Delta's Hope

(??? POV)

‘Ughh, my head.’ I groaned out as I slowly started to wake up with the aid of my throbbing headache. I carefully moved my hand to rub the spot from where the pain was located and winced as my fingers barely touched it. I could already tell there was going to be a bump there. But a headache was the least of my worries as the events prior to my head injury came to mind. ‘Did I actually see a miniature horse with wings holding a flashlight? Or did I imagine that?’

As I tried to stand up, my head slammed against something hard, making my crouch down while clutching my helmet in an attempt to hold my head. “FUCK!!” I shouted loudly while trying to rub my head, which again proved pointless since my helmet got in the way, yet provided no protection from any injuries to my head. When I finally opened my eyes after having them shut tightly from the pain, I saw that I was in a cage of some sort, and not a very big one at that. In terms of length, it was the appropriate length, but as for the height, it wasn’t so good. Without causing myself any more pain than I had already gone through today, I slowly tried to stand up, only my head to barely reach three feet off the ground. I gripped the bars to my cage and tried to shake them loose with little to no effect. “Shit. Was this thing made to hold a crocodile?” I asked no one in particular.

“Close. It’s meant to hold a cragadile instead.”

A female voice spoke out, making me quickly look around to find the owner of the voice. “Hey, who’s out there!?” I grabbed the bars of my cage and tried to shake them loose again. “Let me out of here!”

As I tried to find some kind of weak spot in my cage, something jumped into view. Standing around four feet tall was the same miniature horse I saw from last night, and it did indeed have wings, meaning that it wasn’t just my imagination. But now that it wasn’t dark anymore, I could see this wasn’t any normal winged horse. It had baby blue fur and its mane was two tones of teal with one side being lighter and darker. Besides the wings on its sides and pastel colors, there were three things that I found incredibly odd about this pony. The first were the large set of red eyes that almost took up its face. Second, it was wearing a white tank top that seemed to have oil stains on it. And last but not least was how it didn’t look like an actual pony like you would see on documentaries, but like it came from a cartoon.

The winged pony stared at me for a moment with eyes that give it a look of intelligence, especially how it moved its eyebrows as if puzzled by my appearance. I took a moment to survey my surroundings and saw that I was in some sort of hanger. Tilting my head to the side to look past the pony, I saw a trailer through the open hanger doors. To my left, I saw what looked like a rocket engine with some tools laying on the floor next to it. ‘Am I back on Earth?’ I thought it couldn’t be Earth because, though I’ve been away for over a year, I don’t remember Earth having pastel, winged ponies, or the world being animated. I took one last look around the hanger to see if I could find the owner of whoever it was that spoke to me earlier. “Hello? Look, I don’t know who you are, but can you please let me out of here? I promise I mean no harm to you or your pet pony.”

“Who the fuck are you calling a pet, dipshit?”

My eyes nearly popped out of my helmet as I slowly turned my head to the little pony, who was now glaring at me. “D-did you just speak?” I asked, my voice slightly cracking as I asked my question.

“No shit, dumbass. So much for intelligent life in space.” My jaw practically dropped when I heard this little pony talk, and with such vulgarness, too. She (at least I think it’s a she if the voice was any clue) circled around the cage I was trapped in and looked me over. “Just what in the hell are you anyway?” She asked as she stopped in front of my cage while keeping some distance, probably so I wouldn’t grab her through the bars.

Normally, any sane human in my possession would either A: start to panic like a guy in a shark tank with a bleeding finger, or B: curse out my captors, demanding to be set free while expressing their rights. But given the circumstances and the fact I’m clearly not on Earth anymore, both those options would prove ineffective. Thank God for my training, otherwise I might have been doing the latter. After taking a moment to plan out my next few sentences, I was ready to try and defuse the situation. “Okay, look, we clearly got off the wrong foot/hoof here. I would first like to apologize for my earlier statement. I was expecting you to have the one who was actually talking. Where I come from, animals don’t talk, or at least not with the same level of intelligence as my species. And to answer your question, I am known as a human being.”

