Stuck on Earth

Chapters

Portal to Somewhere
The Sun Rises
Planning Phase
Hostage Situation
Research
Down Time
Departure
Conflict
Day Two

Portal to Somewhere

There were five ponies in uniform located in the small concrete room. Each pony wore a sleek black vest that had several tools secured to it and black saddlebags of varying sizes. Along the shoulders of the uniform, the ponies names, rank, and blood type were displayed in golden embroidering. Each pony also had some sort of breathing apparatus hanging from their face.

The only Earth pony of the group had the largest saddlebags of the whole team. The straps that held the saddlebags on were more padded and much wider than any of the other ponies in the room. He had his saddlebags set on the bench next to him as he read through a book he had brought with him. He had brown eyes, a light brown coat, and an auburn mane.

In the corner of the concrete room, there was a unicorn and a Pegasus going through a list of supplies. The unicorn was pushing a brush through its disheveled mane as it spoke to the Pegasus. The Pegasus showed a great deal of indifference and just idly stretched its wings in the small room provided by the government.

There was a dark gray Pegasus with a darker gray mane and yellow eyes lying on a bench. He had dark bags under his eyes and a disheveled mane. There was a chess board in front of him and he was resting his head on a foreleg.

One unicorn had a red cross displayed on the back of the vest displaying that she was a medic. She had a white coat, a light pink mane, and light blue eyes. She sat alone on one of the benches while she scanned the room with a slight frown. Her gaze landed on Leading Edge, the leader of the team. She pushed herself off of the bench and she walked over to him.

"Who's winning?" she asked.

"Me." Leading Edge said without looking away from the board. He drew in a deep breath and then let it out. "What's up?" he said. He sat up and brought his gaze to meet Healing Touch's.

"What do you think is on the other side of the portal?" she asked, a hint of worry made its way into her words.

Leading Edge raised his hoof slightly and let his gaze drift to something distant. A couple of seconds passed before he answered. "I... don't know." he let out a breath he had been holding. "If I had to guess, I'd say a place to call home."

Healing Touch was about to reply, but the tinny sound of a mare's voice interrupted her. "The portal will be open in two minutes." the PA speaker sounded.

The entire team strapped their saddlebags on and exited the concrete room. The sound of their hooves striking the concrete echoed throughout the facility. The team walked side by side in what would resemble a skirmish line formation if they were in combat. For most school ponies, this formation was the asshole formation because it blocked the entire hallway.

Connie stretched her wings and let out a faint groan before speaking. "Sweet Celestia, I thought we'd never leave that cramped room." she turned her head towards Leading Edge. "Do you remember why we were put in there, Lea?"

"Of course I do, I was there when they explained it to us." he said, without turning his head.

"Wasn't it something about seeing how we interact without any barriers or things to keep us from beating each other into a pulp?"

Lea gave Connie a confused look. "Why are you talking to me like I had a stroke?" he paused. "Did I have a stroke?" he asked with a hint of urgency.

"Uh, no. I just know you have problems with your memory." she said. A smirk appeared on her face. "Well, that and you're a little dumb."

Leading Edge just gave her a look. Years of self deprecating jokes had ended up creating an almost complete inability to care about what others thought of him. Not that he was dumb, far from it actually. He's very educated in several fields. He's just not educated in the fields that Connie was educated in, so she just assumed he was dumb.

As the ponies talked, they approached a metal door with a push bar on it. One of the ponies, a Pegasus, held out a foreleg and tried to push it open. It didn't budge.

A smirk emerged on Deep Thought's face and stepped up to the door. "Here, let me try." he said, and Connie moved out of the way. He put a hoof against the push bar and pushed. His confident smile falling immediately, replaced with a slight frown and furrowed brow.

He muttered something under his breath before re-positioning himself so both of his forelegs were pressed against the bar. His powerful muscles warping under his skin as he pushed hard against the door. Without warning, the door gave, sending Deep Thought falling to the floor.

Lea stepped past him and onto the barren land that surrounded the facility. The ground was almost completely brown save for a couple splotches of oranges and reds from leaves that littered the environment. There was a gray haze covering the entire valley that they stood in. Power plants coughed out large smoke plumes of dead grays and unnatural greens into the air, contaminating it. Several ponies walked around the power plant, their faces covered with soot, their brows furrowed, and mouths bent into frowns.

A harsh wind kicked sand and soot into the team's eyes, causing them to blink. Lea turned his head back to the building. His eyes fell upon Deep Thought, the door, and then the wall next to it. There was a line of dirt that made its way up the wall.

"Well, there's your problem." Leading Edge muttered under his breath.

Connie's ears swiveled towards Lea "Sorry?" she said, tilting her head slightly.

Leading Edge pointed with a foreleg. "There's a line of sediment along the wall there." he started walking towards it. "I was saying that uh..." he stopped, waving a hoof in a circular motion "It's the reason why it was so difficult to open the door."

"Ah okay." she said. A wry smile appeared on her face. "That took you long enough to figure out."

Again, Leading Edge gave her a look, but this time with a slight frown.
"Uh-huh." he said in a flat tone.

Connie gave him a playful bump. "God, you're no fun." she said with a slight laugh.

The sound of a crack traversed through the area that the team stood. Shortly afterwards, a slightly distorted mare's voice came from the PA speaker.

"One minute before the portal opens, team. Be ready."

The entire team was suited up and positioned in a room adjacent to the portal room. The breathing apparatuses were now properly secured to their faces and they were wearing more protective gear. The bulky black armor gave them an intimidating stature. The mask gave the eyes an unnatural and glossy appearance. It certainly didn't help that there were five of them.

The room was filled with the sound of electronically processed breathing and the occasional scuffing of hooves against the concrete flooring. Lea was tapping a hoof against the floor, even through the glossy eyes of his mask, his frantic eyes were still very visible.

In the corner of the room, another black figure was sitting. They were staring at the floor, tracing a circle with a hoof. Their breathing was slow.

Lea's heart was beating in his chest. It acted like a metronome, ticking on and on, rhythmically and without skipping a beat. It exaggerated the situation, causing the time to stretch on into infinity.

Tick.

Leading Edge looked at the figure in the corner. Even through all of the armor, he could still see them shaking slightly.

Tock.

Leading Edge looked at a pony sitting on a bench. She had a deep red patch on each shoulder, she was Healing Touch.

Tick.

Healing Touch had set her saddlebags next to her. Her horn was glowing and several medical items hovered around her. A quill frantically scribbled on a nearby sheet of paper.

Tock.

Deep Thought was still reading a book.

A pop came from a speaker embedded in the cealing.
The mare spoke, "The portal is open."

All five ponies stood up and made their way to a large door labeled air-lock B.

The earbud in Lea's ear made a slight click noise and a second later a voice could be heard. "Sir, are you ready?"

Leading Edge looked to his right. Two ponies looked at him and nodded. He looked to his left and they nodded too. "Yes." he stated.

There was the sound of several servos and pneumatic pistons and the door opened slowly and before him was a small hallway with an industrial sized door at the end of it. On the door, the words blast door A were written in red paint.

The team walked into the hallway. There were two red lights placed on either side of the solid metal door. The walls were built like they were meant to withstand several blasts from an alicorn. Reinforced with concrete, metal, and designed with a curved ceiling, this hallway was no joke.

The door closed behind them, sealed, and then fell silent. The air was heavy, still, and thick. The only noise the team could hear was the sound of their own hearts beating heavily.

Leading Edge waited for what felt like an eternity before speaking into his radio again. "Uh, is everything alright over there?"

A few seconds passed before they received a response. "Everything is fine, sir. We're just completing some last minute checks on the portal." came a low toned voice.

"Are there any problems?"

Again, a slight delay before the answer. "Standby."

There was a soft click and then the muffled sound of moving chunks of steel within the door. One by one, the parts slid into place, the huge metal pins withdrew into the door, and the massive door swung open.

The floor was polished and the room smelt of strong chemicals. There was a large window that was about seven centimeters thick to their left. Faceless figures could be seen behind the window, scribbling notes onto their clipboards. All eyes were on the team.

To their right, a doorway was opened to display a lush landscape with trees, grass, and water. A gentle breeze came from the portal.

The same deep voice piped up. "Being the first ponies to travel to another world, do you wish to say anything before you go?" It paused. "Just in case."

"Just in case what?" Lea asked.

There was no reply.

"Just in case what?" he repeated.

"Sir, do you have a speech prepared?" the voice asked.

"No, but-"

"Good luck." the voice said before the connection severed.

Leading Edge let his head fall slightly before taking a breath. Connie tapped him on his side and she gestured towards the portal.

Leading Edge turned towards the portal. His heart was beating so hard he believed it would explode if it worked any harder.

"Ready?" Connie asked and the team nodded.

We began walking towards the portal. The land beyond completely untouched by pony kind. A land of possibilities and experiences. They passed the threshold and they were greeted with a beautiful sight. A sight Princess Celestia had once described to them. No matter where you looked, it was completely untouched land as far as the eye could see.

No smoke plumes, no buildings, no ponies, and most importantly, no advertisements. For the first time in the entire team's life, they were completely surrounded by nature.

"Oh wow." Connie said. She scanned the environment with the wonder and curiosity that only a child could emulate. Even through her mask, you could see her jaw drop.

"Well, uh." Leading started. "Let's go."

On the way to their sight, Connie had been practically gushing about every minute detail that surrounded them. She nearly fainted when she saw a flower. It hadn't freaked her out, oh no. She was more surprised it wasn't made of plastic like the ones at home.

