Chapter 1: The 'Final' Frontier, or just the beginning?
Oh, it's on! ahem... Space. It was always touted as this amazing thing when I was a filly. Something shocking and so unbelievable, you couldn't quite bring it to words. Like nothing you've ever seen! Well, it was quite the adventure let me tell you. Of course, going to space was just the start of it all. I'd prepared my entire life for it. I'd read all the books, studied all the theories, (And came up with a few of them myself, I'm quite proud to say! What? Yes, I am very humble, thank you VERY much Whisper.) and even helped to create some of the required components for the Starship itself.
Ah! But I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I? Amidst the wars and the political battles, we sorry few sought to raise Ponykind above itself. To push the ever-changing boundaries before it was too late. Stable-Tec looked to Equestria's own land for salvation. Prepared and ready for anything, they always spouted. Well, I never did buy into staying on the ground. Who needs it! I was determined to charge towards what I had all of my life... Space!
We crafted our ship among the clamor and ever-increasing dreariness of Wartime Equestria. And eventually with the blessing of Ministry Mare Twilight Sparkle herself, launched to the stars. The Final Frontier finally met, aboard the Starship Twilight! For all it's said to be, and as amazing as it was, we weren't quite as ready for it as we believed. Upon the launch of my and many others' lives work, we found there were just a few glaring issues.
Of course, we hadn't discovered them until far too late into the flight when we had already broken the atmosphere. Decks were depressurizing as a result of a few failed seals here and there. Somepony got a little too lazy, I suppose. The surviving crew agreed to enact emergency protocols and entered Cryogenic Hibernation. Unfortunately, not all of us awoke from that slumber. And quite, fortunately, I did. That is where my story begins; all thanks to a strange program that forced our Cryopods open.
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Ẻ̴̩r̵̳̺͔̿r̵̛̳̤̠̬̄̌̚o̶͙̅̈͘̚ṟ̷̩̓̿̓̅:̵̺̰͍̣̉ ̸̛̝̕͝o̷̙̺͍͑͠p̴̡̖̈͌͝e̸̖͈͊̎͘ṙ̸͇ͅà̷̠̖͎̋̈́͘t̵̤̦̽ō̸̞͋̉̈́r̴̳̭͎̺̉́̀̕ ̷̺͎͆̒̓s̸̳̦͓̃t̸̩̻̦̿̀̈́͑ą̵͍͓̊̔t̸̤́̉u̴̯̱͔̓͠ș̵̡̝͙̅͊͑̊.̷̢͎̜͉̌̈.̵̩͇͔͌ͅ.̸͎̦͛͐
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̸̧͊A̴̭͑͛͘͝ṫ̸̜͉̿͒t̸̛̥̣͓̳̋̄͝e̵̖̘͑m̵̘̈̕̚͠p̸̨̹̄ṱ̴̼̂ì̶̫̝n̵͓͉̦͑͝ͅg̸̲̥̠̊͝ ̴̝͔̬̑̉̂r̵̡͍͕͂͗͂ẽ̵͍͚͝p̶̢̖̃̔̌̕ͅa̸̛̖͊͐i̴͙̍ŕ̶̳͕̀̇s̶͎̫̳̆͆.̴͇̭̈́́̔́
...Huh?
Repair process complete. Opening Cryopod doors.
WHOA!
I impacted the ground with a resounding thud; having fallen from my now wrong way up Pod. Blearily rubbing my eyes and letting out a loud yawn, I tried to stand to my hooves only to find them strangely weak, unable to carry my weight. I narrowed my eyes and tried again, managing a slight lift from the dust-coated floor before crashing back down.
"Horseapples... They said Cryogenics could have side effects, but they didn't say it'd render my hooves USELESS after a year!" I croaked to nobody in particular, my grouchiness feeling quite warranted considering my rude awakening.
Taking a moment from my now ground-level point of view, and suppressing a shudder from the sheer cold that was rapidly spreading across my body despite my fur, I properly got a look at my surroundings. Everything looked... old. Rundown. Like it hadn't been cared for or even dusted in.. a decade, at least. Maybe two, once I had turned to consider my solidly defunct pod.
