Author's Note

Hey guys hope you enjoy this chapter. I forgot to mention this for my last two chapters but special thanks to my editor Codex92, please make sure ti check out his stories and follow him.

Lastly I want go remind you guys that there is a "science fiction" tag in this story for a reason and you'll see it in this chapter. So remember not ti take it too seriously.

Chapter 3

(Delta’s POV)

After a few minutes of negotiating with Orion, I allowed him to stay out of the cage under one condition. “Is this really necessary?” He asked while tugging on the makeshift ball and chain I made from a cinder block and rope that I attached to his left leg. “I mean, I already said I wouldn’t run away. Plus, even if I did try, if your species is anything like the ones we have in my world, I’m pretty sure you could outrun me.”

“Don’t care, it helps me feel safer. Plus, I don’t know what kind of alien powers you might have.” He snorted at that and I quickly turned to glare at him. “Did I say something fucking funny?!”

He cleared his throat, or at least that’s what I think he was doing. It’s hard to tell with his helmet hiding his face. “Sorry, but yeah, that was a funny idea.” I continued to glare at him, showing I wasn’t amused. “Look, if I had ‘alien powers’ as you implied, then wouldn’t I have already used them when you had me locked in that cage? Or at the very least, before you tied this to my leg?” He raises his foot with the makeshift ball and chain. “I mean, come on, I’m not Superman or John Carter.”

I quirked a brow as he listed two names I wasn’t familiar with. “Who the hell is ‘Superman’ and ‘John Carter’?”

He just rubbed the back of his helmet and let out a sigh. “Right, of course. You wouldn’t get those references. I made a reference that only another human would know, so I guess that one is on me. To make a long story short, they are people who go to another planet and gain powers due to some crap like the gravity being less than earth, or the sun gives them superpowers.”

“And that’s happening to you because?” I asked with a bit of confusion. Does he really have superpowers because he’s on our planet? Who’s to say the gravity here isn’t lighter or heavier than his home world. And why would the sun affect whether his species receives power or not?

“Because that’s not possible. Hence why it’s only known in fiction and movies. I think the only reason we even came up with characters like that is because our species will never know what it would be like to have such a life. As though we can live vicariously through the character we write about to make up for us not having real powers or magic and stuff.”

“…What?” I was a bit surprised by what he just said.

“What do you mean ‘what’?” He asked while looking back down at me. Now that he is standing and not sitting down, he was as tall, if not taller, than Princess Celestia herself.

“I mean, what do you mean your kind doesn’t have magic?”

“I mean that my kind doesn’t have magic. What part of that sentence didn’t make sense? We humans don’t have magic or anything like it in our world. The only time you would ever hear about it is in fantasy, movies, or video games.” He shrugged his, what I’m guessing to be, shoulders. I’m not sure since I’m basing most of his physiology like that of a minotaur.

“How in the hell does your world not have any magic?” Again, he shrugged. “Then how does your kind control the weather? And fend off creatures that seek to harm you?” I know I only needed him to get rich and all, but the knowledge of another species and world altogether was surprisingly getting me excited. I can’t actually remember the last time I felt this way before.

“To answer your first question, we humans don’t control the weather. At most, we try to predict it, and even then, it’s not completely accurate. Second, we just use or build weapons to defend ourselves. I assume you understand the concept of those since you literally threatened me earlier with a taser.” I was left completely baffled. A whole world without magic with a species who had none to speak of. The idea of such a thing is ludicrous and shocking, I’m not sure what to think. “Okay, now I have a question. Judging by your reactions and questions, you make it seem like magic is part of the norm here. As though it actually exists, and you can use it.”

