Providence

Chapters

Chapter One: In The Black
Chapter Two: Impact
Chapter Three: Meetings
Chapter Four: Wavelengths and Booby Traps
Interlude 1: The Commander

Chapter One: In The Black

Chapter One: In The Black"Somewhere up above the stars

the wreckage of a universe floats past."

In dreams, one can see the faces of their past. He watched his early years float by. His mother... all he could remember was she. Not even his dreams could show him the rest of his family memories. Her smile was shining on him, full of love. Fast forward through the years he couldn't see. Who knows what happened all those years ago? He didn't care, though. He looked to the future, but not before reminiscing about what brought him to it.

A simple little rocket had landed on the barren planet. That was the start, but it happened many years before he was born. Soon, that rocket was joined by others, and soon, actual people. Shortly thereafter, the barren planet was destined to transform into a new paradise, and it was done. People were ready to finally go there to live. Ships full of "sleepers" would be launched on that day, carrying them to their future home among the stars. In his heart, he knew that when he woke up, he would see his future.

He saw their faces. His new “friends”, all thirty of them, all grouped together, forming the seed of a colony that would be named after their vessel: Providence. Who knows how far they would go? Would they be a little wreck of a colony – a terrible disaster? Would they be a well-known city? Or would they just be a modest little town, not well known, but not unheard of? Only time would tell. But he couldn't see the time in his dreams, through the timeless depths of his mind.

They started to twist, though. Fears and worries emerged, along with everything they bring. He died in his dreams.

He was killed by...

Suddenly, he was awake. Bleary and dazed, he attempted move. Feeling came back to his fingers, then toes, and then he could see again. The metallic insides of his pod were coated in a dull blue light. The glass that was used for others to see in was foggy. He slowly raised an arm – punctured by life sign detecting needles – and wiped the fog away. The outside was dark, but lights were clearly flickering. They should have been in working order, though. He rubbed his eyes, rubbing away the dreaminess and becoming fully awake. Someone should have come by now to get him out of the pod, but no one was coming. Looking around for a way to get out, his eyes suddenly encountered a stabbing sensation. He frantically tried to get whatever was stabbing them out, only to find that his hair had gotten in them. His hair... he almost forgot how long it was. Not TOO long, but longer than most young men his age – that being (let's see...) sixteen.

When he could see again, he looked up and above the glass window in front of him and spotted a lever of some sort. The words "EMERGENCY POD OPENING: PULL LEVER TO EXIT" gave him an idea of what would happen when he used it. The lever was stubborn and it took all of his strength to turn it. When it budged, the metallic creak slowly became a puffing sound, as the air from inside the sleeper pod mixed with the air from the outside. The door swung away, and he raised a leg to step out. He miscalculated though, and almost landed on his face. He caught his fall, landing on his hands and knees on the metal floor with a thud.

On his knees, the first thing he noticed was the cold. It was freezing, and the fact that the only clothing he was wearing was a pair of standard issue sleeper undergarments – a pair of boxers and an undershirt – that freezing cold was like hell to his exposed limbs. He needed to find some extra layers quickly or he might freeze to death. The pod was so warm in comparison to the outside, and that thought made him almost want to go back in, maybe sleep a little longer. That wasn't an option. He absolutely needed to know what was going on. Standing up on his feet and shielding himself against the cold, he turned around in a full circle to get his bearings. In one direction he would find the main bridge of the ship, in the other there was a storage area. There were a few more pods against the wall, adjacent to where his empty one was. The light on the inside silhouetted the occupants. His priority changed then, he had to see if he could wake them up.

He approached one of the pods and tried to look inside it. The fog, like that from his own pod, obscured his vision. He raised a hand and ran it across the glass in a single wipe...

What he saw couldn't have been so. The fear from his dreams took him again, making him shake more than the cold did. Once again, he ran his hand over the glass, wiping away all the fog, only to confirm the impossible. Whoever was in this pod had been long dead. Only brownish skeleton remained.

"Impossible," he whispered in disbelief. That was the first word out of his mouth since he woke up. He backed away from that pod, grasping at some hope. Maybe it was only that pod that was compromised. Maybe the others were alive. He went to another pod, then another, and another before giving up. All of the other pods had a skeleton in them. He slumped against the metal wall opposite of the pods and pressed his wrists against his eyes. This couldn't be... this shouldn't have happened. Was he dead? Was this a nightmare? No, it wasn't a nightmare, and he didn't even want to think of the possibility that this may be some sort of hell and that he was dead. It was real, he realized. Am I the only one left? was the last thing he asked himself before standing and moving on towards the storage area.

Grazing a hand along the wall, he felt for the storage room door in the darkness. Finally, he found it. Inside the storage room, the white lights were in perfect working order, making his skin look a pasty white. He looked at the boxes around the room and noticed something. One of the boxes was open – the box full of clothes. So someone else was walking around on board, he wasn't alone! That in mind, he didn't want to be caught with his pants down. He searched through the box and began to lift jumpsuits out, looking for one that fit. Too small... too large... way too large... and finally, a perfect fit. He slipped it on and instantly began to feel warmer. He then moved on to the other boxes to see what he could find. Freeze-dried food – specifically the eggs – caught his eye. He put that in his jumpsuit pocket, along with a jar of water, just in case he got hungry looking around the ship. In another box he found a small, compact rifle. Who knew what the other people wandering around would be like – probably driven insane by the dead bodies and the darkness. He took the weapon and grabbed a box of ammunition (seven clips, six bullets each), loading the gun with one of the clips. Taking a last look in the boxes, he opened a box full of clip-on flashlights. True it's their name, the one he took out clipped to his jumpsuit without bouncing around when he moved, so he could have a steady beam. Satisfied, he left the room and headed for the bridge with the little light on.

When he passed his pod, he heard something in the hall. Something was moving around... or someone. Taps on the metal sounded like footsteps. He turned around and shined the beam of light behind him, his rifle at the ready. But the sounds weren't coming from behind, but rather...

He turned back around quickly and his beam caught his shadow, who raised their hands in defense. "Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" she pleaded. "It's okay, I'm a survivor, too!" He kept the gun raised for a moment, then lowered it when he was sure she wasn't a threat. She was his age, wearing a jumpsuit like his, and her light brown hair was done in a ponytail that draped over her right shoulder.

"What's your name?" he asked her.

"Kit, I'm an engineer," she answered. "Yours?"

"Jordan, I'm in agriculture." He took a step forward. "Do you know what's happened?"

Kit shrugged. "I woke up... four days ago, I think. There are other survivors, though. Three others, in fact." She got up and looked into his face. "Let's get to the bridge, we practically live there." She began to lead him down the hall. "Follow me. Also, if you see anything that looks like us, shoot it."

That suggestion struck Jordan as a bit shocking. "Why? Aren't you..."

"It's better to explain on the bridge, just keep in mind that we – you and me – are the only survivors out here, got it?"

He followed her without saying another word. Their footsteps ringing out in a metal "thump thump thump" as they made it to the big, round door that led to the bridge. Kit approached a console next to the door and pressed her hand against it. "Found him, guys. Open the door," she said. A mechanical whir sounded as the door separated into two halves, top and bottom, as it opened, ending with a clang as they were done. Jordan and Kit entered the bridge, which was lit up by emergency power. There were three other people in the room. An older man whose jumpsuit indicated he was one of the captains, a man that looked only a little older than Jordan wearing tinted goggles, and a girl with short hair who was about eighteen.

"Jordan, meet Captain Vash–" Kit gestured to the older man. "–Gwinn, but you can call her Gunny–" she gestured to the girl. "–And Bryant," she said as she pointed to the guy with the goggles.

"Jordan Polter," he introduced himself to everyone. "Agriculture. Anyone know what's going on?"

"Well, don't you just want to dive into everything?" the Captain laughed, but stopped himself with a cough. "Sorry, this isn't a laughing matter."

"What he means to say," Bryant said. "Is that we're in some serious shit. Or manure, my farmer brother."

"I build the greenhouses," Jordan said. "I'm not a farmer."

"Getting off track, guys," Kit pointed out.

"Right, anyway..." the Captain started. "Gunny and I were the first to wake up. When we did, we found that we are, as Bryant puts it, in some serious shit."

"That being?" Jordan asked.

"Four things," the man continued. "One: A lot of the pods failed, as you may have seen. Everyone in the failed pods died a while ago. We'll get to how long ago that was later. Two: We picked up some kind of space termite."

Jordan was dumbfounded by that. "What? You can't be serious!" he said.

"Calm down, kid, I'm not done," the Captain said, raising a hand. "We may have picked them up from a small meteor that hit one of the lower sections of the ship. Fortunately, that section was sealed off."

"So we don't get sucked into space... yet," Gunny said. "It's only a matter of time before one of them chews through the hull. These guys are termites from Earth on steroids. They eat metal!"

"Three," Vash continued. "This." He pushed several buttons on the console in front of him, and an external view of the ship popped up on the main screen. A large object that didn't match the main structure was attached to the ship. "That is a ship."

"So... what?" Jordan said. "We've been boarded by aliens?" It sounded ridiculous, but it wasn't as far-fetched as it seemed.

"Yep, these guys." The Captain pushed a few more buttons that brought up a still frame. Two people that looked human, but something about their hair was different – unnatural color for a human – standing over a man in their pod undergarments. The two standing over the man were wearing capes of some sort. "They call themselves 'Adapters' in this video, and this is what they do." He pushed another button and a video began from the still frame.

"Please, what do you want?" the man on the ground begged. "I'll do anything! Please!"

"You'll do anything?" the Adapter with red and blue hair said. “Why does that sound familiar?”

"We don't need to do this, Oroon," the other, with white hair, said. "This is not a good idea..."

"Shut up, Regged!" Oroon yelled. "I do what I want – what I’m ordered – and what the others want!"

"Not all the others share your opinion about them," Regged pointed out. "If we could just–"

"No!" Oroon pulled out some kind of sword and waved it at Regged. "I am the leader of this crew! We are Adapters!” The other “Adapter” looked confused as he mentioned their name. “We ADAPT to EVERYTHING. That means we come out on top, and everything else should be squashed like a bug!" Oroon pointed the sword at the kneeling man and brought it down. Jordan flinched when the metal came out of the man’s chest and he started to make a gurgling noise. Blood started to pour out of his impaled body as he slumped, dead. Then the video ended. Jordan rubbed his eyes in disbelief. How could they do that? Regged seemed almost decent, but he didn't even physically try to save the man. Who knows if he could be trusted if he contacted them?

"In case you haven't noticed, we're going from bad to worse on our list," the Captain said. He had said there were four things that Jordan needed to know, and that was the third – that a kind of alien wanted to wipe them all out. What could possibly be worse?

"Four..." the Captain said, drawing it out with a sigh. "We've been asleep for longer than a year... much longer."

"How long?" Jordan asked. Part of him didn't want to know.

The Captain rubbed his eyes and didn't answer. Bryant took that duty upon himself. "We've been sleeping for... eighty-five years."

It felt like Jordan was punched in the gut. He got down on his hands and knees as the full weight hit him. Eighty-five years! He was 101 years old now! His family, his friends he knew on Earth... all gone! He had missed everything! Who knows what else they've missed. What if... what if the world ended while they were asleep? What if the Earth was gone? They would never see it again, anyway, even if it were still there, eighty-five years away. They were lost in space. "No way..." he muttered. "No way!"

"I know," Bryant said with a solemn voice. "We've been asleep for that long."

"Damn!" Jordan yelled, punching the metal floor. Amazingly, he didn't break anything. Unbeknownst to him, this was how the Captain reacted when he heard the news.

"Look, Jordan: there is some good news," Bryant told him.

Jordan looked up, face ridden with sadness. "There is? Bullshit..."

"I wouldn't be morale officer if I didn't have any!" the crewman joked. "Anyway, guess what? We have a planet on the scanner, and it can support life!"

Jordan couldn't believe what he was hearing. They weren't lost in space, after all? There was hope? Somewhere they could restart?

"Yeah, but it's weird," Kit said. "The sun and moon go around the PLANET. Last time I checked, that isn't normal."

"It isn't normal that there is a bizarre energy field around the planet, unlike one we've ever seen before," Gunny said. "Forget the freakin' orbit! It's the unexplored universe, Kit!"

"Point taken, Gunny," Kit sighed. "So, what are we going to do?"

"...Land," the Captain said simply. "Why not? Providence has more than enough energy for it."

There was a silence. Not an awkward one, not a tense one, but a hopeful one. "Alright, let's do this," Gunny said finally.

The Captain approached the main console and started pressing buttons. "Engaging pre-landing protocol. Approaching Planet Prov." Planet Prov, as in Planet Providence. More technical babble from the Captain followed, Jordan sat up against the door to the bridge with his hands behind his neck and a smile on his face. Kit sat next to him.

"Feeling better?" she asked.

"Well, yeah!" Jordan exclaimed. "We have a chance after all!"

...But his joy was soon shattered. A buzzing sound came from the console the Captain was manning, and he paused, looking grim. He turned to the others, looking at him expectantly as the ship entered the planet's gravitational pull. "It's them."

He pushed a blinking button and a face appeared on the screen. It was an Adapter with blue hair. He had a smirk on his face as he waved a finger in the air. "Ah ah ah ah!" he said, chuckling. "Naughty naughty naughty! We can't have you landing on a foreign planet now, can we? Oroon said you might try it!"

