Legacy of the Past

High above Equestria, beyond the very atmosphere of the world, past the moon, the brighter 'star' intensified and grew, bright tendrils of pure light stretched out and twisted about like they were alive. Then a black arrow shaped object emerged, massive wings adorned both sides of it, and on the top were numerous cannons. On the side near the tip were huge silver initials; G.S.S. Fallen Star. As the ship exited the bright 'star', the back flashed in a bright yellow as flames began pushing it forward, leaving the 'star' to collapse upon itself and disappear.

Inside, on the bridge of the ship Captain Nathaniel Caster groaned as he stirred and regained consciousness, How long he was out, he did not know, the last thing he remembered was entering the dimensional portal to God knows where. He realized that all was silent around and command instinct took over.

"Report!" He called out, struggling to get up. "Anyone alive?"

He was greeted by subsequent groans from different members and one person who mumbled something along the lines of 'Sir, yes sir'. Then, there was shocked scream, followed by other crewmen aboard the bridge. Nathaniel's eyes burst open, looking at his hands... only, they weren't hands. They were hooves. He looked over himself, he was a cream-coloured horse with a black tail and mane, and there was a mark of some kind on his rear, that of a spiral galaxy locked in a shield. More screams resonated from the crewmen as Nathaniel looked and saw his once human crew now... an assortment of different creatures. Most seemed like they were horses of some kind, but there were some who looked like they were mythical creatures. Some were gryphons and some looked like small dragons.

"AAAAH!"

"What's going on!?"

"This isn't happening, this isn't happening..."

"They didn't tell us this was gonna happen, why didn't they tell us!?"

Nathaniel cleared his throat and clicked a button, accessing the intercom throughout the entire ship, before speaking as loud as he could. "Crew! Stand to!"

The crew stopped panicking and years of discipline took control and they stood as best as they could at attention of the Commanding Officer. "We are not going to act like a bunch of ill-trained recruits! I know we aren't trained for this, but we are in another dimension, how could Command train us for this? Now, I know you're all scared, that's natural, especially under the circumstances, but we are not going to panic. If you panic, you can't think and you act irrationally, and that can damage or even kill someone, and that is the last thing we need right now.

"Now I want all of you to get a grip. Now maybe this is all just superficial and we are still biologically human, but even if we aren't and we are gryphons, or dragons, or horses-"

"Uh, sir?" A small, bluish equine said tentatively.

"Yes, ensign?"

"You're a unicorn, sir."

Nathaniel looked up and saw what might be the tip of a horn by his forehead. He glanced back at his assembled, looking ahead without answering as he mentally came to terms with that.

"So I am." He said after a moment, then he glanced. "But that is no excuse to freak out." Outwardly, at least... he added silently, noting his pounding heart.

"Now, I want all crewmen to try and get used to their new form, I will have Doctor Zeb look into this matter and see if we can't be changed back, but it may take some time, so get re-accustomed with yourself and then get back to work!"

"Sir!" The bridge crew saluted as best as they could.

Nathaniel nodded, signalling their dismissal and then promptly began trying to walk. It only took a few minutes, but he soon began walking on four legs as if he had done it his entire life. He accessed the comm system and connected to the medical station of the ship, where he found himself looking at a red-haired horse with large glasses and there was... something wrong with his eyes. Nathaniel raised an eyebrow.

"Doctor Zeb? Is that you?"

The Doctor nodded. "Yes, Captain Caster, is something wrong?"

Nathaniel looked around, glancing around at some of his crew. "Yeah, there's a hell of a lot wrong here, what happened to us? Why are most of us horses?"

"Ponies."

The Captain blinked. "What?"

"I've done some research, Captain, and we're ponies, not horses."

The Captain glared. "We're equines... why!?"

"Well sir..." Zeb rubbed the back of his head, and the Captain noticed both of his eyes were looking in the opposite direction.

"What's wrong with your eyes?"

Zeb shook his head. "Ah! One question at a time please, Captain! This is all very nerve wracking."

Nathaniel nodded and allowed the doctor to calm down. When he did, he sighed.

"I'm not sure exactly, but as you said earlier, we're in another dimension, strange anomalies are bound to happen. And it's not just ponies, but among the ponies are unicorns and pegasi! As well as Gryphons and some dragons and one crewman even turned into a black, almost insect like creature! In all honesty, sir, it's very fascinating."

"Do you think there's any chance we might be able to reverse the process? To change back?"

"Well sir, I'd imagine that if we returned to our home dimension we would be returned to normal, but I can't say for certain. As for becoming human here, than that would depend on if we are still biologically human or not and what methods and equipment we have available."

"Doctor, returning home isn't an option, we have a job to do, and I don't plan on returning empty handed, even if I don't have hands. I want you to do whatever it takes to get us back to human form, request for anything that you need, and I'll make sure you have it. Got it?"

Zeb nodded. "I'll do what I can, sir, though it will take some time."

Nathaniel nodded and clicked the screen off. He turned and looked over the Captain's chair, wondering how he'd sit on it.

Meanwhile, two ponies sat by their consoles next to each other, trying to tap the right key with their hooves. One of them glanced at his neighbor and he started snickering. He kept glancing at his neighbor and snickering before she sighed and glared at him.