Lea was looking for a strategical spot to set up camp, somewhere with lots of visibility. He scanned the horizon in front of him. They had donned the wedge formation, they weren't expecting an engagement, but they still used it just in case.

They were completely surrounded by lush vegetation. Countless amounts of unknown species of plants surrounded them. A cool breeze pushed through the trees and grass, it carried a distinctive scent.

The team stopped almost at once. One of the members looked at the leader. "Lea, is there a problem?" he said before looking around.

Leading looked up and saw dark clouds overhead. "It's going to start raining soon. I don't know when, but it's definitely coming." he looked around and then pointed a foreleg at a relatively sheltered area. "There. Let's set up camp there."

They marched up towards the area and then fanned out to cover every angle around the camp. Their attention was focused mostly outwards in an effort to spot any threats that might appear. One of them, Fail Safe, retreated into the center of the formation and started casting several spells. Fail Safe and Deep Thought swapped places. Deep Thought removed his saddlebags and took out several large pieces of metal. He set it down and expanded it to its full size, creating a tent.

"Tent set." Deep Thought stated.

"Are the wards placed?" Leading Edge asked.

"Yes." Fail Safe confirmed.

"At ease." Lea ordered.

A second later, the team moved into the tent. They set down their packs on the tarp that covered the floor of the tent. Fail Safe's horn glowed and a second later his mask was removed. He set the mask down next to his saddlebags. He walked up to Deep Thought, which at this time had also removed his mask.

Before long, the entire team had removed their masks and were chatting amongst themselves. Despite the wards being placed around their camp, they still glanced around to scan the environment.

After several minutes, the team had some of their equipment deployed. Deep Thought had his mask back on and he was sitting before a table under a smaller tent. A cloak spell and protective shield was placed around him. He was arranging a few petri dishes on the table.

By dusk, rain began to fall. A lantern was hanging from some metal supports at the top of the tent, coating it in a warm hue. There was a single table near one side of the tent, a lamp was placed on top of it. Connie and Deep Thought sat together chatting among themselves.

"So what do you think?" Deep Thought asked.

"Hm?"

"What do you think of this world? This place, it's nothing like we've ever seen before."

A smile emerged on her face and she bumped him on the shoulder. "Of course it looks different, silly. This is a whole other universe. I'd be more surprised if it did look anything like home."

"I can't imagine you being any more surprised than you already are. On the way over here, you looked like a tourist in Canterlot for the first time." he said.

"Can you blame me?"

Deep Thought let out a little laugh. "No, of course not." He turned his head towards the rest of the team. They were setting up their sleeping bags in a neat row. "We should probably join them." he said before getting up. "We have a long day tomorrow."

The Sun Rises

A new dawn was brought and the land of the unknown was cast into light. The storm from the night before had ceased, leaving only overcast. A gentle breeze cast itself across the environment, creating a subtle whisper. Connie was sitting at the table eating breakfast. She was hunched over slightly, a few veins were visible in her eyes.

Fail Safe walked past Connie and began rummaging through the supplies. "Hey, did you make the coffee?" he said without looking up.

"Nope."

"What do you mean nope?" Fail Safe said, bringing his gaze up to meet Connie's.

"I mean I didn't make coffee."

"Why?" Fail Safe said, a frown stretched across his face.

She shrugged. "There's no coffee to begin with." she took another mouth full of cereal. "Apparently the maniacs back at home thought it was a good idea to send us here without coffee." She swallowed and continued. "At this point I'm just trying to stay awake."

Fail Safe began rummaging through the bags again. "Do we have caffeine pills or tea at least?"

"We don't have tea, at least to my knowledge. I skimmed through the supplies a little while ago, I might've missed something." She took another mouthful of food. "As for the caffeine pills? I don't know."

Fail Safe was still looking through the supplies when Deep Thought got up. He sat across from Connie. "You look like shit." Deep Thought said.

"I feel like shit."

Deep Thought let out a soft chuckle. "Did you not sleep?"

"No, I slept. Just not for very long, that's all." She explained. "If I can get some caffeine in my system, that'd help a bunch." She smirked. "Or alcohol."

"You're a pegasus. You can't handle your alcohol well."

Connie leaned her head back slightly, a small smile spread across her face. "Yeah, I know."

"So where's the coffee?"

Fail Safe had buried his head inside the bag. "Working on it." He piped up.

Deep Thought looked back towards Connie. "Wouldn't it be pretty easy to find the coffee?" He said in a hushed voice. "I thought we were organized."

Connie shrugged. "We are organized." She said before taking another mouthful of food. "For whatever reason, the ponies back home thought it'd be a good idea to not pack coffee or tea." She swallowed. "Or at least I haven't found any. Fail Safe is looking for caffeine pills."

Deep Thought rubbed the back of his neck with a fore-hoof. "Eh, I guess it's better than nothing." He leaned forward slightly. "Couldn't we just ask Leading Edge?"

"Yeah, I guess we could." She looked towards the lump in the sleeping bag. "We have an emergency, Lea!"

"Uh-huh, right." Leading Edge said and then yawned. "What's wrong?"

"Really? That's it?" Connie said. She rolled her eyes and then spoke. "God, you are boring." She pushed away her empty bowl and then stood up. "No one packed coffee or tea. Can you contact command and get them to supply us with this precious nectar?"

Lea's head popped out of the sleeping bag. "Why did you call it..? You know what, I don't care." he said tiredly. "Uh, yeah. I'll tell them." He sighed and then climbed out of the bag. "Just give me some time to wake up."

Deep Thought turned to Connie "What do you do in the team again?"

She smirked. "If you're trying to spark a conversation, it's working." She shifted her position slightly. "I don't care either way. If we ever need to do any recon, I'm the one to do it." She extended her wings and flapped them gently a few times. "Doesn't help much if my wings are restricted by the armor."

"I know." Lea said. "Once Deep Thought] gets those results back we can take the wing gloves off."

Deep Thought gave a sheepish grin. "Yeah, I'll get back to that." He said before trotting off to his lab.

Connie turned to Leading Edge "So what now?"

"Huh? Oh." He walked to the radio station. "We're still going to proceed with the mission as scheduled." He sat back on his haunches and started fiddling with the controls. "Headquarters? This is Leading Edge, am I receiving?" He waited about a minute before turning his head to Connie. "Didn't you attach the high gain antenna with Deep Thought?"

"Yeah, we did." She said while walking towards the station. "I'm no tech wiz, so there is a possibility that we messed something up." She looked at the back of the station and started inspecting the connections. "Uh, no. The antenna is connected."

"Huh, weird." Lea started. "I guess I'll do a full system scan. That should find any problems with it." He fiddled with the controls and shortly afterwards a screen lit up with several columns, each displaying green text. Leading Edge's eyes flicked across the columns. He brought his hooves to the keyboard and started typing. His brow furrowed. "Why the fuck isn't this working?" He muttered to himself.

"The genetics tests have been completed." Deep Thought said. "From what I've seen, the microscopic lifeforms on this planet are completely incompatible with our genome."

Lea looks up from what he was doing. "Out of curiosity, what do you mean by completely incompatible?"

"We're all made up of cells, right? Those cells have DNA in them. DNA uses a four letter alphabet to store information about who and what we are. Each letter is represented by a specific molecule that has some very interesting properties. I won't go into detail about what those properties are. Am I making sense?"

"Yes."

"Well, the alphabet on this planet is completely different from the one's back home. It'd be like having two factions that each have their own language. They just wouldn't be able to communicate."

Leading Edge looked thoughtful for a moment. "Your analogy doesn't perfectly match up with the situation, but I see what you're getting at. Does that mean we'd be safe without the gas masks and wing gloves?"

"You'll be fine without them, but you should still bring them with you."

"Oh yeah. Of course." Lea said. "I just wanted to know if I could actually use my wings."

"Oh, I understand. I hate wearing these gas masks as much as the next guy." He smirked. "I'm just glad we don't have to wear it whenever we do our expeditions."

Lea laughed. "You're not the only one with pro-" he said before being cut off.

"I think we have a problem." Connie announced.

"Uh, what kind of problem are we talking about here?"

"I checked our comm systems. They're all working." She said.

"Thats.. fine, actually. How is that bad?" Leading Edge asked.

"If our communication systems are working, we should be able to contact command. However, we can't. So that means only one thing."

"What's that?"

"The portal closed."

"What do you mean the portal closed?" Leading asked, pacing. "Maybe we're out of range?"

"Well, on the way to the camp sight, we were still able to communicate with command even without the high gain antenna. No, we are well within the range of that antenna. If it weren't working, we'd know because we'd still be able to contact command with our standard antennas." Connie stated.

"What about command's communication systems? They could've broken, right?"

Connie shook her head. "Nope, I've thought of that too, even if something managed to break, their systems are chock full of redundancy. Even if one of their systems failed, they have several more."

"But what if-" Lea said before swiftly being cut off.

"Please, save your questions. I know what you're going through right now. Even though you outrank me, it's still important that I tell you what's going on in that head of yours." Connie laughed lightly. "I could've used a different word to describe out situation, but.. eh" She shrugged. "I guess I just don't care enough to be creative with my wording."

"So that's it then?" Leading Edge said while pushing a hoof through his already disheveled mane. "We're fucked then? We haven't even been on this planet for a day and we're already stuck!" Connie was about to say something, but Lea continued. "I've heard of ponies experiencing a pleasant calm when they're in the face of death, but I'm not experiencing any of that right now. My fucking heart is beating out of my chest!"

"That's because you're not going to die", Connie explained. "You're going through denial right now and you're trying to make sense of it. It's that simple." She finalized.