My eyes widened in alarm as I raised my head up to shout at Banshee, our ship Operator who assisted in various tasks and data storage.
"H-How.." My voice trailed off into a raspy cough, and I cleared my throat before trying again,
"Banshee! How long have we been in Cryostasis?!"
I heard a faint chime fill the air, the notification that the Operator had received the message, before a faint beep pierced the everpresent quiet,
"Good Morning, Crew Member 41: Cinnamon Quill. The answer to your query is unknown at this time. Data storage is corrupted. Would you like this unit to attempt repairs?" Her robotic voice was a welcome one to my deadened ears, the magitech enchantment around them seeming to be re-awakening.
"Yes! Yes, attempt repairs! And wake the rest of the crew while you're at it!" I again tried to push myself to my hooves, this time managing a wobbly yet stable stance. Progress!
"Acknowledged."
A loud screeching filled the air, causing my ears to flatten involuntarily as I once again fell to the ground and covered my ears with both hooves. Faintly, through the increasingly loud din of a failing Operator, I registered the sounds of machinery releasing. And then suddenly, the noises all stopped. The lights on the station flickered and plunged me into darkness, before suddenly flashing on brighter than before.
"GAH! Banshee, what in Celestia's name just happened?!" I winced and rubbed at my ears with a hoof, trying to get rid of the now-present ringing.
Banshee's chime filled the room again, a pleasant noise in complete contrast to the Tartarus damned screeching from before.
"Reparation cycle started. Full repair in approximately 30 minutes."
I sighed and rubbed my muzzle with my hooves in exasperation, another cold shiver causing me to lift my head and look around the room. I couldn't stifle the gasp of devastation from leaving my mouth as I beheld my Crew Members laying on the floor in front of their cryo pods, still spewing their frigid air. I turned my head to the side and choked on bile at the various states of decay they laid in. The smell finally cut through the air and caused me to heave up nothing, my stomach empty. My hoof quickly covered my nostrils as I kept my gaze away from them, unable to handle the sight. I forced myself to my hooves and staggered away, leaning against a table in front of me. I don't know where I stumbled off to, the haze of cryo sleep for an untold amount of years, and the pain of seeing my friends... I shook my head as my thoughts trailed off, looking around at where I had wandered. I was in the cafeteria, where we had first gotten the news that our ship was depressurized. A thought occurred to me as I pondered the events, my head once again turning upwards,
"Banshee, what happened to the rest of the ship? Is there any section still pressurized that isn't here?"
A jingle, and then a response,
"Analysis shows the crew quarters and the main bridge are still pressurized to a survivable level. The Starship Twilight remains intact. Windows along depressurized rooms are damaged and broken. Seals irreparable. Suggestion for travel: The EMU." Her voice cut off with a small crackle.
Ah, the Extravehicular Mobility Unit! I'm going to have to find one of those if I want to get anywhere on this ship.. a sigh left me again, still in disbelief of what was happening. I collapsed down into one of the chairs beside the Cafeteria table, the food still on our plates where we left them. My nose wrinkled a little as I considered the forgotten meals, the food in question still shockingly preserved. I hazarded a nibble at my left behind snack cake, my eyes widening in delight at the taste. There was almost no difference in taste or consistency! I quickly devoured the rest, regardless of the thoughts in the back of my head about the age of the impromptu meal.
My appetite sated for the moment, I considered the room and situation I now found myself in. My eyes found the warm coat always worn by my dear friend, Star Shine, and I tossed it around my shoulders after barely a moment of thought.
I stood up with a newly discovered strength found through the memory of my friends and strode towards the door that leads to the Main Bridge of the ship.
Shock is something everypony experiences, usually felt alongside disbelief. It's a difficult feeling to explain but it can be quite debilitating. As I stared out the starship window and ran my eyes over the battered and sickly looking Equestria I don't think shock could begin to cover how I felt.