The Captain pushed another button, and an image in the top left corner of the screen showed a view of the bridge. Vash snarled. "Eat a dick, son," he said indignantly.

"You first, old man," the Adapter said. "Well, that won't matter. After all, we just finished preparing for when you decided to do this! Happy landings, or should I say crashings?" He turned away from the screen and nodded. "Do it."

Shortly after the screen went blank, a blast shook the ship. A siren went off and the screen flashed red with a warning: "Engineering section breached. Sealing off area to prevent core breach from destroying ship."

"No! We won't make it now!" Kit yelled over the siren, panicked. Jordan was starting to panic as well. They were doomed for sure, now! All because of some bomb these assholes placed in engineering!

"Not quite!" The Captain shouted back. "I bet I can crash land this thing! I've done it before!"

"Really?" Gunny yelled.

"Well... no, but I can do it!" Jordan felt so much better.

"Here's something!" Bryant yelled, looking at a console. "The pods in area A5 can still be ejected. Jordan, that's your area. I'm deactivating ejection protocols for the other pods except yours and–"

"What do you want me to do?" Jordan shouted. Did he want only him to escape, leaving the others to crash?

"We'll be fine when the Captain crash lands, but e may need you to open the ship from the outside since the controls are busted by those Adapters!" Jordan understood this and nodded.

"You may wanna hurry to your pod!" The Captain yelled. "Impact in one minute, ejection in forty-five seconds!" with that, Jordan started to leave out the now open bridge doors. Kit wished him luck with a hug before that.

"Don't get killed," she said. "Don't tell me that, because I'm not gonna die here. You, on the other hand..."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Jordan mumbled before he ran out of the bridge and into the hallway. The flickering lights were getting faster and more repetitive. Fortunately, he wasn't epileptic. If he were, then he would have been dead before he entered the hallway. As he neared his pod, he stopped as something hit him. Looking down, he saw that it was a small communicator that would fit in his ear, with a microphone that would point to his mouth. He looked up to see how he got it and saw him. The white-haired Adapter was retreating back down the hallway. Did he throw him the communicator? There was no one else there, so that was a yes, but why?

Unsure of the answer and in a hurry, Jordan put the device on and entered his pod, closing the door, and strapping himself in. Seconds later, he was shot out of the ship. For a moment he saw the blue sky, the clouds, and the early morning sun shining into the pod. Then the pod turned over and he saw the ship screeching onto the ground, which was fast approaching, making him nauseous. Just as the pod turned over for a second time, he passed out.

The pink pony's head was full of dreams of sweets, gifts, and partying. Suddenly, she was jolted awake by a violent shaking. Was it an earthquake? Were there giant machines coming to take over Sugarcube Corner and end partying in Equestria?!

No, it wasn't those. It was her Pinkie sense! It was a doozie, whatever was going on! As soon as it stopped, another thing started, her twitchy tail! Something was falling down and – whatever it was – it was going to be a DOOZIE! Who knows what kind of doozie it could be, but she had a bad, party-pooping feeling about it.

"I gotta warn Twilight!" Pinkie Pie shouted, leaving her room in a blur. "She'll TOTALLY know what to do with something this bad! Like when that one ship crashed on Applejack's farm! Wait, that didn't happen, that was a dream I had because there were cotton candy monsters in it! Silly me! Silly willy me!"

Chapter Two: Impact

Chapter Two: Impact

"Somewhere up above my heart,

a tiny little seed is sown,

a government is overthrown..."

"Slow down, Pinkie! I only just woke up!" Twilight Sparkle said as she held her hyperactive friend's shoulders.

Pinkie Pie had come to her just minutes earlier, knocking on the library door so hard even Spike woke up. Spike! He sleeps through everything! When she answered the door, the pink ball of panic leapt into the library as quickly as Rainbow Dash, blabbering about some sort of "doozie" and the sky. This went on for about a minute before the tired unicorn managed to hold her friend down long enough to calm her down. Fortunately, Pinkie hadn't been sucking sugar-loaded icing or whatever she normally did to speed herself up this morning, so it was a fairly short time before she finally became coherent.

"Now take it from the beginning," Twilight coached, still holding onto her friend. "What happened?"

The party pony took a deep breath and told her tale. "I was dreaming about my own little world of scrumptious sweets and yummy candy with chocolate syrup rivers when I woke up shaking!"

There was a long pause after she said that, the only sound being her panting. "Uh... Pinkie?" Twilight said to break the silence. "Maybe you were just–"

"I'm not done yet!" Pinkie interrupted, panicking. "It wasn't any ordinary shaking! Nuh-uh! It was my Pinkie Sense telling me that there was a DOOZIE coming! Then I got my twitchy tail! Something's falling and it's a doozie, Twilight!"

Twilight did the math in her head. Common sense used to tell her not to believe nonsense like that, but that was before she had seen firsthand how accurate Pinkie Sense was. If it was a doozie and it was falling, that meant that whatever was falling had to be something important, dangerous, big, or all of those. Could it be... something from space? She went over the facts she knew about everything astronomical going on recently in her head. The conclusion: impossible! Nothing could fall from space at this time! It couldn't be a meteor or stray asteroid – she would have known it was going to happen. But... maybe she did overlook something, and that something was going to fall from space... right onto Ponyville! Then the destruction of the entire town would be on her hooves! The resident ponies might look up to the Mayor as the leader, but most of them expected Twilight, as the Bearer of the Element of Magic, to know if something this bad was going to happen. If she screwed up, then they wouldn't trust her again. They might even shun her, or condemn her from what would be left of the town, or maybe try to chase her down.

Though all that was ridiculous in reality, it wasn't so in Twilight's mind. She had to do something; there was no time to waste!

"Come on, Pinkie! We have to evacuate the town!" Twilight shouted. "Spike! Get down here!" When her drowsy, and perhaps a bit grumpy, assistant came down, she told him to send a message to the Princesses.

"Dear Princesses," Twilight said as Spike started writing what she dictated...

Dear Princesses,

Forgive the informality...

"Uh, what?" Spike said dumbly, scratching his head with the quill tip.

"Informality. I-N-F-O-R-M-A-L-I-T-Y."

"Oh, I knew that..."

Dear Princesses,

Forgive the informality of this letter, but this is an emergency! I have reason to fear that the town of Ponyville is in serious danger from an object of unknown origin (meteor, asteroid, etc.) crashing into it, destroying the entire town. By the time you read this, I will have begun evacuating the–

A rumbling sound came from outside, causing Twilight to cease her dictation and look up, though she couldn't see through the ceiling. Oh no! She was too late! She lifted a protesting Spike unto her back and quickly went outside with Pinkie Pie, looking up at the early morning sky. Soon, other ponies started to leave their houses to look for the source of the mysterious sound. Even Vinyl Scratch, who was notorious for her blaring alarm clock that was just barely legal, was awoken by this and opened her bedroom window to look up.

Streaking across the sky was a huge metal object of some sort. Flames shot out of it, leaving a trail of thick, black smoke behind it as it descended over the town. Twilight was prepared for the worst... when she saw that the thing – whatever it was – was going completely over the town, so when it came down it wouldn't hit it! That gave her a little room to breath, but this object would hit the ground hard. Just as it passed over the town completely, a small piece (some debris, maybe?) shot out over it and began tumbling in the air. Then, it crashed.

The ground shook as an explosion shouted that impact was made. After that, it mellowed out into a grinding rumble, like somepony was dragging a plow through an extremely weedy field, ripping and tearing the plants from their roots. The smaller object had landed near the place the main one first hit, only noticed by an observant purple unicorn. The noise died down, announcing that the ship had ceased dragging against the ground. A pillar of smoke began to rise into the air where it finally rested. This distressed many ponies. Some were almost catatonic. Understandable, since the object almost crushed them, and now it was sitting just outside of the town, north to be exact. The rest of Twilight's friends – and fellow bearers of the Elements of Harmony – came into view, approaching the library at top speed except of Rainbow Dash (who would argue that it was even close to a quarter of her top speed). Fluttershy was gliding along next to her, visibly frightened. The only thing that kept her going was the comforting hoof of her fellow pegasus.

"Twi'!" Applejack shouted. "Ya saw that, right? I ain't crazy or nothin'?"

"I did, Applejack!" Twilight replied, let out a small sigh of relief. "I thought it was going to destroy the town!"

"Just horrible!" Rarity exclaimed. "When I heard it come down I feared the worst! That explosion... terrifying! Whatever could it be?"

"Only one way to find out," Rainbow Dash said. "What about it, Twilight? Should we check it out?" Fluttershy hid her face behind her mane in fear of the suggestion.

"I have to go with 'Shy on this one, RD," Applejack said. "Ain't no way I'm gettin' near that thang. Least not yet..."

"Why not?" Rainbow asked in a challenging tone.

"Cause it's a big thing from space, Dashie!" Pinkie shouted, being the voice of reason for once. "And it's on FIRE! I mean... fire! It's... hot and dangerous! Not fun! No-no! Especially without marshmallows!"

Dash crossed her forelegs. "Well, then what?" she asked.

Twilight thought for a moment. That smaller object would be a good start... "Did any of you see the thing that came off of it?" The other mares shook their heads. "I saw what might have been some debris come off of it. It's not much, but it's a start, alright Rainbow?"

The athletic pegasus nodded. "Let's go!"

They started going, but then a tiny voice said "no".

"Fluttershy," Twilight told her softly. "It's safe. It wasn't burning or anything."

"No," Fluttershy said again. "I'll wait here in the library with Spike... I mean... if that's okay with you girls."

"Aw, but I wanted to–" Spike began to argue from his place on Twilight's back before he was taken off.

"She's right Spike," Twilight told him. "Your place is here with her for now. I need you to do something for me..." He whispered the rest next to the baby dragon's head. He nodded and saluted dutifully.

"I'll do that right away, ma'am!" he said before turning to the library door and walking inside.

"Well, 'Shy, we don't want to force ya to come or nothin'," Applejack said. "So we'll see ya soon, sugarcube."

The timid pegasus nodded her thanks. "I'll keep an eye on Spike. Be careful, girls... please." With that, the others parted, heading towards the crash site, leaving Fluttershy standing in front of the library. She slumped to her haunches and closed her eyes. "Stay safe..."

A voice was taunting him through the void. It jeered at him, telling him that he had failed something, or rather someone. What was odd was that, even though he wasn't really doing it, he was answering it.

"She got what was coming for her."

"Screw you, she was-----!" Not completed.

"You're a disgraceful little shit! I'm your damned friend!"

"NO! You're------"

...

It's your fault, Jordan.

You weren't there, and now...

A white room came into view, completely devoid of any furniture – not even a door. A noise came from behind him, and as he turned to look he was killed by...

Jordan jolted back into consciousness. Back into the pod he was confined to. He was gripping his rifle so tight that it hurt, even after he loosened his hands. The straps had stayed intact, and it was good to know that the airbags that cushioned him had deployed. Pods were designed with a system that was meant to keep the occupant from being injured in case they were ejected. After shaking himself back into wakefulness, a noise startled him. It was a burst of static coming from his communicator.

"Hey," a familiar voice said. "I saw you eject, you all right?" It was clear now, that voice belonged to that Adapter he saw in the hallway. Regged, was it? "Well, this is a one-way message so I guess it doesn't matter..."

Part of him wanted to respond and tell him that he was alive. The other part mistrusted the Adapter; a few of them just caused the ship to crash, after all. Like Regged said though, it didn't matter if he could respond or not, the signal was one-way. He leaned forward against the metal in front of him–it was a blast shield that was an extra precautionary measure, in case the thick glass was somehow broken, so it must have been cracked when the pod landed – and listened.

"Listen, and I hope you are because I can only say this once. I don't approve of what Oroon does, and I'm not the only one thinking that. So please trust me.

"There's something you need to know about that bomb. Somehow, when it exploded, it started a radiation leak. It's contained, but its effects are already showing up. Those acid gouches, or metal termites... well... I knew something like this would happen but they didn't..." Regged sighed. "They're changing. We don't have much time, they'll become a BIG problem if they get loose into the environment of this planet, got it? You better."

Jordan reached up and pulled the emergency door-opening lever and pushed the door. Something kept it from opening at first, but he managed to force it and step outside. Everything was a disaster. Providence was nearby, surrounded by flames that were starting to recede. A large pillar of smoke rose from the blasted section of the ship. Other than that, the Captain had successfully crash-landed it.

"Listen, I'm gonna try to mess with the wiring of one of these pods and see if I can get out. We could be a team," Regged said. "We could get the others out and deal with Oroon and the gouches together. I just have t–"

His words were cut off by a burst of static that lasted for several seconds before it stopped. Jordan didn't hear him speak again. The transmission must have been cut off. He took the communicator out of his ear and put it in his pocket. Picking up his rifle, he took a step out into the new world. It was, like on the ship, a bad step. He stumbled and fell on his knees as he came out of the pod, and a stabbing pain hit his leg, making him yell. A piece of debris had torn through the jumpsuit and cut his right leg, the point that entered him was red with his blood. A stream was slowly flowing from his wound. He would live, but it felt like he would be limping for a while. He got up, carefully not to put too much strain on his injured leg, and took another good look at the ship.