The mare (which I believe is the correct term for any female equine) stared at me for a few moments without saying a word. It was really strange as I watched this colorful pony just staring at me as she moved her wing, using it like a hand to stroke her chin. And I’m not exaggerating about the wing acting as a hand; she is literally bending the tips of her feather to rub under her chin. It was both impressive and kind of creepy to watch the gears turning in this mare’s head as she examined me some more. “Alright, fuckface.” The mouth on this one. She would make a sailor blush. “I honestly have no idea what I’m gonna do with you. I was just planning on scrapping your space pod over there and selling it. But something tells me that could prove to be more trouble than it’s worth if ponies start asking questions.”

“Gee, how considerate of you.” I replied with a hint of sarcasm, making no effort to hide it. She didn’t take too kindly to that as she walked out of my peripheral vision. A moment later, she came back holding a small black rectangle in her wings. I wasn’t sure what it was until one of her feathers pushed a button on the side, making a small current of electricity run at the top. “Is that a taser?” She gave me a cocky grin as she nodded her head. I quickly held up my hands as a sign of defeat. “Shutting up now.”

She let go of the button, canceling out the current. “Smart colt. There may be some hope for you yet. So here's the deal, I could A: turn you into the government and probably make a lot of bits. Or option B: you give me a good reason I shouldn’t go with option A.”

‘Well shit. Now what do I do? I’m held captive by an alien species with a high chance of ending up like E.T. Only I get the feeling phoning home isn’t an option she will take.’ I was trying to brainstorm some kind of idea that could help me out of this situation, but given I’m in a cage, all my ideas are pretty much useless. ‘Okay, let’s think for a minute here. From what I can tell, these ponies are highly intelligent, I even dare say on the same scale as humans. She clearly isn’t the kind of mare you want to piss off. She mentioned that selling my space capsule would be more trouble than it’s worth. Meaning that the tech is probably a bit more advanced than this world currently has. I could use this to my advantage.’ As I was trying to think of a good way not to end up on a lab table while some pony doctors dissected my body, I noticed her tapping her front hoof impatiently. ‘Man, she sure is a pushy little pony. But given the bags under her eyes and the bed head, coupled with how she lives in a trailer in no doubt the middle of nowhere, I can safely guess she’s had a rough life.’ And that’s when it hit me. “What if I could help you make your life far better than selling my body?”

She quirked her brow and gave me a questionable look. “Go on.”

“Okay, so here is the deal. I can offer knowledge from another world, as well as its history. And given how it would seem that my kind is capable of interstellar travel, as evidenced by my space capsule, I could give you some ideas on things you could make from my world and claim them as your own work. This way, you’ll be seen as a genius and possibly make a fortune. And worst-case scenario, if plan B fails, and you can go ahead with plan A. It’s a win-win for you.”

She stroked her chin for a few minutes before asking her next question. “Besides not becoming a lab rat, what’s in it for you?”

“All I ask is that I’d be given a chance to try and make contact with my own kind.”

“What, so you can call them over to take over our world?”

“No no, I swear that was never my intention!” I shook my hands in defense. “In fact, quite the opposite really. If my kind knew about other forms of life that were just as sentient as us, they would try and make peace negotiations. And you could be one of the first pony ambassadors, which could bring you fame and glory.”

She still seemed skeptical by my proposal. “And how do I know you're not just saying what I want to hear?”

‘She had me there. I had no way to prove what I was saying is the truth.’ I let out a sigh. “You don’t, and I have no way to prove myself. All I can offer you is my word, however much that is worth.”

“Not much.” She answered coldly, meaning it's straight to a lab for me. As I was about to give up on any hope for my survival or any chances of seeing my home and family again, the door to my cage opened, causing me to look up at my equine captor. “Let’s get something straight here. If you try to escape or make any funny business, I won’t hesitate to kill you. Whether you're alive or dead, your body will make me some bits. So keep that in mind before you even consider trying anything. And you will be put back in this cage every night. Those are my conditions.” She glared down at me. “Unless you prefer plan A?”

I slowly crawled out of the cage, careful not to rip my suit on the way out. Once I was completely outside, I sat up and folded my legs together rather than standing up and risking looking more intimidating. I held out my hand to her. “I agree to the terms of your deal. I’m Orion by the way.”

She glanced down at my hand for a while before moving her hoof to my hand. I gently wrapped my fingers around it and gave a brief shake. “Delta.”