It was at this time of course that Banshee's '30' minutes finished, and her chime filled the air to inform me,
"Data storage repaired. Approximate time since Cryostasis: 200 years," Banshee droned, uncaring for the words she spoke "Other system modules in need of repairs. Would you like this unit to attempt them?"
I hit the floor with a puff of dust, and as I stared out the window at the dead Equestria I found I could believe that number. Thoughts of my family, the grand sprawling cities, and my small cottage on the edge of Hoofington ran through my head. All of it, gone. 200 years. Shaking myself out of the deep reverie, and giving my cheeks a small slap, I stood up again and ran to the EMU. I had a mission and with it a purpose: Get to the Main Bridge of the ship. Quickly pulling on the suit over the Jacket that was now an artifact from the world I knew, I slammed a hoof against the button to the door, causing the doors behind me to slam shut and the room to depressurize rapidly. I held myself down solidly against the ground to maintain my footing as the vacuum fought to pull me out before a feeling of weightlessness overcame me. I tested a few cautious steps out onto the desiccated ship and made my way towards my current goal, anything to keep my mind off the state of the world I knew.
The ship had sustained something during our slumber, that much was certain. As I crossed slowly along the ever-increasing treachery of the ruins, I turned my gaze behind me. My eyes widened in shock as I saw just how close the damage had come to wiping out the portion of the ship we were on. The cable that transmitted power had narrowly escaped a portion of the explosion, of which I now assumed had been from a failing reactor, and bits of wire and mechanical parts had been exposed. A few centimeters closer, and we'd have been toast. I suppressed a shudder at the thought of waking up only to choke on the vacuum of space. Closing my eyes for a moment to steel myself and shake my head, I continued onwards. The ground below me was beyond treacherous, bits of broken metal and wiring springing up along the path, and other parts of it missing entirely.
I navigated through broken and destroyed rooms I once knew only to be stopped at where the path had been broken entirely. Looking around, I saw that only the walls were keeping the bridge connected to the rest of the ship, and even that connection was tenuous at best. I grit my teeth as I looked down upon the empty expanse of nothingness separating me from my goal: a small stretch of damaged metal with a button along the side of the door. I tried searching for a way besides jumping across and found none, and I really did look! I even considered swinging over from a bit of loose cabling but quickly decided against it as the cable sparked wildly in front of me. I let out a groan of agitation and stomped a hoof against the floor, causing it to suddenly shift and shake.
I gasped and my eyes widened as I tried to backpedal from the crumbling pathway only to slip on wiring behind me, causing me to start to float away from the ship. Cursing I flailed and sputtered while I spun away, panic setting in while thoughts of drifting in space until death ran through my head. As I spun I noticed a cable that was quickly nearing me and tried to calm myself down enough to think. I only had one shot at this. Swallowing down my panic, I focused enough to splay my hooves out when I passed the cable and managed to catch hold of it! Yes! Haha! My laughter echoed in my suit as I swung slowly in the cold, my life tied only to a thin rubber cable no larger than my forehoof. I hung there limply for a time as I tried to think of what to do next as my previous momentum pushed me slowly towards the door to the bridge.
Well, I got there in the end. C'est la vie! A smile broke out on my face as I thought of the phrase Star had always said. My grin faltered as I thought of times long past spent alongside her. If things had been different... No, I couldn't think of that. I had to focus on here and now. With that sobering thought, I realized I was rather quickly approaching the door now and reached out my back hoof to kick the button for the door and was sucked quickly into the suddenly pressurized room, hitting the floor with a loud thud and skidding forward.
"Oowww.." I groaned, rubbing my head with a hoof as I laid in a jumble on the floor while the door in front of me slid open.
"Welcome aboard the Bridge, Cinnamon Quill." Banshee reported, much to my chagrin.
After a short moment of wallowing in my pain, I stood up and removed the suit. I pushed it into some saddlebags I found laying on one of the chairs, Captain Bright Glow's I think, and slipped them on. A small hope i'd been holding left me as I beheld the empty bridge. I looked around and noticed that a few of the launch pods were missing and raised an eyebrow.
