Planet 3QV15by Joss the AlicornChaptersI: Above Their WorldII: First Contact... Well, KindaIII: A Simple Tour..?I: Above Their WorldThe silence of space. Not a single sound could be heard, not even the subtle flapping of wings, despite the creature flying nearby. A weird device covered her snout, supplying the oxygen she needed to stay awake. Flying all the way out here had become sort of a habit for her, a guilty pleasure. Her sister didn't know, and it probably wouldn't matter if she ever learned. With a small smile, the immortal being turned her eyes away from the cosmos and focused her attention on the floating object nearby. The object was shaped like a large circular prism with several layers, but also had glass-like panels jutting out on the top and bottom. The panels were slowly swiveling to point directly at the sun, although the sun wasn't really moving very much. The object was also covered in glass windows, although nothing could be seen through them - or maybe she just wasn't close enough. It probably didn't matter very much right now, although she would love to find a way to get inside of the object. Surely the inside would be filled with all sorts of interesting things! But there was no time for that now. The night would surely be coming to an end soon, and that meant it was nearly time to sleep. With the tiniest amount of regret gnawing at her heart, Luna turned away from the object and flew back down to her planet. "Captain Darkwood?" Captain Joss Darkwood's eyes slowly opened. She yawned, sitting up. It struck her as odd that she wasn't annoyed over being awoken. Did I actually get a decent night's sleep, for once? She thought to herself, before noticing her alarm clock. Damnit. Guess not. "Captain Darkwood? Are you awake?" Joss rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I'm up. No need to pester me." "I was simply following my programming." She sighed, pushing the blanket off of her and climbing out of bed. "How are you feeling, Captain?" "Like shit," Joss replied, stretching. "But that's normal for me. Don't worry, I'm fine." "Would you like me to wake up your sister?" Joss shrugged. "Nah. Let her sleep for a few more hours." "Understood." "Thanks, Amber." "Why do you keep calling me that?" "What am I supposed to call you? Ship AI?" "General Processing and Ship Control Module." "GPSCM? GPaSCM? Sorry, that just doesn't sound as good. I'll keep calling you Amber." "Very well." With a small yawn, Joss opened her dresser and changed out of her pajamas, throwing on some normal clothes, before thinking of something. "Amber, can you activate the automatic coffee brewer?" "Sure. You'll have your usual?" "Yup." After a slight moment of hesitation, she replied, "Thank you." "I'm not sure if I can do this anymore." Joss looked around, sighing. "We've been out here for well over a year by now. There doesn't appear to be much of anything out here. Not even a sun. We might have to deactivate parts of the ship just to stay afloat. Of course, the first place to go would be the cryopods...not looking forward to having to clean those out. Maybe we could detach them from the ship?" She rubbed her eyes, yawning. "I haven't gotten any sleep in...what, two days? I'm not sure if it's worth continuing. Earth is already lost, and the colonies on Mars and the Moon haven't responded to our attempts to communicate, so they've likely ended up the same. "The other ships haven't had any luck either. One reported that they thought they had found somewhere inhabitable, but we've lost contact with them. I'm trying to stay hopeful, but chances are that they were probably killed by the planet's natives. Or it's climate." Twilight Sparkle waved a hoof, pausing the recording. "This is amazing! It obviously doesn't use magic, yet the image is floating and moving! And the motion sensing - how did they do that?" Rainbow Dash cracked a small smile. "I don't know about that, Twilight. I'm not an egghead like you." "If this is purely technology, this could be some kind of breakthrough!" Twilight held the object above her as her eyes scanned it. "If only we could find a way to break it down." "So, what do you make of it?" Even if she didn't like admitting it, Dash was a little curious about the device herself. "It just fell out of the sky while I was flying." "Well, I'm not quite sure. And before you say it, this is not proof of aliens. It could just be a very well-hidden magical device." "It's proof of aliens. Check the first recording - that was the only one I managed to play before coming here." With a small sigh, Twilight used a swiping motion to change the recording several times until a holographic screen showed that it was the first one. She waved a hoof to start it. "Um, I'm not sure if this thing is on..." "The recording feature is on, Captain Darkwood." "Oh! Thank you, Amber." Joss looked towards the camera. "Alright, alright... don't chicken out now..." She took a deep breath before starting to speak again. "Um, to whoever is possibly seeing this, hello! I am Captain Joss Darkwood, the Captain of the Founder spaceship." She looked away, letting out a sigh. "I'm going to have to assume that you don't know what a spaceship is, aren't I? Damnit, this is probably useless." She then shook her head, looking back towards the camera. "Alright. Um... my species is known as humanity. My sister and I are, quite possibly, the last two members of our kind, although we'll probably die soon, and then humanity will be extinct. I'm recording this in hopes that someone will see this before that happens, and be technologically advanced enough to be able to search for us. Technologically, is that even a real world? Ah, whatever, I don't give a fuck anymore. Uh, included with this message is a collection of ship logs from the year after we left our planet. "Back then, we were just one in a fleet of twelve ships, all trying to find another inhabitable planet that the remnants of humanity could live on, but by now, we've lost all contact with the other eleven ships of our fleet. We are assuming that the Founder is the last ship left from the fleet, which means that we're humanity's last hope. What a fucking lame excuse for something's last hope. A ship with two humans on it and several cryogenically frozen humans that probably won't ever get to wake up. "The drive this is included on has been selected because, just in case this ends up on a world that isn't technologically advanced enough to help, it's near impenetrable and cannot be used to reverse-engineer the technology used to make it. The drive has been outfitted with a portable holographic display, so you don't need the device nearby to show the videos to someone. Um, sorry for the exposition dump - ha! That's a small writing reference for you. You probably don't care or get it, do you? Damnit... - but that's all I have to say now. End recording." The holographic screen went black, before starting another video that Twilight quickly paused. Dash had a smug smirk on her face. "So, what do you have to say now?" "...Spike, start a letter to Princess Celestia." Joss hummed to herself as she typed away on her computer. Anyone watching would be able to tell she was in a happy mood today, unlike most days. Even if she didn't get much sleep, she obviously got enough