Leading Edge looked up towards Connie, who was standing next to him. "You're not helping."

She smirked. "I tried."

"Well, your efforts haven't bared fruit yet." He began tracing a circle on the table with a hoof.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, it's hasn't been confirmed if the portal is closed or not." Connie offered.

Leading Edge's breathing slowed slightly. "S-so we'd head to the portal then..? We'd go to the portal and see if it's open?" His eyes wide. "If it's closed we're fucked. If it's open, we get coffee."

Connie chuckled. "I'm glad to know you have your priorities straight." She looked towards a few trees that began to rustle in the wind. "And yes, that is what we're going to do. We're going to go to the portal and confirm it."

With their stomachs full, saddlebags secured, and minds clouded, they stood together. They were looking towards the treeline; their minds occupied with possibilities of what is to come and what has come already. If the portal were closed, what would they do? If it were open, would they proceed as scheduled? That question was so simple yet so difficult to answer.

What would they do? The thought bounced off of the inner walls of their skulls like a pinball crashing, striking, smashing, and flying about. Although they were all seasoned veterans, the thought that they were trapped in an unfamiliar world alone threatened to rip the anchors that tethered them to sanity.

They stood in silence, as if the mere act of speaking would shatter the calm serenity that they were so desperately trying to latch onto. Only the sound of rustling leaves atop the trees could be heard, as if even nature itself held its bread for the group of strange equines.

One of the equines lifted their hoof, hesitated, and then began walking, the team followed suit. They were in their protective gear again, but decided to not wear the masks or wing gloves. Only one member, Fail Safe, had a gas mask on. The other members gave quizzical looks. "Why are you wearing your gas mask?"

"Why aren't you wearing yours?" Fail Safe tested.

Connie picked up her pace until she was next to Fail Safe "Well, Deep Thought said it was safe and that there wasn't any way that it could effect us."

Fail Safe scoffed. "He says a lot of things, but I'll be fine with wearing this mask for a little while longer. It's bearable to wear and I'm liking my chances right now."

Connie chuckled. "What do you mean chances? We're not going to die!"

"I'll let time be the judge of that." Fail Safe stated. "I would've hoped Healing Touch was smart enough to wear hers too."

"I'm right here!" Healing Touch exclaimed.

"I know you're right there, I just don't care what you think about me." Fail Safe stated plainly.

Connie ducked to avoid a branch. "Guys, please! We've got a lot to deal with right now and I don't think we need more to deal with."

A brief silence was cast upon the team. Healing Touch spoke. "Fail Safe started it."

Connie raised an eyebrow. "How'd that work when you were in school?"

Healing Touch opened her mouth, as if to reply, but bit back her reply. Fail Safe stifled a laugh. With nothing but small talk, the entire team eventually found themselves with nothing to say. The only things that could be heard were the sounds of grass crunching beneath their hooves and the gentle sound of wind weaving through the grass and trees.

To the west, dark clouds covered the horizon. It had been getting colder as time went on, and the smell of damp soil had made its presence known.

"What's up with the weather in this place? Don't they have pegasus that handle their weather?" Connie asked. After a moment of silence, she turned to her side. Deep Thought was staring at her. "What?"

In a slow and cautious tone, he spoke. "I'd like you to think long and hard about what you've just said."

Connie frowned. "Really?"

"Yes, really." Deep Thought said, looking towards the top of a hill. "The portal should be right up there."

"I'll have to remove the cloaking spell. I feel the magic from here." Fail Safe said, smiling.

The team crested the hill, stopping near what they said was "where the spell was." Fail Safe's horn lit and a beam of light shot towards the air, striking something unseen by their eyes. The air rippled and warped before popping like a bubble. Where a doorway into a laboratory used to stand, nothing stood. There was no portal, it was gone.

Planning Phase

"Shit."

Fail Safe sighed. "Yep."

"I guess we're stuck then?" Deep Thought said, half statement, half question. "It shouldn't have come to this, but here we are. We're on an alien planet with no way of getting back."

"Guys, please." Lea started. "We're not stuck here. I'm sure the scientists back at home are working hard to get the portal open. Now, we can sit here and mope, or we could continue with our mission and gather information about this planet."

"So far, we've seen more than enough land for us. There are trees and wildlife that go on as far as the eye can see and I don't think there's any intelligent life here." Connie offered.

"We don't know that for certain though. We still have to scout around and find any signs of life." Leading Edge said.

"I saw some birds a little while ago."

Leading Edge turned to Deep Thought "Intelligent life, we're looking for intelligent life."

"Speaking of finding things, how's about we find ourselves a better shelter? I don't think the tent is going to hold up against that." Connie said, pointing a hoof towards the west.

"That tent was built to withstand some of the worst weather pegasi could provide, what could be so bad as to warrant a-" Lea's eyes caught a glimpse of what was to come. His eyes widened, ears folded back, and his jaw dropped. Before him stood something that he's never seen before. He didn't know it at the time, but it was called a supercell by the natives of this planet.

To say a supercell is dangerous would be a gross understatement. The horizon was engulfed in a large rotating mass of clouds moving at an excess of a hundred fifty kilometers per hour. Houses could be seen being torn apart as the supercell traveled across the landscape.

"We have to go." Connie said, taking flight. "NOW!"

Almost tripping over their own legs, they ran in the opposite direction. Connie flew above the team, her gaze scanning the land frantically. The temperature dipped sharply, causing a few to shutter. Connie continued scanning until she found a suitable shelter for the team.

"Over there!" She yelled, pointing a foreleg at a building off in the distance.

The team changed their direction and ran towards the aforementioned building. Its roof slanted downwards, it towered over the team as if it were designed for giants. Connie hovered next to a window, pulling out a tiny mirror and placing it in front of it to peer inside.

The room was dark and the floor was clean. In one corner of the room, there was a rectangle with fabric on top lifted from the ground with wooden legs. Next to it there was a small table, an inactive lamp placed atop it. On the walls, a few posters were placed, but they couldn't be made out.

"Clear." Connie stated, folding up her telescoping mirror and placing it in one of her vest pouches. She pushed the window open and stepped inside. She did a quick sweep with her eyes and she turned her attention to the window. She took a rope ladder out of her saddlebags and secured it to the window frame. "Alright, get up here." She said, waving a hoof.

All non-unicorn military personnel were trained to use a portable ranged weapon known as a Thaumic Replicator (TR-1488). It replicates different offensive spells depending on how it was made. In this case, the ranged weapons had two settings on them, lethal and nonlethal. The device could be held in the mouth of the user. Bigger weapons were mounted to the sides of the user and triggered by a special button located on the forelegs.

Connie had one, and as such removed it from its holster and pointed it towards the entrance of the room while she waited for the team. Leading Edge was the first to enter, followed by Healing Touch, Deep Thought, and then finally Fail Safe.

Leading Edge pulled out his TR-1488 and motioned with his foreleg towards the door. The team stacked up next to the door, their weapons at the ready. After receiving confirmation, Healing Touch's horn lit and the door swung open. The team piled into a dark hallway. At the far end, there was a large room with several articles of furniture.

To their right was a closed door. Fail Safe stayed in the hallway while the team breached the room. After clearing the room, they joined him in the hallway and then moved further until they came to two doors, one on each side. Leading Edge motioned with a foreleg and they stacked up against the two doors. Fail Safe continued to watch the hallway while they cleared the rooms. The room on the right was a bathroom and the room on the left was a bedroom.

They moved onto the rest of the house and cleared it with no problems. They returned the house to its original state and closed the doors that had been opened and vice versa. They returned to the first room they entered as if that were their base of operations. They sat in a circle and began to talk.

"So what's the plan?" Connie said, raising her voice slightly to be heard over the wind.

"Well, our mission was to find land for our species, but we also need to make sure there's no intelligent life here." Lea said. "In the event that there is intelligent life in this world, we'd have to report back to command. They'd then provide us with a diplomacy team to contact their government if they had one. If everything went well, we'd have more land for our species." He finalized.

"Obviously that's gone down the drain ever since that portal closed." Fail Safe stated. "We already know the plan from before. What's the plan now?" He said, raising his voice again.

Leading Edge tapped a hoof to his chin. "Nothing comes to mind right now. Come back to me on that."

"Well if we don't have any plans what are we going to do?" Deep Thought asked. "The least we could do is figure out a short term plan, right?"

"No, the least we could do is nothing." Connie joked.

"You're not helping." Deep Thought said, his gaze drifting off to something distant. "Have you taken a look at these posters?"

"Uh, no?" Connie tilting her head. "Why?" A few of the members turned their heads to look at the posters. When Connie first saw them, she disregarded them as being unimportant. She hadn't really taken the time to examine them long enough to identify what was printed upon them.

"Rainbow... Dash?" Deep Thought muttered. "We're on a whole other planet. How do they know about her?"

"She's been dead for generations. Along with her friends." Fail Safe said with wide eyes.

"Not all of them." Deep Thought said. "Twilight Sparkle is still alive."

"Yeah, I know she's alive." Fail Safe clarified. "They know about Pinkie Pie too." Pointing a foreleg at another poster. "This is.. fucking creepy."

"You said it." Deep Thought said. "I'm not sure how I feel abo-" He stopped talking, his ears swiveled towards the door.

"What?" Connie said before being silenced by Deep Thought.

Deep Thought started stalking towards the door, careful to be as quiet as possible. The team had also gotten up and were aiming their TR-1488's at the door. Deep Thought motioned with his hoof and Healing Touch's horn lit. Before her magical influence could grasp the door handle, the door swung open revealing a creature standing on two legs. Once it saw all of the ponies, he froze in place, unable to move.