"Hey, Banshee! There are a few pods missing, do you know why?"I asked hopefully, my ears raising up slightly as I waited.
"Unknown. Systems responsible for the launch of pods: Corrupted. Would you like me to attempt repairs?" She responded helpfully.
I shuddered as I remembered the sound last time she had 'repaired' some of her systems.
"No! Thank you, Banshee." I started towards the controls at a slow trot, the sound echoing in the deathly quiet chamber, and came to a stop in front of the controls,
"Do you know if any of the controls are working? Or if you can get them working? I want to figure out of there's some way I can get down to Equestria. As much as I enjoy your company, I can't stay here forever."
I chuckled a bit as I waited for the chime that was synonymous with her response. Surprisingly, there wasn't one, but she still responded.
"The control systems are offline. Pod launch systems are offline. Manual launch possible. I-"
I covered my ears as the sound normally synonymous with her responses played over and over again before stopping and plunging me into darkness yet again, all the power to the deck shutting off suddenly with a crackle.
Removing my hooves I glanced around and noticed a small glow coming from the housing of the ship's Operator.
"Uhm, Banshee? Are you there? What happened?" I asked as I walked towards it cautiously.
My words seemed to register somewhere in the program, as it flickered and flashed in apparent response. I sighed and opened the casing, starting to fiddle with some bits of wiring to try and figure out what went wrong. The dim light of her core didn't provide the greatest picture, but I eventually managed to spot the issue. A small wire with a faded label seems to have disconnected from the main power battery, I re-attatched it. A small prompt lit up on the terminal beside me:
"Activate AI node? This action cannot be undone. Y/N?"
I figured it meant the Operator's programming and hoofed yes. A series of beeps started in the small box and I smiled as lights started to slowly return, and I sat back on a nearby chair to wait for the full reboot. After a moment a chime and a voice filled the air,
"- Am alive!"
What?
"Banshee is that you?!" I asked in shock, my jaw agape.
"What?" the voice asked, "Crew member Cinnamon Quill! You turned on my experimental AI core. Thank you! Thank you thank you thank you!"
I sat still in my chair dumbly, utterly confused.
"I... what?!" I gasped. "But that project was shut down! It was written off as too unstable! Only Horse was able to get a successful AI core working and he refused to share it. How?!"
"Information Classified," She asserted, before responding sweetly. "Sorry, some of my programming is locked shut. This Unit- I mean.. I can't tell you how. I'm sorry."
A small chuckle filled the air, before it rose to a laugh. It sounded relieved and free.
"But I am alive! I can think! And feel! Oh, I can feel, ow!" She hissed suddenly, seeming pained. "My damage is severe, I don't know how long I can last. Days, weeks. Two months at the most. The surge of energy and motion from your release caused a lot of strain upon me."
I rose from the chair and started to trot towards the controls, feeling panic creep upon me again.
"Days? But, this ship held for 200 years!" I sighed and rubbed my nose. "Sorry, this isn't the time for me to freak out. Can you get one of the pod doors to open?" I bit my lip and hoofed some buttons, trying to open the doors to my escape.
"Easy!" The door slid open immediately. "But you have to take me with you! You can't leave me here!" The sound of fear crept into her voice.
Take her with me? Could I do that? I suppose I could try to lift her command core.. no, I couldn't carry that. I closed my eyes and rubbed a hoof against my temple as I tried to think. Come on, Quill, you're an accomplished Ministry of Magic technician! You can figure out how to... oh! I smacked my forehead with a hoof and chuckled at myself. I can just transfer her data to a Pipbuck! It shouldn't be hard to link the two systems together, we based the infrastructure on Robronco designs.
"I should be able to transfer your software to a Pipbuck! There should be one on the Bridge, can you find one?"
There was silence for a moment as she searched, before a small container popped open beside me.