“Because it does exist, and we can use it.” He folded his arms, and I was assuming he was giving me a look behind his helmet that was asking me to prove it. I tried to think of a way I could properly demonstrate magic, but given I wasn’t a unicorn, I didn’t have an easy way to show it. It was only when a shadow passed over us did I get an idea. Looking up, I saw a cloud breezing by. “Wait here.” With that, I unfurled my wings, pushed off the ground, and took to the skies. I flew in a spiral motion upwards till I was at the same level with the cloud. With little to no effort, I grabbed the cloud and made my descent with it in my hooves. Once I was close enough to the ground, I tucked in my wings and landed right in front of Orion, wearing a smug smile with the cloud between us. Once again, with his visor tinted so dark, I couldn’t make out his facial expressions. It was hard to see what he was feeling. Thankfully, his slumped shoulder and the sound of his voice groaning in shock was all the confirmation I needed to show him the proof he wanted to see.

He shook his head as I imagined him snapping out of the shocked daze he was most certainly in. “Okay, I’ll ask. HOW?!” He began to circle around the cloud, examining it before looking back to me. “A cloud is simply water vapor! It’s not a solid that you can just grasp with your hooves like it’s a ball of cotton candy!” He moved his hand down to try and touch it, only for his hand to go straight through it. “Nope. I’m drawing the line here.” He threw up his hands as he paced around in a circle. “I’m willing to accept the existence of pastel-colored ponies that can talk, but I am drawing the line at magic!” He plopped down on the ground while folding his legs together, which in my opinion looked very uncomfortable. He let out a sigh while holding his head as he shook it. “Basic training didn’t prepare me for this.”

“I’m honestly surprised that the concept of magic existing is where you draw the line. I would have expected you to be screaming like bitch when you realized you were being held captive by an alien life form. And what exactly do you mean by basic training?”

He propped his head up with one of his hands while his elbows rested against his legs. “Well, firstly, if we are being technical here, I’m the alien here, since this is not my home and you are part of the native life forms.” I rolled my eyes as I’m starting to get the feeling he was one of those kinds of creatures; the ones who take everything too seriously. “And to answer your other question. Back on my home world of Earth, I had undergone a very long and intensive training session before I was sent off to space. One of those things I was trained for, though it was the shortest session throughout my training, was the possibility of encountering signs of life in space. Of course, the protocol for such a nearly impossible probability would have been for me to not engage and to maintain a safe distance from said life form until it was determined whether or not they were hostile.” He let out another sigh as he shook his head. “But given the circumstances that led me to landing on this planet, I was not given that choice.”

“Okay, I’ll bite. What do you mean, ‘You weren’t given a choice to land on this planet?’ I thought you told me that you were out in space trying to find another planet to colonize.” I felt like this whole Q&A was going to take a while, so I hopped onto the cloud to rest on it.

“In order for me to properly explain, I’ll have to go back to exactly how I got here.” He decided to lay on his back as he stared up at the clear blue sky. “I’m not sure how long ago it took place, so I’ll just say it happened yesterday at around midnight.”

(Orion POV: Before landing on Equis)

BEEP BEEP BEEP

“Agh I’m up. I’M UP!!” I groaned as I slammed my first down on my alarm clock. I opened my eyes and moved my hand to rub the crust out of them. I checked the time to see it was twelve P.M. Due to the fact there wasn’t really a solar cycle like back on Earth, it didn’t matter when I went to bed. Just so long as I made sure to do my daily routines before the next day starts, I was allowed to do as I please. Stretching out my arms and sighed in relief, I pushed off my bed and ever so slowly landed on the floor. One of the great things about an artificial gravity machine was I was allowed to adjust the gravity to be half the normal amount of Earth’s. Meaning that not only was I not burdened by the weight of my body while sleeping, but I didn’t have to worry about myself or anything else floating around. I yawned as I carefully glided to the door and opened it to perform my daily chores.

I currently live on a space station that was named the Ark. I’m not sure if the name was a reference to the bible story of Noah’s ark or some Syfy movie, but I didn’t bother paying it much attention. The Ark was the latest and greatest space station conceived by mankind in the year 2050. It had everything any space traveler would ever need while exploring the vast wonders of space.