There was no way he would be able to get close to the ship, what with all the flames. Eventually they would burn themselves out, since the crash had left a sort of crater, blowing the plants that were there away. There wasn't going to be much for the fire to spread to soon. However, soon wasn't coming fast enough. Not wanting to go back into the pod, Jordan turned himself around and limped in the opposite direction of the wreck – heading south. The overturned earth and rocks mellowed out into green grass and shrubs, and eventually some trees. These occasional trees eventually became a wooded area that he had some difficulty getting through, but he managed.

As he hiked, he thought about everyone he met on the bridge. The experienced Captain Vash, the optimistic morale officer Bryant, Gunny (he never found out what her job was, now that he thought of it), and Kit. He had barely seen them for five or ten minutes before... this. They just met for the first time. Now, he might never see them again. They could be killed by the Adapters, the termites – Regged called them "gouches" – that were mutating, or even hazards that were made in the ship as it crashed. One bad move, and they might all be blown up At least that's how Jordan saw it until part of him made him want to slap himself. He could still help them! There were just a few more things to worry about than he thought there would be. He could save them, no, he would save them. As long as he was still breathing, he was still useful.

It wouldn't help him if he suddenly stopped breathing, but that's what he did. He had reached a clearer spot in the woods, where he saw something coming. A few somethings that were getting closer the longer he waited. As fast as he could with his limp, maybe even faster, he ducked behind a rock and some bushes and waited. He gripped his rifle tight and stroked the trigger with his pulling finger, ready to use it to defend himself. The sound of hooves and some other sound came to his ears and got closer, and closer, and closer, and then farther and farther as they passed him. Waiting a few more seconds after they had passed him, he peeked over the rock and aimed his rifle.

He couldn't believe what he was seeing. It was a herd of five... "Horses?" he whispered to himself. He corrected himself in his mind, there was no way he could call the three that were completely different horses, or ponies. Two of them, a purple one and a white one, had horns on their heads. Unicorns? They don't exist though! However, this was an alien planet. It could be possible – like Gunny said back on the ship, "the universe is infinite”. One of them had wings and was flying over the others, plus it had a rainbow mane. How could he pick that out compared to the others though? He's never seen any animals with colors like those – one was even completely pink! One more thing caught his attention though, and was probably the one thing that slapped him the hardest. The orange one, which looked normal compared to the unicorns and... pegasus? Yes, pegasus. This normal one with the blond or yellow tail had both her mane and tail tied in ribbons. But anyone could do that to his or her pony, what really got to him was that fact that the very same one was wearing a hat! Ponies don't wear hats! At least not the ones he knew... or used to know. This confused him to a great extent. Why would ponies wear clothing? One of them even had their hair done in fancy curls and...

"No way," he whispered. "They're... talking?" That conclusion was the only one he came up with in his place behind the rock. That is, until he looked down on his injured leg. "I lost blood. I must be hallucinating, that's all." Even though he had cleared his mind of worry, he still peeked to make sure they were gone, and then continued going his way.

"Yeah!" Dash agreed. "I could have totally flown over it in less than a second!"

"Those woods gave me the strangest darned feelin' ah've ever had," Applejack said, apprehension in her voice. "Any o' you felt that? Like we were bein' watched?"

"Oh, AJ, we WERE being watched, didn't you notice?" Pinkie Pie pointed out. The others looked at her in surprise, but before anyone could ask, she continued. "Ooo! Ooo! Ooo... Ooo... oh..." The party pony's mane deflated slightly as she looked past the others and straight at what was ahead. It was the object that crashed earlier, but not just that. The entire area around it was destroyed, some of it in flames. All the grass and trees where it landed were just... gone. The others looked at the sight in a mix of awe and horror.

"All this land," Applejack said solemnly. "It's gonna take a while for all th' plants to grow back, if they do at all."

"That isn't all we should worry about," Rarity said, closing her eyes in sadness. "Fluttershy... she told she was visiting a rabbit burrow here. I doubt they made it out before..."

Rainbow Dash had a genuine look of horror on her face. Fluttershy would never get over that! She had mentioned them to Dash one day, mentioning how she was thinking about moving their burrow closer to her cottage. "To get them out of the rain" was her reason. She would be devastated when she was told that her plans would never go through in the worst possible way.

"Look!" Twilight said pointing a hoof. "That looks like what I saw!" She was pointed at a big cylinder that was embedded in the ground a short distance away. It looked safe, so the mares approached it. They noticed that part of it was hanging off of it, and when they went to check it out...

"A door?" Applejack said, dumbfounded. "Now why the hay would this thang 'ave a door?"

"Applejack, don't you see?" Twilight asked. The farmer didn't know what she was talking about.

"I get it! That thing…" Dash said, pointing a hoof at the smoldering object. "…Is a ship of some kind! From space! A spaceship!"

"Now don't you go assumin' that big ol' thing is from space, RD," Applejack argued. "I don't believe for one minute!"

"But if it is," Twilight said, approaching the object they were standing in front of. "Then this must be an escape pod! Somepony must have been in here!"

"Of course they were, Twilight!" Pinkie said. "And now they're gone! We have to find them! Then we have to throw them a PARTY! A 'Welcome to Equestria, Space Pony' party!"

Ignoring the second part, Twilight looked around on the ground for tracks of some sort – even if they weren't hoofprints. She found something else: a piece of metal covered with something red. She had her suspicions about what this red stuff was, and there was only one way to find out. She went up to it and sniffed it. The scent of iron flooded her nose, making her recoil slightly.

"What is that, Twilight?" Dash asked.

"It's... blood," the scholar answered. "Whoever was in here must be hurt."

"Maybe they're wandering around disoriented," Rarity inputted. "Poor dear needs help!"

Twilight knew that, even if this pony – or whatever it was – was injured, they still had to be careful. What if whoever was in the pod was hostile? Or maybe frightened? Despite that, the injury might have been serious, and they needed to find them. Fast! She thought of some way to track them, and a spell came to mind. She had only practiced do this spell with a different liquid... an unfortunately very different one, courtesy of Spike, who was just as creeped out as her about the whole experiment.

Her horn began to glow and the blood of the metal lit up like a red neon light. Even though the sun was shining, it was glowing clearly. Then, a whole trailing of glowing red spots lit up along the ground. A trail like this would be one that any average pony would know not to follow, but in this case they had to (At least it isn't yellow, Twilight thought). The friends began to follow the spots without questioning about the spell, keeping an eye out in case who they were looking appeared. Soon, they saw that the trail led into the woods they had come out of minutes earlier.

"Girls," Applejack said. "Remember when ah said ah had that weird feelin'..."

"Like we were being watched," Twilight finished. "We were, Applejack. We walked right past them."

The five mares kept following the trail for some time before one of them spoke. "Hey, Twilight," Rainbow said. "How long have you had this spell?"

"About a month or so," Twilight answered, getting ready for the next inevitable question.

"How did you learn it?"

The unicorn turned her head to the airborne pegasus with a slightly disgusted look but said nothing.

Jordan finally stumbled out of the woods, landing on his good leg. The injured one was still bleeding, dripping over the gray and blue of his jumpsuit and onto the grass. He dabbed his fingers on the wound, wincing as pain radiated from where he pressed. The bleeding and pain might stop if he had a bandage or gauze, neither of which he had. He could only suffer through it until he found a suitable substitute... or die of infection... or hallucinate and think a deadly alien creature was a cute puppy dog. Ready to keep moving, he finally looked up.

There was no way what he was seeing was real. He had stumbled onto the outskirts of a town of some sort. Indeed, there were houses, what looked like shops, a large building towards the center that may have been the town hall or something similar. He could even see a farm to one side, with an orchard of some sort – maybe something similar to an apple orchard? He got on his stomach (though his injured leg protested) and crawled forward, hoping to get a better look. Was this yet another hallucination? He would have labeled it has a mirage if he was in a desert, but this climate was more like where he used to live back home. Maybe this was real, which made him wonder what the people living there looked like, and if they were aware of what happened.

When he got closer to get a look, however, what he saw made him sure that it was a hallucination. Ponies or horses or whatever they were, similar to the ones he saw in the woods, were moving around the town. He thought for a moment, though. If it were a hallucination, then why did he have any for a while after the first group he saw? Curiosity pushed him forward, but caution restrained him. Real or not, he didn't want to be seen. Finding the most discrete route, he head towards the town – slowly and carefully.

On his trip around the edge of the town, he found what looked like a park. Staying in the bushes, he spotted two of those... ponies he decided to officially label them, on a park bench. One, a tan one with a blue and pink mane, was laying on it in the way he would expect one to. The other, a mint green... unicorn, was sitting in an interesting way, though: like a biped. It looked a bit awkward, but it seemed to work for her. He saw that the first one had a picture of some kind where a brand would go on one of the ponies or horses back home. In fact, the ponies in the forest had ones like that too. What could they mean? The ponies on the bench were talking – once again, the concept of them talking got to him – loud enough for him to hear.

"This is getting ridiculous," the second one said bitterly.

"The thing falling from the sky, your obsession with creatures that don't exist, or..." the first one started saying. The other finished.

"Him, and yes, the falling object, but this creep is–"

"Annoying, and that's all, Lyra."

"But, Bon-bon," Lyra looked right at her partner. "He's starting to scare me. You, too! Don't lie!"

The other pony sighed. "You're right... but we can't just keep it secret forever."

That magic word, "secret", made Jordan curious as to what they were discussing. He focused on the two ponies, listening for said "secret". Probably something bad, he thought.

The green pony got off the bench and the other followed. "What if he does something crazy? Will Lyra have to smack a bitch?"

"He wouldn't dare try it because he knows you would," Bon-bon giggled, lifting a hoof to the other pony's cheek. "Come on, sweetie, let's go." She gave the unicorn a quick kiss on the lips, and the two embraced. This wasn't what he was expecting, but it was kind of relieving to Jordan that this place wasn't so different back home in its reaction to homosexuality. The couple was actually kind of cute. Something was familiar about this, though, especially with Lyra. He couldn't put a finger on it, but he knew it was familiar somehow.

The two went off down the trail. When the coast was clear, Jordan went back to scampering–as someone could put how he was moving into words as–towards the town. Leaving the park, he spotted something new, and very different. It was another building, but it was built into a tree. It wasn't a treehouse, but... yes, it was a tree… house. The tree was literally the building. Checking to see that none of the ponies were around he limped as quickly as he could to the door, which was just a little taller than him. A sign on it said "Library Closed. Please Come Back Later". So it was a library. When libraries were closed, they were empty, so he could stay in there for a little while. Plus, if he knew anything, it was that libraries had books – damn it, those things were useful sometimes. He wanted to see if he could find information about this world, and it was very likely he would find it here. Looking back to be sure he wasn't seen, he opened the door and slid in, closing it quietly.

Spike and Fluttershy were playing a game of cards in Twilight's bedroom. Twilight had told Spike to send a new letter to the Princesses, explaining the situation with the massive object falling from the sky. He didn't receive a response yet, which was good for his stomach, but not for Twilight. Knowing her, she would have wanted one back immediately.

"Got any threes?" He asked the pegasus across from him.

"Nope, go fish," she replied.

"Awww... come on!" Spike said, holding up his massive line of cars in his claws. "There's no way I couldn't have at least one pair yet!"

"Maybe you're just not lucky..." Fluttershy said. "Do you want to play something else?"

"Nah, I'm gonna go take a look around the library," the dragon said. "Maybe there's something I could do. Could you keep an eye on Peewee? He's had a habit of pecking the sheets and things lately." Sure enough, the young phoenix was pecking at Spike's pillow. Fluttershy nodded, going to the phoenix and pulling him away from his target.

Spike left the room, closing the door gently behind him. As soon as he took two steps down the steps, he heard what sounded like somepony putting something on the table. The library was closed, Twilight would announce her arrival, and Owloysius was asleep in the bedroom. So who would be downstairs? He snuck down the steps and took a peek into the main room. There stood something he had never seen before. It was tall and stood on two legs, had hair on its head but it didn't look like it had any of it anywhere else, and was wearing some weird blue and silver clothing. Whatever it was, it seemed to be looking at the books and trying to find one.

He didn't want to stick around for it to notice him, so he quietly went back up the steps, opened the bedroom door quietly, slipped himself in, and quietly closed it. Fluttershy was curious about why Spike was acting so worried.

"Oh, Spike, what's wro–"

The dragon lifted a claw to his lips, telling her to keep quiet, even though she already was. He tiptoed to her and whispered in her ear. "There's something down stairs. I've never seen anything like it, and I don't want to meet it. It's scary-looking!"

"What is it?" she whispered back.

"Some kind of monster, I think. It looked like it was limping but I couldn't tell. It could be dangerous."

Limping! "Spike, if... if that poor creature is hurt I have to–"

"It looked fine, though. It was looking at books, for Pete's sake," Spike tried to reason. "Look, if it doesn't leave in a few minutes, we'll go check it out, okay?"

A few minutes were better than never, Fluttershy knew. "Okay, fine... five minutes then."

Jordan had put his gun down on the table when he entered. After scanning the bookshelves for a book that would tell him about this place he was in, he found "The History of Equestria". Putting that on the table, he took his jar of water and freeze-dried eggs out. Opening the bag of eggs, he found a separately sealed compartment holding a plastic spoon, which he removed. After pouring the water in with the eggs and resealing the bag, he set it aside and pulled the book up.