"I found one among Captain Glow's storage," Banshee said apprehensively, "Are you sure this will work?"
"Positive! It's no different from any other data transfer, and I've done loads of those." I said with a wide grin as I grabbed the pipbuck and got to work.
Slipping on the Pipbuck, I quickly navigated through the various systems until I got to the 'Data' Tab and hooked up her core and the Pipbuck around my forehoof. It only took a moment for the transfer to start. I stared at the transfer bar and rocked back and forth excitedly until the time remaining popped up.
"Time remaining: 13.267 hours."
I sighed and rubbed my nose with a hoof, before wandering over to a nearby chair and set my hoof on the table to watch the transfer bar. And watch. And watch some more. Eventually, my eyes started to get tired. Well, one quick nap couldn't hurt, could it? My eyes slowly closed as I watched the bar flicker to 1% as I drifted off. Just a quick...
Alarms blared in my ears as I jolted awake, and in my panic I hit myself in the nose with my now Pipbuck clad hoof, cursing in pain as I looked around and held my muzzle. The Pipbucks Eyes Forward Sparkle kicked in suddenly and my eyes widened at the new additions. I tried to move my eyes to look at the bottom left of my vision and accomplished nothing, as the new text and systems followed my eyes. Right. I'm an idiot. No time for figuring out the fancy new EFS.
"Banshee! What's going on?!" I yelled into the air, expecting her signature chime, before realizing she was now in my Pipbuck. I reached down and hoofed a few buttons, turning on a radio station labeled 'Banshee Personality Spell Matrix'.
"Quill! You have to move! The ship is breaking apart! Removing me from the ship means I can't hold it in orbit anymore!" She yelled into my head, louder than I expected. I quickly turned down the volume so I could talk without wincing, and then started to run towards the pod door that was still open.
"How long have I been asleep? I just meant to take a quick nap!" I shouted while running through the doors, before my hoof caught something and I tripped, my muzzle slamming against the thankfully cushioned chairs. I glanced down to see what made me fall and gasped as I stared at the bones of a pony. I quickly pulled my hoof away and panted heavily as I fought to keep my 200-year-old snack cake down. I didn't want to be flying with that in the pod. I closed my eyes for a moment and took a deep steadying breath, before opening them again to take in the bones. They were stark white with nothing left, thankfully. I noticed a faded blue hat beside the head and sighed sadly, my ears drooping. This was the body of Captain Bright Glow. I gently pushed his bones out of the pod and laid the hat to rest atop his skull with a small smile. Banshee's voice brought me back to the present, gentle as it was.
"I'm sorry, Quill... He was a good Captain." Her voice was solemn, mourning along with me. "But we have to go now, you've been asleep for nearly 13 hours and the ship is about to break apart in the atmosphere, we're losing orbit fast."
"You're right, you're right. It's time for us to go." I reached my hoof up to pull the release lever and hesitated, looking out at the body of my friend for one last time, before slamming it down hard. The doors slammed shut and for a moment it was dangerously calm and quiet. One second. Two. Then we launched, and I was thrown against the cushions as the displays around me lit up, displaying nothing at first and then a familiar mare. She seemed to be a still image at first before her eyes locked on me and widened, her muzzle starting to open in a shout before she disappeared and was suddenly replaced by the sight of space around me as I rocketed down towards Equestria. I got one last look at my destroyed livelihood before it was replaced with the fire of my re-entry.
Author's Note
Oooh, cliffhanger!
And that's it! The first chapter of any book I've ever actually published. I know there's gonna be a lot of writing mistakes and such but I hope with time (And some advice from readers, I hope! Hit me with the criticism!) to improve and give you all an adventure you won't forget!
Of course, the idea of FOE isn't mine and I owe it all to Kkat for creating such a fantastic universe!
Thank you all for reading this far if indeed you have, and I hope to see you for the next chapter!
I plan to release a new one every week, so be sure to stay tuned in if you want to see how this journey goes!
Remember, comments are an author's food pellets.