"What's so funny, Tyler?" She asked.

"Okay, hehe, let me ask you what may be the most important question I've ever asked you, Jacqueline..."

Jacqueline raised an eyebrow, waiting for the question.

"Where's... pfft, where's your uniform?" Tyler snickered, barely able to contain his laughter.

Jacqueline opened her mouth to ask what sort of question was that, when she realized and quickly looked over her equine body, where no uniform covered her. Her eyes widened and a blush formed as Tyler leaned on his console in an effort to not break down in laughter. Quickly storming away, she made her way to the Captain, and saluted.

"Sir," She said, trying to sound calm, but her voice shook. "Permission to return to my quarters?"

Nathaniel raised an eyebrow, noting one of the crew behind the ensign was snickering. "May I know why you wish to head to your quarters?"

"Because sir..." She began, Tyler's snickers following her. "...we're all naked."

Tyler's snickers abruptly stopped as he quickly looked over himself. "Aw, crap..." He muttered, a blush growing on his face.

The rest of the bridge heard as well and began trying very hard not to look at each other. Nathaniel, realizing his uniform also disappeared and that their spares would probably not fit them anymore, placed a hoof on his head and rubbed his temple. This is gonna be a long day...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

9 hours later...

<<"Captain Caster?">> His comm buzzed, jerking Nathaniel awake. <<"Captain, I apologize for waking you, sir, but Doctor Zeb is requesting to see you in the Medical Bay.">>

Nathaniel stood up and placed his hooves on the floor, a resounding clop clop as they touched the metallic floor. "Is it urgent?"

<<"Uh, I'm not sure sir, he's been borderline hysterical for the past 8 hours, but he only recently started asking for you.">>

"Right, tell him I'm on my way."

The Captain began donning a new uniform specifically for his new body, though it was harder to put on mainly because he had only a mouth to maneuver, but the tailors were smart and it was possible to do this, but it was still frustrating. After a few more minutes of struggling about, he was finally presentable and exited his quarters, where a passing crewman saluted with a hoof. Nathaniel returned the salute and made his way to the Medical Bay.

Nathaniel made a mental note not to give Zeb full control of the Medical Bay for future missions, because it no longer looked like the Medical Bay, but a laboratory. A very scary looking laboratory. Zeb was looking at a screen wearing a specialized lab coat, he turned his head, spotting the Captain.

"Ah, Captain." He said, walking over to him with the same wall-eyed look he had before. "Thank you for coming here."

"You know..." Nathaniel said. "You never explained what was wrong with your eyes."

Zeb blinked, then nodded. "Yes yes, it seems to be an adverse effect of having been transformed. Several other crewmen reported in with the same problem. But that's not the only issue, it seems all the crew each have at least one side effect that normally wouldn't be associated with our new bodies."

Nathaniel raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"

"Well, one pegasus has his wings backwards, and an engineer who's been turned into a buffalo has his tongue twisted, he's almost impossible to understand."

"Are there any life-threatening side effects?"

Zeb shook his head. "No sir, but there are a few job-impairing."

"Is any of it repairable?"

"Well, sir, that's part of the reason I've brought you here. I have a few theories and made some discoveries in this system, but I need to requisition some resources and equipment."

Nathaniel nodded. "What do you need?"

"Well, with the issue of our transformed bodies and turning us back, I may have a solution, but I need full access to the chemical compound... XV-388.."

The Captain drew in a breath. "That's a rare and dangerous compound, Doctor."

"I know sir, but you wanted me to find a solution no matter what, the solution may just lie in that chemical."

Nathaniel thought it over, and slowly nodded. "Alright, I'll give you full authorization, do whatever is necessary to get us back to normal. But please be careful with the compound, it's what powers our Fusion and Prime class torpedoes."

"Yes sir. Also I would like to have control of at least two probes. Not far from the ship, there's an assortment of strange particles that I would like to have gathered for study. We are in an alternate dimension, who knows what we'll find in those particles?"

"I see, very well, you'll have your probes."

"And I would also like control of the ship's Sensor Array, or at least part of it."

At this, Nathaniel raised an eyebrow. "I trust you have a good reason for requesting that, Zeb?"

"Captain," Zeb said respectfully. "Do you know why we have been sent to another dimension?"

Nathaniel hesitated, but he soon decided it was best to speak truthfully to him. "No, Command said they wanted no chance of anyone else finding out what we were up to. They said that we'd know what to look for when we arrived."

"I see... I believe our answer lies in the planet we are orbiting and I would like to take a closer look via the ship's Sensor Array."

"Could you please explain why it should be you and not one of my crewmen?"

"Sir, I'm a civilian, why did Command have me sent aboard your ship just before you make this trip? It's not because of a civilian researcher's perspective, I know that much. Obviously, there is something on that planet and I would like to see what is there. You can others look too, if you want, but I would like to be among those using the Sensors."

Nathaniel raised an eyebrow, Zeb knew more then he was letting on, but he was right that Command had a reason for sending him on board. "Very well," he said. "But if you find anything out of the ordinary, you inform me immediately, understood?"

Zeb chuckled. "Captain, we are in another dimension, I'd be surprised to find anything remotely ordinary, but I shall let you know if I find anything important."