Equestria was the name of this world, and the main population was comprised of ponies. The land was ruled by two Princesses, Celestia and Luna. Apparently, they were responsible for raising the sun and the moon, which would explain why this planet was the center of the system. Magic. It existed.

The book later said something about artifacts called "The Elements of Harmony" and six ponies that represent them: Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty, and Magic. It sounded cheesy, but who was he to question how this new world worked? Turning a page, he pulled the bag and spoon back to him and opened the bag up. One spoonful of the readied eggs later, he hated himself. Freeze-dried food wasn't bad, but it wasn't good, either. In hindsight, he should have picked the canned food. Yet, food was still food, and he kept eating his meal while reading more about the world.

Weather was a fun thing to read about for him. It was interesting that these ponies, specifically the pegasi, have the ability to control it, going so far as to schedule what happens every week. There were three main kinds of ponies in Equestria: Earth ponies – normal ones – that had a strong magical connection with the earth (Earth...). Then there were unicorns, that had the ability to cast spells. They had a connection with the world's workings. Pegasi could walk on clouds and control weather, using their natural magic connection to the sky. He saw that it was a pretty diverse world, too. There were other talking animals living in Equestria; like griffins, donkeys, dragons (Holy crap!), and a bunch of other ones.

Finally, he came to a section on those Elements that he read about earlier. Their function was to dispel evil and all things that threatened Equestria. So, basically, they were like some sort of weapon. How he would hate to get blasted in the face with it. Then, a few pages into the section, he saw some pictures that made him freeze. They were pictures of the Bearers of the Elements – the same ponies he had seen in the woods! There were only five of them there, but he was certain it was they. But there are six bearers. If there were five in the woods, then where was...

"Um... hello?" a quiet voice said behind him, making him freeze in place in realization. Uh-oh...

Chapter Three: Meetings

Chapter Three: Meetings

"Who knows when we'll be coming home at last?"

They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity – the first real encounter between a local and a foreigner to this planet. Jordan barely showed how panicked he was about the encounter; what was he supposed to do? He had spent a considerable amount of time trying not to be found, just to walk into this. Was there a window he could jump out of? First of all, there were none, at least not insight. Second of all, he leg would probably prevent him from doing that. The pony was standing between him and the door, and said pony was basically the wielder of a powerful weapon (though he couldn't wrap his head around how her Element, Kindness, could be used as a weapon), so that was a "no". How could he get out of this?

Fluttershy, on the other hand... or hoof... was actually waiting for him to say something. He was holding a book on the history of the world with one hand – like a monkey's – and a spoon in the other. She had never seen or heard of anything like this from anypony. Wait... actually...

"Humans sit like this!" Lyra insisted to Bon-bon as Fluttershy passed them.

This creature looked like it was one of Lyra's humans. But humans were made up, a little delusion in the energetic lyrist's mind. No wonder she got along well with Vinyl. Not that she didn't get along with Vinyl's housemate, Octavia, but she seemed more relatable to the DJ. Fluttershy still wondered how the electronic artist and the classical one got along so harmoniously, since there was just a little rivalry over which style was better. But she was getting off track. The musicians had little to nothing to do with the task at hoof.

She kept looking at the sitting form and spotted something on his leg, slowly dripping to the floor. Blood! Fluttershy was right. He was hurt! Little did she know that Jordan was feeling a different pain.

The headache just suddenly creeped up on him. It felt like his brains were pressing against his eyes and skull. He wanted to dig into his skull and scrape the throbbing out. He put the book he was holding aside and rubbed his forehead. He was sure it wasn't helping, but the pulsing did go away, replaced by a difficulty seeing. His vision kept turning black and fuzzy for a few seconds, switch from that to normal eyesight, and back again. Finally, it stabilized. None of the bizarre problems repeated, no new ones came up. However, he felt... different. He couldn't put a finger on it, but he felt... energized. He thought back to when he came down, he felt the headache then, too, right? He felt a little bit energized after he felt and cut his leg, but that was adrenaline, this wasn’t. They were normal tension headaches in his temples. This, however, felt like a migraine, and the flashing didn't happen before. Something was going on with him... maybe from that cut? No, it couldn't be.

He removed his hand and tried standing up, but put too much pressure on his damaged leg. Wincing, he sat back down on the floor, clutching his leg.

"Oh my goodness!" the pony – Fluttershy, her name was – said. "Do you need help? I could help you! I mean..." her voice became timid. "If you want it... if you don't then..." The rest was barely audible squeaking as she tried to hide from his gaze behind her mane.

Jordan thought for a moment. She was offering help to him – a gesture of peace, obviously. Would it be all right to accept? Or should he reject the offer to be careful? The leg was really getting to him now, and his survival instinct told him that if he didn't have it treated, he could get an infection. At worst he could die. Second worse was losing the leg. He wanted to keep his limbs, so accepting her offer was a good idea, but he had to be cautious.

"Yeah," he whispered. "Can you?"

Fluttershy looked up, apparently surprised that he spoke, at first, but that lasted a second. She gave a sympathetic smile and trotted to the stairs. "Let me look for the First Aid Kit," she told him.

"It came to town," Applejack said worryingly. "This ain't good."

The girls had followed the glowing red trail through the woods, coming out to see it get closer and closer to Ponyville. Whatever they were looking for, it had sneaked past them and went into the town. It might have been seeking out help, or spying on them, or something dark. What if it was evil? Would it go after the townsfolk? That was a worry on Applejack's mind, as well as Rainbow Dash's. Pinkie Pie, though saddened by the devastation to the north, still considered throwing a party for the newcomer; a "Welcome to Equestria, Space Pony" party. Rarity and Twilight had their reservations. They would certainly consider the foreigner as being ethical and well meaning, but knew that it would be wise to keep their guard up. Regardless of how she thought the encounter would happen, the librarian knew she would need something – somepony – there when it happened.

"This way," Twilight said, taking the lead. "It went through the park."

"You know, Twilight," Dash said. "We're getting close to the library. You don't think..." Whatever she had to say, she chose not to finish it. The unicorn could imagine what she was trying to imply, but didn't; she was focused on the trail. Now the glowing of the drops started to dull. This was something she had seen in her experiments: the glow is more intense when whatever was being used to track the origin – which had to be a living being – had been outside of the body for longer. The duller the glow, the closer they were.

"We're getting closer." I hope Spike sent that letter. We'll need her soon.

Fluttershy tightened the gauze strip around the now clean wound. "There," she said. "It won't become infected now. I think..."

Jordan, though he had become comfortable around her, became slightly apprehensive. "Think?" he asked.

"I... I haven't treated anything like you before. Not even monkeys." The pegasus stepped back a few feet. "Can you stand?"

He tested his leg. The timid pony worked wonders on his leg, apparently. There was no pain at all! He stood up and stretched a bit and cracked his neck. The single dull snapping sound gave Fluttershy a brief moment of panic, but she calmed down when she realized what it was. Rainbow Dash tended to do the same thing around her, she just never got used to hearing it.

"Thanks," Jordan said to her, moving the bandaged leg around. "Feels great."

"Not too tight?" Fluttershy asked, just to be sure.

"Nope, like I said, it feels great." He lifted his foot up behind him and grabbed it, as if he was stretching for a run. It wasn't too tight, wasn't too loose. It was perfect. So perfect it felt like it wasn't there, in fact. "You're good at this. Better than most doctors I've been to."

"Oh, I've had practice," she said, turning away with a blush. "You're a first, though, Mister..."

Jordan realized he had never introduced himself. Rude of him, but understandable; he hadn't got the chance before. "Polter, Jordan Polter. You can call me Jordan, Fluttershy."

"Okay... Mister Jordan..."

"I'm... sort of younger than you, I think. Sixteen. So, just 'Jordan'."

Well, how would she have known he was younger than her? She was in her twenties, but since she was a pony, it wasn't easy to assume how old Jordan or something like him would be by appearance. "Well, Jordan," the pegasus said. "How did you know my name?"

Jordan picked the book he was reading up. "It's in here. Elements of Harmony, Princesses, all that."

"Oh, of course." Fluttershy had no idea she was put into a book. "But... you've never heard of the Princesses before?"

Jordan sat down on the floor with a sigh. This would be the interesting part. Obviously, Fluttershy was unaware of the fact that he had come from the ship. She probably had no idea what came down, only that something did. There was no telling how she would react or what she would think if he told her what he actually came from. No doubt she would find out eventually, so flat-out making it up was out of the question. He was stuck between two options: the truth or a lie. Between the two options was the answer.

"I come from pretty far away," he said simply.

"I can tell," the pegasus said. "Where, though?"

"Just... far away." It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth, either. "It's a place called Buckingham Pond."

Fluttershy looked down and sat on her haunches. "You live near a pond, then."

"Lake, actually. The town itself is called 'pond'."

There was a pause before Fluttershy looked back up at Jordan's face. "How is it there?"

Jordan smiled, remembering the park and lake he would visit on the weekends, just one of few memories of his life back home. But then, he hadn't been there for eighty-five years. It could have changed. "I haven't been there in a while, but I remember the park and the lake. I like going there early in the morning during the fall. Then, when winter came, I would go there just to see the frozen lake."

Fluttershy imagined how it must have looked. Somehow, she ended up imagining Ponyville in the wintertime instead, specifically around Hearth's Warming Day. Glittering snow blanketing the ground, the reflection of the early evening sun shining of the frozen pond and river, and snow ponies standing in their places (some better looking than others). When all the bunnies, except for Angel who always stayed inside with her, were deep in their burrows. When all the birds have flown south for the season. One would say it was her yearly vacation from her animals, but in reality it wasn't; she still had the ones that didn't hibernate or migrate to take care of, like all her friends' pets.

"Sounds beautiful..." she said. "Just like here, in Ponyville."

"Uh... yeah," Jordan muttered. Something about the town bothered him. Maybe it was the fact that it was so aptly named after the species that the entire country populated.

"Which way is it?" she asked. "It's far away, I know but... which direction? North, east, west? If you don't know... I won't mind... I'm just wondering... sorry."

Jordan sighed. He knew this was coming. Before, he told himself to not tell the whole truth if she didn't specifically ask. Now, she asked what direction it was in. There was only one answer for that.

"If I said... up," he started slowly. "How would you react?"

Fluttershy was puzzled for a moment. Why would he ask that? But before she could think of a reason, there was a series of pounds on the door. Twilight and the others would have come right in, so it had to be somepony else. "Um, I think I should get that."

Jordan stood up and picked his gun up from the table. "I'll be in the back," he said, head towards the kitchen door. "Can you... not tell anyone I'm here?"

Fluttershy could imagine why he didn't want anypony to know he was there. He was, to say the least, different. It would take a very rational pony to understand his presence, and rationality would be lacking since the thing came down from the sky that morning. Nevertheless, she nodded and continued going to the front door while Jordan slipped into the kitchen.

From where he was sitting up above, Spike could see and hear everything that had just happened.

He knocked on the door again. Somepony should be answering by now, he thought. Turning away would have been a step he would take, but this wasn't a normal situation. He was on duty, and doing what he was ordered to do. Nothing else mattered. He raised his hoof to knock again, but the sound of the door unlocking stopped him. The door creaked open a bit and two blue eyes gazed at him. "Who is it?"

"Royal Guard, ma'am. Is Twilight Sparkle in?" he asked.

"N-no..." Fluttershy answered. "She should be back soon, though..."

"Fluttershy, is it?" the guard said. "Could you come out here please?"

"W-why?"

Just as he was about to answer her, a yell from behind caught his attention. "Princess Celestia!" Twilight Sparkle and the other Bearers had returned from wherever they went. Her highness, standing a short distance away, looked upon her student and her friends with a smile.

"Thank goodness! We've been following the trail and-" the protégé began.

"Hold on a moment, my faithful student," the Princess said. "You're yet to explain what has happened in greater detail than 'something big fell from space'. Spike wrote that letter didn't he?"

"Y-yes, he did, Princess," Twilight stammered. "But we have a serious problem! That 'something big' crashed in the fields just north of here, and is still in flames, by the looks of the smoke." She looked up and behind her at the rising black cloud.

Fluttershy's eyes widened as she heard the direction. North? No. It couldn't be. Those bunnies... were... were they dead? No! It just couldn't be true! The object probably hit close to the burrow instead, probably more towards the west. Yes, that's right, the bunnies were alive. But the tears still welled up in her eyes, forcing her to face it: the chances went towards them being gone. It crushed her to acknowledge this, but she had to, hard as it was. If it was true and the burrow was destroyed, her only hope was for them to have gone in their sleep. No creature should have to live through the terror of watching their imminent doom approaching, not even the mean and scary ones.

"And we found something else," Twilight continued. "When it came down, I saw something fly off of it. When we checked it out, we found out the entire object was a ship of some kind, and the piece that came off of it... it looked like somepony was inside it. I used a spell I've been working on to track it by following its blood because we found some by the object, and the trail comes here."

The Princess nodded. "So... it... has come here to Ponyville."

"Princess, not just Ponyville," Twilight said urgently. "Here, at the library!"

Fluttershy backed away from the door as she put the facts together.