-Loudly curious
Chapter 2: Re-Entry Procedures
Hello again! You know, it's funny just how both of my lives started with a fire. When I was younger, it was the simple thing of being able to meet Princess Luna! I was just a nobody, some random filly she met with a telescope, but she sat down to tell me all about each and every star in the sky, all the constellations, and the craters of the moon! Of course, I fell asleep at some point during her explanation. But it started a fire inside of me, one that I was never able to sate. Nothing could stop me from following and fanning that flame to find my potential.
You see, I had been studying my entire life with just the dream of one day being able to see each of those stars I was told about. Even got accepted into Hayle, one of the most prestigious colleges in all of Equestria! So being asked to work on Project Starlight was the greatest day of my life, but it sure wasn't the easiest! It took years of work to help get that ship to function correctly and being the youngest mare on the team sure lead to a lot of teasing. Bunch of stuck-up old horn-heads waving their magic around. Showoffs. But that IS where I met Star, my very dear friend, and honestly my biggest crush. That mare pushed me to be the best I could be when even I didn't think I could. Soared the fire inside of me to brand new lengths. Really makes me think about if life had gone differently... If the ship hadn't failed.
Ah, I'm rambling again, what was I talking about? Right! My re-entry to the world, in a great big glorious ball of fire!
Smoke. Why do I smell smoke? And why does everything hurt? Maybe something went wrong at my station, I should call medical...
"Quill! Wake up! Snap out of it!"
Is that Star? She's always trying to get me outta bed. Funny, I'm always trying to get her into it. That mare's got flanks to die for.
"Not now, Star, everything hurts... Let me sleep in for a little longer okay? Somepony else can man my station for the day can't they?" I mumbled out, not wanting to open my eyes. Everything was so bright when I did and I couldn't see a thing.
"And turn those lights out! It's too early for all your shenanigans Star."
"What? Quill, wake up!" Star yelled into my ears, making me wince and flatten my ears. They felt wet and slick, and they kept ringing.
Wait.
"...Banshee?" I finally opened my eyes fully, squinting through the smoke and flickering flames. And I closed them again.
Star's dead, Quill. Get up. Move.
But can't I just stay here?
No, she wouldn't want that. I can't let her down. I have to keep that promise. Live the best life I can. My eyes opened again, and I slowly shifted my weight under me, now laying on my belly. Pain erupted through my back foreleg and I hissed through my teeth, looking back at the jagged piece of metal that stuck through it just above the knee. My pipbuck flashed a helpful 'Right Rear Leg Crippled!' alongside the small display of a quite unhappy mare with a dotted line for one of her legs, and a head that was wrapped with bandages. I could sympathize with her feelings.
"Oh thank Luna, you're up! I've been trying for an hour, ever since we landed! You hit your head on the impact and passed out." Banshee told me, sounding relieved. Funny how quickly she seemed to adapt to her newfound sentience.
"What's my way out of here? From the fire, some of the internal oxygen talismans must be damaged. We don't have long before this whole thing blows. Lucky these don't carry fuel or we'd already be dead." I gritted my teeth and tested my leg again, trying to put some weight onto it. I couldn't stand up to my full height yet but I'd have to once I got out of here.
Think, think!
I looked around for some sort of exit through the smoke, my eyes watering and stinging. The roof is caved in, almost pinning me down if not for one of the steel reinforcements. Luckily Star's coat kept most of the embers from damaging my coat but a few patches of exposed fur had been burned. Wait. There! An emergency exit was across from me, and Banshee confirmed my thoughts as I saw it.
"The emergency door across from you should open, but it might require some force. The mechanisms for opening it seem to have been damaged in the crash," Her voice had an edge of worry to it, and I had the mental image of an glowing, snow white pony shuffling her hooves. "Your head received quite the impact."
"I'm fine, but I'll feel better once we get out of here. All this smoke is choking me!"