A beam of light struck the creature and it fell to the ground. Healing Touch and Deep Thought quickly lit their horns to prevent injury to the creature. They slowed its fall and dragged it into the room. Its hair was brown, it lacked a coat of fur, in the place of hooves, they had something akin to claws.

Connie was the first to break the silence. "Does this count as intelligent life?"

Author's Note

No, mom. I'm not gay. Ricky is just a friend
and even if I was (which I'm not)
you shouldn't have a problem with that.

Hostage Situation

"Did you just assault a native?" Leading Edge asked. "Did you just fucking zap some random guy because he stood there?"

"Did you see how tall that guy was?" Connie asked, searching her saddlebag for something. "I have no idea who they were or what they wanted." She shot a foreleg towards the poster. "This guy had pictures of dead ponies on his walls. Can you blame me for being on edge?"

"Actually, I can. Did you see the look on his face? I'd be surprised too if there was a stranger in my house." Leading Edge said, walking up to the strange creature. "Why is he wearing clothes?" He muttered to himself.

"Different culture?" Deep Thought offered. He looked at Connie. "What are you doing?"

"Looking for a rope. We're tying him up." She hesitated. "At least I think it's a he. Aliens are confusing."

"Why are we tying him up?"

"We can't allow this guy to be free. It's simple damage control really. We tie him up and he won't be able to tell anyone." Connie stated simply.

"As if he hasn't told anyone before we arrived. He has posters on his wall of Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie, and what looks to be a DJ." Deep Thought said.

"There's writing on those posters, you know." Connie pointed out.

"Yeah, I know there's writing on the posters. Whoever she is, she must not have been very important. I don't recognize the name Vinyl Scratch." Deep Thought explained.

"Probably because she's been dead for generations too." Connie said, still looking through her saddlebags. "Or she's made up. I won't deny it, it follows the usual format of names."

Leading Edge looked at Fail Safe. "Stay with Connie. I'm going to go do a quick sweep with the team to secure the perimeter." Then they left the room.

"Alright, I found the rope." Connie said, moving over to the unconscious human. "Help me drag him over to the wall."

"You do realize there's a huge storm outside, right?" Fail Safe asked. "Hey, you're a pegasus. Can't you go out there and stop it?"

Connie gave him a blank stare. "You're kidding right? You saw how big that thing was, right? We only have two pegasi. Not even a trained weather pony could deal with a storm that size." Connie began pulling on the human again. "Could you help me with this? He's heavier than he looks."

Connie tied his limbs together and then stood back to admire her work. "Oh, and stop with the racism. Just because I'm a pegasus doesn't mean I handle the weather."

Fail Safe's eyebrows raised. "I-I didn't mean it like that! I m-meant that perhaps.." He said before trailing off.

Connie laughed. "Dude, it's fine. Don't worry about it." She turned her attention to the creature again. "Could you make sure this guy's secure? I don't want him running off on me."

"Yeah, sure." Fail Safe said, lighting his horn to inspect the knots. "I wonder if they are intelligent."

"Well, we can't just assume this is the owner. For all we know, this is just some animal that stumbled into some abandoned house." Fail Safe said.

"Unlikely, it's wearing clothes. If it's not intelligent, it could be a pet. I've seen some ponies back at home dress their pets up for some reason." Fail Safe said, giving a perplexed look to the knot. "I never understood why they do that. Animals have fur that keeps them warm. Ponies wear clothes for special occasions or for protection." He tugged on the ropes a few times before stepping back.

"Yeah, I understand that. I guess we won't know until we ask him directly." Connie said, crossing her forelegs and leaning against a wall. "And now we wait."

After securing the building for a second time, they decided to head outside for a bit of fresh air.

Lea spoke into his radio. "We're going onto the back porch. Call us if you need anything. We'll be checking up on you every five minutes." Although that last bit was annoying, it was necessary to ensuring the safety of the team. With no chance of backup, it was fine that Leading Edge was being protective. If one member were to be disabled, the entire team would be put under strain. Even worse if Healing Touch was injured.

"10-4, winds are high. Stay safe." Connie said over the radio.

The team rounded the corner and the patio door came into view. The pelting rain could be seen through the glass in the door. The rain changed direction in wild and unpredictable ways. The building creaked under the force of the howling wind.

"I guess we're not going outside then." Healing Touch stated.

"Yeah, I don't really want to go out in that." Leading Edge said. "We could ask Fail Safe to provide us with a face shield, but I don't think it's worth it."

"How about we sit on the sofa in the living room?" Deep Thought offered.

"Not a bad idea." Leading Edge said, walking to the living room. He clicked his radio and spoke into it. "Status?"

"Everything's fine. The alien is still asleep, he's tied up at the moment." Connie said over the radio.

"10-4. Weather's too bad right now. We'll be staying in the living room." Lea said, hopping onto the couch.

"Alright, remember to not sit on the couches. They're dangerously comfortable." The radio cracked.

There was a collective chuckle from the team as they jumped up onto the couch. The storm continued to rage outside, staying at a distance that wasn't dangerous nor safe. At first, the team's eyes darted about the room, but as time went on, they became more relaxed with the situation they found themselves in. Their conversation became lively and energetic. They talked about pleasantries, embarrassing stories, and they cracked jokes. For a mere moment, everything was looking okay.

The storm continued to rage nearby. The relentless rain pelted the landscape like it were some kind of firing squad with a limitless supply of ammunition. The wind picked up cans, garbage, bins, leaves, and anything that wasn't nailed down and threw it several kilometers away. The projectiles it threw weren't lethal, but they'd definitely hurt if they struck you.

The team sat divided in the house. From the living room, a lively conversation filled with smiles, laughter, and jokes could be heard. From the bedroom, nothing. There was not a single sound coming from the room with the two ponies in it. Just a silence that communicated patience.

It's not that they wanted to talk but couldn't find anything to talk about. They were perfectly content with staying silent. They wanted a moment to stop and think about their situation. The alien sat motionless, its binds tight enough to restrict its movements, but not too tight as to cease circulation.

There was a click that came from Connie's radio. A bit of laughter could be heard from the other side as if whoever activated it had to step away from the conversation to speak. "Status?" Leading Edge asked.

She was a little hesitant to break the silence. "Everything's fine over here. Our guest still hasn't moved." She stated, releasing the button on the radio. A slight groan could be heard from behind her. "Do you have a stomach ache or something?" She said without turning around.

"That wasn't me." Fail Safe stated.

"Well it wasn't me either." She said, turning around to face Fail Safe.

They both turned towards the creature. Its eyes were bouncing between the two, seemingly in disbelief. Both Fail Safe and Connie stared back at the creature, their eyes wide and jaws halfway to the floor. Connie moved slowly as if fast sudden movements might startle it. She picked up her radio and clicked the button.

"It just woke up." She stated.

Almost immediately, the sound coming from the living room fell silent. The radio clicked again. "Repeat that please?"

"Our guest has just woken up."

The sound of several pairs of hooves striking the hardwood floor could be heard thundering down the hallway to the room. The door flew open and three ponies skidded to a halt. The creature stayed silent throughout the duration of these events, seemingly too shocked to speak.

"Has it done anything yet?" Leading Edge asked quickly.

"It groaned I think," Connie said, "or maybe that's its language."

"What kind of alien would speak with grunts and moans?" Deep Thought asked.

"Your mom." Connie said quickly.

The team stifled a giggle while Deep Thought gave her a disapproving look. "Very creative." He said, narrowing his eyes. He glanced towards the creature, but had to do a double take. For whatever reason, the creature was smiling. He turned his head to look at the native. "What's so funny?" He shot.

"Y-you guys." It stuttered.

Deep Thought's ears drew back in surprise and Connie spoke. "I guess that answers the question if it's intelligent."

Deep Thought walked in front of the creature and sat back on his haunches. His gaze was locked on the creature. "Gender?" He asked. Fail Safe hovered a notebook and pen next to him.

"M-male." The creature said. "What's g-going on ri-" He said before being cut off.

"Name?" Deep Thought asked, not wanting him to continue speaking.

"What's going on right now?" He restated, ignoring Deep Thought's question.

"You're being interrogated." Deep Thought stated bluntly. "Back to my question, what's your name?"

"B-Brandon."

Fail Safe continued taking notes near the back of the room. Healing Touch went back to the living room, something about her forgetting a few things in there.

"How do you know about us?" Deep Thought asked.

"Excuse me?"

"How do you know about us? Our species, you have posters up on your walls of ponies that are well known among our kind." Deep Thought explained.

Brandon's eyes widened. "Oh my god." He seemed to stare off into the distance. "They're real." He shifted his gaze to Deep Thought "Have you met her?" Brandon asked, ignoring Deep Thought's question. "Have you met Rainbow Dash?"

Deep Thought's gaze flicked between Brandon's eyes, searching for an answer. "No." He said, "No, I haven't met her." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Back to my question, and you better answer it this time. How do you know about us?"

"There's this.. show I watch." Brandon said.

"Uh-huh. Excuse me ignorance, but what do you mean by show?"

"Oh, you guys don't have television where you're from. I'm not the best at explaining things. How about we head over to the living room so I can show you what I mean?"

Deep Thought raised an eyebrow. He then looked towards Lea, who nodded.

Lea shrugged. "I don't see a problem with it. Untie him but keep an eye on him." He said, turning towards the open door. "I want to see this."

The team escorted Brandon into the living room, their weapons trained on him. Leading Edge and Healing Touch were sitting on the couch, glaring at him. Brandon had a bit of stiffness in his stride, his shoulders tense and his vision seemingly locked on the black box mounted to the wall.

