?” Hammer says, frowning.

“I read about the Tiskat before right?” interrupts Twilight, remembering the GIT entry, “They are a race made entirely of nobles, right.”

“What really?” Applejack says in surprise, “How do they get anything done?”

“Yes, that is correct Twilight,” Alastair answers, smiling, “And to answer you question Applejack, quite well, they wouldn’t be leading member of Federation otherwise.”

“But what about servants and stuff like that?” asks Rainbow Dash, also surprised.

“They are also quite good with robotics,” adds Devil, yawning, “They do all their dirty work.”

“And the king’s brother is picking you girls up,” grumbles Hammer, “Aren’t we lucky.”

“Do you not like the Tiskat?” asks Pinkie, confused.

“We have never like them since the day we met them,” explains Hammer, frowning, “We have never had a nobility, and we don’t like the idea of it either, people gaining power because of birth is against what we believe in. We Pictish believe that you have to earn respect.”

‘I see, I guess the Pictish are more of a meritocracy, it makes sense that they would dislike a nobility,’ Twilight thinks to herself.

“When will they arrive?” Alastair asks.

“Soon I imagine,” Hammer answers, getting off his chair, “They were only a few jumps away...”

“Oi, Captain!” yells a Pictish, sitting in front of a control station, wearing a head phone, “We have been hailed by the Duke’s ship, HMS Basilisk, requesting permission to board.”

“Damn, didn’t notice them approach,” cusses Hammer, shaking his head, “Tell them to go ahead.”

Twilight looks outside the window, but they can’t see any sign of another ship.

“I can’t see any ship?” Rainbow Dash says, who is also looking.

“Just give it a second,” Alastair says, smiling, “You're in for treat.”

Before Twilight can question it she notices something flicker. Suddenly light streams in from the window on the left side of the ship, and suddenly a ship is flying next to them. The ship is very long with a chisel shaped head, it is also very ornate, decorated with beautiful shaped metalwork, and painted on the side is a very large snake with it’s mouth open.

“What just happened?” Pinkie says, rubbing her eyes.

“The Tiskat ship just uncloaked itself,” explains Alastair, still smiling.

“The show offs,” mutters Hammer, shaking his head again, “We better go greet them.” He turns towards another Pictish, “Tell the metalheads in the hanger to move the wreck to the Tiskat’s ship.” He then walks to the elevator, “Let’s go.”

“Come on, girls,” Alastair says, smiling slightly, “Your ride has arrived.”

The ponies join Alastair, Devil and Hammer in the elevator. It turns out to be a quicker ride down than it was going up. They exit the elevator and head down the hallway.

“Will we be alright?” Twilight asks, nervous about the Tiskat.

“Don’t worry about it Twilight,” comforts Alastair, patting Twilight on the back, “While the Tiskat may be the most sneaky bastards in the universe they are not technically bad people.”

“Unless it’s another Tiskat,” smirks Devil, “They would back stab other in the back in a second if it meant getting a better positions in life.”

“That is not technically true anymore,” Alastair sighs, rubbing his forehead, “Nowadays they use words instead of dagger, and words can sometime cut deeper than any dagger ever could.”

“On the bright side they will most likely be able to give you some new clothes,” Devil says, ignoring Alastair, “They most likely have a tailor aboard.”

“Is it standard to have tailor aboard a Tiskat ship?” Applejack asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Only aboard their capital and flagships,” Hammer answers, looking unimpressed, “They like to look their best at all times.”

“Well it is differently good luck for us,” Rarity says, happy at the chance to get some proper clothes.

They reach a large door where two Pictish, fully geared up, leaning on each side of it.

“This is the docking door, they will be coming through here soon,” Hammer says, leaning against the wall.

“I guess this goodbye, Alastair?” Twilight says, nervously rubbing her upper arm.

“For now at least,” Alastair says, smiling, “You’ll be surprised how small the galaxy is sometimes.”

“Thanks for helping us,” Twilight says, smiling back, “And I hope we will see you again sometimes.”

The rest of the ponies nod in agreement.

“I hope so too, but now…” Alastair says, grabbing Devil’s hand and dragging her away, “I need to talk to Devil.”

“What? But I want to say goodbye too,” whines Devil, not really resisting.

“Save it,” Alastair says, moving out of earshot, “We need to talk.”

Devil rolls her eyes but follows Alastair.

“What do you think they need to talk about?” Fluttershy wonders aloud.

“I don’t know and I don’t really care,” states Rainbow Dash, huffing, “At least we won’t have to see Devil again.”