It hurt itself.

Following its blood to the library.

"If I said up, how would you react?"

Is that why Jordan didn't want her to mention him? He was in the object... that came from space. It made sense. He said he was from somewhere far away without being exact, until she asked him which direction. Now he was hiding in the back and she was torn between telling her friends he was there and keeping her promise. She went through the door and stood in front of it. She might be able to stall them for a little while. After all, she was the only one that saw him. The others came to her.

"Did you see him, Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Is he in there?"

"Uh... um..." Fluttershy desperately thought for a moment. "Not... really?"

The others stared at her with half-closed eyes. "He's in there, ain't he?" Applejack asked monotonously.

"N-no..."

"He's in the kitchen," Spike, who had been standing in the doorway, said. "He asked her not to talk about him."

"Oh dear," Rarity said quickly before they all went inside. Princess Celestia ordered the guard to stand by the door while they were inside. After the doorway was closed, Fluttershy voiced her worries.

"Please... his leg was hurt," she said. "Don't do anything to hurt him again."

"We won't, sugarcube," Applejack assured her. "We jus' wanna know what happened."

Twilight approached the door to the kitchen. After pausing for a moment, looking back at her friends and teacher, she pushed the door open gently. The kitchen was empty, though.

"Spike, I thought you said he was in here!" Twilight told her assistant.

"I don't get it! I saw him go in!" the baby dragon responded.

"And then, when you weren't looking, I went upstairs," a voice called from above.

They looked up to see Jordan leaning over the railing. He waved to them. "I was looking for a back door because I knew Fluttershy wouldn't be able to keep you away forever."

"Hi, Jordan!" Pinkie waved back. The others, including Jordan, gave her an odd look. "I have to throw you a party sometime! What's your favorite flavor cake? I like them all, but I notice a lot of other ponies are picky about their favorites, so I usually ask about this when I'm planning a par–"

"Anyway," Twilight said, stuffing a hoof in the blabbering party pony's mouth. "Jordan, is it? I'm Twi–"

"Twilight Sparkle," he interrupted. Taking turns, he pointed to each of the mares and said their names. "Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie. The Elements of Magic, Kindness, Honesty, Generosity, Loyalty, Laughter." Bowing his head he added: "And her highness, Princess Celestia."

"Okay, so you know about us," Twilight said. "Now we need to know about you."

"Ship crashed. From space. Talked to Fluttershy," he listed. "I don't want to talk about it, so... bye." He walked away from the railing, heading towards the balcony. Rainbow Dash wasn't about to let him go, however, and followed him up.

"You can't just go!" she told him pointedly. "I mean, I don't see any wings on you! You can't fly off the balcony!"

"Right..." Jordan replied. "Because I was planning to fly."

"Just tell us what happened!"

His headache was coming back, but he hid it well. He turned to her with a grim look. "A lot of things happened, and there's a lot I don't know and never will. So if you'll excuse me, I'll just be going." With that, he turned and, with a running start, vaulted the balcony railing.

Jumping was an interesting choice. Sure, he landed unscathed, but when he stood back up, he noticed something that wasn't there when he came. A small crowd had gathered a short distance away from the front of the library, and they all saw his escape. While many of them kept a nonplussed expression, Lyra was visibly excited.

"I told you so!" she told Bon-bon, who maintained her shocked expression instead of responding.

"Well, look at that," Vinyl Scratch said. "Ly' was right. What about that, Octy?" She turned to the cellist next to her, who would make a comeback at her, but was stuck in the same expression as Bon-bon.

Unlike Lyra, however, the town's mailmare, Ditzy Doo, had a very different view as to what this creature was. Wow! A giant monkey! My little muffin will want to hear about this!

Jordan didn't care about any of their reactions, though. Gripping the gun tightly by its forestock, he made a mad dash to the north. As he passed by the crowd, Lyra stuck her hoof out. Without thinking, he raised his hand and slapped it, as if he was high-fiving her. After he ran farther away, he looked at his hand and wondered why he did that. It didn't matter though. What mattered was they all knew, now. There was no telling what would happen, how they would all react. As he ran through the park, he considered turning back. Maybe he could get their help. No, a voice inside him said. How would they be able to help? What could they possibly do to help? All they want to do is ask him questions and waste time. The longer he spent with them, the lesser a chance the others would make it out. He had to do something.

He crossed into the threshold of the woods, but a few yards in, his progressing headache suddenly took a harsh and aggressive turn. He tripped over a stone and landed on his side, cushioned by ferns. Clutching his violently throbbing head, he forced himself to crawl up against a nearby tree. Every second, he thought the throbbing could never get worse. Every second, it did. It wasn't just in his head, though, it was all around him. The bird landing on the tree branch above, the wind blowing through the leaves of the tree he was under, and his foot grinding against the dirt sent waves into his brain.

His vision became blurry, his face became wet, and he fell back on his side. For a moment, he thought he saw something – someone – walking between the trees. Then, the already blurry world around him turned black.

Back on the balcony, Rainbow Dash got ready to chase the runner, but a certain somepony clamped their teeth on her tail to prevent her from doing so.

"Woah there, hun!" Applejack said through her mouthful of tail. "Whaddya think yer gonna do when yah catch up t' him? Ask again?"

She had a point. What the flier was going to do was pointless. Even if she did catch up to him, he wasn't going to answer anything, by the sound of it. It made her suspicious of this newcomer. He had to be hiding something... something bad. Worse than bad. Maybe even... evil. That's stupid! He was with Fluttershy this whole time, why didn't he do something then? She was by herself! But what if... just what if he was waiting for what he felt to be the right moment? That was it! Jordan had to be a bad guy! Of course, everypony else had much cooler heads than her, so her suspicious were hers and hers alone.

Everyone from inside the library left. As the Princess came out, the previously surprised ponies snapped back to reality and bowed before her. The Mayor got up after a moment and approached.

"Your majesty, your presence here is unexpected," she said. "But I think the ponies need it, what with the strange happenings all day. If you ask me, that thing falling from the sky was the most terrifying, but I trust your visit is regarding it."

"Mayor," the Princess said. "We have a lot more than the object to discuss... I need you to do something for me."

"Anything, your highness," the Mayor said dutifully.

"Could you gather the ponies – even the ones that aren't here – in the Town Hall for a meeting? And prepare a podium, we're going to have a speaker."

"Who will be speaking, Princess?"

"Let's just say it will be a surprise speaker," the Princess of Sun said, giving the Mayor a knowing smile.

The gray-maned official frowned and raised a hoof and pointed towards where the creature she saw just seconds earlier landed. It was a silent guess, which the Princess nodded to in response. The Mayor quickly returned the nod and turned to the crowd, giving them the instructions she was just given. The Princess gave the same instructions to the guard, telling him to find ponies that weren't told about the meeting and inform them of it. The guard nodded, but didn't leave immediately.

"Your highness," he said. "What about him?"

"The Bearers and I will retrieve him," she said. "He will come back here with us."

"If he refuses?" the guard asked.

"He won't. Now, I believe you have duties to perform." The guard saluted her and took to the sky, searching for the uninformed. The Princess turned to the six mares and one dragon behind her. "Before we follow him, you'll need these." That said, her horn glowed, and there was a flash. A box, wrapped in golden aura, appeared before the Bearers. A certain box they all knew what the contents were of.

They weren't seeking him out as six mares of Ponyville now. They were seeking him out as the Elements of Harmony.

Chapter Four: Wavelengths and Booby Traps

Chapter Four: Wavelengths and Booby Traps

"And I heard it on the radio that one day we'll be living in the stars..."

First it was a whisper, and then it slowly became a blaring pulse. Lines of white would rush at him and enter him, coming from all around him. It was too loud and too bright, like a rave, but at the same time it was deathly quiet and darker than black. Jordan's brain felt like someone was squeezing it with a vice while simultaneously pouring hot water on it. His eyes weren't having a fun time either. He couldn't tell whether or not it was tears or blood coming out of them.

He saw some things that could only be heard, as well as something he didn't know had a sound. Ants piling on a trespassing grasshopper, leaves shifting slightly in the breeze... dying flames licking the side of Providence. All this stimulation at once made him nauseous, making him retch in his semi-conscious state. The taste of bile only made everything worse. It felt like he was going insane, and he was convinced that he was doing exactly that when he kept seeing something – someone, actually. A girl he'd never seen before, yet she was too familiar to be a stranger. It wasn't her who called, but someone did.

Jordan.

It's time to shake things up.

The world came back to normal, much to his relief. His back ached thanks to the fact he was leaning against the hard trunk of a tree. What had happened again? Oh, right, he tripped. He subconsciously reached for his rifle to his right, only to find it wasn't there. He looked to where his hand was. The first thing he saw wasn't the gun, which was a few feet away, but the back of his hand. There was blood smeared on it. It wasn't there earlier, when his leg was cut. How did it get there? Unless...

He lifted two fingers to his cheek and wiped. Blood. His eyes had bled while his mind was being raped. All at once he had headaches, blurry vision, bleeding from the eyes... what was causing this? Would it kill him, or cripple him to the point he would be fed from a tube for the rest of his life? Or was that the worst of it, and it was going away now? Everything going on would cripple him for sure. There was too much of it. Since the beginning, nothing good had happened. It was just one thing after another! Enough already!

"Shit!" Frustrated, he slammed his hand on the ground. As his hand connected, he felt something. It wasn't something he hit, but it was like the pulses from earlier. His headache wasn't there, and he was wide-awake, so he wasn't imagining it. He slammed his hand again, but nothing happened. How could he get it to happen? Was the first time an accident? Focusing on trying to get the pulse again, he brought it down again. The pulse was something he could see in his head, while he wasn't actually seeing it. He could picture it as white ripples, like in a glass of water. He focused harder every time he brought his hand down, and he could somehow feel where they were going. Vibrations. Somehow, he was able to see the vibrations he made every time he hit the ground.

He stared at his hand, wondering what could cause him to do this. There was no answer, but he didn't care. It was interesting, almost amusing. Shrugging, he reached for his gun... but he stopped halfway there. A thought had struck him. It was a stupid idea, he knew that, but he was still curious. Ready for what he was expecting to happen – which was nothing – he slammed his hand down again. He focused hard on the rifle's stock, which was pointing away from him. The humming the pulse made in his head started to move from where he hit the ground to where he was focusing. So he could somehow move the origin of the vibration, which was interesting. That was only half of what he was aiming to do. He focused harder on where he sent the pulse. Make it stronger.

The strength of the vibration spiked, and he released. The stock lifted a few inches in the air, only to land back onto the ground in the same place. He made it jump! It wasn't telekinesis–which would involve him doing nothing–but it was like... like he could toss something by tapping his foot. He just had to practice this. Making a fist, he pounded the ground and repeated what he had done before. This time, it went up a few more inches than before. He picked up his left hand, ready to catch the rifle. This time it would go. He pounded, and the rifle flipped up and flew towards him, forestock landing in his hand. He smirked. This was definitely a useful trick. Time to try it out on some other things.

Ah wonder where they're goin'? Apple Bloom thought as she trotted along the streets of Ponyville. The adults were whispering to each other urgently as they trotted towards the center of town. Must have had something to do with the thing that crashed earlier that morning. Curiosity made her want to find out what was going on. Time to find Big Macintosh and Applejack! Neither of them was in sight, unfortunately. Just as she was about to go looking for them, she spotted a certain somepony else to ask.

"Howdy, Miss Cheerilee!" the filly yelled to her teacher. Cheerilee was speaking to Amethyst Star – or "Sparkler", which was her nickname – in the same urgent whispers everyone else spoke in. Though the teacher was the one being spoken to, it was Sparkler who replied.

"Apple Bloom, do you know where my sister is?" she asked. Apple Bloom wasn't expecting the question, and took her time to think. Dinky... should be with Pipsqueak right now, ah think. Where are they now? Oh, right.

"She's at the playground," Apple Bloom answered.

"Is she alone?"

"No, Pipsqueak's with her."

The older sister rolled her eyes. She wasn't fond about Pipsqueak hanging around her sister, and vice versa. "Well, at least she's not alone, but could you..."

"Me and the others were goin' to be hangin' out with them today." Unfortunately. "You got nothin' to worry about!"

Contrary to what the filly believed, Sparkler began to worry even more. Those Cutie Mark Crusaders... so much for a "secret" club when everypony knew about it. That was because of their talent for trouble – which, amazingly, wasn't their special talent. Her mom didn't seem to have a problem with the antics until they made "the most blasphemous muffins ever". Amazing, since Ditzy loved muffins of all kinds, and saying she "loved" them was an understatement. Her daughters never knew what kind of muffin the Crusaders made that managed to earn their mother's disgust. The word through the grapevine – a certain trio of flower sellers – said that they were either mint and orange muffins or potato chip muffins, both of which were terribly disgusting even to think about. It was common knowledge that mint and citrus do not mix, and potato chips in muffins were just ridiculous!

"Uh... well, okay then! Keep her out of trouble!" The unicorn trotted away, following the other ponies to their destination. Cheerilee was about to follow, but Apple Bloom stopped her.

"Wait, Miss Cheerilee! Where is everypony goin'? Is this about that thing fallin' from the sky?" The teacher stopped in her tracks, then quickly turned and lowered her head to the filly's.