He touched the corner of the box and, after a few seconds, it sprung to life. While it started up, the team glanced at it, surveying its importance and its potential to harm them. The screen went black for a second before showing some well dressed aliens talking in front of a large television screen.

"What am I looking at here?" Leading Edge ask, seemingly entranced in the display in front of him.

"Oh, this is just the news channel." He grabbed a black object and pressed a button on it. The screen changed and he maneuvered the interface until he reached a tab labeled My Little Pony.

The entire team was speechless, temporarily forgetting about their hostage. Several ponies appeared on screen, a world they had never seen before, yet they knew the landmarks and locations. Fields of green and a sky full of wispy clouds, both of which they had never seen before. Sure they had seen clouds before, but they were usually dirty rather than the pristine ones they witnessed on the screen.

Brandon fidgeted in place, seemingly not knowing how to place his limbs. Lea slowly turned his head towards Brandon and eventually tore his eyes away from the television.

"Who made this?" Leading Edge asked. "Who distributed this.. show?"

"Well, I know it was developed by Hasbro." Brandon said. "I don't know all the details though." He pulled out a small rectangle out of his pocket. He raised his hands in surrender before quickly stating, "I-It's just a phone!"

The entire team had turned on him, their weapons trained on him in case he did anything stupid. A few of the members continued stalking towards the side, spreading their numbers out over multiple angles.

"You guys didn't search him when you zapped him?" Leading Edge hissed to Healing Touch without taking his eyes off of Brandon.

"Whoops."

"God damnit." Leading Edge said, slurred slightly by the weapon in his mouth. "Other than make calls, what does it do?" He said, looking towards Brandon.

"I-It can send messages, take pictures, access the internet, and several more things that I can't think of right now." He spilled, still frozen to avoid being shot again.

After a few eternities had passed, Leading Edge spoke. "I want to know more about this Hasbro you speak of."

Research

The team was crowded around something Brandon called a computer. At least one of the ponies still held their weapon and had it pointed at Brandon's back. The rest of the team had their eyes glued to the screen, awestruck at how something so small could display something with so much detail.

"This is called Google. I give it a question or something I want to know about and it spits out hundreds of answers." Brandon explained.

"Wait, hundreds? If there are so many answers, how do you know which one has the answer you're looking for? That sounds awfully inefficient." Deep Thought said from Brandon's side.

"Well, Google usually does a pretty good job at figuring out which answers you're looking for." Brandon said, opening a page on the screen. "Here's a page with a bunch of information on Hasbro." He scrolled through the page and then pointed at a line with a finger. "Here's Hasbro's address."

"Where is Rhode Island?" Connie asked.

"Oh, right. You don't know about this world." Brandon said. "We're in Canada right now. We're in a providence called British Columbia and we're along the west coast. Directly south of us is America. America is huge and so is its military. Rhode Island is in America and it's along the east coast."

"Wait, huge military?" Lea said with a furrowed brow.

"Yeah, they have one of the biggest military in the world I think. You don't have to worry though, as long as you don't draw any attention to yourself, you won't be visited by a battalion." Brandon said, now idly turning in his chair.

"How big are we talking here? I feel like you're exaggerating it a bit." Leading Edge said.

"I'm not actually sure." Brandon said, turning to the computer and typing something in, another website popped up and he glossed over the details. "Their army has one million seven thousand soldiers, but that's just their army."

Leading Edge's jaw was on the floor. "One million? You're joking."

"No, I'm not joking. It says right here." Brandon said, pointing a finger at the screen. "But yeah, that's just their army. They have the Navy, uh, which is their naval warfare service branch. Oh, and there's the Air Force, the National Guard, the Department of Homeland Security, FBI, and they have nuclear weapons. Some of those aren't really the military, but they're still pretty powerful."

"Great," Fail Safe said, "We've landed ourselves on a war riddled planet with no way back home. Good fucking job." He said, and then clopped his fore-hooves together in a slow clap. "Good job, team. We did well."

"Wait, what? You guys are stuck here?" Brandon said, turning around to face the team.

The team glanced at each other and then collected in the corner and began muttering among themselves. Occasionally they'd glance over to Brandon, causing him to fidget in his chair.

"What do we tell him?" Healing Touch asked, careful to keep her voice low. "If we tell him the truth, we put this whole mission at risk."

"Yeah, but if we lie to him and he finds out, he's not going to be happy. I don't really want to mess with a species with that many soldiers." Deep Thought said in a hushed voice.

"If we're honest with him, it'd be easier to get him to work for us." Healing Touch stated.

"So if we get Brandon on our side, we gain a foot hold on this society." Leading Edge said. "I like it, so we're being honest with him?"

The other ponies in the team nodded and they parted to let Deep Thought step forward.

"If you have any questions, we'll answer them." Deep Thought said, crossing his forelegs and sitting on the floor. "What do you want to know?"

Brandon took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "What happened? How'd you guys get stuck here?"

"We went through a portal and then the portal shut. We're not sure if that means that we're stuck here though." Deep Thought said.

"Who's the leader?" Brandon asked.

"Me." Connie said, raising a hoof.

"Can I meet Rainbow Dash?" Brandon asked, a glint of hope in his eyes.

"No." Deep Thought replied quickly.

Brandon slouched a little, dropping his smile immediately. "Oh." A few seconds passed before he looked towards the team again. "Why?"

"The portal is closed, Brandon." Deep Thought stated simply.

"Yeah, but when you do get the portal open, can I?" Brandon said, that glint of hope resurfacing.

"No, Brandon." Deep Thought said, frowning. "No you can't."

"But if the portal is open, then I should be able to meet her, right?" Brandon pleaded. "Why can't I meet her? She's been such an inspiration to me. Can you imagine her reaction if she found out she's popular in two worlds? I need to be the one to tell her, please."

Deep Thought inhaled slowly, and then let it out. What am I supposed to tell him? I really don't want to be the one to break the news to him. "Next question please."

While the team answered Brandon's questions, Leading Edge walked up to Connie and nudged her. Without a word, they slipped out of the room. They entered the living room with Connie and they hopped up onto the couch.

"What's up?" Connie asked once she got comfortable.

"I'm sure I know why you did it, but I just want to be sure." Leading Edge said. "When Brandon asked who the leader was, you said you were the leader. What's up with that?" He asked.

"Well, he was asking who the leader was, right?" Connie said. "I felt like he was trying to figure out who to target. It's like, if he was being held at gunpoint, which he was, he'd want to figure out who to target first. So I technically volunteered to be targeted so you wouldn't get hurt and the rest of the team wouldn't be affected so much."

Lea just listened and Connie continued. "I figured with me being the least experienced of the team that if I were to be injured, it wouldn't make that much of an impact. If you or Healing Touch were injured, or Fail Safe for that matter. If any of you were injured, this entire mission becomes a whole lot more difficult. I don't want to see you guys get hurt."

"Wait," Leading Edge said in a soft voice. "Do you think that you're any less important to the team than Healing Touch or Fail Safe?"

"I don't know."

"Yes or no, do you feel like you're not important to the team?" Leading Edge asked, moving his head closer to Connie to here her. "You're important." He said. "Your service may not be required as often as Healing Touch's or Fail Safe's, but that doesn't mean you're any less important to the team."

Leading Edge continued. "You're important in your own way. When the time comes, you will be the one to go out and do recon for us. Plus, you were chosen to keep the team from falling apart." He smiled. "That sounds pretty important to me."

Connie finally brought her gaze to meet Lea's. Tears were in her eyes, yet she was smiling. She leaned in as if to say something then she pecked him on the cheek. Before he could say anything, she got up, spread her wings, and flew down the hallway to where the rest of the team was. Leading Edge rubbed the spot where Connie kissed him, still too surprised to say anything.

"The fuck?"

By the time Leading Edge entered the room again, the team had finished answering all of Brandon's questions. Whether that be because Brandon ran out of questions or the team decided to usher him out was up to his imagination. Sure, he could've asked, but he didn't need to know. He could care a whole lot less.

Not only did the questions end, but the day ended too. The dark gray light from outside had turned to a simple black, the storm blocked the night sky. The team was weary, a long day of stress, panic, and loss could do that to anyone. With the exception of a pocket knife, the team gave Brandon his things back. The team gathered in the living room and Brandon went off and did his own thing.

Connie flopped onto the sofa, letting out a sigh. "One thing's for sure. Comfort is universal."

Leading Edge hopped onto the sofa with the assistance of his wings. "You got that right." He turned in place a few times before settling down. "My everything hurts."

"I could help you relieve that pain." Connie offered, turning over to face Lea.

"Uh, no. I know what you're offering. I'm not a fan." Leading Edge said without opening his eyes.

Connie let out a little huff. "Am I really that easy to read?"

Fail Safe dropped his saddlebags at the base of the couch. His horn lit and shortly afterwards a bubble of energy engulfed the couch. "Aren't you two a couple of love birds?"

"We aren't in love, nor are we dating. We have enough mission complications as it is. I do not want pregnancy on the list of things we have to deal with." Leading Edge said, his tone as bland as ever.

Connie nudged Leading Edge with a hoof. "Oh, I'm just messing with you." She yawned. "Even if I did want that, I know you wouldn't allow it." She flopped onto her side, curling up. "Today's been rough. I'm so tired of living I could do what that pegasus did in Canterlot a while back." She said, smiling.

"Oh my god." Fail Safe laughed. "What was up with that guy anyway?"

"From what I heard, he was sick of how the government was handling education so he..." Connie stopped. "Yeah."

"What happened in Canterlot?" Healing Touch asked, setting her saddlebags down.

