Carry On

No mercy left her eyes traveling along the barrel of her rifle, an arm of death straining at its leash to be released and spit forth fires of hell. The mysterious being before her seemed curious but cautious, as it should have been in Open Sky's mind. It emanated a deep feeling of wrongness, projecting it out from... somewhere. Somewhere in particular but nowhere at all. The feeling it gave the pegasus made her writhe in her armor, seeping through the cracks.

She shook her head. No. Open Sky couldn't let the being inside her head. It was absolutely chaotic in physical appearance, a collage of disambigious parts from animals of different types. The mismatched chicken claw and lion paw would have been an amusing pairing, had she not been so worried they would tear her apart.

The feeling peeled back after that, removing itself, as if her own fear had actually pushed it away. But that just left one less thing that was happening.

One less certainity.

One less comfort.

It started towards her now, very slowly creeping forth, one foot off the ground, then back down, and the other...

It was eerily slow, like the creature was trapped in some gelatinous mix.

"Don't come any closer," she finally hissed out through the mouthpiece, and the being froze once more.

For a little bit it sat there, studying her. Then,

"I'm not going to hurt you."

No trust came with the statement, no inherent peace. Open Sky knew this thing was accustomed to hurting things, and was most likely going to hurt her. What to do then?

Her breathing sped up. A cacaphony of silence began to fill her ears, and Open Sky's reaction was to start sweating, and the heat built inside her sealed suit, shutting her in and pulling her down and--

She unconciously pulled the trigger.

It was over in a second, the light and flash of sound bursting out. The sand was scorched in a path of death, steaming with the heat. As the dust settled, though, the creature remained there, totally unharmed, one demented chicken claw raised casually in front, as if to stop the shot, while not entirely caring if it found a target.

The empty look on his face (for Open Sky had determined it to be a he, at least) was a little bit comical, considering the circumstance.  However, he had just stopped a bolt of pure energy dead in its tracks. That said something.

"What are you?" Open Sky was now incredulous, trying to recover from her mistake in her relations with this new being. "And how the fuck are you still alive?" Oh, real fuckin' smooth there, Sky. I'm sure he'll like you cursing at him, she reprimanded herself.

He let out a little laugh then. "I could ask you the same question, my little pony! You happen to be on a planet that's very near to its consumption by that guy up there," he said, pointing to the sun, "in case you didn't know."

Oh, she knew all right. But she would play ball. It wasn't like she had many other options with finding out who this guy was. Pressing him wasn't likely to work.

"Alright, fine, I go first. I am Lieutenant Open Sky of the ESDV (Equestrian Space Department Vessel) Morning Star, service tag L-P-A-7713. You, my fine and indestructable sir, are...?"

He shook his long body, like a dog drying itself out. Settling his shoulders, he finally answered her.

"I am Discord, God of Chaos. Not as chaotic as I once was, however. Thanks at least partially to the pony behind you," he said, indicating the Princess.

"Princess Celestia? How do you know her?" Open Sky was once more mystified.

Discord seemed almost surprised. "Really, how do you not know who I am?" he inquired, feigning a hurt look. He snapped his claw's digits, and a couch slowly rose out of the dirt under him.

Was formation magic supposed to impress her? It wasn't something she was entirely unfamiliar with. Temporary transmutation of objects was actually quite common around the galaxy. Turning sand into a couch would not be behind a good number of unicorns. Open Sky gave him a pitying look.

She decided to finally answer his question with a shortened version of the truth.

"Well, we ponies sort of went into a Dark Age a little while after we left here. Long story short, we've been gone for nearly a million years and a lot of old information was lost. Memory of you kicked the bucket, I guess."

A flash of actual, acute pain crossed his countenance -- for just a second, but it was there, bright at first and then fizzling out like a used match. Maybe she shouldn't have been so rough with him...

He responded before she could finish the thought. "Gone? Totally wiped from the pages of your history books? How is it, then, that you know of Celestia, but not of I?"

She shrugged. "Luck of the draw, I guess. Not much you could have done, so... don't bother yourself with it." Funny. A minute ago she was shooting at him, and now she was offering condolences. "Well, I happen to have a shuttle about a kilometer or two from here. I don't really feel I should leave you out in this desert, so come along."

Again with the surprised look. "How very trusting of you. Does 'chaos' not strike fear into your heart?" He seemed sarcastic but partly serious.

She had no reason not to trust him, really. If he wanted to kill or injure her, Open Sky couldn't exactly defend herself, considering her weapon was almost entirely ineffectual. The fact that he had not openly attacked was evidence enough to her.

Plus, she felt a little guilty for putting Discord in her sights.

Open Sky explained all this as she tried to pull Celestia to her feet. The monarch wouldn't budge.

"Come on, Princess, we should get going," Open Sky urged her, but still, nothing.

Discord slithered around her, and offered a suggestion after a moment of perplexed thinking. "I think we should wait for my compatriots to arrive. She probably thinks we're leaving them."

Looking up from her task, Open Sky said, "Wait, how many of you are there?"

"Two. They should be upon us any minute now, and then we should get going to... wherever you came from."

"Heh. That might be a problem," Open Sky responded as two shapes formed in the hot, dry dust spun about by the now-returned air currents.

Before he could ask what the 'problem' was, the shades materialized into alicorns. "Ah, there you are! Lieutenant, this is Queen Chrysalis and Princess Luna. Know them?"

As it happened, the pilot did recall faintly a lesson in school about Chrysalis. Luna, of course, Open Sky had heard of as much as (if not more than) Princess Celestia herself. After all, the two were paired together. Magically bonded, so to speak.

Open Sky informed Discord of this, introduced herself to the two, and led them off, explaining her mission as she went.

Briefly, she wondered whether the Captian would rip her head off in rage for firing at an unknown alien or crush her lungs in a hug because she found the oldest ponies in existence.