for her mood to remain stable. After she punched a few keys on the keyboard, a screen showed up and she froze. Someone had found it. Somebody found the drive! "Amber!" She called. "Somebody found it!" "Can you please elaborate?" "Somebody found the drive! The videos are being played!" "Oh? That's good, but may I bring attention to something unrelated?" "Yes?" "We are too close to the nearby planet. A sound-speed missile could hit us from the planet's surface." "Oh! That's-" An explosion was heard from the bottom area of the ship, and red flashing lights immediately turned on throughout the ship. "Engine damage detected! The damage appears to have been caused by supersonic winds. How they penetrated the outer walls of this ship is unclear." "What a coincidence." Joss mumbled to herself, scrambling out of her chair and running towards the elevator. Rainbow Dash landed, looking up at her handiwork. Above her, a bright rainbow had appeared. "It gets easier every time." She said to herself, a smug grin on her face. "At least nopony is nearby to be bothered by the winds." Wait a minute. Near the highest point of the rainbow... was that object there before? And was it just her imagination, or was it falling? Her eyes grew wide. "Uh oh." Dash took off running. Author's Note Hey! This is actually the first story I've written about MLP. Well, first actual story. I've practiced writing some of the characters a few times, but I'll certainly need more practice. This first chapter is kind of a pilot - along with the next two chapters which should (hopefully) be added next week and the week after - to see if anyone likes this concept, and hopefully to get some feedback on how terrible my writing is - atleast, feedback on how terrible I am at writing characters...well, in-character. Not saying my writing skill isn't extremely low, just that I feel like my skill at writing existing characters correctly is worse. Anyways, I'll leave you for now. Hope you enjoyed this first chapter! -J II: First Contact... Well, Kinda"Oh! So, we're going to go save Spacemare?" Rarity face...hoofed. "Darling, that is possibly the worst nickname I've heard anypony make up." Pinkie Pie pouted. "Hey," Twilight interjected, hoping to lighten the mood. "it wasn't that bad." Fluttershy stared at Dash. She hadn't said anything since Dash had informed them of what she - accidentally, sure, but still - did. For some reason, she couldn't get this terrible image out of her head... "Dash," Twilight turned to look at Dash as the said pegasus looked around nervously. "Let me get this right. You did a Sonic Rainboom that possibly caused a floating object to crash." Dash nodded. "Y-Yup." "That doesn't make any sense. That doesn't mess with magic or anything, so it shouldn't have caused the floating thing to fall..." Twilight put a hoof to her chin, thinking. "I know!" Dash replied, speaking with uncharacteristic urgency. "That's why I'm so worried!" Twilight jumped. "...unless it has some relation to that strange object we found!" "St-Strange object?" Fluttershy asked, starting to subtly shake. Twilight nodded before responding, "Dash found a strange, rectangular object earlier today. I've sent it to Princess Celestia so she can have someone analyze it." Dash looked down. "So, Dash," Twilight started. "your Sonic Rainboom somehow interfered with this object and made it fall." "Yeah." "How big was it?" "I'm not quite sure. It looked pretty small, but I wasn't close to it." "So we're talking about an object that has a variable size. What did it look like?" "It was made from something gray." Dash had to think hard to remember most of anything. "It looked like metal. The whole thing was shaped kind of like that-" She gestured to a circular cloud. "-in several layers." Twilight's horn started to glow and she used several objects around the room to build a small structure in the middle. It looked like an object made up of several cylinders, scaling up in size from the bottom. "Like this?" Dash shook her head. "The biggest one was in the middle, and there were three layers on each side, each one getting smaller." Twilight changed the structure to fit what Dash described. Dash nodded. "Like that! It looked like that, just with small, glass circles all over it." "Probably windows." Twilight injected. Dash raised an eyebrow. "What are you thinking?" "It has to have something to do with the rectangular object!" Dash's eyes grew wide. "Oh no. You're not suggesting..." "You could've crashed an object with living creatures inside." Nearly everypony in the room gasped. Applejack covered her mouth with a hoof. "We need to see if they're alive." Twilight stopped her spell and let the structure fall apart, her voice filled with determination. Dash smiled at Twilight nervously, her usual confidence wavering. "A-Alright... Let's go." "Captain?" Joss groaned. There was a gasp from somewhere beside her, and then the sound of hooves hitting against wood. What the hell..? She thought to herself, slowly opening her eyes. Something warm was covering most of her body... a blanket? It felt like a blanket. Or, at least, something soft and made of cotton, like a blanket. "Captain?!" "Amber..?" Joss groaned, rubbing her eyes - wait, what? Drawing in a sharp breath, Joss looked at her hand...or, rather, lack thereof. What used to be a hand was now nothing more than a stump with a slightly hard texture, like a... a hoof! She nearly screamed, but managed not to. Instead, she lightly pushed the blanket off of her and pushed herself up into an improvised sitting position that was far from comfortable. Her eyes darted about the small room. The room appeared to be made out of blueish-purple stone... or maybe brick. Aside from the bed she was on, there was a small dresser, a reading desk, a bookshelf (with a lot of books on it), and a mirror in the room. The door was hanging open, but she didn't care. Joss stumbled out of bed, attempting a bipedal standing position but finding it very uncomfortable, so she instead dropped onto all-fours. Finding this was much more comfortable, she slowly crawl-walked to the mirror and gazed at her reflection. Staring back was what could only be described as a cartoon-y unicorn. The creature was covered in light-yellow fur that faded to white on her hooves and snout. Her hair - mane would probably be a better term - and... tail... was a darker yellow than her fur, although it wasn't so dark that it looked bad. If it wasn't her reflection, Joss might've even said the creature was cute. Despite this, she couldn't stop herself anymore. She screamed. Twilight turned as the flapping of wings came from behind her. Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief. "Twilight! She's finally awa-" Before she could finish her sentence, a shrill scream came from somewhere behind her. Fluttershy swiveled around, near-immediately starting to hyperventilate. "I-Is she okay?!" Twilight asked, starting to trot towards the room. Fluttershy's eyes grew wide and worried as she responded, "Sh-She had just woke up when I left the room!" Twilight's trotting quickly turned into galloping as Fluttershy flew after her. Before too long, Twilight jumped into the air and started flying too, finding that to be quicker. After only a few seconds, the two of them reached the bedroom. Twilight looked inside, putting a hoof over her mouth. The small unicorn - the same one they had found at the crash site - was slowly backing away from the mirror. She had assumed a defensive form, as if she thought the mirror was going to attack her. Her eyes were shimmering with tears and she was hyperventilating. Her eyes were wide. "Th-This can't be happening..." Her voice was oddly familiar to Twilight, but she couldn't place it. Twilight stepped into the doorway, letting out a small cough to get the unicorn's attention. "Are you okay?" The unicorn quickly turned to look at Twilight, her breathing becoming quicker and quicker as she hesitantly asked, "Wh-Who are you?" "My name's Twilight Sparkle." Twilight gave the unicorn a gentle smile before gesturing at Fluttershy. "And this is Fluttershy." Fluttershy waved... well, shyly. "What's your name?" Twilight asked with a smile. The unicorn looked hesitant, then replied, "J-Joss. Joss Darkwood. But you can call me Josh, as it's easier to pronounce... and to remember." Twilight's eyes widened as she gasped. "O-Oh! It's you!" "Excuse me?" Joss raised an eyebrow. "You were the person on that weird object!" Twilight sounded extremely excited, before she stopped to think. "But wait, weren't you a humanity and not a pony?" Joss blinked, before she started to laugh. "Wh-What?" Twilight blushed. "Sorry, it's just... oh, that's priceless." "What is?" "I am - well, was. Should be - a human. Humanity is just the name of the species, you call a single one a human." Twilight whipped a notepad out from seemingly nowhere and quickly wrote something down. "Got it." Joss raised an eyebrow. "Anyways," Twilight smiled, walking a little farther into the room. "It's nice to meet you, Joss!" She raised her hoof. Joss looked confused for a moment, then seemed to realize and touched her hoof against Twilight's. Twilight smiled a little. "Glad you knew to do that. It probably would've been awkward if you didn't know to." Joss nodded. "Yeah, I guess. Humans have a similar gesture." Before Twilight could ask for more information, the sound of wings flapping approached her. Twilight turned just in time to see a certain cyan pony flying towards her. "Twilight, I got here as fast as I could!" Dash said, landing. "What happened?" Twilight shrugged. "I'm not actually completely sure. But, the pony we found is Joss!" Dash raised an eyebrow. "Joss? That egghead we saw on the object" "Yup! Actually, Joss, why did you scream?" Twilight looked towards the mentioned unicorn. Joss rubbed the back of her head nervously. "Well, this body is very different than what I should look like." "Darling, you already look great! You don't need to change your look!" Rarity trotted into the room, having come down from the hallway. Joss raised an eyebrow. "This is the person who was on the object," Twilight explained. "She was something called a human. I'm guessing she somehow got transformed into a pony in the crash." "Oh darling, that's simply terrible!" Rarity's voice was filled with worry, although she must've been a little confused. Twilight smiled a little. "Joss, this is Rarity and this is Rainbow Dash." She gestured to the ponies as she said their names. Joss gave a small wave. Dash waved back. "Hello." Rarity gave Joss a smile. "It's nice to meet you!" Dash looked towards Twilight. "Also, Appleja-" "I heard talking," Pinkie trotted into the room, interrupting Dash. "What's goi-" She stopped talking the moment she saw Josh, screaming and dashing through the window, going so fast her hooves didn't even touch the ground. Joss blinked. "Did... Did I do something wrong?" Twilight shook her head with a smile. "Nope. That's Pinkie Pie, and she kinda gets like that when she meets someone new." "Okay..." Dash sat down. "Twilight, as I was going to say before Pinkie ran into the room, AJ went home." Twilight nodded. "Alright, guess Joss'll have to meet her later." Joss blinked in confusion. Twilight suddenly got an idea, looking towards Joss. "Alright, Joss, would you like one of us to tour you around Ponyville?" "That's the name of your town?" Twilight nodded. Joss thought for a little bit, then shrugged. "Sure." Author's Note Not exactly the best ending, but I knew how I needed this chapter to end when I started writing it. I'm pretty sure I didn't do the best job in getting the characters' personalities right, so please tell me how I did with that. To be honest, I feel like I did the best at Twilight, but that's not much of a compliment towards myself. Anyways, I'm gonna go now. Bye! -J III: A Simple Tour..?"Miss Darkwood?" The pegasus slowly opened her eyes. Her ears were ringing, and she found it to be quite a struggle to remember what had happened maybe an hour prior. "Miss?" "Amber..?" The pegasus groaned, rubbing her head with a hoof. "What happened? Where's Joss?" "She's gone." "Gone? Do you mean..." "No. She is not dead. She is purely out of my communication range. "Well, why didn't you say that fir..." The pegasus caught a sight of herself and quickly started looking over her whole body. "...Amber. Why am I a winged pony?" "Unknown. The same happened to your sister, except she was a unicorn." The pegasus slowly stood up. "Can you fix this?" "No, unfortunately." The pegasus groaned, slowly shaking her head as she looked around. "Where am I?" "In the engine room." She looked towards the doorway and sighed. "Why is the exit covered in debris?" "And this is - uhm, hello? Joss?" Joss jumped. Her eyes darted about. "Wh-huh?! Oh, sorry... I must've started to daydream..." Dash rolled her eyes, but she didn't say anything. Twilight shrugged. "It's fine. Now... this is-" Before she could finish, Joss took a single step forward and cried out in pain, hunching over and holding her head. "Joss!" Twilight hurried to the unicorn's side. "Are you alright?!" Joss hissed, clenching her teeth. "I-I'm fine... My head is killing me, though..." Twilight frowned a little, replying, "Do you need to see a doctor?" Joss shook her head, slowly standing back up. "I... I think I'm fine no-" She cut herself off, her eyes widening. "Joss?" Twilight asked, waving a hoof in front of her face. Joss's mouth curved up into a smile. "Hello, Amber." "Joss?" The pegasus's eyes widened and she shot up. Joss's voice was heard over the speakers, "I'm here, Amber. One second..." "Joss!" The pegasus called out. "I'm sorry, Miss Darkwood. The connection is not yet strong enough, she can't hear you." Another voice came from the speakers, one that was unfamiliar to the pegasus, "Where is that voice coming from?" "Captain? Are you with someone right now?" "Yes, Amber, I am, but I don't care! Where's the ship?!" Joss asked. She sounded... worried. Maybe frantic. The other voice came again, "Joss, what's going on?" "If my scans of this planet are right, it may be a good idea to get to a somewhat remote location, Captain. Just so the planet's natives don't think they're going crazy." "It's a little too late for that," a third voice replied. "Amber is right, though," Joss replied. "Let's try to get a little closer to the ship." "Uh, how do you know we're close to the ship?" asked the third voice. "It's complicated," was Joss's only reply. "Alright, we're out of town now and the connection should be stronger." Joss