When Technology fails

Chapters

Chapter 1: Teleportation?
Chapter 3: Not just Mythology
Chapter 4: Dreams of Cruelty
Chapter 5: Rise and Shine
Chapter 6: Surprise
Chapter 7: But magic isn't real!
Chapter 2: What could go wrong?

Chapter 1: Teleportation?

December 23rd, 2093
Graviton Research Center
8:05 PM

"Come on Dr. Venham, I already gave you 5 more minutes! Shut down the computer and get your stuff, I want to go home now. I still need to get a Christmas tree for tomorrow and my girlfriend is going to kill me when I get home with empty hands!" A G.R.C security guard entered the long stretched laboratory; he was one of the few men who where allowed to enter the high security area, 50 feet below the surface, making sure that no intruder could get inside and keeping the scientists safe, while they were working on their experiments.

"I already said that you can just call me Ramuel, I don't like this formal stuff." The voice came from one of the scientists, or better to say THE scientist. Dr. Ramuel Venham, probably one of the most intelligent heads on the planet and the leader in the research of graviton technology. He was only 23 years old and had already studied with 16 years.
"I just need to finish this last experiment today before I have to wait 3 days without knowing the results."

"Jeez Ramuel, I can understand that you aren't religious, but couldn't you just simply enjoy Christmas for once?"

"You do know that I am from India and that we don't celebrate Christmas in our religion?"

"But since you aren't religious, this wouldn't make any difference for you!"

He made an empty stare. "Okay, point for you." The guard had to grin at the thought that someone like him has outsmarted a genius. "Just get that grin out of your face and I will do it quickly, or you could just help me for once." These guards could really do something useful someday - the whole day they're just standing around and do nothing than talking about their lives and hobbies. We don't even need any guards - who in the world would be able to destroy a 2 feet thick reinforced titanium vault-door and get out before the military has stormed the whole city?

"Come on, you do know that I don't understand a bit of that stuff you are do-"

"It's not that hard." Ramuel cut him off, "I am only testing the bending of the space, caused by helium with 10 times more gravitons than normal."

"And now my brain is stuck, thanks"

"You just need to open the valve for the helium." Is this stuff really THAT hard to understand?

"Why didn't you say that first?" The guard walked over to the experiment that was built up on the large table on the middle of the room. "That red valve here?"

"Yes, you need to turn it fully open for 3 seconds, when the machine has generated enough gravitons for the helium." The guard looked a bit confused. "Don't worry, I will give you a sign." Ramuel went to his laptop and started the recording program for the sensors, and activated the graviton-generator. "Okay this will take 30 seconds, hope you are ready." The experiment started making a high pitched beeping, just like a camera flash would do.

"A non-electric valve in such a place? A bit strange don't you think?"

"I am using one, so I don't fill this room with helium, because the laptop had frozen and I couldn't close the valve"

"Ugh, the evacuation back in 2092, I remember. Anyway..." Ramuel turned his head to the guard. "...what exactly is a graviton? I always wanted to know that."

He's working here since 2090 and doesn't even know the basics of the things we're doing here?!? "It's pretty simple. A graviton is a particle without mass and is electrical neutral; it's controlling the gravitation of any other particle. Every particle has exactly one graviton, but can be charged with more."

"So you're just increasing the gravity of helium in this experiment?" The scientist nodded confirmingly. "Oh, that's really pretty simple."

After the 30 seconds Ramuel gave the sign. The guard tried to turn the valve open, but he couldn't. "Damn it! It's stuck!" He tried to turn it as hard as he could, but nothing happened.

"Argh, this had to happen, now we may have a problem.", he threw his arms up in the air. "We have to clean this thing from the gravitons; this will at least take an hour - sure you can't open it?"

"Completely sure, it's not moving a bit. Can't we just let it here and you clean it in a few days?"

"If anyone would do that here, we would already have created a black hole." He imagined how this would look like, a whole world being sucked into a black hole, but quickly tried to get it out of his mind. "No, that's much too dangerous, we need to do that right now."

"Thanks, now I have to buy a house in hell, because that's where I am going to go when I get home." Always these near crazy scientists who are forgetting about everything simple, checking a simple valve is already too hard...

"I am sorry, but I couldn't have known that this would happen. I will clean it fast and-" he suddenly stopped talking at the sight of his laptop - the diagram was showing a curve. "How can this be possible?"

"Didn't you say you would need gravitons AND helium for results?"

"Yes, the gravitons only affect space when there is any particle to be charged. But there's still an absolute vacuum in this thing! Nothing can catch up the loose gravitons and bend the space, this is just impo-... wait a second...", he turned back to his laptop and searched for the diagram of an older test. I can't believe it, this is the key! He looked back at the guard and said "I need a secured phone line, fast!"

"What is it? Is something wrong?"

"No, everything is just wonderful, because THIS will make Star Trek real!" A very wide grin appeared on his face, the kind only somebody who had won the jackpot from a lottery would get.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

April 2nd, 2100
Somewhere in Florida
1:57 AM

A black Jeep with very dark windows and turned off lights was driving along the streets; in it were two guys wearing military clothing with a dark camouflage.

"Damn GPS system! When you need it, it doesn't work; or your comrade forgot to charge it!"

"Shut up, I am the one who's driving and besides, YOU are the guy who is responsible for navigation, so it's YOUR fault we don't have any GPS right now! Get the map out and tell where I have to drive."

"We only have his house number Sherlock!"

"Why didn't you memorize the street name?"

"I wanted to do that, but in exact that moment the batteries were empty!"

"You are kidding, right? You do know that the general won't be happy about this!?!"

"I know."

"I KNOW?!? That's all you can say to that? You know what? I'm gonna tell him that this is all you fault!"

"C'mon don't overreact now! It's not like he's going to ki-.... STOP!!! That's his house!"

The driver floored the brake, while his co-driver pushed his hands against the interior so that he wouldn't fly out of his seat, straight through the window. The tires made a horrible sound, like they were going to burst any second; finally the car stopped nearly hitting the bushes of a house. "Do you think anyone heard that?"

"Do you think anyone didn't?" The two were looking out of the car, to see if somebody would turn the light on or open a window, to see who was driving like a maniac this late. "Seems like we're lucky."

The driver parked the car carefully near the house and turned the engine off. Both were slowly opening the door of their side and stepped outside of the car. "So who's this guy anyway?"

"Some kind of ex-astronaut, the general said that he was one of the best he had ever seen in his career."

"Why ex?"

"He was involved in the tragic accident on the ISS 2 and was blamed for it, ruining his career."

"You don't mean THE accident where the reactor leaked and twelve people died, because they couldn't get to one of the escape-shuttles before the hull bursted?"

"Exactly that one, he was the only engineer on the space station and responsible for all mechanical systems. In the report they said that he had forgotten to tighten some screws after the maintenance; but he said that it was caused by a small asteroid hitting the reactor chamber and leaking the primary cooling gas."

"And because the ISS 2 had been destroyed, he couldn't prove it. What an unlucky guy."

"But after all, they want him back for some reason. But that's not important right now, be formal." The co-driver was reaching for the bell, when suddenly the door slammed open; he jumped back, because he was looking straight into someone's light blue eyes.

"Is this some kind of late April-Fool?" A man stood there wearing a pyjama, looking angrily at the two guys who were interrupting his sleep.

"Uh.. I mean... we're from the US Air force, Mr. Jan Schneider... we are-"

The man interrupted him. "I already told the government that I won't work for them anymore, after what they have done to me ! Good night!" He slammed the door shut.

The two Air Force soldiers turned their head to each other "Oh great, what now, General Sinclair said that he needs someone like him." They both turned around when suddenly the door slammed open again.

"Sinclair? Like in James Sinclair?" They both turned back to him and nodded. "I will need ten minutes." With that he closed the door.

"What the..."

"...hell?" They both looked at each other, very confused after what has just happened.

After ten minutes the man reappeared, wearing a shirt and jeans, with a backpack in his right hand. "Okay, we can go." They all stepped inside the black jeep and quickly drove along the street. "May I ask what General Sinclair wants from me?"

"He wasn't very specific - he only said that he wants us to get you and bring you to the nearest military base - he's waiting there, so you can ask him about everything you want to know."

"Okay, how long will it take?"

"If our maniac driver over here keeps his status, I would say in 30 minutes."

"Ha ha, how funny; I am still a better driver than you." The other two guys gave him a small grin, while he angrily floored the gas.

¬— — — —

31 minutes later...

"31 minutes too slow" Jan chuckled.

"Here we are, my friend will show you where you can find General Sinclair." He didn't even try to react to him.

Jan and the co-driver stepped outside of the car, but before they could even close the doors right, the driver already drove away. "Is he always like that?"

"Kinda, he just doesn't like it if somebody argues about his driving skills. Anyway, the General is over there at the M5-Lightning. If you excuse me, I have to calm Mr. Maniac, before he accidently kills somebody." With that he quickly ran after the jeep. Jan turned to the M5-Lightning; it was one of the most modern transportation jets in history - the M5 stood for the maximum speed of Mach 5, it was also equipped with a VTOL system, which makes it possible to land and start like a helicopter.

The ex-astronaut walked over to the big plane; General Sinclair, who was talking with the pilot, didn't see him. "Well, well, well; if that's not our reputable General Sinclair in his old days."

The old man turned to him and laughed. "Jan Schneider, we haven't seen us for a long time and you're still like I remember. We bet if you would come on your own, or if I had to come myself to get you."

"I wouldn't have come if it weren't you who is asking for me. I still can't believe what NASA and the government did and what happened 23 years ago."

"I know, I'm disappointed with myself that I couldn't do anything to help you; I am sorry son."

"Wait, General Sinclair is your father and you're his son?" The pilot asked confused.

"No", Jan laughed. "He just keeps saying 'son' for some reason." He turned back to the general. "Hey, you did all you could, you don't need to be disappointed with yourself." The general looked down, as if he was nearly dropping a tear; Jan put a hand on one of his shoulders. "So, well, I heard that you wanted me, here I am, what is it? Has NASA finally decided to give me my job back?"

The general looked back at him. "Well good news and bad news; bad news it's not NASA that want you back." Suddenly the hopeful smile that had appeared on Jan's face faded. "Good news, we have something MUCH better for you." The ex-astronaut looked at him confused - what could be better than getting his well paid and lovely job back? "It has something to do with space, but I will tell you later, first come into the machine and take a seat, we're going to the Cheyenne Mountain Complex."

— — — —

15 minutes later, on the way to the Cheyenne Mountain Complex...

"So what is this all about?"

"Do you know some scientist called Dr. Venham?"

"The one who has already studied at the age of 16? Yes I do, why?"

"He is working...., well, was working at the G.R.C. and made a break-through."

"What kind of break-through? I don't hope that this is a new weapon which I have to test in space or something like that." He muttered.

"No, it's something completely different, it's magic", he snorted two times.

"C'mon, tell me the real thing and stop laughing like that!"

"Sorry, I just LOVE your priceless face, it's just... I can't find the words..." After a short pause he continued. "Okay, he invented teleportation, just like in Star Trek, but a bit more limited."

"Nice joke, you had your fun." But the general shook his head. "What? He really invented teleportation? How did he do that?"

"Well, that is too hard for me to understand, I am sure he can tell you more. I only know that he needs an astronaut because this thing can only teleport things to a VERY large amount of mass; a planet or moon with a diameter of 200 miles is minimum."

"So he needs someone who is an astronaut and also an engineer, so he knows how this thing works and how it can be repaired in case of a malfunction?"

"Couldn't have said that any better son."

"Well this sounds great, I can't wait to get back in SPAAAAAAAAAACE!" He threw his arms up in the air.

"Are you... alright?"

"Uh, yes, why?"

"Because.... you... nevermind."

End of chapter 1

Poor guy, if he knew what is going to happen, he wouldn't be so enthusiastic.

Chapter 3: Not just Mythology

May 9th, 2012 (Equestrian time)
Canterlot Castle, Celestia's room
0:23 AM

It was night in Equestria; Celestia had lowered the sun and Luna had risen the moon already; the white alicorn was going to bed, when suddenly someone knocked at her door. "You can come in." It was Luna who stepped inside the room. "Lulu, you seem to be worried, what is it? Has something happened?"

The moon goddess closed the door and was looking at the floor. "I... don't know.... I don't know what to do."

"To do about what?"

The dark alicorn looked up, straight into Celestia's eyes, "I wanted to talk to you about this earlier, but...", she dropped her head again.

"Lulu, whatever it is, you can tell me." She stood up and held a hoof under Luna's chin.

"Would... would you believe me.... that I have nightmares?"

Nightmares? She is afraid to talk with me about nightmares? "Everypony has nightmares; but you should know that - I mean, you're the princess of the night after all."

"No Tia, I don't mean normal nightmares like everypony else has. I mean nightmares of terrifying things.... things you could've never imagined before... things you would never do...." Luna turned away from her sister.

"Lulu, what do you mean? What have you dreamed of?"

"I... I've..." Tears started dropping from her face. "I've dreamed... that I would turn into Nightmare Moon again... and... and..." The tears reached her muzzle and she closed her eyes. "I just can't say it."

"The Elements of Harmony have healed you; you will never turn into Nightmare Moon again and I will never allow this again."

"It isn't that I've turned into Nightmare Moon... it is even more horrible than that..." The dark alicorn lied down and hid her face behind her hooves. "I've dreamed... that I would murder somepony..."