“I thought she was funny,” Pinkie says, happily.

Before any more comments can be made there is the sound of metal slamming against metal.

“What was that?!” Twilight says, alarmed, looking around for the source.

“That was just the sound of the ships finishing docking together,” explains Hammer, amused by her reaction, “Now prepared to cover your noise from the smell of their rich perfume, they will be aboard soon.”

The door suddenly opens, revealing a line of soldier, covered completely in armour and holding guns of some sort. They then part lining against the wall, letting someone through, and so the ponies see they first Tiskat.

He is male and about an average male pony height, his face is human like beside a few key differences. His skin is a dark green purplish colour, and instead of a nose he has two small reptile like slits and he also has no ears, his eyes are lizard like, he also has no hair and instead has long thick hair like spines that spout out like hair, the Tiskat has his spines pulled back behind his head. He also has a long reptile tail that reaches the floor. His uniform is pretty fancy, covered in metals and coloured in a nice dark green, with a black trim.

“Welcome aboard Drakken,” Hammer says, smirking and holding out his hand towards the Tiskat.

Drakken frowns at the hand before sighing and shaking it, his hand looking quite small in the Pictish ones. “Yes, quite,” he says, with a slow cold tone.

“So what’s the great admiral of Tiskat fleet doing here picking up aliens?” Hammer asks, raising a eyebrow.

“I was in the area, and I thought I might as well to save everyone some time,” Drakken says, examining his nails, “The assembly is very keen to see these new aliens.” He says the last bit with a sigh.

“Are you not, your lordship?” Alastair says, walking up without Devil. Twilight looks around but sees no sign of Devil now.

The Tiskat seems to genuinely smiles when he sees the doctor, the ponies notice that he has very sharp canines. “Ah, it good to see you Alastair,” he says, his tone warming up slightly, “But to answer your question, many races have joined the federation and with them brings more problems and more to protect, so no I am not too keen to meet these aliens.”

“I guess that makes sense, Duke,” Alastair replies, smiling.

“So where are these aliens?” Drakken asks, cocking his eyebrow.

“Here they are,” Hammer says, pointing at the ponies, some of them giving him a nervous wave.

“Are they… are they wearing old Tiskat military jumpsuit?” Drakken says, frowning in confusion.

“It is all we had for them to wear,” Alastair explains, “They were from the survivors we rescued at the Battle of the Fallen Axe.”

“That would make them over a hundred years old,” Drakken says, surprised, casting his eyes over the ponies, “It can’t be comfortable for them… also they are out of fashion.”

“As if this couldn’t get any more atrocious!” gasps Rarity, placing her hand on her head, dramatically.

“I see that they have already been implanted… without authorization!” Drakken says, glaring at Hammer.

“Hey Alastair did it, not me,” Hammer says, glaring back.

“But I am sure he had a good reason,” Drakken corrects himself, causing Hammer to roll his eyes.

“Anyway we have wasted enough time here. Follow me, umm… what are they called?” Drakken asks, turning to Alastair.

“Ponies,” Alastair answers.

“Well, come now ponies, follow me aboard my….” A sudden explosion rocks the ship, interrupting Drakken. “What the blazing is going on!!”

“CAPTAIN!” yells a pictish running up to Hammer, “We are being attacked by Magi warship!”

A spark seems to light up in Hammer’s eyes. “SO IT IS A BATTLE THEN!!” he bellows, his voice echoing through the ship hall only for it to return with the sound of cheering.

“Oh dear, let’s hurry aboard my ship ponies!” Drakken yells, beckoning the ponies to follow, “Let’s not get caught in this!”

The ponies wasted no time and followed Drakken, running across the bridge that connects the two ship. Twilight stops at the other side and turns around and sees Alastair looking back at her.

Twilight cups her hands around her mouth and shouts, “Thanks for everything, Alastair!!”

Alastair just smiles and gives her a thumbs up before the doors slam shut, blocking the view.

“Come with me to the bridge, ponies!” yells Drakken, running through the doors leading out of the room.

The ponies follow him to the front of the ship, nearly falling over when another explosion rocks the ship.

“Damn it, they're now targeting us!” yells Drakken, as he enters the bridge, followed by the ponies. “What the status?” he yells to another Tiskat.

“Minor hull damage sir,” the Tiskat says, “The Warship has now rerouted it course to pursue us.”

“Damn… reroute the all the ship’s power to the engine and shields, and get us out of here!” orders Drakken.