"We'll tell you later." Leading Edge said, yawning. "I think we're beyond our depth here. I'll figure everything out tomorrow. I'm beat."

One by one, the team fell asleep, Fail Safe being the last one to succumb to slumber. However, Brandon had not fallen asleep yet. He was in his bedroom on his phone. An application was open, allowing him to communicate with others. He messaged a friend back and forth for a while, and was eventually able to establish voice communication.

"Brandon, whatever you're smoking, I want it." His friend said.

"Jake, I haven't smoked anything. At least not today." Brandon joked. "I'm not pulling your leg here."

"Uh-huh, right. So let me get this straight. You haven't smoked today, you haven't taken anything today, and you're telling me there are magical talking horses from one of our favorite shows in your house." Jake reasoned. "No, no. I believe you. Sounds completely realistic, down to Earth, and could totally happen, Brandon."

Brandon sighed, rubbing his forehead with his hand. "I get it. This.. sounds pretty far fetched, but what I came home to today is... I just want someone to talk about this, dude. I'm alone in my house with five aggressive talking ponies and I don't know what to do."

"So.. what? You want me to come down there to supercell land and keep you company?" Jake asked. "Yeah, no. I'm not risking my life to chase fiction, thanks." He said. "I'm going to hang up, Brandon. It's one in the morning."

"Wait!" Brandon exclaimed. "Please, Jake. Don't hang up. I can get proof, uh pictures."

A sigh could be heard from Jake's end. "Fine, Brandon. Let's see how your photoshop skills are."

Brandon pushed the door to his bedroom open slowly, careful to avoid making noise. "I'm not using photoshop, dude." He whispered. "I heard them in the living room before. I'm going there right now, I just have to be really quiet." He eased his way down the dark hallway, avoiding the spot that creaked.

"Uh huh, right." Jake deadpanned.

He peaked around the corner to get a view of the living room. On the couch, five ponies lie, their sides rising and falling slowly. He snapped a quick picture with his phone and hurried back down the hallway to his room. Once in his room, he let out a sigh of relief.

"I got the picture, Jake."

"Send it then." Jake said, his patience was running thin.

With a few taps of the screen, the image was sent. It was dim and difficult to make out, but the shape of five ponies sleeping peacefully on the couch could be seen. Two with wings, two with horns, one with none. A gasp could be heard from Jake's end, followed by a few seconds of silence.

"I know you took graphic design classes in high school, Brandon, but I don't think they teach you this kind of stuff." Jake said. "What am I looking at here, Brandon? Don't you lie to me, I want the truth."

"I have five talking ponies in my house, Jake." He cleared his throat and after a moment, he continued. "I don't know what to do. I feel like I should be happy that I'm meeting the very thing I have based a decent portion of my life around, but..." He paused. "I'm at a loss here, Jake. I just want someone to share this with. I want to know that I'm not losing my mind here." Brandon said, his voice wavering.

Several seconds of silence passed before Jake replied. "God damnit, Brandon."

"What?"

"If I get over there, and there's no ponies, we're going to have a problem." Jake said.

"Wait, what do you mean 'we're going to have a problem?' What are you going to do?" Brandon asked, his voice betraying his facade of serenity.

"I'll probably just have you pay for the gas." Jake stated plainly. "That or you buy me lunch or something."

"Alright, drive safe, Jake." Brandon said, and then hung up. He stood still for a moment before walking to his bed and flopping down on it. "What the hell is going on?"

Down Time

The night was silent, broken only by the rustling of grass as a calm breeze cascaded through the land like a slow river. The sky was black, stars dotted it like glitter. Along the ground, a forest went on as far as the eye could see. Only one house stood among the cluster of trees. Inside, Jake stood.

Dark bags were beneath his eyes, his hair a mess, his frame was thin, and he bore no emotions. He wore a baggy t-shirt and pajamas. The room was cluttered with unwashed clothes, empty water bottles, knickknacks, and the occasional electronics box. Skirting around the clutter, Jake made his way to the side of the bed. He stripped his clothes off and slid under the covers.

I wonder what Brandon's up to this time. Jake thought to himself. He'd probably get a quick laugh out of me being so gullible. What kind of idiot does he take me for? Ponies? Really, Brandon? Turning on his side and closing his eyes, he slowed his breathing to relax himself. Well, whatever Brandon has planned, I'm sure it can wait.

Brandon lay awake in his bed, tossing and turning in place, trying to find a comfortable position, but failing. He stopped tossing and turning and just stared at the ceiling. "What am I supposed to do?" He muttered to himself. He ran his hands down his face, causing it to look a bit odd.

After a few moments had passed, he pushed himself out of bed and put some comfortable clothes on. He didn't bother being quiet, it was his house. Let them complain, he thought to himself. He grabbed a beer from the fridge and went out onto the porch. The storm had died down enough that he was able to do that while staying mostly dry.

He sat down in one of the chairs and leaned back a bit. Cracking the can open, he took a sip. His gaze swept the horizon, the ground was darker than the sky. In the distance, the storm could be seen roiling, raging, turning, and flipping over itself.

The door behind Brandon opened and a pegasus walked onto the porch. She hopped onto one of the chairs and settled down.

"You can't sleep either, huh?" Connie said, looking at Brandon.

"I've got a lot on my mind right now." He said. "It's got something to do with several ponies occupying my house and holding me at gunpoint." He took another sip of his beverage. "I thought meeting you guys would be nice, but obviously I was wrong."

"Yeah, we do that for a reason." Connie said. "We're alone, Brandon. We are the only ones on this planet. It's nothing personal, we just need to be able to maintain control of a situation." She explained.

"I figured that." He said, taking a moment to drink before continuing. "It doesn't make it suck any less though." A frown began to stretch across his face. "It doesn't help that I'm alone in this situation too."

Connie tilted her head. "Alone as in the same way as us or alone as in you have no one to talk to?"

"No one to talk to." He said, gesturing towards Connie with a hand. "Of course there's you, but I'm looking for someone I can relate to."

There was a brief pause in the exchange before Connie noticed Brandon's beverage. "What are you drinking there?"

"A solution." He said, taking another sip. "Otherwise known as alcohol."

"I could use some of that." She said, a smirk pulled at her mouth. "Mind if I have a bit?" After receiving a nod from Brandon, she reached out with a foreleg and grabbed it. She gave it a quick sniff before her face scrunched up. "It smells like cider without any flavor."

Brandon smiled slightly. "That's probably an accurate way to describe it. It has flavor, just not as much as you're used to."

She shrugged and took a sip. Her face immediately scrunched up, but she still swallowed the bitter liquid. "I was wrong. It's nothing like cider. It's like liquid depression." She gave the can back to Brandon, who put it on the table in front of him.

"You'll get used to it." He said with a smile. "At least you actually swallowed it. Most people would've spit it out I bet." Leaning back in his chair, he continued. "That'd be a waste of good alcohol."

Connie was scraping her tongue with her teeth, trying to get the flavor out of her mouth. "That's one beverage that's different between worlds." Her head perked up, eyes widening in realization. "You want to get on the team's good side, right?"

He looked towards her, an odd look on his face. "Uh, yeah. Why?"

A small gust of wind came through, causing Connie to push some of her mane out of her eyes. "Well, I think I've figured it out." She said. "Do you have anything with caffeine?"

A bit stunned by Connie's sudden energy, he took a moment to respond. "Uh, yeah. I have a coffee maker in the kitchen."

"As long as it tastes as good as it does in Equestria, it should be perfect." Connie said, a smile spread across her face. "Sleep well, Brandon!" She said, opening the porch door and entering the house.

After she left, Brandon picked up his beer again and leaned back. He brought the can to his lips. "I will." He said, downing the rest of his beverage. He got up from his chair, crushed the can, and threw it into one of the bins. Taking one last look at the horizon, he entered the building.

Shutting the door to his room, he hung his jacket on the hook and flopped onto the bed. He simply stared at the ceiling. "What have you gotten yourself into, Brandon?" He muttered to himself. "One day you're getting off of work, going home, no big deal." He continued. "Then you get home and you're capped by some alien ponies from a show you watched literally a day prior."

After stripping his clothes, he pulled the sheets over him and was swiftly brought to rest. It's comforting to know that, regardless of how strange the situation is, the sun will still rise like it always has. The world works that way.

Author's Note

I'm looking for a proof reader. My current one is going through some troubles and he's literally on the other side of the planet. If you have decent availability and a discord account, shoot me a DM and we'll figure something out.

Departure

The team finished up their breakfast and their coffee and they were strewn about in Brandon's room in front of several different devices. Spread across the screens were details and a whole slew of maps. From train maps to road maps, they had it all and they were plotting their course.

"I didn't know Twilight had two of those!" Leading Edge said, staring at one of the screens.

"She doesn't. Stop looking at that and come over here." Connie said with a stern tone. "I think I figured out what we should do."

"Oh?" Lea said, walking over to where Connie was sitting. On the monitors in front of her were several maps for trains, a few road maps for where they were. "So what's the plan then, Connie?"

"This," Connie said, pointing a hoof at one of the monitors. "Is us."

He looked at the image on screen for about two seconds before saying "Looks nothing like us."

"Smart ass." Connie said, bumping him on the shoulder. "But yeah, this is where we are. We can travel up this side road here." She said, tracing the line with the tip of a hoof. "And eventually skirt along the back roads until we reach the train here." She said, emphasizing the transfer with a little bob of the hoof.

"So what about that gap there?" Lea said, pointing at the screen. "I don't know how far that road is from the tracks, but I get the feeling it ain't small. You and I can travel that distance no problem, but we have two unicorns and an Earth pony with us."