Lulu is dreaming of murdering? Oh no, this is indeed worse than I thought. "We both know that you would never be able to do such a thing. Don't worry about it too much." The white alicorn walked over to the window where Luna was lying, still crying. "Lulu, it wasn't real and it will never be real."

"But I was Nightmare Moon, it could have been real-"

Celestia put a hoof on her mouth to stop her from crying. "It will be only real if you keep on believing it; just forget about it. Like you said 'you dreamed of something you would never do'. "

The moon goddess nodded and sniffed her tears in, opening the door. "I just hope that I can forget about it." With that she went outside of the room and closed the door behind her.

"I hope that too, Lulu", Celestia said to herself. She went to bed again, trying to fall asleep - but she couldn't. Her own sister had just told her that she had dreamed of murdering, something that hasn't happened for decades in Equestria. Why the hay did she dreamed something like that? Lulu would never hurt or even murder anypony. But on the other hoof she has gone through many horrible things in the past; maybe this is payback. She closed her eyes and turned to the side, facing to the windows. After half an hour she was finally falling asleep.
But suddenly she could see a light coming from the windows; she re-opened her eyes but there was nothing. Then, again, a light; it seemed like a star was shining stronger than it usually did. Was it Luna? No, she couldn't feel any magic that would be strong enough for this; she couldn't feel any magic at all. Then the light disappeared again; after a few seconds the light re-appeared, filling her entire room this time. The sun goddess was used to the bright sunlight, but this light was so intense that she had to close her eyes.
The ground began to shake. What is this? What can cause such things without using any magic at all? And with that thought she fell down, the shaking was too strong; she tried to stand up, but it was no use. With a last intense shockwave it ended - the only thing left was silence.
Suddenly she heard a loud *crack* and something went through the roof; it was white, with many black spots all over it. It hit the ground with an immense speed; glass flew over the floor.
There it was; a strange white and black coloured object, with 4 limbs attached to it. It had fingers like a minotaur and was even looking a bit like one. Was it even alive?
It moved; the thing Celestia indicated as its head, which was covered in a ball-like object and broken glass in the front, moved up, but only a bit, as if it was trying to look at her. Blood was dropping out of the hole in the glass. "Guards! I need help!" She could see that he was injured: The black spots were burning marks - she could even smell the burned flesh. "I need the strongest stallions you can find and my carriage!" She yelled, nearly using her royal voice.

Within a few seconds four Solar Stallions stormed her room looking at the strange thing lying beneath her. "Intruder! Qui-"

Celestia cut him off, "Bring it to the hospital with my carriage! I think it's injured, badly! I will fly myself!"

Two of the stallions quickly grabbed the thing and put it on their backs; whatever it was, the princess ordered to bring it to the hospital. They all went out of the room; while they were running one of the guards asked her: "My Princess, what is this thing?"

"I think... that it's a human...." In Equestria humans were mythologic creatures, no one had seen one for more than thousand years. Every pony thought that they weren't real; but now it seems like one had crashed into Celestia's room. "No word to anypony, unless it's necessary."

— — — —

At the same time in Ponyville....

Twilight had been asleep for only an hour now; she had been busy the whole evening reading a few scrolls Celestia had send her. It was quiet, until: "Uhhm... Spike stop shaking my bed, I want to sleep." The ground was shaking like in Canterlot, just not as strong as it was there. Twilight opened her eyes and sat up. "Spike I told you th-...", but no one was there. "What the... why was my bed sha-... uah!" The ground shook again and Twilight jumped out of her bed. "What is going on? The ground is shaking?" A last shock went through the tree and her body. "Woah, woah, woah!" She had bumped backwards into the wooden wall. Now it was silent, nothing happened. "What has just happened?" The lavender unicorn was confused, she has never felt something like this; suddenly someone knocked at her bedroom door and opening it.

It was Spike. "Twilight, did you feel that, too?"

"You mean the shaking? Yes I did, do you have any idea what it was?"

"No, but it scared me." The baby dragon was shivering all over his body.

Twilight hugged him. "It scared me too, but whatever it was, it's gone. I will ask Princess Celestia in the morning, maybe she knows what happened."

"Don't you think we should go outside? Ask somepony?"

"When it would be something dangerous or very important, the princess would have sent us a letter, or the mayor would make an announcement; it would be the best to wait and see what happens. Besides, it's 1 o'clock in the morning."
And with that they waited and waited. But nothing happened after the shaking. After an hour Spike has fallen asleep again. Maybe it was... just... But she couldn't find any answers in her head. Maybe I should go to bed again, I will search for answers in the morning. The lavender unicorn grabbed the dragon with her magic and put him into his bed downstairs while covering him with a blanket. She went upstairs again; she quickly wrote a note to send Celestia a letter and went to bed again.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

In the morning...

*knock* *knock* *knock*

Twilight was still asleep, she had been up half of the night and needed the sleep, but someone knocked at her door.

*knock* *knock* *knock*

Twilight woke up. "Spike! Can you open the door?" No reaction, apparently he was still sleeping. "Ugh..." She went downstairs.

*knock* *knock* *knock*

"I am coming." As she opened the front-door, she could see who was knocking at her door: It was Applejack. "Applejack, what are you doing at my library this early?"

"You should comb your mane first." The orange earth-pony chuckled.

Twilight walked over to her mirror, just to see a lavender unicorn with a disheveled mane looking back at her. While she started combing she said "Oh yeah, right, just because you live on a farm doesn't mean that you can wake me up this early."

"Uhm Twilight, it's already noon."

"WHAT? Oh no, I wanted to inform the princess about something that happened last night; you know, I woke up in the middle of the night because of some-"

"-weird shaking?"

The shocked unicorn turned to her friend. "You felt that, too?"

"Everypony in Ponyville has! They are talking about it since morning and nopony knows what it was!"

"What? I will write the letter immediately." Twilight walked up to her room grabbing a scroll, a feather and some ink but she couldn't find any seals. "Applejack, wake up Spike. I can't find any seals, ask him where he put them."

But the purple dragon was already awake and standing in her room. "Why do you have to wake me up this early? Besides we don't have any seals anymore. You said that you wanted to buy them today."

Twilight face-hoofed. "Argh, I forgot about that. Well, then let-" She was interrupted when Spike was suddenly burping, he received a letter. Twilight unscrolled it, "It's from princess Celestia!"

"What has she written?"

The unicorn's eyes quickly sprang from line to line, suddenly: "We have to go to the hospital. Spike, we need a few, no - many sheets of paper and a full bottle of ink."

"To the hospital? Is one of the princesses hurt?", Applejack asked.

"She didn't exactly write what happened, she just wrote that it needs to be kept a secret and that I shouldn't tell anypony where I am going."

"Hello? You already said this loud and clearly, so Applejack knows about everything." Spike stated, receiving a hoof kick from the unicorn.

"I won't tell anypony, but I will go with you two."

"Sorry Applejack, but Celestia said that only I and Spike should come for the moment." Spike filled her saddlebag with numerous amounts of paper sheets and a big bottle of ink before putting it on her back. "We will see you later." She ran out of the library, locking the door while Applejack was still inside.

"Twilight didn't you forget something? Me?!"

Twilight turned around and re-opened the door, quickly pulling Applejack outside with her magic, re-locking the door before she shot off into the direction of the hospital, Spike running beneath her.

"Twilight, do you have any idea what the princess wants from us?"

"I read it in the letter!"

"Didn't you said that she didn't write it in the letter?"

"I lied."

"Wait a minute, you lied to Applejack? The element of honesty? Have you lost your mind?! Twilight, what can be so important that you even lie to somepony like her?"

Twilight looked from side to side, to see if sanypony could hear what she would be saying next. "She found... a human."

"A what?!?"

"A human Spike, didn't you read the books I gave you?"

"I... am... uh..."

"You didn't right?" Spike grinned goofily. "Okay, here's the short info: A human is a mythological creature. Starswill the Bearded wrote about them; they have the upper body of a minotaur, but their feet are more like stretched versions of their hands; furthermore that their face is completely different; the most important fact is that they don't have any fur, only naked skin, except for their head. Most ponys don't even believe that they exist and this must be the reason the princess wants to keep this a secret for a moment."

"I don't think it would cause a mass panic if everypony knew that humans are real."

"Spike, Starswill also wrote that they seem to be aggressive and that they fight wars against their own kind; he also wrote that they are as intelligent as ponys."

"Okay, that would really cause a mass panic, an aggressive AND intelligent race. But what does princess Celestia wants us to do?"

"She wants us to write down every information we can get, but remember: Not a single word to anypony!" They were now in town square; nearly every pony was outside talking with each other; the only subject was the shaking that occurred last night. The unicorn wanted to get to the hospital as fast as possible so that nopony could ask her where she was going.
Finally the hospital was in sight, she ran to the door which suddenly opened; Twilight tried to stop, but she couldn't and ran directly into an earth pony with a pale cream coloured coat; it was Bon Bon.

"Ow my head... Twilight!" She stood up and was smiling.

Oh no, I wanted to prevent something like this! What now? "Hello Bon Bon, we haven't seen each other for long time; what are you doing here?"

"I had to bring Lyra into the hospital last night."

"Why's that?"

"Well, she stayed up last night, because she wanted to do something. I still don't know exactly what, but when some weird shaking woke me up I found her lying on the ground."

"Is she alright?"

"Yes, the doctor said that she had overused her magic and that she needs to rest for a few days, then she will be fine again. Wait.... what are you doing here?"

What now Twilight? You can't tell her the truth.....

"Ah I know, you must be here because of the injured changeling the royal guards captured."

The what did what? "Uhhm... yes.... because of the changeling." She grinned pathetically, hoping that Bon Bon wasn't testing her.

"Okay, I have to do something at home; see you later." With that the earth pony walked off.

"A changeling?" Spike was confused.

"I guess that this is just a story for the public."

Twilight went through the open door to the reception where nurse Redheart was already waiting for her. "Ah, good to see you Ms. Sparkle; please follow me, I will show you the... 'patient'."

"Wait a second, why did you said 'patient'? I thought it would be in quarantine here or something...."

"Well he is in quarantine, but also our patient; when he arrived with princess Celestia and the royal guards, he was terribly injured and nearly bled to death."

"Did the royal guards hurt it? Wait, 'he'?"

"Yes, we could find the-"

Twilight covered Spike's ears with her hooves and shook her head with a serious face.

"Oh.. I forgot, sorry Ms. Sparkle. Ehm where was I?" She looked up tipping her chin. "Ah yes; after what I've heard, princess Celestia found him like this. But you don't have to worry about his status now, the doctor was able to stabilize him, but he fell into a coma and we don't know when he will be waking up; it can be days or weeks."

"Then why am I here? I thought that I would have to talk to him!"

"Well I don't know why, it would be better if you ask princess Celestia about-", she jumped back and gasped. Celestia was already standing in front of them, they had walked trhough nearly half of the hospital and were at a big room which was normally used for medical equipment. "Oh, I am sorry my princess; if you excuse me, I need to keep an eye on the other patients." She ran along the floor like she was being chased by her.

"Wow you really arrived here fast, you clearly are my most faithful student." Celestia smiled at her.

"Princess Celestia! Is that really true? That you've found a human?" She whispered as quietly as she could, but still nearly shouted; the mythological creature she had been studying for months was real!

"You don't need to whisper, the door behind you is sealed so that nopony can hear what we are talking about. And yes, I really found one, or to say the truth: He found me."

The lavender unicorn cocked her head. "What do you mean with 'he found me'? And why is it hurt?"

" 'He', Twilight; he's not some kind of scientific object."

Did I really say 'it'? "I am sorry Princess Celestia."

"You don't need to be sorry." The sun goddess levitated two chairs to them. "Sit down, I will tell you what has happened."

— — — —

5 minutes later

"This is just amazing - I mean just yesterday you send me the old scrolls I was looking for, the ones about humans and now one of them is here in Ponyville, I-"

"Calm down, we still need to see if he's dangerous; you have read what Starswill the Bearded wrote about their behaviour; even if this one seems to be much more advanced."

"Advanced? What do you mean by that?"

Celestia rose an eyebrow and smiled. "I will show you." She opened the door to her right letting her in.

Twilight quickly stormed into the room; there was only a table where some white and black spotted parts where lying. The lavender unicorn studied them but couldn't make sense of what she was looking at. "What are these things?"

"We don't know." A male voice called from her side, letting her step back a little. "Oh I am sorry, my name is Dr. Whooves and you must be Ms. Sparkle, if I am correct?" It was a brown coated stallion who talked to her, with a cutie mark looking like an hourglass.

"Yes you are right, nice to meet you."

"I am sorry to interrupt you two, but I have to go now. The citizens of Ponyville and Canterlot still want to know what happened last night." Celestia was still standing behind the door which was a bit too small for her to fit through. "Don't worry, Luna will visit you later and see how you are doing." With that she left with a teleportation spell.

"Seems like we are alone now." The two ponies looked at each other and turned back to the table.

"Is there nothing you can tell me about these objects?"

"I am sorry to disappoint you Ms. Sparkle, but no. The only thing I can tell you about them is that they are more advanced then anything I have ever seen. If you ask me, these things and the human aren't from our world."

"They are burned." Suddenly a purple dragon was standing on top of the table. Shocked by this, Twilight fell on her back. "What? Did you forget about me?"