“Yes, sir!” yells Tiskat, going to relaying the orders.

“Wait, we are running away?” yells Rainbow Dash, confused by why they are not fighting.

“Yes, it is the most sensible option,” replies Drakken, calmly. He then turns towards another Tiskat, “Get us a visual on the Magi ship!”

“Yes, sir!” the Tiskat replies, tapping something on a control panel, causing a computer screen to lower and show the pursuing ship.

The girls gasp in horror at the sight of the ship, for they recognize it. As one of the many ships that attacked Equis all those years ago!

“No, it’s them…” Twilight whispers, horrified.

“They’ve found us!” Applejack adds, wide eyed.

“Where the hell is the Pictish!” yells Drakken, as another explosion rocks the ship, “Our shields can’t take this kind of beating!”

‘Yes, where are the Pictish?’ Twilight thinks, looking outside the window. There is no sign of them, until Twilight notices a ship in the distance moving in their direction at speed.

“The Pictish ship has turned around and is coming in, to ram the Magi ship,” replies another Tiskat.

Drakken sighs, “The Pictish never change, do they?”

“The Pictish are going to ram them?!” yells Applebloom, shocked, “Can they even do that?”

“Of course they can, it what Pictish ships are built to do,” answers Drakken, rolling his eyes.

“Cool!” Scootaloo says, amazed.

Twilight frowns and looks outside the window at the Pictish. The first thing that comes to mind when describing a Pictish ship is axlike, for the front of the ship is like a giant bearded axe, with it’s back being slightly bulky because of having huge engines and large amounts of guns, with its bridge sitting on the top, it looks like a ship that made to attack another ship head on.

The Pictish zooms past them toward the Magi ship, the ponies look up the screen at the Magi ship. The Pictish ship rams into the ship nearly splitting it in half, but instead managing to get lodged inside it. The two ship’s now stuck in each other begin firing at each other, but that all the ponies get to see before the screen turns off.

“Hey, I was watching that!” whines Pinkie, pouting.

“Yeah, wanted to see who wins!” Rainbow Dash yells, frustrated.

“No need, the Pictish won as soon as they crashed into the ship,” Drakken says, calmly sitting down on his command chair, “Navigator, set a course for Lex.”

“But…” Twilight tries to say.

“You need not worry, ponies,” Drakken says, waving Twilight off, “The Pictish are by now boarding the ship and if you think that a Pictish ship is fearful than you have never seen one fight before.”

“Manadrive is nearly ready sir,” comments a Tiskat.

“Good, we will soon be out of here,” Drakken smiles, he then turns to the ponies, looking at them closely, “Now about your clothes…”

Author's Note

Here is my new story.
What do you think about it?
Like and comment, it helps me a lot :twilightsmile:

Prologue - Adrift in Space

A derelict hulk that could have once be considered a spaceship drifts through the endless void of space. It occasionally spark as electricity still runs through it dead veins. A single thruster still burning shows that something still works within it. Within this hulk is a sealed room, and still air-tight it holds nine stasis pods. And within these pods are the last hope for an entire world. A lone scrappy robot works to keep its cargo safe. It has long scaped the other robots and the non-vital systems for parts, leaving the rest of the ship for it to slowly tear apart.

A sudden jerk causes the robot to fall over. It crawls over to a hole in the ship and looks out into the bright lights of something else. The ship is getting dragged towards a huge unknown craft. Something fires from the craft hitting the remaining thruster, causing it to splutter and die.

The robot continues to watch as the ship is pulled into the side of the unknown craft and into a brightly lit room. A sudden and repeating crashing noise echoes is heard throughout the ship. Something is trying to get in! A horrifying tearing is heard as something rips open the door, and crawls in, having to crouch in the small corridors of the ship.

It quickly sees the robot watching it, and even though it’s crouching manages to be on it within seconds, pinning it to the ground. Before the robot can do anything it quickly reaches behind it and yanks out the robot’s connection to it’s own power core, shutting it down.

The creature yells something incomprehensible into its helmet, and then two more enter. Following the first one to the sealed room. They reach the door and speak to each other in that same incomprehensible language, before the first one signals… three… two… one! One quickly tears open the door with its hands, letting one rush in holding a huge shield in front of him, followed by one holding a rifle and the last one holding a huge sword. Seeing no danger they check over the room, finding the pods.

One wipes off the dust and peers inside, to see a sleeping figure lying within. It signals to the other, and they check the other ones. They are all alive!

Author's Note

Welcome to my new story.
Hope you enjoy.