I floated along the corridor as I made my way to the greenhouse. I smiled as I entered the room, feeling my feet land on the floor. Due to the nature of the plants here in the greenhouse, the gravity was that of Earth’s. “Good morning, everyone. Isn’t it just another beautiful space day?” I asked my friends as I walked into the room after picking up my watering can. “Good to see you up and awake, Nem. You are looking especially vibrant today.” I complimented my neem tree as I poured some water into its soil. “Oh, Hissy, you look like you’ll need a change in soil soon.” I watered my snake plant before moving onto the next one. “Hey, Chris, I see you starting to blossom some flowers. You trying to impress Aloe again?” I teased my Christmas cactus while pointing over to my aloe vera plant. “But seriously dude, I get that being a cactus means you need little water, but you shouldn’t starve yourself to impress the girl.” I stared at Chris, who was giving me the silent treatment. “Ok, ok, I get it. It’s your body. Just don’t come crying to me when you’re thirsty, sheesh.” I went on to water all the other plants and greet them, but before I left the greenhouse to move onto the next one, I took one last look at my Christmas cactus. “I can never read that guy.”

Greenhouse 01 and 02 were designed to house a large array of plants, all of which produced a rich amount of oxygen that would circle through the whole station. Any excess oxygen produced was stored away in either containers or flowed into the escape capsules for an emergency. Greenhouse 03 and 04 were the ones that housed all the produce. It’s here that I obtain my main source of food. Before leaving Earth, I was given enough rations to last well over one whole year so long as I watched my diet. However, these two greenhouses were just in the event something should go wrong and I need to rely on them. Much like the oxygen, any excess produce is dehydrated and stored away as to not waste food.

I had quite the garden here: tomatoes, corn, carrots, peas, watermelons, strawberries, potatoes, beans, and a few other fruits and vegetables. None of which I named, because why would you give your food a name before eating it? That’s messed up.

I would take a few things from here when I didn’t feel like eating liquid peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I still shiver a bit when I think about how nasty astronaut food really is. Even when training, I hated how they made us eat that crap for three whole months straight.

Once all the vital parts of the station were checked and working at max efficiency, I moved onto the lounge area where I got to hang out with my three closest buddies. Me, Myself, and of course, I…I’m alone here.

When scientists found out that Earth was going to become harder to live on within the next few decades, everyone on Earth got the rudest wake up call. It was so bad that every nation in the world put aside their differences to try and solve the problem. At first, they thought if they could find a way to reduce the pollution and toxic fumes that were being released, it could help give us more time. Too bad the damage was already done and that wouldn’t be enough to save us. So then it was onto plan B: search the universe for a new place to call home. That’s when Project Pioneer was set into motion. The world’s finest scientists, engineers, and so on would get together to begin building multiple Ark space stations. They made it so that each space station could be easily maintained by a single human being. And that’s where I came in. Every country in the world began to search for people who would be able to handle the mission that could very well save the human race from inevitable extinction.

The Arks would take a considerable amount of time to be up and running for space travel; ten years, to be exact. It was in those ten years of waiting when my government started to search for candidates to enlist in the program. They were looking for individuals to raise and mold into the perfect astronaut to handle the solitary journey through space. I was one of the few selected for the project, and I was around fifteen when I started training. Over the next decade, I was trained in any and every possibility I may encounter while out in space. I had to learn a lot of things in order to be fully ready. They taught me everything from rocket science to agriculture, to hand to hand combat and survival skills, and coping with being alone for long periods of time without going completely insane. In ten years’ time, they molded m, along with the other chosen few into the perfect pioneers.

When the time came to depart, we were hailed as heroes for embarking on this crucial quest. Tears were shed as we all said goodbye to our families and friends. I still get teary-eyed when I think back to how proud my mother and father were of me before I left. After we said our goodbyes, it was time to depart. There were over fifty-seven Ark stations created, and fifty-seven astronauts to pilot alone as they were flying in different directions of Earth.