"I kinda did. Sorry Spike, this was a bit to much." The lavender unicorn stood up, glaring at the stallion, who was laughing at how she forgot about the dragon that was standing beneath her the whole time. "How do you know that they have been burned?"

"Hello? Dragon? Me? I know everything about fire!"

"He's right; the human had several second to third degree burns all over his body, like he had been in a burning house or something."

"Where is he anyway?"

"He's in the quarantine room. But knock if you want to come in, they are still searching for other injuries on his body." He looked back at the table but turned away. "Bah, I need some coffee, I just can't work like this and aside fro, that I am not getting anywhere after all. Ms. Sparkle, if you could do me a favor: PLEASE get some informations from the human if you can find a way."

"I will try my best."

"Oh wait a second; I nearly forgot." He pulled a black box from the table. "This was the only part that hasn't been damaged. We think it's a box and the four numbers at the front are changeable from zero to nine; they seem to be a simple lock."

"I will have a look at it later." They all left the room; Twilight and Spike heading for the quarantine room. How can I get information from somepony who's in a coma? C'mon Twilight think!

End of Chapter 3

Chapter 4: Dreams of Cruelty

Twilight and Spike had taken the elevator to the upper floors where the quarantine room was located - it hasn't been used since the outbreaks of feather flu and the cutie pox years ago, until now. Two guards were protecting the door of the room, only showing their formal poker face and not moving a bit. The lavender unicorn and her assistant were coming closer the door, just to be blocked by one of the guards spreading a wing and saying: "Halt! Who goes there?"

The other one rolled his eyes while saying: "It's Twilight Sparkle and her assistant Spike!"

"Oh, sorry." He retracted his wing and let his poker face falter.

The guard face-hoofed. "Unbelievable, you really forgot how one of the element of harmony looks like. Sorry for this Ms. Sparkle, you can go inside."

Twilight and Spike stood there, saying nothing. Okay, that was strange, nevermind. The unicorn walked up to the door and knocked.

A few seconds later the doctor opened the door; it was a unicorn whos cutie mark was of a heart rate monitor. "Nice to see you again Ms. Sparkle, I guess you are coming to see the human?"

"Yes I do. I want to write down some information about his anatomy."

"Well, we already have a lot of information about that, so you can easily write it down. I guess Nurse Redheart already told you about his status?" The doctor stepped aside, letting them in.

"Yes she did; I already saw the strange things he was wearing. But... wow..." Twilight saw the large body that was lying in the hospital bed; she always wondered how big these were, since a normal pony only needs one half of the size. "He's quite tall."

"He's taller than Princess Luna."

Twilight looked at his injuries; a big part of the human's body was covered in bandages and the right arm was covered in a plaster. "Are these the burns? How did he survive something like that?" She looked at the head; it wasn't as injured as the rest of the body, only some small scratches and a bandage wrapped over the eyes. "And why is he wearing a bandage over his eyes?"

"To answer your first question: Yes, these are the burnings he had; the strange thing about them is that they seem to heal faster than normal - like if we would use magic to heal them, but we don't. We only wrapped some bandages with antiseptic over them, to prevent an infection." Twilight opened her saddlebag, took out the writing-utensils and began to write. "To answer your second question: Princess Celestia wanted it that way and me too; when he awakes from his coma, seeing something unfamiliar could shock him. I will inform you and Princess Celestia when he awakes, but this could take weeks or months."

"Is there anything more you can tell me about him?"

"Yes of course, we made some x-rays of his body; his skeleton is similar to other vertebrates, the organs we could see were at the same place and the brain has the same size as ours. The teeth look like a mix of ours and a predator."

"Like the Lunar Stallions?" Spike asked.

"Not exactly, the fangs are nearly as short as the other teeth, only sharper. I wouldn't think that he's a predator at all; his body weight is too high and when he really walks on two legs, he wouldn't be fast enough for something like that; he doesn't even have any body weapons. But the strangest thing about him is his blood...."

"What do you mean with that?"

"Well, when we tested his blood it seemed like ours at first, but then we saw some strange black things in it."

"Black things?"

"Yes, we still don't know what they are; they are smaller than a red blood cell and they can move on their own."

"Do you think that they're bacteria? What do we do when we get infected?"

"Don't worry about that, the bed has a protection spell over it and no; they don't attack other cells - they protect them. Besides, we are still testing the blood on bacteria and viruses, but for now we couldn't find any that would pose a fret for us; we are also testing if we could infect him, but the results are looking good."

"Do you think that we could - if the princess approves - let him walk around freely?"

"Well, when he recovers as fast as he is doing now and the blood tests are O.K., I would say yes."

"That's good. Have you got anything more?

"No, this is everything I can tell you about him at the moment."

Twilight quickly wrote some last lines and put the finished sheets into her saddlebag. "Thanks doctor, how long can I stay?"

"Except for the night-time, you can be here as long as you want. May I ask why? After all he's in a coma and we already got all the information we could get."

"I think I've an idea: I am going enter his dreams and look if I can find some answers."

Spike and the doctor were shocked; entering the dreams of a creature that was still very unknown. "Ms. Sparkle, may I remind you that we know nothing about his mind? And when he sees you, he may get a shock; when this happens he could fall even deeper into his coma!"

"Don't worry about that. As long as I stay silent he won't see me."

"Is it the spell Princess Luna gave you after the wedding?" Spike was very worried about that spell - Twilight once used it on him to test it and he was very angry because he was dreaming of Rarity. From that on he viewed the spell as a privacy invasion and got mad every time Twilight spook of it.

"Spike, I already said that I am sorry for what happened, but this is important; we must know more about him."

The purple green dragon rolled his eyes, "Do what you want."

The lavender unicorn turned back to the human. "Okay, I will need to concentrate now, please be as quiet as possible." She closed her eyes while her horn began to glow; she was entering his mind, right into his dream, a dream that repeated every night...

— — — —

An hour later at Canterlot Castle...

Luna was sitting in her room, looking into the direction of Ponyville; she couldn't get any sleep - she feared to have her dream again. Suddenly her sister entered the room. "Hello Tia, is the human alright?"

"Yes he is, the doctor was able to stabilize him. By the way: I heard that you haven't slept since I left; is it still the dream?" Luna didn't respond. "Lulu, I already told you when-"

"-you don't think of it, it isn't real, I know. The problem is... that I can't... I thought of it since last night and I don't know what to do."

"Well I do." The moon goddess turned to her sister. "You could help Twilight at the hospital; I've got the feeling that she will use the dream spell you taught her."

"Hopefully she doesn't break rule number one: Never make any sound." For a moment both of them were silent. "I will better go." With that she walked out of the room and used her teleportation spell to get near the hospital.

I knew she would do that, Celestia looked upwards and a small smirk appeared on her face.

— — — —

Back in Ponyville, at the hospital...

Twlight had entered his dreams now; it was all pitch black - the dream was just beginning. After a few seconds she could finally see something: It was round, looked blue - no - only most of it was blue, some parts were green; she saw a planet! A planet? Can this be our planet? No; the continents look way to different from all maps I've ever- Her thoughts were interrupted when she could hear a voice.

"Jan! Stop looking at Earth and help me with this panel. We need to get finished with this in half an hour."

Her sight turned to the right - or better to say of the human, she was seeing the dream from his point of view; she knew how to enter a dream, but she just couldn't find a way to see it from a different point of view as the dreamer himself. What she saw looked like the strange parts Dr. Whooves was investigating, but the material wasn't as thick, it was skin-tight and the ball-like object looked different and was more fitting to the size of a head. But that wasn't the strangest part: Jan and the other human were floating! There wasn't any gravitation - she could feel it in her(his?) stomach. Am I flying? No, we are far too high to be flying - we aren't even inside an atmosphere at this height! At least I know the name of him now, Jan, what a strange name.

"I am coming, I just wanted to let my minds flow a bit before we start."

Twilight - or Jan, the human's name - was turning further to the right; there was a big tube-like object he was looking at; at the end was the other human; slowly moving toward her and stopping at the end of tube.

"Hold the panel in place, I will unscrew it now", he moved his hand - with something in it that looked like an electric screwdriver - to one of the edges of the 'panel' she could see; the whole tube was made out of them. The head of the screwdriver began to rotate; just about ten seconds later he held a screw in his hand. "Gotcha, three left, then we can put in the new panel."
After a minute the panel was moving from the tube-like object and floating in mid-air. "Now look at this", he was pointing at a dark colored dent. "Damn it, that one nearly went through! I already told NASA that these panels aren't thick enough! But noo! Don't listen to the engineer who's working at and with their 80 billion dollar space station!"

A space station? What the hay is that? Wait.... space... station... Does that mean that they live in space?

"We better hope that these panels hold."

"Nevermind, let's install the new one."

The humans were now placing a new panel over the gap and also screwing it down. After that they moved from the end of the tube to a big hole that was big enough for both of them and the panel. Now Jan was pushing a button on the wall, two metal doors closed and green words appeared in front of him saying: Compressing...
A minute later the words changed into: Compression complete!
The humans were slowly descending to the ground. And now they have gravitation? They put their hands on their necks, flipping over two lashes and pulling the thing they were wearing around their heads off.

The other human was laughing. "Oh boy, you should really comb you hair sometimes."

"I just can't do anything against it! It keeps on happening when I am wearing a space-suit!"

Space-suit? Is that the name of the thing they're wearing? In that moment the two doors on the other side of the room were opening; the humans now entered a much bigger room with some of the other 'space-suits' hanging on the walls. Each of them moved to one of the two gaps between the other ones. They each grabbed at their back, slowly moving down something and then pulling the space-suit off their bodies, hanging it onto a hook on the wall. Now they were reaching for something in a box in front of them; it looked like clothing, just with the size that would fit a human body.
Suddenly the dream was getting duller and duller: Twilight was running out of magic and couldn't focus on the dream anymore - she collapsed onto the floor. She slowly opened her eyes; she wasn't in his dreams anymore, she was back in the hospital.
"Oh horseapples! It was getting interesting right now!" She muttered.

"Three hours, that's pretty good for the beginning."

Twilight, shockingly turning around, was looking at Luna. "Princess Luna! What are you doing here already? Wait, did you say three hours?"

"Yes Twilight, I've arrived an hour ago, the time in dreams isn't corresponding to the real time."

"How are you doing? I haven't talked with you since the wedding."

The alicorn looked at the floor for a second - no, she couldn't tell her about the problems she currently had - and looked back at the unicorn. "I am doing pretty well lately, thanks." She turned to the human and was closely looking at every part of him. "So that's a human. I've never imagined them this tall." And this injured... "Could you get any information from his dreams?"

"Just a few, but they're VERY interesting."

The moon goddess rose an eyebrow.

"I will tell you the whole story; Spike, could you write down what I am saying?" Spike grabbed one of the paper sheets and an inked feather. "So.... where do I start?"

— — — —

30 minutes, lots of questions, descriptions and paper sheets later...

"...and then they clothed themselves. But then I sadly ran out of magic and couldn't see anything from the inside of this so called 'space station'."

Luna looked both impressed and confused; she couldn't believe what the human dreamed of. "This is incredible, the humans aren't from our planet at all and then the technology. I just can't believe how somepony can do such things without magic. And they really were in space?"

"Yes they were, or... it looked like they were... I could see the planet from above, HIGH above! But the strangest thing about them was the fact that they were speaking our language! The spell isn't translating it, is it?"

"No it isn't, but that's very good for us; we don't need to teach him our language first and we know his name."

"A strange name after all, Jan; I've never heard of somepony called like this."

"But keep in mind, he's from a different planet, so he has a very different culture."

"I need to know more about-"

In exact that moment Spike's stomach grumbled. "Could we get some breakfast first?"

"Spike, there are more important things than-" But her own stomach cut her off with a even louder grumbling. "Okay you are right, let's go to the canteen; are you coming with us Princess Luna?"

"I've already eaten, but thanks anyway. I will stay here and see if I can find anything more interesting in his dreams." Don't make a sound now stomach!

"See you later." Twilight and Spike left the room and were heading for the elevator.

Suddenly *bing* the elevator doors opened, with Lyra sitting in a wheelchair. "Oh Twilight! What are you doing in the quarantine?"

"I was looking for the hum-" OH! OH! Not good, I shouldn't have said that! What now?

Lyra was nearly jumping out of her wheelchair as she heard what the lavender unicorn was just about to say. "Did you want to say HUMAN?"

"I... uh... I mean..." You just leaked secret information about a human with the most human-obsessed pony in Equestria standing in front of you!

"I can't believe it! Finally my dreams are coming true! A real human in our world! There are so many things I want to ask him. Wait is he male, female.... or do they even have a completely different gender? I want to know!"

"Uhm, Lyra, Twilight wanted to say changeling not human." Spike was trying to save the situation.

"NO! She clearly was about to say human! I want to see him! Now!"

With that Nurse Redheart came running upstairs. "Lyra Heartstrings! I told you to stay in bed, you need to rest!" Before Lyra could even react, the nurse pulled her inside the elevator again. "Sorry Ms. Sparkle if she interrupted your studies." The doors closed and the elevator went down.

"Shall we use the stairs?"

"Would be better if we do so."

— — — —

In Jan's dreams...

It was white, everything was white; it was ice, the ground was completely made of ice and snow was falling. Interesting, is this how their planet looks like? Luna looked around, she wasn't limited to the first person view like Twilight was. Ah there he is, but why is he running? Wait a second he's saying something...