"Yes, and... there's more, but it's only rumors. Nothing for you to worry about." The mare's tone became very serious and she added: "Apple Bloom, if you see anything... strange... get your friends, and run to the Town Hall."

"Whaddya mean 'strange'?" the filly asked.

Cheerilee thought for a moment. What to tell her? "You'll know when you see it. Let me put it this way: stranger than... your brother's obsession with that doll he has."

Apple Bloom looked unsure. Of course, she should have known Cheerilee saw Big Mac with Smarty Pants during the Gabby Gums stint. However, that was probably one of the weirdest things she ever saw. Ever. Nothing could be weirder! Right? "Alright, Miss Cheerilee. Ah will."

"Good!" Cheerilee turned and trotted away. "I'll be seeing you in school tomorrow morning!" There was the slightest hint of uncertainty in her voice, but Apple Bloom, as perceptive as she was for a filly, didn't detect it. She just watched her teacher trot away, being joined by Berry Punch and Minuette on the way.

After watching for some time, she remembered what she was doing and made her way to the school's playground. Hanging out for the day; not trying to get her Cutie Mark. She had said it was a waste of time, but Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo voted against crusading today. Which was amazing, since the latter was just as eager to get their Cutie Mark as she was. The previous day's argument went over in her head again...

"Are you kiddin’, Sweetie Belle? One day without searchin' for or talents is one more day of getting ridiculoused!"

"That's not a word! You mean ridiculed!"

"Whatever! We have to go crusadin' tomorrow!"

"Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle has a point. I don't like all that... uh... um..."

"Ridicule."

"Thanks, Dictionary. I don't like all the ridicule Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon throw at us, but we need a break. Besides, it's only a day, how bad could it be?"

By some stroke of luck, the two bullies were not in sight; they were probably at their homes. The day was looking up in the tiniest bit, now. Still, Apple Bloom wasn't very happy. As she approached the playground, she spotted her fellow crusaders chatting with Dinky and Pipsqueak by the swing set. The pinto was the first to see her trot up to the group.

"Oi there, Apple Bloom!" he greeted.

"Howdy, Pipsqueak," the yellow filly replied. "How’s everyone doin'?"

"We're talking about what we think that thing was this morning," Scootaloo said. "I still think it was just a big meteor."

"I say it was an airship," Sweetie Belle said with a shrug. "It isn't the first time one of them crashed, right?" A few awkward looks told her that none of the others heard of an airship crash. Honestly, she only said that to find out if they knew about any airship crashes – she certainly didn't.

"Well I think was a space pirate ship, but nopony wants to listen!" Pipsqueak said, feigning exasperation. Dinky giggled at the colt's acting. Apple Bloom was even stifling a chuckle.

"What about you, Dinky?" Scootaloo asked the blond unicorn. "What do you think it is?"

Dinky looked flustered for a moment, as if trying to think of what to say. She really didn't know what the object could be in the first place, and she couldn't think of something now. Her eyes darted around, and finally landed on Pipsqueak. "I think it's a ship!" she declared. That made two for a ship, one for an airship, and one for a space rock. All that was left was Apple Bloom's opinion.

Her classmates stared at her expectantly. What exactly should she say? She didn't have a clue about what it could be. For all she knew, Sweetie Belle's guess could have been correct. Taking her time, she tried to remember what it looked like, but all she saw was the smoke trailing from it, so that didn't help. She was about to guess that it was a meteor when she remembered something; what Miss Cheerilee said. Something was pretty strange about how she was acting after Apple Bloom asked her what was going on. Maybe... just maybe... Pipsqueak and Dinky were right. What if it was a ship, and there was something on board the adults were having a meeting about?

"Equestria to Apple Bloom? You in there?" Scootaloo tapped on the farm filly's head. Her orange hoof was knocked away by a yellow one.

"Cut it out, Scoots. Ah think it's... a ship."

Pipsqueak thrust his hooves in the air a let out a victorious cry. Dinky mimicked the motion, but the other three fillies did nothing, and two of them were pretty curious about the opinion the third made.

"Why do you think that?" the pegasus filly asked roughly.

"Somethin' Miss Cheerilee said," Apple Bloom put simply. "Come on, let's do somethin' else."

They went about their business on the playground, chatting about this and that. Pipsqueak talked about pirate legends he was told by his father. Burying treasure, plundering small ports, boarding other vessels in search of wealth, courting maidens (without their father's knowing), and years of high seas, swashbuckling adventure. It was an understatement to say the colt like pirates and everything involving adventure. He could talk about what he planned for adventures he would go on when he grew up for what seemed like hours on end, but not in a bad way. His fantasies were entertaining to the other kids, save Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. That was Pipsqueak: small in stature, large in imagination, full of heart. The story of Black Mane actually spurred a thoughtful question from Dinky.

"What do you think space pirates do?" she asked.

"A lot of what sea pirates do, of course!" Pipsqueak reared up and wrapped a hoof around a nearby support on the swing set, leaning forward in an adventurous pose. "But they have energy swords instead of cutlasses, lasers instead of flintlocks, torpedoes instead of cannon balls! They go across the universe to plunder space-cities, or just to stop for a drink and some time with the..." He leaned backwards, changing his tone to a suggestive one. "Lovely alien women!"

Scootaloo, who was overhearing his description of space pirate life, stuck her tongue out. "Bleagh."

Jordan ran the waves up the tree, to the closest twig he saw. When the waves got to the base of it, he focused, making them vibrate faster and stronger. The twig snapped and fell into the palm of his hand. This was useful, but if he could just do this on larger objects, it would be indispensable.

He turned towards a large rock nearby and stomped the ground. He strengthened the vibrations in the stone until it had the desired effect. A deep cracking sounded, and the large rock became two smaller sized ones. Stomping again, he focused on one of the halves. This time, it cracked into many pieces, all of which flew in different directions, as if the rock exploded.

"Damn, I'm awesome," he said to himself with a grin. Some far, he had managed to sending a stick to himself from a few yards away, throw a rock by stomping on the ground, and dig a small hole by tapping the ground with his hand several times. This new power... he was getting good at it. Really good! It was probably one of the only good things that happened to him that day. He only had it for less than an hour, but he was already in total control of this! He congratulated himself in his head, pumping a fist in the air. You can do it, Jordan! You can get the others off the ship! You're not useless!

Suddenly, in the middle of his mental cheering, a burning sensation took his right side. It didn't hurt, at least not like it would cripple him or something. It just felt like the dull pain of a trigger point. Even so, he still stumbled in surprise. Also in that surprise, he unwittingly focused on the trunk of a tree, sending a vibration to it, and strengthening it. The trunk shattered, sending splinters in every direction. They never struck him, but he had more to worry about; the tree was tilting toward him. It was going to fall on him!

The ache in his side went just as he yelled out. He dodged to the right just in time, as the tree landed right where he was standing only seconds later. The echo of it falling rang through the woods, startling birds out of the trees. He stood there observing what he had done. The trunk was completely shattered – not like the rock when he first tried the very same thing on it. The damage was, on one hand, impressive. However, it soon clicked in his mind that the noise would attract attention. If those ponies were looking for him, they would be there soon. He took that as his cue to make an exit, turning back north and setting off.

The crash sounded throughout the forest, immediately gaining everyone's attention.

"W-w-what was th-that?" a cowering Fluttershy asked.

"Sounded like a tree fallin'," Applejack said, adjusting her Stetson. "You girls think..."

"No way." Twilight stepped up next to the farm pony. "Even if he is different, he can't be that strong."

"Let's just follow the sound already!" Rainbow Dash urged, flying ahead of the group, towards the source of the sound.

On taking a step forward, Applejack stopped, spotting something on the ground. "Whoa, nelly! Look at this!" What she saw was covered by old, dead leave that she brushed away. It was an old rope.

"Big deal, it's just a rope," Rainbow said dismissively.

"No, Dash, it's more than that." Applejack took a careful step over the out-of-place length of rope. "Ah remember... a few years ago, me 'n' Big Macintosh set traps out here, cause some wolves were gettin' in the orchard through here. After a few o' them got tangled, they got the hint an' left."

"Applejack, dear!" Rarity spoke in a miffed voice. "If they didn't come back, why did you leave the traps?"

The orange mare chuckled nervously. "Ah... we forgot?"

The foals flinched when they heard the boom from the woods. Pipsqueak fell on his back, since it happened while he was leaning back from the support. They all looked north to the source.

"What was that?" Scootaloo asked.

"Sounded like a tree fallin'," Apple Bloom told the others.

Pipsqueak rolled onto his stomach and jumped up. "Why don't we have a look?" he suggested, trotting towards the woods. Dinky and Scootaloo shared his curiosity, and followed him. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle weren't as enthusiastic, but they didn't share the same reason. Sweetie Belle was usually wary of things like this – even if she ended up getting in trouble with such things in the first place – so it was predictable that she would at least try to avoid jumping into something like this. Apple Bloom, on the other hoof, thought it could be the "weird thing" Miss Cheerilee told her to watch for.

The others up ahead looked back at the two fillies. "C'mon, guys!" Scootaloo told them. "It's not like we're gonna check out the thing!" Little did she know that Pipsqueak secretly wanted to do that. He wanted to know if he was right. If only he could get a look at it!

"I don't know, Scootaloo," Sweetie said. "Maybe we should stay..."

"And what? Play on the swings all day? No thanks!" the pegasus filly stepped in front of the unicorn. "So whaddya say?"

Sweetie, still unsure, looked at the ground and didn't respond. After considering her options for a few seconds, she looked back up at her fellow crusader and nodded. No words were necessary. She was in.

"What about you, Apple Bloom?" Dinky asked. "Are you coming?"

The yellow filly kept her worries to herself and nodded. "Sure, sure. Better than stayin' here," she said before trotting to the front of the group, leading the way to the woods.

As they reached the edge of the woods and started going into it, Sweetie Belle stopped and looked behind her, then in front of her, then behind her again. Turning back forward, she sighed. "I have a bad feeling about this," she whispered to herself.

Jordan slowed to a snail's pace when he thought he was far enough. They wouldn't catch him... at least not yet. When they did – it wasn't a question of if they caught him, but when – he would have to explain some things, such as his exit.

"I panicked," he said to himself as he vaulted a rock. "What do you expect me to do when I'm on a planet inhabited by..." Freaking mythical creatures from fairy tales. Oh. That. Should he explain it? That might be a tough thing to explain, but not as tough as the other topic – the one involving the normal Earth ponies. By that he meant the Earth ponies populating Equestria and the dumb ones from back on his home world.

"Well that's gonna be fun to explain," he muttered. "'Oh, yeah, the ponies on my world sit in petting zoos all day long and shit!' Genius, Jordan. Genius." He shook his head roughly as he almost bumped into a tree out of his inattention. Beyond it, he could see the opening to a clearing, and tell tale smoke said that it was a certain clearing he should know. The crash site. Better there than nowhere. He made his way to the edge of the woods.

All of a sudden, his foot snagged onto something. As soon as he looked down, he realized he was in trouble. A length of rope had made its appearance and tightened around his ankle. He just stepped into a snare trap! With a swift movement, the trap knocked him onto his back, following that by dangling him in the air. The surprise made him shout.

"GENIUS!"

They heard the shout as soon as they found the fallen tree.

"That sounded like him!" Twilight said.

"Shoot! Sounds like he stumbled on one o' the traps!" Applejack shouted.

"Oh, perfect." Rarity raised a hoof to her face. "Now it's Applejack's fault that our chance of some friendly chit-chat has plummeted."

"Ah, don't get yer tail in a knot, ah'm sure everythin' will be fine," the farm pony in question answered. No one notice her look of uncertainty.

"His wound may have reopened!" Fluttershy pointed out. "We better hurry... uh... a little faster? If that's possible?"

"It better be..." Rainbow whispered to herself before taking the lead in mid air again.

"Why don't I ever get to talk when our part comes? Come on! I haven't said a word, like, this whole chapter! That's like... this whole chapter!" Pinkie said to herself.

"CHENIAAAAATH!" That's how the foals heard the cry. It had been distorted by many factors. The main one was the fact that the speaker was dangling upside down.

"Whoa!" Pipsqueak said. "That sounds like somepony's out here!" He turned to the fillies. "Who do you all think it is?"

Scootaloo shrugged. "You know... it kinda sounded like Twist."

Apple Bloom glared at her. "Seriously, Scoots? Twist doesn't sound like a colt at all..."

The orange filly rolled her eyes and started trotting ahead. "Let's take a look..." she groaned as she began to crawl over a rock. Dinky and Pipsqueak decided to follow her over, though it was really pointless – they could have gone around. Apple Bloom saw that and got ahead of them again. Sweetie Belle followed her, stopping in front of the others and watching as Scootaloo struggled to get over the boulder. When the other two foals finally got her up, they all noticed their error.

"Oh," they all said in unison. Scootaloo slid off the rock as Dinky and Pipsqueak trotted around to join her. Sweetie grinned. She had a plan. She nonchalantly joined the pegasus as they trotted, catching up to Apple Bloom. After a few moments of silence, she leaned over and whispered into her ear.

"Hey, Scootaloo... I got a secret to tell you."

After a few seconds and a quick look back at the other two classmates with them, Scootaloo leaned towards Sweetie. "Yeah?" At that moment the unicorn grinned and tapped her with her hoof.