“Hard to believe it’s been a year already.” I mused as I floated over the couch and flipped on the television. “Alright, I’ve got a good twenty minutes before I have to make my daily data log. Now, what to watch.” Before we had all left Earth, our government thought it best that we had as much entertainment as possible so we wouldn’t get bored, so they downloaded a shit-ton of shows, movies, and games into the station to help us stay occupied. This was unfortunately due to the fact that once our stations moved far away enough, we would lose contact with Earth, with the only exception being our data logs that can somehow transmit what we record over to Earth over a period of time. It’s kind of like a phone tag, only you’re the phone leaving the messages and not receiving any…Sounds more like a crappy relationship when I think about it now.

“Hmmm, let’s see. Yesterday, I watched all the Harry Potter series, including the Fantastic Beasts trilogy. Hmm. I could watch season ten of The Mandalorian again. I still can’t believe baby Yoda was actually old Yoda, using the force to time travel in order to repeat the cycle all over again. My mind is still blown from that. Hmm... Or maybe I could watch ‘Sharknado 34: Lava Sharks From Mars’. The CGI got so much better after ‘Sharknado 25 - Attack of the Miming Sharks: Silent but Deadly.”

I spent a good fifteen minutes searching through shows before realizing it was time to get to recording. “Ugh, might as well get this over with so I can get back to the fun stuff.” I pushed off from the couch and floated over to the communication center. It was here where I would perform my daily data log entry. I’m required to record one of these at least once a day. It is one of the most boring parts of my chores, but once I get it over with, I’m free to do as I please. I started up the monitor and adjusted the camera, waited until my face popped on the screen. “And…we’re live. Hey, everyone, this is Orion checking in. It is officially day 365, and so far, no new sightings of any planets that can support life. Pretty much like it was yesterday.” I let out a sigh as I leaned into my chair and thought of what to say. “Everything is working at max efficiency. Uh, yeah, the garden is producing a good amount of produce. The water collection system is doing its job, so I don’t have to worry about being dehydrated anytime soon.” I chewed on my tongue a bit as I tried to think of something else to say. “Oh, I decided to move some stuff into the space capsule. Mostly food, water, and tools, since Helga would never stop reminding me to always make sure it was fully stocked in case of an emergency.” Helga was one of the other space candidates that I trained with for the program back on Earth. “Heh, I hope she is having better luck than me. Same for Vlad and Shin…I really miss those guys.” I thought back to my days of training with my peers and smiled. “Yeah, those were the good old days.” I looked back to the camera as I continued my data log. “But yeah, so far, everything is in tip-top shape. Only four more years to go before I come back. And I swear, if I come back and you guys tell me that you had already found a planet while I was gone, I’m going to kick the nearest warm body right in the face.” I glared at the screen for a moment before breaking out into a small chuckle. “Ptf, I’m just kidding…well, kinda.” And to finish off my transmission, I do the same thing I always do. “Hey mom, hey dad. I hope you guys are doing okay without me. I know you probably miss me, and dad turned my room into a mancave like he said he would.” Again, I chuckled before continuing. “But yeah, I miss you guys, too. It’s pretty lonely up here in space all by myself. Hell, there’s not even a Starbucks or McDonalds up here. And since they are practically everywhere, you’d think they would have at least two or three in the middle of space, am I right?” I always liked to keep a more positive vibe when I could. Then I remembered something that I neglected to do during my last few transmissions. “I know it’s probably already past, but when you see Hailey, can you-?”

Before I could even finish my sentence, the whole station started to shake with the lights flickering. “Son of bitch!!” Then, all the lights in the station started to glow red and an alarm went off. I moved to the nearest window to see what could have caused the massive explosion. To my horror, one of the stars in the distance had gone supernova, and I could see meteors already flying in my direction. I ran to the communications station. “Huston, we have a problem! One of the stars has gone supernova! Taking immediate course of action! Orion signing off!”