"This isn't good, he landed way too close to the AA-Gun. Hopefully the Chinese didn't find him... God bless him if they do!" Jan was nearly out of breath, Luna knew that he couldn't withstand this any longer. "Oh god thanks, he's still alive."

The moon goddess looked to her right; she could see a big fire in the distance and something that looked like a human running into Jan's direction.

"Jan, are you alright?"

"Yes I am, how about you?"

"It's okay." The other man was wounded; he had wrapped a bandage around one of his legs which was covered in blood.

"We must go to the tank we dropped off, it's our only chance, we will freeze to death before somebody finds us!" The other guy nodded and both ran off into the direction Jan was coming from.

'Somebody'? Seems like they use -body instead of -pony.

After a few minutes of following she could see a large object in the distance with a piece of cloth attached to it.

"Finally, the tank! Let's get inside."

"Jan, something is wrong. Where are our comrades?"

Comrades... are they-

*BANG*, something red flew through the air and Jan's comrade fell backwards. "Michael! NO!" The man who was called Michael hit the ground with a loud *thud* - the ice and snow around him turned red and he wasn't moving a bit - he was dead. "No...", his voice was very low and tears started dropping from his eyes, "my only friend... dead...", he fell onto his knees, "this can't be real..." Luna couldn't believe what she saw, just a few seconds ago they were near their 'tank' - whatever this thing was - and about to be in a safe place; now Jan's friend was dead.

She could hear that somebody coming closer, suddenly a third voice said something in an accent she never heard before: "Any last words, scumbag?" The moon goddess knew that this had to be the same person that killed Michael and was now pointing a strange object at Jan.

"Yes...", Jan still had a hoarse voice from crying, "I will... make you PAY!!!" Suddenly he turned around and hit the other guy with something he was holding in his right hand; it was a knife cutting in his lower body. The man dropped the strange object and tumbled backwards. Jan then pulled something out of a holder on his right, *BANG*, it made the same sound she heard before when Michael died - *BANG*, after every sound a small flame came out of the object - *BANG*, whatever this thing was; Luna knew that it had to be some kind of weapon.

The alicorn nearly gasped at the sight of blood; she had never seen this much, also she was over 1000 years old. No, this can't be real, how can they be so cruel? No Luna, remember: Tia already said that dreams don't have to mirror the reality. This could all just be a pure fantasized nightmare!

The man fell on his side and the ice turned red, but it didn't stop. All the ice that could be seen was slowly turning into a blood red colour, even the sky turned red. "No.... I... I... didn't want this... I never wanted to hurt anyone...." Jan was shivering - but not from the cold ice; he was shivering in fear.

The man screamed and was turning into ice - Luna couldn't watch this anymore; she wanted to get out of this nightmare as fast as she could; she quickly aborted the spell and bumped into the wall of the room. She was taking deep breaths and shivered; even if she had seen multiple nightmares this one was clearly the most horrifying she had ever encountered. This just has to be a pure nightmare, it can't be real; how could somepony be still alive with this pain in his soul?

— — — —

In the canteen...

"I already forgot that hospital food is poison." Spike wasn't happy, he ordered some simple oatmeal and got a grey goo. "Twilight, why do we have to stay here? Can't we just go home and eat there?"

"Spike, I can't just leave one of the princesses alone when they are helping me; besides, I want to explore his dreams again."

"What could be so incredibly awesome about somepony's dreams?"

"Didn't you even listen to the things I said?"

"Of course I did! But still, I can't imagine what could be so awesome about-"

"You could see it too; I am sure that Luna could get you into his dreams as well."

"Woah, wait! I am NOT entering his dreams!"

Twilight made an evil smile and teased him. "Afraid of it?"

"No I am not!"

"Yes you are, I can see it in your face."

"I fear nothing!"

"Then will you do it?"

"Yes if you stop bugging me about it."

"Do you promise?"

"I promise!"

"Pinkie promise?"

"Uhhh.... I cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

It's so easy to manipulate baby dragons.

Spike realised what he had just said. "What? No! I.. uh... I mean..."

"Sorry Spike, you pinkie-promised." She gave him the scariest grin he had ever seen in his entire life.

The dragon crossed his arms, he was angry that Twilight had abused his macho-like self again. "Not fair."

"C'mon, you will see that it's really amazing."

"If you say so. But for that we get home first and get some REAL breakfast." He pushed the bowl away and stood up.

End of Chapter 4

Rise.... and shine.... Mr. Schneider....

Chapter 5: Rise and Shine

"Good that she ran out of paper sheets, or I may have never gotten away." Spike said to himself; he was on his way home. Twilight told him to get some more sheets from the library while she stayed back in the storing room where the space-suit was kept. Luna had told them that it would be better for Jan to let her enter his dreams because she was more experienced in using the spell. Princess Luna's reaction was still a bit strange; it seemed like she was hiding something. Why the hay did she ask about the paper sheets anyway? I swear that I put more of them into the saddlebag. Wait... could it be that she destroyed the empty ones and wants us to leave? But why? He stood in front of the door and opened it, going inside. And that dream she told us about. 'He was in space again'. Why would a dream repeat itself in such a short time?

*knock* *knock* *knock*

"Who could that be?" Spike who had just closed the door re-opened it. Applejack was standing in front of him and gave him a serious look.

"Well, well, well. Back from your secret mission?"

"Oh, oh."

She went in, closing the door and looking face to face into Spike's eyes. "Tell me, what the hay is a human and why does the Princess want to keep it a secret? I know there was more in that letter than just "Go to the hospital my most faithful student and tell nopony, because this is a secret.' "

"Uhm, I don't know what was written in the letter, Twi-... WAIT! How do you know that it's about a human?"

Applejack face-hoofed. "Because you nearly yelled it all over the farm when you got some apple pie from us! Spike, tell me what's going on! Princess Celestia made an announcement in the city hall just three hours ago, saying that the shaking we felt last night was caused by Princess Luna accidently using the Royal Canterlot voice because she had a nightmare."

"What's so strange about yelling because you had a nightmare?"

The earth-pony was now double face-hoofing. "Spike, it was night; Princess Luna is awake in the night. You don't need to be the Element of Honesty to see that this is a lie."

"And why are you bothering me?"

"Because you know something that I don't."

"Ask Twilight, I don't know anything."

"Spike!"

"Okay, okay; I will tell you everything."

Applejack sat down. "I'm listening."

Spike gulped, he knew that they would blame him for this...

— — — —

At the hospital, in the storing room...

"A space-suit... interesting... that would explain why the whole system is airtight - well, was..." Dr. Whooves had just re-build the space-suit with Twilight's help. They covered the burned holes with some tape, so they could test her theory about the human being in a total vacuum. The unicorn already told him about everything she knew. "So they are really using them to protect their bodies from the vacuum and supply them with oxygen."

"Still, this one is half-destroyed. By the way, it is made out of a very thick material and that thing at the back is gigantic compared to the one I saw."

"That's strange, maybe it's an older version?"

"Why would they use an older version for such an important thing as travelling to our planet?"

"Maybe it was an accident?", the doctor tipped his chin, "What am I saying? If it was an accident, why did they use an old one?"

"We aren't getting anywhere like this. I hope that Spike hurries up; I want to get back into his dreams and search for some answers. By the way, did you manage to open that box?"

"I gave up after hitting number 2910."

"I will try it, I don't have anything better to do." Twilight grabbed the box with her magic. "I wonder what number he has cho-", she flipped the number to 2911: The box made a *click* and opened slightly. "-sen..."

Dr. Whooves dropped his jaw. "Just ONE number?"

"Did you plan this?"

"No I didn't... What's inside?"

The unicorn opened the box completely. "Clothing; that's his clothing! They are the same as in the space station."

"Wherever he wanted to go, it seems like he was going to stay there."

Twilight unfolded the clothes and put them on the table; in the box there were still two other things. She grabbed them and held them up so Dr. Whooves could see them too. "Sunglasses and... what is this thing?" It was a strange black object with a mirroring surface.

"Be careful! We don't know if it's dangerous!"

"Wait there's something written on it... FTC... what is FTC?"

"Maybe a code? Look, there is something written on the backside as well."

Twilight turned the strange object; on the back was a small text:
"Warning: Device contains a nuclear battery with 100mg Uranium. Please remo... NUCLEAR!?" She dropped the object.

"Don't let it fall down!"

"Got it, got it! Doctor, bring me a contamination meter, quick!"

The brown earth stallion turned around and grabbed one of the instruments behind him and quickly held it beneath the apparently nuclear contaminated object.

"Turn it on."

"Uh... It IS turned on."

"There must be something wrong; even 100mg Uranium should create a measureable radiation."

"The instrument is working correctly, it's still measuring the natural environmental radiation. Maybe it's sealed with a special material? Something like a lightweight version of lead?"

"That could be true, but why is a nuclear material inside this thing?" Both of them looked at each other, Twilight groaned. "Ughhh... This is getting more and more complicated. Hopefully Jan awakes in a few days; there are so many things I want to ask him."

"Me too. But from what I've heard, it will at least take weeks."

— — — —

In the quarantine room...

What am I gonna do, what am I gonna do? Luna was walking in circles, she was unsure how to handle the dreams the human had. She knew that her sister wouldn't be happy about the things she encountered; she didn't lie when she said that the dream repeated itself, an indication that it had originated from a real experience. What if Tia throws him into prison or into, a dungeon... or even worse! What if she banishes him to the moon? The moon goddess was still shocked because of the dream. She knew that Jan didn't want to be a murderer, aside from the fact that it was an emotional reaction. I know! I will just tell them that humans can't handle that much of magic and that we can't enter his dreams for a while. Luna turned back to the human and lit her horn in magic. Just ONE normal dream... She closed her eyes.
She was in a long white tube. Finally a different dream! Wait... a tube... the space station? Turning around she saw Jan running into her direction. Why is he running this time? Please not another nightmare... She could hear a voice, but this one didn't sound natural and had no emotion in it.

"WARNING! CRITICAL ERROR IN REACTOR SYSTEM! EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY!"

Whatever a 'reactor' is, this doesn't sound good. After a few seconds she realised that a red light was flashing at the ceiling and that a loud, bloodcurdling sound could be heard. Oh no! This is an alarm! They are evacuating their space station!

"Jan quick! Get into the shuttle!" A man was standing at a hole in the wall; Jan jumped through with the other man following him. On the other side were a dozen people, each of them sitting in a seat; Jan flew to the back of the room, sitting down in one of the two empty seats. "Hatch closed! Undock the shuttle and get us out of here!" The other man also flew to the back, taking a seat next to Jan.

Jan sweated and was shivering. "Is this a training alert?"

"No. This is real!"

"What the hell happened to the reactor? Why do we need to evacuate?"

"I don't know! We heard a small explosion and then the reactor temperature went crazy!"

"Where are the others? Why is the second shuttle still docked?" Jan pointed at the large window at the front of the room where the space station could be seen.

Wow! Twilight was right; this thing is gigantic!

"Who's that out there? Why is he still outside the ISS 2?"

'ISS 2'? Is this the name of the space station?

"That moron! He won't get inside before-" A light filled the room and the men covered their eyes when suddenly a shockwave hit the shuttle and was wildly tumbling in several directions.

An angry voice was coming from the front: "Don't fall apart now! C'mon stabilize!" He was pushing buttons on a panel full of switches and lights.

A few seconds later the shuttle was finally coming to a hold; it was quiet for a while when suddenly someone broke the silence. "What has happened... turn the shuttle to the direction of the ISS 2!" It was Jan's voice, Luna could hear that he was scared like in the nightmare he had experienced before.

The moon goddess looked outside the window - what she saw was horrible: Only parts and small sections where flying in space.

"No, this can't be real"

But it's true Jan, isn't it? She could feel the pain.

"Help me!" The voice was craggy and stuttered.

"Oh my god, someone is still alive! Where are you?"

"Help me, I am falling!" Again the voice was hard to understand.

"I can see him! He's flying into the direction of Earth." The pilot gently pushed the stick at his side. "Can you hear me?"

"Help me!!"

"Can - you - hear - us?"

But the other man just cried.

"Shit, the communication isn't working!"

"We... can't get him..." Jan said from behind.

"Don't say something like that!"

"No... he's too fast."

The man was quiet for a second. "You are right. He will enter the atmosphere in a few seconds."

"I don't want to die like this!" It was the man again, the voice was already craggy from crying.

Luna's heart nearly broke at the sight of the man in his space-suit, quickly approaching the earth; unable to change his fate.

"He's entering the atmosphere..." The pilot was extremely quiet and hard to understand.

"No, please god no!"

The man was screaming in agony while he lit up in a red ball.

Jan started to cry. "This has to be a nightmare." He was shockingly staring at the burning man.

"Jan... don't look..." Luna's voice appeared; suddenly Jan was staring directly at her. OH NO! HE SEES ME! She quickly aborted the spell and gasped. Hopefully I didn't do too much damage...
But with that the human gasped as well and took a deep breath. "Doctor! I think he's coming to his senses!"

"Ahhh, where.... where am I? Why.... can't I see anything?" Jan screamed and continued. "And why... why is everything hurting so much?"

Luna didn't know what to say.

"It hurts.. it hurts so much." His face showed nothing more than pain. "Please... make it stop!"

She knew that she had to say something. "You are safe. Don't worry, the doctor is coming."