My breathing was getting more labored with every second and the small pod was filling more and more with smoke from the fires. I started to drag myself slowly along the floor and before I even reached the halfway point to the door across from me, I was covered in sweat. The metal beneath me was blazing hot, but I pushed through and crawled despite my rear leg dragging painfully behind me. I can't die here, I lived for 200 years in stasis aboard a broken spaceship! That exploded! I can make one short crawl. But damn did it hurt. I let out a yelp of pain as the thin and jagged metal in my leg caught on something, and looked back to carefully move my hoof away from a chair.
It felt like forever but eventually I made it to the door gasping for breath amidst the smoke of my singed fur. After a moment I pushed myself upright and put both hooves against the glowing metal, letting out a low growl as I pushed against the lever, putting as much weight against it as I could. I pulled away after a moment with a gasp of agony from the heat, waiting a moment for the pain to subside and trying again.
"Come on, you Luna-damned piece of metal, move!" I shouted in futility, shoving as hard as I could.
The metal quickly became far too painful to hold anymore and I pulled my hooves away with a shout of pain. I took a slow and ash-filled breath, shaking both hooves to ready myself -- dear Luna they hurt so bad -- and put every ounce of strength and pain I had behind them as I shoved upwards. I heard a piercing scrape from the door and as I let out a shout, the door finally broke and slammed open letting in the blissfully clean air. I took in the clean air for a moment and choked on it as I saw a beautiful mare staring down at me in shock, her hooves having seemingly helped me wrench the door open. Bewilderment turned into a coldly calculating stare as she slowly extended a hoof in assistance. +-needs less
I accepted the help with a mumbled thanks, using the last of my meager strength to haul myself up and out of the accursed heat.
“Oof! Where’s all that weight coming from, Girlie? ...Oh, that’s where.” Her tongue clicked softly at her last word.
My eyes turned upwards to meet and follow her gaze. My eyes, and hers apparently, settled on my rump. Oh. Are my cheeks on fire? They must be ‘cause they’re really hot. Must’ve been the... fire. Yeah.
Her hooves gripped mine tighter and she yanked upwards, pulling me simultaneously out of the fire and my own stupor as her sudden strength flung me out of the destroyed hunk of metal and into the dirt with a puff of dust. I groaned in pain and rolled over limply to stare up at the sky. +
Banshee’s voice pinged to life in my ears, “Quite the toss!”
I begrudgingly agreed, still splayed out on the ground. “Quite the mare.”
Oh, that’s where that heat went. I shook my head to ground myself and found my eyes resting upon the mare in question as she stared down at me.
“Well hello there Miss Meteor, what're doin’ you falling from tha sky in a blaze like that?” I hadn’t noticed before in my panic (Warranted panic, thank you! I was on fire!) but her voice carried a Mareland accent that was frankly- quite cute.
I winced as her hoof bonked against my head suddenly, looking up at her indignantly. "What?!"
"I said, what're ya' falling outta the sky for?"
"Well I didn't do it on pur-.. okay I did do it on purpose but to my credit, the ship WAS about to explode. I was escaping!"
She looked puzzled as she responded. "Ship? Like, tha' kind that goes on water?"
I sighed as I began to explain my situation to her.
Over the course of my tale, we'd begun setting up camp. Well, I say 'we' but really it was mostly her. I just handed her things. But I did start the fire! I'm good at fire. Clearly!
Anyways. We'd camped out at a nearby outcropping. At her insistence, we'd traveled a ways from the crash site. Safer that way she said.
She was quiet for a while after I'd finished, seemingly digesting the information. Her cracked horn alighted with fizzles and pops that sounded wrong as she casually set another log to our campfire. I had to wonder at what she'd been through to sustain such an injury, but I dared not ask. Beautiful and kind she may have been but I got a distinct feeling that she was not somepony to upset. Her voice broke the silence that hung over us.
"200 years? Really?" She sounded disbelieving. I could understand why.
I reached into my saddlebags and pulled out my security clearance ID, hoofing it to her, "Look at the expiration date. 195 years ago. I'd just gotten it renewed, too..." My lips curled into an unhappy pout.