"Race you!" she yelled as she ran ahead. Scootaloo smirked. It was so on. She managed to close the gap between them and get up next to her challenger. Apple Bloom – who had gone some distance ahead – came into view. The racing fillies exchanged a mischievous glance and sped up, flanking the Earth pony. And then...

Apple Bloom had the wind knocked out of her by the collision, but shook it off. Her fellow crusaders had just tackled her. She had to get them back! She got up and leapt at the closest filly, Sweetie Belle, and pinned her down. This wasn't helpful for her, since she had neglected a certain somepony.

"Bonsai!" Scootaloo yelled as she jumped on her two friends. The pile of fillies broke into fits of giggling. Apple Bloom shook the pegasus off of her and climbed onto her, and then Sweetie Belle did the same. Whatever the outcome, it always seemed like Scootaloo would always be the third level in the "tower". It was either that or the two flightless crusaders would pin her down, laughing hysterically. By the time Pipsqueak and Dinky caught up, the pile... or tower... or whatever it was... was no more. All that was left of it were three fillies rolling around on the ground, laughing as if they had heard the world's funniest joke.

"What did we miss?" Dinky asked the colt next to her.

"I was with you, lass," Pipsqueak answered. "I'm asking the same thing." He took a step towards the crusaders. "Oi! Ladies! What's going on?"

Apple Bloom sat up on her haunches, panting from all the giggling. "Nothin' Pipsqueak. Crusader stuff," she said as she stood up. Her friends did the same, letting out the occasional chuckle.

The pirate – at least, he was a pirate in his own mind – took a long look at the three fillies. "Well, let's get on with this. Let's find whoever shouted, they might be in trouble, after all!" He got an idea, and acted on it. "Maybe you could get your Cutie Marks that way..."

Sweetie had a serious expression. "We were taking a break from that today, though," she pointed out. "But... maybe just once today."

Scootaloo shrugged, seeing no problem with the idea. Apple Bloom smiled. It may have not been an entire day of looking for their special talents, but a little searching was better than none at all. She took the lead again, eager to find whoever this pony was. "It came from over here. Not too far away, now."

His head started to hurt again, but this time it was for a reason. All the blood was rushing to Jordan's head, making the top of his skull feel like it would fall off. This was apparently how a bottle felt when it was held upside-down. The difference in his case, however, was the rope that held him by the ankle, which felt just as sore as his head.

"Genius," he sighed submissively. "Jump out a window then... this shit." It didn't matter to him, though. Soon the ponies that were looking for him would be there to hopefully cut him down. Hopefully.

He turned his head and tried to take a look at the plain behind him – just to look at it. Was it better than before? Ridiculous as that idea was, he still held on to it. He hoped that, at the very least, the fires would be out. Then, he could jump right into working on the rescue... or whatever it was. He wasn't necessarily rescuing them – just opening the door. Then again, opening that door could mean the difference between life and death.

Complicated stuff he shouldn't have been thinking about. If this were a normal situation, he would be getting the tools to build the greenhouse by now. Or dig irrigation, or maybe something completely different. But this wasn't Mars, this was Equestria – an inhabited that has already had someone build the greenhouses and someone dig the irrigation... or something else. Basically, that made him useless. Now all he was good for was being a sideshow. To be the freak of nature, or to be hunted down because he was too different. Back on Earth, the same thing would happen if one of these ponies appeared and uttered a single word. They would be strapped to tables, plugged in to machines with no purpose but to spit out numbers, be cut open for further research. Everything that could be done to them would be done. For science.

Why wouldn't it be the same here? They're exactly like humans besides the... well... the obvious. The same could happen to him. For science. Or magic. Some ridiculous reason like that.

It would be in there right to.

A rustle from the woods shook him out of his thoughts. Finally, they were here to get him down, It didn't matter what they wanted to do anymore, as long as he didn't stay there looking like the design on a tarot card. They got closer... and closer, but it wasn't them!

Out from behind some bushes came a little yellow Earth pony wearing a pink bow in her mane, followed by other small ones of every variety. They looked up at him, nonplussed. Clearly, they were just some curious kids.

"Uh," he said. "Hi there?"

Interlude 1: The Commander

Author's Note: This interlude does not contain our pony overlords, but is important to the story. Your pony overlords will return in the next chapter. Thank you for your cooperation.

Interlude One: The Commander

"A friend is one who has the same enemies you have."

—Abraham Lincoln

Oroon struck Cloden across the face. The backhand was strong enough to send to subordinate to his knees.

"Shvin*!" He yelled. "What did I tell you!"

Cloden looked up and tried to explain. "Sir, I thought–"

"That blowing their ship up would be okay with me?" The leader kicked the other in the chest, knocking the wind out of him. "Our ship is on their ship! You didn't even consider checking with me before you nearly kill us all!"

The lieutenant spoke with a choking voice. "I-I didn't think–"

Oroon kicked him in the face this time. Cloden's nose bent in a odd way and blood began to slowly drip out of it. "Exactly," Oroon said. "You didn't THINK!" He punctuated his sentence with another kick to the chest. The crewman he was offending tried to defend himself as he continued his onslaught, but it didn't help. His ribs cracked under the constant attacks, but he took the punishment. Every pound against his body could be heard through the metal walls within their inoperable ship.

The sounds of Oroon and Cloden "talking" came from beyond the metal door just down the corridor. Regged pretended he didn't hear them; he pretended not to know what Oroon was doing. That didn't distract him from what he did know, and that was the fact that his old friend had changed.

They were in many of the same classes in the Central Fleet University, and both of them were aspiring for the same leadership position. They became close with their schoolwork as well as outside the University. There was an infamous story about how the two of them would bet on games of Civ – a game similar to Pool – which would usually result in one of them wearing some questionable clothing the next time they went out. The two of them were like brothers. When one of them got a girl for the night, the other always did. When one of them got into a fight, the other backed him up. When one wasn't doing so well in a class, the other beat the crap out of him (it was an ingenious form of motivation suggested by their diplomacy professor). They were almost inseparable. Almost.

They were separated by the best thing that could happen to them: they graduated and were assigned to a vessel. However, they were each assigned a different one. Oroon went to a Scavinaught patrol vessel called the Wode while Regged went to a Ute scout ship called the Thusterja – the very ship they were stuck on. They went their separate ways and stayed on them for years.

They came back together following a grim incident.

INCIDENT REPORT

Circumstances: On SMD 71126.5 the UTE class scout ship THUSTERJA detected a subspace anomaly in sector 22-S of SYSTEM URN, which has been placed under quarantine due to the instability of its star. Sector 22-S is considered just outside the system and entry to it does not abide by the quarantine status of its system. The THUSTERJA's presence there DID NOT DISOBEY THE QUARANTINE (disregard Addendum A1).

Events: THUSTERJA reported the anomaly to COMMANDANT STATION when it was detected. CAPTAIN MATO LOCK followed the report up with the following: "We will investigate it immediately." COMMANDANT STATION attempted to recall THUSTERJA, but was too late to respond as the anomaly jammed their signal.

As the THUSTERJA neared the location of the anomaly (which will be referred to as ZEX), the radiation from the ship's engine "fed" (debriefing of COMMANDER REGGED PINN) the anomaly, making it stronger. The THUSTERJA never spotted the anomaly in visual until the energy emanating from it suddenly spiked. ZEX was confirmed to be the beginnings of a WHITE HOLE (a point in space that does not allow energy or matter enter it, opposite of the VOID HOLE). Proximity to a WHITE HOLE can cause an indeterminate number of events to occur. Such events that occurred in this incident were:

— Energy suddenly disappearing from the ship (the nature from ZEX caused the energy to be – for lack of a better term – blown off the ship.

— Massive damage to the ship

Several holes were torn through the hull and approximately seven (7) of the crew were ejected into space. Among those casualties was CAPTAIN MATO LOCK. The remaining six (6) members of the crew managed to seal themselves into the mess hall section of the ship. ZEX subsided and disappeared from the sector. Rescue vessels were deployed from COMMANDANT STATION and retrieved the wreck, survivors, and the casualties.

Post-incident: COMMANDER REGGED PINN was debriefed on the encounter. The casualties were returned to their families. The THUSTERJA is under repairs in the space dock at COMMANDANT STATION and is currently awaiting a new captain.

Three weeks before Thusterja's encounter with Providence; One month after the ZEX incident...

"In response to this terrible tragedy that has caused the death of your captain, Mato Lock, and roughly half of the crew, the Central Fleet will be sending a new captain and crew to the Thusterja. While you are still the first officer, we cannot promote you to captain due to the fact you have not taken the Command Examination. Is this understood, Commander Pinn?"

Regged gave a brief nod to the stone-faced admiral on the viewing screen. "Understood, Admiral."

"Good. The new members of the crew will be at the station tomorrow. Central out." The screen went black. Leaving only a dark reflection of Regged's face to stare back at him. After several moments of staring, he was shaken out of his thoughts by a beep coming from the door of his room. It was his doorbell.

He answered it and found Jyn standing outside the door, hand on her hip. "What's the news?" she asked without any greeting.

"We're getting new crew members tomorrow," he told her. "A new captain, too."

She shifted. "What about you?"

"Didn't take the exam," he answered as he stepped aside. "Come in."

The green-haired Setinole walked in and sat on the closest chair. Regged sat across from her. They sat in silence for a long time, each waiting for the other to say something. Finally, Jyn spoke up.

"I'm... leaving," she said. She didn't mean the room when she said that, Regged knew. It was farther than that.

"Transferring?" he asked.

"I'm staying here at the station. They need need someone to fill a position in the science wing, so I gave them my record."

Their response to her files was, without a doubt, a "yes". It was sudden, but not unexpected. It wasn't unusual for the crew to talk about their science officer as not being fit for travel. She managed, but she never seemed to get used to the little ship. It wasn't claustrophobia; she just never liked being on a scout ship. That wasn't the only thing that lead her to this, though.

"I knew what it was," she revealed. "I didn't say anything."

Regged shook his head and leaned towards her. "You didn't know what it was."

"I did, though!" She was starting to choke up. "I just knew!"

Regged threw himself back against the chair and sighed. He stayed silent for a while, thinking of what to say. The one thing that he knew would help the most would be something Captain Lock would say. Something that he never said, but would say.

"Jyn," Regged began. "Does your record say you're a Suka?" A rare genetic mutation that made certain Setinoles from the Sukir region of the home world sensitive to future events at incredible accuracy. Some had actually saved towns from natural disasters because of this ability. The ones that saw through everything.

"No, I'm from Yida, like you," she answered.

"Exactly." Regged leaned back forward. "You think you knew. You didn't, though. If really did, you would have said something."

"Well, I should ha–"

"Stop." Regged stood up and started wandering around the room. "You're making yourself look like a shvin by trying to make something look like it was your fault!"

Jyn didn't respond.

"I'm not going to tell you to stay," Regged continued, crossing his arms. "If you want to go, you're going to go. I won't stop you, but I don't want you to go thinking that this happened because of you!"

Again she didn't respond. Regged didn't follow-up; he had made his point. Soon, she stood up.

"I'll... keep that in mind," she said. "Thank you." Without saying another word, she left the room. The commander knew that he may never see her again, but took comfort in how she sounded: calm. She took what he thought as a poor imitation of his former captain to heart.

Captain Lock had a way of saying things that would effect people, and that meant everyone, not just his crew. Regged had often envied his charisma. To him, it seemed like he lacked that certain something his superior had. It was like talking to a very supportive teacher, or a father, or maybe something different. Whatever it was, Regged had a feeling that it had something to do with becoming a captain, and he wanted to know what it was before taking the examination.

He never got the chance to ask.

Regged sat back down in front of the screen the admiral was on minutes ago. He didn't push a button, he didn't give the computer any commands, he simply sat and stared at the screen and his shadowy reflection.

"It's not your fault," he said to it. "It could have happened to anyone." But the words that were exchanged that fateful day rang in his mind.

"Captain, take a look at this."

"I see it... what do you think it is, Pinn?"

"Only one way to find out, sir..."

The next day...

"So Commander," Kesa asked, running a hand through his burgundy hair. "Any word about the new captain and crew?"

The members of the original crew were gathered in Regged's quarters. The commander was buttoning a dress jacket, which was necessary for the welcoming of the captain. A machine floated idly in the corner, with Seltz standing next to it, keeping a busy hand by tinkering with its wiring. Welker was leaning with his back against the door, flexing his hand (which he had hurt during the incident). Loper sat next to Kesa, tapping her foot anxiously.

"No word," Regged said.

"Where's Jyn?" Seltz asked, not pausing her work on the device.

"Oh." It hadn't occurred until now that he never told them about what happened. "She transferred to the station. I would have told you all last night but... something came up."

"Hm," Welker grunted. He balled his hand into a fist and a crack was heard, making him hiss in pain. "Damn."

"Don't do that then," Seltz told him over her shoulder. "Idiot."

"It just feels tight for some reason..."

"That's the graft, it usually feels tight for a week after placement." Seltz wasn't the medic, but she did know her way around the sick bay. "Hold on, I'm almost done here."

"What is that anyway?" Loper asked.

The only response was a secretive chuckle. After a few more seconds, she closed the panel she was working on and stepped back. "Up and at 'em."