"Where am I? What happened? Am I dead?"

"No, you're not dead. You're in a hospital."

"But what happened?"

"I... don't know."

The doctor stormed inside of the room with two nurses behind him. "What has happened?"

"Doctor, he needs something against his pain!"

He looked at the shivering patient "Give him 200mg morphine and 0.5mg adrenaline." He pointed to the door. "I want to talk to you Princess, outside!" The doctor went outside with Luna following him, he closed the door. "Princess Luna, by all respect, what have you done?"

"He saw me while I was in his dream." She knew that she had screwed up.

"Do you even know what could have happened? He could have died from the shock! He was deadly injured and in a deep coma which should have lasted for at least a few weeks! And now, after half a day he's awake! I don't even know if morphine will put a stop to his pain, or if it's going to kill him! We know NEAR NOTHING about his anatomy!"

"I am so sorry doctor..." She kneeled down and began to cry. "It's my fault."

"Please don't cry. I didn't want you to cry, please."

"No, it's not because of you, it's because I screwed up."

They could hear the screaming of the human and could nearly feel his pain. "He's alive and from what I've seen he won't die that easily."

"I know, but now he has to feel nothing more than pain..."

"I got the feeling that the morphine will work, don't worry too much."

"I hope so. Hopefully Twilight didn't hear it."

"Uhhhhm..."

"She's right behind me, isn't she?"

"Princess Luna, what has happened?" Twilight had ran up the stairs as soon she had heard the scream, at first she thought that something had happened to the princess. Dr. Whooves was way behind her and heavily panting.

"He has seen me, Twilight."

"In his dreams? Princess, I thought that you would be experienced in using the dream spell! What has happened?"

"I can't tell you."

"What? But why?"

"It's too cruel."

"Cruel? What have you seen?"

"..."

"What can be so cruel that you don't want to tell me?"

"..."

Suddenly the elevator doors opened, with Applejack and Spike inside. "Twilight! Princess Luna! What was that screaming?" Spike ran to Twilight.

"I already thought that somepony has died."

Luna shivered at the word, she had seen enough death for the day.

"Princess Luna, what is wrong? Did that human attack you?"

The moon goddess cocked her head. "How do you know that we have a human here?"

Applejack rolled her eyes and pointed at Spike. "Sorry, she nearly assaulted me and I couldn't lie to her."

Twilight face-hoofed. "I knew that something like that would happen. We were supposed to tell nopony about this!"

"Don't blame him for this. I was already suspicious after you hurried to the hospital."

"We will talk about that later." The lavender unicorn turned back to Princess Luna. "Please Princess Luna, tell me what you saw."

"I don't know if I should..."

"Just tell us the truth. It can't be that horrible."

Sorry Jan, I hope that this won't backfire for you. "In the last few hours... he only dreamed about death."

"That was a bad joke, right?" Spike asked confused.

"That was the naked truth." Applejack realised in shock.

"This is horrible! Why is he having nightmares only?"

"Because these things maybe really happened and he feels guilty for it."

"Death? Did he murder somepony?"

"In one of his dreams he-"

But Twilight cut her off. "No! I can't believe it! The human that is lying here is a murderer!"

"Twilight no! Maybe it's not real; you can't just say that somepony is a murderer because he dreamed of it!"

"That's not normal! Nopony would dream something like that!"

"You don't know."

"I know, because murdering hasn't happened in Ponyville for decades!"

"But I dreamed of it, too!" The moon goddess covered her mouth with her hooves.

Everyone in the room dropped their jaw, even the two guards turned around.

"Did you just say that you dreamed of murder?" Twilight asked.

Luna looked at each of them, but realised that she couldn't hide it anymore. "Yes I did."

"Princess Luna, this is... I don't know how to describe it."

"Who have you murdered?" Spike asked, receiving a kick from Twilight.

"Tia..."

Again everyone dropped their jaw, but this time it hit the floor.

"As Nightmare Moon...." She remembered the dream, how she walked to her sister and did it; Luna was almost crying.

"Princess Luna, you know that this was just a dream! You will never turn into her again! You had the dream just one single time, or not?"

"Yes, it was just one time." She rubbed the small tears away. "Nevermind, we have something more important to talk about and that's him."

"You said that he dreamed about death multiple times, but just one of them contained a murder."

"I still don't want to talk about it too much."

"We need to know him as much as we can."

"Do you think that you can handle such a crude theme?" Everyone in the room nodded. "Okay, I will try to tell you about it..."

— — — —

Half an hour later...

"...and at that point he saw me because I said to him that he shouldn't look at it."

"That giant space station was called ISS 2?"

"Yes it was."

"But what happened? Why did it explode?"

"Like I said, it had something to do with the reactor thing."

"I think that we should ask him about that later."

"At least he stopped screaming now, I will ask the doctor how he's doing." Luna knocked at the door, but before she couldn't even say anything he let them in.

The doctor was whispering. "The morphine and adrenaline worked and he's still alive. The strange thing is that he's still talking about other pains."

"Other pains?"

"His 'heart', but not in the medical sense. I think that you should talk to him, he needs to hear a familiar voice."

"Me? But I don't know what to say."

"Just talk to him."

"I will try." Luna walked over to the human lying in the bed - she knew that the pain he was currently feeling had been caused by her; interrupting a dream at a specific point reflects its emotion into reality.

Applejack, who hadn't see a human before, was amazed. Wow, he's tall - I wonder how strong he is...

Luna was now standing besides him, but didn't say anything; he couldn't see her, he still had the bandage over his eyes. After a minute she broke the silence. "Hey, are you alright?"

"Not really, but thanks that you asked."

"Isn't the medicine working?"

"It is working but-... wait... I know your voice, I talked with you before, right?"

"Yes that was me."

"Nice to hear you again. What's your name?"

"I.. uh.." Why didn't I see that coming? What name could a female human have? "My name is Lulu." She could hear someone face-hoofing in the background.

"Sounds a bit like a nickname... it sounds quite familiar..."

"Uh.. why? Is something wrong with it?" Dumb idea Luna!

"Oh hell no! It's a great name, it's just that I thought of the roman name 'Luna' when I heard it and I don't know why."

Is this some kind of joke? How did he knew that? "Actually you are right. Lulu is my nickname and Luna is my real one."

"Oh good to know. Well my name is Jan, I would likely give you a hand but since you are standing on my right and my right arm is in a plaster..."

"I see; what about that pain you wanted to tell me about?"

The small smile that had appeared on the human's face disappeared. "It's just... I had a nightmare before I woke up."

You really are the cause, great! "May I ask what kind of nightmare you had? Only if you want to talk about it of course."

"Are you some kind of psychologist?"

"Not really but I have some experience with the problems of nightmares."

"I see; well my nightmare was about the ISS 2." He stopped for a second. "You know the ISS 2 right?"

"Yes, I heard a bit about it."

"Okay; I was working as an engineer on the ISS 2 and in that dream it has been destroyed."

"Why has it been destroyed?"

"You don't know?" She could hear anger and not fear in his voice. "The reactor had a malfunction and they made me responsible for it! For the death of twelve people!"

I really hit a nerve here. "You said that they made you responsible - it wasn't your fault, right?"

"No, it wasn't; they said that I forgot to tighten some screws after a maintenance, but this is just rubbish." He took a deep breath, as if he had held it the whole time. "Personally I think that it was caused by a small asteroid." Jan turned his head to her. "But something was different, when we escaped with one of the shuttles I could see something blue standing in front of me... and something told me that I should know what it was, but I only saw a silhouette."

Somehow know it? Did they observe us?

"Could we change the subject? I don't want to talk about it at the moment."

"Of course we can, what do you want to talk about?"

"I want to know what happened. Why am I so injured? And where the hell am I?"

End of Chapter 5

Red alert! Heavy shitstorm incoming in the next chapter(s)!

Chapter 6: Surprise

"Uhm.. can't we talk about something different?" Luna knew that she couldn't tell him the truth yet. After all he wasn't from their planet and they didn't know if there would be any race like themselves.

"Luna please, I need to know."

"I can't."

"You can't? But why?"

"Let us say it would be a small 'surprise'; I promise that I will tell you later."

"A surprise?" He cocked his head. "I better not ask; the surprise of waking up in a hospital without knowing what happened is already enough for me."

Applejack tipped on Luna's shoulder and whispered. "That was a lie, he knows what happened."

"Do you really have no idea?"

"Nope."

"What's the last thing you can remember?"

"I... uh..."

Gotcha... "C'mon tell us. I know that you were brought into a hospital wearing a burned space-suit."

Shit. I better not tell them about the teleporter, but I shouldn't lie as well; maybe a mix? "The last thing I remember was a bright light and that I was lying on the ground - there was something standing in front of me, but it wasn't human."

"Not human?"

"Yes, it was four legged and white. It looked like a horse or pony, something in this direction, but I could only see the shadow and the legs...."

So he has seen our race before. "Was there anything else?"

"Yes, I could have sworn that the 'pony' talked!" He laughed. "But that's ridiculous; I mean, a talking pony? How hard did I hit my head?"

They have non-talking ponies on their planet? "Pretty hard I think."

"There was something different I wanted to ask as well." The tone of his voice dropped. "What about my eyes? Am I blind?"

With that the doctor started to speak. "No Jan, your eyeballs are okay; the glass of your space-suit has only injured your eyelids."

"Oh, I already had the feeling that there were more in here."

"We can leave if you want." Twilight said.

"Hell no! I don't want to be alone."

"I am just kidding."

"At least I landed in a hospital with some kind and funny nurses."

"Oh we aren't nurses." Applejack said.

"You're not? Why are you here then?"

The doctor knew where this was going and before Jan got a shock from the truth, he put a hold to the conversation. "I am sorry, but you need to leave now. It's already evening and the patient needs to rest."
He opened the door and pushed them out of the room one by one out, even Luna.

"But-" Twilight tried to protest.

"No 'buts', you must go now; you can come again tomorrow." He closed the door. "You need to sleep Jan, you should be in coma right now. It's a miracle that you are still alive."

"A coma? Are my injuries really that bad?"

"Yes, you have several second to third degree burns all over your body."

"How long will I need to stay in bed?"

"This depends on the speed of the healing process. If your wounds keep on healing with the momentary speed, you should be able to get out of here in maybe one or two weeks."

"And my eyes?"

"A few days."

"I hope so, I can't stand seeing nothing. It reminds me... nevermind, good night doc."

"Good night Jan." He nodded to the nurses and went outside of the room where three ponies and one dragon were arguing.

"We must tell him Princess Luna! What if we make him mad?" Applejack stomped with a hoof on the ground.

"And when we start a war? We don't know how strong they are!" Spike was scared.

"He's finally awake and we want to ask him so many things!" Twilight said.

"You mean YOU want to ask him so many things!" Spike stated.

"Shut up Spike! Princess Luna, what do you think?"

Everyone turned to the moon goddess. "I would say that we leave him alone this night, he needs to sleep like us; I will ask Tia about it and waiting until tomorrow isn't that hard."

"The princess is right. The human is tired and needs to rest." The doctor said to them.

"I could use some sleep, too." Spike yawned.

"You ALWAYS want to sleep..." Applejack teased him in a sarcastic tone.

But he didn't answer and went to the elevator.

"Good night everypony, farewell." Luna left with a teleportation spell.

The others were going after Spike, only Dr. Whooves was still standing at the door. "A human..." he whispered to himself.

"Are you coming Dr. Whooves?"

"Uh... yes, I'm coming!"

— — — —

Canterlot Castle...

I wonder how Lulu is doing, hopefully she doesn't think about that nightmare anymore. Celestia was sitting in the throne room like every other day. Many of the citizens had asked her about the shaking last night and they wanted to speak with Luna. She knew that her lie at the announcement was terrible and she had seen Applejack in the crowd. Hopefully she didn't tell anypony that I lied, even if it was bucking obvious...

Suddenly someone teleported into the room, it was her sister. "Hello Tia. How was your day?"

"I made an announcement that didn't go so well."

"How's that?"

"Well, everypony asked me about the shaking last night - I told them you had a nightmare and yelled using the royal Canterlot voice."

Luna face-hoofed. "Sometimes I really wonder how you can be over 1000 years old..."

"You wouldn't have done any better", she smirked. "How was your day?"

"I don't know what to say, it was somehow good and somehow bad."

"What has happened? Please don't tell me that you thought of it again."

"That dream is nothing compared to the things I saw today."

"You are making me really worried right now Lulu; let me see your memories." Celestia walked over to her sister, lighting up her horn in magic.

Oh no! She will see it! "Uhm no, I think it's better if I just tell you."

The golden aura around the horn disappeared. "Why? Are you feeling bad?"

"You've already noticed that the human has no magic inside him, right?"

"Yes, but what has that to do with it?"

"When I used the dream spell, it felt like he was sucking my magic into his body."

"Like if he was feeding upon you? Lulu, that's not good! What if he's hostile?"

"He isn't hostile!" She stomped onto the ground and extracted her wings.

"Lulu, what is wrong? Have I said something wrong?"

"Everypony keeps saying that he's bad, hostile or a predator; just because of the things Starswill the Bearded wrote about his race and of his dreams!"

"Lulu, are you protecting him?"

Luna turned around. "You wouldn't understand."

"Why?"

"Because you wouldn't!"

"But he would?"