continued trotting through the grass. Twilight looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "Can you explain what was happening now?" "I feel like we can do that." "Joss!" Joss froze mid-step. "S-Sis?" "Joss! You need to get to the ship now!" Joss sighed. "Amber? What's the ship status?" "The engine has lost fuel. Several hallways have been blocked by debris, but airflow is not blocked. The rooms blocked by debris include the Captain's Quarters, the Crew Quarters, the Engine Room, and the exit hallway." "That's great..." Joss sighed. Twilight replied, "I can blast the debris away if you need it." "We will. Joss, your sister is trapped in the Engine Room." "Crystal's trapped?!" Josh yelped, quickening her trotting to galloping. Even if she didn't know the pony, Twilight knew that couldn't be a good thing. She started galloping, too. Dash also sped up, but she didn't start galloping because... well, she was flying. The ship came into view. The sight of it made Dash nervous, but it also made Joss go just a little bit faster. Her legs were really starting to hurt, but Joss's worries didn't offer her any leniency. Besides, if she slowed down she would fall behind and she really didn't want to do that. Why, oh why didn't I exercise more on the ship? Joss thought to herself. The small group got closer and closer to the ship. Everything appeared to be going fine - until Joss collapsed! She yelped, slamming into the ground. Twilight skidded to a stop and ran back towards Joss. "Joss! Are you alright?" "I-I'm fine!" Joss slowly stood up. "My legs are sore as hell, but I'm fine!" Damnit, I'm really so out of shape that running for a few minutes makes me collapse? She thought to herself. "You can wait out here, we can go get your sister." Twilight said. Joss shook her head. "No, I-I'm fine. I can walk! And... I don't really want to stay out here and be useless." "You'd much rather go inside and be useless?" "Amber..." "Sorry." Joss forcefully shook her head to clear the daze from her mind. "I'm fine. I don't want to stay out here." "Alright." Twilight replied. Joss gave her a small smile. "I suggest you keep an eye on her to make sure she's okay." Twilight nodded while Joss rolled her eyes. Crystal's eyes slowly opened. She groaned, standing up. "How long was I asleep?" She mumbled to herself. "Only a few hours, Miss Darkwood." Crystal jumped, half-yelling, "Holy shit! Don't scare me like that, Amber!" "Mind your language, little si-" Came a certain voice from behind the collapsed doorway. She didn't manage to finish her sentence before erupting in laughter. "Um..." The first unfamilar voice from earlier came from the same direction. "What are you laughing about, Joss?" Crystal allowed her mouth to curve into a small smile. "You sure love being ironic, huh, Joss?" "Oh, shut it!" This sentence caused Crystal to start giggling uncontrollably for seemingly no reason. There was an irritated sigh, then what sounded like footsteps leading away from the blockade. Or... the logical term would be hoofsteps, wouldn't it? Fine, hoofsteps leading away from the blockade. "Um, Joss?" The first unfamiliar voice came again. "Where are you going?" "Somewhere." Joss replied. Crystal shook her head. "Joss, you weirdo..." While Crystal was mumbling to herself about her sister, Joss trotted away from the small group and into the kitchen. She came to a stop in front of a door. While the door would be normal-sized to a human, Joss was not a human anymore, and so, the door looked gigantic to her. She hadn't exactly been planning too much - this wasn't something that needed very much of a plan - but one problem was exceeding obvious to her now; the doorknob was too high up for her to reach, and even if it wasn't, she had no way of actually opening the door. "Shit." Looking around, Joss noticed a small stool lying by the doorway she entered in. She trotted over to it and hooked her leg onto the stool. As uncomfortable as it was, Joss managed to pull the stool away from the wall enough for her to get to the other side of it and push it with her head, which she did. She got it to the doorway and clambered on top, before sitting down and thinking. After a long time (well, long to her. It was really only about a minute) of thinking, she finally got an idea. She pressed her hooves against the sides of the doorknob and turned. After about five attempts, she suddenly freezed, before leaping off the stool and pulling it back away from the door. When it was far enough away, she closed her eyes, thinking again. Well, I've seen a lot of old western movies, she thought to herself. and most of those had horses in them. Hopefully I can get this right. She walked back up to the door, but then turned away from it, bracing herself. When she felt she was ready, she kicked her back hooves against the door, resulting in a loud clang of metal hitting against keratin. Ow. She thought. Goddamnit, that wasn't enough to break down the door? I really don't want to do this more than once... Despite the pain, she attempted to buck down the door again. This time, with the door weakened from the first buck, it worked, sending the door flying off its hinges and slamming into the wall. A smirk played at her muzzle as Joss turned around and trotted into the small room behind the door. The room appeared to be nothing more than a small storage room, although it had a very oddly placed light in the wall that was partially blocked by a storage shelf. Joss climbed onto the shelf - the shelves were far apart enough and bare enough for her to do so - and pushed on the light. After a bit of resistance, the light gave way and slid back with a satisfying click. She climbed back off the shelf and looked at the wall just in time to see a portion of it shudder and rise up into the rest of the wall, revealing a staircase. Joss trotted up the newly-revealed staircase as the wall-door closed behind her. She soon got to the top and pressed a button on another wall, revealing it to also be a door. The wall-door swung open, revealing a very familiar bedroom. Joss stepped out into her room as the door closed behind her. She let her hooves sink into the blue carpet of the room and rested for a moment, before hurrying to a screen. "Amber." The screen immediately turned on, showing a map and scans of the atmosphere. "Yes, Captain?" "Please provide a detailed synopsis of the functioning features in the hallway leading to the Engine Room." "The lights are active, as is the air-conditioning. The heater, the oxygen venting, and the sprinklers are all in working condition but not active." "Thank you." Joss thought to herself before trotting to the door of her bedroom. "Please unlock the door." The door unlocked with a quiet click. Joss pushed the door open with her muzzle (this door was not like the one in the kitchen, it was a simple push-door) and stepped through, humming a small tune to herself. She had a plan in mind. Author's Note And here we are, with characters who have no idea how to act in-character! All jokes aside, I'm still not the best at writing the Mane 6. I'm trying though! That's what's important, right? After this chapter, I'm going to take a break to see who reviews and hopefully get some feedback! Construction criticism is useful to me. So, uh... I don't know what else to say. I'll just leave for now, so cya!