The machine blinked to life and wobbled in mid air. The circular "eye" in the center started to glow with a green tinge. "Good morning, everyone." A familiar mechanical voice said.

"Kat?" Regged said. Kat was the name given to the computer on the ship. The last time she was mentioned, the

"Indeed, sir," the machine said. "Thanks to Miss Detok, who had the foresight to remove my programming chip from the Thusterja."

"So... you basically built a smaller ship?" Kesa asked dumbly. Seltz glared at him.

"That's not it at all," she said. "I put the computer program into a medical bot. What makes you think that this is a smaller ship?"

"I just woke up," Kesa said. "Don't crucify me, mip**." As soon as he finished that sentence, Loper's hand suddenly came up and smacked his head.

"You too?" Kesa asked, rubbing the soreness. Loper smirked and didn't respond – she almost never did in the first place.

"Enough of that," Regged said to them before turning his attention back to Seltz and Kat. "Why did you do that?"

"The programming? Did you see the repair manifest?" Seltz asked.

"Yes," Regged answered. "Or at least some of it."

"Well," Seltz began, crossing her arms. "They were going to replace the programming and disintegrate it."

"In a term everyone can understand, they were going to 'kill' me," Kat added. "So Miss Detok took it upon herself to create a simplistic copy of my programming and switch... us, I suppose. The 'stupid' one must be gone by now, poor fellow."

Regged took a step towards the machine and inspected it. Like Seltz had told him, it was a medical bot. Like all med-bots, Kat had two mechanical arms that had sets of tools used for simple and complex procedures, including anesthetics. However, unlike most med-bots, there was a panel on the side that was usable for more than just medical procedure. Kat could potentially run a ship by himself even if he wasn't the main computer. Though this was great, it was also dangerous to the point that what Seltz did was probably a crime. Undermining a repair by saving the main computer could be considered sabotage and, if someone were to find out, the entire crew would be punished.

The punishment would be severe, of course; it's sabotage after all. For Seltz, it would be doubly so since she committed the crime out of her own volition. It would get worse when the investigators found something else she had been hiding.

"How is he?" Regged asked, after a while.

"You could ask me that yourself, sir," Kat said.

"I don't mean you." Regged stared at Seltz, waiting for an answer. Finally, she gave own.

"He was shaken up," she answered quietly. "But he's fine now."

"Still hiding in the vents?"

"The ship's empty now, so I told him to stay in my quarters."

"You two talking about Digen?" Welker asked in a deep voice. It was a rhetorical question.

"Digen". That was the name they gave him. He was very young at about nine, maybe ten years old. He was the only one they found on board of a strangely abandoned space station. Getting him to tell them what happened was impossible. For one thing, he didn't speak; the crew wasn't sure if he was mute or just chose not to talk. The only clue he gave was an unsettling drawing of a figure in a corridor, with the letter "X" written on the walls, ceiling, floors, and one the figure itself. On the bottom right corner was a picture of the same figure looking down at a child, supposedly himself. Again, the letter X was on the figure, but next to Digen himself, there was a different letter, "V". On the other bottom corner were the letters "X V I" near a strange set of curves.

Of course, Digen didn't matter at the moment. It was time for Regged and everyone else to meet the rest of the crew.

A voice on the room's com spoke. "Commander Regged Pinn, please report to the docking area with the rest of the crew of Thusterja to accept the new arrivals."

At the dock, Regged stood waiting in front of the airlock. The rest of the crew stood behind him dutifully, probably ten times more formal than himself, even if he was the only only one wearing anything formal.

The light above the circular door turned red and a heavy clang was heard, announcing the shuttle's arrival. Any minute now, the new captain would walk through the door, as will the new crew members. The new members would probably be more acquainted with the captain, but that wouldn't be a problem. Would it?

The light turned green and there was a hiss. The door rolled away, and Regged immediately stuck out his hand.

"Hello, sir. I am Commander–"

"Reggy! Long time no see!" A familiar voice said. The baffled commander finally got a good look at his new captain.

"Oroon?"

Three weeks later, present time...

"Commander," an urgent voice shook him out of his memories. Regged looked to his left and saw a very shaken Kesa.

"Kesa," he greeted quickly before becoming serious. "What hap–"

"Loper's dead," the crewman interrupted in a sullen voice.

The news struck Regged like a hammer. Loper... dead? It was too soon for something like this to happen. "How?"

"I... don't know." Kesa turned away. "I just found her... her arm was... gone. I think a mutating gouche killed her. There was a giant hole in her stomach... oh quate***. Quate!"

At the alarming rate they were seen mutating, some gouches were capable of doing that kind of damage. However, only her arm was gone. The bugs were hungry, so if they did kill her, nothing would be left, if not just an arm. Something was wrong here. "Show me."

The shaken crew member shook his head vigorously. "I'm not going back there!"

"You don't have to, just point me in the direction!"

"Down that hall," Kesa said, point down the corridor that lead to storage. "She's in the storage room. Cover her or something..." The crew man leaned his forehead against the wall with a pained expression as Regged followed the directions.

Poor Kesa. It was no secret how he felt about Loper, and now this happened. There was no way he would ever recover from finding her like that. It's the last thing anyone wants to see. When someone loves another, they always want to be there to protect them.

This was a feeling Regged believed he would never feel.

The door to the storage room was in front of him, and he steeled himself for what he would find inside. With the push of a button, the scene was revealed.

A pool of blood had formed around her like a rust red carpet. In the dimmed lights, it looked almost black. Regged walked around her body and examined it. Her mouth was stained as blood had spilled out of it and there were scratches along her cheek. Of course, there was a massive hole in her stomach showing more than what Regged wanted to see, and one of her arms was severed. That arm was nowhere in the room, but that didn't matter, what mattered was how it was severed. If a gouche had killed her it would have been torn and messy, but this was a clean cut, as though she was amputated.

"Who did this to you?" Regged whispered, turning away from the gruesome scene and leaving the room. He was going to go back to Kesa when he noticed it – a trail of blood. He began to follow it. The trail could lead to where she was attacked, or maybe the blood came from her arm which the killer (for reasons he couldn't fathom) took with them.

After some time, the trail ended at a certain door – the door to the room Oroon was beating Cloden in. There were voices on the other side, but Cloden wasn't among them.

"I'm sorry," a feminine voice said. "I had to." Regged recognized that voice as one of Oroon's group, Mana.

"You didn't have to dismember her!" Oroon yelled. Regged backed away from the door, his eyes wide.

"I had to make it look like a gouche did it," Mana said coldly. "Still do."

That was enough for him. He quietly made his way back to the storage room with haste. Conspiracy? This is going too far. Oroon pulling this move with the colony ship was one thing, but now he has the balls to go and try to cover this up? This was it, but right now, he was all alone. Who could he trust?

"Commander," a voice quickly greeted as he passed. That was Bahsenal. The large, muscular crewman was intimidating. He didn't matter though. After an acknowledging nod, Regged continued making haste to storage. Bahsenal was part of Oroon's crew, so he was untrustworthy. So was Cloden, though Oroon beat him. He could only trust Kesa, Seltz, Welker, and Kat.

The bloody room was opened again, but Regged didn't enter. He stood there, not looking at anything in particular. Mana was so calm while talking about what she had done. Why? Was she deranged? No one could possibly have been calm after killing some like this!

"It was Mana, wasn't it?" A voice said behind him. He turned quickly to see the very crew member he had passed in the hall. Bahsenal held a somber expression.

"Why would you care?" Regged challenged, pulling his gun out and aiming it at the giant. "You're with them!"

"Yes, I am," Bahsenal said with a look of shame. "For as long as I follow him."

He began to move forward, but Regged pressed the gun against his chest. The larger Setinole stopped as soon as he did.

"He has extreme interests that surprise many of us," he said. "I, for one, do not follow one so dishonored."

"You're from Umot," Regged realized. Back on their home world, the Setinoles born in Umot have a strict sense of honor and discipline. "His attack was a surprise on an unarmed vessel."

"Only a coward would commit such an act," Bahsenal spat. "He is beyond my hatred. So is Mana, I have seen the way she operates. The mip is... missing some wires."

"She's coming back to chop Loper up," Regged told him. "What do suppose we do?"

The Umotian took a step back. "That is for me to ask you, Commander."

Regged lowered his weapon. Clearly, he could trust Bahsenal. That makes one more crew member against Oroon. But what now? There was a sick-minded killer on her way there, so it was obvious that they had to do something about her. There had to be some way...

"Sometimes, the simplest solution is the best."

Mana hummed to herself as she went back to her kill. It was a tune of no particular rhythm, but it was music to her ears. Oroon had practically given her a speech on how she shouldn't go overboard with something like this. The problem was that she didn't go overboard. He had never even seen her go overboard. He may have been the leader, but his naivety when it came to what she did was tactless. That was what made him so cute though! Just like a certain someone else...

She took a moment to herself in the hallway to examine her trophy. "Oh, Lope," she sighed, kissing the amputated arm. "You were so beautiful when you were alive. Now... well, you still are, but you're dead."

She cradled it like a baby as she continued down the corridor. "It's a damn shame... I can't let anyone know what I did, especially that Kesa. You know, he had the hots for you, girl. It's tragic, really. But you see... I had to do it. You were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I was hoping you didn't have to here that message."

She kissed the arm again, right on the pale, clammy palm. "I rushed with you, which was a mistake. I should have taken my time, slow and steady. We could've had so much fun."

She stopped in front of the door and sighed. "It's no fun when I can't hear you struggle. Oh well." She stepped into the room as the door opened in front of her.

Something was wrong, though... Loper's figure still lay on the floor, but something was off about the room. Nothing had changed in the dimly-lit room. By the time she realized what was wrong exactly, it was already too late.

She quickly turned, only to see the giant fist fly out of the shadows, then darkness.

Mana had literally flown across the room, hitting the wall and bouncing onto her side. She was out cold. Bahsenal's punch could dent a ship's hull. In this case, he held back, not wanting to kill the girl. After all, it would have been obvious that he did it, who else could leave an indent in someone's head the size and shape of his fist?

Immediately after the attack, Regged took his chance to pick Loper up. His gut wrenched as his fingers dipped into the bloody pool, feeling the stickiness under her, all over her back. She was limp, as what was expected from a dead body, but because of all the blood it was hard to get a grip on her. He turned to Bahsenal once he got his grip. "Get my crew and meet me in my quarters," he said. With one last look at Mana, he left.

It felt like the longest walk in his life. He narrowly avoided being spotted by bandaged Cloden, who was grumbling something to himself about getting on the other ship again. After the blast, the main connection they used to get on board the colony ship was compromised. In other places, holes had be punched through both hulls, acting like hazardous tunnels. Going through one of these was probably the worst idea anyone could make, for there was usually a drop that ended on sharpened debris. However, Regged didn't take that idea off the table. it was probably going to be the only way someone could get off the ship. After a while, Cloden moved on, entering his own quarters and locking the door. Although the way was clear, the walk didn't get any faster. A mix of nearly crippling paranoia, bottled-up fury, and grief over the murder weighed him down on the inside, while Loper was weighing him down on the outside.

He had a lot to think about. Did he have a plan? No. Did he have an idea of what he had to do? Yes, but that was useless without the plan, but he couldn't think. Not of a plan, not of anything.

If he couldn't think of one, who could? He smiled inwardly as he figured out who to go to.

He entered his quarters after what felt like hours. After clearing everything off of it with his foot, he laid Loper's body on the couch. At first he all but threw her onto the seat, but then he found himself adjusting her... and adjusting... and adjusting. It became superfluous when he started trying to make her symmetrical. That was when he realized that he forgot her severed arm. This made him frustrated in many ways, making him have to punch himself in the leg to snap him out of it. There wasn't a problem. Bahsenal would be bringing the arm when he came.

But then Kesa would have to see her like this.

"No!" Regged slapped himself. Now was not the time for that! He had to get the plan all set! "Kat! Wake up!"

His closet opened and out floated the the machine. "How may I help you Command–" With the sudden pause, it seemed the computer was reacting to the body. He was. "Oh dear... I'm too late, am I?"

"No," Regged said. "She died instantly. Killed by Mana."

"One of the newer crew members? Hmm. I had my suspicions, what with the transmissions..."

"Transmissions?"

"From what I can detect, both came from on board the ship, and they were to and from different individuals."

"Someone has been in contact with someone up above?"

"Only one of those transmissions. However, it is impossible to detect who or even what sent it. Plus, the connection is ongoing with intermittent updates with the constant repeating letter-code 'MCMLXXXIV'."

MCMLXXXIV? That meant nothing to him, but it seemed familiar.

"It's a mystery," Kat continued. "I will continue monitoring the signals. I will inform you when I have more information"

Regged sighed. "Tell me about the other one."

"The other is from Captain Oroon in a connection to Admiral Lepic..."

*Shvin (Shveen) – Setinole curse meaning something along the lines of "dumbass" or "shithead".

**Mip – another Setinole curse; the equivalent of "bitch"

***Quate (kwah-TAY)– "Fuck (everything, myself, the world, etc.)", Quo is a synonym that just means "Fuck" in general. Ate (Ah-tay) is elastic and could mean "everything", "myself", "you", "them", "the world". Usually, it's used to mean "everything", but it could also just be used as "Fuck" (singular).