She turned back to her sister, tears started dropping from her eyes. "There was never anypony like me, who would understand how I felt all those years!" Her head sank down. "But he, he's somehow a bit like me. When I looked into his mind, I found confusion, friendship, hate, love...; but everything was in an endless fight."

"Lulu, please show me your memories, I want to see what happened."

"Only if you promise to not throw him into prison!"

"Okay I will promise, even Pinkie promise." The sun goddess tried to cheer her up.

"You don't have to, I believe you sister." She was smiling a bit.

Celestia lighted up her horn in her golden magic aura again and touched her sister's head, seeing the events of the day through her eyes. She saw everything, the human's drea,, how he woke up and she talked with him, even the feelings and her own nightmare...
"Lulu... is this how you felt all those years?" Her sister nodded. "I am so sorry, I won't do anything against him; but still, he worries me - even if he seems to be a good person."

"But why? What could he do to harm anypony?"

"From what I've seen in your memories, their race seems to have had a war not long ago and that war was against themselves. Aside from that, he lied when telling you about how he got here.
To top that all, their technology is by far more advanced than ours; what if they have weapons strong enough to destroy Equestria?"

"I see what you mean; but what do I do now? He's awake and already asking where he is! We don't know a single city name he would know."

"Play a game."

Luna cocked her head nearly 90° to the right. "What do you mean by that?"

"Question and answer: If he tells you how he got here, then you will tell him where he is."

"Hopefully he doesn't - what if he gets suspicious?"

"If it really comes to this, just tell him the truth. I think he can handle it."

"I hope so. I will better sleep a bit until I need to raise the moon. This day was pretty stressful."

"Sleep well Luna." Celestia walked back to the throne and sat down, her sister was heading for her private room.

She couldn't sleep, she wasn't even tired at all. The only thing going through her mind were the human and his dreams - what was she going to do tomorrow and what if he got behind all of this?

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The following day, Ponyville Library...

It was early in the morning and Twilight wanted to visit Jan; she had received a letter from Luna that they would meet at the hospital at 10 o'clock. She had made copies of the paper sheets she and Spike had written yesterday and put them in a small box, so she could send them to Celestia later. She was currently packing her saddlebag when suddenly...

*knock* *knock* *knock*

"Twilight, didn't you say Applejack wouldn't come with us today?"

"Must be somepony else, can you open the door please? I am still gathering my things."

"Okay." Spike went to the door, but before he could even open it, the door nearly smashed him into the wall; it was Rainbow Dash.

"Hey Spike, where's Twilight?"

"Upstairs, she is packing her saddlebag."

"Huh? Is she going somewhere?" Without waiting for an answer she flied upstairs and opened the door. "Hey Twilight, where have you been yesterday? I wanted to get the newest Daring Do book, but when I was-... are you going to Canterlot?"

"Well, actually-" Twlight started to speak.

"Oh if you do, can you ask the Wonderbolts about my Sonic Rainboom I did at the wedding?"

"Rainbow-"

"Maybe I get an invitation..." She drooled.

"Rainbow!"

"What is it Twilight?"

"I'm NOT heading for Canterlot!"

"You are not? Then why are you packing your saddlebag?" The pegasus cocked her head.

"It is something really important."

"And what is so important?"

Twilight thought for a second. "Ugh, since you are the Element of Loyalty and I can trust you that you won't tell anypony: I am heading for the hospital."

"Because of that changeling they've captured?"

"Uhm, not really; I think that you should see it yourself."

"What do you mean by that?"

"It would take too long to explain, but if you want to know: A human has somehow managed to get to our world and is badly injured."

"A human? Awesome!"

"Woah, wait! You know what a human is?"

"Of course! In one of the Daring Do books something was written about them; cause in of them one Daring Do finds an old scroll written by Starswill with information about humans; but I thought that they weren't real and just a myth!"

"Apparently they live on a different planet and are far more advanced than we are."

"That's incredible! I can't wait to talk to him!" Rainbow Dash drooled again.

"There's something you should know Rainbow; there isn't anypony like us on their planet."

"Of course not, I am way too awesome!"

"What? No, you don't understand! I mean that they don't have talking ponies on their planet and at the moment he doesn't even know that he's on a different planet."

"Ohh! But what are we going to do there?"

"I don't know, but I got the feeling that Princess Luna is going to tell him today."

— — — —

Later at the hospital...

Luna had waited for Twilight at the entrance of the quarantine room; she had been thinking of the conversation she would have in a few minutes the whole morning. What if Jan asked about his location again? What would she tell him? Could he handle the truth? What would he do?
Deep in her thoughts she didn't recognized the two mares standing in front of her.

"Princess Luna! Are you alright?"

"Huh? Oh yes, I am fine. I was just thinking about what to say when we get inside. Wait, what are you doing here Rainbow Dash?"

"Sorry, Princess Luna; I couldn't withstand the chance to talk with a human." Rainbow Dash said.

"I understand; by the way, you don't need to call me Princess all the time." She laughed. "You are my friends after all."

"Alright Luna, is Jan already awake?" Twilight asked

"Yes he is, we can go inside whenever we want."

"Then what are we waiting for?" The pegasus stated. "Let's go inside!"

"But remember: Don't tell him our names and say anything about Equestria." The unicorn warned her friend.

"Twilight, the whole way to the hospital you told me about that!" She groaned.

"Could you two spare that conversation for later? We have something important to do." The moon goddess declared.

"Yes." They both said and grinned.

"Good." Luna opened the door; everything was the same as yesterday, despite the fact that the human was now getting morphine through a needle against his pains.

Jan heard that they had opened the door. "Hello Luna, did you sleep well?"

"How did you know that it's me?"

"I heard you walking up and down the floor the whole morning and somebody called your name; I guess you brought some friends of yours?"

Rainbow Dash tried to speak, but Luna held her mouth shut with her magic. "Yes I did, you should remember one of them." She looked at Twilight.

"Hello Jan." She said.

"Hello." He replied.

"And somep- I mean somebody new." She released her magic grip on the pegasus.

"Hi Jan." She looked at his body and the injuries. "Doesn't that hurt? I mean, your injuries?"

He smiled. "Yes, it would. But they keep on pumping me with morphine, I'm not feeling a bit of it."

"Oh, that's good."

"Well Luna, I'm still expecting an answer for my question."

"Which question exactly?" She teased.

He tried to roll his eyes, but couldn't. "Where am I?"

"I don't know where you are."

"Ha, ha Luna", he laughed. "Let me guess, I need to tell you something first right?"

"Yes - how did you get here?"

"I already told you."

"You lied, I know that; you make exactly the same mistake as me when lying."

Jan was shocked and silent for a moment. "Okay you got me. But I can't tell you how I got here."

"And why is that?"

"I swear that it's nothing personal, it's just that I am not allowed to tell you."

"Not allowed? How do I have to understand that?"

"That's... a bit complicated. Anyways, why aren't you telling me where I am?" He paused. "It's not like I landed on a different planet and you are in fact aliens." He laughed.

The three ponies were shocked and their pupils were reduced to small black points. Luna laughed pathetically. "Uhhh...ha... well... about that..." She rubbed the back of her head with a hoof.

"Wait, you don't want to say that..."

"Jan, I have to tell you something... that might shock you a bit." She dropped her head and inhaled some fresh air before continuing. "You aren't on your planet anymore. The country you are in is called Equestria and the city is called Ponyville."

"What?" Jan said in very flat tone. "You know how... well, crazy that sounds?"

"Hey! The princess is telling the truth! In fact you are an alien for us." Rainbow Dash said directly in Jan's face.

"Leave him alone Rainbow! What would you think when you were in his situation?" Twilight pulled her back.

"Guys, I am not falling for this prank."

"Then I will show you." Luna carefully grabbed the bandage Jan was wearing around his head with her magic.

"Wait, my eyes are still injured!"

"No they aren't. That was a lie to stop you from unwrapping the bandage." She started pulling the bandage; layer for layer it unwrapped, until his face could be seen.

He blinked and rubbed his eyes with his left hand; he blinked twice again and looked seriously, trying to focus on the things before him. After a few seconds he could see Luna standing in front of him, Twilight and Rainbow Dash standing on her sides. He looked at each of them and finally spoke. "Is this some kind of secret camera prank where everyone is laughing at me how ridiculous I am looking at three pony plushies? That's not funny, I thought that I would be dead!"

Luna sighed. "Sorry Jan, but this is real, we are real, this place is real."

His mouth opened widely, he stuttered some not incomprehensible words; his eyes began rolling upwards and his head hit the pillow with a small *thud*.

End of Chapter 6

So much for 'he can handle it'...

Chapter 7: But magic isn't real!

"I-is he d-dead?" Twilight stuttered at the sight of the non-moving human.

"I don't think so," Rainbow Dash said while hovering over him. "He's still breathing."

"Well, at least we know now that humans can faint." Luna stated. "Do you think this was a bit too harsh?"

"Pfft! He just overreacted." The blue mare replied.

Twilight gave her a stern look. "You would have fainted too if you were in his situation!"

The pegasus looked straight into her friends eyes. "No I would not! Nothing can scare me that much!"

"Lightning apparently can." The moon goddess chuckled.

A blush appeared on Rainbow Dash's face. "Th-that was different! I didn't expect you to scare me like that!"

"Like him, huh? Do you think that he expected to crash land on a different planet and then talk with aliens in the same language?" Luna stated.

The blush on her face spread. "No! I still wouldn't have reacted like him!" But the other two didn't respond and turned to the human again, to tease her apparently! "Hey! I didn't faint."

"Yes, you flew away - screaming." The unicorn teased with a smirk..

"No I didn't!" But the others didn't react. "Fine, if your only interest is getting on my nerves, I will go." She crossed her hooves and flew to the door, opening it. "I'm at my house." She slammed the door shut.

Luna had a depressing and unsure look on her face and turned to Twilight. "I had no idea that she is this sensitive."

"Don't worry, she's just playing the mad mare. She will come again in five, four, thr-" Twilight was cut off by the opening door.

The blue pegasus came flying in and landed beside the bed. "I am just here because I don't want to miss anything." She muttered.

"Sure thing." Her friend replied receiving a cold shoulder. "However, if we assume that his anatomy can be compared to that of a pony, he will wake up in a few minutes - or an hour. I think that we should discuss what we are going to do when this happens."

"Yeah, but what should we do? If he is this anxious he will faint again when seeing us!" Rainbow Dash stated.

"Maybe not. But risking another shock of him wouldn't be so great, too."

"What if we just kick him - preventing him from losing his mind and fainting?" The blue mare suggested.

"Rainbow Dash, we can't do such a thing! What if he gets angry? Calls out a war because we attacked him?" The princess feared.

"Then what else could we do?"

The unicorn rubbed her chin. "What if we put the bandage on his head again and try to talk at first before attacking his mind with the sight of us?"

"Hmm, that could work. And since we don't have any better idea, we will do that." Luna declared. She grabbed the bandage with her magic and carefully lifted his head up, so she could barely wrap the bandage around.

"So what are we gonna do now? Wait until he awakes?" The pegasus asked.

"What would Big Macintosh say now? Eeyup!" The unicorn giggled.

"Great! And all of this without even a Daring Do book."

"The new one just came out yesterday; but you were just so amused by our human over here that I couldn't get the chance to give it to you."

"What? Oh hay! I forgot that already. Wait a minute, I will look around if I can find it around." With a rainbow coloured flash she ran out of the room and nearly bumped into the two guards protecting the door.

Luna was surprised by her extreme need for a Daring Do book. "Incredible how much she likes books; I always thought she wouldn't like reading at all."

"Well, there was that flight accident she had a while ago; after staying in hospital for some time and being totally bored she finally decided to start reading a book - she couldn't stop and now she's crazy after the Daring Do series."

"They are very well written after all and the character fits her perfectly, no wonder she likes them." The moon goddess smiled. " I remember when I started reading them; I just don't know why I stopped."

Suddenly they could hear a loud gasp, they turned to Jan, but it wasn't him. "CODE LYRA!" It was Rainbow Dash, flying straight at the door with an immense speed, forcing the guards to duck. "Duck and cover, she's coming!!" She crash landed into the room.

"What, Lyra? Rainbow, what have you done? Did you tell her about him?" Twilight looked angry at her friend.

"No I didn't, I swear! She was standing at the bookshelves, she asked me why I am in the hospital, I answered that I would be helping you, she interrupted me and asked 'HUMAN??'", she cocked her head and widened her eyes at the word. "She saw the look in my face and ambushed me with questions, I flew upstairs and she was following me!" Both mares looked with wide eyes at her exhausted friend.

"Oh no, Princess Luna. This is bad! You have no idea how-"

"-how Lyra reacts to humans? I know Twilight! Tia had to deal with that earlier; when she hears just a bit about it then not even an alicorn is able to stop her!" Luna gulped. "Guards! Don't let Lyra Heartstrings trespass!"

"Yes, Princess." The guards replied, giving a salute. They flared their wings and prepared for the incoming rage-mare; they could hear her hooves - she was coming. Giving their angriest stare they faced the green flash, but before they could do anything, she crashed into them, sending them flying and crashing into the wall. "What the hay was that?"

Quickly Luna shut the door and locked it. With a loud *crack* Lyra ran into the door - stuck with her horn. "Wow, that was close."

"I know you are in there." Lyra said in a singing voice, giving the mares inside the room shivers. "And I know about the human."

"And what are we supposed to do now?" The lavender unicorn panicked.

