I woke cold and stiff. I frowned, keeping my eyes closed; why was it so cold? I shifted slightly; I was on something hard. I needed to know, I needed to find where I was. I opened my eyes, blackness greeting them. Emptiness, nothing of definition. I tried to sit up, my body lifting off of what I had been laying on. Floating in the pitch void, my eyes darting around for something anything that I’d be able to see. I flailed, my forelegs trying to find something to grasp on.
Hard. Glass. Cold. These things raced through my mind as my head lightly met with something above me. So I wasn’t dead, or at least I was fairly certain I wasn’t dead. I took several deep breaths, trying to find something, anything to orient myself with. My hoof brushed a switch. A slight buzz came to my ears. Bright. Light. Pain. My eyes forced themselves shut, watering at the sudden lumination. The light pierced my eyelids; the red of the blood vessels in them along with the pain was confirmation enough to me that I was still alive. I blinked, allowing my pupils to adjust to the light.
I gazed around this strange place. Small. Metal. Enclosed. My mind raced as my eyes darted around the enclosure. I pushed myself away from the glass that I had bumped up against, floating strangely back down to the bottom of the strange metal cell. I twisted myself, gaining a better view of my surroundings. The glass was still black, with several dots of white propagating through it. All around this strange sight were buttons and switches.
My eyes darted from label to label, trying to figure out what did what. More deep breaths, searching the labels. Computer. Cryogenic Suspension. Life Support. Food. That last one made more sense. I saw a small button beneath it as well as several colourful lights and switches. I flipped a few of them, the lights changing as I did so. My stomach growled, the thought of food made me realize how hungry I really was. I had nothing to lose, worst that could happen is that the button did not dispense food and that I would starve to death. I pressed it.
Whirring, then silence. Something nudged up against my side. I looked down; a small tube with a picture of an apple was floating beside me. I still hadn’t figured out why everything that wasn’t bolted down was floating. I reached for the tube, watching as it danced away with my touch. I lunged, spinning slightly at the movement. I missed, but it hit the wall stopping. I was able to reach out, gently cradling the tube in my forehooves. A small cap graced the top, and with a slight pop I opened it. The smell of fresh apples wafted from the tube, but I wondered how I would get the apples out when the nozzle at the top clearly was too small to allow for apples to escape. The more I looked at the tube the more I wondered, the tube its self wasn’t even the right shape of an apple.
I had to know, so I squeezed it waiting to see if or how an apple would come out. A paste slid from the tube instead, looking very much like in innards of an apple. I felt like a fool, of course the tube would have something like crushed apples in it. I bit down on the paste, it was thick and warm in my mouth. The taste of apples was strong, but it didn’t have any crisp to it. I continued to squeeze the tube, eating the paste that came out of it. I had no choice, I was starving.
I let the tube float away once I had finished. Empty, nothing more to give. I twisted myself around again, inspecting the rest of my surroundings. Again, the label ‘computer’ caught my eye. It was just above a small switch. I had heard of computers, mechanical devices that could do things with ease that most ponies would find difficult or near impossible. I had never gotten to see one before and the thought of having one available in front of me sent a jolt of excitement through my panic. I reached out a hoof, flipping the switch.
The black glass with the white dots flickered as the glass turned green. White words appeared on the green. 'Enter command.' I looked around for something to work with. Several buttons below the glass caught my eye. Several of them had letters and numbers on them, with a button that had the word “Enter” on it.
I pressed one of the buttons; a letter appeared on the glass. I pressed more of the buttons, and more letters appeared on the screen. I hit a button with the word 'Back' on it and it removed one of the letters on the glass. Those words at the top caught my eye again. I removed all the previous letters on the screen, typing out my question. 'Where am I?'
Words appeared beneath my question. 'Command not recognized.' I frowned, clearly the phrase wasn’t clear. I tried again, re-wording it. 'Tell me where I am.' Much more clear I thought. Again, the words 'Command not recognized' appeared on the screen. I clearly needed a different approach. 'What commands are there?'
'Command not recognized.' Flashed on the screen again. I moaned, trying several different phrases trying to find out how to work this device. Each time the same words came up. 'Command not recognized.' I was just about to give up, but I had one last thing to try. The simplest plea of someone in trouble. 'Help'.
Words started scrolling up the screen, small words and phrases followed by descriptions. I grinned triumphantly, I had found the commands. Using buttons with little arrows on them I was able to look through the commands. Finally I saw the command that I wanted. I quickly entered it. 'Mission Statement.' Words scrolled onto the screen, and as I read them dread filled my body.
'This pod’s mission is to discover new planets beyond Equestria. It has been equipped with a pony who can record what the new planet is like. This pod has also been equipped with limited food and water to help the pony survive their first couple of days on the new planet. The pony is intended to be kept in cryogenic suspended animation until arrival on a planet.'
Suddenly I understood where I was, knew what was going on. I was in space, closer to the stars than I ever would have wanted to be. I was far away from Equestria, from my family, from my friends. Tears welled in my eyes, I’d never get to see any of them again. There was nothing I could really do. I entered one last command, if there was nothing I could do all I could to was start over, return to my basic roots.
'Enter Log' Flashed on the screen, the glass clearing all other words on it. I started pressing buttons, entering my final thought, one last thing I needed to do. 'Dear Princess Celestia…'