I: Above Their WorldThe silence of space. Not a single sound could be heard, not even the subtle flapping of wings, despite the creature flying nearby. A weird device covered her snout, supplying the oxygen she needed to stay awake. Flying all the way out here had become sort of a habit for her, a guilty pleasure. Her sister didn't know, and it probably wouldn't matter if she ever learned. With a small smile, the immortal being turned her eyes away from the cosmos and focused her attention on the floating object nearby. The object was shaped like a large circular prism with several layers, but also had glass-like panels jutting out on the top and bottom. The panels were slowly swiveling to point directly at the sun, although the sun wasn't really moving very much. The object was also covered in glass windows, although nothing could be seen through them - or maybe she just wasn't close enough. It probably didn't matter very much right now, although she would love to find a way to get inside of the object. Surely the inside would be filled with all sorts of interesting things! But there was no time for that now. The night would surely be coming to an end soon, and that meant it was nearly time to sleep. With the tiniest amount of regret gnawing at her heart, Luna turned away from the object and flew back down to her planet. "Captain Darkwood?" Captain Joss Darkwood's eyes slowly opened. She yawned, sitting up. It struck her as odd that she wasn't annoyed over being awoken. Did I actually get a decent night's sleep, for once? She thought to herself, before noticing her alarm clock. Damnit. Guess not. "Captain Darkwood? Are you awake?" Joss rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I'm up. No need to pester me." "I was simply following my programming." She sighed, pushing the blanket off of her and climbing out of bed. "How are you feeling, Captain?" "Like shit," Joss replied, stretching. "But that's normal for me. Don't worry, I'm fine." "Would you like me to wake up your sister?" Joss shrugged. "Nah. Let her sleep for a few more hours." "Understood." "Thanks, Amber." "Why do you keep calling me that?" "What am I supposed to call you? Ship AI?" "General Processing and Ship Control Module." "GPSCM? GPaSCM? Sorry, that just doesn't sound as good. I'll keep calling you Amber." "Very well." With a small yawn, Joss opened her dresser and changed out of her pajamas, throwing on some normal clothes, before thinking of something. "Amber, can you activate the automatic coffee brewer?" "Sure. You'll have your usual?" "Yup." After a slight moment of hesitation, she replied, "Thank you." "I'm not sure if I can do this anymore." Joss looked around, sighing. "We've been out here for well over a year by now. There doesn't appear to be much of anything out here. Not even a sun. We might have to deactivate parts of the ship just to stay afloat. Of course, the first place to go would be the cryopods...not looking forward to having to clean those out. Maybe we could detach them from the ship?" She rubbed her eyes, yawning. "I haven't gotten any sleep in...what, two days? I'm not sure if it's worth continuing. Earth is already lost, and the colonies on Mars and the Moon haven't responded to our attempts to communicate, so they've likely ended up the same. "The other ships haven't had any luck either. One reported that they thought they had found somewhere inhabitable, but we've lost contact with them. I'm trying to stay hopeful, but chances are that they were probably killed by the planet's natives. Or it's climate." Twilight Sparkle waved a hoof, pausing the recording. "This is amazing! It obviously doesn't use magic, yet the image is floating and moving! And the motion sensing - how did they do that?" Rainbow Dash cracked a small smile. "I don't know about that, Twilight. I'm not an egghead like you." "If this is purely technology, this could be some kind of breakthrough!" Twilight held the object above her as her eyes scanned it. "If only we could find a way to break it down." "So, what do you make of it?" Even if she didn't like admitting it, Dash was a little curious about the device herself. "It just fell out of the sky while I was flying." "Well, I'm not quite sure. And before you say it, this is not proof of aliens. It could just be a very well-hidden magical device." "It's proof of aliens. Check the first recording - that was the only one I managed to play before coming here." With a small sigh, Twilight used a swiping motion to change the recording several times until a holographic screen showed that it was the first one. She waved a hoof to start it. "Um, I'm not sure if this thing is on..." "The recording feature is on, Captain Darkwood." "Oh! Thank you, Amber." Joss looked towards the camera. "Alright, alright... don't chicken out now..." She took a deep breath before starting to speak again. "Um, to whoever is possibly seeing this, hello! I am Captain Joss Darkwood, the Captain of the Founder spaceship." She looked away, letting out a sigh. "I'm going to have to assume that you don't know what a spaceship is, aren't I? Damnit, this is probably useless." She then shook her head, looking back towards the camera. "Alright. Um... my species is known as humanity. My sister and I are, quite possibly, the last two members of our kind, although we'll probably die soon, and then humanity will be extinct. I'm recording this in hopes that someone will see this before that happens, and be technologically advanced enough to be able to search for us. Technologically, is that even a real world? Ah, whatever, I don't give a fuck anymore. Uh, included with this message is a collection of ship logs from the year after we left our planet. "Back then, we were just one in a fleet of twelve ships, all trying to find another inhabitable planet that the remnants of humanity could live on, but by now, we've lost all contact with the other eleven ships of our fleet. We are assuming that the Founder is the last ship left from the fleet, which means that we're humanity's last hope. What a fucking lame excuse for something's last hope. A ship with two humans on it and several cryogenically frozen humans that probably won't ever get to wake up. "The drive this is included on has been selected because, just in case this ends up on a world that isn't technologically advanced enough to help, it's near impenetrable and cannot be used to reverse-engineer the technology used to make it. The drive has been outfitted with a portable holographic display, so you don't need the device nearby to show the videos to someone. Um, sorry for the exposition dump - ha! That's a small writing reference for you. You probably don't care or get it, do you? Damnit... - but that's all I have to say now. End recording." The holographic screen went black, before starting another video that Twilight quickly paused. Dash had a smug smirk on her face. "So, what do you have to say now?" "...Spike, start a letter to Princess Celestia." Joss hummed to herself as she typed away on her computer. Anyone watching would be able to tell she was in a happy mood today, unlike most days. Even if she didn't get much sleep, she obviously got enough for her mood to remain stable. After she punched a few