"Let the guards handle it." The blue pegasus suggested.

"Good idea! Guards, take care of Lyra and bring her somewhere else!" The dark alicorn commanded.

"We swear that we would do anything to protect the princesses and even give our lives if we have to; but this is insane!" One of them said.

"Insane? Fighting against this crazy mare is worse than attacking a dozen of alicorns!!" The other one replied.

"I AM NOT CRAZY!!" The mint green unicorn yelled, trying to free her horn from the door.

"By the love of Celestia, RUN!" A guard screamed.

"You come back here this instant, or I will give you nightmares for the rest of your life!" Luna threatened them with a twitching eye.

"Still better than facing that mare." The other one answered.

Her eye twitched rapidly. Unbelievable! What the hay is wrong with them, they usually don't act like that. "Guards! I order you to come back!" But nobody answered. "Great! I hope you have fun with Shining Armor later." She muttered to herself. And with a small spell of mine.

Lyra was still stuck and trying to free herself. "Could you please get my horn out of the door?"

"Lyra Heartstrings!" It was the voice of the doctor. "What are you doing up here? You should stay in bed until the side effects of your medicaments aren't showing anymore!" A magical aura appeared around her body and the horn slowly moved out of the door. "Nurse Redheart, I think that it would be better to tie her down until her mind is clear again." They could hear the struggling of Lyra and the sound of a wheelchair. "You can open the door now, she's gone."

Luna looked through the new hole. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, and believe me, she won't come again for some time."

She opened the door. "She was even crazier than before, what has happened to her?"

"She had collapsed in her home yesterday, apparently she tried a very strong spell."

"But that would only end with her fainting and not in a hospital."

"This situation is different; at first we thought that she had just overused her magic abilities, but after some time we realized that she has been knocked out by a very strong - maybe electrical - shock that made her body incapable of producing magic."

"An electrical shock? Wouldn't such a strong one kill her?"

"And that's the point. We don't know how she survived it and without any injuries at all. It's possible that it wasn't electricity, maybe a different kind of energy."

"Have you asked her about the spell?"

"We did, but she refuses to answer." He rubbed the back of his head. "But something different is bothering me; she seems to absorb magical energy and we are incapable of using any spell on her besides the ones that doesn't affect her body itself, like telekinesis."

"For Jan it's the same, I could feel how his body absorbs my magic."

"I know and that's the strangest part; they both show the same symptoms at the SAME time! There must be a connection between this, but like I said, she refuses to tell us what exactly happened... like Jan."

"Let me go! I want to see the human!" Lyra yelled from the elevator.

"I think that I should go and help the nurses, Lyra is still under the influence of a few medicaments we gave her and you have seen how crazy she is in this state." With that he went after the nurses, they could still hear the struggling of Lyra.

"That was awkward... nevermind." Luna turned back to the bed and the other two ponies in the room. "We still need to discuss-", in exact the same moment Jan's head slowly began to move. Of course! He had to awake in the worst possible moment.

Jan groaned. "Ugh... why do I always have these nightmares.... talking ponies... something ain't right with my head..."

For a moment everyone was silent, after some time Luna finally began to speak. "Good morning Jan."

The human was shocked by her sudden voice. "Wow Luna! Don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry, you were still sleeping when I went in. Uhm... did you sleep well?"

"I had a very weird dream, but aside from that I slept well."

"A weird dream?"

"Yeah, I was in the hospital with you and two of your friends, we talked a bit and you told me that I would be on a different planet. I didn't believe you of course and you unwrapped the bandage around my head."

"And what happened then?" Luna said, trying to sound as innocent as possible.

"After you unwrapped the bandage I could see you with your friends standing in front of my bed and you were ponies! Talking ponies!"

"I kinda have bad news for you Jan."

"Bad news? Like 'you will die' or 'you will loose a limb'", he chuckled. "Or 'your dream was real and we are talking ponies in reality'", Jan broke out in laughter.

"The last one would be fitting."

"Ha, ha.. ha.... what?"

"Like you said, we are talking ponies, you are on a different planet and the dream you had was real."

"You are joking right?"

"Not a bit. If you don't believe me, just take the bandage off."

He carefully reached for the bandage with a shivering hand and grabbed it; since Luna hadn't wrapped it so tightly he could easily pull it off in one piece with his eyes still closed. "Oh god please let this be a nightmare." He opened his eyes and realised in shock that indeed three living and talking ponies were standing in the room. "Oh... shit..." He let his head fall down on the pillow. "This is fucking real... I am on a different planet... with different life forms... and they are ponies... talking ponies....", he sighed. "Why do I always have to end up in the biggest pile of crap you can find...."

"Are you... alright?" Luna gave him a faked smile, trying to calm him down.

His head dashed up again. "Alright? Nothing is alright! I was supposed to land on the Mars and not on a different planet, maybe light-years away from home!"

"Jan, calm down. We will do everything to help you getting home again."

"This is just crazy; how are you able to speak my language?"

"We could ask you the same thing, for us you are speaking our language."

"But how can this be... wow, wait..." Jan moved his head to the left and right. "You have a horn! Are you some kind of unicorn? No wait, you have wings as well! What are you?"

"I am an alicorn."

"And your friends? I guess that the lavender one is a unicorn and the blue one a pegasus?"

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash jumped up and flew to him. "We have names, you know?"

"And how am I supposed to know them when you never told me?", he smirked.

"Ohh... sorry... I am Rainbow Dash, fastest flier in Equestria and professional athlete." She pointed at Twilight. "And this over here is our egghead Twilight Sparkle."

"Rainbow!!" She saw that the human was grinning a bit. "Oh yeah of course really nice!"

The blue pegasus burst out in laughter. "Oh c'mon Twilight! This was my revenge! And by the way, I just tried to cheer him up."

"This is so strange, I don't even know what to say. I mean, you are talking ponies! Talking ponies with horns and wing." He gave a loud sigh. "It's a wonder that I am still alive, that I am able to breath the air on your planet." He shook his head. "And then the viruses and bacteria here, my immune system should never be able to withstand an alien virus and yours shouldn't be able to handle the ones from Earth."

"Earth? We have earth here you know?" Twilight replied.

"No, you got me wrong. Our planet's name IS Earth!"

"Oh! I will take a note on that." She opened her saddlebag and grabbed the sheet and quill.

Jan's eyes widened at the sight of the flying sheet and the inked feather. "H-how are you able to do this? D-do you have telekinesis abilities?"

"Uh yes, why? Every unicorn can - it's the first thing you learn."

"This is incredible! I mean, we have machines that can create an anti-gravity field - but you are doing it with your natural body!"

"You have machines for that? Aren't there any humans who can do this with magic?"

"Magic? Are you serious?", he smirked. "Magic is just fairytale stuff and not real."

"Magic IS real!"

"Do you have any proof for that?"

"You are seeing it in exactly this moment." She pointed at the two floating objects, which where still covered in her magical aura.

"Telekinesis isn't magical, even if humans can't do it."

"Well Jan, there is a spell which should impress you." Luna grinned and her horn began to glow in her dark blue aura; with a flash of light she teleported to the other side of the bed. "How about this?"

Did she just teleported? Wait a second, something is wrong here... "I am not somebody you can fool that easily."

"What? You still don't believe us that magic exists?"

"It's not that; I just remembered that I saw you - in my dreams!" The smile on Luna's face disappeared. "Probably I am sitting in some bunker and I am hooked up to a computer trying to get top secret information out of my head!"

"What is a computer?"

"C'mon, don't try to fool me! I know why you did that!"

"Did what Jan?"

"The teleportation of course! You are trying to impact my mind with similar information, so that I spill the beans about the teleporter at the C.M.C.!"

"A... teleporter?"

"Oh great success! Mission accomplished! I have no idea how you did that, but just wow! Can you please just blow your disguise now and let me see who I am talking to?"

"Ugh... Jan, is there any way to prove that this is real and that we are NOT trying to get some sort of secret information out of you?"

He sighed. "Just let me think for a moment..." Talking ponies, I wonder who decided to do this; where the hell am I? In Russia? No, Ramuel said they got the parts for the two giant fusion reactors from them and some of the scientists were from Russia, too. Maybe I am not on the Mars but on the moon? Damn it! No, the moon is internationally used and the only colony that exists there knows about the teleporter. I must have landed on earth, but... "Oh no."

"Have you found something which could prove that you aren't on your planet?"

"Yes..."

"Great, what can we do?"

"Nothing, I believe you now."

Luna rose an eyebrow. "Ehm, can you explain to us what made you come to this conclusion?"

"The machine which accidently brought me here can only teleport things to a large amount of mass, like a moon - but it can't be the starting point." Jan groaned loudly and let his head fall down on the pillow again. "How did I forget about that? Just HOW?!"

"Jan, you have been nearly dead when you were found and you are pumped with morphine."

"I am sorry if I was rude.. it's just so... unlikely... I mean, there are three things which are pure luck: First, I landed on a planet with intelligent life forms, something we searched for in over 100 years. Second, the air on your planet is breathable for me, the chances for something like that are even lower than finding a planet with life forms and I seem to be immune to the bacteria and viruses here. And third, your species is extremely similar to the horses on our planet, just that you have unicorns and pegasi like in our mythology."

"If you believe me or not, in our world humans are mythological creatures which haven't been seen for more than thousand years." Twilight stated.

"Wow what? I am a mythological creature on your planet?" He smiled. "Well that's even crazier. But how can our two planets have so many similarities? Like the language?"

"We don't know it and even the princesses don't know it." The unicorn replied.

"And if the princesses don't know it, then nopony else will." Rainbow Dash added.

"So I guess that you have some kind of monarchy here?" Jan asked.

"That is right, my sister and I rule over Equestria." Luna stated.

"Oh... I... ah... oh... that means... you are a queen?"

"No, just a princess." She smiled.

"Oh... I guess I should bow... or something?" He grinned sheepishly.

"Jan, there's no need for formalities here." Luna chuckled.

"Oh, ok; if you say so." Jan had a small blush on his face.

"I think that there are more important questions right now, like 'how did you really get here?'" The human looked at her a bit unsure. "And please don't lie Jan, we need to know what exactly happened to you to help you."

"I guess that I can tell you now, since you have already discovered what the machine was."

Luna tried so say something but was cut off by Twilight, who was already hopping up and down, as she saw that Jan was finally going to answer her questions. "Yes, you said something about a teleporter and since you said that humans don't have magic I guess that it's a pure mechanical or electrical machine, right?"

"That is correct. It's a giant machine that can transport everything to a different point with a great mass, but as I said that can't be the starting point."

"You said that you were going to a planet called Mars, can you tell us why?"

"We were testing the teleporter and wanted to bring some new equipment to the Mars colony and research facility. You know, the teleporter has only been used by a human for ten times now, if you count this one here."

"I see, a prototype. That's the reason you didn't want to tell us about it." Jan nodded. "But why are you constructing a teleporter? From what I've seen, your kind is able to get into space and travel through it."

"That may be correct Twilight. But you have to know that even the fastest space-ship needs 24 hours to reach the nearest planet in our solar system, which is the Mars. A distance that is extremely short compared to... wait a second.... how did you see that we are so advanced in technology and that we can travel in space?"

"You said that you have a colony on a different planet." She replied

"Yeah, but said that you SAW it!"

"I... uh.... we... uh...." Twilight stuttered.

"Has this something to do with me seeing Luna in my dreams?" He gave her a stern look.

"Uhhh...." They all said in unison.

Great, it had to come to this point... Luna thought.

End of Chapter 7

Sorry for the (long) delay, I had quite a busy time.

Jan: Yeah, playing Borderlands 2 with your friends 8 hours a day...

Hey! What the hell are you doing here?

Jan: Kicking you into your butt if you don't write the next chapter until tomorrow.

Try that and I will turn you into a pony.

Jan: You can't.

Oh and how I can >:D

Jan: o_O

Chapter 2: What could go wrong?

April 2nd, 2100
Cheyenne Mountain Complex, Landing Area
3:14 AM

"Here we are son, the Cheyenne Mountain Complex." General Sinclair and Jan were looking out of the window.

"Wow, finally I am at the place where my favourite TV-Show is playing. You know, when I first saw it, I somehow knew that I would be here in the future."

"Well, now you are here and we will go inside; I don't have to remind you that this is all top secret?"

"Of course not."

The machine was slowly nearing the ground. After a few seconds it finally made a small *thud* and the pilot told them that they had landed and that they could go outside. A soldier opened the door, letting James and Jan out.

"Is there anything more than the teleporter inside of this bunker?"

"You shouldn't ask."

"That means yes..."

"It means that I won't tell you." The general looked at him and was grinning.

"Let me guess, top secret weapons and technology which could save the victory of a new world war? Also a third one is not going to happen."

"All I can tell you is that it has nothing to do with war, believe me; since the third world war has ended, the Cheyenne Mountain Complex hasn't been used by the government. Until now."

He's hiding something, I believe him the no-weapons story, but what are they exactly doing down there? I think that I will better not ask him about that. "If it wouldn't come out of your mouth, I wouldn't believe it; I'm still mad as hell, aft-"

"Stop thinking about that son, it's corrupting your mind and you will need a clear one for the next days. The government has changed. By the way, each person in this place is selected by me, so don't worry about that."