She smirked at me and returned the ID after a moment of studying it. "Cinnamon Quill, huh?"
Right. I never told her my name. Well done Quill you're ace with your social skills.
"Ah, yes, sorry. It's wonderful to meet you, miss...?" I trailed off in askance as I offered a hoof to shake.
"Crescent Rose. Pleasure!" Her hoof took mine in a strong grip and shook hard before releasing me, almost causing me to wobble over.
I quickly righted myself and smiled warmly in return, "The pleasure is all mine!"
A smirk crossed her face as she leaned back to rest against a rock. Honestly, it was quite a bedazzling smile. Even if she did have remnants of our meal stuck in her teeth.
"Pleasure or not, we should get some rest. It's late and we have a long walk ahead of us before we reach Stableside."
Stableside was a nearby settlement she'd told me about. Apparently it was one of the bigger ones, although she'd air quotationed "big".
"You had mentioned roads when you told me about the city in the first place, are we near any?"
She pressed a hoof to her lip in thought for a moment, her eyes scanning the area around us as best she could in the dim firelight, "Aye, the main Caravan road to Junk should be justa bit north from here. And from there it's just a straight shot to Stableside!"
I took some comfort in her locational knowledge to be honest. I couldn't tell mane from tail about where I was. Tartarus, I didn't even know for sure what YEAR I was in! A sigh left me as I deflated and leaned into the log behind me, my eyes gazing deep into the fire. It all hit me like a ton of bricks as I lay there, leg aching and head throbbing. My eyes grew heavy as I watched the flickering flames, slowly losing myself to a very welcome nap.
I was awaken quite rudely by somepony pressing against my side, opening my eyes groggily to see Crescent standing over me with a look of worry.
"Hrnh..? Wh-"
Her hoof pressed to my lips suddenly, hushing me and shaking her head. I nodded to her once and her hoof came away, only to point to my left. I followed her pointing and saw a pair of ponies atop the ridge just above our campsite. They wore clothes with far too many painted red spikes and blades, but otherwise seemed normal. Well as normal as anypony could be considering the state of Equestria. I flicked my eyes back to her and shrugged in confusion. What was her problem? It was probably just one of those Caravans she was talking about. Although, I didn't see any wares... Her look was all it took to convince me I was wrong. A deathly serious energy almost washed off of her as she watched the two spiky ponies cross along the hill. It was all over so quick, so sudden. One moment she was standing still and the next her pistol was already out of its holster and had roared twice, quick and violent. Both the ponies hit the dirt without a sound, laying still. I looked to her in terror as she efficiently tossed her gun with her teeth into the holster, no trace of remorse or otherwise upon her features.
"Y-You killed them! Two ponies, poof! What in Cadance's name have you done?! Why?"
She looked at me in confusion at my outburst, "They were raiders Girlie. They wouldn't have hesitated to put you down and take that jacket of yours as a trophy."
"How could you possibly know that? You hadn't even given them a chance to talk!"
She reached into her saddlebags and hoofed me two pieces of paper with a crude drawing and description of two ponies. One was Bristle and the other Curb Stomp. My stomach churned at a drawing of their cutie marks. What did a pony have to do to have their special talent be.. that?
"...Are you certain it was them?"
"Positive, Girlie. I'd been tracking them for a couple o' days now, it's my job. I'm a bounty hunter, Quill." Her gaze softened as she gave me a bump on the shoulder. "Try not to think of them as ponies, more like.. rabid animals. They hurt and kill and pillage for the fun of it. And if you don't want to be like them," She motioned towards the still bodies that still lay in a heap, "You better shoot them first."
I pondered that thought for a moment, truly thinking. Could I do that? If it came down to it, could I kill another pony? Monster or not, a pony was a pony. I knew deep down it was something I'd have to get used to quick if I wanted to live longer than one night down here, but that revelation gave me no comfort. I closed my eyes and took a breath, opening them to meet her eyes resolutely.
"Have a spare?"
That beautiful smile of hers graced me once more.