I moved as fast as I could to the command station to try and steer the ship manually out of harm's way. On the way, I could feel some of the debris from the star slamming into parts of the station, making everything shake. The Ark was designed to handle almost any kind of heavy impact possible in space, but that wasn’t my greatest fear. It’s what happens when a star explodes that makes me terrified. As I reached the cockpit, I moved to the control system to override to manual controls. I had to move as fast as possible before it was too late. I set in the program to fire all main thrusters to get the station away from here as fast as possible. I glanced at the monitors to check the progression of the exploding star, only to feel my face turn pale. I watched in horror as the star began to collapse in on itself, and began to evolve into the worst thing any astronaut would ever want to see in space. “A blackhole.”

I knew that it was too late. The station was already too close to escape the pull of such a phenomenon. But just as I was about to give up on any hope, I quickly remembered that this was one of the rare few contingencies that was planned ahead for. It meant leaving everything behind and abandoning the mission, but it was either that or certain death.

I pushed out of my seat and moved as fast as my body would move to the escape capsule. The capsule was designed to fire off from the station at mach three speeds in the highly likely chance something like this should happen. Once inside, I would be fired out of the station and to the safest planet while it sent out a distress beacon to signal my rescue. While inside, I can initiate cryosleep until I am rescued. “Now if I could just make it.” The station shook violently as I could only guess another shockwave went off, meaning my time was getting shorter.

I had reached the capsule, quickly jumping in and sealing the hatch shut before getting into my seat and buckling up. I leaned back and turned on the monitors, then initiated the launch protocols while putting on my helmet. Once the code was punched, I slammed my fist down on the launch button and felt myself being pushed back into my seat by the force of takeoff. Once I was no longer under the intense G-forces, I moved my hands to start booting up the distress beacon. “Come on, you piece of shit!” I moved my fingers as fast as I could until I saw a green button flick on and start to blink a few times. “Great, now that it’s works, it’s time to set a course for the farthest planet from the-”

The capsule violently shook, making me fall back into my seat. I glanced out the window and saw that I was moving backwards…toward the blackhole. “No no no!!” I started to put the thrusters at full blast, hoping to escape the pull. But they were already firing at max capacity.

There was no escaping it.

Soon, my pod was being pulled back into the blackhole, and I could only watch in horror as I stared into the horizon. “So, this is it? Death by blackhole…?” I closed my eyes and sighed, for it was inevitable. “Well, I had a good run. I never got to go back home and do all the things I wanted to do. Like visiting Manhattan and trying their pizza. Or ever gone on an actual date. But what I regret most is not saying goodbye to-” There was another big explosion and my head was slammed back into my seat, knocking me unconscious.

(Orion POV present time)

“And then I remember waking up, only to meet you and be knocked unconscious by your flashlight. Bringing us now to this point in time. Any questions now?” I asked as Delta was staring at me with wide eyes while she laid upside down on her cloud. Still not completely used to that yet.

She stared at me for a few moments before raising her hoof. “Yeah, I got one. Did you seriously give names to your plants and talked to them?”

Though she couldn’t see due to my helmet, one of my eyebrows was twitching while I could almost feel a blood vein popping out. “Are you serious? I just told you about how my race created what may be the most advanced space station in the universe, how I got sucked into a blackhole, and lived mind you, and the only thing you took away from that entire story was me naming and talking to my plants?! Are you fucking kidding me?!”

She shrugged her shoulders. I was so angry that I couldn’t help but facepalm. A big mistake I would soon regret as the visor began to crack. “Oh no.” The damage was done as the cracks grew before breaking apart and falling out. I grabbed my throat as I was slowly losing oxygen, falling to the ground while clutching my neck. “Can’t...breathe...” Soon, my vision began to darken as I passed out for the last time.