"Good to hear that." He's right, the government has changed a lot the past year - I just hope that the past doesn't repeat itself. All the cruel things that have happened, the things the government has caused, the things I've gone through, the things I have done.. But his thoughts were cut off when they were standing in front of a big vault door and two guards.

"So here we are, they will just check our DNA and finger-prints for verification and after that we will take the elevator down to the laboratories where Dr. Venham is waiting."

"Huh, what? We're already inside?"

"I think you day-dreamed, but I wouldn't wonder about that, it's short after 3 o'clock." While saying that he pressed his hand on the PDA which one of the guards was holding.

"Verification complete, person has been identified as General James Sinclair." The electronic voice of the PDA stated.

"Now it's your turn. Just put your hand on the PDA." Jan put his hand on the PDA; a beam of light was scanning his hand, which tickled for some reason.

"Verification complete, person has been identified as astronaut and engineer Jan Schneider."

"Okay, everything is alright, you can pass." The guard put the PDA back into it's holster on his belt and the big vault door opened slowly with a metal screeching.

"I am impressed - when I was on the military field of the space ship which brought me to the ISS 2 I had to wait an hour for the verification to be completed." The ex-astronaut said as he entered the elevator.

"Well, times change son - what would humanity be if we didn't develop new technologies?" Jan looked at him; he didn't look back and said to himself: "We probably didn't have to go through three world wars..."

"What was that?" He asked, as if he didn't understand what the general said.

"Nothing, I was just thinking about how deep this bunker is." He was looking at the floor counter, which was counting the other way, 1 for the top, 35 for the bottom. They were heading for floor 25, 5 floors above the teleporter. *bing* the doors of the elevator opened. "So here we are, Dr. Venham is in room 13; if you excuse me, I have to complete my report for the President."

"You are talking with the President himself?" Jan stepped outside of the elevator, while the general pressed the button for one of the upper floors.

"Yes, I mean, I am a general after all and responsible for the Cheyenne Mountain Complex."

With that the doors closed and Jan turned to the floor, searching for room 13. "Room 10, room 11, room 12 and room 13", he said to himself and knocked at the metal door.

"The door is open, you can come in." A voice said from inside.

Jan went through the door, closing it behind him. "Uhm hello? Where are you?" He turned his head to see if the doctor was behind one of the machines which were standing in the room.

"Ah you must be Mr. Schneider." A head popped from the side of the machine the ex-astronaut was standing in front of. "My name is Dr. Ramuel Venham, but I guess General Sinclair already told you that." He held out his hand.

Jan shook his hand and nodded. "Yes Dr. Venham; and you are right, my name is Jan Schneider, I am the astronaut you wanted for your... well... experiment if I can say that."

"You can just call me Ramuel; and don't worry, the experiments are done, I would never test a possibly dangerous machine with a human body. Besides, none of the 253 experiments have gone wrong, the machine is totally safe."

"Oh man, I already feared that I would be a guinea pig." He grinned as Ramuel bursted into laughter.

After he couldn't laugh anymore, he continued: "So, well, we only tested the machine with fruits, plants and mice. But of course a mouse or a banana can't tell us how it feels and can't fill out a report. Besides, I want to talk with somebody who understands the things we are doing with him and not somebody like the guards."

"Well that's true. When are we going to start anyway?"

"Well, it's pretty late already, I wanted to go to bed in a few minutes; but I would say tomorrow, better to say today, at around 4 PM"

"Do you mean you wanted to do the first test with a human in the same night?" I can see it coming; it's one of those near crazy scientists...

"Uhm yes, why not?"

I knew it... "It just seems.. a bit rushed, don't you think?"

"If you don't rush in modern science, you will get nowhere."

"Like rushing school?"

Ramuel had to grin. "Yes, like that; anyway, before we go to bed... do you want to see it?" Jan quickly nodded. "Follow me; we are going down to floor 30, the entry point." They both left the room and went to the elevator. After they reached floor 30, they had to pass another security door. Still, it was smaller than the one at the main entrance. They walked along the path until they reached a big metal door. "Wait a second, I have to open the shielding of the room." He pushed a button on the wall, just a second later the door opened and they could see the inside of the room.

"WOW.... oh.... my...." Jan couldn't believe what he was seeing. In the middle of the room there was a 10 feet wide plate, which was mounted to the side of a very deep and 30 feet wide hole; inside of the hole were 4 plates with 4 holes in each of them, rotating counter-wise against every layer, "This is...", he paused and looked at the ceiling; there was the same big hole with the same size and the same amount of plates. "...unbelievable. How big are these holes?"

"Around 30 feet wide and 60 feet deep."

"And this thing in the middle is where I am going to stand on?"

"Yes why? You aren't afraid of heights, are you?"

"I kinda am." How ironic this was: An astronaut who is travelling in space, in an unbelievable height; was afraid of heights.

Ramuel started to laugh. "That's the most ironic thing I've ever heard, do you know that?"

"I know, you aren't the first one who says that." And I thought that I could hide that from him. "But I mean, what happens if I fall down and get shreddered by these things?"

"Never thought about that..." The ex-astronaut dropped his mouth and was trying to find words, but he couldn't. "Don't worry, I am just kidding; there's a force field which keeps you safe in place." At that point Venham's watch beeped. "Oh, already 4 o'clock, we should go to bed now; I will show you to your room." They left the room. Jan looked at the machine for last time before the door closed again. Many things went through his mind at that moment; What will happen tomorrow? How will it feel like? Will something go wrong? But he shook his head at these thoughts, he needed to keep a clear head for tomorrow.

— — — —

April 2nd, 2100
Cheyenne Mountain Complex, Floor 30
4:12 PM

Ramuel and Jan had talked the whole morning about the machine; how it works, how he invented it and how he was able to build it. Ramuel had shown the special modified space suit to the - not anymore ex - astronaut. They talked about their lifes and how they got their jobs; Ramuel even talked about India and told him how different it was there.
Now they were standing at the sidewalk of the hole, Jan already wearing the space suit, ready for the first teleportation: To the moon!
"Man this thing is heavy and you can't properly move in it. I thought we would be using the newer models, like the ones they are using on the Lunar Laboratories."

"It isn't one of the older ones, the thick material is heat absorbing and the big and heavy backpack is caused by the graviton generator and the small fusion reactor which is powering the magnetic field shield. You don't want to be turned into roast-beef by the heat, or into an ice-sculpture by the heat lost at the end. Also, this thing absorbs most of the shockwave caused by the teleportation."

"Shockwave? It won't be strong enough to break my bones?"

"Hell no, the shockwave isn't much dangerous, just not very pleasent."

"Okay, I think we should start now." He closed the visor of his helmet and green words appeared on the HUD:

System self test initiated...
Air tightness... checked!
Oxygen supply... checked!
Fusion generator... checked!
Graviton generator... checked!
Magnetic field generator... checked!
Communication... checked!
Emergency systems... checked!
All systems checked. Total errors: 0

"Everything is fine, I will go to the plate now." He carefully walked over the bridge to the middle of the plate; after he reached the center and turned around the bridge retracted.

Ramuel and the other men, who were doing last minute checks on the systems, left the room and closed the door. After a minute Jan could hear him through the speakers of his space suit: "Are you ready Jan, are you feeling good?"

"Good isn't the word, I feel fantastic."

"Very well, I will start the system now; it will take 60 seconds until the teleporter is charged and ready, then we will start the 10 seconds countdown."

"Got it." The plates that were rotating under and above him started making sparks and were beginning to rotate faster and faster. After a few seconds the sparks were jumping between floor and ceiling. The machine started making a high pitched and very loud sound, which seemed to go higher the faster the plates rotated. He could feel the vibrations they were causing. Fear appeared on his face. What have I gotten myself into? This is crazy, this thing will disintegrate me... OR WORSE! Wait, how could it get worse than this?

Deep in his thoughts, he didn't recognized that Ramuel was talking to him: "Jan answer, are you ready for the countdown? Remember, this is the point of no return; when the countdown has started, we can't abort anymore!"

The astronaut was still thinking, one side of him wanted to start, but the other didn't:
C'mon, this is THE chance to get back in action.
...when you are dead, this won't help you a bit.
Ramuel said that it's safe and I believe him!
...and when you die?
And when I don't die?
...then you will be in space!
Exactly!
And with that thought he yelled: "GO! I am ready!"

Ramuel pressed the start button in the control room and gave Jan the countdown through the speakers."10 - 9 - 8 - 7 - 6 - 5 - 4 - 3..."

The world seemed to slow down for the astronaut, so many things he thought about, how he grew up and became an astronaut....

"- 2 -"

How he lived on the ISS 2...

"-1-"

And what he went through, after the accident on the space station and what he did back in WW3...

"ZERO!"

A bright light filled the room and his helmet; he couldn't see anything and closed his eyes, it was like he was in the sunlight; it was warm, he could feel every tiny place of his skin, he felt alive. Suddenly he felt ground under his feet and the heat was gone; he slowly opened his eyes looking on the ground...
He was on the moon, safe; he looked up and could see the earth, it was fully brightened up by the sun, which was behind him. The astronaut was still amazed by the beauty of his own planet, it should be like the time he was on the ISS 2; but it was different: It felt better.

The silence was broken when Ramuel suddenly called for him. "Jan! Can you hear me? Are you alright?"

Jan opened his mouth, but somehow he didn't know what to say; even if he just needed to say: 'Yeah, I am alright!' But he just couldn't. After a few seconds he finally said: "Yo Ramuel, you remember the shockwave you told me about?"

"Yes why?"

"It feels like someone has slapped me... with a freaking sledgehammer."

Everyone in the control room laughed and was happy; the teleportation was successful and the tester okay. "We will teleport you back in a minute."

"Take the time you need." Jan was still watching the earth. He turned to his right, trying to see some stars, but there weren't any stars. Oh I almost forgot, the gold steamed visor makes it impossible to see the stars... damn...
Ramuel started the countdown and he was teleported back; but this time the bright light appeared on the other side of the teleportation. He re-opened his eyes, but could only see something white; he put a hand on his visor. "Ice, there's ice on my visor Ramuel."

Ramuel, who was already back in the teleporter room, washed the visor with his shirt. "You are right, it's ice, seems like the surface of the space suit heats up to 300°C and cools down to -100°C when you're being teleported; interesting..."

"Could you help me to get the helmet off, there's condensed water inside of it and I can't see shit." Ramuel flipped the two securing lashes over and took the helmet off. "Ahhh, much better, thanks."

"How are you feeling?"

"I couldn't feel better, you need to try this out."

"I think I will wait until we fixed the shockwave problem."

"Your decision. And please find a solution, this sledgehammer hit is awful."

— — — —

1 week and 9 successful teleporations later...

Again Jan was standing on the plate, now with a second astronaut; since teleportation #7 they had two astronauts for further tests Ramuel had prepared. The last week had been a joy for him, Ramuel and the rest of the team. They had sent him 6 times to the moon and 3 times to the Mars without any problems. This time he and the second astronaut were going to the colony that was built up on the Mars; he got a special box out of pure titanium for his personal clothing, attached to his suit. "I still can't believe that you couldn't find a solution for the graviton shockwave."

"Seems like we have to deal with that later."

"You are just fearing your own teleporter and don't want to find a solution, so you don't have to come with us." Both astronauts laughed.

"Shut up or I will send you to the end of the universe!" Both of them stopped laughing. "Okay, can I start the countdown?"

"Yes." Jan said.

"No, wait, I forgot the damn box, can you extract the bridge and send Jan without me first?" Ramuel extracted the bridge and the astronaut went through the door.

"Oh man, where does he put his head when he doesn't use it?" Jan face-palmed.

"I heard that!" The other astronaut yelled through the speakers.

"Nevermind, let's go!" Ramuel started the countdown, but wasn't counting down, because Jan had said that he wouldn't need it. In the first seconds everything was normal, but then...
"What the... RAMUEL!" He was nearly out of breath and in fear. "THE SPACE SUIT! IT'S STEAMING AND MELTING!!!"

"Oh shit, we have energy spikes; don't worry, you will b-", suddenly Ramuels voice disappeared.

Jan was now in panic, his suit was slowly melting and he lost contact to the control room. NOTHING went as planned now, if he would've just stayed home... but it was too late, he would die. The counter he imagined in his head reached zero and the light flash appeared. It was totally different; the comfy heat he felt before had been replaced by a burning sting which covered his entire body; it was a pain he couldn't have imagine before. Suddenly the shockwave hit his body; it didn't feel like the sledgehammer like before, it felt like somebody drove a bulldozer over him, smashing every bone and organ inside him. He opened his eyes to see where he was; he was falling straight onto a roof. With a loud *crack* he went through it, just to fall deeper onto a hard stone floor; his visor sprung into pieces, he quickly closed his eyes to protect them. He could feel a liquid dropping down from his head - water? No, it was red, it was his own blood.
There he was: Lying on the ground with an unbelievable pain he could have never imagined; he tried to call for help, but the pain cut his voice off and only let a quiet grown out. He tried to look up - the only thing he saw was a shadow; it was four legged and had something pretty big and waving on the top and at the end of it. He looked up further; indeed it had 4 white legs and something golden at the end of them - but he could only see the legs, not the body. Whatever it was, it had found him and it called for someone; the only two words he could understand were 'guards' and 'stallion'. Maybe it was just his imagination; after all he was deadly injured and maybe dead already and this was the afterlife.
With that thought his head fell down and he fainted.

End of Chapter 2

You can all guess where he is ^^