keys on the keyboard, a screen showed up and she froze. Someone had found it. Somebody found the drive! "Amber!" She called. "Somebody found it!" "Can you please elaborate?" "Somebody found the drive! The videos are being played!" "Oh? That's good, but may I bring attention to something unrelated?" "Yes?" "We are too close to the nearby planet. A sound-speed missile could hit us from the planet's surface." "Oh! That's-" An explosion was heard from the bottom area of the ship, and red flashing lights immediately turned on throughout the ship. "Engine damage detected! The damage appears to have been caused by supersonic winds. How they penetrated the outer walls of this ship is unclear." "What a coincidence." Joss mumbled to herself, scrambling out of her chair and running towards the elevator. Rainbow Dash landed, looking up at her handiwork. Above her, a bright rainbow had appeared. "It gets easier every time." She said to herself, a smug grin on her face. "At least nopony is nearby to be bothered by the winds." Wait a minute. Near the highest point of the rainbow... was that object there before? And was it just her imagination, or was it falling? Her eyes grew wide. "Uh oh." Dash took off running. Author's Note Hey! This is actually the first story I've written about MLP. Well, first actual story. I've practiced writing some of the characters a few times, but I'll certainly need more practice. This first chapter is kind of a pilot - along with the next two chapters which should (hopefully) be added next week and the week after - to see if anyone likes this concept, and hopefully to get some feedback on how terrible my writing is - atleast, feedback on how terrible I am at writing characters...well, in-character. Not saying my writing skill isn't extremely low, just that I feel like my skill at writing existing characters correctly is worse. Anyways, I'll leave you for now. Hope you enjoyed this first chapter! -J
II: First Contact... Well, Kinda"Oh! So, we're going to go save Spacemare?" Rarity face...hoofed. "Darling, that is possibly the worst nickname I've heard anypony make up." Pinkie Pie pouted. "Hey," Twilight interjected, hoping to lighten the mood. "it wasn't that bad." Fluttershy stared at Dash. She hadn't said anything since Dash had informed them of what she - accidentally, sure, but still - did. For some reason, she couldn't get this terrible image out of her head... "Dash," Twilight turned to look at Dash as the said pegasus looked around nervously. "Let me get this right. You did a Sonic Rainboom that possibly caused a floating object to crash." Dash nodded. "Y-Yup." "That doesn't make any sense. That doesn't mess with magic or anything, so it shouldn't have caused the floating thing to fall..." Twilight put a hoof to her chin, thinking. "I know!" Dash replied, speaking with uncharacteristic urgency. "That's why I'm so worried!" Twilight jumped. "...unless it has some relation to that strange object we found!" "St-Strange object?" Fluttershy asked, starting to subtly shake. Twilight nodded before responding, "Dash found a strange, rectangular object earlier today. I've sent it to Princess Celestia so she can have someone analyze it." Dash looked down. "So, Dash," Twilight started. "your Sonic Rainboom somehow interfered with this object and made it fall." "Yeah." "How big was it?" "I'm not quite sure. It looked pretty small, but I wasn't close to it." "So we're talking about an object that has a variable size. What did it look like?" "It was made from something gray." Dash had to think hard to remember most of anything. "It looked like metal. The whole thing was shaped kind of like that-" She gestured to a circular cloud. "-in several layers." Twilight's horn started to glow and she used several objects around the room to build a small structure in the middle. It looked like an object made up of several cylinders, scaling up in size from the bottom. "Like this?" Dash shook her head. "The biggest one was in the middle, and there were three layers on each side, each one getting smaller." Twilight changed the structure to fit what Dash described. Dash nodded. "Like that! It looked like that, just with small, glass circles all over it." "Probably windows." Twilight injected. Dash raised an eyebrow. "What are you thinking?" "It has to have something to do with the rectangular object!" Dash's eyes grew wide. "Oh no. You're not suggesting..." "You could've crashed an object with living creatures inside." Nearly everypony in the room gasped. Applejack covered her mouth with a hoof. "We need to see if they're alive." Twilight stopped her spell and let the structure fall apart, her voice filled with determination. Dash smiled at Twilight nervously, her usual confidence wavering. "A-Alright... Let's go." "Captain?" Joss groaned. There was a gasp from somewhere beside her, and then the sound of hooves hitting against wood. What the hell..? She thought to herself, slowly opening her eyes. Something warm was covering most of her body... a blanket? It felt like a blanket. Or, at least, something soft and made of cotton, like a blanket. "Captain?!" "Amber..?" Joss groaned, rubbing her eyes - wait, what? Drawing in a sharp breath, Joss looked at her hand...or, rather, lack thereof. What used to be a hand was now nothing more than a stump with a slightly hard texture, like a... a hoof! She nearly screamed, but managed not to. Instead, she lightly pushed the blanket off of her and pushed herself up into an improvised sitting position that was far from comfortable. Her eyes darted about the small room. The room appeared to be made out of blueish-purple stone... or maybe brick. Aside from the bed she was on, there was a small dresser, a reading desk, a bookshelf (with a lot of books on it), and a mirror in the room. The door was hanging open, but she didn't care. Joss stumbled out of bed, attempting a bipedal standing position but finding it very uncomfortable, so she instead dropped onto all-fours. Finding this was much more comfortable, she slowly crawl-walked to the mirror and gazed at her reflection. Staring back was what could only be described as a cartoon-y unicorn. The creature was covered in light-yellow fur that faded to white on her hooves and snout. Her hair - mane would probably be a better term - and... tail... was a darker yellow than her fur, although it wasn't so dark that it looked bad. If it wasn't her reflection, Joss might've even said the creature was cute. Despite this, she couldn't stop herself anymore. She screamed. Twilight turned as the flapping of wings came from behind her. Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief. "Twilight! She's finally awa-" Before she could finish her sentence, a shrill scream came from somewhere behind her. Fluttershy swiveled around, near-immediately starting to hyperventilate. "I-Is she okay?!" Twilight asked, starting to trot towards the room. Fluttershy's eyes grew wide and worried as she responded, "Sh-She had just woke up when I left the room!" Twilight's trotting quickly turned into galloping as Fluttershy flew after her. Before too long, Twilight jumped into the air and started flying too, finding that to be quicker. After only a few seconds, the two of them reached the bedroom. Twilight looked inside, putting a hoof over her mouth. The small unicorn - the same one they had found at the crash site - was slowly backing away from the mirror. She had assumed a defensive form, as if she thought the mirror was going to attack her. Her eyes were shimmering with tears and she was hyperventilating. Her eyes were wide. "Th-This can't be happening..." Her voice was oddly familiar to Twilight, but she couldn't place it. Twilight stepped into the doorway, letting out a small cough to get the unicorn's attention. "Are you okay?" The unicorn quickly turned to look at Twilight, her breathing becoming quicker and quicker as she hesitantly asked, "Wh-Who are you?" "My name's Twilight Sparkle." Twilight gave the unicorn a gentle smile before gesturing at Fluttershy. "And this is Fluttershy." Fluttershy waved... well, shyly. "What's your name?" Twilight asked with a smile. The unicorn looked hesitant, then replied, "J-Joss. Joss Darkwood. But you can call me Josh, as it's easier to pronounce... and to remember." Twilight's eyes widened as she gasped. "O-Oh! It's you!" "Excuse me?" Joss raised an eyebrow. "You were the person on that weird object!" Twilight sounded extremely excited, before she stopped to think. "But wait, weren't you a humanity and not a pony?" Joss blinked, before she started to laugh. "Wh-What?" Twilight blushed. "Sorry, it's just... oh, that's priceless." "What is?" "I am - well, was. Should be - a human. Humanity is just the name of the species, you call a single one a human." Twilight whipped a notepad out from seemingly nowhere and quickly wrote something down. "Got it." Joss raised an eyebrow. "Anyways," Twilight smiled, walking a little farther into the room. "It's nice to meet you, Joss!" She raised her hoof. Joss looked confused for a moment, then seemed to realize and touched her hoof against Twilight's. Twilight smiled a little. "Glad you knew to do that. It probably would've been awkward if you didn't know to." Joss nodded. "Yeah, I guess. Humans have a similar gesture." Before Twilight could ask for more information, the sound of wings flapping approached her. Twilight turned just in time to see a certain cyan pony flying towards her. "Twilight, I got here as fast as I could!" Dash said, landing. "What happened?" Twilight shrugged. "I'm not actually completely sure. But, the pony we found is Joss!" Dash raised an eyebrow. "Joss? That egghead we saw on the object" "Yup! Actually, Joss, why did you scream?" Twilight looked towards the mentioned unicorn. Joss rubbed the back of her head nervously. "Well, this body is very different than what I should look like." "Darling, you already look great! You don't need to change your look!" Rarity trotted into the room, having come down from the hallway. Joss raised an eyebrow. "This is the person who was on the object," Twilight explained. "She was something called a human. I'm guessing she somehow got transformed into a pony in the crash." "Oh darling, that's simply terrible!" Rarity's voice was filled with worry, although she must've been a little confused. Twilight smiled a little. "Joss, this is Rarity and this is Rainbow Dash." She gestured to the ponies as she said their names. Joss gave a small wave. Dash waved back. "Hello." Rarity gave Joss a smile. "It's nice to meet you!" Dash looked towards Twilight. "Also, Appleja-" "I heard talking," Pinkie trotted into the room, interrupting Dash. "What's goi-" She stopped talking the moment she saw Josh, screaming and dashing through the window, going so fast her hooves didn't even touch the ground. Joss blinked. "Did... Did I do something wrong?" Twilight shook her head with a smile. "Nope. That's Pinkie Pie, and she kinda gets like that when she meets someone new." "Okay..." Dash sat down. "Twilight, as I was going to say before Pinkie ran into the room, AJ went home." Twilight nodded. "Alright, guess Joss'll have to meet her later." Joss blinked in confusion. Twilight suddenly got an idea, looking towards Joss. "Alright, Joss, would you like one of us to tour you around Ponyville?" "That's the name of your town?" Twilight nodded. Joss thought for a little bit, then shrugged. "Sure." Author's Note Not exactly the best ending, but I knew how I needed this chapter to end when I started writing it. I'm pretty sure I didn't do the best job in getting the characters' personalities right, so please tell me how I did with that. To be honest, I feel like I did the best at Twilight, but that's not much of a compliment towards myself. Anyways, I'm gonna go now. Bye! -J
III: A Simple Tour..?"Miss Darkwood?" The pegasus slowly opened her eyes. Her ears were ringing, and she found it to be quite a struggle to remember what had happened maybe an hour prior. "Miss?" "Amber..?" The pegasus groaned, rubbing her head with a hoof. "What happened? Where's Joss?" "She's gone." "Gone? Do you mean..." "No. She is not dead. She is purely out of my communication range. "Well, why didn't you say that fir..." The pegasus caught a sight of herself and quickly started looking over her whole body. "...Amber. Why am I a winged pony?" "Unknown. The same happened to your sister, except she was a unicorn." The pegasus slowly stood up. "Can you fix this?" "No, unfortunately." The pegasus groaned, slowly shaking her head as she looked around. "Where am I?" "In the engine room." She looked towards the doorway and sighed. "Why is the exit covered in debris?" "And this is - uhm, hello? Joss?" Joss jumped. Her eyes darted about. "Wh-huh?! Oh, sorry... I must've started to daydream..." Dash rolled her eyes, but she didn't say anything. Twilight shrugged. "It's fine. Now... this is-" Before she could finish, Joss took a single step forward and cried out in pain, hunching over and holding her head. "Joss!" Twilight hurried to the unicorn's side. "Are you alright?!" Joss hissed, clenching her teeth. "I-I'm fine... My head is killing me, though..." Twilight frowned a little, replying, "Do you need to see a doctor?" Joss shook her head, slowly standing back up. "I... I think I'm fine no-" She cut herself off, her eyes widening. "Joss?" Twilight asked, waving a hoof in front of her face. Joss's mouth curved up into a smile. "Hello, Amber." "Joss?" The pegasus's eyes widened and she shot up. Joss's voice was heard over the speakers, "I'm here, Amber. One second..." "Joss!" The pegasus called out. "I'm sorry, Miss Darkwood. The connection is not yet strong enough, she can't hear you." Another voice came from the speakers, one that was unfamiliar to the pegasus, "Where is that voice coming from?" "Captain? Are you with someone right now?" "Yes, Amber, I am, but I don't care! Where's the ship?!" Joss asked. She sounded... worried. Maybe frantic. The other voice came again, "Joss, what's going on?" "If my scans of this planet are right, it may be a good idea to get to a somewhat remote location, Captain. Just so the planet's natives don't think they're going crazy." "It's a little too late for that," a third voice replied. "Amber is right, though," Joss replied. "Let's try to get a little closer to the ship." "Uh, how do you know we're close to the ship?" asked the third voice. "It's complicated," was Joss's only reply. "Alright, we're out of town now and the connection should be stronger." Joss continued trotting through the grass. Twilight looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "Can you explain what was happening now?" "I feel like we can do that." "Joss!" Joss froze mid-step. "S-Sis?" "Joss! You need to get to the ship now!" Joss sighed. "Amber? What's the ship status?" "The engine has lost fuel. Several hallways have been blocked by debris, but airflow is not blocked. The rooms blocked by debris include the Captain's Quarters, the Crew Quarters, the Engine Room, and the exit hallway." "That's great..." Joss sighed. Twilight replied, "I can blast the debris away if you need it." "We will. Joss, your sister is trapped in the Engine Room." "Crystal's trapped?!" Josh yelped, quickening her trotting to galloping. Even if she didn't know the pony, Twilight knew that couldn't be a good thing. She started galloping, too. Dash also sped up, but she didn't start galloping because... well, she was flying. The ship came into view. The sight of it made Dash nervous, but it also made Joss go just a little bit faster. Her legs were really starting to hurt, but Joss's worries didn't offer her any leniency. Besides, if she slowed down she would fall behind and she really didn't want to do that. Why, oh why didn't I exercise more on the ship? Joss thought to herself. The small group got closer and closer to the ship. Everything appeared to be going fine - until Joss collapsed! She yelped, slamming into the ground. Twilight skidded to a stop and ran back towards Joss. "Joss! Are you alright?" "I-I'm fine!" Joss slowly stood up. "My legs are sore as hell, but I'm fine!" Damnit, I'm really so out of shape that running for a few minutes makes me collapse? She thought to herself. "You can wait out here, we can go get your sister." Twilight said. Joss shook her head. "No, I-I'm fine. I can walk! And... I don't really want to stay out here and be useless." "You'd much rather go inside and be useless?" "Amber..." "Sorry." Joss forcefully shook her head to clear the daze from her mind. "I'm fine. I don't want to stay out here." "Alright." Twilight replied. Joss gave her a small smile. "I suggest you keep an eye on her to make sure she's okay." Twilight nodded while Joss rolled her eyes. Crystal's eyes slowly opened. She groaned, standing up. "How long was I asleep?" She mumbled to herself. "Only a few hours, Miss Darkwood." Crystal jumped, half-yelling, "Holy shit! Don't scare me like that, Amber!" "Mind your language, little si-" Came a certain voice from behind the collapsed doorway. She didn't manage to finish her sentence before erupting in laughter. "Um..." The first unfamilar voice from earlier came from the same direction. "What are you laughing about, Joss?" Crystal allowed her mouth to curve into a small smile. "You sure love being ironic, huh, Joss?" "Oh, shut it!" This sentence caused Crystal to start giggling uncontrollably for seemingly no reason. There was an irritated sigh, then what sounded like footsteps leading away from the blockade. Or... the logical term would be hoofsteps, wouldn't it? Fine, hoofsteps leading away from the blockade. "Um, Joss?" The first unfamiliar voice came again. "Where are you going?" "Somewhere." Joss replied. Crystal shook her head. "Joss, you weirdo..." While Crystal was mumbling to herself about her sister, Joss trotted away from the small group and into the kitchen. She came to a stop in front of a door. While the door would be normal-sized to a human, Joss was not a human anymore, and so, the door looked gigantic to her. She hadn't exactly been planning too much - this wasn't something that needed very much of a plan - but one problem was exceeding obvious to her now; the doorknob was too high up for her to reach, and even if it wasn't, she had no way of actually opening the door. "Shit." Looking around, Joss noticed a small stool lying by the doorway she entered in. She trotted over to it and hooked her leg onto the stool. As uncomfortable as it was, Joss managed to pull the stool away from the wall enough for her to get to the other side of it and push it with her head, which she did. She got it to the doorway and clambered on top, before sitting down and thinking. After a long time (well, long to her. It was really only about a minute) of thinking, she finally got an idea. She pressed her hooves against the sides of the doorknob and turned. After about five attempts, she suddenly freezed, before leaping off the stool and pulling it back away from the door. When it was far enough away, she closed her eyes, thinking again. Well, I've seen a lot of old western movies, she thought to herself. and most of those had horses in them. Hopefully I can get this right. She walked back up to the door, but then turned away from it, bracing herself. When she felt she was ready, she kicked her back hooves against the door, resulting in a loud clang of metal hitting against keratin. Ow. She thought. Goddamnit, that wasn't enough to break down the door? I really don't want to do this more than once... Despite the pain, she attempted to buck down the door again. This time, with the door weakened from the first buck, it worked, sending the door flying off its hinges and slamming into the wall. A smirk played at her muzzle as Joss turned around and trotted into the small room behind the door. The room appeared to be nothing more than a small storage room, although it had a very oddly placed light in the wall that was partially blocked by a storage shelf. Joss climbed onto the shelf - the shelves were far apart enough and bare enough for her to do so - and pushed on the light. After a bit of resistance, the light gave way and slid back with a satisfying click. She climbed back off the shelf and looked at the wall just in time to see a portion of it shudder and rise up into the rest of the wall, revealing a staircase. Joss trotted up the newly-revealed staircase as the wall-door closed behind her. She soon got to the top and pressed a button on another wall, revealing it to also be a door. The wall-door swung open, revealing a very familiar bedroom. Joss stepped out into her room as the door closed behind her. She let her hooves sink into the blue carpet of the room and rested for a moment, before hurrying to a screen. "Amber." The screen immediately turned on, showing a map and scans of the atmosphere. "Yes, Captain?" "Please provide a detailed synopsis of the functioning features in the hallway leading to the Engine Room." "The lights are active, as is the air-conditioning. The heater, the oxygen venting, and the sprinklers are all in working condition but not active." "Thank you." Joss thought to herself before trotting to the door of her bedroom. "Please unlock the door." The door unlocked with a quiet click. Joss pushed the door open with her muzzle (this door was not like the one in the kitchen, it was a simple push-door) and stepped through, humming a small tune to herself. She had a plan in mind. Author's Note And here we are, with characters who have no idea how to act in-character! All jokes aside, I'm still not the best at writing the Mane 6. I'm trying though! That's what's important, right? After this chapter, I'm going to take a break to see who reviews and hopefully get some feedback! Construction criticism is useful to me. So, uh... I don't know what else to say. I'll just leave for now, so cya!