"Yeah, I see what you mean, but humans are clever little shits. Watch this." She clicked a button and the view changed. "This is satellite view. I don't know how it works; Brandon said it was magic. There's a treeline along most of the route we'll be taking and the forest carries on towards the tracks."

"Hm. Unless anyone has a better plan, I say we take that one." Leading Edge said with a smirk.

"What about Brandon?" Connie inquired.

"What about him?"

"He knows about us. We can't just leave him here where he might tell someone about us. I don't want to kill him. Fuck that, he's not an asshole. He's been nothing but cooperative." Connie explained. "I don't know. I just hope we don't resort to killing him."

Lea shrugged. "I don't see Brandon as much of a problem. If what he's said is anything to go on, humans are the only sapient creatures on this planet. If someone went around saying there were talking horses with wings or horns in his house, they'd probably ask him what he's been smoking."

"And if they can have any." Connie said with a smirk.

Lea chuckled a bit. "You and your jokes, Connie. They never get old." He paused. "Actually, they do. They get old quite quickly, but they're amusing nonetheless." He glanced around the room before giving a firm nod. "Let's go."

The team walked into the living room. Brandon was sitting in an arm chair with a bowl of cereal. Upon seeing the team, he smiled. "What's up?"

Connie tilted her head. "Isn't it a little late to be eating cereal?"

"Nope." He said, taking another mouthful of cereal just to spite her. Connie looked at him with confusion and Brandon looked back with a neutral expression.

"Anyways, Brandon." Leading Edge said, interrupting the impromptu staring contest. "My team and I have been discussing something. I'm sure you've noticed by now the nature of the questions that we've been pestering you with. If you haven't, I'll fill you in; we're leaving."

"Wait, you're the leader?" Brandon asked, pointing at Lea, who was now sitting.

Leading Edge nodded. "Yes, I am. Connie decided to title herself as the leader in order to protect me. I am grateful to have her loyalty, but I feel somewhat odd to have someone put themselves in the line of fire to protect me."

"Don't you mean somepony?" Brandon asked, a smirk on his face.

Lea sighed. "Nope. From what I've heard, that term stopped being used a few hundred years ago. They stopped using it because it caused a bit of confusion when other species started mixing with the towns full of ponies." Leading Edge explained. "Plus, it's just stupid to say."

"Ah."

"I can not stress this enough, Brandon. Do not tell anyone about who we are or that we're even here. If you do that, we could die."

Brandon rubbed the back of his neck. "Eh, about that."

Date: 2.11.18
Time: 21:09

So I decided to start a journal about this just for the shits and giggles. I am currently along the shoulder of some back road towards Brandon's house. I'm nowhere close to his house, mind you, but whatever. So yeah, I'm going to Brandon's house. If it turns out that Brandon was just messing with me, I'm going to burn this book and deny any claims that it exists.

For whatever reason, Brandon made it a personal goal of his to create these overly complicated plans that are stupidly thorough. When I say stupidly thorough, I mean he took into account quite a bit of the things I might say. Perhaps he got it from me. Regardless, I should at least humor him. He went through all this effort after all.

For the record, I'm going to his house for two reasons. The first reason is because if it doesn't exist, I get free gas and lunch tomorrow. The second reason is ponies. That's it. It's a win-win situation and I approve.

I've got a long drive ahead of me.

Date: 2.11.18
Time: 21:31

Alright, I decided to take a bit of a break from driving. I don't know why I decided to drive in the middle of the night. For those of you who haven't had the luxury of driving at night, it's not great. Especially when you're driving on a back road like I had been doing for the past twenty minutes. The roads are narrow with no shoulder and they're not even maintained.

Now, you may be thinking "Jake, you fucking idiot, why are you traveling on a back road? Isn't there some main highway or a well maintained road between you and Brandon's house?" First of all, that's Mr. Idiot to you. Second of all, that's what I thought when I set off. However, nothing in life is ever easy. Brandon lives in Vancouver. I, however, do not. I live off in the middle of butt-fuck nowhere.

But yeah, I'm starting to have my doubts about this endeavor. I'm spending a few hours of my time and quite a bit of my gas to travel to my friend's house because he said something about ponies. This might not actually be as much of a win-win situation as I had originally thought.

This better be fucking worth it, Brandon.

Author's Note

I have a discord server.
Join it for free cancer or some shit.
discord.gg/TvMKMZW

Conflict

"What are you saying, Brandon?" Fail Safe asked, glaring at him with a gaze that could melt birds.

Brandon looked like a deer in headlights. "I-I may have t-told someone." He stammered, stepping backwards.

"You did or you didn't?" Fail Safe demanded, stepping closer.

"I-I did."

"Explain. Now." Fail Safe demanded, his horn started to glow.

"Back off of him, Fail Safe." Connie said, pushing him back with a hoof. "Humans are social creatures."

"So?" Fail Safe said, not removing his gaze from Brandon.

"He was just trying to not deal with this alone." Connie explained.

"It doesn't excuse him for jeopardizing the mission." Fail Safe said. "This shit slips out, we die. Why shouldn't I just pop this kid right now and save ourselves the hassle?"

"Because if you kill him, we still have another person that knows of our existence. What happens when someone notices that he's missing, Fail Safe?" Connie asked. "Even worse, what happens when they find his body? I'd rather they find an alive Brandon than a dead one."

"I like the one that involves me not dying." Brandon said.

Fail Safe glared at him and Connie was just laughing. Brandon glared at her which shut her up pretty quickly. Her form deflated slightly.

Fail Safe turned to Brandon again and spoke. "So what's stopping you from telling more people or reporting us to the authorities?"

Fail Safe's horn had stopped glowing, but Brandon either didn't notice or didn't care. "You," Brandon said, pointing at Connie, "Are a being from Greek Mythology. Your race does not exist here and you're the first one I've ever seen."

"How is this relevant?" Fail Safe asked.

"I'm getting to that." Brandon said. "If I were to say there were one of you in my house, they wouldn't believe me. Better yet, if I were to mention there's two unicorn, two pegasi, and a talking pony in my house, they'd probably pass it off as a joke and tell me to stop wasting their time."

"Wouldn't they still send some people over here just to make sure?"

"Worst case scenario, yeah. They'd send a few people over here to make sure I was okay. Even then, you'd probably fuck off when the police arrived to check it out." He explained. "Oh, and distracting the entire team isn't going to happen either. I've seen what you guys do; you have at least one of you set up to keep watch. Usually it's her." Brandon said, pointing at Connie.

"Okay," Fail Safe said, sitting down. "Wait, who did you even tell?"

"Why didn't we ask that in the first place?" Leading Edge asked. "That would've been some pretty important information to know."

Fail Safe started tracing a circle on the floor with a hoof. "It didn't seem relevant at the time I guess."

"Well," Leading Edge said, looking at Fail Safe. "I guess now would be a good time to find out. Brandon," He said, moving his gaze to the familiar human. "Who did you tell?"

"Well, it's not really that importa-" He managed to say before being cut off.

"WHO DID YOU TELL?" Lea shouted, moving towards Brandon.

"J-Jake." Brandon stammered. "I have a friend named Jake and I told him a little bit ago."

"How long is a little bit ago?" Fail Safe asked.

"I-I forgot." He said. "Probably several hours ago, but I don't know."

Lea sighed and put a hoof to his face. "We gotta go, team. We don't know how long we have until this guy gets here."

The team quickly mobilized, walking past Brandon in their journey to the exit. "I'm sorry this didn't end well." Connie said as she passed him. Her eyes were glossy and she wore a frown on her face. As they approached the door, they heard a muffled thump from somewhere outside.

Upon hearing the sound, the entire team froze in place. The entire team turned to Brandon, who was still sitting in his arm chair. "What was that, Brandon?" Fail Safe asked.

"Sounded like a car door." He said, getting out of his chair to peak through the window.

"Is it Jake, Brandon?" Fail Safe inquired.

He parted the curtains slightly to view a small sliver of the world. "It looks like his car. I can't see him though."

"Well, this guy better be friendly. If not, that's it for both of you." Fail Safe said. "I'm not a fan of doing this, but I'm afraid we don't really have any other options. Please don't make us do this, Brandon. I'm sure you're a nice guy, but right now, we can't be taking risks."

"It sucks being held at gun point, that's for sure." Brandon said. "Jake is friendly, but I'm not sure how he'll react when he sees you. He might be overzealous or he might not care at all. I don't actually know."

Fail Safe looked thoughtful for a moment before commenting. "So be wary of him until he does something that could be construed as hostile?"

Brandon started making his way towards the door. "I guess, yeah. Just don't kill him, okay?" After a small pause, he unlocked the door and opened it.

"Alright Brandon, where are these totally legit ponies you've told me about?" Jake joked. "You could've at least tried to fool me with this one, du-" He said before stopping dead in his tracks. Before him were five ponies, all covered in black tactical gear. Each had furrowed brows, pressed lips, stiff stances, and heads raised.

It took him a while to recover, but when he did, it was odd. He laughed. It started with a few giggles, then transitioned to laughs, and settled upon cackling. It lasted for several seconds, everyone was too stunned to say anything in fear of shattering this man's perception of reality. The laughing would die down, but would quickly pick up again when he caught sight of the team. Once he finally gained enough composure to stop laughing for more than five seconds, he spoke.

"Oh, Brandon." He said between giggles. "Brandon, Brandon, Brandon. What have you done to deserve such a cruel fate?"

"What are you talking about, Jake?"

"You sounded like you were about to piss yourself when you called me." He put to hands up to his face in mock fear. "Oh, woe-is-me. I have five small horses in my house. Whatever shall I do?"

"Jake, stop." Fail Safe said, breaking between the two.

Jake looked at Fail Safe, and immediately started laughing again. "Oh," He said. "Oh my God. They talk too? This is too fucking good."

"I'm seriously starting to regret calling you over here, dude."

"I'm not. This is great." Jake said, wiping a tear from his eye. "So what did you want me over here for, anyway?"

"Well, we were just about to leave, but we just recently found out that Brandon here invited you without our knowledge." Leading Edge said, taking a few steps forward.

Jake pretended to think for a moment. "So how did you guys plan on traveling and where are you going to?"

"Well, we were planning on just going on hoof until we reached a train. Our destination isn't important to you, Jake." Fail Safe said.

"On hoof?" Jake scoffed. "I don't know where you're headed to, pal, but I don't think you understand just how large this world is. We don't have trains that can scale the map in a day, my little ponies. In this world, trains are meant for transporting large amount of materials and resources long distances. They probably take weeks to months to get from one side of the country to the other." He threw his hands up. "I have no idea how long it'd take, but it won't be a day."

"Time is not important here. What's important is getting from point A to point B without being detected."

Jake let out a little chuckle. "Excluding going on hoof, going on a train is probably the worst option you could've gone with." He shifted his weight onto another leg and crossed his arms. "Someone might spot you on your way to the train. If you even get on the train, the difficulty doesn't end there. There's frequent security checks along the way. If you get spotted, you're as good as dead."

"So?" Fail Safe asked. "What's your idea then?"

"A car." Jake said simply. "It can go anywhere there's roads and it's sitting outside."

"What about security?"

"As long as you don't stick your face out in the open, you'll be fine."

"I'm just going to squeeze in here real quick, Jake." Leading Edge said. "I'm going to have a quick chat with the team here." He said, ushering the team out of the room.

"What?" Connie said once the door closed.

"Can we trust him?" Lea asked.

"I don't like him much. No respect." Fail Safe said.

"Well, we don't know if it's respectful or not to act that way." Connie said. "This is a different world entirely. For all we know, what he's doing could be incredibly respectful." She shrugged. "I like him. He's quite charming in a way." She received a few odd looks from that. "No, not in that way! I mean, he's got a bit of humor to him."

"God knows we have enough humor as it is." Fail Safe said. "But can we trust him? I don't care if he's charismatic, good looking, or that he shares a birthday with you. What stops him from lying to us and fucking this entire mission up?"

"Good looking?" Connie said, raising an eyebrow.

"Not important." Fail Safe said. "It was just an example." He paused. "Before you ask, no, I'm not attracted to him. He's not good looking and he obviously doesn't take care of himself. You saw how skinny he was." He started pacing. "Anyways, as I was saying, how can we trust him?"

"I mean, he doesn't really have a reason to lie to us." Connie said, shrugging. "I don't know."

"What do you mean he doesn't have a reason to lie to us? You don't know that!" Fail Safe shot back.

"Can we stop arguing please?" Deep Thought asked. "I've had a lie detection spell placed on Brandon for a while now and I cast another spell when Jake entered. Neither of them have lied yet."

"Do you know if that spell works on them?" Lea asked.

"Yes, I tested the lie detection spell and a few others on them. I got Brandon to tell a lie" He said, making air quotes with his hooves. "Once and the spell tripped."

"What's with the air quotes?"

"I used some psychology tricks on him and I got him to lie. Sort of." Deep Thought said, bobbing his head slightly. "He technically lied."

"Alright," Leading Edge said, "Anyone else have any reasons why we should or shouldn't trust him?" He looked around the room. "Okay, so that settles it. We can trust him."

Day Two

The team slowly woke up from their slumber. A familiar aroma filled the air, causing their ears to perk in attention. The literal bubble of magic still enveloped the team, protecting them throughout the night. Fail Safe didn't know anything about the capabilities of the natives of this world, so he just conjured up the highest grade protection spells he could muster. It left him taxed, but it's certainly better than being dead.

Connie was the last to wake up, her talk with Brandon prior to falling asleep took about an hour. By the time she did get up, the rest of the team was packing up their sleeping equipment and folding neatly into their saddlebags. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she did the same.

Deep Thought fastened a strap on his saddlebags and looked over to Connie, dark bags beneath her eyes, her mane a mess, and her eyes had veins in them. "Didn't sleep again i gather?" He inquired.

"No, I did. I just stayed up later than the rest of you." She said, rolling her sleeping bag up into a cylinder. "Insomnia is a bitch."

He shrugged. "I wouldn't know." He said, cracking a smile. "I am sensing a pattern here. What did you get up to while we were out?"

"I talked with Brandon for a while. We drank some alcohol." She said, sliding the sleeping bag into her saddlebags.

"Alcohol? What's that?"

Deep Thought hopped down from the couch, causing a loud clop sound as his hooves struck the hardwood floor. Giving a few stretches, he poked his head through the magical bubble before freezing in place. His face scrunching up, not in disgust, but confusion.

A hoof wrapped around him and he was pulled back into the bubble. Leading Edge put a hoof to his mouth, signalling for silence. Unholstering his weapon and holding it in his mouth, he creeped towards the edge of the bubble, scanning the room.

Taking it as a silent signal, the entire team drew their weapons as well, scanning the room in silent concentration. They quickly cleared the living room and then moved onto the kitchen. Having done this thousands of times, each room was cleared flawlessly. The sweep turned up clear and the team met up in the kitchen.

"So what's on today's agenda?" Connie said, looking at Lea.

"Well, first thing I want to do is make sure that we can reestablish a connection with command in the event they get that portal open." He said. "We should set up our radios so they send out a ping on a high gain every so often."

"How often should we ping command though?" Deep Thought asked. "If we do it too often, we could drain our batteries."

Leading Edge thought for a moment before shrugging. "Every half an hour?"

"Sounds fine to me." Deep Thought said. "I'll get to work on that while you guys work on breakfast. What do you want it to say?" He said, making his way towards the door.

"Set it up so I can prerecord a message to be sent." Leading Edge said. "Please."

"I'll see what I can do." He said, leaving the room with Fail Safe in tow.

After the two left, Connie spoke up. "Wait, why are we sitting in the kitchen? Our food is in the living room."

"That... is a good question." Leading Edge said.

As silently as hooves against a hardwood floor could manage, they made their way into the living room and into the protective confines of the magic bubble. They grabbed their prepackaged food and ate it in silence. While the team was eating, Brandon walked into the living room and stopped in his tracks.

He cracked a smile and shook his head. "I'm never going to get used to seeing you guys in my house."

One of them shrugged. "We'll be out of your hair in a few. After breakfast, we're going to do some checkups on our equipment and then we're leaving." Leading Edge's voice said, echoing slightly from within the bubble.

"Where would you be going?" Brandon inquired.

Leading Edge tilted his head slightly, causing Brandon to crack a smile. "To Hasbro of course. Why?"

"How would you even get there?" Brandon asked. "It'd take you an awfully long time to get there on foot."

Lea held up a hoof as if to object, but set it down slowly. "I hadn't really thought of that. The time part I mean. How far is Hasbro anyways?"

"Well, if we were to take a plane." He said, earning a confused glance from the team. "A plane is a method of transportation that travels well above the speed you five are capable of by an order of magnitude by flying." He explained, earning a slow nod of understanding.

He continued. "Anyways, taking a plane to get to Hasbro would probably take a few hours. Taking a car however," He said, earning yet another set of confused looks. He didn't bother explaining. "Can probably get there in a week or so. I don't travel so those numbers are off by a lot."

"What about trains?" Connie asked. "Do you have trains?"

"We have trains, yeah, but they're not really meant for civilian transportation. It's more for transporting a metric shit ton of various items from point A to point B." He explained. "Sure, you can hop aboard and become a stowaway, but that's a risky game to play. They have security checks and they check a few of the carts when they come to a stop."

"What are you trying to say, Brandon?" Leading Edge inquired.

"I'm saying that without my help, you're going to find this endeavor difficult."

Leading Edge thought for a moment, drawing his gaze away from Brandon. After a minute or so, his eyes met Brandon's again. "Why should we trust you?"

"Well." Brandon started, walking towards the kitchen. He stopped at the door way and motioned for the team to follow. "I made a little something for you guys." He stepped into the kitchen, but after a few moments of silence, he stepped into the doorway again. "It's coffee."

That certainly got their attention because they were practically climbing over each other on their way to the kitchen.

"WHERE?" Connie screeched.

After removing his hands from his ears, Brandon pointed at the black device that made various bubbling noises. Brandon went into a cabinet and pulled out a few cups. One for each of them. He filled each cup and gave it to each member of the team.

They glanced between each other before one of them took a sip and quickly scrunched up.

"What's wrong?" Deep Thought asked.

"It's bitter."

"Oh, hang on." Brandon said, opening the refrigerator and pulling out a bottle. "Creamer." He said, shaking the bottle to emphasize its contents. Taking one of the cups that was in front of Connie, he poured a small amount of the white liquid into the coffee and gave it back to her.

She grabbed the cup and took another sip. This time, rather than scrunching up, she visually relaxed. She grabbed the bottle and passed it to another member of the team. That other member also added some of the white substance to their drink and passed it to he next member. This process continued until the entire team had a sufficient amount of flavoring in their drink.

"So?" Brandon prompted.

"I'd say we're on good terms now." Leading Edge said with a smile. He straightened slightly and he addressed the team. "Alright, let's get those radios working. We've got a long journey ahead of us, team."